Kanji walked over to to the sparing meeting spot after school one afternoon and was surprised by who he found there. Standing with Chie-senpai was a very familiar, gray haired individual. Chie-senpai had mentioned before that she had started training with Yu-senpai, but he never showed up when Kanji was there. With excitement rising up in his chest, Kanji jogged over to them.

"Hey Yu-senpai!" he called, waving.

"Hello Kanji." Yu-senpai replied with a smile. "Chie told me you train with her sometimes, too. Glad I could be here with both of you today."

"Alright!" Chie-senpai cheered. "I'm getting super pumped! How are we gonna do this?"

The group decided to do some basic warm-up moves, and then (through a rousing game of rock paper scissors) Chie-senpai and Yu-senpai were chosen to spar together first, while Kanji did some training exercisers alone and waited to face off against the winner. Kanji found it hard to concentrate on his training, however. He was too busy watching the two of them fighting. He was use to Chie-senpai's fighting style, but he never had the chance to watch Yu-senpai since the TV world wasn't the right place to watch other people when Kanji needed to watch himself. Yu-senpai didn't look like a fighter; he was very clean-cut and deceptively skinny. But watching him made it abundantly clear that he was a natural. Every strike was made with such precision and every one of Chie-senpai's kicks were blocked such speed that it was hard to believe that Yu-senpai wasn't professionally trained. Even without his personas, Yu-senpai was a force to be reckoned with and Kanji was both excited and nervous to face him. After only a few minutes, Yu-senpai grabbed one of Chie-senpai's kicks and flipped her around so that she landed hard on the ground.

"OK, OK, I give!" Chie-senpai said, putting up her hands. Yu-senpai smiled and nodded, putting out a hand to help her up. She took it, rubbing her sore bottom as she stood.

"You're getting better." Yu-senpai told her, causing her to blush. He turned and looked at Kanji. "You ready?"

"Y-yeah," Kanji responded, nodding. He walked over and readied himself.

"Go easy on me, OK?" Yu-senpai asked him. This confused Kanji for a second. Was Yu-senpai as nervous about facing him as Kanji was about facing Yu-senpai? This thought made him feel a little bit proud of himself, but that feeling was quickly silenced when Yu-senpai came at him. He was fast, faster than he looked when was facing Chie-senpai. Kanji found himself on the defense right off the bat and had trouble finding a opening to take over the offense. It was obvious that Yu-senpai was faster than him, but Kanji was sure that he was stronger. Every punch he threw, Yu-senpai dodged and Kanji was starting to get frustrated. But then he got lucky and Yu-senpai missed his mark. Smiling, Kanji wound up a punch and went at him with as much strength as he thought Yu-senpai could handle, which was quite a bit. As Kanji swung, Yu-senpai was more than prepared for it. He rolled out of the way, causing Kanji to stumble forward. At the same time, Yu-senpai put out his leg and tripped him. Kanji fell hard, right on his face. Before he could move, he felt the weight of Yu-senpai's foot on his back. Kanji knew he was done; Yu-senpai had won this match. Kanji could hear Chie-senpai cheering and laughing, and a wave of embarrassment washed over him.

"Alright, git off!" Kanji growled, flipping over quickly making Yu-senpai stumble. Kanji stood and dusted himself off. "You win this time, senpai, but I'll beat you eventually."

"Yeah, right." Chie-senpai chimed in. "There's a reason he's our leader."

"Hey, you never know. With some extra practice, you could've won that one." Yu-senpai reassured him. "You almost got me with that last punch."

"Well all right!" Kanji cheered, his confidence restored. The sun was just starting to set in the sky. They agreed that it was about time to head home. After saying goodbye to Yu-senpai, Kanji and Chie-senpai finished packing up their things.

"So…You wanna know why he beat you?" Chie-senpai asked him.

"What? Hey, he beat you, too!"

"Yes, and I know why he beat me. It's the same reason you beat me all of the time: he improvises. That and because he's stronger than me. And faster…So, do you wanna know or not?" Kanji thought for a moment before his curiosity took him over.

"Yeah, tell me why if you're so smart."

"It's because you have no technique." she told him, matter-of-factually. "All you do when you fight are big punches, which works great against me since I can't dodge all of them. But against Yu, he's not only faster than you but he's also smarter than you. He knew exactly what you were gonna do before you did it. That's why he was able to dodge that last attack. Brawling tactics are great, but it'll only get you so far before your opponent figures out your pattern. You need to change it up a bit."

"Brute strength is all I know." Kanji admitted.

"That's what these training sessions are for!" Chie-senpai said, patting him on the back. "We'll both get better and maybe, someday, we can both beat Yu." Kanji smiled at her.

"Hey, then do ya think everyone'll let me be the leader?" he asked. Chie-senpai gave him a look and Kanji started laughing. She started laughing as well and the two of them started walking home for the evening.

Kanji and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…