Well, it's been quite a while since I've worked on this story huh? Sorry about that, but I'd been distracted by other stories that if I decided to write this when I wasn't interested at all, it wouldn't be very good at all would it? But enough rambling, it's time to start the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Persona, however I do own Alyson.

The body hanging from the Antenna

"Ah... so you came here because of your parents' job?" Chie said. For the past ten minutes, she had been questioning Souji. "I thought it was something way more serious."

Like what? His parents dying? Alyson wanted to say, but as usual, she kept quiet while listening in on the conversation. After escaping the questioning eyes of their peers who wanted to know what was happening, the four of them were now walking while Chie showed the new kids some of the sights.

They came to a stop by a field where rice was harvested. "There really is nothing here, huh?" Their tour guide admitted, sounding embarrassed.

Alyson broke off from the group and got a closer look. What she said wasn't true at all. Sure Inaba didn't have the kinds of shops that the large cities had and that it was in the country side but that didn't mean it didn't have it's own charm. In fact, Alyson kinda liked it better than the city. The air was clean and it didn't have the inconveniences that usually came with a city such as noise pollution.

"That is what make's it nice, but there's nothing much we can show to people from outside."

"That's not true." Alyson said referring to the part about nothing much being shown. She bent down to examine the water. "Inaba has a rice paddy field. That's something a city doesn't have. And it's pretty nice to actually be able to hear myself think." She really meant that. Inaba was a cozy place; the only detestable thing about it was King Moron.

Souji smiled. "Yeah. You usually can't do that in a city."

Chie crossed her arms and mock glared at them. "Hmph! You two aren't just saying that to make us feel better, are you?"

"No!" Was Alyson's immediate answer. She was irritated that a girl she hardly knew would think she'd lie about something like that.

But before the American could give the brunette a piece of her mind, Chie laughed. "I was just joking! You don't seem like the lying type. No need to get so uptight about it."

Alyson closed her mouth and said nothing more. It was better to talk once she calmed down so she wouldn't say anything that would offend her classmate. Well, there was that and Chie's kicks seemed pretty painful. She definitely didn't want to be one of her victims.

"Anyways it's nice of you two to say that, don't you think Yukiko?" Chie turned to the raven haired girl.

Once again, the girl in question wasn't paying attention. She was in a daze and didn't realize that her friend was talking to her until she felt their stares.

"Huh?" Yukiko said when Chie's question kicked in. "Yeah, it is."

Chie then went on to explain about Mt. Yasogami and how it was either the pottery, dyed clothes, and something else seemed famous. Kinda. And then she mentioned the Amagi Inn and Alyson perked up. She always wondered if the Inns in Japan stayed accurate to their manga counterpart.

"Yukiko's family runs it. It's the pride of Inaba."

"Huh?" Yukiko flushed, embarrassed. "It's... just an old inn."

"Oh, no way." Chie shook her head, disagreeing with Yukiko. "It's been in all sorta magazines as a hidden treasure."

During the ride to Inaba, Alyson picked up a magazine and read it out of pure boredom. Amagi Inn had been mentioned and was classified as a four star stay. In fact, if she ever got time after settling down the blonde decided that she would visit the place so that she could see what it was like. According to Chie, it was what kept the town's economy going.

While Chie boasted about it, Yukiko felt the exact opposite.

"I don't think that's entirely true." She said, huffily.

Nearby, there was a crowd gathering. They seemed to be whispering in hushed tones about something. They couldn't really hear, so out of curiosity they walked closer to the scene to find out what happened.

To add to the fire, the area the crowd was standing around was taped off by police tape. They could also see police officers positioned to make sure that no one snuck threw.

"Hey, what's-" Chie started to form her own question, when Souji put a finger to his mouth and pointed to a pair of women talking. They all strained their ears to listen in on the conversation.

"So that high schooler left school early, and as she came down this street..." Said woman #1.

"Wow. Who could imagine THAT hanging from an antenna?" It was woman #2 who spoke next.

What were they talking about?

"I wanted to see it too."

Alyson sighed in irritation. It would've been nice if they specified what they were talking about instead of using 'that' and 'it'.

"You got here too late... the police and fire department took it down just a moment ago."

Finally, they got the answer to the question as to what had been hanging from the antenna. "Well, I think it's terrifying." Said #1 in a horrified tone. "I can't believe a dead body showed up around here..."

Alyson's stomach churned. Murders and crimes were common in big cities, not in towns such as Inaba. Hah. And Sayoko said this place was peaceful too.

"You call this nothing?" Alyson couldn't help hissing at Chie.

"I'm just as surprised as you are!" She hissed back. "Did she really say a 'dead body'?"

"She did." Souji said, cutting off the continuation of what was going to be an argument. He had a feeling there was a more... violent side to the other transfer student and he didn't think it was wise for her to unleash it in public, particularly near a crime scene.

Oh, and his Uncle was also heading in their direction. The detective didn't seem happy at all.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" He asked, reaching the group.

"We were just passing by." Souji explained. It wasn't very hard to come up with an excuse; they were in fact just passing by when they spotted the crowd. His uncle probably came over because he was there.

"Huh... I should have figured that'd happen." The detective sounded exasperated. "That damn principal. We told him not to let them through here..." The last part he said more to himself than them.

Chie stared at Souji and then Dojima. She was surprised by the casual greeting between them, even if Dojima's greeting sounded more like an accusation. "You know this guy?"

"He's my uncle." Souji said, turning to her.

"He's his uncle."Alyson said at the same time as Souji. Chie blinked.

"Wow, you two are in sync."

Dojima lengthened the explanation. "I'm Detective Dojima, his guardian." There was an awkward pause before he spoke again. "Uhh... Well, how should I say this..." Another pause. "I hope you get along with him."

His face turned stern as he looked all four of them in the eye. "But you four really ought to stop wandering around and head straight home." Before he could get back to his job, a younger man ran past him only to hurl in to the bushes. They all stared as he retched. Dojima was not pleased.

"Adachi!" He shouted at the man. "How long are you going to act like a rookie? You want to be sent back to the central office!?"

The man known as Adachi apologized and straightened up his posture. Though there was still barf dripping from his mouth. Alyson cringed and stepped back a few steps.

After they left, the four students began talking among themselves.

"Was this was what that announcement was about...?" Chie asked, standing on her tip toes to stare at the crime scene again.

"Probably." Souji nodded.

"What do they mean... it was hanging from the antenna...?" Yukiko was pale and by the expression on her face, also disturbed.

"That it was actually hanging from the antenna?" Alyson suggested. "That the body was hanging from the antenna in broad daylight?" She had all of them staring at her for that comment. Apparently if the American was fed up or impatient about something, she could be really, really blunt.

They were silent as they thought about it. Chie decided to cancel the trip to Junes she and apparently Yukiko were planning. The raven haired girl nodded in agreement.

"Alright then!" Chie turned to the transfers with a smile. "We're taking off. Starting tomorrow, let's do our best!"

For what? Was the thought running through their heads at the same time.

Alyson and Souji immediately headed straight home when they left the scene. Alyson waved good-bye and then entered the Sakuras' household to find no one else home. Sayoko and Keitaro were still at work and Koyoru was probably hanging out with her friends or something. Or attending Cram school if she went to cram school. Running up to her room, she threw her jacket and bag aside before leaping on to her bed. Today could have definitely gone better. First there was that stupid teacher.

And then there was that murder.

First day of her life in Japan and there was (well, had been) a body hanging from a television antenna. She certainly hadn't been expecting THAT. So coming to a conclusion, the day had been interesting. Not in a good way interesting, but interesting all the same.

Since there wasn't any homework on the first day of school, Alyson had the choices of either reading a book or going on the computer the Sakuras' kindly set up for her.

She had ten emails. One was an advertisement and the rest were from her friends.

Deleting the advertisement, she checked the list of people who sent her emails. They were from Lily, Morgan, Carter, Jenny, Keiran, Oliver, Tyler, Sarah, and Cassandra.

Basically, they were emails asking about how school was, what it was like in Japan, and when it she came back could she get them something? Oh, and as usual Sarah was obsessed with knowing if there were any mean girls in her school.

Stretching her fingers, Alyson started typing. She answered that school was pretty much okay other than the fact that she made it on to her homeroom teacher's shit list because he didn't like her mouthing off about how he should NOT insult his students.

Hi guys, it's Aly.

Yes, I realize I'm being lazy by typing up one email and then sending it to you all via contact list . Isn't the Internet amazing? I don't have to write out individual letters. Anyways, school was okay other than the fact that the teacher's a jerk and on day one I've made it on to his shit list. Guess what? I'm not the only new student in school. Or class. He's big news since he's from the city and yes, the teacher was being mean to him too.

Lily, I know you're going to ask this so I'll tell you right now: he's cute. No, I don't want to date him so don't even TRY to convince me to ask him out. Actually, don't convince me to ask anyone out. I don't want to date, especially in a foreign country. No Carter, I don't have anything against the Japanese but there's really no point in dating if I just stay here for two years. And Morgan? Don't even start.

Oliver, you asked if there was anything interesting?

Alyson paused as she considered if she should tell them about the murder. She decided not to, since knowing Jenny, she was going to scream the news out to the school.

No, nothing interesting happened other than the fact that my peers seemed REALLY interested in my hair color.

Since I have nothing else to write, I'm going to go now. Okay, see you. Bye.

Well, I had a hard time trying to end this chapter. Sorry I took so long finishing this chapter, but I've been busy and out of inspiration lately. Anyways, thanks for reviewing my previous chapters and I hope you like this chapter too.