Persona: Spirits In Pixels – Chapter Three
A Welcome Home
What it be guys? There's only one announcement to make today! The process in making new chapters will be delayed every so often now. I'm so sorry about this! But I've got my summer work for college to think about! Anyway, I'll try and upload new chapters as often as I can, so don't lose faith in me! For now though...Let's GT-R-DONE!
07/30 - Early Morning
The scorching sensations of the morning sun, even though its rays still battered down its radiance, eventually dipped out of the horizon as the skies turned to a bright orange with a small hint of scarlet-red. Though this magnificent view calmed the usual mood of Ryotaro Dojima, the clouds that murkily rolled gracefully through the heavens above started to thicken, revealing its grey and black colours.
As a tired Ryotaro looked out of his car window in patience, Nanako was sent fast asleep by the long hours that she spent waiting in the dusty cushions of the run-down seats. He gazed at her young face as she snuggled her head into the head-rest with a smile. "He'll be here soon, Nanako." Ryotaro said to the sleeping Nanako.
A screeching noise of train wheels braking on the tracks eventually came out from the entrance, making Ryotaro's head turn quickly in hope that he wouldn't have to wait any longer to see his nephew again. After a long while of neck turning, Yu and the others emerged from the entrance, filling the uncle with a great sense of déja vu and relief of his impatience.
He quickly shot his head towards Nanako, gentle shaking her shoulder with his sweaty hand. "Nanako..." He whispered repeatedly, trying to get her attention. Shortly after, Nanako's eyes were opened into a squint, stretching her arms and legs to relieve the drowsiness in her limbs. "Yeah daddy?" She asked her father tiredly.
A smile then appeared on Ryotaro's face. "He's here." He quickly said, making Nanako's eyes light up as they widened. "Really?" She squealed with a high-pitched voice, looking out of the windscreen window to check. With one quick glance of Yu and his friends beside him, Nanako quickly undone the seat buckle and threw the car door wide open. Ryotaro laughed admiringly as he watched his daughter run towards his nephew, quickly getting out of the car to make his way towards the group.
"Big bro!" Nanako shouted to Yu, catching his attention with a quick eye. Upon seeing his cousin once again, Yu couldn't help but give a wide smile as he crouched down, opening his arms to her to prepare himself for a big hug. Nanako saw his gesture and did the same. Soon enough, she ran into Yu's embrace, experiencing the biggest hug she ever had. "I know it's been a couple of months, but you look like you've grown Nanako." Yu said in her ear followed by a giggle in his ear.
After a long while of hugging, the two cousins broke apart from each other. Yu looked behind them to see the others pulling a face a adoration for the two. He stood up as his uncle came his way. Ryotaro stood next to Nanako, still keeping the smile on his face.
"Welcome back Yu. You're a few hours late though." He greeted Yu with a wider smile and a chuckle, holding his hand out to offer him a handshake. Yu smiled back to him warmly and took a hold of his hand shaking it like a gentleman. "It's good to see you again uncle Ryotaro." He said politely. "Ah, who am I kidding? C'mere!" Ryotaro said loudly as he gave a large tug of Yu's hand to bring him closer into a friendly hug. Yu was surprised at first, but then let out a short laugh before returning the hug. With a couple of soft pats on his back, they broke away from the hug.
"Well...I didn't expect all of you to be here." Ryotaro said with a baffled look on his face as he looked towards the others. Yu gave a sudden look of a slight shock to the others. Everyone knew that they couldn't say that they went to Rise's concert because they were told by Yu that Ryotaro didn't know anything about it beforehand. And the concert made Yu nearly an hour late because of it.
"Uh...w-we bumped into him at the last station!" Kanji answered wittingly, raising his voice slightly with a stammer. "Y-yeah...it's not like we went to some big event to waste Yu's time getting here, right?" Yosuke quickly said with a more than unconvincing tone. Hearing his clumsy remark made Chie face-palm with little hope that Ryotaro would let them all get away with it.
"Hmm..." Ryotaro thought with a look of disbelief. After a short while of thinking, he yawned loudly with arms stretching widely. "Ah, what the hell...I'm too tired to think right now." He continued. "Well, in a time like this I would take you all home...but I can't see how I'm going to fit you all in." Ryotaro said as he scratched his greasy head.
"How many can fit in your car Mr. Dojima?" Yukiko asked politely. "Only five, including the driver. Looks like some of you are going to have to find your own way back." Ryotaro deducted, sounding apologetic.
"We'll need to agree on who wants to go in the car and who wants to find their own way back." The detective prince began. "Nanako and Mr. Dojima are the obvious two who need to take the car, so three of us who are the most desperate to take the car will go with them. The other five will have to stay behind." Naoto finished, making everyone look at each other with indecision.
"Well I think Yu here needs to take the car after that accident on the train. I don't mind staying behind." Kanji offered with an honest smile on his face. Ryotaro looked at Yu with a slightly gobsmacked look when he heard about the accident, but he wiped it off immediately after pulling the expression.
"Ooh! I wanna go with Senpai!" Rise spoke with a desperate tone. "Okay, that's three of us who has decided. We need one more person in the car." Yu said, staring immediately at Yosuke and Chie who were arguing quietly as to who would get to stay behind.
He turned back to Naoto, Yukiko and Teddie who seemed to have made their decision. "I'm going to stay behind with the girls. Wouldn't want to get hurt on the way back would we?" Teddie said charmingly, only making Naoto and Yukiko slightly uncomfortable.
Everyone turned towards the loud squabble between Yosuke and Chie who were fighting over who gets the last seat in the car. "C'mon Chie! You still owe me for that other time!" Yosuke whispered loudly to Chie. "What other time you moron?" Chie whispered back.
While they were arguing, the others walked away from them, huddling up close to one another. "Hey Yu..." Ryotaro caught Yu's attention. "I was just thinking...since your back in Inaba, would you like your friends to come back to ours for a celebration?" Everyone's eyes lit up as the uncle spoke his thoughts.
"Yeah! That's a splendid idea!" Teddie shouted, not noticing the passing-byers that looked at him with a funny look. Yu nodded with a wide smile to his uncle. "That would be great." He said politely.
By the time they finished making plans for the evening, Yosuke and Chie seemed to calm down. They walked back to the group. "Did we miss anything?" Yosuke said. His face seemed to show some disgust as he turned to Chie. As they all told them about their plans, both Chie and Yosuke's expressions turned into excitement. "That's a great idea!" Chie said calmly with a wide smile on her face.
Yu gave a short chuckle before asking a question. "So who gets to go in the car then?" Both Yosuke and Chie gave another look of disgust before giving their answer. "We're...both going in the car..." Chie said with an annoyed tone.
"Huh? But there's only one seat left..." Yu reminded them, only making Yosuke more uncomfortable to say their explanation. "Chie and I...are...sitting on the same seat." He said slowly and briefly, only making everyone try to hold back their laughs with great difficulty. "It's not funny!" Chie shouted, only making it more comical for the others.
A long few minutes passed before they made their own ways back to the Dojima residence. Yu quickly got into Ryotaro's car, sitting in the middle seat as Rise comfortably sat in one of the seats next to him. "Wow, it's hot in here!" She said with a deep breath. By the mentioning of the heat, Yu stretched his collar out to make himself cooler, slightly sweating at the internal heat of the car.
Yosuke reluctantly sat in the last seat next to Yu, only to have Chie sit on his thighs with an eagerness to get going. Chie felt just as bad as Yosuke did, concealing her rosy cheeks well from the other three. It may have been awkward to watch, but looking at the two along with the passing landscape brought back so many memories for Yu.
As they passed the 'Moel' Gas Station, Yu collected the memories both good and bad of the first time he came into Inaba. Having gone through tough times and mysteries that were more than out of the ordinary, he remembered his nostalgic struggles and fights he endured beside his friends. That year of murder mysteries, Personas, Shadows and the infamous fog was the year that Yu never wanted to forget. And having arrived in Inaba once more, he could finally polish the memories that left out minor spots of forgetfulness.
As Nanako and Ryotaro climbed into the car, they quickly turned on the air-conditioning, activating it from all sides of the car. Everyone gave a large sigh of relief as the cool air hit their faces, saving them from the burning kiss of the sun. They gave the others a friendly wave before riding off onto the scorching roads of Inaba.
"Hey Senpai." Rise caught Yu's attention. "What should we do when we get to your uncle's?" Just as Yu was about to answer, Ryotaro interrupted. "No funny business I hope..." He said with a chuckle.
"I haven't really thought about it...how about you guys?" Yu asked Yosuke and Chie. "I might have thought about it, if it weren't for this pain in my thighs that I can't take my mind off!" Yosuke said in annoyance, only making Chie scowl at him with a rising anger.
She calmed down immediately after, but the true anger was hidden away. "I was thinking of another cook-off. What do you think Yu?" Chie asked Yu, making him jump a little at the thought of what happened last time. Yosuke's expression was also affected by the same thought as it went from annoyed to a disgusted and horrid look.
"What? No way! Don't you remember the last time we had a cook-off?" Yosuke shouted, making Chie nearly fall off of his lap. "Mystery Food X will not be on the menu for Yu's welcome-back party!" He gave his point sternly.
"All right, all right! We won't have a cook-off!" Chie shouted back at him with his stomach tightening. Rise then interrupted. "Aww! No cook-off?" She moaned, laying her head on Yu's shoulder in boredom and with no other ideas of what to do.
Eventually, Yu did some quick thinking to get one idea. He turned to Rise. "Do you want to cook Rise?" He whispered to her. "Yeah, I feel the need to." She said with a cheesy smile. Yu smiled back to her with the corner of his lips. "I was planning on making something later on as well. And I could use the help." He said, instantly giving Rise his implication.
"I can cook with you, Senpai?" Rise asked him with lightened eyes, slowly taking a gentle hold on his hand. "We can make whatever we want." He said with a few dishes and desserts springing to mind. Rise was too tired to express her usual gratitude so instead, she used one hand to bring his head closer into a small kiss on the lips. Ryotaro saw this happen in his back-mirror and gave a cheeky smile to Yu as he looked at him.
"Don't get too cozy you two!" He shouted over the engines with a big chuckle following after. Yu and Rise gave an embarrassed look towards the uncle and Yosuke and Chie oddly did the same, only making Ryotaro laugh harder with Nanako giggling beside him.
After a long and tiresome car journey, they finally stopped outside the Dojima residence, sighing in relief that the ride was over. As they stretched their arms and legs, they felt the stiffness in their limbs and muscles as well as their aching backsides.
Undoing their belts from their buckles, they swung the car doors open and stepped out, feeling the warm afternoon wind on their bare flesh. After unlocking the door, everyone slowly walked in, still trying to regain their energy from the drowsy car ride and the concert.
Yu and Nanako were the last ones to walk into the house, reminding Yu of something. "Oh, Nanako. I almost forgot!" He said, catching Nanako's attention. Yu rummaged through his bag for a short while, pulling out the Jack-Frost Doll that he won at Paulownia Mall. Nanako gasped with a look of surprise as she took a hold of Yu's gift.
"A Jack-Frost Doll? Thank you Yu!" She squealed in gratitude as she hugged her new toy tightly. "You like it?" Yu asked as he knelt down to Nanako's height. She nodded vigorously. "I love it!" She shouted with a high voice, giving her cousin a big hug.
"Senpai! I'm ready!" Rise called for Yu from the kitchen with a singing voice. "Wait there!" He called her back, returning the hug to Nanako and picking her up as if she was a little baby cradled in his arms. He comically ran over to the nearest couch and gently laid his small cousin down onto its dusty cushions.
"Want another omelette Nanako?" Yu asked with a huge smile on his face, making Nanako burst out in laughter. "Yeah!" She shouted in between her laughs, giving Yu a high-five as he offered it. He then ran off into the kitchen.
"Cooking already?" Ryotaro asked with a crooked smile. "It's a good thing Nanako went shopping before you got here!" As the uncle had his say, Yu opened the fridge and every cupboard in the room to see large amounts of food nearly overflowing in every one of them.
A long half an hour passed, and Yu and Rise were already half way through everyone's dinner. At that time, Yu and Rise's faces were slightly powdered with flour from a quiet flour fight.
The aroma of the omelettes lingered throughout the house, entering the noses of whoever took a sniff of it. "Mmm...Senpai, Rise! Is that an omelette your making or is it the best dish heaven can buy?" Kanji asked rhetorically as a compliment.
Yu quickly thought of an idea and then looked at Rise, who was holding an omelette in a frying pan. He walked over to her and held the hand that was holding the handle of the pan, making Rise blush slightly. Yu shifted his body so close to hers, that his stomach and her back were pressed against each other.
Rise turned her head to him with the blushes filling her cheeks. "Am I doing a good job?" She asked him sweetly. "Your doing a great job. I should cook with you more often." Yu replied to her charmingly, making her blush even harder. "Ready to flip it?"
"Flip it?" Rise asked in surprise as Yu started waving the pan around, preparing to flip the omelette. "I know flipping an omelette's weird, but it couldn't hurt to try." Yu said in reassurance, causing a smile to appear on Rise's face.
After a short and slow countdown, Yu and Rise threw the omelette up into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling as it made graceful rolls and somersaults. They both kept a careful eye on the omelette as it came hurtling back down. They held the pan steady and tightly, hovering it under the omelette's shadow.
Luckily, the only thing that hit the floor was the greasy liquid that was made from the frying pan. The omelette landed safely into their grasp, making Rise laugh in excitement and awe as she turned her head to Yu. "That was neat." Yu commented.
Another half an hour later, the rest of the omelette's were made beautifully to perfection. Yu and Rise laid everyone's meal out onto the small coffee table in the middle of the room, getting compliments and praise in return. Kanji was the first one to take a bite from his omelette, and after a few chews, a look of amazement appeared on his face.
"Whoa, Senpai! This is freakin' delicious!" He said with his mouth full, swallowing another huge piece of his omelette. Everyone took his word for granted and tried a reasonably sized piece of their own dinner, also putting the expression of amazement on their faces. "Wow, he's not joking!" Yukiko backed up Kanji's point, also with her mouth full.
In nearly no time at all, everyone's plates were licked clean of their dinners and not a single smile was wiped from their faces. "That was the best cuisine I've ever had," Naoto said in gratitude to Yu. "I'm tempted to know your secret." Yu gave a chuckle to Naoto's curiosity and tapped twice on the side of his nose with his index finger.
"Well, in any case, you can cook for me anytime partner." Yosuke joked, causing laughs and giggles to erupt around the table. When everyone calmed down, Yukiko was the only one who was still laughing, nearly to the point of not being able to control it. "Here she goes again..." Chie sighed, putting her hand to her face into a face-palm.
It took a very long while for Yukiko to finally calm down, but after that, Teddie lifted up his cup of lemonade above his head. He stood up from his seat and straightened his back in pride. "Lift up your glasses please!" Teddie ordered mockingly. Everyone did as he said and lifted up their half-full and empty glasses and plastic cups over their heads.
"Yu, these past few months have been very quiet and un-fun without you...and I knew that someday the bonds that we have made with you would bring us back together." Teddie said briefly, lifting his mug higher. "Welcome home, Yu!"
"Welcome home, Yu!" Everyone repeated with a loud cheer, taking a large sip of their drinks. As they put their cups back on the table, Rise quickly had an idea. "Who wants to play the King's Game again?" She offered everyone to the familiar game.
Nearly everyone's face became looks of shock and surprise. "Cool! How do you play it?" Nanako asked, unaware of the rules.
SO SORRY for the long update! Like I said, this will be a regular thing every so often. Anyway, keep reading and please review! I love it when I get your feedback! Until next time...CYA!