Genre: Romance/Comedy/Is Meta a genre?
Pairings: Naoto/Yu. Light Chie/Yosuke. Even lighter Teddie/Yukiko.
Summary: The Investigation Team gets together to talk about their next adventure and coffee mugs explode. Also, it gets a bit meta.
Conference Call
"Morning, guys," Kanji greeted as he walked into the small conference room. The other members of the Investigation Team all greeted him as he found his seat. The conference room wasn't very official, nor was it very impressive. The group sat on four different couches, with a large white table in the middle of the white room. An office plant slowly died in the corner as the morning's sun shined from outside.
"Alright, now that we're all here. Shall we begin?" Yu smiled as he stood up. "Coffee, Kanji?"
"Thanks, Senpai." The younger man yawned loudly as he stretched, sitting between Rise and Teddie.
"So, partner, tell us the news. Are we up for another game or what?" Yosuke inquired, watching the silver haired protagonist pouring another cup of coffee.
"Well, I have good news and bad news," the silver haired man stated, handing Kanji his cup. He sat back down and lifted up his suitcase, opening the locks with a flick of his thumbs.
"Oh no! How bad is it? Beary bad?"
A momentary silence filled the room as the others glared at Teddie. He let out a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "What? I didn't like them at first either, but they've been growing on me! You guys can't tell me you don't get a little paw inspired by my on the spot creativity?" The blond grinned, laughing at his own pun.
"Somebody's a little too dedicated," Rise mumbled, rolling her eyes.
"You have no idea. I've been to his house, he has extra bear suits for practicing scenes at home," Yukiko sighed.
Chie looked at her co-worker in confusion, arching her brow. "Wait. Why were you at his house?"
Yukiko blushed and looked away, trying to think of an excuse. "Uh, well-"
"Ahem." A finger loudly tapped against the white table. Everyone looked at Naoto, knowing better than to anger the actress when her caffeine hadn't kicked in yet. She looked at Yu and smiled pleasantly, and he returned it in kind. "Go ahead, Senpai."
"Thank you, sweetie." Yu kissed his girlfriend's cheek, before taking out several small stacks of paper. "The good news is we have another game open for us. The bad news is, this is our last game. We're all going to have to find new work after this."
A sense of sadness washed over each of the actors and actresses. Despite the long hours and restless nights, each of them had loved their role in Persona. To say goodbye to not only the role, but to each other? It was a terrifying thought.
"Hey...We'll still be friends after this, right?" Chie asked, staring at her lap. She felt a warm hand touch her own. Yosuke smiled at her and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
"Of course we will."
"Still...I can't believe this is the end," Rise whimpered.
"Hey. We had a great run!" Yukiko smiled. "Persona 4, Persona 4: Golden, Arena, Arena Ultimax, Q, and two animations? We were unbelievably lucky to make it this far!"
"I...I guess, you're right." Rise gave the other girl a sad smile and nodded in agreement with her.
Kanji let out a loud, angry groan. "Man, this sucks...With my luck, I'll be playing some faceless bad guy in some shooter or something...I'd be lucky to make it into a fighting game as some generic, strong guy."
"W-what about Teddie? He's the mascot character!" The blonde boy held back tears as he suddenly hugged Kanji's arm. "Can I go live in Catherine? Can I live off of cameos...?!"
"Teddie! Get off!"
"Well, there is always fanfiction if you want to keep playing this particular role," Naoto commented. The room again grew silent as everyone heard her suggestion. Yosuke spoke for everyone as he looked at Naoto.
"Yeah...I don't think any of us are that desperate."
"Guys, I know you're sad about our journey coming to an end, I am too." Yu stared at his girlfriend and stroked her shoulder as she returned his sad smile. "But we're all still friends, no matter what happens. That will never change."
With so few words, the group's anxiety melted away. Despite just being an actor, Yu was similar to his role. Diligent, understanding, courageous, with an ability to express himself and be allowed control of a situation. He had never missed a line, never missed a cue. The others looked up to him, both on and off camera.
"Now then, I have basic outlines for the game. I think we should all go over them and I'll write down any critiques we may have for it. If we're all in agreement, I'll tell Atlus and we'll begin shooting it in a couple weeks. Everyone okay with that?"
The group agreed and Yu began to pass out the copies of the script. "So, Senpai, have you taken a look at this script yet?" Naoto inquired as she looked at the cover.
"I haven't. Why?"
"The title says, Persona 4: Dancing All Night."
"...What?"
"Is...is this a dancing game?!" Yosuke exclaimed.
"Technically, I think its called a rhythm game," Yukiko corrected.
"Awesome!" Rise squeed, clapping her hands. "This is so cool!"
"Teddie has always wanted to dance!"
"I don't know how to dance!" Yosuke squeaked, his voice cracking under the stress.
"H-hey, when they say dancing...A-are they talking about ballroom dancing or samba or something?" Kanji wondered.
"Why is our last game a DANCING game?" The brown haired teen angrily asked. "I mean, shouldn't it be another dungeon crawler or RPG or something? Why a DANCING game?"
"Rhythm," Yukiko corrected.
"Whatever!"
"Well, I assume its because Atlus thinks they're popular right now. Maybe they want to end our part of the franchise with something light hearted?" Yu suggested.
"A girl kills herself by the second page," Naoto dryly declared. "Her hanged corpse is found by a child. The child is traumatized."
"..."
"..."
"Shit," Yosuke chuckled, covering his mouth.
"Yosuke!" Chie scolded, punching his shoulder. "What's wrong with you? That's serious!"
"I-I'm sorry!" Yosuke apologize, holding back his snickering. "I just...Dancing game, plus theme of suicide. They don't exactly match up! I'm just laughing cause its kind of a whiplash in mood!"
"Then, later on, we encounter a small army of Shadows. We dance to defeat them." Yu rubbed his head, noticing the atmoshpere in the room changing once again. He quickly moved forward to put his friends' worries to ease.
"Okay, so its not the epic finale to our adventures we might have thought it'd be, but I think it has some merit. Its fun, its unique, and we'll all be together for it. What more could we ask for?" He optimistically declared.
"For it to not be a dancing game?"Naoto replied, earning her an exasperated sigh from her boyfriend.
"Rhythm game, and I agree with Yu, actually. It sounds like it'd be fun," Yukiko smiled.
"Yeah! Whoo! Let's dance!" Rise giggled.
"Yeah! Teddie's gonna go wild!" Teddie cheered.
"I don't know, guys...This feels kinda weird. I don't even know how to dance!" Yosuke argued, only to be gently pulled towards Chie.
"There, there Hana-chan. I'll teach you!" She teased, lightly poking his cheek with one hand as the other wrapped around his neck and pulled him close.
Yosuke blushed like a tomato in response, before stammering, "W-wait. YOU know how to dance?"
"Course I do! You'd be surprised how similar martial arts and dancing are! A few changes here and there, and I bet I can wow the crowd with my moves! Don't worry, Yosuke. You can be my back up dancer." The boy continued to blush as he was held close to the shorter girl, but he offered no objections.
"See? This game will be a great finale for our story," Yu smiled.
"Sempai, there's something else I feel that is worth mentioning." Naoto handed the silverette her script and pointed at a particular scene. Yu quickly skimmed through it, before reading it over and over again to himself, his stoic eyes suddenly panicked. "This...What is this!?"
"What's what? They better not be pulling some cliche where one of us dies!" Kanji growled.
"Sensei? What's wrong?"
"Kanji admits his feelings for Naoto?!" Yu screamed.
"Wait, what?!"
"What?!"
"Huh?!"
"Oh...Oh, shit," Kanji gulped.
"Hm," Naoto quietly nodded as she drank her coffee.
Yu's grey eyes glanced at the blonde actor. His gaze sharpened as the paper in his hands began to crumple due to his tightening grip. "Kanji...You...didn't have anything to do with this, I hope."
"No! NO! Senpai, you know I would NEVER do anything like that! I-its probably just the fans! You know how they are, r-right? Shipping Naoto and I together, h-heh! Its totally nothing, I mean I would never do anything like that! I don't even like her like that, I swear!" Kanji quickly defended himself, waving his hands in front of his face as if to wave the tension from the air.
Yu looked like he was trying to shoot fire from his eyes and burn Kanji alive when he stopped. He took a deep breath. "...Yes. Yes, of course." He let out a heavy sigh, and with that breath the tension vanished. He smiled at his friend before drinking from his coffee in quiet thought. "I'm sorry for accusing you of anything, Kanji. That was wrong of me. I hope you can forgive me."
"Y-yeah, n-no problem."
Chie and Yosuke glanced into each other's eyes, before smiling mischievously. Time for a little bit of fun.
"Man, you can't really blame the fans, though, can ya?" Yosuke loudly questioned.
"I know, right? I mean, remember how Kenji practically led the Investigation Team into Naoto's laboratory in the Animation? How he saved her and carried her out of the exploding base? It was so cool!"
"G-guys! What the hell!? Shut up!" Kanji pleaded.
Crack.
Rise blinked in confusion, before grinning mischievously as well. "And let's not forget the scene where Kanji used his Persona to shield Naoto from Namatame when he was controlling Yu-senpai's body! How dashing!"
Crack.
"Who could forget the ski trip, where Naoto fell on him!?"
"Or the beauty pageant! Kanji was so excited to see Naoto in a swimsuit!"
"And who could forget their team attack! Beauty and the Beast! That's just cute!"
Crack.
The cup in Yu's hand exploded. Coffee stained his clothes and chips of the shattered cup bounced off his body. The hot drink burned his hand as his fingers twitched. "That's enough on that subject, don't you all agree?" Yu gently commanded, a disturbingly calm smile on his face. It clashed with his trembling fists and the mess now spilled on him and the table.
"S-sorry." Both Chie and Yosuke left it alone, fearing the tranquil fury of their leader. Kanji let out a sigh of relief as the teasing and goading finally ended.
Naoto simply continued to drink her coffee and analyze the script. "Hm. Interesting," she mumbled to herself.
"You guys should know better than to intentionally push Yu's buttons!" Yukiko scolded. "Honestly! What's wrong with you?"
"Calm down, Yukiko, we're just having fun," Yosuke replied. "We didn't mean anything by it."
"Personally, I'm amazed Naoto-kun is so okay with Sensei!" Everyone looked at Teddie as he smiled and drank his hot coco (the last thing they needed was Teddie on caffeine). "I mean, Sensei has to act out like a dozen romance scenes with a dozen different girls! That must be un-bear-able for her! I mean, seeing him have to be romantic, even kissing other girls! I-MMPH!" Yukiko slammed her hand over Teddie's mouth as she looked at Naoto and Yu. "Hm?! Whaff? Whaff'd I doff?"
Crack.
"So we all agree to return for Persona 4: Dancing All Night?" The group nodded. "And we're all in agreement that Naoto and I should not have any romantic implications with anyone else over the game's story?" The group nodded again.
"And we all agree that Yu and Naoto should see a professional about their jealousy problems?"
"...Agreed," the silverette sighed.
"...Agreed," the blue haired woman sighed, cleaning the fresh coffee stain on her shirt.
"Great!" Yosuke clapped his hands. "I guess this meeting is over then. Hey, Chie? Want to go grab a bite to eat?"
"Only if you're paying," she smiled, linking arms with the taller boy.
"Heh. Okay, just this once," he joked.
As everyone left, Naoto and Yu were left on their own. They looked at one another and sighed in unison. "I'm sorry for acting the way I did. I know its stupid to get so angry at those scenes with you and Kanji."
"You're only as guilty as I am. I understand your actions during the games are based around the players' input. It would be unfair to blame you for any of that." Naoto tipped her head, hiding her blushing face. "Though, I do get jealous when I see you with anyone else, but me."
Yu placed his finger the girl's chin and gently lifted it up. Two pairs of steely, grey eyes stared into each other. "Naoto...The games may end, the animations may stop, and our journey as far as the world knows could come to a finale. But my feelings for you? They will never end. I love you, Naoto Shirogane. I want to be with you, forever."
"Senpai...I-I love you too."
"Good. Because if you really did love Kanji, this scene would be absolutely heartwrenching." The two laughed and shared a kiss as they gently fell back onto the couch.
END
Where do the characters begin and the actors end...? I dunno. (Shrugs). A funny idea that popped in my head when I first heard about Dancing All Night. Part of me considered making this a full blown story, where the 'actors' react to stuff that's going on in the games and animes. But that's for another day, I think.
I hope you enjoyed the story. Have a nice day.
