Author's Note: I try to finish these chapters and start on the next chapter before I upload them. I'm going to try to upload a chapter on a weekly basis, but we'll see how that pans out. Especially since I have a sports competition coming up soon (debuting after being over a year after high school), so my mind is going to be preoccupied for the moment and I may fall a bit behind schedule.

It has been a few days since they rescued Kanji from the TV. He made a swift recovery and has become a member of the investigation team. The team was thrilled to have him, as the extra man power would make their expeditions in the TV world a bit easier on the rest of them.

Currently every member was sitting on the roof of the school, eating lunch together. They had just gone over the case and the new developments within it.

"Hey, Narukami? Are you free today?" Chie gives Yu a hopeful look.

"Oooo, are you getting some more private lessons from Yu?" Yosuke winked at Chie mischievously.

"Private lessons? Are you having Yu tutor you Chie? I know you didn't do too well on the midterms." Yukiko seemed curious now.

However, Chie ignored the pervert and her clueless friend, but clearly had an annoyed look on her face. She continues to patiently wait for Yu's answer.

After thinking for a few seconds Yu speaks up, "Yeah, I should be free. You want to do some training today?"

"Yeah, let's do it!" Chie says excitedly.

"Man, you two are workhorses." Yosuke groaned.

"They have the right attitude. I admire that. I mean we really don't know when the next person is gonna be thrown in. It's best to be ready for anythin'." Kanji nods. "Maybe I should do some trainin' myself!" Kanji flexes his bicep.

"Geez, what are these guys made of? I'm still sore from fighting Kanji's shadow. That thing hit like a train." Yosuke rubbed his aching muscles.

"Well I don't think we have to go inside the TV for a while, so you can rest up. Just keep checking the midnight channel and the news." Yu put a hand on Yosuke's shoulder reassurigroaned"Oh! We should be getting back. Lunch is almost over." Yukiko said while checking the time.

The rest of the group groaned disapprovingly, and reluctantly go back to class.

*After School*

"Finally! I thought that class would never end!" Chie stands up and stretches her arms a bit. She looks over at Yu, "Meet me on the roof whenever you're ready to go!" She says excitedly.

"I'm ready right now, so let's just skip the roof part." Yu says, as he slings his bag over his shoulder, "Same place as always, I'm guessing?"

Chie nods in confirmation, and they start making their way towards the entrance of the school. They chatted as they walked together, mainly about material that was went over in class today. Yu was apt at note taking, but no one ever saw him study. Yet, he has a way of always making it into the top three scores when it came to exam time.

Before the first exam and after Yukiko recovered, Yosuke, Yukiko Chie, and Yu had a study session together. Yosuke and Yu were goofing off the whole time and somehow Chie got sucked in to their antics, leaving Yukiko being the only one that got much studying done. Chie studied on her own at home, but it didn't do her any good.

As they neared the entrance of the school, they overheard two male students talking, "That's the transfer student right? Walking with Satonaka?"

"Yeah, that'd be him. I've seen them a lot together." The other male student answered.

"Really? I've seen him a few times with Ai Ebihara." The first guy sounds shocked.

"Whoa, no way! I know I've seen him with Yumi Ozawa too, but not nearly as much as I've seen him with Satonaka. Lucky bastard." The second student clearly had jealousy in his voice.

Yu sighs audibly and looks at Chie, who was frowning, "Are you okay?"

Chie returns his look and says, "Yeah, I'm fine. I wish people would realize that it's possible for a girl and a guy to be just friends. But..." She looks down at the ground, unsure of how to say what she was going to say next.

"What is it? You can tell me." Yu looks at her reassuringly, although she still refuses to look at him.

After a few moments she gave him a determined look and spoke, "look, I know Ai Ebihara. And she's not the most pleasant person. I just..." Chie looks down at the ground again, "don't want you to get hurt."

"Satonaka... Well, she has her positive sides. After getting to know her a bit better." He notices her start to look more uncomfortable, "And like you said, it's possible for a guy and a girl to be just friends. And that's exactly what her and I are. Same goes for Yumi Ozawa." He smiles warmly at Chie, was now looking at him with a look of relief.

"Hm... I think it's about time you started just calling me Chie. We haven't known each other that long, but you have seen the worst side of me after all." She winces at the thought of the encounter with her shadow.

Yu nodded, "I'd like you to do the same with me then."

"Why would I call you Chie when I'M Chie?" They both laugh loudly as they walk out of the gates. "If there was anything else to do around here there wouldn't be nearly as much gossip." Chie sighs.

"That's not true, although it seems the rumors here spread faster than they would in the city, people gossip just as much, unfortunately." Yu runs a hand through his hair. They walk the rest of the way to the Samegawa river while idly chatting.

*Later at the riverbed*

"Yu-kun, I want you to teach me how to throw punches." Chie says, getting straight to the point as usual.

"Sure, but why do you want to know that? You're doing an excellent job with just kicks."

"Well, sometimes there's not enough time to throw a kick. The shadows keep getting faster, and being able to throw a combination with kicks AND punches seems like it would be useful." Chie had put a lot of thought in to this request.

"You're right. Good call, Chie." He looks around at the riverbed, and the lone tree they usually train by catches his eye. "This is..." It is a familiar scenery to him, and he's mentally facepalming himself for not noticing sooner. He walks over to the tree.

"Yu-kun?" Chie is confused, wondering what exactly he is doing.

"When you throw a punch, you want it to be as compact as possible. Keep your hands relaxed, and clench them in to a fist just before the moment of impact. This will help to make your punches super sharp and compact. As soon as your fists have flown their course, snap them immediately back to your guard." He shakes many leaves loose from the branches of the tree, and assumes his boxing stance.

He stands there for a couple of seconds and concentrates. Out of nowhere he sends straight punches out at an amazingly rapid pace. It's hard for Chie to keep track of his hands.

He then walks over to her and opens up his hands. It would have looked a lot cooler if he had caught more than three leaves.

"Uh..." Yu is at a loss for words. He flushes in embarrassment.

"Um, what exactly are you doing?" Chie gives him a confused look.

"Well, it worked in this manga I read." He explains lamely. "I guess it's a lot harder than it looks.

Chie laughs heartily, " You dork, get serious!" She mimics the right straight she saw him do and makes contact with his left shoulder.

"Hey, that's pretty good! But you need to sink your hip in to it more." Yu demonstrates for her one more time.

"Like this?" Chie adjusts according to his instruction and she feels more power being sent out with her fist.

"Perfect! Don't leave your hand out there though, make sure to snap it back and reset your stance as soon as possible."

Yu continues to explain basic punching technique and fixes Chie's stance. Chie is a quick learner, and so he goes over how to throw a proper hook and uppercut as well. He has Chie practice putting the punches together while she gets used to shifting her weight back and forth between her feet to put power in her punches. After a while they both are feeling worn out.

"I think we should call it a day." Yu takes a deep breath and stretches his back.

Chie lays down in the grass and spreads out her arms and legs, "So now I know how to throw combination punches, but where do kicks get thrown in to the mix?" She stretches her arms tiredly, but keeps her mind focused.

"Well when you kick, you shift your weight in a similar way you do for punches don't you?" She nods, allowing him to continue, "Just play around with shifting your weight and throwing different strikes, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"It's still pretty early. I guess we did train harder than we normally do." Chie sits up and thinks for a moment, "Do you wanna grab something to eat? I've been craving Aiya!"

"Sure, why not? My uncle already told us he's going to be late tonight, so I can pick something up for Nanako too."

Yu extends his hand out to Chie, who was still on the ground. She grabs his hand and he pulls her up.

"You know what? We should race there. Loser treats." Yu had a devilish smirk on his face.

"Someone is in a good mood," Chie chuckles, "I've never seen you this riled up."

"You chickening out?" Yu says tauntingly.

"No way." And on that notion Chie speeds off.

'Dirty cheater!' Yu reacts a couple of seconds after she takes off running, giving her a good fifteen meters head start.

In front of Aiya, Yu managed to catch up to Chie, although he failed to overtake her. The race ends in a tie, and both of them are left breathing heavily and having to pay for their own food.

After ordering, Chie turns to Yu, "I'm surprised you caught up to me, I didn't think you were THAT fast."

"Well, I wasn't about to let you get away with doing that, you dirty cheater." Yu chuckles a bit, "I totally would have smoked you if you didn't cheat."

"All is fair in love and war," Chie says curtly, "Speaking of which..." She trails off as if contemplating how to approach the next conversation topic.

Yu looks at her curiously, waiting for her to speak up, "You said that Ozawa and Ebihara are just your friends right?" Yu nods and lifts his glass of water to his mouth. "Does that mean you have a different girl you're interested in? I mean, whoever it is has to be pretty good looking to beat out Ebihara, and Ozawa isn't exactly bad looking either."

Yu is astonished at how straight forward the question is and chokes a bit on his water. He contemplates for a moment before speaking, "You know what? You might be right. And you might not be." Putting on his best poker face, Yu decides he should choose his next words carefully.

"Order up!" A bowl of nikudon is placed in front of Chie and a beef bowl in front of Yu.

"Thank you for the food!" They say in unison and start digging in to their meals.

Turning her attention back to Yu, Chie pouts a bit, "You're no fun!" Chie takes another bite of her food, "Spill the beans! Is it Yukiko? I was right the first day, wasn't I?" Chie nudges his elbow and with a mischievous tone in her voice.

"Nah, it's not her." Yu dismisses the accusation, a blank look spread perfectly on his face as he eats.

"Then who is it?" Chie only gets more and more curious by the second. Little does she know Yu set up a trap for her.

"I think you know her pretty well."

"Really? Tell me who it is already!"

"This beef bowl is extra delicious today."

"Stop stalling and tell me!" Yu figures she's been reeled in enough.

"You, of course." Yu says flatly. He turns his head to watch her reaction.

"M-me!?" Chie's face turns beet red, and she no longer has any control over her vocal chords. She stuffers incoherently and makes crazy hand gestures.

Yu can no longer hold his straight face and he bursts out laughing.

"Hey, that's not funny! Don't say something so serious like that if you're just messing around..." Chie turns her back and crosses her arms in a fit.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. They say Yosuke is nosy but you're just as nosy as he is." Yu takes a deep breath as he finally manages to stifle his laughter. "Are you mad? Hey come on."

Chie completely ignores everything he just said. Yu has to admit that she does look cute when she gets all pouty like this. Especially with her summer uniform.

I've been hanging out with Yosuke too much. Yu manages to rid himself of his impure thoughts.

"Chie... Alright, I'll pay for your food." He sighs, but he knows this will turn her around.

Chie instantly perks back up, "I forgive you. This time. Next time you pull something like that, you have to treat me to steak. Three times."

Yu winces at this, "Give me a break! First you mooch off Yosuke, and now me?" He can't help but chuckle. Worth. So much worth.

"That's what you get for being a jerk!" Chie punches him playfully on the shoulder.

Yu and Chie spend an enjoyable afternoon together filled with laughter and food. After the meal, Yu and Chie say their farewells and head home.

End note: I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I wanted to show that they have gotten a bit closer, and I'm not 100% sure about the way I portrayed it. Any feedback is much appreciated.