junkosakura01: I'm sure you took notice of the chapter title. It's my dedication for the song and it suits the chapter well because the title literally means it. This is another long chapter, good thing you're able to keep up! This chapter is nothing but good vibes and a happy celebration (or if I can make it like that...). Um, well there might be a bit of emotional moments, but it's still party time! How ironic: I'm doing a party scene, but I'm not much of a party person... Play the song to fit the mood if you want! ^w^
CHAPTER 6
Want to be Close
Late Afternoon
In Front of Iwatodai Dorm
"Yep, the door's lock up tight," Yosuke tried to open the door. "They're still probably at their school or somewhere else, and Minato-san has no idea that we're coming. And all I can hear inside is the sound of a barking dog."
"Maybe that's Koromaru!" Naoto said. "Minato told me they had a dog with them."
"I thought dogs or any other pets weren't allowed in dorms?" Chie said.
"He said Koromaru is allowed since the owner of this dorm is their senpai, or that's how I remembered how he told me," she replied. "And they've also adopted it after it's master passed away, and is badly injured one time."
"Aww, that's so cool! I wanna meet this doggie!" Rise squealed.
Naoto leaned on the locked door and tries to talk to Koromaru, "Koromaru? My name is Naoto Shirogane, Minato's twin sister. I hope you can recognize me through my scent if you can smell it just through here. I'm sure this small space will be enough range for you. If you can also understand me, that's better." Koromaru stopped barking and whimpered. "Ah, it seems he did understand me."
"Scent?" asked Teddie.
"Dogs can recognize the people around it through their scent," Naoto replied, "It knows the people whose scent it always smell."
"Either that or Minato-san told the dog about you," said Kanji.
"No, I think she's right," Yukiko said. "The puppy Chie and I took care of when we were small; it has the same way as this dog. When we left it alone one time to find him food, it got bored and eventually caught up to us."
"You mean the puppy that got you two to meet?" Souji asked.
"Aww, you remembered Muku?" Chie made a cutesy expression.
"It's Chousokabe..." Yukiko seem to glare at the sound of the name 'Muku'.
"You already agreed that we named him 'Muku'!"
"Chousokabe!"
"Muku!"
"Stop it, you two!" Yosuke said. "That's a touching story untold, but save it for next time."
"...But I did agree that we name him 'Muku'," said Yukiko. Chie sighed and then chuckled after.
"What do we do now?" asked Rise. "Try calling Minato-kun, Naoto-chan."
"I can't, his phone is turned off; I think he's still busy."
"Or his phone's battery died," Kanji added.
"This is exactly the place in the photo," said Souji as he looked at the photo in his hand. "But we can't get in because the door is locked. We'll be trespassing unless anyone from this dorm comes to open it."
xXx
Approaching them are two familiar individuals; one is a serious-looking guy with a coat, and the other is a beautiful red-haired woman with a sophisticated look. They went to their old reliable dorm to surprise their friends, but all they see are teens waiting patiently outside the building.
"Who are you guys?" Akihiko asked.
"O-Oh, um... W-We're friends of Minato-san!" Souji said.
"Friends?" Mitsuru stared at him, "Specifically tell us what you know."
"Are you guys some old friends of his?" Akihiko said.
"Uh, not exactly, Sir," said Yosuke, "We're his friends from Inaba just this month. And this is Minato-san's younger twin sister, Naoto." he pushed Naoto in front of the two seniors.
"H-Hello..." she waved her hand nervously. "I'm Naoto Shirogane."
"Younger twin?" her eyebrow rose, "Ah, yes, I see," she smiled after.
"What is it, Mitsuru?"
"Minato had called me the other day telling me that he's not an orphan anymore due to a letter sent to him. I didn't have time to look into it because I'm a busy person."
"Hm, Shinji did tell me that when I called the dorm phone one time. Haha, guess I forgot."
"And who might you two be?" Naoto asked nicely, while feeling intimidated by Mitsuru's stunning looks.
"My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, and this is Akihiko Sanada. We're former residents of this dormitory during our high school."
"EEEHHH?" everyone gasped.
"We've come back here to visit them and to congratulate for finishing their finals," Mitsuru added.
"And since you're all here outside, they're still out," said Akihiko.
xXx
"If you'll let me through, I will open the door for us." Yosuke and Naoto stepped aside to let Mitsuru insert the key to open the door. Koromaru barked happily at the sight of Mitsuru and Akihiko and nuzzled his nose on their legs.
"Hey, how are you, boy? You've grown a lot!" Akihiko ruffled Koromaru's fur and gave him a belly rub. Then Koromaru licked his face in appreciation, "Whoa, haha that tickles!"
Then at the sight of Naoto, Koromaru hurriedly jumped onto her and licked her face, "S-Stop, it tickles...!" she held the happy dog in her arms.
"Naoto-chan's been slobbered by dog kisses!" Rise said and went to get herself in the same situation, "I wanna pet him too!"
"Me too!" Kanji and Teddie hurried over as well. But Koromaru suddenly ran and hid behind Naoto.
"You're both scaring the poor dog!" Rise yelled at them. "We weren't!" they replied.
"Don't worry, Koromaru's just starting to get to know you all," said Mitsuru, "But he's easily fond of you, Shirogane-san, considering the fact that you're Minato's sister."
"Hmm, looks like we don't have enough stock to feed the team and our guests," said Akihiko as he searched through the drawers and cabinets. "I'll go out and buy something."
"Thank you, Akihiko, it would be appreciated. Was your trip alright?" Mitsuru asked Naoto. "Yes, it was," she replied, "Nothing else happened."
oOo
"Dude! Why's the door unlocked?" Junpei's voice is heard outside. "Who's here? Are you a burglar?" The Yasogami group is startled, Mitsuru and Akihiko are smiling.
"Idiot, a burglar won't tell that he's inside!" Yukari is heard as well. "And why would a burglar even go here anyway? This is just a normal dorm."
"If it is a burglar, I will take care of him," Aigis is heard loading her hand cannons.
"Nonono, Aigis, don't!" they screamed and Minato held her down.
"WHOA?" the S.E.E.S. team is startled as well after opening the door, especially seeing Mitsuru and Akihiko inside. "Welcome back," said Mitsuru.
"Where have you guys been?" said Akihiko.
"IT'S MITSURU-SENPAI AND AKIHIKO-SENPAI!" Minako skipped inside with glee.
"What the hell's going on here?" Junpei gaped. "Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai? This is so unexpected!"
"I guess we're a little late huh?" said Shinjiro as he carried in two large bags of food and ingredients to the kitchen.
"You knew, Senpai?" Junpei lagged in with two more bags.
"Well, yeah," he replied, "Aki called in last night saying he's coming over with Mitsuru. I wanted to tell you guys, but that'll ruin the surprise."
"Yeah, right," Junpei laughed, "just admit that you forgot to tell us, Senpai!"
"Watch it, Junpei, or you're not getting the good stuff in today's menu."
"No fair...!"
xXx
"Naoto?" Minato brought in two more bags to place at the dining table, and then went to embrace Naoto. "This is a surprise. Why didn't you call?"
"I wanted to, but your phone was turned off, and so we decided to go to surprise you. But when we got here, you weren't here and the door is locked until Akihiko-san and Mitsuru-san came and opened it."
"We all have duplicates of the dorm key, and that's an advantage," said Akihiko, "But Ken's usually the first one to go in."
"They asked me if I could go grocery shopping with them," Ken replied. "And we've brought home 6 bags in total, it's full of meat and vegetables. I think there's some fruits and little snacks too."
"We're gonna get fat because of this!" he laughed.
"Idiot, the rest are for stock," Shinjiro laughed too.
"Hey, who are you calling an idiot, Shinji?" he gave his best friend a light punch on the stomach. "Man, I missed your cooking too!"
"Then you won't be missing it after I'm done cooking," he chuckled.
"Let me help!" Fuuka asked with a smile.
"E-Err...no need, Fuuka," Shinjiro gulped. But seeing her determined changed his mind, "Alright, you can help," he smiled.
"Really? Thank you, Shiniro-senpai! I'll go lay out the ingredients right away!"
"Can I help too?" Minako's making cutest eyes.
"Man, fine...you and Fuuka can help. I guess I needed extra hands."
"You should be since we've got a lot of mouths tonight!"
"Minako, let's do our best!"
"Yeah!"
"Ugh..." he sighed.
xXx
"Can we help too? We want to make something too!" Chie, Yukiko, Rise, and Naoto asked him with beady eyes, except for Naoto who looked at him with puppy dog eyes. (Aww, isn't that cute? It's rare for her to be like that, y'know! X3)
"S-Sure, go ahead..." Shiniro handed them extra aprons. "You find your places and we'll get started."
"NOOO...!" Souji, Yosuke, Kanji, and Teddie yelled.
"Shut the hell up," Yukiko glared.
"We've improved since the last time!" Chie declared.
"Yeah, and mine will taste so great!" said Rise.
"U-Um, don't worry, I can help make it taste right," Naoto whispered to Shinjiro.
"Just don't try to blow up this place," Shinjiro told the girls.
"Yes!" Chie, Yukiko, and Rise cheered.
Yosuke is sobbing, "I'm begging youuu...! Don't make those girls cook...! We're gonna be half-dead if we let them...! Souji and I were nearly killed when we ate Mystery Food X during the school campout!"
"Yosuke-senpai is right!" Kanji said. "Their cooking's much more horrible than death itself!"
"THAT'S SO RUDE!" Chie gave Yosuke and Kanji a hard kick on the stomach, "Maybe that'll make you eat our cooking with ease! And Kanji-kun, you never ate our curry at the campout!"
"When we celebrated for the capture of that fish-looking dude," Kanji is struggling to stand up. "we were at the mercy of eating your horrible omelets..."
"Oh right, it seems we forgot," Chie made a huge grin on her face. "We were trying to help solve the case of who killed the reporter and Konishi-senpai."
"Moron...! I won't be able to...eat right since you kicked my stomach like thaaat...!" Yosuke moaned. "You're gonna...regret thiiis...!"
"Hmph, you deserve that!" Chie grunted.
"What a lively bunch your Inaba friends are, Minato," said Mitsuru.
"Yeah, they sure are," he smiled.
xXx
Shinjiro's busy making tasty dishes with the girls (yes, first time for the girls-except Minako-helping!), except for Yukari, Aigis, Metis, and Mitsuru who's busy with the others. Minato sighed after thinking that he might break from total exhaustion because he crammed. It wasn't much of a problem at all since he's a genius, but not all geniuses rely on their stocked knowledge, you know. Junpei's drop-dead on a chair because of his exam. Akihiko took his time reminiscing in his old room on the second floor as he puts out his things for his stay there for a while. He and Mitsuru are in different colleges, but they're here to stay and enjoy the Christmas vacation with them. Koromaru is thrilled to see so many people in the dorm so her ran around while playing with Aigis, Metis, and Ken.
CHAPTER 6 END
junkosakura01: The puppy's name that Yukiko and Chie suddenly argued about is from Chapter 9 of the manga by Shuji Sogabe. I think I remember the puppy was mentioned by either Chie or Yukiko during their Social Links in the game, but I'm not sure... Play the game or research about it just to be sure. The murder case is still in the plot of P4 side, but like I said, there's no Shadow involvement; so that means it's just a normal case with extraordinary teens binded by fate involved.