Author's notes: Thank you all for your reviews. I hope you like this new chapter. Please review and let me know what you like. I find writing humor to be hard for me at times. I surprised myself by how fast I got this chapter written.

Fallout Chapter 3

Kanji arrives at school, moments before the bell rings. If people can't see him, they won't laugh at him. Maybe he can just avoid people until everyone forgets about that "Beefcake Emperor" thing. He slides into his seat near the back of the classroom and glances around. Naoto is across the classroom near the front. She is writing in a notebook, only looking up once the teacher starts to speak. Speaking of people to avoid. Kanji thinks. But the problem is I don't want to avoid Naoto. I enjoy spending time with her, and gazing at her, and imagining her in….. Kanji cuts that thought short before he ends up with a nosebleed in the middle of class.

"Kanji Tatsumi." His teacher calls out.

"Here!"

"I wasn't taking role…." His teacher says. A snicker of laughter rolls through the classroom. "I was asking if you could identify this kanji for me."

Kanji's face reddens and he looks up at the board. He squints to see the kanji that she is pointing to. "I uh….. I dunno."

The teacher rolls her eyes, "These are your new vocabulary kanji for the week. I want all of you to copy them, and look up their definitions in your text books."

Kanji sighs and pulls out his notebook. He glances around, he can swear that he can still hear giggling. He looks up, and sure enough two girls have their heads bent together and are glancing his way and laughing. Anger builds up in Kanji, but tries his best to ignore them and copy the kanji from the board.

Meanwhile Chie's class is out on the sport field having gym. As luck would have it, Yukiko and Chie are on opposite teams. Yet somehow Chie got put on the same team as Yosuke.

"Why do I have to be the goalie?" Chie complains to Yosuke, who is nearby as defender. "I don't even like soccer."

Yosuke shrugs. "Beats me." Yosuke glances over at the other defender, who is keeping an intense eye on the ball, even though it is on the other end of the field. "You know Chie, I was thinking about what you said yesterday."

"Yeah, what about it."

"I was thinking maybe you'd like to go out to ice cream after school with me, today."

Chie shrugs. "Sure."

Just then the ball starts coming towards their end of the field. The other defender intercepts the opposing team, and Yosuke trails after them. After a short scuffle the ball is once again sent back towards the other end of the field.

Yosuke comes limping towards the goal and sits down. "That guy kicked me."

Chie shrugs, "So, it happens."

"No I mean on purpose. I wasn't anywhere near the ball and he just up and kicked me in the leg." Yosuke says, rubbing his shin.

Chie shrugs. "Well ya better get up, the balls headed back towards us."

Before Yosuke can get back on his feet the ball sails through the air and hits Chie in the head and bouncing into the goal. "I think I see what you mean." Chie says, rubbing the side of her head.

Once the lunch bell rings Kanji speeds out of the classroom, stopping only to grab his lunch out of his locker, before sitting under a tree near the edge of school grounds. After Kanji finishes about half his lunch a thin first year boy with a wide smile walks towards Kanji.

"Hi!" The boy says.

Kanji glances up, swallows his mouthful. "Uh hi."

"Can I share your shade?"

"Uh….Yeah… I guess so." Kanji shrugs. At least not everyone is avoiding me. He thinks. But I don't even think I know this kid.

The boy sits down next to Kanji, closer than really necessary. "My name is Taku Meto."

"Uh….hi….. I'm Kanji Tatsumi." Kanji replies.

"I know." Taku says, smiling. "I made some cookies to go with my lunch, you want to share."

"Uh… well um…. Yeah…. Uh… why not."

Taku opens his bento and spreads out and small handkerchief on the ground and starts to unpack his lunch. He sets the cookie down next to the rest of Kanji's lunch, with a smile. Kanji is back to shoving food into his mouth, ignoring the kid.

"I uh…..thanks," Kanji says around a mouth full of food.

"You know I think I want to get to know you."

"Uh…. Why?" Kanji asks, taking another bite.

Taku grins and bats his eyelashes. "I've always been interested in the bad boys."

Kanji spits out the rice. "What?!"

"I'm into bad boys. I was hoping that I would be your type."

Kanji glances around his face flushed. "Hell no! I ain't gay!"

Taku gives Kanji a shy smile. "Come on. Your secret is out, no reason to hide in the closet anymore."

"You got me wrong," Kanji says gathering up his lunch, minus the cookie.

"If you say so," Taku says, with a smirk on his face.

Kanji heads back towards the school, trying his best not to run. He shoves his half eaten lunch in his locker, no longer having any appetite. He closes his locker and rests his head against the cold metal. What the Hell am I going to do about that kid?! He thinks.

"Kanji-kun, are you ill?" A voice asks from behind him.

Kanji turns to see Naoto standing nearby with a concerned look on her face. "Uh, hi Naoto-kun." Kanji says, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing. "I'm fine, nothin' wrong."

"I see." She says, a doubtful look on her face.

As she starts to turn away Kanji finds that his hand is reaching out towards her. "Hey um….. I uh…. Sorry I kinda ditched ya yesterday."

Naoto nods, "Apology accepted."

"Well…. I uh…. You know I kinda need some help with…. The vocab kanji from this morning."

Naoto nods, "I will meet you in our classroom. I can help you while finishing my lunch. I was just headed to the restroom."

Kanji smiles and nods before heading into his classroom, he didn't even notice the snickers that followed him. By the time Kanji dug out his notebook and text book Naoto had returned. She starts nibbling at her lunch while standing next to Kanji's desk. "So what the trouble?"

"I uh….. I'm… kinda having a hard time finding the definitions in the book."

Naoto takes a bite of her food and glances at Kanji's notebook. Her brow furrows for a moment. She then sets down her food and picks up Kanji's pencil and starts to erase the kanjis. "You've written them down wrong. No wonder you were having trouble." Naoto then proceeds to write the correct kanjis as well as the pronunciation. "You should be able to find the definitions much easier to locate now."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Naoto says, picking up her food and heading back towards her seat to finish her lunch.

Kanji watches her go, enjoying the view of her backside. When she sits down he shakes his head slightly, and looks down at his notebook. He has work to do. He promised his mom that he'd do better this year.

Yosuke limps across the roof and sets his steaming bowl of noodles down next to Chie, who is already eating her ramen with gusto. "Why ya limping?" Chie asks. "Your leg can't still hurt that bad from soccer this morning."

"No some girl stepped on my foot while I was in line to get the hot water for my ramen. I swear she did it on purpose too!"

"Come on, it could have been an accident." Yukiko says.

Yosuke rolls his eyes. "I mean I could handle being ignored, but people seem to be going out of their way to be mean to me."

Chie shrugs and continues to eat her noodles. "Don't know what to tell ya." She says, around a mouthful of food.

"You know Chie, it's really disgusting when you talk with your mouthful."

"Hey!" She says, raising her fist.

"No hitting, remember." Yosuke says, pointing to her raised fist. "Besides don't you think I'm being hurt enough by other people as it is?"

Chie rolls her eyes. "So when is our first date?"

"Ice cream; after school, remember?"

"What? That's not a date."

Yosuke shrugs, "Us alone, walking around the park holding hands and eating ice cream. Sounds like a date to me. Besides you've already agreed to it."

Chie groans, "Fine."

After school Kanji opens his locker to find a small bag and a note. He opens the note to read it. "Kanji—you forgot your cookie. I'll be around when you're ready. Call me. 555-987-6543. –Taku" He rips the note in half then shoves it and the small bag into his backpack, not caring if the cookie gets smashed to bits. He walks out of the school in a huff, not noticing Chie and Yosuke standing at the gates.

"All I'm saying is that if you want people to notice we might as well start holding hands now, by the school." Yosuke says, holding out his hand. Chie looks down at his hand as if it was a snake that could bite her at any moment. "This was your idea." Yosuke reminds her.

Chie sighs, and reaches out to hold his hand. It is warm and seems to fit perfectly with hers. She glances over at his smirking face. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Maybe I am, but it was still your idea." He says, as he pulls her along. "You know though, it doesn't look very convincing if you stand so far away from me."

Chie takes a half step closer to Yosuke. "So, you said you want to get ice cream."

"Yeah, I've seen an ice cream truck stop near the park a few times. I figure if we walk around for a while we should spot it."

"Fine," She says, as Yosuke leads her off toward the park.

The walk around the park, after a while Chie starts to relax and seems to have forgotten that she is even holding on to Yosuke's hand. As they near the playground Chie looks over at the swings. "You know when I was a kid the swings were my favorite. It almost felt like I was flying sometimes."

"Well let's see how high we can get you." Yosuke says, dropping his book bag on the grass and pulling Chie towards the swings.

"Don't be silly, it's for little kids." Chie protests.

"Come on, it'll be fun."

Chie sighs and sets her bag down next to Yosuke's. He pushes her into the swing and takes hold of the chains. "You ready?"

Chie nods and Yosuke starts to push the swing. Within a few minutes he has her swinging so high that her head is past the top bar and she is laughing uncontrollably. Yosuke can't help but smile at her joyful laugh. "Hey, I'm gonna jump." She warns Yosuke.

Yosuke steps off to the side and watches as Chie bounds off the swing, flying through the air to land in the sand. He can't help but giggle to himself and think. I bet she has no clue what a great view I got of her tight bike shorts when her skirt flew up. He steps over to where Chie landed and holds out his hand. "I told ya that you'd have fun."

"I don't think I've ever been that high up before."

As Yosuke helps Chie up he hears the music of the ice cream truck. "Hey, right on time." He says, pointing to the truck pulling up. Still holding on to her hand he walks over and picks up his bag before headed towards the ice cream truck. "So what kind do you want?"

"Just a chocolate cone." Chie says.

Yosuke lets go of Chie's hand to get his wallet out of his bag and walk up to the truck. "A chocolate cone, and a vanilla cone please." He says, handing up a bill.

The driver takes the money, gives Yosuke the change and the two cones. Yosuke smiles over at Chie as he brings her the ice cream. "Here you go. How about we sit on that bench while we eat these." He says, nodding towards a bench along the path.

Chie nods in agreement and skips over to the bench and sits down. Yosuke sits down next to her and drapes his free arm over Chie's shoulders. Chie stops licking her ice cream a moment and glances down at Yosuke's arm across her shoulders. His hand is handing down, only inches from her breast. If he wanted to he could 'accidently' grope her. "Remember what I said about hands?"

"Hey my hand isn't anywhere it shouldn't be." Yosuke says.

"Just keep it in mind." Chie warns.

Yosuke just smiles and licks his ice cream.

Chie rolls her eyes at him and continues to enjoy her ice cream. "So what are we going to do next?"

Yosuke shrugs, "I dunno."

Chie huffs, "Some date."

"Well ya can't expect us to go all out right off. So you want to go back to my house and watch a movie?"

Chie thinks a moment then sighs. "Maybe you should just walk me home, I still got homework to do."

Yosuke smiles as he licks his ice cream. "Alright then, sounds like a plan."