A/N: This is what I'd like to call the beginning of Part 2 of this fic. This chapter in particular was started as one thing, then turned into one really long conversation with Aki, Shinji, and Miki about school.

Thanks for comments, Deidara'sgirl19, Angeli-Ii-Demoni, and Rewritten Ennui.

To briefly answer Rewritten Ennui's review, I don't think I can avoid not making it depressing. Which is why I'm going to put it off for as long as I could. There are other scenarios to cover first. XD

Expect to see more of Miki from here on in! Hopefully things won't be dull with her around!

Slight Edit: I changed 'thin black ribbon' to 'bow tie.' It makes more sense that way.

I don't own Persona or its related stuff.

Chapter 6
A Talk with Miki

Spring 1998

Orphanage, 2nd Floor, Boys' Room - Daytime

It consisted of a white button-up shirt along with a navy blue sweater. The black bow tie was, of course, worn around the neck, and the pair of shorts that matched the jacket completed the entire set.

Shinjiro cocked an eyebrow as he stared at this ensemble. Those clowns at the school had to be kidding; THIS was their uniform? It was so… he couldn't find the right word in his vocabulary to describe it without getting himself in trouble.

With a sigh, he prepared to stuff the outfit in his school bag when a voice called out, "NO!"

Brown eyes looked up to Akihiko, who was standing in the middle of the room by the bed on the other side closest to the door. To his dismay, the silver haired boy was wearing the ridiculous thing he'd just had attempted to get out of his sight, along with a pair of black and white sneakers. "Don't do that, Shinji, you'll mess it up!"

The brunette watched him incredulously. "What the heck are you doing with that on, Aki?"

"Oh, me? I just wanted to try it on. But Shinji, you shouldn't…"

"You look like a dork."

Akihiko bristled. "It's not about how you look, Shinji, we have to wear the uniforms to school. It's in the rule book."

"I know that, I ain't stupid." Shinjiro slid off his bed, eyeing the uniform again with slight disgust. "You'd think they'd come up with somethin' better than that."

Whatever Akihiko had to say to that, however, was cut off when the door suddenly opened.

The four-year old girl's head emerged from behind the wood first, her short silver hair in twin pigtails and large gray eyes looking about in curiosity. She stepped in the room shortly after, tugging at the bottom of her powder blue dress in disapproval with one hand while tugging along her old toy rabbit in the other.

Akihiko's brows furrowed, but before he could speak, Shinjiro interrupted.

"What is it, Miki?"

The girl looked up at him, a small smile gracing her features. "What's Onii-chan and Shinji doing?" She noticed the uniform and backpack sitting on Shinji's bed. "What are those?"

"School stuff." The brunette scratched his head. Miki was alright and all, but she tended to ask too many questions and complain about dresses and skirts whenever she wore them. None of the other kids at the orphanage ever bothered to play with her, so she always tagged along with her brother and him.

"School? You're going to school? Miki wanna go, too!"

"Not until tomorrow," Akihiko told her in a voice Shinjiro could only describe as a poor imitation of how the characters in those stupid children's shows spoke to babies who watched them. "You're too little to go, Miki. When you get bigger…"

"I'm NOT LITTLE!" Miki stamped her foot with such ferocity she would have probably put a hole in the floor. "Miki can go to school, too! S'not fair!"

Shinjiro buried his face in his palm. She unfortunately seemed to have adopted a couple of Mai's annoying mannerisms. The "it's my way or else" part in particular. At least she wasn't obsessed with pink, she actually loathed that color.

"Look," he addressed the girl, "if you want to go so bad, you gotta follow some rules first."

Miki turned to him. "Rules? Like when Suoh tells ev'rybody what to do and what not to do?"

"Yeah, except a bunch of grown-ups thought of these, an' not just Reiko and Suoh." Shinjiro was glad she was catching on. "Do you wanna know?"

"Tell me, Shinji!" The girl jumped up and down, dropping her rabbit as she excitedly clapped her hands together.

"Yeah, tell her, Shinji," Akihiko egged him on with a smirk. The brunette could tell he was glad he wasn't the one doing the explaining. He seemed to be pretty good with stories and sometimes comforting his sister, but explaining serious things without treating her like a baby? Not so much.

"Alright then." Shinjiro sat cross-legged on the floor, the Sanada siblings following suit. "First off, everyone wears the same clothes. See how Aki looks? That's what all the boys gotta wear."

Miki looked back at her elder brother, scrunching her face up as she stared at him before returning her attention to the brunette. "But, those are dork clothes!"

"H-hey…" Akihiko looked dismayed and slightly upset.

"What do the girls wear, Shinji?"

Shinjiro knew he had to put on a show for this one. He crossed his arms as he looked directly into her eyes, knowing either way she would instantly look disgusted once he told her the answer. "It's the most terrible thing in the whole wide world, you know…"

"Worse than carrots an' peas?" Miki gasped. "Tell me, Shinji!"

The brunette closed his eyes, letting out a sigh and wearing a disgruntled expression. "The girls…" he paused, hearing the girl inhale sharply. "… they wear… skirts."

"Skirts? That's not fair!" Miki complained. "Miki's not gonna wear skirts or dresses, 'cause they're for girly girls!"

Akihiko seemed to finally decide he wanted in on this, too. "But, Miki," he said, pretending to look stricken, "you're a girly girl, too!"

Miki's hands flew to cover her mouth, as though he'd said something horrifying. "I-I am not! Miki's a girl, not a girly girl!" She stood up and glared at Shinjiro, trying to look as menacing as possible (which failed, as she only looked sickeningly cute). "Those grown-ups are mean! I'm not wearing a skirt!"

Shinjiro's face relaxed into the normal, unreadable expression he always wore. "Then I guess you can't go with us tomorrow."

Miki's cheeks puffed out as she pouted, swinging her toy rabbit around as her four-year old mind worked. "… What's the other rules?" she finally spoke, sitting down again.

"Well, you gotta be this many years old." Shinjiro held out his hands, fanning all five fingers with one and stretching out a thumb up with the other. He gave the girl a moment to count before he withdrew, crossing his arms again. She continued to count on her fingers before looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Six? I have to be six?"

"Yep. And how old are you?"

Miki started counting on her fingers again, before holding up her own hand, showing a few of her fingers. "Four!" Her brow furrowed again, and she started to pout once more. "Aww! That's not enough, Onii-chan!"

"Too bad." Akihiko sounded nonchalant for once.

"What am I s'posed to do? Onii-chan? Shinji?" The girl looked frantically at both boys. "How can I be six years?"

"You gotta wait," Shinjiro said, his voice calm so she settled down, "till your birthday."

"But Miki's birthday passed already," Miki whined.

"It'll come again," Akihiko chimed in, "like the festival. Only next year."

"Is it a really long time from now?"

"Nope. It'll be here before you know it."

"Then I'll be six?"

The silverette shook his head. "Not yet. You'll be five. You have to wait till the year after that. Then you'll be six."

Miki turned to Shinjiro again, unsure. "Shinji…"

"Aki's right," he confirmed flatly.

The pig-tailed girl looked down, letting everything soak in. She then cocked her head to the side slightly, leaning towards Akihiko. "Onii-chan."

"Yeah?"

"When I'm six, how many will you and Shinji be?"

"Eight," Shinjiro said before Akihiko could start counting on his fingers.

Miki pouted again. "S'not fair. I'm never gonna catch up if you don't wait for me."

"You're not supposed to catch up," he said, more bluntly this time. "That's why Aki's your big brother, 'cause he's s'posed to be bigger than you."

"Shinji…" Akihiko blinked, surprised at his friend's words.

"… Okay." Miki simply nodded, much to her brother's surprise. A smile returned to her face, and she rocked back and forth where she sat. "Miki wants to play with Onii-chan and Shinji now."

"Sure thing," her brother started up cheerfully, standing up. Before he could head for the door, however, Shinjiro grabbed his arm. "Oi! Lemme go, Shinji!"

"Moron," the brunette chided him, "You don't wanna mess up your uniform before tomorrow, do you?"

Comprehension finally dawned on the silver-haired boy as he tugged himself loose and grinned sheepishly at his friend. "I-I knew that, Shinji."

"Tch. Sure you did." Shinjiro looked over to Miki, who had gotten to her feet as well and gazed at the two boys. "You're gonna have to step out a moment."

"Eh? Why?"

"This is the BOYS' room, Miki. And you're not a boy."

"Oh!" The girl nodded once, picked up her rabbit, and ran to the door. "Hurry up! Miki wants Onii-chan to push her on the swing!" She swung it open, stepped out, and almost slammed it shut behind her.

The boys waited until her steps faded beyond the door, then exchanged looks. "Do I really look like a dork, Shinji?"