Another chapter to the story. Kinda short and nothing really special happens. Clearly not the best, even I'm not that proud with it but I decided it was needed.

On another note, I'd like to thank the people who have reviewed this story. It encourages me to keep writing, so thank you very much. =)

Hope you enjoy it anyways!
Also, if you see any grammatical or spelling errors, notify me. Sometimes I don't check the stuff I write well enough even when I re-read it.

NOTE: Keep the following in mind when reading the story.

- "talking"
- 'thinking'

Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 4 or any characters in it.

CHANNEL 4

#Exam#
{Pencil}

Wednesday, May 2nd of 2012
-Cloudy

The sky was gloomy again. It was a wonder how the weather seemed to fit the situation so well. Exams were right around the corner and the students (or the majority of them) were focused studying. This time always brought a gloomy aura to the school and there weren't even any extra-curricular activities after school during the week of preparation either.

Kanji was walking along the pathway to the school, one hand in his pocket and the other holding his school bag. He grunted under his breath, recalling last night when his mother kept reminding him and reminding to study for the exams. It just wasn't for him. Well, it was since he was a student, but he couldn't drown in those books for long without falling asleep on them.

"Kanji!"

At the call of his name Kanji looked back and saw Teddie and Yosuke run up to him. "Hey!"

When they reached Kanji, Yosuke elbowed the taller boy playfully. "So…! I heard you and Naoto stayed at her apartment together after the birthday party." He said, grinning widely as they continue their walk.

Teddie gasped. "Huh? Yosuke! Who told you that? Kanji and Nao-chan…!"

A groan was emitted from Kanji. "Cut it out! It ain't like that! And I didn't stay at her house, dammit!" He glared at Yosuke who just grinned back. "I just helped her with cleaning, that's all! Then I went back home."

"Whatever you say, man." Yosuke winked at him.

At Kanji's other side, Teddie pouted visibly. "How dare you, Kanji! Nao-chan is such a nice girl! Who ever said you could just take her like that?"

The things they were saying certainly didn't help as now Kanji was fighting with himself to not to hit the other two or blush even harder than he already was. "S-shut up! Nothing happened!"

Yosuke groaned. "Seriously? Nothing happened between you guys? After we went and gave you and opportunity to stay with her alone? What a waste…"

Contrary to the other two, Teddie looked quite happy. "Well, now Teddie nows he can still have Nao-chan, just like the others girls, all for himself." He glared at Kanji. "You hear me? You better not do anything to Nao-chan!"

"Do what to me now?"

"AAaaaahhh!"

The scream had been Teddie's. The three guys jumped, not having noticed that Naoto had been standing by the gates just as they entered the school. They all stared at her with wide eyes and panting from the scare while the detective just stood there looking cool.

"Jesus Christ-… Don't scare us like that, Naoto!" Yosuke said, scolding.

"Damn, I was scared shitless!"

Naoto frowned at Kanji's choice of words, but sighed, letting it slide and pressed the matter instead. "What were you talking about?" She asked.

Yosuke immediately grabbed Teddie by his arm, pulling him to him and placing a hand on his forehead. "Holy-… Teddie, you're burning! There's no time to waste! We must take you to the nurse's office immediately!" Before Teddie could say anything he was already dragging him away from Kanji and Naoto at full speed.

"What? I'm not-! Yosukeeeeee….!"

Naoto and Kanji watched as the other two disappeared from view. Then, as silence filled the air around them, Kanji glanced at Naoto and winced when he saw her glaring at him. Of course, anyone could tell that that move Yosuke just pulled was fake, but what fault did he have there?

"Kanji."

He chuckled nervously. "Heh, you know Yosuke-sempai and Teddie… Going on and on about their teasing." He looked away for a moment. "It's nothing new."

"Does Yosuke-sempai bother you with the same subject every time?" She asked somewhat surprised.

Kanji hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, but he's been doing it since they first got me out of the TV."

Naoto seemed lost in thought. "He's been talking to me about you, quite often if I must say…" Kanji lost his balance for a moment. "So I was curious as to what sort of things he was been discussing with you. Still, my theory that the subject could be connected must be at fault seeing that he's been pressing this matter harder on me only just recently while yours seems to have started ways back. The way he has been acting feels rather confusing… and I can't say that I enjoy it." She frowned.

He shrugged and placed his bag over his shoulder. "Just Yosuke-sempai being Yosuke-sempai. Just ignore him if he gets on your nerves."

Her fingers grasped at the brim of her hat and the lifted it so she could have a better look at the much taller boy. "In any case, Kanji-kun, have you been studying for the exams? We start them in five days."

'She just had to ask that…'He grimaced for a few seconds then forced a smile to his lips. "O-of course I have! It'll be a piece of pie! No problem!"

The look on her face told him she didn't believe a word he had said. "You should study, Kanji. I'm sure your mother would be very happy if you got satisfying marks on your exams… We didn't have a study gathering this time, but I'm hoping you'll continue working at home."

"Yeah, I got it…" He frowned at looked somewhere up.

A sigh escaped her lips but she smiled nonetheless. "Well, then shall we be on your way now? Classes are about to start."

Monday, May 7th of 2012
- Rain

The students sat by their respective desks, some eyeing the papers on it, others were glancing at the clock and the rest biting their nails. The teacher stood by the blackboard, taking a look at his wrist watch then comparing to the school clock. As the minutes arrow hit the number 12, the educator clapped his hands together and turned to the entire class.

"The exam will take place now."

Naoto and the rest of the students turned the papers and started working on answering the questions. It was a multiple choice exam like always, so it made things slightly easier though some of the options appeared quite similar. Of course, this was no problem for our favorite detective. She wasn't the top student of the year but she was amongst the top 10 and with her good memory she was capable of remembering the information they had learned during class as teachers often went from there.

It was no problem for her. Her pencil was filling the squares, one after another almost as if automatically. She found the questions easy on her opinion and she was confident in the answer she picked for each.

PICK PRIIIICK…

The exam was indeed very easy. She wondered if the teachers were going perhaps too easy on them.

PICK PRIIICK…

Although perhaps she would have even less difficulty if there wasn't a sound disturbing her thoughts.

PICK PRIIIICK…

What was it anyways?

PICK PRIIICK…

She glanced to the desk beside hers. Rise was biting the nails of one hand while the other worked on the exam. The look on her face made Naoto understand that her friend was having a hard time with it.

PICK PRIIIICK…

No, it wasn't Rise. The annoying sound was really close too.

PICK PRIIIICK…

It sounded like… Naoto sighed and took a look around the classroom, making sure the teacher was not looking at her. Then she shifted in her seat and leaned to her right to see what Kanji was doing to be making such a disturbing noise during the exam. He was fairly big so she had a hard time getting anything. But then he leaned towards the window and Naoto was finally able to capture something.

PICK PRIIIICK…

Her mouth dropped.

A pencil rolled on his desk. Kanji picked it up, looked at it and repeated the same process. Over and over and over again…

Naoto slapped her own forehead. It shouldn't have surprised her as it did, but it still seemed ridiculous to see Kanji resort to such old tricks. As if it was going to help him… She groaned and shook her head, turning her attention back to the exam.

In spite of that, it should have gone better for her. Everything was going so well, but now she couldn't concentrate on the exam properly. She hid her face in her hands. The sound going over and over all the time.

PICK PRIIIICK…

Thursday, May 10th of 2012
-Cloudy

By the last day of exams, when everything was all done with… Naoto wanted to kill Kanji.

It wasn't just pointing a gun at his head and shooting. She wanted to stomp him, crush him, annihilate him, making him suffer for all he made her go through. Her ears were still ringing with that same annoying and distracting noise, over and over, and she could swear she had become insane after enduring it for fours days straight.

'Curse you, Kanji.'

School was finished for the day and she was found leaned across her desk like a dead man, plus the deadly aura that emitted from her. It sent chills down anyone's spine whoever dared to approached her within a radius of a meter.

Movement on the seat in front of her made her snap, out of a sudden. In a blink of and eye, Naoto stood, knocking down her chair in the process, and gripped Kanji's shirt collar with both hands, sending her classmate a deadly glare. Only her desk was separating them. "Kanji Tatsumi… I very well expect you to study the next time." She wasn't yelling, no. It was the low tone of voice in the way that she said it, the deadly intent behind it, the venom in every word that made it far scarier.

Kanji Tatsumi simply stared at her in shock, confusion and fear. Yosuke once said Naoto looked cute when she got mad, but damn, he needed to reconsider his words and see this side of her. Kanji didn't know what to say to her either. Rather, he was scared that if he opened his mouth she would do something unexpected.

"You… you imbecile! Do you know how much you made me go through during these fours consecutive days of exams? I swear I can kill you right now…" She gritted her teeth and Kanji cringed. "I'm supposed to do well and get good grades, I studied for them… Why? Why must you torture me so?" She was almost loosing it then, but she stopped and took a deep breath releasing her hold on him. Everyone in the room was looking at them. Naoto glared at him then looked away, grabbing her stuff. "You're studying with me, I don't care. I'll do anything, anything to rid myself of the pencil-…" He turned on her heels. "I need to go now." The last sentence came out much calmer and normal than the rest, as if she had finally come back to her normal true self.

Every student made way as Naoto stormed out. All eyes were one her till he was out of view, then they all turned to Kanji who was seating on his desk, his uniform jacket had fallen on the floor and he was looking all flustered and shocked. He slid down from his chair to the floor wondering what the hell had just happened.

"My, what in the world did you do, Kanji-kun, to make Naoto loose her cool like that?"

He jolted and turned his head to the side to see Rise leaning down and smiling at him.

Man, he wished he knew.

"Hahaha! Are you for real?" Yosuke said, between laughs. "Pfft! Man, I wish I was there to see it!"

The group was once again gathered at Junes, chilling out at the roof now that the exams were over. Minus Naoto who had walked out from the classroom after that little incident and no one had seen her since. It wasn't like anyone would dare look for her with her in that state.

"I was so shocked, Yosuke-sempai. Naoto-kun suddenly attacked Kanji-kun, right after the exam, ready to kill him on the spot." Rise giggled. "I didn't know she was the violent type."

"Kanji, what did you do to poor Nao-chan?" Teddie said in an accusing tone.

"Look, guys! I dunno, 'kay? I moved to stand up and she just grabbed me and startin' saying stuff that didn't make sense!" Kanji groaned and looked down. "Will, you drop it now?"

Rise hummed and giggled some more. On the other side of the table Yukiko was already in a laughing fit. Fortunately for Kanji, Chie came out with something else to talk about. "Hey guys, are you excited about the Courage Test, next week?" She asked.

When Kanji cocked an eyebrow and looked around when the others reacted accordingly, it was pretty obvious that he was the only one who didn't know what Chie was talking about.

Yosuke bobbed his head a little. "Well, I'm not that excited about it. But it is something new that we're doing this year and it is better than picking up trash, so… maybe it'll be fun. It would have been better if they had this planned last year, though."

Kanji blinked. "What're you guys talking about?"

There was a moment of silence where everyone turned to face Kanji. "… Kanji, don't you ever look at the notice board?" That had been Chie, who had leaned forward in her chair.

"The student council decided that this year we would hold a school activity we've never done before. Its objective is to improve sociality and even maybe help out the crushes in school. Well, the last part is just what the girls have been saying…" Yukiko said, smiling. "It'll be during the night, after school, and students will have to go through a dark and dangerous path near the shrine then meet with someone at the end where it would mark their success in passing the Courage Test. All students are invited to participate. It's not mandatory since it won't affect our grades and it's not part of the school program."

Yosuke frowned. "Yeah, but the third years are the ones who plan the thing and scare people."

He received a soft punch in the arm from Chie. "But that's where the fun lies!" She said in excitement. "I think scaring others is way more fun than being the one to get the scare. We'll have to do our best, scare as much people as possible and make them turn back."

"Well, the second and first years get their fun too!" Rise leaned back on her chair and smiled. "We get to go in pairs so we won't freak out as much. Of course, I'm sure some couples will be formed after this. The girls are all excited. It's been the topic of the month."

Yosuke bit the inside of his mouth. "Yeah, that's true. So I guess our mission is not only to test courage but also test out some of the love birds out there. Kinda like a match-making program, huh?"

"Nothing will scare Teddie! He will win this test and protect his fair maiden." Teddie told the others, using his charming voice.

Finishing drinking his soda, Yosuke looked at Teddie and snickered. "Who would want to go with you? You'll probably be the one to scream and run."

Teddie gasped and pouted. "How mean!"

Rise turned to Kanji and winked at him. "That's right, Kanji-kun, you'll want to go with Naoto-kun, right? You'll protect her! I'm sure anyone would feel safe around someone as tall as you."

His cheeks blushed again and he glared at her. "W-what? I ain't interested in this stuff!"

She smiled. "Come on! It'll be fun!"

Kanji looked to the side, avoiding Rise's gaze. Although he did wonder if this was another chance fate was giving him. Would Naoto agree to go with him? He wondered if it was a good idea… the pint-sized detective seemed mad at him, judging from the earlier incident. She probably wouldn't want to see him nearby for days.

Ignore my ridiculous attempt to make the sound of a pencil hitting the desk and rolling on it. It was the closest I could get. Haha...
For those who are not familiar with Kanji's trick, what he did was write the choices (A, B, C...) on the sides of the pencil, rolling it and picking the answer that would be facing upwards. It's a matter of chance of course.

Thank you for reading. ^^