Another short chapter. I was about to move directly to the Courage Test mentioned last chapter, but then I decided that it didn't make much sense. I thought it would be a lot of time-skipping and life isn't only about interesting moments. So here we have some more moments at school following the exams.

This chapter might have some spelling or grammatical errors like the others did because it has only been re-read. You may notify me if you find any mistakes.
Thank you. =)

Enjoy!

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 5

#Smiles and Faces#
{School time}

Friday, May 11th of 2012
-Rain

Quite surprisingly, the next day, everything seemed to return to normal.

When Kanji arrived at his classroom door he had hesitated to open it, fearing how Naoto would react after yesterday's occurrences. After opening it and looking inside carefully he saw Naoto at her desk as Rise talked happily to her from Kanji's seat. He was quite surprise when both girls turned their heads to him and greeted as normally as ever.

"Kanji~ Hi!"

"Good morning, Kanji-kun."

He had flinched when Naoto had opened her mouth but when instead of her deadly voice he heard a calm and serene one, he almost couldn't believe his ears. After what had happened he was betting the detective girl was going to make him feel her wrath or worse (even if he still had no idea what he had done to make her as mad as she had been).

Feeling a little uncomfortable and realizing he hadn't said a word yet, Kanji walked over to them and dug his hands in his pockets. "Uh, mornin'." he told them. He hung his head low, eyeing the shortest girl carefully. 'Maybe she wants to do her yelling in private…' he thought.

Rise had her chin resting on her palms and was looking from Kanji to Naoto, back and forth, with a smile from ear to ear. But when no one said a word, she saw no other choice but to make a move herself. With a swift movement of her body, Rise stood up from Kanji's chair and laced her fingers behind her back. "Kanji-kun, have you had a lot of customers buying your hand-made stuffed animals?"

Naoto raised her eyebrows curiously. This was the first time ever hearing that Kanji made stuffed animals. True, she had heard from Souji-sempai that he sewed, but this was different. She hadn't suspected or even come to think that the tall boy with the bleached-blond hair made stuffed toys.

On the other hand, Kanji had blushed furiously taking the color of a vivid red and had almost fallen backwards on his own feet. "W-wha...? I t-thought you said that was c-creepy!" He brought an arm up in attempt to hide his flushed face.

In reaction to this, Rise giggled and hummed a little. "Well, I thought it was at first, but then… the plushies are very cute. I was wondering if you could do one for me one day…"

Kanji frowned. "Yer just playing with me!"

"No, silly! I'm serious!" Rise smiled, finding Kanji's reaction to this too much fun.

Naoto looked up at Kanji. "You are quite talented, Kanji-kun." she said with a small smile. "You seem to surprise me every time."

Hearing a compliment from Naoto was making Kanji Tatsumi go nuts. Was this really the same Naoto from yesterday? "S'n-nothing!" He looked away from her just in time as Rise pinched his cheeks.

"Aww, you're so cute, Kanji~" she said in that high-pitched tone of hers.

Their moment was interrupted, however, when the door opened and the teacher walked in. The students all went to their seats and greeted the teacher in unison. Mr. Sofue smiled and called out the names before starting another history class.

After school, seeing as it was raining, Rise came up with a great plan. She knew it was great and that it would succeed because she was the one who had planned it. She surprised herself for even thinking about it. With that, she was sure Kanji would thank her.

Right after class she made a sprint for the lockers before Kanji or Naoto could get there first and quickly grabbed Kanji's umbrella (with some sort of difficulty since he usually placed it above the lockers). Then, she walked over to the nearest trash bin and forcefully pushed the umbrella inside. Kanji wouldn't be happy to know that she had trashed his umbrella, but the sacrifice would be well paid.

The next thing she did was go back to the lockers, just in time as Kanji and Naoto approached. She made sure she was well composed and acted as normally as possible. Years of acting made it possible for her. "It seems the rain hasn't stopped yet…" she told them when they got to her, her head turning to the front doors seeing the rain pour. Letting a few seconds go by, she then looked back to the other two with a smile. "That's too bad, Kanji."

He cocked an eyebrow at her in confusion. "What?"

Rise waved a hand and sighed, making a pitiful face. "Well, you know, because you forgot your umbrella."

"W-wha… I didn't-!"

Rise turned to Naoto who had walked over to her locker. "Naoto, don't you think you-"

Naoto nodded. "Indeed, it is very unfortunate. I too have left mine at my apartment." She then whirled around to face the two. "I'm afraid a run for the bus is scheduled. I'll see you two, tomorrow." Grabbing and holding her belongings close to her body, Naoto made a run outside, through the rain and out of the others' view.

Rise and Kanji stood there by the locker in complete silence for many minutes, Rise staring at the door and Kanji staring at Rise with a frown on his face.

It took a while before he finally spoke a word. "What the hell did you do to my umbrella?" There was clearly anger in his voice.

Rise let out a nervous laughed, looking at him for a moment. "Huh huh huh… huh… it's in the trash can." Finally she sighed and frowned. This was not how it was supposed to happen but it wasn't her fault she hadn't predicted Naoto wouldn't have brought her umbrella, right? She had this perfect plan, a perfect way of making Kanji and Naoto share a single umbrella and walk their way together under the rain. There had just been a minor slip.

"You did what? That was my umbrella!" Kanji growled. He shook his head and headed for the doors.

"W-wait, Kanji! I can share mine with you…!" She called out to him but he was already out in the rain… without his umbrella.

Rise groaned loudly and called names at no one (but were really for Kanji), before grabbing her umbrella and stuff and heading home herself. This had not been her fault.

Monday, May 13th of 2012
-Clear Sky

It was another week, a week many were both excited for and dreading for. Excited because on Friday they would be having the so talked 'Courage test'. The girls were all gossiping about it and deciding on pairs for the next Friday. And dreading because of that day, the day when the result of the exams would be posted on the notice board.

Yosuke and Teddie were already there, in the middle of the big mass of students, looking at the results.

"Teddie, what is that?" Yosuke asked, frowning while staring at the board.

The blond only tilted his head quizzically. "What is what?"

"That! What kind of mark is that?"

Teddie looked over the long list of students from the first year and saw his named almost at the end. "Oh, there's my name! How is it? It that good?" he asked with a smile.

Yosuke groaned and brought a hand to his face. "Ugh, are you kidding me? You're almost in the bottom of the year!"

Still smiling, Teddie asked. "Is that a good thing?"

"No!"

"Hi there, sempai, Teddie!" Came a cheerful voice. The two boys turned their heads to see Rise walking towards then, waving a hand in the air, Naoto and Chie on both her sides. "Have you already checked the results?"

Yosuke sighed and sent a short glare towards Teddie before looking back to the girls. "Yeah… not too happy with it though. Teddie isn't any better."

Teddie pouted. "B-but… Teddie did his best…"

Chie grinned. "Oh, I thought this time the questions were a little easier than usual! I'm hoping to get a good mark!" She then began to push her way through the crowd. "Excuse me, coming through! Coming through!" Once she reached a satisfying position, she looked over the third year results. "Let's see…" There was a loud gasp followed quickly by an agry stomp on the floor. "I don't believe it! I was sure I'd get something good this time! Why am I right behind Yosuke?"

"Well, it should be obvious! I'm smarter than you are!" Came Yosuke's voice.

Pushing through the crowd again, Chie walked back to the others. "You did not just say that…" She snarled. "That's not true!"

Yosuke crossed his arms and smirked at her. "It so is."

While Chie and Yosuke started another yelling fight, Rise and Naoto heard a couple of students nearby commenting about the results of the second years. "Man, that's a shock. This is the first time Shirogane isn't in the top ten, right? Who would thought she would drop her position like that?" said one of the boys.

Naoto frowned at this while Rise raised both her eyebrows. Another boy nodded to the one who had spoken. "Yeah, what's up with that? Isn't she supposed to be like super smart or something? So much for being an ace detective..."

Rise made a face and turned to face Naoto. "Don't listen to them."

Yosuke and Chie stopped their brawl to look to the younger girls. "What's wrong?" Yosuke asked, looking at Naoto who had become very quiet and was looking away from the others. "Oh yeah, the second year results are just over that side of the board." He said looking to the board again. The first and second year results were closer to where they stood so he didn't have to push past people like Chie did.

The former idol took a step forward towards the board and looked over the names. "Let's see here… my name should be… Oh there!" She frowned. "Ah well… I wasn't expecting anything good…" She then noticed Naoto's named much further down from where it usually was and and she found herself at a loss for words. "Oh… uhm…"

Naoto shook her head, her face serious, just finishing looking at the notice board. "It's not important. I'll get better next time." she said, her voice heavy with determination.

"Well, Kanji-kun's looking nowhere near good." Chie commented looking at the board as well.

There was a laugh from Rise. "Well, it's no wonder. He gambled his exams with a roll of a pencil."

At that, Naoto visibly flinched and the others looked at her. "Nao-chan?" Teddie asked, frowning in worry.

The detective shook her head and pulled her hat over her eyes. "It's nothing…"

After that, Chie turned to Rise with new curiosity. "So, Kanji-kun didn't know anything? He just went with luck?"

Yosuke couldn't manage to hide a snicker. "That Kanji…"

"I hope he realizes this doesn't help him get anywhere. Sheez, I hope he gets serious with this! It's no good if he fails a year." Chie placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot on the floor.

Rise simply shrugged. "It's Kanji we're talking about. Oh right, I wonder if he's seen his exams mark yet…" She turned on her heels. "I'll go get him."

Teddie turned back to Yosuke. "So… Teddie did good?"

"I told you already! No!"

"What? Teddie could've done better than Kanji! Teddie knows for sure that he's smarter than him!" The blond defended himself, glaring at Yosuke.

Ignoring the boys for a moment, Chie turned to Naoto. "So, what's up, Naoto-kun? You're so quiet today… You're not still upset with your results, are you? You still did better than any of us."

"It's nothing, Chie-sempai." The other girl shrugged and turned to walk away. "Excuse me, I'll be going back to the classroom. Lunchtime is almost over." she said, bowing her head a little and walking away from the others.

She didn't have to be reminded of Kanji's trick, more like she had been hoping that she wouldn't have to touch such subject ever again. The annoying sound had returned and she was fighting hard to get rid of it… again.

Thank you for reading. ^^

I seriously love writing Teddie and Yosuke. XDD They're so much fun.