Author Note: Ugh, where to start? First off, apologies, I guess. Sorry for the extremely late update. Sorry for the quality of this chapter (more on this in a bit). Sorry for the wait that will be the next chapter. School ended about a month after I published Chapter 3, and I did think that since summer started, I would have more free time to write. But then I ended up spending all my spare time gaming, watching anime, and reading manga. School is starting again now, so updates will still be infrequent. Again, really sorry. Finally, onto this chapter and my thoughts. Like the last one, I had a blast writing the start of it. But then, during the actual meeting between characters, I just don't know. I can't really write Rise, I realize I'm not good with bubbly, happy characters. Well, I tried. Feel free to tell me how I could have made this better. Really, be honest with me. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy (or at least don't vomit out of disgust).

The Justice & The Lovers

It wasn't as if he was here because he wanted to be here. It didn't matter that he ordered the tickets as soon as the event was announced, or that he was among the first few people to line up, or even that he decided to stay even when Junpei had completely flaked out on him (how exactly did he get arrested anyway?). He wasn't like all these people around him, with their banners and flags and all manner of cheering equipment. He was Ken Amada, a teenager both wise and mature beyond his years.

Or at least that's what he kept thinking to himself as he sat eagerly on the ground outside of Risette's comeback concert.

Gazing at the rest of the line behind him, he felt glad that he had been waiting in line since morning. Otherwise, he might be trapped in that wave of crazed and overly-obsessed fanboys which he was clearly not a part of. It was common sense, after all, to wake up at 5 AM to line up for a concert that would start at 5 PM. If he hadn't done that, he wouldn't be able to get the best seats, and for something like this, that just wouldn't make any sense. This was Risette of all people, and who wouldn't want to be in the front row for her first concert since her hiatus?

Of course, he had tried to convince the other SEES members to come with him to this once-in-a-lifetime occasion, but they just didn't understand. Only Junpei seemed to know that this was the biggest thing ever. The rest were, oddly enough, not interested. As unfortunate as that was, and with Junpei's extraordinary luck getting him arrested on this very day, Ken was left by himself to observe this concert.

Suddenly, a voice broke out over the loudspeakers outside of the concert hall, "The concert will be starting soon. We would like to please ask all attendees to enter the stadium in a calm and orderly fashion. Thank you for your cooperation."

Ken barely heard a word past "soon" before he caught the gates being unlocked. Apparently, neither did anyone else. As soon as the gate was partially opened, the crowd waiting outside rushed in, all hoping for the best seats. Had Ken been even a bit taller, he would have easily been swept into the wave of fans. For the first time in a long while, he was sincerely glad that he hadn't yet hit his growth spurt. Compared to fighting Shadows or the brutal training sessions with Akihiko, slipping through the crowd was a simple task, and Ken eventually found himself right in front of the stage.

Truth be told, he was a bit anxious about this whole thing. Before her hiatus, Risette was the idol. She had been everywhere, and anything with her as a sponsor had been a resounding success. Everyone knew who she was, and practically everyone adored her.

But she just vanished.

All the performances, concerts, and even the commercials ended; she practically fell off the map. Almost no television stations talked about her, nor did any news sites. Among her fandom, rumors had begun to fly around – that she was ousted in favor of Kanamin, or that she'd went home to work at her family's tofu shop, or even this one crazy one about her being involved with the murders in Inaba. Ken himself didn't believe a word of it, but he really was worried. After all, if someone as big as Risette suddenly disappeared, that would mean bad news for all of Japan, not just her fans.

"Well, whatever," Ken whispered to himself. "She's back and that's all anyone should care about."

As if someone had been listening to him speak, the lights to the stadium concert hall dimmed at that very moment. For a few seconds, the entire hall quieted, all eyes rushing towards the stage in anticipation for her arrival. It was almost as if someone had muted the entire audience. But only for a second.

Then she appeared. The audience exploded in roars, yells, cheers, and any other kind of loud noise. Ken himself practically screamed at her, amazed at how much seeing her in real life differed from seeing her on TV or on videos. She was amazing, in practically every way, as she ran onto the center of the stage. Risette stood, smiled, and looked over her immense amount of fans, until her eyes settled onto him.

It was a weird sensation, to be sure. On one hand, the look didn't last for more than a second. She might have seen something else, or someone else. But then again, her eyes themselves...it was a feeling Ken wasn't used to, as if she was staring directly into his soul. Almost like an acknowledgement. Why?

The thought barely crossed his mind when she spoke, her voice amplified by the stadium speakers, "Hey everyone! Thanks for coming to my comeback concert, I'm so glad all of you could make it!"

The wink, the smile, the flourish. It was Risette, the one everyone knew and loved, but somehow, she was different. Maybe it was because it was his first time seeing her in person, but just seemed so much more real and personal compared to back then. What exactly changed...?

"Alright guys, I hope you're ready, 'cause I know I am!" she yelled, interrupting his thoughts. The stadium roared back its approval. "Let's start it off with an old favorite, A Way of Life!"

As the concert went on, Risette went through several of her fan favorites. Ken himself felt only a little pride in knowing all of the lyrics to the ones she did sing though, many of them being his favorite Risette singles. Memories of You, Brand New Days, and several others...each one she performed flawlessly, and the audience, Ken included, couldn't help but cheer and yell out during the whole performance. She even ended with her newest song, Pursuing My True Self. It was only after the cheers died down that she could give her closing speech.

"Well, did everyone enjoy the concert?" she asked. A concert hall of cheers answered her, and she smiled before continuing, "Awesome, because I have one little surprise left for you all.

" 'Cause everyone here was nice enough to come to my welcome back concert, I'm going to pick one of you lucky guys to come backstage and meet me face-to-face, in person! How's that for a surprise gift?

"So...whose it gonna be?"

Ken would later on remember how insane the crowd went at this point. Nearly everyone began to scream their heads off, himself included. He even began to worry that fights would actually start to break out, as he could see people pushing and shoving others out of the way. Unfortunately, his height once again proved annoying, as multiple people began to funnel in front of him, blocking his chances of even being seen.

Only slightly annoyed, he kept his hand up and watched Risette scan the crowds. After a few minutes of watching her look over the entire hall twice, he wondered if this really was going to be a random choice. It looked like she was searching for someone in particular, the way she was looking. Slightly saddened, he was about to lower his hand when he heard her excited announcement.

"Well then, how about that boy up front in the orange shirt?"

Being backstage felt so unreal. After experiencing the Dark Hour and exploring Tartarus, he had felt nothing could even begin to compare, but he was wrong. Security, staff, handlers...everything backstage was in a rush and hurry now that the concert was over. Wandering up to the dressing room area, he was about to knock when he heard a conversation going on inside.

"Listen, Rise, you really can't just announce stuff like this without going through me first. You're really going to put me through a ton of paperwork back at the agency now... "

"Don't worry about it, Inoue-san. Besides, didn't you see how happy the crowd was? Maybe we should even do this more often?" replied Risette, who Ken recognized immediately.

"Fine, but only 15 minutes. We have a lot of other stuff to get through after this, especially after your little charity up there."

Letting out a sigh, Ken heard footsteps approaching the door. Stepping aside, the door swung open and an older man in a black business suit walked out and stopped in front of Ken. Thinking about it, this guy was probably her manager. At the same time, the man probably figured out that Ken was the fan that Rise selected. After a while of silent appraisal, the manager gave Ken a small nod and left.

Knocking on the door, Ken walked in and thought to announce himself. He entered to find her sitting in next to her mirror, facing him. Now that he was here, any words he had thought to say, like "It's so great to meet you" or "I'm your biggest fan", were completely caught in his throat. The way she stared at him, as if she was studying him, devoid of any emotion...it was just like before. Silence passed between them until he let out an uneasy cough that made the teen idol jump in surprise.

Ken had to break their staring contest because he couldn't help but grin. That was pretty cute of her, after all.

Smiling that patented Risette-smile, she spoke a really confusing statement. "Looks like Yosuke wasn't lying after all. There really more people like us out there."

Not really understanding, Ken remained silent, only giving her a confused look.

"No need to be shy about it, right? Of course I'm talking about a Persona, Ken Amada." She must have noticed his surprised expression because she continued, still smiling, "You don't need to so coy with me. Kanzeon is telling me all about Kala-Nemi and Nemesis."

There was no way this was real, right? Of course, that's right. He should have realized that already when he got selected to meet Risette in person. There's no way Japan's top idol could have a Persona. Just imagining her summoning was too creepy.

"This has to be a dream, right? You're Risette the idol, you can't have a Persona. It's against the rules or something. Besides, you knew my name when I didn't even tell you...yeah, this is a dream. Has to be." Ken smiles, knowing he figured out what's going on.

Smirking at him, Risette shook her head slightly. Ken makes another mental note of how cute that was while she talks. "There really isn't any use hiding it. Even if it's really hard to do outside, I can still tell when someone nearby has one. I think Yosuke also told me you had a friend who could do it too, right? Fuu-something. Whatever, it doesn't matter. I just wanted to say hi, is all.

"Also, knowing your name is pretty easy when you I can just look at the ticket you handed the security guard, isn't it?"

Right. He had forgot about that.

His face reddening, Ken looked away. So maybe it was true. Maybe, just maybe, Risette, the top teen idol of Japan, did in fact use a Persona. One that, according to her, worked just like Fuuka's. But then again, just how did she...

"How do you know about Fuuka?" he asked, staring straight back at her with as serious of a face he could make.

A giggle. Almost like it wasn't even a question. "I just told you, didn't I? My friend Yosuke met her and then told everyone in our group about it. Well, there really wasn't much else. Just knowing doesn't make a difference. Still, there must be more of you guys, right? Kala-Nemi seems really old, or, at least older than any of ours. What's the story behind you guys?"

His head sunk.

"That's...not really something I want to talk about. It's too long anyway. Maybe some other time...but, long story short, we fought and we won." He sighed and half-whispered the last sentence. "Most of us did, anyway..."

Refusing to look at her now, Ken stood up to leave. This didn't turn out nearly as fun as he thought it would be. With his back turned, he heard her voice again, much softer this time. "Any advice on what to do now that it's over? We won our battle too, and even fought a god. But what now?"

It was a question he had asked himself before. The same question that Aigis and the rest had, too. For a second, Ken allowed himself to give Risette a smirk before answering. "Nothing. Move forward and live. Going through all of that's changed you, hasn't it? You can't just go back to the way things were, but you have to move forward and live to your fullest. That's what Leader would taught us, at least."

"Nice speech you got there." Laughing gently, she stood up to exit her dressing room. "Nothing I didn't already realize. Thanks, though."

A quick handshake later and she walked away, off to find her manager.

Man, Junpei was going to be so jealous once he found out what Ken had gotten. Grinning, Ken walked off, shoving a small business card for Marukyu Tofu into his pocket, Risette's handwriting visible on the other side.

Stop by for a visit if you're around~

-Rise Kujikawa