*Chapter 7: The Long Summer*
Summer break had finally arrived, and all of the past events had been a distant memory to everyone. Sure, they still had to serve their punishment, but they were happy doing it together. Their parents had grown a lot more understanding about their kids and their relationships, the "plan" Yosuke had come up with surprisingly worked, disregarding the whole police department freaking out. Teddie had moved in with Rise, living in her closet and still working at Junes, unbeknownst to her grandmother. The eight we're still really close, still together in their couples. Naoto and Kanji had grown remarkably closer, the two hanging out constantly around the school, Yosuke and Yukiko happily flirting and eating together during lunch. Of course Yu and Chie were still together; in fact they we're getting ready to head back to Tokyo and spend the week together with Yu's parents. The eight sat around in Dojima's living room, Nanako messing around with her origami animals she and Yu had made.
"That's a beautiful crane," Rise said as she looked at Nanako's toys, "You've got dogs and frogs and cranes and a cute little bear!" She held it up and gave it to Teddie.
"I thought I was the cutest bear in your life?" Teddie frowned.
"Of course you are," Rise said giving him a big hug, "I love my Teddie Bear!"
"So, Tokyo," Yosuke said as he took a sip of his soda, "You excited to head back Chie?"
"Absolutely!" Chie laughed, "There's so much to do there! We barely scratched the surface! I doubt a whole week there with Yu will even put another dent in that city. Know any steak places in Tokyo?" she asked Yu.
"Let's just say you're in for a treat," Yu said, "You guys got any plans for the summer?"
"We'll probably hit the beach for a little bit," Yukiko said, "Maybe take a nice romantic trip out to the hillside for a picnic," she looked at Yosuke.
"A picnic sounds nice," Naoto said, "I could get behind that. Maybe after you two get back we can have a nice picnic just out of town."
"You guys are going to be back in time for The Summer Festival, right?" Rise asked Yu and Chie.
"We will," Yu said as the group turned to hear the door opening. Dojima walked in, carrying a bag full of groceries.
"You kids staying out of trouble?" Dojima asked.
"Yep," Yu said as he went over to help Dojima put away the food.
"You excited to head back home?" Dojima asked, "I'm sure your mom and dad are eager to see you."
"I'm happy," Yu said, "It'll be good to get home, my room must be so dusty by now, it was really dusty when I came back a few months ago." The night continued and they all eventually went home. The next day Yu got up early to meet up with Chie at her house. Yu drove over with Dojima in the car, arriving at Chie's house. Outside, Chie was waiting with a large duffle bag full of a week's worth of clothes.
"Hey, let's get going," said Chie as she tossed her bag in the trunk of the car. The pair rode off, eventually arriving at the train station. Dojima said his goodbyes and drove off, leaving the two to board the train.
*Later in Tokyo*
"So, where do you live exactly?" Chie asked. The two were walking down the streets, bags in hand. There were various apartment complexes around them, all of them very high class business area, people in suits walking all around them.
"I live in that one," he said taking his hand and pointing at a yellowish tinted building a couple blocks away.
"Wow, it's so big!" Chie exclaimed as they walked towards it. They arrived at the building, entering a lobby with a waterfall wall near the entrance. They walked to the elevator, Yu pressing one of the buttons near the top of the panel.
"What exactly does your dad do?" Chie asked, "I never really asked, but all this seems rather luxurious."
"He does a lot of consulting for some medical companies around Japan," Yu said, "Spent the last year with my mom in Hong Kong." The doors opened, the two stepping out into the hallway, there were about four rooms on the floor, Yu walking to the farthest on the left.
"Home sweet home," he said knocking on the door. The door opened and Yu's mother opened it giving him a big kiss. Inside, Yu's home was a very comfy modern look and looking very clean.
"Wow, your home is so nice!" Chie said coming in.
Yu's mom grabbed her and her son's bags, "I'll take these, take your coat off and take it all in." Chie wandered around the apartment.
"Is this where you've lived your entire life?" Chie asked.
"I've lived in a few apartments, but mostly I always spent my time either abroad at some sort of boarding school or my parent's temporary home when we are somewhere else," Yu told Chie, "This has kinda been a permanent home apartment for a couple years now."
"Are you two hungry?" Yu's mom asked as she walked over to the kitchen area, "I've been making some curry, I hope you like curry." The two sat down while Yu's mother plated them some food and poured herself a glass of white wine.
"Where's dad?" Yu asked, "Is he napping or something?"
"His flight got delayed," Yu's mom explained, "I came back early to whip this place back into shape and his flight got messed up, so he's sleeping at the airport as we speak. He'll be home around tomorrow night."
"How many bedrooms are in this place?" Chie asked, "It seems really big for an apartment."
"It's got three: Yu's, ours, and the guest bedroom," She said.
"Oh, I take it I'll be in the guest?" Chie asked.
"I assumed the two of you would want to sleep together," Yu's mom said, "That's where I put your bags, but unless that makes you uncomfortable, you can sleep in the guest bedroom."
"No, it's fine," Chie blushed, "This curry is really good, I tried to make it once for Yu and it was a total disaster."
"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Yu's mom smiled.
"Nope, it was god awful," Yu said.
"So is that the way you talk to your girlfriend, insult her cooking?" Yu's mom scolded him, "I'm surprised she hasn't dumped you yet with that attitude." Chie smiled as Yu got scolded.
"Its fine, it was pretty bad," Chie explained, "Me and my friend Yukiko are really bad at cooking, we're getting better, but it's still pretty bad."
"I remember how bad I was at cooking at first," Yu's mom said, "Yu's father must have eaten more burnt and raw food than one should in a lifetime, but as the years went on I slowly got better, and with a kid you eventually become a chef, call it a natural skill that comes with being a mom."
The three had a wonderful dinner and relaxed by watching some television afterwards.
"It's getting late," Yu's mom said, "I'm going to bed, see you tomorrow sweetie."
"Goodnight," Yu said as Chie moved closer to him. Yu tried putting his arm around Chie, but she immediately shot up and went over to the nearby book case, looking to see what was on the shelf.
"Bingo," she said taking out a large album, "Family Pictures."
"Really?" Yu groaned as Chie sat back down next to him and opened it up. The first pages were pictures of Yu's mom and dad when they were young.
"Aww, your parents looked so cute," Chie said flipping the pages, "Hey, is that Dojima?" she asked.
"Yep, and that was his wife and that's my mom and dad," Yu pointed each one out.
"Your parents remind me of us," Chie said, "Ahh… that was creepy wasn't it."
"A little," he said flipping the pages. The two eventually arrived at Yu's baby photos. Chie cooing at each photo, think each was cuter than the last.
"You were such a cute baby," Chie said as she continued to look through the photo book. Yu reminisced as time moved on and they eventually arrived near the end. The last photo in the book was a copy of the the group photo the group had taken at the end of Yu's first year in Inaba.
"You put that in there?" she asked, "We aren't your family."
"Sure we are," he said, "You guys are the first real friends I've had in almost forever; I'll always be with you guys." The two shared a brief kiss, putting away the photo album. They got up and went over to Yu's bedroom.
"Here's my room," Yu said as Chie walked in, "You said you wanted to see it, and here it is. What do you think?"
"It's pretty neat," she said walking over to his nightstand and opening the drawer. She let out a large gasp as she pulled out a small pocket book.
"My Diary?" she begun to laugh as Yu leapt and snatched it away from her.
"It's just some stuff," Yu explained, "I like to write down some things that are important to me, life events and stuff."
"Please tell me there's a poem in there," she continued to laugh. Yu blushed and avoided eye contact as he put the book in his back pocket. Chie laughed even harder as Yu stood there in silence. Chie stopped and continued to wander around his room, examining all his stuff.
"I had this robot too!" she exclaimed as she was looking through some of his old toys in his closet, "I used to have this other one that was blue and I threw them out the window to see if they would fly, they didn't though." The two sat down on the bed, looking each other deep in their eyes.
"You need a shower," Chie said.
"Let's go take one then," Yu said as he started to strip down.
"But, your mom, she's right outside," Chie tried to explain, "Its wrong."
"She doesn't care," he said tossing his clothes aside a grabbing a towel to wrap around himself, "Come on." Chie began to strip down, grabbing a towel herself and the two headed outside to the bathroom. Inside, Yu started the shower and they hopped in, soaping each other up and having a good time. They stepped out and dried each other and stepped back outside.
"Amazing," Chie said, "I needed that." The two walked back towards Yu's room, but then Chie noticed something out of the corner of her eye, Yu's mom was drinking another glass of wine in the kitchen while browsing her phone.
"Ah!" Chie screamed as she hurried off towards Yu's room at an extremely fast pace.
"What's her problem?" Yu's mom said as Yu walked towards his room.
"Nothing," he said as he walked into the room. Chie was hiding under the covers as Yu dropped his towel and joined her under them.
"Scared?" Yu asked.
"Your mom saw us," Chie said, "I feel so embarrassed."
"She doesn't care," Yu said again, "Us city folk tend to be more lenient when it comes to stuff like this." Yu kissed Chie as she dropped her towel and the two laughed.
*Later that night*
Chie awoke to a loud bang, the sound of rain pattering against the window. She let out a large yelp as she sat up and looked around.
"It's just a little lightning," Yu said as he pulled Chie back down. Chie was softly shaking as she put her head on his chest. "Why are you so scared of lightning?"
"I'm not scared," another bolt hit and she let out another yelp, grabbing Yu even tighter, "Okay, I'm a little scared." Yu rubbed her back as she closed her eyes.
"It's okay," he said, "Try to think about something else."
"Remember that time the power went out at school," Chie said, "I was so scared, but you tried to comfort me, I'm happy you were there for me." She let out a huge sigh of relief as Chie continued to listen to his heart beat.
*The Next Morning*
The two awoke to the sound of Yu's alarm, slowly getting out of bed and dressed. They walked outside, seeing Yu's mom who was making some breakfast.
"Morning," she said to them, "You two hungry?"
"Yeah, but I was going to hit the gym," Chie said as she walked towards the door, "Want to join me Yu?"
"Sure," he said, "I guess breakfast will have to wait." The two walked out the door and towards the elevator.
*Three Hours Later*
Chie jumped out of the elevator, feeling extremely pumped up and ready to take on the world. Yu slugged out of the elevator, exhausted and covered in sweat.
"WOO!" Chie shouted as she ran towards Yu's door, "I'm starving, how about you?"
"I wanna go to bed," Yu groaned, "How are you so energetic?"
"Because I'm excited to be here with you," she said opening the door, "Your gym is awesome, there's so much stuff in there; this place is amazing!" The two walked inside, looking around for Yu's mom. They spotted a note on the table, going over and reading it.
"I left your breakfast in the fridge," Yu read, "Dad will be home later tonight, love mom." Chie sprinted over to the fridge, opening the door and looking inside. She grabbed the two plates and threw them into the microwave.
"You wanna go anywhere today?" Chie asked as Yu walked over next to her.
"Anywhere you want," Yu said, "We can just chill here too if you want."
"Hell no," Chie said as the timer on the microwave went off. She took the plates out and the two walked over to the table, sitting down to eat, "This city is huge, and we barely touched it since we came here last." The two began to eat, planning their entire day out.
*Later That Evening*
"Okay, now I'm officially exhausted," Yu said as he walked out of the elevator carrying several bags of clothes Chie had bought from various shops around Tokyo, "They seriously need to put more chairs in those clothing stores." Chie was still excited, rummaging through her bags.
"Yukiko is going to die when she sees how cute this blouse is," Chie said, "Plus these pants, they look amazing on me right? You said they looked amazing on me."
"Sure," he said as they walked towards his door, opening it and bursting inside.
"We're home," Yu said as he and Chie walked in. Inside, Yu's dad was sitting at the table with a large glass of beer and his mom standing near the window with a glass of red wine.
"See, told you," Yu's mom said to Yu's dad who had a sign of relief on his face.
"What?" Yu said as he gave Chie the bags to put in their room.
"I thought you were gay and lying about bringing a girl home and your mom was trying to hide it," he explained, "
"What?" Yu exclaimed, "I'm not gay! What gave you that idea?"
"Well, when your mom was describing her over the phone, she sounded like she was describing a man," he said, "That on top of the fact you never bring any girls home made me suspicious." Yu turned completely red as Chie walked out with a look of shock on her face, overhearing what they were saying.
"Well, I'm not a guy," Chie said, "I'm a woman…"
"I can see that," he said taking another swig of beer.
"Yeah, really good start here," Yu muttered to himself, "Dad thinks I'm gay… again."
"Well, you and Yosuke are gay for each other," Chie laughed to herself.
"I'm not gay!" Yu said, "I feel like freaking Kanji here."
"Who's Kanji?" his dad asked.
"This guy I know," Yu said, "He's kinda gay, but not really."
The four stood around in awkwardly, waiting for someone to say something not referring to hetro or homosexuality.
"I'm going to bed!" Yu's dad said as he got up, "I'm exhausted from the flight, good to see you again kid," he said towards Yu.
"Not going to ask your son's girlfriend any questions?" Yu's mom asked, "It is the first time meeting her after all."
He groaned and turned around, "I don't know? You want the rest of my sandwich I brought home from the airport?"
"Uhhhh… no," Chie said.
"Okay then, I'm going to bed, night," he said as he went off to the bedroom. The two looked at Yu's mom as she took another sip of red wine.
"He's not the best with emotional stuff," She said as she walked over to the bottle on the nearby counter, pouring herself another glass, "How was your day?"
"Exhausting," Yu said hanging his head, "I'm going to bed too." Yu turned around walking towards the bedroom as well.
"Like father like son," Yu's mom laughed, "And you remind me a lot of me when I was your age to be honest."
"Really?" Chie asked, "How so?"
"You look like me to begin with, I had that same haircut," she explained, "Plus you're really energetic like I was back then, you work out a lot, and let me guess you're favorite color is…"
"Green," Chie said lost in thought.
"Same as mine," she said, "Sorry, I don't mean to be weird about it… I'm going to bed too." She finished off the rest of her glass and headed off to the bedroom.
"That's so weird," Chie said as she felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought of her being like Yu's mom. Her mind slowly crept into thoughts about being intimate with Yu, which got even weirder. Chie pushed down all those emotions as far as she could, running off to the bedroom herself.
Inside, Yu was already passed out from a long day with Chie, some drool coming out of his mouth. Chie crawled in next to him, trying to think of happy thoughts.
*Next Morning*
The four had gotten up to eat breakfast together, but not much conversation was happening. Yu's dad was busy reading the paper while the other three occasionally made eye contact with one another.
"You guys got any plans today?" Yu's mom asked breaking the silence.
"We were going to go see a movie," Yu said, "We don't know what, but we'll find something."
"You need some money?" Yu's dad said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out some money for them, "That'll be enough, right."
"More than enough," Yu said as he took the money off the table and put it into his pocket.
"Yu, I've got something to give you," Yu's mom said, "Come over to my room and grab it really quick." The two got up to go into the bedroom leaving Chie and Yu's dad alone.
"So, you like working?" Chie awkwardly asked trying to think of something to say.
"It's alright," he said, "You like…sports or something?"
"I like martial arts, I work out a lot, I can do a pretty mean kick," she said. The two sat in continued silence afterwards until Yu came back.
"You wanna get going, maybe we can visit the park today?" he said as Chie got up.
"Sounds like fun," Chie said as the two left.
*Later that evening*
The two re-entered the apartment to an eerily familiar sight. Yu's dad drinking another beer at the table, but Yu's mom was cooking something on the stove that smelled absolutely delicious to Chie.
"Good news, the local meat store was having a sale on steaks, so I bought us some to have for dinner," Yu's mom said.
"Yum!" Chie said as she went over to look at them. She let out a sequel as she looked at them in all their glory.
"Your girlfriend really likes steak," Yu's dad said to Yu.
"It's my favorite," Chie said to him, "I could eat all of these right now, I'm starving."
"I highly doubt you could eat an entire one of those babies," Yu's dad laughed.
"Trust me, she can and she will," Yu said.
"I'd like to see that," Yu's dad laughed.
*After dinner*
"Wow, you really did eat an entire steak," Yu's dad said as he examined Chie's empty plate, "Color me impressed."
"You ate an entire one too," Yu's mom said as Yu's dad taking another swig of his beer. "Nothing like a beer after a nice steak, you want a beer Chie?"
"What?" Chie asked, "No! I'm not old enough to drink."
"He's just trying to be friendly," Yu's mom said, "Plus he's a little tipsy from what I can tell, let's put you to bed." She got up taking Yu's dad off to bed as Chie and Yu stayed at the table.
"I think my dad is starting to like you," Yu laughed.
"That's a relief," Chie said, "It's been an amazing couple days, I love you."
"I love you too!" Yu said giving her a kiss, "Now let's go to bed and burn some calories." The two giggled and hurried off to Yu's room. The jumped onto Yu's bed, kissing a rolling around. Then, they heard something, the sounds of laughter coming from the other room. The two stopped and then the awkwardness set in.
"Please tell me you have ear muffs," Chie said. Yu quickly reached into his nightstand and grabbed a pair of ear buds and put them in and started to listen to music, Chie quickly followed, trying to take their mind elsewhere.
*End of the week*
"It was fun seeing you guys," Yu's dad said as he and Yu's mom dropped the two off at the train station, "It was a pleasure to get to know you Chie."
"It was nice to meet you too," She said, "And it was good seeing you again."
"Same," Yu's mom said giving Chie a hug and then going over to Yu giving him a kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you in a few months, okay?"
"Love you mom," Yu said as the group went their separate ways. Yu and Chie boarded a train, getting ready to head back to Inaba. The two took their seats on the train as it started to take off.
"You know, I really liked the city and all, and there's still so much to do, but… I can't help but miss Inaba," Chie said, "It just feels more like… home."
"I can see that," Yu said, "It does get really bland around here, everyone caught up in the hustle of the big city and Inaba is a nice change from all that."
"I just wish you could spend the rest of your life there, with all of us," Chie said sadly.
"Hey, we're all going to go our separate ways eventually, but we'll still maintain contact!" Yu tried to cheer her up, "Besides, who else is going to keep Yosuke from doing something stupid?" The two laughed as they continued on their way home.
Back at the station, Yu's parents we're walking back home. "We're not gonna mention the fact that Chie is basically you right?" Yu's dad said, "I mean…he's literally dating his mom."
"Let him find out for himself," she said, "…I mean, she looks just like me!"
*Inaba*
"Place looks exactly as we left it," Chie said she and Yu got off the train.
"It's only been a week," Yu said, "You can't expect everything to change in a week." The two walked outwards, seeing Dojima standing by his car with Nanako.
"Welcome back big bro!" Nanako said as she ran up to the two, "And welcome back Chie!"
"It's good to see you again Nanako!" Chie laughed, "Anything big happen while we were gone?"
"I went fishing with dad the other day and I caught a fish that was THIS big," she said holding her hands out to the side.
"Wow, that's pretty big!" Chie said as the three walked back to the car.
"How were your parents? Everything go okay?" Dojima asked Yu.
"Great," he said, "They really like Chie and things are going good."
"Glad to hear it," Dojima said as he got in the car, "Now let's all go home."
*A couple days later*
Yu's cell phone rang, he was just walking home after a fun day hanging out with Teddie and Kanji at Junes, the two goofing around the entire place. "Hello?" he asked.
"Dude, Yukiko and Chie and I wanna hit the hot springs!" Yosuke said, "Can you come, it'll be fun."
"I'm on my way," Yu turned around and headed across town to the hot springs, outside the three were waiting for him. He greeted Chie with a kiss and the four headed inside to get undressed and headed off to their respective springs.
"Hey," Yosuke yelled over, "Can you hear us?"
"Yeah, we're the only ones here!" Chie yelled back, "Are you alone too?"
"Yep," Yu said.
"Well, screw it we're coming over," Yukiko said as the two quickly got out of the springs and climbed over the wall, naked and carrying their towels. They hopped in next to the guys, relaxing in the heat of the springs.
"Oh my god this is awesome," Yosuke said as he pulled Yukiko in, setting her on his lap while Yukiko blushed. Chie was busy washing her hair as Yu simply looked at Yosuke who was smiling, "I love you Yukiko."
"I love you too," Yukiko said to Yosuke, followed by a quick peck.
"You two are saying the L-word?" Yu looked at them.
"Yeah," Yosuke said.
"Good for you two!" Chie said as she began to suds up Yu's hair.
"Ouch! Chie, it's in my eyes," Yu jerked away from Chie, tumbling back and tripping in the water, causing him to send Yukiko flying off of Yosuke's lap and Yu landing in Yosuke's arms.
"Get off me!" Yosuke freaked out as he shoved Yu off of him, the two men blushing as they went back to their respective women. The four bathed for a little while longer, eventually getting out and going up to the door to get changed.
"It's locked!" Yu said giving it a few more tugs; all four tried a little while longer before giving up.
"Crap," Yosuke said as he turned around and saw their towels had fallen into the spa and were too soaked to use, "Well we can't use those towels anymore… can we break the door down?"
"Doubtful," Yu said giving it a few more knocks, "I just realized our cell phones are in there too, so we can't call for help."
"We're trapped?" Yukiko asked, "What are we going to do, we can't stay here, maybe the women's door is still open!" Yukiko ran over and climbed the wall, running over and trying the door, "This one is locked too!" Yukiko quickly climbed over as Yu was banging on the door to see if anyone would come.
"Maybe the front entrance is open," Yosuke said, "One of us can sneak around and see!" The four looked at one another waiting to see who would go.
"We should all go," Yu said as he walked over to the barrier leading to the outside, the four scaled it with relative ease, hopping outside and shielding their naked bodies with their arms as they hurried around to the front entrance.
"The place is closed," Yu said, "They must've forgotten about us!" The four quickly headed back to the fence, but there was no way back in to the spa from the outside.
"Damn it," Yosuke said, "We gotta find clothes or we're gonna get arrested or something!"
"Whose house is nearest to here?" Chie asked.
"Mine," Yu said, "It's a little ways away, we gotta be careful how we go about this though; we cannot be seen!" The four looked around, trying to find some way to get back home.
"The alley," Yukiko said as the four hurried into a nearby back alley behind some shops, the four quickly hurried down it, looking to see if there was anything they could use to cover themselves, but having no luck, the trashes were all empty.
The four continued to along their way, making sure the coast was clear before heading towards some other obstacle to shield themselves.
"How much farther?" Chie asked as they sprinted across the street to another alley, shielding themselves in a bush.
"It's a couple more blocks then… shit, a car," Yu said as they all ducked into the bush, waiting for it to pass.
"Was that a cop?" Yosuke panicked.
"No it wasn't, but it didn't see us though," Yukiko sighed an air of relief.
"Yosuke!" Chie quickly kneed Yosuke in the gut, "Don't lean up against me like that, I can… feel you."
"I didn't mean to!" Yosuke cried out in pain as he hopped around in place.
The four continuing along their way, avoiding whatever people or cars they saw, and managed to make it back to Yu's neighborhood, sneaking through some front yards eventually making it to Yu's place, but unfortunately, much to their surprise, several cars were parked along the street and Dojima appeared to be throwing a party.
"Oh shit, I forgot Dojima was having a get together with some of the other detectives at his place!" Yu said.
"It's still pretty far from all our places, so can we get to your room somehow?" Yosuke asked.
"The roof," Chie said, "I've done it before, just follow me." The group quickly ran around the back of the house and Chie quickly showed them how to scale up the backside of the house and made it onto the roof, the others following in suit. Inside, Yu managed to open the window and the four tumbled inside, relieved it was all over. Yu quickly headed over to his closet, grabbing whatever clothes were closest and giving them to the three and him. They all quickly got dressed, Yosuke in Yu's school outfit which was too big for him and Chie wearing a sweatshirt and some baggy sweat pants. Yukiko was wearing a t-shirt and some jeans while Yu threw on the same. The four all sat down on the couch, Yu sighing to himself before hearing a knock.
"Big bro, are you home?" Nanako said on the other side of the door.
"Yeah," Yu said motioning for the others to keep quiet, "I'm really tired, so could you just leave me alone tonight?"
"How did you get in there?" Nanako asked, "You weren't there a few minutes ago and you didn't come home through the door."
"I came in through the window," Yu said, "I didn't want to bother your dad, now can you please let me sleep Nanako, I'm not feeling the best," Yu let out a couple of fake coughs.
"Sorry," Nanako said, "I'll let you sleep." A few footsteps were heard as the four sighed and continued to watch television before they all collectively passed out from exhaustion.
*The next morning*
Yu awoke to a knock at the door, looking around and realizing that he had slept through the entire night on the couch with the four.
"Hey, it's me," Dojima said, "Can I come in?"
"I would rather prefer that you…" Yu said, but Dojima barged in mid-sentence, the rest of the group waking up and realizing Dojima was watching them, "…didn't."
"I know this looks really bad," Chie said, "But we can totally explain, we were at the hot springs and they locked us in and we had to sneak back here and that's why we're in Yu's clothes."
"We didn't have in orgy in your guest bedroom," Yosuke panicked.
"Yosuke!" Yukiko slapped him, "Don't listen to him, Chie is telling the truth!"
"I know, I got a call from the place telling me Yu forgot his cell phone and clothes there…" Dojima said, "Did you guys snuck halfway through Inaba naked?"
"Yeah," Yosuke bragged at their accomplishment, "A not a single person saw us, so mission accomplished."
"That's…not true," Dojima looked away before turning around and quickly heading downstairs, the four following in boot.
"What do you mean, did you see us?" Yu asked. Dojima looked at them, pointing towards the living room.
"What is that?" Dojima asked.
"The living room…" Yu said.
"No, that!" he pointed.
"The patio door…" Yu said, "And outside is the backyard we…snuck…through to get to the other side of the house to climb…up." The four realized what they had done, "Oh god."
"Did everyone see us last night?" Yosuke stammered out in horror.
"Yes, we all saw four naked teenagers run through our yard..." Dojima said, "The entire room was laughing at you."
"Ahh," Yukiko blushed, "A bunch of adults saw me naked; this is so embarrassing!"
"Don't worry about it," Dojima said, "Just be lucky no one else saw you. Now who wants breakfast?"
"I'm starving!" Chie said as she went over to the table, the three looking at her, all still red from embarrassment, "I only lost my pride, not my appetite." The five all sat down at the table, Dojima grabbing the food he had prepared. They all ate in silence for a little while before Yosuke got up.
"Thanks for the meal…we should probably go get our stuff from the hot springs," Yosuke said. Chie and Yukiko and Yu all got up, walking out as Dojima stills sat there eating his food.
"Hey um… thanks for not freaking out about this," Yu said.
"Please, you act like the first teenager to go skinny dipping with his friends," Dojima chuckled. Yu giving a strange look at Dojima as he quickly backed out of the room, hurrying out of the house with his friends.
*A few weeks later*
"Summer festival tonight dude, you ready?" Yosuke asked Yu over the phone.
"I've been there before you realize," Yu said, "I doubt they'll change much this year."
"But it'll be us out on the town with our girls, putting all on display in those gorgeous kimonos!" Yosuke happily sighed, "Yukiko showed me the new one she bought, it's so hot dude!"
"I bet it is," Yu said as he continued to play around with a toy ball he found on the floor, "I don't think Chie got a new one, she spent all her savings on buying clothes in the city. What about the other girls; how are they doing?"
"They all went out with Naoto to buy her a kimono," Yosuke said, "She apparently was so flustered during the whole thing, but apparently she looks really good in it. Rise I'm sure has something planned, but she and Teddie have just been all over each other lately, those two are really becoming close."
"Really?" Yu asked.
"Really! Well dude, I've gotta go, but like I said, be ready for an amazing night tomorrow!" Yosuke said.
*The next evening*
"Ah, the summer festival," Yosuke said as the four boys entered it, "The sounds, the sights, the smells, I love it!" Yosuke shot a glare at Teddie, "Don't you dare try to pull that stunt you did last year!"
"What stunt?" Teddie asked.
"You know the whole 'the guys all want you to go with me because I'm so beary amazing!'" Yosuke said doing a bad Teddie impersonation.
"Speaking of the girls, here they come," Yu said as they saw the four walking up to the four of them dressed in their kimonos.
"Damn Yukiko, you're looking great," Yosuke said as he went up and put his arm around her, "But I bet that kimono would look even better as a kim"off"o."
Yukiko groaned, "Did Yu tell you to say that, because that was just awful."
"No, I have better pick up lines than that," Yu said, "Even Teddie makes better jokes than that." The group all laughed as Yosuke felt bad. The four went with their respective girlfriends and went off to explore the small summer festival the town had.
Yu and Chie headed over to one of the small games the festival was holding, looking at some of the kids play.
"Freaking Hanamura," they overheard one student around their age talking to another boy, "What's Yukiko even see in him, the guy's a grade-A moron."
"I know right!" The other student said, "Hey, I have an idea, let's push him into that tank of water over there! Yukiko will be so embarrassed she's bound to leave him; then we swoop in and take her away."
"Sounds like a plan, just get him over here," the first student said as the other one ran over by the tank to get into position.
"Yu…" Chie said giving him a worried look.
"I'll take care of it," he groaned walking over to the tank of water. Yosuke and Yukiko walked over, being led by the other student towards the tank of water.
"I swear, there's this fully translucent eel in this tank, you gotta see it man!" the kid explained to Yosuke.
"I don't know; would they really import something that rare to a small festival like this, you sound like you're just making this up." The three walked over by the tank as the other one snuck around Yosuke getting ready to push him in.
Yu thought fast, "Damn it," he said out loud as he tripped himself and fell into the tank of ice cold water.
"Yu, are you okay?" Yosuke asked as he ran over and pulled Yu out. He was completely soaked head to toe in ice cold water, shivering.
"Y-y-y-yeah," Yu shivered out, "No problem!"
"Hey kid, you need a towel?" one of the vendors came handing him a small dishrag, "I mean, it's no towel, but whatever helps."
"Thanks," he said as he tried to dry himself off, Chie quickly came over as the other two boys walked away laughing about Yu falling into the tank.
"Hey man, you sure you're okay? That was a pretty bad fall," Yosuke said.
"Fine, just go have fun with Yukiko, I'll be fine," Yu said still shivering violently. The two walked away as Chie comforted Yu. "I'd give you one of my towels, but then my kimono would fall off and I'd be naked in public.
"I don't think anyone would mind?" Yu joked.
"Idiot," she said punching him in the arm, "What you did back there was really nice, stupid as hell, but nice."
"Just being a good friend," Yu said, "Can we go stand near a food cart or something, I need to warm up." The two walked away together.
Meanwhile, the other for were standing by a nearby booth that was selling various trinkets to raise money for the town. They were all made by the various shops around the shopping district.
"Did you make these dolls Kanji," Rise asked, "They look like your handy work."
"Yeah, there something I threw together at the last minute, kinda cheap if you ask me," Kanji muttered.
"They're really well done," Naoto said comforting Kanji, "You're a master at your craft."
"Thanks," he smiled.
"You should make ones of me," Teddie said, "The ladies would eat it up!"
"Well, to be honest I've been working on this thing for a while now," Kanji said, "It's kinda…us."
"What do you mean us?" Rise asked.
"The group, I've been making some cool looking dolls of the group, the eight of us," Kanji said blushing.
"Cute!" Rise giggled, "Are they done yet?"
"I've got some finish touches to put on them, but in a couple of months yeah," he said. Yukiko and Yosuke walked up to the four.
"Did you guys see what happened?" Yosuke asked them.
"No, what happened?" Kanji asked.
"Yu took a huge spill into that big tank of water over there, he's completely soaked," Yosuke laughed.
"Is he okay?" Naoto asked.
"He's fine, but it's pretty funny though," Yosuke laughed, "He normally doesn't do stuff like that, guess he isn't that smooth of an operator as I thought he was."
"Still smoother than you," Yukiko smugly said towards Yosuke, causing him to hang his head again. A group of a few male students walked up next to them, examining the stuff at the booth before turning to them.
"Hey Rise, why are you hanging around with that loser?" he said putting his hand around her waist, "Why don't you get with a real man."
"Yeah, come on Yukiko! Naoto!" another guy said grabbing the two, "These guys probably prefer the company of each other rather than you beautiful ladies," he put his hands around their waists pulling them in tight. "Why don't we all get some food, head back to your place and have some fun."
"Get bent," Kanji said as he pushed one of the guys onto the ground with no effort.
"Woah, settle down," the first guy said as he handed Naoto back towards Kanji, "I've already got my princess," he said slapping Yukiko on the butt. Yosuke got steamed and leapt over, punching him as hard as he could in the face. The guy fell immediately to the ground, mumbling nonsense while the others picked him up, backing away slowly.
"Don't you touch her again or I'll beat the living shit out of you," Yosuke roared, everyone scared of Yosuke, even Kanji.
"Okay man, we'll leave," they said dragging their fallen comrade away.
"Yosuke," Yukiko said looking at her steamed boyfriend, "That was so..so…"
"Sorry, I lost control there, I shouldn't of…" Yosuke tried to explain before being cut off.
Yukiko gave him a huge kiss, calming him down, "So hot! No guy has ever fought someone for me."
"Yeah, it was pretty awesome," Yosuke laughed, "Let's get out of here you guys, but first let's check on Yu and make sure he hasn't died of hypothermia." The six walked over towards Chie, Yu was standing under a nearby light, still completely soaked, but he was at least warming up.
"How's he doing?" Yosuke asked Chie.
"He's doing fine," Chie said taking a bite of a huge stick of mystery meat that she had bought, "You guys want some?" The six all declined as she continued to chow down, "What is this?" Chie turned around and asked the vendor she bought it from.
"Its horse," the lady said as everyone's face turned purple from the prospect of eating horse.
"Screw it, it's not that bad!" Chie said taking another bite as the six were all grossed out still. Yosuke walked over to Yu.
"How you doing?" Yosuke asked Yu.
"Good," he said, "You guys already done, it's been like fifteen minutes!"
"Yeah, this place sucks," Yosuke said, "Trust me; I got something to make this night completely memorable." Yosuke turned around and announced to the group, "Meet me by the overlook at the edge of town in an hour, I've got something to show you guys."
*One hour later*
The seven were waiting for Yosuke to arrive, who was over fifteen minutes late.
"What's taking him?" Chie groaned, "He tells us to be here in one hour and he's late, classic Yosuke."
"I'm here!" Yosuke said out of breath as he carried a big crate up the hill.
"What's in the box?" Yu asked as they all went over to help Yosuke push the crate up to the top of the hill. Yosuke ripped the lid off, revealing the contents inside.
"Fireworks!" he said pulling out tons of fireworks. The group all stood in awe as Yosuke empty the seemingly endless crate of fireworks.
"Where the heck did you get all this Yosuke?" Yukiko asked.
"Junes," Yosuke said, "It was really cheap, this guy bought it and didn't need it anymore so I offered to buy it and he shipped it over to the store. Now let's light some roman candles!" Yosuke said as he pulled a lighter out and lit one off.
"Oh, I also snuck this outta Junes too," he said as he pulled out a big bottle of Saki and some plastic cups.
"Underage drinking?" Naoto said to Yosuke, "That's a serious crime."
"Quit being a buzzkill and just drink," Yosuke shot back as he poured everyone a glass and handed one to Naoto, "Now shut up and have some fun with your life."
"I have no need for this type of fun," Naoto said.
"Naoto you gotta calm down and just be a kid," Kanji said, "I know you want to be taken seriously as an adult, but it's okay to break the rules occasionally." Naoto took a small sip along with everyone else.
"It is quite potent," Naoto said. The eight spent the night lighting off a bunch of fireworks all over the hill and running around with each other.
"I LOVE YOU GUYS," Naoto slurred out, "You guys are my best friends ever!"
"Looks like Naoto is already drunk," Yosuke laughed as he looked over as Rise nearly fell over on top of Naoto with Teddie, "Along with Teddie and Rise." Yosuke went over to the box to grab some more fireworks, "Crap, we're out of fireworks… and alcohol."
"I guess we better go home," Yu told them as they picked up their junk and headed home. They made some small chat and went their separate ways, Yu eventually arriving back at the house. The summer was almost over, half the year basically gone already. So much had happened, and there was still so much more to happen. Yu thought for a long time about the future and all the possibilities it held.
"SHIT! I forgot about summer homework!" Yu yelled to himself in his room.
"Swear!" Nanako yelled outside her room.