Persona 3 FES:
"Advent of the Fool"
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1. DATE: 4/25 (Sat) Gekkoukan High School
PLV 6 - DJKL
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4/25 (Sat) – LUNCHTIME
FULL MOON IN: 14
"Okay now DJ-kun~! Say 'Ah~'!"
"…"
"Here comes the airplane! Open wide~!"
"…"
"…Pwease DJ-kyun?"
"…"
"…Pwease~?"
"…This is so embarrassing…"
And that my friends is what was going on through a certain disc jockey's mind as a young brunette lightly poked his mouth with a pair of chopsticks, a rice ball at the end of it.
Simply put, DJ was being fed by Hamuko.
He could've sworn that the cafeteria had not been this quiet a few minutes ago, but that was beside the point. He was more worried at the stares he was getting. A plethora of glares from a majority of the boys, a proud and amazed expression from Junpei, Kaz and Kenji, an even scarier glare coming from Hamuko's brother and a stare of rage and disbelief from Yukari…
And the bright smile coming from the girl trying to feed him…
How did he end up in this situation again?
EARLIER THAT DAY
Boyfriend…
He was… her…
Za?!
"Oyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoy!" DJ whispered frantically at the auburn haired girl who was currently clutching his arm. "What's the big idea?!"
"S-Sorry!"Hamuko whispered back, frantically looking between him and the group with a forced smile on her face. "Please just play along! Just for a little while!"
"I-" DJ shut his mouth as he felt Hamuko clutch onto him tighter. He could feel his face heat up as her more defined… assets pressed onto his side. Man, he could die right there and die a happy man…
Ah! Getting off track!
Shaking the thought out of his mind, DJ turned to look at the group of boys in front of him who were staring at him with an awestruck expression.
"What the heck…?" One of the boys muttered. "Someone got to her already?"
…Well, her little plan seemed to be working. But he wasn't really gonna go along with this... Right?
…Right?
…Ugh. He was too nice for his own good.
"…" Cursing his own luck, and Igor, DJ forced a large smile on his face similar to Hamuko's and wrapped his arm around the unsuspecting girl's waist. The girl let out a squeak as their bodies pressed together. "Y-Yep! Sorry to keep you waiting Hamu-chan!" Ignoring the burning sensation that was rising in his cheeks, DJ bent down and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head.
Or at least, that's what it looked like he was doing.
"You. Owe. Me. Big time." He muttered loud enough for Hamuko to hear. With a red face and the same smile from earlier, she nodded.
"R-Right… You're DJ-kun, aren't you?" She asked cutely. The disc jockey blinked at the fact that she knew his name and nodded…
And then he instantly regretted it.
"Oh, DJ-kun~!"Hamuko looked up at DJ with tears pooling up in her eyes… Those weren't there a few seconds ago. "All these scary looking boys are being mean to me~!"
…Why that sneaky little…
"Oh really…" DJ's expression darkened as he turned around to glare at the group. "And why is that?" While DJ's presence earlier didn't have as big of an effect as he had hoped it would, the fact that he was Hamuko's "boyfriend" seemed to have an effect on the boys. Almost like it made them a bit wearier of him.
"H-hey! We we're sorry buddy…" The one in the front said. "We didn't know she was off the market… But, man. First Takeba-san and now the transfer student? Damn, you work fast dude." Mentioning Yukari's name made DJ frown and Hamuko gasp slightly. Seriously, why did everyone assume they were a couple?!
"Hey, I've known Hamuko for a lot longer than you think…" DJ lied. Hamuko was the first to shot him a surprised expression. DJ clicked his tongue in annoyance before placing his sunglasses back on top of his head. "Plus, there was never anything between me and Yukari-san in the first place…"
"Eh? Really?"
"…Honestly, people like you guys are sad." A smirk crawled its way onto his face. He was already condemned when he agreed to do this. He might as well go out in style. "Are you that desperate to get a girl that you go after the newbies a day after they show up?"
"…Hey…" Hamuko pouted, somewhat insulted at being called a "newbie".
"Hey! Watch that mouth of yours ya freak!" The black haired boy in the front yelled at him, anger showing up on his features. "Like you're one to talk! Like hell I'm gonna believe you didn't have an affair with Takeba-san! Just who do you think you are?!"
"Oh? Did I strike a nerve there?"
"Go to Hell!"
"After seeing your ugly mug? That sounds like paradise to me…"
"Why I oughtta-" he boy tried lunging at DJ, but one of his friends held him back. "Hey! What-" The other boy shushed him and jerked his head to the left, gesturing towards a teacher. "…Shit." The boy grit his teeth as his friend let him go. "Can't make another scene… My parents will kill me if I do…"
"You know you're speaking out loud, right?" Hamuko innocently asked. DJ let out a snicker as the boy's face flushed.
"I-I…" He looked to his friends to back him up, but they simply turned away and whistled. "Ah to hell with it! I don't have time for this shit!" The boy turned around and started stomping away. "I'm outta here! No good, walking light stick…"
"Um, Akira? You're talking to yourself again."
"Up yours Hibiki!"
DJ and Hamuko blinked as the group in front of them slowly disbanded. Looked like that Akira kid was the ringleader of that little posse. Once they all left, the two sighed in relief.
"They're finally gone…" Hamuko muttered, feeling a weight being removed from her shoulders.
"Tell me about it… Geez, why am I always the one stuck in… these…" DJ trailed off when he realized something.
Hamuko was still holding his arm. Tightly.
"Um… Hamuko-san?" He said, getting the girls attention. "You can let go now." Hamuko blinked before looking at their arms, back at DJ and blinking again. Once she realized what she was still doing, her face turned pink and she let go of the disc jockey's arm like it was on fire.
"Eeek! I-I-I'm really sorry about that!" Hamuko yelled, clasping her hands together over her head. "I'm sosososososososososooooooooosorry! I-I panicked and I didn't know what to do! If Aniki were here he'd just scare them off, but I-"
"H-Hey! Easy there!" DJ said, getting her to stop. "I get it, You didn't mean to drag me down like that. It's okay." Hamuko, looked up at him with her eyes watery.
"R-Really?" She asked, getting a nod in confirmation. "Thank goodness…"
"…Um…" DJ shuffled on his feet. This had gotten awkward fast… "I… don't think I've introduced Myself yet." DJ straightened himself up and offered Hamuko a hand. "The name's DJKL. But you can just call me DJ."
Hamuko blinked before smile, any trace of her being worried or upset gone from her face. "Hello DJ-kun!" Ignoring the invisible jab from the honorific, DJ forced a smile as Hamuko shook his hand. "My name's Hamuko! It's nice to finally meet you!"
"Um… It's just-" Wait a minute. What did she just say? "Wait. What do you mean "finally"?"
"Oh, Yukari-chan and Junpei-kun told me a bit about you yesterday!" She smiled, kicking the floor slightly. "I had seen you earlier in class and my brother saw you yesterday too, but I never got to say hi to you… So hi!" She waved her hand quickly in a mock greeting. DJ couldn't help but chuckle.
"Well, hi to you too then!" DJ said, laughing. "I don't suppose they said anything bad about me, did they?"
Hamuko put a finger on her cheek and entered a very cute thinking pose. "Let me think… They said you were a bit narcissistic."
Ouch.
"Sarcastic, dense…"
Double ouch.
"And that you're porbably as subtle as a nun in a strip club."
…Okay, Junpei probably came up with that analogy, but still! Ouch!
"Lies! All lies I tell you…! Except the part about me being sarcastic. That's… probably true…" DJ slumped over as Hamuko let out a little giggle.
"Don't worry! They said plenty of good things about you too!" DJ's eyes shined with hope as Hamuko opened her mouth to continue. Unfortunately, neither of them could continue after what came next.
"Hey, did you see that?"
"Those two are dating already? That was fast."
"I thought DJ-san was with Yukari-san…"
"I know… You think he's two-timing? Or maybe they had a falling out…"
"My question is: How in the hell did he do it?! I couldn't even get near her because of her brother!"
"Maybe he got on his good side?"
The two froze as their faces paled.
There were people watching them… They hadn't thought about that.
Which meant that those boys weren't the only ones who thought they were dating…
DJ could only say one thing in response to that.
"Karma. Is. A. Bitch."
After their little scene, news spread about DJ and Hamuko like wildfire! The two learned the hard way that teenager absolutely loved to gossip and spread rumors. Now at first the rumors were pretty true, usually just exaggerating a detail or two. But by lunch, the two started hearing things that could only make them question just how many times the story was retold.
"Did you know? Hamuko-chan was getting bullied by these boys, so her boyfriend DJ-san came up and knocked them all out with one punch! Then they started making out in the courtyard!"
In what part did he result to violence? And he did not make out with her! As adorable as she was, he was not the kind of guy to just make out with a girl hejust met…! Although he wouldn't mind being shown some gratitude and THIS IS NOT HELPING!
"Hey, did you hear! That new transfer student Hamuko-san told DJ-san to beat up a bunch of boys to prove he loved her. And then the two were found making out with each other in the gym!"
They weren't anywhere near the gym! And again, when did he result to violence?!
"I don't know anything about a group of boys… But I did overhear that the two came out of the nurse's office this morning… and it didn't look like they were wearing all of their clothes."
DJ had socked the poor bastard who said that one in the face while Hamuko denied anything and everything that he said with a cherry red complexion.
For some reason, DJ felt the strangest urge to hit Junpei, Kenji and Kaz…
If they hadn't forgotten that they had an audience when pulled their little stunt, Hamuko wouldn't have made such a bold claim and DJ probably would've found some other way to help her. But since the rumors were already everywhere, it was fairly obvious that no one was going to believe them.
Therefore, they came up with the next best solution.
"Wait, so you want to keep the act up?!"
"Please DJ-kun?! No one's gonna believe us if we say that we aren't! I know I obviously shouldn't have done this, especially since you're already off the market, but just for a little while?"
"…What do you mean by 'off the market'?"
They'd keep it up just long enough so that Hamuko could "break up" with DJ in a few weeks. So that should be about… three, four weeks tops.
"Wait, can't I just break up with you in, like, a few days? Heck, I could just break up with you right now! Lots of boys do that…"
"Haha! DJ-kun, don't you get it? I'm breaking up with you! Not the other way around!"
"…There's a difference?"
"Oh, poor, naive DJ-kun… You have no idea."
And that is what led to their current predicament.
The only thing DJ could hear were the soft whispers of the students watching as Hamuko's voice was telling him to eat. Seeing Junpei's thumbs up made him want to hit him, but seeing Yukari and Minato's glare just scared the shit out of him. The reason?Easy.
They still haven't had the time to tell them of their little… problem.
DJ wanted to tell them over lunch, but Hamuko dragged him to an empty table, gushing on how it was more "romantic" to eat when it's just the two of them, whatever that meant. So basically he was stuck trying to get fed by a girl while one of his friends and said girl's creepy older brother were trying to kill him by glaring at him… Okay, he could get why Minato was angry at him, but what was up with Yukari?!
"Come on DJ-kun!" Hamuko whispered at him, pouting. "You have to eat something! People are gonna get suspicious if you keep acting like this!" DJ sighed as before looking back at his group of friends.
"Kind of hard to eat with your brother glaring at me like that…" DJ muttered, just loud enough for Hamuko to hear. He brunette winced as she noticed her brother's harsh glare being directed to the disc jockey.
"…I'm actually impressed. Most boys would've wet their pants by now, but you seem to be going strong!" Hamuko's attempt to cheer DJ only earned her a deadpanned stare. "Right. Not helping…"
"Couldn't we just go over there and tell them?" DJ whined. He actually enjoyed being the center of attention, but not when that attention involved having to pretend to be some chick's boyfriend!
"No. If we do that now, people might start getting suspicious and then those boys will start annoying me again!"
"…Wait a minute! Wouldn't they just start annoying you again after you 'break up' with me?!"
"Um… Maybe?"
"Ugh…" DJ groaned before slamming his head on the table, surprising Hamuko. "Why'd I let myself get roped into this…?"
"…I'm sorry…"
"Za?"
DJ's head snapped back up. Hamuko wasn't looking as cheery as she was a while ago. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Her head was down, so her hair blocked DJ's view of her face. Her shoulders trembled slightly and her lips quivered… Was she crying?
"This is my fault…" She whispered. She raised her head to look at DJ, letting him get a better look at her. Tears were starting to build up in her eyes. "I was so stupid… And now I have to throw you in the spotlight just to make things easier for me…" She sniffed. "Stupid Hamuko… Stupid stupid stupid…"
"H-Hey! Don't cry!" DJ almost yelled. He bit his tongue to stop himself, earning a confused look from Hamuko. Wincing a bit from the pain, DJ shook his head and stared at her. "Stop beating yourself up over this. I got myself into this mess." He pointed to himself and continued. "I was the one who wanted to help. Sure you may have gone a bit overboard…" DJ paused as he noticed Hamuko's lips start trembling again. "B-But that's fine because I'm okay with all this! I want to help you out because…"
"You used to be a Wild Card and I want to befriend you so I can stop being paranoid about it?"
"Because… that's what friend do!" DJ flashed a bright smile as Hamuko stared at him.
"Friends…" Hamuko whispered. DJ nodded his head vigorously.
"Yeah. I mean, your pals with Yukari and the others. Any friend of theirs is a friend of mine." He smiled again. "I'll help you out of this Hamuko-san! You better believe it!" Hamuko blinked before a smile graced her face. It wasn't like her big bright ones. It was just a simple smile… but it held more emotion than any of her others
"Thanks you DJ-kun..." She looked back down at the bento in her hands. She remembered something the disc jockey said that morning that made her blush. "U-Um DJ-kun?"
"Hm?" He tilted his head, as she looked away from him. "What's up?"
"C-Could you…" She pressed her fingers together. DJ swore he heard someone watching the two of them yell "Kawaii!", but it was probably his imagination… Right? "Um… Would you mind calling me that nickname you gave me from this morning? From when those boys were ganging up on me?"DJ blinked. Nickname? What nickname? All he did was call her…
"H-Hamu-chan?" He asked. Hamuko nodded, her face slightly red. "C-Come on now… I can't do that in front of everyone! I do it with Yukari to tease her every now and then, but-"
"I-I know! She told me about that! I-It's just…" Hamuko gulped and turned covered her cheeks with her hands. "I kinda… liked it…"
Oh.
"Oh…" DJ blushed, rubbing the back of his head. That… wasn't the answer he was expecting. "I-I see… Well okay Hamuk-… Hamu-chan." Hamuko smiled brightly at him before holding up her chopsticks. "But can you stop calling me DJ-kun?"
"Hm?" Hamuko tilted her head cutely. "What do you mean?"
"The honorific!" DJ whined. "It makes my name sound… weird. Just DJ is fine."
Hamuko put a finger on her cheek and let out a loud "Hmm…" After a few seconds, she smiled brightly at him again and shook her head.
"Nope!"
"…Za?" DJ blinked and stared at the brunette in front of him as if she had grown a second head. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means no DJ-kun." She said, accentuating the honorific just to tease him. "I don't want to call you just "DJ". I like your name the way it is. Besides…" She giggled and looked at him, her face pink. "I think it sounds cute…"
"…" DJ blinked as the words set in. When they did, he felt his own face turn red."Kn-Knock that off. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to flirt with me." Hamuko smiled shyly and looked away.
"Yeah… What are the odds?" She whispered. Thankfully DJ didn't seem to hear her. Shaking her head, she smiled again and held up her lunch with a newfound vigor. "Great! Now say "Ah~"!"
"…Are we still doing this?" He asked, making Hamuko frown. She looked like she was about to fall into depression again, which made DJ sigh.
So he leaned closer and bit into the rice ball she was holding, much to her and everyone else's surprise.
BADUM! KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRASH!
"Son of a-" DJ jumped out of his seat in an instant, clutching his chest as he tried to regulate his breathing and accelerated heartbeat. "What the hell was that?!" The disc jockey stared as he noticed that everything around him had halted and a familiar atmosphere filled the area. "A Social Link?" DJ looked over at Hamuko in shock.
He… He could have a Social Link with her? Well, maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all…! But just what Arcana was she anyway?
"Gloria… Gloria…"
…That… was new. Since when was there a church quire in these Social Links? Just when he thought things couldn't possibly get any stranger, the card finally appeared over Hamuko's head…
Only it wasn't a card. It was a large, pink diamond. Shaped like a heart.
"…The hell?"
"Thou hast began a quest for glory… Thou shall be blessed when thou strengthens the Gloria of the Heart…"
"Again: What the hell?!"
Before DJ could question the events any further, the heart disappeared from his sight and time returned to its normal flow. Hamuko, not noticing his rather dazed state, smiled brightly before pressing another rice ball in front of his mouth. Unfortunately, due to him still being rather incapacitated and Hamuko using a little too much strength, what was supposed to be DJ's lunch ended up pushing him back, making him fall to the floor.
Hamuko turned towards the fallen boy and gasped in shock. "DJ-kun! Are you okay?"
"…Life, why do you hate me so freakin' much?"
4/25 (Sat) – AFTER SCHOOL
"Wait, so you two aren't dating?" Yukari asked her newest female friend, who nodded vigorously in response. The group was still in their classroom after school. With class dismissed, Hamuko had brought it upon herself to tell her new friends about the incident that happened earlier.
Needless to say, the reactions were varied… Kinda.
While the boys looked somewhat disappointed, the only one who actually believed the full story was Kaz. Junpei and Kenji on the other hand were pretty skeptical about the whole situation. However, they couldn't find the words to say it, especially after noticing the look of relief that had flashed across Yukari's face when she was told the truth.
"Thank God…" She whispered as she let out a sigh she didn't even know she was holding in. Thankfully no one seemed to hear her. But there was still something bothering her. "So it was all a spur of the moment kind of thing?"
"Yep! We never ever intended for it to go this far!" Hamuko pouted and silently kicked the ground. "I honestly feel kind of stupid…"
"Hey, don't feel bad Hamuko-chan!" Kaz said, hoping to cheer up the brunette. "I mean, if anything, it was those jerk's fault! They're the ones that made you get desperate!" While the beginning seemed to lighten her mood, the word 'desperate' seemed to make her fall into an even deeper depression, making everyone rest glare at the athlete. "…What'd I say?"
"Not that I don't mind seeing you all take your time to discuss the situation like civilized people, but… WOULD SOMEBODY PLEASE GET HIM OFF OF ME?!"
All heads present snapped in the direction of a certain disc jockey's voice only to see a very… interesting sight. DJ was currently being held in a very tight and painful looking headlock. The culprit being none other than Hamuko's older brother Minato who, despite the massive pain he was inflicting on the disc jockey, still maintained a rather calm looking demeanor.
Well, there was the fact that his eyes looked so cold it looked like they could freeze Hell ten times over and still be just as frosty, but to that I say 'details'.
"Aniki!" Hamuko yelled, instantly rushing to the boy's aid. "Let him go!"
"Oh crap, DJ's turning blue already! Come on dude, give it up!"
"Not until he apologizes for taking advantage of my sister."
"He won't be able to say anything if you knock him out!"
The sight was rather comedic actually. A few students had even stopped to look at the group trying to free DJ from Minato's death grip. Junpei, Kenji and Kaz were pulling DJ by the legs in an attempt to pull him out of there while Hamuko tried to get her brother to let go of her faux boyfriend's neck. The only who didn't do anything was Yukari. She could only sweatdrop at the scene, seeing as what everyone was doing didn't seem to be working... at all.
Eventually though, Minato let go, which resulted in the boys spiraling on top of each other and DJ jumping onto his feet as fast as he could. Hamuko hit her brother on the hand, not strong enough to actually faze him, as disc jockey quickly hid behind Yukari, only peeking out from behind to see if Minato was coming back.
The brunette girl rolled her eyes at DJ's childishness and sighed.
"He's not gonna hurt you anymore DJ." She said. The boy's eyes snapped from the bluenette to her. "You can stop hiding."
"...Nope. Not taking any chances." Yukari sighed before stepping out of the way, earning a very unmanly squeal from DJ. "Oy! Not cool!" The archer ignored him and walked up over to where the boys were getting up.
"I've had enough crazy for one day..." She muttered, helping Junpei up. "I'm heading back to the dorm."
"Same here." Junpei muttered as he dusted himself up. "Plus I gotta finish that stupid assignment for Mr. Ekoda's class..."
"You're still doing that thing?" Kenji butted in. "I finished that thing two days ago."
"Zip it Kenji!"
"...There was an assignment?" Kaz blinked as everyone turned to him. Was he being serious? "...Aw crap! Come on Kenji! You gotta help me out here!" The athlete grabbed his bag and the back of Kenji's shirt and bolted out of the room, ignoring the cries of his friend along the way.
"..." The remaining five students deadpanned at the sports enthusiast's reaction.
"Well that... happened." Junpei blinked before shrugging it off. His two fellow SEES members nodded in agreement before following him.
DJ took a few steps before turning around and wave goodbye to the Arisato siblings. Hamuko had a shy smile as she waved back, her face slightly pink. As for Minato he responded with... a nod? What no glare this time around? DJ sighed in relief before turning around and running to catch up with his friends...
Though he could've sworn he felt someone glaring holes in the back of his head... He really hoped it was just his imagination.
And as soon as he was out of earshot...
"Funny. He wasn't all over you like I thought he would be."
"Ugh... Not all boys are like that Aniki... Heck, he seemed more embarrassed than anything."
"...Alright. I approve."
"ANIKI!"
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