*Chapter 7: So Here's The Future*
"Dude, wake up." Yu woke up to see…a reception hall? And him wearing a blue tuxedo. Now he remembered. It was Rise and Teddie's wedding. And it seemed like everyone and their mothers and grandparents were here. He was in the front row watching a priest talk on and on about Rise and Teddie's holy matrimony. He looked over at Teddie who already looked way older, sporting his signature yellow beard he used to have. "…yosuke?" Yu looked over to see Yosuke was also dressed. Seemed he had shorter hair and had a bit of a stubble of brown hair on his chin. He also had a ring on HIS finger, confirming that he was already wed to Yukiko.
"So how much did I drink last night, man?" Yu asked, looking around him, the bright light of the sun outdoors blinding him. "Well if I recall, you went a bit crazy. Had a lampshade on your head and everything. You were even kissing statues in the Amagi Inn!" Yosuke said, chuckling. "Heh, yeah Mr Amagi. Ruined your entire inn." Yu said, laughing silently. Yosuke instantly flashed him a disappointed look before snapping his attention back to the two lovers. When the vows were to be read, Teddie pulled out…a list that rolled down all the way to his feet. To save the details, we shall skip to the reception. The guys were all standing next to each other congratulating Teddie who, throughout the entire reception, was still dressed in his bear outfit. "I am seriously hoping this doesn't become a habit." Yosuke said, looking at Teddie all dressed up in a fancy light blue tuxedo wide enough for his suit.
"Don't I look fabulous, Sensei?" Teddie looked up at Yu twirling around. "Ted, you look great in anything man. Seriously." Teddie blushed and chuckled before skipping over to Rise and her parents. Yu looked around at everyone. He was already an assistant teacher at Inaba and in his early 20s, Chie was a police officer and they were already engaged and living happily. They took their experiences from their first few years of living together and decided to live better. That included Yu not being as messy and being involved in keeping the place in top shape. He looked over at Naoto and Kanji, Kanji getting his hair back to its regular black slicked look and all of his piercings removed. "Guy looks like that dude from that Office show we watched back in LA." Yosuke whispered into Yu's ear, trying not to laugh. Kanji noticed them and ran over to greet his friends.
"Yo senpai! How you doing?" "Kanji, you don't gotta call me that anymore man." "Oh yeah, sorry. Just…got used to calling you that, y'know?" "Well hey, no hard feelings." "Anyways geez man you went CRAZY last night. You went up in your room with Chie-senpai after you and her slammed that giant bottle, thought someone was gutting a dying animal." "Yeah, that's what drunk sex usually sounds like." Yosuke shuddered, taking another drink of his soda. "Yeah, I think I'll hold back on the alcohol for a long while. It's not great whenever I sober up." "Well hey, gotta say, congrats to you and Chie-senpai! Can't wait for the wedding!" The three men exchanged stories for a while, laughing and having a good time.
All of a sudden, he noticed his father looking at them and being worried. "Boys boys, this is important! Look!" He pointed over to Chie and Rise, holding a baby that seemed to belong to one of Rise's cousins. The look on their faces could only be described as pure joy and astonishment. "You let your wives play with that baby, are you crazy?!" Yu's father said, holding Yu by his arms and looking at him with fear in his eyes.
"Yeah, so?" Kanji replied. "Your wives are already starting to get-" "Baby crazy, right?" Yu interrupted, surprising his father. "You see it too, dontcha? Soon they're playing with babies and having fun and then they're gonna ask you to have one. And y'know what that means. Game Over!" Yu's dad went on a familiar sounding ramble to all of them as they pretended to be shocked and surprised. "Right now, they are running on pure estrogen and emotion and their biological clock is ticking away!" He held his finger up to imitate a pendulum but before he could, Yu did the same thing and imitated him. "Tick…tick…have…a…baby…now." Yu said, smirking at his father. Yu's dad was in complete disbelief as he believed he never told his son or his friends this speech. "…i need some water, me thinks." Yu's father said as he walked away.
"Wow, you handled that…a lot better than I expected, dude." Kanji said, surprised at Yu taking a stand against his father. "I know my dad's worried for me and all but…if Chie wants a kid now and it takes away all my time. So be it. I'd rather have a kid and have no free time than having no wife and being miserable." Yu said, chugging a soda bottle.
"Not on the drinks tonight, eh? Already acting like a responsible father, Mr Satonaka." Yosuke said, nudging Yu's head while laughing. "Speaking of which, what about you? Did you listen to my dad's advice?" Yu asked Yosuke. Yosuke simply chuckled and pointed at a corner of the room, where Naoto was greeting Yukiko who was looking…a little different than when he last saw her.
"Wow, that quick huh?" Kanji said, surprised at the fact that Yukiko was already pregnant not even a year after her and Yosuke were wed. "The moment we got married, she wanted her kids back. Said she waited too long for that moment." Yosuke sighed, eating away at a candy bar he stashed on his plate. "Though I will say, the future is always unexpected as they say." "That meaning?" Yu questioned, raising an eyebrow. Yosuke laughed and brought Yu along with Kanji over to Yukiko.
"Evening Yukiko, how've you been?" Yu hugged Yukiko while keeping in mind the giant elephant in the room. "I've been well, Yu! Well a little less than usual but nothing major."
"Speaking of which, how're they doing?" Yu said, looking at Yukiko's stomach. "A lot more rowdy than I remember but still well." Yukiko said, smiling and looking down at herself. "Honestly, I've gone through this before and I will do it again in stride. Though it hasn't been easy doing it twice in my opinion." Yukiko laughed, rubbing her stomach. "They've been well though, and that's all I can ask for."
"Woah so the twins are back in town huh? I missed you guys so much!" Chie said, kneeling down and putting her head on Yukiko's stomach. "Triplets this time." Yukiko chuckled, holding Yosuke's hand. Chie stood up, her mouth agape and her eyes brightening up. Everyone else in the friend group was in shock. "T-triplets? Like, there's three lil babies inside of ya?" Kanji said in disbelief, his cake falling out of his plate and onto the floor. "Wow. Life…Truly is spectacular, is it not Kanji?" Naoto smiled, her hands over her mouth in joy looking over at Kanji. "Uhh, yeah. That's uh…I uh need something to clear my throat." Kanji immediately dashed to the refreshment table while Naoto and Chie were congratulating Yukiko. "Well uh, I get what you say when you say the future is unexpected." Yu looked at Yosuke chuckling and holding Chie. "Yep, but hey, I got the training! I went through the hardships life gave me with the twins and I became victorious! And I can do it all over again!" Yosuke said, pumping his arm into the air.
Yu laughed as he looked at Chie squealing with Yukiko, she was in complete joy and turned to look at Yu. "So I'm next, right? Right?" Chie said, excited. Yu frowned instantly and brought her over to an empty table. Everyone was looking in with worry in their faces.
"Listen Chie. I've been thinking and…" Yu said looking at the ground, not wanting to see his fiance's face. Chie's smile and radiance quickly dropped when she heard what he was saying. "…no. Please, not again." "I just think that we should…wait until we're ready. Wait until February 31st in a few years at the very least, y'know?" Yu said looking at Chie who was about to cry. He didn't want to disappoint her again but he had to say this to her. "…yu…why do you lift my spirits and the-waaaaait a second. February 31st doesn't exist. Does it?" Chie said, with hope in her voice. Yu's frown instantly rised up into a smile as he chuckled. "Well, I guess we can have a baby any day then, huh?" Chie punched Yu in the arm over his joke. "Don't make me scared like that, dork!" Chie said, while going back to Yukiko, pouting at Yu, who was still laughing. Yu went back to Yosuke and Kanji and the rest of them talked the night away.
Yu and Chie drove off, pulling up into their house, a one story home that was in the same neighborhood near Dojima's. They opened the door and Skip was there to greet him. They decided to get a different breed, a Beagle. That way, when their child did come, the dog would be less aggressive. "Heya Skip, holding the fort down?" Yu asked as Skip raised his leg and peed all over the books that Yu had near the couch. "Oh nonono Skip, cmon!" Chie panicked, getting Skip outside and Yu managed to clean the area quickly before the smell spread. He managed to get everything tidied up and sat down with Chie. "So. Wedding in a week. It feels weird yet…right at the same time having back-to-back weddings in the same month, y'know." Yu said as Chie rested her head on his shoulder. "Yep, but after that, we're gonna be the best teacher-cop parents ever!"
"Speaking of which, for the future, you decided on a name?" Chie perked up and ran off into their bedroom carrying a large list. She unfolded it and it was so long that it led all the way into their bedroom across the hallway. Skip followed the list and jumped up the couch to rest on Chie's lap. "So I'm thinking Muri, Tiki, Kairi, Ku…" Chie listed tons of baby names and Yu nearly felt like he was going to sleep. He walked into the kitchen, poured himself a cup of coffee and listened to his fiancé ramble on about the many MANY baby names she had for their child/children.
Later that night, Yu got out of bed and made sure Chie was fast asleep, Skip in hand with her. He ran into the bathroom and locked himself in, making sure no one could hear him. Then he started to dial a number. Chie could never know about this. "Pick up pick up pick up." Yu muttered, checking his door to make sure he could quickly turn off his phone in case Chie was close by. Just then, the phone picked up.
"Good afternoon, this is Ren Amamiya of Café Leblanc. Currently we are-"
"Ren, it's me."
"Narukami!? Ow, shit." Yu heard crashing in the background mixed with…coffee heating up. "Sorry, sorry. I was…studying for a test. This place is full of random cr-stuff I can trip on. Anyways it's good to hear from you, Narukami! How have you and Chie been?" Ren replied excitedly. Yu had managed to contact one of his old Tycoon friend's sons. While he knew he was in high school, he knew from how his heart reacted that Ren was another of Igor's Wild Cards. A man who could change hearts and form bonds. And who had his own destiny to fulfill.
"It's been good, how have you and those Phantom Thieves been?" "Well we just changed the heart of our gym teacher. Mr Kamoshida, you may have heard of him." "The pedophile? Yeesh, great job man." "Thank you. It was an amazing battle, I can't believe you gave up on learning more about the Persona!" "More like retired. Me and Izanagi are pretty weary from everything that's happened with Izanami." "I can imagine. Especially because you're only 23 years old." Ren said, chuckling on the other end. "Hey just you watch, using a powerful Persona like that 24/7 is tiring all right? Speaking of that, I need your help with something. I was looking at some of the cards that Igor gave me. The ones of my 'fake future.' It seems like a fake group of Phantom Thieves infiltrated my wedding and managed to…hurt Kanji's mother and steal Naoto's work. She thought that you guys were the ones to commit this crime."
"That sounds terrible! I mean, yeah we're thieves but…not of actual burglary and we would never hurt random innocent people or take a detective's work." Ren said, Yu sensing the anger in his voice. "We'll make sure this group pays…and that they pay well. That sounded cool and threatening right?" "Scared me." Yu said, smiling. "Hehe, thanks. Anyways yeah, I'll call the rest of the group and see what we can do. The wedding's next week right?" "Right, lemme send you the address and you might've already gotten some invitations. I'll sneak into the tv world and get…something to activate your guy's powers. It will only be for a few minutes though…" "We've done more with shorter time, Narukami." Ren said smiling. "Then after that, is it ok if we could…hang around a bit?" "Are you kidding me? Anyone invited is allowed to enjoy themselves. You can even meet Chie and my friends."
"That…that sounds great, thank you!" Just then, Yu heard someone in the background yelling at Ren to go to bed and rest. "Ugh, yes Morgana, I'll get off! I apologize. See you next week!" Ren said as he hung up. Yu went back to bed, confident that he made the right choice.