*Chapter 14: So Let's Get Prepared*

"Yo dude, you all right?" Yosuke asked, looking at Yu who looked dead tired.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm good." Yu said, holding Jin in his hands, getting some baby practice from his best friend. It had been 2 months since Chie was pregnant and Yu managed to find a good balance between his work and spending time with her. They were all at the park on a warm autumn day, with all of Yosuke and Yukiko's children who were crawling all over the grass and playing with some toys. Yukiko and Chie were talking to each other, Yukiko looking at Chie's increasingly growing stomach and talking about advice and things she could do.

"I'm just a bit tired, y'know? Didn't expect the little guy to wake us up so much." Yu said, patting Jin's head who was spitting bubbles that were dripping from his mouth. "Yeah, I remember when Yukiko was first pregnant. Waking up in the early morning when SOMETHING happened and all the pregnancy cravings. It was like a giant hole was dug out of her appetite and she would ALWAYS eat stuff. I had to convince my dad to have some of the nearly expired stuff from Junes to feed her throughout some weeks. Speaking of which, how much has she eaten?"

"The fridge is empty every day." Yu chuckled as Yosuke spat out his soda, which caused Jin to giggle and clap his hands. "Heh, see, even Jin thinks it's funny." Yu said, laughing along with Yosuke's son. Yosuke wiped his mouth and looked at Yu with shock.

"Jeez man! I know Chie already eats a lot for a woman but…holy craaaackers! Sorry, just…gotta remember not to curse as much." Yosuke cringed, realizing that his old habits would have to be changed now that his children were born.

"I could get you some of the stuff from Junes if you need, partner." "I would greatly appreciate that." Yu looked over to see Chie holding a pinwheel and blowing it in front of Nari who looked in astonishment and confusion, Chie laughing along with Yukiko. He smiled knowing how happy and positive Chie was during this time.

He turned over to Yosuke who looked at Yasuhiro looking at a dandelion and putting it into his mouth. "Yasuhiro, no! You can't eat that!" Yosuke said, running over to his son to pick him up. He started crying instantly before Yosuke panicked and got a binky from his carebag, putting it into his son's mouth and cradling him.

"Your brother's a crazy one, ain't he?" Yu said softly to Jin, who cooed and put his hand in his mouth. He laughed and took another sip of his soda, taking in the sun and relaxing. "Okey dokey, little mister, you're gonna sit with me for a bit." Yosuke said, putting his son on his knee and holding a bottle to his mouth.

"I forgot how good Yosuke was with his kids." Chie said, cradling Nari in her arms who softly yawned. "Well as I always say, he's had experience in a past life." Yukiko said, taking a bite from a box of crackers. "Well looking back at it, I would never go back to that past life in a BILLION YEARS." Chie sighed.

"Well not only did you not have a child, Yu was…a different man. And he..also…" "We don't talk about that." Chie said grimly, digging through a baby bag and feeding Nari with a bottle. "I mean, Yu in that place was…not the same man I loved. He was aggressive, immature, and he hated children and the idea of having them. I regret some of the stuff I did too honestly, but he was…different."

"He also killed-" Yukiko said, being cut off by Chie shushing her. "Hey hey, we agreed not to bring that up! Yu still feels…terrible over that." "I can imagine. I can't even think about what was going on in his mind. Just losing control like that and doing things you never normally do. It sounds terrifying." Yukiko frowned, looking at Chie's bump. "But that's in the past and now you're going to have a beautiful healthy baby!" "You mean the future right?" "It's still never not going to be confusing." Yukiko said, rubbing her head.

Chie noticed the bottle was empty and helped Nari burp. She then got an idea and went over to Yu. "Hey honey, maybe you should practice feeding a baby with Jin!"

Yu look surprised and looked over at Yosuke. "Really?" "Yeah partner! It could be some good practice. Unless you get all violent when the baby-" "Yosuke, for the last time, that was not me. Now pass me a bottle." Yu squirt a bit on his wrist, feeling that it was perfectly warm and fed Jin, who quickly latched on and chugged all of the milk down. "Huh, little guy's hungry." Yu said, as Jin finished the bottle.

"Now you just gotta burp him, man." Yu began lightly bouncing and tapping Jin's back until he let out a loud burp and spit up a bunch of milk on Yu's back, surprising him. Chie gasped in fear with Yukiko and Yosuke looking at their son with worry, remembering how aggressive Yu got when Yasuhiro did the same thing in that dream and how mad he got. But to their surprise, Yu held out Jin laughing and getting a towel from his bag. "Well, someone's a spitter!" Yu said, laughing as he cleaned himself and Jin up.

"...wow you…didn't get mad at him." Chie said, lowering her hands from her mouth in surprise. "Mad? Mad at what? Why would I get mad at an innocent baby, Chie? An adorable innocent little baby at that, aren't ya, little guy" Yu said, drying himself off and setting Jin down, who began to crawl around the picnic blanket.

"I just…remember in that place how when Yasuhiro did the same thing, you got all…aggressive towards everyone and looked at him with hate." "Oh yeah, well Jin's just a baby. Honestly I forgot about how…stupid I was back then. I just let ANYTHING get to me because of my dad's words." Just then, Yu noticed Nari smelling terrible and realized what was happening.

"Oh no, Yosuke, grab a fresh diaper from the bag please!" Yukiko said, going over to change her daughter. "Actually Yukiko, let me do this." Yu said, looking at Yukiko with confidence. Yukiko was surprised to see Yu offer to do the job and stepped aside to watch along with Chie, both of them baffled at how calm and carefully Yu was treating Nari while changing her diaper. "There we go, all clean!" Yu said, holding up Nari who giggled and he gave her to Yukiko who looked dumbfounded, her mouth agape. Yukiko looked at Chie who was astonished. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was this the same Yu Narukami they always knew?

"Wow, you did that pretty fast, dude! Looks like having a kid ain't gonna be any trouble for you." Yosuke chuckled. It was getting late so they said goodbye to Yosuke, Yukiko, and the kids and drove off. Chie was still surprised and smiled at Yu, baffled at how caring he was to the children.

"You…handled that really well. Like, I'm impressed." "Well, I wanna make it up with you for all that happened so I thought it would be good to train a bit with Yosuke and Yukiko's kids, y'know?" Yu said, starting up their car. "I get that but you seemed so…understanding and patient with the kids! Like, Nari peed her pants 3 times in a row and you offered to do her diaper all those times!" "Well hey, gotta be patient with kids. I work at a middle school, you gotta have a high tolerance." "...it's sexy honestly."

"It is?" Yu said, surprised at Chie complimenting him. "It's sexy how caring you were for them, y'know?" "Heh, I'll take that compliment in stride." Yu said. Chie snickered at him and looked out the window, caressing her stomach. "By the way, sorry for eating a lot. I try not to but…you know?" "Hey well, Yosuke said that he'll make sure to give me access to the back parts of Junes to get some of the food that would expire soon for free. You eat fast anyways so it's a win-win, y'know?" "I'm so glad we're friends with him." Chie sighed, putting on a song on the radio, a new song with Rise and Teddie, as they drove back home.

A few weeks later.

"Man, I am starving!" Chie said, Yu took off her coat and put it on her chair. They were both meeting up with Rise and Teddie at Aiya's, who were excited to see Chie pregnant.

"Wow, Chie looks like a balloon!" Teddie said, Chie scowling at him. "Teddie, I oughta sock you for what you said!" "Oh, I'm sorry, Chie-san…" Teddie said sadly, Rise comforting him. "So how far along are you two?" Rise asked, eager to know how her friends were handling their life.

"We're about 3 and a half months in, it's been a bit better." "But I'm like, really hungry all the time! It's awful." Chie said, burying her face into her arms on the table. Just then, Aika appeared, holding her familiar looking notepad and not looking any different from how she looked in high school. "Can I take your guy's orders?"

"Hey Aika, since it's raining, can I take the Mega Beef Bowl Challenge?" Yu looked over at his wife with surprise. The last time someone attempted the challenge was back before he left Inaba for the first time to his new school. Even then, he barely managed to scrape by, spending the entirety of the next day, throwing up in between classes at his school's bathroom.

"Woah…Chie-senpai, are you sure you want to go ahead with this?" "This'll fill me up for the next few days if I play my cards right! Besides, my baby needs some early protein so she can be as strong as me!" Chie chuckled, patting her stomach. "All right then, I'll get one ready. As for the rest of you?"

"Hm, it's pretty cold outside. Some ramen would sound beary good right now!" Teddie said, rubbing his hands together. "Well then, we'll get your daily ramen." Yu asked Aika, who quickly wrote down the orders and ran to the back. "Ok Chie-senpai, so how bad has it been?" Rise asked. "Ugh, my feet hurt all the time and it feels like she never wants to rest…" Chie whined, looking down at her stomach. Every time she would try to sleep, she felt a sharp kick to her stomach or when she finished eating her breakfast or lunch, she would go for seconds, then thirds, then so on. She felt more respect for Yukiko realizing that she had to go through this but with three children. "How did Yukiko manage to get through all of this twice? After all of this is said and done, I don't wanna have more than this one."

"Hey, you were the one who wanted to have a baby as soon as possible." Yu chuckled, getting a sharp punch from Chie on his arm. "Ow! Hey!" "Y'know Senpai, you DO owe her after she kept begging for a kid in the dream world." Rise giggled. "Speaking of, did you and Teddie want to have a child anytime soon?" Yu asked, rubbing his arm. "Oh, Rise said she was going to take a baby from another woman! I think they call it adoption?" Teddie said, blowing into his hands despite the restaurant being heated. "Oh, adoption! Interesting." Chie said in surprise.

"Well even though Teddie's child was normal in the dream, we were in the TV world so a shadow wouldn't look out of the ordinary, right? But what if me and him had ANOTHER kid in this world and it was some…weird demon shadow thing?" Rise winced at the thought while Teddie looked out the window at the bright lights around the shops. "Man it sure is cold out now! I can't believe how freezing Inaba gets during this time of year! And we're not even in December yet!" Teddie said, rubbing his hands together even harder. "Well hopefully we can all meet up at Yosuke and Yukiko's place for Christmas. The two of them have been planning it for a while now."

"Oh, speaking of planning, have you two decided to do a baby shower yet?" Rise asked, catching Chie and Yu off guard. "Oh yeah, we uh gotta do that soon huh?" Chie chuckled nervously, downing her glass of water instantly. "Uh yeah, we were going to plan it sooner but y'know, things got busy." Yu said, sweating after realizing how things like that flew over their heads. "Well, seeing as November is a bit of a dry season for me, me and Teddie are gonna be staying here for a few weeks. Maybe we can help plan one for you guys!"

"Ooooh, that sounds BEARY good, honey! And we can make it a very special shower, what with all of the men and women around! I better bring my bathcap though." Teddie said, with everyone looking at him with disbelief. "Not an actual shower, Teddie! It's a party to celebrate me and the baby!" Chie said, Teddie realizing his mistake and hitting his own head.

"But yeah, that does sound good, Rise. Are you sure you guys can handle it?" Yu asked as he didn't want to disrupt their time here in Inaba. "Never fear, Sensei! Teddie is here to help you and Chie-san have the greatest baby shower ever!" Teddie said, puffing his chest out and lifting his arms out like a boxer. "That's my Teddie-bear!" Rise squealed, hugging Teddie.

"3 beef ramens for all of you and one Mega Beef Bowl for Chie-san and her baby. Enjoy." Aika said, heading back into the kitchen. Yu broke his chopsticks and began reciting what Chie had to know about the challenge. "Ok Chie, now in order to conquer the bowl, you need to have-"

As Yu was talking, Chie instantly grabbed her pair of chopsticks and started snarfing down her bowl, bits of rice and steak juice flying out of the bowl. Yu, Rise, and Teddie watched in astonishment as Chie kept on eating and eating with ease, not even taking a break to breathe or drink some water. It was like her mouth just became a vacuum as she sucked in more and more meat. Yu looked over at Rise who was slurping some noodles down, still looking at Chie with worry. Teddie however, looked excited and kept on cheering for Chie. "Atta girl, Chie-san! You can do it!"

After less than 3 minutes, Chie gasped and placed her chopsticks down, wiped her mouth with a napkin and sat back in her chair. "Whew, that hit the spot! Still…I'm feeling pretty hungry. Aika, could I have another?" Yu was astonished to see that Chie finished it. She completed the bowl in less than a few minutes and it was entirely empty. Not a grain of rice or a speck of meat was left. He was even more shocked to see Chie order another bowl on top of that. "Wow…you were REALLY hungry, weren't you?" Yu said, shocked. "Sensei, are you sure you were feeding Chie well? She went through that bowl to the beary last speck like she's never eaten in her entire life!" Teddie said, also shocked. "…i guess you both are pretty hungry." Yu chuckled looking over at Chie who was waiting eagerly for another Mega Beef Bowl. "Yeah, I guess me and the little guy share a common love for meat, huh?" Chie laughed, patting her stomach. Just then, Aika appeared with another Mega Beef Bowl which Chie promptly ate quickly. After that, she sat back in her chair, looking content and full.

Yu and the others finished their food and Aika took Chie's picture with a polaroid camera, hanging it up on a Mega Beef Bowl Rainy Day Challenge Winners board right next to Yu's photo. All of them walked outside, the rain finally stopping, to take in the chill fall breeze of the Shopping District and head over to Junes to meet up with Yosuke. They saw Yosuke stocking some shelves with ease as he was talking into his phone.

"...I'm not sure if we can stockpile those yet. Yeah, the autumn cookies were the better sellers, I think we should prioritize those instead of…" Yosuke seemed to be talking to a higher-up of some kind before he noticed his friends and waved at them. "Yeah, I'll speak to you later, I'll forward you to Mr Kanashi." Yosuke said, hanging up and walking over to his friends, hugging Yu in the process.

"Hey guys, how have you all been?" Yosuke smiled. "We've been good, Yosuke. Though, shouldn't you be working right now?" Yu asked, concerned about his friend's work habits. "Nah, I'm off my shift, I was just talking to my merchandising manager, we're stocking some fall stuff in Junes." "Ooooh, are you guys gonna have those autumn cookies again? Those were my favorites!" Chie asked eagerly. "Well if I'm able to convince the higher-ups, we could bring them back. I mean, last time they were available was back in high school, y'know?" Yosuke said before Teddie remembered something.

"I remember when me and Yosuke managed to sell all of our stock in a few days! We were the best salesmen ever!" "Yeah cause you bought all of them when you got your paycheck, Teddie!" Yosuke said, sighing.

"Well anyways, we came here to ask you when you and Yukiko had your baby shower. It was 5 months in, wasn't it?" "Yeah but that was mainly cause I was so busy with stuff like getting the house, having to prepare for the kids again, working at Junes. Honestly, you guys can plan it anytime you want."

"Then it's decided, we'll have it next month! That sound good to you guys?" Chie asked, looking at everyone who nodded in approval. "I'll make sure you all have the greatest baby shower ever made!" Rise said, raising her fist into the air and striking a pose, everyone in the store looking at her in confusion. She quickly lowered her fist and looked embarrassed.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Actually speaking of, Yu are you doing anything tomorrow?" "Don't think so, it's a Sunday so I just need to finish some paperwork and some quizzes." "Well after you do all that, you should come with me tomorrow after work to the city, we gotta get you some baby supplies!" "Oh yeah, man we are TOTALLY unprepared, huh?" Chie chuckled nervously, looking down at the ground with shame. "You and Sensei are beary busy every day, Chie-san! We can help you with preparing for your baby cub!" "Thanks, you guys. We appreciate it." Yu said, smiling at everyone.