It was the first day of the new school year at Yasogami High School in Inaba. Students gathered in the classroom, eagerly gossiping about rumors of this and that. Particularly a certain rumor about a certain channel at midnight but also of four new transfer students!

"You guys hear about the new transfer students from Staten Island Academy?" Asked actual background NPC, Yuichiro, who may or may not be mentioned again at a later date.

"Yeah! I heard they're less than practical." Said Sally Tsukimo, who won't be an available social link, stop asking.

The roaring idle chit chat quickly became hushed murmurs when dental disaster and homeroom teacher, Mr. Morooka rudely interjected, "Silence, you peons! Now listen up, dipshits! As for reasons we will NOT be getting into, today we will be welcoming 4 new hooligans into this hick school. You all know how much I hate city folk, so please jeer and boo as I reluctantly introduce each of them by name."

"Huh? New transfers?" Asked Yosuke who IS a relevant character God willing. "Did you hear that Chie?"

But, before Chie could be properly introduced, four large and frankly out of shape shadows appeared behind the classroom door.

"Eh, that's aight, Mr. Moron. I think I'll introduce myself if you don't mind." Said Joe Gatto-san, whom is the central protagonist of the story. Mr. Moron, for his part, did in fact mind and wasn't afraid to speak up about it!

"I'd expect no less from uncivilized people like you, lardass." Moroka removed the 'kick me' sign Joe had placed on his back from earlier. "Now take yer damn seat before I start drinking excessively in class again!" Not that anything's stopped him before, but now I'm just thinking out loud.

Chie lookied to her friend Yukiko in utter shock. Most likely, every student who was BELOW the age of 40, was doing so with their fellow classmates. "Is..is he…a grown adult?" Yukiko asked before being promptly ignored.

Followed by Gatto-san was a frail, ferret looking man awkwardly stumbling into class…and he was BALD no less! Joe, for his part, was not deterred from making sure everyone knew that fact.

"Umm, h-hello, everyone! I'm Murr, but I'd prefer if everyone called me James." Said Murr. "Aww man, not even the narrator respects me!"

"Stop breakin' da fourth wall, Murr! It's too early in the story for that." Joe winked. Moroka wasn't amused, clearly not a fan of TruTV's programming.

"No, really," Yukiko said, "what are these guys doing here?" Again, she was rightly ignored.

"Alright, you can sit your bald ass right over there next to the literal background character whose name I forget." Said Moroka before sitting down on an inconveniently placed whoopie cushion. "Damn these gags are half-assed!"

"Good one, Murr!" Joe high fived Murr.

"Thanks, Joey!" Murr smiled. "Wasn't me this time, so you know that can only mean one thing…"

"They don't even look Japanese!" Kind of bigoted on Yukiko's part but I'll allow it.

A now sloshed Moroka read the next name, "Up next, we got named 'Prince Herb', who I seriously doubt is of royalty!"

"Did'ja see that one, fellas?!" Spoke a cool and collected Prince Herb. Here came a man with well more fuzz than could be called a 5 o'clock shadow. And here to be a student no less!

"Toilet humor? Not your usual brand, Sally boy." Joe chuckled heartily.

"Hey, don't call me that anymore, Joe!" Said Prince Herb. "Well, it was HIS idea to be honest with yas…"

And with our not so subtle cue, we cut to…umm, well, Q! "Yeah, I'm here too." He spoke softly before promptly taking his seat next to Yosuke Hanamura.

"Good! All the stupids have gathered in one place." Said Moroka before falling out of his chair because one of the fellas managed to cut off one of the legs earlier. "I WILL NOT BE DEGRADED TO SUCH CHEAP GAGS!"

Joe, seeing an opportunity for a joke, retorted, "Well, Mr. Moron. Sounds to me like you can't STAND this anymore!" The classroom gasped in awe of his insolence. But, it's not very clear why, as Joe had already called him that at least once already.

A giggling Murr added, "Yeah, sounds like he can't take this one SITTING DOWN!"

The cackling hyenas that are the impractical jokers were too busy laughing amongst themselves to hear Mr. Moroka profess, "I WILL FUCKING GET YOU FOR THIS LATER!" before he unceremoniously walked off into the hallway of shame.

"Wow, did'ja see that, Yosuke?" Asked Chie Satonaka, who is, in this humble author's opinion, is best girl. "These clowns have only been in Yasogami High for a few minutes, and they already managed to dethrone King Moron!"

Yukiko Amagi, future heir to the famous Amagi Inn and personal best friend of Chie (Ha, other author doesn't know I added lines for her before this intro) replied, "I don't know, Chie. Don't they seem kinda…impractical to you?" (Oh fuck I wasn't spelling her name right before).

Yosuke rudely suggested, "Umm, maybe you don't watch enough television, Yukiko-chan. They ARE the Impractical Jokers, right here in Inaba for some reason!"

A now fascinated Yukiko asked, "You don't think they're here to investigate the rumored Midnight Channel, do you?"

"Only one way to find out!" Yosuke hurriedly rushed over to…the desk right next to him because we established they were sitting next to him already. And somehow, despite this, Yosuke managed to trip and fumble his way into a nearby garbage can because that's Yosuke for ya!

After managing to unearth himself from the embarrassment that was the previous scene, he quickly introduced himself to the Tenderloins. "Hey there, fellas! Yosuke Hanamura, big fan, but since you're my senpais, you can just call me Yosuke-kun!"

"Did any one of yas catch dat?" Asked Gatto-san.

"Not at all, Joey! I can't speak Japanese!" Said a worried Prince Herb.

"Gee, fellas, maybe coming to Japan to get an education wasn't one of our best ideas!" Murr said.

"Well, at least we can read the pages this story is being written on to know what they're saying." Said Q.

Hey, if it works, it works.

"...Is this a bit? Are you guys filming right now? C'mon, you can tell me!" Whimpered Yosuke like the clingy fan boy he is.

"Nah, now what's this you were sayin' about some kind of Midnight Channel?" Joe asked with intrigue. "Gotta be some kind of new TruTV programming block they haven't told us about yet."

"Weird," Murr said, "why would they play anything else on TruTV?"

Accurate.

"Are you serious? You mean you guys didn't read the first paragraph where the other kids in class were talking about it?" Asked Chie.

"Well, they say that anyone who watches their tv alone at midnight, on a rainy night will see their true love right before their eyes on the screen." Yukiko exposited for all 5 of you who haven't played Persona 4, I know I haven't.

"That's stupid, you're stupid, lady." Prince Herb correctly deduced. Yes, we're sticking with that name. "Ain't no frickin' way that's how it works!"

Joe, fishing for a line, said, "Idk, fellas, I've heard wackier premises for a fanfic, er, I mean, television show! Maybe we oughtta check this out tonight, couldn't hurt."

Q, exhausted with it all, sighed, "Joe, at least spell out your words." Prediction: Persona 6 will have some kind of commentary and twist on cell phones.

"It's settled then!" Yosuke struck a victory pose that you'd honestly have to see to believe. "Sounds like I WILL be an integral part of the story after all! You guys DO have televisions at your house, right? I mean, you could always come to my place if you were looking to hang out. My dad owns the local Junes, you might have heard of it. We're kind of a big deal in this backwater part of Japan."

"Oh, right," Joe said, "we better have a quick scene establishing where we're living first."