Persona Series 1. Chapter 1

**Talk to Me**

**Disclaimer: **P4 belongs to... Atlus?

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><p>It was a mild shock, really.<p>

Shocking enough that the steak skewer Chie had held was sitting ignored in the gutter while the owner sat slack-jawedly from the revelation. Mild enough that Chie hadn't immediately banged her head onto the table after convincing herself it was just a dream.

"You..._ what?_"

"Engaged," Yukiko said, eyes downcast.

"You... _what?_"

She sighed. "Engaged. Making me repeat it thrice isn't going to change anything, Chie. I'm engaged."

"_What _when why _how?_"

"My parents announced it three weeks ago – they thought it was time for me to start taking my position seriously." Biting her lips, she wrung a discarded skewer stick in her hands. "They have this idea that having a husband will somehow make a woman out of me. Help the inn thrive. I wanted to tell you, but..." She looked away.

It was a dream. It had to be. Just yesterday Yukiko was cackling normally at one of Teddie's bad jokes, even causing Yosuke to spill his drink when she started slapping his back. Chie closed her open mouth in a desperate attempt to regain even the tiniest amount control. "No way. Nu-uh. _No way_. You're joking, right. Right?"

Yukiko smiled wryly. "I wish that's the case. I'm supposed to meet him in a week, as the last arrangement before everything is finalized. It's not like we won't be friends anymore. We can still meet. We'll always be-" Hearing the beep, she flipped open her phone, glanced at the screen then pocketed it. "I'm sorry, Chie. Mother wants to choose the kimono. I have to go."

"Wait. Yukiko- I. I."

By then Yukiko had neatly gathered her remains of the lunch and discarded it into a nearby trashcan. "Good-bye, Chie," she said, and walked away.

* * *

><p>When the recorded message of Yukiko's furiously calm voice answered for the twelfth time, Chie decided to throw the phone out of the window.<p>

"Sempai!"

She ignored Rise's startled cry and resumed her pacing around the room. "I can't believe it. This is stupid. Ridiculous. I'll get Suzuka Gongen to bufudyne that guy to hell." _Thwack._ "Galactic punt him. I'll get Teddie's persona to launch his rocket at that bastard." _Thwack._ "Hell, I'll get Kanji to loan me his desk and bash that sonu- omph!"

Rise had elbowed her in the stomach.

"Sorry," Rise said after Chie fell onto the sofa groaning, "you were kicking holes into the wall. And it was hard finding a phone with that shade of pink; I had to- oh, hi, Naoto-kun."

"Satonaka-sempai; Kujikawa-san," Naoto said, side-stepping an amputated chair leg and an upturned table. "...is this an inconvenient time?"

"Not at all," Rise said cheerfully, motioning towards the sofa. "Make yourself comfortable. And careful of the splinters."

"A bit late." Naoto grimaced and shook something off her foot. Limping slightly, she went and sat down besides the slumping Chie whose forehead was currently glued to the coffee table. She looked at Chie, then up at Rise. "An explanation, if you will."

By then Rise had dragged the only chair that still had four legs and positioned it across the sofa. She sighed dreamily. "Lost love." Chie lifted her forehead from the table just enough to glare at her. "Yukiko-sempai is getting married-"

"Engaged!"

"-carried off by an evil man into his dark, decrepit castle. Tomorrow-"

"A week!"

Pouting, Rise looked at Chie reprovingly. "Oh _really_ sempai, must you always be so dramatic?"

"I'm _not-_"

"So. In seven moons hence the rightful prince will don her finest armour – she will show up on her magnificent steed to slay the villain and claim the princess as her own and then together they shall ascend the throne and rule happily ever after."

A few moments of silence passed.

"I've been reading a lot of fantasy lately," she said sheepishly. "Aaanyway, we're here to help Chie-sempai win Yukiko-sempai back. I tried calling Yosuke-sempai and Kanji, but they're busy. So it's just you and me for now, Naoto-kun."

Before Naoto could speak, Chie held her hand out as if to say 'stop'. "Wait. What do you mean help?"

"Well," and only Rise could make such an innocent, mundane word sound like a shorthand of _duh isn't is so obvious?_ "Help you carry the princess into the sunset. What else? Right, Naoto-kun?"

"I never agreed-"

"I know that," said Chie, going on as if Naoto was just another piece of furniture. Chie was beginning to feel like a patronised pre-schooler. "But. I mean. Look, I don't– I never asked for help, okay? It's true that I'm pissed. I mean, come on, what parents would sell their children off to some balding old dude? Yukiko deserves better than that."

Rise tilted her head."What's the problem, then?"

"The problem is," Chie said, then stopped. What was the problem really? That she actually wanted to run in, bash the guy's head in and drag (by the legs, even) Yukiko out? That was the whole point of the holes in the wall, wasn't it. She wasn't in denial. Not really.

Then she thought: Yukiko deserves better than _me._

"Maybe she doesn't want to break off the engagement," she said again, thinking that maybe if she said it out loud it would become real – as real as the sudden flutter of nausea in her stomach. "Maybe she's happy. Maybe that's why she's not answering the phone. Hell, maybe she's even in-" Her voice broke off. If saying it out loud would make it reality, then it was a reality she didn't want to be a part of. A reality she wouldn't even consider. "In... in..." She couldn't say it – it was as if her throat had simply clamped shut and detached itself from the rest of her body.

Rise and Naoto exchanged worried looks.

"In love, Satonaka-sempai?" Naoto suggested with an uncharacteristic wary tenderness in her voice.

There was no getting around it, not when Naoto had spoken the dreaded word.

"...yeah... in love," said Chie dejectedly, and proceeded to stare at the floor.

"But, how do you know what she wants or doesn't want?" Rise said with what Chie thought as a voice that should only be used for kicked puppies. "It's not like you to be so pessimistic, sempai. She's probably going to end up psychotic, agidyne him and burn the whole town in the future. Or start mass killings with a baseball bat, for all we know."

"Ha. That's not funny, Rise." But Yukiko would find that funny. She'd laugh and maybe choke at her drink. Chie imagined Yukiko going around with Kanji's swagger, a baseball bat held over her shoulders – and ended up trying to swallow her own laughter. "If she's not doing this willingly," she said after her face had resumed its normal expression, "why else would she ignore my calls, then?"

"Well. It is quite obvious that you are both in lo- Ow!"

"Sorry, Naoto-kun. Sometimes my legs would twitch on their own," said Rise. Especially if someone's about to make a stupid comment, her gaze seemed to add.

Naoto blinked. "...oh. Err- what I meant was, it is quite obvious if one should possess the necessary skills to make deductions based on careful observations, that she is irrefutably not in love with any _man_."

Chie wondered briefly about the inflection at the last word, but then discarded it as something unimportant. Not when Yukiko was getting married, there were holes in the wall (and a pair of metal boots that needed replacing), and she was being cornered by two very noisy, very much snooping underclassmen.

"Do I even get a word in this?" Chie said, already feeling a portentous shadow looming.

Rise drew in a deep, deliberate breath. "Honestly?" she said, "mm. Let me think. Nooooo, not really, sempai."

"But. She's just. She's just a friend. I don't have the right to interfere with her life."

"Forgive me for assuming, but the phrase 'I don't have the right' would indicate that you feel like you should have the right- or you do, perhaps. But social ethics and considerations about the precarious nature of your relationship dictate otherwise. Is that right, Satonaka-sempai?"

"Um." Chie wondered if Naoto had simply copied that off a text-book somewhere.

"Or sempai's just being a blockhead. A cute blockhead, mind you," Rise said with a flash of teeth as she caught Chie's stupefied look.

The aforementioned 'blockhead' narrowed her eyes at the blindingly cheerful idol. "You enjoy this, don't you?"

"Oh sempai," said Rise without a single second of hesitation, "of course not; why would I? This is clearly a serious life or death matter. I wouldn't _dare._"

Blindingly, suspiciously cheerful. Chie's eyes narrowed further to the point of forming two straight lines.

Naoto interjected before Chie could confirm the world's misguided stereotype about Asians. "Despite her wayward means, I'm sure Kujikawa-san means well. We..." A single moment of hesitation, but then she plowed through more confidently with a determined tension on her shoulders. "The team- we care about you. You, Amagi-sempai. We want you to be- ah- to be..."

"Happy," Rise said.

"...happy." Naoto's voice sounded strange uttering such an unfamiliar word. "Even if it means meddling and commencing actions you deem as unnecessary. Even if it means forcing you to face reality."

"We've been through a lot, together," said Rise.

"Yes," Naoto said.

"Often times it was you and Yukiko-sempai's teamwork that brought us out of a dangerous situation."

"You would promptly cover for Amagi-sempai under heavy fire as she heals the rest of the team. We wouldn't have made it out in some cases, otherwise."

"Indeed. We should have a slumber party with Kanji, sometime."

"I _adamantly refuse_."

"Boo. You're no fun, Naoto-kun."

With the playful conjecture over with, again, both of them stared pointedly at Chie, who felt like she had to say something, because that little monologue from Naoto (and she used the word happy. _Happy!_) might as well be a heartrending opening of a soap opera – the detective wasn't used to gooey stuff, and that was definitely bordering on gooey. And though somewhat surprised, Chie appreciated that. She could see how they really had her and Yukiko's well-being in mind.

"Wow, you guys..." Chie said somewhat breathlessly. "I never knew. Thank you, I guess." She blinked. "But what does that have do with anything?"

Rise looked like she really wanted to hit a desk with someone's forehead. "Urgh. I can't believe this."

"I think subtlety isn't one of Satonaka-sempai's strongest points," said Naoto with a subdued version of the same look.

Chie wondered if her forehead was in any danger. But they couldn't just expect her to shift through hints and clues that sounded like anything but. She had other things to worry about. Like her best friend getting _married_.

She didn't have time for-

Subtle hints and clues.

Clues.

_God._ How could she be such an _idiot_?

"...Rise, Naoto-kun, you're right. I _am _an idiot-"

Rise looked alarmed. "Wait- sempai? I never said-"

"If only I were smarter, or paid attention more, I could have seen the signs or hints or clues or- I would've found out _sooner_. I would've..."

"Whoa whoa, hold it right there. We were there too, okay? We were meeting almost daily but _none_ of us caught it. It's not just you. Hey, look at me," Rise gently led Chie's hands away from her face, then tipped her chin up to face Rise's own. "We never knew. And looking back, there was no way we would've have known. Yukiko-sempai never betrayed anything. Not a single thing."

"To put it bluntly, we are all equally guilty in part."

Rise wanted to hug and high five Naoto then and there. 'Thank you,' she worded wordlessly, acquiring a curt nod in return. There was something startling about seeing a sempai – who had kicked giant tanks so easily into space – reduced into something close to a nervous breakdown. Just because she was too stubborn to admit her own feelings. Or too considerate about the other party's feelings.

"Look," she said, patting Chie's back. "Think about it, sempai. You always said, 'don't think; feel,' right? So _feel_." Rise paused. Something was wrong there. "Uh- and think. Okay, that was a failure. Anyway, my point is: think about your feelings for Yukiko-sempai, and her feelings for you."

Chie looked at her in confusion. "I don't have to think. We're best friends."

"And stop hiding behind that phrase. We both know-" Rise exhaled slowly. "Never mind. Have a bath; clean up your room; whack some trees; sleep. Call me when you've finally figured it out, okay?"

"Kujikawa-san? I think I saw the remnants of your phone by the door step."

Oh. Right. And she really, _really_ liked that model, too. "Call me at home, then. Or drop by. And I know you will, so don't start protesting," she said as Chie had opened her mouth to do exactly it.

Chie clamped her mouth and nodded.

A final pat to Chie's back, then Rise rose and grabbed her coat from a sofa arm. "Well then, we're leaving now. Remember what I said, sempai." She motioned towards Naoto – who was still seated awkwardly besides Chie. "Let's go, Naoto-kun. Lots of things to do."

"I understand. Good luck, Satonaka-sempai," Naoto said.

With a dip of her hat, she retreated after Rise.

* * *

><p>"I think it would be considerably easier to tell her," said Naoto after the door closed behind them.<p>

"Can't. She has to realise it on her own."

"Even if it is utterly obvious?"

"Well, you know what they say." There was a pause as Rise bent down to retrieve the pink pieces of her phone from the ground. "Love is obvious to everyone but the parties involved. Or something. She'll come to, eventually. Your hat, Naoto-kun."

Naoto held her hat out to act as a container for the pieces. "I never knew phones could shatter like that."

"Aesthetics over quality."

Silence lapsed.

"You sound quite, ah, experienced about this."

"About what? Cheap phones? Last one."

Obediently holding her hat still, Naoto cast her mind about to search for the word. Failed. Decided to stress it instead."_This_."

"Oh. Well," Rise said as she pat her skirt up and down for dust. "I've had experience counseling people with similar situation."

"Really. And who might they be?" said Naoto in her best disinterested voice.

"Kashiwagi-sensei and Hanako-sempai ."

Naoto dropped her hat.

"Hey!"

**Continued**

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><p>Next:<p>

In which Chie almost gets assassinated by stealthy maids.


	2. Chapter 2

**Talk to Me**

**Disclaimer: **P4 belongs to Atlus. Presumably.

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><p>She did everything Rise told her to do.<p>

Trees were fell, holes were covered with posters, water was spilled in a long bath- yet still, the funk she was in became so pervasive her mother threatened to send her to the doctor.

"It's nothing," she said grouchily at another expression of concern from her parents. "Just tired."

"Did you eat too much? You should stop raiding the fridge at mid hggh!"

Judging from the grunt, The Mistress of the House had probably kicked her husband in the shin. Chie tried hard not to wince. An elbow in the stomach seemed tame by comparison. Especially if the elbowing came from a skinny idol. In comparison, her mother was- well, Satonaka Sae was definitely not a dainty woman.

"Chie," Sae started. "You've been moping around the house all day like someone just shot Jackie Chan. Tell us what's wrong."

"Maybe someone did. Finally."

"_Chiaki._"

Her father immediately went back to reading his paper.

Chie used her chopsticks to poke more holes into her rice.

_Poke. Poke. Poke. _Pause. _Poke._

"...it's Yukiko-chan, isn't it?"

Chopsticks frozen in mid-air, Chie gaped at the unceremonious suggestion. "What how did you-"

"We heard, Chie. Amagi-san told us."

"You- I- Yukiko's mom _did?_"

"Yes."

Great. It seemed like she was the only one kept in the dark about Yukiko's impending engagement. The _best friend_. _Ignored_. There it was: a farrago of emotions. Hurt; betrayed; confused. Bitter.

She felt like the unlucky star of a cheap daytime soap-opera.

"I'm going to bed," she announced loudly just as she thought she couldn't stand her parents' concern anymore. Even her father had stopped pretending to read the paper, choosing to stare at her instead.

"G'night," she said, and rushed upstairs without so much as putting the dishes away in the sink.

Come to think of it, maybe she should have stayed to clean up. Because now her father was going to be stuck with it, and it would no doubt negatively affect her pocket money.

The pocket money she had planned on saving for a graduation trip with Yukiko.

Damn it. Now she needed another poster. And tissues.

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><p>Yukiko still had her voice-mail on.<p>

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><p>The next morning Chie refused to peel herself off the bed. And when she did, it was only because of breakfast and the Featherman R re-run marathon on the TV.<p>

It got old after the fourth episode.

By noon – and the ninth episode – she was ready to hurl her TV off her window.

And that was a testament on how much the whole Yukiko fiasco shook Chie. Because she loved her TV (an impressive feat considering her all around aversion to TV sets only a few months ago), and she _loved _Featherman R.

To even think of killing her own TV – it was all Yukiko's fault. If only she had just told Chie sooner. Like, a year sooner. Then Chie would've-

She would've _what? _Because she would still face the same problem, right? She would still just be the best friend. And best friends have no right about each other's romantic life. And if Yukiko had announced her engagement a year ago, then it meant Chie would have precisely a year to mope around without the means to do anything. Somehow she knew she wouldn't like that.

She would've jumped off a cliff.

Maybe she should jump off a cliff.

Or maybe she should mail Rise and tell her that thinking? A load of crap it did to her mood.

_u know what ur idea suc_ she started typing on her phone, when it beeped and announced that she had received one message.

_Hey, _she read,_ I heard what happened from Rise. Hang in there, Chie. Trust her. Call me if you need someone to talk to._

Oh jeez. Even Souji?

Damn small circle of friends and small town. No doubt news about Yukiko's engagement had spread all over the place – as far as Okina, even. The young, pretty heiress from the region's most famous inn. Prime fodder for housewives' gossip circles.

Chie snorted, pointedly ignoring Souji's message. She resumed typing the mail to Rise when she realised that last time she saw Rise's phone it was traveling out of the window in an arc.

She let her head free-fall into the pillow with a sigh.

* * *

><p>Evening found her skulking around the backdoor to the Amagi Inn with a half-baked plan of climbing into Yukiko's room to lay an ambush and choke the information out of her. Figuratively speaking, of course. Or not.<p>

Damn that Yukiko, hanging her out to dry like this. What was five seconds to answer a call, anyway?

Because the last time Yukiko disappeared from Chie's radar like this, she was half-way to the city before finally breaking down and calling Chie to pick her up. In the middle of the night. After the last train had gone and went.

But Yukiko was not running away this time. Chie refused to believe that fact as much as she refused to believe that Yukiko was marrying some unknown, old prick in goodwill. Chie refused to believe that Yukiko might have been as idiotic or subservient. Unless her parent threatened to kick her out for disagreeing. In which case it would be child abuse.

Or maybe a rival inn pressured the Amagi Inn into merging by marrying its own heir.

Or maybe the inn needed a few rocks moving and the guy owned a landscaping company.

Or maybe the guy (presumably rich) had always been into (romantically oblivious) Yukiko and only now had she realised the extent of her love for him.

Or maybe Chie shouldn't have listened to her classmates gossiping about Korean dramas so damned much.

"Pochi! Shut up!"

The dog was trying his best to scale up the wall beneath Yukiko's window, tugging at the leash and making sure everyone in the inn knew that the heiress's best friend was skulking in the shadows and being creepy.

In hindsight, it seemed like a perfect plan. Lurk around the corner, watch the coast, and when it's clear, sprint the hundred metre and vault through the window sill like a battle hardened kung-fu master. And then lift Pochi up by the leash and stuff him into the closet.

Of course, now that she was standing directly in front of Yukiko's window, she was at loss at what to do. Because the light was off and Yukiko was clearly not there – and by gods, she felt like a stalker. The fact that she had spent the last five minutes caught in her own pointless internal monologue and drawing up fantasies about Yukiko's married life.

Chie sighed.

It would be so perfect if she was a guy, wouldn't it? Girl gets married, guy gets angry, crashes party and drags girl away. Girl and guy realises each other's fee

Where did _that _come from?

She totally _did not_ feel that way. They were both girls, and girls don't- well, they do, but best friends don't. Well, they do too, but

"Ara. If it isn't Chie-chan."

"LOVE!"

"...excuse me?"

"Holycrapyoucan'tjustsneakbehindpeople Kasai-san!"

Kasai laughed winsomely at her outburst. "Oh, I apologise. But you were standing outside Yuki-chan's room, and I had to make sure you're not one of her admirers – we caught a few last year, did she tell you?"

"...uh. No. She didn't. …uh, Kasai-san? Why are you carrying a sickle?" Chie said after she regained her breath. She stared at the play of light on Kasai's sickle and shuddered.

"Why, I was weeding when I decided to approach you."

Chie bit her tongue before she could open her mouth and ask Kasai if by approach she meant scare with the added potential of assassination. Fearing the result of such slip, she focused her energy into preventing Pochi from barreling muzzle first into Kasai and licking her to death. She dug her heels into her ground and tugged frantically at his leash.

"Pochi." _Tug._ "_Pochi!_ Urgh-" _Tug. Tug._ "Sorry I don't know what's gotten into-" _Tug._ "No dinner for you, Pochi!"

From then on, Chie resolved to feed all leftovers into the trash can and take him running every morning. Dog was getting heavy.

"It's really no trouble at all. We have enough wild dogs around here that another dog won't be auspicious," said Kasai. "Besides, I think Yuki-chan will be very pleased to see him." She bent down to pet the dog, expertly avoiding any stray tongue. "Hello there, Pochi. Energetic as always, I see."

"Yeah, he got super hyperactive ever since I started feeding him protein shakes as snack in-between meals."

"Maybe you shouldn't. He's getting fat."

"I know. He's going on a diet starting tomorrow."

"I see."

An awkward silence filled the air as Chie hopped foot from foot – holding the dog's leash close – torn between wanting to ask Kasai for a list of those caught 'admirers' (and asking Naoto to track them down), asking about Yukiko, or immediately bolting away, far from stealthy maids with sickles.

Then she remembered an important detail in Kasai's speech.

"Wait, so Yukiko's here?"

"No, she isn't," Kasai said, still nonchalantly petting Pochi. "But I assume this is why you're here? Judging from..." she tugged at the item, "the ribbon."

"Oh. OH. _THAT._"

Chie didn't need a mirror to know that she was blushing bright scarlet at the mention of the decoration on top of her dog's head. True, there was a huge, iridescent yellow ribbon tied into a bow on his head. A fact that she had conveniently forgotten during the course of her tortured inner monologue. Maids with sharp sickles did not help.

And it was also a definitive fact that Chie wanted to kick Yukiko (gently) for not being there and causing her a lot of embarrassment. Dogs with bows. No doubt the story will spread far and wide amongst the inn's staff by noon tomorrow. Damn small towns and not-so-small inns with perverse interest in acutely embarrassing their heirs' best friends.

She cast around for the most plausible response. "It's uhh- I was thinking of- y'know. Uh. Doing things with Yuki-" Crap."Wait. No! I mean. I was gonna climb into her room and hide Pochi and wait for her and surprise her to cheer her up but clearly she's not here so it's kind of a waste right hahahaha. Ha. Ha."

"...I'm sorry, Chie-chan."

It was obvious what Kasai was apologising for.

Stupefied at the sudden change in topic, Chie stared at Kasai before stumbling over her words and finally chose "me too," by way of response – uncomfortable with the change of atmosphere. She looked down. Embarrassed and mystified that even the inn's maid had noticed the state of her miserable mental state, she began inspecting the state of the leash (dirty; needed cleaning) and the dirt under her nails (ditto) to avoid eye contact.

"Do you want to go in for tea?"

She didn't need to see Kasai's face to know the expression she was wearing. She'd seen it far too many times since yesterday.

"It's okay. I don't even know why I came here." Or why she thought hiding a dolled out Pochi in Yukiko's closet was a good idea. "I'll just head home and do the dishes."

Or do more sulking and annoy her parents.

"Are you sure? I expect Yuki-chan will be back soon; why don't you wait for her? We have your favourite sweets in the kitchen." Kasai said.

Chie shook her head. "I think I better not. But thanks for the offer." Because if Yukiko wanted to meet her, she would've answered Chie's calls. And mails. And it wasn't like the rest of the team hadn't expended similar effort, all of which similarly went ignored.

She was about to mutter a polite good bye and drag the dog home, when she realised that if she left just like that – simply upping and walking away, it would too much like turning her back to Yukiko.

There wouldn't be any closure.

She _needed_ closure.

Because in six days Yukiko wouldn't be Yukiko, Chie's Partner-in-Crime anymore. It would be Yukiko, Some Old Dude's Wife – and Chie had the feeling that by the end of the week nothing would be the same. If she couldn't (or wouldn't – but she was just the best friend, how could she?) prevent the change, at least she could know why.

Pochi had begun snoring on top of her foot.

"Kasai-san?"

"Yes?"

"I wonder if..."

"If?"

"Yukiko is doing this willingly," said Chie in a rush. "I mean. I just don't understand. Marriage is a pretty drastic decision – but she never told me anything. I just. I just wonder if she's in love with this guy. Because otherwise... I can't see her agreeing to something like this without a good reason behind it."

Even if there wasn't any good reason, what could she do? Stupid, stupid thought.

She stared at Kasai and waited for the answer.

After what seemed like an eternity and a half, Kasai stopped tapping the blade of her sickle onto her palm and said: "I am most certain that she isn't in love with him."

Chie would have sighed in relief, if not for the fear of hearing the most dreaded word in the history of uplifting sentences.

"But."

Well, of course there was a but. There was always a but. When was good news not followed a but after a period and an elliptical?

"But?" said Chie, bracing herself.

"But it's not my place to tell you the circumstance surrounding Yuki-chan's imminent..." The tapping resumed – a nervous tic for the outwardly serene woman, Chie realised. "Sometimes Amagi-san can be..." Kasai shook her head. "It is also not my place to criticise my employer."

"You're not telling me."

"I'm not." Kasai said, although looking unhappy at her own unwillingness to divulge the information. "But this I can tell you: you're more important to Yuki-chan than you know."

"Of course I'm important to her. But what does it matter anyway, now that she's getting married to some guy she doesn't even like. Which is worse," Chie said miserably. She ignored Pochi's surprised yelp when she started scraping the dirt with the point of her sole.

"Is she?"

"Huh?"

"I think that can be changed."

"Wait. Yukiko's not getting married?"

"Engaged. And no, she is."

Chie snorted. "Yeah, a lot of difference that will make."

"Either way, what I mean is," Kasai continued – and Chie noticed a sly look she had never seen Kasai wear before, "I'm not actively plotting against my employer, I'm not despairing over Yuki-chan, I am not thinking that you are being very thick, and I am most certainly not suggesting that you do anything to affect the engagement."

"What."

"Chie-chan, are you sure you don't want to come in?"

It was beginning to feel like a rehash of yesterday night, Chie thought, only with a more dangerous character. At least the confusion was consistent.

"Uh. No, no. I'm okay. Really. ...say," Chie said when she had time to process Kasai's latest sentence, "were you speaking in opposites?"

Kasai's eyes were positively gleaming. "Really? Perhaps I did."

Okay. So apparently everyone thought Chie as an oblivious moron. Rise and Naoto merely not-so-subtly hinting, and Kasai outright saying it. In opposites.

Opposites.

Did Kasai imply what Chie thought she implied?

"You're saying that I should... whack the guy over the head and hide him in a bush or something?"

"It's very you to come up with such an extreme plan, Chie-chan. I didn't implicitly suggest harm when may or may not have said what I said. " Kasai sounded close to laughter. "I _do_ like to work here, and I would very much like it if I still have my job by the end of the month," she added when she saw Chie's raised eyebrow.

"So you're purposely being confusing while being obvious because... you don't want to be held against your word?"

There. The hours of detective dramas had proven its usefulness.

"Indeed."

"I don't have a tape recorder, you know."

"Oh Chie-chan, don't fault an old woman for being cautious." After bending down to pat Pochi one last time, Kasai nodded at her. "Well, run along now. Give my regards to your mother."

"Will do. And oh, Kasai-san?"

"Yes?"

"Can I have the names of Yukiko's stal- admirers? So I can um, congratulate them for... um, their bravery?"

"Of course. I'll send it to your house as soon time permits."

"Thank you. Good night, Kasai-san."

"Good night."

With the pleasantries over and stalker list as good as acquired, Chie found herself mentally preparing for sleepless night as she tied Pochi's leash to the handlebar of her bike and started pedaling slowly back towards her house.

She suspected she would spend all night doing a lot of thinking and being depressed. That was okay. At least she found out that Yukiko was not marrying out of love.

And that filled her with a strange sense of hope.

**Continued.**

* * *

><p>Next:<p>

Chie decodes the archaic hints from previous nights and that might as well be as obvious as a blindingly red brick the size of Teddie in his suit. Also known as: Chie Moves on With Her Life.


	3. Chapter 3

**Talk to Me**

**Disclaimer: **Should I even bother with this?

* * *

><p><em>You have forty-eight new messages. Message one: Yukiko why aren't you an message two: pick up. Pickupickupickup message three: goddamnit Yukiko you can't just tell me you're getting message four message fi message six: Yuki mess message ei message nine: Rise here. Sempai, those missed calls from last night? That wasn't me, it was Chie-sempai – so don't misunderstand. I'm not stalking you or something. Also, we're worried about you, and Chie-sempai is probably gonna kill herself. Stop being so <em>

_Delete all messages?_

_Yes_, she pressed. Then all forty-eight messages were gone. Chie's voice. Rise's voice. Her friends' voices. There were moments of doubt, moments like now, when Yukiko wondered if it was worth it. If everything was worth it for the sake of a smile, a pat on the back, a congratulatory praise. There were times, too, that she would have answered yes in a heartbeat. In less than a heartbeat. Of course, she also spent those days with a mind constantly packing up, constantly taking the train to the city and never, ever-

And never, ever not coming back.

That was the reality. Too many variables; too many obstacles. People, when she was little. Nosy adults with their oh how adorable, aren't you the prettiest little thing ever? And then invariable the defining questions: where are you going who are you with where's your mom and dad?

When she became older the problems were no longer people, but herself. Money. Shelter. What to do. How to live. What would mother think. Who would inherit the inn.

And older still: the men; how to avoid those men and their stares. The dangers of a young woman alone in the city. Money money money money. What would the town think. What would become of the inn's reputation. Who would inherit the inn. How could she support herself. What skills did she have. How could she _survive?_

But always, always, she knew that those questions didn't matter. If she set her mind in it, if things became unbearable enough, it was just a matter of pulling out the large backpack she always kept ready and _go_. It was just a matter of surviving day-to-day. She could do that. Afterall, she had the advantages. She knew she was smart, the class rankings were evident enough. People told her she was pretty, and she knew pretty were an advantage, even if she didn't think of herself as attractive. It was what people thought that mattered, and she conceded readily enough.

She had the advantages. She had the will. She had the strength and was probably fit enough from the TV sessions to one-hit an average person with her fan.

But what she didn't have was a heart she could break in half.

"May I come in?"

Yukiko turned towards the door, and, upon seeing Kasai, nodded. "Please."

As Kasai balanced the tray with one hand and arranged the plate and cup with the other, Yukiko stared at the mirror propped up at the table, picked up her hairbrush and started brushing her hair. One. Two. Three. Pause. Four. And stopped.

"Four is not a good place to stop," Kasai said. She tilted the pot and poured the content into the cup, expertly tilting it backwards as the cup had been filled up to a predetermined level. "One more stroke, perhaps?"

Yukiko eyed the plate. Five mochi filled with red-bean paste. Five is a good number. Mother's favourite number. "No," she said, placing the brush neatly besides the mirror. "What does it matter."

"Odd," said Kasai just as she had finished arranging everything, "Yesterday Chie-chan said exactly the same thing."

"Chie! She- she came here?"

"She did. Brought Pochi, too. All wrapped up like a christmas present – very cute."

Yukiko frowned. "Wrapped up?"

"Chie-chan tied a huge ribbon on his head. The plan was to hide Pochi in your closet, I think. She wanted to surprise you. "

"Surprise. I see. That's... very like Chie." She couldn't help but smile at the image of Pochi as a literal present. Very like Chie, to think of cheering her up with suchunorthodox methods. Last time was... when Souji left. A promise of vacation together when summer came, just the two of them.

"Yuki-chan?"

"It's nothing," Yukiko said, averting her gaze. "Did Chie... did she say anything?"

"Oh, I think you already know what she said, Yuki-chan."

"She wanted to know why."

"Yes."

"What did you tell her?"

"Nothing. It is simply not my place to discuss matters pertaining my employer."

Surprised at the sudden stiffness in Kasai's voice, Yukiko angled her body towards the older woman. Noticed the familiar lines of her person, the wrinkles on her careworn face – a face she had known ever since she was aware of her own existence. "Please don't say it that way. You're not just an employee, Kasai-san. You're family."

Kasai smiled sadly. "Always so kind, Yuki-chan. But perhaps now you're the only one who thinks of me in such a way."

Yukiko didn't know what to say to that. But she knew the reason behind Kasai's unease. Of course she knew. "I'm sure mother-" Didn't meant to. Isn't her usual self. Missed father too much. Should see a doctor. Is still grieving. Needed more sleeping pills. But Yukiko couldn't find the rest of the words to fill in the gap, and so she said instead: "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Yuki-chan. It never is. But!" Kasai clapped her hands. "No use to dwell on such trivialities. I am also telling you to rest easy at night."

"Rest easy?"

Again. Kasai and her tendency to change subjects whenever the atmosphere became oppressive. Of course, she was usually also the one to introduce subjects which created the said oppressive atmosphere. Yukiko was used to it, and welcomed the change.

"Yes. I sent the list to Chie-chan house this morning."

She also thought that it would be nice if Kasai could be less confusing. "What list?"

"The list of your caught admirers."

"Ad...mirers." Yukiko furrowed her brows as she tried to connect the word with a memory. She recalled a... pattern rustling of leaves. The sound of breathing? A flash from a camera, sometimes. Then a startled scream and then the smell of fabric on fire. "Oh, that. I remember. Perhaps you shouldn't have."

"It's only a list," Kasai said with mirth, "what can Chie-chan alone accomplish?"

Indeed; Chie alone would probably accomplish nothing. But knowing Chie, she would forward it to Naoto, and what Naoto knew Kanji also knew. And Kanji was very, very protective of the people close to him. Being his childhood friend (and having renewed their friendship after Souji left), Yukiko was pretty high on that list, and she knew for a fact that she was on the very top of Chie's list. Kanji and Chie. She wondered if blood would be on her hands.

She decided that she couldn't care less.

Yukiko smiled. "Nothing, she can probably do nothing." Or everything. Because Chie would do anything, anything for her. She knew that because she, too, would do absolutely anything for Chie.

Chie.

"How is she?" she asked. She kept her face smooth.

Kasai regarded Yukiko for a moment. Then shifted the tray and held it against her chest. "She looked like how someone who just had the most important person wrenched away from them would look."

Yukiko didn't say anything.

"Also," Kasai said when the window for a response had come and gone, "your mother is requesting you to be prepared by five o'clock."

"Prepared."

"Yes. The meeting with Yoshikane-san, remember."

* * *

><p>It seemed like this was what her life would be rendered into: an obliging wife to this skinny, bespectacled man barely taller than herself. Chie was worth ten thousand of this sniveling man, Yukiko thought when he took another blow into his handkerchief.<p>

"Ah," the man said after he had wiped his nose thoroughly. "Pardon me. But I'd never have thought that my wife would be so beautiful. The half an hour trip on my Mercedes seems to have paid off splendidly." He turned towards one of the servants. "Say, is this a 1975 _Château La Mission Haut_-_Brion? Splendid, simply splendid. Though I would prefer the... "_

She wanted to shout that he was pronouncing it all wrong, and who ordered French wine in a traditional Japanese inn, for goodness' sake? Chie was _so_ much better than this man. She would have a laughing fit at the face of his snobbery. Chie would race him in his shiny car with Hanamura-kun's beat-up bicycle and win. Chie would rather have a good Junes steak than a hundred thousand yen wine. Chie would- But Chie wasn't here. She left her, remember? Dropped the bomb and walked away.

"Isn't he such a fine man?" Her mother said. Yukiko looked down to see her mother's hand on her own, squeezing it gently as if to reassure her that everything will be alright. That marrying her daughter off had been the right decision, that Yukiko will live happily ever after with a thriving inn run by her husband and cute little babies bouncing on her lap.

"Of course, mother," she said after a while.

If her mother had noticed the hesitant pause, she chose to ignore it. "Now, Yukiko," her mother said, giving another affectionate squeeze on her hand. "Introduce yourself to Jiro-san."

Introduce herself. Why bother, she thought, when everything was already written down, free for him to peruse as he liked. She wondered if her mother had included her measurements.

"Yes, mother," she said. Then, after maintaining a level eye contact (or was she supposed to stare demurely downwards? It didn't matter – that man and his mispronounced wine) bowed as deep as her seated position would allow and held it for a few moments. She rose and said, "my name is Amagi Yukiko. It is a pleasure to be of your acquaintance."

"Likewise;Yoshikane Jiro," the man said so informally and with a bow so shallow Yukiko wondered if she should be offended. If her mother would be offended.

She glanced sideways and saw only a happy, contented smile. Her mother probably wouldn't even care if he turned out to be a wife beater, come to think of it. She married off her daughter to an able young man with a good social standing. There. Job done, nothing else to look at. Odd, that the thought didn't so much as faze Yukiko. Maybe she had became used to the idea.

Yukiko wanted to ask him if he had brothers, and were they named numerically as he was. Because that would be funny. Hello Taro-san; hello Saburo-san. I'm here to marry your brother, Jiro. Giggle. Perhaps she should. But before she could so much as open her mouth, the woman sitting across her mother intervened.

"There, there," the woman said with the faux, over the top laugh Yukiko had attributed to rich, middle-aged housewives, "perhaps we should leave the youngsters alone to get to know each other more comfortably. Don't you agree, Amagi-san?"

"Of course, of course. Why, I should have suggested this before." Her mother pretended to appear flustered. "Well then, Jiro-san, Yukiko. Shall we, Yoshikane-san?" She nodded towards the parties, then rose from the seat, and when Yoshikane had joined her, departed from the room and slid the door close behind her.

Yukiko was left alone with the man and his overpriced wine.

"Thank god they went away; it was getting stifling being constantly chaperoned by those two old women," the man (because Yukiko couldn't bring herself to use such a ridiculous name, like a dog's) said, taking off his suit and loosening his tie. Then leaned forward and stared (leered, Yukiko thought, _leered_) at her intently. "Very pretty."

I am. So what does it have to do with you?

"Thank you."

"Lotsa boyfriends, Yuki?"

"Please refrain from such informality, Yoshikane-san."

The man chuckled. "Oh sorry, sorry. Amagi, right. Amagi. Say," he clinked the glass against the bottle, "aren't you gonna?"

Yukiko frowned at the absurd gesture. Gonna what? Gonna pour me a glass of wine like the subservient wife you're gonna be? I'm the almighty husband and the sole breadwinner, so watch, Yu-ki, cuz you're gonna stay in your room with the babies while I run the inn yeah?

What Yukiko wanted to do was smash his face with his beloved vintage bottle.

"Of course," she said instead, curving both ends of her lips into a smile. Leaning forward, she took the bottle and poured it with both hands. All part of the protocol. She watched as he went through the customary gestures: swirl, sniff, sip.

"Very good," he said, apparently satisfied. A few more tentative sips and the glass was set down. His hand, of course, crept on top of her own. "I think I'll be pleased."

She started mentally rearranging the room's décor.

* * *

><p>"Isn't he such a fine man?" her mother repeated, unclasping the last of her earrings and dropped it into a jewelry box.<p>

"Is he," Yukiko said. She watched as her mother watched herself on the mirror. She gave no indication if she heard the question, the disbelief in Yukiko's words.

Sometimes Yukiko wondered if her mother knew she existed at all. Not Amagi Yukiko, the heiress, but Yukiko, the high school student, the daughter, Satonaka Chie's best friend. She wondered if her mother would recognise her, if she stopped wearing red, if she cut her hair, if they see each other across the crowd years later.

Jewelry box safely closed, her mother re-positioned herself to face Yukiko and smiled. "It's going to be grand, your wedding," she said, "you'll be happy with a husband."

No. _You'll _be happy.

"Mother..."

"Yes?"

"Can I not..."

"Not?"

"Marry."

The change in her mother's expression was absolute. "No," she said without preamble. "You will." She turned back to face the mirror, and just like that, the conversation had finished before it begun.

This is what it must be like, Yukiko thought, to suffocate.

* * *

><p>"Chie?"<p>

"Holy crap it's really you Yukiko why the hell did-"

"Come to me. Please."

**Continued.**

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><p><em>Next:<em>

_In which the author goes back and edit edit edit (someday in the future) because dang Yukiko you just totally messed up a fic that was supposed to be concluded in three chapters and is about a happy-go-lucky lighthearted cheerful best friends bonding ala Sisterhood of the Pants only without jeans 'cuz Yukiko is yamato nadeshiko and totally do not wear jeans and kinda like The Wedding Crashers see only it's about engagement with some snotty dude o hai Mitsuru! and Chie is supposed to like crash the party with Rise and Kanji's going on HOLY CRAP A YAKUZA and shit but nao look wat hapened u geting emo Yuki. Also known as: Yukiko and Chie move an inch forward with their lives._

_And oh, review?_


End file.

Persona Series, Romance