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A cold breeze blew over the small town of Inaba, drifting white snow in its wake. The snow made itself known by painting the grounds and roads with a sheet of pure coldness.
Indeed, the time of the year was the freezing winter season once more, and Chie Satonaka was ecstatic for the day to come.
Her eyes fluttered open, taking in the subtle darkness of the room before glancing to the bedroom window.
Although her room wasn't being shown with much light, the outside world was looking to shine into a bright sunrise for the snowy day that it would become.
She turned to her digital clock for a few beats. It was a helpful little upgrade she'd gotten that told her the date and time.
[6:23 AM] [12/24/2012]
The brunette stared at the blinking colon on the electronic clock. Squinted her eyes for good measure.
Then she chuckled and left a large smile on her face.
"Looks like it's that time of the year again," she muttered to nobody in particular. "Christmas Eve, huh?"
No longer satisfied with napping the rest of her morning away, the kung-fu enthusiast threw her blanket away from her and shot straight up from her futon — and immediately regretted it, shivering while she didn't have much clothing warding off the cold aside from her nightgown.
"O-okay... Maybe I sh-should get dr-dressed up..."
Grabbing onto her blanket and wrapping it around her like a coat, she stood up off of her bed and made a quick pace towards her closet, narrowly moving past the training equipment that she kept up in her room.
After sliding into her usual morning wardrobe — usually flat colored shirts and soft shorts — Chie stretched her toned limbs before throwing a few jabs at the punching bag situated in her room.
This had been her little morning routine for the past year, especially since Yu Narukami left Inaba. She'd been doing this to remind herself every morning of the fierce resolve she had developed thanks to their leader. The drive to protect everyone who's important to her, as well as the town of Inaba itself.
That's why she's been trying to prepare herself, both athletically and... academically, to eventually pass into the police academy after high school. At this point, there's still only been three people she's admitted this goal to. Her leader Yu, her best friend Yukiko, and...
The corners of her mouth unconsciously quirked up.
...Her stupid boyfriend, Yosuke.
The brunette sighed as she felt a light fuzziness surrounding her heart. That's right, she recalled fondly, it's also our one year anniversary. We somehow made it a whole year, heh.
The events of their last Christmas Eve would never be forgotten, she easily thought to herself. In her own brash way, she'd admitted her feelings to him after he indirectly revealed his own. The time they spent afterwards was mostly awkward, but sweet nonetheless.
But this year will be different! She declared in her mind as she finished the last of her assault on the punching bag. We'll all have a nice gathering together, and afterwards I'll... I'll-- um.
A startling reality crashed onto her.
She watched her slightly callused fists tremble.
Cr-crap, I'm nervous all over again.
Chie decided she had quite enough of this trembling and walked slowly over to one of her drawers, using her palms to pull out a neatly wrapped present.
I really gotta thank Naoto-kun later for wrapping this up for me...
...I hope that dumb jerk likes the gift. If he even shows up.
11:46 AM
Diligently weaving through the crowds in Junes, a blue-haired private detective was walking her way up the floors to reach the rooftop. She would've taken the elevator, but naturally, the day called for an influx of crowds that would've taken far too long to wait for. Her friends were likely already on the rooftop waiting for her, how much later could she be?!
They had all agreed to get together at 11:30, and Naoto would've simply and easily arrived a few minutes early, but she'd been held up by the distraction that was Kanji Tatsumi, who — with an unmistakable red fueling his cheeks — placed his hand on her shoulder when she'd prepared to leave.
"D-d'you uh... just wanna ch-chill out for a sec?"
"Kanji-kun, the weather is already freezing today. I do not need any more 'chilling', I really must be on my way--"
And then he suddenly presented one of his presents that he made for her for Christmas Eve — a fluffy scarf designed with a similar plaid design as the one used in her detective outfit — and she suddenly couldn't find any argument with staying for a few minutes.
Turns out a few minutes became nearly half an hour, and now she was dashing to Junes with poor Kanji far behind her.
Shirogane could hear her partner gasping for breath. "Wa... Wait up, Naoto!"
"We are far too late as it is!" She urgently called back to him.
"But I just texted them, an'--"
Naoto had already dashed up the last flight of stairs to the roof of Junes. Reaching the bitter top and finally into the food court revealed--
"Hah... Jeez, Naoto... They ain't even here yet..."
The second-year blinked.
In a rare moment of confusion, she turned back to the raven-haired Kanji. "They- they aren't? I... thought that when you make specific times for your plans that you would... follow through arriving at that time."
"Yeah, uh..." Kanji fiddled with his recently-obtained glasses. "They kinda forgot until I texted 'em."
"So you are insinuating that they will not be present for another ten minutes."
He cocked his head to the side just an inch. Her formal way of speaking still gave him pause sometimes. "Uh... y-yeah."
"Wow, it took you guys long enough. I was getting worried no one would come."
The new voice in the food court swiftly revealed himself to be the heir of Junes, Yosuke Hanamura. The apron worn on him indicated that he was still on the clock, though Naoto remembered that his lunchtime was nearing.
"'M surprised Chie-senpai ain't here, Yosuke-senpai," Kanji remarked. "You doin' a surprise for her or somethin'?"
He grinned instantly. "Well, I am planning something for my girl, but that's for later. She told me she's spending the morning with her family, so she'll be a bit late."
Naoto's expression swiftly grew impatient. "You know, I would have understood all of this confusion much more if the planned time was twelve o' clock."
Scratching the nape of his neck, Yosuke defeatedly agreed. "Yeah, sorry about that. Didn't really think everything would get so scrambled at this time; I just wanted an excuse to spend some extra time just before my official lunchtime."
The two juniors sighed, but ultimately stepped away to the rest of the food court, near one of the vending machines. Hanamura watched them as Kanji stammered his words before he just slapped a melon soda onto Naoto's gloved hands. He snickered as he watched the scene rather fondly. Despite his constant teasing, he was indeed happy for the two of them to find comfort in each other. It reminded him all too well of what he thought about his girlfriend.
He dove his hands into his pockets to pull out the present he prepared for her, smiling.
Yeah, I think she'll like this. I had to pull a few favors for it, too...
12:04 PM
It was throughout the remaining minutes that everyone eventually arrived at Junes. Rise arrived first, always ready to tease her best friends. Then came Yukiko, barely having been spared time from her busy days at the inn. Teddie dashed up to the food court as well, wailing at Yosuke for "abearndoning" him while they were both on the clock.
And finally, the last of the team arrived with--
"YU?!"
Their silver-haired leader, Yu Narukami. Chie Satonaka had still yet to arrive.
"...What? Of course I'd be here for winter break," he replied, genuinely confused by their surprise.
"Dude!" Yosuke exclaimed in exasperation. "You didn't tell any of us you were coming back!"
"Actually," Teddie chimed in, bear suit and all, "I was the lucky bear! Sensei told me so I could set up a meeting here!"
Now that it was revealed, Yu chuckled. Rise Kujikawa immediately tackled him, hugging and punching him for not telling her. The smile and tears told everyone what she was thinking, and left her be.
"Sorry, Rise, I just wanted to surprise you this time."
"Well, don't ever surprise me again, stupid Senpai!"
"Try not to count on it," he swiftly admitted with a sheepish grin.
Yosuke tilted his head in a certain confusion, however. "What about you, Rise-chan? Shouldn't you be busy with idol work at this time of year?"
She let go of her vice grip on her lover and sent a sweet little smirk towards Yosuke. "Oh, I'm usually given a few days off around this time. We always use the same Christmas song I sang years ago to keep the fans entertained for a while."
"Aah," he drawled, crossing his arms. "So you're part of the problem with me hearing the same Christmas songs over and over while working at Junes."
"Wait," Yukiko chimed in immediately, "They play songs here other than their own Junes theme?"
Her spoken thoughts were soon interrupted by someone's shoes hitting the ground as they approached their "Secret Headquarters".
"I'm..." the late member heaved in a breath, "I made it!"
"Yo, Chie!" Yosuke stood up from the chair, walking towards his newly arrived girlfriend and wrapping his arms around her in a hug.
"Wh-wha? H-hey, not when the whole group is here!"
"Aw, c'mon," he gave a lopsided smirk, inching his head to the side. "Can't I just show my appreciation for a fine lady?"
Despite herself, she melted and hesitantly recuperated the hug, very pointedly ignoring the aww's from most of the rest of their friend group. "...Only if you buy me steak afterwards."
He tilted down to meet her eyes. "Like you'd really want anything else."
She kept her gaze at him for a second before awkwardly looking away. "That's not true!..."
Naoto coughed once, snapping their attention back to the lovingly dubbed "Secret Headquarters".
"Not that I do not appreciate your display of affection, Yosuke-senpai... But I, for one, would like to have a discussion with the rest of our comrades."
The two of them flushed and quietly took their seats within the group. From there, everyone continued to have light conversations with each other, just like the old times. This time, there weren't any mysteries to pour their minds over, fearing every time they hit a standstill — they could simply talk about their futures, recent memories, and, of course...
"So!" Rise beamed, her long copper hair topped off with a cute pink winter beanie. "What's everyone's plans for this romantic night? I know what I'm gonna do for Senpai, mmhm!"
Yu stared at her dead in the eyes. "Yeah, you want to do nothing but sleep on the couch, right?"
Rise instantly gasped, releasing a rather indignant "SENPAI!" Narukami smirked, but amended his suggestion. "Kidding. We'll have a nice night together, I guarantee it."
"I'unno about Rise," Kanji interjected, "but, uh... I mean, i-if you want, Naoto..."
"I'd be... quite willing to accompany you tonight, Kanji-kun," Naoto mumbled, tilting her cap over her eyes.
"I see, I see!" Teddie jumped in. "Rise-chan is scoring with Sensei, Kanji is scoring with Nao-chan, and Yosuke's--"
"Don't you dare finish that thought, Ted!"
"--totally scoring with Chie-chan, so obviously I must score with Yuki--"
A smack across his bear face quickly and completely dispelled any remaining impure thoughts the Junes mascot had.
"I'm sorry, Teddie," Yukiko started, startlingly sweet. "But I'll have to... politely decline your offer."
"Why must you sound so bearrifying when you apologize, Yuki-chan?!"
12:29 PM
After waving the last of his friends away (Rise tried to stick around, but Kanji dragged her off), Yosuke turned towards the table, being alone with Chie for the first time all day.
"...Why'd you still have work today?"
He paused. "Kinda one of the busiest days of the year, Chie. Not many people are willing to work today, either, so..."
She shook her head with a small smile. "Sounds just like you, alright. Now if only you were so willing with schoolwork..."
"Hey! Right back at you!"
"At least I'm trying to make an effort to study," she rolled her eyes. "What have you been doing?"
"Getting higher grades than you! Did you even check my grades on our last exams?!"
"What?- No, I meant in general!" She huffed, now looking down on the empty can of Dr. Salt NEO she'd bought earlier. "I've barely seen you all week, moron."
"Oh, right, where I've been," he said vaguely, which came at the cost of the soda can's life as Chie crushed it by her hand.
"Yeah, where you've been!" She yelled, tossing the can away and startling him. "You've just been dashing off after school a-and you had me worried th-th--"
"M-merry Christmas."
What was now placed on the table in front of her was a thin, decently wrapped present. Her frustration quickly melted into a curiosity for the present, picking it up gently.
"Just because you get me a present doesn't totally make me forgive you, y'know."
He let out an exasperated sigh, but couldn't help the smile that steadily grew on him. "This present's been what I've been spending my time trying to get for you, Chie. Was a pain in the ass trying to convince the seller to let me get it for a price that wouldn't shatter my next three paychecks..."
A silence hung in the air for a while as Chie looked over it, not quite opening it.
Yosuke flicked on his phone absentmindedly, then muttered a swear to himself as he realized the time.
"Damn, I really gotta get back to work." He raised himself up from the chair, scratching his hair a bit. "I'll go find Ted and tell him off for flirting with the co-workers or something."
The brunette woman pulled back her chair to stand up as well, taking the present with her. "I'm confiscating this until you get back, alright?" She waved it around for emphasis. "I'll be waiting on that big hill where you can see all of Inaba. And you better bring me something!"
"Gotcha," he understood immediately. With a casual breeze to his words, "I'll bring you all the meat you want."
She nodded approvingly with a huff. "Good!"
4:11 PM
Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap!
His legs were starting to strain, the bag he held to hold everything felt like it weighed hundreds of kilograms, and despite the snow breezing over, he was starting to pick up a sweat.
But damn it, he was late!
Thankfully, the time he had long ago spent with his Persona in the TV World had shown a marked improvement in his agility. He curled up into a smirk thinking about the physical training sessions he joined Chie on, testing his mind and body to their limits while his girlfriend performed each exercise with ease.
Speaking of, she probably won't be his girlfriend for much longer if he keeps her waiting.
Panickedly climbing up the stairs, Yosuke felt his boots sink into the deeper snow on the top of the hill as he hollered. "Chieee! You there?!"
His head snapped to attention when he heard the crunch of snow from further ahead. "Right here, Yosuke. Get over here already!"
He picked up his pace, jogging over to the gazebo and hopping right onto the table seats, sitting across from his significant other.
"Please forgive me, Chie! I was held up for another hour cause customers started pouring in and they needed my help--"
She grabbed his hand with her own, planting a firm grasp on it.
"...Is this the part where you break my hand?"
Despite herself, Satonaka looked away. "I... I- just wanted to hold your hand again."
"Whoa now, I never took you for a clingy type. Just what happened in the week without me?"
"Can it, Yosuke," she quipped back, barely holding back a smile. "Can I open my present now?"
Having placed his bag beside him on the seat, he nodded without looking at her. Then realized- "Wait, you haven't opened it this whole time?"
Chie simply shrugged. "Wanted to wait for you. Half the fun of Christmas Eve is spending time with you, after all."
Oh. Duh. "...Right, yeah, that makes sense. Anyway, open it up."
She quickly went on to make short work of the wrapping, doing nothing for Yosuke but making him fail to bite back a snicker as her childish excitement radiated the atmosphere. A few pieces of snow chose this as the perfect moment to drift down, making a picturesque background as the green-clad brunette let out a shocked gasp.
"This is..."
"Betcha didn't know there was a sequel for this, did you?"
In her hands was the very rare Trial of the Dragon II. Due to the middling box office of the first movie, the distributors hadn't actively pushed the sequel nearly as much, leading to its rarity.
"I'd been going off to Okina every day I could, just to try to pry it from the seller for a good price." He dropped his head down to hit the table. "Took me several days of persistence until he finally relented and dropped the price just to make me go away, heh..."
After a little while, he got tackled in the side by Chie hugging him affectionately, a wide beam crossing her face. "Thankyouthankyou thankyoou! We are so watching this when we get home!" She accompanied this with a giddy laughter, leading him to follow up with his own laughter as he ruffled her hair.
"Alright, alright, we'll watch it later," Yosuke said as she got off of him. "But first... Wanna talk over some, ahem, filet mignon?"
4:23 PM
They'd been halfway into their delightful meal when Chie hummed out loud.
"What's up?" he quietly called to her.
"I was thinking about something lately," she muttered back, quickly fixing him a glare so as to prevent any quick remarks about her actually 'thinking'. "Where do our last names come from, anyway?"
A pause was hung in the air as they both silently contemplated the question.
"Like... I inherited the last name from my parents, who inherited it from their parents," she continued, her voice soft. "So where does it all begin? Where did last names begin? Did we always start with them, or...?"
Looks like it's one of those 'deep talk' days, he thought at last. He let go of the utensil he'd been eating their expensive steak with and rested his head on his hand. "Well, I guess... They'd probably come around a while after we came up with having first names." He let a huff of a chuckle escape. "Y'know, that's the kinda thing that I could just look up the answer to, but I also don't... want to."
"Right?" She left a light giggle — one that never failed to make him light in the heart to hear. "I kinda wanted to ask you as well... Do you think the amount of last names out there will ever shrink?"
"What, you mean when people get married?"
"Mhm." She was fiddling with a loose piece of the wooden table. I was thinking: wouldn't the amount of last names out there shrink as people get married and- uh, inherit the guy's last name?"
He quickly adopted a lopsided smirk. "People don't always take the guy's last name, y'know. Sometimes it's the woman's last name that's taken, or they just... combine their last names. I remember reading that it's possible to make a new last name after marriage, too."
"Wait, really?!" Chie was gaping, in some shock at the new knowledge. "I... didn't know all that."
Bless him, Yosuke tried to keep in his snicker.
His girlfriend caught him far too quickly.
"Ugh- leave me alone! It's not my fault I was raised here in Inaba!"
"Pfft... Yeah, I kinda forget about that sometimes," he responded, the giggly tone still reigning.
The bowl-cut girl scowled, but it was quickly revealed to be more for show as she started chortling herself.
The thought of marriage, after all, did tend to have that effect on them.
4:40 PM
The filet mignon had long gotten cold by the time they finally finished it. He should've figured as much, given that they were eating outside during the winter instead of being inside, but he didn't mind. The alone time with Chie had been comfortably wonderful, and a glance at her told him that she felt the same.
One thing was still eating at him, however.
"Why'd you tell me to come over for our Christmas Eve date during the afternoon, anyway?" he said at length. "...Wouldn't the usual time be during the evening?"
The girl blinked, not expecting the question. She leaned back for a moment to gather her thoughts, and Yosuke thought about kissing her. That'd be pretty sweet, he thought to himself while fighting a grin.
"Well... I kinda just wanted to spend the afternoon with you, I guess. We can- um, get to what we'll be doing at night when we get there, but..."
His eighteen-year-old heart felt like melting as he saw her flash a rare affectionate smile, her pink cheeks glowing deeper. "I won't let tradition stop me from hanging out with my dumb boyfriend in the afternoon."
Perhaps a while back, he would've taken offense to being called an idiot. Now, though? "Guess I can't argue with hanging out with my stupid girlfriend, either."
As the chilly winter continued, they seemed to have found their own warmth, standing up from the table after having gathered everything to move along with their day together. After a brief moment of hesitation, Yosuke offered his hand.
But Chie was occupied holding something, which she soon revealed to him by poking his nose with it.
It was a present.
"Merry Christmas."
A nicely wrapped present — bow and all — was held up for him to stare at.
"You got me a present?"
"Did you already forget what day it is?"
He shook his head a bit, but when he eventually made the move to take it, she jerked the present further away from him.
"Promise me that you won't ignore me again when you're trying to do something for me," she scolded. "...It really sucked, y'know?"
His head tilted a bit, but he soon slumped his shoulders. "Alright, alright, I won't do that again. I just really wanted to surprise you. Forgive me?"
She squinted her eyes at him for a beat. He shrugged a shoulder as he tried for an apologetic smile.
Chie sighed.
"Fine. You're forgiven this time."
The present was directed back towards him, with Yosuke slowly taking it into his hands.
"Well?... Go on and open it!"
He ripped into the neat wrapping, finding a nondescript box within it.
Inside that was a fluffy muffler.
"I, um, I've had Kanji-kun teach me to try making it myself," she sheepishly admitted. "Naoto-kun was around to give me pointers, but it still took me a few weeks before I finished one that didn't come out a stringy mess..."
"I love it, Chie." The softness in his voice — it really had no right to affect her as much as it did. "Thank you."
To further prove his point, he wrapped the orange scarf around his neck.
He refused to take it off for the rest of Christmas Eve, even long into the night that they spent together.
11:08 PM
"Hey."
"Mm... Yosuke? What's up?"
"Sorry for waking you, but I wanted to hear your thoughts on this."
"Thoughts?... On what?"
"Ch... Chie-chan."
She said nothing, but her brows grew tense.
"...Guessing you don't like it?"
"No- no. Not from you. I like that you just call me Chie, y'know? We've been close like that even before we started dating."
Dating. Dating. "Hah, yeah. Y'know, it was Rise-chan who suggested I try putting on the chan."
"Well, Rise-chan can just-- Wait, doesn't Yu-kun call her just Rise, too?"
"Oh yeah, he does. You think she asked me that as a test to our relationship?"
"Well, I don't think we need anything to title each other as we are. You're Yosuke to me, I'm Chie to you..."
They found themselves speaking their last thoughts at the same time.
"It's perfect."