DISCLAIMER: "Shin Megami Tensei" and "Persona 4" and all associated characters and likenesses are the exclusive property of Atlus. Used here without permission. This is a fictional story made for purely entertainment purposes. Any relation to events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Yousuke never should've bought the stupid chocolates in the first place.

White Day's never been his favorite holiday. The Junes floor is always crazy, and he's usually got to work some display hawking the latest presents for all the losers and poseurs trying to make an impression on some girl who'd never in a million years give him the time of day.

But this year should've been different.

This year, there's a girl worth paying attention to, a girl worth the effort of sneaking around to make sure nobody – not his family, not Kuma, and especially not Souji – sees him buying the finest gift of chocolate-covered strawberries that the remainder of his paycheck can buy.

He'd spent a long time finding just the right box – not as nice as the really big ones, but different from the rest (wrapped in charming curling ribbon), like she's different from the rest (wrapped in charming ribbon curls). So when he'd walked into the classroom, and she'd called his name, he'd thought he might blow his load right then and there....

"Yousuke-senpai!" Rise says, her hair bouncing in that way that makes his knees go weak. "Is that for me?"

"Uh, yeah," he says, passing her the candies and trying not to stammer. "You gave me Valentine's Day chocolates, so...."

"Oo, you're so sweet-!" she says, patting him on the cheek affectionately. Yes, definitely affection: not the homogenized warmth that she shows everyone, regardless of standing...and regardless what Chie says.

"You think your chocolate's any different from what she gave every other boy in school?" Chie told him back in February, when he'd been walking on clouds at the idea of Risette paying special attention to him. "Get real!"

He shakes his head; if Rise weren't standing right there, he would clamp on his headphones to drown out the memory of Chie's jeers with some pounding bass. But Rise's smile is so candy-sweet that he just clenches his jaw into a smile, for the sake of his pride.

"Say, Rise-chan.... I was thinking, you know...if you aren't doing anything later...um-"

"Souji-senpai!" Rise suddenly squeals, and she pushes past Yousuke, dropping his candies onto her desk.

Yousuke looks at it, then at Souji, who's come into the room holding another box of chocolates, which he offers to Rise as she continues to smother him with enthusiasm.

"Oo, thank you, senpai!" she cries, clutching the chocolates to her chest, just like Yousuke did with the ones she'd given him.

Thanks, partner, Yousuke thinks, shoving his hands into his pockets, lamenting the loss of another paycheck and a perfectly good box of confections....

Now, as he trudges alone down the steps, he thinks that he should have grabbed the chocolates, maybe given them to somebody at work (Kazumi's cute, and she likes him...sort of), or another girl at school (Ai's pretty, and maybe if he's nice to her, she'll warm up to him).

And suddenly he's not alone anymore, as two girls sidle up beside him.

Yukiko says hello, because she's polite and demure, but Chie snickers, and he thinks maybe he should have kept those chocolates just to throw them into her smug little face.

"Aw, poor Hanamura," Chie sneers. "All proud of yourself for getting up the nerve to talk to Rise-chan. And still... Denied!"

Yousuke clenches his jaw, feeling his blood boil at her teasing. "What's that?" he says, pointing at the box Chie's holding like it's some stupid trophy, some thoughtful gift from some boy who's actually interested in her, instead of the any-girl standard he knows it to be. "Did Seta give you that?"

"That's right," Chie says, looking at the box with such unadulterated longing that he can't wait to burst her precious bubble, even while he hears the breezy voice of his Persona in his ears:

Thy tongue cuts sharp as any sword. Thou wouldst do well to hold it steady....

But the last thing that Yousuke wants to do is listen, even to Susanoo, and he feels his lips curl into a satisfying snarl as he says, "You think those stupid chocolates are any different from the ones he gave every other girl in school?" He scoffs. "Get real!"

And she steps back, as the meaning of his words surely hits home; he can see it on her face, her confident smile all but gone now.

He expects her to yell at him, to curse him with the pseudo-swear words she uses because she's too much of a sweet small-town girl to really let loose; or to sneer another put-down that's become the norm with her, these days, without Shadows on which she can vent her frustrations; or to cock her leg in that all-too-familiar way that signals one of her signature critical hits to his reproductive organs is coming.

What he doesn't expect is for her adorably-snub nose to wrinkle...her soft little lips to quaver...or her bright, wide, golden-brown eyes to suddenly go glassy as she clenches the little box of chocolates in her fist, the cellophane making a hurt, angry, broken sound as she throws it in his face, the tiny chocolate rounds scattering like buckshot.

"You're a jerk, Hanamura!" she shouts, arms locked straight out behind her. "You're a jerk, and...and I hate you!" And she spins on the heel of her shoe, her rubber soles squealing on the concrete, as she runs from him.

"Chie-chan-!" Yukiko cries, but the other girl's already away. So she turns to him with a glare, her eyes flashing like his daggers in the afternoon sunshine that despite its brightness feels very, very cold right now. "Thanks a lot," she mutters, and then she's after Chie, calling her name.

And as he watches them go, there is nothing Yousuke wishes more right now than to never have bought those stupid chocolates in the first place.