Persona 4: Eyes of Truth [Please Read New Ver.]

The School Camping Trip

"Hm? Are you heading home, Narukami-chan?" Nise asked. I looked over to Yukiko and nodded to her. She nodded back, knowing that she needed to tell the guys to head up to the roof. Without a word to Nise nor Hanamura, I quickly left the classroom and headed downstairs. As I left the classroom, I could hear Nise call out after me in sight concern, only to be shortly shushed by Yukiko who began explaining about our plans.

Once I reached the first floor, I headed towards the right where Tatsumi's class was located. During lunch, I decided to wander the first floor so that I wouldn't waste any time in finding Tatsumi. I would have gone and told Tatsumi during then, but it appeared that he went off somewhere to eat. Upon arriving the classroom, I peeked in through the windows for a strand of bleach blonde hair.

"Hm? Oh hey, you're Narukami-senpai from class 2-2! The transfer student!" I heard a guy call out. I looked over to my right and saw three first year male students looking at me in awe. I turned my attention away from the window and approached the three boys.

"That's right. I apologise, but I don't believe we've met" I replied, feeling slightly guilty of not knowing the three boys even though they had known my identity. One boy with black hair was leaning on the right side of the door while opposite of him is a boy with long red hair tied in high ponytail and behind them was a tall boy with light brown hair. The three boys laughed, causing my face to heat up slightly.

"Yeah that's right" the long red haired boy began, "There's lots of rumors floating around about you, that's how we knew who you were." I blinked several times in surprise. I didn't mean for myself to become so well known like this. In embarrassment I looked down at the ground as my face became even hotter.

"Oh, I see... I didn't expect to become such talk..." I muttered, trying to cool my face down. Usually rumors were a bad thing. I didn't want to have people talk about me- I wanted this to be a peaceful year. ...Yet again, I guess I shouldn't have expected that after finding the announcers body the day I started attending school here.

"A-Anyways, what can we help you with?" the first boy- the one that had called me earlier- asked. I looked back up at them, noticing that all three had slightly red faces.

"Um, I'm looking for Kanji Tatsumi. He should be in this class..." I explained. The three boys gasped, their once red faces becoming pale.

"Who want's to see me?" a growl asked, causing the three boys to jump in surprise. The trio turned around and saw Tatsumi behind them, looking threatening. The trio looked over at me and bowed politely before quickly walking away to go home. Tatsumi watched the boys in slight confusion and anger before looking at me.

With a gasp, Tatsumi pointed at me in surprise and said, "Hey, you're...!" I nodded, confirming the thoughts that were in his mind.

"Hello Tatsumi-san. I'm glad to see that you're doing alright now" I said with a slight tilt of the head. Tatsumi blinked rapidly in surprise as if he had seen a ghost. After a moment, he let out another gasp as his face grew red.

"U-Uh... Hey. And yeah, I-I'm doin' fine..." Tatsumi replied awkwardly, his eyes shifting a little. He seemed rather nervous around me. Oh, perhaps it's because he was often avoided due to what people might say as "frightening appearance".

"If you wouldn't mind, the others and I wish to speak with you" I explained bluntly, not wanting to waste too much time. Tatsumi looked up at me in surprise, arching an eyebrow.

"Huh? Y-You want to speak to me...?" Tatsumi asked, a bead of sweat rolling down his jaw. I nodded in reply and turned around.

"Please follow me" I instructed gently before walking towards the stairs. The two of us walked up the stairs to the roof in silence. It wasn't until we reached the third year's floor that Tatsumi spoke.