Chapter 38 : Camping trip

# Hey author here, hoping you had an amazing weekend and ready to tackle monday. I also hate mondays. Cheers for you who're trying your best everyday! Stay hydrated and remember if you need a sign to do something productive this is it. Onwards to the chapter. This is an extra long chapter( i think)

--

Monday sneaked up behind Sunday and performed a stealth takedown ending the weekend. (I have the sudden urge to write this, don't ask me why). It's finally June. it's officially 3 months since I've been in Inaba. Thinking about it, I've come a long way. As usual I'm going to school along with Yu.

"Yo! Senpai wait up!"

Hmmm ? I looked back and saw Kanji coming towards us.

"Kanji, Good morning." Yu greeted kanji with his usual smile.

"So this is the demon king huh? Pleased to meet you Aniki." Kanji greeted me with a bow.

"Why are you calling me Aniki?"

I asked amused by his actions

"Well you're senpai's benefactor and a Yakuza to boot, isn't that what they call their superiors?"

These kids have wild imagination on Yakuza clans, if they knew what I did they'd probably turn tail and run.

"Morning guys!" Chie joined us midway as usual, since our route to school is always the same, since me and Yu live the furthest, we usually pass by : Chie followed by Saki, Yukiko, Yosuke before arriving at school. Ah it seems at this point, we're walking as a crowd towards the school.

--

The first bell rang as I'm already in the class waiting for our teacher, King Moron, to come and give us our first lesson. But surprisingly the first period is allocated for an announcement, I almost forgot about that. King Moron is reminding us for our camping trip that'll be taking place next wednesday, that's 2 days from now. Everyone seems to be scrambling to find a tent-mate. Me being the loner that I am is not invited by anyone until Yu offers me himself. I'm touched.

"OK, quiet down people!" King moron shouted.

"Now everyone listen up and let me jog your memory a bit, on this trip we're going to the southern mountain pass, the camp site itself is a bit further south, we're doing community work, before anything else. So we don't have time to play around, don't forget to bring your own food to cook! We're not responsible if you don't eat any dinner!"

But sadly I'm not really interested in this trip and wanted to just bail out. But my pleas fell on the deaf ears of King Moron, his reason being a city boy like me has much to learn from this experience. While I was thinking of other excuses the second period starts as the next teacher enters the class.

--

I went to Junes to get my ingredients for curry, as that seems to be the de facto best food to cook during camping. If I remember correctly none of the female cast can cook. As the trip only consists of 2nd and 1st year students, I doubt I can rely on Saki-san.

"Akira, you're here too, wasn't it supposed to be my turn to cook?"

"Ah Izanami, it's for the school trip. So how does it go with Wakaba-san?"

"She agreed."

Oh yeah, yesterday, when we're talking about her day at school, the name Wakaba Isshiki, is mentioned. She is the lead researcher for [Cognitive Psience], a study on the subconscious, which will be one of the major plot points of persona 5. When I told her all I know about Wakaba-san, Izanami immediately wanted to be a part of the research after I told her what's in store for her research. As it may help her 'understand' humans better, or so she says. But to me she's more human than most of the Yakuzas.

"What are her conditions?"

"That I have to attend her campus, and instead of studying for a degree, I'll have to help her full time."

"And where is it?"

"University of Carl Jung, it's in the outskirts of Tokyo. It's a 30 minutes drive from TJC HQ."

That's quite far, TJC HQ itself is already on the edge of Tokyo.

"We're not going to stay in the HQ even if we live in Tokyo you know."

"Are you saying you're accompanying me to Tokyo next year?"

"That's the plan. I plan to skip grades if mother allows it."

"I'm glad to have met you." She seems happy, me accompanying her is not the main objective, it's to find out why the metaverse manifests itself so early. I should tell her about the metaverse of tokyo after this. And ask her about her own metaverse or TV world. It seems that my next visit to Tokyo will be a hassle.

--

Wednesday, the camping trip. Everyone is lined up in a line according to class. We're currently in what's left of the camp zone. There's trash everywhere, and even worse, it looked like a bear had attacked the perimeter recently, evident by the scratch mark on the wooden furniture around the campsite.

"OK! What are you waiting for? get cleaning!" shouted a certain annoying teacher.

So we each scramble to our group and clean the surrounding area.

"Hey Yu, did you see that scratch mark? What do you think it is? A tiger? A bear?"

"Probably someone's chihuahua"

"A CHIHUAHUA DOESN'T HAVE THAT BIG OF A PRINT!" Yosuke tsukkomi at Yu's joke.

"It appears to be a bear. But it's quite old, about 3 years give or take."

A new voice came from behind me. When I turned back, it's Naoto Shirogane, the reverse trap. She's another addition to the investigation team as she'll later appear as an ally in the later stages of the game. She's the 'Detective Prince' coming from a lineage of detectives. But she isn't supposed to be here yet. She's only supposed to transfer to our school in september if I remember correctly.

"Ah it's You, thanks for the help before."

"Hmmmm, I've done nothing that's deserving of thanks but I'll take it anyway."

Ah it seems like she's on our team huh for the cleaning. We're tasked to clear the area of any dead leaves or other foliages and also make camps for our fellow classmates.

"So how did you find Kanji?" asked the curious detective

"We went to the T.V. world and saved him from his shadow." answers Yu almost immediately.

"Hey! YU! Why are you telling him that?" Yosuke Panics as he tries to cover Yu's mouth.

"He won't believe us anyway."

Well that's true.

"Are you mocking me?"

Ask Naoto, angry as she felt her pride being trampled.

"HAHAHA!"

I just laugh at her face

"Why are you laughing?"

"They just like to get high! And most of the time they stumble upon somebody who's either lost or ran away from home. HAHAHA! This guy's better than scooby-doo at solving cases!"

"Tch. To think I've been beaten by a bunch of Junkies."

Now she's angry at herself. Looking at it in real life, she acts just like a kid trying to be an adult. Oh well.

"And you Demon King!"

"Yeah?"

"What have you done in Osaka? Why are the Yakuza's trying to do charity work? What's your endgame?"

"Well that's for me to know and for you to find out."

"Let me guess, is it for politics? Do you want to be the next prime minister?"

Oooh, she's close, dangerously so, my eyes turn sharp as I almost release a killing intent.

"S-s-so it's true huh?"

"Close, but not quite."

"Huh what do you mean?"

"Let me ask you a question Naoto(-chan~) " I tease her by saying chan without voice, just my mouth, she seems to get what it means though, judging by her trembling eyes.

"In chess what would you rather be?"

"Chess huh? Obviously the K--, oh…. As expected of the Maou"

So he gets it huh, obviously people would go for the King as if the King is regarded as one of the most important piece as when it dies its game over, or some people would have gone for the Queen as it's the most powerful unit. But my question was about chess itself. Hence it's best to be the player, controlling everyone and everything.

"But who are you playing against?"

Oh curious and sharp isn't she?

"A demon lord will always fight a hero, will he not? Like an antagonist to the protagonist, the antagonist has to always make the first move."

She widened her eyes in a realization. Ooh this girl is sharp. Antagonist, the opposite of the protagonist who challenges his ideals, his morality, and is strong enough to make the change. That's what it means to be a good antagonist.

I left the poor girl thinking as I have been setting up tent after tent, while Yu and Yosuke have been busy cleaning up the perimeter.

--

After a few hours of work, We finally finished our tasks. And I'm now cooking curry for me and Yu. as Yosuke said he had other plans which involved asking the girls for curry. Bad idea my friend.

As I finish cooking curry for both of us, I can hear Yosuke spilling out curses at the girls for being bad cooks. And as he saw my and Yu's plate he began to salivate. Yu, being the good guy he is, decided to share his share with the girls, as Yosuke felt betrayed.

"Akira-san"

"Yes, Yosuke-kun."

"Can I have a bite?"

"No"

"Whyyyy?"

"You refused when I offered."

"AKH…" there's no second chances in life my friend.

*grumble* another sound of a grumbling stomach can be heard behind me as I found naoto staring at my food. Damnit, girl can't you cook? Oh wait no girls in persona 4 roster can cook except maybe Marie, as she's Izanami's other half.

"Umm Akira-sama, can I ask for food?"

"Sure, here. I'm full anyway." as I gave half a plate worth of curry and rice towards Naoto.

"Damn Akira! You gave Naoto who you barely knew some food but not me? Damn Demon!"

"And you're still confused as to why people call me a maou?"

--

The night fell and I'm in a personal camp, courtesy of King Moron mentioning I'm Yakuza. And he tried his hardest to peel me away from Yu for some reason. So, I just stole a few bottles of his booze for myself since I had the tent to myself anyways.

But suddenly a wild Kanji appears.

"Ah Aniki, can I sleep here? My tent mates kicked me out."

"Huh? Sure. I don't mind. Want some?" as I offer him a can of beer.

"Where did you get it from?"

"King moron."

"Damn I like your style Aniki!"

I just nod at his words. As I lie down in my camping bed, while drinking the beer, I can see it's kanji's first time drinking beer and from the looks of it he didn't quite like the taste.

"You don't have to force yourself if you don't like it?"

"W-w-what? Don't like it? Don't joke around Aniki, I live for this."

"Well suit yourself."

"Tell me, Aniki, what's the Yakuza like?"

"Dangerous and full of dramas."

"Umm… you mean like tv series?"

"Exactly like tv series, but it's real life, and real people do those kinds of things. The world isn't as merry as you think Kanji, but it's also not that bad."

"Huh…. ," he's lost in his own thoughts, ".. then what about gang wars or takeovers or Yakuza's honor code and all that jizz"

"Bloody, a hassle, and something debatable. Yakuza's at least my clan members are an honorable bunch. But there are those who don't care about honor. Those who just want power whatever it takes. Those are the ones you have to watch out for. We have a code, to not let bystanders get into our business. But there are those who are willing to do anything deemed necessary to get to you."

"Well that's ummm…. Dark. so is honor still a thing?"

"That's a question you had to ask yourself. If you had someone to protect, will your honor stand in your way?" At this point I'm sure an image of a certain blue haired boy appear in his mind as he blushes.

But well speak of the devil.

"Senpai you in there?"

A voice from the outside called out to me.

"Ah Naoto, come in."

"Huh?"

A shocked, and lightheaded kanji panics as he tries to hide his can.

"Ugh it smells in here. Did you guys have alcohol? I thought they weren't permitted, you'll get into trouble for this."

"Hahaha. That's the difference between us, where you are bound by the rules, I simply find a hole in them. As I technically didn't bring them, I stole them from king moron."

"That's worse."

"So why are you here."

"It's about our conversation earlier."

"What conversation are you having with Aniki, naoto-san?" Kanji asks as unexplainable scenarios play in his head.

"It's just something between me and him."

"You're making it sound like there's something between us."

"There isn't?"- Kanji cuts in again.

"I'll leave it to your imagination Kanji."

"So what is it Naoto?"

"I've been thinking about what you said."

"And?"

"I can't help but say what you are doing is moving towards the right direction, but I cannot for the life of me explain why I hate it so much."

"Oh? Why? You don't like the idea a Yakuza is pulling the strings behind the government?"

"No, not that. It's just your policy for kids and what you did to Yakuza and your enemies contradict each other. I've been thinking about the kids that're under your care, I can't hate you for doing that to them. I found out just now that you've been doing that. So tell me demon king are you gonna weaponize them too?"

Oh my policy regarding schooling kids that are in the poverty line, unwanted children of prostitutes and finally Yakuza's children with nowhere to go. These children are under OA and TJC protection where we educate them ourselves and give them dorms to sleep in. it's not the best, but far better than life on the street. The money needed is nothing to scoff at but with all of my current projects it will be easy to recover. As for weaponizing huh.

"That's just my whim."

"Huh?"

"I'm the maou, I don't like seeing children in my streets. So it's better for them to be in cages."

"You're really interesting maou"

"Or so they say."

"HEY QUIET DOWN! AND GET TO SLEEP!"

Oh it's king moron. As I see the panicking Naoto, I simply put my hand in a shhh sign and point to Kanji who passed out moments ago.

"Akira! You Asleep?"

"Nope! I'm getting drunk."

"You little shit better sleep right now and don't cause anymore trouble. And don't lie about getting drunk, You've whose only drink milk wouldn't know about booze."

Oh how wrong you're I even know your beer is shit.

And so, the teachers continue patrolling, which leaves Naoto no choice but to stay a moment.

"So why aren't you going back to your tent?"

"My tent-mate is snoring and is very very annoying, her body covers my bed. Initially I was planning to ask someone else to sleep with. Since I remember you're alone here I am."

Why in the world would you get into my tent, and me knowing you're a girl?

"Well whatever. I'm too tired for this."

As I just tucked myself in my camping bed and tried to sleep.

---

The very next morning I woke up with Kanji's foot on my stomach, his arms are around my legs, and Naoto's foot on my head. they're a match made in heaven huh. As I pound both of their heads.

# and no Naoto's not going to be a harem member… maybe… but I have no plans for her at this point. I have sights on Sae and I'll make it happen one way or another.