Fortune reverse 1

The gang took a moment to set up the room. They placed the short tables in a U formation with Yu at the head, Yosuke jokingly said it made him like a shogun or something. Most of them dismissed it as a silly idea and Yosuke being Yosuke, though Chie secretly thought of Yu being a shogun as a pretty cool idea, but would never agree with Yosuke out loud. Marie and Rise placed their tables and chairs on either side of Yu, inching ever closer to him while smiling at each other.Saeko and several other inn staff brought in a table and snacks which they placed to the side and out of the way. The gang made small talk, discussing each other’s careers or schooling, Rise and Marie argued about their popularity, Rise’s idol career versus Marie’s tv weather forecaster and no one volunteered to get between the two.

The group went quiet when Yukiko returned with the dinner meals. The inn staff placed the various dishes of sushi and shrimp, meat, vegetables and rice on the side table. Yukiko was wearing a resplendent red kimono with bird images embroidered on it. Her hair was done up in a bun with hairpins to give it a more regal look. Light makeup had been applied to her face with a light red gloss on her lips. She carried herself with grace as she practically glided into the room, carrying a bottle of sake.

“Woah, looking good, Yukiko.” Chie was the first to react.

“This was Saeko-san’s idea. You can take as much food as you like. I’ll pour you all some sake now.” Yukiko had a slight blush to her face as she smiled.

Yukiko gently poured the alcoholic liquid in Yu’s cup first, earning her glares from Marie and Rise, though Yukiko appeared oblivious to them.

“Thanks a lot for this Yukiko. I know last minute things like this must be pretty stressful for you and the inn, so we really appreciate it, you know.” Yu smiled gently at Yukiko.

“You’re my friends, so of course I can always make time for you.” Yukiko lowered her voice, giggling slightly. “Actually Saeko-san had other suggestions, but um… heh, this is embarrassing enough.”

Marie and Rise watched Yukiko shuffle off towards Chie and Yosuke.

“Y’know, there’s no reason to be jealous of Yukiko.”

“Nope, no reason at all.”

“This is really just between you and me.”

“Not really, I’m going to win.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

The two ladies touched their glasses together.

“Unf… Man, getting the good stuff was worth it.” Yosuke sighed, swallowing a piece of shrimp. “My wallet is going to be hurting for a while, but still totally worth it.”

“I’m glad you like it. I did work pretty hard on it all.” Yukiko snuck up behind Yosuke.

“Ghak!” A piece of shrimp caught in Yosuke’s throat, though his shock was not due to Yukiko’s sudden appearance. “Y-you… made this, Yukiko?”

“Yeah. Well, mostly the sushi. But it turned out well didn’t it?”

“It had better have.” Chie piped in, munching on a meat skewer. “After all the effort the cooks put into training you this past week.”

“They did? Well, I feel a little better, since we didn’t end up with **** of Mystery Food X.”

“Oh sure, the second they heard Yu was going to be here, they put her through a real brutal training regimen, I heard. Seriously, it was like straight out of a romcom.” Chie snickered.

“I-it wasn’t anything like that.” Yukiko protested. “Saeko-san and the others just wanted to make sure I made the best meal possible. For everyone.”

“Well I definitely appreciate the grub.” Kanji chimed in. “But uh… should we really start eating without Naoto? Is that okay?”

“I haven’t heard anything from Nao-chan. She was going to be here, wasn’t she? It wouldn’t be right if we weren’t all here.” Teddie gave his melancholy complaint. “Oooh, Yosuke, pass me some rice, would ya?”

“Yeah, you’re real concerned there, buddy.” Yosuke’s words were coated in sarcasm as he shoved a small bowl of rice into Teddie’s hands. “Last I heard from Naoto was when we all confirmed we would be here.”

“There isn’t much we can do unless we hear something from her.” Yu interjected. He then started raising his glass. “So, for now, let’s make a toast…”

A door slid open, causing all to turn their attention to it. Saeko stood in the doorway, her head bowed apologetically.

“My apologies for interrupting, Yukiko-sama, but your final guest has just arrived.” She began with a slight bow to Yukiko. “She… well, perhaps it would be best to see the circumstances for yourself.”

Saeko moved out of the way, revealing Naoto Shirogane. Naoto stood with her arms across her chest, blushing and looking away from the group. She looked completely soaked, with her white blouse clinging to her skin and being partially transparent due to the moisture; she covered her chest to protect her modesty. Her pants, as well as being as wet as the rest of her also had mud and dirt stains going down the left side.

“I am sorry for being late, everyone.” Naoto spoke with a slightly shaky voice, trying to sound like she was joking. “I… had a string of bad luck today.”

“Bad luck? Did you go for a swim in the Samegawa river before you got here?” Teddie asked, marvelling at Naoto’s appearance.

“Ahem.” Naoto cleared her throat with a light glare at Teddie. “First, my car broke down on the way here. I tried to call a garage in Inaba, but couldn’t reach anyone. I eventually called a tow company, but it was in the opposite direction from Inaba. I had to leave my things with my car.”

“Okay… but why didn’t you call one of us?” Kanji asked.

“After I made the last call, despite having been fully charged that morning, the battery on my phone was somehow drained.” Naoto showed off her dead phone, while keeping an arm across her chest. “I had **** but to walk to Inaba. As I did, it rained briefly and as I did not have an umbrella, well… you see what happened.”

“Rain?” Marie demanded, frowning. “There shouldn’t have been any rain, I said it was going to be nice for the next few days.”

“It was a short, localised downpour. I was well outside Inaba when it happened, so perhaps that was why? It was fairly humid and overcast the rest of the way, so I wasn’t really able to dry off. And finally, a car passing by hit a puddle and splashed mud on me. Today has been… a trying experience.”

“Yukiko-sama, I can get a bath ready for the lady, but could I trouble you to get her some clothes?” Saeko asked, humbly.

“Of, course. I’m so sorry this happened to you, Naoto.” Yukiko motioned for Naoto to follow.

“I am sorry for the imposition, Yukiko.” Naoto replied.

A concerned silence fell over the group after the three ladies left. The situation would have sounded like something they should laugh at, simple bad luck as Naoto had said but given their past experiences ‘coincidence’ and ‘bad luck’ weren’t the first conclusions they came to.

“There shouldn’t have been any rain, not that close.” Marie stated firmly.

“Maybe you’re losing your touch? Whoa! Wait! No you’re not, not at all!” Teddie quickly withdrew his commentary under Marie’s withering **** glare.

“Still… Man, is it because we got together?” Yosuke mused, watching the **** swirl around in his glass.

“Weird stuff does tend to happen when we get together.” Chie tried to shrug it off, but couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice.

“Hold on. We don’t know anything yet, jumping to conclusions is bad, remember?” Yu spoke, drawing everyone’s attention. “We don’t know anything right now. There’s no reason to think this is another case. We’ll let Naoto get cleaned up and then talk to her about it. We can go around town tomorrow and see if there have been any other weird incidents. If it is a case, we’ll deal with it like usual and if it isn’t we can just relax like we planned.”

The rising tension in the air deflated at Yu’s words and the group collectively released the breath they didn’t know they’d held since Naoto had arrived.

“That’s my partner for you.”

“Yep, with my Yu in charge everything will be fine.”

“*Your* Yu?”

“Come on now, let’s get some food on Naoto’s plate and pour her a drink. I think she might need it. And we can get back to partying.”