Judgement upright 1

Yukiko brought Yu to a large room. It was obviously meant for group gatherings. One side had thin walls and windows leading to the outside, though they were closed at the moment. Some short tables and low chairs were stacked in a corner and the room appeared quite open and empty.

“This room is usually used for large group business meetings held by clients. We don’t have them very often and it’s not the season for it, so I thought we could use it.” Yukiko explained to Yu.

“I think I heard someone call this the phoenix hall or something” A womans voice spoke from outside the room.

One of the interior entrance doors slid open and Chie Satonaka and Yosuke Hanamura stepped through. Chie was wearing a simple short sleeve shirt and skirt with tights, her green jacket tied around her waist. She had been keeping up her exercise regimen, because of the visible muscle on her biceps, but most notably on her legs, giving them a visible thickness. Her brunette hair was still worn short in a bowl style, maintaining her tomboy-ish look. She grinned on seeing Yu.

“Yo. You’re looking well, Yu.”

Yosuke was still a lean young man, wearing a white t-shirt and red pants. Despite being an adult, he still had a boyish look to him, his friendly smile only increasing that look.

“Hey, partner. Good to see you again.” Yosuke extended a fist towards Yu.

“One day, you’re going to call me by name and the shock will kill someone.” Yu grinned as he fistbumped Yosuke.

“What? It’s not like I never call you by name… I do call you by name, don’t I?”

“I can’t remember the last time you did.” Chie sniggered.

“Who called this room the phoenix hall? I don’t want any weird rumours spreading.” Yukiko spoke with concern.

“Huh… Couldn’t say. Just something I heard in passing.” Chie thought about it for a bit before replying.

“Some police officer you are.” Yosuke said mockingly. “Isn’t it your job to pay attention to stuff like that?”

“Don’t make me arrest you for disturbing my peace.” Chie growled back.

“Chie’s been part of the Inaba police **** for about a year now.” Yosuke said as aside to Yu. “Not that she needs to do much. It’s been real quiet for years.”

“Oh, but wasn’t there that biker gang that Chie and Kanji fought the other week?” Yukiko said.

“I did what now?” A door slid open and Kanji Tatsumi and Rise Kujikawa entered the room.

Kanji had stopped dying his hair years ago and had long since kept his black hair short and neatly combed. Easily the tallest person in the room, the lean young man had obvious muscle showing beneath his white shirt. One would never guess at how emotionally sensitive he could be due to his still harsh expression, nor how dexterous he could be.

“And the mysterious tourist was played by Rise Kujikawa!” Rise giggled as she pulled a pin from her hair, which at the time was done up in a bun. Her long wavy brown hair tumbled down about her shoulders, giving her a completely different look from a moment ago. She wore a loose shirt which showed off her bare shoulders and a black short skirt, showing off her bare legs and slender figure.

She sauntered over to Yu and hugged him, smiling gently at him. She was tall enough that it would take much for their lips to meet.

“It’s great to see you again, sempai.” Maybe I shouldn’t call you that anymore, Yu.” Rise spoke the name, testing its flavour on her tongue.

“Geez, this girl is even more dangerous now.” Chie grumbled through clenched teeth.

“What was that about me and biker gangs?” Kanji asked Yukiko curiously.

“Didn’t you and Chie break up a biker gang last week?”

“Oh that? Nah, one of your inn ladies was in the store buying some silk and she mentioned some punks scoping out the inn. I checked it out and it looked like there was a gang trying to make a home for itself in the town outskirts. I told Chie and the police handled the rest.” Kanji shrugged. “I didn’t fight ‘em myself. Those days are behind me.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t a big deal on my end either. They hadn’t done anything illegal, so we couldn’t arrest them, but just a few of us showing up scared them off.” Chie chimed in.

“It must have been Saeko-san who told you. She was out in the market district a lot that week.” Yukiko offered.

“I’m glad to hear it’s been quiet here.” Yu said, disentangling himself from a pouting Rise. “We just have to wait for Naoto and Teddie… I never did hear back from Marie.”

“Marie and Ted ought to be here any minute.” Yosuke replied. “They were both out in the market district picking up a couple of things.”

“Oh hey, Yukiko, before I forget,” Chie spoke up. “We put the food in the kitchen. It’s all fresh and ready to be cooked whenever.”

“Thanks Chie, Yosuke.”

The small talk continued for a bit until Teddie and Marie walked in. Teddie was a thin young man with short blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He had such an andorgynous appearance that it would have been easy to put him in a dress and a long wig and pretend he was a girl. In this instance he wore a white ruffled shirt and blue pants giving him a slightly more masculine look. He was carrying a large box from which a tinkling noise could be heard as he moved.

“Hey, y’all! I brought libations!” He called out joyfully.

Marie had stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes fell on Yu. She was wearing a sleeveless white shirt with a short, black necktie and chequered skirt along with long black, fingerless gloves and black and white striped stockings. It was reminiscent of her old outfit, but her more adult body, made the outfit cling to her body more and she showed off more skin around her waist. He mouth trembled slightly, her short black hair swayed and her green-ish grey eyes wavered, suddenly darting about the room as though searching for something to say.

“Wow, she was talking about how excited she was to see sensei again that I didn’t think she was ever going to stop.” Ted said.

Marie glared at Ted.

“Shut up! YoustupidjerkfacebearIhateyou!” Marie stomped towards Ted.

“Waaah! Don’t kick me!” Ted cried. “I’m carrying some heavy fragile stuff!”

“Let me get that for you.” Yosuke stepped in, taking the box from Ted.

“Oh, thanks Yosuke!”

“Now, you can kick him, Marie.”

“Thanks, Yosuke.” Marie said cheerily.

“Whyyyy, Yosuke?”

Marie stopped short of actually kicking Ted when she met Rise’s gaze. Rise had a self-righteous smirk on her face.

“My my, are you sure that a small time tv weather girl can afford to besmirch her reputation with ****?” Rise chuckled with a smile.

“Oh my, how auspicious of the great idol Risette to make time in her busy schedule to grace us with her presence.” Marie turned a sarcastic smile back at Rise.

“I have been quite busy. Just last month I had a concert, completely sold out. Yu can tell you, he had a front row seat.”

“How generous of you to **** a ticket on him and obligate him to attend.”

The air between the two seemed to crackle. Kanji took a step back.

“Uh… Shouldn’t we stop that?” Kanji asked Yosuke.

“If you want to get in the middle of that, be my guest. I prefer keeping my head attached to my shoulders, thank you.” Yosuke carried the box to the end of the room.

Setting the box on the ground, Yosuke began to open it.

“So what is this?” Yu asked him.

“You remember Naoki Konishi?”

‘Yeah…”

“A couple of years back he set up a small brewery and started making and selling his own ****. Beer, sake, some wine. Mostly local ingredients.”

“Really? He did mention studying **** and such.”

“Yeah it sells really well too. We sometimes have some in stock at Junes, but it never stays stocked for long. I asked him to set aside some bottles for this and had Ted pick ‘em up today.”

“Yukiko-sama,” Saeko suddenly appeared beside Yukiko. “We have some bottles of sake and wine by Konishi-san in our cellar. I put several aside for this gathering. Would you like me to prepare them to go with dinner for your guests?”

“That’s a great idea, Saeko-san. Please do that.”

“In that case, I believe we should start preparing dinner. You should get ready as well, Yukiko-sama.”

Saeko bowed to the group as Yukiko left.

“Yukiko-sama has suggested that you would enjoy arranging your seats personally and so we have made arrangements. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask. We are all very grateful towards Yukiko-sama’s guests.”