Hello! Had this chapter done for a few days, but I tried thinking of more to add with no luck, so I'll just upload it the way it is. Hope it's an enjoyable filler nonetheless.

Alternate title for this chapter: "Summer Sunday"

Chapter 16: Bash at the Beach

Date: Sunday, September 10th

[Background Music: Persona 4 OST: Signs of Love]

Alex found himself waking up right at 12:30 in the afternoon and not being able to go back to sleep. Even though it was a weekend and he wanted to sleep in late after last night's rescue, he decided to go ahead and get up. As he got dressed and went to the bathroom, he heard the doorbell ring from downstairs.

"Alex! Your friends are here!" Sarah was heard calling.

"Huh? What are they doing here?" Alex thought before making his way downstairs. He got down and saw Jax, Ember, and Rayna at the door with them holding beach towels as well as Ember holding a large picnic basket.

"Heyo Alex!" Jax greeted.

"What's up, guys?" Alex asked.

"We're heading to the beach today, want to join us? I even packed us a picnic lunch." Ember asked.

"That does sound cool, but I don't know if Mom will-

"You can go ahead and go, Alex." Sarah called from the other room. She then peeked into the room and threw a pair of blue swimming trunks at him. "There you go!"

"Mom!" Alex shouted and the girls laughed.

"Be lucky it wasn't your underwear." Jax chuckled. "Now come on! The official summer season will be over in like ten days or so! Let's enjoy it while we can!"

With those words, the four friends ran away from the house and got onto the public bus to head to the beach.

[Background Music: Persona 3 Portable OST: After School]

Once the three got to the beach, they went to the changing rooms and changed into their swimming gear before running to the sand. It wasn't packed on this day, but there was a decent amount of people there.

"Oh hell yeah! Beach time!" Jax shouted, wearing his black swimming trunks. "So, what are we going to do first?"

"It depends. Do you guys want to eat lunch first or swim first?" Ember asked wearing a purple swimsuit with pink flowers on it.

"I think we should eat first, I didn't eat yet and I'm starving!" Alex said.

"Neither have I, let's dig in then!" Rayna smiled wearing a green swimsuit.

"Let's put down our beach towels first, and then I'll hand out the food." Ember smiled. As everyone set down their towels, she then commented, "It's not too hot and the wind is light, the weather is perfect."

"Thank god it's not blazing hot or really windy; I wouldn't want sand in my food." Rayna commented. "Speaking of hot…" Rayna's eyes moved to the lifeguard chair, where an attractive man with blonde hair tied into a ponytail and a fit body was the lifeguard.

Jax groaned, "Of course she'd drool over him…"

"Rayna liking the lifeguard?" Alex asked.

"Yeah… His real name is Matthias, but everyone calls him Tyler, I think it's because he's a self-loving douche." Jax said. "On days where there's hardly anyone, I hear he takes out a cell phone and takes selfies all the time."

"Is he really like that, or are you jealous that Rayna is eyeing someone?" Alex asked.

"We don't know what Matthias is like personally, we never talked to him." Ember claimed.

"If only I was older…" Rayna sighed dreamily.

"If only I was attractive enough…" Jax sighed to himself.

"H-hey Ember, you going to hand out the food?" Alex sweatdropped, trying to change the subject.

"Oh yeah, I'll do that right now." Once everyone sat on their towels, Ember reached into the picnic basket and took out sandwiches, cups of juice, fruit cups, and little bags of chips.

Alex was handed his food and looked at the inside of the sandwiches, "Ham and cheese! My favorite!" He exclaimed happily.

"I already like this beach lunch." Jax grinned.

"Time to dig in!" Rayna smiled as the four friends began to enjoy their lunch.

"Mmm… Damn this is good!" Jax commented as his mouth was full of sandwich.

"Like it? I tried grilling the bread on the stove; I wanted to give it a shot." Ember said.

"Are you kidding? I like sandwiches better when they're grilled! Or at least ones with ham or turkey on them." Rayna smiled.

"Maybe I need to convince Mom to make sandwiches this way from now on." Alex chuckled.

"Oh hi, Alex! Didn't expect to see you here today." A voice was heard behind the team. They looked over and saw Brittany, who was wearing a white one-piece swimsuit with blue flowers on it.

"Hey there, Brittany, good to see you too." Alex waved a hand at her.

"New friend of yours, Alex?" Rayna asked, as Jax next to her seemed to be staring at Brittany.

"Wow… She's pretty…" Jax chuckled in a perverted way before being slapped on the back of the head by Rayna. "Ow!"

"Yeah, this is Brittany; she's a new kid like me." Alex smiled. "Brittany, these are my friends Ember, Jax, and Rayna."

Brittany nodded at the other two, but pointed at Ember, "I do remember you; you're in my Calculus class. I tripped outside of the room when class was over and you helped me grab my things on the ground."

"Oh yes! I remember I helped you out there." Ember said. "I didn't know you met Alex."

"And it appears that wasn't the only time she dropped something near us, although I bumped into her when we met." Alex said.

"I was a bit rude to him, but he helped me with my stuff as well." Brittany said. "I see you four are eating, I'll leave you be." She turned around and went to leave.

"You want some lunch with us? I made extra just in case." Ember offered.

"Well… if it's not too much trouble." Brittany said, sitting down on Alex's towel. "What do you have?"

"Ham and cheese sandwiches, juice, a fruit cup, and some chips." Alex said.

"Sounds great!" Brittany smiled as Ember handed her the food.

The friends continued to enjoy their lunch while also getting to know Brittany a little more. She mentioned how she is a transfer student and she was getting used to the town. Her father is a fitness trainer at the gym in Mirefield and she was thinking about joining the school track team once she got the hang of things. Alex noticed however while she talked, she did keep looking at Ember. He just shrugged it off and let her continue.

"Was there a specific reason you got transferred like for your dad's job?" Alex asked.

"…I was bullied quite a bit at my old school, to the point the teachers suggested I go to another one close by." Brittany said, a little hesitantly.

"Why would someone bully you? You seem nice and good looking as well." Jax said.

"It's… complicated." Brittany said.

"You also mentioned what your dad does. What's your mother do?" Ember asked.

That caused Brittany to stop for a little bit. She rubbed her arm a little bit before answering, "…I… don't really want to talk about it… that too is complicated…"

"Oh I'm sorry…" Ember apologized. "Sorry I brought it up…"

"No it's okay, you didn't know." Brittany said, then giving a small smile. "Glad to hear someone cares though."

"Your last school must've been tough I'm guessing." Alex commented.

"It was, but thankfully I think this place will be better for me." Brittany said. That's when time stopped around Alex and the Moon Arcana card appeared in front of him, showing a 2 underneath it before disappearing.

Brittany went to take a chip out of her chip bag, but saw it was empty. "Oh! Would you look at that? I ate all of my lunch already."

"So have we, time flies when you're having fun." Alex chuckled.

"Nice of you to join us, Brittany." Ember smiled, which Alex could've sworn he saw a small blush on Brittany when she said that.

"Thank you for letting me join you for lunch. I should probably get back to Dad now, he might be wondering where I am. Hopefully I'll see you soon." Brittany got up and waved at the four before walking off.

"Bye Brittany!" Alex called out.

"She seems like a nice girl, I like her." Rayna smiled.

"So do I… and NOT because she looks good!" Jax added the second part quickly when he saw Ember and Rayna glaring at him.

"And here you get on me for drooling over the lifeguard…" Rayna rolled her eyes.

"Because he's a douche!" Jax shouted.

"Alright alright stop it!" Ember called out. "Looks like we all finished our lunch while we talked with Brittany."

"Sweet! I'm gonna go swim now!" Jax jumped up and made his way towards the water.

"Wait! We can't swim now, you'll get a cramp!" Alex shouted.

"You have to wait a half hour to an hour before you go swimming after you eat!" Ember added.

"That's just what parents want you to think! Besides, I am not waiting that long to swim!" Jax jumped into the water shouting "Cannonball!" The other three watched as he went in and waited. "Th-th-the water's… a l-l-little chilly, but s-s-see? No cramps!"

"He's gonna cramp." Rayna said, and right as she said that…

"Ahh! My foot! It hurts!" Jax screamed. "Someone get me out!"

"Lifeguard!" Rayna called out.

A minute passed and Jax was back to laying on his towel with Matthias the lifeguard standing over him.

"Your friend was right, don't swim after you eat or else that'll happen." Matthias said. "Be lucky you weren't very deep in water yet."

"Yeah yeah, don't need to tell me, pretty boy." Jax grumbled.

"Just be careful, okay?" Matthias asked before heading back to his lifeguard chair.

"I am SO glad I didn't need to get CPR from that creep!" Jax said.

"You could've at least thanked him." Alex said.

"Until Rayna stops drooling at him, then I will." Jax said.

[Background Music: Persona 3 OST: Joy]

The beach day was finished and the four headed back home for the day. As Ember went to her home next door, Alex made his way to his and saw Sarah was talking to two people on the front porch. One was a man with curly dark hair, bushy beard, and from what he saw it looked like one of his ears was missing. The other was a woman with brown hair and some colored highlights.

"Oh hi Alex! How was your day at the beach?" Sarah asked as she noticed her son arriving home.

"It was fun; Ember made a picnic lunch and we just hung around and talked for the day." Alex smiled before looking at the visitors. "Talking to more people, Mom?"

"Oh yeah, these are the Foleys; Mick and Colette. They live around this neighborhood and they just noticed we moved into this house." Sarah chuckled.

"So this is your son? He's better looking than I thought he would be." Colette said before chuckling.

"He gets that from his father." Sarah smiled.

"Mom!" Alex's face turned red in embarrassment, both at a woman calling him attractive and his mother embarrassing him again.

"Don't worry, kid, she's just having a little fun… as we all in our family do." Mick smiled. When he did, Alex noticed a few of Mick's teeth were missing. A missing ear and missing teeth, but this man seemed really kind and friendly.

"We've got four children so it can get wild around our place." Colette said.

"I bet." Sarah said. "I should probably head inside and make dinner since he's home. Frankie should be home soon as well."

"Sorry we had to miss him, hope we can meet him soon too." Mick said. He then turned to Alex, "Nice meeting you as well."

"You too, Mr. Foley." Alex waved back before Mick and Colette made their way home.

"You hungry for dinner at all, Alex or did you eat a lot at your beach lunch?" Sarah asked once the two got inside.

"You know I'll eat anything, Mom!" Alex said.

Sarah laughed, "I know, I always have to ask."

Date: Monday, September 11th

[Background Music: Persona 3 OST: Afternoon Break]

During lunch at school, the team along with Kaylen and Owen sat together talking about how the beach day was and just having some small talk. As the talk went on though, Alex noticed Ember looking a little uneasy.

"Everything okay, Ember?" Alex asked noticing this.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you later…" Ember said softly. The rest of the table looked confused at this.

"Did something happen you don't want to tell us?" Owen asked, sounding very concerned.

"…Something like that." She said.

"We can leave if you need some time alone." Kaylen suggested. "Come on, Owen; let's leave her alone for now." She and Owen left the table, with Owen looking back worried at Ember before they went across the lunchroom.

The other three pretended to leave until Kaylen and Owen were out of sight, and then sat back down.

"What's going on, Em?" Alex asked.

"…A week before today, that calling card was seen at the go-kart track." Ember reminded.

"Oh yeah it was!" Jax said.

"But we've got another week before the deadline, why do you seem worried about that?" Alex asked.

"I think… we might have rescued the wrong person. I haven't seen Jayden in school at all today." Ember said.

"…Shit! That better not be the case!" Jax said.

"Especially since the clues on the card were accurate to both the real Jayden and his shadow!" Rayna said.

"There is a possibility that he's either not awake just yet or his parents are keeping him home for a bit. It happened with Rayna when she was trapped in there." Alex said.

"…He is right; Mom and Dad didn't let me return right away just to be safe." Rayna said.

"Think we should go to his house and see?" Jax asked.

Ember shook her head, "No, we'll probably raise suspicion if that happens. If we don't see or hear from him by Friday or the weekend, I say we go back in and see."

"Don't think we'll have to do that, but I guess we can see for sure then." Alex said. "We however did rescue him and he got a Persona of his own, so I think we did get him out of there."

"Yeah Em, let's not worry about this too much, I'm sure he'll be okay." Rayna smiled.

[Background Music: Persona 4 OST: Your Affection]

School finished for the day and Alex decided to take a walk into town on his way home. It was a nice warm day outside anyway and the summer season would be ending in about a week so he felt to enjoy it while he could. He walked past the area of small businesses in the town and went to walk past the coffee shop when…

BAM!

The glass door of the shop suddenly collided with Alex's face and sent him down to the ground, his eyes swirling at the hit. The reason for this was a woman with blonde hair tied into a high ponytail wearing a red business suit stormed out of the shop.

Alex shook his head shaking off the daze and stood up. He saw the woman running out and tried to catch up to her. He saw her try to get into her car and called out, "Miss? Excuse me, but you caused that door to bash into my face!"

"Well I'm sorry; you should've watched where you were going!" The woman shouted in an angry tone, clearly upset about something. "I haven't had a good day, so bug off kid!" She got into her car and then drove off as the car screeched.

"…What was her problem?" Alex asked briefly before officially making his way to home.

Social Link Progress

Fool (Dream World Rescue Team): Rank 3
Chariot (Jaxson Devitt): Rank 3
Lovers (Ember Farrelly): Rank 3
Magician (Damien Richards & Edgar Edwards): Rank 3
Hermit (Kayley Jones): Rank 2
Star (Rayna Sullivan-Good): Rank 3
Hierophant (Sarah Gerdelman): Rank 3
Moon (Brittany Rosser): Rank 2