Reverse Commu

"Big bro?" Little Nanako called, while she and her cousin sat down for dinner.

"Are you and your friends in a fight?"

Seta blinked at the child, eyes slightly wider than normal, before the grey haired teen settled for a soft smile. "Why would you think that Nanako?"

"Well…some of your friends…asked me if I could find out why you weren't talking to them…"

Souji sighed and shook his head. "Really now…they should know better than to involve someone not part of things…"

"Huh?" The brunette child just looked at her cousin, confused.

"Never mind. To answer your question…not…exactly. I'm…unhappy with them, at the moment, yes. But we aren't exactly in a fight."

"What do you mean? Aren't they the same?"

"Not at all. You see, a fight is when two or more people are…repeatedly arguing with one another, for an unknown reason. It's a higher level than say, a disagreement, where two or more people think differently about the same subject. With me and them, it's neither. It's more…they did something…or rather a bunch of somethings, not all at once, but they did them, that made me unhappy."

"You want me to yell at them for you?" Souji smiled at the innocent child's eagerness to rise to his defense.

"No, no…I just wish they'd have come to me personally, than ask through you is all."

"Was…it the hot spring?" Again, Souji blinked in surprise. He knew his cousin was oddly observant, but this? She was almost spot-on.

"Ahh…well…not…just the hot springs…but we can say that was the straw that broke the camel's back."

She tilted her head. "I don't get it."

"You know what a camel is, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, you know how light straw is, right?"

"…kinda."

"Well, straw is as light as a feather, so you wouldn't think it would be able to break anything, let alone the back of an animal as strong as a camel, right?"

She nodded.

"Well, as strong as a camel is, everything has its limits. They can carry amazing amounts of weight, but sometimes, even something as light as a feather can be the final thing that forces it to collapse."

She was still confused. "Ok…forget the camel. Imagine a card house." Her eyes brightened at that. It seemed he'd stumbled on a topic she could comprehend.

"You know how flimsy those things are, no matter what you do."

"Yeah! Some friends of mine at school tried to make one at recess, but they could never get it!"

"Well, think of it like this. No matter how well you build the house, no matter whether or not you left a specific hole open, making sure the weight of the cards was placed perfectly, sometimes, just adding one more card, even if it was meant to be added, can make the house drop."

"So…they broke your card house?" he smiled at her.

"In a manner of speaking…yes."

"…so the hot spring broke your card house…"

Her head was bowed, and she was muttering to herself. Souji just watched, wondering what was going on in her head.

"…I'm sorry, big bro. It was because you wanted to go in…wasn't it?"

"Well…it would have been nice…" She nodded.

"Yukiko-chan mentioned, after they chased you out, that she'd gotten the times mixed up…but Chie-chan said you wouldn't mind…"

Ugh…dammit Chie…this is what people meant when we told you that you were going to say or do something that, however slight, wouldn't just be let go.

"…you did mind…didn't you? That was why…why Teddie just jumped in out of nowhere, it was your turn, and we ignored it. It was wrong…and we never fixed it. I'm sorry…"

He reached over and pat her hand softly.

"It's alright Nanako. It's not your fault."

"But I should have-

"No, no. They knew that they did something wrong. You were just there. You had no part in their mistake, you couldn't have known. And even if you did say something, it wouldn't have been your job to. People have to take responsibility for what they choose to do. But thank you for apologizing, it means a lot to me."

"You're welcome big bro!"

And she knew, exactly what it was she'd tell the others. It didn't all make sense in her head, but he was right. She may have been their friend, but it was their disagreement, as Souji put it. Not hers.

"Nanako-chan!"

The little girl looked around. She saw Souji's friends, at least the girls, standing at the gazebo on the flood plain. She trotted over, and the five girls exchanged pleasantries, before Chie went to the main event.

"uhh…so…did he…say anything?"

Nanako nodded. Naoto's stance shifted. Her detective instincts suddenly began flaring at full. It didn't help that she noticed a subtle shift in Nanako's eyes.

"He said he's unhappy with you. He said a lot of stuff actually…something about a camel, and straw." She trailed off.

Naoto's mind was racing, trying to figure out where the hell a camel came in.

"…straw that broke the camel's back…"

Her eyes widened.

"He said you made the house of cards he was building with you fall."

…it all makes sense now.

"He also said he wished you'd have come to him yourselves, instead of having me do it. And I think he's right. He said it wasn't my business, and it's not. But I apologized anyway. I don't know if that's what he wants from you, but I'd do it anyway. You're gonna have to fix your problems on your own though, I can't help anymore. He's right, it wasn't nice of you guys to make me ask him."

The other three seized up. Though Rise was starting to see how things were connected, Yukiko and Chie were too confused, but definitely feeling guilty, to understand. However, it was Naoto that took the lead.

"We understand, and we're sorry Nanako, that we put you in such a position."

The little girl smiled brightly. "It's ok. Just next time, ask him yourself. It's what he wants. I gotta go, Big Bro is taking me to Junes to get some things for dinner this weekend."

They said their goodbyes, as the child ran off.

"I…card house? Camel?" Chie was stunned. None of what Nanako said made sense.

"Metaphor." Naoto spoke. They all turned to her. "It was a metaphor. We've done a series of things to him, and whatever they were, something recent was the final straw. The 'straw that broke the camel's back.'"

Chie's eyes widened as she understood the meaning. "Ooooh…"

Yukiko looked away, guiltily. "You don't think…it was the hot spring…was it?"

Chie whirled around to her best friend. "No…could it?"

Naoto shook her head. "That wasn't the sole event. We…or rather, you all, have been doing things that have added levels of irritation to him, over the time you knew him. Not minor things. Big things. Things that, because of your friendship, he let slide. His motives are clear. He wants us to understand what we did wrong, and why he is upset about it. Until then, I believe he will continue to ignore us." Something I plan on rectifying immediately. It's not huge, but the case we were working on…no…I shouldn't lie to myself. I like his company. I don't like being ignored suddenly. I want to know what I did, so I can fix it.

"Big…things…" Rise muttered. Her eyes widened. "oh…the pageant."

"But, but he was willing to-

"No. He wasn't Chie." Yukiko cut the brunette off. "You weren't paying attention until he said your name. Before he started talking about us, he was dressing down Yosuke for his stupidity. All you heard was him outlining your physical attributes, and then telling us all that at that point we had no choice but to deal with it. You acted against that, and it pissed him off. He'd basically said he had positive and negative thoughts of the situation on both sides, ours and Yosuke's. You missed a big chunk of his statement, in fact you missed the most important parts, and because you weren't paying attention, all you heard was words that made it sound like he agreed with what Yosuke did."

Chie's head bowed. "…I messed up…didn't I?"

"So did I. I should have dragged us all out of the hot spring that night, and given them the time that would have been ours. But I didn't, because I listened to you. I knew better, you knew better, but we still went along with it, even though we'd done something wrong. It was my fault that we were there when it was their turn, and after I figured it out, I did nothing to fix it. We didn't even apologize to them."

"And everything they did wrong, we made them apologize for." Rise said. "They've been better friends to us then we have to them…they'd apologize even when we were in the wrong…that's messed up. Really messed up."

"My mind…recalls something…he mentioned to me once. It's very vague…but…'Mystery Food X'?"

"Oh…crap." Yukiko mumbled.

"That…may have been the first one. We were on the school camping trip…and…we were in charge of making dinner."

"We messed it up horribly. We all went hungry that night."

"And then the next day we messed up again. Yukiko and I…we…"

"We pushed them into the river. We were all going to go for a swim but…Kanji turned around…and had a bloody nose. I kinda…just reacted."

"We both did. Hell, did you hear his response? I don't think he even realized what was going on! We accused them of being perverts, and pushed them in the river. On top of basically starving them the night before, because we didn't bother asking Souji-kun how to cook. We just threw stuff together."

"And then King Moron went and vomited upstream…while they were still in there."

"We never apologized for that either…did we?"

"So it appears we've figured out why he's unhappy with you."

"Wha- 'you?' He's not too keen on you either!"

"Actually…" Rise cut in. "I wouldn't be surprised if the only thing he holds against her personally is the hot spring thing. He probably is displeased with her because he expected better of her…right?"

"Most likely. I allowed your connections with him to dictate my actions that night, rather than following myself, and doing what was proper."

"She's too new, for it to be anything else. And Chie don't bring up what happened before we rescued her. She apologized for that already."

Chie's mouth snapped shut. That was exactly what she was going to do. Instead she gave a tired chuckle. "Only a couple months and already you know me too well Rise-chan."

"We should apologize." Yukiko said, determined.

"No offense to any of you." Naoto spoke. "But I believe I will be doing my own thing, this time."

Rise nodded. "That's actually probably for the best. You've done the least wrong out of all of us, if only because you're the newest addition to our group. If you stuck with us, you might not get to see him that much, outside of our weekly training sessions. But since you actually have the least amount of…I guess ire, would be best to say, in his heart right now, you apologizing for your stuff, on your own, would probably be your best bet."

The girls nodded with her. Naoto smiled. "Now, if you can keep that objective train of thought, it will be you who settles this just as quickly as I. I will go see him tomorrow. You all should take a bit of time and figure out how you're going to do this."

Chie nodded. "Go for it Naoto."

The younger girl nodded and walked away, casually waving over her shoulder.

CLACK

"You're unhappy with me. Aren't you?"

Souji had just closed his locker, when Naoto had suddenly approached him. She waited silently, until he'd completed his task, drawing out an envelope in the process, before giving a small smirk at it.

It was another random 'gift' letter, from one of the many girls in the school. Sometimes, it paid to get top marks.

He fathomed ignoring the girl speaking to him. But then he recanted, she'd done the least wrong out of all of them. It wouldn't be fair to her, or him.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry. I should have said something to them, about the pageant…and the hot springs. My…lack…of experience…with having friends…left me confused as to how to proceed. And rather than acting on what I personally thought was right…I let them lead me along. I…apologize…for that."

Smart girl. And she's doing it on her own too. Damn Nanako, what did you say to them? Whatever it is, it worked…I'll have to remember to grab her some cookies on my way home…

"But see, are you apologizing for not knowing how to act in that situation, or apologizing for what you did?"

Naoto blinked. She wasn't expecting that question. She mulled it over in her mind a little, matching tone with words.

He didn't sound…accusing. Not even teasing. It's a neutral question, and also a good one. But the real question is…is there only one right answer to it?

She bit her lip, head bowed to hide the sign of insecurity, before gathering her will and taking a shot in the dark.

"Both?"

Since he was looking away, she didn't see his slight smile. Guess I scared her a bit.

"You don't need to apologize for the first…but…I accept your apology for the second."

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"so, since I've got nothing to do today, I guess I can help you out with that case."

Her head lifted. "Yes that would-

She paused, thoughts racing. In my foolishness, I almost lost the first person to truly wish to be my friend. No…for once…I will put business aside.

"A-actually…" She mumbled. Souji's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"I…would…like…just to…umm…h-hang out…today?"

The Detective Prince turning down a day on a case to hang out? Will the wonders never cease?

"Sure. Anything in particular?"

He had to hold back his smile, seeing her 'deer-in-the-headlights' look.

"Uhh…m-maybe…we could go…to the riverbank? It's…calm…there."

"Alright then." He held out his arm, and she looked at it for a moment…before gathering her courage and linking it with his.

As her cheeks flared red, she swore she heard a voice in her mind.

You have done well…little one. By repairing the hole you had created, you have re-forged the link between the two of you. Take care in your actions, to not break it again…

A/N: First and only? First of many? Who knows.

Just a one-shot, be it the only, or a series of, detailing my thoughts as to how Souji Seta, protagonist of P4, would really react to some of the things he's had to deal with. His personality has a little bit of me in it, obviously, as I'm the writer. But otherwise, it's a combination of the vague personality we see in the games, and the slightly harder one in the manga.

In the game, we can get reverse or even commu () breaks if we fuck up. Yet, the girls, IN STORY, do horrible things to Souji and the guys. Though Teddie and Yosuke end up warranting it, Souji tends to be dragged along. Of course, you can choose to play as a douche but…

This assumes he didn't. I've always wondered why it was that they could get away with doing whatever, and there was no backlash, or even return on it. Yet whenever Yosuke or Teddie did something and Souji happened to be around, they got railed.

Being cute, or an idol, can only get you so far, really.

So this is based off of what could really happen, if these were actual people either in life, or in a story. No matter how close friends are, emotions are random, and sometimes, they latch onto negativity. Souji seems to be pretty passive, unless someone's just being a dick, but even he would have his limits.

And rather than lashing out at them, he's doing something non-offensive, but with just as much effect: ignoring their existences outside of required gatherings.