A/N: How many Persona 4 fans got excited about the anime premiere? Here's a hint: at least one, and that's this writer here. Then again, I was also excited for The Lion King on Bluray, so whatever. :D

I'm going to be introducing characters the Western way. First names first.

AU, so be prepared. Possible YosukexSouji, tell me if you want it in a review.

Fool in Reverse

Chapter 1: Boring

The new kid was a strange, quiet kind of kid, Yosuke observed. He introduced himself to the class as Souji Seta on a whisper of breath, and hadn't created an uproar when faced with King Moron's obnoxious accusations. He'd taken it all in stride before taking his new seat at Chie's side, silent as would probably be his trademark.

What a boring guy.

Hours ticked by sluggishly, unwelcome when the weather outside the school was cool and foggy while the interior was muggy with humid air and packs of students on the prowl like starved hyenas. It was a relief when the last chime of the day from the school bells resounded from the speakers and Yosuke was up from his chair in record time.

"That excitement better be to finally watch my movie so I can have it back," drawled a bored-sounding voice from the set of seats in front of him and Yosuke looked to see Chie Satonaka leaning back casually in her chair, a smirk pulled on her lips, watching him expectantly through her slightest fringe of brown bangs.

The new kid was watching him, too, but only for a moment. He looked decidedly bored with whatever was going on between them, and turned his attention towards packing his school bag.

Well, it's not like keeping Souji entertained was Yosuke's job. "About that. Chie, um," Yosuke started, excuses dancing on the tip of his tongue, but gracefully avoiding turning into spoken words. "I'll get to it! Maybe tonight, or maybe tomorrow...or maybe tomorrow night."

Chie snorted before reached an arm out. Yosuke thought she was going to smack him one for just a second before her hand landed on the transfer student's shoulder. "Can you believe this guy, Seta? Brosuke here's had my Trial of the Dragon for about two weeks now. What's more, I'm willing to bet he hasn't even looked at it since I lent it to him!"

In his opinion, Souji didn't really seem interested in Yosuke's terrible time management and misdeeds. Instead, he looked like he was being forced to attend something he didn't want to, chained down by Chie's grip. Yosuke almost sympathized.

He didn't have a chance to defend the poor sap or to rebut Chie's not-so-baseless comments. Chie was distracted from his plight a second later when the girl in front of her stood up, bag in hand, and started heading towards the door.

"Y-Yukiko! Hey! Wait!" Finally dropping her hand from Souji's person, the girl rocketed to her feet to follow her. She had every right to be concerned by Yukiko Amagi's abrupt departure, reasoned Yosuke. The girls were inseparable on the worst of days, Yosuke having played the third wheel on a not-date many a time over the past six months he'd been living in the rural town of Inaba, and found the behavior of the dark-haired girl a little more than shocking.

A chair other than Chie's squeaked back and Yosuke watched Souji retreat from the room, quiet like a phantom, and when he had disappeared passed the door frame, it was like he was never there at all.

Inaba, being the small town that it was, was no stranger to a specific invention Yosuke liked to call the Rumor Mill. Everyone knew everybody else's face and were friends with every generation of another's family, so Souji Seta's arrival in the town had been known before the kid's train had even pulled into the station. Mouthy mothers and curious teenagers gossiped while browsing the aisles of Junes where Yosuke worked within earshot. He heard stories that could have been fact ("I heard he flunked out of his fancy Tokyo school and his family was so ashamed they moved him away!") to stories that not even a toddler would believe ("He's hiding out from the yakuza! Probably stole from some head honcho, or something!"). Either way, Yosuke ended up rolling his eyes.

Thinking about it, he should have expected the sudden rush of new rumors now that Souji had actually settled into Inaba.

"Yes, I saw him walking along the flood plain about an hour ago with the other high school students," a woman chattered on her cellphone while Yosuke rearranged a stack of cans in the grocery department. A label was peeling off of one. That wasn't good. He reached out to carefully pull it free from the stack, grinning when the tower's balance was kept. "I don't feel safe having him in Inaba, honey. You know he's a delinquent, right? It's why he's living at the Dojima house! Straighten him out with a cop for a guardian, you know."

Well, that didn't sound fair. Yosuke didn't even know Souji Seta, but he'd sat in a chair for hours staring at the back of the boy's head and he hadn't come off as some thug or dirtbag at all.

Just quiet and boring.

There was a replacement can in the carton at his feet. Yosuke dropped the offending one inside before pulling out the fresh one, pleased by the label stretched taut around the aluminum. Focusing more than anything else he could ever remember focusing on, he inched the can into the open position, careful and steady.

"He's a rapist, for the love of God!"

The cans tumbled to the tile floor with the ever-so-quiet sound of metallic thunder. Or a metallic stampede. Or anything of the sort that was a metallic version of nails on a chalkboard. The woman on the cellphone gave Yosuke a savage glare, raising her voice in order to kindly tell Yosuke that he should be more courteous before stalking away, poisonous words still rattling from her mouth.

Yosuke stood amongst the carnage of cans, staring at the woman's back, mouth agape.

Two seconds later, a small child wandered over, a despondent look on her face. Because this was Inaba, and everyone and their mothers knew everyone in Inaba, Yosuke recognized through the horrified cloud in his mind that she was the local detective's daughter, Nanako Dojima.

It sent his thoughts in a complete circle.

Without a word, the tiny girl started scooping up cans, carrying a few too many in her little arms, and began to rebuild the display. Unfreezing, Yosuke quickly thanked her and got to work as well. Nanako didn't acknowledge him, but Yosuke was fine with that, ultimately pleased by her helping hand.

"He's not a bad person," Nanako finally spoke after the stack of cans had grown so high she could no longer reach. Yosuke looked down as he stood precariously on his tiptoes, attempting to finish the top of the stack. Nanako's interruption threatened to send the tower collapsing again.

"What's that?"

"My cousin Souji...he's not a bad person. That lady, please don't believe her."

Yosuke wanted to express his exact thoughts on the chatty woman, the same woman who was married to that one guy who was friends with that other guy who was friends with his dad, but he didn't really want an angry Ryotaro Dojima banging on his door in order to apprehend the punk that taught his daughter some strictly adult words. Instead, he said, "I wouldn't believe her if my life depended on it, okay? I only believe what there's proof of."

For a second, Nanako's eyes glittered. "Like on the law shows on TV! Like what Dad does!"

"Nanako," a quiet voice called down the aisle and Yosuke was glad that he'd let his heels touch back down to earth. On the far end stood Souji Seta, shopping basket hanging in the crook of his arm. He'd shed his school uniform, but he was still dressed a little more formally than Yosuke would have expected of a teenager after school. Really, it only reinforced Yosuke's "dull and boring" argument when it came to him.

Nanako bade him a quick farewell before trotting up to her cousin's side, smiling a little grin that looked too weak for a little girl.

Yosuke didn't like to think he was bigoted, despite what Chie sometimes shouted at him about, but he was starting to take some of the silly Inaba busybody rumors into serious consideration. As he'd told Nanako, he didn't believe what wasn't shown to be factual, but this could most definitely be incriminating against Souji Seta.

At first Yosuke hadn't wanted to take the trash out after dinner. He'd been comfortably full to bursting and he had a new album to rip onto his MP3 player, so the chore was an annoyance he hadn't wanted to deal with. The firm hierarchy between parent and son had won out in the end, however, and the heavy trash bags were dragged down the street to the dumping area, already piled high with black and white sacks bulging with lumps of garbage.

And a little further down the street, under a flickering street lamp, stood Souji Seta, shoulder to shoulder with the town's other social pariah, Kanji Tatsumi. By all accounts they should never have met, with Souji having just arrived in town and the current time while Yosuke heard that Kanji rarely even attended school, too busy assaulting others for the notoriety of his gang.

There was some sort of verbal exchange going on between them, but Yosuke couldn't hear the words, just the rumble of voices. Rather, the rumble of Kanji's voice. Souji was just as soft spoken as ever.

Yosuke would have called him boring again, but his heart was beating a little too rapidly, like a frightened rabbit's, and picturing Souji Seta as a gang member was hardly boring.

Then the exchange ended, just like that, and Yosuke frowned when Souji started walking back down the street towards him. Belatedly, Yosuke realized this could be a very bad thing, but before he could tuck tail and return home, Souji was right there.

"Yosuke...Hanamura, right?" Souji asked. Yosuke searched his eyes for a hint of something bestial, but those gray eyes were like a wall of concrete, blank and impenetrable. "You're in my class. You also work at Junes. It's strange how I keep running into you today."

"R-right," Yosuke stuttered. Manners drove him to hold his hand out to the other boy in greeting, but his senses screamed against it. Souji took the hand and shook it once, grip loose but certainly strong, anyway, and the handshake was over before the pros and cons tipped any scales.

Souji turned his head to the side for a moment. "You were not this shy in class today," he said, voice lilting at a question he hadn't asked.

"Uh, yeah, sorry," Yosuke found himself apologizing. Quickly, he scrambled for something to say that wouldn't put him on a possible gangster's hit list. "You're staying with the Dojima family, right? U-uh, word goes around town fast, that's how I know. A-anyway, could you tell Nanako I said thanks for her help today?"

Yeah. That was eloquent. Yosuke wanted to smash his head into the garbage dump.

It turned out that Yosuke's inability to make flattering small talk wasn't all for naught, as Souji's lips turned up a little bit. "I'll do that."

There was an expanded silence in which Yosuke could feel sweat beading beneath the collar of his shirt. He was nervous, shamefully nervous, and he hoped he'd never have to tell anyone he was scared stiff by a boy who only wanted to say hi, lest he surrender his man card.

"Do you know if there's anything like a Family Mart around here?" Souji asked, breaking the thin ice. "I finished my last Sobay, so..."

Convenience stores. The maybe-gangster-rapist wanted to know where he could find a convenience store. Yosuke wanted to laugh.

"There's a 7-11 closer to the shopping district, but it's really small," Yosuke answered, proud of how strong his voice came out.

"Thank you," Souji said before he started walking away. If it wasn't an obvious dismissal, Yosuke didn't know what was. "Oh!"

Yosuke's heart jumped.

Souji had managed to take only a few steps behind him, so he turned his head to the side to see the silver-haired boy looking at him. "Y-yes?"

"You should probably watch Miss Satonaka's movie tonight. She'll just get angry again."

Yosuke had only seen Souji Seta three times, but he was sure of one thing that the rumors had always gotten right: he was a weird kid.

A/N: Longer chapters promised in the future. I promise.