Chapter #5Someone to Look Up To by: Frost   (Spoilers for January 2nd in P4 Golden. Basically endgame.)
December 31st, 2011
Saturday, Daytime
“Help! Someone!”
Chie sprung into action, jumping up from her table at the steak croquette stand. She began sprinting up the hill, rushing to help whatever poor soul was in trouble. From what she could tell, they were at the northern side of the shopping district. However, the moment she found the source of the noise, it was too late.
A young boy was slumped against the wall of a store building, crying and bruised.
“A-are you okay?” Chie asked, kneeling down to the boy’s eye level. “Can you tell me who hurt you?”
Chie knew who was behind this. It was the same trio of bullies going around and terrorizing defenseless kids. A part of her wished that she had got there in time to deliver a well deserved kick to the face. However, she knew that she was better off comforting the kid.
The boy only shook his head. Not knowing what else to do, Chie helped him stand back up. She flashed him a cheery smile as she straightened out the boy's hair.
Chie let out a weak sigh as she watched him amble down the streets. She turned the other way, a hopeless, empty feeling in her gut as she felt she had let him down by failing to protect him. Dejected, she made her way back to the bench and slumped down.
"Hey, Green."
Chie looked up, hearing a familiar voice. She found the same oddly-dressed girl she saw her friend Yu hanging around with from time to time. “Oh, hi, Marie-chan. What’s up?”
Marie joined Chie at the bench, sitting right across from the brown haired girl. “I saw what you did just now. That… actually didn’t suck.”
Chie stiffened. “Oh?” Her voice wavered. “I just wish I got there in time to stop it.”
Nodding, Marie idly tapped her fingers against the tabletop. “I might… know of a way for you to be able to see what’s going on in town.”
“Really? How!?” Chie asked, her eyes lighting up.
“Um, give me a sec,” Marie said, jumping up from the table. She ran down the street, disappearing out of view. Chie waited there in silence, too disgusted with herself to return to her meal, a sad looking steak that had dried out in her absence.
About a minute or two later, Marie returned. She slid onto the bench and slammed a rather large bottle of what Chie assumed to be alcohol.
"Uh, where'd you get that?" Chie asked, nervously eying the bottle.
"I nicked it from The Nose," she said matter-of-factly. "He won't mind. I'm not gonna stick around long enough for him to get mad anyway."
Chie simply laughed nervously at the contradicting statement. "What is it?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Not really, no."
Marie scoffed. "Whatever. Just drink it. It'll help you protect the town. Don’t you want to save more kids or whatever?“
"Yeah, more than anything," Chie answered with resolve. "I want to be someone to look up to."
Marie swished the bottle around. "This should help with that."
Chie glanced over at the bottle, unsure of what to think. "Um, okay." She leaned forward, grabbing the bottle. It gave off a strange warmth, seemingly pulsing under her fingers. Chie grimaced as she thought this over. A part of her wanted to trust Marie. She wanted nothing in the world more than to protect those who couldn't stand up for themselves. If this was really the way to do it like Marie claimed, then she would take the leap.
And if it was a bust, she'd just move on.
As quickly as she could, Chie uncorked the bottle and took a swig.
It tasted a lot like cough syrup.
Chie forced down the bottle's contents, feeling nothing but regret slide down her throat. Marie watched intently, a bit taken back that Chie actually went for it. However, she was just glad to do something of value before she disappeared.
After downing the bottle, Chie slammed it back onto the table. "Done!" she announced.
“Oh, good,” Marie said quietly as she looked over the bottle. “It should start working soon. See ya whenever, Green.”
With that, Marie took off, heading back the way she came.
“What a strange girl,” Chie said to herself.
After a while, Chie decide to go home. So far, she felt no effects from the strange drink Marie had given her earlier. Aside from the bad, but seemingly eternal aftertaste, there was nothing memorable about the drink after she imbibed it. As she rounded the corner into her house’s driveway with a plan to take a quick nap before meeting her friends at the shrine later today. She unlocked the door and stepped through.
Or at least she would have if she hadn’t bumped her head on the top of the doorway.
“What the?” Chie asked, realizing that she shouldn’t have hit her head. She quickly measured herself against the door, realizing that she was just taller than it. “Holy…”
She shot up in height again.
“Whoa!” Chie yelped, realizing she was taller than she was seconds before.
Then she grew taller than her own house.
“Oh, no…”
Chie stumbled backwards into the street, watching as it quickly dwindled in size. Her heart raced as she stared at her feet watching them grow until they took up the street. Finally mustering the courage to look around.
Inaba might as well have been a model village.
The giant girl fought the urge to touch anything, completely terrified of breaking anything around her.
Thinking of what to do next, Chie decided to…   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2025 Frost (UN: mr.tactical at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Frost has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author