Here we go with the next chapter of the story, mostly covering on Billie's interview at the Amagi Inn, and the relationships he grows with the employees of the Inn and Yukiko, as a friend. Enjoy the story and support the Shin Megami Tensei series and Persona.

Another City in the Wall Part 2

April 9th, 2011

Today was the day, the day that I was getting an interview at the Amagi Inn, I got into my best clothes, which was an assortment of things, a nice blue velvet dress jacket, a grey button up shirt, corduroy jeans, and black dress shoes. I took a nice ass shower, washed my mouth with mouth rinse three times, and I straightened my dreads. Then I proceeded to listen to the Dead Kennedys' Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables to hype myself up for the interview. Don't ask me why the Dead Kennedys can help with a interview, but fuck, it gets me pumped up.

Coming back to the Amagi Inn, I was greeted again by Mrs. Amagi-san, who seemed more than delighted to see me.

"Welcome to the Amagi Inn, Billie, my husband will be conducting your interview today, since I'm going to be mostly busy with these guests, he's a nice guy," Mrs. Amagi-san said.

"That sounds really assuring, do I just give him my resume upfront?" I asked.

"That's completely fine, now just wait here for him, I have some errands to do around here," She gracefully walked off to do her duty as the manager of the Inn. Just a couple moments later, a pretty tall man with short black hair parting on the right side of his face who wore a dark blue kimono, approached me.

"Do you happen to be Billie, one of our potential employees at our Inn?" The man smiled.

"Yes I am, and who are you?"

"I'm Matsuda Amagi, Yukiko's dad, or you can call me your potential father in law," He chuckled, I am not going to marry your daughter.

"I have no plans to marry your daughter, sorry," I said.

"I was just joking, I was thinking you were going to work here because of her. She wanted to really thank you for taking her and Chie to the movies a few days ago. But I wouldn't mind if you married Yukiko, seeing that she sees you as a pretty cool person, the offer of being your potential in law is still up," He started to laugh in a manner of how Yukiko laughed. Like father, like daughter. Yukiko's dad looks like her, I wonder how close they are.

"Do you want my resume, or do you want to talk about weddings?" I said sarcastically.

"Yeah sure, sorry for making you this uncomfortable, I just like to make silly jokes with friends of my daughter. Uh, stupid question, how well is your English skills?" He asked. Read the damn resume, the information is in there.

"It's literally in the resume, I'm one of the best English students in my school, not to brag, man I'm starting see that you're just like Yukiko," I said.

"I'm hoping that's a compliment, anyways… Wow you play the trumpet and the guitar for nine years! That's pretty cool, I remember serenading Mrs. Amagi with a Prince song, 'Little Red Corvette' I think," He said while reading my resume, What does that song have to do with anything? Why, what and when?

"What does that have to do with anything? I'm really confused,"

"Don't you like Prince?"

"I like Prince, but what the hell does that have to do with me playing guitar? Do you want me to play 'When Doves Cry' on my guitar in the Inn? Or what?" I said a bit frustrated

"That's a possibility, but I really loved your jazz performance at the Inn, which is why I think you have the capability to be an amazing asset to the Amagi Inn," His eyes were pretty much glistening in awe.

"So if I happened to get hired, what am I expected to do here?"

"A lot of fun stuff, you'll be translating a bunch of things to English, doing dishes, learning how to cook, and playing music for the inn,"

"Is the pay good?"

"That depends on your work ethic, but the net average is around 2,500 yen a hour,"

"That much? Damn, I did pick the right job," I could save up to buy a motorcycle in the future.

"We can discuss pay later, now I want to introduce you to the employees, while I look over your resume," Mr. Amagi introduced me to what seems to be the workers' quarters, he proceeded to knock on one of them.

"I think you'll like this guy, he's a musician like you. Hey! Rai-san, your break is over, I want you to introduce yourself to our potential new employee," He yelled. A man with messy brown hair who looked to be in his 20s came out of the door.

"Break's over already, so who's this little dude?" The young man said, his breath smelled of fresh sake, guy was about the same height as me, around like six feet, so I didn't understand why he said 'little'. I'm not going to overthink it, he was wearing a Joy Division shirt, the one that everyone has worn.

"Get along with each other, okay? Bye," Mr. Amagi sang before dashing off to his office somewhere. Something about this young guy seems oddly familiar.

"Um… Hi, I'm Billie Thompson, nice to meet you dude," God, this is fucking awkward, please say something quirky or relatable. I shook the guy's hand awkwardly, it made things worse. The guy had this 'boy band' aesthetic to him, despite how messy his brown hair was, he still looked pretty attractive, and I'm straight. The dude has muscles, full on abs on closer inspection, why the hell am I even mentioning this?

"Hi, guess I'm Rai Kurosawa, I'm like 22 years old and I like rock music I guess,"

"You sound a bit drunk, are you drunk?" I asked.

A dark skinned girl with short light black hair who was sweeping the hallway nearby spoke out.

"Rai-kun, could you not go without a break without a shot of sake for at least once?" She said.

"Oh I'm sorry Yuko-chan for being an adult, someday you'll appreciate the taste of sake. Kid when you grow up, you'll learn how to drink this good shit up, let me tell you," He said pridefully.

"Just ignore him, stupid dumbass lives in this inn, so you must be the-" She said before finishing.

"Potential employee, I just had a short interview with Mr. Amagi-san, really strange guy I have to say," I said.

"Anyways, I'm Yuko Nishiwaki, I just moved to Inaba back in August, just graduated high school, by the way," She said, She seems really nice, and she's one of those ganguro girls I've seen before on the news, very cool.

"I'm Billie Thompson, I'm entering my 2nd year of high school at Yasogami High, do you happen to be a ganguro?"

"It's not offensive, I swear, I just like my skin a bit more tan than other Japanese people," She pleaded.

"There's nothing offensive about it, as long as it doesn't mock my African race, like blackface, then we're cool," I said. She approached me and whispered into my ear.

"If you do get hired, just make sure that Rai isn't peeping in the girl's bathhouse," She then walked away to sweep other parts of the inn.

"Gee thanks a lot," I said dryly, Another pervert, another friend I guess.

"Guess I'll show you around the inn, and now she's gone, we can do some fun stuff too," He smiled a bit mischievous. "Don't worry, I'm not that perverted," Rai then winked at me, the audacity of this guy.

"Nice Joy Division shirt by the way," I commented.

"What's Joy Division?" He asked.

"It's the album that you're wearing from them, Unknown Pleasures?" I said, I hope he isn't one of those kinds of people.

"Psych, I was just fucking with you, I have the album on vinyl, did you think I was one of those retarded hipsters who wears t-shirts like this and has never listened to said album?" He said cockingly.

"Wow you're so funny, when's your next show?" Sarcastically I said.

"Do you happened to be named after Green Day's lead band member?"

"I don't think so, I think my old man named me after Billie Joel, but I did get to play with Billie Joe Armstrong at a Green Day concert two years ago,"

"That's pretty cool, your Giant Steps performance was pretty good by the way, all it needs now is a drummer, and you're looking right at him," For some off putting reason, I feel like I should know who this guy is.

"Your face seems really familiar, have we met before? I have this strange sense of deja vu looking at you,"

"I'm pretty sure this is a first, let me show you around the Inn, let you get used to the feel of the place, follow me," He said as he briskly sped-walked in the inn. He showed me where all the cleaning supplies are, where they receive their mail, the kitchen where I was introduced to the head chef, Kamui Nakajima who seemed to have a bit of a conflict with his relationship with Rai. He then showed me the Amagi's rooms, all of which were bigger than the average rooms in the inn, no surprise to that. Overall, the inn had a pretty nice environment, nothing way too flashy or extravagant.

"Are you enjoying the inn kid?" Rai asked as he stopped walking.

"So far yeah, is there anything else you would like to show me?" I asked.

"Well, it looks like it's lunchtime, so I'll show you where we eat," He then led me to this big ass room that smelled of Udon noodles, it seemed to be a mess hall where the employees and probably the guests eat.

"Damn this is a pretty big mess hall, I can smell the udon and soba noodles from here," I said.

"Ooh, it looks like we can sit next to Yuko-chan! Hey Yuko-chan we're back doing our tour!" He yelled across from Yuko, her face turned from being bored to a face of bitter dread. He sat next to her while I sat across from her.

"Can you not like continuously harass me like this, it's getting really annoying, I was trying to enjoy my soba noodles with my protein shake before you came crashing here, so Billie, how are you liking the inn?" She smiled.

"It's really great, I'm sure I will be working here soon," Just as I said that, comes into the room with a party popper, and two bowls of udon. He started

" Billie Thompson, I would like to congratulate you on becoming... An official employee of the inn, woohoo!" He said way too enthusiastically, as he popped the party popper. How many cups of coffee did he have today?

"Uh… Thanks? I didn't even get a chance for a proper interview sir," I argued.

He wrapped his arm around my body in way as if he was going to give a inspirational speech, "Pfft, I know you're going to become one of our best employees, just from the stuff I heard from my sweet Yuki-chan. You have honor kid, I see great potential in you, you see that plaque near the roof?" He pointed to a bunch of plaques with pictures of employees of the Amagi Inn.

"Uh yeah? What about it?" I said a bit disinterested, Employee of the Month? Really

"You have potential to become the next employee of the month, kind of like with Yuko last month, she started working here back in August, and I told her the same thing as with you, you have the potential to be great," He started to wave his hands as if he's trying to convey something. "Don't forget to eat your udon noodles, don't worry there's no meat in it, just as your resume says," He chuckled.

"Thanks a lot Mr. Amagi-san, these udon noodles smell good, damn,"

"You don't have to be so formal, you can call me boss-man, the A-man or whatever," He boastfully said.

"We just call him the Amagi man, it has a nice ring to it," Rai said jokingly.

"Ha, I forgot that name existed! What a great one Rai-san," Mr. Amagi chuckled, That was not clever at all.

"That name is plain as hell," Yuko commented, and Mr. Amagi's face turned into a face of despair.

"I thought you'd like it," He and Rai moaned.

"Fine, what would you call our Amagi man with a plan?" Rai asked Yuko.

"I think Mr. Amagi-san is fine by me, besides isn't the nickname 'A-man' the same as the 'Amagi Man'?" Yuko questioned.

"Damn it all, let's just eat," Mr. Amagi started to narf down in his udon bowl as Rai and I watched.

"Shouldn't you be eating with your family?" I asked.

"I do eat with my beautiful wife and daughter every day during breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I just wanted to eat lunch with our new employee, today," Mr. Amagi smiled, What a weird dad, sure hope Yukiko doesn't reflect more like this.

"I'll just eat this delicious udon, thank you Mr. Amagi," I said, and for the next 30 minutes I ate udon noodles with tofu in silence with the other members of the Amagi Inn. Once I finished my udon, I noticed Yukiko in a pink kimono, I have to admit that her style of fashion is very fitting of her, seems like she was doing her job as the manager's daughter in the inn. Mr. Amagi then decided to call for his daughter, For the love of God, please don't joke about how I'm going be your son-in law.

"Hey, Yukiko, I want you to meet our future employee of the Amagi Inn, and possibly your fian-" Mr. Amagi tried to say,

"Please don't joke about that," I interrupted in embarrassment, my face blushed and red.

"Are you blushing? That's pretty funny," Rai said in a teasing tone. Guess that's what you get for being the same age as the manager's daughter when you're working at the inn, and she happens to apparently be one of the most attractive girls at school, which worries me more about this job. I swear that the guys will get jealous of me cause I get to work at the inn, this might be one of the best and worst life choices I've ever made. Fuck!

Yukiko approached her father, looking happy as ever, "Congratulations on getting the job Billie-kun," She said.

"Yeah, I'm trying to build a good impression on this town, can you tell your dad to stop joking about us getting 'engaged'? I barely know you guys, holy shit," I protested.

"Father, we're just friends, you know we just met like four days ago," Yukiko said.

"But what about the 'Amagi Challenge'?" Mr. Amagi commented, He actually knows about this.

"You actually are you aware of the challenge?" I said

"I've heard it from the boys from the school, I mean Rai found out about the challenge when he was hanging around at Junes," Mr. Amagi stated.

"I'm just going to go back to work Mr. Amagi-san, good luck working here Billie-san!" Yuko bowed and walked out of the mess hall. She seems very uncomfortable with what's happening

"Gee aren't you the hip one around here aren't ya?" I said slyly.

"I'm just making sure my daughter is safe, I don't want any punks to be touching her, be with any man you like Yuki-chan, but I say you should date Billie-san, heck you've never gone out with a boy before, that's why the challenge exists right?" Her father was that passionate on Yukiko.

Yukiko had herself semi-blushed, as she spoke up, "I don't think Billie-kun is the kind of guy who would be attracted to a girl like me, I mean he confessed it himself. I think we can be better off as friends, father,"

"At least try to date once, who knows, maybe the both of you will fall for each other," Mr. Amagi proceeded to make a heart shaped sign on his chest.

"Well before Billie goes out with Yukiko, I want to see how good he is on guitar," Rai chuckled.

"What do you want me to play?" I asked.

"Anything at all, anything at all, meet you in my room," Rai slapped my back and left the mess hall.

"Guess that's my cue to leave, see ya," I walked away from the mess hall before Mr. Amagi called me out.

"I still want you two to try to hang out with each other once you're done with your guitar playing with Rai, Billie-san!"

"And what happens if I don't want to go out with Yukiko?" I said mockingly.

"You'll not be hired into the Amagi Inn, you understand?" He said in a surprisingly threatening tone.

"Father…" Yukiko mumbled at a distance.

"You're seriously blackmailing me, seriously?" I said a bit irritated.

"I'm just kidding, but please do it for me and my daughter's sake," He said, God damn that smile of his, it's too sincere for me to say no. The guy can change emotions real fast.

"Fine I'll do it, but only one time," I said as a compromise. And I went off to play guitar for Rai for like two hours, and to be frank, that was a highlight of the day, he and I made some really stupid songs on the spot, sadly without a bassist. His drum skills are really good, I can tell he was no amateur. Then for the next hour we discussed mostly about music, he also seemed to have a RYM account convenient for me to message him online.

"Bro what's your favorite Pink Floyd album?" Rai asked me.

That seemed like a obvious question, I scoffed, "Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here, what else?"

"Dark Side is really overrated, Wish You Were Here is a decent one, but Animals and The Wall are my favorites. I just find those two albums more adventurous than Dark Side, Dark Side isn't even one of their most experimental albums. And these stupid hipsters keep telling me, 'Why don't you like Dark Side? You fucking pleb, you don't appreciate real partrician music'. And I'm like shut the fuck up, I own Spiderland and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven on vinyl. I have good taste in music," He ranted in a furious passion. At least he likes Slint and Godspeed You! Black Emperor

"Glad you have a different opinion than most people I know who listen to Pink Floyd, I really do need to listen to Animals more actually," I said smiling.

"Looks like our time is up, looks like you're going on a date kid," He said, pointing at the clock.

"Two hours went by that fast!?" I exclaimed. I had to accept the fact that I now had to do a favor with Mr. Amagi, going on a date with his daughter.

"See ya later kid, I had fun with you, can't wait for you to rip it with your trumpet when will eventually perform," Rai laughed as I left the room.

Time for a awkward date, gee I hope I don't get noticed by other jealous boys my age, I'm going to get fucked over. I just waited in the front entrance, waiting for Yukiko to come, a waitress at the reception table asked for my attention.

"Mr. Thompson-san?" She asked.

"Uh, yes?" I said.

"Mr. Amagi forgot to give you a legal consent form, we want you to fill this out, just to make sure everything is in its right place, such as the amount of days you'll be working each week, hours you'll be working, any other things that you might need help with. Just fill out this itinerary," She handed me the itinerary which was only a few pages long, nothing out of the ordinary, within 15 minutes I finished the form and handed it to the waitress. And conveniently, Yukiko came from upstairs in her usual casual attire.

"Ready for your 'date'?" I said in the most sarcastic tone. Yukiko started to chuckle a bit.

"Sure, let's make this a fun and adventurous 'date', heehee,"

"I want to make sure we don't look like a couple, no hand holding, don't even think of hugging me, my own sanity is on the line with this 'date', this is just a normal hangout, and that's it, understood?" I demanded.

"D-Don't worry at all Billie-kun, it's not like I can't talk to boys my age…" She laughed nervously.

"You sure? You look really nervous, I doubt what you're saying, no need to lie," I said suspiciously.

"You're right, we're just hanging out with each other, that's what friends do right?" She said still a bit nervous, Talk about being the most popular girl at your school and being socially awkward with guys your age.

"That's the spirit! Where do you want to hang out?" I said.

"We can hang out at the Samegawa River bank and look at the lake, it's pretty close by," She suggested. Sounds way too boring.

"That's a bit too boring, only real fun thing here other than the Amagi Inn is freaking Junes, that's our other option," I sighed. Yukiko smiled

"I think that's a pretty okay option, Junes isn't that bad of a place to hang out," Yukiko chuckled.

I just gave up on everything, and just said, "Fine let's go to Junes,"

Once we got to Junes, we were greeted by a familiar presence, who was hiding from us behind a wooden fence.

"Yosuke, I know what you're thinking Yukiko and I are not dating, we are just hanging out, drinking sodas causally, just come out of your hiding spot, I can easily see your butt poking out," I sighed.

"Aw come on! You gotta be joking, there's no way that Yukiko would accept a date from you,"Yosuke groaned, I didn't win the Amagi Challenge dumbass. I'm just doing a favor

"I told you, this isn't a 'date', I'm just doing a favor for her dad, so I can get a job at the inn," I said sternly, taking off my glasses and rubbing my eyes at how bullshit this scenario might end up.

"You know that he was joking, right?" Yukiko proclaimed.

"But at the same time, isn't it better for us to know each other better as friends on this 'date' we're having, I'm doing this for your father's sake and yours," As I said that, she started to blush.

"Looks you won the Amagi Challenge, Billie, congrats!" Yosuke started clapping

"This barely meets any prerequisites of me being with Yukiko indicating that this would be a date, you have some low standards Yosuke," I began chugging down on my soda, before throwing it in the recycling like a basketball player.

"I-I'm just surprised that you would care like that Billie-kun,"She said.

"I'm just being myself, I care about all my friends far and wide," I waved my arms out wide to show my obvious point.

"I'll just leave you two lovebirds to be, see ya!' Yosuke ran off and tried to do parkour over a fence and failed miserably. "My nards…" He moaned.

"Is he okay!?" Yukiko said in a shocked tone.

"I'm pretty sure he'll be fine, he just tripped over a fence," I said disinterested, "Let's just go to the Samegawa Flood Plain or whatever,"

And so as the great Otis Redding said, "Sittin' in the mornin' sun, I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come, " And that's what Yukiko and I did at the Samegawa Flood Plain, and yes I did sing Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay. How could I not sing that song in such a calm, boring, plain place like Inaba.

"This really reminds me of the times I'd go fishing with my old man," I said.

"That's pretty interesting, did you catch anything big?" Yukiko asked.

"Just the small variety of trouts and bass, nothing too big at all,"

"And that song you were singing?"

"Oh, that was a favorite of my dad's, Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay by the great Otis Redding, guy died a few days after making that song,"

"That's pretty sad, but this is where I first met Chie ten years ago, she has helped me with many ordeals in my life, I don't know what I would do without her," She smiled softly.

"Chie must be a really good friend huh?"

"She's the only one who's seen the most of me, strong too," And now seems like the perfect time to go home.

"It looks like it's getting late, time for us to head back to our respective homes, I'll be working at inn on the 11th, so you'll have plenty of time to talk with me," I smiled.

"Bye Billie-kun, have a good night,"

"Same goes for you, smell ya later!" And we both went our separate ways.

Coming back to the Dojima residence, I was greeted again by both Adachi-san and Dojima-san eating their dinner with Nanako-chan. The conversation I had with them was just a recap of my day, Adachi-san complained how my pay is almost as high as his pay roll, he got slapped by Dojima-san in consequence. One of the most uneventful dinners I've had.

April 10th, 2011

Holy shit these mornings keep getting more boring, guess I can call my old man on Skype. He didn't respond for the next 15 minutes, guess he's out with my stepmom, I'll send the both of them that I got a job at the Amagi Inn, and the new friends I met. Heck I could make a Green Day-esque song about how shit Inaba is, I wished that I came here on the 11th, so I don't get so bored as shit here. Today I'm going to absolutely nothing of actual significance today, I'm just going to babysit Nanako despite the fact she can obviously take care of herself, she does enjoy watching Featherman R with me. We ended up watching the first season of the old Featherman R for the whole day, eating nothing but shitty processed foods before we went to bed. Fuck this life, I then was reminded by Dojima by a text message that his nephew, who happens to be my age will come to Inaba tomorrow. Wonder what he's going to be like, hope he's not fucking boring like this town.

I'm really sorry for the really boring ass day that was the 10th of April, I just want to get this chapter out and off my knees and get to the actual fun part of the story, now the reason why I didn't have Billie come to Inaba the same day as Yu/Souji is cause I wanted him to show the audience of how boring Inaba was before the murders happened, it's probably a boring town if it existed in real life. No movie theater, the only main attraction is a freaking inn and a Japanese Walmart, with the shopping district looking real desolate. Are you not going to say that Yasoinaba might be really boring to live in?Also giving Yukiko's old man an actual character as being a walking dictionary of dad jokes feels really right with me, in contrast to Yukiko's mom, who's more mature and elegant, since she's the manager of the inn. End of rant, favorite, follow the story. I'm out