You will NOT meet Tanaka in person because he was a Social Link on Persona 3. Thus... he lives in another town.
You don't need a Persona of the matching arcana to date the characters. But if you have them you earn more points, which in turn makes them level up faster (eliminating the need of 'hanging out' sessions where nothing happens). In this case, when Chie had 2 of those it was because her Level 10 requiered more points than her Level 9 gave her. You could have earned them with cutscenes later on instead of hanging out.
You'll find your social link friends in the same place outside school always. The only time you see them in another place is during an investigation and this is non-social link.
Combining two personae of the same arcana gets you a lower level persona of the same arcana. You can get a Ghoul that way because it will NEVER appear on shuffle time again. Shuffle time always gives you Personae according to your level.
You should reserve hanging out with the fox for rainy days, because you can't date anyone those days.
And you can place the unfinished model on your own shelf in your room.
The new fox quest is at school. Thus... you can't do it until school begins again.
