Disclaimer: I do not own ATLUS, the Persona series, or its affiliates. The characters and places in this story also belong to ATLUS, not me.
Author's Note: The reason why the cover for this story has a 2 on it is because this is NOT a separate chapter for my previous story "Persona 3 Portable (Female) Star Social Link Rank 9." If this HAD been a separate chapter, I would've begun the story from Rank 1, not 9. Also, Hamuko is portrayed slightly differently in this story, so it's different.
I might continue this with a Part 2 that will be uploaded as a new chapter because Hamuko will be portrayed in the same manner as the following story. So stay updated, and enjoy.
It was finally time for lunch. On her way to the ladies' room, Hamuko was stopped by one of her senpai. "...Oh, it's you... Hamuko." She greeted Akihiko with a smile. How thoughtful of her boyfriend to come see her during the lunch break. "Good timing. Are you free today?" he asked. "I'm free," she replied with a nod. "I see... Then... I want to see you. I'll be downstairs after school... I-I'll see you later." He took off, the red vest lost in the crowd of students on their lunch break. Hamuko stayed where she was at for a moment and watched him disappear, grinning like an idiot. Mondays and Fridays had become her favorite days of the week, because those were the days when Akihiko promised to see her. Despite his inability to recognize female emotions, he was still a pretty nice guy to hang out with. Even more so when he had confessed his love for her.
Class ended for the day. As discussed, Akihiko was downstairs and seemed to be waiting for his "girl" to come. "Hamuko? What are you doing?" She told him that she was free and wanted to spend some time with him. "...Oh, okay... Uh... If you want... Do you want to come to my room?" His face burned red as Hamuko accepted the invitation, blushing herself. Silently, they walked back to the dormitory, which fortunately seemed empty except for Koromaru lounging around. Without a word, Akihiko led Hamuko to his room on the second floor. His room perfectly reflected his interests: trophies (presumably for boxing) and equipment for working out adorned the room, along with a television, bed, and desk for studying. "Sorry there's nowhere to sit except the floor... Maybe I have a cushion somewhere... Oh, you want something to drink?" Politely, Hamuko refused, thinking it best to not trouble her lover with such trivial customs. He sat down next to her upon her request. "...Is this better?" he asked. Hamuko smiled in reassurance and also to calm him down a bit. She disliked seeing him so flustered and fussy over her. She just wanted him to be himself. What good is love if one person has to change for the other?
"Err... My room doesn't weird you out, does it?" Hamuko didn't have to think about this one. "It fits you," she replied, looking around the room as she did. "You think so? That's good." Akihiko seemed relieved for some reason. "Though... I guess that means it's me, not my room, that's weird." How he came to that conclusion, Hamuko will never know. "This is all new for me..." he admitted. "Never had a girl in your room?" she asked in a nonjudgemental way. "O-Of course not. I mean... I never thought I needed a girlfriend or anything." He sighed, but Hamuko understood what he meant. "But that's not something you go out and get because you need it, huh...?" He seemed embarrassed, but he laughed, and Hamuko laughed with him. She had to agree. Her boyfriend continued speaking. "I wanted to give you this today. Will you take it...?" He presented a rabbit doll to Hamuko. Delighted, she accepted it, and began to examine it as he explained. "Don't you think it looks like you?" A look of indignation crossed Hamuko's face. "What's with that face? It looks just like you..." Akihiko protested. He sighed, but Hamuko chuckled a bit to let him know she wasn't offended. "There was a time when... I thought I was just seeing Miki in you. But when I bought that... I knew then that wasn't the case. Passing by toy stores always made me think of Miki. But I still kept trying to forget her. I didn't want to face what happened... I kept telling myself I was doing everything I could... Then when I saw that in the store, your face was the first thing that popped into my mind. And then I thought about Miki... I thought about her smiling... If it hadn't been for you, I might never have gotten over it. I would've just pretended that I did... Whether things have been painful, or happy, or sad... You've always been there for me. You should know that if you're ever going through hard times, I'll be there for you too. From now on, we have each other... I... I hope you don't mind me saying this, but... Hamuko... You mean a lot to me..." Her eyes lit up. "...I love you." He blushed, and Hamuko squeezed the rabbit doll to her chest. "I wonder how things would've gone if you hadn't come here..." Hamuko smirked playfully as Akihiko realized his mistake and corrected it. "...Uh, I mean, Port Island in general, not this room." Hamuko tried to suppress her giggles. "D-Don't think I'm gonna lose control or anything because I let you in here..." At this, the giggles exploded into all-out laughter that Akihiko did not appreciate. "...Come on, don't laugh like that." She stopped, but her smile was contagious, and even Akihiko wasn't immune to it. "Hamuko... You're the only one I can act this way around. Would you mind calling me... Aki? Come on, let me hear how it sounds." He looked at his girlfriend expectantly. She rolled her eyes, blushing, and fulfilled his wish. "Aki." All at once, the joy faded from her eyes with that one word. Shinjiro... Shinjiro always referred to Akihiko as "Aki"...
Akihiko didn't seem to notice. "...Thanks," he laughed, under his breath. "I'll be sure to make you happy. In time, I hope you can find even more about me to love..." Afterwards, Hamuko found that just being around her boyfriend was enough to cheer her up, and as they spent the rest of the evening in his room, she made a mental note to go pay Shinjiro a visit in the hospital and tell him that she was making his final wishes come true.