"Makoto?"
Akira wasn't expecting any visitors today. Yet outside the door to Leblanc, stood his friend.
"May I come in?" she asked. He nodded and opened the door, allowing her to step in. Closing the door after her, he walked over to make a coffee as Makoto sat down at a booth.
"Isn't she the student council president?" Sojiro asked. Akira nodded as he worked on the cup. "Wonder what she wants with you."
"I have no idea." Pouring the coffee into a cup, he walked over to the booth and placed it in front of her, before returning to the machine to make another one.
"So, what brings you here?" Sojiro called to Makoto, who was taking a sip of coffee.
"I wanted to ask Akira something, and I didn't think it should be asked over the phone," she explained. Sojiro grunted and wandered over to the kitchen, keeping himself out of the way, but just in earshot.
"Where's Morgana?" Makoto asked as Akira sat down at the booth with his cup of coffee.
"I think he's having a nap upstairs."
"Ah."
The two sat in silence, drinking their coffees, trying to think of what to say.
"So... What was it that you wanted to ask me?"
"Oh, right." Makoto put down her cup for a moment. "Do you remember how I said I'd flunk a test on love?"
Akira glanced up from his coffee at Makoto and nodded.
"I've been thinking... If I want to learn more about love, I'll need to get out there and experience it for myself instead of just reading about it," Makoto explained.
"That is true. It's best to experience it for yourself," Akira agreed.
"So with that said... I would like for us to go on a date."
Akira promptly choked on his coffee. "Wait, what?" he got out between coughs.
"A... date?" Makoto looked at him in confusion. "That's what they are called, when two people-"
"Yeah yeah, I know that part." Akira finally stopped coughing and looked up at her. "Why me?"
"Well... We're already good friends, and I know I can trust you not to try anything, so why not?"
"Generally, people go on dates when-"
"He'd love to!" Morgana called out from behind Akira, causing him to turn around to look at him.
"Wait, when did you get down here?" he asked.
"Just then. It'll be fun, and it'll help you two work together better as a team. What do you, say, Akira?" Morgana asked.
The poor boy looked between Morgana and Makoto, and eventually nodded.
Makoto smiled. "Great. When do you want to meet for this?"
"How about tomorrow? That sushi place should be open," Morgana chirped in.
"No sushi." Akira turned to look at Makoto. "What about here at the Leblanc? We both know where it is.
"You really aren't trying with this, are you?" Morgana said, causing Akira to turn around and glare at the cat.
"Actually," Makoto interrupted before Akira could retort. "That would be nice. We can study as well."
"That's not what-"
"Great! I'll meet you here after school then?" Akira asked, cutting off Morgana before he could say anything else.
"That sounds good. I'll see you then." Makoto finished off her coffee, before standing up and putting the empty cup on the counter. "Thank you, Sojiro," she said simply before leaving the café.
"So... You've got a date then," Sojiro stated. Akira waited until Makoto was out of sight before lowering his head into his hands and sighing.
"Why did I agree to this?" Akira mumbled.
"Because it'll be nice, and you'll get to help her learn something." When Akira didn't respond, Morgana leapt onto the table and sat in front of him. "We could ask Ryuji to go on a date with her."
Akira's head snapped up. "No! No no, it's fine, I'll do it," he said quickly.
Morgana smirked. "Atta boy. Now come on, you should get to sleep early, you've got a date tomorrow."
"Right..." Akira quickly finished off the last of his coffee and stood up, grabbing Makoto's cup along the way to the sink.
"I'll make sure there's a booth spare for you two tomorrow. Behave yourselves while you are here, got it?" Sojiro told him as he started washing up the cups.
"Yeah. We'll behave," Akira said.
"Good. Well, I'm going. Make sure you close up before going to bed."
Akira finished drying the cups and put them away. "Got it." Sojiro nodded and walked out of the café, Akira locking it behind him.
"So... What exactly is your plan for tomorrow?" Morgana asked.
"Go to school, come back-
"I meant with Makoto."
Akira rubbed the back of his head apprehensively. "Do some studying together...? It's about spending time together, right?" he explained quickly to stop Morgana from correcting him.
Morgana sighed.
"Come on, you said to get to sleep early," Akira said as he went upstairs to bed.
This is going to be awkward to watch, Morgana thought as he followed him up.
...
Akira looked down at his phone, which had just buzzed in his pocket.
We still okay for the date?
A nervous feeling flitted in his stomach as he sent his reply.
Yeah. Meet you at Leblanc.
"Kurusu!" He looked up at the source of the voice. "You! Pay attention! Is that how you listen when someone's talking to you?" Mr Ushimaru demanded.
Akira looked blankly at him, before he noticed that his hand was gearing up to throw something at him.
He instinctively flinched as the chalk flew towards him, inadvertently making it fly past him, setting the rest of the class off murmuring.
"That was nuts!"
"Is he a ninja?"
Mr Ushimaru grimaced. "Tch... Well, whatever. Moving on," he grumbled as he turned back to the board.
"Nice going," Morgana whispered from underneath the table as Akira awkwardly scratched his head.
...
It was time.
Akira stood outside the train station, umbrella in hand to protect himself from the rain.
Just like Morgana told me... Greet her here, walk her back to the café, hold umbrella over her so she doesn't get soaked, he reminded himself.
"Hey." Akira turned round to see Makoto emerging from the train station.
"Hey. This weather could be better for today," Akira said awkwardly as he tried to move the umbrella to cover her.
"Yeah. But I love the rain, it's nice for when we need to study," she said as she put her umbrella up, forcing him to move his away back over his head.
There goes the umbrella part.
"Shall we?" Makoto asked. Akira nodded, and the two set off walking towards the café.
"I-I think when two people are on a date, they hold hands?" Akira mumbled.
"They do?" Makoto asked.
"M-maybe?"
"Oh." Both were silent as they walked, while Akira chided himself for being so awkward.
Both soon arrived at the café without any further events.
"Here we are," Akira said.
"I can see that." Makoto giggled as Akira's head dropped in response. "Come, no point staying in the rain." Akira nodded and opened the door for her to walk in the café, walking in and closing it as she thanked him.
"There's a booth free," Akira observed as he closed his umbrella. "You sit down, I'll get us some coffee," he said as he walked over to the coffee machine.
Makoto walked over to the empty booth and sat down, watching Akira as he set about making the coffees. The way he worked, how he ground up the beans and roasted them, were very impressive. It spoke of experience, showed he'd been doing it for a long time...
There's a lot I don't know about him, she realised. She was drawn out of her thoughts by a cat jumping up on the table and sitting in front of her.
"So," Morgana began. "How has Akira been?"
"He's been good," Makoto answered. Morgana frowned, but was deterred from asking further by Akira bringing two cups of coffee over.
"You wanted to study, right?" Akira asked, ignoring the glare Morgana was giving him.
"Yes." Makoto reached into her bag and pulled out a school book and set it down. "There's some things in here that I'm stuck on,"
"I'm stuck on a few things as well," Akira admitted as he pulled out his school book as well.
"I see. We could help each other with them, then?" she offered. Akira nodded.
"So, Akira," Morgana interrupted. "Are you gonna mention how you dodged the chalk earlier?"
"Chalk?" Makoto looked at Akira, who rubbed his head awkwardly.
"Mr Ushimaru may have caught me on my phone... And he may have thrown chalk at me and I may have accidentally dodged it," he explained.
"You... dodged it?"
"I-I flinched and it went past me." Akira said quickly.
Morgana rolled his eyes, or attempted to, next to them. She was almost impressed then, he thought.
"Oh. Well, it's impressive that you dodged it anyway," she reassured him, earning an awkward smile from him and a surprised look from Morgana.
"Anyway, I found the solutions I was stuck on, if you can help," Akira said as he flipped through a few pages in his book.
"I can try. Can you help me with mine?" Makoto asked. Akira nodded, and the two set to work.
...
"...So if you remember the mnemonic I taught you, you should be fine," Makoto explained as Akira closed the door to Leblanc behind them.
"I see. Thank you for that," he said as he attempted to open his umbrella. Unfortunately for Akira, the umbrella decided it had had enough of him and promptly sprang away from them, landing in two halves within a puddle.
"Oh dear," Makoto observed, before moving closer to Akira to shield him from the elements with her umbrella as he sighed.
"Sorry, Makoto. I need to grab the umbrella." She nodded and walked with him to the puddle it was currently bathing in. Taking hold of his hand to make sure he didn't topple into the water himself, she helped him reach down to pick up the pieces of his umbrella.
"It's broken..." he lamented, before looking down at their entwined hands. "Uh..."
"You said that when two people are on a date, they should hold hands. And b-besides, if you'd fell into the puddle, you could've gotten a cold," she explained.
"Right..." Akira nodded and huddled back under the umbrella. "We need to get you to the train," he reminded her.
"Of course." The two walked towards the train station, hands still entwined, still hiding under the umbrella.
"I guess this is where we say goodbye," Akira said as they stood in the train station.
"It is. Thank you, Akira. I learned a lot about what dates should be like.
"You did?" he asked in surprise.
"Yes. It is not about what you do, it is about the person you do it with," she explained.
"Oh. There's quite a bit more to dates other than who you do them with though."
"I see. In that case, we should do another one to see what else we can learn," Makoto said.
"Yeah. I'll look forward to it," Akira said.
"Good." A thought crossed Makoto's mind. "There was this... t-thing I read about, in regards to how dates should end. May we try it?" she asked him.
"Uhh... yeah, sure," Akira answered.
"O-okay." Both were hesitant for a minute, before Makoto stepped forward, close enough that Akira could smell her shampoo, and gave him a peck on the cheek, causing him to blush.
"T-thank you," he stammered out.
"No, thank you, Akira. T-this was nice," Makoto admitted, a faint blush dusting her cheeks, before she turned around and hurriedly walked away.
"Well then," Morgana's voice called out of his bag. "You two had a successful first date, and you got a second date! Well done, Akira."
"We've still gotta get back in the rain," he told him as he turned to look up the stairs.
"Well, you do. I have a warm bag to hide in!"
Akira sighed. "Yeah, I know," he said as he began walking up the stairs.
...
Author's Note: So this is my first foray into Persona... I haven't finished the game yet, so I apologise if the characters are OOC, I'm working off videos I've found on YouTube and what I've seen so far.
I might continue this in the future, but for now, I hope you enjoyed this.