Akira liked making his friends laugh. It was hard, sometimes even harder as they got deeper into trouble as the Phantom Thieves.
But laughter wasn't always a good thing. In fact, he remembered a time when he thought laughter was cruel.
It had been seventh grade, his second year of middle school. He was the top of his class, once again, and the other students picked on him for it. He didn't know why. He didn't fight back, doing that would only get him in trouble. But, his grades never dropped. He hated that year and the year after. Kid after kid picked on him. It was upsetting. He did remember though, a woman who had spoken to him after chasing the others away.
It was right after school, and on his way home, they had cornered him, insulting everything on or about him they could think of. A woman had come out of the beef bowl shop opposite him, and once she saw the situation, yelled at them to quit, and what did they think they were doing, cornering someone else and picking on them like that?!
The boys ran off, fear in their eyes. He didn't know who the woman was. She looked familiar though. She had caramel colored short hair and the same color eyes. She wore a pink sweater and a black skirt, and she looked down at him kindly.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded. "Yes. Thank you. You didn't have to do that,"
She shook her head. "I definitely did. What were they giving you a tough time about?"
It was like a dam had broken. The story flooded out of his mouth. The kids picking on him. Keeping it from his parents and siblings. Looking in the mirror and wondering if he really was ugly as they said. Not fitting in with anyone. Keeping it bottled up all the time.
At some point, he had sat down, and the woman sat down with him. She listened quietly, her eyes never moving from him. He finished talking, never once crying, just being angry, because how was this fair? What had he done to deserve this?
When she spoke again, her tone was soft and kind. "I can understand. Believe it or not, I get picked on too."
"Really?"
She nodded. "Yes. I don't know the people who pick on me personally, in fact, most of them are from the media or the internet. They call me an airhead model, a dumb actor, anything they can think of to get me all riled up."
"How do you stay calm?"
"Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I lose it. But most times I grin and bear it because I can live with knowing that they're jealous of me." She paused, seeming faintly amused.
"You and I are the same that way," she continued, "they want to be top of the class and are so jealous, they pick on you. And they're wrong. Everything they say is wrong. This is going to sound sappy, but you're great. Everyone is."
"How do you know that? You just met me."
"Well, for starters, you dealt with this all on your own, which shows me you're strong. You're top of your class, showing me you're smart. And you're a looker." she affectionately pinched his cheek. "I bet the girls will be all over you in a couple years. Anyway, you can be upset by them, or you can put your foot down. Tell them it's time to stop. You can do it. But keep a level head, too. Don't hurt anyone." She laughed softly. "My father, he always would tell me this when I was little: 'Grow a spine, but not a violent attitude.' I always got confused. Didn't I already have a spine?"
He laughed quietly, and she beamed over at him.
"What's your name?" She asked.
"Kurusu, Akira." He answered.
"I'm Takeba. Takeba Yukari." She winked. His eyes widened.
"You mean the Takeba Yukari?"
She nodded. "Don't tell anyone you saw me though, I'm supposed to be eating still. Actually, they'll be looking for me right about-"
People came up the street, looking back and forth for someone.
"-now." She sighed.
"Don't worry, you can do it. Whatever they want you for, anyway."
She laughed. "I can and I will." Yukari patted his head, standing now. "I get the feeling we'll meet again someday. Remember what I said, okay?"
He nodded, a faint smile on his face. "Okay."
The first person he had made laugh in this new town was Ann. Now, of course, she did a lot more than laugh when he was around, but that was beside the point. The group had really grown to love their snarky leader.
He found it ironic that an idol from a big city had predicted so much about a middle-schooler from a small town. She was right about him being smart - he still ranked first in his class, and now his grade too for that matter - and she was right about him being strong. That much his parents had confirmed.
Hell, she was even right about girls being all over him! Er, not that he would know what that looked like. Many girls did hit on him, don't get it twisted, but he only had eyes for Ann. In retrospect, it seemed ironic that they were hiding their relationship from the others. Well, they weren't hiding it so much as it didn't come up in conversation.
But the others noticed. Oh, how they noticed. Fleeting glances, hands held behind backs, and the way Ann had practically thrown herself at Akira the moment he returned from being imprisoned.
Speaking of which, Ann and Akira had taken off after they thought the others had gone home when in reality, all they had to do was head over to the Sakura residence with Futaba. Yes, it was late, and yes, Morgana was with them, and yes, they should be getting home soon, but they just had to see if they were right. Futaba had set a bug up while Akira had been in police custody, one that would just give them enough information to see if they were right about the two of them being together.
Morgana, of course, objected furiously - actually almost as furiously as Makoto denied her crush on Haru - and Haru had been a little hesitant. Unsurprisingly, however, Futaba, Ryuji, and Makoto were enthusiastic about it. Ryuji had more, erm, lewd ambitions, while Futaba was looking out for Akira, and Makoto just wanted to make sure they weren't doing anything that would endanger them all.
Futaba shushed them suddenly, and they all gathered around her computer to listen and watch. They were hugging, Ann having her face buried into his chest. Her arms were wrapped around him loosely, and he was holding her close, as close as he could. Ann's arms tightened around him, and when he winced she pulled back, blue eyes wide. "What did they do to you?" She asked, horrified at the prospect of them torturing her lover.
"It's fine." He waved it off like it was no big deal.
"It isn't fine!" She all but yelled. Lowering her voice, she whispered, "Let me see."
Closing his eyes, he smiled sadly. "You're not going to give up, are you?"
Smiling now, for just a moment, Ann said: "In all the time you've known me, and all the time we've been going out, how many times have I given up?"
"Mmm...let's see now, how about that time in Kaneshiro's palace?"
"That was cheating!" She laughed.
"Mhm, right. What about last month?"
"Still cheating! I was trying to finish my homework but someone had to seduce me."
Various gagging sounds came from the group, Futaba, in particular, looking like she was going to hurl.
Makoto's eyes narrowed. "I will castrate him." She snarled.
Everyone else just looked away. The couple went on, teasing each other, seemingly forgetting about serious atmosphere between them. It went on like this for a while, and now Ann had leaned back into him while he peppered her face with butterfly kisses, making her laugh.
Ryuji leaned back against the wall. "Well, I think that's all we need, yeah?"
Futaba smiled. "Yeah." She shut the feed off.
"Well, now that we know, what do we do?" Haru asked quietly, looking over at Makoto.
"I'll leave the threats to you guys." Futaba added.
Haru giggled. "Yes, we should leave that to Mako-chan."
Makoto sighed. "I suppose we should confront them about this tomorrow?" She asked.
Everyone else nodded. "Are you okay with staying here tonight, Morgana? I don't want them to know that we know before tomorrow."
Morgana, however, didn't respond. Instead, he gasped in horror. "So...that's what I….?"
Ryuji poked the cat with his foot. "Hey, are you okay Morgana?"
"They were…."
Everyone exchanged looks of confusion. "What do you-?" Ryuji asked, letting his question hang.
"Ew, ew, ew! Wait, you didn't hear what I think you heard, did you?" Futaba asked, scrunching her face up.
"I just...happened to come back to ask Akira something and they were…." Morgana collapsed to the ground in a dead faint. Futaba looked as if she was going to actually puke. "Ewww…."
Everyone else exchanged a look. "Futaba, what are you guys talking about?"
"Morgana heard them….um, roasting the broomstick."
"Roasting….the broomstick?"
Futaba blushed. "Y'know….putting the buns in the oven?"
It suddenly dawned on Makoto and Haru. "Oh, that poor cat…"
"Still not gettin' it!" Ryuji exclaimed.
"The horizontal hula?" Futaba tried. Everyone else in the room had gotten it beside Ryuji.
"Yeah, no."
"Rolling in the hay?"
"Oh!" He exclaimed. "Wait, ew."
Makoto closed her eyes. "Let's just leave it at that…"
Not for the first time that night, everyone agreed.
When Akira came downstairs the next morning, disheveled but grinning, he was not expecting to find the rest of the phantom thieves. Ann was behind him, her hair rolling in waves down her back. Seeing them, she patted Akira on the shoulder, extra clothes and towel in hand. "Good luck, Akira!" She singsonged, skipping out of the shop.
Akira sighed and hung his head, chuckling a little at his girlfriend of roughly 6 months.
"And just what do you think you're laughing about?" Makoto asked, arms crossed.
"Ann." He answered simply, grinning like a fool in love.
"Don't think we don't know that you two have been getting busy. Y'know, like little bees." Ryuji snorted, trying to be serious but failing miserably.
Futaba, still looking as if she wanted to puke, said; "They're more like rabbits." Ryuji started to laugh but was silenced by a venomous look from Akira.
"Listen, if you hurt Ann, she'll be the least of your worries," Ryuji said, spurred on by another look from Makoto.
Akira laughed, shaking his head. "You think I don't know that? She could kill me in at least fifty ways if I broke her heart. I don't intend to, just to be clear."
Everyone relaxed into their seats. "Good. And please stop, ahem, 'doing the do' when Morgana is out." Makoto asked.
Akira gave the brains of the team a devilish grin. "Would you rather we 'do the do' when Morgana is home?"
At Futaba's faux gagging noises, the team laughed.
Akira just watched them all, heart swelling. He was glad he could make them laugh, even if it was just for a moment.