First off, wanna say that I love the Persona series. I've played 3, 4, and now five and they just keep getting better. I adore the character Futaba and her relationship with the protagonist is just so cute! This is my first time writing anything for this fandom but I do hope to write more in the future. This story will only be two chapters. I know that a lot of people use the name Akira for the protagonists name but I prefer the one I used when I played the game, so in this story and any future ones I write he will be named Tatsuma.
I do not own any of these wonderful characters and no profit is being made. This is purely for fun.
Hope you guys enjoy. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Love hearing what others think of my stories.
Futaba Sakura was a girl on a mission. A very important mission. A mission so important that she was thinking of doing the unthinkable. She was going to leave the house…by herself.
Standing in front of the door, Futaba stared at it, trying to work up the courage to actually open the thing and step outside. Usually, in a situation such as this, she would contact her key item and get him to give her a pep talk. He was just so good at motivating her to do the things that she was normally too afraid to do. This time however, she couldn't do that. This time the mission was about him and she couldn't tip him off.
This was a mission to buy him a birthday present!
Well, his birthday wasn't for a few more months but, unfortunately, he wasn't going to be around for it. He was heading back to his hometown…
A wave of sadness engulfed her but she quickly shook her head.
"No! We are not thinking about that!"
Futaba glared at the door. This stupid thing was not going to stop her from buying her boyfriend a birthday gift!
Her thoughts caught up to her and her face immediately flushed red like a tomato.
B-boyfriend?!
"Y-yes…I-I am going to buy my b-boyfriend a birthday present!"
"Futaba? What are you yelling about?"
Whirling around in surprise, Futaba came face to face with her dad.
"Ack! Sojiro don't sneak up on people like that!"
He chuckled lightly and watched her with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry about that, but what are you getting so worked up about?"
Well aware that her face was still bright red, Futaba spun back around to face the door.
"Uhh…j-just gotta go buy something. You know, like normal people do…hahaha…"
She could feel Sojiro step up behind her and she couldn't help but tense up a bit. She so did not want him to see how embarrassed she was.
"Futaba, are you alright?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.
That only made her even more embarrassed.
"I told you, I just have to go buy something. It's my mission of the day!" She declared, pumping her fist in the air.
Sojiro chuckled again. "Okay, okay, I get it. Are you going alone?"
"Yup." Futaba said with a wide grin as she turned to him again. Her face had finally calmed down.
Sojiro smiled back at her. "Well…that's good. Better get to it then."
Futaba nodding in understanding and hastily waved him away.
"Alright, I'm going. Just be careful okay? And call if you need anything."
"Yup, yup. Will do." Futaba said with a little salute. Then, not waiting to see if Sojiro was gone or not, she faced the annoying door and abruptly wrenched it open to reveal the beautiful sunshine outside.
"Let's do this!" She yelled as she jumped out, slamming the door shut behind her.
Sojiro laughed lightly to himself as he watched her take off down the street. He was so proud of her and he only hoped that the juvenile delinquent living in his café was appreciative of the hard work she was putting into his present.
With nothing else to do, Sojiro got ready to head out himself.
Futaba marched down the road headed for the train station with her head held high and a purpose to her steps. Phase one was complete and now it was time for phase two. Her mission consisted of six phases in all and at the end of it the most amazing gift of all time would be in her possession.
She smiled confidently as she thought about what his face was going to look like when he saw it. His eyes would widen and he'd look at her proudly, knowing what it took for her to go out and get it for him. Then he'd pat her on the head and give her a big hug.
Just thinking about it made her heart race.
Eventually she made it to the platform and a feeling of unease washed over her. There were so many people…
Her eyes darted around until she spotted a place to wait that was partially off to the side where there were less humans waiting to attack her. Picking up her pace she practically ran over and took a few deep calming breaths as she tried to still her rapidly beating heart.
"You can do this…" She muttered to herself, her earlier confidence waning slightly. "This is for Tatsuma…"
Slapping her cheeks lightly to psych herself up again, Futaba slowly shifted closer toward the front of the platform. She stopped once she was up there but made sure she was still relatively off to the side. A few people were giving her weird looks but she did her best to ignore them. They were NPC's and not important.
Lacing her fingers behind her back, she waited as patiently as possible for the train to arrive. The closer the time came, the more people filed onto the platform and they started squishing in closer to her. Every fibre of her being wanted to take out her phone and call Tatsuma but her secret quest for this mission was to complete it without needing her key item. She knew that he would want her to call him if she was really struggling, and she would if it got that bad, but at the moment she was just really, really, uncomfortable. She could handle uncomfortable…hopefully…
"This is nothing…" She mumbled under her breath, "You fight shadows and make evil bow before you in fear. You can ride this train."
Nodding resolutely to herself, Futaba squared her shoulders and glared at the approaching metal monstrosity.
"You will not beat me train!" She yelled out and pointed at it as it rolled up.
The people around her shifted away slightly while giving her more weird looks but once again she ignored them. Having them move away was actually a good thing. She wanted as much space as she could get.
Once the train pulled to a stop she reluctantly followed the throng onto it and snatched up the nearest seat she could find. She pulled her knees up to her chest and stared out at the people around her.
There was a man standing across from her looking at his phone; no threat there. A woman was sitting beside her with a pair of headphones on bopping along to whatever song she was listening to; no threat there either. Her gaze shifted to the old man that was sitting across from her but slightly to the left, who appeared to be reading a magazine of some kind. She narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to see what it was, when she suddenly felt like she was being watched. Looking up, Futaba was startled to see the man staring back at her with a slight smile on his face. She immediately looked down at the floor and pulled her knees closer.
Old man…possible threat.
Maybe if she ignored him he'd stop watching her.
A few minutes passed so Futaba decided to risk another look. Very slowly and subtly, she raised her eyes once more. Relief flooded through her when she saw that he was reading again.
She would have to keep an eye on that guy. Who knows what he could do if motivated, old people were wily.
Futaba let out a sigh and dropped her eyes again. She wondered what Tatsuma was doing. He had texted her earlier saying that he was planning on working at one of his part-time jobs that afternoon so she wouldn't be able to see him when she completed her mission. She would have to come up with the perfect day and time to give him his gift. It might be a little hard though, considering how busy he usually was.
Tatsuma really was amazing. He worked three jobs, plus he helped out at the café when he was able to. Futaba had also heard that he had a lot of friends that he helped out as much as he could. But the thing that made him really amazing was the fact that no matter what he was doing, if she needed him, he was there.
She remembered the previous week when she'd been out with Sojiro picking up some supplies for the café. Sojiro had been in the store and she'd wandered off to look at the games in a store a bit farther down. Everything had been going fine up until she'd gotten too enthusiastic in her looking and managed to knock over a display. The lady behind the counter had started yelling at her and she didn't know what to do. She'd immediately ripped out her phone and called him. He said he was nearby and would be there right away. Right away turned out to be like five seconds. He was at her side, breathing heavily like he'd just run a marathon, and attempting to placate the irate store clerk before she even realized what was happening.
Tatsuma had smoothed everything over and the two of them helped to clean up the mess she'd accidentally made by the time Sojiro showed up a little while later. Her dad seemed confused as to why he was there but Tatsuma just said that he'd been passing by and seen her in the store. The whole, her knocking over the display thing, remained between the two of them.
He was like the valiant knight in one of her games.
Futaba blushed slightly at the thought and smushed her face into the top of her knees.
It was sometimes hard for her to believe that someone like him liked someone like her. But, then again, this was Tatsuma she was talking about.
"Excuse me Miss?"
Futaba's head shot up only to see the old man from before standing in front of her. Her eyes widened slightly in shock and her hand shifted down to her pocket where her phone was.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."
She shifted slightly in her seat and gripped her phone even tighter.
"W-what do you want?" She asked shakily.
He smiled down at her and it just made her even more nervous.
"I really did not mean to startle you. I sincerely apologize. I just wished to let you know that the train has stopped, so if this is your station you should get off while you can."
Futaba's eyes widened even more. "Are we in Shibuya?!"
The man nodded, not at all put off by her outburst.
"Ack!" Futaba jumped up almost bumping into the old man in the process. "Thanks for lettin me know old man!"
As she sprinted off the train, Futaba could hear the guy laughing lightly behind her.
Old man; not a threat.
Phase two was a whopping success and Futaba was feeling pretty good about it. So far she'd managed to leave the house and ride the train all the way to Shibuya by herself. Phase three might be a little more difficult but she was more confidant now that she could do it. Phase three consisted of another train ride plus the long walk to the electronics store in Akihabara. She'd made sure to up the difficulty of each phase so that she could push her boundaries a little. It was kinda like her promise list.
Futaba slowly made her way over to the ticket machines and bought her ticket before making her way towards the next platform. She was glad that she'd had Tatsuma with her on her first trip to Akihabara or she would have no idea how to get there.
She once again sequestered herself over to the side and tried to stay as small as possible and when the train pulled up she, once again, followed the other people onto it.
Unfortunately though, this time she couldn't find a seat and was forced to stand near the door as people pressed up against her from all sides. She clutched her hands to her chest and closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing. This was so much worse than sitting down. At least when she was sitting she could use her knees as a barrier. Here she was surrounded and couldn't escape.
She took in one deep breath and then another and tried to picture Tatsuma's smiling face in her mind. His messy black hair and his dorky glasses, and the way he would smile contentedly when she asked him something in a way that he seemed to find endearing.
"Hehehe…" She chuckled as she thought of him and found it eased her anxiety somewhat. He really was her key item to victory.
Opening her eyes again, Futaba slowly lowered her arms back to her sides. The people around her were still extremely close but they weren't paying her any attention which made things much easier. In fact, she was now feeling pretty calm and it was nice.
She started absentmindedly humming one of the battle themes from one of her favorite games and just waited to arrive at the station.
As far as train rides went, she decided that that one wasn't so bad. Nobody spoke to her or even looked at her for that matter, so it turned out okay in the end.
The second half of phase three was now set to begin. The walk to the electronics store.
Leaving the station, Futaba turned to the right and headed down the street. It was a Wednesday afternoon so there wasn't an excessive amount of people around which was good. She made pretty good time and managed to reach the halfway point of her journey before it happened.
Completely minding her own business, still humming her battle tune, Futaba was completely taken off guard when something smashed into her from behind. She was sent sprawling to the ground in a heap, landing hard on her left arm.
"Owww…" She moaned as she cradled the appendage.
"Oh my goodness! Are you alright?!"
Looking up Futaba was acutely aware of a rather large group of people beginning to surround her with worried looks on their faces.
"Did you see that?! That boy didn't even stop!"
"Damn hooligans!"
"Are you alright dear?"
Sucking in a deep breath, Futaba struggled to get to her feet. Unfortunately the helpful masses decided to be a little too helpful and a woman reached out to grab her uninjured arm to help her up. Futaba immediately recoiled and ended up losing her balance and fell back to the ground landing ungracefully on her butt.
"Oh my! I'm sorry!"
Futaba looked up at them all with wide eyes, right hand immediately shifting to her phone again. Her fingers brushed against it before she froze.
No.
This was not the time to freak out. This was for Tatsuma and she was going to do it dammit!
"Would you…um…like some help or…" The woman trailed off, not really knowing what to do.
Futaba hesitantly reached out her hand. "Uhh…y-yeah…thanks…" She mumbled.
The woman smiled down at her before gently taking her hand and helping her to her feet. Once she was situated the crowd began to disperse and Futaba was left alone with the woman who'd helped her.
"Are you alright now? How does your arm feel?" She asked.
Stretching her arm out, Futaba winced when a sharp pain shot through it.
"Oh dear. Do you need to go to the doctors?"
Her eyes widened again. This woman was being a little bit to helpful. "N-no…I'm fine. I..uhh…have to go now!"
Darting away as fast as her legs could carry her, Futaba didn't stop running until she couldn't hear the woman calling after her anymore. Unfortunately though, she hadn't been watching where she was going as she was running, and now she had absolutely no idea where she was.
After quickly ducking into an alley she sank down into a squat and leaned back against the wall behind her.
The second half of phase three was not going well…
And now she was lost.
Futaba sat there for a while contemplating things. She figured she had two options. The first was, she could call either Sojiro or Tatsuma and get them to help her, effectively putting an end to mission birthday present, or, she could ask a stranger for directions.
Just thinking about option two made her want to throw up. It made her want to throw up and then die.
Her friends would say she was being overly dramatic but this was really serious. A stranger could…well they could…do all sorts of unspeakable things!
On the other hand…all of her hard work getting this far would be ruined and she wouldn't have the gift.
She contemplated a little more and then made her decision.
Pushing herself to her feet, Futaba stormed out of the alley and right up to an old woman walking by.
"H-hey you!" She said rather abruptly.
Startled, the woman stopped walking and looked at her with scared eyes.
"Y-yes?" She asked uncertainly.
"I need you to tell me the way to the electronics store."
The woman blinked at her a few times before suddenly looking relieved.
"Oh, well, you must go that way and make a right turn. The store you're looking for is down a little ways on the left hand side of the street."
Futaba nodded. "Your help is greatly appreciated. If you weren't an NPC you would totally be going up a level right now."
Futaba moved away without saying anything else, leaving the poor woman standing there utterly confused.
Once again on course, she made her way around the corner and kept her eyes peeled for the store she was looking for. She was nearing her goal. She could feel it. It was just like in her game when she was about to find the hidden treasure. It was really exciting.
She walked a bit farther and then…there it was.
Sitting all nonchalantly on the left hand side of the street just like the woman said.
Walking a little quicker now, Futaba suddenly found herself standing in front of the doors leading inside.
A wide smile spread across her face.
Phase three, complete.
