C8H10N4O2 (Part 2)

A/N: Quick little author's note, since this is about a popstar I am probably going to have lyrics in here at some point but they are all going to be in English and they will be from actual songs that already exist. (If you know which ones they are from, you get a cookie and I hope you appreciate my selection.) I would make up lyrics, but I'm not a songwriter and I can't do K/DA like that lol. Just wanted to say that these songs are all in English, but I'm imagining it as if some of the words are exchanged for Korean but ultimately mean the same thing.

Also real quick, the first chapter didn't have major Persona 5 spoilers and neither did this one, but the ones that follow may have some. Just wanted to toss out a warning here and I will do the same with other parts.

Akali's next morning went by in a blur. Despite her creative handicap, she still needed to work on K/DA's next performance. If not penning new verses and getting feedback, then at the very least she needed to be in the loop to know which direction their projects were going in. To make that happen she connected with the other members via a video call from her hotel room while they alternated between practicing and discussing their new song in the studio in Korea.

The theme of their new project had to do with how immersed a lot people had become with different pieces of technology. People were absorbed with things like social media, often so infatuated that they lose sight of what was truly important to them along with their own identity. K/DA wasn't trying to preach about the dangers of technology, but more remind people that their lives were so much more than their online image.

There were two empty parts in the song that were left for Akali to rap on, but she still couldn't come up with anything she felt did the parts justice. She had until the end of this week, when she returned to Korea, to figure something out before the other three members would draft lyrics themselves. Not that they wanted to do that, but they also didn't want to slow the momentum K/DA had. Each member was very supportive in their own way. Ahri and Kai'Sa had assured her that if they could do anything to help they would while Evelynn had said that she didn't want to hear another verse until Akali truly felt confident in it.

After the video call ended she headed to the hotel gym and performed her scheduled routine before pulling up videos Kai'Sa sent her showcasing the dance that would accompany the song. After finishing up her own practice and taking a shower, she headed for Leblanc, her outfit and makeup almost an afterthought. She had opted for something a little less flashy this time, choosing a black leather jacket that matched her black canvas sneakers, a white tank top, blue skinny jeans, and of course her hat that sat on top of her 'iconic' hair style.

It was mid-day by the time she found herself standing outside of the coffee shop. This time there wasn't a six PM Akira to greet her which she wasn't sure how she felt about, but at least it meant that there was little chance of the sign being flipped any time soon. For a moment she stood there just staring, equal parts excited and nervous. Excited because she now had a quiet or at least chill place to work, and nervous because… well she wasn't quite sure why she felt nervous. She had made a new friend, or at least, she felt she had. At the very least she hoped he'd be someone to talk to… if the place wasn't too busy of course. Pushing those thoughts aside she stepped forward and reached for the door knob.

Her heart sank when she stepped inside. The first person she saw was a customer sitting at one of the booths who was looking in the direction of TV. That was to be expected, it was a coffee shop during the middle of the day, but it was the person behind the counter that left her a little disappointed. Where Akira stood the night before was a middle-aged man with slicked-back dark hair. He also wore glasses but while Akira had worn a white button up under a green apron, this man wore a pink dress shirt under a black apron.

"Welcome to Leblanc," he greeted with a gruff yet friendly voice as he gestured toward the hanging chalkboards over the counter. "We have our menu and specials up here, just let me know when you're ready to order."

"Good day-" Akali began to return the greeting before being interrupted.

"Woah!" the only patron in the cafe was now looking at her, "you're a singer aren't you?"

She felt her heart sink once more, the two main reasons she enjoyed herself so much the night before were no longer here. Akira was nowhere to be seen, and someone had immediately recognized her. Well, kind of recognized her. The customer was also a middle-aged man like the current barista so it was unlikely that he was an adamant K/DA listener. She had encountered this before and he was most likely the father of a fan, she couldn't really fault him for wanting an autograph or even not being sure of who she was.

"My daughter plays your music non-stop, and while-"

Now it was his turn to be interrupted, but it was by the man behind the counter.

"Please don't bother my other customers."

"But I'm not bothering her, I'm just asking for-"

"I know, but there are appropriate places to ask and my coffee shop isn't one of them. You're one of my regulars and you're making me look bad."

"I-" the man began to protest before hanging his head in defeat. "You're right Boss. I'm sorry miss."

Akali was in shock, had she really made some sort of face of displeasure? If she had she certainly hadn't intended to. She really needed to learn to keep her emotions in check if last night and now today were indicators to how easily her face was read. A palpable beat of time passed before she was able to reply.

"No no, it's really okay" she assured the fan's father and the barista that had defended her at once. "If not for dedicated fans like your daughter I wouldn't be where I am today. What'd you like for her, an autograph?"

"Yes please!" he replied, nodding enthusiastically before stopping short. "Well actually I don't have anything to write on… Do you think we could take a picture with my phone and you could send it to her in a text with a short message?"

It certainly wasn't the strangest request, and normally she'd be opposed to touching someone else's personal belongings but she did offer. After doing as he requested he thanked her, paid for what he ordered and quickly left. She was thankful for that, because even though everything had been settled quickly, there was definitely still a tense atmosphere in the cafe.

"I'm really sorry about that," the barista apologized as she sat down at the counter.

"It's really okay, I'm used to it by now."

"Still, that's really not something that I want to be normal in my cafe."

"Was he an employee or something?"

"Him?" he laughed, "no, but like I said he's one of my regulars. He knows the rules."

"Why'd he call you boss?"

He chuckled again, his glasses moving a little on the bridge of his nose. "Oh that, that's just something people call me. It just kind of stuck."

"Oh," she nodded sheepishly.

She ordered the house blend but no curry this time. Since Akira wasn't here she pulled out her notebook from her jacket pocket and decided that it would be an afternoon of trying to see if any of her verses stuck.

Her coffee was presented after a few minutes of staring at a blank page. And after a few more, Akali looked up at the barista who was now staring over at the TV although he didn't seem very interested.

"Did I look that upset when he was asking for an autograph?"

He turned back to her, "I wouldn't say upset, more… disappointed. Like it was one of the last things you wanted to do right that moment."

She gasped, the last thing she wanted to do was have people interact with her and leave thinking she was rude.

The man smiled, "don't worry about it, I don't think he noticed. If he did he would've apologized sooner."

"That's a relief."

"If I'm being honest though, you looked disappointed from the second you walked in."

"Oh," Akali replied, feeling a bit sheepish again, "I'm sorry."

The man's friendly demeanor didn't shift though, "No need to apologize. I didn't mean it as an accusation, just an observation."

He didn't say anything more, turning back to the television. Even though he didn't directly ask, Akali still felt like she had to explain herself, she already might've given the wrong impression once.

"It's just that I was expecting to see someone else is all."

"Someone stood you up?"

She almost spit out the coffee she had begun to drink, the question catching her off guard. "No!" she answered, a little flustered. "Not like that, it's just that he was the one working when I was here last night."

A wave of understanding moved across his face as he rubbed at his chinstrap beard, "ah, you met Akira."

She nodded.

"He didn't bother you did he?"

This time she enthusiastically shook her head, "no, more of the opposite if it's my turn to be honest."

"That's good, never know with him."

That comment made her raise an eyebrow, but she decided to ask something else.

"Does he work here often?"

"Just when I need him."

This time she tried really hard to make sure her expression didn't change, even if she was a little disappointed hearing that if she wanted to talk to him again she'd have to guess correctly. Either that or stop by several times a day, but even then it was possible she wouldn't see him before she returned to Korea.

"Did you want me to call him down?" the barista asked, making her believe that her poker face must've failed miserably.

'ABSOLUTELY NOT!' Akali screamed internally. How could he ask something like that so nonchalantly? It would send the entirely wrong message; besides why would someone want to show up to work on a day off? It was Sunday, he was probably out with friends or something. She did her best to stop horror from filling her face at the thought of Akira getting a call from one of his coworkers saying that she was there hoping to talk to him. She had only spoken to him once so far and she didn't need him thinking she was a complete weirdo before she got the chance to talk to him again.

"N-no," she answered, "that's fine, thanks."

"Alright then."

She let out a breath she hadn't realize she had been holding before sipping her coffee and opening her notebook again. The lines were still empty, taunting her as they had been for the past few days. The first step to conquering a blank page was writing something on it, anything. So she began listing several different pieces of technology: televisions, phones, computers, etc. She wrote simple rhymes for each word, seeing how she could connect them. The comfortable atmosphere of the cafe assisted more than she initially thought. There wasn't a single distraction since she sat down and began. No noisy streets or customers, the television was easily tuned out, and the barista didn't try to start up a conversation when she clearly was focused on something else.

Her writer's block wasn't gone, not by a long shot, but it felt good to actually get some words down on paper. Even if they never became anything, at the very least the black ink dominated wherever she deployed it. She felt she had a good thing going until she looked up to see an analog clock hanging from the wall stating that only five minutes had passed and she was already out of ideas.

She let out an audible groan before planting her face on her notebook, momentarily forgetting she was in the presence of another person. A quick glance upward reminded her of the barista's existence but he was still looking at the TV, something she was thankful for. With a sigh she turned the page and began to repeat the process. It wasn't fun, and maybe it wasn't even helpful, but keeping her pen moving felt like the right thing to do. Before she could finish this time however, the sound of footsteps distracted her.

She turned to look toward the hall that went a little deeper into the building, the footsteps she heard becoming a little louder, as if someone was descending a set of stairs. Her eyes shifted over to the man behind the counter but he wasn't reacting to it, instead heading toward the back corner she had heard Akira cleaning dishes in the night before. This time she had chosen a seat closer toward the center of the counter, giving her full view of the small kitchen area placed within the corner.

"Hey Boss, I'm heading-" a familiar voice said from the hallway, immediately commanding Akali's attention as the newcomer's sentence was cut short before beginning again. "Oh hey, nice to see you again."

Akira was standing in the hallway, pocketing his phone as he walked toward Akali. His glasses were present as well as his hair still being messy, but his attire was different from his work clothes. He managed to look even more casual without an apron, his outfit consisting of a black blazer over a cream-colored shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes. The smile from the previous evening still present and as friendly.

The man behind the counter spoke before she could reply, "oh Akira, glad you decided to come down. I'm going to step out for a moment can you watch things while I'm gone?"

The bespectacled boy nodded as he took a seat next to Akali who didn't miss the knowing smile on the older man's face as he walked out.

"You look-"

"If you say something about hamsters I'm leaving."

"-surprised to see me."

"Well duh!" Akali replied, "how was I supposed to know you were here?"

He raised an eyebrow, "I live here."

"In a coffee shop?!"

"In the attic of a coffee shop."

Akali was shifting between a state of humor and disbelief. "How was I supposed to know?"

He shrugged, "people generally don't bring their cats to work."

"Maybe I thought you just really liked cats!"

He laughed, "maybe."

There was a brief lull in the conversation before she continued with the subject, "Where is Morgana anyway?"

"Upstairs, sleeping."

"Surprised he let you stay awake this long."

"Had to do a lot of deception to be able to get down here, you have no idea."

Akali laughed, "so you just scratched his head until he fell asleep and then ran down here then?"

"Pretty much," Akira chuckled, rubbing at the back of his neck.

Another lull and then just silence with neither saying anything, just staring, not unlike the evening before. The soft blue of Akali's eyes not backing down from the dulled gray of Akira's. Even though his gaze wasn't penetrating, the longer their eyes were locked the more time butterflies had to collect in her stomach. She wasn't quite sure why she was beginning to feel nervous, but there was just something about him that made her want to come off as the best version of her. There was just something about his soft laugh that made her want to be the reason she heard it. Something about being given his attention that made her want to keep it.

She cleared her throat, "weren't you on your way out?"

"Right, I was," he replied but didn't move from his seat. "But I do still have to make up for kicking you out yesterday."

"Oh stop, you didn't kick me out. If anything, you did the opposite and you know it."

"Before kicking you out, yeah," he corrected before continuing, "so to make it up to you-"

"You're not gonna budge on this are you?"

"Nope! -I have two ideas."

"And I have two ears," she replied before playfully looking up thoughtfully, "although I might have to consider lending you one so you can listen to me."

"Ha ha, anyway. One option is staying here and I can get you some more coffee, or," he stressed the conjunction, "we can go to this ramen place a friend took me to in Ogikubo."

"Well saying here sounds ni-" Akali stopped herself short, "wait, did you say ramen?"

He nodded.

"We have a winner."

Akali was now convinced that ever since she left the hotel this morning the world had decided it was going to make it its mission to fluster her as much as possible. The subway that pulled into Yongen-Jaya station was packed and that meant having to awkwardly lean into a certain cute barista that she had met only yesterday. She was far from ready for another staring contest and she immediately looked in a different direction when they boarded. Although if Akira doing the exact same was any indication, it seemed he wasn't quite ready for that either.

Just like the night before when he had a very embarrassed and apologetic expression, Akali appreciated seeing him like this. At first glance she'd call it vulnerability, but in all reality it was more important to her because it showed that he was also real. He wasn't just a smooth talker to make her feel as comfortable where he worked to get her to spend as much money as possible. She had her doubts before, but asking if she wanted to get ramen dashed those quickly.

Like their subway, Ogikubo was crowded but with ramen shops as well as people. There were so many places to choose from, but Akira had said he had one in mind and they quickly got in line. Sounds of laughter and different discussion surrounded the pair as everyone around them enjoyed their Sunday in one way or another.

"So," Akali turned to look at her companion, quickly realizing he was almost a head taller than her. "How were you going to spend your Sunday before I showed up?"

He shrugged, "I was going to head to Shibuya and see if anything caught my eye." He paused for a moment before adding a smile, "turns out I don't need to leave Leblanc for that to happen though."

Akali didn't let him catch her off guard, "yea, can't keep my eyes off of a cute barista that works there."

"I think Boss is a little too old for you."

She playfully smacked his arm, "don't try to smooth talk me and then not let me do it in return."

"Fine," he let out an exaggerated sigh, "but only because you asked nicely."

"Besides, Boss would never take me on a date so now you can't say being in second place is a bad thing."

"A date?"

"You know what I mean!"

The conversation fell to a comfortable silence with both of them seeming to just enjoy being in the other's presence. The line continued to move and as they got closer to the entrance, Akali decided to sate her curiosity.

"So other than smooth talk and work at a coffee shop, what do you-"

"Hey!" a female voice demanded their attention, "are you Akali from K/DA?"

Of course, she thought to herself, but not as caught off guard as the times before. She was more surprised it hadn't happened sooner, they were in public after all, but naturally it had to happen when she wasn't completely prepared. She had been looking at Akira while she was asking her question but when the fan approached nothing about his demeanor changed which was a surprise.

She quickly turned to address the fan with a smile, "yeah that's me!"

"Can I please take a picture with you?" the fan, who looked to be around Akali's age, asked as her face lit up.

"Of course!"

"Thank you so much!" the fan quickly fumbled in her bag for her phone, the sun overhead shining off of the glitter covered K/DA case that was revealed to be on it when she finally pulled it out. She paused for a second to look at Akira and then back to Akali, "Is it okay if your boyfriend takes it?"

Out of the corner of her eye Akali saw Akira react in almost the same way she did but she was quicker to speak, "oh he's not-"

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" the fan quickly apologized, not allowing the popstar the full sentence to correct her. "My friend just said she heard something about a date when she walked past you guys earlier."

"It's alright," Akali assured her, "just a little misunderstanding."

The fan turned to Akira with a pleading look but didn't need to ask her question again as he nodded and took the phone handed to him. It was clear that getting the picture really made the girl's day and she walked away with a smile, but not before apologizing once more about the misunderstanding. Akali was going to ask her companion about his feelings on the interaction but they reached the front of the line and were ushered inside.

It hadn't been that long since she had stepped into a ramen shop, but the amount of options were always staggering. The place Akira had chosen allowed customers to not only chose from premade combinations but also to create their own bowls if they wanted. With that much power at her fingertips, Akali set to work making the spiciest combination that would sate her drive to set her tongue on fire while being too delicious to back down from. The end result made one of the chefs stop what he was doing so he could ask if she was absolutely sure this was what she wanted. He couldn't help but shrug when she replied with a confident nod.

She turned to Akira who was folding the small paper bag his chopsticks had been in into a small holder so the tips didn't touch the table. There was a question she was forgetting that she had been meaning to ask, but before she could recall it her brain got side tracked by a conversation two other patrons were having.

"The Phantom Thieves are real, I'm telling you!"

"I'll believe it when I see it, all of the examples you've given could've been pure coincidence. There's just no way you can 'steal' someone's heart."

'Phantom Thieves' was a name she had heard at least ten times despite only landing in Japan two days ago. At first she thought it might be some sort of band or a movie but when they were brought up it was generally about if they were real or not. She'd usually be busy or more interested with something else whenever they were mentioned so she only picked up bits and pieces.

"Hey," she brought her focus back to Akira, "who are these 'Phantom Thieves" I keep hearing about?"

He looked a little surprised, "you haven't heard of them before?"

She shook her head, "I've heard the name since I got back to Japan, but I haven't heard of them before then."

He hummed, "well it depends on who you ask. All I ever hear about them is whether or not what they're doing is their doing or if it's legal or not."

"Same here, but I don't exactly know what it is they do."

"Apparently, steal people's hearts."

"So they kill people?"

"No, I think it's a metaphor, it's more like taking their ability, drive, or will to keep doing something that the person has been doing for a while."

She paused, "so like… writer's block?"

That made him laugh, "uhh, maybe, but from what I've seen and heard so far it seems the people they have 'stolen' hearts from have all been terrible people."

"How do you know who they've supposedly affected?"

Akira pulled out his phone, "they have a fan site where people request and theorycraft potential targets." He pulled it up and showed it to her, a sleek red, black, and white layout greeting her eyes with the word 'Phansite' sitting in the top right corner.

"Got any examples and do people have any proof?"

"Examples would leave a bad taste in my mouth," he smiled weakly, sending the message that he wanted to move on from the subject.

"Ah, not ideal since we're about to eat," Akali nodded understandingly.

"Why? Thinking about writing a song about them?"

"Hah, so you did know."

"Mhm."

"Is that why you let me come in after closing hours?"

"Nope."

Akali almost let out a sigh of relief. Even though since the second she stepped into Leblanc it didn't seem like he did it because of her profession, it was still relieving to hear him confirm it.

Any more conversation was set aside for later as their bowls of ramen arrived. Just based on looks alone the two bowls were very different. Akira's ingredients retained most of their natural color while all of Akali's had a red-orange hue to them thanks to the spicy options she chose.

Neither wasted any time and dug in, their chopsticks diving under the broth to capture as many noodles as they could. Akali couldn't be happier with her selections as this bowl quickly proved to be her favorite ramen she'd had so far. That meant a lot considering her obsession with the dish.

It wasn't long before she was considering asking for extra noodles, and that's when she saw Akira staring at her out of the corner of her eye. She had been so focused on her meal that she hadn't realized he was just watching her eat with an amused expression.

"Is there something on my face?" she asked.

"Yeah," he smirked playfully, causing Akali to drop her chopsticks into her bowl and reach for a napkin.

"That's embarrassing," she murmured as she brought the napkin closer to her face.

"Aw, it's gone already," he pointed out before the soft paper got a chance to touch her mouth.

"What do you mean?" She stared at the clean napkin for a second. "What was it?"

"Your beautiful smile."

A/N: No lyrics yet, but maybe enough of a hint to guess what kind of songs I'll be choosing. I doubt it's too obvious though.

I hope Akali isn't coming off as too OOC. Normal Akali is super edgy/one woman army and I think that's really cool, but K/DA Akali seems like the opposite. What I've gathered from the K/DA interview is that she is far more energetic, playful, and optimistic. Definitely still pretty independent but also understands the value of having people to support you.

Hope you enjoyed this part as much as the first! Please consider leaving a review whether positive of negative. :) Next part coming soon hopefully?