"Akira" Normal Speech

'Akechi' People's thoughts

"Persona" Other being's speech

'Velvet' Other being's thoughts

Disclaimer: You know the drill, Persona and the SMT franchise belong to our lord Atlus, may SMT for the Switch be as successful as P5.

Priestess I

Proving Your Charm

She couldn't move, her whole body acting completely unresponsive to her, almost as if all of her muscles had been chained, something that she knew was impossible, after all the only part of her body that was being held by something was her left hand, which was in the grasp of a bigger, warmer hand, his fingers almost locking themselves between hers.

She tried to control her erratic breathing, but it felt impossible right now, with the air in her lungs leaving her in short, ragged breaths, her own mixing with his, for they were close, far too close than what she could ever remember being with someone else.

She tried to control her shaking legs, fears of falling to her knees appearing in her mind, but it was too hard with nothing but nervousness and embarrassment coursing through her body.

She attempted to avert her gaze, but her red orbs refused to move even an inch, almost as if a spell had been casted over her that stopped her from breaking eye contact with his grey eyes.

How did it end like this? She had certainly never believed her day would end up in a scenario like this, much less with who she was sharing the Student Council office.

She still remembers his invitation earlier in the day, something that had filled her with curiosity. Not that it was strange for him to seek her out mind you, but this time it had felt different. Or rather, he had felt different, only that she couldn't grasp just exactly what the difference itself was.

She knew what he wanted to talk to her about, or at least she thought she knew. She still remembers asking him for his help after all, for she needed someone to help her in matter of one of her newest friends and her strange, older boyfriend.

And who better than the young man that she trusted with leading her and the rest of their team through the unknown of the Metaverse? Who else rather than the friend that was helping her to come out of her shell and experience things that she had never been able to before?

Well, not like she could really complain for that last one part in this situation, after all she most certainly never experienced something like this.

She could barely even remember how they had gotten into this situation. He had just asked for a bit of her time to discuss how he would help her with the whole Eiko situation, and of course she had no problems with giving him said time.

They both knew the solution already though. She simply needed someone to play the role of her fake boyfriend so that Eiko wouldn't suspect anything in the double date she had suggested. Sounded a bit simple if not just weird, but the real problem relied on the fact that they had to fool Eiko in the first place.

And for all the things Makoto felt proud about, acting as if she was in a relationship was not exactly one of them, so she needed someone not only able to actually do that, but so good in what he did that not even Eiko would be able to complain about her likes in men.

Considering those factors finding a candidate became almost impossible, for she also needed to trust this person after all. A glimpse of hope had appeared in front of her though, for just a couple of weeks after voicing her concerns to her leader he had apparently come to a solution, which was why she had brought him to the Student Council room.

And that's when all of this mess had started. She could barely even make sense of the first minutes with how dizzy her head felt right now, but if she did remember something quite clearly it was the look he gave her.

It wasn't the same regular, a bit of stoic look he mostly sported, or the cocky, confident one he always wore in the Metaverse. No, this had been something else, more powerful even, one that she had never seen being aimed at herself.

It would be later that she wound find out just what had filled his gaze that day.

Passion.

Makoto wasn't used to compliments. Of course she had gotten her fair share of praise over her studies or work as Student Council President, but those were more about what she did rather than for what she was. She did remember a few students calling her cute back in her second year, but she had always passed those as nothing but mere jokes, or as boys just thinking that anything with a skirt was cute.

So it was no surprise that the sweet words that her black-haired underclassmen had whispered into her ear had done a tad bit more than just surprise her. She didn't know what factor it had been, If the words itself, the feeling of his hot breath on her earlobe or just the blazing eyes that were piercing right through her, she just knew that it was enough to paralyze her, make her heart beat faster than it had ever done so before and have her sport her strongest blush up to date.

It didn't help that he then had moved to grab her left hand with his own, while his other one was firmly pressed against the wall right besides her face, and considering how she herself was back to the wall it pretty much stopped any attempts at escaping that she could have had.

Then again, she doubted that she would have been able to actually avoid him even if she had tried, because even for all the screams her brain was releasing, telling her that this was improper, a small, almost forgotten part of her found it quite to her liking.

The attention she was receiving was something she never thought would be aimed at her. He was looking at her as if she was some sort of goddess, something that he couldn't live without, and the tone of his voice reflected that almost perfectly in the husky way he whispered into her ear, with his thumb moving in circles over the back of her hand.

"Makoto…" he whispered, no, he purred her name, his right hand moving from the wall closer to her face right until it made contact with her cheek in an almost tender caress that had the one known as Queen in pretty much an overdrive of emotions.

A part of her knew though, that if this was any one else she would just have pushed them off by now, or if they got too insistent she would have shown them just how good she was at Aikido.

But this wasn't just some random guy she didn't know. No, this was him, and in him she could trust, and if the butterflies she felt in her stomach whenever they talked had been enough to make feel slightly anxious, then the raging inferno she was now feeling was truly going to melt her in his arms.

"Makoto" he called to her once more, his gaze half-lidded, something that she ended up mirroring. She could also feel it now, the way their faces were slowly moving closer to one another while his hand still cupped her right cheek.

"Akira-kun…" she whispered his name too, in a tone she could have never imagined she would use. Her eyes were completely closed at that point, knowing what would come, and not finding it displeasing. She had to wonder though; could he hear the way her heart was hammering against her chest in both nervousness and anticipation?

Her emotional side had completely overridden her logical one at that point. This was truly a new experience for her after all, one that not only did she want to, but that she knew would enjoy.

Or at least, she might have, if her lips had met something other than just air.

"So, you think it will work now?" and only now she was realizing that the warm feeling on both her cheek and left hand had disappeared, her own eyes slowly fluttering open at the hearing the normal, friendly tone that she had been far more used to hear from one Akira Kurusu, who now just found himself away from her, his body resting on the table in the middle of the room, looking at her with such an innocent gaze that almost made her wonder if everything that had just happened had been nothing but a dream.

"W-what?" she reproached herself mentally for just how perplexed she sounded, simply not knowing what else to say or do right now.

"You know, with your friend" he continued, almost as if it was obvious "You told me that you needed someone good enough to impress her, so I went and studied some stuff about it and I wanted to show it to you, that's why I have been rather busy past weeks. You think I can help you with that now?"

Just studying might not be the best way to put what he had done, but the details were something that he rather just keep for himself. It would certainly be better in his head if no one knew just how much time he had spent reading that weird book that he had found in Booktown, or how many tips he had gotten from certain reporter.

Then again, Ohya had looked more than happy to be his instructor, so he was sure that he had been doing something right.

And if the older woman was to be believed then, judging by just how flushed Makoto still looked he had nailed those teachings perfectly. He would prefer if she said something though, rather than just stare at him as if he had gone insane for some reason.

Maybe he had gone a bit too far? He just honestly didn't know a better way to prove his newfound expertise to the brunette, although he was more than ready to apologize if he had to.

And a part of her had to admit, Makoto was more than a little touched that he had gone that far just to help her even if he hadn't been obliged to do so, but a bigger part of her just found herself utterly frustrated.

With what, she didn't know, but she just did and she hated it.

She opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by a light tune coming from her leader's pocket. The young man was quick to take his phone out of it, apparently inspecting whatever kind of message he had gotten and nodding twice before looking at her once more in the eyes.

"Sorry, I have to go" he said with a bit of urgency, moving to grab his bag from the table, and then towards the door of the room, his gaze falling back to hers right before he left.

"Tell me whenever you need help with this" he said with a small smile, his gaze becoming a bit more serious then "And if that wasn't enough then… Give me another week and I'll get better, I promise"

And with those words he was gone, leaving the still blushing Makoto to look at the door he had just used with a lost gaze, still not knowing how to react, what to say or even think.

She moved a hand over her chest in a vain attempt to calm her raging heart, while deep breaths started leaving her. She had not been prepared for that, she truly hadn't. It was now that she was starting to understand just how devious her leader could be, even if he wasn't aware of it.

Her other hand moved towards her lips, slightly touching them. Then again she wasn't sure what had been more shocking to her, if what Akira had just done or the fact that she almost went along with it.

The fact that a feeling of disappointment was now washing over her didn't help her in the slightness. What was wrong with her?!

Then her mind finally processed what he had just said, her red eyes widening at the sudden thought, her cheeks once again in flames. She ended up moving both of her hands over her face in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.

Getting better? She hoped not, for she doubted she would be able to survive that any time soon.

P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5

I know, that was a short chapter, and I promise both next one and the next Makoto chapter will be longer so don't worry Makoto fans.

This chapter was just a small moment that happens during Makoto's Confidant. Not many chapters will be during their Confidants, since most will be moments after those events already happened, but this idea stuck too much in my head to just ignore it.

Once again, thank you for reading this far. This story has gotten a lot more support than I thought capable, and for that I'm grateful you all seem to be liking it so far.

Next Chapter: Back to the present.