Waking up at 7am; an odd and horrible experience. Sojiro had told her she needed to get her sleeping pattern on track, since she was going to start living on a schedule soon. She said she would, but of course, nights on her computer stretched longer than they should have, and in the end, she was forced to resort to a training session with Ryuji to tire her into a before-midnight slumber. She was now filled with regret.
Her alarm stopped. Wait, she thought groggily, I didn't do that… It started again, and she realised, the chiptune beeps weren't the digitized airhorns she had set for her alarm. That was her ringtone. Scrambling blindly without her glasses, she clawed at her bedside table, accepting the call without registering the caller ID. "Whoever this is, I'm gonna trace your number and end you," she droned.
A soft chuckle came from the other end. "You've already bugged everything I own Futaba, I'm not sure what else I have to lose."
"A lot Akira," she replied, trying to hide her relief for hearing his voice, "Sure, Japan thinks you're just a poor young man messed around by the justice system right now, but I could probably make them think you're into like, old maids or some other perverted stuff."
"Heh, heh…" It was early, but Futaba swore she heard a nervousness in his voice. "Anyway, I just wanted to check you were all ready for your first day of school."
"By making me wake up twenty minutes earlier than I wanted?"
"Just have to be sure here, being late on my first day didn't do me any favours."
"Didn't you get a kickass Persona because of that?"
"That was a very specific circumstance!"
"I don't even know why you're all so worried," Futaba said, shrugging off her covers and stretching her free arm, "It's not like I never went to school before. Ryuji kept looking at me like I was a crippled kitten."
"He told me you had a session with him yesterday, apparently it didn't go so well..."
"It got me to sleep early, so I'll call it a success," she said unconvincingly.
Akira sniggered. "I don't think lasting only ten minutes on a running machine can ever be called a success."
"Oh quiet, you." She swung her legs over the edge of her bed to stand and get to her dresser, but her foot on the ground didn't feel very stable already. "Shoot, it left me with a status ailment."
"LeBlanc coffee should set you right." Akira offered, rumblings on his end of the line indicating he was getting ready for the day as well. "I imagine Sojiro is going to make you a particularly potent curry to go with it."
"He was even worse than Ryuji." she said, stumbling for the dresser. "The whole week he's been full of 'Have you got everything you need' or 'If you need me to drive you'. Hell, he even said 'If you're not ready there's no pressure'!"
"Well, he's just worried about his precious little girl!" Akira teased.
"That's pretty obvious, I am an absolute treasure."
"But seriously," Akira said a little more seriously. "This is a big moment for him."
"I know, I know," Futaba sighed.
"Just let him do all worrying for you and school will be a breeze."
"Will you stop worrying about me?! I'm gonna do great, girl genius remember?"
"Girl genius or not," Akira replied, "If you need any help, promise me you'll flag Ann or Ryuji down alright?"
"Are they my bodyguards now?" Futaba scoffed as she grabbed her uniform, laid out all on one hanger for maximum efficiency.
"I prefer 'mobile body pillows'," Akira offered, "you can lean on them if you want help, y'know? Although they both seemed really excited to slap down anyone who was causing you trouble..."
"Hah, my own personal hit squad!" Futaba cackled. "I'm going to own that school. Wait. Why body pillows?"
"Just trying to relate to you," he answered, with a smirk.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She responded as blankly as she could.
"We all saw inside your closet Futaba," Akira reminded you, "Not that I'm judging you or anything, but the monster from that series was a really weird-"
Nope, she was not having this conversation. "Goodbye Akira!"
She heard a "Good luck!" escape from her phone as she frantically stabbed at the screen break the line. Freaking nosy Joker, why does he even remember that?! She grumbled to herself.
After getting herself dressed, she took a look in the mirror. She didn't wear skirts, so it did feel a little strange to her, even with thick black leggings, but uniform was uniform. At least she could still wear a tank-top and her usual shoulderless number under her blazer, which itself was hidden beneath her coat. As always, her oversized headphones were her closest companion, and would be a blessing in the subway.
"See, you look like a student," she told herself, "so being one should probably be easy now…"
Shuffling, still dealing with feeble legs and a fuzzy brain, she made her way out of the house and over to LeBlanc. It was a ritual she was used to at this point, but later on in the day. Sometimes as she walked through the Yongen-Jaya streets she marvelled at the idea she found those streets terrifying not too long ago. Even the people bustling around this early in the morning seemed completely harmless.
"ARF!"
As tired as Futaba was, she sprinted the rest of the way to LeBlanc, slamming the door behind her as she entered. A loud stray was more than enough to break her new equilibrium.
"Futaba?!" She turned from the door to see her guardian, behind the counter of the coffee shop, looking understandably alarmed. "Did anything happen, what's wrong?!"
"D-D-Dog…" She said shakily, slinking to her usual spot in front of the counter, Sojiro eyeing her with real concern, which the tried to shrink away from. "Hunger." She said tiredly.
Slowly, he turned back to the stove, returning to place down a steaming pile of curry with rice. A mug of coffee was soon joined it. Futaba began eating in silence, avoiding her guardian's gaze. "You know you don't have to go if you don't want to right?" Her guardian said finally. "You've made so much progress over the last few months, besides all of the business with your, uh, 'Club'..." He stared at his charge, hoping for a response that he wasn't really expecting. "Look, school can be a scary place, I understand that. I mean, it's been years, but I remember how tough it can be. Hell, by how Akira makes it sound it hasn't gotten any better with time. What I'm saying is I don't want you to be put under-"
"Dad."
His words failed him. He saw her plate was completely cleared, and she was already pushing her seat away from the counter.
"Going to school now," she stated as an anticlimax, strolling out of the door without so much as a second glance at her foster father.
Sojiro stared at the door for more than a few moments after she left, before taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Tsk, that girl," he said with a small smile.
The D-bomb remains effective, Futaba noted as she made her way to the station. I do need to coach him on making a good pep-talk though, he almost threw me off! It was only school after all. Sure, she historically had issues of dealing with other people, and kids were certified experts at being bastards, but for someone as smart as her, somebody who could handle whole dungeons full of monsters whilst simultaneously probing cybersecurity networks, how hard could it be?
Hard. Very hard.
Getting introduced to the class by the teacher made her want to shrink up inside. Her desk being in the middle, where people would all stare at her from behind (She was sure of it!) was horrible. Then, to top it all off, she blurted out the answer to a question without thinking to raise her hand first, earning a stern reprimand from the teacher, before even worse, being informed her answer was wrong. "While Prometheus was indeed imprisoned by the gods as you say, it was not for eternity, as they were eventually freed by Heracles. Perhaps you'll learn you slow down and think in this class, hmm Miss Sakura?"
The teacher's jibe didn't get many giggles from the class at all, but to Futaba, even such a small response sounded like a hurricane. You KNEW that Futaba and now you look like an idiot on your first day! She could only focus on the empty workbook sat in front of her. Why do you even care what these bozos think of you anyway?! Wait… Are they looking at me? Well I don't care anyway! But what are they thinking? They don't even know me, except for me FUCKING UP IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. My life here isover alreadyIwishIcould gohomeandeatcurryanddieandcurlupanddieand-
"Um, Miss Sakura isn't it?"
Futaba leapt out of her chair, staring at the classmate who had managed to approach her. "Y...yes?" She was shivering.
The girl's eyes widened, which with her small bob haircut, made it appear as if they took up most of her face. "Sorry if I startled you, it's just, lunch period started five minutes ago and you hadn't moved…"
She thinks I'm a freak, was the conclusion Futaba came to. She stood, trying to think of what to do, before suddenly deciding to grab her things and sprint out of the classroom without another word. The crowd of students in the hallway didn't stop her, even if they were trying their best to. In hindsight, her eyes were squeezed almost shut, as she barrelled in between conversations and bumped into various other students. Eventually she managed to cannonball into the (girls?) bathroom, and locked herself into the first stall she could find.
Solitude. Finally.
The buzzing on her phone however told her that in 20XX, there was no such thing as solitude. Shakily, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, seeing texts from almost everyone. Words of encouragement from Makoto and Haru, requests for an update from Akira (and Morgana), and worst of all, strings of messages from Ann and Ryuji- they were looking for her. She couldn't reply, not in this state. She had failed them. She had failed them all. She told them and herself she was ready to start at Shujin and take it by storm, but she was already having a crisis on her first day! It was just pathetic, really, and she didn't have the energy to pretend otherwise, even via text.
No, she would just swipe those notifications away, go find a way out of the school, and go back to what she was good at- hiding in her room.
But as she put her finger to her phone's screen, she received a call, and as luck would have it, she was pressing the green icon before she realised she was meant to be hitting the red.
"Ah, Futaba," a grateful voice, Yusuke's voice, answered, "thank you for picking up so quickly, I hope you're not busy, I have a query for you."
Inari?! Why was he calling? And why now?! "'S fine," she found herself saying, "Go ahead."
"Well, I was thinking more about this website. It still needs a name does it not?"
Oh yeah, that thing… "Well I dunno," she mumbled, "It's your dumb project."
"You were the one who suggested the idea," Yusuke reminded her, "And I do imagine you have a better idea of what would cause a good impact, so to speak. The online world is your realm, not mine."
"Well, I don't care," Futaba spat. She didn't feel like entertaining any his, well, Yusuke, right now. "Do what you want. I'm hanging up n-"
"Is something wrong?" Genuine concern, that managed to halt her from disconnecting the call. "May I ask, what day is it?"
The question threw her. "Inari, how can you not even know what day it is?!"
"I have been rather absorbed in the design of this website," he admitted, Futaba hearing the scribbling of a pencil underneath his words, "Sometimes I find it difficult to keep track of such things."
Been there I suppose. "Well, it's Monday," she informed him, slinking down to sit on the toilet seat, "but you're a dumbass, that phone you're calling me on could've told you that without asking me!"
She was hoping the comment would offend him into hanging up, but her efforts went unnoticed. "Monday…" He pondered. "Aha! It's your first day at Shujin, is it not!" He sounded annoyingly satisfied at working it out. But at the other end of the line, Yusuke was sat on the floor, in amongst sheets of paper strewn around his bedroom. He was actually feeling less than satisfied. Oh dear, he thought, she's being abrasive because… "Has it been more difficult than you anticipated?" He tried to broach.
His question lacked a fair bit of tact, but once again, there was something in his voice, maybe it was the concern, or something that Futaba didn't quite understand, that coaxed some feelings out of her. "I guess," she admitted, drawing her knees up to her chest. "I got something wrong and the teacher picked on me and everybody in the class looked at me and this girl snuck up on me and scared me and now I'm in a bathroom stall."
"I see," Yusuke nodded, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "Well, it could have been worse."
Futaba rolled her eyes, even though her friend couldn't see them. "Like what?"
"You could have been assaulted on the way there," he offered. Futaba rubbed her eyes in disbelief. "Or slipped into a puddle in front of the student body. Or called your teacher 'mother', I imagine that would be mortifying."
"Is this meant to be comforting?!" Futaba moaned. "Now I'm just thinking that all that stuff will happen tomorrow!" She heard a loud hum through her phones speaker, Yusuke trying to work out what the correct thing to say would be, although it had to be said, his complete ineptitude at this was actually making her feel a little better, for comedy value at least.
"What about comparing to Akira's first day there?" He tried. "If I recall wasn't he almost killed by the gym teacher's shadow?"
"Already had this discussion with him," she replied, "I thought since it meant he got his Persona that actually counted as a good first day."
"Well I suppose that may be true," he replied thoughtfully. "What about my face day at Kosei as a comparison? That was less than pleasant."
"What happened?"
"To evaluate the new students in their art department, we were all tasked with creating an original piece in an hour, then presenting our work and discussing the purpose behind it. I tried to create an impressionist piece, but our instructor and most of the class were convinced it could only be defined as modernist."
Futaba stayed quiet for a few moments. "... And? What's the difference?"
"Well it was incredibly disappointing that I seemed to overlook what key aspects separate those movements, but I maintain my audience were-"
"Oh my goooood, you are so bad at this!" Futaba complained, but with a smile.
"I apologise," Yusuke agreed, "What comfort is one supposed to be offering in these situations?"
"Really? You're asking the reknowned shut-in that question?"
"Touche," he granted, "I should probably text Akira…"
"No, no Akira!" She had just maybe started to feel better, and she still wanted the chance to pretend that the day had gone by without a hitch. "I dunno, maybe you're supposed to offer something relatable? Like something the other person would actually understand, not one of your weird tangents."
"I see, relatable, relatable…" He snapped his fingers. "Remember Haru's father's palace?"
That threw her. "Uhhhh, sure?"
"Remember how our first expedition left three of us unconscious, and us abandoning our fight for the night after only a scant few encounters?"
Besides from some of the larger enemies they faced, that was the time the Thieves felt sure they weren't going to make it. Everything was wrong, their equipment, their tactics, their attitude, everything. "I remember having to help Makoto carry Ryuji back to the entrance," she replied coolly, but wincing at the memory, "so yeah, I remember."
"But do you remember our second attempt?" Yusuke continued. "I remember you saying specifically 'How the hell did we screw up so bad last time!'."
"Akira retooled our setup and then it was no sweat…" Futaba started nodding. "So you're saying I need to do the same here?"
"I suppose I am," he replied, audibly pleased with his suggestion, "You have a new knowledge now of the Shujin experience, which will hopefully come in handy."
Futaba thought back to a few of their triumphs. "I guess our lives were just like a videogame for a while, weren't they? Endless dungeon crawling, and it took a few retries…" Anxiety suddenly flared up within her. "But school isn't like a videogame, people are far too unpredictable for that! How am I supposed to think everything's going to be okay?!"
"Believe in yourself Futaba." A common platitude, but coming from him, it did make her pause. "In the past I've trusted you with the lives of people I care about, as well as my own. I am certain you are in your own good hands."
Endless compliments. Thank god she was in a place where noone could see her blush. Okay, he's right though, she thought, I am smart, I am capable, I am amazing, and there's no reason to think I can't handle this place. Today kinda sucked, but people aren't gonna stare at me forever. A new new kid's gotta come along some time! And I'm not gonna get every question wrong, and if I do, who cares! Well, me, but I'll try to live with that. And since I'm not gonna space out all the time, people aren't gonna sneak up on me anymore! She actually felt hopeful. Excited to get back to things, even if they shoved her back on her ass.
Obviously she couldn't let Yusuke know he actually did a really good job, so she settled with telling him "Y'know, I actually feel better."
"Oh!" He said in surprise. "Excellent. I hope your day carries on without incident, I must-"
"Wait!" Futaba stopped him from hanging up. Didn't want to leave a loose thread. "You said you called about the website? You also said you were losing track of time designing it."
"True on both counts. I was wanting to conceptualise a name for the website, but in that, I realised that name needs to harmonise with what the website actually is. I started researching what the typical structure of a website is, but I became admittedly lost in the possibilities…"
"Such as?"
"How should the header of the website look, the buttons to navigate to other pages. Does the design stay uniform, or does it shift across different works, to accentuate their different moods? Can there be animations? Should there be sound? Classical music to stimulate contemplation, perhaps?" Futaba could practically her his gesticulations on the other end of the line. "Not to mention the simpler elements, what illustrations or graphics to use as the background, or perhaps a simple matt colour would be more refined…"
"I'm glad you're getting into it!" Futaba grinned. Her joy at her idea being taken on board was subdued by a dawning realisation. He was asking for a lot, and he had no idea how that would actually be implemented. That was her job. Why did I make this pact again? She wondered idly.
The school bell brought her back to the present. "Oh! Sorry Yusuke, I'm gonna have to jet."
"I understand," he said, but still unable to hide his impatience. "Perhaps we could meet at LeBlanc this week to discuss my ideas?"
"You got it! And Yusuke? Thanks." She hung up on him, embarrassed enough without having to hear his response. With a deep breath, she unlocked the stall, and burst back out into the world. Which promptly spooked her again when she was face to face with another student. "AHHH!"
But the cry was in unison, the other girl shrinking away just as she did. They began apologising profusely. "I'm sorry I just turned around at the wrong time and I wasn't expecting you and oh god I did this earlier didn't I oh no…"
The girl came into focus, and Futaba's brain started working again. "You're the girl from earlier, aren't you?"
She nodded timidly. "Yes, and I'm sorry for startling you then, especially on your first day. I'm not really good with people…"
Just like me… Futaba nodded, and let a small smile form. "That's okay. C'mon, let's get to class." She guided her still nervous classmate to the bathroom door. "I'm Futaba Sakura by the way."
Sojiro was polishing the same spot on the counter he had been for the past half an hour. When on earth is that girl getting home?! He had been expecting her around now anyway, but that didn't help at all, especially with how she had been acting this morning. Considering she hadn't responded to his messages, all of the world's ills could have fallen upon her in that damn high school and he had no way of knowing!
He had pulled out his car keys to go over to the school himself when she finally came through the shop door, so he hastily hid them behind his back. He fought to keep the concern out of his voice. "Hey, how was your first day?"
She took a seat in one of the booths, with a smug smile on her face. "Good, yeah. No big deal."
AN- The fact this has more followers than my KanNao and my weird Yakushima stories really shows the dearth in stories for this pairing huh? Sorry for taking so long, been hard to get back on this for various reasons, but I'm hoping I can gather some momentum!