"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 P5 The Animation be the adaptation that the game deserves.

Last Day II

Resolution

From one extreme of the room to the other he moved, his legs pacing him around the attic almost as if such an action would fix his current…issue.

Hand under his chin and gaze low, he tried to think. Think of something, anything that could help him right now.

Then he suddenly stopped. Help him with what exactly? By all means and terms this wasn't a situation that could use a conventional solution. For starters he hadn't even known he had been caught up in such a thing until around 5 minutes ago.

Then there was the sheer absurdity of the whole thing. He almost grabbed his phone once again and re-read all the messages just to make sure he hadn't made a mistake.

Nope, there was no mistake and this most certainly was not a dream, he had pinched himself in the cheek long enough to prove that by now.

Even so he still needed to think of something to do. Looking at it as objectively he could do, there were a few obvious choices.

He could always run and hide somewhere. He was sure that Ryuji wouldn't have any problem with letting him stay the day in his house, and it sounded easy in theory; however the whole idea was shot down as soon as it came to his head. No, there was no way he could do such a thing for not only was that as scummy as it could get, but he just couldn't do that to any of his friends.

His friends, he thought with a wry smile, or to be more precise his lady friends. To be quite honest he had never thought of them in a romantic light, but that had a lot more to do with how he had been feeling at the moment rather than in his relationship with them.

They were all special in their own right; he knew that as a fact. With some he had fought back to back with them against creatures of nightmares while others had helped him in more ways they probably thought possible.

Anyone would be lucky to be with them, he firmly believed, but at the time such a relationship had been the last thing in his mind. Between his duties as leader, school, probation and simply gathering allies the young man had barely any time to think of such stuff.

Not that he could use any of those as excuses at this point of course; he knew that, which also meant having to start thinking of them in a completely different light than before.

This of course was a bit hard to do when time wasn't on your side.

Unless he was over thinking stuff and was confusing how they felt about him of course. Maybe they just wanted to spend the day as friends? The messages weren't particularly romantic in the first place anyway, and what were the odds that they all felt like that towards him anyway?

He suddenly shook his head. No, it was that kind of naïve thinking that had put him in this mess in the first place. All the signs had been there, and he had just been too blind to notice it, but not any longer.

To take responsibility for his actions. Those words had been engraved in him for a long time now, and it looked like he would be following that mentality once more, although in a way he could have never predicted.

"Wait, just what's going on?!" ah right, he almost forgot Morgana was still in the room with him with how silent the Persona-user had been until now, although apparently he had already gotten over his momentary stupor and was now looking straight up at him with what he believed was a frown.

He opened his mouth to answer, for he knew that if there was something he needed right now it was advice, and when it came to those he was sure Morgana would at least tell him something helpful. There was also Sojiro of course, but with how Futaba was involved he doubted asking the older man would be such a good idea.

However he closed his mouth as soon as he remembered the fact that Ann was too a part of it, and for just a second he could feel the pain of a million scratches over his face. Sure, the feline had gotten better when it came to his feelings for the blonde, but even so Akira could not risk it, not when he was losing precious time by the second.

"Nothing, just…" his mind moved a mile per second to think of an excuse. Lying to Morgana was not as easy as one would think, after all not only was the cat quite perceptive, but Akira knew that when it came to the cat he was almost an open book with how familiar the two of them were with one another.

There was only one idea that might fool him, and to use it the black-haired young man silently apologized to one of the two blondes of the team for throwing him under the bus.

"Got a message from Ryuji. Told me he didn't want to spend today alone and that he was going to confess to Ann to see if it worked" it was a terrible lie, he knew, but it had the two factors that he also knew would make Morgana far too angry to think about it properly.

First there was Ann, and then there was Ryuji, and when you added the two in something like what he had said you had a very angry and jealous black cat in front of you.

"What?!" Mona pretty much screeched to the point that he found himself almost cringing with how loud the cat had been. How did he manage to look so utterly enraged, he didn't know, but he was sure cats weren't able to make such an expression "That little…!"

He would really have to find a way to make it up to the blonde after this.

And in another part of Tokyo said blonde found himself with a chill going down his spine. Why was he suddenly having second thoughts about visiting LeBlanc?

But back as said LeBlanc, Akira watched as a seething Morgana suddenly ran downstairs almost as if his life depended on it. For what purpose Joker wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to stop him considering there weren't any clients here right now.

He also needed to make his own move as quick as possible though. He wasn't kidding when he said he didn't have time, after all while he was sure plenty of the girls would take a while to get here, there were two that he knew he close already, far too close.

Futaba and Tae.

He grabbed his jacket swiftly, knowing that if he would have to face someone first it would end up being one of those two. Ideas were forming in his head, but they all came to the same end.

He had to face them all, he knew. That was the only way he could do this properly. It wouldn't be easy of course, and so far he had no idea about what he would even say to them but hearing what each one of them had to tell him was the least he could do, even if he was feeling a lot more apprehensive about it than what he was used to by now when thinking of them.

He moved to follow Morgana downstairs, knowing that if he left right now he could catch Tae at her clinic before she got here. Then he would come back and talk properly to Futaba. It wasn't the best of the ideas he ever had, but it was the best he could come up to in such a short notice.

It was at least a start too, and a lot better than just ignoring them in his opinion.

He was more than ready to go down, but something caught his gaze from the corner of his eyes, something that made him smile softly. While almost one year ago it had been nothing but an empty, dusty shelf, now that place was filled to the brim with little trinkets that he had gotten over the months living under this roof.

And maybe for some they were just that, trinkets and small gifts that had no real worth, but for him they were so much more. From Hifumi's Knight piece and Ann's fountain to Futaba's hero figure and Haru's giant spatula, all of the objects there told him that one way or another, he hadn't spent the whole year alone as he thought he would the first time he had set a foot inside LeBlanc.

And for that he could only be thankful to all of them.

Yes, he would face them all properly, not only because it was the right thing to do in his book, but also because they deserved it.

Then again, in his head they deserved so much more.

P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5

Alright, now he was more than sure that Yaldabaoth had somehow cursed him before dying and was laughing at his despair from wherever gods went after dying.

He should have known that his plan just wouldn't work, but even so how was he supposed to take something like this into account, or rather, her.

The only thing he was able to do was to stare, his grey orbs fixed at a pair of golden ones that were watching him with intensity, a gentle smile present on her lips just as she lowered the black cat that she had been holding on her arms, who almost looked like he was pouting at the sudden lost of contact.

He followed her with his eyes as she moved closer to him, inch by inch, while the big book she always carried with her now resting on one of the tables, right besides Morgana.

Her smile grew a bit wider with each step she gave right until she was in front of him, her lower stature forcing him to look down, but even so he wasn't able to stop himself from smiling back at her, for even if her presence was a bit problematic right now, there was no way he could ignore her, not after everything they had gone together.

He truly owed her his life after all.

"Hello, my dear Trickster" she said in the sweet tone that he had come to relate to her every since they had met, her golden eyes shining with nothing but happiness as they looked up to the her guest, the man that, just as a part of her had foretold, had saved the souls of mankind.

"Lavenza…" he whispered her name, not understanding how she had even gotten here, and while used to her presence, he also didn't know just what to do in a situation like this. He might be in a hurry, but he simply wasn't able to ignore the golden-haired girl in front of him.

Then again, if he had been just surprised by her being here before, then he went into shocked mode by her next actions.

She suddenly hugged him as tightly as she could, her arms encircling his waist just as the left side of her face came to be pressed into his mid-section, her eyes closed and nothing but a content expression present on her face.

And for a few seconds Akira was simply left not knowing what to do once again, definitely not used to such an open show of affection. Heck, even Morgana looked more than a bit surprised from his position, but just as the surprise slowly left him he moved his arms, with one hand ending on top of her head while the other in her back, doing his best to reciprocate the gesture.

And if the content sigh that left her lips soon after that wasn't prove enough that he had done good then he didn't know what else would be.

And it was in moments like this that Lavenza finally understood one thing. Years ago she had wondered about her older sister's actions, after all deciding to abandon the Velvet Room and their Master just for one single human, guest or not, had been something simply absurd and unthinkable at that moment.

But now? Now that just seeing him smiling at her had been enough to make her want to do something just to show him how happy she was with him? Now Lavenza understood just why one of her older sisters had abandoned everything just for one person, while the other didn't even try to hide just how fond she was of her own guest.

Some people simply became that precious to you, as simple as that, and it was something that Lavenza could finally understand now. Her only true regret was not being able to spend that much time with her Trickster in her true form, but the memories she had obtained through Caroline and Justine were something that she would treasure for all eternity.

She just hoped she would be able to make so many more in the future.

Sadly such moments were bound to end sooner or later, even if the sudden sound of a bell, result of the main door of Leblanc being opened, did little to stop Lavenza from continuing her hug.

What it did do though, was to send a wave of nervousness right through Akira, whose gaze then moved slowly from the petit frame of Lavenza to the door with a smile frozen in place that hid just how utterly not ready he was for what was about to come.

"What…?" his grey eyes first met the ones of Sojiro Sakura, who was looking at the whole scene with no small amount of surprise if the raised eyebrow he was sporting was indication of anything. It wasn't him that had him worried though, it was the one right beside him that was affecting him.

His eyes moved slowly once more, only that this time lower from Sojiro's eyes, right into the mauve eyes of the orange-haired member of the Phantom Thieves, for some known as Oracle, for others even Medjed at one point, but for most she was simply known as Futaba Sakura.

And while looking at her normally filled Akira with nothing but pride for how far the girl had gone every since they met, alongside strong feelings of protectiveness, now his gaze held nothing but worry, both because of the conversation he knew they would be having, and because he didn't know how she would take the sight in front of her.

At least she hadn't screamed or anything, not that he expected such from her anyway, nut you never knew and this still was unheard territory for him. She simply stood there almost frozen in place, her eyes behind her glasses as wide as they could be, with even her mouth hanging open.

He would have told her that she would catch flies like that in any other moment, but even he knew when it wasn't the time to make jokes.

"Hey, who's your friend there?" it was Sojiro the one that spoke with a frown of puzzlement, not remembering every seeing his charge with a girl like that. His gaze went from the duo back to his daughter in all but blood, knowing how such a sight of two people hugging could create unnecessary assumptions in a situation like this.

"She's a…friend?" not knowing what else to say, the Wild Card answered, then sensing how Lavenza was moving in his grasp, forcing him to look down at her once more.

Turns out she was now looking up at him, her golden eyes meeting his own gaze only that instead of a smile there was now a frown in her face, almost looking like a pout in his opinion.

His eyes caught Futaba once more though, for it looked like the girl's brain had finally done rebooting itself. She was now trying to say something, or at least that's how it looked in his eyes, although the only thing that escaped her mouth was some sort of weird combination between a squeak and a choking sound that he had never heard before.

And just like that, Plan A had burned to the ground before it even had the time to start, and Joker just knew that it would only get harder from here on.

Time for Plan B it seemed; now he only needed to think of one.

"Wait, what am I missing here?" and then there was Morgana.

Ignorance was truly bliss, wasn't it?

P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5P5

Longer than the previous one but shorter that the other two, I know, however if I want to be able to give each girl enough time with their individuals chapter then I'll have to either make Present chapters short like this one or put a lot more moments between Joker and the girls between said chapters.

And this chapter ended up being mostly about Joker's mentality regarding the problem, alongside his first contact with a couple of the girls.

Next chapters I will probably either continue with the party members in the order I've followed so far (meaning Futaba and then Haru) or do Futaba and change things up a bit and moving Haru for later (I don't want to do that to the cinnamon bun though)

Once again thank you for reading this far, alongside the favs/follows and specially those reviews. Glad to know you are all enjoying the idea.

Next Chapter: Hermit