The New Regulars
Summary: Sojiro Sakura thought that the weirdest was behind him: Wakaba's cognitive psience research, mental shutdowns, and Shibuya turning into a literal hellscape are all par for the course when you're the probation officer for the leader of the Phantom Thieves. But these new friends of Ren's are something else entirely, and Sojiro may not be prepared for that.
Chapter 7: Coffee of Champions
Fire shot through Ryuji Sakamoto's chest, each breath a laborious effort. Ignoring the pain, Ryuji willed his legs to keep moving, his heart pounding in tandem with his calves. He darted around a straggling pedestrian, careful not to get in someone else's way. Running through the streets may have been crowded, but it beat treadmill running by a long shot. And since he'd declined to rejoin the track team, Shujin Academy wasn't exactly an ideal place to practice running.
The day was getting hotter, and the purple hoodie was starting to get uncomfortable. Sweat drenched the gym uniform underneath it. Ryuji's panting intensified, but he pressed forward, his destination nearly at hand.
One hundred yards.
Fifty yards.
Thirty.
Twenty.
Ten.
"And time!" Sojiro called as Ryuji collapsed into a victorious heap on the threshold of Leblanc. He was answered by gasps and wheezes from the ground.
"How'd I do?" Ryuji finally choked out.
"23:45, not bad Ryuji!"
"I can do better," Ryuji said, picking himself up.
"Whoa there, kid, you're a track runner. Cross country's something else entirely," Sojiro cautioned. "23:45 is a perfectly respectable time for a 5k. Cut yourself some slack."
"You're right," Ryuji sighed. "I just...gotta prove to myself that I'm better than I was."
"Before all that stuff with Kamoshida, you mean?"
"Yeah," Ryuji had gotten quiet, and that was never a good sign. "Don't tell Ren this, but...now that he's gone, I'm kinda struggling with what to do with myself."
"You and me both, kid," Sojiro said. "Come on, let's get some nutrients in you."
The prospect of curry cheered Ryuji up a little bit. He wasn't quite as animated as he normally was as he ate and chatted with Sojiro, but at least he wasn't totally silent.
The doorbell jingled, signaling a new customer.
"G'morning," Sojiro said. "What'll it be?"
"Just a black coffee please," the young man said. Sojiro had never seen him before. He'd grown used to new faces being new acquaintances of Ren's, but this guy looked completely normal. Granted, he was wearing a bright pink track suit, but in all fairness, Ryuji's purple one was almost as eye-catching.
"You a runner?" Sojiro asked. "This guy here's one of the best I know," he said, jerking his thumb at Ryuji.
"Oh, not exactly," the new customer said. "But running is one part of my training."
"Ooh, what kind of training?" Ryuji asked.
"I'm a boxer," the newcomer said. "My coach pushes me pretty hard."
"Huh, wouldn't have expected that," Ryuji said. "You're a bit on the small side."
He'd hit a nerve.
"I've taken out guys three weight classes above you," he shot back.
"Hey, I'm no slouch either! You wanna go right now?!"
"Calm down, Ryuji," Sojiro said. "I can't have you getting into fights with my clientele."
"Alright, fine, I'm sorry," Ryuji mumbled.
"So what brings you in?" Sojiro said. "Hear about us in that magazine?"
"No, a friend recommended it."
"His name's not Ren, is it?" Sojiro chuckled.
"Actually, yeah."
"You know, it's kind of refreshing to have one of his friends be so..."
"Down-to-earth?"
"Yeah."
"Trust me, I know."
"Wait," Ryuji piped up. "So you're one of his friends from...you know what?! For real?!"
"Oh, so you know about it," the stranger said. "I should have known. And I should have introduced myself! I'm Little Mac. Or just Mac if you want."
"Oh! That's where I know you from!" Ryuji said. "You're the dude from Punch Ouch!"
"Er, what's Punch Ouch?" Sojiro asked.
"It's a really cool retro video game! Ren used to play it a bunch when he lived here," Ryuji explained.
"I think you're confusing me with someone else," Mac said.
"You sure?" Ryuji asked. "You're the underdog, fighting his way to the top of the rankings!"
"Well you got that right at least," Mac said, shrugging. "I wasn't kidding about taking down guys way above my weight class. I mean guys like King Hippo and Bald Bull."
"Yeah, no idea who those are," Ryuji conceded. "But I bet it's pretty similar!"
"Couldn't tell you, I've never played my game, I just live in it," Mac pointed out.
"Aw man, now I wish Ren had kept his old console around here," Ryuji said. "That'd be effin' awesome!"
"Wait, how old are you, Mac?" Sojiro asked. "You seem a bit young to be a boxer."
"Seventeen, standing in at 4'11'' and weighing in at 107 lbs." Mac said, with more pride than Sojiro had expected, given Mac's reaction to Ryuji pointing out his height.
"How is this allowed?" was all that Sojiro could bring himself to say.
"It wasn't easy," Mac said. "For the longest time, no trainer wanted to take me on."
"That's not really what I was talking about, but whatever," Sojiro said. Mac and Ryuji seemed not have heard him, as they were continuing the conversation.
"I know what that's like," Ryuji said. "For everyone to write you off without a second look. Pisses me off!"
"Yeah!" Mac agreed. "I wasn't gonna let that be the end of me! No way no how was I giving up! I got mad. And finally, somebody liked that about me. Taught me everything he knew, and stood in my corner."
"Had plenty of guys like that," Ryuji said. "Ren was one of them."
"Figures," Mac said, grinning. "Soon enough, I was ready to take on the world."
"Woah," Ryuji said, the story resonating with him. "So you had a bunch of failures at first, right?"
"No...not really," Mac said. "Glass Joe went down in less than a minute."
"That's kinda anticlimactic," Ryuji said, disappointed.
"Oh don't get me wrong, he was a wimp, but I had plenty of tougher fights after that," Mac said. Ryuji lit up as Mac regaled him with stories of taking down national stereotypes with weird names like Von Kaiser, Don Flamenco and Bear Hugger.
"Wow, I can't believe they let you fight guys three times your size!" Ryuji said in awe.
"You think that's crazy, wait until you hear about the time I fought a gorilla!" Mac bragged.
"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Donkey Kong, would you?" Sojiro asked, looking over from the kitchenette.
"Oh you know him?" Mac asked.
Sojiro looked like he needed to sit down.
"So anyway, I had defended my title against everyone I'd already fought, some of whom were using very illegal strategies to try to get the drop on me-"
"Okay I hate to break up a good story, but coffee's ready," Sojiro chuckled as he set down two freshly brewed cups.
"Oh yeah! That's the real reason I came by!" Mac said, eagerly picking up the cup and taking a sip.
"Seems Ren has told everyone and their brother about this place," Sojiro said proudly as he dried some dishes.
"You're not wrong," Mac said, savoring the acidity and subtle flavors of the blend Sojiro had picked for him. "Ren told me that this coffee came in handy during his escapades. Said it helped the Phantom Thieves keep going."
"True that!" Ryuji said. "It saved our bacon more than once!"
"My coffee?" Sojiro asked. "I never heard anything about that."
"Oh yeah," Ryuji said. "It gave us a kick in the ass when we needed it. Morgana called it "SP." It was...well, kind of like fuel for our Personas."
"Right," Mac said "And when I heard that, I wondered whether it might help me recover Heart Points."
"And Heart Points are...?" Sojiro asked apprehensively.
"Well, they're kind of just stamina," Mac said. "That's really all there is to it. If one of my opponents blocks one of my punches, I lose some stamina. And if I take a punch, I lose stamina and health. And if I lose all my Heart Points, I can't fight. And if I can't fight, I'm stuck dodging until I get my energy back."
"That's no way to win a boxing match," Sojiro agreed. "So what's the verdict? Do you think it'll do the job?"
Mac's answer was to take another sip.
"Well if it doesn't, it was still worth the trip for coffee this good," Mac said. Sojiro liked that answer.
"So tell me about you, Ryuji," Mac said. "You're a runner? You run for your high school team?"
"That's not a happy topic," Ryuji said. "I did. Until I didn't. And then things got really bad for a while."
"Oh, I think I see where this is going," Mac said. "That's what you meant when you were talking about being written off."
"Basically. And it was all some stupid jerk named Kamoshida's fault. But then Ren showed up, and we stole that bastard's heart!"
"Right, Ren gave me the CliffNotes version," Mac said.
"I kinda don't feel like going into much more detail than that," Ryuji said sheepishly. "I'm not great at talking about stuff like that."
"It's cool," Mac said. "You don't have to explain your baggage to me. But you know something, Ryuji? You've got a fighter's spirit. I can see it in you. You'll never give up or compromise. It's a good trait to have for someone who wants to push themselves."
"Well thanks man!" Ryuji said. "Means a lot coming from the star of Punch Ouch!"
Mac laughed, and Sojiro remained a bit confused. They were interrupted by the sound of a bike's bell passing by.
"Whoa, that's my cue to get going!" Mac said. He laced up his shoes, stretched, and took off out the door. Ryuji stared after him for a moment, then after a second's deliberation, ran after him.
"Hey wait up!" Ryuji called. He picked up speed, catching up with Mac, who was running after the bike, which was being pedaled by an older black man in a red sweatsuit.
"What are you doing here?" Mac asked.
"I gotta keep training!" Ryuji said. "I gotta keep getting better than I was, and I think I've got enough in me for one more run today!"
Mac grinned and flashed a thumbs-up.
"Alright Mac, baby, no quittin' now!" The man on the bike called.
"You got it, Doc!" Mac shouted back. The bike sped up and Mac followed suit.
"That goes for you too, Ryuji! C'mon baby!" Doc Louis said, taking a bite out of a chocolate bar. Ryuji whooped triumphantly and raced after, treasuring everything
from the feeling of the wind in his hair, the smells of the neighborhood, and even the pain in his exhausted body.
"No pain, no gain!" Ryuji said to himself. For the first time in forever, Ryuji was glad that he was running.
Back in Leblanc, Sojiro sighed in disappointment.
"The one time I think somebody might have local currency and they dine and dash," he muttered.
Author's Notes: Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I'd be surprised if anyone saw this coming, but then again, some people have been pretty spot-on before. Which reminds me, I'd like to reiterate that I do enjoy reading all your responses to this story, but I'd like to ask that everybody refrain from making requests. I already have the entire story planned out, and have since Chapter 1. Some of you may not like the ideas that I use instead of your own, but I'd encourage you to write those ideas yourself! I think the Smash fanfic community could use more stories that focus on unlikely character interaction. And hey, if you do write your own story, let me know and I'll check it out!