When Akira woke up he thanked the gods that it was a Saturday, and he only had to attend a half-day at school. He was exhausted. He ate his coffee and curry while Sojiro gave him a look.
"You look pretty damn tired." Sojiro said.
"Yeah." Akira said.
"Get through school and make sure you get good rest. Whatever the hell you're doing besides sleeping can wait." Sojiro said.
Akira blinked. This situation felt surreal, and the fact that he was so tired didn't help. It felt like a dream.
"You worried about me?" Akira said, tilting his head.
"Yeah. Worried about you getting expelled. It'd make me look bad. You should be worried about that too." Sojiro said.
Akira walked to the train with a fair amount of confidence. Ann managed to meet up with him there.
"Let me guess.. you didn't get much sleep either?" Ann said.
"Not really. I uh...got dressed last night." Akira said.
"Ah. I gotcha. That's exciting. Good for you." Ann said, patting him on the shoulder.
"Thanks for the support. You free tonight?" Akira asked.
"Of course. We're going to do what we've been doing. We can't slow down." Ann said.
"If we don't slow down then we'll die. We need to take a rest. Think things over." Akira said.
"Fine. But we have to do something soon. We haven't even located the treasure yet." Ann said.
"Don't worry. We'll figure it out." Akira said.
With that, they continued their commute to school.
Apparently, the fact that Akira and Ann both showed up to school looking like zombies didn't do much to quell the rumors that they were in a realtionship. Or to put it more bluntly, a sexual realtionship.
In between class, Kawakami once again approached Akira.
"Those rumors...you and Ann haven't been up to something to get yourselves in trouble have you?" Kawakami asked.
"No. Those rumors...none of them are true. Besides I only have eyes for you." Akira said.'It wasn't his best deflection, but he was tired.
"Cute. Just...stay out of trouble ok? There's nothing I can do if the students turn on you completely and start bullying you." Kawakami said.
"I wager that'll happen to me sooner than later. But I'll take your advice on board." Akira said.
"Sooner or later? Why's that?" Kawakami asked.
"It's nothing. I got bad sleep last night. That's all. See you . I think both of us should be going." Akira said.
She didn't say anything more to him, but he was fairly sure he hadn't convinced her. He was off his game today. He needed more sleep.
Akira was going home when Ann approached him.
"You want to go somewhere. Talk?" Ann said.
'
"Yeah. Of course." Akira said.
Ann and Akira made their way to a secluded booth of a lonely cafe. The place was pretty much empty.
"This place is a perfect getaway huh?" Akira said.
"Yeah. It makes me pretty happy. Apparently this place is super busy on weeknights and in the late evening. But on weekend afternoons it's perfectly quiet." Ann said.
The food there was delicious, the coffee was too, even if less so then Sojiro's. Sojiro's own was the drip of the gods, so that didn't seem quite fair.
"So...what did you call me here to talk about?" Akira said, after he had almost completely finished his plate and was halfway done with his cup of coffee.
"Well...I thought that we should be completely honest with each other. Not try and hide things." Ann said.
"I'm not hiding anything." Akira said.
"Oh no...I didn't mean. I just wanted to...you know, talk about some...god I suck at this. Sorry I'm really, really tired." Ann said.
"Don't worry. I understand. Probably a dick move of me to say that. We're both a bit off our rhythm." Akira said.
"Y-yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you something, and you...you can't tell anyone about this right? I mean...not that I think you would it's just...difficult for me. And it seems so easy for you." Ann said.
"Trust me, nothing is easy for me. Anything you want to remain between us will be between us and us alone." Akira said.
"Thank you." Ann said. It was quiet for a long moment. Several false starts and stops.
"I like girls." Ann said at last. There was a beat which to Ann lasted an eternity as Akira calmly drank a bit more of his coffee.
"Is that all? Ann, dear, this to me was pretty obvious. I wasn't entirely sure, but I was pretty sure, if you understand. And of course, it doesn't matter to me. I'm just glad that you are willing to share it with me." Akira said. Ann breathed a sigh of relief.
"W-wow...that was the first time I said it out loud. You really think it was that obvious?" Ann said.
"Yes. I've seen you checking out girls Ann. And I've seen no evidence of you being interested in guys. Nothing conclusive of course but..." Akira said.
"Pretty obvious anyway." Ann said.
"Not a bad thing, you wear your heart on your sleeve Ann. That's no weakness." Akira said.
"I suppose you would know...liking guys as well as girls." Ann said.
"Huh. You figured out I was bi." I said.
"Yeah. I mean...you sure seem to be into Kawakami and the way you talked about the woman from the store. It seemed like it." Ann said.
"Well, that's all on the table. You want to talk about anything else?" Akira asked.
"Yes. The two of us...we need to look out for each other. If people find out about...any of it, it won't be good for us. So you and me...we have to stick together and take on the world. Change it. Make it better." Ann said.
"It's a deal." Akira said, giving her a kiss on the hand.
I am Thou
Thou Art I
Thou has acquired a new vow. It shall become the wings of rebellion that breakth thy chains of captivity. With the birth of the Lovers Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that will lead to freedom and new power.
"Woah. Did you...feel that?" Ann said.
"Yes. I believe I did." Akira said. The air around them felt electric. Something significant had happened.
"What...do you think it means?" Ann said.
"I believe we've made a contract. The only question is which of us is the witch and which the demon?" Akira said.
"I dunno. Only thing I know is, we'd look dead sexy in either of those costumes." Ann said. Akira laughed, probably the most since he'd arrived in the city.
"True, true." Akira said.
"I hope this doesn't...change anything between us, you know?" Ann said.
"My dear Ann, of course it does. Now we get to talk about girls. Things are way better now." Akira said. It was Ann's turn to laugh.
"Yeah. I guess so." Ann said.
The rest of the day passed by uneventfully.
