"Good grief. The second you left, you come back with a whole new commotion. Just what exactly happened this time?" Sojiro pinched the bridges of nose as his charge looked at him sheepishly. He looked like a mess when he came back, his clothes wet and splattered with concrete dirt until he changed his clothes.

"Well, there were two girls that were running on the sidewalk. I believe they might have had a fight or something. They ran into the red light and there was a truck coming so I had no choice but to grab one of them out of the way." The explanation was short, but still in full detail. Considering that the kid had already risked his future saving someone, he probably shouldn't be surprised this happened.

Sojiro sighed, if Futaba was already a handful, his charge was going to be the death of him, or at the very least, give him more grey hairs, "Fine. Just don't do it again. You nearly lost your life there."

The damn kid apparently still had the audacity to look amused even after nearly giving him a heart attack.

(It's because there was no way Akira was going to die by a car accident. He'd taken hits much worse than that.)

The ringing of the doorbell caught the two men's attention, turning their heads towards the entrance of the cafe. Akira's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the newcomers.

"Ah, you're..."

It was the same two girls he encountered earlier. Like Akira, they have already cleaned themselves from the near accident earlier with a change of clothes. The redhead looked especially nervous and guilty, looking at everywhere but him, while the brunette seemed to be the same way, but less nervous.

At the center of two girl is a bespectacled, middle-aged man with short black hair and gray glasses.

"Excuse me, are you the one who saved my daughters?" The man asked politely.

"Yeah, it's him, Dad." The brunette confirmed, taking a closer look at Akira.

The father of the girls nodded at his daughter before turning back to Akira, bowing, "My name is Yoshizawa Shinichi. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving Kasumi and Sumire. There are no words on how I could possibly describe my gratitude!"

"Please raise your head, Yoshizawa-san." Akira told him, "It was just a spur of a moment."

"How'd they know where to find you?" Sojiro whispered.

"I told them the address."

Shinichi raised his head, "Still... It doesn't change the fact that you saved their lives. Please, have this."

The man took out what seemed to be a business card and handed it to Akira. At first, it didn't click to him until a few seconds later that he finally recognized the company of the card.

"'Good Morning Japan'? You're the director of the talk show?" Akira asked, slightly surprised by the man's occupation.

Shinichi nodded, "Indeed. Please call me if you're interested in watching some of our shows in the backstage or even work in the TV crew."

Akira nodded in affirmation. Putting away the card in his pocket. The redhead, who had been silent the whole time, finally looked at him in the eyes. From her expression right now, it was obvious that she's really taking this hard.

"Um... M-My name is Yoshizawa Sumire and..." The bespectacled girl, who introduced herself as Sumire, bowed deeply, much like her father did earlier, "I-I'm so sorry! Y... You and Kasumi nearly died because of me. I-I..."

Akira waved his hands, "Please, there's no need for apologies, Yoshizawa-san."

Sumire looked like she wanted to say more but refrained, biting her lower lip as she reluctantly raised her head as the father looked at the teenage boy with a smile.

"You are too humble..." Shinichi widened his eyes when he realized something, "My apologies, I have forgotten to ask for your name."

"Kurusu Akira, Monsieur." Akira bowed in late greeting. However, instead of the customary Japanese bow, the teen bent his upper body with his hand on his chest, surprising the Yoshizawas.

The male Yoshizawa was the first one to snap out of his surprise before proceeding to ask, "If I may ask, Kurusu-kun. Are you perhaps a foreigner?"

Akira seemed to have realized what he did and quickly straightened up, coughing in embarrassment, "A-Apologies. To answer your question, I am half-Japanese."

It was difficult sticking to the Japanese customs when some of his friends, and all but two of the Servants, are foreigners, with his own Servant being French and the women that he usually hangs out with are from Germany. There is also the fact that he goes to France a few times every year to visit his aunt. He had developed several habits because of her, and his Servant is not helping.

(And his previous school, Homurahara Academy, was actually filled with quite a few "weirdos" like himself, that also includes the teachers. Everyone was so used to the eccentricity, especially a certain tiger-hating teacher that no one even bothered to call him out of his foreign mannerisms.)

Speaking of his Servant, Assassin went back to wandering Tokyo after he helped Akira calm the Yoshizawa sisters who were in shock at the time. Strolling the city was something they both usually do back in Fuyuki whenever they get bored sitting in the same place for too long. Unfortunately, due to his probation, his freedom has become quite limited and he can't go with him as much as usual. Sojiro doesn't even know his existence yet.

The owner of the cafe laughed at Akira's habitual greeting, "You should probably relearn Japanese customs if you don't want to look weird."

Akira dramatically gasped, gripping his chest like he's having a heart attack, "Comment peux-tu!?"

"I don't speak French so I have no idea what you just said. Anyway..." Sojiro stroked his beard as he turned his attention back to the Yoshizawas, who were watching Akira incredulously, "Since you came all the way here, why don't you take a seat?"

Shinichi's eyes widened in surprise and nervously waved his hands, "Ah, we couldn't possibly impose...!"

Sojiro chuckled, "Please, I insist. Anyone who comes here is a customer, after all." He turned to Akira, "Hey, help me out."

The father, though reluctant out of politeness, finally relented as he and his two daughters took their seats by the counter while the cafe owner and his charge went to the kitchen.

Now that the serious talk was finally done, the twins, more notably Kasumi, took their time to take in more of the scenery of the cafe. However, Sumire seemed to be stuck in her own thoughts, still maintaining her gaze at the wooden floor.

"This place looks so homey, don't you agree, Sumire?" Kasumi asked her sister.

That seemed to snap the younger twin out of it, "Huh? O-Oh, yeah..."

The older twin looked surprised for a moment before reluctantly turning her attention back to the homey atmosphere of Leblanc. Ever since the accident, Sumire had barely talked to her at all.

"You'll never understand how I feel."

It seems that a rift had been created between them.

Sumire couldn't relax at all as the guilt was still eating her alive. She was so, so stupid. Because of her, Kasumi and Kurusu-san nearly died. Because of her envy, Kasumi would have never reach her dream.

She knew it. She should have died back there. After all, Kasumi is the one that people want. Unlike Sumire, Kasumi was the talented one who can reach the top of the world. Sumire was only a hindrance to everyone. It's not like anyone will actually remember her once she's dead and Kasumi will be able to move on to her dream without her inferior younger sister that was just taking space in her life.

"I should have just—"

"Here's for you, Yoshizawa-san."

Sumire gave away a violent flinch once she was yanked out of her suicidal thoughts. She looked up to see Kurusu-san smiling at her warmly as he passed a plate of curry and coffee in front of her family.

(Akira noticed the obvious distance between the twins. Especially with one of them obviously holding immense guilt and nervousness towards her other twin, not helping with the fact that she nearly got her killed. He did not want her to feel any more guilty than she already was.)

"I hope the curry and coffee are to your liking, Madame." Akira bowed the same way as he did before, causing Sumire to flush at his suave mannerisms, completely distracted from her depressing mind, while Kasumi and their father looked amused.

"Hey, kid. What did I tell you about acting like a butler?" Sojiro looked like he was used to this.

"Well, one of my friends back in Paris thought it'd be funny to get a part-time job as one. And by that, I mean getting experience from a butler of the world's most elegant hyenas." For a moment, Akira thought about how many of the mannerisms he learned in France was mostly stuck to him rather than his own birth country.

"... Yeah, it's thanks to Assassin."

Somewhere in the middle of Tokyo, Assassin in his disguise suddenly felt a strange urge to sneeze. Strange as Servants cannot get sick.

"By the way, it's on the house." Sojiro told the Yoshizawas with a smile.

The father of the twins gaped for a moment before finally giving away a sigh of defeat, "You"re too kind... By the way, are you Kurusu-kun's father?"

Sojiro looked surprised before shaking his head, "Ah... no, not at all. I'm just his guardian. He'd just moved here in Tokyo."

Shinchi and the twins looked curious, "Oh, I see. Does that mean he's transferring to a new school here?"

Akira nodded in affirmation, "Yes. I'm going to Shujin Academy."

To Akira's confusion, the Yoshizawa looked even more surprised than before.

"That's... What a coincidence! My daughters are also transferring there as well." Said Shinichi.

"Um, if I may ask, Kurusu-san, what year are you now?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"I'm going to be a second-year."

The brunette 'oh'-ed and turned back to her younger sister, "Sumire, isn't that great? He'll be our Senpai!"

The redhead, having momentarily forgotten her earlier guilt thanks to Akira, meekly nodded with a timid smile, "Y-Yeah. I g-guess that means we should be calling you Senpai now."

The half-Japanese teen gave her a charming smile that made poor Sumire's heart skip a beat "If that is what you wish to call me, Mademoiselle."

As expected, Sumire sputtered with her face flushed red while Kasumi laughed at them (which caused poor Sumire to be even more flustered) as the other two adults watched in amusement.

"Hm, this is certainly going to be another interesting year."

Akira began wiping the glass as Kasumi continued to tease poor Sumire, his own thoughts completely unknown to all except for his Servant.

Comment peux-tu!? = How could you!?

Madame = Madam

Mademoiselle = Miss/Ms.

I suck at writing long conversations.

Also, to those that didn't know and might ask, Sumire is very easy to read and her guilt is practically on her face. Akira kept making her flustered in order to distract her from her obvious depressing thoughts.

As for Kasumi, I'm not sure how to write her yet. I don't have the money to buy more videos games so I never played Royal, only watched clips of it on YT. But from what I know about her, she was completely oblivious about what Sumire was feeling and even joked about it before her death.

I'm actually considering Kasumi to be somewhat part of the PT, if not just be a Persona-user that occasionally helps them, but I'm still not sure about this idea. What do you think Kasumi's Persona would be if she DID become a Persona-user?

Reviews are greatly appreciated!