August 10th.
Operation 'Get to Know Futaba' began. Even though Futaba was making steady improvements, the group still needed to communicate with her properly and that was difficult when she barely talked to them. So Makoto, Ren, Yusuke, and Morgana were in her room, planning to spend the day with her so she would open up to them. When they arrived, Futaba was ready for them…and had a large mask on her head. "….What is that thing?" Makoto asked.
"Don't worry about it." Futaba replied.
"Such avant garde design. You have excellent taste." Of course Yusuke was the one who liked the strange mask.
Futaba spun around in her chair, a presumably proud grin on her face. It was hard to see since her entire head was covered. "Mwhehehe…!"
"S-So…let's get started, shall we?" Makoto began.
"This should be worthwhile." Ren was curious to see how this would turn out. Eventually, Futaba did take off the mask.
"I've prepared numerous conversation topics for today." Makoto said. "I'd just like to simply have a normal conversation. That is the basis of communication after all."
"Do you think that'll work?" Morgana asked.
"Of course, I'm sure it will." Makoto nodded.
Yusuke was over in the corner, his long body hiding whatever it was he was fiddling with. "What do you mean by ordinary topics anyway?"
"Oh, you know. Stuff like food and the weather." Makoto brushed her hair back and began. "So, Futaba. What kind of food do you like to eat?"
"Organic ones." Futaba replied.
Strike one. This was feeling oddly familiar. "Um. That wasn't exactly what I meant…" Makoto cleared her throat to try again. "L-Let's try a different topic! How about the weather? I heard it's a nice day outside…!"
"Dunno. Haven't been out." Futaba replied.
"You should've seen that one coming." Ren pointed out. Makoto sighed realizing he was right.
"She's getting overwhelmed…" Morgana said.
Makoto had a whole plan. While she did not envision things going smoothly, she at least had hopes she didn't hit a wall two questions in. "I-I don't understand…it wasn't supposed to go like this…" Her plan crumbled. Her attention then shifted to Yusuke, who was preoccupied this entire time. "Yusuke…what have you been doing this whole time?"
Yusuke moved his body to reveal his work. He rearranged Futaba's Featherman collection, the body parts of various rangers all mismatched. "Some of the heads fell off while I was moving them. But I think this turned out just fine."
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Futaba let out a horrified shout that almost bordered a sob. Her arms trembled as she weakly approached her ruined Feathermen. "W-What did you do…to my children…!?"
"They're quite shoddily made." Yusuke replied.
"You ruined them…!" Futaba cried out, and then glared at Yusuke. "You have no sense of aesthetic, you stupid Inari! You wouldn't know it if it slapped you in the face!"
"What?!" Yusuke's eyes widened. "How could you say that to me!? Of all people!?" And from this point on, the conversation spiraled downward into a full blown argument.
"Well…that went downhill fast." Morgana sighed. But eventually the two of them calmed down, Futaba fixed her Feathermen figures, and went on to explain the versatility of them. This did make one important thing clear: Futaba could be very talkative, just like Boss told them, when the topic pertained something that was to her interest. Forcing her to talk about certain topics did not yield such results and Makoto was now taking note of this.
"I see…so she doesn't mind talking when it's about something she likes. I suppose I can't blame her there." Makoto said. "I've left tomorrow to Ann, Hifumi, and Ryuji."
"…Based on how today went, there's really no telling how tomorrow will go." Morgana sighed.
.
.
August 11th.
The next day in Futaba's training. She, Ren, and Morgana sat in Leblanc, waiting for Ann, Hifumi, and Ryuji to arrive. "You seem surprisingly calm." Morgana said.
"There are no customers. It feels easy so far." Futaba replied. At the very least she was feeling a bit more comfortable around them, so this was an improvement.
The door to the store opened. "Yooo!" Ryuji called out.
"We're here!" Ann said.
"Hello, good morning." Hifumi said curtly.
"Eeep!" And then Futaba fled to the back.
Hifumi set a few bags on the counter, letting out a silent exhale. "Apologies for the delay. We were shopping and Ann wanted to get…a lot of snacks."
"Seriously, you're gonna get fat." Ryuji told Ann.
Ann, of course, did not take kindly to that. So she liked to eat snacks a lot! So what!? "Shut it." She scoffed at Ryuji.
"So many snacks…what do you plan on doing?" Morgana asked.
"Well, summer vacation is the time you loud around in your room all day." Ryuji said.
"…I think that's just you." Ren said. It didn't feel like spent a moment in his room to be lazy since summer vacation started.
Hifumi glanced around the empty store, searching for Futaba. "Where is Futaba?"
"You have done well in coming here." Futaba stepped forward, wearing her mask.
"Eep!" Hifumi jumped.
"Whoa…!" Ryuji was also startled. "Shit freaked me out…that you, Futaba!?"
"Yup." Futaba nodded.
"I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest…" Hifumi let out a soft sigh.
"Why are you wearing that…?" Ann asked.
"Habit. Anyway! Bring it on!" Futaba pumped her fists.
"…I'm not sure I get it, but let's do it!" Ryuji was excited to get going. So they all went upstairs to Ren's room and piled the snacks on the table. Ryuji was the first one to speak and tell a story, quite excitedly at that. "For real, it was freakin' amazing! Girls were all over me! …Wait, you don't believe a word I'm sayin' do you?"
"Uh, it's you we're talking about." Ann shook her head. "There's no way you were ever a chick magnet."
"What was that!?" Ryuji asked.
"I agree. As a member of the opposite sex, I sense no charm from you, Ryuji." Futaba replied honestly.
Ryuji's eyes then went to Hifumi, hoping she would at least be on his side. "….Those puppy dog eyes won't get me to answer."
"She's totally abiding by the 'if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all'!" Futaba snickered.
"Besides, there's no way popular guys would brag about that stuff." Morgana rolled his eyes.
"If it means anything, I'll believe you, Ryuji." Ren said.
"I can always count on you…." Ryuji was glad someone believed him!
The topic then somehow shifted over to wedding dresses. Ann leaned forward, letting out a small sigh. "I keep thinking if I should do it while I'm still young. But the dresses show a lot of skin, you know?"
"Why are we even talking about this?" Ryuji groaned. "None of us have significant others anyway!"
"Yeah, I don't plan on getting married anytime soon." Futaba replied.
"My mother won't even allow me to date anyone." Hifumi leaned back into her seat. "So I can't say I've thought about the idea of marriage when I can't even be romantic with anyone I like." She said that, yet she also couldn't help but think about how Mika was probably definitely going to kiss her the other day. She didn't tell her mother about that, but she did wonder her reaction….and then her mind wandered elsewhere. Now her eyes were just swirls as she overclocked her own brain on these thoughts. Luckily no one noticed.
"Can we please talk about something else!?" Morgana whined.
"Aw, but I didn't get to say my piece…" Ren faked a frown.
"Y'know, Futaba's fine havin' conversations." Ryuji surmised. She didn't have any issues taking part in talking today.
"Yeah! She says what's on her mind with no problem." Ann smiled. "Seems totally normal to me."
"I dunno what normal is, but if this is it, I'm happy." Futaba smiled.
"You've made considerable strides lately. We should be clear for the beach at this rate." Hifumi nodded. "Perhaps she could help around the store next?"
"That's a good idea! It'll be good practice to have her up in front of strangers." Ann nodded in agreement.
"Whoa! Pause! Objection! Hold it!" Futaba frantically shook her head. "Helping at the store is like…super crushing hard mode…!"
"You won't have to deal with customers. Maybe you could just…dry plates in the back?" Ann suggested.
"Don't worry, I'll be there too." Ren said with a slight nod.
Futaba groaned, but ultimately relented. "You're all going to pay for this…"
.
.
August 12th.
Ren informed Sojiro of what the plan with Futaba was today. Naturally he was a bit concerned about this. "You want me to have Futaba help out around the store? I haven't had her do anything like this before…is she gonna be okay?"
"She's been making good progress. And I'll be there for her too." Ren said.
"This isn't like taking care of ac at." Sojiro said.
"H-Hey, I got this! I did graduate middle school last year. I'll think of this as my first job!" Futaba explained her reasoning.
"Well…in that case, how about you wash dishes?" Sojiro suggested. "Just don't push yourself too hard, okay?"
"I-I got this!" Futaba nodded and scurried into the back to prepare washing dishes. It was silent for a while until she heard the doorbell chime. That's when she panicked; a customer was here! "Eek…!"
Sojiro heard her yelp and approached cautiously. "Hey, are you okay?"
The customer that walked in was a regular. A bit of a pompous man based on his tone alone. "The usual, Boss. Extra strong."
"Got it." Sojiro nodded and turned to Ren. "Keep an eye on her, okay?" With that, he was off to service the customer.
"Are you alright?" Ren asked Futaba.
"Oui Oui….!" Futaba said nervously.
The pompous man then proceeded to ask Sojiro about Futaba, but Sojiro didn't really want to hear it. It was taking a bit too long for his order to get here, though. "Hey, serve him his coffee before it gets cold." He told Futaba.
"…Wait, where did she…" Ren glanced around, realizing Futaba was not where she was standing a few moments ago.
"Aaaaah!" The man let out a surprised yelp. Futaba served him his coffee while wearing her mask.
"Yo. Here's your coffee." Futaba said.
"When the world did she…" Sojiro rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey, Futaba. What did I tell you about showing up in front of people with that damn thing on? And be more polite when talking to a customer."
Ouch. Two good points. "H-H-Here's your coffee, sir…" Futaba stuttered.
"T-Thanks…" The man nodded and slowly eased himself to drink his coffee. Once he was done, he left.
"See, I did it! I did my job right!" Futaba was so excited she was able to talk to a customer.
"You did a great job." Ren nodded. "Now take that thing off."
"Aw…." Futaba was pouting under the mask. Ren was right, but she didn't want to. So she was going to set it down in a corner somewhere near the front door.
"Mask aside, to think Futaba would go out and talk to a customer…" Sojiro was amazed. Futaba was making such good progress these last few days. After years of seeing her hide away in her room, he still couldn't believe how fast things turned around. It made him wonder…
The door opened again. The next customer was Haru. She entered Leblanc with a smile on her face. "Hello!"
"Ack-!" Futaba panicked. She was still wearing the mask and Haru was like…right there.
"Oh-!" Haru blinked at the mask. It didn't startle her, but she was surprised to see that upon walking in. "That's a nice mask."
"Oh. Um. Thanks!" Futaba was not expecting a compliment. The only other person who liked it was Yusuke, but she also chose not to count him.
"Hey, Haru." Ren gave her a slight wave. "This is Futaba, a new friend of ours."
"Nice to meet you." Haru gave a curt, polite nod and sat down at a table. "You can just call me Haru." Her attention then turned to Sojiro briefly. "May I have a house blend, please?"
"Coming right up." Sojiro nodded and went to work.
Futaba reluctantly took her mask off. She then turned to Ren and whispered. "She's got such a refined aura about her. How are you friends with someone clearly so high class?"
Ren chose to not take that as an accidental insult. "We met at a convenience store."
"I feel like that's a common plot somewhere." Futaba muttered.
"I hope the season has been treating you both well." Haru said. "The heat has been a little hard on my plants, but I've been able to keep them hearty and healthy!" She beamed. That was when Sojiro finished her coffee and she thanked him before taking a sip. "This coffee is so delicious…I hope to make my own as good as this someday. "Oh, but enough about me. How have you been doing since I was here last?"
Futaba took a quick glance at Ren, silently asking if Haru was aware of the Phantom Thieving. He shook his head slightly to say no, and then answered Haru verbally. "To escape the heat, we're planning on going to the beach soon."
"Oh, that sounds lovely!" Haru nodded. "I'd like to go to the beach myself, but I'm afraid I'm too busy to join…" That and she had a few other reasons…but she didn't need to talk about those things. Not while she was here. The school roof and Leblanc were here safe places.
"Ah, I was going to extend the invite if you were interested. Maybe next time?" Ren said.
"Mhm. Next time." Haru nodded. She did smile, but her tone did waver with a lack of confidence. "I'll look forward to it. Oh! How rude of me. Don't let me keep you busy. I'm going to stay here for a little while. I hope you enjoy your beach trip!" And then…the door to the shop opened.
"There you are."
That voice made Haru's eyes widen and body freeze. It was Sugimura. She slowly turned to face him, face paling a bit. "W-What…how…why are you here?"
"I should be asking you the same question." Sugimura scoffed while looking around at Leblanc. "What a cheap looking place. I can't believe following you here led to something this decrepit."
"H-Hey, that's rude…!" Futaba spoke up.
"You followed her here?" Ren stood up from his seat, glaring at Sugimura.
"I wanted to figure out where she was going off to, so I followed her. And now that I'm here, I'm going to take her back home." Sugimura turned to Ren. He recognized him from that one rainy day a while ago. "Oh…it's you."
Haru sighed. So much for that… "Well…I guess I should…"
"Having fun with people like this old man? You keep sneaking out everywhere, leaving me to wonder when it'll be my turn…" Sugimura sounded extremely impatient as well. "Let's go."
"You don't have to go anywhere." Sojiro said, catching everyone's attention. "I don't take kindly to people harassing my customers. Besides, if you're not gonna buy something, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Sugimura was in the middle of reaching for Haru's wrist to tug her out of her seat, but he stopped from Sojiro's words. That, and Ren practically pushed his hand away and stood in front of Haru. "Tch…"
"…" Haru's eyes widened slightly at Ren's action. There was even a soft gasp that escaped her. That was the first time someone stood in front of her like that.
"So, are you gonna buy something? Or do I have to kick you out?" Sojiro held a serious tone.
"I wouldn't waste time asking." Ren said. "I don't think he's going to buy anything. He thinks it's too lowbrow for his refined tastes, I'm sure."
"You might be right. So you're going to have to leave." Sojiro told Sugimura.
"…" Sugimura just let out a frustrated sigh. "I should've expected a backyard place like this to be of no help. Just stepping inside makes me feel dirty." Realizing he wasn't going to get what he wanted from Haru today, with no help from the shop owner or anyone else, he just left. Even though he did defile Haru's safe place, the chances of him returning were…pretty low.
Futaba, on the other hand, was taking a few breaths. That was way more intense than anything she was prepared for today. "Whoa…that was a lot. But you and Sojiro were so cool! You showed that jerk the boot!"
Haru was still stunned at what happened. She didn't think she'd be followed, or that they would all stick up for her like that. "T-Thank you so much. I'm very grateful."
"Don't mention it." Sojiro's serious expression faded. "You're a customer and a friend to this guy," Ren he meant, "So I had to do my part. You're welcome in this store anytime."
Oh, wow. Haru hadn't received this level of kindness in a while. It almost made her tear up! But she held them back and just let out a soft laugh. "Thank you very much. I'll remember that, Boss."
.
.
Later in that same evening…Yusuke texted the group with a question he had concerns about.
Yusuke: Did anyone here share information about our identities?
Ryuji: Like hell we'd do that!
Makoto: Why the question?
Yusuke: I heard someone claiming they were our acquaintances.
Futaba: Talk about false rumors.
Ryuji: But hey, at least we're famous enough to HAVE rumors about us! We might even break into the news online! Or maybe TV!
Hifumi: We have rumors? I'm not so sure that is a good thing.
Ryuji: But if we aim, bigger…!
Makoto: By the way, how did today go?
Futaba: I served coffee to a customer!
Ren: She did good. Haru was there too.
Futaba: It got intense…
Ann: That's great, Futaba-chan! But uh…what happened over there?
Ryuji: You can't be a Phantom Thief if you're scared of people!
Futaba: I will do my best. Promise!
"At least Futaba is making improvements." Morgana said. "But then there's Ryuji. It's like he doesn't have a care in the world. He's gonna get in trouble somewhere down the line if this keeps up…"
.
.
August 13th.
Ren, Ryuji, Yusuke, Morgana, and Futaba were all upstairs in Ren's room, waiting on Makoto, Hifumi, and Ann. Ryuji was getting a bit impatient by all this waiting. "Man, those girl're late. Who do they think they are keeping us waitin' like this?"
Speak of the devil and they shall appear. Hifumi was the first one to pop her head out from the stairs. "Did we keep you waiting long?" The timing almost startled Ryuji. Hifumi, Ann, and Makoto soon walked up the stairs, Ann with a bag on her shoulders.
"Sorry we took so long, we were looking at various items and weren't sure what to get." Makoto explained.
"Looking at what?" Ren asked.
"A swimsuit, of course. For Futaba-chan." Ann explained.
Futaba panicked at this. "A-A s-s-swimsuit!?"
"You don't have one, do you?" Ann asked.
"W-Well…no…" Futaba looked away.
"You can't go to the beach if you don't have a fitting swimsuit! So we're going to have you try it on right now." Ann nodded.
"R-Right now?" Futaba stuttered.
"E-er…right now?" Even Hifumi was surprised.
"The sooner the better, right?" Ann held a bright smile. It didn't seem like Futaba was getting out of this one.
Makoto then turned to the boys. "You know what'll happen if you try and look, right?" The boys got the message loud and clear and just scurried downstairs into the shop.
"How did I get kicked out of my own room…?" Ren asked while shuffling downstairs. From that point on, the boys sat around, listening to the girls speak from upstairs.
"Oh wow, it's perfect! I'm amazed you were able to eyeball it with such accuracy, Ann!" Makoto was so impressed.
"Your eye for these things is quite amazing!" Hifumi replied.
Ann probably had a smug grin on her lips. The boy's couldn't tell, they were only listening. "I know, right? There we go…! It's on."
"What the?! This barely covers ANYTHING!?" Futaba's shock was clear in her voice.
"That's normal for a swimsuit." Ann casually replied. "Now we just have to push these a bit…"
"GYAH!?" Futaba squeaked.
"….Push?" Ryuji asked.
"Are you supposed to move them with that much force…?" Makoto tentatively asked.
"You gotta put some oomph into this stuff!" Ann nodded.
"Is that how you describe it?" Hifumi wasn't so sure about this.
"Hold on. Wow…even I'm impressed!" Futaba's tone shifted very quickly.
"What's goin' on up there…" Ryuji's boy curiosity was getting the best of him.
"They're having Futaba try on the swimsuit, right? What else could they be doing?" Morgana asked, clueless.
"Futaba in a swimsuit…I suspect that would make a great painting!" Yusuke nodded. "Perhaps we should ask Makoto about it?" Right as Yusuke asked this, Hifumi poked her head out from upstairs. She just had to make sure the boys weren't feeling risky and attempting to sneak a peek. After the fireworks festival incident and the Mona car one, she just had to make sure.
"…I wouldn't. I don't think the dragon would let you through the door." Ren noticed Hifumi looking. She noticed he noticed, so Hifumi silently went back up.
"The dragon?" Yusuke did not notice.
"So Ryuji, you're up. Get past the dragon, you two are pretty alike." Ren certainly noticed.
"Me?!" Ryuji didn't notice, but he assumed Ren was talking about shogi mode Hifumi. He didn't want to deal with that.
"I humbly request you do so as well." Yusuke said.
"Hell no!" Ryuji decided that request.
"You guys are such children…" Morgana sighed.
Sojiro approached the boys curiously. "What's with all the ruckus upstairs? Something about a swimsuit?"
"They're tryin' on swimsuits for our beach trip soon." Ryuji said.
Wow. The surprises just kept coming for Sojiro. "I didn't think I'd ever see her take an interest in going outside again…"
"Alright, now we have to do something about those round shoulders. Straighten out your back." Ann advised.
"By the way…when are we going to the beach exactly?" Hifumi asked.
"Hm…tomorrow?" Ann said.
"No way! Way too soon! I need time to prepare…!" Futaba shook her head frantically.
"When is good for you, then?" Makoto asked.
"…The day after tomorrow! I should be ready then!" Futaba replied.
Ryuji grinned upon hearing that. "Heh…it's finally starting to feel like summer vacation."
"I know she might be a handful, but I would really like it if you helped Futaba make some good memories." Sojiro had a slight smile on his face.
"Don't worry, Boss. We will." Ren nodded.
.
.
With the date set for the beach, Hifumi still had one thing she needed to do. That was go home and tell her parents what the plan was. But as soon as she stepped foot inside her house, she saw her mom and…Mika sitting across from each other. "Moth—Huh?"
"Hello!" Mika gave Hifumi a friendly smile.
It had only been a few days. Mika went from nearly kissing her to now being in her home?! This was moving too fast. "H-Hi, Mika. Er, Mother…what is she…?"
"I invited her over to discuss some future photoshoots or interviews with the two of you. Mika's popularity is rising fast, as is yours. It's likely to benefit you if you work with her more." Mitsuyo said with a firm nod.
"Isn't that exciting? I enjoyed working with you!" Mika gave Hifumi a smile.
"You were nice to work with too…" Hifumi said meekly. She wasn't quite as comfortable around Mika as she was with Ann and the others, so she was naturally receding into her introverted self. "But Mother, there was something I had to tell you. Do you recall how I told you that my friends planned on going to the beach?"
"…No?" Mitsuyo blinked. This was the first time she was hearing of this.
"Ah…" Hifumi blinked in surprise. She swore she told her mother about that! Or maybe it was her imagining a scenario where she did tell her and said yes. Probably that one. "W-Well, we've made plans to go to the beach the day after tomorrow. I just thought I should let you know." She was not asking! She was being bold.
"…Just thought you should let me know?" Mitsuyo was quick to realize that Hifumi didn't just ask.
Hifumi realized she may have gotten too ahead of herself. "Er…I-I meant, I just wanted to know if that would be…fine? You did tell me I have nothing planned for a few days."
Mika remained silent, simply curious to see how this would turn out. "…."
Mitsuyo pondered this for a moment. "It's fine. I have to take your father in for a checkup anyway, so it's not like anyone would be home even if you stayed."
Did…did she really just do that!? Hifumi's green eyes lit up as she managed to convince her mother, on her own, that she could do something. The stars aligned for her. "T-Thank you, Mother!"
"BUT." Mitsuyo lifted a finger. Hifumi was about to deflate; of course there was a but. "I am…trusting your friends with your wellbeing. You've become increasingly popular among your male fans since your photoshoot. So I am only warning you to be careful of overzealous men. I don't want you tarnishing the image I've worked so hard to build for you."
Actual concern? Hifumi must have been dreaming! And it was ruined by her mother bringing up her image and popularity. She would take what she could get. "I'll be careful, Mother."
"Oh, going to the beach sounds so fun." Mika clasped her hands together. "That actually gives me the idea of a swimsuit photoshoot before summer ends. What do you think about that, Mitsuyo-san?"
"Hm…not a bad idea…" Mitsuyo didn't object to this idea. "I'll think about specifics more. But I have to go get ready for a meeting. You are welcome to stay as long as you like, Mika." Mitsuyo was already leaving.
"W-Wait, she's staying?" Hifumi blinked.
"I can help you pick out a swimsuit. You do have a few to choose from, right?" Mika already took Hifumi by the hand. "I'll help you."
"A-Ah…well…I do have a small selection…" Hifumi scratched her cheek. "Nothing special…"
"You always want to look your best when going to the beach. You're a very pretty girl, Hifumi-chan. I know you can turn some heads with the right swimsuit." Mika had nothing but confidence in her tone. "And isn't there someone's attention you'd like to grab?
Hifumi was just getting more flustered. The way Mika acted around her, compared to Ann was just night and day. Plus it felt like Mika was kind of onto her already. "I…um…thank you…" She said sheepishly. "Oh…I have to check on something first…!" She pulled her hand away from Mika's and quickly made her way to her father, who was resting in bed. "Father…?"
"Ah, Hifumi…I heard what happened. Mitsurugi held a grin. "Your mother's letting you go to the beach, and I didn't even have to say anything to her."
"Yes, I was surprised as well." Hifumi admitted with a sheepish nod.
"I wasn't. Even though your mother can be a bit much at times, you still have a voice. If you continue to make her hear your voice, she won't have a choice…" Mitsurugi coughed a few times, much to Hifumi's concern. "She won't…have a choice but to listen."
"Father, are you…?" Hifumi was about to ask.
"Don't worry about me. Go enjoy time with your other friend, and the beach." Mitsurugi gave a gentle smile.
"Come on, we don't have all night!" Before Hifumi could say anything else, Mika dragged Hifumi off to her room to try on swimsuits.
.
.
August 14th.
Tomorrow was the day they went to the beach. In the meantime, Ren was helping out around Leblanc for a bit in the day. Sojiro was about to go out shopping, so he needed Ren to keep an eye on things while he was gone. "Oh, that reminds me. You're going to the beach tomorrow, right?" Sojiro asked Ren. "Try to have fun, and make up for the fireworks."
"Fireworks?" Futaba asked.
"Oh, right, you wouldn't know. He tried to go to a fireworks festival but it got rained out. Not only did he get crushed in the crowd, but he also came home looking like some kinda drowned rat." Sojiro was smiling at the memory, it was pretty funny when he thought about.
"I felt like a drowned rat." Ren sighed at the memory. Not the best day, but that was the same day they met Haru so it wasn't all bad.
"I see…" Futaba mumbled. That's when the door opened. Futaba saw a stranger and immediately fled behind the counter, behind Ren.
It was Akechi. This was the first time he'd seen Ren in Leblanc and it was the last place he thought he'd see him. "Oh, you're…"
"Sup." Ren said.
"You two know each other?" Sojiro didn't expect this.
"I'm Akechi." Akechi flashed Sojiro a smile.
"Oh yeah, the one on TV and stuff," Sojiro vaguely recalled him. "What brings you here, Mr. Detective?"
Akechi glanced around the store. "The atmosphere here is lovely. No wonder Sae-san recommended it to me so strongly."
Sae, huh? Was this another interrogation attempt? Sojiro wasn't having it. "I already told her everything I know!"
"What? Oh, no! I'm just here for the coffee." Akechi waved his hand. But he was sure Sojiro had his reasons for reacting like that.
"Oh." Now Sojiro just felt like a fool for that.
Akechi's eyes then wandered to Futaba. "And who might this be…?" It took him a moment. If this man was Sojiro Sakura, then… "Oh, you must be Wakaba Isshiki's…"
Sojiro cut him off. "What'll it be?"
"Whatever you recommend." Akechi replied, only to sigh once Sojiro went to the back. He knew that tone. "It seems I'm unwelcome no matter where I go…"
"…That's surprising." Ren said honestly. Akechi was so popular, he figured anyone would be glad to have the Detective Prince around them. He certainly didn't mind, even if they were rivals in more than a few ways.
"….." Akechi said nothing, exhaling. "Did I bother you? My apologies…" Ren shook his head, so Akechi decided to just go on his little tangent. "Apparently my mother was in a relationship with a low-life man. She was swiftly discarded when he learned she was pregnant. That despair led to her death. As a result I was passed from foster home to foster home. I do well for myself these days." Silence lingered. "Oh, right, Medjed. To think they were taken down by another hacker. I am still unsure if they were taken down by the Phantom Thieves themselves, or an avid supporter…"
"It'll be a mystery." Ren shrugged.
Akechi turned his attention to Futaba. "Um…you're Futaba-chan, right? Sae-san told me about you. Many kids your age are fans of the Phantom Thieves. What about you?"
Futaba was silent the whole time. But ultimately she decided to dodge the question. "You're popular too, ace detective Akechi."
"Why thank you." Akechi smiled. "But I'd rather not be compared to people like the Phantom Thieves." He took a sip of his coffee. "You get to drink such delicious coffee every day? I'm jealous."
"Hah, good, isn't it?" Ren managed a slight smile.
"I didn't think I'd see you here today. It seems we share a bond, doesn't it? I think I've found my go-to café." Akechi said with a pleasant smile.
.
.
The boy who defied fate. A curious person indeed. Chihaya was determined to figure out what it was that made Ren so special. He was the first person to completely overturn her fortune readings and she didn't understand how it was possible. She had been spending some time with Ren in hopes of figuring out his secret…but at the same time, she was also starting to confide in him as well. She trusted him a little, even if she still wasn't sure how he could change fate like it was nothing. Out of curiosity, the fortune teller decided to check Ren's fortune. "Hm…" She flipped a few of the tarot cards and furrowed her brows. "I see…something about the Empress arcana is coming his way. But…what's this? Why does the Star seem dimmer than usual? This is an ill omen…"