They were dead men.
Somehow, they had stayed in the bath past the designated hours for men and into the time for women. And then, as if the universe itself had conspired to bring about their demise, the girls from the Phantom Thieves had entered the bath. The guys had been lucky, having a large rock to hide behind while they planned their escape, but one of them had made too much noise and the girls now had them cornered.
"It ain't what ya think!" Ryuji tried futilely to explain. "See, the bath time changed right after we got in!"
"Clearly, this is all just a misunderstanding!" Yusuke added.
"Believe us, Lady Ann!" Morgana pleaded. "We were locked in at the very last moment!"
"It was an accident," Ren assured them as calmly as he could.
"No excuses!" Makoto exclaimed.
"What the hell, man!" Ryuji exploded back, taking even the enraged girls aback for a moment. "If ya weren't gonna give us a chance ta explain ourselves then why the hell'd ya even tell us to!? Why not just get right into beatin' us up with your Fist of Justice crap!?"
"Ryuji, what-?"
"That's what you were gonna do, right? Beat us up without even entertainin' the idea that we might actually respect you guys enough to not peep on you?"
"You can't just turn-"
"An' it ain't just this. The entire time we've been on the road, you girls got to sleep all cosy inside the RV on beds and couches, while us guys had to sleep all bunched up in a goddamn tent on the roof for weeks! During summer!"
"Ryuji, wait-" Ann tried.
"An' it goes back way further'n just this trip. Back durin' the beach trip, you three decided ta go an' have fun without us and left us guys to look after our stuff, right after shit-talkin' our ability to pick up girls."
"You guys lef-" Morgana began before Ryuji's tirade continued.
"You all took Mona's side when we fell out an' wanted me to apologise, which is fine, but you never asked for one from him! Just me! Oh, an' let's not forget: the time I almost friggin' died so we could escape Shido's Palace, and you guys beat me up for it!"
"Th-This and that are..."
"Go on, Makoto. Say it. They're two different things. Me gettin' the short end a' the stick in this 'friend' group an' you decidin' we ain't worth hearin' out. Y'know what? Fuck this." While swearing was a normal part of Ryuji's vocabulary, 'Fuck' was where he typically drew the line. Ren suspected it somehow related to his mother, but he could never be sure. "After everythin' we've been through since last April, you still don't trust us enough to give us the benefit of the doubt when we say we really weren't tryin' ta perv on ya?"
The girls fell silent.
"I'm goin' back to the room. An' first thing tomorrow mornin', I'm hoppin' on a train an' I'm goin' home."
This alarmed the entire team.
"Ryuji, what about our mission?" Ren asked desperately.
"I'm sorry, man," Ryuji sighed, utterly deflated, "but I can't do this anymore. If they don't trust us enough to entertain the idea that we weren't tryin' ta peep while we were headin' for the door, then how the hell'm I supposed to trust them to have my back in life-or-death situations? I guess Kamoshida was right; no one does care about me." And with that said, he proceeded through the door, leaving the others in stunned silence.
Ryuji lay in his futon, hoping in vain that he could get to sleep before the others got back so he could avoid any further arguing. Ren was the first to return, no doubt having asked the others to let him speak to Ryuji alone, as he was wont to do.
"Is it okay if we talk?" he asked after the two exchanged an awkward greeting.
"Yeah," the blond sighed.
"Are you feeling any better now that you've had some time to yourself?"
"Ya don't gotta walk on eggshells around me, man. I'm not actually gonna leave."
"You're not?"
He sighed again. "No. I was just... I'm sick of the way those girls treat us. An' hell, it ain't even just them. That shit with those two crossdressers in Shinjuku? You abandoned me, dude."
Ren nodded his head silently. "You're right. We've taken you for granted and never properly treated you the way you deserve. I guess I always chalked a lot of it up to just friendly banter, like the kind you can only do when you're really close to someone. Not the thing with those two guys, though. I just didn't want to deal with it and figured you'd be okay. That was wrong and I'm sorry."
"I forgive ya, dude. Long as ya really are sorry."
Ren cocked an eyebrow. "That was... suspiciously simple. This isn't really about the way you've been treated, is it? Not entirely. There's something else going on here, right?"
Ryuji sighed and sat up, turning to face his best friend with his legs crossed. "Nothin' gets past you, huh? Yeah, obviously, the way I been treated sucks ass. But, like... I thought we all knew each other well enough that the girls would know we're not the kinda guys who'd perv on 'em, y'know? After, what, sixteen months with Ann and not a whole lot less with the others, ya'd think the girls'd know we ain't pervs by now. But with how they were lookin' at us, it got me thinkin' that... maybe I haven't changed as much as I thought I had."
"You said maybe Kamoshida was right?"
"Yeah. When he broke my leg, he told me that no one cared about me, not my dad, not the team, not the teachers. He said I was just a nobody piece a' shit that nobody would believe if I told 'em what happened. An' tonight with the girls made me realise that he was right. At least, about the girls. Sure, I checked out Ann when we were in the desert, but is that really enough ta override everythin' else they know about me? Or am I really just a huge perv an' I can't even see it?"
"You're not a perv, Ryuji. Ann knows that. Remember at the beach? She thought your reaction to her swimsuit was funny, not gross. She knows you're a good guy, probably better than I do. You have changed since we first met, since we took down Kamoshida. The Phantom Thieves wouldn't have gotten as far as they did without you being there from Day 1."
Ryuji grinned briefly, before it faltered. "It's nice a' you ta say, but with how much shit I've had to put up with from you guys all this time, I can't help but wonder... am I only here because I got a Persona? Because you guys don't wanna cut me out in case I expose you all? I feel like I'm just the dumb muscle that you guys wanna use when things get dangerous. I mean, I'm the only one who's been gettin' those shocks to get the clues to openin' up the Jails more. You at least offered to go for one of 'em, but everyone else is fine with me gettin' shocked every time."
Ren shook his head. "That's not how it is, Ryuji. I know we've not... been the most caring friends to you, and I promise that's going to change. I'll make sure everyone else apologises to-"
"I don't want an apology just because you told 'em to give one. I want them to decide what they've done is worth apologisin' for, an' that I'm worth apologisin' too."
"You are, Ryuji!" Ann exclaimed as she burst into the room suddenly, exposing the fact that the rest of the team had been listening in from outside. "You are worth apologising to!"
Ryuji looked almost bitterly sceptical. "Uh-huh. Sure."
"We really are sorry," Makoto concurred as she joined Ann in the room. "We were so caught off-guard in the bath that we weren't thinking straight. We should've known better than to think you guys were there to peep on us. We already apologised to Ren, Yusuke and Morgana for it. It's just you we have to make things right with now."
He sighed, hoping to get the last of this... whatever the hell this feeling inside him was out. "Yeah, I get it. I said I was gonna leave the team, but it'd take a lot more'n this ta make me go. Wouldn't be able ta call myself a real Phantom Thief if I just left durin' an operation."
Haru entered the room next. "I'm so relieved to hear that. I'd hate for you to go home and for us to not be able to make things right."
"You're a good guy, Ryuji," Ann said. "I remember when Makoto was taken by Kaneshiro's goons and you jumped in front of a cab to make it stop so we could follow."
"W-What!?" Makoto practically shrieked. "He did what!?"
"Always the first to jump into action to save someone," Ann said with what looked to be a proud smile.
"And the first to forgive," Makoto added after calming herself down. "He was the first to forgive me after I got us in trouble with Kaneshiro. I'm sorry I went so hard on you in the bath, Ryuji. As the oldest one here, I get this... protective instinct that takes over when I think the rest of you are in trouble. And with how high our emotions were running, I think it took me over completely. But I should've kept it in check and thought rationally about the situation. I'm sorry."
Futaba finally joined the other three girls, followed by Yusuke and Morgana. "With how much anime I've seen, I should've known it was most likely an accident. I'm sorry."
"And even though I've known you all the shortest time, aside from Sophia," said Haru, on the verge of tears, "I should have known better than to make rash assumptions. Especially since I'm your senpai. We've all been through enough abuse from authority figures that we should know not to let ourselves become those people ourselves. I'm truly sorry, Ryuji-kun!"
"I'm sorry too, Ryuji," Morgana said sheepishly as Yusuke carried him over. "I was taking out my frustrations with myself out on you back in September. You didn't deserve my childish outburst."
Ryuji scratched his reddened cheek, embarrassed by all the attention. "I mean, it's fine, really. You all seem sincere enough an' we all said stuff we didn't mean back there. Let's just... all agree ta try 'n' be more understandin' with each other, yeah?"
"Sounds good," said Ann.
"Yes!" Haru exclaimed happily, wiping away her tears.
"You're actually pretty cool, Ryuji," said Futaba.
"Thank you for being so understanding," Makoto said with a bow.
"I'm not really sure what's happening," Sophia finally chimed in from Ren's phone, "but may I propose a group hug? That is what friends do, after all, yes?"
"Sure," Ryuji said with a smile.
Before anyone could take a step forward, however, the group heard Zenkichi shouting for them to run. The capstone to their reconciliation would have to be put on hold as they grabbed their things and fled back to the new hideout to evade the police taskforce attempting to arrest them.
The working title was "Hot Under The Collar."
I'd like to thank Lonely Support for help ironing out some of the details with this. It was originally going in a much more confrontational direction where the group wouldn't be able to reconcile until their capture in the Kyoto Jail, but it didn't really feel right for the characters, especially in a story that exists specifically to critique the out-of-character writing of the actual scene in the game. Here's what was written of that version before the rewrite:
"We really are sorry," Makoto concurred as she joined Ann in the room. "We were so caught off-guard in the bath that we weren't thinking straight. We should've known better than to think you guys were there to peep on us. We already apologised to Ren, Yusuke and Morgana for it. It's just you we have to make things right with now."
"Oh, you guys weren't thinkin' straight because you were caught off-guard, huh? Alright. That's fine. Oh. But what about the sleepin' arrangements? Were you too tired ta think straight then? Or the beatin' you guys gave me after Shido's Palace? I guess you were just too upset that I might've died ta think that I might actually die if you beat me up and left me unconscious in the street! All of you can just fuck off!"
"Ryuji-kun, please give us a chance to apologise!" Haru implored, on the verge of tears.
"Why? So you can have your meat shield back in the team? No, thanks."
"No! So we can have our friend back!"
"Trust is a two-way street, Ann. Whatever your excuse is, I can't trust you ta be honest after how little trust you showed us before."
"So, that's it?" Makoto asked more sternly. "You're just going to quit the team and go home? Now, while we have a job to do and people to save?"
Ryuji snorted. "Maybe you shoulda' though a' that before you decided that the boys don't deserve a good night's sleep if it means you girls miss out on one."
"You're being completely unreasonable!" Makoto snapped in frustration.
"Not nice, is it?"
Makoto stopped herself from responding, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "You're right. We were completely out of line. We all freely admit that. And we're willing to do whatever it takes to make things right. I know you don't trust us anymore, but if our time- No, that's not fair. Please, give us a chance to earn back your trust."
Before Ryuji could respond, the group heard Zenkichi shouting for them to run. Their negotiation would have to be put on hold as they grabbed their things and fled to the new hideout to evade the police taskforce attempting to arrest them.
While they had evaded the police well enough, the group had then discovered a new Jail that Akane Hasegawa had been placed in charge of. And this Jail was a little more literal than the rest, as Akane managed to capture all but Futaba in a cage. While they waited for Futaba to return with some kind of help, the Phantom Thieves had plenty of time to sit and think about the earlier conversation.
"Um, Skull?" Sophia asked as she stepped beside him as he sat by the bars, looking out over the traditional Kyoto-based environment.