TW: Child abuse, slightly graphic details

Early in the day, on Saturday, Akira was about to go in for his weekly session with Doctor Maruki, and he was partly drunk.

Although "drunk" might've been an exaggeration, Akira definitely wasn't completely sober. Over the last couple of days, he had been taking advantage of his newly acquired fake ID, courtesy of Riku, whenever he was alone. The previous day, he went to the underground mall in Shibuya and bought a stainless-steel tumbler from the sports shop. He then went to a liquor store, later in the evening, and bought a bottle of whiskey without any trouble. The fake ID really was foolproof.

"Thanks, Riku," he thought.

When he woke up on Saturday morning, Akira filled the tumbler with whatever was left of the whiskey he hadn't consumed the previous night before going to the train station. As he sat on the train, he took small sips from the hard-plastic straw, wanting to feel a bit numb but not show up to therapy a drunken mess. He got off in Shinjuku and walked straight to Maruki's office, not bothering to stop and say, "Hello" to Chihaya as he had before every other visit. He simply put his hood up and kept walking. Before entering the office, he took one more sip from his tumbler, took a deep breath, and went in. Once inside the waiting room, Akira didn't bother hitting the switch next to Maruki's office door. He simply knocked to announce his arrival. He heard Maruki shout for him to come in.

"Hello there, Akira-kun. How are you doing today?" Maruki asked him, smiling.

"Fine, Doc." Akira responded without much enthusiasm.

"Well, have a seat. Would you like a snack?" Maruki offered. Akira took some snacks without a word. He hoped having something in his stomach would help soak up the booze in his system. "So, have you been enjoying Golden Week?"

"It's fine," Akira simply said, eating his snack.

"Have you done anything special?" Akira shook his head.

"Just hanging out with my cousin."

"Ah yes, Kujikawa-san, was it?" Akira nodded. "I must say, she looked rather familiar."

"That's because she's an idol, Doc. You know, Risette?" Maruki paused before saying a word.

"…oh…" Maruki's sad tone snapped Akira back to his senses, feeling like he touched on something sensitive.

"Is everything okay?"

"…y-yes. I-I'm sorry." Maruki stammered. "I-It's just… while I was never very familiar with Risette, Rumi was a big fan of hers." Akira immediately got it.

"O-Oh… I'm so sorry," Akira quietly said.

"It's okay," Maruki said as he recomposed himself. "Anyway, we're not here to talk about me." Maruki cleared his throat, attempting to bury the thoughts of his deceased love in favor of helping a friend get better. "So, how have you been feeling lately?"

"Well…" Akira sighed. "I'm happy to be on break for a few days. College has been stressful lately."

"Haha, I can attest to that. Take it from a medical student, let me tell you, it's no picnic, haha. No matter what you study, you're always busy in college."

"Most of my classes are fine, but there's one in particular that bothers me. It's a lecture I have every Tuesday morning."

"Is the course material difficult?" Akira shook his head.

"No, that's not it. The problem is the teacher, Nagata-san. The course material is fine, but he's a tough son of a bitch. Oh, excuse my language."

"That's all right. Let it out if you need to. I'm not prudish, haha."

"Thanks, Doc," Akira nodded. "He asks random questions and punishes those who don't answer them properly or promptly."

"That does sound like the mark of a bad teacher," Maruki said, rubbing his chin.

"Eh, he's not a bad teacher, exactly…or, well…okay, yeah, he kinda is… but he's also captivating. While I can't speak for everyone else, I'm learning a lot from him, but I can't stand him either…" Akira felt like he was rambling. He knew he had to stop kidding himself.

"Ah, I see…"

Akira sighed. "… Look, I'm sorry. I didn't come here to complain about my college courses," he awkwardly chuckled.

"Don't worry, Akira-kun. Talk about whatever you want. I won't judge you." Maruki tried his best to make him comfortable. Akira appreciated his efforts, especially because this next topic was going to be a hard one. Akira was silent for a moment. Maruki didn't pressure him to talk, he simply waited for Akira to make his move. Akira wasn't looking forward to it, but he felt that it was time.

"Remember last week when you asked me to talk about my life before Tokyo, and I said I wasn't ready?"

"I do."

"Well… I think I'm ready now."

"You are?"

"Well, to be honest, no. But I figure there's never going to be a good time to talk about it. There's just going to be a whole lot of bad ones, and right now doesn't really seem like as bad a time…" Thanks to the booze.

"Please, only tell me what you feel like. Whether it's good or bad, I'm all ears."

"Right…here it goes…" Akira took a deep breath "…when I was thirteen, I was abused for a while." Judging from the shocked look on his face, Maruki did not see that coming at all.

"O-Oh… Oh, my…"

"Yeah, I know, pretty heavy stuff. Well, I've got a story to tell."

Maruki said nothing as he listened to Akira's story.

"When I was nine years old, my father died. It was a hard time for us. My mom took on multiple night jobs, though nothing degrading, thankfully. It was stuff like bartending, fast-food, you know, that kind of stuff. During the day, she worked as an English teacher at the high school in Fuefuki; the next town over from ours. So, instead of coming home right away, she would go to one of her other jobs. She wouldn't come back until really late at night. She would get maybe four hours of sleep in total before she had to wake me up, make me breakfast and just generally take care of me. To be honest, I don't know why she pushed herself so hard. We weren't starving or anything. The house we lived in was passed down from my paternal grandfather to my father and then to us. Yeah, we had bills to pay, but we weren't hard up for money. Looking back, I think it was more just something to keep her mind off losing my dad…" Akira sighed before continuing. "…then, two years after my father passed…something else happened…something equally tragic. I-I don't want to talk about it, right now…"

"It's all right."

"Anyway, it took another toll on my mom and me. She kept working her multiple jobs. I even had to stay with a family friend on some days because I couldn't be alone at the house at age eleven. But Mom still loved and took mostly good care of me."

Akira paused for a moment. This was the first time he had talked about his mother since his falling out with her. There wasn't even a migraine creeping up. Maybe he was finally letting go and was getting ready to forgive her and himself for their argument. Maybe, opening up was really beginning to make him better. Or maybe it was just the alcohol in his system numbing his senses. Either way, he continued on with his story.

"I'm thankful for her and all she did for me, but that other tragic event made me borderline catatonic. I stopped talking to people, had no friends at school, though that wasn't really a new thing. Eventually, I barely talked at all. There was a group of shitheads at school who bullied me since elementary school. I used to fight with them constantly back then, but then I stopped feeling anything and ignored them. Though they kept hounding me, nothing they did or said ever affected or provoked me again." Except for one thing, but he didn't say what. "I became completely disconnected from everything," Akira sighed once more, looking down and vigorously rubbing his hands in his hair.

"I-I'm sorry, Akira-kun, but you were saying something about being abused?"

"Yeah, I'm getting to that. It's just…really hard to talk about…"

"I understand. I'm sorry for trying to push you." Akira waved it off and took a deep breath.

"When I was thirteen, my mom met a man at her bartending job. His name…was Shingo." Just mentioning his name made Akira's blood equally boil and run cold. "He seemed like a friendly guy at first, but my mom wasn't looking to fall in love with anyone else after my father passed away. She didn't even want to be in another relationship, but I guess after about four years of harsh luck, she found herself in a bit of a vulnerable place."

"I can understand that."

"Anyway, she brought him home one day and introduced me to him. He became like a friend to her. Eventually, I stopped staying with that family friend and, instead, stayed at the house with him. He would hang around our house but paid little attention to me. He also drank a lot, which is partially why he and my mom got along. The day she brought him home, looking back, both of them were clearly drunk. Around this time, she was drinking a lot herself, likely to dull the pain she'd experienced as of late."

"How is she now?" Maruki asked.

"Oh, she doesn't drink anymore. I think it just reminds her too much of her time with him, which she'd rather forget about."

"I see. Please, continue."

"Like I said, my mom wasn't looking for a relationship, and neither was he actually, but that didn't mean he didn't have urges or expectations. I may have been emotionally disconnected and isolated, but I wasn't the Pinball Wizard. I wasn't deaf, dumb, and blind." Akira may have quipped, but, deep down, he felt anger rising inside him. "I knew the pig just wanted to fuck my mother," he said venomously; Maruki quietly gasped. Akira's voice was filled with so much disgust and hatred for the man. "Sorry… I shouldn't have said it like that. It was the anger…"

"I understand, it's okay," Maruki said; Akira exhaled, recomposing himself before continuing.

"My mom never slept with him, though. Thankfully, he never tried to force himself onto her, either. Instead, he took his frustrations out on me," Maruki exhaled, fearing the worst.

"O-Oh…did…did he touch-" Akira cut him off.

"No, nothing like that. It wasn't sexual, it was physical. He just beat the shit out of me." Maruki didn't feel any better upon hearing that. "Since my mother was always out working late, he would spend some nights hitting me, sometimes with a wrench, a stick, whipping me with a belt, putting cigarettes out on my skin even though the fucker didn't even smoke…" Akira sighed. "I-uh… also have a couple of scars courtesy of a switchblade he carried around." Hearing Akira's story made Maruki nauseous.

"M-My God… why would someone do such horrible things to a teenager?" Maruki was horrified and feeling anger as well.

"Don't know, but there's no point in trying to figure it out now, so, fuck it…" Akira shrugged.

"How long did this go on for?"

"About two months."

"Did your mother…" Maruki couldn't finish his sentence.

"Did she know?" Maruki nodded. "No, not at first."

"Did you tell her?" Maruki was confused and stunned when Akira shook his head.

"I never said anything because I barely felt anything. Not only did I stop talking, but I also stopped feeling entirely. The fucker actually stabbed me at one point and I barely reacted." Maruki nearly exploded out of his chair in disbelief, shock, and horror.

"He STABBED you!?"

"Not too deep, but yeah, in the lower-left side of my abdomen. Not enough to require urgent medical care, but enough to leave one hell of a scar. I knew what he was doing, but frankly, I didn't give a shit."

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"…never mind, just forget I said that."

"I wish I could…" What Akira didn't tell Maruki is that he felt like the abuse he was suffering was his punishment. Punishment for something he felt responsible for.

"Anyway," Akira continued, "after about two months of that, though, my mom got suspicious when she saw a bruise on my arm. I told her it was nothing and that some kids at school did it, but she didn't buy it. Turns out, she had started being suspicious of him in the last week or so, as he still spent the night even though he stopped trying to sleep with her. Whenever he stayed overnight, he fell asleep on the couch. I don't know how she knew; maybe she just had a sixth sense when it came to stuff about me. Then again, I never could lie to her either; she always saw through my bullshit."

Akira took another drink from his tumbler before continuing.

"One day, after school, instead of going to one of her night jobs, she came home without telling either one of us in advance. She sneakily made her way through the front door, not calling out to announce her arrival, and quietly made her way upstairs. It was then that her suspicions were confirmed when she heard him swearing and cursing me out as he beat me up. He didn't usually go for the face out of fear of my mom finding out what he was doing, but I guess he'd just had a bad day. My mom quietly grabbed a candlestick from her room, walked into mine, and hit him in the back of the head with it. He retaliated, and they started brawling out in the hallway. I remember lying on my bedroom floor, wiping the blood from my nose with my sleeve, when I heard them yelling at each other. I heard my mom scream, not so much in terror, but more in anger. At that moment, something inside me snapped. I got up and walked out into the hallway. My mom yelled at me to run away and call the police, but I didn't. Instead, I ran forward and shoved him off her. Unfortunately for him, the stairs were right behind him, and he ended up tumbling down. My mom got up and hugged me. She had a few bruises on her face and a cut on her lip, but nothing major. She was crying, apologizing that this had happened to me and that she didn't realize it sooner. I, meanwhile, didn't cry; I didn't care what he did to me, I was just angry that he tried to hurt my mom."

Another sip from the tumbler.

"She went downstairs to check on him, making sure he hadn't broken his neck or anything like that. Thankfully, or not, depending on how you look at it, he was still alive. I thought Mom would go and call the police, but she didn't. As he slowly regained consciousness, he began threatening her and me. This pushed my mother over the edge, so she kicked him in the face. She kicked him and stomped on him, over and over again. All the while yelling shit like 'you motherfucker' or 'how dare you hurt my son' and stuff like that. My mother's not usually one to swear, she didn't even want me saying the word 'hell' when I was younger, but, watching that, I found out she had a mouth that would make a drunken sailor blush." Akira let out a slight chuckle. "She just kept pummeling him, and it's not like my mom is Rambo or anything like that. She's five foot three, weighs only like a hundred-and-fifteen pounds, and is not a combat expert by any measure. Still, she did some serious damage to him."

Akira smiled. He thought about what a great mom Kairi was to him, but then he remembered the last time he saw her, and the smile vanished.

"After she got her hits in, she threatened him even harder than he did, saying if he ever came near her or me ever again, she would not stop until he was dead. I didn't know whether or not she meant what she said, but it didn't matter. It turns out the guy was a pushover. He whimpered like a scared puppy when she stared down at him. She wasn't crying anymore; she was furious and deadly serious. She told me to go wait in my room and simply left him lying there as she went to the office to go call the police. They took him away without him even putting up a fight. That was the last time we ever saw him. To be honest, I don't know whether he's alive or dead, in jail or otherwise, but, again, I don't give a shit. He can rot in Hell for all I care…and that's that."

Akira finished the remaining whiskey in his tumbler. His story was over; Maruki was left entirely speechless. Silence filled the room once more.

"I-I… don't know what to say…" Maruki was understandably still in shock. "Other than, I'm so sorry this happened to you, Akira-kun."

"It's okay, Doc, I get it. There are a few reasons I don't like to talk about my childhood. That was one of them."

"How many people have you told that story to?"

"Honestly, you're the first person to know the whole thing. Not even my cousin knows all the details."

"What about your friends?"

"They know I was abused, but that's it." Maruki was stunned.

"So, you've kept that story to yourself for five years?"

"Well, it's not exactly something that would make for great dinner conversation now, is it?" Akira got a bit defensive.

"I-I'm so sorry; I didn't mean it like that. I'm just sorry you had to endure that in the first place." Maruki looked down at his notebook.

"It's all right, Doc. It's over now. Nothing else that horrible happened after that, but I didn't change. I still kept to myself. My mom quit drinking entirely. She took me to several doctors and got me checked out. The scars would still be there, but otherwise, everything healed up nicely. I think, deep down, she still blames herself for every single mark that bastard gave me. She tried her best to make me happy, never giving up on me. Still, I went back to my emotionally unavailable self. The doctors couldn't figure out why or what was wrong with me. I was just… blank; like a piece of cardboard or a wooden plank."

"And that all changed once you came to Tokyo?"

"Yeah, when I inadvertently walked into Masayoshi Shido's life." Or so he says. Akira's actual turning point was on the first day at Shujin, when he accidentally stumbled into the Metaverse with Ryuji and ripped the mask off his face inside Kamoshida's Palace. When he awakened to his Persona, Arsène, that was when he truly felt reborn, but he decided to tell the more straightforward story.

"Ah, I see. He was the one who framed you, right?"

"Mm-hm."

"What was it he framed you for, again? If you don't mind me asking."

"I was walking home one night when I ran into him. He was drunk and sexually assaulting a woman. I saw what was happening and couldn't ignore it, so I stepped in. I pulled him off of her, he fell to the ground, and then said those four words that I'll never forget, 'Damn brat, I'll sue!' and so he did."

"Wait, he sued you? Even though he was the assailant?"

"When the cops arrived, they recognized who he was. I, meanwhile, had no clue. Shido actually forced the woman to tell the cops that I was the one who attacked him. To my surprise, she did. Next thing I knew, I was getting hauled off."

"That's horrible."

"Tell me about it. When my mom found out what'd happened, she took my side without a second thought. She hired a lawyer and tried to fight for me. Ultimately, it was futile. She couldn't do anything, but God bless her, she tried. Within ten days, I was arrested, expelled, tried, deemed guilty, slapped with a criminal record, and sent here for a year. All that because another drunken scumbag couldn't keep it in his pants."

"You reacted similarly to how you did when this Shingo individual was assaulting your mother," Maruki pointed out, making the connection.

"Don't say his name," Akira quickly said sternly.

"I-I'm sorry," Maruki hastily apologized.

"It's fine… I guess I never liked seeing women in trouble, but from that moment, everything changed." Maruki nodded as he looked through his notes.

"During our first session, you brought up feelings of loneliness and disconnect from your friends. Are you still feeling that way?" Akira nodded and sighed, feeling uneasy about it. "And you still don't know why?"

"…no."

"Would you say you are feeling the same way now as you were when you were younger? After this other tragic event?"

"…yeah, that's what it feels like. I mean, I love my friends, but I feel like it'd be easier if they left me alone. I kinda want them to, to be honest."

"What would be easier?"

"I don't know, life?"

"Why's that?"

"I don't know."

"Would being alone make you happy?"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" Akira shouted. He realized what he had said and felt bad. "Sorry, that was uncalled-for."

"It's all right." Maruki was understanding and didn't hold it against him. "If I may ask, how did you feel when your father passed away?"

"How do you think I felt? It destroyed me. My father was the greatest man I had ever known."

"Would you say his death also made you 'catatonic'?" Maruki asked, making air quotes with his fingers.

"No, I cried for about three weeks straight and grieved for months afterward, but I was able to move on."

"So, what happened in this other tragic event that had a greater effect on your psyche?"

"Doc, I said I prefer not to talk about it."

"You're right. I'm sorry." Maruki felt bad that Akira was clearly carrying a lot on his shoulders, more than anyone should ever have to. Akira sighed before continuing.

"Remember when I said that I started feeling isolated again when I came back to Tokyo recently?" Maruki nodded. "Well, it actually started before then…about a year before, to be more precise. At first, I thought I was just missing Tokyo and my friends, but as the year went on, not only did I feel more and more alone, but I also felt angrier at the world."

"That's understandable. After all, you'd been through a lot in the previous year," Maruki sympathized.

"I thought those feelings would go away when I came back to Tokyo, but then the seizures happened, and then I started snapping at my friends and kept on getting angrier."

"So, you're saying your feelings worsened, and you have no idea why?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to help me figure out?" Akira asked in a slightly bitter manner.

"Well, did something happen at home in the last year?" Akira thought about the argument with his mother, but that wasn't to blame for what he felt before.

"No, not really," Akira said as he shook his head. "Nothing traumatic, at least." Maruki was only partially relieved, he could still tell there was something on his mind. Akira didn't know why he felt the way he did, especially after seemingly getting over it during his probation year.

"I am glad you're able to open up and tell me such painful things about your past, as hard as it may have been to do so…" Maruki trailed off.

"Why do I feel a 'but' coming?" Akira rubbed the back of his head.

"But, unless you tell me more, I doubt I'll be able to help you to my fullest extent. Of course, I don't want to rush you. Again, it's not like this is our final session."

"Right. Can we just move on, please?" Akira asked, rubbing his forehead.

"There's one more thing I'd like to ask you, Akira-kun."

"Ask."

"Would you ever consider sharing with your friends what you did with me? About your past, I mean…"

Akira didn't answer. He felt a migraine coming on. He reached into his bag and grabbed some aspirin and his bottle of water, but only because his tumbler was empty. The session continued without Akira talking about any more of his trauma. While the other sessions seemed to fly by, this one seemed to go on forever. Akira grew more and more uncomfortable, not because of Maruki, but because of the increasing intensity of his migraine, combined with his head beginning to spin due to a slightly inebriated state. The whiskey had caught up to him. Akira eventually decided to cut the session short, which Maruki was fine with. He managed to hide his tipsiness from Maruki as he said his goodbyes and left. He once again put his hood up in an effort to avoid Chihaya but was unsuccessful this time around.

"Akira-kun!" she called him over. He sighed and reluctantly made his way over to her.

"Hello, Chihaya, how are you?" he disinterestedly asked her.

"I feel like I should be asking you that. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just had another therapy session. It was a bit rough, a lot of feelings and all that crap."

"I see…"

"Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm not feeling well. I'd like to go home and rest up if that's all right." Not that he was actually asking.

"I understand. It's just…" Chihaya stopped midway through her sentence.

"…just what?"

"… I-I hope you're taking care of yourself. Go home and rest. I hope you feel better soon," she said, flashing him a kind but worried smile. Akira nodded and hastily left, making his way to the train station. As he was about to get on the train, however, he noticed something was off. He felt lighter than when he first got off the train. He wondered why. Then it hit him.

He had left his tumbler in Maruki's office.

Akira panic-sprinted back out of the station and through the streets of Shinjuku. He entered the building where Maruki's office was and quickly made his inside his waiting room. As soon as he arrived, Maruki stepped out of his office, holding his tumbler. Akira was panting.

"I thought you might be back for this," Maruki said, handing Akira the tumbler. Akira was afraid that Maruki knew what was inside. Though it was empty, the lingering smell of whiskey would've been a dead giveaway.

"T-T-Thanks, Doc…" Akira was still winded. Akira took the tumbler out of Maruki's hand. "I-I'll… see you next S-Saturday…" He said before turning around. Before he could exit the waiting room, though, he was interrupted.

"Akira-kun?" Maruki called out to him. Akira nervously turned around.

"Yeah…?" Akira could tell from the look in Maruki's eye, even through his sweat-drenched fake glasses, that he knew.

"…never mind. See you next week," Maruki said in a solemn tone before heading back into his office and closing the door. Akira cursed at himself in his mind for being so stupid as he left the office once more.

**Leblanc**

Back at Leblanc, Futaba, Yusuke, Ann, and Ryuji were enjoying a Golden Week lunch together. They sat in one of the booths, enjoying some leftover curry and coffee. Sojiro had decided to close the store for the day to rest up after having caught whatever bug Futaba had the other night.

"Wait, Yusuke painted what?" Ryuji asked, stunned.

"He painted me eating instant Yakisoba," Futaba repeated herself, eating her curry.

"…but not nude, right?" Ann cautiously asked.

"Of course not! My painting of Futaba was purely to express my love for her," Yusuke said defensively.

"He did it from memory, too. It was pretty impressive, not gonna lie," Futaba added.

"It was not that difficult. Your visits helped keep you fresh in my memory," Yusuke said to her, smiling.

"Your memory fresh and your stomach full, mwehehe," Futaba quipped. The others chuckled.

"That is true, I likely would've continued starving had you not kindly offered to bring me food every week," Yusuke admitted.

"You're not starving on my watch, Inari," Futaba said before planting a kiss on Yusuke's cheek.

"You two are so cute!" Ann squealed at the subtle display of affection.

"Gotta admit, didn't think you two'd ever end up together," Ryuji said.

"Why's that?" Futaba raised an eyebrow.

"I dunno, you're both kinda…" Ryuji froze as Yusuke and Futaba glared at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"…yes?" Yusuke said.

"… I dunno, odd?" Ryuji finally said.

"Wow… well, as long as we're honest, I didn't think you'd ever get a girlfriend, Ryuji," Futaba snickered.

"Why not?" Ryuji mockingly asked.

"You really gotta ask?" Futaba winked; Ryuji sighed.

"I'll admit, I didn't think I'd get a girlfriend anytime soon. Guess I got lucky," Ryuji smirked at Ann, who then kissed him.

"We should all go on a double date some time!" Ann excitedly suggested.

"Isn't that what we are doing right now?" Yusuke asked, looking up from his plate.

"Oh-Um…" Ann was flustered.

"I mean, we're two couples, having lunch together n' all. Pretty sure that counts," Ryuji said.

"Yeah, but… I dunno, it doesn't feel like one exactly," Ann said.

"I agree with Ryuji. We're ticking all the boxes, so why isn't this a double date?" Futaba wondered.

"Maybe because I'm here, duh," Morgana huffed, finally breaking his silence. He was lying on one of the stools, awkwardly listening to the four of them being all cute with each other for the past half-hour.

"Man, why you gotta kill the mood? What are you doing here anyway?" Ryuji asked.

"What, not happy to see me?" Morgana retorted.

"Not if you're gonna be a buzzkill."

"Shut up, monkey!"

"Quit it, you two!" Ann scolded them both before the door opened up. Akira entered, his hood still up, and walked past everyone like he didn't even notice them.

"What's up, dude?" Ryuji blurted out. No response.

"Welcome back!" Futaba called out. Still no response. Akira made his way up to his room. "Brrrr. Talk about a cold shoulder…" she said, looking at Ryuji, who shrugged.

"Did he even hear us?" Ann quietly asked. "Wonder what's up with him?"

"Perhaps his session with Doctor Maruki didn't go well?" Yusuke pondered.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," Morgana said, hopping off the stool. He followed Akira upstairs to see how he was doing. He found him crouching in front of his bed like he was messing with something under it. "Hey," he called out. Akira jumped. He hastily turned around and greeted Morgana.

"Oh! M-Morgana! Hey!" It was clear he was hiding something. "U-Uh…what's up? How've you been?"

"Good, and you?"

"Fine, fine, just fine, you know? Fine." Akira was smiling stiffly. "It's-uh, i-it's been a while."

"Yep." There was clearly some awkward tension in the air.

"How's living with Futaba?"

"It's fine. It feels weird being at Shujin without you."

"Haha, I can imagine." No amount of small talk could kill the awkward air.

"So, how was your session?"

"Uh…good. Good," Akira nodded. "Talked about some things."

"Like what?"

"Uh, sorry, doctor-patient confidentiality, hehe," Akira joked.

"I see. Well, as long as it's helping. By the way, what was with the cold shoulder?"

"What do you mean?" Akira was confused.

"Futaba said, 'hello' to you, and you completely ignored her."

"… Futaba's here?"

"Yeah, her, Lady Ann, Yusuke, and Ryuji."

"Huh, sorry, I didn't notice. My mind was elsewhere. Shall we head down?" he suggested; Morgana nodded. They made their way downstairs. The couples were still enjoying their lunch. "Hey, guys. Sorry I missed you when I walked in. I wasn't paying attention." Akira was worried he might've been blacking out again.

"No worries, you hungry? There should still be some curry left," Futaba said, pointing towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm starving. I didn't eat this morning."

"How come?" Ann asked.

"I…wasn't hungry." He just wanted to make sure he got a good buzz in the morning. Drinking on an empty stomach means the alcohol lingers around in the system, going straight into the bloodstream and elongating the buzz. "Anyway, how're you guys?"

"We're good, just enjoyin' some curry, shootin' the shit," Ryuji said.

"You guys on a double date or what?" Akira asked, looking around the booth.

"Sorta, Morgana ruined it, though," Futaba said.

"Hey!" Morgana's reaction made Akira chuckle slightly.

"How did your session with Doctor Maruki go?" Yusuke asked; Akira's chuckle stopped.

"Ah, it was…okay."

"Just okay?" Morgana asked, noting the odd pause in Akira's speech.

"…actually, it was pretty tough this time," Akira admitted.

"Oh? Why's that?" Yusuke asked.

"I…" Akira hesitated to answer honestly. "…got something big off my chest today." He took a seat at the counter, rubbing his head. The others looked at him with concern.

"How did it feel?" Ann asked.

"Terrible, but I'm glad I finally told somebody the whole thing. It's something I've mentioned before, but kept the full story locked up for years." The others looked at each other, more concerned than before.

"Hey man, if you don't wanna talk about it with us, that's cool. I'm just hopin' you're okay, you know?" Ryuji said.

"Thanks," Akira nodded. "Sorry, it's been a rough morning…" he sighed.

"So…do you want to talk to us?" Morgana asked, likely knowing the answer. Akira thought about what Maruki asked him earlier. He was about to say his usual line, "I don't want to talk about it," but he wanted to stop running and hiding from his past. He promised he'd try to be more open to his friends, the people he considered to be just as important to him as his family. Furthermore, he also missed Morgana. The one who's been at his side pretty much every moment since he arrived in Tokyo, and after he left.

"I…" Everyone perked up. "…no. I don't want to talk about it right now…" The others nodded in understanding. Morgana was equally understanding, but he also hung his head in disappointment. He didn't expect Akira to talk about it, knowing he was always emotionally closed off, but his heart still broke for him. "…but…" Akira continued; Everyone looked up at him once more. "…if we all get together at some point, I'll tell you all what I talked about with Maruki today. If you're willing to hear me out…"

"Yeah, man! Of course, we are!" Ryuji said.

"We're your friends, and we're always willing to hear you out," Ann added.

"Indeed. We're here for you," Yusuke said. Futaba said nothing; she simply got up and hugged him.

"All right then," Akira said, letting go of Futaba. "I'm gonna ask everyone if they can meet us here." He pulled out his phone.

**PT Group Chat**

AK: Hey Sumire, Makoto, Haru, are you all free later on to meet up at Leblanc? There's something I'd like to talk to everyone about.

The responses didn't come right away. He figured they were busy. He wasn't sure about Makoto and Haru, but he knew Sumire was still at practice.

"What about your cousin?" Ann asked.

"Her and Yu are spending the day at Dome Town. Besides, it's nothing she doesn't already know about." Akira partially lied. He didn't feel the need to tell Rise more than she already knew. After having some curry and coffee, as well as chit-chatting with the others, Akira's phone buzzed. It was the group chat.

**PT Group Chat**

MN: Haru and I went out to lunch. We'll be there in a bit.

SY: I'm done with practice. I'm on my way over, right now.

"Okay, everyone's coming over," Akira said as he saw the replies and put his phone away.

The whiskey from the morning had mostly worn off, and Akira was feeling a migraine again. He excused himself for a moment and headed up to his room. He lifted his mattress and grabbed one of the milk crates that were used as his bed frame. Akira pulled out the bottle of whiskey he had bought on his way back from Maruki's office. He looked behind him to make sure no one was around and took a single sip.

Eventually, everyone showed up at Leblanc. They all went upstairs to the attic and took seats around the room. Everyone looked at Akira as he took a seat on his bed, vigorously running his hands through his hair and exhaling as he looked up at his friend's concerned faces.

"So, I'm going to tell you all what I talked about with Maruki, today," he began. "But I'm not gonna lie, it's not going to be pretty. In fact, it's probably going to be pretty gross and hard to listen to. I don't want to force any of you to listen to me. If you wanna leave now or at any point, then that's fine. I won't mind." No one budged an inch from their seat, however the group looked more concerned than ever. Akira's warning did nothing to deter them from leaving, but he almost wished it had.

"You can tell us anything, Akira," Sumire said. "We're all here for you." Everyone nodded, and that almost made it worse for him.

"Right," he began. "This is gonna be a long afternoon…" he thought to himself. "Here it goes…"