"Really? So she kissed you, then immediately ran back to her room?" Yuuki Mishima asked after hearing his friend's story.
"Yep, you wouldn't believe how awkward the plane ride back was. She hasn't even spoken to me since then." Ren replied before sighing and leaning back into his seat. "I really don't know what I should do."
Next to him, a third man finished taking a drink from his glass before slamming it onto the table and turning to his best friend.
"Are you for friggin' real dude!?" He asked. "You made out with your smokin' hot boss who is a BILLIONAIRE and you're moping about it!? Some guys have all the luck."
"The human heart is a complex thing Ryuji, we of all people should know that." Yusuke Kitagawa interjected on Ren's behalf. "And of the emotions we feel, love might be the hardest to understand." The artist turned toward the man in question. "Do you think you're in love with her?"
"I…I don't think so?" Ren replied, scratching his head. "I mean, I think about that moment a lot now. But I could say the same about a few other moments from recent memory."
Ryuji's eyes widened and he spit out his drink. "You mean this ain't even the first time you two have done somethin' like this!?"
"N-No, not Mitsuru…I mean o-other girls." He replied sheepishly.
"Oh come on!" The blond slumped back in their booth.
The four men were out together at the Crossroads bar in Shinjuku, enjoying a night out on the town. After going for months without contact, Ryuji Sakamato had contacted the other three informing them that he was back in town for the weekend and wanted to go out for a 'boy's night to remember' which had, so far, only encompassed the friends going to a bar and catching up with one another.
The guys hadn't changed too much over the years. Ryuji was training for the Olympics now and was a promising up and comer. He'd grown more muscular and a bit taller in the years since high school, but otherwise hadn't changed much. Between him, Ren, and Yusuke, he'd ended up the shortest of the trio which pissed him off whenever it was brought up. He was still single but had confided in Ren that he had a huge crush on his coach's daughter who was a few years older than him.
Yusuke was, of course, still Yusuke. Eccentric, socially inept, and unable to take care of himself. He'd grown a few inches taller since high school, but this only served to make him appear as even more of a beanpole. He'd grown his hair out quite a bit over time, his blue hair now reached his shoulders and he'd even grown a beard similar to Madarame's. Aside from Morgana and Ren, he was the only other Phantom Thief to accept the offer to stay in the Shadow Ops compound, moreso for the free food and rent than anything else.
Mishima was pursuing his passion in cinema, studying it in a local college. His appearance hadn't changed much beside the fact that he dressed slightly better now and had a slight stubble growing on his chin. Ren wasn't as in touch with him as he was with the others, but Mishima didn't seem to mind, he was grateful just to be included in 'Guy's Night.'
"Alright, I think we've talked enough about me." Ren stated, wanting to change the subject. "Mishima, how's film school going?"
"O-Oh, me?" Mishima seemed embarrassed at having the spotlight on him. "Y-Y'know it's um, it's good. I've been workshopping my documentary on the Phantom Thieves, trying to get it picked up by a producer. There's actually a rough draft of it online."
"Dude for real? We've gotta check it out!" Ryuji pulled out his phone before beginning to search for it.
"Ryuji you really shouldn't-"
"Ah, I think I found it!" He exclaimed. "Phantom Thieves Amateur Film!"
Mishima's eyes suddenly widened. "N-NO! That's not what you think it is!" But it was already too late as Ryuji pressed the play button.
The group went silent as a tune everyone was too ashamed to admit they recognized played out over Ryuji's phone.
"...Mishima?" The blond asked, his face unreadable.
"...Y-Yeah?" Mishima replied, wincing.
"…Is this a porn parody of the Phantom Thieves?"
"...Yeah." Mishima nodded, looking down at the table.
"This is what you're working on at film school?"
"N-No! It's not mine, I swear! Mine's an actual documentary!" He assured the blond. "And if it's any consolation, your character isn't really in it much, it's mainly just Joker and the girls."
"YOU WATCHED IT!?"
"Am I in it?" Yusuke asked, intrigued.
"Um, well yeah but…" Mishima began to blush. "I guess from your silhouette…people thought that you were a girl."
"Hmm, fascinating." Yusuke replied, not at all perturbed by this news.
"DUDE!" Ryuji turned to Ren, grabbing his shirt collar. "Even in pornos I'm not gettin' any action! What's your secret dude!?"
Before Ren could reply, a gravelly voice interrupted them.
"Hey Blondie, there are other customers here y'know! You're being very loud."
"Sorry Lala," Ren apologized to his former boss. "Won't happen again." He turned back to Ryuji. "I really don't think there's any secret to it man. If there is, I sure don't know it. It's been awhile since the last time I…y'know." His thoughts drifted back to when he and Minako were brainwashed by Eros and had a 'close encounter.' As well as his night at Haru's gala which had ended awkwardly to say the least. Neither of which he'd spoken to since then.
He was beginning to sense a pattern in his love life.
"What about things with your coach's daughter? Natsumi, right?" Mishima asked.
"Ugh, like I could ever get with her." Ryuji sighed. "He is insanely protective over his daughters. If I even so much as look in her direction, Coach adds another 2 kilometers to my workout. If I tried to flirt with her, I'm pretty sure he'd personally castrate me."
"Oof, sounds rough." Ren patted his friend on the shoulder. "What about you Mishima? Any special girl in your life?"
"Well…" Mishima blushed. "Th-There is one."
"Oh boy, here we go again. The 'Girl on the Train' story." Ryuji rolled his eyes.
"What girl on the train?" Ren asked. "I haven't heard this story."
"I'm curious as well." Yusuke added.
"Well, it was back in our second year of high school, I think it was early November. I was riding the train back from Akihabara after picking up, uh…supplies."
"Anime figures." Ryuji clarified, much to Mishima's embarrassment.
"So we'd just stopped in Shinjuku and that's when I saw her. This girl was absolutely stunning. I mean, Takamaki's pretty and all, but this girl's looks blew her right out of the water. Long raven-black hair, beautiful red lips, and these stormy silver eyes with perfect eyelashes." Mishima smiled, blushing as he recalled the girl of his dreams. "She was dressed in a costume, like a sexy police officer. I don't know what it was for but my god she looked amazing. I couldn't stop staring at her from the moment she got on. She took a seat directly across from me and when she saw me staring, I thought for sure she was going to yell at me. But instead…she winked at me before raising a finger to her lips. She got off on the next stop though, and I never saw her again."
Ren, upon hearing this story, choked on his drink. Coughing loudly as he struggled to breath.
"You good dude?" Ryuji asked his friend.
"Uh yeah, just went down the wrong pipe." He looked around nervously. "Hey, how about I get us another round? Ryuji, why don't you come with me?"
"I'm actually-" Before he could finish, he was pushed out of the booth by Ren as the two went to grab more drinks.
As they left, Yusuke turned to Mishima. "Could you describe this woman in greater detail? Perhaps I could help put together a sketch that could help you find this elusive woman."
"Really? That'd be amazing!"
Meanwhile, across the bar the other two men were speaking in a hushed tone.
"You wanna tell me what's goin' on?" Ryuji asked.
"It's about Mishima's girl on the train." Ren replied.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you've gotten it on with her too!"
"N-No, it's not that…" Ren replied, scratching the back of his neck.
"Well what is it then?"
"...The girl on the train was me."
"..."
"..."
"WHAT!?" Ryuji shouted in disbelief.
"Hey Blondie! That's strike two!" Lala yelled from behind the bar.
"Look, there's context to the story alright?" Ren explained. "Remember that case we were working on around that time? The one where Ann's boss almost died after getting poisoned?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"Basically I got Akechi to let me tag along to question the guy, but I had to go undercover because he'd already seen me with Ann before then."
"And so you decided to dress as a sexy policewoman? That was your first choice?"
"The costume shop didn't have any male police uniforms. So I bought the girl one and got Lala to help me with hair extensions and makeup." He said, gesturing toward the crossdressing bar owner. "And so I put my disguise together and this was the end result." Ren stated, showing Ryuji a picture on his phone.
Staring at the picture of his friend crossdressing, the blond saw why Mishima would be attracted to the 'girl' in the photo.
"Wait, why'd you take a picture?" Ryuji asked.
"Uh, cuz I looked fucking amazing?" Ren replied, putting his phone away.
"Okaaay, and why are you telling me all this?"
"Because I don't know what the hell to do! How am I supposed to tell Mishima that his dream girl he's been pining after for years isn't even a real girl!?"
"Why did you wink at him in the first place!?"
"It wasn't a flirty wink! I didn't expect to run into anyone I knew! When he saw me I assumed he knew who I was so I tried to play it off like it was our secret. I didn't think this would happen! What should we tell him?"
"Well 'you' gotta tell him somethin'!" Ryuji exclaimed.
The two walked back to their table with drinks in hand as Mishima excitedly turned to them.
"You guys! Yusuke drew up a sketch of the girl on the train!" He held up a napkin which had been drawn on in pen, showing an almost perfect recreation of the picture that Ren had shown Ryuji earlier. "With this, I might actually be able to find her!"
"Uh, Mishima?" Ryuji chimed in. "What exactly are you plannin' on doing if you do meet…'her.'"
"I was too nervous to talk to her the first time, but I've changed since high school." He stated with uncharacteristic confidence. "I've rehearsed what I'd say at least a hundred times. I'm gonna march up to her, introduce myself, and ask her out on a date…Even if she'll probably turn me down anyway." He added, looking away shyly. "An amazing girl like that, no way she's still single."
Ryuji was nearly in tears from trying not to laugh, grabbing onto Ren for support. "Don't worry buddy *snort* I have it on good authority that she's still single." He pointed to the man next to him.
Mishima looked at Ren in awe. "Really!? You know who she is!? And you think I've got a shot?"
Ren sighed before taking a long drink from his glass. "Mishima, there's something I need to talk to you about."
Two minutes later, in the alleyway next to Crossroads:
"So…that's how it is huh?" Mishima looked at the ground beneath him, disappointedly kicking a discarded bottle.
"Yeah…Sorry to be the bearer of bad news." Ren comforted his friend with a pat on the shoulder.
"No man, it's fine you're a good friend for telling me." He sighed. "Who would've thought? The mystery girl on the train all those years ago was your cousin who was visiting from Canada."
"I know right?" The raven-haired boy sympathized with his friend, secretly relieved that he bought the lie. "But I'm sure that if she spoke a word of Japanese and didn't live halfway across the world in an area with no phone reception or internet, you would be exactly her type."
"Thanks man."
"Wanna head back inside?" Ren offered.
"Nah, I'm gonna hang back for a minute, I'll meet you back at the booth."
"Alright, take your time man." He gave his friend a nod before going back inside.
When Mishima heard the door close behind him, he immediately brought out his phone, scrolling to contacts before finding the one he was looking for and calling.
"Hey mom? Uh, quick question, do you think I could borrow some money? What for?" He scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"I was thinking of taking a trip soon."
[Shadow Operative File: 028]
Ryuji Sakamato
Codename: Skull
Status: Standby
Species: Human
Age: 20
Sex: M
Persona: William, formerly Seiten Tasei, formerly Captain Kidd
Description: Former member of the Phantom Thieves and Olympic hopeful, Ryuji Sakamato is talented in all things sports related. He demonstrates an unprecedented ability to receive damage and continue forward toward his goal. However, should he ever wish to become a full time member of the team, it is recommended that he undergo the facility's 3 week training program for operatives who demonstrate noticeably low IQ's.
Notes: Despite only spending a short time at the facility, Sakamato has received a number of complaints from the staff for his vulgar speech and utter disregard for cleanliness. After staying at the compound for a week, his room was declared a contaminated zone and required a team of cleaners to return it to habitable condition.