"God this instant crap is terrible." Ren sighed as he lowered his coffee mug from his lips. "I should really visit Leblanc again soon."
It was early morning at the compound and the 21 year old yawned as he leaned against the kitchen counter, watching the sun rise over the horizon. He enjoyed doing this when he had the time to. The view of the ocean was incredible from the hill the compound sat atop.
"Is that coffee?" A tired voice asked.
Ren turned to see the Shadow Ops' resident popstar entering the kitchen in a yellow bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head.
"Yeah, there's a fresh pot, can't say it tastes the best though." He replied.
"Not everyone is as picky as you when it comes to coffee Ren. Caffeine is caffeine." Rise retorted before reaching up for her mug from the kitchen shelf.
Everyone on the team had their own specific coffee mugs that only they used (Ren's was black with the Phantom Thieves' logo on it) and unfortunately, sometimes the staff would unintentionally place them out of reach of the shorter members of the team. That seemed to be the case today as Rise stood on her tiptoes, reaching for her mug on the shelf.
"If you say so." Ren smirked, taking another sip of coffee. However, as he did so, he failed to notice the brunette's robe begin to slip off of her outstretched body, the loosely tied sash coming undone.
"Hrrr…Got it!" The shorter woman said as she grasped the porcelain mug in her hand. As she turned to face the raven-haired man next to her, she was caught off guard when he suddenly spit out the coffee in his mouth. "Geez, is it really that bad?" She asked, now rethinking her choice of beverage.
"R-Rise um…" He averted his gaze from the woman, his cheeks red.
"What?" The 23 year old looked down and saw her robe barely hanging from her body. Her most sensitive areas nearly completely exposed to the open air.
And Ren had totally gotten an eyeful.
"Ohmygod!" The copper-haired woman quickly wrapped herself back up, embarrassed by the accident. The two stood silently, looking away from each other before Rise spoke up. "I'm…sorry about that. C-Can we forget this happened?" She asked shyly, blushing hard.
"Mhmm." Ren nodded, unable to look his coworker in the eye.
"G-Great. I'm…I'm gonna go get dressed now." She replied before hurrying off to her room, face red, her morning coffee being the last thing on her mind.
Now alone, the raven-haired man sighed to himself. "Well that totally won't affect our work relationship moving forward." He set down his mug before taking a seat at the counter. Looking down at his phone, his mind drifted to thoughts of Rise's body. He hadn't seen too much, but he couldn't help but linger on what he did see.
Before long, the clacking of heels sounded through the hallway. Turning up to the source of the noise, Ren watched as Mitsuru Kirijo entered the kitchen dressed in a business suit. The flash of alarm in her eyes upon seeing Ren did not go unnoticed by the man in question. Despite her obvious attempts to avoid the younger man, she could not do so now without making it completely apparent.
"M-Mitsuru…" Ren greeted, awkwardly raising a hand.
"...Amamiya." The redhead nodded back before walking straight past him to the pantry.
'Great, guess we're back to last names now.' He thought, sighing mentally.
The 28 year old grabbed a bagel from out of the pantry and immediately moved to leave, one would almost think that she didn't want to be in the same room as the man she'd been ghosting for the past few weeks.
"Hey Mit-er…Kirijo-san?" Ren spoke up, standing to face Mitsuru before she could leave. "Can um, can we talk for a minute?"
Averting her line of sight from Ren's face, the older woman shook her head before speaking. "Um, I'm sorry Re…Amamiya, but I'm very busy this morning. I have an important phone call in a few minutes and after that I have to meet with my company shareholders in Kyoto."
"Right…Some other time then." Ren stepped out of his boss's way, not bothering to mask his discontent at the situation.
However, before Mitsuru could leave, the sound of a door swinging open and slamming shut echoed through the hallways followed shortly after by the sound of stomping feet across the floor. When the source of the noise entered the kitchen, both Ren and Mitsuru reacted in surprise.
"Yukari?" They both asked, befuddled as to why the actress/model was here and looking so aggravated at that.
Yukari was dressed in a white blouse with a pink sweatshirt over it and blue jeans with brown sneakers and her usual pink choker. She had a notable case of bedhead as she most likely didn't wake up too long ago and must've gotten in the car to drive to the compound before the sun was even up.
"What kind of bagel is that?" Were the first words the angry brunette asked as she stomped toward the pair.
"Wh-uhhh, cinnamon raisin…Why do you ask?" The redhead asked before said bagel was snatched from her hand.
"I need to go shoot something." Was Yukari's only response as she angrily bit into the bagel, walking off to the battle simulation room, leaving the kitchen's other two inhabitants alone.
"...I should probably go talk to her." Mitsuru began to follow after her friend just before being cut off by Ren.
"No, I'll go talk to her." He stated. "You're busy after all. Right?"
Mitsuru looked surprised for a moment before nodding her head. "R-Right. Good luck then." She answered as Ren followed after the aggressive brunette.
When he entered the simulation room, Ren saw Yukari already in the middle of a training program, firing her compound bow at the moving targets around her with deadly precision. Despite being out of the game for years now, it seemed her skills with the bow and arrow hadn't suffered at all. As the last enemy target fell from an arrow through the head, Yukari turned back to the entrance, spotting Ren waiting for her.
"Don't forget about the-'' Before Ren could finish his warning, one final surprise enemy appeared behind Yukari. Without even turning around, the brunette nocked her last arrow and shot behind her, hitting the enemy square in the chest. "Tch, showoff."
"Like you're one to talk." Yukari replied as she entered the room's safe zone.
"So…care to explain your earlier bagel theft?"
"Not really." The older woman replied in an exasperated tone.
"Okay…" Before Ren could say anything else, Yukari angrily sat on a nearby bench and let out a loud sigh.
"I mean how could they do that shit? I've given that show 8 years of my life and now they're just kicking me to the curb? Why? Because I'm quote 'getting too old for kids to relate to'?" She stated with air quotes before slamming her fist against the wall behind her. "Fuck them."
"You got fired from Featherman?" Ren asked, taking a seat next to her.
"I got the call this morning. They're replacing me with a younger actress, no doubt so a bunch of sweaty basement dwellers can collect figurines of her to fawn over."
An image of Futaba drooling over her respectably large Neo Featherman figurine collection flashed through Ren's mind but he thought it better not to mention it.
"Didn't you hate working on that show though?" He asked. "I remember hearing you mention to Fuuka how long the hours were and how itchy the costumes could get."
Yukari shot a death glare Ren's way and he felt a shiver run down his spine. Just as he was sure the brunette was going to slap him, she instead placed her head in her hands and began to sulk.
"It isn't that they fired me, it's why they fired me." She absent-mindedly began twirling a strand of her hair between her fingers. "I know I'm getting older and I realize that I'm not going to be able to do my modelling gig forever. But now it feels like I'm constantly being hit over the head with that fact. It seems like everywhere I turn I'm being replaced by someone younger and blonder than me."
"Uh…Yukari? Is there some bad blood between you and Ann?"
"Huh?" The 27 year old looked up in surprise. "W-What do you mean?"
"You said 'younger and blonder' just now. Can't help but feel like you're talking about someone in particular."
"N-No, of course not. Things are…they're great between us. She's super nice,,,"
"But you feel threatened by her." Ren finished, reading between the lines.
"Look, I don't need you telling me how I feel okay!?" Yukari replied, abruptly standing up. "I don't know why I'm talking to you of all people about this-" She began to walk away but was stopped when Ren suddenly grabbed her hand.
"Sorry! I'm sorry!" He apologized. "Please, tell me more. If you just want me to be a silent audience I will be. Please…I just want to help."
Yukari looked down at Ren's calloused hand gently holding her's, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink before she placed her other hand against her temple. Her heart fluttered for a moment and there was a pregnant silence for a moment.
'Goddammit, why does he remind me so much of…of him?' She thought to herself. "Fine." Yukari finally said, returning to her seat next to Ren, but not before pulling her hand away from his. He didn't need to know how sweaty her palms were getting.
Taking a deep breath, she continued. "There was an incident at work the other week. I was running late for a shoot because my train got delayed. When I finally got to set…they had already replaced me with Ann." She painfully recalled the memory. "Five minutes. Five minutes was how long they decided to wait before asking her to fill in. That's all that I was worth to them."
Ren grimaced as he placed a comforting hand on Yukari's shoulder.
"And I know that it wasn't Ann's fault. We work in a competitive industry where every minute counts, but…but goddammit I was mad at her!" She confessed. "I couldn't believe that she had gone behind my back like that. When I finally did get there, she did insist that I take over for her, but the director refused! He said that it was turning out better with Ann anyway and that they would stick with her!" By now, there were tears forming in the woman's eyes as her voice began to crack.
"Yukari, I'm so sorry that happened to you."
"I just…I just feel like she's beating me out at every aspect of life. Like she's the shiny new model everyone wants, and I'm the old model they throw out. Like she's DVD and I'm VHS."
"What's VHS?" Ren asked before being punched in the ribs. "Oww! I was kidding! I'm not that young! Besides, who even uses DVD's at this point?"
"You know what I meant!" She pouted, turning away from him. He definitely didn't need to see her crying face. "...I just haven't had a win in a while okay? As much as I like Ann, I want to be able to say that I beat her at something, even *sniffle* even as mean as that sounds."
"..." Ren thought for a moment before an idea popped into his mind. He put on his 'Joker face' and grabbed the woman beside him by the hand. "Yukari, this may be stupid and feel free to slap me after the fact, but I want you to turn to me."
Yukari wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve before turning to face the younger man. "What is i-mmm!?" She was cut off as Ren's lips met hers in a passionate kiss. Her eyes went wide for a moment before she accepted it, allowing herself to feel the electric waves that shot through her spine.
Ren Amamiya was a really, really good kisser. Like…stupidly good.
She even had to stop herself from letting out a disappointed groan as he broke away after a few seconds.
"Congratulations. You kissed the legendary Joker of the Phantom Thieves before Ann Takamaki."
"Wha? You *sniffle* You idiot." She replied, softly chuckling. "You really think you're that special?"
Ren shrugged. "Eh, special enough to get you to laugh." He replied jokingly before a worried look crossed his face, his Joker persona fading away. "That was okay right? I mean, Junpei told me you weren't seeing anybody, but I should've asked before-"
"Wait, you asked Junpei if I was seeing anyone?"
This time it was Ren's turn to blush. "I mean I didn't ask so much as he told me. N-Not that I don't find you attractive! I just mean…ugh." He groaned.
Yukari let out a hearty laugh at Ren's expense, watching the usually cool and stoic loner trip over his words. While it might not have gone how he'd planned, Ren had succeeded in making his teammate feel better.
"Well I think I've embarrassed myself enough now. My job here is done." He got up from the bench, heading toward the door.
"Wait!" Yukari yelled out without thinking. Ren turned to her with an anxious look. Not knowing what to do, she did finger guns at the younger man. "Uh, thanks b-buddy."
"..."
"..."
"Um, no problem…pal." He returned the gesture before exiting the room.
As soon as the door shut, Yukari punched the wall behind her again. "FUCK! Finger guns? 'Buddy'? Really!?" She smacked herself in the head.
Moving her (now stinging) hand up to her lips, she recalled the kiss that had happened only moments ago. What had he meant by that? Was it really just to cheer her up? Or was there something more to it? It certainly felt as though there'd been more but that might've just been wishful thinking on her part.
'Wait…Wishful?' Her eyes widened. Oh god she had a crush on Ren. Longingly he ran her tongue over her lips, once again feeling the taste of his on her's.
"Huh, tastes like coffee."
[Shadow Operative File: 004]
Yukari Takeba
Codename: Argus
Status: Standby
Species: Human
Age: 27
Sex: F
Persona: Isis, formerly Io
Description: Former member of SEES, Yukari Takeba is a first generation Persona user with years of experience. Particularly skilled in long range combat, she is most often fighting the enemy from a distance. When the Shadow Ops were first formed, Yukari was offered full time membership but declined in order to continue college and her modelling/acting career. Currently she works as a full time model and has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, following in her father's footsteps.
Notes: Yukari spends little time at the compound, typically only visiting for holidays and birthdays, but when she does visit, she nearly always gets into an argument with one of the staff, typically over parking. As a result, the staff have nicknamed her the 'Pink Witch.'