The television idly broadcasted the news as it filled the silence of the now quiet café. Futaba leisurely savoured her cup of coffee as she watched the two older males in her family keeping themselves busy in the kitchen, clearing up the aftermath of the rambunctious celebrations that had ended moments ago.

The thieves had offered to help in the clean-up, but was shooed away by Sojiro with the excuse that they wouldn't make it for the last train if they stayed behind any longer. He had a questioning look when he noticed the girl in blue staying behind even though the rest of the thieves had already left, but had decided to leave her alone for the time being.

Futaba stole quick glances at the girl who was sitting beside her, obliviously enjoying her nth cup of latte that Futaba had lost count midway throughout the party. She had been observing the both of them ever since they entered the cafe together, noticing the fleeting looks that they gave each other whenever their eyes met, with occasional discreet smiles and gestures when nobody else was paying attention. She was even sticking to him when they went around making introductions, almost like a baby chick following a mother hen.

Even now the girl was watching Akira hard at work in the kitchen with an earnest smile on her face, smiling extra brightly at him whenever he had looked towards their general direction. While Futaba wasn't exactly proficient with social cues and interpersonal relations, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the both of them shared feelings for each other.

Futaba sighed dejectedly, somewhat disappointed that the position of being the closest female to Akira had been so stealthily usurped by someone outside of their clique, furthermore without any prior hints nor warnings at all. She thought that she had always been the one closest to Akira, since she was the only female in the team that actually receives skinship (head pats) from him and he had always approached her first if he needed consultation on any issues, be it personal or Phantom Thief related.

"Because we're teammates."

Futaba recalled the time when she had attempted to confess to Akira. She had mustered her courage to approach him about her feelings, but was tactfully turned down even before she could ask the important question. Surely she had felt heartbroken about it, but didn't allow herself to resent him nor wallow in self-pity once more. Fortunately, both parties had strived to maintain their friendship and did their best not to be too awkward around each other in the earlier days.

But during his time in LeBlanc, their unique relationship together with Sojiro had somehow diverged towards from being mere friends and changed into being a foster family of sorts. And she thoroughly enjoyed her new position as his 'sister', which conveniently gave her an excuse to be closer to him than the others in the team.

But even so, she wasn't exactly going to play the cliché 'oppressive sister-in-law' role now and give them a hard time. She was actually glad that Akira had finally found himself a partner.

Although unfortunate that it wasn't her.

Guessing that Akira had the intention of having her stay the night with him since the girl wasn't even budging from her seat at this point in time, Futaba leered at Akira teasingly as she imagined the 'plans' that he was planning for the girl tonight. She simply HAD to get all the juicy details from the girl herself, while her 'guardian' was occupied at the moment. Snickering to herself as she concocted her grand plana, Futaba proceeded with her mission on gathering more 'blackmail material' about Akira.

"Sojiro! Can she stay overnight?" Futaba took the initiative to ask after she checked the timing for the last trains, confirming that there wasn't any more transport out of the remote Yongenjaya. She figured that requesting this as a girl and as his daughter would bring about a preferable response than having Akira ask himself, and Sojiro has always been soft on her.

"What? It's that late already?" Sojiro asked as he checked the clock on the wall, bringing out a tray of cleanly washed cups back to the counter. "Hmm, won't your parents worry, young lady?" Sojiro asked as Akira emerged from the kitchen, wiping his wet hands with his apron. He eyed Futaba sceptically as she sneered at him, blatantly showing the fact that she was up to something mischievous once again.

"No. There's no need to worry about that." Lavenza replied, looking up from the beverage that had been placating her boredom. Sojiro scratched his head hesitatingly, understanding that most people related to thieves had their own special circumstances, but he couldn't help but worry about her because of her physical appearance of a young teen.

"Then it's settled! Then we shall stay here a little longer and play games late till morning! Kekeke…" Futaba immediately interrupted Sojiro before he had a change of mind, bouncing off her chair and immediately tugged at Lavenza's hands, urging her off the chair. Lavenza obliged and gingerly trailed after the girl who was tightly holding onto her, stumbling in her steps as she was dragged away to Akira's attic room by an overly enthusiastic Futaba. She gave provocative glance at Akira before she pulled the poor girl up the stairs to his room.

Futaba guided Lavenza to Akira's bed and unreservedly plonked herself onto it, motioning for the girl to sit beside her. She nodded and politely lowered herself on to the soft bed as she smoothed the skirt of her dress underneath her legs.

"So? So? It's Akira's room, how is it?" Futaba cheerfully egged the girl about her opinion of her boyfriend's room, wanting to tease Akira if she made any weird observations.

"It's big?" Lavenza tilted her head as she commented. "I can smell the coffee from downstairs as well." She smiled as she looked around the rustic room, apparently finding it a comfortable room despite its rundown state when compared to modern furniture.

"That's all!?" Futaba immediately retorted with a tsukkomi-like response, thinking that girls would normally show more interest in their boyfriend's room, like wanting to know about where his 'secret stash' was or about his internet search history that he may forget to delete. Lavenza only stared at her curiously, not understanding why Futaba had such an agitated response.

"W-well... anyway, how long has it been since you two met?" Futaba decided to gloss over Lavenza's weird opinion for the time being, prioritising her interrogation before Akira returns. This was her best chance of getting answers out of the girl without him attempting to censor anything.

"Umm..." Futaba watched the girl as she contemplated her answer carefully, not entirely sure why it would take her so much trouble to recall the date that they had met.

"Around April last year I suppose? Although it wasn't in this form..." Lavenza had answered while using her fingers to count back the months, mumbling and trailing off at the second part to the answer. But the distance between then was close enough that Futaba could easily hear it even without straining her ears.

'This form'? What's she talking about? Is she Fri*za from Drag**ball? Futaba almost made another tsukkomi aloud, suspecting that they weren't on the same frequency. Lavenza seemed so pure and honest that Futaba actually felt bad for trying to nudge out explicit details from her.

Wait, if she knew him from April... Would this mean they knew each other even before the Phantom Thieves were formed? Futaba immediately halted all of her horseplay and repeated Lavenza's reply in her head. She was certain that Akira had never mentioned about Lavenza's involvement in the Phantom Thieves, and it was pure coincidence that they had met in the place called the Velvet Room. Neither did she hear about a fifth member that was involved in Kamoshida's case, recalling that it had only been Akira, Ryuji, Ann and Morgana.

"Wow! That's long!" Futaba gave a superficial response as she was busy searching her memory for any possible details, making a mental note to grill Akira for a full explanation later. "Next question! How long have you guys been together for?" Futaba directly dived into the topic she wanted to discuss the most, estimating that this would be her last question as she heard Akira closing the shop up downstairs.

"Together?" Lavenza tilted her head with a confused reaction, as though wondering if her relationship with Akira could be classified as such. Futaba momentarily questioned whether she had been mistaken about their relationship. Eh? But Akira didn't deny about her being a sister-in-law. Was I wrong? Her thoughts immediately went into a fluster, she was almost certain after observing their attitude that they had something going on.

"I suppose for about two months?" Lavenza tilted her head in further confusion as she used her fingers to count back the months again.

"What?" Futaba couldn't believe her ears at what she was hearing. Although she was surprised that they had only gotten together so recently even though they had known each other for some time, an even more critical question had been raised after hearing her answer.

Wasn't he still imprisoned two months ago? Futaba recalled that only Sae had went to visit him at the Juvenile Hall and she had had not informed them of any news about Akira having other visitors as well, neither could she think of any possible reason for Lavenza to lie about the duration. Even so, she could have lied about a more plausible date before Akira had been incarcerated.

Her curiosity urged her to extract more details from the girl, but before she could ask any more questions, a guy with ruffled black hair had appeared at the entrance to the room, carrying a tray of drinks and biscuits.

The thieves boarded the last train from Yongenjaya to Shibuya, each taking a random seat in the vacant late night train that was devoid of the usual Tokyo crowd. They would usually cause more of a ruckus when they travelled as a group, but they were especially worn out today after waiting all day for Akira's release and the subsequent all-out partying back at LeBlanc.

Makoto heaved a sigh as she leaned onto the train seat, releasing the tension in her body ever since she had personally laid eyes on Akira after his safe return. It felt as though all the stress for the past few months had finally released her from its grasps.

Ann and Ryuji were still energetically chatting away about their future plans since Akira had already returned, planning to make up for the time lost that they have missed during Christmas and New Year's celebrations. Haru quietly dozed off beside Makoto while retaining her poise, sitting upright and unconsciously making sure she didn't slouch over so that she didn't look unglamorous. Yusuke was daydreaming in his own world as per usual.

Makoto could only chuckle at the fact that Sojiro was perfectly right about them, that they had not changed a single bit even after the world had changed due to their actions.

She had been worried about Akira being badly influenced by life inside confinement. But contrary to her worries, he returned as cheerful and cheeky as always, as though he hadn't been arrested at all.

Makoto felt nostalgic when the entire group had forgotten themselves in the celebrations, cheering and laughing without a care in the world. It was just like when the entire group had spent hours messing around in Mementos until they didn't feel any more surprise whenever a certain gigantic humanoid shadow emerged to hunt them down. The impromptu curry picnic they had organised in the depths of Mementos still made Makoto question everyone's sanity up till today.

All would have been great if she could just revel in the celebrations and immerse herself in the cheerful mood. But a creeping sense of unrest had stirred in Makoto's heart when she had observed a slight change in Akira.

It was the first time he had smiled so warmly at someone else.

As hard as she tried, Makoto couldn't recall a time when she had seen him act so affectionately towards anyone, be it from the team or his outside confidants that she knows of. And she felt a tinge of envy that she wasn't at the receiving end of it.

Makoto first knew Akira by his infamy in school because of the rumours of assault charges and expulsion around him. It was then that she had also labelled him as a troublemaker and made sure to avoid him just like the student body did. She didn't want to be involved with a troublemaker.

How truly ignorant she had been.

Little did she know then that she would now regard him as one of the most important people in her life. Be it changing her entire world or supporting her through her toughest moments, she could daresay her life today is mostly thanks to Akira's involvement.

He had always strived to be a kind and reliable leader for the Phantom Thieves, even though they had forcefully pushed the role onto him. She could never forget that Akira had always offered his support in her greatest hour of need, and she was grateful for that.

His charm was so evident that every girl in the thieves had the hots for him and it wasn't even a secret among the girls that they were all vying for his affections. Even Makoto was so head-over-heels for him that she still hadn't let go of her feelings after all this time, even though he had not shown any romantic interest towards her.

But the sight of Akira treating someone else so tenderly threw her feelings into disarray, the sincere smile and loving gaze that wasn't meant for her only caused the yearning in her heart to grow stronger.

Makoto thought Akira had shown her many new experiences and feelings that she might never know of while buried in her studies, but the emotions that she was harbouring in her heart were completely unknown to her.

And it scared her.

Maybe she will learn about it someday, maybe she will never understand it in this life time.

But the one thing she wanted to know at this moment-

-was his feelings.

A/N : I'M STILL TRYING TO FLESH OUT THE DIABEETUS-FILLED VALENTINE'S DATE, SO HERE'S A SIDE STORY TO KEEP YOU GUYS SATISFIED.

(And yes, it's a Futaba POV and Makoto POV side story, that follows up on the previous chapter.)