Hometown Blues
The group was outside the subway waiting for Ann and Makoto. But Akira, for some reason, was worried; "I wonder what they're talking about? Wait! Do you think that Makoto's telling her that I would've gone out with her if I never met her!?" "Calm down, Makoto's not the type of woman to spread personal things." Arsene whispers.
They finally appear from the bathrooms and Ann smiles apologetically; "Sorry for making you guys wait for us." "I don't think it was that long dear."
Akira smiles; "It's alright but what did you guys talk about?" "Oh please, they're not going to tell us."
Ann walks up to him and kisses his cheek; "Girl talk." "No need to hide things from him dear." "Oh yeah, let's just tell him he would have died if it wasn't for Makoto that would score me some love points…"
He laughs; "It's alright, Carmen." He turns around and looks at Haru: "So what train do we take to get to your house?"
She smiles; "We don't need to take the train; I can have someone pick us up." "Even though I feel bad having them drive me everywhere." "Don't feel sorry for people lesser than you." "I still don't know how you're my other self…you're so rude." She takes out her phone and calls somebody. After a bit of talking, she hangs up; "They'll be here shortly. They'll call me when they're here."
"Seriously!? Is it a limo?" Ryuji asks which she nods making him excited; "For real!? Oh man! I can't believe I'm gonna be riding in a limo! "Why are ye so excited? It sounds like another land ship."
Ann laughs; "A limo is supposed to mean you're important or that you're rich. I rode in one couple times for some of my photoshoots." "I always knew you were an important person dear."
Milady scoffs; "Oh please, anyone can become famous for looking slutty. Just ask Carmen."
"Excuse me; I'm not the one who's wanting to sleep with every guy here!"
Milady laughs; "Sleep with every guy? Not a chance Jezebel, I only wanted Arsene but he loves you for some reason but now I'm stuck with Goemon. Other than that, I hate people, I only seduce them because it's easier to get the things I want and to raise my status from people's stupidity." "I still can't believe you murdered those people and tried to murder your own family for fortune and status…" "Look who's talking Mistress, your dad almost killed his employees for fortune and status."
Akira looks at 'Milady'; "You were a murderer, Milady?" "That explains everything." Arsene grumbles.
She laughs; "Oh, yes I was, you see; I had many aliases which I used to either kill people or make people kill for me. I even left my first 'love to rot in a prison but his bastard brother branded me before he turned himself in for his brother's sake so he made my crimes harder to commit. I only got caught because of my carelessness in not making sure that my first 'love' was dead so his brother would of rotted in prison since he wouldn't have been able to turn himself in, thus letting his brother get out of jail, letting him prove that I was a murderer amongst other things."
Carmen scoffs then whispers; "And I thought what I did was bad...At least I didn't purposely kill people." "She really is a terrible person."
Akira crosses his arms; "Do you regret doing all of that?" "She's going to say no."
"You are correct Arsene, my murders were worth the fortune and fame because we all die someday. Might as well live it to the fullest even at other people's expense."
Goemon agrees with her, "She does have a point. We all lived interesting lives before we died, well except for Anat and that flying disk." Yusuke frowns not expecting Goemon to agree; "You can't be seriously agreeing with her, Goemon."
"Hmm you know, Goemon, I thought you were another simpleton but now since you agreed with me, I have a little more respect for you." Milady sighs; "I can't believe I just said that…" Haru was about to respond but her phone starts ringing which she answered; "Okay, we'll be there soon. Thank you again!" She hangs up; "Is everyone ready?" Everyone nods and they follow after Haru.
Inside the Limo
Haru and Yusuke were sitting at the back of the Limo, Morgana and Makoto were sitting on one side of the Limo with Makoto near Akira and Ann who were sitting behind the driver. Futaba and Ryuji were on the other side of the Limo near the drinks but Ryuji couldn't sit still because of his excitement; "Oh man! This is awesome! You even have a TV and drinks in here!" "It's like a mini ship fer fancy scallywags!"
Yusuke smiles; "Even though I don't share Ryuji's excitement, the inside of a limo is magnificent. If I had time, I would've painted a picture of it." "Not to mention that we're moving as well."
Futaba sighs; "You always have to paint something, Inari..." "Well it is his hobby Futaba-chan; you're always on the computer because it's your hobby." "That's true."
Morgana didn't care; "I'm already used to this. It's great to be able to live in luxury." "That's because you only deserve the best."
"I rather get beheaded again to have to live with you again Zorro." "Well Morgana wasn't that bad to live with, even though he kept trying to make me go to sleep…"
Makoto looks at Morgana suspiciously; "And why were you forcing Haru to go to sleep…Morgana?" "I hope that it wasn't for what I think it is."
Morgana looks at Makoto in disbelief; "Of course, I wouldn't do something like that since I am a gentleman!" "She's just jealous that you don't look at her."
"I see Zorro is still too thickheaded to see how ridiculous that sounds." "Not to mention still narcissistic."
Akira laughs because Morgana does it to him all the time; "Relax Makoto, Morgana always made me go to sleep." "It was kind of annoying really." "I'm glad I got that month break from Morgana so I was able to go to work for Iwai the days we went to the Metaverse. But now I fall asleep sometimes working since I stop asking Kawakami for help since Ann found out about her. "I still don't get why you let Morgana force you to go to sleep." Arsene whispers. "Well he does it because he worries about me so I feel bad when I sneak out to the gym and like I said, I do fall asleep when I work with Iwai. So surprising, he's right. Geez, being a leader is hard; I have to make sure I'm in top physical peak all the time." Maybe you should ask Ann to give you massages then.""Uh, well, um…I know she won't do it."
"See Makoto! It's because Akira or Haru can't look after themselves!" "Like I said before, Akira owes Morgana a lot."
Ann laughs; "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the other way around Morgana." "Akira and Haru could've kicked you out anytime."
Akira smiles at him; "Well he's part of the phantom thieves so I can't kick him out or else he'll meow out our secret. Okay, maybe its because he's a good friend as well." "Now only if we can say the same thing about Zorro..."
A minute later
"Hey! I can look after myself!" "That took you a bit too long to respond Mistress…"
Haru's Living Room
Everyone was sitting on the couches in Haru's living room. Ryuji was still in awe from the size of the house; "Man...I didn't think you would be this rich, Haru!" "Ye must've gotten a lot o' booty fer this big o' a livin' quarter."
"You ingrates do know that Haru's father is the reason why Haru's rich, right?" "Stop being rude, there's no reason for you to be that way." "I beg to differ Mistress. Like I said, before there's no reason to be kind to people since you're already rich."
Ann leans over to Akira whispering; "Do you think she'll ever stop being a bitch?" "Hopefully soon or I'll have show her my bitch side."
He whispers back; "Alright first, I'm surprised to hear that kind of talk from you Ann. Secondly, No need to show your bitch side Carmen, we'll talk to her tonight." "I doubt that she's going to listen to us though." "I'll just ask a certain someone to change her if she keeps up."
Makoto clears her throat trying to get back on topic; "Can we please get back to why we're here." She looks at Akira; "Are you ready to talk about what happened in your hometown, Akira?" "You should be patient, Makoto-san."
He sighs; "It's alright Anat, but yeah Makoto, I'm ready." "Well I already know about this so does Morgana and Zorro, so we'll keep quiet." Everyone besides Ann and Morgana leans forward paying close attention to Akira. Ann tightly grips Akira's left hand with her right hand making him form a small smile on his face feeling her hand giving him confidence; "Maybe I should tell you how I met my old friends first. Well I was always top of my class and I didn't bother making friends because I wanted to focus on my studies to make my father proud. But that's when I met Emily; she wasn't doing well in school so I was asked to be her tutor."
Ryuji stops him; "Hold on, Emily? That sounds like a foreign name." "Mighty lad? Did ye mighty 'ave t' stop the tale fer that?"
He laughs; "Yeah Ryuji, Emily is foreign." He looks at Ann; "To be honest, she was basically like you Ann except not a professional model and wore her hair in a ponytail but had black streaks because she tried to dye her hair black but she's half American instead of European."
"Yeah...she really did look like me from what I seen from the picture but is that why he fell in love with me? Because I remind him of her?""I don't think so." Carmen whispers.
Akira continues; "Anyway, after about a week of tutoring her, we became friends and she wanted me to meet her group of friends. Of course, they didn't like me at first because they thought that I was some boring smart guy but after finding out that we had similar interests and I actually joked around, they made me part of the group. Now, between joining Emily's group of friends and till I got 'arrested', I considered them family like you guys since we would hangout every day after school but after a few months, Emily started acting like she wanted to be more than friends. She would always want to hangout but just us and she would keep making excuses to hold my hand or to touch me and that's when I started realizing that I was in love with her as well. So a week before my arrest, we were hanging out one day and that's when we confessed our feelings to each other and we planned to go on a date the next weekend."
Yusuke stops him; "Wait, you can remember the dates of the events but you can't remember the man who got you arrested?" "That's kind of weird, actually."
He looks down; "I can remember everything that happened before I came here but whenever I try to remember the man, all I get a blurred image of him." "Now that I think about it, it's almost like someone's trying to stop you from remembering the important facts that can make us change his heart so he confess his crimes thus proving your innocence." "Yeah, it does seem that way. Anyway, that's when I got arrested and that's when things started to go downhill..."
Akira and his parents were walking down the courthouse steps. He didn't know what to think. All he wanted was to protect the woman but he ended up getting a criminal record and put on probation because of a man who had more power than the police.
"I'm glad you help that woman Akira but now your future is ruined because of it. Are you sure you can't remember that man?"
"I'm sorry father but I couldn't let him take her. He would have raped her." He sighs in annoyance; "And I'm sure that I can't remember how the man looks like and he didn't say his name."
Akira's mom hugs him when they make it to the bottom of the stairs; "Well, unlike your father, I'm proud of you son. It sucks that you can't remember that man or I would've hunted him down."
"I didn't say that I wasn't proud of him, Reiko. I'm just worried about his reputation in getting into college and getting a good job."
She rolls her eyes; "Whatever you say, honey." She then releases Akira but holds onto his shoulders staring in his eyes; "Are you doing okay, dear?"
He sighs; "I-I don't know. I guess I should be happy that they let you be my guardians still."
She rubs his head; "That's because we're your parents, dear."
"Unless the school expels you then they'll transfer you to another school that'll take you. We can't transfer with you because of my job."
Reiko let go of Akira and glares at her husband because he wasn't supposed to say anything on that; "Takahiro! I told you that we shouldn't tell him!"
Akira looks at his dad in shock; "They might expel me!? Can't they just not tell them?"
He sighs; "Do you really think they'll just keep something as important as a criminal record from the school?"
"Why not? They already kept their mouth shut about the real criminal's involvement." Akira thinks to himself then he sighs; "Yeah, I guess they wouldn't..."
"Exactly, so now let's just go home and wait till tomorrow to see what the school does."
Ann lets go of Akira's hand and clenches her fists; "Your dad sounded like an ass back then as well!" "He was still worried more about reputation than you!"
Akira scoffs; "Yeah...I should have taken that as a sigh that he really didn't care about me after I got arrested..." "I forgot to ask you this, but was your dad like this before your arrest?" "No, I mean he cared about reputation and respect but he always told me he loved me no matter what but after I got arrested he kind of changed."
Ryuji was sitting back and with his ankle over his other knee; "Your mom sounds like she really loves you and doesn't seem like she would disown you." "Scallywags do change matey; I was a soldier afore I became a pirate."
"Sojiro is a better father." Futaba mumbles. "Yeah he is! Ten times better!"
Yusuke crosses his arms; "So what happened after you got expelled then?" "I'm guessing bad things?"
Akira sighs with his face turning sorrowful; "Bad isn't a good enough term for what happened with Emily and my 'friends'."
Akira's Home
Akira was in his room upset when he hears the news that he got expelled; "I should have expected that I would get expelled, damn it!" He punches his wall but he just hurts himself; "What's the point of doing the right thing when you just get called a criminal for it!?" He holds his head in sadness till his phone rings making him pick up and sees that it was Emily calling. He instantly answers it; "Hey, Emily..." He was surprised that he could keep his voice even.
"Aki-kun!? What happened!? Jiro said that the teacher told the class that you were getting transferred!"
He sigh; "Yeah I am...can you come over? I'll tell you in person."
"That's so not cool! I'll be there soon!" She quickly hangs up.
He had a small smile on his face knowing that he still had her; "At least, I have her still...I know she'll make this easier to deal with..."
A few minutes later
Akira hears the door bell ring making him get up then open the door seeing Emily and she quickly hugs him; "Hey, Aki-kun! I'm so glad to see you again!"
He hugs her back; "I'm glad you're here as well..."
Hearing sadness in his voice, she holds his cheek in comfort; "What's wrong with my Aki-kun?"
He sighs and sits down on the couch; "Well come sit down, it's going to be interesting."
She nods and sits on the couch but he was having a hard time telling her until she grabs his hand; "It's okay, just take your time."
"Alright...just don't tell the others."
She nods; "I promise, I won't."
"Thanks...Well two days ago...I got falsely accused for assaulting a woman."
Emily's eyes go wide and she lets go of his hand; "How did you get falsely accused of assaulting a woman?"
He then explains everything that happened leading up to his arrest and how it was an open and shut case; "So they told the school and the school expelled me." He finishes but sees that Emily had a look of confusion on her face.
She was quiet for about a minute when she finally spoke; "Cops don't just arrest you without a cause and not even powerful people don't have that much power to tell the cops what to do or the judges."
"I thought the same way but it happened." Akira was confused; he thought Emily would believe him but she's making it sound like he was guilty.
"If what you say is true, then why can't you remember the man then?"
"I'm still trying to figure that out…" He says looking down then looks at Emily but sees fear in her eyes; "Emily? What's wrong?" He goes to grasp her hand but she pulls away and instantly gets up.
"I'm sorry Akira, but I need to go home..." She quickly turns to walk to the front door.
He quickly gets up as she opens the door; "Wait! Don't you want me to walk you home?"
"No." She then walks out the door closing it
Akira looks at his front door in complete confusion; "W-What just happened?" He just stood there unable to admit the fact that Emily didn't believe him; "Maybe I should call her tomorrow...I'm sure she's just trying to make sense of it all."
Akira sighs; "It was stupid of me to think that she would believe me..."
Makoto sighs; "You're probably going to hate me for saying this but I would have a hard time believing you since I thought all of the police were good as well. But, that's because my father was a police officer..." "That's understandable."
"I couldn't prove that woman was lying so that's why I got a criminal record now."
Haru didn't believe that; "But still, you two would hangout alone a lot. If you really were an assaulter, you would have had a lot of opportunities. Didn't she see that?" "You're a pretty bad criminal then Kurusu."
Ann chimes in; "I thought the same thing when Kamoshida first told me about Akira. When we first met, he would've had the perfect chance to drag me into the alleyway to assault me, if he really was one." "Also, wouldn't she know you aren't that type of guy?" "Yeah, that's what doesn't make sense. If she really 'loved' you then she would know you aren't that type of guy." She says with a little bit of vemon in her voice
"Well you remember how she found out about my 'transfer'; because of someone named Jiro. Well he was my best friend next to Emily, of course. I guess he was jealous of me for 'taking' Emily from him but he kept it to himself. Well she told him and I guess he took advantage of it because he must of put things into her mind I'm guessing. So, after a week since telling Emily what happened, he texts me something that automatically triggered some warning bells."
Akira's House
Akira was slowly losing his mind from worrying about Emily. It's been a week since he told her about why he had to transfer and the way she left made him worry even more. Everyday he would call her at least once. He knew it probably sounded like he was clingy but usually it was the other way around. She would call him everyday but now she's completely ignoring him. But that's when his phone goes off on his desk making his heartbeat faster thinking it was Emily. He quickly picks up the phone and sees that it was Jiro texting him but what he texted made him worry.
[Come to the usual spot now. I have something to say to you…]
Akira quickly becomes nervous; "Why does it sound like he's going to do something? Did she tell him? No, she promised me she wouldn't." He quickly grabs his hoodie and runs downstairs then runs out the front door.
Usual Spot
Akira makes it to the spot which was just an outside food court and sees Emily and Jiro; "Emily...? Why are you here?"
When they hear him, they instantly get up and march over to him. Jiro got up close to Akira with Emily standing a step behind him; "So, the piece of shit is here. I always knew you were trouble when Emily brought you to our group." Jiro was a skinny guy with a bit of muscle wearing a black blazer with black jeans and with black shoulder-length unkempt hair who had a small scar on his cheek.
He couldn't help but be a smartass. Even though he considered him a best friend, Jiro would always have moments of being cocky since he was the so call leader of the group and so Akira usually acted like a smartass towards him; "So, I'm a piece of shit for saving a woman from getting raped?"
Jiro laughs mockingly; "Do you honestly think that we're going to believe that bullshit!?"
Akira looks at Emily feeling betrayed; " You promised me that you wouldn't say anything!"
Jiro pushed him; "Why didn't you want her to tell anyone huh? Maybe because you're a piece of shit woman abuser and you were going after her next!"
He glares at him then looks at Emily; "If I really was an assaulter, wouldn't I have gone after you all those times we were together!? Why won't you believe me, you said that you trusted me completely!"
Emily glares at him; "That's before you assaulted that woman! The truth is Akira, you're just a criminal! After you told me your story, it made me think about what you would've done when we did start going out, was your plan to abuse me!?"
"What!? That's not true! I love you! Why would I want to hurt you!?"
Jiro glares daggers at him; "Because you're an assaulter dumbass!"
Akira was starting to get annoyed by his constant accusation; "How many times do I have to tell you two that I didn't do it!?"
"What!? Was it the invisible man that was there that did it!? Man, you really are a dumbass! Can't even make up a good lie!"
Emily scoffs; "You really are a terrible person Akira! I regret ever loving you! From now on, you're dead to me!"
Akira's heart broke after she says that and starts crying; "Emily…Why would you say that...? I need you more than anything...right now..."
"Wow, you really crying!? Tch, you're pathetic!" Jiro starts walking away but then stops and turns around; "Oh yeah...this is for trying to hurt Emily!" He then punches Akira in the face hard knocking him down; "Now you stay the fuck away from Emily or I will break every bone in your body!" He grabs Emily's hand and they walk away.
After they left, Akira slowly gets up and starts walking home. His nose was still hurting and bleeding making him think that Jiro broke it. But, that's not what was hurting Akira, no it was what Emily said, that he would abuse her, that he was a criminal, and that she regretted loving him; "Jiro…that bastard probably said something to her...Why is this happening to me...? I just wanted to help people..." He starts crying again
He soon makes it home then walks into the living room but his mother sees him and gasps seeing how broken he was; "Akira! What happened!?" She quickly walks over to him and holds his face looking at his bruised and bloody nose.
"E-Emily...she didn't believe me about my false charge and Jiro punched me in the face thinking I was trying to hurt her." He says trying not to cry
"What!?" She yells; "Where are they now!?'
"I-I don't know, p-probably at his house…"
Reiko was about to walk outside but he starts crying which made her stop and goes back to hug him while rubbing his hair; "It's going to be okay dear...it's going to be okay."
Akira sighs; "After what happened, I cried myself to sleep. When I woke up, I received texts from my other friends saying pretty much the same thing as Jiro. Soon the news about my arrest started spreading like wildfire since everyone in the town knew each other. I have no doubt that Jiro must've told everyone at school and then told the grownups since crimes rarely happen by us, it was a big deal. So, my parents suggested that I stay home until the court finds a school that will take me. And that's when they found Shujin Academy and told me that I will be transferring to there while staying with a guardian. So I decided to swallow the pain and start a new life and since I still had my parents, I tried to stay positive and used what happened as a motivation to be there for the people who have no one to turn to when they need it the most, just like with me." He looks at Ann; "And because of what happened with Emily, I was afraid to be hurt again and was expecting to be hurt again, so that's why I kept making excuses for not dating you and always thought that you're going to leave me even though I know that sounds stupid now. Also, on the roof when I found about you hiding my disownment, I felt betrayed and it reminded me of Emily when she told Jiro about my arrest and she said those things to me. It also didn't help hearing about my parents disownment so all the pain I kept bottled up inside me, released, making me lose control of my emotions so I couldn't see the truth that you didn't mean to hurt me unlike her." He looks down in regret; " I'm sorry for yelling at you…"
Ann was fuming with anger towards Emily; "I want to hurt her almost as much as I wanted to with Kamoshida!" "That harlot deserves to be burned!" She fully side hugs him then whispers into his ear; You don't need to apologize, my love. I understand now why you doubted me so easily but as you can see I'm nothing like Emily."
He smiles and whispers back; "I definitely know that now." "After I told you multiple times."
Ryuji slams his fist into his thigh making Akira and Ann jumping forgetting that they weren't the only ones here; "That's such bullshit! And this Jiro guy, he sounds like a piece of shit! He was probably jealous of you!" "We shall go find this scallywag 'n put 'im in the gallows!'
"Yeah he kind of was an asshole, he would always try starting stuff with me but usually he'll say he was messing around and he always had my back. But, I always had a feeling that he was jealous of me with Emily."
Makoto was looking down; "Akira…I'm so sorry you had to go through that..." "You should have fought him, Akira."
Yusuke sighs; "That would've been a bad idea, Anat. It would have given them more reason not to believe him. Still, they went too far." "Seems like it."
Akira thinks aloud on what Yusuke said; "You know…now that you said that. They did kind of overreact but like Kidd said people do change. " "But not that fast though, at least I think so."
"Well, you did start a new life even with your criminal record. You have us Akira-kun and yes, even Milady." Haru says "Tch fine, I guess you're hot enough to be friends with…"
Futaba goes to the other side of Akira and side hugs him over the armrest; "You're like an older brother to me, Akira." "How dare they hurt Akiree!"
"Thanks everyone. Sorry for keeping this from you guys."
Ann smiles; "Maybe you should have told us earlier than we wouldn't have gotten into a fight." "That may be true but now you two are even closer because of the fight."
Akira nods looking at her; "Yeah...I feel kind of stupid now. Anyway, I do want to go back after my probation is up just to see what happened after I left."
Ryuji smiles; "I've wanted to see your hometown actually! After Jiro sees what you look like now, you'll probably scare the shit out of him." "That I would like t' see!"
"Half of me wants to punch him for what he did." "Now I don't condone violence for no reason but this time I'll allow it."
"Yeah, sounds like a road trip! Plus, I want to 'talk' to Emily." Ann says "Yes, a lot of 'talking'…"
Akira laughs; "Just don't do anything to have me bail you out of jail." "I doubt that she will go that far."
She smiles sweetly at him; "No promises." "Did you forget that she almost made me kill Kamoshida?"
"Oh yeah, nevermind then." Akira was going to respond but yawns; "What time is it?" He gets up and checks his phone since he was charging it; "Oh wow...It's getting late, do you guys want to call it a night?" Everyone nods and stands up
Haru smiles at everyone; "Don't worry everyone, I can ask to give you a ride home." "I really going to give them a raise tonight…" "I hate your kindness…"
Akira scratches his head; "Sorry guys, I would go with you but I'm really drained after everything that happened today."
Ann hugs him; "It's okay, we understand. But, I want a goodnight kiss though!" She pulls him outside of the house.
After they make it out of the others sight, they start kissing. After a minute; they both pull away and Ann puts her head on his chest while embracing him; "Are you doing okay?"
He returns her embrace and smiles; "Actually, yeah I am. Yeah, I may have lost my parents but you guys made me realize that I have family here. I just have to go apologize to Sojiro but I don't know if he'll let me live at the café again. I just want him to know that I didn't mean what I said."
Ann smiles softly; "I'm glad to hear that. But what about Emily and Jiro."
"Honestly, I still consider them my friends; I just want to know why they acted like that. Just like how my dad acted that way as well. They changed so quickly, it's like someone clouded their thoughts. Or that's just what I hope is the reason."
"Do you really want to go back? After your probation is up?"
"Yeah, I need to talk to my parents even if they disowned me; I want to hear it from them in person and I also want to talk to my old friends even if they don't want to talk to me." He thinks for a moment because he figured that Ann would probably be jealous of Emily; "Oh, don't worry about Emily, I only love her as a friend now." He then whispers; "You're the only one for me now..." He starts kissing her neck
Hearing Akira say she was the only one for him and his neck kisses, she starts to get turned on; "O-Oh, is that s-so? W-Well, I guess I should make you c-completely forget about her as a lover n-now." She regrettably stops him and looks to the side to make sure no one was coming. After she sees that no one was around, she grabs his hand and puts it under her shirt and over her bra. She then whispers into his earl "Go ahead and touch my chest. They're soft..." She starts guiding her hand towards the inside of Akira's pants. But that's when Carmen shouts out; "About time!" "Carmen! Be quiet!"
"What about time, Carme!?" Necro yells indicating that the others were outside.
Akira laughs nervously and pulled his hand from under her shirt; "Well I guess Carmen ruined the moment…" "Way to go, Carmen."