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Akira awoke to the vibrations of his phone, the device's incessant buzzing tingling the base of his neck through the thin fabric of his pillowcase. Akira propped himself up, looking down at the still slumbering cat curled up near the edge of his mattress, torso slowly rising and falling, completely unphased by the continuous buzzing. The alarm he hid the night prior, a silent alarm only he would wake up to, was a complete success!
The boy reached into his pillow, ceasing the vibrations with a few swipes of the screen. He smiled to himself, taking pride in his successful planning abilities, despite its simplicity. Sharing a single-room living space for 6 months can tell you a lot about a person. You learn all their little quirks and habits from pure exposure, even if they're a talking cat. One of them was the strange way Morgana slept. Morgana was a pretty heavy sleeper, at least for a cat. Loud, jarring sounds could get him on his feet pretty easily, but for some reason, that never applied for motion. He was pretty sure Mona caught a good amount of Z's while jostling around in his bag. He wouldn't be surprised if the cat could sleep through a full-blown earthquake right under Leblanc.
Better safe than sorry, Akira still took his time to slip out of bed with as little movement as possible, trying not to stir the mattress too much. And if he even so much as grazed his roommate's fur, it was game over. Akira sat on the edge of his bed, breathing a mental sigh of relief as he looked down at the still slumbering cat beside him,
Pi
Pi
Pi
Pi
SHIT!
Akira hammered the volume down button, but by the time the ringer was silenced, the damage was already done. Akira's gaze snapped back down to the stirring ball of black and white fir beside him.
"Mmnngh… Akira…" The cat sleepily groaned, lifting his head from his fuzzy arm cradle. "You got a messa-" the cat froze, face painted in surprise as his gaze locked with the very-much awake boy sitting next to him. "Oh, looks like you're already up."
"Seems that way." Akira said, a twinge of annoyance in his tone as he swiped across his phone screen. Who was it? Who blew his cover? What was so damn important for him to know, that it needed to be done this early in the damn morning!?
…Ann? This early?
It was a text message from Ann about a café in Shinjuku—thankfully outside the Red-Light District. Yesterday, he told her to text him the location sometime after school. What was with this last-minute heads-up? Ann usually wasn't one to procrastinate. What the hell had she been doing all night?
Morgana yawned, slowly getting to his feet. "So, what's the plan today?" He grunted through his cat-like stretches.
Akira continued to look down at his phone, still reading Ann's rather lengthy morning message. "I've, uh, got plans with Ann, today." He said, the secret naturally flowing from his mouth thanks to his distracted state. Akira nearly bit his tongue when his own words reached his ears.
The cat's ears perked up. "Lady Ann, you say?" He said, white tipped tail flicking side to side. "Great! Mind if I tag along?"
"I'd rather you sit this one out, buddy…" The boy said, nervously scratching his face.
The cat's posture noticeably deflated at those words. "Aww. Why not?"
Akira paused. Morgana was acting a bit pushier than usual, and Akira didn't really account for having to answer follow-ups.
Think Think Think
"You're… too much fun to be around! Yeah." The boy finally said, not exactly a skilled on-the-spot liar.
The blue-eyed feline cocked his head at this sudden—though, not entirely untrue—remark.
"You see, me and Ann have this really big English assignment that's due pretty soon—you know how Ann is with English—and I'm just afraid that she'll keep getting distracted by your radiant charm and charisma."
"Heh, well I'm glad someone around here can see it." Morgana said with a smile, his tone filled with a cocky swagger, clearly buying into the shameless stroke to his ego. It wasn't long before the cat's ears drooped once more as his mind refocused on Lady Ann. "But still… I can be quiet. I can even stay in your bag the entire time." The cat said, his ears lowering even more. "I just really want to go see Lady Ann."
Akira rubbed the back of his neck. 'Jeez, extra persistent today, huh Mona?' The boy sighed, he didn't want to have to pull this card, but Morgana wasn't leaving him with much of a choice. Akira smiled softly at his roommate. "If you hang out here for today, I'll be sure to bring home some fatty tuna for you."
The cat's ears noticeably shot up at those words. "You know what, you go on ahead. I need to catch up on my beauty sleep anyway." Morgana said, curling back up on the bed, trying to mask his obvious excitement.
Akira couldn't help but chuckle at the cat's complete 180. "Thanks, bud. You'll get to see her at school again, tomorrow."
Down the stairs and out the door to the subway station he went. Thankfully, Akira arrived at the platform just as the train was arriving. The boy swiftly joined the mass of bodies piling into the subway car. Though the ride there wasn't particularly lengthy, the discomfort of forcibly pressing shoulder to shoulder with the other riders definitely added more than a few minutes to the perceived length of the journey. By this point, Akira had become accustomed to the crowded subways of Tokyo, but this one felt especially cramped! The boy felt like a canned sardine, pressed on all sides by hot, clammy bodies, not a centimeter of wiggle room to be had. "This place better be good, Ann." Akira grumbled under his breath.
"Now arriving at Shinjuku station." Chimed the cheerful, prerecorded woman as Akira felt the train begin to slow to a stop. "Please stand clear of the opening doors."
As he walked out of the station, Akira took a deep, cleansing breath, the moderately crowded sidewalks of the busy city feeling like a wide-open range after what he just went through. As much as he'd like to take a moment to enjoy this new-found freedom, he had a date-wait, no. slip of the tongue. A… meet-up to catch! Akira punched the address Ann sent him into his phone's GPS app. Luckily for him, it was only a few minutes' walk from the station.
Akira approached the innocuous building his GPS had led him, the words Hashino Café printed across the glass of the sleek looking double doors. This was the place. Akira spent a few minutes wandering the café, scanning the tables and booths for a twin-tailed blonde as he leisurely passed. It was a big place, crowded too. Almost every seat in the house was filled; seeing more than a few parties content with just standing around or leaning on walls with food in hand.
Seeing no sign of his invitor, Akira pulled out his phone. Before he could even begin to type, a familiar voice called from behind him. "Akira! Over here! Good Morning!" Ann hollered, just loud enough to break through the consistent rumble of a thousand intertwining conversations. She sounded much bouncier than he was anticipating, at least for this early in the morning.
Akira quickly turned to face the voice, catching Ann's high-waving hand coming from one of the wall-mounted dining stalls. Words failed to return her greeting as his eyes fell upon her brightly smiling face. He felt his cheeks begin to grow warmer as he walked closer to her.
Ann… had her hair down. He'd… never seen her without her iconic floofy pigtails before. Wonderful, shiny platinum locks running down her neck and back like a waterfall of golden silk. Who knew such a simple shift in hairstyle could make someone look that much more stunning?
"H-Hey, Ann." Akira finally replied as he approached her table, still practically gawking at the aqua-eyed beauty.
It didn't take long for Ann to notice the boy's unusual expression. Ann sighed. "It's the hair, right?" She said, timidly playing with a long, golden strand. "This early bird stuff must be messing with my head. I was so scatterbrained this morning, I forgot to put my hair up before I left the house." She rubbed the back of her neck, an embarrassed smile growing on her face. "By the time I was awake enough to notice, I was already on the train."
Akira laughed. "Are you kidding? You look great!" He said, seizing the opportunity to compliment her without it seeming weird.
"You really think so?" Ann said thoughtfully, looking over the tuft that lay in in her hand. "Guess I should wear it like this more often, then!" She beamed.
Woah… not exactly the response he was expecting. He certainly wouldn't mind seeing more of it. But why would the literal model take hair maintenance advice from him, of all people: Frizzy-hair McGee?
Ann had already stockpiled her side of the table with plates full of hot pastries and other sugary sweets. So now it was Akira's turn to get his own breakfast. Despite the very real risk of table snatchers, Ann insisted on accompanying Akira to the café queue, praying that her jacket and food would be enough to deter any table seekers. She came to be with Akira and by god that's what she was gonna do!
Ann reveled in the closeness they shared while in line, her arm occasionally brushing past his skin 'on accident.' Akira found it a little uncomfortable, though not from distaste. It was the kind of heart-fluttering discomfort he'd feel from sharing his personal space with any cute girl. Apart from the nerves, he didn't hate the closeness either.
The two engaged in casual conversation the whole time as Akira got his food and the two returned to their booth, taking their seats opposite one another. Ann and Akira wasted no time biting into their new breakfast, enjoying the company they shared. The two cheerfully chatted with one another in the brief windows between mouthfuls, at least for Akira. Ann didn't seem to have any trouble speaking with her mouth full. Understanding her, on the other hand, was a bit more troublesome. That was… until Ann suddenly went quiet, her face weighed down in deep thought as she stared at her plate.
"Akira…" She finally said. "Is it selfish to use our Phantom Thieving to help out loved ones?"
Akira took a swig of the bland café coffee. Months of Boss's Leblanc quality roasts and blends must've spoiled his tongue. "A question like that doesn't come without a story behind it." He said, casually. "Shoot. What's on your mind?"
"It's… kind of a long story." She said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"I've got nothing but time." Akira quickly retorted, leaning forward onto his elbows, his smile bordering a fine line between comforting and shit-eating. He really did care about her problems, but he also knew how annoying of a response that was.
Ann gave an exasperated sigh. She'd known Akira for long enough to know how much of a stubborn mule the man was. That tenacity works well when leading a vigilante combat squad through enemy-filled mazes, but it kinda loses its charm when he's willing to die on the most trivial of hills, here in the real world. "Alright, I guess we're doing this." She said, hesitantly rubbing her hands together. "So, you remember what I said about my parents, right? How I live with caretakers?"
"Mm-hm."
"Okay, so—without getting too hung up on the details—Chi-chan, erm… sorry, force of habit. Her name is Chiyako. Chiyako Motozawa. She's a caretaker of mine, and the best one by far!" Ann said, her sheepishness quickly melting away as she spoke about her wonderful caregiver.
Akira gave her a funny look as he set down his paper coffee cup. "You say that like there's a lot of competition."
Ann looked confused.
"Exactly how many caretakers do you have?"
"At once or in total?"
Akira glared at her.
"What?!" She barked defensively. "I've got four that rotate through weekly shifts—one at a time."
"That's… an odd way to do it."
"My parents are… a little paranoid- look, that's not the point. Chi-chan went through a nasty divorce pretty recently, and her rebound is a complete and total asshat! A deadbeat mooch who lives off her hard work and still treats her like trash!" Ann's fist came hammering down onto the tabletop, the sharp thud accompanied by the clinking of porcelain as the plates shifted from the table's impact, earning the teens a handful of curious looks from the tables around them. Thankfully, the busyness of the café did a good job of masking Ann's scene from most of the café's patrons.
Ann's shoulders were squared with muscles tensed tightly, her chest rising and falling as she attempted to steady her temper. Akira gave her a small smile, sliding the plate of cookies he'd been saving over to her side of the table. Ann looked down at the offering, then back to Akira. She cracked a smile. She even laughed a bit. She couldn't help it. The way he could cheer her up so wordlessly was almost a joke in and of itself.
"Sho dash da shtory." Ann concluded, mouth full of cookie.
"That wasn't that long of a story."
Ann swallowed the contents of her mouth. "Yeah. That's because you got the short version. I obviously left a lot out, for both of our sakes." She said, a not-insignificant amount of annoyance in her tone. "You know, Akira, when a girl says, 'it's a long story' it means she doesn't want to talk about it."
Akira gave her the same smug yet supportive smile. "I am aware, yes." Akira whipped out his phone, pulling up the meta-nav with a few taps of his thumb. "Got a name?"
"Uh, yeah. It's Tsuramatsu Matsuura. D-Does that mean you'll do it?"
"I don't see any harm in giving our little Matsu-Matsu a friendly visit. We do phantom work for randos online, so there's no way we're letting down one of our own!"
Ann smiled wide. "You could've just started with that, you jerk! Why'd you have to get so personal if you were set on doing it from the start?"
"Reconnaissance, my dear! A mission without intel, is a mission doomed to fail." Akira took another swig of coffee. "Plus it's not good for you to keep yourself bottled up like that. We're friends, you can be open with me; you should be open with me. Everyone on the team cares about you, Ann. Your problems are our problems." Akira fell silent, the slight heat of embarrassment running up his body. He didn't mean to get that sappy. But he meant every word.
"Everyone on the team, huh?" She said softly, more to herself than Akira.
"Is… something wrong?"
"Look, this completely goes against what you just said, but can I ask you for a big favor?"
"That depends…?" He said with a hint of unease.
"Do you think… we could… maybe... go alone?" She said, her voice decreasing in both confidence and volume with every new word. "It's just so personal!" She began again, answering the question she knew was coming. "I don't feel comfortable getting them involved with my own personal family matters. I'm not too comfortable with you getting involved. That's why I've been sitting on the issue for so long."
Akira sat in silence for a moment, mulling over the ins and outs of her heartfelt proposal. "It'll be a little risky without back-up, buuut if you think you'll be able to hold your own…" like a light switch, Akira's mild-mannered attitude flipped to Joker's confident theatrics, "then I'll gladly fight by your side!" Another flick of the switch. "After breakfast, of course."
For those of you who think it's odd that I chose to focus on Ann's lack of pigtails, I have one question for you:
"Have you seen Ann with her hair down?!"
It's a cosmetic option in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and it makes her look twice as stunning. Seriously, look that shit up on google images if you've never seen it.
I can't wait for Persona 5 Royal to expand on Ann's home life and completely destroy my interpretation of her caretaker situation.
No idea why accuracy to the source material is so important to me in my fucking smutfics. I'm sure we would've gotten to the sex by now if I didn't have an obsessive compulsion to make everything feel in-universe. I really do envy the people who can give, like, a paragraph of set-up and just make the characters fuck. While I'm here like: "No! It must be part of an intricate narrative with 200 pages of exposition before even a single titty comes out!"