[26th May, evening.]
After a long and tiring train ride to Jongen-Jaya, Akira dragged himself to the apartment building, ready to just fell on his sofa and slept through the night. But the mountain of boxes blocked his door again.
Akira sighed in frustration, facepalming. "Not again..." He murmured, turning back to the neighbor's door.
He pressed the doorbell again and the door opened almost instantly. "Um... Shinji-Kun, your boxes are blocking my-"
The persudo-detective paused in mid-sentence, noting that it was a new person greeting him. It was a young girl who was about the same age as Asuka and Shinji, she has bright blue neck-length hairs and crimson eyes. Also, her skin was strangely pale.
"Who are you?" The young girl asked monotonously, tilting her head in confusion. "Why did you know Ikari-Kun?"
Even though creeped out from her unusual attitude, Akira decided just ignored that for now. "Uh... I'm your neighbor, and those boxes are blocking my front door." He explained, trying his best to sound nice.
The young girl peeked over me and saw those boxes. "Oh." She said, turning around and called someone else. "Aida-Kun!"
A young boy with a pair of huge round glasses and messy brown hairs came out, holding a recorder for some reason. "What happened, Ayanami?" He asked, rubbing his eyes as if he's still half awake. "I just woke up."
"The boxes are blocking our neighbor's door," Ayanami said, pointing at the boxes behind Akira. "And those boxes are mostly your figure kit."
The young boy paused for a moment, eyes darting between Akira and those boxes before widening his eyes in realization. "Oh! I'm sorry 'bout that!" He exclaimed, instantly rushing to those boxes and pick some of them up.
"Uh..." Akira blinked, awkwardly giggling and giving Ayanami a glance. "Is he always like that?"
The blue-haired girl nodded. "I think I should call others to help." She said, walking back into the house and called more peoples to help.
"Rei-Chan, why are you waking me up at this time?" A brunette girl with twin tall and red-rimmed glasses grumbled, rubbing his eyes and froze at the sight of Akira. "Wait, who the hell are you?"
"Dude, don't you know how it feels to have to travel for the whole day?" Another young boy with short black hairs and wearing a black sports jacket and sports pants complained as well. However, he froze when he noticed the appearance of Akira. "Uh... What the hell?"
Rei came back out from the rooms, stretching her arms in tiredness. "He is our neighbor." She explained, helping Aida to carry a box. "And Aida-Kun and all of our's boxes are blocking his front door."
The young boy grunted in annoyance. "Oh Kensuke, you're doing this again." He murmured to himself, stacking at least four boxes together and put it inside of the apartment.
"Aida-Kun... How many times are we going to clean up your mess..." Another brunette with a darker shade of brown and freckles came out and sighed at the scene. "Also, Mari-Chan, it's your idea what we should put those here."
"Oh c'mon..." Mari sighed, facepalming before helping to pick up some box as well. "I thought that apartment was empty!"
"I lived alone." Akira deadpanned.
"See? That's why-" She paused in mid-sentence, widening her eyes in shock. "Wait, you live alone?!"
"Is there any problem?"
"N-no." The brunette shuttered, turning back to her roommates. "Nerd-Kun, some of those boxes are my stuff, right?"
"Yeah." Kensuke nodded, tossing a huge box to her. "That one is your clothes."
After about fifteen minutes or so, they finally put those boxes back in their apartment. Meanwhile, both Asuka and Shinji came back and noticed the scene in front of them.
"Uh... Ichijou-San?" Shinji asked. "What happened, the boxes incident again?"
"It is, Baka-Shinji." Asuka deadpanned, pointing at the boxes inside their apartment. "Who is responsible this time?"
"Kensuke/ Nerd-Kun/ Aida-Kun." The group answered in unison, all pointing at the poor boy.
"Of course..." The German redhead facepalmed. "Well, what can I expect from the Three Stooges?"
"But you're always hanging out with Puppy-Kun." Mari retorted, pointing at Shinji to emphasize the point. "Um... How can you explain that, Princess?"
Asuka just pointed at her uniform in response. "C'mon, we're both in Shujin."
"That never means that you're required to always appear beside him."
"I'm worried about Baka-Shinji, that's all."
Shinji hesitated for a second, before holding his hand up. "Did I get any say in this situation-"
"No, you're not!" Asuka instantly exclaimed, shutting him up.
"O-OK..."
Akira awkwardly coughed, taking a step away from the group. "I think I'll just leave you guys alone..." He murmured, turning back and opened his door.
However, a tap on his shoulder interrupted him. The persudo-detective turned around and saw the other brunette with freckles.
"Uh... Sir, are you fine to have dinner with all of us?" She requested with a cute smile, causing Akira to stuck between saying yes or not.
"U-uh... I'm sorry but I can't..." He trailed off, remembering that he didn't know the name of the groups other than Shinji and Asuka.
"I'm Hikari Horaki, just call me 'Hikari'."
"Yeah, I'm sorry Hikari-San." Akira awkwardly nodded, noting that the scene between Mari and Asuka had been cooled off.
Hikari turned around and cleared her throat. "Everyone, let's not bother our nrighbor..." She paused, eyes darting between Akira and the groups with a faint blush. "Uh..."
Knowing that he never introduced himself to the groups(Other and Shinji and Asuka.), Akira waved casually. "I"m Akira Ichijou, just call me 'Akira'."
"Yeah, let's not bother Akira-San anymore." Hikari quickly followed, deadpanned as she saw the widened eyes from the others. "And we had already made a scene in this place."
"But he doesn't seem like bothered-" The sports-looking boy said, but interrupted himself as he saw the glare from her.
"Toji."
"Fine..." Toji sighed, turning his gaze back to Akira. "Oh, we still didn't introduce ourselves."
"I am Toji Suzuhara, call me 'Toji'."
The other young boy adjusted his glasses, holding his hand out to him. "I am Kensuke Aida, or 'Kensuke'."
Akira took his hand and the two shook their hands. "Well, I think I'm next." The brunette sighed, pushing up her glasses before introducing herself. "Mari Makinami Illustrious."
"Mari Maki- what?" Akira questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"I know my name is too long to remember." Mari shrugged. "Just call me 'Mari'."
"Nice to meet you, Mari-San." The persudo-detective awkwardly smiled, turning to the last girl at the scene.
"I'm Rei Ayanami." The bright blue-haired girl introduced, tugging her hair. "You can call me... please call me 'Ayanami'."
Akira awkwardly laughed, taking a step back. "Well, nice to meet all of you. But I do have some other things to do... Maybe I can introduce some fun places in the future." He said, opening his apartment's front door. "Good night, everyone."
With that said, to enter his apartment and left the group in the hallway.
[27th May, Afternoon]
Akira, Ren, and Ann were listening to some lectures from Kawakami when their phones suddenly buzzed. Taking his phone out from his pocket, Ren found that it was from the group chat, unsurprisingly.
[Phantom Thief's group chat]
Hifumi: Greetings, everyone.
Hifumi: I forgot to tell all of you about my mother.
Hifumi: She's fine, just devasted from the realization of what she's done.
Hifumi: We've talked for the whole night and she apologized for everything.
Hifumi: She has decided to hold a press conference, to apologize for what she's done.
Akira: Well, I hope the public won't be too hard on you two.
Shiho: About that notebooks, did you gave her that as well?
Hifumi: Yes, I tried to find an excuse to explain the appearance of this notebook, but mother just said she doesn't care.
Hifumi: She has been regretting this decision since that day, I think it's the best to just let her be.
Keigo: Another family saved, nice.
Ryuji: Dude, it's not an effin' video game.
Keigo: Can't I just lighten up the mood? Even for a bit?
Yusuke: But you always choose the worst time to 'lighten up the mood'.
Ren: Yusuke had a point, Keigo.
Akira: I agree with Ren.
Akira: But don't worry, I won't tell Mitsuru-San about this.
Keigo: Fine, I'll watch my mouth.
Ann: Are you finished with the 'boys talk'? Cause we're leaving Hifumi waiting.
Yusuke: Oh, right. Hifumi.
Hifumi: Actually... It's fine.
Hifumi: By the way, it's funny to see you act like a teenager.
Hifumi: Not that I'm not one myself.
Ann: Uh... You sounded like a mom.
Shiho: Yeah, you're not that old.
Hifumi: I know, maybe my motherly nature was acting on me.
Yusuke: I think you'll be an excellent mother.
Then, a sense of awkward silence clouded the thieves, until Akira and Ryuji unironically replied at the same time.
Akira: Oh c'mon, no PDA in this group!
Ryuji: Dude! No PDA in here!
Yusuke: PDA? What is that?
Ren: Oh god, he's really in a different frequency than us, right?
Keigo: From what we've seen, that seems to be the fact.
Ann: Boys...
Shiho: What had we got ourselves into...
And with that, they ended the conversation and returned to their respective lessons. Well, not for Akira. After closing the window of their group chat, he opened another chat session with Shiho.
'Here's go nothing, Akira.' He thought to himself, nervously typing on his phone's keyboard.
Akira: Hey.
Shiho: Hmm? What?
Akira: Uh... Are you free on Sat-
'No, that's not genuine.' Akira frowned to himself, deleting the text he was writing, then changed to another one.
Akira: I have something to ask you.
Akira: Can we meet at lunch?
Shiho: Of course, where?
Akira: Uh... Courtyard? I don't really know where to go to.
Shiho: Courtyard is fine.
Shiho: Well, see you there...?
With that, they ended the conversation.
[Lunch, Courtyard]
Once the bell rang and the lunch period arrived, Akira instantly bought some bread for the two of them and got to the courtyard. Sitting at the blue bench aside, his heart rate only quickened as time goes on.
Seeing the visible nervousness on his face, Moriarty appeared in front of him. "Akira, you don't need to be this nervous." He said, frowning at his owner.
"I-I know, Moriarty." Akira hesitated nodded, leaning further to the bench. "But it's the first time that I- I'm asking her on a date!"
"Well, I'm pretty sure that she's going to refuse."
"I'm worried that I might be like an idiot in front of her." The persudo-detect explained, sighing heavily. "You know, with those shutters and-"
"Hey, Akira," Shiho greeted, stopping in mid-walk and tilting her head in confusion. "D-did I just interrupted something?"
The Persona and his owner glanced at each other for a brief moment, before quickly turned back to her. "O-oh, it's nothing." Akira smiled, recalling his Persona. "J-just some self-reflecting with Moriarty."
"Self... reflecting?"
"Y-yeah, self-reflecting." He quickly coughed, taking a few moments before continuing. "U-um... Actually, I wanna ask you about..."
"Are you free on Saturday?"
Shiho raised an eyebrow in response. "Saturday?" She pondered for a moment. "Um... I think I'm free on that day, but why are you asking me 'bout that?"
"Well, I..." Akira paused in mid-sentence, causing her to tilt her head in confusion. "There's a movie I kinda want to watch with you... Maybe we can hang out and have fun... I guess."
"So... you're asking me on a date?"
"N-no! I just want to hang out with a friend." He answered with an awkward laugh, his heartbeat just continued to speed up.
"But it doesn't sound like it."
"W-well... Uh..." The persudo-detective trailed off, trying to find an excuse but failed. "Fine, I'm asking you on a date."
"Guessed it." Shiho smiled, gently nudged his shoulder. "Come on, just be honest with me."
Akira sighed, stuffing his hands into his pocket. "But I don't know what you're going to say with that..."
"You're afraid that I'm going to refuse?" She giggled, looking away from him. "I-Actually, I've been waiting for you to ask me on a date."
"Wha- You waited for me to ask you?"
She nodded. "Yeah, like... two or three years."
"OK..." Akira trailed off, playing with his hair and adjusted his headphones. "That's unexpected."
"Kind of..."
The two then fell into an awkward silence, not willing to look at each other for a long while. Until their Personas can't handle it more and came out from their owners.
"For god sake, the silence was deafening." Moriarty sighed, crossing his arms. "Akira, you bought lunch for you two, just told her that."
Jeanne floated to his side, shaking her head in disappointment. "Shiho, are you just gonna stand here and do nothing?"
"I just... don't know what to do." The two owners muttered in unison, causing the two Persona to sigh in more disappointment.
The two Persona glanced at each other. "We'll just leave you two alone," Jeanne said, floating away from the two while pulling Moriarty with her.
Once the two Persona was far enough from their owners, they crouched behind the fences and peeked over. Only to be disappointed as their owners still didn't do anything.
"Jesus, when are they going to something more than just standing there." Moriarty murmured, glancing at his companion, frowning as he noted that she just stared at him for no reason. "Jeanne? Why are you looking at me like that?"
The crystal woman blinked, realizing what just happened and quickly turned away. "I'm fine, just noticed something on your face."
"Really?" The dark blue Persona tilted his head in suspicion. "We're Persona, or tamed shadow."
"So?"
"We're the repressed side of them."
"So?"
"You have a crush on me, right?" Moriarty winked, leaning a bit closer to her. "Since Shiho had one on Akira."
"I think you got one for me as well." Jeanne shrugged, smirking as she leaned closer to him as well. "Since Akira also had one on Shiho."
"I admit that." The dark blue Persona smirked, taking her hand and squeezed. "But we should wait for those two dorks to FINALLY confess their feeling."
"I'm fine with that." The crystal woman shrugged. "Just waited for the date."
"I'll advise Akira to confess at the date," Moriarty said, releasing her hand and glanced at the courtyard. "Wait, they finally did something."
Jeanne raised an eyebrow, turning her focus back to the courtyard.
Akira and Shiho finally broke their silence and sat down on the blue bench, eating the bread he bought for both of them. "Umm... What should we watch on the date?" Shiho suddenly asked, causing the persudo-detective to glance at her.
"Uh... I don't know." He admitted, awkwardly playing with his hair. "I don't even know what movies are playing in the cinema."
"You serious?" The volleyball played exclaimed in disbelief. "Did you even planned before asking me out?"
"I-This is my first date with any girl." Akira murmured, swiping his bangs to the side. "I'll let you decide what to watch."
"W-well, I did have a movie that I wanted to watch." Shiho shuttered, a faint blush crept on her face. "It's a romantic comedy with volleyball mixed in it."
"Volleyball, of course." He giggled at her suggestion. "I'm fine with that."
"O-OK..."
With that said, the two fell into silence again for the rest of the lunch period. After the bell rang again and the period ended, they returned to their classroom and continued on their boring day again.
[Evening, Akira's apartment]
After school ended, Akira instantly got back to his apartment (He ignored his neighbor in the process) and threw his bags to the couch. Taking his phone out from his pocket and opened the contact list, he scrolled through the list and narrowed his eyes.
"Um... Akihiko-San never dated, not even Mitsuru-San." He murmured to himself, glancing at the next name on the list. "Fuuka-San... No, she's not an expert to relationships."
"Minako-San... She'll just tease the crap out of me, same with Yukari-San."
"Shinjiro-San?" He asked out loud, tilted his head thoughtfully for a second before shaking his head. "No, he'll just tell me to not bother him."
"Junpei-Kun?" Akira paused for a second, before quickly shaking his head and stopped himself from calling Junpei. "No, never ask for advice from the Ace Defective."
"Man, I wish I could just ask Minato-San for advice..." He trailed off, sighing heavily as he remembered the unfortunate fact. "I really missed him."
"What would he say if he's still alive?" He thought out loud, leaning further to the couch. "Maybe he'll just say 'I don't care'..."
"But he cares about me... like I'm his brother he never had." Akira finished, raising an eyebrow as he noticed something wrong. "What he'll say?"
"Nothing."
"Moriarty, I'm just thinking out loud-" Akira paused, instantly straightened up as glanced around him. "Wait, that's not Moriarty."
The voice wasn't like the one he's used to. It was distorted, even more than the shadows he'd encountered in the Meta-verse. And it felt... off. The voice wasn't based on himself, but someone else.
"Moriarty? Please don't prank me." He said. "It's not funny."
"I didn't do anything." His Persona appeared in front of him, crossing his arms and tilted his head in confusion. "Why would I just prank you for no reason at all?"
"B-but..."
"I think you're just too paranoid." Moriarty shrugged. "C'mon, just relax. It'll be fine."
"I-I guess." Akira hesitantly nodded, taking a deep breath. However, the voice still lingered in his mind.
"What the hell was that voice..."
And with that, chapter 24 of P5: Another Thief concludes! thank you for reading!
The confession is near! The first couple of this fic is finally coming! YESSSS!
And... I don't have much to say.
Reviews response:
RosyMiranto18: So about Akira's 'it', I think I'll stick to P3 rules of greek gods to amplify the connection between him and P3 cast(Especially our favorite Door-Kun.). Also, it felt weird to see someone else theorized with my fic, but you're not far from the answer ;).
BTW, it took me two read to finally get the King Crimson reference XD.
Guest: Thank you! It's awesome to know that you're enjoying this fic!
Anyway, I hope you would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!
