This is a fanfic. BUY THE FUCKING MERCHANDISE!

Pacing around the door angrily, so eventually settled for tapping her foot impatiently while drumming fingers along an umbrella's handle.

Mirai took out of phone to check the time and she was correct in thinking that she was on time. It's just that her supposed employer was late. Well, he could have easily forgotten as well. That was simply no good either way.

"Suppose I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's late." Mirai muttered to herself as she stuffed away her phone.

Eyeing the house she was standing in front of, she made sure to prevent herself from screaming at how huge it was. When Yomi told her about where this Akira character lived, she pretty much said he lived in a big house. To Mirai though, big was an understatement. This building could possibly be considered housing a small business for all she knew!

This was all for one person? The guy must be rich if that were the case. Yomi didn't really like wealthy people though. Yet she managed to get along with this guy well? Either he bribed her, or he was different as Yomi claimed.

The first part was highly unlikely. Yomi wasn't that kind of person.

Hearing panting, Mirai looked over to see a boy jogging towards the stairs of the house. Before he could even make it up one of the steps though, he bent over and slapped his hands onto his knees to prevent himself from falling over. With shorts and a t-shirt, Mirai saw just how soaked the clothing was and wrinkled her nose with a grimace.

"Sorry… sorry I'm late…" The boy panted. Eyeing upwards, he lifted a hand for a second as if he were about to wave. A couple of loud breaths later, he put that surface back onto his knee. She heard him swallow loudly. "What… I was doing… took longer… than expected…"

Mirai looked rather perplexed at the sight of the sweat-drenched male who look as if he were going to pass out at any second. "Did you run a marathon or something?" She questioned, completely baffled.

"…Yeah… sure… something like that, I guess? Along with a lot more." His answer made the girl raise an eyebrow. Bringing a hand out once more, this time he simply rolled his wrist repeatedly in her direction. "A personal trainer I hired recently works me to the bone every time I see her. No need to worry though… I'm getting used to it."

"Uh, okay…" Mirai had no idea how she should react. The scene was just so bizarre she couldn't really think straight. Yeah, she's seen this sight at Hebijo before. But it was just so surreal to see it from a normal citizen while being a renegade.

As he forced his way up the stairs, he then got another look at her. At that moment, he looked up and down to take in the sight. "Huh..." He said when settling to make eye contact which caused him to stare at the eyepatch that was on her face. "So, you must be this Mirai-san that Yomi-san had told be about." He then nodded his head with a tired breath. "Akira… Akira Kurusu." He waved, finally introducing himself. "I would shake, but…"

At first, his eyes unnerved her slightly. For all she knew, he was judging her just with his stare alone. Their eyes then drifted towards his hand and she scrunched her face up in a bit of disgust. "…I get it." Mirai deadpanned.

Yup, different. Without a doubt. Just as Yomi claimed.

A little too different maybe.

"I assume that you are more than aware of the reason that you are here, correct?"

Mirai nodded to Akira's question.

It was a request that sounded simple but was apparently a heft task. Help clean a bunch of model guns. While it did sound simple at first, there was the main fact that Akira apparently owned a bunch of them. This didn't even count the model melee weapons he apparently had as well that she luckily didn't have to take care of.

Swallowing, Akira reached into his pocket. "Let me just get the door for you." He said, fishing out the keys and inserting it into the lock. Turning his hand, a click was heard. Pushing open the door, Akira stood up a bit straighter and extended his hand to allow Mirai to enter first.

Not used to such a behavior, it took the smaller girl a second to register what she was supposed to do. "Um, thank you." She nodded her head before stepping inside and taking in the interior.

A flight of stairs leading to the upper floor was the first thing that her eyes laid upon. Gleams of light reflected off both the polished banister as well as floor as they had been cleaned recently. Noticing a space to her right, she eyed over to see another spacious area that looked cozy to say the least.

"…Wow…" Mirai had to breath at the display before her very eyes. Yomi was right. Just a couple of steps through the entrance and already there was a lot to take in.

"Yeah, wow." Akira stepped heavily through the door and closed it behind them. She stepped to the side while taking her shoes off just as he did the same thing. "I have to say that Yomi-san contributed to this clean scene quite a bit." He then waved his hand. "Come now, let's show you where you're going to help out."

She raised an eyebrow as Akira was leading her down the hall. "Shouldn't you change first?"

"Don't worry, I will." He answered, already gaining back some of his stamina. "My room is on the way towards the basement. I'll have you wait outside of it for a couple of minutes for me to finish."

Blinking, she realized that Akira was still walking away. Quickly, she trailed right behind the boy and followed him down a flight of stairs. Making a left after the first flight, she saw a dining table and Akira took a turn into the room where the furniture was. Confused, she still followed as she thought that this was where he had the guns.

Noticing that she had walked through a kitchen, she saw the change in environment after going past a pair of doors. Mirai was too late in stopping herself though when she bumped into something. "What the?"

Looking forward, she saw that Akira had turned around and was reaching over towards a doorknob. Since she had run into him, he blinked. "Mirai-san, don't you remember me saying that I'll be changing first?" Something else must have went through his head as he leaned back with a cautious look. "You didn't want to sneak a peek at me, did you?"

Mirai blushed at the embarrassing moment that she had not been aware of her surrounding and run into him. Her face turned even redder at the fact that Akira was asking if she was going to peep on him. "N-no. No!" She had to repeat herself to confirm this. "I… I just blanked out, that's all!" She did her best to save face.

"…Hmm." Akira hummed before gesturing with his head. "Then may I…" His eyes looked over towards the doors.

She noticed this movement with his chin and stepped back. Akira nodded his head in thanks without a single work before closing the door.

Looking around, Mirai decided to step out of the… combination of a dining room and kitchen. Going out into the hall, she backed up herself up against a wall away from Akira's room. After that, the small girl hooked her umbrella over a chair. Opening her mouth, she began to bite down on a balled-up fist and released a muffled scream of humiliation.

Not even 5 minutes in this household and she already did something so stupid! Mirai resisted the urge to just run up the stairs and out of the house. As much as she wanted to just hide, she couldn't. While no one but Yomi knew of this specific location and job, everyone in the squad knew that she was working today and she didn't want them to worry.

Sucking in air, Mirai unhinged her jaw and released her hand. Giving it a good look, she soon gave it a disgusted look as she saw bite marks and saliva on her skin. Maybe doing that wasn't a very good reaction and she should have just tried to keep it cool instead.

Wiping the hand on the back part of her clothing so Akira wouldn't see any wet marks on her, she sighed and looked to the ground.

Her mood lightened up though when she saw a cat. Yomi did mention that there was a cat inside of the house.

The cat's coat was not entirely black. The muzzle, areas around the paws and even the tip of the tail were white. Bright blue eyes shined with curiosity and innocence and it saw that she was staring at the feline. Noting the yellow collar around the neck, the overall colors never clashed against one another. In fact, it looked pretty good.

A grin began to break out on her face as the cat stopped moving. It then sat down on the floor and yawned before scratching its ear.

Lost in her own world, Mirai bent down to get a closer look. Not even a second passed before she gently fell forward on her knees and elbows. Hands curled up in fists and resting her chin on top of them, she wiggled her butt in the air while wearing a smug smile, like a cat about to pounce.

"Scooch." Mirai shimmied forward a bit. "Scooch scooch. Scooch scooch. Scooch" She constantly whispered this one single word to herself, inching closer to the cat with every passing second as it just stared at her.

Now close to its face while remaining at eye level with it, Mirai found herself pleasantly surprised that it didn't bother walking away yet. In fact, it kept its curiosity up while remaining still. She giggled at this.

"…Boop." She poked its nose with her own, causing the cat to shake its head and sneeze. Cooing with another giggle, she softly fell to her side. She knew the floor was clean so there was nothing to worry about. Reaching over, she was careful to make sure that she didn't seem like a threat so the cat wouldn't run away from her.

Gently grabbing the feline, the animal appeared to be okay with being handled gently. Tenderly, Mirai brushed her cheek along its fur and was happy to find out that it nice and smooth. Bringing her fingers to one of its paws, it only mewed when she began to rub it.

"…Squishy." She cutely announced her action while feeling the bottom of its paw. "…Squishy squishy squishy." Mirai enjoyed the feeling and that the animal had not bothered struggling out of her grasp yet while meowing.

She then decided to risk one final thing.

Holding the cat in her arms while getting up to her feet, she shuffled over towards one of the chairs next to the table. While that happened, she made sure to keep an eye on the animal just in case it wanted to get out of her grasp. Sitting down, she also shifted the cat around so its but would be seated on the chair as well. Holding both of its upper legs out she began to rhythmically shake them up and down while clapping them together every few bounces.

"Here's a kitty cat cat. Here's his kitty fat fat. What sound does it make? Pat pat pat." Mirai chanted, moving the legs and clapping the paws appropriately with the cat purring. Shaking her body to the rhythm of her words, the grin that she wore just kept growing bigger and bigger.

Looking up, her grin immediately fell.

Akira was standing in the middle of the room staring at her. With eyes wide, the corners of his mouth were curled down. But rather than considering it to be a frown, trembling coming from the boy showed that it was as if he was trying to contain his laughter.

Shocked at the fact that he had been watching her without a sound, she was frozen. Feeling Morgana slip out of his grasp, she shakily pointed at the boy. "H-h-how long…" She stuttered with cheeks blushing red once more. "How long have you been watching!?" She shouted with anger and horror.

Akira swallowed as if that action alone would stop himself from chortling. "Right when you touched your nose with Morgana's." He answered after regaining his composure.

"Then why didn't you say anything?!"

He shrugged. "You looked like you were enjoying yourself." Akira answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

Mirai growled a bit as she continued to feel humiliated. With that display alone, who knew what thoughts were running through Akira's mind.

Unclenching her fists, she took in a deep breath to try and calm herself down. "…Let's just start what you wanted me to do." A sigh escaped her lips, looking down on the floor.

No response.

After a couple of seconds, she looked back up and was taken aback at look she was being sent this time. With hands in his pockets, slightly narrow eyes stared at her face – namely her eyepatch – once again with lips twisted downwards this time in a small frown.

"…Alright then." He stated, sounding a bit unpleased. "If you may follow me…" He motioned with his arm and hand before walking towards the hall and a staircase next to the dining room. Akira was already heading down a flight of stairs by the time Mirai had gotten onto her feet.

Smacking her cheeks a couple of times to snap out of her funk, Mirai's eyes narrowed as she calmed herself down once again. Taking a deep breath, she easily walked over and went down the stairs.

Just like with Morgana, her mood immediately changed upon the sight of the plethora of guns in the basement. Boards had been set up and metal were popping out. Carefully positioned all around were firearms grouped together with their own kind.

Mirai couldn't help but have her jaw drop. She knew that Yomi had said that Akira had a large collection. That was an understatement. Not only that, but that they also looked extremely real as well! This… this had to be some set created for an action movie! Only places like this were seen in fiction!

"Whoa…" She breathed, constantly pivoting on her feet to take in the sights. Constantly spinning around at fast speeds trying to take everything in, her world began to blur and the girl started staggering around. Dizzy, she almost fell over when a pair of hands caught her.

Groaning, she shook her head after a few seconds. Opening her eyes, she saw a concerned Akira looked down towards her. "Are you okay?" He asked with a bit of worry.

"Y-yes, yes! Absolutely! Totally fine!" Mirai sprung back up to her feet and spread her arms out. "But enough of that. How did you get so many guns to look like this!? They look like the genuine thing!" She waved the limbs back and forth quickly.

Much to her surprise (and a bit of pleasure), Akira slightly turned his head away while scratching his cheek sheepishly. "Well…" He tapped his chin in thought soon after. "Long story short, I volunteered part-time for a guy who I was buying these from. He thought that I was doing such a good job that he started selling me them." An embarrassed chuckle escaped his lips. "Guess I went a bit overboard with how many I bought."

She immediately noticed the sheepish tone he had taken up and couldn't help but add to the mood. "Did you also get all of these weapons replicas from this guy as well?" Mirai asked, smugly enjoying her moment of watching Akira slightly squirm a bit more with a nod.

"Anyways," Akira coughed into his hands to probably stop her from talking any more about the subject. "I already have the proper cleaning material laid out on the table here." He gestured with his hand to the furniture that was set up perpendicular against a wall. "I will be starting with the pistols. You may begin with any other firearm of your choosing."

As he swiftly moved over to his specific gun of choice, Mirai decided to start with what she was familiar with. The only problem was there were two that fulfilled her choice: rifles and submachine guns.

Maybe submachine guns first. While she technically used rifles, her Alteisen umbrella was the only one since all other weapons she specialized in were automatic.

Pick up a tommy gun off the wall, she walked over towards the table Akira was working at and set the firearm down. Leaning her umbrella against the table, she sat down in a second chair that was across Akira and she began cleaning the gun.

Watching the boy working with a bottle, brush and cloth, she had to say that she admired the care the boy took with cleaning. While fast, his decisive hand movements never lingered too short nor long over each area.

Since she had taken time to think about which firearm to start with, she was slightly behind Akira despite her experience with gun maintenance. Mirai was almost done with the tommy gun as Akira had gotten off his seat and moved over towards the area decorated with handguns.

Watching Akira hang the freshly cleaned gun up, she noticed something. "Did you redecorate recently?" She asked, noticing that there were some holes that were covered up.

"Hm?" He looked back and saw what Mirai was talking about. "Yup. There was one previously up there. But when looking at it, I noticed a fault and had it sent back towards the shop I had bought it from hoping that the owner could fix it for me. If not, he'd send me a new one. I didn't like the look of the empty spot though, so I rearranged the look." Grabbing another gun, he set himself back down to the table and resumed cleaning.

Seeing this, Mirai did the same.

Time and silence passed between the two of them as they were simply focused on their task. The answer she received did not satisfy her though and constantly ran through her head the entire period.

Did he really have to rearrange the entire board though? If anything, that choice he made would end up making the display look a bit worse since he would have to make and fill more holes when he put everything back into its proper place.

But she decided to not say anything. It was Akira's choice… albeit a weird one.

Finally, she had finished the submachine guns as Akira was moving onto the shotguns. Putting the final automatic weapon back into place, she settled for cleaning the rifles next. Looking over to see the selection, there was one specific type of gun and she gaped.

"A Winchester model 1873 lever-action rifle?!" Swiftly jogging over, Mirai slipped it off the hooks that held up the firearm to admire the body.

Akira looked up from his work and saw how Mirai was treating the gun. "…Yes, that is very much correct." He leaned back into his chair while folding his arms.

"Yup!" Mirai confirmed with an excited nod. "The gun that won the wild west! Originally chambered for the .44-40 cartridge, which was the first centrefire cartridge and that's why it became immensely popular! The Model 1873 was even brought back during 2013, joining the 1892 and 1894 as the third classic Winchester rifle model to be reintroduced! It's so cool!"

With a grin on her face during that entire outburst, realization hit her like a truck and she dropped her face immediately when she saw Akira staring at her blankly.

Just staring… as if he weren't sure how to react…

"I… I…"

If he didn't think she was weird at first, that rant put the final nail in the coffin. She honestly thought she was over it considering how long she had lasted. She thought that it wouldn't affect her as much since she had made friends as she was…

But these moments in the house made her remember that her friends were shinobi…

Regular citizens were different.

"I'm sorry, if you'll excuse me!"

"Wha- Mirai-san, wait!"

Grabbing her umbrella, she dashed up the stairs to the first floor with teeth grinding together. Not hearing the footsteps close behind her, she ran down the hall and turned immediately to climb the next flight to the second (ground) floor. Already at the front door within seconds, Mirai swiftly put her shoes on.

Reaching over to rip the knob, she heard something slam itself onto the door and prevent her from pulling it open.

Whipping her head around, her shame turned into shocked bewilderment as she saw that Akira was gasping for air. Her gaze was also pointed down as the boy appeared to have dove in a desperate attempt to stop her as his body rested against the door.

"…Mirai-san…" He panted, eyes closed while pointing towards her. "…Please…" He swallowed to probably satisfy his partially parched throat. "Please wait a moment while I catch my breath…" Dropping the finger pointing, he then tiredly waved his hand back towards the hall that led to the downstairs path. "Just wait in the dining room… I'll be with you in a couple of minutes… I'm just going to lay here all the meanwhile…"

"…" Mirai was only able to hear about half of those words due staring at Akira's limp form in exasperation.

SmokeBombBreak

Quietly, Mirai stared at a glass of water that had been placed in front of her.

Seeing her reflection in the liquid, she saw that her face was had a mixture of emotions. There was shame, fear, embarrassment, many negative feelings blended and she couldn't take her eye off of the image.

Hearing a small hiss and relieved groan, she broke out of her small private moment to see Akira applying a small handful of ice in a cloth against his head. When he had dove forward to stop her from running away, he had bumped the possibly swollen area on the door.

As soon as they made eye contact with one another she immediately looked back down to her beverage.

Hearing a freezer door close, she listened to his footsteps get closer. After that came the sound of a chair being pulled out. Gripping her knees, the only thing that was preventing her from running away again was the cat she now knew as Morgana using her legs as a mattress.

"…Do you want something else to drink?"

Mirai flinched at Akira's question. She was a shinobi. But right now, she felt like she was in a situation before she became one. A lone girl against a figure of a higher status in the building she was currently in.

"N-no, I'm fine!" Mirai grabbed the cup and gulped its contents down so she wouldn't have to see her reflection. Gasping, she slammed it right down right after it was empty.

Hearing nothing from Akira, she looked up to see that the boy had his eyes narrowed in her direction. It made her uncomfortable. Sighing, Akira sat down. "Mirari-san…" He started, causing the girl to tense and just wait for whatever the boy had to ask. "You're being bullied, aren't you?"

"…Eh?"

Blinking, she looked up with confusion. Akira was frowning, although it looked a bit silly with one hand on top of his head to hold ice in place. "No, I already told you I'm fi-"

"I'm not buying it." Akira cut her off.

"And I'm not selling it." Mirai responded.

"So you don't deny it."

Mirai opened her mouth to retort, but this time didn't bother to respond as she looked away. "…I'm not being bullied anymore…"

"…I see…" Akira slowly nodded his head, as if he were thinking of what to say next. "I'm sorry then."

"Don't be." Mirai said back. "I don't want your pity."

"…Perhaps I should rephrase that." She looked back at Akira. "I'm sorry for startling and making you feel uncomfortable. It was insensitive of me." He apologized while bowing in his seat.

Surprised at what he was trying to apologize for, Mirai didn't know what to say. This was all coming from a stranger who had watched her freak out and injure himself trying to stop her. "…Perhaps I should be saying sorry as well…" She admitted. "I did just suddenly run away, leading you to stress your body and injure your body right after an intense workout."

"Ah, it's not problem." Akira waved off. "I'm gotten through worse. I do have to say, I'm impressed though." He changed topics. "Yomi-san was right, you do know a lot about guns."

"You're impressed just by that explanation alone?" Mirai raised an eyebrow before smirking. "The Winchester is nothing compared to the other things you got down in your basement."

"I believe you." Akira nodded his head before looking at her legs. "You're also a cat-lover huh?" He leaned in closer. "I find it absolutely hilarious whenever Morgana wakes me up using his paws. They feel good yet they're absolute foul play." He held his hand up and whispered as if he were telling her a secret in a public area.

Mirai giggled at this and stroked Morgana's body. "It's perhaps one of the most satisfying things to do when you own a cat."

"Oh, so you have one of your own?"

"No, but I have been to a couple of shelters to look at them."

As time passed, the two of them simply sat there and talked some more. Their conversation led to all sorts of different topics and back to older ones. Mirai only grew excited with every passing second as Akira addressed the subjects at hand and she would respond in turn with a question, answer, or explanation.

But she eventually realized what he had done. Stopping herself from speaking, her mouth hung open for a couple of seconds before she closed it. Looking back down, she saw Morgana looking up at her. Reaching towards the cat, she petted it once again with one hand.

But with her free hand, she bitterly reached up and caressed just under her eyepatch.

"…Did the people who bullied you do that?"

"…"

Rubbing the skin, Mirai didn't answer Akira's question. "Ah, sorry for asking something like that."

"No… it's all right…" She sighed, shifting around a bit when Morgana stood up and seemed to try to climb her body. Lifting him up, she put his upper body over her shoulder and supported his bottom half as if she were holding a baby. "In a way, they kind of did… My eye is fine. It's just… another weird thing that made me stand out…"

She heard Akira chuckle.

Snapping her head up, she growled but stopped when Akira put his hand up. "My apologies." He said sorry for who knows how many times today. "It's just that I had a similar conversation with a co-worker of mine. She asked me if she was weird due to… certain issues she has in her life. I'll tell you what I told her: Lots of people are weird. It's just our choice whether or not to embrace it."

"…Maybe…" Mirai agreed begrudgingly. "But that doesn't mean that the world is still good to them. It's filled with so many bad thing… It's why I wear the eyepatch… To only see half of the terrors society provides."

"…"

Akira didn't verbally respond at first. After a few seconds, he got up from his seat and walked towards the fridge and pulled out a carrot stick. Moving back to the table, he dangled the snack in front of Mirai. "The end the is pointing at you is good and the end pointing at me is bad." He stated. "Break off the bad end."

…Once again, Yomi's statement of Akira being different echoed in her head. Awkwardly and suspiciously, she grabbed most of the stick and broke it.

"It's still there." Akira noted. "Break off the bad end."

She did it once more. Akira repeated himself. That caused Mirai to have her eye twitch. "It doesn't matter what I do! The bad end will always be there!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms up as Morgana slid off her and fell to the floor.

Akira nodded his head, pushing the two broken carrot ends towards her. "But in turn, the good will be there as well." Reaching towards her eyepatch, he flipped it up and had a small smile as two red eyes met two grey ones. "Kind of like how if you only see half of the bad, you also only see half of the good." The happy look grew a bit bitter. "It is unfortunate that the world sucks. That is a fact that will never go away..." He began to look a bit more positive in the end though. "But that is why we should try to focus on the good and work out way around the bad."

Holding his hand out, he gestured with his head. "Now come on, you got some guns to clean and pockets to empty; namely mine."

Mirai stared with surprise, shocked at the small little lecture he had given her.

Akira then scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "On second though, none of that made sense. Forget what I just said and lets just get back to work." He then made his way down towards the basement.

Blinking, a strange sound escaped Mirai's lips. A full-blown laugh soon emitted from the small girl, the sound joy bouncing around the walls of the dining room and kitchen.

Due to her happy mood as she followed him, Mirai didn't notice a figure with a hair band outside the house dash away from the windows.

Hoo boy… and I thought Yomi was going to be the tougher one.

Okay a couple of reasons why this chapter took so long.

1 (Not even a good reason): When I put down rifles as the collection that Akira had back in chapter 2, I was assuming any kind were fine. I then got a look at P5R gameplay intro and saw that a repeater/lever-action rifle was specifically being used. That made me wonder if other rifles were used or just that specific type. After looking all over the internet, I couldn't find my answer so I just went with the specific type.

2) I had a hard time deciding whether or not Mirai should have an outburst and try to run or have Akira simply tackle his suspicions while they worked.

I will admit, I was not the biggest fan of Mirai at first (didn't really find her character that enjoyable and her gameplay sucks). But when actually figuring out how to make them bond, I saw that Akira and Mirai could actually get along pretty well due to common likes (guns, cats and other possible things).

Also that eyepatch thing… is that the actual reason? I swear I saw it when I was doing research on her. Or is the eyepatch just for aesthetic purposes? Meh, the reason thing is a bit more interesting despite how flawed it is.

Now that this is over and done with, onto Haruka!

No flames please.