How Love Bloomed.

Some time had passed since Asuka and Makoto spoke to Sae and managed to secure her blessing for them to continue dating. A frightening experience, but it needed to happen. After that Asuka got to spend more time with Makoto and her friends, and she had a pretty mixed group of friends. Ryuji Sakamoto a former track star who was almost as much of a trouble maker as Asuka was, which of course meant that they got along really well and Asuka actually knew Ryuji from before but they didn't hang out to much. Next one was Ann Takamaki an young Model who also happens to a Quarter-American which helped giving her an unique look, and while Asuka would never say this out loud, Ann was super hot and it was easy to see why she was so popular. Next was Yusuke Kitagawa, an art student from Kosei High School, making him one of the only two members of the group who didn't go to Shujin Academy.

Next there was Futaba Sakura, another member of the group who didn't go to Shujin, mainly because she was a shut-in who does not attend school and rarely, if ever, leaves her house, it wasn't until recently that she finally started to go outside more, thanks to her friends helping her. Next up was Haru Okumura, a wealthy girl who attends Shujin Academy, she is the only daughter of Kunikazu Okumura, who mysteriously died while he was in the middle of confessing his horrible way of running his business, and his death was blamed on the mysterious Phantom Thieves. Last but not least was Ren Amamiya, a second-year transfer student at Shujin Academy, being placed there to continue his academics due to an probation resulting from being falsely framed for assault, Asuka could relate to him as she too had bad run in's with the law. They also had a black and white cat named Morgana.

All in all, an mixed but interesting bunch, and Asuka could see why Makoto would be a part of them. She had a feeling there is never a boring moment with them around. Right now they were gathered in Café Leblanc in Yongen-Jaya. The manager, Sojiro Sakura, is Futaba's adoptive father, and oversees the care of Ren during his probation, making Leblanc the perfect spot for the friends to hang out.

"I'm still surprised that you are dating Makoto, Kazama-chan. Through the whole time we've known her, Makoto has always been very by the books, so seeing her date a rebel like yourself is not something I would've seen coming" Yusuke said.

"Trust me, I am just as surprised as you are. My life hasn't exactly been a lucky one, so ending up with Makoto was a real turn around. And I told you, just call me Asuka, we're friends now, right?" Asuka asked with a smile.

Yusuke nodded with a smile of his own "Of course, my apologies, Asuka".

"Still he does raise a good point. How did you two end up dating? You are so different and yet look so happy together" Ann said.

Makoto smiled softly "It's a long story".

"I seduced her with my body" Asuka said, earning a blush from the others and a glare from Makoto "Just kidding".

"I mean, I would've believed it" Ryuji admitted, earning a light jab from Ann.

"I wish that was all it took, but truth is we didn't really get a long that well before we started dating. Like you said Yusuke, Makoto is much more of a rule follower than I am, and since I break rules a lot it looked like we would end up hating each other. And to be honest, at first I only saw her as a boring rule person who couldn't do anything but bark rules at me..." Asuka began explaining, looking a little guilty for judging Makoto like that before they ended up together.

"And I thought Asuka was just a brute who just enjoyed getting in to pointless fights" Makoto admitted, also feeling bad for being so quick to judge Asuka.

"Oh... But I take it something happened that changed your opinion on each other?" Haru guessed.

Asuka nods with a smile "One night when I was on my way home, Makoto was being bothered by a group of punks who... well let's just say they weren't interested in asking her to join them for a nice meal".

The group nodded, some of them with disgusted looks, knowing full well what those creeps must've had in mind. They were among the many bad people in the world, and among the many reasons why the Phantom Thieves do the things they do.

"And then Asuka just showed up out of nowhere and punched one of them square in the jaw. She looked so angry and began fighting the whole group on her own. That's when I learned that she doesn't fight just for the sake of it... She fought to protect me, someone she never got along with" Makoto continued explaining with a smile "Despite all the problems we had with each other, she did not think twice about jumping in to danger and protect me".

"Ahhh... she was like a super hero" Ann said with a smile.

"I wish. I beat up some of them sure, but one sucker punched me from behind and before you knew it I was down on the ground and had the crap beaten out of me" Asuka said earning a gasp from the girls while the guys looked pissed "Thought I was done for, until suddenly, Miss perfect School Council President jumped in slammed one of those jerks in to the ground. I was just as shocked as they were. Makoto could fight, and she was damn good at it".

"Sounds like Queen alright" Futaba said.

"Queen?" Asuka asked.

Futaba realized her blunder, luckily Ren was quick to speak "It's a nickname we gave her after she became a part of our group".

"Queen... well it suits you" Asuka said as she winks at Makoto who blushed.

"Anyway, you were saying?" Ann asked, urging them to continue telling their story.

"Oh yeah, we ended up beating up the rest of the punks together and they ran away like scared rats. They were no match for our girl power!" Asuka said proudly as she pounded her fist in to her palm.

Makoto shook her head "She was hurt so I took her to a doctor. After that we finally had our first real talk and we learned that despite how different we were, we did have one thing in common: Our love for martial arts. So we began training together, just to see if there was a chance for us to become friends... and as you can see, we became more than that".

"That was a beautiful story" Haru said with a smile.

"Yeah, I would've loved to see you two kick ass together" Ryuji said with a smirk.

"From mortal enemies to lovers. Sounds like something straight out of a adventure story" Futaba said.

"We weren't enemies, we just didn't get along at first" Asuka said.

Yusuke thinks a little "A fine example of opposites attract. I believe I could make an beautiful painting out of it. Would you two be up for modeling?".

"I don't think so buddy" Asuka said bluntly, she heard that back when the others first met him, Ann almost ended up as a nude model for him... he wasn't a creep, he just wanted to make a nice painting of her. Still, Asuka wasn't going to taka that risk.

Yusuke looked down like he had just received a savage blow, earning some laughs from his friends. Asuka smiled, she liked these people, she didn't really have any friends before this, other than a minor one with Ryuji, so it felt nice to be part of a friendship circle like this.

"Still, you bonded over your love of martial arts, but what made you guys realize that you had feelings for each other?" Ryuji asked.

Makoto decided to explain this part, since she knew Asuka might explain it in an embarrassing way "Once we became friends, we started spending time together. I tried to make Asuka study more, which was much easier said than done, given she was just as much as a block head as Ryuji".

"Hey!" Asuka and Ryuji said at the same time, earning a few laughs.

"Well during our studies, I noticed Asuka was always distracted... and I would soon learn she was distracted by me" Makoto continued while blushing "I was beginning to realize that she had feelings for me and it wasn't something I expected".

"Hey don't put it all on me. You drooled when you saw me wearing tight gym clothes" Asuka said.

"I did not drool!" Mako said with a big blush, which made Ryuji laugh, Yusuke and Ren chuckled, Futaba and Haru giggled and Ann laughed awkwardly.

"Sure thing babe. Anyway, it was clear for both of us that we liked each other. Makoto was smart, respected and beautiful. Ironically, what used to make me dislike her, made me love her" Asuka said.

Makoto smiled "Same here. I used to think Asuka was just a dumb brute, but I realized she was strong and brave. So like her, I began loving her for the same reasons I originally disliked her for".

"Your differences is what brought you together. Almost sounds like you two were destined to be together" Ann commented.

"Heh, well destiny sure has a sense of humor" Asuka said as she put an arm around Makoto's shoulders, earning a smile both from her girlfriend and her friends.

"Yup, opposites really do attract" Morgana said, to most people he would just sound like a normal cat, but since all but one member of the group were Phantom Thieves, they understood him perfectly.

Asuka looked around "Who said that?".

Everyone looked surprised. She heard Morgana?... And understood him!?

"What's wrong?" Asuka asked, looking really confused.

"Oh umm, nothing. Nothing at all!" Ryuji said nervously.

Asuka was more confused, until and alarm went of on her phone "Crap I'm late for my martial art lesson. Catch you guys later. See you soon babe".

She gave Makoto a quick kiss before leaving the Café. Everyone waited until she was gone before Morgana jumped up at the table and looked at Makoto dead in the eyes. He had a question for her, and a very serious one that she needs to answer truthfully.

"Did you tell her?" He asked in all seriousness.

"No, of course not! I wanted to tell, but I would never do it without talking to the rest of you first" Makoto answered.

"I believe you. But that doesn't change the fact she clearly heard Morgana and understood him" Ren said.

Morgana nods in agreement "Yeah, and only people who has been to the Metaverse at least once can understand me. Asuka is clearly not your everyday girl".

The others agreed. No way Asuka could understand Morgana unless she's been to the Metaverse, but Asuka's confusion made it clear she didn't know it was Morgana who spoke, so she clearly didn't know about the Metaverse. So that leaves a very serious question: When did Asuka ever go to the Metaverse? And if she was there, how could she not know about it?

It was time to keep a closer look on their new friend. And Makoto had a feeling there was a lot more to her girlfriend than she ever could've expected.

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Just something I threw together, and who knows, maybe this could lead to a bigger story.

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Tell me what you think.