Hey everyone! Thanks for the great feedback on the last chapter. Your reactions in the comments are priceless and really make my day. This is a fast update compared to usual updates because I felt bad for ditching you guys on a cliff. Now shall we continue?
Ryuji wasn't a stranger to skipping classes. Heck, he did it almost all the time.
But he wasn't used to looking for someone as he did skip.
Alarm bells went off when Ann texted him that Akira hadn't returned to class or answered any of her texts.
Ryuji: Akira!
Ryuji: Hello?
Ryuji: Answer me!
Why the hell isn't she answering?
He wandered the halls, searching for any trace of her. The sound of faint coughing and sniffling caught his attention however.
From the girl's bathroom?
Tentatively, he made his way to the door and stopped. Pushing the door slightly open, he called her name through the crack.
"Akira?"
As if on cue, the sounds earlier had stopped.
"Akira, I know that's you." He said.
No response from inside.
Pi-Pi-Pi!
Akira: Leave me alone Ryuji.
His brow raised at the text.
Why would she respond by text?
"Why won't you talk to me?"
Pi-Pi-Pi!
Akira: Please just go away.
A sob followed by another erupted from the bathroom. Ryuji gritted his teeth, his hand tightening around his phone.
To hell with it.
He walked straight into the bathroom. He automatically saw two feet poking out from the bottom of the stall that was slightly open.
"Akira what's-"
His eyes widened once she came into full view. She appeared paler than normal and visibly shaken. Sitting on the bathroom floor, her glasses and phone laid on the ground besides the toilet. Her face had tear streaks and her eyes were red.
It seemed she had lost most of her breakfast as well.
"I though I told you to leave me alone..." She whispered.
Her arms crossed over her chest, hugging her shoulders tightly. She turned away from the blonde. Ryuji knelt down besides her. His hand reached for her shoulder.
"What happened?"
She flinched as his hand touched her.
"...Nothing."
"Bullshit. What happened?"
She pushed his hand away, never once making eye contact with him.
"...I said nothing. Get out before you get in trouble."
He growls and clenches his fist. He reaches out and grabs both of her shoulders, turning her to him.
"Bullshit! You're ly-"
SLAP!
A red mark burns into Ryuji's face.
Tears pour down her face. She looks at her hand.
I...
I actually hit him...
Her hands cover her mouth.
"I'm... I'm..." She starts.
He pulls her into his chest without hesitating.
"It's ok."
Everything she had been holding back just burst out. All the tears and sobs rushed out of her. Her heavy sobbing shook her body heavily. Normally, Ryuji would've joked and complained about being slapped.
But now wasn't the time to do that.
Between her sobs, she told him exactly what happened.
His grip on her tightened as she retold the story. Soon he realized that if he let go of her, nothing could stop him from blindly going to beat down that asshole.
He couldn't even imagine how terrified Akira must've been.
He rubbed her back as her body shook against him. After a while, her breathing steadied and the sobbing ceased.
"I'm sorry Akira. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."
She shuffled a bit in his arms.
"There's nothing you could've done. All we can do is work to change his heart..."
She trembled a bit, reminding herself as she spoke.
"No matter how hard reality gets."
Ryuji grunted angrily at how she was accepting this.
"Kamoshida is gonna pay for this..."
"Don't do anything stupid Ryuji." She scolded.
"Gah! Stop nagging me!"
She giggled a bit, a smile forming on her face. Seeing her perk up a bit certainly brightened his own mood. Akira sat up and pulled away from Ryuji. She seemed to be much calmer and stable than before.
"You wanna go back to class now?" Ryuji asked.
"No, not really. I don't think I have the guts to face anyone right now."
Understandable.
"Then let's just head up to the hideout. I'll text Ann the details." He suggested.
"Ok, just give me a minute."
The blonde nodded and quickly left the bathroom as stealthily as humanly possible. Once gone, Akira walked slowly to the bathroom mirror. She ran the water, soaking her face with its cold water.
She closed her eyes.
The actions of Kamoshida and herself replayed inside her mind. Her grip on the sink tightened.
Dammit...
If he had really wanted to, he could've ravished her right there and nobody would've ever known.
And that scared her.
She took a deep breath and dried her cheeks.
There's no way it'll come to that.
TAKE YOUR TIME
The bell rang and Akira didn't return to class.
Ann was worried but Ryuji had texted her during class. After meeting with Kamoshida, she felt sick and didn't return.
After that, her concern increased.
Kamoshida called her out and she didn't want to come back to class.
That asshole did something...
The girl picked up Akira's bag from her desk and made her way to the hideout. She'd get answers soon enough.
'Oh my gosh! Are you serious!?'
'Of course I am!'
Ann turned to a group of girls by the stairs.
'Are you sure it was her?'
'Yes! Everyone knows what the transfer student looks like.'
Are they talking about Akira?
The girls had yet to notice the blonde standing in earshot of them.
'She went into his office during class and apparently you could hear the moans through the door. It was so loud you could hear it from the girl's bathroom!'
'What a skank!'
'I know right!?'
'Is Mr. Kamoshida cheating on Takamaki-san with the transfer student!?'
Anger bubbled up inside her. Before she could say anything, one of the girls spotted her.
'H-hey! Quiet down.'
She pointed at Ann and the rest fell silent once they understood. The group dissapated but whispers could be heard all around her.
"Did Kamoshida actually do something to Akira or is this a baseless rumor?" Morgana whispered, poking his little head outside the bag.
"I don't know... But we're about to find out."
Climbing up the stairs, the girl reached the roof in no time. Ryuji and Akira were both there already, seated at a small table in the corner. With everyone present, Ryuji immediately began.
"Ok, let's head in now!"
Morgana shakes his head.
"We can't head in so early."
"Why not?" He frowned.
"We have to prepare ourselves before going in. We don't want to get caught in a bad situation without proper equipment."
"He's right. The palace is dangerous and we need to be careful. One misstep and that's it." Akira nodded.
As the planning continued, Ann watched her friend carefully.
She didn't notice anything too off. She seemed to be her normal self.
"So how exactly do we plan for this?" She asked.
"Good question Lady Ann! First, we need to obtain better weapons and equipment. Then, we're going to need medicine to stop fatique."
Ryuji snapped his fingers.
"Weapons? I know a kick-ass place for that!"
"Well that covers one of the two. What about medicine?" Ann said.
"Just leave that to Akira and I. We have business in Yongen." The cat grinned.
Akira gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything. She just was going to have to trust him on it.
Their meeting ended soon after that and the group left one by one.
On the way out, Ann stopped Ryuji.
"Huh? What's up Ann?"
"What happened to Akira?"
He blanked for a moment, trying to think of a good excuse. Ann went on before he could blurt out something dumb.
"When I was heading out of class, I heard a new rumor about a certain transfer student."
Ryuji bristled at the tone in her voice.
"What hell did they say?"
"Apparently someone saw Akira go into Kamoshida's office and said they were having sex."
"That's such bullshit! If anything he was forcing himself on her. To hell with that!"
Her eyes widened.
Ryuji cursed at himself for telling her.
"Wait... Kamoshida... he-"
"No. He didn't go that far."
She sighed in relief.
"But he did force himself on her."
"What exactly did he do?"
Ryuji shook his head furiously.
"Listen, I shouldn't be talkin' about this you know. Just ask her yourself."
He walked off before she could tell him off.
Honestly, she should've just asked her. They were friends now. They could talk and share stuff like this with each other.
And yet her she was, asking someone else for information about her.
I'll just text her later.
With that thought it mind, she left the school alone and headed for the subway.
TAKE YOUR TIME
Akira wasn't so sure of this plan anymore.
After leaving the others, Morgana made her head to the nearby Clinic. It was run by the punk woman she had seen at the cafe and this was their best chance to get some healing supplies for their adventures in the palace. According to Sojiro and people around town, there rumors of her having some kind of miracle medication and that she was some kind a medical witch. Either way, they needed her for their operations.
So of course they'd have to lie to the woman to get what they needed.
Upon entering, she had told the dark haired woman she was feeling lethargic, and then had been admitted into the examination room. She made up a few symptoms and the woman summed it up to be due to stress.
Very lucky.
She offered pain relievers, only to turn around and say sleep is the best medicine.
You're only saying that because you forgot to restock...
"We need painkillers. Ask her for that." Morgana whispered.
"I can't just ask a doctor to give me painkillers for no reason!" She whispered back.
"What was that?" The languid doctor asked.
"N-nothing!"
"Do you prefer a sweet tasting pill or a bitter tasting one?"
"I'll take the swe-"
Her bag shuffled next to her.
"I mean... I want painkillers."
Her words are met with silence. She uncrossed her legs and stared at Akira.
"Alright, why don't we stop beating around the bush."
The dark haired girl remains silent. There was no way she'd be able to get out of this.
She's on to us.
Damn it..
"You're not sick at all, are you? I'm not as dumb as I look."
"You don't look dumb at all! In fact, you look amazing."
Her cheeks burned as she internally screamed at herself for saying that. The however woman chuckled at her comment.
"...I guess you're here because you heard the rumors about me, right?"
"Are the rumors true?"
The woman shrugged nonchalantly.
"Who's to say? But as a result, all the patients I get have ulterior motives now."
Her comment saddened Akira. She seemed like a relatively nice woman. Her small shop was suffering now because of the rumors.
In a way, she's another outcast just like herself.
The woman must've seen the look on her face because she spoke again, a small grin forming on her face.
"I guess highschool kids have it tough nowadays too."
You have no idea.
She nodded silently as the doctor scribbled something down on her pad.
"Well, fine. I'll prescribe you some medication."
"Really?" Akira said in surprise.
"But only medicine that will help you recover your health."
"Thank you."
She stood and rummaged around the cabinets. Akira watched her silently.
"Um... what made you change your mind? Do you always give medicine out like this?"
The doctor stopped and pondered for a moment.
"You look pretty earnest and you don't look like you'll be any trouble." She said.
She went on to explain all the meds she has were made by herself due to it being her private practice. She had her own license and everything.
It was actually pretty impressive.
By the end of her visit, she left with several types of medication for herself and the others.
She had asked what the medicine was going to be used for, but when Akira didn't answer, she brushed it off stating if she didn't get in trouble, it wasn't her problem.
When she walked out of the examination, she was surprised to see a man in the lobby. He paid her no mind as she moved slightly. He walked straight into the room with no reservation whatsoever.
"What'z the reason fir your visit? Whatever it is, you need to take a number and wait." She heard the doctor ask.
She jumped when she heard the man yell.
"You're the only one who could've developed that kind of medicine."
That kind of medicine?
"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."
The man continued to push the doctor about some kind of medication, to which she continued to deny.
"You're a disgrace to the medical community."
As much as Akira wanted to barge in and tell the man off, she knew better. She fled the Clinic once she heard him coming back.
What is the doctor hiding?
"Sounds like they were talking about something dangerous." Morgana said.
"It sounds pretty sketchy." She responded.
"Perhaps but it could be useful."
She nodded in agreement. Something that strong would be quite useful in the palace.
Pi-Pi-Pi!
She pulled out her phone and slowly walked as she read the messages.
Ryuji: There's a shop in Shibuya that sells model guns. I'd be glad to take ya there.
Akira: Sounds like a plan.
Ryuji: Sweet. You know where the Shibuya station is? Let's meet there.
Akira: Ok.
Ann: Hey I can't make it. Can I trust you guys to check it out for me?
Ryuji: You can't make it?
Ann: Not tomorrow. I made to go visit Shiho.
Akira: It's fine Ann.
Ryuji: Don't worry, we got this.
Akira: See you tomorrow then Ryuji.
Ryuji: Seeya Akira!
Morgana grinned.
"We might be able to find some decent stuff there if they have nice model guns."
"Yeah. For now, let's head back to Leblanc."
The cat nodded and the two made their way back home. The rest of the night passed relatively fast, although she felt a strange weight on her body as she slept.
Is this the threat of Kamoshida weighing down on me?
She tried to ignore all thoughts of him out of her mind, but of course it didn't work.
What she didn't expect was a phone call. Without her glasses on, the name looked a little blurry, but she picked up nonetheless.
"Hello?" She said, groggily rubbing her eyes.
"Hey Akira, it's Ann. Sorry, did I wake you?"
She blinked for a moment, trying to register what was going on.
"Oh hey Ann. I wouldn't say you woke me up."
Sitting up, she brought her legs towards her chest.
"What's up?"
"Oh nothing really! I just wanted to talk to you about something." The blonde responded.
"Alright, go ahead."
Akira waited for the question, but Ann didn't respond. She looked at her phone to make sure she hadn't accidentally dropped the call. She hadn't and yet Ann wasn't making a sound.
"Um...Hello? Ann?"
"Yes? Sorry, I'm not sure how to talk about this."
Akira chuckled. She was used to Ann being somewhat bold so this was a fresh perspective.
"Well whatever it is. You can just go ahead and say it. I won't mind."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Mmhm."
"Alright..."
Ann hesitated again but eventually got it out.
"Have you heard the latest rumor?"
This time it was Akira who fell silent.
"...No."
"It's about you...and Kamoshida. People think you two had sex during class today."
"What?"
"Apparently, someone saw you head into his office and then heard moaning."
Sweat trickled down her face. There was no way she had moaned when he groped her. Maybe whimpering and possibly gasping, but that was it.
"I know it's not true, but I gotta ask... Are you ok?"
Ann waited for her response. Akira was being pretty quiet now and it was scaring her.
Maybe I shouldn't have brought this up.
"If I'm being totally honest... I'm really not." Akira said with a small voice.
Ann's heart cracked a bit from the sound of her voice.
"What happened?"
"He...He offered me a deal."
"What?"
Akira told her what had happened, and for the second time that day, she re-lived her encounter with that man.
There was a moment of silence afterwards. It wasn't awkward or comfortable. Just silence.
"I can't believe he did that during the day..."
Ann didn't know what to say at that point.
"Yeah..."
"Don't worry, he'll get what's coming to him soon enough."
For some reason, there was a lot of conviction in her tone.
Or perhaps pure hatred.
"I know he will Ann."
Morgana shuddered in the bed besides her, but Akira didn't seem to notice. The conversation with Ann died soon after and they bid each other farewell.
Unfortunately, it was difficult to sleep after explaining what happened. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Kamoshida's silhouette looming over her.
She could feel his fingers tracing over her body and she hated it. Her grip on Morgana tightened as her fear grew.
Morgana would've voiced his displeasure at being held, especially this tight, but he swallowed his pride.
She's had enough trouble for one night...
He only sighed and went to sleep, hoping Akira would find solace in sleep some time soon.
TAKE YOUR TIME
She glad that the sun had finally raised and she could go out and about. Her sleep was rougher than normal, but the day seemed promising so she got up and got ready for the day.
Morgana looked away as she dressed.
"So we're meeting Ryuji at the station right?"
"Yeah, the Shibuya Station." She said.
She took a seat on the bed, placing her glasses onto her face. Morgana watched her carefully as she braided her hair.
He couldn't detect any traces of distress from her facial features.
"What's wrong Morgana?"
"Nothing. I'm just making sure you're ready for the day and don't forget anything."
She smiled and scratched his head.
"Good boy!"
"Don't talk to me like I'm some kind of pet!"
His complaining made her laugh.
"Alright alright. Now get in the bag."
With a few more mumbled complaints, Morgana climbed into her bag. And with that, she she waved at Sojiro as she left towards the station.
Meanwhile, Ryuji waited outside the station, tapping his foot impatiently. It was his first time seeing Akira in street clothes and was feeling a bit excited.
He wore his usual stuff. Jeans, a simple shirt, and a purple hoodie.
He was ready to text her to ask where she was when he saw her. When she realized his eyes were on her, she waved with a smile and walked toward him.
Time seemed to slow down.
Her braids flew in the wind as she walked. Her denim pencil skirt complimented her dark brown jacket and nice white shirt. Black tights hugged her slim legs and her dainty feet had white sneakers atop them.
"Akira, I think Ryuji is dead." Morgana said, poking out of her brown shoulder bag.
Indeed he is.
Akira waved her hand in front of his eyes. He jumped slightly.
"The hell?!"
"Are you ok? You seem out of it." She asked.
Concern clouded her eyes. Ryuji shook his head.
"Nah, I was just thinking about something."
"Ryuji thinking? That's weird." Morgana teased.
"Shut it cat!" He snapped back.
"Now now you two. Let's just start going to the shop." Akira said.
"Ok, follow me."
With a nod, Akira followed her friend through the throngs of people, leading her to an alley way. Ryuji stopped in front of a store in the back. There was bags of garbage and bikes surrounding it.
"This is the place. Pretty legit, huh?"
She could feel her nose twitch at the scent.
Why would anyone want to put a store here?
Walking in, the place looked quite impressive. There were so many guns and military-like supplies pilled up in such a small space. The guy at the cash register looked as if he could've been part of the military too.
He was a rather large and surly-looking individual with a stubble dotting his jaw. Gray hair, pierced ear, and some kind of scar sealed the deal. He read a magazine and didn't seem to care they were there until Akira asked him for recommendations.
His eyes looked over her, suspicion growing in him.
"... You lookin' for recommendations?" He asked.
She nodded.
"... I dunno, just buy whatever looks interestin' to you." He said dismissively.
For some reason, his tone kinda pissed her off.
It seemed Ryuji agreed from the look on his face.
"Ugh, some customer service..."
The man groaned and closed his magazine.
"Fine, whaddya want? An automatic? A revolver?"
Ryuji looked confused as he tried to process the words spoken to him.
"Dude, why're you talkin' about cars now!?"
Akira shook her head at him, and the man too seemed irritated.
"Listen, this here's an enthusiast shop. My regulars'll be mad if I let a casual like you hang around."
"I'm not a freakin' casual! I bought shit from here like, last week!" Ryuji snapped.
Akira giggled and the man's eyes snapped towards her.
"Huh, can't remember you."
Oof, that was harsh.
She stifled her laughter at Ryuji's dismay.
"So what about you Missy? Lookin' for sonethin'?" He asked.
"Something that looks real."
That response intrigued him.
"Oh? You a collector? Heh, you're much more interesting than your boyfriend here." He smirked.
"Sh-Shut it! We're not together." He said.
"We-We're not a couple!" She said.
He shook his head.
"Anyways... you shoulda told me you're enthusiasts. I'm always up for helpin' fresh faces."
"Thank you-" She began.
"But first, precautions." He said, cutting her off.
"Don't go pointing 'em at other people. Keep 'em in a bag or somethin' if you're outside. And don't let the fuzz catch wind of you having 'em."
Fair enough.
"We'll be careful." She promised.
He didn't look convinced.
"You damn well better be." He growled.
He went on to show Akira several models, pointing out similarities and differences between the models and real guns. Truth be told, it was fascinating to her. She practically was begging the manager to show her more, but he said if she had the guts in the future she could count on seeing the real good stuff.
Whatever that means.
The man actually seemed sorta decent.
Kinda good looking too...
With Ryuji's help and their travels in Kamoshida's palace, she had a decent amount of yen to purchase some nice stuff.
Once done, she promised the manager she'd return to buy more and proceeded to leave with Ryuji.
He shrugged as the two left his shop. He kicked his feet up and thought to himself. He didn't give a damn about the blonde. He seemed like the usual rebellious shits all teenagers were.
The girl though...
He chuckled to himself.
She's interesting...
Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Before I finish though, I need to address some comments.
I didn't think I'd have to explain this but I have to fix misunderstandings before it blows out of porportion. In the first chapter of this story, I stated I'm not a feminist. I'm female for those of you who don't know but this is true. To an extent. I support the idea that everyone should be equal, meaning I support both males and females being equal. This is where it gets complicated. I HATE, with a burning passion, labels of any kind. I think they're terrible and try my best to not use them. I think people are just people not matter what and that's all we need. We don't need gender labels, ethnicity label, nationality labels, etc. So when people ask me, do you support a certain topic I'll say yes or no, depending on what it is, but if you ask me are you *insert label here* I'll say no. Yes, I'm super extra about stuff like that and that's not going to change. But I am so sorry that I didn't clearly explain my thoughts. When I wrote I'm not a feminist or anything, I meant I wasn't writing this for the sake of women power. I stated why I wanted to write this and that was my sole reasoning.
I'm sorry if that bugged or concerned any of you. I don't want people to start fighting in the reviews. I will be fixing that shortly after this chapter is posted. We all love Persona 5, so let's all be cool and have fun.
And if you never noticed, then that's cool as well.
Have a nice day.
