At café moonlight deep in the heart of Tokyo, a coffee cup cooled on a table, its pitch black contents untouched as its owner stared into her own reflection in a solemn silence. Just staring down into those sad eyes as if she could find the source of her misery. Why this setback had struck her so harshly that not even coffee, cake and as many hugs as she wanted could bring her to smile. So it fell to her boyfriend and their friend-friend to try and rouse her out of this funk "Come on, its just the drivers exam, you can try again!" Ann assured the gloomy heiress, her hands pinning Haru's to the ceramic coffee cup.

"Yeah, we've flunked a hundred things between us!" Ryuji declared, his arm wrapped firmly around her shoulders in support "And this isn't gonna mess up a college application or anything... I mean, you're already there so it can't, but I mean... It's not like the end of the world!" He stumbled. This had been the most dejected and downbeat the heiress had been about... well anything since the metaverse essentially collapsed on itself. She'd been so confident in the days before about finally getting her license and to see her like this... it must have been a close run thing, Ryuji told himself, failing tests that you put effort towards were all the more agonizing when the pass mark was one little thing away. Besides, Makoto had gotten hers and had helped her with some time as a passenger, the goon squad of Majima Construction had pitched in a hand and the one-eyed chief goon that was Goro Majima had apparently called her a natural at the wheel. It couldn't have gone that badly.

Koichi Adachi did one last check over to make sure he looked presentable (fly done up, hair in a passable state, gut not hanging out of his clean shirt) and walked away from the staff room at the DMV and towards the waiting room. Doing tests were usually the highlight of the working day because they A: Got him out from behind the crappy desk and outside in the late spring sun and B: got to people who weren't about to yell at him about their own inability to understand forms. Sure the people he met were usually teenagers but they were often on their best behaviour as to not incur the "I pissed off the examiner" penalty so that wasn't as much of a problem either.

"Okumura, Haru?" He called out, raising an eyebrow at the name.

"Here, sir." A polite young lady answered, bowing as she stood up.

"Right, if you'd like to follow me..." the former detective said, leading her towards the test car "So Okumura, that wouldn't be Okumura Foods Okumura would it?" He asked, just making small talk because there was no way she was-

"Mhm." Haru nodded as Adachi's expression froze, that wasn't what he was expecting to be dealing with today.

Instinctively he looked over his shoulder, expecting to see a company of bodyguards shadowing her in case the older man did anything that he'd regret, but other than empty corridors and the normally grey concrete parking lot underneath the building, there was nothing "Oookay, so let's get started," the greying detective said, forcing himself to relax as they walked towards the test car, an unremarkable hatchback that couldn't go too fast not that anyone tried "I'll open the hood and point to a few things, just tell me what they are."

"Right!" She cheered, her smile replaced by a look of determination as she went through every part and tank in turn, even going through some of the explanations of how to check oil levels.

"That's enough of the trivia," Adachi waved as Haru diligently closed the hood "Let's get out on the road." he said, stepping in and buckling up. So far, so good. Yeah she was a little too tense up for this with how tightly she was gripping the wheel but that wasn't anything too out of the norm, driving tests were important for people after all and the heiress managed to navigate her way out of the parking lot with ease, even checking her blind-spots as well before reversing out.

And then they hit the road.

Adachi didn't know how he'd survived the next five minutes of what was supposed to be a ten minute test but by some miracle he had. Haru had hit the busy streets of Tokyo like a racing driver trying to break the lap record at a famous test track. The test car wasn't even supposed to hit those speeds without a half mile run up! But somehow this little princess had managed it and within the hour any cop brave enough to track down the car shattering the speed limits would be swarming over the DMV "Did I do well?" Haru asked enthusiastically as she parked the car back where she'd left it, the engine wheezing in relief.

"I'll... I'll have to go back and tally things up..." Adachi replied weakly, he'd been too scared to touch the emergency second break in case it sent him face-first into the windscreen.

Still, it seemed that their reassurances and sympathy were getting somewhere as Haru lifted her head from the staring contest in the mug and rested it on Ryuji's supportive shoulder, her hair making a soft noise as it was squashed between the two "I just don't understand where I went wrong..." she mumbled.

"Eh we'll figure it out," Ryuji waved off "Besides, if you do wanna drive, you've still got the pro... procedural..." he stumbled, losing the word "The one that lets you drive if someone's looking after you."

"Provincial." Ann pointed out as her phone buzzed loudly.

"Yeah, that." Ryuji nodded, giving the blonde a discreet thumbs up as she retrieved the distraction from her purse.

"One sec, Futaba's after me." the model whispered to the couple before giving the phone her full attention. Futaba wanted her for something for some reason and it was up to her to message back. Everything okay? She typed out.

Yeah, things are going great! There's just a thing that I need someone to do and you're the best person at social stuff so I thought I'd ask you first. Came the somewhat circuitous reply. Something clearly wasn't going great.

What is it? Ann typed back, eyebrow firmly raised.

Can you pretend to be me to pick up a delivery at Leblanc?

"Huh?" the model let out, pulling her head away from the screen to make sure she read that right. Sure enough that's what the little hacker was asking for, for the model to impersonate her for the purposes of picking up a delivery Can't Sojiro pick it up instead? She asked back.

No it's work related stuff.

When did you get a job?

After we yeeted Haru's ex. Oh. It was one of those kind of jobs. Self defence training was one thing with the Tojo Clan but this seemed a bit much Its nothing weird! Its just a bunch of computer parts a friend of mine said that their boss didn't need so I'm buying it off them cheap, but I told them I'd pick them up...

Okay, now things were starting to come together as Ann shook her head and sighed So this'd be the first time you'd meet them in person. The high school model assumed, Futaba had come a long way from the computer hermit she'd been when they'd first met, but everything had its limits and the hacker was still struggling in social situations, especially around strangers.

Yeah... Futaba admitted, managing to project a look of ashamed puppy-dog eyes through text alone But they know Mishima and they know I'm a girl so I can't ask Sojiro to pick it up for me.

What if they figure out I'm not you? Ann asked If they talk computers or something I'm screwed.

I'll figure something out then! The hacker insisted I can set up an ear piece from the stuff I used on the construction site so I can just prompt you on the tech stuff.

"That's never gonna work..." she mumbled to herself, earning a look of confusion from the couple across the table "Sakura wants me to pretend to be her." she explained.

"For Real!?" Ryuji shouted "That's never gonna work!"

"Tch, I just said that!" Ann grumbled.

"Why?" Haru asked.

"Its so when some guy she games with comes over to deliver computer stuff she doesn't have to be there in person," the designated go between sighed "Like, I get it but..."

"Huh..." Ryuji let out, scratching the back of his head as he pushed aside his cold cup of coffee "That's uh, is she thinking of doing the thing where its... the thing where she tells you what to say?"

"Yeah, but what if the guy's seen my modelling stuff?" Ann asked in hushed tones.

"Can't you just scrunch up the hair into something else and not put make-up on?" Ryuji suggested "Or not!" He quickly added at the brief glimpse of a look Ann gave him, not even daring to see how Haru reacted "Just- just throwing stuff out there."

"We could help!" Haru jumped in with a sudden smile on her face.

"Huh?" Came the reply from both blondes "Haru, haven't you been on TV?" Ann asked.

"Exactly! I'm as well known to strangers as you would be, so I'd be the first person they'd recognize instead of you," the heiress explained "And with you as well we'd be able to cover for the times when Ann's struggling to say something." she pointed out to Ryuji.

"So we'd be distractions?" Ryuji summarised, trying to work out the plan in his own head

"In a way, yes. And also we'd be able to carry anything heavy."

"Thank you," Ann sighed in relief, relaxing back into her chair as she typed in a suitable reply for Futaba "You guys are great."

"As long as we don't Eff it up by calling you by your name." Ryuji said cheerfully only for to the smile to fall as he figured out what he just said a few seconds after he'd said it.

"Aww crap I jinxed it..."