I'm happy to see that the prologue caught enought people's interest, and I hope that all of you will continue to stay and enjoy the rest. Thank you for the kind words.

EDIT: This chapter has been updated as of 08/25/2018. Thanks goes again to Chessicfayth for their help.

I do not own these characters, they belong to Atlus.


Chapter 1

As the two stood facing each other, you could almost hear how many thoughts were racing through their minds.

Sadayo began to panic. Not only was the customer a high school student, he was from Shujin. Not only was he from Shujin, but he was also her new problem student, Akira Kurusu! Then there was also the fact that she had heard Mishima and Ryuji, and they would certainly ask Akira about what he had seen.

'Was I set up? Did someone hear about what I was doing!?' Her thoughts turned to Ms. Chouno and her probing questions about her always having to leave school early. Had she put Akira up to finding out what she had been doing? As all these questions surged through her head she came to a decision. She needed to take control of the situation. She had to find a way to stop him from spilling the beans.

Oblivious to the dilemma of the of the apartment's only other occupant (Thanks, Ryuji), Akira stood there in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on. The woman dressed as a maid in front of him seemed to know not only Mishima and Ryuji, but him as well, and was staring at him with a horrified look. He was about to put the sense of familiarity down to her expression (one he'd become accustomed to at school), when his train of thought was interrupted. Her previously cheerful demeanor was now gone, replaced with a very stern tone.

"Did you specifically ask for me? How did you find out about my job?" Sadayo went on the offensive. She needed to find out who was behind this, and quickly. "It's got to be Ms. Chouno! It is, isn't it? Did she put you up to this?"

"What are you talking about?" Akira was caught off guard at the maid's sudden aggression, and her sudden flurry of questions, but one thing caught his attention. She was asking about one of his teachers at school. Suddenly, everything started to click into place. Her knowing Ryuji, Mishima and Ms. Chouno. The color and look of her hair, even in a wildly different style. And that accusing tone that he had been tuning out more and more since he came to Shujin.

His eyes widened as he came to the realization. "Wait… are you?"

The color drained out of Sadayo's face as she realized Akira had only just figured out who she was. He had honestly had no idea what she was talking about. She could have ended this by simply turning around and leaving, but, of course, she had messed things up by pressing too early. It was just one more thing.

As if she was trying to hide the fact that she had just attempted to interrogate him, she immediately turned to her Becky persona. "Oh... oh no! Clearly you must be mistaken, there is no way you would know me." She slowly steps away. "After all, this is our first time meeting. Yes, first time ever, Master." While Becky smiled, Sadayo was desperately trying to find a way out of this mess she had gotten herself into…"Anyway, I should really leave." She started to the door, but...

"Ms. Kawakami?" As her name came from his lips, the world seemed to freeze, then fall out from beneath her. "It is you, isn't it?" Akira looked closer at the now frozen maid, waiting to hear her response.

"I can't believe this happened..." Sadayo took a deep breath and turn around to face her student for a second before looking away in shame. "Yes… it's me... your homeroom teacher…."

'I'm done. I got found by a student, and now the rest of the school will find out.' She was just starting to lose herself in all the ways this could end horribly, when suddenly those thoughts were interrupted by the sound of laughter. She turned her sights towards Akira, who seemed to find the situation quite amusing. "Hey! What's so funny?!" Sadayo demanded, getting flustered at him not taking the situation seriously. She was surprised at his reaction she briefly forgot her exhaustion. "This is not a laughing matter you know!"

"I'm sorry, this must be such an inconvenience to you." He let sarcasm drip heavy into his tone. He still remembered the way she had treated him during his first visit to Shujin...

He was standing in the principal's office. Next to him was Sojiro Sakura, the person in charge of him during his probation. In front of them was Principal Kobayakawa, and a woman who clearly was not happy with something, and was introduced as his homeroom teacher.

"I'm Sadayo Kawakami. Here is your student ID." As she dropped it on the table in front of him, keeping her distance. "Be sure to read the school regulations, as any violation will get you sent straight to the guidance counselor. And if by ANY chance you cause ANY problems, I won't be able to protect you at all." She turned to the Principal wanting confirmation. "That IS your promise, yes, Principal Kobayakawa?"

The tone of her voice wasn't one of concern or worry, but one of pure dismissal. She wanted nothing to do with him. The look his new teacher gave him as she said this didn't help. Her gaze had been one of scorn and disgust, one he had been seeing ever since he had first been convicted of assault. People would keep their distance, talking behind his back, and sometimes even to his face. They all saw him as disposable, someone who everyone would be better off without. Much to his surprise, it seemed that Sojiro, who had only shown annoyance to Akira so far, seemed upset with how the school seemed to be treating him. If he didn't know better, he might say the older man was concerned.

Sadly his bad luck hadn't stopped there, as on his first day, Akira ended up accidentally entering into what he now knew as the Metaverse. Even though he had been able to escape with Ryuji, it caused them both to be half a day late. As he finally arrived at the Teacher's Lounge, and was greeted with an annoyed Kawakami.

"Seriously…? Your half a day late, and on your first day even. You were specifically warned about your situation, so take some responsibility for your actions. Do you know how much of an inconvenience this is to me?!" She said with a look of disgust on her face as she tapped her foot, clearly tired of waiting for his arrival.

"I'm sorry. I just moved here, and it was my first time coming to school through train system. I ended up on the wrong one and got lost." He apologized, bowing to the irate teacher.

While he made himself sound humble, he was frustrated at having been chewed out right off the bat. Sadly, even Akira himself didn't fully understand what had happened, and thus couldn't explain it without sounding any more crazy than they probably already thought him.

Ms. Kawakami just stared at him with a look of disbelief,. "Even if that's true, you're still far too late to be considered reasonable." She pressed the space between her eyes as though she felt a headache starting. "More importantly...I heard you were caught with that Sakamoto-kun"

"THAT Sakomoto-kun...?" Akira narrowed his eyes at the tone she used to refer to the guy who, just a short while ago, had risked his life trying to help Akira get away.

Sadayo gave a sigh "Just don't get involved with him, OK? Especially if you want to get through your probation. He's nothing but trouble." She looked down as she added as though talking to herself, "He didn't always use to be like that though… Whatever, I'll just introduce you during next period and just get it over with." She stood up and signaled him to follow her, before stopping and turning back to him. "Oh, and one more thing. Be serious when you introduce yourself to the others, even if you have to lie about it. If word about what you did spreads, it'll be troublesome for me." she said as she gestured to herself. "Just think about how your actions affect others alright?"

In the end her concern had only been about how his situation would make her life harder. Unfortunately for both of them, his criminal record had somehow already spread all around the school, leading to her constantly reminding him to not doing anything that would inconvenience her.

He couldn't help it. Having discovered that his teacher, the one who had been continuously harassing him to not cause any trouble for her, had been moonlighting as a maid. And Akira had been the one to catch her. He couldn't help but find the situation hilarious.

At his teacher's question, Akira was able to recover his composure. Taking a few deep breaths, he responded to his now flustered teacher. "So, what's this about Ms. Chouno?"

The idea he wasn't looking for her intentionally seemed to help. "That harpy has been getting on everyone's case ever since the Kamoshida incident." She was starting to calm down, leaning to the side with one hand on her hip. It was a pose Akira had gotten used to seeing, the one she used whenever she would lecture him of his situation at school. Seeing her now, speaking in her usual tone, all the while wearing a very cute maid outfit? It was nothing less than bizarre. "Are you planning to tell her about this?"

"What do you mean?" Akira asked with a smirk. "Wouldn't that be a problem for you?" He didn't have any real intentions of ratting her out or blackmailing her. While her attitude towards him was annoying, he didn't hate her, and he himself had seen his fair share of horrible human beings. Enough to know that he didn't want to go that route. Still, that wouldn't stop him from messing with her a bit, if only to burn off some of the frustration that had built up since his arrival to Tokyo.

Sadayo pouted, noticing the clear sarcastic tone of his voice. "If your going to side with someone, side with me, I'm your homeroom teacher after all. And if you promise not to tell Ms. Chouno about this, I'll do anything for you!"

"Anything…?" Akira gave a devilish smile, one he usually only wore as Joker, and placed his hand on his chin. "And what does anything entail…?" He leaned forward to be face to face with his shorter teacher, calling her on what he believed was a bluff, wanting to see who would give in first.

Sadly for him, Sadayo wasn't seeing it as a game, and after noticing that persuasive negotiations weren't working fast enough, took a more aggressive approach.

"Hey! This won't look good for you either!" She moved close to him, poking at his chest to prove a point. "What do you think will happen if they find out you called a maid service? You have just as much to lose from this as I do." She looked around at the empty room they had been talking in. "I mean, this isn't even where you live, so clearly you were trying to hide who you guys were. At least you thought that far ahead."

Akira backed away with a sigh as he rubbed the spot on his abused chest. "Fine, fine, I'll keep quiet." 'Guess fun time is over'. "I promise I won't say anything about this."

"That includes to Mishima-kun and Sakamoto-kun." She didn't let up, wanting to cover all her bases. "I know they're going to be asking about what happened. Don't even think about giving them a hint."

"Very well, I promise I won't tell anyone about what was seen here." Akira agreed as he looked away. He had considered telling Ryuji. Knowing how he and Ms. Kawakami had their own share of arguments, he would have found it just as amusing. Akira wouldn't violate a promise though, so it looked like it would remain his personal secret.

Finally satisfied with his response, Kawakami backed away. "Very well, I'll just treat this as if you canceled so you won't have to pay for it, okay? On that note, I'll be taking my leave..." She gave Akira a glare before walking away, stopping to turn her heads towards him one more time. "Remember, this never happened. No mention of this in school." With those final words she went out the door, leaving Akira alone in an empty apartment.


Akira was exhausted after the experience, and went back home. As he put his bag down and sat on his bed, Morgana slipped out of the bag and sat next to him. "You seemed quite amused by the whole situation."

"I admit, I might have been bit meaner than I intended, but it was fun while it lasted. And I did promise to keep it a secret." Akira turned his head to face his feline companion, his index finger placed to his lips. "So I would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about it either. I know you didn't make the promise, but it would cause me some problems if the others found out. And with the school president following us around, we don't need any of this getting out of hand."

"I'll think it over Joker…" Morgana leaped up to the window, clearly planning to take a walk as he turned back to look to Akira. "If you get me something tasty to eat."

"Who's the one being mean now, huh?" He shook his head at Morgana's response.

The cat seemed to smirk at him. "I learned it from you after all." With that said, he went off, giving his strange, cat like chuckle.

Akira sighed as he started getting ready for bed, changing into his sleep wear when suddenly his phone rang. As he went to answer he saw it was Ryuji calling. Akira picked up the phone, already knowing what the conversation would be about.

"Hey, It's me… Sorry about ditching you over there like that, especially since it was my idea."

"Don't worry about it." Akira figured that was part of the reason why Ryuji was calling, and could hear his genuine regret in abandoning him. "In the end I didn't get in trouble and even avoided having to pay."

"Still, that was a shitty thing for me to do, I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Akira chuckled at his friend's insistence of making it right. "Just no more maid watching, okay?"

"Sorry, can't promise that." Akira could hear Ryuji's mood change to his usually energetic self. "Soooo…. how was she?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, the maid that showed up, what did she look like?!" Ryuji clearly wanted the details on what he had missed, more curious now that he knew his best friend wasn't holding a grudge.

"Not sure, didn't really get a good look at her, I was too focused on getting out of that situation." Akira lied, trying to avoid the rest of the blonde's questions.

"Come on, can you at least tell me if she was cute."

Akira dropped in his bed, trying to find an answer that would satisfy his friend on the phone without giving the game away. He thought back on all of his encounters with Kawakami beyond tonight. He had never paid too much attention to her, honestly wanting to avoid her in general. He thought of seeing her in that maid outfit, and her flustered appearance when she got found out. The pout she had given him as he teased her, her face heating up as she had argued with him. She seemed to have much more energy tonight than he had was used to seeing from her at school. She had clearly been upset with him, but it was so much more a lively and expressive woman than the tired teacher he saw everyday, and he had to admit to himself that it only made him want to tease her more.

"Yeah…. She was definitely cute."