THIS STORY TAKES PLACE AFTER THE EVENTS OF PERSONA 5 ROYAL. SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

I don't own Persona or any title related to it. All of that belongs to Atlus and you should go and support the official release.

Just then, everyone heard the bell to Leblanc chime and the door open.

To everyone's surprise, the person who entered the cafe was neither a teenager or adult. Rather, it was a kid dressed in a bright blue, white sleeved varsity jacket with the word 'Noobs' written on the front staring at his phone. He also wore blue jeans that were rolled up to his knees. As the boy looked around the room, everyone took the time to see that the bright red hat he wore said 'Get Smoked."

The boy scratched the back of his head, "Man, I didn't expect it would take so long to find this place." Phone still in hand, he looked over to Sojiro, "Excuse me. This is Leblanc right?"

"Sure is," answered the cafe owner, placing a lid over the pot of water. "You lost or something kid?"

"No." Looking through his backpack, he reached in and pulled out one of the red invites. "A friend of mine told me to come here for a party. He said to show this to someone named Sakura-san."

"That would be me. I'm Sojiro Sakura. I run this place and was Akira's guardian while he was here. Akira was this friend you mentioned right?"

The boy nodded his head with a smile on his face, "Yeah. It's nice to meet you."

Seeing the boy sweep the room with his eyes, Sojiro took the liberty to answer the question he suspected the kid would ask. "Akira isn't here yet. I just got a message from him saying he was on his way so he should be here soon. Have a seat. Do you drink coffee kid?"

"No thank you. Soda is fine."

"Coming right up." Sojiro went to the fridge but before the boy could take a step towards the empty seat at the bar, Iwai stepped out of the bathroom.

"Sorry about that." The gun enthusiast quickly took notice of the new arrival and looked at him, "Hey kid, you lost or something?"

"No," sighed the boy. "I'm a friend of Akira's. He invited me here for the party."

"If Akira invited you then that means you know about him being a Phantom Thief right?"

The boy nodded his head, "Yeah. I do."

"Aren't you a little young to be involved with a group like that?"

Everyone eyed Iwai as he spoke while the boy took a step closer to him, "Hey, I may be young but that doesn't mean I can't handle myself." With his brow furrowed, he continued, "What about you? What's an old guy like you doing here?"

Now Iwai stepped closer, matching the boy's glare with one of his own. The tension in the air seemed to increase by the second as everyone looked on in complete confusion. After about what seemed like a minute of silence, Makoto just about raised her hand when Iwai began to chuckle. "You got guts kid. I'll give you that," Iwai reached out his hand. "Munehisa Iwai. I run a shop called Untouchable in Shibuya. I supplied weapons to the Phantom Thieves"

"I've heard of your shop from a few of my friends. They tell me you got some pretty good models. I'll have to check out your shop some time." replied the boy as he shook Iwai's hand. "I'm Shinya Oda. Just call me Shinya. It just makes me feel weird to be called by my last name."

With the tension now gone, everyone let out a sigh of relief and Yoshida decided to keep the introductions rolling, "It's a pleasure to meet you Shinya-kun. My name is Toranosuke Yoshida and I was Akira's public speaking teacher."

Ohya waved her hand, "Ichiko Ohya. Ace reporter."

"Chihaya Mifune, Please call me Chihaya. I'm a fortune teller."

"Tae Takemi. Doctor."

"Sadayo Kawakami. I'm Akira's homeroom teacher at Shujin."

Mishima waved his hand, "It's nice to see you again Shinya-san."

"Oh right it's you," Shinya squinted at the boy. "It was Mishima right?"

"Wow. You actually remembered this time," smiled the teen.

Shinya waved his hand, "Kind of hard to forget you considering how hard you were fan-boying over me at Dome Town."

Mishima scratched the back of his head letting out a nervous chuckle, "Sorry."

"You know Mishima too," Ryuji raised his eyebrow at Shinya.

The boy shook his head, "Know is kind of a strong word. He was with Akira one day at Dome Town and that's the first time we met."

Mishima nodded his head, "I brought Akira to Dome Town because some cheater was forcing people to play him at the arcade and taking people's money. But by the time we got there, Shinya-kun had already beaten the guy." He crossed his arms, "I'd expect nothing less from The King."

Futaba turned quickly to face Shinya, "Wait, As in The 'King'."

Glances went to Futaba. "Know this kid, half-pint?"

"Yeah, but also no." nodded Futaba. "We've never met but I've seen your name pop up on forums online. You're one of the top player's for Gun About. You're practically a professional gamer."

Shinya did blush, but tried to hide his blush by pulling down the edge of his hat. "Thanks, but to be honest I still think I have a long way to go before I can be a real pro." The boy rubbed the back of his head, "Getting back to everyone introducing themselves." He turned to the group of thieves occupying the middle of the cafe, " Who are you guys?"

Futaba let out her signature chuckle while adjusting her glasses, "We are none other than the Phantom Thieves. And I am Futaba Sakura."

"Ann Takamaki"

"Yusuke Kitagawa."

"Ryuji Sakamoto."

"Makoto Nijima."

"Haru Okumura."

"You guys are the group itself." Shihya looked over everyone as they introduced themselves to him. "I'd always wondered what you would look like. Never expected I would actually get to meet you guys." He smiled and bowed his head, "I guess I should be thanking you guys for your help with my mom." Standing up from the chair, he took off his hat and bowed to the group, "Thank you for saving her."

Makoto simply smiled at the boy, "It's no problem Shinya-kun. I'm glad we were able to help her."

Shinya returned a smile and hopped back onto the stool. Before anyone could be asked for the details, Ohya took another sip of her coffee. "So little man," she said, earning a mild look of annoyance from Shinya, "how'd a kid like you get tangled up with the Phantom Thieves?" The reporter smirked confidently, "Let me guess, Akira and you formed a deal or something, right?"

The look of annoyance Shinya had transformed into surprise, "How'd you know?"

Everyone chuckled while the boy looked even more confused. "You're not the only one kid," even the neutral expression Iwai usually wore was replaced with an amused smile.

Kawakami was smiling while shaking her head, "I think I'm starting to see a pattern."

"Alright, I guess I can tell you guys how I met Akira," the boy took a sip of his soda and turned around to face everyone. Iwai moved to take a seat at the end of the bar next to Futaba.

"I guess if I start from the beginning, I would say the first time we met was back near the end of September. One day I was at the arcade I play at regularly and Akira came up to me to ask me to teach him some of my moves." Shinya chuckled nervously and scratched his cheek a little, "I still feel kind of bad for being such a jerk to him back then."

A small chuckle escaped Haru's lips, "I'm sure Akira doesn't hold anything against you Shinya-kun. He's pretty understanding."

Some of the others nodded and Shinya continued, "I know, but I still kind of feel bad. He was really persistent and since he told me he went to Shujin, I told him if he could introduce me to the Phantom Thieves I would teach him a few tricks."

Takemi chuckled at the irony of the situation, "Then it's quite fortunate that Akira just so happen to have a way to do so."

Ohya was a little less subtle about her laughter, "That's hilarious."

"How did Akira go about fulfilling your demands," Hifumi asked while turning to the rest of the thieves. "Given your introduction earlier, it's clear that you all have not met before so how did he introduce you?"

"He gave me a calling card with a personalized message that said there would be a message on the website for the game I mentioned, Gun About." The boy reached for his glass to take another sip of his soda but stopped. Turning to the thieves he asked, "How did you guys even do that?"

The heads of the group turned to Futaba and everyone else followed their eyes. The hacker just chuckled while adjusting her glasses yet again, "Yep, yours truly is responsible. Not bad huh?"

Of course, Shinya wasn't the only one who seemed surprised to find out about Futaba's skills. Everyone, including the usually composed Iwai and Takemi seemed surprised. "Seriously," Shinya asked. "You hacked the site?!"

"Don't sound so surprised," Futaba quickly retorted.

Takemi raised her brow at Boss, "What the heck are you teaching this girl Boss?"

"I didn't teach her anything. Never been much of a tech guy. She's taught herself everything she knows."

Yoshida just shook his head, "The youth of this country continue to surprise me."

"Wow, thats amazing Sakura-san," Mishima looked at Futaba in admiration. "You have to teach me some time."

She chuckled, "Sorry Mishima. These skills aren't for sale." Futaba turned back to Shinya while Mishima let out a disappointed sigh. "Anyway let's get back to the story. So I take it Akira and you formed a deal yeah?"

The boy nodded his head after taking another sip of his soda, " Yeah, I'm a man of my word. Since he filled his end of the deal, I taught him how to shoot in Gun About."

Yusuke smiled, "And I must say you did quite an excellent job at instructing him."

"I agree," Makoto nodded her head. "Akira came up with some pretty creative strategies and tactics involving our guns. No doubt that your teachings with this game helped in some way."

The rest of the thieves offered their thanks to Shinya while the boy tried to hide his blush with his hat. "Learning to shoot a gun from an arcade game," Iwai chuckled from the end of the bar. "Might have to take a look at this game myself."

Shinya scratched his neck, "Like I said earlier, I was pretty hard on him at the start when I was teaching him."

Ryuji waved his hand dismissively, "come on man. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you're just exaggerating."

"No. I was such a jerk back then. Not just to Akira but in general." His tone sounded genuinely guilty and everyone listened to the boy carefully as he continued, "I used to take playing games way more seriously. Like, I thought that if I lost, I would lose everything. Like when I lost to another player in Gun About, I thought that was it. Actually it wasn't that I had to win, It was just I had to be strong. If I lost, then it means I was weak. And I had to be strong. For my mom."

"Your mom," Hifumi asked.

"Yeah. When my mom got divorced, it became just the two of us and she worked really hard to take care of me. Leaving early in the morning for work and coming back late at night. But after a while, she started to change. She would get into fights with everyone about the littlest thing. She even called the school a few times to complain about how the lunch prices were too high. Which led to some of the other kids to bully me and call my mom a complainer."

Everyone remained quite as Shinya talked, clearly understanding that talking about his mother was important. "When my dad left, my mom told me that we both had to be strong since nobody helped the weak. That's why I like you guys so much," Shinya once again looked at the thieves. "You guys were superheroes. Fighting to protect the weak and I thought you guys were so strong. That's part of the reason I wanted to be strong, so I could be like you guys."

Shinya shook his head, "But I was nothing more than a bully, I thought just cause I was strong that made me right. I finally got a wake up call when someone I took money from said he hoped the Phantom Thieves would change my heart. That's when I realized how wrong I was to obsess about winning all the time and that's when I noticed my mom and her attitude change."

"And that's when you asked Akira for help?" Hifumi asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah, I knew that if my mom kept going the way she would, she would break. I couldn't let that happen to her."

The room became silent as Shinya's words. It wasn't hard to sense the boy's love for his mom. Just as Ann was about to open her mouth to comfort the boy, but words of encouragement came from an unlikely source, "Got to admit kid, It's pretty strong of you to admit how you messed up in the past," said Iwai.

Shinya looked up at the tattooed man, "What?"

"Iwai-san is right," Chihaya smiled. "The fact that your admitting you made a mistake is proof that you've grown as a person."

"I must agree with Iwai-san," Hifumi looked at Shinya, displaying a sense of understanding in her smile. "I also asked the Phantom Thieves for help regarding my mother. The fact you were able to recognize what was happening to her speaks just how much you truly care for her."

The boy seemed to look around at everyone as they nodded at him. He just smiled a little, "Well, I wouldn't have realised any of this if it wasn't for Akira." Despite trying to hide his smile with his hat, a shine could be seen in the boy's eye. "If it wasn't for him I would have realised how much of a jerk I was and that hero's are cool because they're nice to people, not because they're strong. Now that I'm not so obsessed with winning, I feel so calm when I play games now. Since even if I lose, I can just start again. Akira taught me that losing isn't the end, it's just a new beginning."

Smiles and nods came from everyone and Takemi said, "Akira's helped you come to quite the revelation huh kid?"

"Definitely. That's why when he got arrested, I knew I had to do something to help no matter what. I used my fame as 'The King' to get people talking about his case in arcades all over the city. And I got people talking on forums online too."

"I'm sure the kids' happy to know that," Sojiro smiled at the boy before looking around the cafe. "I wish the kid had told me how many people were coming."

"I'm sure it's not that many more people Boss," Kawakami smiled.

The cafe owner shrugged, "Still, better be on the safe side." He looked over to Ryuji, "Sorry to ask you for this, but do you mind grabbing a few extra chairs from upstairs?"

"Sure Boss," Ryuji stood up from his seat and Yusuke did as well.

"Allow me to assist as well. Better to have more people to minimize the number of trips needed."

Shinya rose to his feet as well, "I'll help too."

Sojiro opened his mouth but closed it when he looked at the boy, "Alright, you can put your bag up stairs too if you want."

"Thank you," Shinya nodded and followed Ryuji and Yusuke towards the stairs.

Once the boys were up the stairs, Yoshida smiled, "Age can be quite deceiving. Shinya-kun seems very mature for his age."

"Thanks to Akira," Haru chuckled. "From the way he talked about him, I wouldn't be surprised if Shinya-kun sees Akira as an older brother figure."

Chihaya smiled sweetly, "Akira does have a way of connecting with people on such a deep level." The fortune teller turned to Sojiro, "By the way Boss, Akira didn't tell you who was coming?"

"Nope. All he said was that people were coming by."

"Then we still may be in for a few more surprises," Takemi took another sip of her coffee.

Just then, everyone heard the bell to Leblanc chime and the door open.

The girl that emerged through the door wore a black tracksuit with a yellow zipper and stripes on the shoulders. Combined with the black shirt and tennis shoes she was wearing, the only non-black article of clothing she was wearing was the bright red ribbon that tied her similarly colored hair. As the door came to a close, the girl turned while smiling happily while adjusting her hold on the bag on her shoulder. "Hello."

"Yoshizawa-san," Ann smiled gleefully at her underclassman while running to give her a hug. "What took you so long to get here? We all left school at the same time. You should have come with us."

"I had practiced Takamaki-senpai," Sumire answered. "Even with Akira-senpai's farewell party today, Coach Hiraguchi wouldn't let me skip practice since I have a competition in two days." She clapped her hands together and apologized, "Sorry I couldn't be here sooner."

"Don't worry about it Yoshizawa-san," Haru chuckled as she hugged Sumire. "It's great that you're able to be here."

"I wouldn't miss this party for anything." Taking a quick sweep of the room, Sumire looked for her Senpai but didn't see him. "Is Akira-senpai not here?"

"He just finished grabbing the rest of the stuff for the party and he messaged me saying he'll be here soon," Sojiro answered.

"I see. And Sakamoto and Kitagawa-senpai?"

On queue, Ryuji descended from the stairs with a spare chair matching the one's at the bar with Yusuke and Shinya following close behind him carrying one each as well. "Hey Boss, We got the chairs."

"Sakamoto-senpai. Kitagawa-senpai. It's great to see you."

"Yoshizawa-san," Yusuke smiled after setting down the chair. "Did you just arrive?"

"Sure did. I just got done with practice and rushed over here. Sorry for being late."

Ryuji waved his hand dismissively, "Don't sweat it. And just call me by my first name. This is a party after all."

Makoto nodded her head, "I agree with Ryuji. No need to be formal. We are frends after all."

The redhead smiled at her senpai. Nodding her head, she said, "Alright. First names then. Feel free to call me Sumire."

"Hate to interrupt you guys," Sojrio casually waved his hand to get the attention of the thieves. "You got one of the invites right?" Sumire nodded, unzipping her bag and waving one of the red invites for Boss to see. "Great. I remember how you like your coffee," he turned to Ryuji, "Mind setting those extra chairs over here."

Ryuji and Yusuke nodded and began to move the chairs in place at the bar. Sumire noticed Shinya standing behind the boys, "Oh Who are you?"

The boy stepped forward and bowed politely, removing his hat as he did," It's nice to meet you. I'm Shinya Oda. Please just call me Shinya."

"It's nice to meet you Shinya-kun," Sumire returned the bow with one of her own. "My name is Sumire Yoshizawa."

Ohya practically choked on her drink when Sumire introduced herself. Coughing a few times, the reporter collected herself enough to ask, "Sumire Yoshizawa. As the famous gymnast Yoshizawa?"

Blushing from being called famous, she nodded her head, "Famous may be a bit of an exaggeration. I'm still trying to make a name for myself.

"No way. A friend of mine who covers sports did a piece on you. You're a rising star in gymnastics." Ohya scratched her head in bewilderment, "Man, how does that kid know so many famous people."

"Do you mean Akira-senpai? Are you a friend of his?"

"Right, I should probably introduce myself. Ichiko Ohya, ace reporter," she said, giving a casual salute with two fingers.

"Toranosuke Yoshida. I was Akira's public speaking teacher."

"Hifumi Togo, Akira's shogi teacher. Please call me Hifumi."

"H-hi Yoshizawa-san," Mishima stuttered as he waved to Sumire. "I'm Yuuki Mishima. I-I'm in Akira's class and I run the Phansite."

Sumire bowed to her upperclassman, "It's nice to see you Mishima-senpai."

Mishima's face turned bright red and Kawakami decided to go next. "It's nice to see you Yoshizawa-san."

"Kawakami-sensei," The redhead looked surprised to see the teacher. "You're here too."

"Yeah. Don't worry, I already know about Akira's business as a Phantom Thief."

"Oh, I see. It's nice to see you Sensei."

Takemi went next, "Tae Takemi. Doctor and medicine supplier."

"Chihaya Mifune. I'm a fortune teller and don't be afraid to call me by my first name. I've never been one for formaites."

"Munehisa Iwai. Weapon supplier."

Sumire looked around one more time at all the people in the cafe. "Wow. Akira-senpai sure does know a lot of people. It's very nice to meet all of you."

"Now that introductions are out of the way, how about you have a seat," Sojiro placed a cup of coffee on the counter. Ryuji and Yusuke went back to their previous seats while Sumire took the chair Shinya was sitting in as the boy had moved to sit in between Iwai and Futaba with the seat he had brought from upstairs.

Sumire smelled Sojiro's brew before taking a sip of it. "Delicious. Your coffee is amazing as always Boss."

"Glad to hear. The curry should be ready by the time the kid gets here."

"Great. I'm looking forward to it."

"Yoshizawa-san," Ohya called out to the redhead. "I have to ask, How'd you get involved with Akira. You must know he's a Phantom Thief if you're here. What's your story?"

Sojiro let out a sigh, "Are you just going to ask everyone that?"

Ohya glared at the cafe owner, "Hey, I'm a reporter. Can't blame me for being curious. It's my job to dig up the facts and ask questions."

The thieves shared a look with each other. Each one of them knew full well that the subject was a bit of a sensitive topic. Makoto seemed to look at the reporter, "Ohya-san, I think for now-."

"It's fine Makoto-senpai."

Eyes went to Sumire, the thieves looked surprised to hear her sound so willing to talk about herself to strangers. Ryuji asked in a quizzical tone, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I learned thanks to all of you that I can't pretend like what happened didn't. I've accepted that. It's thanks to you and Akira-senpai all that I realised." They seemed skeptical at her words, but after a few seconds, they nodded to let her continue.

"The first time I really got to talk with that Akira-senpai was back in May during the cleanup day."

Ann, Ryuji and Mishima let out quiet groans which caused Sumire to chuckle. "Not a big fan of that day huh."

"Nope," Ryuji said simply. "A whole day of picking up trash with a group of people who hated me."

"Yeah. Ryuji's right. That day was just a big waste of time in general," Ann frowned as she remembered the day and all the time she spent with her group.

"At least we got to help clean up the park," Haru tried to cheer them up. "Seeing the park actually clean was nice."

Mishima sighed, "Still…"

"I actually remember that day really fondly since it was the first time I got to talk with Akira-senpai." Sumire smiled at the distant memory like it had just happened, "Some guy was bothering me near the station and he came and saved me. Once we were at the park I made sure to thank him for helping me and I got to apologize for how I mean I was."

A few of the other's raised their eyebrows and Kawakami remembered, "Are you talking about that thing Kamoshida said to you."

All the Shujin students made various noises of anger and general annoyance. "Yeah. Kamoshida said that I should stay away from him since he was a delinquent. Of course that was before I actually got to know him."

"What a dick," Iwai growled.

Sumire chuckled, "I was glad I got to apologize to him. I know Akira-senpai isn't the kind of guy to hold a grudge, but still. We got to talking after that and he asked me to teach him some gymnastics, since teaching him would be good training."

Ann snapped her fingers, "So that's where he got all those fancy moves. I was wondering where he picked those up from."

"Your instruction did indeed bear fruit," Yusuke smiled at the redhead. "Akira took quite a liking to your teachings. Applying them both in and out of combat."

"I'm glad I was able to help Yusuke-senpai," Sumire played with the handle of her cup. Rubbing her finger along the ceramic handle. "But we didn't just train together either. We hung out a few times too. One day when we were hanging out, I told him that I was struggling with gymnastics. I was in a bit of a slump and Akira did his best to try and push me in the right direction. Even though I knew what was wrong."

"Sumire…" Ann, along with the rest of the thieves knew what she was talking about.

Chihaya seemed to notice the shift in tone and asked, "What do you mean?"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to Sumire-chan," Haru looked at her underclassman with sympathy.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I-."

"It's fine Chihaya-san," Sumire smiled at the fortune teller then turned to Haru. "And don't worry about me Haru-senpai. Like I said earlier, I've accepted the past and it's all thanks to you. I think it's important to be able to talk about this." Again, the thieves looked skeptical, but smiled at the girl.

Sumire returned a smile and looked back towards everyone. She took a deep breath, "You see, I used to have a twin sister named Kasumi and we were really close. People who met us always wondered how we were related since we were so different from each other. Kasumi was outgoing and energetic while I was more reserved. I could cook and Kasumi would have trouble making rice."

"Gymnastics was something that both of us loved with all our hearts. Even then we were so different, Kasumi had so much wow factor with her performances while I felt I was lacking. The two of us trained really hard together with Coach Hiraguchi and we promised each other that we would become international champions together." Sumire's warm smile changed into a frown. "But at some point, I started to get really jealous of Kasumi. She always had no problem when it came to practice while I struggled to even remember the names of the moves. I kept comparing myself to her and I would get more and more insecure about my own abilities."

Everyone listened quietly, each one of them sensing the amount of heart Sumire was speaking with. "One day while coming home from practice, I finally snapped at her, saying that she wouldn't understand how hard I try a practice since she was so gifted. I was so frustrated that I just took off running without paying attention to where I was going…"

"It had been raining that day and when I ran to cross the street, the light was red and a truck came at me," She wiped a forming tear away. "But Kasmui pushed me out of the way. She sacrificed herself to save me."

The room was a mixture of emotions. Yusuke placed his hand on Sumire's shoulder while the rest of the thieves smiled at her. Kawakami, Chihaya, Ohya and Yoshida looked heartbroken to hear about the fate of Kasumi. The normally stoic duo of Iwai and Tae seemed genuinely sad to hear what happened. "I'm sorry to hear that," Takemi said quietly.

Chihaya took out a handkerchief and wiped away a few tears, "She must have really loved you."

"I'm sorry you had to experience something like that," Hifumi offered a smile to the redhead. "You have my condolences, Yoshizawa-san."

"Thank you," She said, managing a small smile. "I didn't handle it well after Kasumi died. I blamed myself for her death and part of me really wished that I had died instead of her. It was to the point where I genuinely began to think I was Kasumi and Sumire Yoshizawa was the one that died. After a while, I believe the lie I told myself and buried the memory of Kasumi's death, just so I didn't have to live with the guilt."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that kid," Sojiro refilled Sumire's cup.

Yoshida shook his head, "To be so young and be forced to come to terms with what happened. It takes a certain willpower to overcome such an obstacle."

"How did you get over it," Shinya asked quietly.

"It's not that I got over it, it's more that I accepted it," Sumire smiled sweetly at the boy. "I know now that no matter what I do I can't bring Kasumi back, but I can still try to do right by her. That's what, not only Akira-senpai helped me figure out, but everyone."

The shine in Sumire's eye was bright and everyone seemed to pick up on her change in tone. "Everyone helped pick me back up and taught me to face reality. Kasumi is gone, but she died protecting me because she believed I was worth saving. If I hid behind some false reality I created for myself then Kasumi would have died for nothing. So I'm going to keep going forward and show my sister that I can be the greatest at anything I do. I'll keep the promise we made to reach the top of the Gymnastics world. I won't hide and compare myself to other people. I'll just be me."

"That's awesome Sumire," Ann smiled at her friend and teammate.

Haru clapped her hands together, "You're going to do great. There's no doubt in my mind."

"We'll be cheering you on all the way to the top," Futaba pumped her fist. "Ani't no one going to stop you Violet."

Sumire smiled eagerly, "Right. I'm going to reach the top of the gymnastics world. With my style."

"I'm sure the kid will be happy to hear you talk like that. You sound really motivated," said Sojiro.

"I know Boss. Akira-senpai always helped me out alot. Always lending an ear to me when I needed, offering support to me when I was unsure of myself. I'm going to succeed not just for Kasumi, but for him too. When he got arrested, I asked Coach Hiraguchi for help and she used her network to spread the word and help me out." Sumire chuckled nervously, "With the condition that I don't slack off on my training."

"Well if you want to reach the international level, you have to keep working hard and we'll be cheering for you all the way," Ryuji grinned ear to ear.

"Right, but before that we have to get through today," Sumire turned to Sojiro. "Boss, do you mind if I put my bag somewhere?"

"You can put it upstairs if you want."

"Great. Pardon me."

Sumire stood from her seat and made her way to the top, leaving the cafe to converse about what they heard. "She's so strong," Mishima smiled.

Takemi tapped her finger, "I'm no expert on trauma, but even I knew it takes a lot of willpower to move past an experience like."

"Just proves she's got the backbone to do it," Iwai added.

"I'm sure she'll do great," Kawakami smiled and everyone mirrored her action.

Just then, everyone heard the bell to Leblanc chime and the door open.

Author's Notes:

I know I said I'd be better about the upload schedule and I'm sorry. Shinya's part gave me more trouble than I would have liked. Let's get right into it.

Shinya's section was a delicate dance. I didn't want everyone to think that he was just some kid complaining about his mom. It was important to me to have the group understand that Shinya didn't want things to turn out the way that they did, but that he was willing to act when needed. Showing how strong he had really become thanks to Akira.

Next is Sumire. I know many of you would have thought Sae would be in this part since it would round off the confidants in the main game, but I decided to have Sumire instead. Reason being she played a part in getting Akira's sentence overturned just like everyone else. I thought it would be better to have everyone involved be present before Sae arrives.

Before I go, I would like to take the time to say thank you all for the wonderful journey I've taken this past year. T10/13 was the one year anniversary of my first story upload. I've really enjoyed writing and I hope everyone will continue to enjoy them.

See you next time ;)