Next chapter of ITF's coming along rather nicely for once, so I'll probably focus on that before I continue much else.

Hee-ho-hee-ho-hee-ho-hee-hee-hee-hee-ho…hee-ho~

Makoto gave her new punching bag a final jab and ducked back, hastily wiping some sweat off her brow and sneaking a quick glance at Akira. He was completely engrossed in his own workout, suspended by his legs from the beam in his room and doing crunches. The strain had led him to discard his shirt, so Makoto was treated to the sight of his upper body glistening with sweat as he exercised. The thought made her blush softly as she took a quick swig of water to distract herself from it. "That was quite the volley. Still mad about yesterday?"

Akira, still hanging upside down, crossed his arms and watched her fumble for a reply now that his focus was on her. "I, uh-...no. Well, a bit. I wouldn't blame you for venturing to say I'm absolutely livid."

"It had two giant revolvers, Makoto. I think being intimidated by that is natural."

"It's not that."

Akira raised an eyebrow, an odd picture given that he was still upside down. If he was concerned about blood going to his head, he didn't show it. "Okay, it might be. I think my biggest gripe is that we could barely put a dent in it."

"I don't think it's because we're too weak. It's more like that shadow's too strong."

Makoto sighed and conceded the point. "Be that as it may…"

Akira watched her mope and transition into glaring daggers at the Jack Frost bag. He spoke up again just as she stood, straightened out her clothes, and prepared to practice again. "Let's go to Mementos."

She stopped just short of raising her fist again, looking at Akira in mild confusion as she asked, "Mementos? I was under the impression we were going to resolve the requests we agreed on tomorrow."

"Oh, we are. I meant today for another training session. You look like you could blow off some steam."

Makoto looked down at her hands, tightening them into fists as she tried to suppress an excited little smile.

[- Mementos_Entrance -]

"Ohh, I always feel so much lighter whenever we come here."

Queen hummed happily and stretched her hands over her head, sighing in relief as she felt a satisfying pop in her back. Joker smiled and adjusted his gloves, looking down at his outfit with a particularly scrutinizing eye on his coat. With a nod, he took both it and his gloves off, tossing them onto one of the nearby ticket readers only for them to disappear in a gust of light. Queen watched him, intrigued, as he patted down his dark grey shirt and took a deep breath. "You said it yourself. Combat's some potent stress relief."

Queen smiled and flexed her fingers to test the padded gloves she was wearing. "Are you sure about this? I can be rather...brutal, as Skull would say."

"I can take a beating. Who won our other little match?"

"I did. Quite handily, if I might add."

"That you did. Now, let's make this a bit more interesting."

Joker raised his phone, thumb resting above a button starting a timer for twenty minutes. "Whoever concedes at the end of the minutes loses this round. I'm sure you know what the prize will be. Goes both ways, of course."

"Any other caveats I should be aware of?"

Joker cocked his head slightly, shaking his head with a grin after a moment of thought. "Nope. Just hit me really hard."

"I see."

Queen returned the expression, bouncing lightly on her feet before leaning down a bit and bringing her fists up to her face. "Are you ready?"

Joker spread his arms, rolling his neck and curling his fingers into fists. His stance quickly relaxed and he simply stood and slouched slightly, beckoning her over with a hand. "Yeah, I relish the thought of being beaten to a pulp. But the reward…"

Queen nodded curtly, hiding her own little grin at the prospect of having a temporary monopoly on one Akira Kurusu. "Tempting. Here I go."

She lunged forward, diving close to the floor and aiming a low kick at Joker's legs. Predictably, he dodged it, so she followed it up with a backhand from the same side, drawing her fist back for another quick jab that he managed to block. Queen affirmed her footing quickly enough to drive her opposite knee against his stomach, smiling into his eyes as he blocked it with his own. "Oh, are you fighting back this time?"

Joker smirked at that, pushing their legs down and stepping forward to force her off balance. Queen quickly recovered from her stumble, circling around him with her fists close to her chest. Joker grinned as she aimed a jab at his side, redirecting it with a swift palm and skirting around her. She stomped down on where she guessed his foot would land, turning her torso in a swinging hook. She quickly followed up what became a miss with an uppercut that visibly distorted the air following it. Joker made to find some way to stop her assault, unable to predict her movements when she ducked low, swaying left and right slightly only to throw out wide punches from random directions to keep him guessing. When it looked like she was moving for a straight, he braced, raising his hands to grab and attempt a throw to stop her.

Joker's eyes widened behind his mask as he misread Queen's attack, failing to stop her from throwing her arms around his back and throwing him heavily to the ground. As he tried to rise, she mounted his chest, forcing him down with one hand as the other tightened with strength. He ducked his head to the side as she struck, grabbing the other with a grin and throwing her over him.

They both rolled to their feet, gaining some distance to catch some breath. Joker breathed lightly, carefully observing Queen as she wiped some sweat off her forehead. "Feeling better?"

Queen blinked at the unexpected question, rolling her shoulders tentatively to find that, yes, she was feeling much less wound-up. She flashed a happy smile, eyes twinkling behind her mask as she nodded. "Much. How much time do we have left on the clock?"

Joker complied, pocketing his phone after he checked. "Seven minutes. That's all we can spare to play today, or...something along those lines."

"Another game reference?"

"You know me so well."

"Hmhm. Well, in that case, I'll end this quickly."

Joker smiled, cracking his knuckles and digging his feet into the floor. "Come on, then."

Queen swayed low, one arm dangling slightly before she shot forward, briefly disappearing before Joker's eyes. The only mark she left behind was a small cloud of dust from where her feet had scuffed the floor. What Joker saw first when she reappeared in front of him was not her face, but rather her fist intent on his. Her eyes flashed bright scarlet in anticipation of the blow landing, but Joker managed to skirt around it at the last second. The momentum from the attack allowed Queen to throw herself into a roll and hop back to her feet.

Joker took a knee wearily, rubbing the mark on his cheek and wincing softly. "C'mon, not the face."

Queen smiled slightly and waited for him to stand again by bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I figured you'd dodge with more...urgency once you knew my target."

She chose not to let him put together a snarky response, lunging forward again and stomping the ground where he was resting just a moment ago. Joker let out a nervous laugh as he sidestepped her shoulder, grabbing hold of her arm when she tried to clothesline him and twirling her around him. "I-if I didn't know any better, I'd think you really wanted to punch me!"

"Such a ludicrous thought."

Joker hastily backpedaled to dodge Queen's fists, flinching in surprise as his back hit one of the ticket readers leading into Mementos. Uh-oh.

He threw himself to the side as Queen brought her fist crashing down on the reader, causing it to audibly crumple and bent at an awkward angle. Joker gaped at the poor machine, inwardly impressed but outwardly terrified. Queen watched him evenly, shaking out her hand as he chuckled and scratched his head. "I, uh...h-heh. Well, then."

"Do you concede?"

"Not a chance."

Joker rose, lunging forward and keeping low to the ground as he reached out and grabbed ahold of her shoulder. He let go, contrary to what Queen tried to guess, circling around and throwing an arm around her stomach. Before she could react or counter by throwing him again, his lips were on hers. He pulled away only slightly, whispering, "Mind games."

He kissed her again, cupping her chin and leaning over her. Queen felt a warmth in her chest as she recalled the last time they had sparred, humming softly as she hugged him to her, a plan hatching in her mind as their eyes slipped shut. They circled around each other until Joker had his back to the wall, hands travelling up her body as she insisted on taking charge of the heated kiss. Queen waited just until he relaxed against her, arms trying to wrap around her back before she pulled away, murmuring against his lips, "I'm going to throw you."

"Hm?"

She flashed him a playful smirk as she seized him by his collar and did just what she said, throwing him over her shoulder with a quick twist. He landed on his back with a surprised grunt, only able to watch in a daze as she straddled his chest and pointed her fist at his face. "Yield. Unless I do need to hurt that handsome face."

Joker gulped nervously at the cheeky shine in her eyes as she cooed at him, a thrill running down his spine despite being handily defeated. "Okay, okay. It's one for one."

"More like two-zero."

Queen smiled, satisfied, standing and offering a hand. He took it, hauling himself up more of his own strength than hers, and dusted himself off. "Let's head back."

Joker smiled, holding his phone in one hand just as the timer went off, the other reaching for her hand. Queen cried out in surprise as he suddenly tugged her back, landing against his chest and blinking quickly in surprise. "What are you - mm..."

Joker pulled away from her lips the slightest fraction, smiling gently pressing his forehead to hers. Their masks disappeared respectively to allow the contact, allowing Akira full view of her crimson eyes shining with newfound hunger. Rather than speak, he instead kissed her again, tugging her body against his. Makoto arched her back with pleasure, squeaking in surprise as he took her attempt to catch a breath to slip his tongue into her mouth. Her momentary protest quickly died in her throat, melting into a moan as she responded in kind, her hands grabbing handfuls of his shirt while, at the same time, one of her legs drew shyly against his own.

Makoto, to Akira's surprise, was the one to break the kiss, drawing back just enough to look at his equally disheveled appearance as she panted lightly for breath. After a heated pause, she rested her head against his shoulder, muttering, "That's cheating…"

"That sounds familiar."

They shared a breathless laugh as Akira pulled his phone out and pressed the Metaverse tile, thereby ending the day's sparring session. There was a small jolt as they were sent back to Shibuya station, happenstance placing them in a nook near the stairway into the underground. Makoto remained in Akira's embrace, squeezing herself closer and nuzzling lovingly against him as he smiled and kissed her head. "We should head home soon. People are starting to stare."

"Let them. I'm tired."

Akira chuckled and hugged her tight, rocking to and fro ever so slightly as he tried to quell the fluttering feeling in his chest. "Fair enough."

[- The Next Day_After School -]

"All ri~ght! Time to - whoa, what the eff?"

Joker looked up from his phone at whatever had stopped Skull short, choking out a weak sound of surprise at exactly what it was. The ticket reader that he had scuffled with Queen on was still completely wrecked, rooted in place but still bent at an angle with a visible indentation on the top. Queen had a similar reaction, blushing to herself and hiding behind Joker as Skull whirled around. "You seein' this?! It's like someone was on the warpath or something!"

He ran over to the reader as the rest of the group made their way over at their own pace to inspect the damage. Yusuke in particular was staring at the miniature crater waiting just a few feet away from the ruined machine. "...I don't believe that was there before…"

He-hey, this was a fun one. Hope you agree, so let me know if you feel like it. As I said already, my next ITF chapter comes first, but I have a bunch of incomplete chapters for both After and Scattered Hours just waiting for me to attend to, topped off by a separate short story for Souji/Naoto. It'll be fun.

So look forward to all of that. Or some of that, whatever you prefer. Until then, I'll be seein' ya.