Chapter 4

"What do I really feel about you?"

"*yawn*, boy did I sleep for a long ti- huh?"

Futaba looked at where she was and how she was dressed. Now feeling more aware, she noticed that she was sleeping in a sitting position, not that it was unusual since she sometimes fell asleep at her desk, but rather she was sitting in a wooden chair in a foyer.

Secondly, she found that she wasn't wearing her usual headphones, T-shirt, or even anything that she usually wore. Instead, a stunning white gown was presented on her with a headdress to boot! She checked her feet and noticed that she was also wearing high-heels.

"What the hell happened?"

Suddenly, a door opened.

"Ah, you're finally awake. So how're ya feeling?"

"Wh- what the heck?!"

Sojiro looked back at her with a confused face. He was wearing a black tuxedo, white dress shirt, and a red tie. His hair had been combed back and his usual goatee had been groomed. His old glasses no longer showed any signs of smudging and seemed to gleam in the sunlight.

"What's wrong? Is something on my face?"

"Nonono, why are you here?!"

Sojiro frowned.

"What do you mean? Unless you want Morgana to walk you down the altar, you're stuck with me."

Now Futaba was even more confused.

"Altar? Why am I even dressed like this? You're not making any sense."

Sojiro sighed and checked his watch.

"Do you really not remember anything? I mean, you did come back home pretty wasted last night… "

"Just spit it out already!"

"Did you just forget about your own wedding?!"

Futaba gasped and stayed silent. Then, she turned around and hid in the corner muttering to herself.

"Thisisadreamthisisadreamthisisadreamthisisadreamthisisa-"

"Pull yourself together, Futaba!"

Sojiro placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her nerves.

"I mean, it took a lot of courage on Yusuke's part to propose to you, so you should at least attend the wedding."

"Y-y-y-yusuke?!"

But Sojiro merely nodded.

"Yes yes, the blockhead proposed to you and you said yes. Now that you're all caught up, let's get you to the hall."

Futaba was still at a loss for words before she was brought in front of a set of large doors.

"*Gulp*"

"Stay calm, it'll be alright," Sojiro told her as he offered his arm.

Futaba reluctantly took it as the doors opened.

An organ played as she and Sojiro walked through. The church was mostly empty save for a few friends that she knew. At the altar was all of the Phantom Thieves in their respective tuxedos and gowns. It took a second for her to recognize them at all, she wasn't even sure if Ryuji could clean his act. Near the ground, she even saw Morgana in a little tuxedo of his own.

Then, at the center of it all was the man of the moment, Yusuke himself. He was dressed in a white tuxedo with a blue dress shirt underneath and a red bow tie at his neck. His hair was swept to the side in a neat motion making more room to see his face. Futaba had to admit that she blushed a little at the sight.

At last, they reached the altar where Yusuke brought up the veil from her face. At that moment, she was blushing non-stop while Yusuke resumed his position and the priest was talking.

After what seemed like ages, she finally heard the priest ask her a question.

"Do you, Futaba Sakura, take Yusuke Kitagawa as your husband?"

She could feel her jaw shaking as she tried to say yes, but she resorted to nodding.

"Then by the powers vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride"

"Oh no, I can't handle this," she thought to herself.

Surrendering to her fate, she puckered her lips and waited for Yusuke's embrace.

Then, a cool yet soft mass pressed against her lips. It was like nothing she had ever felt before in her life. For the first time ever (at least she believed) she was finally kissing that stupid block-head Inari!

"Hm?"

That was strange; were lips meant to feel this way? Now that she thought about it, Yusuke's lips seemed to be very… smooth. Not saying that lips weren't smooth but this felt oddly smooth. As she opened her eyes, she could see Akira covering his mouth trying to stifle a laugh. In his hand, he was holding a block of konjac jelly.

"WHAT THE HELL AKIRA?!"

She turned to everyone else who was also trying to hold back their laughter, even Sojiro was struggling to keep his laughs inaudible.

Then, the realization dawned on her.

"This isn't a dream is it? It isn't real either, right?"

Finally, everyone erupted in laughter from the suspense. Akira was on the ground laughing his ass off while she could have sworn she saw Ryuji pissing his pants.

"Okay, that's hilarious, but how did you even do this?! Where'd you get the money for this?!"

Then, she noticed one person who wasn't laughing, or at least, wasn't laughing as hard as everyone else.

"Alright, in all seriousness, this was quite the awkward experience for me. Please tell me there was at least a bowl of ramen worth my troubles."

Akira replied to him between gasps.

"Ramen, sushi, whatever man! I'll give you a freakin' feast when this is over."

Ann, however, looked a bit confused.

"Wait, what about this was awkward for you?"

Yusuke scratched the back of his neck while trying to avoid Futaba's gaze.

"Well… I'm not quite sure… I mean the decorations are quite atrocious… "

Ann raised her eyebrow.

"You don't seem so sure about that."

"I mean, do you think these would do justice on Futaba's wedding day?"

Ann stared at him for a solid minute before her eyes widened in realization.

"Wait, do you actually like Futaba?!"

However, Yusuke dragged Akira and Ryuji by the back of their collars.

"Gentlemen, I believe the time for ramen is at hand!"

As Ryuji and Akira choked on their respective collars, Sojiro sighed and brought out his pack of cigarettes.

"Well, after that, I'm gonna need a smoke. I'll be outside if anyone needs me."

Morgana followed in suit with the barista while Makoto and Ann escorted Futaba out of the church. Only then did Akechi and Haru realize they were left behind.

"I must say, I never expected Akira to be able to pull off something as grand as this."

Haru nodded.

"What's even more surprising was the amount of money he used. He really does have some good connections."

"Indeed."

"... "

"... "

The two spoke nothing as an awkward silence filled the air.

"So… how are classes going?"

"Oh, they're doing alright. I got a grade back for my project and it turned out really well!"

"I see! Congratulations."

"Thank you"

"... "

"... "

Both could tell that the conversation wasn't going anywhere. Akechi secretly wondered what made everything seem so awkward to the point that they couldn't talk casually as friends. Haru, meanwhile, was trying to sort out her emotions.

"You look nice in that dress," Akechi suddenly said.

"Hm? Oh, thank-"

Haru suddenly stopped herself when she processed what Akechi just said.

"Why did my heart suddenly flutter? Is it because he complimented me? I mean, it's not uncommon for people to do that to each other and it happens to me a lot, but why did I feel happy that he said that?"

Meanwhile, Akechi was in his own little world rethinking over what he said.

"Why did I say that? Am I really so pathetic that I have to say that to keep a conversation? And why did she cut herself off? Agh, it must have been what I said! Since when did I have Akira-levels of awkwardness?"

As if nothing could make things worse they were both sent a lifeline.

*beep* *beep*

"Hm?"

Akechi checked his phone to see the new message he got.

(Stream Beginning)

Akira: Hey, Akechi, you have free time? There's something we all need to talk to Yusuke about. We're at the ramen place.

Akechi: What's so important? Can you just tell me here?

Akira: It's better if we're all here together. Trust me on this.

Akechi: Gotcha. Be there in a bit.

(Stream End)

Akechi turned to Haru who was also looking at her phone.

"Sorry, there's something that I need to attend to with Futaba-chan and the others. Bye."

"Is that so? Akira and the guys wanted to talk about something so I'm headed elsewhere as well. Fill me in about your talk later, would you?"

Haru nodded and they both went their separate ways.

Ogikubo Ramen

Akira checked his phone before looking up to see the smiling face of his friend.

"Hey Akechi! We were waiting on you."

"Thanks. But let's not wait any longer. Shall we?"

The four friends ducked into the shop and took their seats next to each other. After ordering, they decided to make some small talk.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk to everyone about?" Akechi asked.

Akira and Ryuji had a devilish look on their face as they both turned to Yusuke who was conveniently seated in between them. Yusuke, however, pretended not to notice them and had begun to inspect his glass of water.

Akechi narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer.

"Yusuke… is there something you're hiding from us?"

Yusuke shook his head.

"No, I don't believe I am hiding anything at all. Whatever gave you that idea?"

This only made Akechi more suspicious. Thankfully, he had his fair share of tight-lipped witnesses that refused to testify, and thus had to resort to drastic interrogation techniques (not THOSE kind of techniques, mind you, he would never lift a finger at the artist if he could help it).

"Are you sure there isn't something, Yusuke-kun? This is your last chance before we have to get… serious."

But Yusuke just shook his head as he moved on to contemplating the texture of his chopsticks.

Akechi sighed and loosened his neck tie before continuing.

"Very well then. I warned you, but it looks like you're going to have to suffer before learning your lesson."

He then turned to Akira and Ryuji who were both poised to strike.

"Hold him down."

In a flash, Akira and Ryuji had constrained Yusuke in his seat, effectively binding his arms, legs, and mouth in place. Where they got the rope, Akechi had no idea, but he decided to coin it to their resourcefulness that had emerged during their days of Phantom Thievery.

Akechi then pulled out a pair of latex gloves, an ink pad, and a stamper.

"I'm about to remind you what kind of position you're in, Kitagawa-san," he said all with a pleasant smile.

Yusuke's eyes bulged out of his skull as he shook his head so fast that he could have contracted whiplash.

"Now then, I would like to say that this is a marvelous plating set-up you have here," Akechi stated as he motioned to Yusuke's placement of his utensils and water.

Then, taking the stamper and applying a dextrous amount of ink on it, he hovered it over the napkin.

"However, don't you think a little bit of randomness would really make the picture?"

Yusuke shook his head with continued vigor. Ryuji then took a second to remove the handkerchief from Yusuke's mouth.

"You wouldn't dare, Akechi. You would never have it in you to spoil the fine arts."

Akechi raised his eyebrow as he smiled coyly.

"I wouldn't dare, you say? Oh but I say I would!"

Akechi then proceeded to stamp the living hell out of the napkin until it was completely covered in ink. Poor Yusuke watched in horror as his hard work was undone in a mere span of seconds. After finishing his attack on the paper accessory, Akechi turned to Yusuke.

"Feel like talking now?"

Through his exasperated look, the blue-haired artist finally recovered only to shake his head.

"I can merely take a replacement napkin from the side. You have done nothing to hinder me in the slightest."

Akechi frowned at this, but then sat back in his seat.

"Really, Yusuke? I expected better from you, but it seems we still have a ways to go before you spill the beans."

"Here you go, boys! 3 bowls of tonkatsu ramen with extra char-siu pork!"

Akira, Ryuji and Akechi turned to see that their orders had been delivered in front of them.

"And here is your extra large deluxe miso ramen with bamboo shoots."

A large bowl was presented before Yusuke that was the epitome of perfection. The balance of the pork belly and dried seaweed was absolutely perfect, as if a master artist and chef came together to have the greatest love child of all time. The broth had a light color texture so smooth, he could have sworn it was milk. Lastly, the bamboo shoots sprouted from the back of the bowl, as if to imitate the grand bamboo forests of Japan itself. Yusuke's stomach grumbled just thinking about it and he raised his hand to grab his chopsticks, only to remember that he was currently bound to his seat.

Akechi and the others smiled as they brought up their utensils.

"No, you wouldn't dare take this from me! This is inhumane!"

Akechi nodded as he brought up the deluxe ramen bowl to his face.

"Of course we would never eat your ramen, Yusuke. We're not savages."

"Oh, thank goodness. Now please, take off my restraints so I can-"

"But you still haven't talked. I think a different punishment is in order."

Akechi brought up the deluxe bowl close to Yusuke's nose and let him breath in the hypnotizing aroma. But before Yusuke could even get one noodle into his mouth, Akechi put it back down. Then, he grabbed his own respective bowl and proceeded to slurp the broth.

"NO! NO, YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!"

"By all means, Yusuke, you are free to start eating. That is, if you can tell us what you're hiding. I swear to not eat even an atom of your ramen if you tell us."

Yusuke stopped struggling, considering his odds, but decided to keep mum. Akira and Ryuji sighed as they looked at their respective bowls.

"You brought this on yourself, Yusuke," Ryuji said as he brought up his bowl.

Akira pushed up his glasses so that they would reflect the light.

"Bon appetit"

As the three friends devoured their tonkatsu ramen, Yusuke's stomach churned at not being able to consume his own bowl. The acids threatened to melt a hole through his stomach if he did not take action.

After a few minutes, the boys had finished their ramen, leaving a tired and hungry Yusuke alone with his untouched bowl.

"So, -urp, remembering something yet?"

"I have no words to say to you monsters. There is nothing that you can do to me anymore. My persistence has won!"

Akechi sighed and leaned on his arms.

"Oh Yusuke. Oh poor naive Yusuke. You really think I've played all of my cards?"

Then, Akechi made a grab for his bowl. Yusuke's eyes grew wide at this.

"You wouldn't have the heart to waste perfectly good food, would you? I mean, you're already full and so is everyone else. You don't have the heart to throw it into the trash!"

"Oh no, don't get me wrong Yusuke. I have no intention of putting Akira's money to waste. However, since you can't eat it right now… let's just say whatever you can't eat at a restaurant, you take home."

Akira caught onto his plan and motioned for the chef.

"Excuse me, but can I have a ladle and a togo cup?"

Yusuke turned his head to his friend in horror at the absolute betrayal.

"No… not that! Not the dreaded togo cup!"

It was one thing to sully his creations that have been made out of sheer pleasure, but to sully the masterpieces that had taken a lifetime to perfect was something Yusuke could never see. Akechi calmly took the ladle and togo cup and placed it on the table as he smiled.

"Yeah, maybe it would be best if you continue this at home Yusuke. You don't seem to be in the shape to eat right now."

"You wouldn't! You couldn't! You'd never do such a thing!"

Akechi turned to him and finally opened his eyes, his pleasant smile turning into one of maniacal pleasure.

"I would"

The ladle began to dip into the broth before Yusuke screamed.

"Alright! Alright! I'll talk!"

"Good! Oh waiter, can we have another round of ramen? I'm feeling charitable today."

Later…

"So, how long have you been holding this back?"

"Ever since the beach trip of summer last year."

"And have you acted on it before?"

"No"

"Does this make you a pedophile?"

"Absolutely not!"

Yusuke slammed his fist on the table before regretting his decision and took the time to rearrange the contents of his bowl. Ryuji snickered as he went back to downing his remaining broth.

Yusuke sighed and turned to Akira.

"I'm sorry I never told any of you. I was afraid that Akira would be furious if he found out."

Akira sat back and downed a glass of water.

"Yusuke, you know I would never be mad at you."

Yusuke's eyes lit up.

"Is that so? Then do I have your permission to date her?"

Akira smiled and nodded.

"I must work to capture her beauty on canvas, then! But how should I start? Oh, perhaps with a nu-"

Yusuke then felt a crushing grip on his shoulder. He turned to see Akira with a pleasant 'Akechi Smile' on his face.

"You aren't thinking of doing what I think you're thinking of doing, right?"

Yusuke gulped and went back to his ramen.

"Or perhaps just a portrait. A fully clothed and proper portrait."

"That's right, Yusuke. Nothing like what you tried to do with Ann in the past."

Ryuji sighed and put down his chopsticks.

"Akira, bro, listen. I know you and Futaba have a sibling relationship going on, but something like that is gonna happen eventually."

"Ryuji if you are implying what I think you're-"

"I don't mean that! What I'm saying is that eventually, those two will feel… intimate. For now, just trust that whatever those two feel about each other, Yusuke would never do anything to hurt her or anything she wouldn't be okay with."

Akira slouched and rested his cheek on his hand.

"I know, but I'm still new to all this. I mean, I've known her for only a year, yet it just feels like I failed at something."

"Congratulations, you finally know how Sae-san feels then," Akechi said as he finished the last of his broth.

Akira shot a glare at the detective before coming up with a retort of his own.

"Oh yeah? Then what about how Haru feels about you?"

Now Akechi was confused.

"What do you mean?"

Ryuji smacked Akira on the back of the head while Yusuke sighed.

"So much for keeping that a secret."

"Well, it was so obvious! How can he not see it?"

"How can I not see what? What are you all talking about?"

Ryuji shook his head.

"You'll find out eventually. For now, just try to look out for the signs."

This only made Akechi more confused, but it gave him food for thought at the very least.

"How Haru feels… what does he mean by that? The way that she's been acting around me, could it be something that she feels and not something I did?"

*PIPIPI*

"Hm? Oh, Ann's calling me."

Ryuji picked up his phone and brought it to his ear.

"What's up?... Hm? You wanna meet? Sure. When and where?... Oh, there? I'm cool with that… So tomorrow, right?... Great. Seeya then."

He hung up and put his phone back in his pocket.

"What was that about?" Akechi asked.

Ryuji shrugged.

"Nothing really. Ann just wanted to meet up with me tomorrow. Said there was something she wanted to talk about."

Yusuke and Akira locked eyes and turned to their blonde-haired friend to see if he could register what was going on. Ryuji, however, shrugged them aside.

"Look, I'm not as thick-headed as Ace Defective over here, alright? Sorry, but I gotta go make preparations for tomorrow. Later."

Akechi was now even more confused.

"Thick-headed? What does he mean by that?"

With the girls…

Makoto finally let go of Ann, who was struggling against them. Futaba, on the other hand, had finished her task and closed her laptop.

"Congratulations, Panther! I may have just gotten you a boyfriend!"

Ann grabbed Futaba by her shirt and shook her.

"What were you thinking?! That didn't sound like me at all! Oh crap, I'm not mentally prepared for this!"

Makoto sat back down on the bed in Futaba's room. As much as she wanted things to move on between the two blondes of the group, she was against the idea of giving her a time limit. The census, however, was against her, so she decided to play the neutral role and hold down Ann unless she was compliant to make the call herself.

Haru, on the other hand, was smiling as she put away the script for Futaba to read. Sometimes, drastic times called for drastic measures, and Ann second guessing herself was worthy as a drastic time.

Futaba put away her microphone and sat back in her chair.

"You brought this on yourself. If you weren't chickening out, I would have been perfectly fine not doing anything to you."

Ann cuddled into a little ball and tucked herself into a corner while Futaba took a picture to make an emoji out of it.

"And that's another addition to my collection. Now I just need one of Akechi with a stack of pancakes and my collection will be complete!"

"Oh well, enough talk about Ann and Futaba. I think we should direct our gaze elsewhere", Makoto started.

"Ooh! That's right! What about you and Akechi-kun, Haru?" Ann interrupted, springing back surprisingly quick from her embarrassed stupor.

Haru retreated back into her turtleneck in thought.

"I really don't know. I already patched everything up with him, but I just feel awkward around him now… "

"Is it L~OVE?"

"Maybe, but I'm still figuring things out"

The blonde now looked disappointed.

"Not what I was expecting. Huh, now I'm not sure where to go with this."

"Maybe by saying 'for real'?" Futaba suggested.

The redhead immediately got her cheeks pinched as punishment.

"I still haven't forgiven you for this!"

As the two bickered, Makoto sat down next to Haru.

"What was going on through your mind? If this is about how Akechi resembles Akira a bit-"

"Oh no, it's not that", Haru quickly dismissed.

Whatever happened had happened a long time ago. Nobody saw it coming that Akira and Makoto would get together, Haru the least of all. Yes, she was saddened by this immensely, but seeing the two together made her happy as well. They already had this talk and made a silent pact to never let it ruin their friendship.

"I mean, he's someone really special to me. We both have similar backgrounds and we bonded well together. It's just that nowadays, I feel like I want to see him in a different light and spend more time with him."

Makoto nodded in agreement.

"I see what you mean. To be honest, I kind of understand that feeling too."

"Then does that mean-"

"No, it doesn't specifically direct to you being in love with him."

"Oh", Haru said, slightly disappointed.

"Don't worry. It just means that you are curious about your relationship. Just spend more time with him and you'll find out what those feelings you have are all about."

Haru nodded and checked her phone.

"I guess you're right. Should we call it a day now?"

Turning towards Ann and Futaba, Haru could only see what could be described as a cartoonish cloud that sprouted body parts of Ann and Futaba every now and then.

"Maybe we should just let them be for now", Makoto suggested as she picked up her backpack.

Haru followed her out of the hacker's room and walked with her friend to the train station. After splitting up, she went her own way towards her apartment and sighed after closing the door behind her.

"So, I just need to spend more time with him to figure out how I feel, right?"

She took her phone out of her pocket and opened her text stream with Akechi.

"... that should do it!"

Do you want to spend time together at Leblanc? I just harvested the coffee beans I've been growing and would like to have an outside opinion.

"Mmm, no, Sojiro or Akira would be better suited for that", she said to herself while deleting the message.

Ann-chan gave me tickets to a movie next week. Want to come?

Perhaps tone it down a bit? As much as she liked going to the movies, she was afraid that watching a romance movie would set off the wrong image; she was just in the experimental phase after all so she shouldn't try to force it. Besides, she was more into thriller movies anyways.

A friend gave me tickets to the aquarium yesterday. I tried asking Makoto, but she seems busy with Akira. Would you like to accompany me?

"There. Friendly and not hinting towards anything romantic. Aaand send!"

After a few minutes, Akechi replied back.

Akechi: Sure! I could use a little breather from class. Make sure to wear something warm, though, it's the colder season now. See you then.

Somehow, this made Haru seem alleviated and giddy more than usual. She flopped onto her bed with a smile on her face. Looks like she was in the clear for her date!

Wait, date? Who said anything about a date? Did she really see it like that? Haru checked her phone again to see if there was any mention of the word, but there was none.

"Maybe I just feel like it's a date?... with Akechi-kun… "

A flash of red dashed across her face as she buried her head into her pillow. Perhaps there was no need to bond with the detective for her to realize her feelings...

Aaaaaaaaaand we are back! Hey all! Sorry for being late as always, but I can tell you that the transition to self quarantine and online classes was not easy. Add that with writing P:OLP and you have a bunch of delays! Yay! Okay, being completely honest, I'm really sorry for the delays I've had, although this is very common if you followed me in my P:OLP debut. I just want to say that I hope you all are doing alright during this quarantine. Thankfully, everyone I know is healthy and not in any danger at all, so this is already a big upgrade for me since last year. With all the games that released recently, you've probably played them at least once before; I'm talking about P5R and FF7 Remake. I haven't had the time to play them due to my work and school and I don't intend to touch Royal until after I platinum the vanilla game so don't expect any Royal spoilers in here. Anyways, let's all get through this together and go eat some ramen after this is all finished! (I eat at an awesome new ramen place once and quarantine immediately starts the day after. Am I seriously cursed right now?)