Persona 5: Shots Through the Heart

Shot 3: How to Bulk your Heart

As the Shujin school bell rings, Akira stretches out his arms with a big smile on his face.

"Aaand another day of being a criminal at school, done!" he yawns. All the suspicious stares and gossiping whispers about "Kira Akira" going around the school couldn't even come close to bringing this "bad boy's" mood down after accomplishing a great deed.

xxx

Shujin Physical Education teacher, Suguru Kamoshida, was a fiend among the worst type of fiends. The list of his heinous crimes would shock anyone. Physically and verbally abusing the members of his volleyball team, destroying the school's track team after Ryuj Sakamoto, their star runner, stood up to him, resulting in him breaking his leg in "self-defense" and plastering him with an assault crime, sentencing students to expulsion for simply looking at him the wrong way, sexually harassing female students, making countless advices towards Ann Takamaki, which got her labeled as his "bitch", and raping her best friend, Shiho Suzui, who was put into a coma after her failed suicide attempt the night after, for denying him of the pleasure him ravaging her maidenhood. He did all these horrible things while that proud, smug, disgusting smile on his face. All this being allowed by the everyone at school. By teachers and students, because his title as an Olympic Gold Medalist made the school popular, and by volleyball members and parents, because his recommendation for university's apparently meant more than their well being.

Mr. Kamoshida was a despicable, foul, self-centered, unholy demon drunk with a serious case of uncontrollable lust beyond any hope of redemption or salvation. And thanks to Akira and his small band of Phantom Thieves, the utter bastard is locked up behind bars where scum like him belongs. After being wronged by a corrupt adult without good reason, bringing judgment down a stain on the Earth like him felt overwhelmingly fulfilling.

And what better way to solidify his accomplishment, as well as celebrate Shiho's recovery from her coma, than with luxurious food. Luckily for him, the Treasure the Phantom Thieves stole turned into a gold medal that sold for thirty thousand yen, enough to pay for an hour of all-you-can-eat food at a restaurant in the Wilton Hotel (Ann's suggestion). Despite her and Ryuji serving him and Morgana a plate of mashed up beans, fried bananas, preserved eggs, and more beans which looked like prison food, making it a slap in the face, it was the best time he's had in Tokyo so far. In fact, it was one of the best moments of his whole life. The Phantom Thieves organization official forming definitely helped. From now on, he'll be working as a thief in the dark to reform society, one heart at a time.

Even if he knows he's supposed to stay out of trouble, he knew this was going to be fun.

xxx

As he is moving out of his desk, he hears Ann mumbling to herself. It was easy for him to pick up the concern in her voice. Some of the words, he couldn't make out. She eventually notices him.

"Oh hey!" she says. "You headin' home?" Akira tilts his head.

"You alright, Ann?" he asks. "Ya look a little distant." Ann scratches her head.

"Well um…" Ann wanders off a lit, cover her mouth with one of her pigtails.

"What should I do…?" she whispers. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to at least ask… No, but then…" Akira hears Morgana whispering from inside his bag.

"Lady Ann seems a little depressed." Akira nods and leans in.

"Shujin to Ann. Do you read me?" Ann waves his hand at him.

"U-Um… Never mind! It's nothing!" Concern shows on Akira's face, remember the last time she said "It's nothing" when it ended up being a big something.

"I'm fine, seriously!" she says. "Besides, I wouldn't wanna trouble you…" Akira shakes his head.

"Oh no. It's no trouble at all. I told you I'm free to talk whenever, didn't I?" Ann's eyes widen in surprise for a moment, then she smiles.

"...Are you sure? You're so reliable." Ann gets out of her seat.

"I guess it wouldn't be so bad talking to you about this stuff." Akira chuckles and pushes his glasses up.

"Diner. My treat."

"Okay!" Morgana pops his head out.

"Hey, ya mind dropping me off at Shibuya Station? I'm gonna go for a walk." Akira nods.

"Yeah. No problem."

xxx

Ann and Akira sit at a booth inside the diner and order coffee and the Nostalgic Steak.

"Hey, um… Akira?" Ann starts. "There's something I want to talk to you about… It's Shiho." Akira leans in.

"Oh yeah, how's she doin'?" he asks.

"She's… okay. Doing better, at least. I actually went to see her in the hospital the other day." Ann suddenly frowns.

"She… she said she was sorry. Sorry for not telling me about Kamoshida… about all the things he was doing to her…" She shakes her head.

"But it was my fault too. I didn't realize how much trouble she was in… I wasn't there for her… So, I apologized too." Akira nods.

"That's good... Y'know, I don't really know her that well, but I can tell she's really strong." Ann giggles.

"Isn't she? Shiho really is a great girl. I'm glad I finally got to tell her everything I couldn't bring myself to say before." Akira scratches his head.

"Funny thing. Before I saw you at the station, I ran into her in the hallway. She told me not to let rumors bother me and that her best friend was going through the same thing." Ann's giggle turns into a laugh.

"Ahaha! Really? That is so like her." She looks down at her coffee.

"Hey… remember when Kamoshida threatened to take her off the team if I didn't sleep with him?" Akira groans in disgust.

"I try not to cuz every time I do, I get the urge to throw up." Ann hangs head and frowns.

"Well, I only agreed to it so that I wouldn't ruin her dreams… But now that I think about it, he never would have put her on the bench and cost his team games. I seriously should've dared him to try and take her starting spot… But in the end, maybe I just didn't believe in her ability." Akira wanted to tell her not to blame herself, but in the back of his mind, he knew that a person learning from their mistake makes them stronger.

"You… might have a point there," he sighs, not wanting to bring her spirits low. Ann hangs her head.

"I knew it… I'm so stupid. All of this happened because of how weak I am… That's why I believed Kamoshida's authority outweighed Shiho's ability to earn her starting spot." Akira spoke up, not being able to stand her gloom anymore.

"B-But making mistakes is all part of being human, y'know?!" he nervously laughs. "And since I'm human, that means I'm stupid too! I'm a total stupid moron!" Ann looks at him with widened eyes as he continues to laughs.

You are, Akira Kurusu, he thinks. You truly are. Ann starts laughing out loud and covering her stomach.

"Ahahahaha! Is that supposed to be a joke?!" Akira blushes as pushes his glasses up.

"Well seeing that it worked, yeah!" Ann rubs her eyes and smiles at him.

"Thanks. I needed that." Akira nods and Ann looks up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Akira? Do you remember the last time I talked to you like this? When I got a phone call from Kamoshida… and cried." Akira hangs his head and frowns.

"I remember like it was yesterday," he mumbles. His heart stung recalling her crying face.

"I felt so alone…" Ann continues. " Scared, even… But because you were there for me, I decided not to go." Ann smirks at him.

"I was little surprised at how pushy you were about it… but I see now you just wanted to help… I don't think I said it properly before… Thanks." Akira scratches his head.

"Thinking back, I'm surprised how pushy and aggressive I was too. I honestly think that's the pushiest I've ever been in my life… But still… I couldn't just ignore you." Akira gives her sincere smile.

"Never abandoning someone in need is my personal mantra. And now that we're friends, I'll do my damnedest to make sure you don't cry like that again." Ann's eyes widen and she giggles.

"You're so kind, Akira." Ann frowns again.

"Back then, people used to call me all sorts of names… "Prissy bitch", "Kamoshida's girl"... I got tired of it pretty quickly." She shakes her head.

"But to tell you the truth, someday I wanna be able to take labels like that in stride." Ann looks at Akira and points to her heart.

"Hey um… Personas are the power of the heart, right? That means if my heart gets stronger, Carmen will too." Akira crosses his arms and nods.

"Basically."

That's what the creepy old man and the angry twin wardens in my head told me.

"So… I want to strengthen my heart," Ann declares. "And I want to use that strength to help the people around me. I hope we can save people in trouble, just like we did when we changed Kamoshida's heart." There's the side of Ann Takamaki Akira admires: The Ann that is determined to protect and help those in need. The resonance to the resolve he shows can't be ignored and it's why he already considers her his greatest friend.

Ann lays back on her seat.

"Though honestly… I don't even know what "strong" is. But I'll find the answer, I promise." Akira leans forward with a smile.

"Well, how about we find it together?" Ann smiles from ear to ear.

"Really?! Thanks! I feel a like I'm little stronger already!" she giggles. "I guess that doesn't really count though, huh?" Ann nods with determination.

"Well, I'll be relying on you. Let's train together and make our hearts super strong!" Akira chuckles as he fist pumps.

"We'll be so strong, Mona won't be able to brag anymore!" Ann comes to a realization and shoots a narrow eyed look at Akira.

"Which reminds me: It is totally not fair that you can use more than one Persona!" Akira smirks at her.

"Well, it definitely helps when I'm saving your ass," he says in a high and mighty tone.

"Oh shuddup!" Akira's signature mischievous snicker escapes his mouth. Ann can't help but smile, even though he was teasing her. She hasn't has this much fun with someone since she was with Shiho and the guy is so supposed to be a devious troublemaker. Sure, he has a lot of sass to him, but he's actually a great guy deep down.

Ann looks down and crosses her arms in thought.

"A strong heart… Hmmm…" She snaps her fingers.

"How about this: I won't get any refills on fountain drinks!" Akira shoots a dumbfounded look at her.

"Eh?"

"Yeah! I mean, they're free, so not getting any would mean you have a strong heart!" Akira's face is basically shouting "Are you serious?" at this point.

"... Is that not right?" Ann asks. Akira glares at her and shakes his head.

"Dude, hell no! That's just pointless willpower!" Akira pinches the bridge of his nose and groans.

Looks like we got a looong way to go...

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