Persona 5: Shots Through the Heart

Shot 19: Game Pause

It's night time at Leblanc. Sojiro has already left and Akira is sprawled out on his bed in his PJs.

He sighs in absolute content.

"A nice normal day at school, hanging out with friends afterwards, no cops trying to chase after me. Yep. Everything's back to normal," he says. Morgana hops onto his bed.

"Normal? Really?"

"Well, as normal as it can get for me." A deadpan look pops up on his face.

"The only thing I'm irked about right now is the fact that I have to deal with winter finals right after I come back to school."

"You never stopped studying, even when you were supposed to play dead man! I don't really think you have anything to worry about!"

"Yeah, I know. But still." Mona curls up into a ball.

"At least you'll know what'll be on the test now that you've gone over it with everyone today." Akira looks up at the ceiling, recalling the emergency study group session he had with everyone today.

"Yeah… Today's study session was actually pretty interesting…"

xxx

A few hours earlier, everyone was at Leblanc to prepare for exams, even though Yusuke already had his and Futaba doesn't go to school. Everyone has their nose in their books with pencils in hand and notebooks at the ready.

"We're just going to focus on sections that may likely be on the exams," Head Tutor Makoto explains. "You're all way too short on time."

"Making a gamble, huh?" Futaba asks. Ryuji and Ann are already sweating.

"If she's wrong, we die!" Ryuji panics.

"I don't wanna die!" Ann whines.

"Um, is it really that bad…?" Haru asks with worry.

"Don't buy into that! Calm down, you two!" Vice Head Tutor Akira scolds.

"This is everyday for them," Yusuke sighs. Makoto looks up at Akira.

"This affects you too, Akira-kun… Well actually, I'm not too worried about you, considering your track record. But you've missed a lot of classes, so you should at the very least know what might be on the test so you can focus on those sections." Akira nods.

"Roger that, Senpai." Ann groans out loud.

"Oh yeah, Akira's crazy good at studying… I honestly feel kinda betrayed…" Haru laughs sheepishly.

""Betrayed" might be a bit much…"

"And in what sense of the word, exactly?" Akira asks. Mona pads over to her on the table.

"Don't worry, Lady Ann! Even if you're not great at studying, I'll help you!" he declares with pride. Akira gives him a deadpan look.

"Don't you spend most of class time sleeping in my desk?"

After a long hour of studying, everyone decides to put the books aside and take a break.

"So like, we've been doin' Phantom Thief work all this time, right?" Ryuji asks. "We've learned a bunch doin' that. Even if we study and learn what we can in school, doesn't it feel kinda pointless?" His bro's question leaves Akira stumped.

"Okay, that… actually sounds like serious question… Uh… I think there are some really great things that you can learn in the outside world, but school is probably a way to learn how to better understand those things. It's like… tracing the roots of a tree from the branches… Maybe."

"That's a mature way to look at it," Sojiro says from behind the counter. "Those experiences are important too, but common sense is just as important. You should know better than anyone just how nasty adults without common sense can be." Haru nods at Sojiro's explanation.

"That's a great point." The cafe owner strokes his goatee. And this where the session got really interesting.

"Someday, you'll graduate from high school and become adults. Then when you're married, you'll need common sense more than ever." Ryuji crosses his arms in thought.

"Marriage, huh?" He turns to Akira, who is chewing on a snack bar.

"Do you wanna get married, Akira?" Shocked by the rather sudden question, the snack bar goes down the wrong pipe and Akira grabs his throat as he chokes while Ann does a spit take in her coffee cup, which makes it splash right back in her face. She grabs a napkin to wipe it off as Akira washes down his snack with water.

"Pwah! Ugh…! Ugh…! Phew… I-I'm sorry! What was the question?!" Akira asks Ryuji.

"I-I was wonderin' if you ever wanted to get married. That's all." Akira straightens out his glasses and runs his fingers through his hair in embarrassment. He had every single intention of tying the knot with his girlfriend. He's often had dreams about it ever since they started dating. He believed deep down in his heart of hearts that he had a bright future with this girl, even though the state his own personal future is questionable at best.

That wasn't the problem though. The problem was mentioning to her, especially in front of everyone who knows about their relationship. Except, of course, Ryuji.

"Hey, you don't gotta say if you don't want to, man," Ryuji says. Akira laughs sheepishly.

"Ehehehe! Uh yeah! T-That's kind of a… um…" He couldn't help but notice Ann's worried face as he's talking. It's sincere, painful look of worry. All she's doing is frowning a little, but her eyes gave it all away. Was she taking his answer to this question seriously? If he said that it's a secret, would she think he doesn't see a possible future with her?

After quick consideration, he realizes that this no different from the question about his type of girl back in Hawaii. It's a more serious question, but it's basically the same. Therefore, second verse, same as the first: Answer honestly while keeping Ryuji in the dark. Everyone else will hear, but it's no big deal.

Akira smiles and shake his head.

"Actually, no. I'll give you an outline of my dreams." He looks up a the ceiling and imagines his life a couple years ahead.

"I wanna go to university after I graduate. Might be tough now, but I'll at least try to apply. Near the end of my four years, I wanna get married to an amazing, strong hearted woman and move into either a good apartment complex or a nice big house. And finally, if she's up for it, I'd love to have maybe one to three kids and have a nice happy family with her." Ryuji's smirks at him.

"Sounds to me like you're sure it's gonna happen!"

"Hell yeah, I'm sure…" He turns his attention to Ann, who was taken aback by his answer, with a blushed smile on his face.

"Sooo, long story short… yeah. Of course I wanna get married someday." Ann's look of concern had turned into a big beaming smile, complete with perfect pink cheeks, as she moves around in her seat.

"... I see~ Hehehehehehe~…" she giggles. Ryuji notices her oozing happy giggle and smile.

"Uhhh, what're you so happy for?" Ann shakes her head, still giggling.

"Hehehehe~ Nooothing. Hmhmhm~" Ryuji was obviously weirded out by her, but he's too much of an oblivious idiot to put two and two together.

"O-kay? Well, you still gotta get a girlfriend before can get any of that couple shit to happen." The room goes completely silent, which angers Ryuji.

"Okay, that's like the third time! Am I missing something?!" Haru shakes her head.

"No. Nothing at all."

"You say that, but…! Oh… Hold that thought. I gotta use it." Akira gets out of the booth and watches Ryuji as he enters the bathroom.

Maybe I'll tell you someday, he thinks. ...Maybe.

When he looks back, he sees near everyone giving him funny smiles, which he counters with a deadpan look.

"... Shuddup."

xxx

"Ryuji's marriage question really took me by surprise," Akira says. "I had to answer honestly though."

"And thanks to that," Mona sighs. "Lady Ann was filling the room with lovey dovey hearts all afternoon. Made my fur stand up." Mona flicks his tail around.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm… mostly okay with you dating her. It just gets really uncomfortable sometimes." Mona notices Akira grunting in discomfort.

"You okay over there?"

"... Well... I know we beat Shido," he says. "He confessed to his crimes. We all saw him... So why do I still feel uneasy?"

"It's probably because it's taking a long time for things to really change. Things should start looking up at after exam are over."

"I wanna believe that... but still..."

As Akira sighs, he receives a notification on his phone. It's his Lover's Link app and Ann's requesting a Couple's Game. He grabs his earphones and gets out of bed.

"I'm gonna take this downstairs."

xxx

Akira sits on the toilet downstairs and starts up the app.

DevilMaster: Online

CakeQueen: Online

As he expected, Ann requests and Audio Chat along with a Couple's Game. He accepts both. The RPG, Love vs. Evil (a name Akira still didn't agree with Futaba on), starts up and the icon for audio sync pops up on the side.

"Hey, baby~! Ready to rock some dungeons~?" Akira smirks.

"Time to bring on the pain!"

The couple traversed through treacherous dungeons and battled hordes of monsters for a good while. As they did so, Akira couldn't help but notice Ann's consecutive giggle fits. It finally got to the point where he had to know.

"Alright! I'll bite. What's with all the giggling?" he finally asks.

"Hehehe~! Oh, I'm sorry! Is it getting annoying?"

"Well, no. I'm mean, it's super cute, but it's kinda distracting me. I'm getting hit way too often." Ann tries to ease her giggle fits so she can talk.

"Okay um… I-I know I'm gonna sound like a total ditz, but… did you mean it… when you said you wanted to marry me?" Akira laughs.

"Wow, you were right! You're such a ditz… But yeah. Of course I meant it. I wouldn't joke about something like that."

"Yeah, I know. It's just… hearing that… made me super happy…"

"I'm happy that you're happy."

"I'm not even worried about exams anymore… even though I probably should."

"Oh hey. I've been thinking. For winter break, if I can make plans with my parents and get Boss to OK it… maybe we could, I dunno… take an earlier trip to Kamakura. Just you and me." Ann gasps.

"Staying at your hometown for winter break?! That sounds like sooo much fun!"

"It gets a lot of snow this time of year. Plus, it should be holding a lot of festivals all over the place, so it'll definitely be fun." Ann squeals with excitement.

"OHMYGOD, now you've got me all excited! I can't wait! Oh, a save point!"

"Ha ha ha! Well, you'll have to. I'll have to make the… plans… first…" The thought of making future plans brings Ann's worried face back to Akira's mind. He couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head when she made that face.

"Alright, saved!" Ann announces. "Wanna keep going?" Akira is silent as he sinks into deep thought.

"Hello? Earth to Akira!" The concerned boy snaps out of his trance and requests a video chat with app. Ann's face immediately pops and she notices Akira's sad look.

"Hey, what's wrong?" There was a lot of inner conflict on whether or not to bring this up, but he didn't want to hide anything. In the end, he decided that it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Uh… Hey, Annie…? Um… Y-You know you're my girl… right…?"

"Yeah. Of course I do."

"A-And… you know there's nothing in this world I want more than to be with you, right?" More concern showed on her face.

"Well, yeah… Okay, wait. What brought this on?"

"I-It's just that… you gave me this weird face earlier today. It was when Ryuji asked if I wanted to get married… It kinda made me think that… you thought I didn't want to…" Ann cocks an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Akira sighs, tired of beating around the bush.

"Okay. I'm just gonna ask… Did you think that I wasn't sure if I wanted a future with you?" A lighting bolt's worth of shock appear on Ann's face.

"WHAT?! NO!" she shouts. "I wasn't thinking that at all! I was just a little upset that we still had to keep us a secret from Ryuji! That's all!" Akira nods.

"Oh okay. I figured I was probably worried over nothing…" He scratches his head.

"But… like I said, I don't lie about stuff like that. I need you to know that I really do want all of those things to happen. And I can't think of anyone better to do it with than Vague's #1 model." He gives her a gentle smile.

"I'm not playing games here. Never have and never will. I'm serious about you." There's a brief moment of silence before Ann speaks.

"Yeah. Of course I know that…" Just when Akira's about to breath a sigh of relief…

"... Why don't you believe me?" In a flash, Akira is hit with a bullet of confusion.

"Huh?" And it gradually gets worse as his girlfriend furrows her brow and narrows her eyes.

"So, lemme get this straight," she says in a rather cold tone. "Basically… you don't think I trust you." He didn't have the slightest idea where she got that from, but he knew he had to clear it up.

"That's not what I'm saying at all-"

"No, that's exactly what you're saying. You think that I need you to bend over backwards for me 24/7 just to prove that you love me." Some slight irritation arises within Akira as he furrows his brow.

"Well, what's it matter? The point is, I'm showing you proof."

"Except I don't need it that often! You could tell me you love me once a month and I'd still know you do! I thought after all we've been through together, you'd know that by now!" Akira ends up glaring at her.

"What the hell are you saying?! Of course I know that!" Ann glares back.

"It sure as hell doesn't sound like it!" At this point, they're both shouting at each other.

"Would you just stop before you piss me off?!"

"You're already pissed off, dumbass!"

"Because you are driving me crazy with all these assumptions! How could you say that I don't believe you?! I mean, where'd that even come from?!" Something from their argument pisses him off even more.

"Hold on! It sounds like you're the one who doesn't believe me!"

"Excuse me?! Don't you even try to turn this around on me!"

"Hey, I'm just stating the obvious! I keep telling you I believe you, but you keep saying I don't! There's a word for that kind of thing and it's called "hypocrisy"!"

"If that's the case, then it's not my fault! How am I supposed to act when my boyfriend tells me he thinks I have trust issues?! I trust you a lot, but it's obvious that you don't believe me!" Akira jumps from his seat in outrage.

"Okay, you need to stop! I'm not saying any of that! You'd realize that if you'd stop acting like such a FUCKING BLONDE AIRHEAD!"

As soon as those words out of his mouth, he regretted it. Even more so when he sees the shock in her eyes. He never in a million years wanted to call her that.

"N-No, wait. I-I didn't mean…" Ann sighs and turns away.

"... I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

"H-Hold on! Please! Annie-"

"NO!" Her outburst silences him.

"... Don't call me that."

And just like that, she hung up.

CakeQueen: Offline

All Chats Blocked

Shocked by what just happened, Akira falls back onto the toilet and looks up at the ceiling in disbelief.

… Did we seriously just… have a fight…?

Little did he know, things were about to get a whole lot worse.

Target: Hit

Author's Note: Surprised by the ending? So am I. :\ I wasn't gonna take this route at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it could work.

This is the first couple's fight I've done. Feel free to leave a review of what you guys think. In fact, I encourage it.