Persona 5: Shots Through the Heart
Shot 32: His Heart Then and Now
White Week: Day 4
It's 8 o'clock in the early morning. After hours of trying to fall asleep only to be forced awake by the same awful dream, Akira struggles out of bed and stalks into the kitchen to make some coffee. About an hour ago, he'd be wide awake to make breakfast for his woman, but he didn't have to worry about that this morning since she was staying in the hospital. Not that he liked the idea.
After the cup is made, he plops down on the living room couch, takes a sip of his coffee, and carefully places it on the cracked coffee table. Looking around the dark and lifeless apartment starts making him feel a little empty as well.
"I really thought I could get through one night without her," he sighs deeply. "... Guess one of the disadvantages of being a married couple is that you feel lonely when your partner isn't in bed with you…" Akira chuckles when he thinks about Ann being stuck in the hospital.
"It must be hell for her right now. She gets super lonely super easily… In that case, I should probably get going." Akira calls up Futaba before getting ready to pick up his injured girlfriend.
xxx
Around an hour and a half later, Akira opens the apartment door to let Futaba push the wheelchaired Ann into the apartment with Morgana lying in her lap.
"You could've pushed her yourself, ya know," Futaba pouts. "She's your girlfriend."
"I would," Akira says. "If both of my arms were free." Ever since they left the hospital, Ann has been clinging tightly to Akira's left arm, happily squeezing it and rubbing her cheek against it.
He tries to pull his arm away.
"O-Okay, Annie! Can you stop now?" he asks, slightly annoyed. "I've been stumbling all over the place on the way back cuz you're clinging to me so much." Ann looks up at her man with puppy dog eyes and crocodile tears.
"I can't help it~! I missed you so much~!" she cries. "You were all I could think about while I was stuck in that dark hospital room~! All night, I wanted to use you as my warm, snuggly hug pillow as I laid my head down in a cold, lonely bed of loneliness all alone~!" Knowing that he can't be mad at that face, he gives her a warm smile… right before groping her bulbous right bosom.
"There there," he chuckles. She immediately ditches her clinginess and pushes him away with her free arm.
"Never mind. Take me back."
"Ha ha ha! Alright, let's see if your ankle's good to go. Futaba, ya mind?" Mona hops off of Ann's lap as the rebel's little sister helps him slowly bring her to her feet. They let go when she is standing up completely.
"How is it? Any pain?" Akira asks Ann. Ann takes a couple steps forward without a hitch.
"Nope. It's all good," she says.
"We'd better wait to check on her arm though," Mona suggests. Akira starts walking towards the kitchen.
"Agreed. Hey, you guys hungry?" he asks. "I haven't made breakfast yet."
xxx
Some time in the afternoon, everyone is lounging about in the apartment waiting for the others, who promised they would stop by to check on Ann. She's cuddling to Akira as he's playing a game on the living room TV with Mona sleeping beside them while Futaba is on her phone.
In the game, Akira's character has run into a lost traveler, but is really an assassin trying to kill him.
"Suit yourself!" Akira says to the TV. "Get ready to feel the thunder!" And oddly enough…
*THUNDER BOOM*
A blast of lightning strikes and kills the assassin without warning with Akira getting blown away. The couple laugh at the nature's perfectly timed helping hand.
"Well, someone brought it!" Ann exclaims.
"Cutting a little close, aren't you, Larosa?!" TV screen suddenly goes black.
"What the- Hey, what happened?" Akira asks. Futaba jumps in front of the couple and excitedly throws her hands into the air.
"HEY! LISTEN!" she shouts in english. "A glorious gift has rained down upon us from the heavens! LO AND BEHOLD!" The pint-sized hacker moves aside and taps her phone to play a video on the internet.
What the video consisted of: A sweaty man with goat horns, an uptight middle-aged girlfriend, a sexy young blonde mistress, bad dreams, new features for tower puzzles, extra routes and endings, two-player gameplay, and a pink-haired pianist who may or may not be transgender. All of that is wrapped in the bow that is the game title: Catherine: Full Body.
The couple utterly fail to contain their excitement and jump from their seats.
Akira+Ann: "... CA-THE-RIIIIINE!" Mona jolts awake at their shout.
"Uwah~! Huh? W-What's happening?" he mutters.
"Oops. Sorry, Mona- Ow!" Ann's sudden movement makes her injured shoulder sting.
"Whoa. Easy, Annie," Akira says as he helps her sit back down. That's when the apartment doorbell rings. Futaba runs over to answer it and let Ryuji and Yusuke in.
"What's the haaaaaps~?!" Ryuji bellows.
"Good afternoon," Yusuke greets. "Ann, how is your shoulder faring?"
"Better than it was yesterday," she tells him. "I'm gonna give it a few more hours." Mona leaps down from the couch and snickers at Ryuji.
"So, how bad did you bomb it today, Ryuji?" he asks.
"Joke's on you, cat!" Ryuji barks. "I had P.E. today!"
"A very brief summary on how he's been doing and how he will do," Akira says. Ryuji groans, then gives Ann a suspicious look.
"Be real! You let that guy tackle you out the window so you can get a free pass out of the exams, didn't you?!" he asks her. Ann's face sudden grows dark and sorrowful.
"... You really think I put myself through what Shiho did for something stupid like that?" she chokes."Or maybe you'd rather let me see another person I love go through that too? Is that it?" As soon as those words leave her mouth, Ryuji is hit with a bomb of remorse.
"Oh… I-I… uh..." He didn't even have to look to feel everyone's angry gazes piercing him. Akira, of course, being the most painful.
"S-S-Sorry. I-I didn't mean to…" Ann suddenly flashes a smile at him.
"Nah, it's fine," she says. "Though, I do kinda know how she felt now." Even with those words, the other four in the room don't let up on him at all for his heartless insensitive comment.
Morgana: "You're the worst."
Futaba: "Seriously the worst."
Yusuke: "Truly unforgivable."
Akira: "My urge to kill you is back."
"C-C-C'mon! I-I said I was sorry!" Ryuji exclaims. Akira dashes over, grabs him by the hair, and points him towards a corner of the room.
"No. A sorry's not gonna cut it," he says coldly. "That's a Time Out. Go sit your ass in the corner."
"Ow! Hey, I'm older than you! Why're you tellin' me to go sit in a corner?!" Akira kicks him hard in the butt towards the corner.
"Alright! I'm going, I'm going!" As the monkey marches to his Time Out area, Akira notices that there are two missing members in the gang.
"Hey, where are Makoto and Haru?" he asks.
"They said they needed to do something real quick," Ryuji says, having arrived in his corner. "They'll come by a bit later… It was weird though. Makoto seemed kinda down."
"Pre-graduation jitters, maybe?" Futaba says. Akira hears Ann's stomach rumble and heads into the kitchen to make her something.
xxx
About an hour later, Akira answers the door for his two graduating senpai and let them in.
"I was wondering when you two would show up," he says.
"Sorry. We had somewhere to stop by for a moment," Makoto explains. Haru's eyes light up as she looks at Ann's apartment.
"My. You have a lovely apartment, Ann-chan," she says. "It feels like the kind you could raise a family in." Ann blushes.
"Well, it's a good thing I got the OK from my parents to do it with Akira once we're married," she giggles.
"Oh yeah! They actually stopped by the other day! Right, Akira?" Ryuji calls out.
"Yeah," Akira says. "But only for a few hours. Then they stayed a hotel and left in the morning." Makoto then notices the elephant in the room. Or rather, the ape in the corner of it.
"Why is Ryuji sitting over there?" she asks.
"Punishment for being an insensitive ass," Akira says bluntly. "... Actually. Time Out's over, Ryuji!"
"Finally!" Ryuji walks over to the couch.
"So, your mom and dad stopped by?" Futaba asks Ann. "Did you let them meet Akira?"
"Yeah. They weren't supposed to be here until yesterday though, so it scared the crap out of me when they showed on Tuesday."
"So how did it go?" Makoto asks.
"Well first, there was talking," Akira says.
"And then, there was yelling," Ann adds.
"Then, I punched Ann's dad in the face and cussed at her mom." Ann point to the cracked glass coffee table.
"And then, he did that to the table." Everyone stares at the cracks in the table with widened eyes.
"Holy shit," Ryuji says.
"So in the end, they don't approve?" Yusuke asks.
"Oh no. They approve," Akira says. "In fact, they said they couldn't have asked for a better future son-in-law."
"It was actually a good thing he was here," Ann says. "The thing is…" Ann briefly explains that her parents were planning to take her back to Finland, as well as the reasons for it.
"I see…" Makoto sighs. "I honestly don't blame them for thinking like that…"
"Yeah. With all the crazy stuff that happened last year," Mona says. "It wouldn't feel right to leave their only daughter by herself. And if they found out what happened with Kamoshida, it would've proved their point even more."
"Still, it was better than the other road," Ryuji points outs. "If they could see how effed up things could've gone, they'd be happy as hell to stick with this." Futaba suddenly dips her nose into Ann's left twintail.
"Well, it's a good thing you're staying!" she exclaims. "I don't want this fluffy hair to go away!" Fun fact: Dipping their noses into Ann's hair is a hobby that Akira and Futaba share.
"Futaba~!" Ann whines as her face turns red. Akira follows suit, happily dipping his nose into her right twintail.
"Amen, sister!" he exclaims. "This silky gold with the smell of sweetness. God, I can't get enough." Ann's face turns even redder.
"C'mon! You too?!" Akira gives his pseudo sister a narrow eyed look.
"By the way Futaba," he says. "You're little stunt made meeting her parents a thousand times harder."
"Huh?! Me?!"
"Hold on. What did she do?" Ryuji asks. Ann presses her palm on her forehead and shakes her head.
"L-Let's just say Akira and I owed her a solid," she sighs. "So she had us cosplay in some… questionable costumes. My parents came by right when we were about to get changed." Haru tilts her head.
"What kind of costumes?" she asks innocently. Ann feels her stomach rumble in a bad way.
Right on time, she thinks.
"H-Hey, Haru? I gotta use the bathroom," she says. "Can you help me out?"
"O-Oh! Yes, of course." Ann's senpai follows her into the guest bathroom as everyone else continues the conversation.
"Well, I'm glad to hear they approve of you," Makoto says. "Although, I doubt your approach would work on all parents."
"My sass got your sister to like me, didn't it?" Akira asks with a smirk. "I mean, not that it means anything."
"It wouldn't work with my father though. He was always very protective of me and Sis."
"Hey… are you alright?" Mona asks with concern. "You're not bummed that he's not… well… you know." Makoto shakes her head.
"Don't worry. I'm fine. I… actually went to go see him with Sis before I came here. Haru went with us to see her father too."
"Oh! So that's where you guys went!" Futaba exclaims. Makoto closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"Sis suggested it because of how nervous I was for the ceremony and what happens afterwards," she says. "Before, I was worried about how things might go now that I have to make a greater effort to reach my dream. Now… I know I'll be fine." As everyone smiles for their eldest friend, a thought pops into Ryuji's mind.
"Oh yeah!" he gasps. "Speakin' of parents…" He tosses a tin foil package to Akira.
"I don't think we've heard a single thing about Akira's folks!" Everyone's attention turns to their former leader.
"That is true," Yusuke says to Akira. "Aside from why you came to Tokyo, we haven't heard about where exactly you came from." Futaba excitedly in her seat.
"Story time! Story time!" she chants. Akira's hesitation is as clear as day as he fiddles with the package.
"Um… I don't think you guys really need to know," he says. Futaba points to Morgana.
"Mona does! He's going to be living with them, so he needs to be ready." Akira stares at his cat friend, then turns his attention back to the small package, staring at in thought. As he told Ann's parents, he wasn't truly comfortable sharing this info with anyone. He plans on telling Ann before he leaves, but the rest of his friends are another story.
As he is trying to find a way out of spilling the beans, he suddenly senses something amiss about the tin foil package. He turns to Ryuji and Futaba, who are eating triple chocolate chip cookies wrapping in the same packaging, and notices the cookie box between them.
"... Wait… Guys? … Where did you get these cookies from...?" he asks in a serious tone.
"We found them in the kitchen," Futaba says as he chomps down on a cookie. Akira's eyes widen as his fear starts building.
"Where in the kitchen?"
"In the cabinets," Ryuji says. Akira starts sweating bullets.
"Which cabinet?!" Futaba points to it.
"The one on the farthest right." With that answer, Akira's fears have been realized. He knows exactlywhich cabinet the cookies came from.
"YOU DUMB ASSES!" The terrified rebel thwacks them both hard on their heads.
"Agh! The hell was that for?!" Ryuji shouts.
"Do you have any idea what you two just did?!" Akira panics. "You stole cookies from Ann's Sugar Cabinet! She specifically told me not to-" At the sound of the bathroom door opening, Akira shrieks, puts his cookies back in the box, and sits back down in his seat right before Ann and Haru return.
"Geez. Going to the bathroom with one arm isn't easy," Ann says. "So, what did we mi-" Ann stops talking when she notices Ryuji and Futaba chowing down on her box of premium triple chocolate chip cookies. Ryuji stupidly takes out another package and offers it to her.
"Want one? It's the last one." She just stares the package for a little bit.
"... Is that so…?" she asks. Akira slowly crawls over the couch to take cover behind it as a dark aura starts engulfing her. With shadows over her eyes, she points towards a corner of a room while smiling at the two cookie thieves.
"... Ryuji… Futaba… Go sit in that corner… Right now…" she says in a deep tone.
"Huh?! Why?!" Futaba shouts.
"Don't argue... Just sit in the corner..."
"No way!" Ryuji argues. "I just spent half a damn hour sittin-" With burning fury, she grabs them both by their collars, gets up in their faces, stares deep into their souls with glowing red eyes, and roars.
"... CORNER! NOOOW!"
Next thing everyone knew, the two were sitting in the corner with paper signs that say "I did a terrible thing" hanging by their necks and her towering over them both with crossed arms, a menacing glare, and leather whip in hand. She does as lash in the air to scare them further.
Ryuji+Futaba: "EEK!"
"You two care to explain why the hell you dug your sticky hands into someone else's cookie box?!" she scolds.
"W-We didn't know we weren't supposed to dig in there!" Futaba cries. "And I hungered!" Ann lashes the ground in front of her.
"I don't give a damn how much you "hunger"! You always ask someone for permission before you go sniffing around in the kitchen! Especially when they have a private stash! And what's worse, those were my favorite cookies you two wolfed down!" Ryuji glares at her.
"Why're you singling only us out?!" he shouts. "Your boy toy took one too!"
"I didn't take one! You guys handed one to me!" Akira objects from behind the couch. "And I didn't even open it! As soon as I figured out where it came from, I put it back! Mona, Yusuke, and Makoto are witnesses!"
"It's true. He really did," Mona tells Ann. Ann responds by giving Ryuji a lash on his forehead.
"GAH! DAMMIT!"
"That's for trying to drag him into your screw up!" she barks. "Now you two rotten cookie thieves sit right here and think about what you've done!"
Ryuji+Futaba: "Y-Yes, ma'am…"
Ann turns her back to them, pulls out a cookie pack from the box, walks over to Akira, and hands it to him. After he cautiously takes it, she smiles and pats him on his head.
"Good boy," she says. Akira just nervously laughs.
My god, she's just as scary as Makoto.
He notices Futaba sniffling ang trying to fight back the urge to cry.
"Oh, stop being a baby," he tells her. "It wasn't that bad." Futaba shakes her head.
"That's not iiiiiit~!" she whines.
"Huh? Then what's… Eh?" Everyone notices the munchkin trying to cover up the front of her shorts… and then everything went sour.
"... Oh my," Makoto lightly gasps.
"I was waiting for the bathroom~! Uuuuu..." The boys turn away from her uncomfortably.
"That is… quite unfortunate," Yusuke says. Ann covers her mouth as a massive wave of shock and regret hit her.
"Oh my God. Futaba, I am so sorry," she gasps. "Hey, Haru, can you-"
"Y-Yes. Of course." Haru takes Futaba into Ann's room to find her some shorts and underwear to borrow.
"Damn. She's trying really hard not to cry," Ryuji says. Akira pushes his glasses up.
"I-I'm pretty sure any girl would be super embarrassed if they suddenly… wet their pants," he says.
It took a bit for Haru and Futaba to come back to the room, Futaba wearing one of Ann's frilly red shorts. She stopped crying, but it looked like there was almost no soul in that body.
"... I don't feel right in these," she mumbles as she pulls at the shorts, her speech completely void of life.
"... Are you okay?" Ann asks her.
"... Just drop it... "
It took longer for everyone to realize that Ann's shoulder was healed.
xxx
Everyone continued to converse amongst themselves until Ryuji's timeout is over. Ryuji walks over to Akira and taps his shoulder.
"Alright. So, about what we were talkin' about before," he says.
"Huh? What were we talking about?" Akira asks.
"Y'know. About what your folks." Akira bites his lip a bit and scratches his head.
"Oh… Um…" After a few seconds of thought, Akira decided that he would at least tell everyone a little bit about his parents. That should keep them satisfied enough to keep them from digging into classified territory.
"Alright. Everyone, come here and take a look." His friends gather around him as Akira pulls out his phone and digs through his photo gallery. He shows them a picture of a woman in a biker gang's outfit. Red choker with a dog tag, black leather jacket, super small white tank top, black fingerless gloves, tight cut jean shorts, high knee biker boots, the works. She was even leaning back on a red motorcycle.
"Dayum~! Who's she?!" Ryuji shouts with a dirty grin on his face, focusing on the astronomically buxom figure being shown off by the tight squeeze of her clothing.
"Whoa, is she bumpy!" Futaba exclaims. "She's all… boing and… boing and… BAAAM~!"
"I didn't think it was possible for anyone to have a body nicer than Lady Ann's," Mona gasps.
"Mind telling me what another woman's picture is doing on your phone?" Ann asks with skepticism. Akira points at the woman's head.
"Look at her head," he says. "Notice anything?" Everyone squints their eyes when their attention is drawn to her head.
"The most noticeable aspect of her head would have to be her hair," Yusuke says. Makoto nods in agreement.
"Yeah… It looks very close to…"
"It's kind of like…" Haru mumbles.
"Seaweed," Futaba says bluntly. "Long, tangled, dark ash colored seaweed." As soon as the tech munchkin says those words, Ann remembers what Akira told her during their first bath together.
"Seaweed..." she mumbles. "Long and tangled… dark ash colored… No way!" She looks at her boyfriend with shocked eyes.
"You're joking! … THAT'S your mom?!"
Mo+R+Y+Ma+Fu+H: "EHHH?!"
Akira chuckles as he nods.
"Yep. That's her in all her glory," he says. "Female officer Sayako Kurusu of the Kamakura Police Department… Surprised?"
"Hell yeah!" Ryuji shouts. "Is she really Japanese?! Look at how massive she is! She's as big as those Hawaii chicks!"
"You drool and it's back to the corner," Mona tells him. Akira starts flipping through photos of him and his mother.
"I'll be honest with you guys," he says. "My mom's a total psychopath and a former delinquent. She's reckless, quick to anger, violent, rebellious, and always seeking a thrill. She'd play rough with me all the time to the point where I'm always expecting a choke hold or a tackle when I get home from school. It's super chaotic when she's around cuz she always does what she wants. Despite that, she's considered the best officer in the KPD. Never lost a perp even once." Akira starts showing the group pictures of his father, whose intimidating aura could be felt even though they were only looking at his picture.
"They only person she ever submits to is my dad," Akira continues. "Yoshiro Kurusu, KPD police commissioner. Strong, cunning, strict, and a leader of leaders. Utterly devoted to his work and the cause he works for doing it. And the fact that he can get my mom to behave and follow the rules speaks volumes about how much of a hard ass he is. Needless to say… they're both pretty extreme in their own way." He chuckles with a warm smile on his face as he starts flipping through the photos of him with his family happily spending time together.
"But as extreme as they can be, they're three times as selfless, positive, and loving. They'd always take time out of her day to look after and be with me, even if they had to blow off work to do it. A boxed lunch and a goodbye when they'd go in so early in the morning, a call to tell me they love me when they have to work late. Both of them would teach me how to cook and help me stay… obviously a little too far ahead in school. Dad would take me out hiking through the woods and to the lake to go fishing. Mom would play video games with me and take me out for these long drives on her bike. And every now and then, they'd have me play this game with cases that they already solved where I'd have play detective and solve them myself. I wasn't as perceptive as I am now, so it was hard, but always fun and satisfying."
Akira's mind slowly flashes back to when he was home with them.
xxx
A thirteen year old Akira has returned home after a long day of school. He walks through the front door when…
"SOOORUYAAAAAAH!" His mom spear tackles him to the ground, then she puts him into her signature sleeper hold. Mother's Care, a hold in which a woman cuts of the victim's air with her mammoth breasts.
"Welcome home, Aki-kun!" she laughs. Akira panics and gasps for air as he tries to struggle out of his mother's hold, but as always, her grip is unbreakable. Yoshiro calmly walks over and taps his wife's shoulder.
"Alright, Sayako, that's enough," he says. "Don't kill the kid." Sayako grins at him.
"Aw c'mon! Lemme play with him for five more minutes!" He yanks her by her hair and glares into her soul.
"No. Let him go. Now." Sayako whimpers in fear before reluctantly releasing her victim.
"Hurumph! You're such a buzzkill, Yoshiii~!" she pouts. Akira catches his breath before glaring at his mother.
"What… in the hell… is wrong with you?!" he shouts.
"Is it so wrong for a saintly and loving mother to give her precious boy a hug?" Sayako asks him.
"Hug me like a normal person! And don't make me laugh with that "saintly" bull crap! No saint wears a dog collar!" Sayako puffs out her chest, showing off the dog tag that says "Yoshi's Pet" with pride.
"Uh, excuse me! This is a Love Choker and it's priceless," she says. "Your father gave it to me the night he popped the question and it's been my wedding band since we've been together." Yoshiro rolls his eyes.
"That's only because you said you think rings are too feminine," he groans. "Not that I minded, as long as you were mine." Sayako happily gets on all fours and shakes her butt like a dog.
"I'll always be yours, Yoshiii~! Arf, arf!" Yoshiro nonchalantly pets her on the head, leaving Akira disgusted. Then, the father puts out his hand to his son.
"So? How'd you do?" he asks. Akira pulls out his exam results and hands them to his father with a confident smile.
"Oh, like you expect anything else?" His parents look at his test results and smile.
"Top dog again!" Sayako laughs, patting him on his head. "Just like last year! And the years before that!"
"He he… Well, I had some really good tutors," Akira says. Yoshiro frowns with slight remorse.
"Not lately... Sorry about that," he says. "It's just been case after case lately and the work keeps piling up." Akira shakes his head.
"Hey, don't worry. I know you guys work hard. If anything, it makes the times you both make it home all the more meaningful." Sayako walks beside her son and wraps an arm around his shoulders.
"Well, we get this weekend off. Why don't we all go on a trip?" she suggests. "I kinda wanna go up to the mountains."
"Sounds good to me," Yoshiro says. "How about you, kiddo?" Akira just looked at them both and shook his head.
"I don't care where… as long as it's with you guy."
xxx
"If I had to describe my family in very few words," Akira says. "I'd say… chaotic, but happy… And I can't wait to go back to that." Ann smiles warmly at her lover, happy that he has parents that will always spend time with him without letting their work get in the way.
"You really love them, don't you?" she asks.
"Of course. Up until I moved here and found you guys, they were the only family I got. I mean, they told me I have other relatives, but I've never met them… One of the things I'll have to ask them about, I guess." Mona suddenly hops down from the couch and pads over to the apartment door.
"Hey, can I talk to you outside in private really quick, Akira?" he asks.
"Sure. I'm coming." Akira walks to the door, opens it, and follows his cat friend out to the hall, leaving their friends to talk amongst themselves again.
As soon as he closes the door, Akira lets out a deep sigh.
"I know what you wanna say," he says. "... No, I haven't told her yet." Morgana is actually the only one of his friends he's told about his parents since he'll be going with him back home.
"Why are you stalling?!" Mona scolds. "If you're not going to tell everybody, she at least has the right to know!"
"I get it, okay?! I do! ... I'll... tell her tonight..."
"You'd better or I'll spill it to everyone!"
xxx
The rest of the afternoon consisted of just more playing around and talking before everyone went home.
After their curry dinner, the couple in the bathroom taking their shared bath.
"So, what do you wanna do about the graduation ceremony on Saturday?" Ann asks Akira as he is scrubbing her back. "Makoto and Haru said we don't have to go if we want some more alone time, but…"
"Hm… Well, I have to head back Leblanc to finish packing that day, but I could do it during the party. And a little more alone time would be nice… I'll keep thinking about it." Akira finishes cleaning her back and pulls her in to hold her at his side. He then notices her biting her lip and shaking a little.
"Speaking of thinking," he says. "What's on your mind?"
"J-Just… nervous about what I'm going to do when I meet your parents," she says. "The way you described them today made me super antsy." Ann turns to him with concern in her eyes.
"... Do you think they'll like me?" she asks. "I'm mean, being a model doesn't really give off a good impression to some people." As much as he wanted to tell her that they'll love her just only half as much as he does and it means a lot, suppressed dark thoughts that have been building up all week start flooding his mind, keeping that answer from coming out. And without knowing it, he started answering with those thoughts on his mind.
"W-Well… I dunno…" he sighs. "I mean, you have a point with the model thing… Actually, I'm wondering if they'd even be open to meeting you… They'd probably be pretty skeptical of their son bringing a city girl home with him… And-"
"Y-You're not exactly filling me with confidence here!' Ann shouts, temporarily snapping Akira out of his train of negative thought.
"O-Oh! S-Sorry," he says. "I didn't mean to freak you out… I just… um…" Ann feels a strong tightness on her heart when his face floods with dread.
"H-Hey. Hey, what's wrong?" Akira lets out a deep sigh. If his negative emotions are going to persist, then he might as well confess to the truth right now.
To keep himself from getting any lower, Akira pulls Ann in for a warm and tight embrace. Naturally, she hugs him back, but mostly because based the way he's shaking and the tightness of his embrace, she feels as though he's about to tell her something painful.
"Ann, I-I… I-I'm sorry," he mumbles. "I should've told about this a long time ago…" She rubs his back to comfort him.
"... Then just tell me now…" she says. Akira nods, squeezes her as tight as he can, and takes a deep breath.
"... When I was talking about… how much my parents love me…" He shuts his eyes.
"I didn't tell you how much that changed… after what happened with Shido…"
xxx
During all the super long days I spent locked up in the holding cell at the KPD precinct... I was constantly shouting at the officers to let me see my folks cuz I haven't seen them at all since before my arrest. But every time I asked, I got the same kind of response.
"Why should they come? They're busy enough as it is. They don't have time deal with trash."
I tried over and over again, but I got the same kind of answer. There was no way in hell I was gonna believe that. They couldn't really see me like that. During all those years we spent together, I've always told them the truth, even when it was something bad. They couldn't really believe I could turn into a criminal in a single night. I kept telling myself that… right up until after the trial.
After my fate was decided… they were the ones to take me home. I was still in shock for most of the drive and they didn't say a word to me. It wasn't until we got back to the house that I started talking to them… And that's when everything went to hell.
"They're lying. You guys know I'd never hurt anyone. I was trying to protect her! He fell on his own!" I kept telling them that hoping they'd listen. But Dad just marched into their room… and Mom just stood there with her back to me. It frustrated me. Of all people, she should be the one to believe me.
"Mom, look at me…! C'mon! Look at me…!" She didn't look. And it made me more pissed off.
"Mom, don't just stand there! Look at me!" Still nothing. At that point, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Mom, don't just stand there! Look at me! SAY SOMETHING, GOD DAMMIT!"
… It happened so fast… like a flash of lighting… Her right knuckle's impact on my jaw, cutting my lip and… sending me tumbling into the ground… That's the one punch I can never forget about…
I didn't need to look to feel the anger in her eyes… They cut into me far deeper than any knife… Obviously, she didn't even want to look at me… So I just went to my room and started packing my things…
…
The morning I left… they didn't even take me themselves… They had someone drop me off at the station… When I asked them where my parents were, they told me something that's stuck with me for so long…
xxx
"... They're not gonna waste their time on you… At this point, they most likely just want you gone…"
Throughout his entire story, Ann's disbelief gradually rose. The people he described a few hours ago sounded completely different to how they are in his story: So quick to cast him away when his innocence is questioned.
"When I got on the train," he continues with a face flooded with quiet sorrow. "I was almost ready to believe that completely. Neither of them acknowledged my existence after what happened. Didn't talk to me, didn't look at me… Maybe they really don't want me anymore… But while I was looking through my luggage during the ride, I found something in my bag that wasn't there before. It had my parents' initials on them, so they had to have left it for me to help me."
"... What was it?" Ann asks.
"You should already know what it is. I have them with me almost all the time. They're fake, so I shouldn't really have them on me." Zero seconds passed before she realized what he was talking about.
"... Your glasses…" Akira nods.
"They gave me a mask to help me fit in here… If they didn't care, why would they do that? That unanswered question is one of the things that have been pushing me on… Those glasses are the symbol of all the hope I have left…" He pauses to squeeze her tighter.
"You, Futaba, Boss, everyone…" he continues. "You all gave me more love than I'll ever need… Of course I really want to stay than go back there… But no matter how amazing my life is here, I won't be able to truly live it without finding out how they feel about me… So that's why I gotta go back… Even if there's a big chance I'll hear something I don't wanna hear, I… I just… I have to know…"
Having laid it all out in the table, Akira lets out a deep sigh and gently pushes Ann away to look at her face with eyes filled with remorse.
"... I know I messed up," he grimaces. "I-I should've told you this sooner... I'm sorry…" Ann shakes her head and smiles.
"Hey, no. It's okay," she says. "I know something like that isn't so easy to bring up. If anything, I'm just happy you did before you left." Akira caresses her cheek.
"So listen… I know that things are much easier when you have someone standing by you… but… they're my parents, so…"
"... Lemme guess. You don't want me to go with you, right?" Akira bites his lip as she leans in.
"You're dead set on doing this on your own?" she asks. Akira just nods once and she nods back.
"Kay. Then I won't try to change your mind." He gives her a warm smile.
"Annie… Thanks for being so understanding," he says.
"Of course I understand… But... just remember. Whether they want you or not, it doesn't really matter." She places her hand on his heart and stares into his eyes with the sweetest smile.
"... Cuz no matter what... I love you to the end of time and back… and I'll always love you, even if no one else will." Moved by his girl's vow, Akira chuckles and pulls her in.
"I think someone deserves a kiss for their sweetness and honesty~."
"Yay! Mmmm~!"
xxx
The two crawl into bed after their bath, ready to end the day. As Akira is laying his head down in his pillow…
"No! Not there!" Akira turns to her as she opens her arms out to him.
"Oh! Uh… you sure?" he asks, knowing that she's grant the use of his other "pillow". "You seriously don't have to-"
"Would you just get over here?" Akira hesitates for a bit, then gives up and rests his head in her chest. The surreal softness immediately works to ease him to sleep.
"... You know what?" she says as she runs her fingers through his messy hair. "I really don't think you have anything to worry about."
"... You really think so?"
"Mm hm. You were already a good person before we met and you're an even better person now. I'm sure they can't wait to see you again." In response, he wraps his arms around her waist and hugs her gently with a soft smile on his face.
"... Hey, Ann?" he mumbles. "... Thanks." Ann warmly smiles as she hugs his head.
"G'night, you."
For the first time all month, he didn't have a single nightmare the whole night.
Target: Hit
Author's Note: K'yo guys! Hey, remember way back when this fic just got started and I said this one would be my shortest project. LOL XD Oh, how naive I was.
Anyway, next week is my 21st B-Day. So as a special treat, the last chapter for the Tokyo Arc of Shots Through the Heart will be going live on Monday the 26th. Keep in mind, I'm saying this arc will be finished on that day. The overall story itself is still far from over. I will definitely be doing a Kamakura arc to wrap everything up as its own separate project under a new name.
Reason why I'm doing this? Well for those of you who have been following me, the author, you should be well aware that I haven't finished one of my first projects. That story being P3: YNA: True Protector. So after I finish this Tokyo arc, I'm going straight back to finishing up that project before I do ANYTHING ELSE. Once I get that done, I'll have no problem coming back to finish this.
Oh. And for those you who are following Reborn from the Sea, I'm still working out the kinks for the plot of that story. Rest assured, I'll come back to that too.