"What did I get myself into?"
Akira goes through the day with thoughts of the stranger he just met, and he wanted to avoid him. Something about him makes the boy insecure of himself. Even so, he feels a strong connection to him. Like a twin separated since born, but that is absurd. It is the first time he ever meet someone so annoying yet comforting. He is puzzled on what his real feeling towards that guy. He sighs as he refocus himself to the lecture in the class. Just when he is about to concentrate on the hard part of the lesson, he notices the grey haired figure in the field.
"They are having basketball as their P.E. today," he uttered in his heart.
He ends up hypnotized by his athletic side. He stands out among the ordinary student even though he looks pretty ordinary in his eyes. With every dribble his heart races, with every dodges he anticipates, and with a shoot that goes into the goal almost make him cheer in his seat. Everyone in the room turns to him after making a sudden noise that breaks the silence, but he acts innocent of it. He neglects the eyes staring at him and pretend to focus on the textbook.
A moment has passed and the lesson has continued once again, Akira is relieved that he is safe from detention. A vibration can be heard inside his desk. He takes out his phone. Seeing a notification on the screen, he opens up to read it. The message is from one of his group friends, Ryuji.
"Something the matter, dude? You've been acting weird since you returned that night." The message read.
Akira ponders on what would be a good reply that will not raise a single question, that he will settle this matter alone without involving anybody especially his teammates. If the grey haired guy knows about them too, more lives would be in danger than his. He decides to reply with a solid reasoning.
"I was bored. I got too absorbed looking at other classes doing P.E." He typed.
Once he sees the three dots loading screen, indicating the other party is typing a reply, he starts to sweat nervously. Was his text not convincing enough? Anyone would bound to do so if they were seated near the window, it is common sense. He prepares himself for the message he is about to receive.
"As expected of an honor student! You're so perfect, dude! I'm crazy jealous!" Ryuji replied.
Akira exhaled an amount of air as a sign of relieved. He is glad that Ryuji bought it, he really has no time to be lying more than he should. He does not want to lose their trust on him, it will be difficult on both side. He decides to look once more towards the field. Coincidentally, the familiar figure also staring up to their classroom. The black haired boy is shocked to see him smile despite how far away they are. There is no way he could see him behind that one window out of others, not to mention the shining sun reflecting on it.
"What is he exactly? Don't tell me he's one of us." Akira thought before focusing back into class.
While on Yu's side, he is cleaning up the field after a session of P.E. lesson. He stares up to the school building, thinking how he have been accepted into this prestigious school. He does perform in excellence at Yasogami High School, but surely the height in standards are greater here. Then, the thought about the phantom thief he has helped crosses his mind. He smile upon the the images of his face appearing in his head. He will surely to find out more about him. After all, he has solved the murder case in Inaba. He can do it here as well with hard work and help from his friend.
"I'll make sure to have you dance in the palm of my hands." Yu said by himself.
When he is admonished by a fellow classmate, he starts to clean up again.
The school bell rings, the day ends as peaceful as ever. Akira, Ryuji, and Ann decides to hang out together at a fast food restaurant nearby. As they walk, Akira stumbles upon the person he least wanted to meet. Although the person is oblivious of his presence, he cannot help but feel uneasy just seeing him there. He does not want to be seen with his friend by him, he does not want them to get rope up in his situation. He stops when they have reach near his position, the others follow and turn to him in confusion.
"What's the matter?" Ann inquired.
Akira cannot find an answer in his head. Should he bluntly tells them, even though that person is right there? Before he can say anything, his mouth halts opened when their eyes meet. They exchange glances with each other without a word. With a smile, the grey haired boy leaves him be in silence. The phantom thief who is standing still like a statue is being pulled by Ryuji to the side.
"You're in the way, man." The blonde guy admonished.
"You've been out of it lately, what's up?" Ann inquired.
He can see how worried they are and yet he cannot let a word escape from his mouth. That smile is not welcoming, it is a warning he thought. He shrugs it off so that they let it off their mind. He needs to let the thought on him dissipates too, it is a disturbance to his concentration. The two are reluctant to accept his answers at first but they play along with it. He is their formidable leader, he will know what to do.
That night, the mission is to fulfill the requested Mementos is commencing. They enter and roam about to search for the treasure. Somehow tonight, Akira decides to avoid any encounter from the shadows. Perhaps he is trying to avoid going to his place after that stirring emotions moment. He stays behind when the others demand to fight. He looks from afar while his teammates are going into action. Then, a voice rings inside his head.
"Joker, aren't you going to fight?" Futaba asked in curiosity.
He cannot say that he is not fighting to avoid meeting a certain person, it will ruin his reputation as a leader. What will they say when they found out that the leader of the Phantom Thieves is a coward towards a human? He cannot accept the jeers that he imagined will be thrown to him.
"I'm not in the mood tonight, that's all." He replied.
There is no respond from Futaba, but he knows she does not accept that answer. She must have looked closely to see why he is like that. Before he knows it, a shadow slips through from the fighting area of the others and rushing towards Akira.
"Joker, look out!" Morgana warned him as he chased after the shadow.
Without knowing why, his hands start to shivers at the sight of the shadow. He is not scared, he just know it is too late to counter its attack. He defends himself with his arms instead to take the shadow's blow. As painful as he expected, he flies across the room after being hit by it. The pain is too much for him to handle that he cannot get back up instantly. He falls down after an attempt to stand. Morgana has jumped to attack it in surprise, but he fails when the shadow approaches to attack Akira again.
"Joker!" Yusuke's voice echoed through the room.
Soon, all of them run towards him in order to protect him. The curly haired boy looks at the shadow coming to him with hating eyes. He does not want to end his life on a mere shadow like this one, at least the shadow of a person is more respectable than this garbage. He groans as he tries to summon his Persona. He closes his eyes as he is focusing on summoning one.
"Ar...sené..." He uttered under his breath.
Even so, no Persona appears. The shadow is nearing and he is powerless to go against it. He cannot move in his injured condition. He closes his eyes once again to accept what will befall him.
"Is that the best you can do?" A familiar voice reached his ear.
Shocked to hear it, he lifts up his head and speechless at the appearance of the figure he annoyed of. He is standing in front of him in a white gold uniform, protecting him from the shadow's attack. What makes him hold his breath is that he is wielding a Persona, and he is wearing a disguise just like them. Having a silver mask hiding half of his face, he can see him glancing through the holes of the mask.
"You..." Akira could not finish his sentence as pain invading his body.
He tries to hold it in. Then, a healing spell has been casted upon him. This boy used a different Persona from before, a change that only a person with wildcard ability can do. His mouth is wide open yet no sound comes out other than his breath. He can see the figure smirks before turning his attention to the shadow in the front.
"I'll show you how real man fight. Go, Izanagi-no-Okami!" The person exclaimed as the mentioned Persona appeared behind his back.
Akira cannot understand why that guy is clenching his fist in the air, he does not understand anything of what has happened. Feeling tired of the nonsense he is experiencing, he closes his eyes as he hears his name being called.
"Joker, no!"