"Look! A treasure chest!"
"Indeed," Yusuke observed. "We just need to get past the Shadow first."
"Then let's go," Akira said as he hopped out of the Morganamobile. "Fox, Panther, Queen, with me!" The trio nodded and hopped out of the van to stand next to him as the Shadow dissolved, revealing two Heavenly Punishers.
"Fox, Panther, take the one on the right. Queen and I will take the left one," he ordered.
"Shall we?" Yusuke asked.
Ann nodded. "Same as before, Yusuke. Bring them down!" she called out as she hurled her whip forward, curling it behind the Punisher to strike it and knock it forward and off balance.
"Rising Slash!" Yusuke yelled, slicing his katana through the middle of the beast, causing it to vanish behind him. "That's one down," he said calmly, turning to look towards where Joker and Queen were standing. "Ours is finished!"
"I see. Ready Joker?" Makoto asked.
"When aren't I ready? How about you?"
"Of cour-" Queen's answer was cut short by Joker charging towards the Punisher and promptly getting flung aside by it.
That looked like it hurt.
"Pathetic. I hope you'll be more of a challenge!" the Punisher roared as it picked up its sword and drove it towards Makoto, who closed her eyes and waited.
"Queen!" Ann called out.
Akira looked on as the blade drew closer to Makoto, until-
Now!" Makoto's eyes snapped open.
And the Punisher's eyes widened in shock, as it realised what had just happened.
"How?!" it demanded, staring down at its sword which had been caught between Makoto's hands just inches from her mask.
Makoto didn't answer. Just allowed herself a little smile.
They never see it coming, Akira thought gleefully as he jammed his gun against the side of the Punisher and pulled the trigger thrice, dissolving the creature into nothingness.
"Amazing..." Yusuke whispered. "I must remember to draw that later."
"No matter how many times you do that, it never gets any less impressive," Akira said as he walked over to Makoto, spinning his gun on his finger.
"Good thing I had a good teacher, then."
"Yeah." Akira threw his gun into the air and caught it, before stowing it away in his jacket. "You're pretty good."
He looks amazing when he does that, she thought.
Wait, why did I just think that?
Morgana flashed his hi-beams in annoyance.
"And you are too, Mona," Akira reassured him. "Now, let's get the treasure and go home."
"Right." The four of them walked over to the treasure chest, which was secured with a sturdy padlock.
"Joker, you have a lockpick, don't you?" Ann asked. Akira nodded, and promptly set to work unlocking the chest and opening it. "What is it?"
Akira gingerly picked it out of the chest. "Something that needs a wash," he said as he stored it away.
"I see."
"Does anyone else hear that?" Yusuke asked. The group went silent as they tried to listen for what Yusuke was hearing.
And then they heard it.
The unmistakable rattling of chains.
"Time to go." The group quickly ran over to the van and hopped in, Akira promptly taking the driver's seat. "Sorry, Morgana, but we need to leave. Gun it!"
"Hey! Don't force the gearbox so hard!"
...
"So, Akira..." Morgana began, glaring at the boy in question, who was slumped on the couch. "Why were you so determined to get out of there? You didn't need to drive like a maniac!"
"Reaper," he said simply.
"We've beaten it before."
"Yeah, by sheer attrition. I had to work for a month to afford the medicine we went through," he retorted.
"We could take it out ourselves now though!"
"I'm going to head for home, then," Yusuke interrupted, drawing the group's attention away from the growing argument.
"That's a good idea, actually. Everyone should go home and rest, you all did good today," Akira told them. The group nodded, and slowly began to stand up and disperse, with Yusuke and Ann heading off after exchanging goodbyes.
"Hey man." Akira looked up at Ryuji, who was stretching his back as he stood up. "You are right, it might be too much to face the Reaper at the-"
Morgana muttered something inaudible to himself.
"-at the moment," Ryuji continued, ignoring Morgana. "But we should give it a shot eventually."
Akira nodded. "We will."
"Cool. See you tomorrow." Ryuji set off down the stairs, leaving Akira, Morgana and Makoto in the attic.
"...Should we have faced the Reaper?" he asked.
"Yes, we should have, we could've totally-"
"No." Morgana turned to look at Makoto in surprise. "We aren't ready yet."
"Thank you, Makoto."
Morgana let out an annoyed sigh, causing Akira and Makoto to chuckle.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Akira," she said, standing up to leave.
"See you then. Text me once you've gotten home safely," he said as he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion, missing the small smile caused by his words. When he put his glasses back on, she was gone.
"Sojiro should be going soon. You should lock up," Morgana reminded him. Akira nodded and walked downstairs to where Sojiro was cleaning some cups.
"Your friends left. They looked exhausted," Sojiro observed.
"Yeah... School was tiring," Akira lied.
"Hmph." Sojiro dried the cups and stored them away. "I'm heading home. Lock up after me, will you?"
"Got it." With that, Sojiro left the café once more, with Akira locking up once he'd left.
"You know..." Akira turned around to look at Morgana, who was sat on the floor behind him. "He's going to find out eventually."
"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "But for now, let's not worry about it."
"Agreed." Morgana turned around and started walking towards the stairs. "Come on, I wanna go to bed."
"Is that why you always force me to go to bed?"
"Maybe."
Akira sighed, and then his phone buzzed.
I got home safely. Sis isn't here yet though.
A small smile formed on Akira's face as he sent the reply.
Glad to hear it. Hopefully she'll be home soon.
Yeah. See you tomorrow.
"Akira!"
The boy sighed, and walked upstairs.
...
"So as you can see, people throughout time have built various monuments all around the world dedicated to people, cultures, even events that have happened..."
The teacher's droning voice was putting Akira to sleep. In front of him, Ann was struggling to stay awake as well.
"Hey, Akira," Morgana hissed from under the desk. "Don't fall asleep, you might miss something important!"
Akira's phone buzzed, drawing the boy's attention.
Are you free after school? I want to do another date.
Akira's stomach did a flip. Another date?
Yeah. Where do you want to meet?
How about the Big Bang Burger? We can get some food and talk as well.
Sounds great. I'll meet you there.
"Kurusu!" Akira looked over at the teacher. "What statue is currently standing outside of Diver City in Odaiba?"
"Uhh.. A-A statue of a horse?" Akira answered.
"Incorrect." The teacher picked up a large photo from the desk next to them. "It is actually a statue of the Unicorn Gundam, which replaced the previous statue of the original Gundam, also known as the RX-78." The teacher placed the photo down and picked up another one. "At certain times of the day, it will transform into what is called its 'Destroy Mode', along with a light show."
"How did he get that wrong?"
"Maybe he isn't as smart as we thought..."
"A transforming statue... We need to go and see that," Morgana muttered.
...
"Why are we here?" Morgana asked.
"M-Makoto wanted to go on that second date here," he explained simply.
"Ohhh. Well why didn't you say so?"
"Hey." Akira turned around to see Makoto waiting behind them. "Thank you for agreeing to do this on such short notice."
"It's fine," he said. "Shall we?"
"Yes." Makoto opened the door Akira was reaching for and held it open for him, forcing him to awkwardly step through the door as though that was his plan all along.
Being a gentleman is harder than those movies make it look.
"So," Makoto began, interrupting his thoughts. "What will you be having?"
"Uh... I-I think I'll be having the Saturn Potato," he said.
"Oh. I will have the Venus Salad, then."
"Ooh! A Saturn Potato for me please!" Morgana called out of the bag. Akira and Makoto shared a glance.
"If we put it in the bag and clean it out afterwards..."
"Then he can have it. Good thinking, Akira." The boy smiled, and the two went up to order their meals together.
"Sae came home from work in a foul mood yesterday," Makoto said as they placed their food down at a table and sat down opposite one another.
"Oh?" Akira placed the Mona bag down next to him and quickly put the second Saturn Potato in the bag for Morgana to enjoy. "What happened?"
"Apparently, some of Akechi's fangirls asked her to pass along some presents from them. They thought she was his mother."
Akira started sniggering. "Wow. Seriously?"
"Yeah. She was not happy." Makoto giggled for a moment, but was soon distracted. Akira had stopped sniggering and was talking to Morgana about Sae, but there was something different about him today, Makoto noticed. He wasn't as awkward as he was on the first date. It was still blatantly obvious that he was trying to be a gentleman, his attempt to get the door for her made that obvious...
Then he took off his glasses, complaining about how the sun was reflecting into them, and she saw his eyes, the light dancing in them as he looked at her and Morgana, how animated and happy they were, how the smile on his face from whatever Morgana had said made him look even more handsome-
Wait, what?
"...Makoto?" Akira asked, causing her to lurch back to reality. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be fine?" she quickly babbled before nervously giggling to herself, causing Akira to look at her with concern.
"Are you sure? You didn't seem to be with us."
"I am fine," Makoto stated, a little more fiercely than she intended, judging by how Akira had leant back in response. "Sorry, Akira. We should just cut today short," she explained.
"Oh." Akira looked saddened by that. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Sorry," she said.
"It-it's fine. We can always do this another time," he told her.
Ask them about it, a voice in the back of her head told her.
Should she ask them about it?
...
"Makoto?" Akira asked they walked out of the shop. "Is everything okay?"
"I-I think so. Sorry for snapping in there, it's just..." Her voiced trailed off, as she quietly tried to quell the rising panic from what had happened.
"Makoto..." Akira began. "T-Talk to me."
Without warning, Makoto promptly threw her arms around Akira and hugged him, causing him to stumbled backwards with a squeak.
"M-Makoto?" he squeaked.
"I don't know. I don't know, I don't know, Akira... None of this is making sense!"
Akira had no response to that, other than to gently wrap his arms around her to hopefully comfort her in some way.
"I-I don't..."
"Breathe, Makoto," Morgana reminded her. "Remind yourself of when you were last in a safe and happy place."
Makoto took a deep breath. And then another. Slowly, she started calming down, her breathing slowly becoming less erratic, more stable.
"S-sorry," she said, moving backwards out of Akira's embrace, an embarrassed look on her face. "I-I got scared a-and..."
"D-don't worry about it. Do you want to talk about it?" Akira asked.
"N-no. Not now. B-but soon." Makoto took a deep breath and looked at Akira. "But thank you for today. I'm afraid I didn't learn much about dating, though."
"That's okay." Akira smiled at her, causing a fluttering sensation in her chest which confused her even further. "We can always go on another one."
"Y-yeah." Makoto returned the smile. "I-I'll text you when I get home," she said, before turning around and hurriedly walking away.
"What happened to her?" Akira asked as he and Morgana watched her walk away.
"She was staring at you for a long time in there, and she suggested the dates in the first place. So..."
"...I had something on my face?" Akira asked as he started trying to wipe his face with his fingers.
Morgana groaned. If only I had my human form back, this would be easier.
...
Author's Note: Trying something here in regards to Akira's personality, so apologies for any decrease in quality. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter anyway, should be three more to come when I get round to writing them.