Ann looked at Akira with shock, mouth hung open as she looked between him and Makoto who shared the astonished look. She could sort of understand why their leader decided to fall for the certain artist but still it was rather surprising to hear it directly from him as well. It wasn't that she didn't approve of it, but rather curios as to why it was Yusuke in the first place.
"I do have a question though, if you don't mind me asking about." Makoto piped up, both finally regaining her composure and earning the attention of the remaining three members. "Why haven't you told him yet? If anything, it might lighten up the pain in your heart."
"It's not that simple," Akira admitted, looking down at the fallen petals. "If I told him, I might just end up hurting both him and myself since one, what if he doesn't reciprocate my feelings and I'll feel more like shit, and two, he'll feel guilty that he's causing me this pain. Plus, I'm nervous."
After the explanation, both the girls looked down and pondered on what to do. Telling Yusuke directly was already a bad plan, so maybe making him-.
That's it!
Brightening up considerably, Ann then nodded to herself and tapped Makoto's shoulder, whispering her plan. The student council president widened her eyes and nodded, smiling as she did so. Glancing back at their leader, they sported two wide grins, and a hint of mischief in their eyes which made Akira shiver in both anticipation and fear as to what they may have thought of.
"Okay, leader. We'll be helping you sort this out!" Ann grinned, bringing a fist up in the air and winking. "Also, we can probably bring the boys back upstairs, we're fine now, right?"
"Yeah, I'll do that." Morgana offered, jumping down the bed and bounded down the stairs. A few moments later, they hear two pairs of footsteps climbing up. When they ascended, Ryuji looked at them from one face to the other with a questioning glance.
"So? Who was it?" He asked, genuinely serious and a bit irritated.
"We can't tell you." The other blonde refused, a playful tone in her words, but a bit shifty.
"Oh, come on!" Ryuji complained, raising his hands up. "I was the one who found out first, so I obviously deserve to know!"
"Yeah, but with your loud mouth, he might get discovered!" Ann argues, obviously irritated. "Our identities were almost discovered because of you!"
"Y-yeah, well-!"
Makoto pinched the bridge of her nose before sighing in resignation, causing Ryuji to shut his mouth in worry he might've made her upset or irritated. "We'll tell you once this debacle is over, how about that?" Ryuji scratched the back of his neck and agreed, albeit begrudgingly. Makoto then continue on. "For now, it's getting late. I trust we will go into Momentos the next day?"
"Yes, that's right." Akira agreed, looking at each of the members, but glanced only at Yusuke, which didn't go unnoticed by the artist if anything, and nodded. "Get some rest guys, and thank you for coming here."
"It's what friends do, of course!" Ann smiled before grabbing her bag and getting ready to leave, "C'mon, we shouldn't hold him up for much longer."
Once they left, Akira felt a sigh escape his lips as he fell back onto his bed. Morgana jumped up and pawed the leader's thigh to get his attention. "If you want to go to sleep," The cat starts. "Get dressed, stupid."
A quick dress down to some loose shirt and pants, Akira fell back into bed with a huff. Bringing the sheets up to his chest, he let Morgana lay down by his feet and get comfortable. Finally shifting to a rather cozy position on the bed, Akira took his phone out and checked any missed messages he may have gotten from the past hours. Noticing a new pop-up, he pressed on the messaging app and Ryuji's chat name and screen appeared.
Ryuji
[So this is rude, yeah, I promised I'd wait.]
[But I gotta know who it is, man! It's killing me!]
Quiet chuckles filled the room as Akira shook his head. He knew Ryuji wouldn't let this down until he knew who it was. Well, there's nothing holding him back from telling, besides, if it was accidentally let out, he wouldn't regret telling him at all. He hesitated typing it out, though. Coughing a few petals out, he sent the short message and held his breath. Which was a bad idea since he began a fit for a few moments.
Akira
[It's Yusuke.]
…
Ryuji
[For real?!]
A rather expected answer. But it did make him relax a bit more as he swept the petals off the bed.
Akira
[Yes, it's him.]
[Please don't tell him.]
Ryuji
[Hey, man. I gotchu.]
[What're friends for? Promise I won't say anything.]
Akira
[Thanks.]
The conversation had Akira smiling and rather glad he could trust all of them to keep such a secret. It wasn't life-threatening or anything, but it does quiet hurt to know someone he 'longed' for, so to speak, knew and didn't reciprocate his feelings. When Ryuji replied with saying that he'd be the best wingman for him when needed, the leader of the thieves flushed bright red and quickly said it wouldn't be necessary, much to Morgana's entertainment.
"It's getting late," The cat mentions after quite some time. "You should get some sleep."
"Fine," The dark-haired teen grumbled a bit in annoyance and sends a good night message that indicated he needed to rest for the next day. "Good night."
"Night."
Whatever happiness he felt that night didn't prepare him for what was to come the following day at all.