Subject: Re:Re:AKIRA'S WELCOME HOME CREW!
From: SQUAD! (-akira ofc)

man w/ plan: HARU did you get him yet
nerd: dude relax xD u at Lb rn?
nerd: Stg Ryuji ur names are so bad.
foxy grandpa: I'm going to arrive late. It seems as if my train fare sprouted wings and flew away.
can finally squat 70 kg!: yusuke no! weve already been here for hours :(
man w/ plan: HARU DID U GET HIM
Makoto.: Yes, they're in the limo right now. Quit texting her, it's the first time she's seen him in weeks.
man w/ plan: perfect, me and ann just cleaned up the attic

nerd: don't let her see that, it's ann and i :P
foxy grandpa: Haru, if you're reading this, make sure Akira doesn't see it.

Haru's phone kept rattling, but it's impossible to grab her attention while Akira's around. Begrudgingly letting his hand go to grab the mug of coffee, she giggled as Akira sipped her own personal blend. "Tastes even more amazing than last time! You must've added…" Thoughtfully playing with a small tuft of hair, Haru felt like she was falling in love all over again. It was the little things: his hair, him without glasses, his blazers, their coffee games, and even the dorky pet names he came up for her. Anybody with eyes, except maybe Ryuji, could plainly see that this relationship was going to last a long time.

"SHB, right? It's got just a hint of chocolate." Carefully placing the mug back onto the repurposed champagne bar, Akira turned to give Haru a small kiss, but instead was face to face with an angry pout. Remembering to put underneath the cup, he gave an embarrassed laugh and watched the adorable pout turn back into a smile.

"Yeah, Sojiro told me to lay easy on the Blue Mountain! He said my blends are always too sweet and some Central American beans should really emphasize the flavor profile!"

"You're too sweet," Akira said, brushing his head against hers just as a cat would. She smiled, and changed to a faux angry tone. "From all I said, that's all you got? It's a good thing you're pretty." Sticking her tongue out at Akira, she was surprised but satisfied to feel him pull her waist gently closer.

"We haven't seen you for two whole weeks. That's a really long time for Shakespearean standards." As the couple shared some friendly, dorky banter, Morgana thwacked Makoto's arm to grab her attention. The two sat shotgun, with a movable partition separating the cab from the actual limo. Knowing she couldn't reply, Morgana dropped a rather paternal speech, ending it with, "You're such a mature woman. Neither of you let it get between you or the group, it's crazy."

Everyone knew. Even Ryuji knew, who was surprisingly supportive. Before moving out to college, Makoto admitted to Haru that she loved her boyfriend, but that shouldn't stop them from remaining best friends. And it didn't. As a show of good faith, Haru even paid all application expenses for Makoto's dream college. It remained a secret between the two until Ann noticed the girls hanging out more often, which led to Futaba and Morgana learning about it, and Morgana's big mouth educated poor Yusuke and Ryuji.

Being the country boy who knew nothing about women or love, Akira didn't notice. All the nights he spent telling Makoto about the older women in his life that hit on him told her that he can't catch subtleties. His poor teacher, doctor, and even a journalist were all lead on by his shitty understanding of how flirting works. Writing off as city girls being much crazier than those in the country, he never knew a thing.

Peacefully padding down the well-loved stairs of Leblanc, Ryuji groaned and tossed the blackened mop towards the curry sink, affectionately named for how he often forced his head under its running water to dilute the spicy but oh-so-worth-it pain. Trailing after him, Ann retired in the closest booth to lay her head on the table. Her peace was short lived.

"Damn it, why do I always have to do all the work? Cleaning up for Akira was your idea, but I'm left with the heavy lifting!" Taking the seat next to her, Ryuji aimed his anger at the air, knowing damn well Ann was not listening. He sighed, and also dropped his thick skull to the wood for a short nap. His peace was also short lived.

An ecstatic voice teeming with geeky inflections seemed to round the corner, coupled with a gruff voice and a flash of colors definitely resembling a pimp. "When I'm a geezer, I want to be like Sojiro. He's such a pimp, I swear." Ryuji's hopes and dreams were crushed by a smack to the ear, and Ann peeled herself off the table to straighten her posture. Elders responded well to little things like that.

Geeking out about the newest maid in Akihabara's cafe, Futaba leaped in front of Sojiro to open the door. "M'lady," she snickered while tipping her imaginary top hat to her beaming father. It was hard to make him smile, if your name wasn't Futaba. He called it "narrowing your scope": as people age, the less they care about the cruel world, and the more they care about the paradise they spent their life building around them. Akira's friends (and Akira himself) used to be seen as a nuisance encroaching on his oasis in the shitty world, but they've slowly built themselves into it. Greeting the two tucked away in the furthest booth with a smile, Sojiro announced, "Quit making out and get the curry pot washed. They're getting here in a few hours."

Ann's defiance of his implication was cut short by Ryuji jumping to his feet, exclaiming "You got it, Boss," with a voice two octaves lower than how he spoke to her. Futaba picked up her slack, and scolded the pink pimp taking his hat off with "Give them some time, Dad! You can't rush my OTP like that!" Once a party support, always a party support.

The following hours were spent frantically preparing for Akira's return. Ryuji set Operation: Arrival in motion, but spent the limited time raving like a lunatic, swearing that everything was going to go wrong. As Sojiro apprenticed Ann in the art of cooking the perfect curry, Futaba siphoned her stash of junk food hidden under her bed to one of the booths. One one of her later trips, she finally found Yusuke, and scolded Inari for being late. Gracefully accepting the weight of his actions (he had spent train fare on buying a rather beautiful rock that reminded him of a shiba), the slender artist pinned up the self-commissioned posters to welcome Akira back.

As the massive amount of curry was finally allowed to rest, Ryuji's raving started to reach a fever pitch. "Where the hell's the limo? Oh man, they're not texting us. I bet that damn furball stole their phones!"

"He's not even here yet and you're already arguing with him." Yusuke was expecting some backlash for voicing his observation, so he wasn't particularly surprised by the almost electric glare Ryuji sent his way. Why did everything with Ryuji have to become confrontational?

About to explode from the stress of planning Akira's return for the fall break, Ryuji took a menacing step towards Yusuke. Nothing ever turned violent before, but Yusuke lived in fear of having his ass kicked by Skull, and losing their Personas did not change that.

Maybe the violence gave the Thieves a physical outlet for their metaphysical issues, and losing that began to bottle their stress up. Maybe their strength needed some flexing. Maybe the testosterone with nowhere to go forced their hands, but Yusuke and Ryuji were standing shoulder to shoulder (more like Ryuji's shoulders to Yusuke's armpits), with the ever present threat of both being kicked out by Sojiro. Unfazed, Boss watched the two. He knew how boys worked: always fighting for dominance, trying to flex for the ladies watching, always nitpicking on something the other had done a tiny bit wrong. If they didn't do this, this tension was going to fester, and something even worse would happen.

Ann was fazed, however, and tugged at Ryuji's arm. "Hey, this isn't about you! It's about Akira! Are you really going to waste all of our effort because of some petty comment?"

Silence filled the air. The two boys didn't break eye contact. Whoever broke first lost.

"It's not about you Ryuji! It never is!" Deafening his right ear, Ann tugged at Ryuji to take a step back.

Sighing, he decided to lose. His tense face and fight-or-flight body had lost to his unwavering loyalty. The only thing more important than Ryuji was Akira. "Shit man, I'm so sorry. I got caught up in a whole lot of nothing. Yusuke, I'm sorry for always being so petty. I really do treat you like shit sometimes."

"At least you're not afraid to admit it. Acceptance is the first step to rehabilitation." After pausing for a moment, Yusuke thoughtfully added on, "And I'm sorry too. I know you've been putting in the maximum effort to ensure Akira enjoys his stay here, and I haven't even done so much as a third of that. This is important for you, and I should respect that."

Done with letting the guys hog the spotlight, Futaba chimed in from her safety spot behind the staircase wall. "Empathy up for Ryuji, and patience up for Yusuke! Pack it up noobs, we've only got an hour left!"

The hours in the limo were less torturous than Makoto assumed they'd be. Although they were affectionate with each other verbally, Makoto never had to watch them kiss after the first hour, and they all shared a lovely rapport with coming back to the city.

Waving a sweet goodbye to the driver, Haru hugged Akira's arm and urged him to follow Makoto on the short walk to Leblanc. Her rather busy schedule with the company made travelling less of a vacation and more of a job, so she found solace in Akira's arms. "I haven't been here in a whole month, since the last board meeting! It's been even longer for you though, so let's make this trip count while we still have it!" Gripping his arm a little tighter, Haru stopped him on the backstreets of Yongen, just a minute away from the cafe. "Stay right here, okay? No moving!" Meandering off, a bell rang as Makoto and Haru shared some quiet words and they stepped foot into his old home.

Inconspicuously looking over both shoulders, Akira did his best to look like a normal human being while meowing. It took a couple of strange stares before Morgana piped up on a gutter across from him. "I finished casing the place, Joker. Our old room is spotless! I could hear Ryuji's screams from the window, so it seems like something inside is going crazy."

Nodding as not to look insane talking to a cat, he mulled over his options. Proceed with the plan, or listen to Haru?

Obedience wasn't half as fun.

Walking through the batting cages he spent time building up his proficiency, he noted the attic windows burnt into his memory, opened up by Ann who probably didn't want the room smelling like wood furnishing. Noting his rather high infiltration point, Akira tossed his bag up to the first story roof and used the chain link to sprawl up the wall. All the training in his room and work as a Phantom Thief gave him rather solid parkour skills, which sadly went to waste.

Silently scrambling through the window to not be caught as a thief, Morgana snickered as he finally stepped foot in Leblanc. Quietly recounting the plan, he batted his tail against a sweaty Akira. "Operation White Window has been a success! Now, all we have to do is nab the mask and thank the dumb blond monkey for putting in all this work on our welcome home party!"

Padding over to the house plant that Yusuke intensely insisted on naming Sun Sipper, Akira lifted the base and pulled out a paper mask resembling his black mask during his Joker days, a gift from Yusuke during his detention in prison. Gracefully catching the nude statue he was about to knock over, Akira prepped the show. Morgana clambered up his back, and the showstopping duo was about to make their appearance.

Stepping down the stairs, he could hear Futaba's panic. "H-hey Inari, I'm hearing steps! Check it out!" Yusuke murmured in response, but a fool is never late to the party. Holding the paper mask in a faux shounen manga pose to cover his eyes, Akira's leader voice came out, courtesy of a certain local politician.

"Ryuji Sakamoto! In exchange for throwing me an amazing welcome home party, I have come to steal your heart!"

The room began to boom. Although Futaba was the closest to the staircase, Ryuji's legs carried him over to Akira first. "Dude, you're home! Hell yeah!" Locking him in a solid bear hug, Ryuji actually beamed when he saw Morgana. "Mona, you dumbass cat! Welcome back, I missed you too!"

Pleasantly surprised, the rest of Leblanc became a furiously paced meet-n-greet, where Akira reconvened with all his fellow ex-Thieves with hugs. Futaba was enamoured by the entrance he had made, Yusuke delighted that he kept the mask, Ann insisting he tried the curry, and Sojiro glad he only had one kid. Seven and a cat would drive him more nutty than Blue Mountain.

It was like he never left.

As the party continued on, the girls had begun to leave and enjoy the rest of their night. Ryuji walked Ann to the station and marched right back, and Sojiro waited to take Futaba home to make sure Haru actually went home today. She did, escorting Makoto to the high rise they'd be calling home for the rest of break.

"You guys really cleaned the hell out of here. I really appreciate it." Akira wasn't wrong: all the dust Kawakami moved around the room with her duster was all gone thanks to Ryuji's mopping. He didn't even bother putting away the room's rather hilarious decor: from the ramen bowl Ryuji got, to the fondue machine from the rich buffet where they remet Shido, everything was still in place.

"Alright, Ryuji definitely wasn't the one cleaning up the place." Almost offended for a second, he let Akira finish the thought. "My Risette poster is still up." The two shared a loud laugh, to which Yusuke was confused.

"Risette? A type of electronic used in the 1990s?" Morgana was just as confused, but had the tact to not say anything. Getting either one of the guys started on Risette was going to end up in an hour long conversation where two kinda-sorta-taken men would gush about their mutual celeb crush.

Cracking his knuckles, Ryuji looked over to his partner in crime who had just finished cracking his neck. "Take a seat, because you're in for a ride, Yusuke! Risette is the goddamn cutest woman in Japan. Look at that Sapphire poster over there. My god, she's adorable. Last summer, the only thing that could top her photoshoot was-"

Saving Ryuji from shooting himself in the foot, Akira interrupted him with a melancholic tone. "She's dating someone from Inaba, apparently her high school sweetheart. It's a shame, cause-"

Yusuke chimed in again, with sheer lack of tact that would make even Futaba cringe. "She looks like Ann."

Silence filled the air. Yusuke decided to break it. "That's why you like Risette, yes? Because she looks like our beautiful Lady Ann?"

Ryuji went red. Morgana began to cackle, to which Ryuji started waving his hand threateningly. A cacophony of "furball" and "kill you" ensued, and laughter at his expense filled the room. His partner, who always seemed to have his back, chimed in to say, "Ryuji's got more of a shot than Morgana, at least." Now that the tables have turned, Morgana plopped himself down on Akira's head, somehow mishearing his jab entirely, instead taking it as an invitation for a haircut.

"No, Mona! Haru loves my hair like this, you can't ruin it!"

"So that's why you keep it so messy! Of course a Princess wants a bad boy, that just makes sense."

"Ah yes Joker, why don't you tell us about how things are going with Haru? I've heard great things."

"If I told you Yusuke, you wouldn't want to sit on the couch anymore. Or touch the table. And I hope you haven't slept on the bed."

But, he did just that. After wrapping up their conversation about girls, they moved onto bigger and badder subjects, like how the country had a huge lack of sushi, and how Morgana surprisingly didn't shed, making him an easy friend to clean up after (he hated the term pet). After 3 AM hit, Yusuke fell asleep, Mona soon after, and all that was left was the two stars of the night.

"Thanks, man. You always do me solids."

"You broke me out of prison. It's the least I can do."

Ryuji thoughtfully placed his finger on his chin, and looked ready to argue about it. At least he did before he yawned, putting both of them in a sleep-ready mood. "Take the bed, you earned it."

"Another day, it's your first day back. I'll take the chair."

Ryuji snickered. "Thank God I wiped it down."