Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5!
Note: I may not be able to post new chapters this coming week or the week after, because it's the exam period for me. Unfortunately, it's also the reason why this chapter is shorter than usual. I hope you guys can understand.
With that, enjoy the story!
Futaba coughed. "So the reason why he was being blackmailed... is because of his passion for ballet...? I... I don't see what's wrong with liking ballet..."
Ryuji tapped his pen on the table. "I guess it's because people think of him as a delinquent, so it would cause major embarrassment of they were to know that he likes something as graceful as ballet? But that's beside the point. Now, analyse this and tell me what you can infer from it."
The group was sitting in the canteen as usual, since Ryuji still had to teach Futaba Literature for her remedial. As Futaba continued to underline key points in the passage, Ryuji also started writing some how-to's on analysing literature passages, poetry and other proses for her. Meanwhile, the other two continued to chat quietly to prevent disturbance.
"Hm, I guess Yusuke's really trying to keep himself on his toes..."
"... Oh my GOD! Akira!" Goro screamed as he started laughing both in hilarity and in exasperation. "Your freaking puns...!"
"Hey guys!"
Suddenly, Ann quickly stepped forward, a huge, half-eaten crepe in her hand. "I bought a crepe and came back to get something, and you all are still here? I thought you guys would've gone back by now since there aren't club activities today!"
Ryuji nodded. "Yeah... but Yusuke and I were supposed to have remedial and he decided to ditch it for club activities instead, so..."
"Oh..." Ann nodded before she quickly leaned foward and whispered, "Hey, speaking of which, I saw Yusuke step out of the dance studio earlier with a leotard in his hand. Do you think he is...?"
Goro nodded. "Yeah. He's a beautiful ballerina~"
She stared at him. "Wait! He's really a ballet dancer?! No wonder he's been busy!"
Seeing the four of them stare back at her in confusion, she looked at them in a puzzled manner too. "Don't you guys know? There's apparently a national Ballet competition in about two weeks! Our ballet dancers are taking part in it!"
"Still though... Yusuke doing splits in the air in a freaking leotard..." Akira muttered before he covered his eyes. "That's a sight I don't think I can ever forget..."
"... Done!" Futaba sighed happily as she clicked her pen close. "How is this, Ryuji-Senpai?"
Silently, he picked it up and read the paragraph that Futaba had written, his blank expression unchanging as his eyes ran across the page. "... Futaba?"
"Yes?"
"You're supposed to analyse the passage and explain the key points, not paraphrase everything."
"... Whoops."
"Alright, but back to the main point..." Akira muttered before he called Ann. "Hey Ann, were Haru and Makoto at remedial or something too since they're in the same class? It's not club activity since today isn't a club day, right?"
Ann slowly nodded. "Yeah. Why?"
"Will it be okay for you to call both of them here? There's something we all have to discuss regarding... well, Yusuke."
A concerned frown graced across her face, but Ann nodded and quickly skimmed away to get Haru and Makoto.
"WHAT?! He's being blackmailed?! How did I not know this?!"
Makoto was raging mad after Ryuji had explained and elaborated on the incident that he had seen to them. Pacing up and down madly, Makoto heaved a loud sigh. "I swear, that guy's gonna be the death of me sooner or later!"
"Geez, Mako-chan, calm down," Haru spoke calmly. "I'm sure there's a reason as to why he allows the guy to shove him around."
"Whoa, whoa! 'Mako-chan'? You two are suddenly so close!" Akira remarked as he stared in shock.
However, Makoto simply laughed boisterously as she slapped Akira's back, causing him to rub his back in pain. "That's cuz we became even greater friends than before after our teacher asked us to be in a team for a school project!"
Futaba bit her lip. "B-But back to the topic… What are we supposed to do? I doubt Yusuke-Senpai would want us to know about this…"
Ryuji shook his head. "No, I know him too well. He doesn't like it when people try to know him a little better. He sees it as us invading his own personal bubble."
"I see…" Ann nodded. "He's the very sensitive type, huh…"
Akira sighed, "Maybe it's just me, but I don't get why he hides the fact that he does ballet. So what if it seems more like a feminine type of activity? Shouldn't he just embrace it since he like it?"
"Actually, just in case you don't know," Goro spoke up as he leaned forward, "Our dear Yusuke here takes his image seriously. He doesn't like it when people poke fun of him in any way. Haven't you noticed why he's always so ill-tempered whenever you guys start laughing at him?"
Suddenly, Akira gawked at his friend. "You mean, like that time when we all laughed at him for looking so different from his usual demeanour? Is he really that sensitive?!"
Ann sighed as she leaned back. "You'll be surprised at how sensitive people can get, you know… Maybe something happened to him back in the past?"
"We can't cancel out that possibility," Haru nodded. "But then again, we still need to figure out what our next plan of action must be."
"I say we deal some justice with that blackmailer!" Makoto grinned before she gave Ryuji a noogie, causing him to whimper in pain. "Oi, Ryu! Did you catch that guy's name?!"
"You could have asked me without trying to elbow my head…" Ryuji pouted before he continued. "Well, I did hear Yusuke call that guy Yamamoto..."
"But there's so many Yamamotos in our school?!"
Suddenly, the blond-haired boy stood up and screeched. "Oh my god! Shut up and let me finish, will you?! Geez, be patient! Anyways, based on the distinct tone of his voice, I think it's Hideki Yamamoto from Class 3-A. It's probably him, but I'm not too sure either."
Makoto stared at him in disbelief. "Whoa. I've never heard you scream like that before."
Haru brought a bent finger to her lips. "I do know that he's pretty well-known in his class for being kind of a bully, but I never expected him to do something like this…"
"But then again, there's that," Goro interrupted. "At least we have a target. Now, on what we're going to do next, we'll just have to think about it for now. What do you think, Akira?"
Shocked that Goro would call him out, Akira was jolted out of his wits. "Huh? Me?! W-Well, if you're going to be asking me… I say some of us should clock onto Hideki Yamamoto and check to see if he's really the one who's blackmailing Yusuke. The rest of us will have to check on Yusuke from time to time, but we have to ensure that he doesn't find out that we know about his club activity. I don't think anyone would want him to flare up like some volcano and cause a disaster…"
Ryuji nodded in agreement. "That's a good place to start off. We can't cause a fall out between him and us right now…" However, his voice suddenly faded off as he remembered something. "Hang on - there was that one time when Yusuke threw his entire bag of marshmallows to me before school. I'm pretty sure that it's one of those days when Aiko Nakamura was still there, and he went to 2-D to talk to Ann. Did something happen?"
Ann looked up at him with surprised blue eyes. "D… Did anything happen that day? I don't actually remember that much… Oh! I remember now! I think Yuuki-san was telling Yusuke that he was surprised Yusuke was eating so much sweet foods since it's usually the girls who love desserts!"
Goro slowly nodded as he absorbed the information. "… There we have it; the possible reason as to why Yusuke doesn't want people to know that he does ballet. Most likely, he doesn't want people to see him as a feminine type of guy, and prefers to be seen as what most people would deem to be masculine."
Makoto twirled her fringe's hair around her finger as a perplexed frown grew on her face. "Maybe I'm just being dumb here, but I don't get it. What makes one masculine and feminine? And does it really matter?"
Akira nodded as he looked back at her seriously. "For some people, the image they project is very important. I mean, just look at us in the media industry! If we end up soiling our records, even if it means us doing something ridiculous and completely unexpected that the audience doesn't like, we'll end up getting destroyed and our career is as good as dead."
"Plus," Goro added, "Sometimes, it's okay for a girl to act more outgoing and ungraceful since they get labeled as tough, but it's a little different for guys who act graceful and elegant because they end up getting called 'sissies'. Do you get it now, Makoto-kun?"
"Huh, I see…" Makoto muttered before she turned back to him with an angry look on her face. "Hey! 'Makoto-kun'?! Are you calling me ungraceful?!"
"Geez, he's just calling you tough. Lighten up, Mako-chan!" Haru began giggling.
She sighed in exasperation. "Okay, fine, Haru… Just remember that even though I fight, I do fight with style too, okay?!"
A few moments of silence passed before Futaba suddenly broke it by slamming her pen down and yelling, "Alright! Oh my god, I'm so done! Is this okay, Ryuji-Senpai?!"
Ryuji lifted up the paper and scrolled through it, smiling and nodding in approval. "Looks like you've got it! I guess I really got to make some ramen for you, huh?"
The bespectacled girl looked at him, confused. "... Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, I always have to bribe Yusuke with food that I make just so that he would actually listen and absorb whatever I'm saying during my teachings, hehe. I guess you can say that I'm pretty used to rewarding him with food, so I decided to do the same for you too." He scratched the back of his head as he smiled back at her.
"...! Uh, i-it's okay, Ryuji-Senpai! You don't have to trouble yourself...!"
Makoto stared at Futaba in disbelief. "What? Are you serious, Futaba?! The food that this Home Economics Lord makes is food no one would wanna miss! I repeat, NO. ONE!"
"H-Home Economics Lord?! What on earth, Makoto-Senpai?!"
"E-Eh?!"
Ann sighed and shook her head. "Come on, Makoto, stop traumatising poor Futaba-chan..."
"What about me?!"
"You're already a Year 2, Ryuji, man up."
Goro began chuckling, "Hey, if Futaba-chan here isn't going to take up the offer... Ryu-chan, make me some delicious pancakes dripped in sweet, sweet syrup, will you?"
"NO GOD PLEASE-!"
"I know you like ballet, Yu-kun, but... are you sure you want people to make fun of you?"
"Instead of taking over our family business, you plan on pursuing ballet, of all things? I'm disappointed in you, Yusuke."
"Hahaha! Look at that sissy dancing in there! Is he being serious?!"
"Maybe he is actually a girl?"
"'Fess up! You're just freakin' gay!"
"Such a disgrace to the family..."
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP! I'm not gay! I'm not a girl! What the hell is wrong with you all?!" Yusuke suddenly screamed as he flipped out from his bed, drenched in sweat. Eyes still bulged wide open, he turned to face the clock on his wall that was rimmed with gold.
"Only two a.m., huh..." Yusuke slumped back into his soft bed, the only source of comfort for him back then. Snuggling back into his covers, Yusuke closed his eyes.
Yet the drowsiness never came. His eyes snapped wide open once more as the horrendous thoughts crossed his mind again. Why was it that this social stigma had to exist? What has dancing got to do with masculinity and femininity? Why does that even have to matter?!
He thought back to his reason for always acting like such an angsty teenager. That's right... he didn't want people to call him a weakling or a sissy, that's why he put on such a facade. It was so that he could act like a tough person. Delinquents were known to be tough, weren't they? Yet as he continued to act, that Delinquent persona started to become a part of him too.
And now, he's even more afraid of people knowing that he loved to dance ballet. Pirouetting, pliéing, sautéing... Those were simple dance moves, yet he felt so much freedom as he danced under the tutelage of Ichiko Ohya, his coach who was apparently also going to be acting in Persona 5 at a later date. It was just as if he didn't need to care about anything else in the world!
And yet... why? Why did the blackmail have to happen? That fucking asshole from the Photography Club... of course, only he would be able to obtain footage of his secret that he's been trying to keep for so long!
If only he didn't have to care about his secret getting exposed... but he did. He really cared about his image very much. Too much, as a matter of fact.
Yusuke sighed in dismay as he quickly wiped the tears in his eyes away. It felt like he was on another surge of vertigo, like he was on the world's worst roller coaster, crawling up to a tall peak before plummeting down into the depths of the darkness. Except that he was forever screaming on and on as the roller coaster car kept crashing even deeper into the grounds and showed no signs of stopping.
And he didn't know what to do about it.
EXTRAS: Bloopers
Congratulations, you've made it to the tenth chapter! For that, here are some bloopers for you to celebrate with!
SCENE: Chariot Confidant
Blooper 1:
(Rank 4)
At the Ramen House...
Ryuji: (proceeds to lift up the ramen noodles with chopsticks in hand.)
The ramen slips off from his chopsticks.
Ryuji: (frowns, proceeds to pick them up again.)
Ramen still slips off his chopsticks, but this time plops into the soup and creates a splash, causing some soup to splash onto his shirt.
Ryuji: (slaps his chopsticks down and breathes heavily in irritation.) The ramen is bullying me.
Akira and the rest of the crew: (dies laughing)
Blooper 2:
(Rank 9)
At another restaurant…
Ryuji: (sits up) Oh by the way, I got a text from Takeishi. He said the track team's gonna try n' ditch Yamaguchi. They wanna start practising without him. They're trying to get their old coach back too… the one from before Kamoshida. Looks like they're finally walkin' their own path.
Akira: … Yeah, about that Tamagochi… Pfft!
Ryuji: (confused) Huh?
Ryuji stares at Akira (who was giggling madly) for a moment before he realises what just happened and covered his face.
Ryuji: … I just called Yamauchi-Sensei Yamaguchi again, didn't I.
Director: (shakes head) Fifth time, Sakamoto. Fifth time.
SCENE: Moon Confidant
Blooper 1:
(Before ranking)
Mishima walks over to Akira.
Mishima: … Hey. Have you seen that Phantom Afi… Af… Afi-whatever Website?
Akira: (does a dry spit take before he starts laughing loudly)
Mishima: *sigh* My language serious sucks, man… Hey! Stop laughing at me!
Blooper 2:
About fifteen takes later with Mishima screwing up saying the word 'Aficionado'...
Mishima: … Hey. Have you seen that Phantom Aficionado Website?
Akira: (puts phone back into his pocket)
Mishima: (scratches his head) I'm the one who started it.
Akira stares at Mishima in shock. Suddenly, Mishima steps forward and shoves his face right into Akira's, causing Akira to stumble back a bit.
Mishima: … You guys are the Phantom Thieves, aren't you?
Akira stares right at Mishima, forcing down his laughter, but still ends up spitting a mouthful of air right into Mishima's face.
Mishima: (stumbles back) GYAH!
Akira: Pfft-HAHAHAHAHA!
Mishima: (wiping his face) Akira, what the heck was that for?!
Director: *sigh* Cuuuuut. Let's do this again…
Mishima: … (suddenly, he face-palms) Oh my god, Akira! I finally said that damn word right and you had to ruin the take! AAAAAH-
SCENE: Fortune Confidant
Blooper 1:
(Before ranking)
Chihaya: (Flips a tarot card) Yes. I've seen everything. A stream of light obscuring the sun… like an arrow tearing through the sky… I see. There seems to be new wealth in your future. Your financial fortune is looking good today. This wealth of which I speak of will come… from your house. Head home without detour, and precisely five thousand yen will await you there!
Akira: (does a gesture)
Chihaya: … (Suddenly flips her hands into the air with a happy cheer) Oh my freaking god! Yes! I actually remembered that stupid poetry-like line!
Director: … Uh, Mifune-san? You do know there are still a few other lines to say…?
Akira: (nearly dies of laughter again)
Chihaya flops over her chair.
Chihaya: Oh my god.
Author's note:
Hello guys! So I'm just here to tell you guys that there is another fan fiction coming right up and it is called Tricked, a Con Artist AU for Persona 5. Don't worry - I'm not planning on abandoning this story. In fact, this Behind the Scenes AU will probably be the main thing that I would be working on after my exams... other than the requests that I've been getting on Deviantart, that is. But anyways, look forward to it! I will probably upload Tricked after my exams, but I probably won't be updating it very often. However, I do find that it's a really interesting concept, so I really want to work on it!
By the way, thank you guys so much for supporting Persona 5: Behind the Scenes! It really warms my heart to see such nice reviews from all of you.
This is A1t0aria, signing out!