Persona 5 - Toast to the Queen

Akira/Makoto

Day 4- On a Date

xxx

A/N: So like, i kinda used this one on the last chapter, but I think i'm putting a bit of a different spin on it than the last one. This one I actually had ideas for xD Regardless, Enjoy :)

xxx

Makoto straightened her outfit out in the mirror again. At this point, she was sure she was overthinking things again. She wanted things to go perfectly, and her brain was firing on full to make sure that everything went off without a hitch.

Tonight was her first real, planned, date with Akira. This time there was no awkward pussyfooting around the subject. This time they both knew going in what this was about.

They had arranged to meet at a restaurant that was known about Shujin for being a good date spot. In fact, Eiko had been telling Makoto all about how Tsukasa had taken her there not long ago, and how romantic it was.

She was a little intimidated to be honest. That was odd to her. She'd been punching literal monsters in the head (or whatever they had in place for a head) for two months or so and she'd never batted an eye. Spending a night getting dinner with the guy she liked was something else altogether…

Makoto had dressed somewhat formally. He'd seen her in this outfit before, but she liked it, it made her look sophisticated and ladylike. Her phone buzzed, signalling it was time for her to leave (Makoto was fastidious with her alarms). She grabbed her handbag and mentally prepared herself to face her first obstacle of the night, her elder sister, Sae.

Makoto wasn't sure how Sae would react to news that she was about to go off on a date. The most probable reaction was that she'd chew her out, and tell her that she shouldn't be concerning herself with such things until after she'd finished college. She might ask who it was, too. Somehow telling Sae that she was dating a criminal probably wasn't the best thing Makoto could do. As Makoto ran through all these scenarios in her mind, she saw her sister sitting on the couch poring over case notes as Makoto left her room. Sae turned her head at the sound. Her face became a mask of disapproval.

"It's late, you shouldn't be going out" Sae sighed.

"I can take care of myself, sis" Makoto laughed, trying to mask her nervousness.

"At least tell me where you're going" she raised an eyebrow as she sighed.

"Just to meet a friend" Makoto said. This wasn't strictly speaking a lie.

"Is it a boy?" Her sister asked, becoming increasingly impatient. Makoto wasn't really shocked by this, her sister had a tendency to go straight to the point.

"No, sis, jeez…" Makoto said. This was strictly speaking a lie. "I'm meeting a girl from my class, we're just gonna study."

Sae eyed her sister for a moment, as if trying to figure her out. Makoto did her best to keep her face as still as possible. Any weakness, it'd be exploited and Sae would see right through her. There was a reason she was such a prolific prosecutor.

"OK" Sae eventually said, turning back. "Come back before 10, stay safe"

"Will do" Makoto said, not stopping to even breathe a sigh of relief until she was clean out of her apartment door.

She felt awful lying to her sister like that. Sae was all she had after all, after everything that's happened. To look her in the eyes and lie like that… Then again, she'd been lying to her about her involvement with the Phantom Thieves. What's one more?

xxx

After a short ride on the train, Makoto emerged from the underground to central square. It was bustling, even at this time of night, as was to be expected. A man stood giving a speech about the political state of the country, another was playing the guitar nearby and a small gathering of adults chatted in a designated smoking area. Makoto wasn't really looking for any of that, however, instead seeing a tall boy with frizzy black hair walking over to her, arm in the air in greeting.

"Hey, Makoto" Akira said, his face unable to contain a smile.

He was dressed in his casual clothes, a dark blazer, jeans, tan boots and a white shirt. Makoto had always liked his sense of style, it was sophisticated, but still had an air of teen rebellion about it. After he finished crossing the distance to her, he opened his arms and confidently embraced her into a tight hug.

Makoto gasped. Was this normal? Well of course it was, couples do this all the time, but still, his confidence sometimes overwhelmed her just a little bit, especially in matters such as this. After he released her, she knew that her face would be bright red…

"You ok there?" He chuckled

"That is so not fair!" she whined "You're taking advantage of me!"

A few heads of passersby turned to look at the two of them at that remark.

"Not so loud" Akira laughed, taking her by the hand. This she was comfortable with. Since the date at the movie theatre, the two of them often sat, holding hands like this. It had become normal for them, while they were studying, despite their relationship being brand-new. This physical closeness felt good, for the both of them. He led her by the hand down central street until they reached a small, but homely restaurant, tucked away in one of the many corners that made up Tokyo. The facade of the restaurant looked quite traditional but had several modernities built in. It wasn't dissimilar to LeBlanc.

"Is this OK?" Akira asked, looking unsure in his choice now. "I didn't know it'd be so… samey"

"It's perfect" Makoto replied, sighing in relief. A fancy restaurant, while nice, really wasn't her speed just yet. The two of them were dating, sure, but she needed to work up to something like that.

The duo seated themselves in the restaurant, Akira charming the waitress into giving them the best possible table. Near the window, in a relatively cosy little booth. It was homey, quaint, and comfortable. Something Makoto was after. She even ordered something safe, something familiar. She was still incredibly nervous… Why?

She was only going out with Akira, they'd done this so many times at this point.

"You OK there?" The young man chuckled over his cup of coffee. He looked so mature, it was comforting somewhat for Makoto. Even so, it seemed she couldn't hide her doubts. Her face was a picture of discomfort. Akira's face changed from his normal confident look to one of concern, the perfect pairing to Makoto's worry.

"Hey, for real though" he said, putting his cup down for emphasis. "What's up?"

"I'm just nervous I guess…" Makoto stuttered.

"Do you… want to cool things off?" Akira asked, trepidation tempering his question.

"No!" Makoto answered almost instantly, half shouting. After realising people were now looking at her, she lowered her tone. "I'm excited about this. It's all i've wanted for a while…"

"I tend to have that effect on people" Akira said, leaning back on his chair and twisting his lips into that boyish smirk Makoto found so charming. She simply brushed his comment off, she knew his little games to try and trap her into getting flustered.

"I just don't have a lot of experience, what if-" Makoto started bowing her head in some form of introspection, however, the presence of Akira's fingers on hers interrupted her train of thought. He took her hand in his from across the table and squeezed tightly. She looked up at the boy, seeing sincerity in his gaze.

"Don't worry about what if's, Makoto" he said, in the tone he used while commanding the team in battle. It was a voice that was dripping with determination, poise and certainty. When he spoke to her like this, she was convinced that nothing could go wrong, that no enemy could down them and that the world would bow at their feet.

"Focus on now" he said, almost commanding her to do so. "I like you… a lot. There's a lot to like. So I promise, things won't go wrong. I'm taking this seriously, as seriously as anything we've faced together so far. So don't worry…" He said, squeezing her hand once more for emphasis. "Because I promise there's nothing to worry about" He punctuated his little speech with a genuine, wholesome smile.

"Akira…" Makoto said breathlessly. She never expected anything resembling romance out of him, it was… soothing. "I'm taking this seriously too" She promised, returning his gaze. "I'm excited to see how this all plays out… because I like you a lot too…" she brushed one of the bangs out of her face.

"I'm glad" the boy smiled.

Makoto couldn't resist teasing him just a little bit. She leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms over her chest and tried her best to recreate Akira's smirk. She even cocked one of her eyebrows like he did. "Of course you are, I tend to have that effect on people" she said, trying to imitate his self-assurance as much as possible.

Akira simply laughed.

"Is that supposed to be me?"

"I thought I did a good job!" Makoto mock protested, still beaming.

"You did OK" Akira conceded, shrugging. "B+" he teased, adding a wink to his little barb.

"B+?!" Makoto exclaimed, still pretending to be outraged.

At that point, the waitress arrived with the young couple's food. With her uneasiness gone, Makoto wished she'd maybe ordered something a little more exciting. However, she no longer cared all that much.

xxx

The two walked through Central Street closely, hand in hand, with full bellies. Makoto had genuinely enjoyed her evening despite her initial uneasiness. The two of them laughed on the way to her subway platform.

"Well I think it's cool" Makoto added, trying to round out their conversation.

"Oh no doubt, he's riding on a pirate ship" Akira conceded.

"So what's your point?" she giggled

"That mine's cooler…" He said, smirking, as they arrived at the subway platform. "This is you then" he said, sounding more than a little disappointed.

"I had a really great time tonight, thank you" Makoto smiled at the boy

"Likewise" he added.

Akira opened his arms to invite Makoto into a hug. With no hesitation, she accepted, swiftly surrounding herself in his embrace. Makoto was surprised by his arms. Akira didn't look athletic, particularly. Yes, he was tall, but he looked more scrawny than anything. However, he had a surprising strength in this embrace. She felt safe, like a Queen in her castle…

The two pulled apart, but kept their hands on each other. His on her waist and hers on his chest. There was a moment of hesitation before they pulled away. Makoto saw something in his eyes. Something deep and almost primal. A longing, a need to be closer. Makoto felt it too. The atmosphere between them was intense. The other people around her wouldn't normally warrant her attention anyway but now she was standing here with him it was like nobody else existed.

"Makoto?" he asked

"Yes?" she replied, not breaking his gaze for even a second.

Was this it?

She could see his face moving closer to hers, could feel his hands pulling her closer to him. She closed her own eyes, and leaned toward him herself, could feel his breath on her face and then…

She felt a man bump into her, she heard the subway announcer tell the whole platform her train had arrived. Finally she heard her phone ring.

The moment, whatever it was, had gone.

Akira had noticed this too, releasing her. "You should probably answer that" he laughed sheepishly.

Makoto fished around in her bag for her phone. When she found it, she couldn't keep her eyes from rolling when she saw who was calling. The universe had *very* specific timing.

"It's my sister" Makoto told him. "I should probably take it, she's even more of a worrier than I am"

"That I can imagine" Akira chuckled, recovering from whatever had thrown him. "We should do this again though" he smiled.

"Definitely" Makoto answered with a huge smile of her own to match.

After one more quick hug and a promise to text each other once they got home, Makoto stepped onto the subway car. The doors slid shut almost immediately and Akira sped away from view as the train hurtled towards it's next stop. Makoto's phone was still ringing. She decided to answer straight away, no use keeping Sae waiting.

"Hey, Sis"

"Where are you, I told you to be back before 10" Sae asked. She sounded exhausted.

"I'm on the subway, i'll be 10 minutes. Don't worry i'm fine" Makoto assured her.

"Good…" Sae said with a long exasperated sigh. "I'm sorry for being so stressed out"

"It's fine, sis, honest"

"It's just I know what this city is like, Makoto"

"I can take care of myself, i did martial arts same as you, remember?"

"I know" Sae chortled. "You almost broke Dad's arm that one time"

"Yeah…" Makoto smiled. It was a smile tempered with sadness however. They both knew how much their Dad had meant to them.

"I forget about that sometimes… That you're a young woman, I mean" Sae clarified. "I'll be less hard on you about going out from now on, but you have to keep your grades up. Deal?"

"Deal" Makoto said, nodding in agreement, even though her sister couldn't see her.

"Just promise me one more thing, Makoto?"

"Yeah?"

"Please, don't fall in with a bad crowd. I don't know who you met tonight but-"

"Don't worry" Makoto said, cutting her off. "This one's not like everyone else"

"Oh?" Sae said, intrigued.

"I'll see you soon, Sis" Makoto said, hanging up the phone, acutely aware she'd probably already said too much.

Makoto threw her head back against the headrest of her seat, thinking back to those last few moments with Akira.

And wishing she'd had just another few seconds to see what happened next.