Chapter 35: Delicious Pancakes

(A)

Akira knew she shouldn't really be upset. In fact, considering everything, what with how Shujin was, she should've expected it. But still, Akira grumbled and groaned as their tour guide talked and talked and talked...and she learned absolutely nothing new.

"Could this get any more obvious...?" Ann said.

"We'd need a ForcePoint presentation to do that," Ren said, quietly but with a smirk.

She and Ann snorted at his remark.

"Yeah. And maybe signs to hold up too," Akira said.

As the woman kept talking, Mona asked, "Hey, how much longer does this go?"

"Until they fill up runtime," she said.

Now it was Ren's turn to snort alongside Ann. Meanwhile Ryuji yawned.

"I swear, I'm not gonna last..."

She didn't blame him. She felt the dregs of sleep start to tempt to her as well, and she knew Ren was in the same boat as they leaned against each other for support with half-lidded eyes. If nothing happened anytime soon, there was a good chance they would fall asleep standing.

So, of course, it was that moment an asshole decided to shove them out of the way.

"Ow! Hey!" she said while her brother grunted from the impact.

"What's going on? I can't stand all this noise," the man said.

Ann glared and Ryuji grumbled.

"Hey ass—"

"My apologies! I'll have them leave right away!"

Akira scoffed. "Well, that's one bright side to havin' him complain..."

Ren nodded but still frowned and glared at the man.

Their guide then said, "Now then, it's time for a bit of hands-on experience!"

Akira perked up, hopeful for a moment that they might actually do something cool, but before she could ask the guide what it was, the students before her practically blocked her way. She would've continued to grumble alongside Ryuji's own complaints about that jerk from earlier, if one of the staff hadn't eyed Ann and said,

"Hey there. You wanna be on TV?"

"Huh?"

"You've got a slammin' bod after all. Hehehe..."

Akira whirled to glare at the back of the man's head in synch with her brother and their not-cat sending his own pointed look.

"Just give me a call if you're interested. I'd greatly welcome a message fron you, day or night."

"Uh, yeah..."

Okay. That was it.

Akira moved to do something about it. What exactly, she hadn't really decided yet. But then her brother beat her to it.

"Oh? You're recruiting?" Ren said, stepping in between the lecherous man and their blonde friend. "I thought the process was a bit different than this."

The man reeled. "Uh..." he said.

The look on his face showed that he'd been annoyed that his attempt to catch a high school girl had been interrupted but was unsure how to take the supposedly genuine question.

Ryuji scoffed. "Damn bastard... Rotten adults really only care about looks, huh?"

Akira tried not to, but she had flinched nonetheless from her friend's insult despite it not being aimed at her. The one it was directed towards had heard it though, turning incensed and glaring at them. But before anything worse could happen, Ms. Kawakami said,

"Is something wrong, Akira-chan? Is your health okay?"

It threw her off a bit considering how Ms. Kawakami was usually like, but thankfully her brother answered for her.

"I think she might need to go to the bathroom."

"I see..." Her brother's homeroom teacher turned to Ann and said, "Can you help her to the bathroom then?"

"Oh. Sure."

With that, they effectively stopped any further attempts by the man. Akira smirked underneath her mask, an expression her brother shared as they walked away when the man tried, and failed, to hide his annoyance, even when Akira faintly heard him take it out on Ren and Ryuji by having them lift the cables all around the room.

[G]

A few more screen taps as he walked and Akechi was finished with his "suspect" list of Shujin students and staff who could be Phantom Thieves, none of them being the true secret identities or their classmates, Akechi unsure who Akira, Amamiya-kun and their friends could have befriended. He made a mental note to type a proper report later as his alarm notified him that he had about ten more minutes until his briefing for tomorrow. He internally grumbled over that. He already knew what he was supposed to say, but he also knew it never hurt for yet another refresher for more practice, especially since there was a chance Akira would be in the audience tomorrow, with Shujin students being the participants for their social studies trip.

Just as he was about to pass another hallway though...

"I wanna...huge pancake...on the way here!"

...he was stunned.

Pancakes...?

He looked down the adjacent hallway to find that Akira, her brother and her friends, Morgana most likely included, were there.

Though in hindsight he should've considered the possibility.

The curly haired girl gasped then said with joy, "Akechi!"

"Woah! Akechi?! I didn't think I'd see you here!" Sakamoto-san said, grinning.

Amamiya-kun smiled as well.

The only one who didn't seem to be pleased to see him was the the twin tailed blonde girl, whose brows furrowed in confusion.

"Huh? Who's this?"

"Oh right! You guys didn't meet," Akira said. "This here's my friend, Goro Akechi. Akechi, this is Ann Takamaki." Her eyes lit up in mischief. "I'm assuming you still remember my older brother and Ryuji."

Akechi chuckled unconsciously. "Yes, I do. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Takamaki-san."

"Oh, you too, Akechi!" the girl said, now smiling like the rest of them. "Are you here on a social studies trip like us?"

"Oh no. I'm actually here for a briefing about tomorrow's recording session."

Akira stared in surprise. "Wait what? A briefing for a recording session? Does that mean...you're being interviewed?" she said, excited.

Akechi smiled a little at her enthusiasm. "Yes, actually."

"Woah! You're gonna be on TV?! That's so cool man!" the blond boy said.

"Yeah! Good for you!" Akira said. "Did you solve some big case or somethin'?"

"Oh, no. Not this time anyway."

"Oh? You mean this ain't the first time you've been on TV?"

"No, not at all. Though I will admit it's only been a couple of times," he said, a smirk slipping through from her deduction and awe.

"Woah, for real? Wow...you're like a celebrity already..." Sakamoto-san sighed and slumped. "I wish I could be one..." he mumbled.

Akira rolled her eyes and gave a light shove to the boy for that. "Oy, be careful what you wish for."

"Hey!"

"I agree, it's not all smiles and good-will," Amamiya-kun said, speaking for the first time since Akechi arrived.

"I was just sayin'..."

Akechi had to suppress a laugh at Sakamoto-san's mood, it would be rude if he did, so he said,

"What about you? I assume you're done with your trip since I overheard you were going to get cakes."

To his worry, confusion spread among them as they glanced at each other for some sort of confirmation.

"Huh? Cake? What're you talkin' about?" Sakamoto-san said.

Akechi wanted to cringe at his mistake, embarrassed over getting something so minor wrong, but instead he acted innocently confused and said,

"Oh? Am I mistaken? I thought I heard something about delicious pancakes..."

Akira shook her head. "Nah. We were just decidin' on where to go."

"We were thinking of trying to go to Dome Town," Amamiya-kun said.

"Oh yeah! There's tons of cool rides there."

"And some pretty hardcore ones too, like rollercoasters!" Takamaki-san said.

"I'd be more up for Featherman Land or Theater D-Rossa," Akira said.

Akechi perked up but quelled his interest over her choice of leisure. He would admit it was a bit hard to continue to do so when her brother said, clearly also interested,

"I forgot about that place. I was thinking more about seeing the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden but I wouldn't mind visiting there."

"For real, dude...?" Sakamoto-san said, exasperated yet unsurprised.

But he was able to hold back well enough. He wouldn't have gotten this far if he couldn't, among other things. Seeing as he satisfied his curiosity over their reason for being here, he thought it best he left now. Not without excusing himself though.

"I see." He gave a chuckle to seem sheepish. "I must be hearing things since I missed lunch," he said, giving an excuse of his mistake since Akira might be suspicious over why he would make one.

However, instead of the girl teasing him for mishearing their words, she shouted,

"Wait what?! You missed lunch?!" She gave him a stern look. "Okay, that's it, you're comin' with us and we're all gonna eat."

He was startled at her response. But thankfully he was able to recover before she dragged him with them and said,

"Ah, my apologies, but I was just passing by. That briefing I'll be having will start soon."

Akira halted then grumbled. "Of course it is..." she said.

"Again, my apologies. I should've mentioned that sooner. I'll be going now," he said and moved to do just that.

But he barely made a step before Akira said,

"Hey wait!"

And she caught his sleeve.

He was rather annoyed at her action. He didn't want to be late and tarnish his image of Detective Prince. But then she pulled out something familiar from her school bag.

"Here," she said, holding out the chocolate bar. "Did you really think you were gonna leave without this? Especially when you missed lunch?"

Ah, right. He had mentioned that. And of course, with Akira being Akira, she was concerned over it, on top of continuing their "tradition" of the chocolate bar.

Akechi smiled and relaxed unconsciously.

"I completely forgot," he said. "Thank you, Akira."

"Hey, I ain't finished yet."

"Huh?"

What could she possibly want now?

He got his answer as Akira went and got even more snacks from her bag and a plastic bag to put them all. After tying the bag with an easy-to-untie knot, she handed it to him.

"Wish I could give you a proper lunch, so this'll have to do."

As bewildered as he was, Akechi accepted the offered bag since it would be rude not to and said on autopilot,

"Again, thank you."

"Again, no problem," Akira said, Akechi easily imagining her grinning with amusement behind her mask. "Now go. Don't wanna be late, right?"

Once again he was startled by her observation, and unsure whether it was coincidence or not. Yet, despite that, he felt content and smiled as he said,

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Akira."

"See ya, Akechi."

And then, to his surprise, the others also bid him good-bye, and all of them with smiles.

"See ya later, Akechi!"

"Bye Akechi-san!"

"Good-bye, Akechi."

He didn't let any of his broken expectations show as he gave them all a nod of acknowledgement and left, Loki and Robin Hood in tandem giving voice to his happiness and annoyance and content and distrust within his mind.

{R}

Ren sighed, done with cooking his share, and pondered over this afternoon's events while Aki did hers under Sojiro's guidance.

As soon as Akechi left, Ann asked Aki how she met the boy and his sister told of their first encounter while they left the TV station, Ryuji and Mona also listening raptly. Their respect for the detective grew when they learned of his rescue of Akira, Mona citing he was "the gentleman I thought he was"—"You didn't think that, you liar!" his sister said and that caused a brief argument before she continued—then they grew unsure over Akechi when Aki explained he was a detective.

That did little to deter Aki from enjoying their time in Dome Town, fully planning to show the pictures of the place, especially Featherman Land, to Akechi. And thankfully it didn't damper the others' enjoyment either. No, the rollercoaster they boarded did that, all because both Ryuji and Mona egged Aki on how well she could handle it. Ren scolded all three of them for that.

After they went their seperate ways, Aki asked if they could get extra ingredients as she wanted to cook something for Akechi. He agreed, easily hearing the scolding voice of Mama about skipping meals and how she would be doing the same to Akechi if she knew...and Yusuke as well, after Ren gave extra thought on it. When Aki told Sojiro of her plans to cook a lunch bento for a friend, he raised an eyebrow and said,

"Is it for that chocolate boy, by any chance?"

Aki snickered. "Yeah it is. Is that a problem?"

Their caretaker smirked and huffed and said, "Hoo boy... All right then. I'll help."

And he helped her cook that lunch for Akechi while Ren cooked his and his sister's dinner.

But while that little unexpected smirk was nagging him...something else was bothering him more.

Why had Akechi mentioned pancakes? Did any of them mention the cake?

"Somethin' wrong, Big Bro?"

Ren was taken out of his stupor to see Aki look at him with concern.

Before he could reply, Sojiro once again smirked and said,

"You worried about the boy she's seein'?"

Ren frowned, confused over the smug look, but still answered. "No, not really. Not anymore anyway."

Now Aki frowned and her gaze hardened with suspicion. "What do you mean, 'not anymore'?"

"Well he's a detective. He might not take too kindly with our charges if he found out, even if they're false." And that we're the Phantom Thieves, he left unsaid.

But he knew she understood with the look of recognition in her eyes and feeling it from their Confidant.

"Okay when you put it that way, yeah, I get it," she said. "I still would've told you it was fine even if you weren't convinced."

Ren laughed. "I know I know."

It was then both noticed the disbelieving expression on their caretaker and they frowned in worry.

"Is something the matter, Sakura-san?"

"Yeah. If we're doin' somethin' stupid, just say it already. You never stopped yourself before."

The man just shook his head and said, "It's nothing. Come on kid. We're gonna start cooking."

"Oh, okay. Got it, Boss."

And they transitioned back into cooking. Ren was a bit unsure if it truly was nothing, but considering Sojiro, they weren't going to get an answer tonight, if at all. So he just shrugged it off and finished dinner. He would look into it later, if he remembered.

[HR][/HR]

Author's Notes: Did I dedicate a chapter just to delicious pancakes? Yes. Yes I did. Just like with Operation Maidwatch, I couldn't help it.

Anyways!

Featherman Land is based off of Super Sentai Land, which is one of the "attractions" I found listed on the Tokyo Dome City website. Its name is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

Meanwhile Theater D-Rossa is based on Theater G-Rosso, yet another attraction. It's basically a tokusatsu theater. I couldn't tell if they perform/use Super Sentai and stuff (aka copyrighted) or just things inpsired by them (aka original stuff). The actual reason I went with D-Rossa as a "replacement" was because of Dressrosa because why not? I couldn't come up with anything else so might as well reference One Piece.

The Koishikawa Korakuen Garden meanwhile is near Dome Town, like right beside it, but not actually "part" of it, as far as I could tell, and is right by the Tokyo Dome.

And no, I'm not an expert on any of these places. Feel free to tell me more about them if you wanna share. I'd appreciate it.