January, Monday 11th. 32XX

Cyber City College Campus, Cyber City

Morning

"...Heard what's up with the new student from Golden Bay City?" A trio of male students were speaking to each other in the halls and chatting some gossip.

"Yeah; he's been seeing someone else behind his girlfriend's back, an older rabbit woman with a bigger rack than hers' and has a child no less." One of them replied. "Apparently a single mother if what I heard is to be believed."

"Dude's already two-timing on his first week here and becoming a literal motherfucker. Heh, wolves mate for life my ass." Another of the three snickers to himself. "I kind of feel sorry for the babe he's dating. The first boyfriend she gets from here and he does that to her but I gotta commend him for his commitment to getting lots of pussy."

Fiona had overheard that conversation as she was passing the trio, blinking when she overheard the conversation. She looked back at the trio for a moment and then went to look for Akira.


"...She's supposedly been going around giving her body to the professors for good grades whenever she's coming up short in her studies." A pair of female students were saying to each other. "Even giving one of them a blowjob once to get an A grade."

"Isn't she dating that new guy from Golden Bay City?" The other girl questioned her.

"Ain't stopping her from making a complete slut out of herself while we have to study hard to good grades on our own merits. I guess that crimson vixen kept rejecting all those boys here to get some DILF action around the campus."

"And may I ask where did you get that one from?" Came the voice of Akira, stepping out from around a corner after having heard enough of their conversation with one hand on the backpack strap and the one in his pocket. The wolf had just arrived in when he came upon their exchange regarding Fiona.

"Another friend of mine heard it from their friend who heard it from another friend." One of the two girls answered. "That's how I heard about it."

"...Does it happen to come from Migu Veruca by any chance?"

"Yeah, I think so. How did you know?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm a psychic?"

"Hey, aren't you outraged that your girlfriend Fiona's been sleeping around the campus?"

"Okay..." Akira took a deep breath before continuing; "Do not take anything that comes out of Migu Veruca's mouth because all she spews out of it are lies and the stuff you're hearing about Fiona from her are complete utter bullshit. What's to say Migu isn't the one going around doing the things Fiona is supposedly accused of doing and imagine yourself being the target of those malicious rumours, wouldn't you be the one to be outraged about it?"

"I guess so..." One of them shrugs her shoulders. "That stuff's been going around the campus since we came in."

"Yeah, I bet it has..." Fiona spoke as she approached the two girls, a hand on her hip as she gave them an irritated glare; "Why don't you two make like a snipe and hide before I go from being irritated to being genuinely angry?"

The two girls did as they told and quickly scampers off, leaving the two alone while other students walks by them. Paying no heed to them.

"Rumour-mill's in action again and you know who's at it..." Akira shook his head, seeing no point in asking Fiona on if she heard what was being exchanged as she'd have heard it herself. "Morning Fiona."

"Morning Akira and yeah, the most either of us can do right now is deal with it as it comes." Fiona shrugs. "Doesn't mean it still doesn't piss me off."

"That's how it is."

"Still, what I myself wouldn't give to beat Migu within an inch of her life... That... That is something that I would give anything to do so."

"I could say the same about her brother Hud after being around him long enough to want to actually put him on a hospital bed, consequences be damned..." Akira says to her. "I've met some smarmy wankers in my time but he's something else. Anyhow, what's up?"

"Well for one thing..." Fiona said, grinning and whispering to him; "I had that thing done for ya."

"Thank you. Hope it wasn't too much of a hassle on your end..."

"Oh, please. Believe it or not, it was easy to pull off given my resources and who the target is. Rest assured that your boy is being kept in a very safe place~"

"I'm sure he is..."

"With that said... You now owe me a favor... It might not come today, it might not come tomorrow but at some point on some day, I will need you to do something for me and you'll have to do it. No questions asked, no ifs, ands, or buts; you just have to do it no matter what your personal objections are. After all as they say, Quid Pro Quo."

"I knew what I was going to get myself into when I made that deal with you..." Akira replied quietly. "The price to pay in the name of progress."

"Well, look at it this way?" Fiona told him. "After you complete that favor I ask you to do, I'll owe you a favor back~"

She smirked, then added; "Of course after that, you'll owe me a favor back once again and this give-take cycle will pretty much continue. Creating a very symbiotic relationship of two friends who do favors for one another~"

"We'll see where that relationship goes when I cover my first debt to you..." Akira replied as the two starts walking through the halls together. "Seeing as how most of the campus seems to think we're boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Hah! That's funny." Fiona said with a laugh, holding her gut. "God, people see a guy and girl together and automatically think they're a couple but yet I still feel like I barely know you still. You're some mysterious out of towner that no one's ever seen before, I'm a local girl who many guys wish they could bang while many girls wish they could be me and yet they see us together where they think we're fuckin' boyfriend and girlfriend... That is the stupidest shit concept ever... It's almost like people want people they like or envy over to be couples together."

"Probably because of our red colourations, us hanging around together often or they've never heard of the Brothers Grimm story the Wolf and the Fox..." Akira scratches his ear. "What do you think? Does it help keeping guys off your back?"

"Well, yeah..." Fiona admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "Yeah, it does. Doesn't mean other girls aren't jealous of my good looks and making gossip about me."

"You got real pride in your beauty." Akira remarks. "Last name happen to be Morningstar by any chance, ey?"

"Pfft. I wish." Fiona said with a laugh, recognising the reference. "To be honest, I've always been told I'm absolutely drop-dead gorgeous; both by boys and girls alike. Don't get me wrong, I'm okay with people of either sex as well as everything in between but sometimes it gets tiring always being told you're beautiful. Some people are just cursed with beauty like mine..."

"Or the curse is that pride birthed from it can become your own worst enemy."

"Yeah, maybe." Fiona said with a shrug, flicking her hair with her hand a moment.

"Was there something else you were wanting to see me about?"

"Well, I was gonna ask to hang out with you after class but based on the favor you asked of me; I can assume you have other engagements after classes."

"My schedule's not too heavily pre-occupied. There's bit of a waiting time going on at the moment on my end, so I think I should be able to spare some time for you if you wanna hang out." Akira told her. "Everything else in the meantime is just me learning more of the city itself."

"Ahhhh~" Fiona smiles. "Well, I suppose we could hang out for a bit after classes."

"Sure. We can do that."

"Cool. I was thinking we could see a movie at the Chaos Theater over on Hal Street. Just came out this week."

"Right..." Akira just nodded to that. "I think we can do that."

"In any case... I figured you'd want to sit next to me in science class today, right?"

"If you want me to."

"It would definitely make me feel less awkward asking some other guy to sit by me... Unfortunately, the only drawback is that would add more fuel to the rumor that you and me are an item."

"Can't win them all I guess." Akira said with Fiona then remembering something she came to him about earlier.

"Also, uh... What's... I know it's likely a dumb rumor but... What's this about you and a rabbit woman?"

"Rabbit woman?"

"The one that people are saying you were with... I... I feel like if it's who I think it is, then you should definitely be careful with how you decide to further your friendship with her... She's... She's got baggage. Major fucking baggage."

"Okay, you've lost me there..." Akira shook his head. "What's the deal with this one I'm supposedly with?"

"The deal is that she has been through a lot for the past few years and if you're to be friends with her or more than that, you gotta promise to treat her right. I don't think she can handle any more heartbreaks in her life."

"Huh?" Akira was more puzzled. "Since was I—Oh! I think I now just figured out what's this all about..."

His brow furrows into an angry one; "Where's that Migu one at!?"

"Don't get the wrong idea. I can pretty much tell this was spread around by Migu; I agree with you there but I'm not trying to accuse you of starting a romantic relationship with her. Based on that reaction that you two are just friends and nothing but. I'm just simply telling you that you should try to be there for her. She... Well..." Fiona sighed, then said; "Let's just say that it can be hard raising a child by yourself for as long as she has."

"Well, I just happen to have met Vanilla and her child she calls Cream while I was doing my grocery shopping..." Akira sighs. "I didn't have any planned for that morning before they invited me along to have tea with them, doing some catching up since I moved here. Those the ones you're thinking of?"

"Yeah, actually." Fiona replied, rubbing the back of her head. "Things hasn't been too easy for her. I don't want to gossip about her behind her back because if I did, it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth. What I will say however is that if you treat her right and give her time, she'll eventually tell you what's going on."

"I already got the impression she's trying her best to support her daughter by herself and making sure she's raised properly. The way her daughter behaves tells me that she's putting in the effort..." Akira looks to her. "You know them personally?"

"I used to babysit her kid for a while before... Well, a bunch of things happened."

"That explains it."

"Pretty much."

"Mmm." Akira nodded, scratching his neck. "Right now at the moment, me and Vanilla are acquaintances. Don't even have her number and I don't know if I want to actually pursue a romantic relationship like that not because of her but because of the shit I've got going on in my own life. No need to be burdening someone else with my own problems when they've got nothing to do with it and got enough on their plate..."

His brow furrows again; "You wanna know what really happened between me and her yesterday? Fucking Migu and Hud Veruca happened."

"Fuckin' Migu... That girl's big mouth is gonna get her in some serious trouble someday. I've met her brother and he's a wanker of every shade." Fiona shakes her head and looked right at Akira. "If she gives you any more grief, let me know alright? I've dealt with girls like her before. I know exactly how to get her to leave you alone."

"I don't give a shit on if she's giving me grief. It's when she targets other people like hed is where I start having problems with her..." Akira then decided to tell Fiona of the exchange that was had yesterday while leaving out the part with the threat of social services to leave it for last as they walked on over towards their class. The memory of the scene pissing him off every time he thinks about it.

"...Then when he opened his mouth, I knew already that I didn't like him one bit." Akira says to her. "Everything else he says from there did nothing to improve that. If this had been three years ago, I'd have cleaned his clock then and there. Especially with the way he was talking to her and Cream."

"Alright. Now I'm drawing the line. You have to let me take care of this problem. I know how that must sound but trust me, I can get Migu off your back and everyone else's without it being traced back to you and me alright? Because this... This right here... I expected that from him but this is crossing a line even for her. And not only that but she now has officially pissed me right off."

"Right now, I'd rather deal with the bigger problem that is her big brot—"

"Morning~" Came the voice of Migu, the lizard girl smirking to the two as she comes up to them and something in Akira snapped in the moment. "I see that Doggo's back with his other mistress once ag—"

"You fucking cocksucking piece of shit imp!" Akira had enough of Migu's shit and verbally tearing into her much to the other students' shock including Fiona with how vicious he is. "It's never enough for you isn't it, huh? Spreading gossip and rumours on another student because you can just didn't sedate that burning sensation in you to be a plague on other people's lives!"

"Now like wait a min—"

"No. You wait a minute you stuck-up little bitch and pay attention." Akira curtly cuts her off harshly and continues on his tirade. "You spend every day of your sad, miserable life in this city by deciding to pick on those lower than you because you believe you can get away with it since mommy dearest happens to have a prominent job, your daddy being the head chef to a mayor and your big bro happening to be an so-called influential figure on the Geno City scene. Earning more than what a lot of us will ever see in our lifetimes while you get to coast away on the earnings with little regard on where's the cash coming from or for those struggling to make end's meet."

"What are you on about? My family earns a legit—"

"Then ask your big bro on his income sometime. You'll be shocked at what he earns including how he's earning them all. The next time you buy a new handbag, think of whose life your bro had ruined to get it..." Akira said to her pointedly and sharply. "Of course, what would you know anything about empathy for other people but yourself? You'd sooner sell Tod to slavery tha—"

"You fucking watch what you say about my twin brother Tod you rice-eating prick!" Migu got genuinely pissed off at the mention of Tod. Losing the smug air she usually carries on her and getting cagey with him.

"Awww, did I hit a nerve there sweetie? Did I manage to get right under your scales? Rattled the chickens in your shed?" Akira did a mock hurt face. Fiona never took him to be someone can chop others down with words until today and she thought she was the furious one jere.

The wolf glances to Fiona before looking back to Migu. "Well, let me tell ya something dearie; your big brother certainly would sell him up the river if he could considering how he treats him like he's the bane of his existence while you do nothing about it... And another thing, you have the ungodly nerve to threaten a mother that you're spreading gossip about with the social services to take away her child because she rightfully called you out for the ill-mannered animal that you and your brother really are. You stood there with a big smirk on your face when you told her that; knowing you've went well over the line..."

Akira steps forwards a bit, towering over the female lizard as other students watched the exchange; "If you have to put others down and acting like a piece of shit to them to feel good about yourself including giving grief to somebody who's already got enough shit to deal with, then you are one sad little angry mobian being."

"A sad pathetic creature that's got no friends because there's nobody around who can stand you. You're too toxic for anybody to put up with and if you somehow managed to get a husband, you'll be one big living cautionary tale of a miserable marriage. Either you'll die young because you pissed off one too many people with your mouth or... You grow up to be an old and lonely hag who dies unloved and missed by no-one if you don't start getting yourself together now before it's too late." The wolf then adds; "If you want to fling shit at me, go ahead but everyone else including Fiona here? Leave them the fuck alone... Also my name is Akira Amamiya to you and I am a wolf, not a dog you racist dipshit. Got it?"

Migu stood there, almost in a trance as she didn't show any visible movements or readable body language. Fiona would soon see her mouth trembling as if she was trying to say something but nothing came out as the female Veruca looked up to the red wolf whom held a angry glare to it with jitteriness to her neck movement, the information starting to sink in now.

Then in a sight that took them all off-guard, Migu's eyes started watering and she quickly rushes off but not before they hear her wail to herself. Whatever Fiona was going to do to Migu, none of it compared to the uncomfortable verbal brutality she had just witnessed now and for the first time that she can recall; she actually felt pity for her after that teardown from her friend rather than finding any catharsis in the moment.

Fiona was silent for a long moment; a moment that seemed to last a near-eternity. Finally, she spoke. "…Holy shit…"

Truer words could never be spoken in this instance.

Akira guiltily dips his head down and starts walking off after letting his own explosion of emotions get the better of him in front of other people, wondering if he's crossed the line himself this time. He's not even certain that if it's because of an aggressive Persona he's carrying around with him or his own emotions being pushed to the surface because recent events.

"Akira, wait!" Fiona exclaimed, running after her friend. Akira walks with his hands in his pockets.

"Akira!" Fiona said, quickly catching up to him. "Hey, listen! That… That back there… That was crossing a line a bit, don't you think?"

"Yeah..." Akira said quietly in response, continuing to walk in his paces. "Yeah, it was crossing the line and I feel like a massive asshole over it. Thought I got it all under control..."

"Well, you shouldn't stoop to her level." Fiona told him; "Now, she's probably gonna tell her mom or her brother about this and we'll both be in deep shit; you for lashing out at her and me through mere association."

"Her brother Tod's in a hospital because of Anton, said brother's planning to abduct the daughter of Rockwell's owner on the fourth of February to be sold off to a brothel, got his guys asking a drugstore owner to sell his daughter to a brothel for lower rates, a girlfriend who despises him, denying one of his people protection from the pimps and the threat of her calling social services on Vanilla..." Akira looks to the shocked Fiona. "What I witnessed yesterday as Grady, it makes me wonder how can those Verucas can even sleep at night with what they're usually up to and even Anton's guys can't stand his sister period..."

"…I see…" Fiona replied, stunned by the entire revelation. "…I guess then an outburst like that is understandable… But still, two wrongs don't make a right."

"Even if I didn't rip into her there, she would still find a way to make trouble by upping the ante and everything else that comes out of it. You said it yourself; her mouth's going to get her into trouble some day and so, someone has to break it to her how it is before she gets herself into a coffin..." Akira rubs his neck. "Couldn't be asked with that shit anymore."

"I suppose so. Still, I'd probably avoid her for a while if I were you. An outburst like that will likely give her more fuel for playing dirty."

"Oh and threatening a single mother with social services over a callout wasn't already a dirty move of her to pull?"

"She'll probably do much worse or equal to because of this…"

"All the more reason to bring her brother down then. Once that happens, she'll be on the receiving end of the gossip for once and her mother would have to step down from her position over it." Akira took his glasses off to rub his face before putting them back on. Hands still shaking a bit.

"Well, here's hoping you do that before she gets any ideas…"

"Look, I don't wanna keep talking about this because then I'll be reminded of Hud and I don't want to be thinking of him right now nor ever for my own sanity." Akira said to her with a head shake. "Come on, let's get to class..."


'...I sat with Fiona in class and could hear the murmurs of gossips from the other students while we studied...'


Hal Street, Cyber City

Afternoon

Once they fulfilled enough class hours for the day and endure hearing the gossip of them being a couple with Akira's rant to Migu or other rumours circulating around the campus, the two mobians made their way on over to Hal Street. Along the way, Fiona had taken the tome to purchase tickets to the movie online via her phone as well as readying a few E-coupons for snacks and beverages there.

"What makes Hal Street so special?"

"Just 'coz its a mid-wealth shopping street with retail within the price ranges of the middle-class or slightly-well-off." Fiona said to him.

"Sounds like the middle-class shopping district in Golden Bay City to me."

"It's a bit different because unlike there, this street has more hole in the wall shops, businesses and restaurants for the average person to enjoy."

"You say that as if you've been there before."

"Yeah, I've been there... Just not often..."

"Huh..."

"A-Anyways, have you watched any of the previous Carmine movies? I mean, she's playing a pretty popular comic book super-heroine that a lot of girls tend to cosplay as at conventions."

"Not a fan. She neve never clicks with me." I'm more science fiction-leaning anyways."

"Yeah, I feel ya. Personally, I'm more of a martial arts movie person myself. Stuff like 'Ninja Princess' or 'The Scrolls of Fox' as examples."

"I think I remember seeing the Ninja Princess one once."

"It was badass as hell. The protag in that one used this wicked-looking katana to slay all her enemies and the antagonist used this bladed telescopic whip weapon to kill a guy with it by wrapping it around him; basically tugging hard on it and cutting him to ribbons. It was so hardcore."

"For sure."

"Pretty much martial arts movies and movies about ninjas and secret agents are more my thing personally."

"I get ya. The art of secretive techniques and the world of espionage has their own allure to them."

"Yeah, not to mention all the skintight outfits~"

"That too."

"And of course, all the cool blades and tactical weaponry they use in those."

"Probably the kind of stuff G.U.N would equip their agents with through their quartermasters."

"Seems right up their alley."

The pair sees a passing surly-faced brown squirrel whom he recognises from a few days ago. Walking with a beanie hat and notably wearing a maroon navy peacoat in the winter month, hands in pockets.

"You know him?" Fiona asked Akira, noticing his glance.

"Vaguely. I only met him the other day by accident and even then, it was a brief meeting with him exchanging a few words to me where I didn't even get his name. He's not the most inviting guy around either."

"Oh, I see. Meh. Some people can be like that. Nothing we can do to change that."

Akira sees the brown squirrel head into an off-license store. "He'd be someone you know?"

"Not that I can recall…" Fiona shakes her head. "I mean, I'd pass by him sometimes but I never once introduced myself to him."

"I get a brawler vibe from looking at the guy."

"I wouldn't worry about him. He's just doin' his own thing."

"Okay." Akira nodded as they continued heading towards the cinema house. Looking like any modern cinema house found in cities with movies posters framed behind wall-mounted glasses displays.

Once they entered the lobby of the cinema, Fiona would go to the digital ticket machine and scan her phone on it to make it print out hers and Akira's tickets; handing his' to him before heading past the ticket taker, then heading to the concession counter.

"What looks good to you? Quick heads-up, though; don't order the cheese fries. They taste like rubber and will probably give you muckspray diarrhea. That's what they do for me anyway."

"I'll go for a bag of chocolate beans." Akira said, not really wanting any cheese fries after her warning about them. "The ones where the chocolates are insides these colourful biteable candy shells. What about you?"

"I might get a hot dog and a box of chocolate Nonpareils. What drink?"

"Chao Icy Lemon."

"Alrighty. I'll probably get a large Red Ox myself."

They'd both soon get their snacks before walking off with them in hand as they both head for their designated screening room together. Heading past a cardboard standee for a particular movie starring Luke Periwinkle.

"...Seems like he's on the way back up to stardom again." Akira commented on the standee where it has Luke in a black high-collar jumpsuit with white motorcycle boots, a striped-sash belt with a white fox tail attached to it, bright blue gloves and a white kitsune half-mask with red markings on it. "And playing a take on noted eccentric artist/Phantom Thief Yusuke Kitagawa judging from his costume, a role suited for his hamminess."

"Nice." Fiona gives a thumb's up, looking at another poster. "Meantime, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Shinobi IV movie. It seems like it's gonna be the 'conclusion' to the saga since it brings together the old cast and the new cast for seemingly one final romp."

They soon happened upon the screening room in question, taking a seat right in the middle aisle.

"Eh." Akira shrugs his shoulders. "I like the original novel the first one was based on more. Think it came out around the time there was an explosion in popularity for flicks based on the old Phantom Thieves of Hearts group from the twenty-first century Old World Earth."

"Like that Panther movie that was popular when I was younger. I think I was about fourteen when the third movie came out and that was like the most popular one because of how cheesy the plot and writing was. Like, it wasn't a masterpiece but it definitely earned its cult classic status. Not to mention the video games based on the three movies were badass as hell. I picked the re-release Game Trilogy on Neptune 4 fairly recently because you're goddamn right I'll play them in HD with extra content and a high-def TV. That's the shit I live for."

"The gaming market's full of those at the moment." Akira nodded as he sips his drink. "I like the Ann Takamaki movie that's more about her life outside of the group including the tragedy she experienced with her friend Shiho. To think that she was famous for years before people would found out about her and her friends being the Phantom Thieves posthumously thanks to their own memoirs including Yusuke's old coloured sketches surviving the test of time along with Yuuki Mishima's recorded accounts of their exploits. Even the legendary gymnast Yoshizawa was supposedly a member of the group at one point."

"Yeah, it's some interesting stuff for sure. Not to mention with the three movies that came out about Panther, her Phantom Thief costume in each movie is different like each movie has it's own incarnation of the costume. In addition whereas in the first one, she had a standard whip and an Sa. Vz. 61 Skorpion. Then in the second one; she had a telescopic bladed whip and an Uzi submachine gun. And in the third movie, she had a Kusarigama and a TMP submachine gun."

"Historians have always wondered how her and the Phantom Thieves manages to actually get their targets to have a change of hearts or what's with the weird stylised drawings also found in Yusuke's sketchpad and what's their actual significance to each member they're attributed to beyond speculation like Ryuji seeing something of himself in the stories of Captain William Kidd or Seiten Taisei/Sun Wukong. Same goes for his paintings depicting their exploits in a manner akin to those Greek Mythology oil paintings."

"It's always been one of life's greatest mysteries. How the Thieves actually pull off what they did since there's very little recorded evidence of them carrying out the acts." Fiona agreed. "To be honest though, I was always pretty curious as to how they really did it."

"Me too."

"At least they looked stylish while doing so, what with those costumes and all."

"Even Wolf has a snazzy outlaw style to him..." Akira said as the cinema room darkens. "Right, commercials first. Then the feature."

Fiona nodded, silently watching the previews before the feature presentation.

The motion picture would eventually start and the pair watches the feature together. He wasn't certain on if it's a result of him having a Third Eye but he's felt himself having a better sense of his own surroundings and picking up on things he wouldn't have discerned much of before or so he thinks. Supposed that one not keeping their heads down any more would have that effect on their perceptive abilities.

Fiona watched the feature in awe, impressed by both the costumes and the special effects, especially that of Carmine as Yester and her nemesis. Every single action-filled moment left a lot to be impressed with from fight choreography to special and practical effects to even the dialogue written for the interactions between the two sparring supers.

'...Good that she's enjoying herself on this.' Akira glanced over to the vixen through the corner of his eye for a moment before focusing back on the big screen, grabbing his drink to take a sip out of it before putting it back down on the armrest. 'When was the last time I actually went to a cinema? Three years ago? It has been three years ago...'

He offered his near-empty bag of chocolate beans to Fiona while she's awestruck by the spectacle as he reaches a hand into it to grab a yellow shelled one. Fiona went and grabbed a small handful of the chocolate beans without looking, still awestruck by the movie. She felt something in the bag and glanced over to see her fingers interlocked with Akira's fingers before quickly retracting the hand; blushing a bit as did he once he realised what happened. Both facing the action on the screen and refraining from glancing at each other.


'...We'd continue watching the movie together til the credits rolled with the surprise appearance of Luke Periwinkle...'

To Be Continued...