Persona 5: Daywatch
Saturday, 23 April 2016
Morning
Aoyama-Itchome Station
Feeling suffocated, Akira forced his way out of the train with other throngs of students. Stopping to lean against a tiled support column, he struggled to catch and slow his breath, one ear listening to announcements and the press of conversations and station noise, the other ear listening to angry industrial metal music on an earbud.
A dyed-blond head appeared out of the crowd, Ryuji coming out of the directionless mass of people. "Hey, dude." Getting closer, he noticed the earbud and music playlist on Akira's phone. "Man, nothin' phases you. After all that with Kamoshida, I feel totally spent. I even missed breakfast today 'cause of sleepin' in."
Voice as mechanical as his posture, Akira responded, "I was running until twenty-two-hundred last night and I'm still here. Ready and on time."
Ryuji's eyes widened, mouth curling in an impressed smile. "Duuude, you are a machine." He kicked at the ground, then cringed. "Man, all this worryin' just makes me hungrier."
"Then buy bread at the school store."
Ryuji practically fell to the floor, his shoulders staying slumped. "You gotta stop bein' so hard on me."
Saturday, 23 April 2016
Lunchtime
Shujin, Rooftop
A modest lunch in hand, Akira paced up the stairs and away from the halls filled with the usual meaningless drivel. He reached for the door, looking forward to leaving behind Mishima's monotonous typing, Ann's concerned looks, and the pointless rumors from the student body. At least on the roof he could rationalize his lonely sense of failure as something sensible, something just part of the isolated setting and not his family's genetic legacy of failure.
The door swung open and Akira squinted against the momentary blindness from the noontime sun.
When his vision cleared, he spotted someone in a girl's school uniform standing up from the planters, dusting her hands. Her curly, auburn hair tickled the back of his mind, but he felt too awkward to greet her by her given name when they didn't know each other. Haru's eyes stopped on the fresh tupperware in his hand. "Oh, you came up here to eat lunch? Don't let me stop you."
He gave a shallow nod of thanks to her for not protesting his presence. An empty roof would have been better, but this would have to do. "Thanks… Senpai."
Saturday, 23 April 2016
Lunchtime
Halls of Shujin
Cruising from his class to the far hall where his two friends had homeroom, Ryuji spotted Ann by herself, opening a small box of pocky. "Yo." He strode closer, hands in his pockets. "Hey, you see Akira in class today?"
Ann raised an eyebrow. "Uh, duh. He sits in front of Mishima, just a couple chairs away. At least he doesn't spend all day checking me out."
Ryuji flinched. "Ugh, that ain't what I'm talkin' about. I saw him this morning. I mean, I dunno 'bout you, but after last night, even though I don't know if we changed Kamoshida's heart for sure, it's like I got this huge weight off my shoulders."
Ann's gaze took on a distant quality. "I know what you mean."
"But Akira didn't look like that. Sure, he was leanin' against one of those pillars at the train station listenin' to music, but I've been thinkin'. He looks more like he's got something holdin' him down than before we went up against big and ugly."
Ann slouched against the wall. "Maybe so. I sent him a text last night to say thanks, and he never responded. Then all through morning classes all I heard was the scratching of his pen. He's always asked me how I'm doing."
Ryuji grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. "You sure he wasn't checkin' you out back there?"
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Yes. I'm sure. Unlike you, he has some class."
Chouno paced up the stairs, looking left and right with an aggravated air. "Damn, where is that kid? I have my own students to deal with." Pausing when she spotted Ann, the English teacher marched closer. "Well, Takamaki, you'll have to do. Kamoshida-san took the day off. They're holding study hall instead of PE today. Make sure you tell Kurusu-kun. Kawakami is busy and I have my own class to take care of."
Ryuji's eyes widened and he jerked his hands out of his pockets. "Kamoshida ain't here? He never missed a day in his life!"
Chouno shrugged, though her eyes fell away from the two students. She took a step closer, her eyes flicking left and right. "You didn't hear it from me, but I heard Kamoshida put himself under suspension."
Ann stood up from the wall. "So soon before the tournament? No way."
The gossipy teacher in maroon leaned closer. "Principal Kobayakawa left to talk to him about it. He's never hesitated to be heavy-handed before, so I can't believe he'd just let the coach disappear at a time like this. But after he came back from Kamoshida's he's been locked up in his office."
Ryuji looked to Ann. "You think the expulsions are why Akira's been so moody?"
"Expulsions?" Chouno crossed her arms, zeroing in on the artificial blond. "I haven't seen any papers about it. I know the rumors, but Kamoshida's normally very prompt about getting work done. If he's not there to defend it they may be thrown out. Anyway, make sure you relay that to Kurusu." She turned and trotted away.
Ann swallowed her pocky and drew another stick. "I don't think the expulsions were it, he never seemed phased by it before. It's like it wasn't even in his mind, just avenging Shiho." She gave a self-derisive smirk. "He was just as gung-ho about it as I was, and he only knew her a couple of days." She chowed down, then swallowed as her eyes widened. "Maybe that's what I could do. Earlier he asked to come along and see Shiho."
Ryuji turned to her. "She's awake?"
Ann shook her head. "No, but he wanted to apologize. Besides Yuuki, Akira was probably hardest hit by Shiho's…" Her eyes fell, "suicide attempt. Maybe if I invite him along today, he'll be able to deal with what happened."
Ryuji scratched his neck. "Why'd those two take it so hard? I thought you were her BFF?"
Ann set her pocky on the nearby locker and drew her phone, preparing a text for Shiho's mother. "When Akira arrived, I wasn't… too good to him. Shiho, having the heart two times too big for her, of course gave him a smile and some quiet encouragement." Tapping the send, she drew in a breath. "Maybe… at least I can do this much."
Saturday, 23 April 2016
After School
Shujin, Class 2-D
The bell rang and Ann tossed her things together, looking across the class to see Akira's lethargic motions despite Yuuki's attempts to provoke him into conversation about the upcoming midterms. Or whether they'd still be around for them. Navigating through the desks, she stopped next to his. "Hey, Akira. Come on."
Akira looked up at her, hands still packing with no sign of hurry.
Glancing at Yuuki to note he was listening, she kept her focus on Akira. "Shiho's mom got back to me. It's okay for you to come visit today."
Behind him, Yuuki flinched. Akira's eyes snapped wide for fraction of second, but he composed himself back to the creepy robotic Akira a moment later. "You… you sure?"
She looked to Yuuki. "I'm sure you—"
Yuuki shook his head, shouldering his school satchel and turning away. "I've no right to see her. What could I possibly say?"
Stepping aside to let him out, Ann gestured to Akira. "Hurry up. Train ride's forty-five minutes each way."
Saturday, 23 April 2016
Hospital, Room 248
A woman with a thin, green head-scarf looked up as the two teenagers entered. Deep circles around her eyes gave her a gaunt appearance. "Oh, hello, Ann-chan." She glanced over at the curly-haired boy. "And you are?"
Akira bowed, still showing no outward sign of emotion. "Kurusu Akira. Please just call me Akira."
Miss Suzui lifted a hand to straighten her cyan sweater in the air-conditioning. "Such a polite lad." Her stomach growled and a thin frown formed. "A little forward, though. So you're the new friend Ann-chan told me about?"
Akira bowed again, reminding Ann more of a wooden doll than the passionate comrade she thought she knew. "I feel like that might be presuming, Suzui-san. Your…" His throat tensed. "Your daughter was the first one at Shujin to show me any kindness." Coming up slow, his breath hitched and he didn't quite look at the girl wrapped in casts and tubes. "She… you have an amazing daughter."
She gave a plastic smile. "Ann-chan, if you could watch over Shiho? I haven't eaten since yesterday."
"Oh, of course Suzui-san."
The weary mother stepped out. Ann took a position at the foot of the bed while Akira came to a stop near the head. A rigid plastic collar still locked Suzui's neck, casts and pins on both legs and another cast on her left arm highlighted the severity of her injuries.
Akira lowered to both knees, touched his fingers to his forehead, stomach, then shoulders, and folded his hands on the edge of the bed. "Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum…"
Ann stepped closer, taking her left arm in her right. With no idea what to say to either one, she listened to him go in in prayer in that strange language until he stopped, then prayed in plain language for Shiho's health. Then he began the prayer in that strange language again and she couldn't stand the awkwardness, so she knelt next to him.
Akira froze, hands tense in their perch on the edge of the bed. "Sorry, am I bothering you?"
Ann shifted her weight from her left knee to her right. "To be honest, it felt wrong to just be standing around when you were kneeling there. Sounds like you were really… fervent."
Akira looked over Shiho. "Nobody's ever described me as pious before."
Ann brushed the tip of one pigtail off her shoulder. "Well… Shiho and her mother would—do appreciate you praying for her healing."
Akira's gaze drifted away. "It… only seems appropriate." He brought his hands down to his sides, rubbing his left arm where she remembered his Persona taking quite a blow days ago. "You know, God in the Catholic Church is portrayed as a lot of things. King. Father. Most especially judge. Father Motoori said the Greek Orthodox Church holds him up as a healer and I always liked that particular avatar. It's probably why I decided to go into chiropractics. Jesus healed people everywhere he went, and sermons are always going on about how we're supposed to try to be like him. So I decided the best way to be the opposite of my old bastard is to be a healer." He gave a self-derisive smirk. "It would be pretty far from everything else I've done in my life so far."
Ann fidgeted, then could no longer ignore the call of nature and stood. "I need to use the bathroom."
Akira nodded, tapping his fingers against himself again before settling back into his strange prayer.
Ann trotted out to the public restroom a few minutes away. On the way back, she heard Akira talking, but on peeking into the room saw nobody else. Despite knowing it was rude to eavesdrop, she pressed herself next to the doorway and listened in.
"…Smiling Mountain Mental Institute. Until Isshiki's death and he was assigned as head of research." Akira gave a bitter snort. "Imagine it. A fourth grader who thought it was normal for his father to put him in experiments. That's why they started calling me the lab freak's kid. Or sometimes they'd call me 'lab freak'. The first day from school I came back to the institution in tears. My old bastard lost it. He always had a temper, but he usually yelled before. That was the first time he hit me. And kept on doing it. He said 'men don't cry' some time before I blacked out. That was when I started getting into fights. The teachers always said I shouldn't fight, but… they expected it. They stopped whispering behind my back and looking down their noses at me. When I ran away from school that first day with tears and snot running down my face, the way they looked at me said more than a million words. Violence was okay. Crying was not."
A cyan sweater against the sterile white drew Ann's attention to the hall in the direction of the cafeteria to Suzui's mother.
Uncertain why she felt her heart rate spike, she scrambled inside and gave a smile that wouldn't fool an infant. "Well, I'm back."
Akira jerked in the chair pulled up next to the bed, taking his clasped hands into his lap. She thought she noticed some faint puffiness around his eyes, but by the time she got close enough to be sure he already rubbed his face to straighten himself out.
Glancing at the two youths at her daughter's bedside, Suzui's mother came to the foot of the bed. "Any change?"
Ann shifted her weight to her other foot. "No, she's still unconscious."
Akira stood and stepped away from the chair so Shiho's mother had a clear path. "She'll pull through," he said, tone dull and controlled, though she thought she heard a hint of need in it. "If ever I met a strong person, it's Suzui."
Shiho's mother pulled a half-spent packet of tissues from her pocket and snatched one out for herself. "She… yes, she certainly is."
Saturday, 23 April 2016
Evening
Yongen
Darkness fell as the sun sank low behind the mountains, natural and man-made, of Tokyo. Akira held up a hand in a lazy wave of acknowledgment at the owner of the second-hand shop and kept going. The echoes of the multitudes on the train rang in his ears, somehow only enhanced by the silence of the almost-empty road.
Akira's phone blasted Alliance Force Assemble and he hissed in annoyance before drawing it. He groaned when he saw Ryuji's ID on the text app, then settled his back against the dark theater building. "Can I not get five minutes to myself in this city?"
[You back from the hospital yet?]
Akira typed in, [I just got to Yongen. Don't forget how many transfers I need before I get anywhere.]
A tone played and Ann joined the chatroom. [All safe and sound, then. I didn't realize how much homework I was putting off until I got back.]
Akira rolled his eyes. [I just wish there was something I could've done. I hate feeling useless.]
[I hear ya, bro. All this waiting has me antsy. Want to go on a trip or something?]
[Sure.] Akira glanced down at his school satchel, hanging off his shoulder, with Morgana peering up at him from inside. [You and me can hit the library.]
Ryuji's response came fast. [Um, yeah no. Do you remember all the talking the last time we made that mistake?]
Ann's response came next. [There's plenty of diners in Shibuya.]
Akira grimaced, not liking looking like a negative person. [Me and crowds don't mix. I'm also not so sure about Shibuya, I think I ran into a meeting I wasn't supposed to see.]
[Holy shit! You run into the yakuza?]
Akira sighed, pushed his glasses up and rubbed the spot on the bridge of his nose for a few moments. [Let's not get overexcited. Just a couple thugs talking about drugs in an alley. Although if you hear anything related, shoot me a quick message.]
[That is so cool, man!]
Even Morgana sighed. "Reaper, you must have serious problems with concentrating."
Several seconds passed of as much quiet as this neighborhood of Tokyo got until a helicopter rumbled through the air above.
Ryuji's ID pulsed, three dots dancing for a few moments. [So back to less alley talk, how's Suzui? Everybody in class's been quiet and antsy since her incident.]
[I told her we settled things with Kamoshida. She's still in a coma, but… I had to make amends.]
Akira straightened against the dark theater door. [You didn't do anything wrong, Ann. Kamoshida's the one who did.]
Ann's response came so fast he could almost hear the self-scathing tone. [But I was there next to her the whole time. What kind of friend could be that close and let that happen?]
Morgana's ears drooped. "That poor, kind girl."
"Pity helps nobody," Akira snapped. [Don't you dare start moping about might-haves. We're here now and what happened happened. All we can do now is decide what we do from here on.]
No sound but the helicopter circling overhead interrupted the night, and Akira slid further underneath the theater's overhang. When he looked back at the chat, Ann added, [You're right. I have to make up for what I should've done or I won't be able to move on.]
Ryuji pinged next, [When'd you get so fired up? I don't remember you being so passionate in middle school.]
Ann wrote, [I think I was just trying to get by before. But with all of you, I know there's more. To me, and to life. More that I should've been doing all along. You're right, though. We should do something when this blows over.]
Akira stared at the chat. "I dunno if that would be a good idea. The cops didn't like me hat-snatching while I was attending Inuri."
Morgana looked askance at him. "You do know there are things you can do for fun that aren't illegal, right?"
Akira slipped his phone into his pocket and headed for the cafe. "Not until cannabis is legal." He pushed open the door to Leblanc, the annoying bell jingling.
Sojiro looked up from counting through the register. "You keeping busy out there?"
Akira shrugged. "Trying to keep up with school."
Sojiro counted out one last thing, wrote into his cell phone, then closed the register. "You have some time? We haven't really sat down to chat since you got here. There's a lot of things I'd like to ask."
Akira kept walking until reaching the coffee siphons by the sink, but stopped short of the hallway to the stairs. Guessing he'd lose more credit than he'd gain by keeping to himself, he let out a breath, set his school satchel down on the booth seat behind him, and whispered to Morgana, "I'll catch you later."
Morgana slipped out, but only got as far as the bathroom before stopping and leaning as if readying to listen in.
Akira spun a bar stool around backwards, plopped on it, and leaned away.
Sojiro looked away, struggled to think for a moment, then looked at him with a focused gaze like plenty of the fuzz around Inuri. "How's school? You're not causing any trouble, are you?"
Akira crossed his arms, jaw set. "Of course I would have to be the one causing trouble."
Sojiro sighed, then started straightening things by the coffee machines. "I'm just trying to get started, here. I have to report to your probation officer twice a month. Consider how much of a pain in the ass it is when I've already got everything else to deal with."
Scoffing, Akira tightened his crossed arms. "Right. Because all those laws to keep the people in line are worth so much when the authority figures aren't worth the respect a healthy nation needs to keep from toppling."
Sojiro pulled away from fiddling, giving him an analytic gaze heavy with suspicion but also curious probing. "You've sure got an interesting perspective." He slid a few things inwards against the kitchen side of the bar and reached for the towel to dry his already dry hands. "Does that have anything to do with that pondering you were doing the other day about fathers building someone up?
Akira straightened on the stool. "I wasn't expecting that to come up again. I figured you'd pretend you weren't there and hope I forgot."
Sojiro shrugged his shoulders in the nervous manner like he had exactly that thought but didn't want to admit it. "I went to get your cat some food, I didn't intend to listen in. But yes, I heard a few things." He set the towel down. "Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing to talk things out, even to a cat. Sometimes you can help straighten out an idea that way." The middle-aged man smirked. "But every once in a while you might want to talk things out with a person. They can talk back and maybe even help you figure something out."
Akira drummed his fingers against the counter. "I'd have to trust that nobody'd stab me in the back to want to do that. Only problem is people tend to be humans, and that seems to be their modus opperandi."
"People aren't all bad," Sojiro shot back. His phone rang and he stepped back to the shelves to answer. "What's wrong?" A young, feminine voice floated out from his phone, not quite loud enough for distinct words to reach Akira's ears. "Sorry, I'll head out now."
Akira slumped over his bar stool. "Hot date?"
Frowning, Sojiro's brow drew together and down. "You can see I've got plenty on my plate, professionally and personally. What about you?"
Akira leaned away, grabbing onto the chair's back to stay steady. "I put in an application to work up at Ore no Beko up in Shibuya. Only problem is they only need people for the evening shift."
Sojiro's arms crossed. "You want to go wandering off all the way to Shibuya at night? I have to justify your actions to a probation officer, you know! If it was something on the way from school I could understand, as long as you keep up on your studies, but I still have to lock up and I've got plenty to do myself." He paused, his eyes falling on the coffee makers. His stance relaxed. "Though while we're at it, you could lend a hand here."
Akira looked around the empty diner. "Yeah, these crowds must really test the limits. I don't know how you keep it together. All that fat loot must really weigh you down."
Rolling his eyes, Sojiro stepped closer. "I'm not asking you to work for free. These beans aren't just for show. If you pitch in, I'll teach you how to brew the perfect cup." He smirked as if he said something brilliant. "What do you think?"
Akira slipped his hands into his pockets, shoulders drooping. "I don't really have any friends to impress with a cup of good coffee."
Something passed through Sojiro's face that Akira hadn't seen since Officer Ichijou, a look he couldn't identify. The middle-aged man gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Never hurts to learn beforehand. Preparation beats make-up."
Akira slumped forward. "I guess I do need a part time job somewhere. Fair enough."