Persona 5: Daywatch

Sunday, 24 April 2016
Morning
Kanda Catholic Church

Mass over, Akira sat back in the bench and closed his eyes to listen to the shuffle of people. Slow scraping marked people gathering to chat, the posh, posh of leather and rubber identifying people walking out with an energy of haste. No simple answers about what to do today arose. Despite sniping with Ryuji, Akira didn't know what to do about Kamoshida. Standing, he realized he had yet to go to Confession like Father Motoori asked. Akira sighed, feeling his temples throb just at the prospect of talking about everything happening recently. He looked around the emptying sanctuary.

A pretty girl with a red, omamori-style knot in her hair zipped a leather-bound study bible closed and gathered a wood box and wood grid board. Curiosity stirred and he walked around the pews between them. "Hello. I see you've got a… hold on a second." He counted. "Chess boards are eight across, that's nine. Am I right in presuming that's a shogi board?"

The girl smoothed out her conservative beige dress. Her stance remained guarded, but one corner of her mouth curled up. "That's right, I'm a shogi player." She gave a polite incline of her head. "Togo Hifumi."

Akira adjusted his glasses, sudden panic shooting through him at the possibility of meeting somebody neutral who knew nothing of his checkered past. "Please, call me Akira. It's been a little while since I played. I think there was only one person who really liked it in chess club at my last school, although it was a rather eclectic bunch there. More played go than chess, anyway."

Togo turned a curious, analyzing gaze on him. A long moment passed before she held the board close and sidestepped to let another parishioner leave. "Oh? That's interesting. Kosei High does have a small chess club, but that is the only game they play."

Akira shrugged. "Well, their loss. I liked every strategy game I played, but in order to really train your strategic muscle you have to test it against a variety of challenges."

Togo paused, the gears whirling behind her dark green eyes. She glanced at her board, then back up at Akira. "Well, I brought this to play a few games with Father Sugiyama. If you have some time, we could play a quick match."

A thrill zipped up his spine. Feeling good for maintaining more than thirty seconds of conversation without shooting himself in the foot, and even more at the prospect of being able to flex his strategic muscle, Akira gave a smirk. "Quick? I'll have you know I've held off my opponent in go for hours."

A sharpness entered Togo's eyes, and a faint smile curled her pink lips. "Shogi is a very different game. We'll see where each other stands." She gestured to the pew next to her. "Is this good here?"

Akira plopped down and scooted in, leaving plenty of room for her and the board. He resisted the temptation to crack his knuckles for show, but knew his smirk still lingered. "Anywhere, any time."

She set down the board, opened the box, and both began setting up.

Kanda Catholic Church

Togo took in a long breath. "The dragon which governs the blue sky has fallen into my hands!" She moved a tile. "Check." She scooted back just a little, her eyes on Akira instead of the board. "No matter which move you make, I will have you at checkmate in less than three turns. Please concede."

Akira stared at the board, formulating move after move and only seeing his king's capture each time. He growled. "I do not give up." He reached out and moved his knight, placing the tile with a firmer snap than the last.

Togo folded her hands in her lap. "To concede is to admit you have lost, with grace."

Akira looked across the board, trying not to notice that she could promote another two pieces he couldn't capture next turn. He tapped the curled knuckle of his index finger against his lip. "One more game."

Togo breathed out. "This was our third match. I acknowledge your resolve, but part of being a good shogi player is knowing when to bow to one who has proven the better. Just because somebody has bested you does not mean either must lose dignity."

Akira clenched his teeth, but the calm and clear way she said it left little room for him to hold onto anger at anything but himself. She did beat him fair and square. Cycling breath, he sat back against the pew, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. "That's a lot easier to say than to do." He opened his jaw, feeling a pop and putting a hand against one side. "I've tried to grow beyond him, but my old bastard—"

Togo cleared her throat, throwing a clear glance to the crucifix and altar.

"Sorry." Akira straightened. "Anyway, he taught me that to fail is to step closer to death. It's an end to your ability to even try."

"That… sounds very harsh," she said, sitting back against the pew and looking at the crucifix. "In my own experience, I know I have learned more from the games I lost than any I won." She gave a warm, affirming smile. "I know it can be difficult, especially with the national motto practically being 'fly or die', but my father taught me that defeat can be our greatest teacher. If we are able to hold onto grace in defeat as well as victory, we will grow that much more from either."

Akira let out a long breath. "I… can't argue with that." He glanced at the board, then up into the deep green pools of her eyes. "S-so that last game…?"

She checked the time on her phone, then flashed him an apologetic smile and started putting pieces away. "I'm sorry, but my mother arranged an interview for me. I must be going."

Father Sugiyama came up the aisle from the altar. "Good day, Daughter," he paused to bow to Togo, who returned with a lower bow. "Son," he bowed to Akira, who returned the gesture. "Please forgive my absence. When I noticed how focused you both looked, I couldn't help but hold back."

Her eyes widened as if she scrambled to excuse her hand from the cookie jar. "Oh, not at all, Father. I'm sorry I allowed myself to be distracted so long, especially after asking you to set aside time for a game."

Father Sugiyama turned to Akira. "I see you have met our resident shogi expert, Togo-chan."

Akira whipped around to the girl in the flattering, beige dress. "Shogi exp… I knew it! You were bamboozling me."

Father Sugiyama gave the kind of smile that hinted at more to say later. "Nonsense, I dare say Togo-chan is the most honest member of this parish. And I do include myself in that count."

Akira felt a lump in his throat and looked away, feeling his face heat up. Determined not to let things end on a sour note to the only person to give him a good run, he bowed his head at Togo. "Sorry. It's just that I've never been decimated quite so thoroughly in a strategy game before."

Hifumi closed her tile box. "Well, you're no novice… though everybody has room to grow."

Akira stood. "Perhaps another game later?"

She brushed her hair back over one ear, then let out a breath, tension creeping into her expression. "Perhaps. I'm afraid I have little time during the week right now between studying for entrance exams and interviews, but perhaps I will see you here next week?"

Akira gave a flourished bow at the waist. "It would be an honor."

Togo gave a relaxed smile that sent a shot of relief through his system, held her board and box on her left side, and gave a brief bow of her own. "Then next week after Mass."

Father Sugiyama watched her leave for a few seconds, then turned to Akira. "I'm pleased to see you've made a friend. I hope this week has been gentler to you than the last?"

"I…" Akira sighed, unsure whether to call it a net gain or loss. "Well, a few things drew to a close, but I feel more like life is slipping through my fingers."

Sugiyama nodded. "We've all been praying. Has the Suzui girl recovered?"

Akira's shoulders slouched. "Takamaki and I visited her, but she's still in a coma."

Father Sugiyama gave a strained smile Akira assumed was meant to indicate empathy. "Well, sometimes all we can do is leave our troubles at the foot of the cross. Jesus may have told his disciples, 'pick up your cross and follow me' but God also told us in Genesis that 'it is not good for man to be alone'."

A hollow tone rang inside Akira's mind at the last quote - yet another reminder about all the other people who had a mother or father they could trust, or a plethora of friends they could talk to on any day of the week, or a brother to back him up. Fighting off a snarl, he jammed his hands into his pockets. "I also thought he said he wouldn't give us any more than we could bear."

Akira stormed out as Father Sugiyama watched.

Sunday, 24 April 2016
Evening
Yongen, Leblanc

Akira rinsed off the last dish and pulled the plug in the bottom of the sink, then flicked water off his hands and reached for the towel. His smart phone chirped and Akira hurried to dry before bringing up the text messaging application.

Ryuji's ID looked back at him. [Anything change with Kamoshida?]

Akira sat down at the chair on the end of the bar as Morgana hopped up on the chair next to him. [I wouldn't know. I went up to see Suzui with Ann, remember? Something up?]

[I'm just anxious. Even after all we did, we may still get expelled.]

[We've done all we can. If you can't trust what YOU did, trust what Ann and I did.]

[Man, you're being kinda hard on me.]

Akira huffed. [I'm not being hard on you, I'm being practical.] Akira took in a long breath. Maybe he was being hard on the runner. [It applies to me, too. To be honest, I don't feel like I did enough, but what's done is done. I have to believe in what you and Ann did.]

Morgana smiled and chirped from his chair, "And me, too!"

Several seconds passed before three dots pulsed, then Ryuji's next message came in. [Dude, you really do hold everyone to a high standard, huh?]

Akira leaned on the bar, bracing on his elbows. [The one good lesson my old bastard passed on to me. Failure is death.]

[I was going to say I feel a little better after talking about this, but… for real? Maybe we both should get out and do something.]

Hifumi's words echoed in his mind, "Just because somebody has bested you does not mean either must lose dignity." She seemed so serious and sage when she said it. Even though he wanted to believe it, the words went against everything he learned in life. Screw up once, and nobody will ever let you forget it.

Akira let out a short breath and typed, [I'm not really ready for celebrating right now. And I feel like I haven't left things with Ann in a good place either.]

[I guess I was worried about what's gonna happen to mom if things go south.] A short beat passed before the triple dots pulsed and he sent more. [Oh, and if there's something rough between you and Ann, please don't tell her I was doubting us, okay? She's got more than enough to handle already and I don't want her to think she's got no one to rely on.]

[Any secrets you leave with me stay with me.] Akira put his phone away and looked up to see Sojiro staring in his direction, hand pushing a polishing rag in circles on the counter. "What?"

Sojiro stretched out his shoulder, but his inscrutable look settled behind a mask with just a little suspicion. "Just tryin' to figure a few things out. Think you're getting used to the city?"

Akira spread his hands out on the counter. "I can navigate if that's what you mean. Sometimes I think I'll never get used to the crowds. At least things are easier once I get wherever I'm going."

A beat passed as the middle-aged man stared at him before he straightened. "Well… you've been reliable so far. I suppose it's safe enough if you want to go out at night."

Akira straightened, feeling like a heavy chain slid from his shoulders. The unsavory types he both pranked and hung out with at Inuri tended to come out in droves when the sun went down, and he never had better luck than at night. This could mean opportunity to pay off the score with the doctor. "That mean it's okay if I pick up that night job at the beef bowl in Shibuya?"

Sojiro dropped the polishing rag in a bin under the counter, looking tired. "As long as you take school seriously and don't get in trouble, I don't care. Just make sure the stove is off and you lock up."

Monday, 25 April 2016
Early Morning
Aoyama-Itchome Station

The cacophony of a thousand conversations and feet in the enclosed train station assaulted Akira. He pushed and shoved through the crowd meandering up the stairs like flocking animals. At last he escaped to the street. Akira ducked to one side to get some room to breathe, one hand white-knuckled on his schoolbag and the other clenching his phone, a shogi game in progress on the screen.

Blonde pigtails appeared out of the crowd and Ann slipped out, locked onto him and trotted closer with the ease of striding from one room to another in a private house. She flashed him a smile. "Morning! How's being packed in like sardines, city-style?"

Akira looked away, unsure if she was mocking him but unwilling to make a gaffe if she wasn't. Ryuji's hint that Ann had no one else to turn to echoed in his ears and he couldn't shove her away like he had the previous days. "I thought commuter hell sounded funnier before I landed neck-deep in it."

Ann's plastic smile vanished and an empathetic frown crossed her face. "Sorry, I can see you don't like it. I don't mean to poke fun at one of your weaknesses."

Feeling hot, Akira swallowed and looked away from the pretty girl's concern. "Don't worry about it."

Ann crossed her arms and he tried not to notice the way it pushed up her breasts. "To tell the truth, I'm worried. I always get anxious when I don't have something to do."

Akira nodded, letting out a breath that took a little of his tension with it. He brought up his phone and slid a tile over, then submitted the move. "Me too."

Ann took a step closer, her shoulders angling away as if she wanted to leave but her hips pointed towards him as if she wanted to turn straight to him. "Say… do you have time after school? Both of us need to switch gears."

The narrow score he got on Chunou-sensei's last English quiz despite being the last to turn it in weighed down on him and he mumbled, "Need to study."

Ann forced a smile showing teeth too perfect to be real. "Then we can meet and study at the diner!" She waited several seconds as students streamed past, but when he kept his eyes fixed on his phone, she waved goodbye. "Well, see you. Thanks."

Monday, 25 April 2016
After School
Shibuya, Diner

Ann moved her ice cream bowl to the far inner side of the table and turned the page in her history textbook. Books and papers spread out over the table in the cozy diner several floors up from Shibuya's street level. Every table hosted eaters, and the few waiters working that afternoon scrambled to keep up. Despite the number of people surrounding them, the net effect left them near alone.

Ann looked up, trying to figure out what was eating at him. "So… Akira. About everything that happened with Kamoshida…"

His mechanical pencil's lead broke and he tapped out another millimeter. "I don't want to talk about it."

She closed her mouth and watched him for a moment, but his shoulders never relaxed. "You haven't touched your kale kobachi."

He glanced at it, then went right back to writing. "I'm not hungry. Are you stuck on a problem?"

Ann glanced at her pages, well aware of how many blanks she had on papers due tomorrow. "Well, not homework. Akira, we're worried about you. You haven't joined us for lunch, you don't talk to us anymore." She forced a smile in the hopes he'd look up and see some positivity. "You're probably not going to be expelled anymore." When a couple seconds passed without response, she brushed her pigtail back. "Come on, Akira. We did everything we could with Kamoshida."

He smacked his pencil down on his notebook, turning a burning gaze on her. "No, we didn't do everything. Shiho's still tied up in casts, comatose on a hospital bed and Kamoshida's probably sipping wine in his cushy private house. He should be the one in the hospital, not Shiho." He snatched his pencil and looked down, shoulders hunched as he resumed writing. "If the only thing I can do right at Shujin is grades, I might as well do that."

Ann pasted a smile over her face. Of course it would come back to Shiho. Yuuki idolized her. She was so nice, everybody in Shujin seemed to like her. When Akira arrived, all she had to do was offer him a smile and friendly words of acceptance. "I know Shujin isn't treating you right." When he continued writing, her false smile faded into a frown. "What about the rest of Tokyo?"

At last, his pencil stilled. "I'm… not thrilled about the crowds. And the city's so big, it takes a long time to get anywhere. Whenever I notice it, I wonder why more people don't move out." He started writing again.

Ann decided to take what she could get. "I know what you mean. I was just starting middle school when mom and dad brought me over. I wasn't really ready for Tokyo either. Everybody would hang back and go 'look at the foreign girl'. I even considered dying my hair black to blend in with everyone else." Her smile turned shallow, but felt easier. "We were in art class one day when Shiho came up and told me 'Takamaki, your paintings suck'." At the memory, a laugh bubbled up.

Akira looked up at her laugh. His eyes reminded her of Yuuki's, dark and soulful, but the hunch of his shoulders smoothed out a little. "Really? I guess she was really good at always getting to the heart of the matter."

Ann nodded, feeling her next breath come easier at seeing him relax and open up a little. "It's the first time I can remember someone talking to me without my looks being the center of the conversation. We talked more, and soon we were best of friends." She scanned his face, not liking the way the muscles tensed around his eyes. It looked like pain. "What about you? Any friends you keep in contact with?"

Akira leaned back in his booth seat, eyes distant. "Not really. At Inuri we were more friends by proximity than because any of us liked each other. Father Motoori was the only one I ever went to for advice, but he was the guy who tended the chapel. When I told him I was being shipped to Tokyo, he gave me the name and address for Father Sugiyama over at the church in Kanda. Officer Ichijou said as long as I saw him every week that should count for counseling."

Ann leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "Is he nice?"

Akira looked away and stretched his shoulder, guilty look unmistakable. "I… haven't really talked to him. Kinda hard to bring up a castle where our school should be, in a magic realm that a weird phone app teleports us to."

Ann let out a nervous sigh. "Yeah. Maaaybe we keep that Metaverse stuff to ourselves." She paused, remembering the grateful look on his face when Shiho told him she liked his idea about becoming a doctor. "You could talk to Ryuji and… well, to me."

He met her eyes for only a fraction of a second before looking away, red tinging his cheeks. "I… don't know if I'm ready. I'm not all that good at talking even when I know what I'm talking about and I'm kind of… uncertain right now."

Watching his hunched, withdrawn posture for a few moments, Ann drew in breath to growl at his refusal to share any of his burdens when she realized he just did. He wasn't bearing his soul to her, but she reminded herself that despite the castle he only knew her for less than a month. Admitting he didn't know what to do was one step closer.

She pursed her lips and resolved to ask Mishima.