Persona 5: Daywatch
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
After School
Shujin, Class 2-D
Akira flipped back through his history book to fill out his handwritten notes stuffed on notebook sheets between the pages. With the other students still shuffling out of class, he couldn't dredge up the energy to fight through them to get to the library just to fight through more students in an attempt to study. When his phone buzzed, he left his book open and pulled up the incoming chat.
Ryuji's ID blinked up at him. [Hi, dude. I was just thinking that it's been a while since we did some working out. Can't be too prepared for Mementos, eh?]
Glancing down at the team leader, Akira noted the sway of the team leader's tail. "Not interested?"
Morgana's ears flicked, but with his head pointed down the transfer student couldn't be sure if it was annoyance or something else. "Go ahead and practice your running. I'll check with Nightrider about our name exchange." He hopped down and slunk out the door. Akira shot a text back to the runner, then to the president to warn her to keep an eye out for their leader. Communications done, Akira changed into his gym uniform, and met the track star behind the gym.
Ryuji bared a toothy grin. "Yo. How you feelin' about fightin' the flab?"
Akira poked the runner in the ribs. "I ain't the old man struggling to reach his old glory."
Smirking, Ryuji shoulder-bumped the transfer student. "Heh. Watch me wreck your expectations." His eyes bulged. "I mean, like, in a not bad way."
An unfamiliar boy snapped, "The hell you doin' in our spot?"
Akira turned, shoulder-to-shoulder with the runner. "I don't see your name on it."
A dark-haired boy with a dark sweatband glared at the transfer student. He shifted his heated gaze to the runner and slipped his hands in his track suit. "What're you doin' here? Think you can just start runnin' with the team again after what you did?"
Akira stepped closer. "What did you do, Takeishi? 'Cause for all the talk of team spirit, all I see is shit-talking from a coward who did nothing as Kamoshida beat every team but his own into dust. At least Ryuji stood up to him."
"He couldn't even punch out Kamoshida," Takeishi spat. "Yeah, he singled you out, but when it came down to it, all he had to do was push and you went down."
"At least he pushed," Akira said, gesturing his head at Ryuji.
The brown-haired guy stepped back with a weak shrug.
Takeishi saw it and whirled on his fellow runner. "The hell you agreein' with them for? The transfer doesn't have any business talkin' shit at all, and Ryuji ruined all of us just for one ineffective swing."
Ryuji took in a deep breath before howling over them, "Dudes!" He made sure to lower his clenched hands. "Kamoshida's gone now. We don't gotta stay stuck on him. Eff, we could bring the track team back if havin' a team is really what it's all about. Back for real, not this runnin' around the back lot."
Nakaoka's face reddened with a sudden rage and his hands balled into fists. "And who'd cosign for reinstating the track team, Ryuji? Not one of the faculty would have anything to do with us. You were the only one who broke records, but thanks to that swing you took at Kamoshida all we'll ever be here is the team that attacked the coach." He took off at a steady sprint down the outer-grounds path.
Takeishi ground his teeth for another second longer before taking off as well, sending almost as heated a glare at his fellow runner as the ex-track star.
Ryuji let out a long breath and as much collapsed as leaned against the gym wall. "Man, it's lookin' like Nakaoka's gettin' along even worse than usual."
Akira quirked an eyebrow. "He just unloaded on you and you're worried about him?"
Ryuji wiped his nose with the back of his hand and stood up. "Well, yeah. We were friends, before Kamoshida. All of us were. An' even though we ain't buddy-buddy now, he ain't wrong." He threw a hand out at them as the pair hit the corner and continued running along Shujin's property wall. "They don't even got a club room no more. We used to be able to go a buncha places for track or cross-country practice, an' now the few that still got the heart to run gotta just run laps in this shitty place. A proper team sport ain't the place for outcasts."
Akira walked over and gave a playful punch in the runner's shoulder. "Hey, I saw you running in Inokashira. You love running so much, you adapted. Outcast or no. So could they."
Ryuji forced a grin that wouldn't have fooled a five-year-old child, but punched back and stood up. "Well, it's easier for me 'cuz I live like right across the street from Inokashira. But thanks, dude. With all the shit goin' round you, I bet you got it even worse than us." He looked out at the corner the other runners disappeared around. "Even if I can't be part of whatever's up next, it's not like I want 'em endin' up like me. Y'know?"
Akira clapped his hand on Ryuji's shoulder. "You may dye your hair to look like a dork, but you're a stand-up guy."
Ryuji pulled away and ran a hand through his hair. "Hey, this is the sign of a rebel."
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Early Evening
Aoyama, Road to Train Station
Akira's feet thumped down the road, occasional trucks the only traffic intruding on his thoughts. While the city noise sounded oppressive on most days, like the pressure on his eardrums when diving just a little too deep, it was a welcome relief after Shujin's library. The noise level alone would have been a minor distraction if his name didn't keep on popping up. With the distractions he felt like he spent two hours for half an hour of study.
He slowed once the stairs down to the subway came into view. It had been a while since he saw Hifumi last. It would be nice to see her again, for tutoring if not just that sonorous voice and those deep green eyes.
Akira came to a stop next to the wall so the foot traffic would avoid him. His contacts already open to Queen Togo, doubts creeping in. "Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained." Leaning against the wall next to a storefront of baby toys, he called.
She picked up just after the third ring. "Good day, Akira-kun."
Akira felt a smile tug at his lips. "Good evening, Queen Togo. Sorry about all those texts late last night."
A dainty chuckle floated out from the phone. "That was hardly late, Akira-kun. There's a lot of things to stress about, I don't want to be one of those things for you."
That smile widened over his face. That consideration reminded him of Shiho. "So, uh… I know you've been kind of busy." He bit his lip, feeling a knot forming in his gut. "I thought maybe we could play a game or two in the fresh air. Would you like to visit somewhere outside?"
Her voice dropped to a hush, "God, yes. The chairs in the calligraphy club feel like rocks and if I have to stare at the inside another studio set, I'm going to start tearing my hair out."
That knot in his stomach loosened a little. He opened his mouth, but before he could even speak, his mind started telling him why every single place he could think of was a bad choice. Too boring, too dirty, too bad for respectable company, too expensive. "Anywhere you'd like to go?"
A few beats passed where he strained to hear Hifumi's soft breathing as she ticked through options in her mind. "Rekisen Park is quiet, offers some nice privacy, and has tables we could set up on."
"Mm-hm."
"I'll send you a text for the exact meeting spot as soon as I get there." She cut the call.
Akira glanced down to the team leader, head jutting out of his satchel but laying on the open zipper. "You coming?"
He rolled his blue eyes. "I don't know what you see in that game, and if I wanted to see two teenagers getting boisterous about weird stuff I'd stick around more often when you watched Fairy Tail."
"It's a great show!"
Morgana shook his head, the shake passing all the way down his spine to his tail. "Just let me off at Shibuya. If I don't run into Nightrider or Lady Ann, I'll see you at Leblanc at night."
They parted ways at the Shibuya Underground and Akira took the train up to Chiyoda. The park outside Tokyo Dome would have been closer, but he figured Rekisen had some other quality she wanted, so he took a bus, texted to let her know he arrived, and followed her directions through the central promenade to a secluded, concrete table nestled in the trees. Despite being off the main walk way and food vendors, Akira spotted a young man in an egg-blue button-down shirt standing over Hifumi in her school uniform. Blue Shirt stared at his hand with a look of awe. He spoke with a breathlessness as if he just ran a marathon, "T-thank you!" He held it up, marveling at the ordinary limb. "I will never wash it again."
Akira grimaced in disgust as he approached. "Don't be unhygenic."
The man in blue jumped in surprise, whipping a glare onto him for a beat before looking back to Hifumi. "Is it true that you pray to God for victory?"
Her eyes widened and head drew back, a pucker to her lips as if she bit a lemon. "Why would I do that?"
The young man jammed his hands in his pockets and drew his phone. "Oh, just lemme get a selfie with you."
"No unapproved photographs," Hifumi said, melancholy slipping into her calm, controlled tone. For a moment, she looked as exhausted as the transfer student remembered Ann looking when he first arrived at Shujin. "My mother has me on a strict contract."
He held up his phone anyway and Akira snatched it. "She said no. People like you who act like they don't understand what consent is make all men look bad. Now respect her wishes and leave."
The obsessive man took back his phone, but thrust a hand at the shogi master. "Do you have any idea who that is? Togi Hifumi, future professional shogi player and most beautiful soon-to-be champion of the third-dan league."
Akira felt his face warm. She was certainly beautiful, but saying so with a jerk like this still eyeing her like a piece of meat made him feel dirty. "W-well… you're interrupting a match between shogi rivals."
Blue Shirt looked between Hifumi's cool I'm-not-glowering and Akira. "You've gotta be kidding me. You really gonna bullshit me that you ain't here for the Venus of Shogi?"
Trying to surreptitiously clean her hand with a wipe, Hifumi stopped. She blushed and clapped her hand over her face.
Akira felt his own face heat up more at the title, as well as the reminder of the artwork the name came from. And the mental image substituting the shogi master for the nude lady. He took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, hoping that hid some of his blush. "Look, just because you've got nothing but what's downstairs doesn't mean she doesn't have plenty upstairs," he finished tapping the side of his head.
Blue shirt flashed a lascivious grin at her. "Yeah, I'd say she has lots upstairs."
She and Akira sighed in time, her face reddening in shy embarrassment and his in shame. He set his glasses back and shot Blue Shirt a glare. "Can we get on with our game?"
Blue Shirt tilted his head and stepped back, then seemed to come to a decision. "You may be for real. Smart of you to challenge her in private because you know how amazing her skill is in public." He bowed to her twice. "T-thank you so much, Hifumi-chan."
He scurried off and Akira raised a fist as if considering following after to beat a sense of respect into the weirdo. "Creep. What people think and believe are so much closer to the core of our being than any appearance." The transfer student sat down across the table.
Flashing him one of those subdued smiles of gratitude, Hifumi checked her phone and began setting up another one of her odd scenarios. "Thank you. I hate being the center of a fuss." Her face darkened. "Being good-looking isn't even special. An hour with a makeup and wardrobe team can make anybody look amazing." She stuffed her hand-wipe into a small plastic bag in her schoolbag. "Men like him proposition me all the time. To be honest, I thought you were one of them at first." Her visage settled into a warm smile. "But when you knew the difference between a chess and shogi board, I figured you earned a chance."
Feeling buoyed, he bowed in his seat. "Think nothing of it, Queen Togo."
She covered her mouth and giggled, the hunch to her shoulders vanishing. "I thought I had found a once-in-a-lifetime shogi friend in Father Sugiyama. He is incredibly generous, allowing me to practice in the church." Her face reddened. "And he never laughed at my embarrassing habit." She gave him a relaxed smile. "I count myself blessed to have found another such friend."
Akira's mouth drifted open, but for long seconds he forgot how to speak. His lungs froze and his heart played bumper cars in his rib cage. Hifumi, the brilliant and beautiful girl with a real family, who had to have real prospects, put him on the same level as Sugiyama? Part of him felt like floating off the seat, and part wondered what was wrong with the shogi master. He was no better than the pervert openly ogling her.
Akira rubbed the back of his neck, the park feeling hot despite the breeze. "So, uh…" His eyes spotted a book with a colorful cover in her schoolbag. "W-what are you reading?"
She glanced at her bag and reached in to draw out the book and hand The Lord of the Rings to him. "I've finished it before, but this is the kind of story with layers of meaning that makes it an interesting read again and again." She slapped her hand to her cheek, red tinging her face again. "Oh!"
He glanced at the hedges behind him. "What?"
"The last time we went book shopping," she said. She sat straight and drew in a deep, calming breath. "I found a good translation of The Screwtape Letters. Some of the things you said about responsibility and virtue reminded me of it and I thought you'd like to read it. A lot of stories depict demons as purveyors of vice, but he postulated that their prime goals were to minimize Christian virtues and by this keep souls from heaven. Lewis was a very insightful man, I thought you would find it interesting. I'll make sure to have it for you next time."
Akira scratched his neck. Plenty of people noted his ability to memorize things, but few ever praised his thoughtfulness. Maybe she just didn't understand him. For now, he would give her that game.
Thursday, 16 June 2016
Early Morning
Shibuya Station
Leaning against the tiled pillar, Akira let the symphonic melody of David Arnold flow through the wired bud in one ear. A handful of students and salarymen scattered across the station platform on the line to Aoyama-Itchome, all either in that standing-half-asleep or absorbed in something on their phones. He turned a page in Brave New World.
Makoto hopped off the stairs, at as much a jog as Shibuya's underground allowed. The powerful jog and dexterous jump in direction set his heart beating in anticipation of a good race. The thudding in his chest didn't help him ignore the way the white shirt of her summer uniform wrapped around her chest with just enough suggestive power to draw his eyes to it. The even breathing just emphasized the ease of her run, adding to his jealousy of the athletic girl.
Stop it, he chided himself.
She came to a stop next to him and gave a shallow nod in greeting. "Akira-kun." She glanced at the book in his hand. "I see you are also a fan of literature. Anyway, it seems Kaneshiro turning himself in is on everyone's mind." She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to her far foot. "Most of the police are just happy to have him off the streets."
"Most?" He paused his music and closed his book on his finger.
Her crossed arms loosened just a bit. "Big Sis is already on another project, but quite a few prosecutors built their whole careers around taking him down. While his confession helps, the calling card means they don't get any credit."
Stuffing a bookmark in Brave New World, Akira clapped it shut to turn his full attention to her. He tried to keep bitterness out of his tone, "Build your life around knockin' others down and your existence becomes all about pain."
Makoto rubbed her arm, eyes drifting down as she let out a long breath. "They just want to get rid of the toxic people in society."
"So did the judge who pronounced me guilty without even giving my rep the chance to call someone in my defense." Akira held a hand out to her, palm-up in an effort to show it wasn't intended to be aggressive. "Well, so was I when you first started stalking me." She blushed, but he continued, "I didn't go after Kamoshida because I wanted him to become a nice guy. I didn't even believe the change of heart would happen until his confession."
She snapped straight, her brows knitting together and crimson gaze boring into his. "You knew he would change."
He sighed and leaned his head back until it thumped against the tile. "I knew something would happen, but I'd have been okay if he had a mental shutdown." Just to break her gaze, he looked over at one of the electronic posters advertising some movie with Risette, rotating into some old guy in a weird paint style. The pillar prevented him from turning away from her without making it obvious. "That stalwart champion of justice you looked for when you baited me to the student council room? That was Ann. When the chips were down and Kamoshida's Shadow was vulnerable, she was the one who let him live."
Makoto shifted, one hip jutting to the left as her eyes scanned his face. "But you changed. You even asked me for help delivering names of hearts soon-to-change in the Shibuya–" her eyes darted around them, "–clan."
He tucked his book under his arm. "Somehow I got a second chance. I never knew what it was like not to have everyone treating me like I failed before I even started. For the first time, I could be someone not like my old bastard." He shrugged and slipped his book back out, but returned his focus on her. "Everyone deserves a chance to make a turn to the better. Otherwise, everyone gets pushed to the worst they can be. If there's no forgiveness, everyone is condemned eventually."
Makoto fidgeted with her pleated skirt. "For someone who says he wasn't a good person, you sound like a genuine reformer."
Akira rubbed his neck, feeling some heat on his face. "Well, if we don't try to fix the small things, what hope do we have for the big ones?"
Makoto nodded, her hands releasing the pleats of her skirt. "Speaking of big ones, do we have any big names to change? I knew Kaneshiro would be big, but had no idea just how much an impact across the city he would have. It's nice to clean up more of his…" her eyes flashed left and right, "…underlings, but I feel antsy to get out there against another real target." She even bounced from foot to foot.
Akira felt a smile split his face.
Morgana poked his head out of the transfer student's satchel. "Not even a week after the last and already looking for the next heart to change. I've pulled together a great team, huh?"
Akira rolled his eyes, but let the corners of his mouth turn up. "Don't let that head get too big, fearless leader." Wind rushed through the tunnel and the waiting students stood for the line to Aoyama-Itchome.