Persona 5: Daywatch

Saturday, 13 August 2016
Evening
Yongen, Leblanc Loft

Morgana jumped out of the transfer student's satchel and stretched. All that running in the palace, then from that dog left him feeling tense. And there would have to be revenge on Joker's laughing. It wasn't a gentleman's fault that he was sensible and wary of enormous predatory threats, especially after fighting giant manifestations of them in Palaces. Then he'd have to take one of the Thieves out shopping for supplies, getting split up for at least an hour hit them particularly hard.

Joker slipped out of his day's shirt and dumped it into the basket serving as a laundry hamper. The city lights streaming in through the open windows cast strange lighting tones over the scars going from wrist almost to elbow, as well as a handful of other thinner knife scars on his chest. A rote quality to the transfer student's motions emphasized his drained state even before the team leader spotted circles forming under his eyes.

Morgana hopped up on the workbench to get a better angle to evaluate the teen battered by life. "Fifth Palace, and yet another addition to the Phantom Thieves. A champion strategist, it should be interesting to see what she and Nightrider come up with."

There went another full-body tense over Joker.

Morgana sat to conceal any of his own signs of anxiety. "Are you having second thoughts about changing Togo Mitsuyo's heart?"

Joker slipped on a fresh set of boxers before he sat down on the bed. "Not changing her heart. There's just a lot of new threats there, and now Hifumi's involved. How do we keep her safe?"

Morgana knew this might happen. He didn't suspect the 'she made her choice, you need to respect it' angle would be the right point to start on. "The same way you keep Lady Ann or Oracle safe. We fight together, keep a clear head, and change hearts. We're all doing this to make a kinder, more just society. So as gentlemen thieves we steal distortions from people that society treats as untouchable. For Kaneshiro it was because he was an evil money-grubber with connections to high and low places. For Oracle, it was because nobody else in society could see her hurting. The Phantom Thieves will never cure all of society's ills, but that's not the point. We're here to galvanize society by fixing the worst who are untouchable by traditional means. Let society handle the rest."

Joker picked up his phone and navigated to the text Hifumi sent him while he was still on the train back from her house. [Due to my absence Saturday, Mother is certainly going to have me working all day Sunday. Monday is supposed to be Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but Mother may not allow me to join you at Mass. I will do my best to keep a low profile so I can return with you all as soon as possible.]

Morgana hopped to the sill, around the transfer student's folded glasses, then bed. "Have you added Hifumi yet?"

Shoulders hunching, Joker's hands tightened on the phone. "What if something happens?"

Morgana stepped closer. "Can I confess something?" The boy straightened, his grey eyes shining without his glasses to obstruct the light from the outside. Morgana cleared his throat. "Every time Ann goes into battle, I'm scared she'll get hurt. But she's powerful, in heart and Persona. It would insult her to try to keep her out of battle when she has friends she wants to fight beside, to protect. Like you and Rider and everyone else. She had personal reasons to go after Kamoshida, and she proved herself there. So as much as I love her, as much as I want to protect her, it wouldn't be right to put her on the rear guard all the time. And it would be even less right to try to keep her out of the Metaverse altogether." He sat, tail curling around his legs. "Can you just imagine what would happen if we tried to force Lady Ann out? She'd take the Metaverse Nav and come right back in, by herself."

Akira drew one leg up and wrapped his arms around his raised knee, looking cold and small despite the summer heat pressing in from the windows. "That's right, Hifumi has the Nav, too." He ran a hand up his face and brushed hair away from his brows. "I just… don't want anything to happen to her."

Morgana smirked, remembering their first conversation in the loft about women being the best thieves for their talent in stealing hearts. Joker'd made a lot of ground since those bitter days. "Joker, it's easy enough to push away the things you don't care about. But what you truly treasure? That's what you keep the closest."

The boy sat up and let his legs over the edge of the bed, but retained his hunch. "That won't stop anything from happening to her."

Morgana slinked onto the knee not occupied by a hand and phone. "No. But nothing can stop anything from happening. That would be suffocating – remember Oracle. That's why you hold what you treasure close. That way, if something happens, you'll be close enough to protect her. Put her into the group. It's late, so she's probably asleep, like most of the others are. And like you should be. We'll deal with the rest tomorrow when there's been enough rest to think with a clear head."

Akira nodded, sent her contact to the group, then texted her an invite to the group chat. Once that was done, a small amount of the slouch left his shoulders. He plugged in his phone and knelt before the image of Mary holding the body of Jesus.

Sunday, 14 August 2016
Noon
Kanda Catholic Church

At the close of the benediction, Akira motions the sign of the cross over himself, then folds his hands in a moment of prayer for the shogi maestra not in attendance. After taking a few minutes at the confessional with Father Sugiyama to unburden himself of a few real world issues, Akira stopped in the narthex to check for messages. The Phantom Thieves were all over Tokyo today. Nothing from Hifumi since her message last night. He opened the Phantom Thief chat, but despite inviting Hifumi, she hadn't posted anything. Akira texted, [Just checking in. Didn't see you at Mass. I hope you're doing okay. Message us if you get an opportunity.]

The read indicator sat dark. He tapped his fingers along one side, then two IDs winked in. Futaba texted back the fastest, [Hifumi's a smart cookie. She knew what would happen as a result of yesterday and tried to prepare us for it as best as possible.] A beat later, she added, [I mean, if you want me to hack her phone or her mom's computer…]

Makoto, the other participant, sent, [Futaba-chan, did I not make myself clear about committing cybercrimes?] A beat passed before she added, [Akira, I understand your trepidation. If I may make a recommendation?]

He had a crass, [Yo,] typed before he realized that Hifumi would be reading this some day soon. No need to make himself look like Ryuji. Instead he sent, [What have you got?]

[If you could help me with a few student council things at Shujin, that might free up enough time for me to attend the Tanabata festivities in Suginami-ku.]

His lips pressed into a thin line. The only one he wanted to attend any holiday with was Hifumi, and she'd likely be grounded until her mother's change of heart. [I don't have any plans.]

Three dots danced for a moment, disappeared, then reappeared before Makoto attached a text file. [Thank you, Akira. I'll need this printed and filed in each student councilman's box in the student council room. And you'll need to deliver any mail left for me to my house. The Flowers and Gardening students requested permission to access the roof to care for the plants up there, so if you could let the rep up at 15:00?]

And in one moment, a single favor became a handful. No wonder she was the student council president, she was a master of offloading. Akira sighed. "You can't go back on your word." [I'll be there.]

[Thank you, Akira. The front desk security guard at my building should be familiar with holding deliveries and mail for me.]

When Ryuji joined the chat and instead of reading asked, [Why are you people blowing up my phone so early on a weekend?] the transfer student logged off and put the phone in his pocket. Might as well see if the twins had finished with his Personas in lockdown.

Pausing in the Shibuya underground for one of the smoothie stand's weekly specials, Akira stopped at the convenience store for a fish tin for Morgana.

"Ah, welcome back to triple-seven," Yusuke greeted from behind the counter.

Akira gave a small wave to the artist and his former co-worker. "How's the day going?"

"Far more sedate than last week," Yusuke replied. "I look forward to bringing a sketchpad to the celebrations in Asagaya."

Nanami-san gave a smile. "Customers come and go in waves. Thank you again for recommending a fellow student."

The door open jingle played and Yusuke called out the company greeting to the customers walking in behind, so Akira grabbed the fish tin and moved on.

Sunday, 14 August 2016
Afternoon
Velvet Room

The sight of chains crossing a set of old-style prison bars contrasted the sedate blue velvet of the otherwordly space. Akira paced to the bars and braced himself. Neko Shogun spun around to salute the Phantom Thief in striped prison garb, "No matter how dire, a leader does not show fear so his soldiers can know bravery. Nothing is more certain than the ultimate reconquest and liberation from tyrants. I shall return!"

The little bastard reminded him so much of Hifumi, even the swirls he burst into when the guillotines' blades came down seemed bright. The lights merged and coalesced into a gold-skinned oni he recognized from Kaneshiro's bank. "I grant you the power of an unyielding heart."

"A Kin-ki with Sukukaja." Caroline turned to him, resting her extended baton on her shoulder. Her smile looked less like a smirk than usual. "You're starting to make some progress through the list, Inmate. And here I was thinking you'd give up straight away."

His hands tightened on the bars. "The fuck's that supposed to mean?"

Justine turned that ever-sedate gold eye to him. "Like that, Inmate. You fear failure, and so set up the conditions for failure before you even begin. That is how you prevent yourself from forming bonds."

Caroline tapped her baton in her free hand. "As expected of our master to see the hidden potential in this scrawny human."

Akira spat at the floor. "I thought I showed it the first time. I don't give up."

Caroline waggled her baton at him. "All the guts in the world don't mean a thing without the strength to back it up, and the wisdom to use that power judiciously."

"Feh," Akira riposted. "Never thought you of all people would advocate restraint."

Holding her clipboard against her stomach, the twin with a braid turned to him with just a little bit of disappointment leaking out of her cold visage. "My sister is well aware of the purpose of power, and respects the effort necessary to hold and wield it. As long as you continue to prove yourself, you shall grow in our esteem."

Feeling steadier than during the executions necessary to fuse and shift the power of his Personas, Akira let go of the bars and sat down in the lotus position to try to help himself stay calm. "The national motto is 'fly or die'. My old bastard never really gave me encouragement, but the only way to thwart most people's low expectations is to exceed them. Nothing's more satisfying than seeing people who expected me to fail see I scored better than them."

Caroline turned to her twin with the eye-patch on the opposite side. "I gotta say, the list you wrote is working wonders at helping him get better."

Justine looked up from her clipboard, a heartbeat of surprise leaking out. "You didn't write it?"

Akira puffed out his chest. "Clearly it was me."

"Stay out of this," both twins snapped at him.

Justine lifted the clipboard and began leafing through pages. "On consideration, I shouldn't have predicted you to be its author. It is far too precise."

Caroline's eyes flicked to the smirking boy in stripes, then cracked her baton across the bars with sparks of electricity. "Silence!" Her eye fell on her twin. "But Master thought you wrote it. It can't have been him, he was surprised when the inmate acquired a new Persona. All the items on this list are only possible with additional Personas. Even melding his magic into his companions' would require new Personas."

Justine continued to skim through her pages until reaching the end of the clipboard, then settled everything back as it was. She scratched the base of her braid. "Should we ask Master?"

That smile as Akira cracked a joke about mass casualties in earthquakes flashed in his mind, and his hair on his spine stood up. "You sure you want to do that?"

Caroline's baton crashed against the bars, electricity zapping. "Nobody asked you, Inmate!"

"Think about how busy he is," Akira pressed. He gestured a hand at the empty desk where Mister Nose would be if he deigned to show up. "I'm not even important for him to be here half the time. And what if this list isn't really a test of me, but a test of you?"

Miss red oni lifted her baton, but Justine cleared her throat. "The point is made. Our master told us to oversee the prisoner's rehabilitation, not to justify a philosophical treatise on how he went about it."

Caroline rested her baton in her opposite hand. "I suppose that's true. This is too petty a question to waste his time with. Our duty is to follow orders. If we obey, eventually we'll understand why."

"I remember hearing that about the Imijin War and Nuremburg," Akira couldn't stop himself from saying.

"Shut up," both twins snapped.

Justine faced him, clipboard at her side. "You have succeeded at your latest task. As promised, you may leave yet another Persona in Lockdown. If you succeed in merging your Persona's magic with one more of your companions', we will even teach your Personas new techniques."

Caroline cocked her hip to one side and smirked. "Beating some strength into your Personas is a hell of a boon, Inmate. You better be thankful for our collaboration."

Akira's gaze rolled up as he thought. He'd boosted Kidd's wind, Carmen's ice, Johanna's fire, and Goemon's lightning. He didn't even know if Dihya had any magic, and while Marcus Drusus could shoot rays, he suspected Futaba's bond with him wasn't strong enough to be able to absorb his Persona's magic.

Caroline tapped her baton against the bars. "So, are we going to get started on fusing for your next task?"

Akira stood. "No, I think I need to get more work done on the outside."

Sunday, 14 August 2016
Late Afternoon
Shujin, Front Gates

The oppressive Tokyo summer beat down on him as the sun sank behind the skyscrapers. The shade provided little relief in the humidity. White clouds dotted the sky, promising neither rain nor protection from the sun. Almost no foot traffic interrupted the relative tranquility of the road in front of school. Akira spotted a familiar head of fluffy, light brown hair poking up from the front doors.

Fanning herself with a fashionable brown hat, his gardening upperclassman sat on one of the flower planters at the front doors. She tensed when he approached.

He flashed her the kind of smile that said 'I know you know'. "Sorry I'm a little late. I had to change out of my Sunday suit." He pointed to the door. "Did I keep you waiting long?"

She stood, her eyes widening. "Oh, you're the Student Councilman here to help me on the roof?"

Morgana poked his head out of the leather day satchel. "Rider's quite the leader to have talked you into doing errands for her at Shujin on your day off. But better to be keeping yourself busy than fretting about Hifumi, huh?"

And just like that, his hopes of keeping himself too occupied to think about Hifumi were dashed.

The floofy-haired upperclassman frowned and clutched her hands close to her chest. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's Tanabata today. I'm sure you have plenty of things you'd rather be doing than helping—"

"Nah," he said, waving off what sounded like the start of another self-deprecating diatribe intended to either push him away or elicit pity. He hoped he never sounded like that. "I dunno if Tanabata is supposed to be a big date holiday, but it's not like I've got anyone." He swallowed down the bitter taste on his tongue. "Might as well help out you, right?"

Haru gave an unexpected smile and relaxed for reasons he couldn't guess. Maybe she was just glad to have an extra set of hands to speed up the gardening. "You're quite the gentleman."

Akira gave her an obligated nod, then stepped up and used the spare key Makoto left with him in case she ever lost hers. Made things easier than picking the lock to leave calling cards for Kamoshida. With the lights off and not another soul to be found, Shujin exuded an unwelcoming aura full of hard lines and sharp shadows. "I wonder if they design schools to look like prisons."

"Hm?" Haru chirped as she followed along behind him, a polka-dotted handbag clutched in her left. "Oh, because Shujin is a homophone for prisoner?" Instead of a chuckle, her stance tensed and her gaze fell to the floor. "I'm sure that many students feel that way."

The way her tone said 'this is my life' instead of 'that was your joke' sent an unpleasant tingle down his spine. Akira started up the stairwell and said over his shoulder, "You too, huh?"

"Too?"

Akira shrugged to try to get rid of the constricting aura pressing over him. "I can't be the only one dealing with reputation and expectation. What with all that elephant tusk smuggling."

A beat passed as she stopped on the landing between the second and third floor, ramrod straight and eyes wide, before she realized he made a joke. The first splutter out of her lips sounded more like a strangled gasp, but after that she gave up on decorum and let out a sound that transformed from stiff to relieved. After she regained her breath, she said, "In case it matters, I haven't repeated any of those rumors. Clearly there's no basis to them."

Akira paused at the top of the stairs. She admitted she heard them, but still gave him an opportunity to show who he could be. Then accepted what she saw. "I wish there were more people like you."

Haru blushed and sucked in a breath, but the transfer student had to turn to unlock the door to the academic building's roof. Once their eyes had adjusted, she stepped out with heavy footfalls. "They'll make it, but once a week just isn't enough to properly care for these poor things."

Akira nodded. "I'll be back up to help finish things in a few minutes, but I have some paperwork to distribute for Niijima-senpai." When she just gave a nod and knelt down next to a green stalk with drooping leaves, he stepped back inside to take care of Makoto's student council paperwork. Contrary to his expectations, her tiny cubby in the student council room was crammed with schedule proposals, budget requests, and even less interesting paperwork. "No wonder she wanted somebody else to do this shit."

Even without Hifumi being there, he imagined her tisking at his language.

"Just goes to show how much Rider has to deal with, not just as vice-leader of the Phantom Thieves." Morgana scratched at an ear as he sat on the table, waiting for the transfer student to tap papers straight and lay them in his satchel. "I've never really talked about this with you, but you're not mad I chose Makoto to be the vice leader?"

Akira lay the last papers inside his leather satchel. "Makoto can heal our injuries, I still can't get one of my Personas to do that. And I did sneak into Togo's Palace without telling anyone." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I should apologize for that, too, when we're all together again."

Morgana gave a proud smile and hopped back in the satchel.

Up on the roof, Haru tilted a watering can over a long box of soil and small sprouts. "Hi, Senpai. So what's left?"

She maintained a steady sweep over the box of potting soil. "Well, there's only one watering can, but there are some weeds to pull and we do have a hose over there."

They set to work with a productive quiet for a few minutes before Haru finished watering her sprouts. "Have you ever thought about how quickly life can sweep you away?"

Snorting, Akira continued yanking out jagged-leafed weeds. "Yeah. I learned that lesson a long time ago."

"Oh!" The water in her can splashed with the suddenness of her stop. "I didn't mean to disparage you with your record, I just meant—"

"That's not what I'm talking about, Haru-senpai." He crouch-stepped to his left to resume weeding. "My old man was not the kind to let people hold onto illusions. They may tell everyone in kindergarten and storybooks you can grow up to be anything, but the truth is that we need a lot of building blocks given to us to build anything that stands. Whether you interpret that as bestowal by God or safety nets by society, you can't make a house without bricks."

Haru thought about it for a moment, then resumed her trot to the spigot to refill her watering can. "That's true." She crouched and held the can under the sputtering spout, then resumed speaking after turning the water off, "The components of the past do build the present we live in."

"They're also what we build the future with," Akira said, side-stepping to the last segment of the planter box. "That's how civilization changes. Hell, we were still basically a feudal country until our new constitution in 1947."

"We've had a parliament since the 1880s," Haru pointed out. "And even before a prime minister, the Chancellor of the Realm since 752."

"A rubber stamp for the aristocracy," Akira riposted, before realizing he was starting to push his cynicism for the justice system into the rest of the country. "Well, in my opinion anyway."

Her lips pursed in thought. "Maybe." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound like I'm trying to disagree, the topic just became very impersonal. I shouldn't make a fuss when you're taking so much time to help me." Haru returned to her last point of watering. "And you're very good. I imagine these leaves wouldn't be quite so droopy if we could care for them more than once a week." She let out a long breath. "I wish I could make something, but even these herbs and veggies are little more than ornamental flowers."

Morgana hopped out of the leather satchel and pounced closer. "Oh, Joker! You already do some cooking, if we were to make some into snacks, they could help shore up our supplies for the Metaverse. I don't know if the cognition existed before healing foods in video games, but they could supplement our restoratives."

Something about how Haru's face fell as she spoke about ornamental flowers made him think she was talking more about herself than the plants. That worry about being useless resonated with him. "Well, what's close to ready? I cook for myself, and I wouldn't mind some more greens. A couple friends might be the same."

"Really?" she said, her face brightening and tone rising as she stood from her watering. "Oh, growing things that can actually be eaten by other people is so exciting! I've been spending a lot of time with spinach at home, but that won't be ready until October. The kale are already as big as the baby kale they sell at the grocers'." Her eyes narrowed and swept across the rooftop garden. "These tomatoes here will be ready by next week." She pointed at the planter box he just finished weeding. "And those heirloom carrots there are also ready any time." Then a muscle under her eye twitched. "I'm just… not sure how they'll look."

Akira stood, brushing the dirt off his gloves. "Heirloom carrots? I'm only familiar with the orange and white ones in the food marts, but Boss-san has been cooking for decades so he should be able to tell a good from a bad one."

She clapped her hands together, water sloshing out of the watering can but that smile redoubling. "Really? Oh, I would love to have an experienced opinion. Kiriko-kun always said she loved the sweet peppers I grew last year, but with the gardening club disbanding I haven't had any opinions I trust to be honest."

Something about that felt odd to Akira, but he couldn't decide what, so he filed it away and helped her harvest a sample short, lumpy carrots closer to yellow than the orange he expected.

Sunday, 14 August 2016
Evening
Yongen, Leblanc

The bell jangled as Akira shoved it open, the Tokyo heat and humidity pressing against his temper. The lack of customers somehow added a melancholic note to the quiet cafe. While time did not seem to touch this place, it couldn't stop him from checking his phone to see Hifumi still hadn't logged into the group chat, or read any of his texts. So far all of the activity had been Yusuke and Ann making plans after meeting at Minami-Asagaya.

Boss set down the glass coffee siphon he was wiping. "Plans for Tanabata? When I was your age, hoo boy. I had to juggle three lovely ladies around."

Akira took off his glasses to wipe sweat from his eyes, then set them back on and slumped at a bar stool. "So you had girls who wanted you." He took a breath. Snapping at his guardian wouldn't do any long-term good, sweltering summer or not. "Excuse me." He held out the plastic bag of vegetables Haru sent him home with. "Classmate's into gardening, but she's not sure about some of the varieties she's growing. Wanted a professional cook's opinion."

Sojiro took the bag and peered in. "First impression is that the appearance is not… market-grade." He set the siphon down on its holder and washed the carrots in the sink. "Huh. Been a while since I've seen nantes carrots." After a bit of splashing and hand-scrubbing, he brought them to a counter and chopped the top off one. He bit down and chewed. "A little sweet, a little bitter. You said this came from a classmate's personal garden?"

Akira tipped some ice into what remained in his water bottle, then took a gulp and screwed the cap on. "The garden on top of Shujin, yeah."

The middle-aged man's forehead wrinkled as his eyebrows rose. "You mean these things came from rooftop planters?"

Akira scrubbed an alcohol wipe over his gloves as he replied, "Yeah. Why?"

"Growing something in a backyard garden is one thing," Sojiro said, scrutinizing the stubby, lumpy carrot in his hands. He bit off another chunk with a snap, gaze growing distant as he chewed. "But getting something to fruit on a rooftop is nigh impossible. There's much less control of temperature, sunlight, and water. You hear about Ashtray Tree at Blue Cove?"

Akira blinked and sorted through his memories. His old man went to some lengths to keep him away from the central office building of the facility. "The smoking area of the administration building, on the rooftop?"

The corners of Sojiro's lips turned up. "That's the one. The tree in a big concrete pot was always full of cigarette butts." He gave a chuckle. "Wakaba always wanted to get rid of the damn thing, but it's damn hard to keep something growing on a rooftop. That's my point." He lifted the lumpy carrot in his hand. "I may have tasted better, but there's something refreshing about carrots. With a little extra from something hand-grown. Your classmate did pretty well." He bit off another chunk with a crisp snap.

Akira reached out for another washed carrot and bit off a chunk. "Huh. It is sweeter than the orange ones they sell down in OK Mart. I'll have to pass along the good evaluation."

Sojiro swallowed his latest bite and waggled the carrot at the transfer student. "So which lucky lady are you taking out today?" At the transfer student's curious hum, the restaurateur rolled his eyes. "C'mon, kid. It's Tanabata, the meeting of star-crossed lovers. We don't have many romantic holidays in Japan, you've gotta take advantage of what we've got."

Akira swallowed his carrot bite. "Tanabata's the same as all the other holidays. Just another push for commercialization. Just look at the decorations. Tube streamers for weaving. Paper purses for good business. Paper nets for fishing." He waved the carrot in hand. "It's all just more worship of the almighty yen."

"Geez, kid. You sound like Houzan. He didn't believe in holidays, either."

Silence descended over the cafe. With slow, deliberate motions, Akira set the remainder of his carrot down and pushed himself out of the bar seat. His hands came to fists at his side. "I know you didn't just say I'm like my old bastard."

As if not noticing the low, threatening tone of the boy's words, Sojiro bit off another chunk of his carrot. "The most valuable thing a friend can do is hold up a mirror to you, when you're doing something right or when you're doing something wrong. Holidays are about a lot more than one thing. You're damn right businesses love the bump, but they only get that because people are saving up and waiting for a time to cut loose. To live for something more than work. To take in the art," he gestured at Sayuri hanging by the entrance, "or food they only allow themselves once every couple of months, or getting into hijinks with their buds."

Morgana hopped up to the chair next to Akira. "It's the same as stretching before and after a workout. Sure, pull-ups work your biceps, but if all you do is that you'll tear them. Cognitive activity may not wear at muscle fibers, but it does at the mind. That's why I mandate a day of rest between Palace expeditions."

Akira sat back down, the low light coming in from the fogged window playing over the circles under his eyes. "They'd be happier without me. It's not like she can go, anyway." He checked his phone, and sure enough saw no sign of activity from Hifumi.

Sojiro smiled, a twinkle sparkling in his eye. "She, huh? Listen kid, I'm happy you've got someone you care that much about." A beat passed. "It's not Futaba, is it?"

"No."

Sojiro pressed a hand against his aproned chest. "Thank god. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy she's not a shut-in anymore, but I don't think this old man's heart could take her getting together with someone so soon."

Morgana laughed. "No worries about that, eh, Joker?"

His phone buzzed.

Sojiro set down his carrot and leaned in, bracing a hand on the inner counter. "Kid, you know the story behind Tanabata?"

Akira set his buzzing phone down, the team must have been busy. "Some god weaver and cow-herder hook up?" He fiddled with his phone, unwilling to actually read the texts flying back and forth on the Phantom Thief group chat. "I was raised by doctors, not librarians."

Huffing, the restaurateur let his head hang for a long beat. "It helps to have romantic stories in your back pocket if you want to set the mood for a girl. Orihime wove the most magnificent robes in the celestial realm, but she despaired that she'd never meet anyone to marry. Tentei set her up with Kengyuu and they fell madly in love. After marrying, she stopped weaving Tentei's magnificent robes and he let the cows wander all over the celestial realm. Tentei punished them by putting them on opposite sides of the Milky Way."

"Thus proving that gods are assholes."

Sojiro took the threadbare towel hanging from his shoulder and swatted the transfer student in the face. "You're Catholic."

Akira straightened his glasses. "I didn't say mine was an exception. I asked to be baptized because at least my God sent His son to atone for the sins of all mankind."

"Hm," Sojiro said, swinging the towel back to his shoulder. "You're a surprising one, at the very least. Anyway, Orihime cried and Tentei granted her one night a year to be with her lover if she worked hard." When the transfer student opened his mouth to snark, the restaurateur snapped his towel back out. "The first time they tried to meet, there was no bridge, so Orihime wept. A flock of magpies made a bridge of their wings, allowing her to cross to her lover." He gestured his chin at the phone the boy spun on the counter-top. "So about this girl you mentioned?"

A weight pressed down on his shoulders and he set down his phone and ran his hands through his hair. His face burned. His heart thudded at the thought of being with Hifumi, walking the streets in traditional yukatas that highlighted her natural beauty, and a cold, curling sensation twisted inside at the fact that nobody heard from her yet. "Her mother's working her insensate on photo shoots that starve her."

Sojiro nodded, muttering, "I'm sorry to hear that. But there'll be another day." He lowered the towel and gave a show smile. "Your friends are nice kids, why don't you go with them? Take pictures, do things you can tell your special girl about later. Chicks dig a guy who can make them feel like you're ready to make them a part of your life even when they weren't there."

Akira scrolled through the group chat. After the notice from Yusuke that he was on his way from the Kosei dorms, Makoto sent an apology that she had too much work between her studies and preparations for Obon tomorrow. As if his judgment wasn't questionable enough, Ryuji sent a message to everyone inviting them to come join him on a quest to eat through every food stall at Asagaya. Akira's stomach growled, his only sustenance since heading to Mass being the carrot, but as worried as he was about Hifumi, he feared he'd just throw up like he tended to during exams.

His phone buzzed again and Futaba sent to group chat, [Based on news photos from last year, I don't think I'm ready for that many people, but could you take a bunch of photos and stuff?]

[You want us to bring you something from the food stalls?] Ann replied.

The hacker texted, [Would they survive the trip with Inari?]

A paw against his leg drew the transfer student to the team leader now on the bar seat next to him. "Let's go, Joker. Get out there and remember what the Phantom Thieves fight for."

The team leader had a point. [Tell you what,] Akira sent. [I'll go and add photos. But you'll owe me.]

[All right! Another brother to beat meat with!]

Futaba texted, [Ryuji, do you NEVER think before you hit send?]

Sunday, 14 August 2016
Evening
Suginami-ku, Asagaya

Akira had never been to a Tanabata festival before. The crowds seemed even more packed than usual for Tokyo, but a large number of them wore comfortable summer yukatas to deal with the heat. Akira didn't notice his making much difference, but everybody else just sweat and bore it so he took a sip of ice-water from his insulated water bottle and pressed on through the crowd. Star and weaving-themed decorations plastered the buildings and temporary stalls. Tube streamers dangled from every street light and over cords stretched across the road. Were it not for his objective to find Ann and Yusuke, the elbows and uproar of the crowd would be too much.

Then, like a beacon in the night, he spotted that blonde hair poking up above the crowd of people at the dart games. Ann left her traditional pigtails behind, today wearing braids starting at the crown of her head, wove down the back-sides, then looped back up to a pinned arrangement. While she had a light blue yukata at Marine Day, today she wore a bright red one with dark purple edging. She took a bite of a shaved-ice cone darkened with some black flavoring. "Oh, Akira! Nice of you to join us."

She tugged the artist away from a stall of blown-glass bobbles, and only after he turned to face them did the transfer student recognize Yusuke. "Akira-san, wonderful! Parties truly are merrier the more there are."

"Try saying that when Ann runs your kart off the track for the third time," he said as he put the stall at his back.

Ann stuck her tongue out for a beat, the flavored ice staining it dark. "Don't be mad I'm still the queen of Mario Kart, get good!" She poked Yusuke in the chest. "Oh, we ought to do a tournament again, you weren't with us after the sushi party."

Yusuke looped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. The casual closeness between them even as she munched away at her shaved ice drew a blush out of the transfer student. Would he ever know what it was like to hold Hifumi against him at a merry festival? Should he?

"Be of good cheer," Yusuke exclaimed at a shout, though the transfer student couldn't tell if it was to pierce the melancholy or speak over the crowd. "This happy occasion is for everyone! Look upon the marvelous trove of inspiration, waiting to stimulate our creativity!" he swept his free hand out at the streaming crowd. "Ann-san, my sketchbook!"

She poked him on the nose. "Nuh-uh. I took that thing away from you 'cause you were spending more time sketching them than paying attention to me. If we're on a date, I better be your focus."

The artist turned to face her straight on and rested his other hand on her hip. "How could there be any doubt that your beauty shines brighter than the sun? Every day I am with you I see more that I could paint you for years and never show a fraction of your radiance."

Morgana thrust his head out of the transfer student's leather satchel. "You're laying it on thick, you silver-tongued charlatan. Unhand the fairest lady of the Phantom Thieves!"

Ann rolled her eyes and rubbed the top of the not-a-tuxedo-cat's head. "His artistic muse is on high gear. Don't worry." She straightened and looked the transfer student in the eye. "So how are you doing? Anything you wanted to visit?"

Akira rolled one shoulder, but didn't want to admit he wanted to just go back home. There were too many people going too many different directions, but the food did smell good. "I, uh… To be honest, I haven't been to many festivals outside of school. Mother preferred house parties and the old man would only celebrate funding extensions." Then his stomach growled. Damn, he shouldn't have had that carrot.

Ann let out a deep, resonating laugh. The transfer student felt his face heating up, but the artist's only reaction was to allow a soft smile. The model herself gave him a poke. "We can tow you along until we run into Ryuji. I'm sure he's somewhere nearby."

Yusuke scanned to his right. "Have you signed a wish yet? One should not miss the chance to attend a festival and pass one's desires on high."

Akira gave a small grin. "You guys are too good." He clapped his gloved hands together. "Well, I don't want to be a third wheel for long. Where do we start?"

"I recommend making the tanzaku, the intersection is a veritable font of artistic inspiration," Yusuke said, pointing away from the throwing games. "Even Madarame's non-spiritual pupils looked forward to the social engagement of waxing poetic on their wishes for health, success and freedom. I, myself, wished to understand love so that I may paint it for the world, just as my mother painted Sayuri for me. Nay, for everyone."

Morgana hopped onto the transfer student's shoulder, "You go on, Joker. I'll stay to keep an eye on the duplicitous Fox."

Ann bopped the leader-in-cat-shape's nose with a finger. "He asked me out. Now be a gentleman and let me enjoy the company I choose." Morgana took several tries before he succeeded in closing his mouth, then retreated into the leather satchel. That done, she looked up at the transfer student and ran her fingertips through a few of his unruly bangs. "The yukata's not bad, but I still liked the hairdo you did last time."

Whether realizing that the transfer student was frozen in place and unable to stand the heat having nothing to do with the sweltering summer, or just impatient, Yusuke stepped closer and cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ryuji had a hashi maki last I saw him, so he can't be far from the vendors with griddles."

Ann withdrew her hand and it took a moment longer for him to remember how to breathe after having a girl's fingers in his hair. She seemed not to notice his deep blush as they walked through the crowd to the poetic streamers mostly filled with 'health' and 'happiness'. "So how are you doing? Really."

Akira took off his glasses to wipe sweat from his face before he took a paper from the artist. If it was anybody else he'd give some reassuring platitude, but Ann had been with him since the beginning. She fought beside him through Madarame's palace despite losing it more than once, helped him pick out a yukata to go with Hifumi, and backed him both times he brought Togo's palace for a vote. If anybody deserved the truth straight-out, it was her. His pen hovered over the paper. "It's hard to keep from pacing and I can't stop thinking about Hifumi. Is she okay? Did we set off her mother in the Palace and is she abusing her? We've done four palaces by now, I'm sure that it'll work as long as we stick to the procedure. But what kind of spill-over from subconscious to conscious is happening?"

Despite his earlier jealousy at the artist, Morgana poked his head back out of the satchel. "Wow, Lady Ann. You must have Persona powers out of the Metaverse to get him this chatty."

His phone buzzed and he checked the group chat to see Futaba. [I was promised pictures. Show me this outside I'm supposed to be working up to!]

Akira dipped the pen down, but paused. He wanted Hifumi to be free, but they were working on that themselves and making a wish about it felt like it would have insulted the Phantom Thieves' competence. Instead, he wrote, "Let all people be free to decide for themselves without coercion," as the other Phantom Thieves in yukata chuckled at group chat. Akira finished tying up his paper, then looked up at the artist, being the Thieves' expert on aesthetics. "Can't forget about Futaba. What do you think she'd want to see?"

His expression serious, Yusuke's close-held finger-framed gaze swept across the street narrowed by vendors and packed with crowds. "This way!" He led them a few paces up the street and then turned, holding out his hands in a finger-frame. "This should be an excellent place to show the flowing crowds and streamers for Orihime."

Akira switched places with him and held up his phone, then snapped a picture and put it on the group chat.

[Yipe! And that's the kind of mob you guys want me out in the middle of?]

Another buzz, but this time Ryuji. [It's so great going through a festival crowd! The sights, the smells, and you can hear all sorts of cool things.] A beat later, he added, [Nice, getting down to the party, Akira! I knew even a mountain boy couldn't resist the allure of Tokyo's fried goodness! Come try the nikumaki onigiri!]

The three wandered through the crowded festival, pausing once for Akira to buy some fried okra the artist had no hesitation in sharing. It was hard to hear them over the uproar of the crowd, but the three meandered without a particular destination or conversation topic. Until Yusuke bumped into a dyed-blond boy in a black tank top with Zow! on the front.

Ryuji turned around, 'tornado potato' on a skewer in one hand, then flashed them a huge grin as if unaware of the not-quite-swallowed fried potato in his mouth, or segment hanging out like an escaping octopus. "Yo, dudes!"

A flash preceded a click from Yusuke's phone camera, and he added the photo to the group chat.

Futaba texted, [At least swallow before you open your mouth, Ryuji!]

"Be gentle with him. We're going to go try some throwing games!" Ann called out before walking away with Yusuke, her arm looped around his.

With the pair gone, the crowd pressed a little closer and the noise sounded a little louder.

Ryuji threw and arm around the transfer student's shoulder as if the crowd didn't exist. "Hey hey hey!" He leaned in close and chewed the last of the curling potato segment in his mouth, then swallowed. "So you got to take Hifumi home. How was she?"

"Exhausted," Akira replied, pushing back at a crowd-goer who fumbled into him. "She fell asleep a couple times on the way, and her dog is definitely what that cognitive beast is based on."

Ryuji's arm tightened and he faux-slumped in place. "Dude, come on. Chick was totally into you." The runner's dark eyes studied the transfer student, the glint in them almost as bright as his grin. "Was she your first time?"

Now Akira started to pick up on the subtext, and his face blazed with heat over the already sweltering summer. "Wh-what?"

Ryuji withdrew his arm and shifted to look the transfer student up and down. "Dude, I gotta say it straight out? Her ass is almost as amazin' as her legs, I don't blame you for crushin' on 'er. "

Akira's hand had a fist of the runner's shirt, and yanked him closer, before he regained control of himself. "Stop talking about her like she's a piece of meat to sample a la carte! Hifumi's a smart, elegant woman."

Contrary to the transfer student's expectations, Ryuji swallowed his bite of tornado potato, brushed off the fist gripping his shirt, and stepped closer to slip an arm around the student in long yukata sleeves. "She's a woman. And you're a man." He tightened the grip of his arm around Akira. "Everyone knows what it means when a girl brings a guy home. She was totally flirting and you were so into every bat of her eyes."

Akira could feel his face blaze with heat on top of the summer night. Despite himself, his mind conjured Hifumi stretched out on his bed, baring every beautiful centimeter.

Ryuji's grip on his shoulder tensed. "She was all pressin' against you after you caught her. No way would two peeps be eyein' each other like you two, an' not go all the way at her place."

Morgana shoved his head out of the leather satchel on the transfer student's other side. "Reaper, is your mind stuck in the gutter? Joker walked her safely to her front door and then left. Like a perfect gentleman. That's it."

Ryuji shrugged off the transfer student's glare and slapped a hand against his back with a casual, "Better luck next time, eh?"

Akira caught himself from stumbling at the slap and focused on his footing, then breathing so his heart rate would return from the patter while imagining Hifumi naked.

Ryuji patted the hand on his shoulder and asked in a more private conversation level, "You remember what I said at the bathhouse after the party for the bank?" When the transfer student hesitated for a heartbeat too long, the runner closed in and threw the arm holding the skewered spiral potato around his shoulder. "Dude, this is jus' how nature works. I dunno if you goin' all prude 'bout it is some Catholic thing, but you wouldn't exist if dudes and chicks didn't get horny. I wouldn't. Ain't a bad thing when a dude sees a hot girl and…" He held the skewered potato up at a slight angle.

Grease splashed and a fire flared up from one of the food stalls. Dozens of pedestrians crowded around to watch the fire catch the flimsy cloth roof of the stall as one of the workers struggled to get a fire extinguisher started.

More to occupy his mind with anything other than Hifumi naked, Akira shrugged out from the runner's arm, drew his phone and snapped a picture of the stall as the worker blasted the grease fire with foam. It would make for an interesting memory on the group chat.

Ryuji bit off a little more of the spiral-cut fried potato than fit in his mouth. "Keepin' the others updated, huh?" He smiled out of curled potato hanging out both sides of his mouth. "That's cool. But don't forget to enjoy the festival yourself. I mean, you came here after all."

A few beats passed as Akira stared. Then shook his head and smiled. "How can life be so simple for you?"

Ryuji bit off a new segment of fried, spiral-cut potato. "'Cause it ain't gotta be more complicated. When it's time to party, party!" He chewed and swallowed, then bit off the whole remaining spiral of fried potato, then held up his skewer like a scepter. Around his almost-full mouth, he called over the crowd, "An' here i's 'ime 'o ea'!"

Morgana shook his head from the leather satchel. "Come on, Reaper!"

Before Akira could open his mouth to condemn the runner talking with his mouth full, his stomach growled. The track star grinned and pulled the transfer student through stalls selling battered, fried things. The dark-haired boy stopped as they passed a push-cart with corn sizzling on the grill. Despite the heat of the summer, the smell made Akira's mouth water.

When the transfer student pulled out his wallet, Ryuji shoved ahead with a roll of yen notes in one hand, the other holding up two fingers. Chatting about food, they sampled konnyaku dumplings in sweet and salty sauce, then classic roasted rice-flour dumplings, and placated Morgana with salted fish grilled over coals. While taking a beat with a couple fried curry breads, Ryuji sat down at the folding plastic table next to the transfer student and nudged him. "Didn' I tell ya? These festivals are awesome! Even if you got tests comin' up, an' you messed up a practice run before, at the very least you can set down today with a belly full'a goodness."

Akira sent a photo of the fried curry bread to the group chat, and ignored Futaba's comment about blocked arteries. "Where'd you get all that money, anyway? Iwai doesn't have the money to spare for proper employees."

Ryuji bit into his bun and tore a chunk away. Around his mouthful, he replied, "Bit o' part-timin' at a gym, bit o' money from Kaneshiro's place."

Morgana's ears drooped. "I hope you're not relying on that cognitive cash, Reaper. It's not real, so even if it looks identical to the real thing it may have duplicate serial numbers or something."

Ryuji scoffed – or tried to, with a mouth still stuffed with curry, bits flew out. He chewed with haste, swallowed, then retorted, "Dude, I ain't completely stupid! I'm bein' smart 'bout it. Not spendin' or depositin' it all at the same time or place, keepin' it tucked away 'til I need it. I ain't even told Ma 'bout it."

The transfer student doubted that the runner was being that smart about it, but Morgana pre-empted anything with, "Very good, Reaper. As long as you don't lose your cool, the Phantom Thieves can continue to fight injustice. I just don't want fame or riches to get in the way of saving people."

Ryuji swallowed a bite of curry. "'at's always what I' been 'bout. No one stuck up for me or Ann, so I don't want no-one to hafta go through what we did. A real hero don't back down to no one." Then he tore a casual chunk out of his fried bread as if he hadn't just said something with such gravity.

Morgana looked up from the leather satchel on the bench next to Akira. "You okay, Joker? You're sweating an awful lot."

Akira popped open his steel insulated water bottle and drained the last of the water. It worked as well as Mishima promised it would, but he couldn't drink ice that hadn't melted. "There a place to refill this and cool off?"

Ryuji swallowed another bite and bumped the transfer student. "'Course there is. There's even cold cucumbers over there. Ann was chowin' down on choco bananas next to 'em, last I saw, but then you gotta try the deep fried chicken!"

AN: I thought little could be more ironic than Neko Shogun paraphrasing MacArthur's "I shall return" speech.

A lot of people dislike Ryuji for his blunt, simplistic views and behavior, but keeping things simple is also part of his character's greatest strength. Makoto let herself be paralyzed by duty and then the wide array of choices. Ryuji was always up for a good time, and did a lot to try to make for good times with others instead of just for himself.