Persona 5: Daywatch

Monday, 8 August 2016
Late Afternoon
Yongen, Leblanc Loft

Ann lounged back against the couch. The class president added more than enough stiff posture, but that paled in comparison to the awkward, jerky motions from the orange-haired girl crouching on the transfer student's bed since they exchanged contact information. Akira occupied the chair between her and the table, but that didn't seem to settle the younger girl to a noticeable degree. The air felt thick, and not just due to the humidity from the downpour. "So about General Isshiki… was she a Shadow? I thought those were the only things that would try to kill us in a Palace."

Morgana, standing on the middle of the table, shook his head. "That was a cognition."

Ryuji chewed on a chocolate wafer. "Like those ATM-people we got buttloads of money from in Kaneshiro's Palace? Ain't those guys always chumps?"

Akira rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Did you guys already forget about the volleyball players, and all the bruises they gave us when we fought Kamoshida?"

Makoto held her chin in thought. "It does appear that their hostility as well as how alive they appear to be is dictated by the Palace ruler. I would normally treat them like the scenery, but when Akira fell against that audience-member in Togo's Palace, it burst into a Shadow."

Morgana nodded. "That's pretty close, but a palace in formation is a dynamic thing that draws in Shadows from the collective unconscious. Remember that Palace rulers also wrap Shadows into shells as dictated by their internal wants and perceptions."

Makoto brushed back a lock of hair. "A pity we can't revisit Palaces. We never got the chance to ask General – I mean Director Isshiki how far her research went."

"You'd only get as much an answer as Futaba thought her mother would say," Akira pointed out. "That was a cognition, not a tunnel into the land of the dead."

Futaba might have given a faint nod.

Yusuke's darker grey eyes fell on the transfer student's. "Could she have been killed in order to stop her research into human cognition?"

Makoto pursed her lips. "I've been looking into cognitive psience, the psychotic breakdowns, and mental shutdowns. The only thing that makes sense is for a connection to the Metaverse, but who would be in a position to use that research? We can only safely navigate the Metaverse due to our Personas."

The others may not have noticed, but Ann noticed the poor dyed-orange-haired girl's posture tensing and tightening like a perched gargoyle and it didn't look like she had any answers. "Maybe we don't have any answers for the Metaverse, but what about Medjed? Didn't you say they were an international group, Futaba-chan? How are you so sure you got them all?"

That did the trick. Futaba's arms unwrapped from around her legs and she sat down, letting one leg dangle off the bed. She still seemed nervous, but now pride slipped into her pose. "I should know. I founded them."

Everybody but Akira looked shocked, reactions ranging from Ryuji's gaping to Makoto's gasp.

Morgana stood up and shook, the first of the Thieves to recover. "So what do you plan to do now?"

Futaba curled her legs back under her, keeping the Phantom Thieves in her vision while not meeting anyone's eyes. "Two things. First, I wanna find out what really happened with Mom. Second, I want to change hearts."

Ryuji, still not quite recovered from the news that the shut-in founded Medjed, stared as if the orange-haired girl grew a second head. "For real? What 'bout Medjed? How the eff all that even start?"

Futaba wrapped her arms around her legs. "A bunch of trolls were infesting Anonymous and they weren't champions of privacy or freedom anymore, so I went to start over." Her shoulders slumped and her arms tightened around her legs. "I wasn't prepared for the same thing to happen. A bunch of people joined, but some just wanted to make money or screw with big companies. I was too low-leveled to stop all of them."

Akira uncrossed his arms and took out his phone to look something up. "Too strong personalities?"

Futaba nodded without eye contact.

Ann crossed her arms. It sounded like even in the computer world, there were assholes who abused their power to bully those weaker than themselves, even if they didn't really get anything out of it. "So those were the guys committing cybercrimes."

Morgana sat, his chest puffed out just a bit. "Well, justice and helping the weak is what the Phantom Thieves are all about. We haven't had a chance to see what your Persona can do yet, but I think you'd make a great addition to the Phantom Thieves. Any objections?"

Nays chorused around the table. A wan smile slipped onto the timid girl's face, but she still couldn't make eye contact with anyone but Akira.

Yusuke gave a sedate nod. "So what shall be our first order of business?"

Futaba let go with one arm to hold up a hand, index finger aloft. "Change Togo Mitsuyo's heart. You all changed my heart, saved me, even when I was using duress to force you to. If there's justice in the Phantom Thieves, you'll help change Togo's heart, too."

Ann felt that pit of worry grow in her stomach and even the thrumming of rain couldn't calm it. She didn't have to look at Akira to know that name had to have come from him. "Are you sure, Futaba-chan? Not that we wouldn't all be grateful for your help, but… taking on a Palace is a big deal and it looks like you're still nervous just around us."

The dyed-orange girl bit her lip and her eyes drifted to the transfer student before she straightened… at least, as much as she could without rising out of her gargoyle pose. "It'll be just like Dragon Quest. Whether it's saving the kingdom or princess, as long as the hero has a quest, I can do it!"

To the model's relief, Makoto stood, asserting all the calm authority of the student council president. "Futaba-chan. Leaping right into a Palace might be too much, especially one so complicated and filled with strong Shadows."

The young girl perched on the bed tightened her posture as if she wanted to shrink in on herself. She turned to the windows – further from the others, Ann noticed – but after a moment took in a breath. "I thought I had the greatest mom in the world. It took less than a week for people to not only take her from me, take that from me, but basically take my life from me, too. Akira had a horrible mom that—" His phone dropped from his fingers and hit the floor, and he gave an intentional throat-clearing sound. Futaba flinched. "Anyway, Togo's hurting people. And what if she's hurting like I was? What kind of champion of justice could know about those people and not do anything?"

Makoto sat back down, her shoulders slumped and a deep, unsettled look in her eyes.

Yusuke stood. "I second the motion. Some palace rulers, like Sen—Madarame may have been evil and inflicted cruelty on others. However, others like Futaba, were lost in pain of their own. Let us make the induction of our newest member by the freeing of another heart from its distortion."

If Ann wasn't mistaken, she thought she saw light glinting from the corners of the transfer student's eyes. Apparently the weeks that passed hadn't dulled whatever hurting that woman caused. She straightened her cotton shirt. "He's right. My parents were the only things that kept me going when I first moved to Japan. We might not be able to stop all bad parents, but we can do something about this one."

Makoto looked to the transfer student, an unspoken conversation passing between them before she nodded. "It was dangerous the first time we were there, but we've all grown stronger and better coordinated. We have a better idea what we're getting into this time. Kamoshida's aftershocks shook Shujin, and Kaneshiro's shook Shibuya. Let's see how far positive influence of changing Togo's heart will be."

Futaba sat up, letting her feet settle off the edge of the bed. "That's a majority!"

Morgana cleared his throat. "That's not how we do things in the Phantom Thieves, Futaba. In order to ensure our power is never abused, all decisions of changing a heart must be unanimous." He looked to the transfer student.

Akira swallowed and set his phone on the table. "De Oppreso Libre. Freedom from oppression."

All eyes fell on the runner. Ryuji scratched his scalp and grumped. "Fine, I can see when I'm out-voted."

"No, Reaper," the team leader said over the sound of pounding rain. "The entire point of a unanimous vote isn't expedience, it's ethics. If we're going to do this, we do it because it's right. Because we can help people by changing her heart. Not because we want to get something personally out of it."

Still slouching, Ryuji threw his hands down. "I didn' even have no sky pie idea for takin' down Kamoshida. I wan'ed ta get back at 'im for trashin' the track team." He sat up on his chair. "I wanna help peeps. But we almost died in there." He slumped in his chair. "An' I don' wanna be workin' all summer break. Whadda we do if some huge baddie pops up after school starts, an' we're all burnt out?"

Ann tapped her painted fingernails on the table. "We'll throw a party to recharge." She leaned back and smiled at the prospect. "We have to hit the beach."

Ryuji threw a fist in the air, grinning like an idiot but with a gleam in his eye that unsettled the model. "Surrounded by hot babes in bikinis? Fu—" His gaze jerked aside to the hacker. "Eff yeah!"

Makoto crossed her arms. "Futaba-chan's having trouble with us and you think we should hit the beach?"

The model withered. Between the humidity now and the prospect of no summer beach, she felt herself flagging.

Futaba glanced over the assembled Thieves and tightened her gargoyle pose. "Hrg. If I… If I can make it to the beach with you guys, would you help us change Togo's heart?"

"Huh?" Ryuji leaned back on the crate serving as a seat next to the artist. "I mean, if we can do both then I guess we prolly could recharge." He grinned, that gleam in his eye again as he let out a sound somewhere between a giggle and laugh. "Oh, yeah, the beach would totally be worth it."

Makoto's crossed arms tightened, those crimson eyes zipping back and forth in complex thought. "We'd need to adapt her to our group, acclimate her to the outside and new environs in general for either Togo's palace or a beach trip. She'd need to be at least somewhat accustomed to interaction with strangers…"

The cute team leader insisting he wasn't a cat cleared his throat. "Okay, that's consensus for changing Togo's heart, and a beach party to celebrate. That might also be a good time to announce our defeat of Medjed to the world. The Phantom Thieves have been working hard, so I think we'll have earned some time to cut loose."

Ryuji threw his fist back in the air. "I'm callin' that party green-lit!"

Yusuke tapped a finger to his chin. "But I do not have the paints for a beach scene…"

Ann left the others to argue about the socialization plans to see why the transfer student was so quiet. He stepped out of the conversation to look at the rain pouring outside his open windows, took off his glasses, and wiped at his eyes.

Makoto uncrossed her arms, drawing the model's attention, and focused at the small hacker perched on the bed. "How did you find out about us?"

The orange-haired girl's posture withdrew.

Morgana sat on the table, his tail curling around his feet in a manner very much like a real cat. "She heard about Kaneshiro on internet radio news. Then Madarame's confession was all over. She didn't hear about Kamoshida, but after the second big change of heart, she knew we were real."

Ann leaned back against the couch with a proud smirk on her face. For all of Akira's resistance to public attention, she and Ryuji were right. Just letting people know gave them hope.

Makoto nodded. "Where did you learn hacking?"

Futaba shifted her hunch and tip-tapped away at her phone.

A beat later, Makoto's phone buzzed. The class president gave an askance, look, then drew it and checked. "Niko Niko Video?" She tapped the link.

A few moments later, a deep voice played, "This video is classified. If you're watching this, you're fired."

Now the upperclassman glared at the hacker.

Akira cleared his throat and turned. His eyes still looked just a bit red, but he stood straight and his breathing was even. "She was hacking at Blue Cove even before my old… man took over."

Ann blinked. The transfer student had never passed up a chance to slam his father in the past.

Futaba let out a quiet, warbling growl.

Makoto hesitated. "How did you get the Nav?"

The slight girl tightened her arms around her legs and looked out the windows.

Ann let out a breath through her nose. Makoto may have had good intentions, but she was making this sound like an interrogation and the little girl looked ready to bolt. "Futaba-chan's definitely unique, but if we're going to work together, I think our first priority is to get her used to everyone."

Akira fixed his glasses on his face. "She's got a point, Futaba-kun. If you can't open up to us when the stakes are low like this, you're not going to be ready to keep pace with us when the stakes are high and there's just us and Shadows. If you want to do the palace first and summer sessions later, just say the word."

She grumbled and clasped her arms around her legs. "It's just hard to take all at once 'cause you all have flanking bonuses!"

Makoto straightened her skirt. "If the problem is trying to get to know too many of us at once here, we could try staggered schedules through the week."

Morgana's tail swished in a more relaxed fashion. "Excellent planning, Nightrider. That's the brains of the outfit."

The slight girl looked ready to protest, but Makoto charged on. "Then we begin tomorrow."

Futaba rocked on the balls of her feet for a moment. "Hrg. You sure we can't just go to Togo's palace?"

Ann tilted her head to try to appear less threatening and flashed one of those smiles she used to use to reassure Shiho and Yuu-kun it was all going to be okay. "Don't sweat it, Futaba-chan! We'll take good care of you! Then we can go change hearts in the Metaverse."

Monday, 8 August 2016
Early Evening
Yongen, Back Streets, Hiromasa's Secondhand Shop

Akira skimmed the assortment of used appliances, paintings that had seen better days, and a ukulele hanging from a hook on the wall. He thought a day with so many things happening in it would exhaust him, but Futaba waking up and turning around the vote to go after Togo's distorted heart left him feeling like he could breathe for the first time in weeks. Behind him, the torrential downpour gave the impression that the rest of Tokyo had been washed away, so Akira savored the sensation of some peace and quiet from the noise of civilization. Another woman shared the narrow space with him, though she looked over her shoulder at the downpour for the second time in a minute. She seemed old, deep crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, but her hair hadn't greyed yet.

Having already used his two-person umbrella to escort Futaba back home, he lifted it up to rest against his shoulder in what he hoped was a clear invitation. "You need some cover to get to the trains?"

She wavered, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "Oh, I wouldn't want to… you wouldn't mind?"

Akira gave a nod to old man Hiromasa, then stepped out and popped open his umbrella. The rain came down at an angle and water rushed down the narrow, angled street, so their feet got wet, but their trip to the station completed without any slips.

His phone buzzed as they waited for the train. Slipping it out, he saw an incoming text from Yoshizawa. [I hope it's not too late to ask a favor today?]

[As long as it's not training in Inokashira.] Nothing happened for long seconds. [You there?]

A minute passed, then another before the train's headlights came around. Akira stuck around until it slid to a stop and the old woman got on board with a 'thank you'.

He let himself preen for a moment at that. Rain in the towns he lived at previously had been a thing that caused everybody to huddle apart, maybe in pairs but always under umbrellas away from him, so he'd never had the opportunity to escort people to the bus or train. Of course, he only had one-person umbrellas before.

His phone buzzed. [Sorry, Senpai! My phone seems to be acting up today.] The same text came in a couple seconds later. [Sorry. Would you mind helping me out on a shopping trip? You wore a couple frames to Shujin, so I hope you know a bit about glasses and fashion?]

He started to type in a warning that he'd never had the money to get anything but store-front frames. The ones he bought with Mother's credit card in Inaba didn't last through a year at Inuri, after which he went through shoddy drugstore frames until Officer Ichijo pressured his old man to pay for some proper glasses for his stay in Tokyo. That felt like it didn't jive with the day's positive turn of events, so he deleted that and sent, [I can't promise a makeover, but I'll do my best.]

The rain poured down. Long seconds later, Yoshizawa sent, [Thank you!] twice. Then sent two links to a store in Kichijoji called Two Windows.

He sent, [I'll see you there, but maybe we should get a replacement for your phone.]

Evening
Kichijoji, Two Windows

Akira paced through the chic storefront, his socks still feeling wet in his shoes. It was the one thing he didn't like about the rain. At least the rain smelled as nice in Tokyo as it did anywhere else. "So you getting something for a friend? I've never seen you with the hallmarks of us four-eyes." He adjusted his glued-together glasses.

Yoshizawa pulled her crimson gaze from a row of horn-rimmed glasses. "You're sharp, Senpai! Dad's birthday is coming up and I wanted to get him a present he could use."

Nodding, he glanced over the glasses she'd been perusing. "He kind of old-fashioned? Have any favorite styles?"

She set down a red, half-frame set. "Not that I can think of. He's got a couple sets for work, but doesn't seem to have a favorite."

Akira nodded and took his chin in hand to exaggerate the expression of deep concentration. "If you'd told me exactly what this trip was for, I could've come prepared. With my sweater vest."

She slapped his shoulder with a good-natured laugh. "Well, just for that, you're modeling a couple pairs for me so I can get some visual reference."

He gave a surprised nod and felt a hint of a flush despite the coolness forced by the thrum of rain just outside. The cute red-head seemed so obsequious, he thought that exchange would go on for another minute. When she handed him a pair, he tucked his glasses on his collar and put the others on. Being the wrong prescription, he couldn't make out the posters on the opposite side of the store, but he still noticed her eyes lingering on him for longer than he felt comfortable. He checked one of the nearby mirrors. "They give this aloof sense." He deepened his voice to say, "Papers, please."

She accepted the glasses back. "That might be your aura, Senpai. Glasses really seem to temper your look. It's not all the time, but your eyes can look really intense."

Officer Ichijo said much the same thing when she first caught him for trespassing. It was nicer than his fellow students, who tended to say things like 'you've got the eyes of an animal'. When his phone buzzed, he took the opportunity to check the group chat.

Ann sat up top. [I'm doing a shoot tomorrow, can I do the Futaba thing Wednesday?]

[Sure,] Makoto sent. [I'll make sure there's some feminine sensibility there tomorrow.]

When Futaba gave a standard complaint, Akira rolled his eyes, sent, [You'll manage,] then tucked away his phone. "So what's next?"

Yoshizawa gave a breath of a laugh. "Someone's enthusiastic!"

She spent the next ten minutes or so trying on frames and cracking jokes until the store attendant, with nobody else to badger for sales, came close. "Good evening, Honored Customer. Have you made a decision yet?"

Yoshizawa's cheer faded, and while she held her posture it looked like a light went out in her eyes. "They're all very good, but nothing's… clicked yet." She picked up one of the frames from five minutes ago. "What about—?"

Akira took her wrist with a gentle grip and pushed the glasses back to the table. She'd gone along with all of his jokes but one thing she'd never done was make a call on her own. "Nobody has a better sense of your father than you do, Yoshizawa-san. Trust yourself."

She straightened, and while her smile seemed a bit practiced her eyes didn't have that subtle tension like a minute ago. She set the green frames down and reached for a red set. "This may be going by gut, but it just seems to fit my dad."

"Perfect," he said.

Yoshizawa beamed.

The attendant bowed. "I'm sure he'll love it." They rang it up and headed to the front where the rain had reduced to coming down in sheets.

Akira put up his umbrella and Yoshizawa slipped underneath until she pressed against him. Had it been Hifumi he might have rationalized it and savored the human contact, but since it wasn't he stepped a bit away. Her gaze drifted down and shoulders drooped, so he feigned a smile and said, "Tell me how much he likes it."

She breathed out and flashed a smile. "Absolutely, Senpai! I'm sorry that the weather isn't quite right for doing some more training. I was hoping for stopping by Inokashira Park, but I guess I'll just have to see if Coach Hiraguchi is at the gym." Her pasted-on smile faded away as if washed off by the rain and she stepped closer again. "I… This may sound stupid, but I was starting to feel really out of my element trying to pick glasses. I kept on thinking, 'what happens if I choose wrong? If I ruin things again?' I'm sure the clerk didn't mean it, but… when she came up and asked what I wanted I realized how big a blank I'd been drawing. Like… how can I decide for someone else?"

This sounded a lot more involved than just getting a set of glasses for a family member's birthday. "Everyone gets like that now and again."

She looked up at him, the rain ensconcing them in their own little world away from the enormous mess of Tokyo. "Even you, Senpai?"

He nodded. "You know how many games I've played with Hifumi?" He waited for a brief head-shake. "More than a hundred by now. I haven't won yet. If it was just the winning, I'd have thrown in the towel. But it's not. She's always teaching me how to get better, in or out of the game, even though that means she might lose to me some day. Because she wants to get better, too. So even though it may seem counter-intuitive to help someone else get better, helping me play better helps her play better. No matter how many times she's won, she's still always ready for another go, always got another tip when we're breaking down the game afterwards. Because of that, it's less like I'm playing from loss to loss and more like… getting better, step by step. I may not ever reach her level, but it's like a race where we both make each other run faster."

Yoshizawa's eyes widened. "I get it! Just like Coach was telling me, it's easy to write yourself off in a slump." She gave a small, cute smile. "Thanks, Senpai. I feel down sometimes, but with your support I'm starting to get my confidence back."

He gave a smile back. "It's never a bad thing to get support from other people. Just like us. I help you and you help me."

Late Evening
Yongen, Leblanc Loft

Alliance Force, Assemble! sang out of his phone and Akira got up from his shogi board, the Ultimate Excalibur Formation arrayed across it. "Assertiveness Training Coach, Lois Steem."

A girl's voice scratched out of the speakers, "Is Kurusu Akira there?"

It took him a moment to place Yoshizawa's voice, between the distortion and rain past the open windows. "It's… did you really not get it? It's me, I thought that would be funny after our conversation at the glasses shop."

Her distorted voice scratched out over the speaker, "Coach Steem?"

Akira's hand slapped onto his forehead. "Assertiveness coach, Lois Steem?" At least Hifumi had fun with it when he made a joke, even when she made him explain it. Being able to go back over the original joke and enjoy it for the spirit it was meant made her that much more delightful.

A distinct beat passed before Yoshizawa responded, "Oh! Low Esteem." She made a sound that made him imagine a girl like Futaba sticking out her tongue. "You should be nicer to me, Senpai," she said with dramatic scolding he hoped meant she got it. "I gave Dad the glasses and he loved them!"

"See?" Akira riposted. "You can trust yourself."

"You're right, Senpai. I wish I could be as confident as you are, but just being around you makes it seem kind of contagious. Like nobody's too scary to make you back down and you just want a chance to show the world."

Akira pursed his lips. He had the reflexes to look for a fight, sure, but that put him in more fights than he needed. He thought of how Hifumi might try to reframe giving the world the middle finger. "You can't show up the ones who are putting you down if you don't try."

Yoshizawa gave a jovial laugh that sounded unsettling with the addition of the scratchy distortion. "You're right, Senpai! I'll show Coach my best, tomorrow."

Tuesday, 9 August 2016
Morning
Yongen, Sakura House

Makoto paced up the stairs, the transfer student leading and the Kosei artist bringing up the rear as they headed to their newest member's room. She turned off the streaming news on her phone and slid it into her pants pocket. Without a major splash to inform them otherwise, the public still expected a looming catastrophe. Futaba may have been confident the only problematic Medjed hacker was disabled, but the Thieves couldn't decide what to do beyond that and tabled the motion. Akira was against big, public displays in general for the fear of being caught and Ryuji's ideas were just reckless on the other end of the spectrum. Building a rapport with Futaba would be a good break from that argument.

Akira gave two sharp knocks on Futaba's door. A long moment passed before the doorknob clicked and the slight girl opened the door, an oversized parade mask over her head.

Makoto stared. If she couldn't even face her soon-to-be teammates, that did not bode well for ending her status as a shut-in. "I don't think that mask will be helpful, Futaba-chan."

Futaba took a step backwards into a room far less cluttered than when they brought her in following her post-Awakening collapse in the street. "I… I need my gear bonuses!"

Yusuke held out his hands, framing the girl falling back from the door. "How avant garde!"

Akira spat, "Take that off. You look like a Satesh Guard."

Futaba threw her fists down by her side. "My nose is not dripping!"

Baffled by what must have been an inside joke, Makoto rested a hand on his shoulder to keep from advancing on his aggression. How the slight hacker bonded with him and not somebody more empathetic like Ann was beyond the president. "Let's get settled in, first. Whatever quirks we have to work on, our first objective is to engage in normal conversation."

The hacker nodded and led them inside her room. The transfer student stopped on her bed, but Yusuke continued further in to examine a set of open metal shelves beside a window overlooking the narrow road outside. He lifted a familiar long construct of what appeared to be bronze. "You brought a staff weapon from that world."

Futaba plopped onto her computer's chair, but pulled her mask off. Bright, wide eyes shone up at the artist and her toes tapped against the floor. "Heck yeah! I defeated a boss with that." She beamed. "Weird thing is, I feel like I leveled up before beating him."

Akira gave a smile. Not his usual smirk, or the wide smile before he went for a second bite of curry, but something small and soft. "Because you decided to stand up and live your own life instead of being pushed around by bastards." He leaned back, bracing his hands on the futon behind him. "So who was he?"

The girl shrunk back on her office chair and clutched her mask tight.

At first, Makoto hoped the conversation on the end of her Palace might energize her, but that posture showed retreat. Thinking fast, the class president cleared her throat. "Maybe we should talk about more ordinary topics. What do you like to eat, Futaba?"

"Organic," she said, the statement too short to be sure if it was nervous or mocking.

Akira sat up. "I prefer inorganic. Unit zero two can process them efficiently."

Makoto slapped his arm. "I though I told you to drop that!"

Futaba snorted in amusement, and while she still clutched her doffed mask she didn't hold it like a life preserver anymore.

As satisfying as it was, slapping Akira wasn't worth just getting a momentary laugh out of Futaba. Makoto straightened. "Let's try a different topic. How are you handling the weather? This heat wave is going to be around for a while."

"AC."

Akira pushed up his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "You'll have to go outside, Futaba-kun."

"Baby steps, Joker," the team leader said as he hopped up onto the bed for the first time in the conversation. He shook his head to work out a kink in his neck – not because he was a cat, which he wasn't – and looked to the small girl. "Have you thought about where outside you'd want to go?"

Futaba's eyes rolled up in consideration. She held up a hand, one finger extended. "Abydos."

A meaty smack echoed as Akira's palm collided with his forehead.

Futaba smirked. "Hey Sokka, why's your forehead all red?"

Makoto sighed. Every step forward seemed to precede a jump backwards. "Yusuke, at least contribute."

"I was focusing," he said, then stepped back from the shelf unit of models. Figurines from some super sentai series – they all looked the same to Makoto – stood in various action poses. Yusuke explained as if clarifying the date on an old painting, "The limbs kept coming off as I was moving them, but I believe I have set them in a pleasing arrangement."

Mask tumbling forgotten to the ground, Futaba leaped to her feet, her arms trembling with rage. "My vintage Phoenix Rangers Neo Featherman set! They were already in the season one opening!"

Turning up his nose, Yusuke straightened. "The figures were of quite shoddy construction, and their arrangement almost totally concealed the green one. No balance at all."

"That's because Green betrayed the group in the finale!" She stepped even closer to him, fists trembling at her sides. "You wouldn't know aesthetics if it slapped you in the face, Inari!"

The transfer student jumped up to grab her wrist before she could suit word to action. Yusuke, if he was aware of the threat to his visage, just glared back with bared teeth. "How dare you say that to me!"

Akira pulled the girl back from the artist. "Your brains get scrambled in a flash of anger? His name's Yusuke."

Futaba ripped her arm out of his grip. "His mask was a fox, foxes in folklore like inarizushi, therefore he is Inari now."

Akira rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't get why you're getting so bent out of shape from Yusuke fiddling with your dolls."

To Makoto's shock, the artist and hacker both shouted, "They're not dolls!" They both shared a surprised look, then turned away from each other.

Futaba jabbed a finger at the transfer student. "A doll is some shitty cloth or plastic merch, these are action figures. They hold poses so you can recreate any dramatic or action-packed scene you want."

Yusuke nodded. "Provided the figures have the range or interlocking strength. But that starts to get into different design across different series. Certain seasons don't have the action poses to mimic."

Futaba turned on the artist, looking excited this time instead of angry. "Totally! Victory may have the best action, but Neo's got the best transforming suit."

Makoto just hung back, feeling like they were using Japanese words yet talking in a foreign language. As annoyed as she was with the artist earlier, he was the only one who found a way to engage the hacker. It just brought up all the whispers in Shujin's halls about the robot student council president.

Morgana hopped onto her lap. "It's unconventional, Nightrider, but they are having a regular conversation. That's the first step to breaking out of her shell."

Keeping her voice low so as to not disrupt the other three, Makoto replied, "I get that, but… I'm Shujin's student council president. I thought I got there because I was the best possible option, the most qualified to handle all of its challenges. Like communicating."

Morgana's tail curled around his feet. "Until there's shared experiences, we have to rely on shared subject interests. You took very safe, general topics that didn't work with Futaba because she's very… unique."

Tuesday, 9 August 2016
Afternoon
Yongen, Sakura House, Futaba's Room

Futaba felt a hesitant smile break out over her face. "This is all I gotta do? I was worried about going out for nothing!"

Yusuke tapped a finger to his lips. "Does this mean we should advance to the next stage?"

Grinning, Akira pulled out his phone and tapped away. A moment later, tango music floated out of his phone and he held a hand out to the girl with the braid.

Makoto growled through bared teeth, "Be serious for once!"

Futaba and the artist cackled. Well, she did. He just gave a weak chuckle. She'd have to teach him later. Akira might be better, she could sense the troubled nerd within. She'd have him in Sith robes before the year's end or her name wasn't Sakura Futaba. "What next stage?"

The girl with the braid nodded. "Being able to interact with the other members of the Phantom Thieves is an excellent step, but as part of investigations if not infiltration of other Palaces, you'll need to be able to navigate new places."

Futaba felt a tremble in her knees.

Akira stood and planted a firm hand on her shoulder, his stormy eyes straight on hers. "It's just one more step on the journey, Futaba-kun. You already did it once to reach out to us."

Critical hit to her excuses! Futaba straightened her glasses, though broke eye contact. She growled and picked up her mask. "Can I wear my cash items for equipment bonus?"

Makoto waggled a finger. "You know it will be better if you get used to not wearing such things in public. Besides, Ann and Ryuji are up next. Ryuji can be a little… off, but they're the most understanding and accepting of us. If Ann wasn't at work today, she would've been here." She looked over at the boy already with his phone out. "Any other news from Ryuji?"

Akira navigated to the Phantom Thief group chat. "Just getting over-excited about how famous the Phantom Thieves are going to be once the defeat of both Medjed and Togo's mother hits the press." His brows and forehead tensed.

Morgana preened. "Today was an excellent start. A codename can wait until we get back into the Metaverse, but I think it's worth another day of exposure training to get Futaba used to the rest of the Phantom Thieves."

Makoto pulled out her phone to put an abbreviated report into the Phantom Thief group chat. After a little side-barring, Ann texted back. The upperclassman read for the members present, "Ann says, 'If she still needs to get used to the rest of us and see new places, we can do both of those at my place.' I have a college practice exam I promised Big Sis I'd take tomorrow, but Ryuji says he's up for it."

Futaba swallowed, but she couldn't let high-level enemies hold her back. If tomorrow was hard mode, it was time to get good!

AN: The video Futaba sends Makoto is real, it's the start to one of the cinematics in Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando.

SG-1 only shows a few variants of Jaffa. The Satesh guard is only mentioned in one episode when Teal'c is asked to tell a Jaffa Joke. "A Serpent Guard, a Horus Guard and a Setesh Guard meet on a neutral planet. It is a tense moment. The Serpent Guard's eyes glow, the Horus Guard's beak glistens, the Setesh Guard's… nose drips."