Persona 5: Daywatch

Friday, 9 September 2016
Lunch Time
Shujin, Rooftop

Hunching down inside the class president's school bag, Morgana heard her mutter about putting out metaphorical small fires, then a relieved breath as she shoved open the door to the academic building's rooftop. She came to a sudden stop, but with the sun pouring in he could imagine her stopping to adjust to the glare of daylight from hours indoors. When a few more seconds passed than he expected, he poked his head out of the bag and blinked against the sun until he spotted that girl with curly, auburn hair sitting at a desk, an immaculate black bento on the desk next to her.

"Oh, good afternoon," Rider said.

The other girl wore the Shujin regulation plaid skirt and short-sleeved white shirt with three chevrons on the collar. Morgana was used to seeing this girl with gardening gloves, but the plants looked green. He couldn't see anything nearby but her lunch, but the roof was remote enough it wasn't convenient for that alone. When Haru looked up, her expression was too composed to be sure what her true feelings were. "Madam President."

As the team leader slunk out to remain unseen, Rider tilted her head at the other girl, her eyes darting in thought. Then she blinked and simple decision wrote over her face. "I hope it won't be disruptive if I have lunch up here as well?"

"Oh, certainly not," the ever-polite auburn-haired girl said. Rider pulled out a chair stacked on another desk and the two tucked into their lunches for several minutes.

A generic ringtone floated across the rooftop. Haru swallowed her bite, then pulled her phone out of a small purse on the desk. A long breath fled the girl and she squeezed her eyes closed for a few seconds as the tune continued.

"I can finish over there if you want some privacy," Rider said, pointing her chopsticks at the corner by the roof access door and fence.

The fluffy-haired girl pasted a smile over her face, following the rote motions like a trained habit, but that highlighted a dimming in her eyes as if she wanted to say no. The ringtone continued to play and she took in just enough of a breath to sigh before standing and pacing behind the air conditioner to open the call. Thankfully, the air conditioner was new and quieter than most, which made getting close enough to eavesdrop without being noticed easy. "Yes?"

Morgana couldn't get quite close enough to make out the entire conversation without giving away his position, but he could make out a man's voice in a terse tone. It was a demand of some sort.

Haru's visage twisted into a bitter glare. "You had a date for the conference!"

The man said something patronizing. The team leader crept closer.

Haru's free hand gripped the fencing. "I can't just drop everything for you this weekend, I've had my trip to Sapporo booked for nine months. It might be the last time I get the chance to see Hyodo—"

"Your father wants you and I to attend this idiotic ceremony," the man's voice shouted.

Haru's fingers clenched tight. "Dad isn't even going to be there to see your mistress, Sugimura!"

"And I would much rather be with a reasonable lady who knew how to keep her weight, but your father is insisting on the publicity," the man retorted. "That means he will be keeping an eye on the media. Be there at 19:00."

The call cut and Haru growled before throwing her phone at the fence. It bounced off, driving her to turn around and kick the whirring air conditioning unit. The impact with stainless steel rang over the rooftop, and she braced both hands on the unit.

Since she wouldn't be paying any attention, Morgana dashed straight past to get his second in command. He needn't have worried, as she was picking her way through planters and potted herbs. "Rider, hurry. But tread gently, she may be close to a breakdown."

Nodding, Rider slipped between two potted peppers and rounded the air conditioning unit. She halted for a moment on making eye contact with the auburn-haired girl. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Haru stood back from the unit, her posture too stiff and formal to be believed. "O-oh! I'm sorry."

Rider retracted her hand. She stood straight, trying to project an air of authority and sympathy. "I should be saying that. School is supposed to be a safe place, though students should be safe even when they're not at school."

Haru wavered, but masked her face with a smile. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm not in danger. It's just family scheduling."

Morgana sighed. "She's being truthful in that way of selective interpretation." He'd have to look up Sugimura later, he recognized the name from Togo's palace… but surely there was no way an elderly executive from that far in Togo's past could be dallying with a current high schooler, right? He hoped Oracle could dig up something.

Friday, 9 September 2016
Late Morning
Hawaii, EGX Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant

Mishima pulled the runner to the side of the expansive hallway and two tiny forklifts drove down the other side, slowing to turn left after departing the wide door with a rolling shutter. The assistant plant manager walking alongside Kawakami-sensei yammered on about the cleanliness and precision required for the pharmaceutical industry. It was a school trip so the class representative knew he should be paying more attention, but drugs and industry when he couldn't even take notes made him feel like nodding off.

Afternoon
Hawaii, Gold State Food Packaging Plant

Green, yellow, red, and a variety of other lumps raced by on conveyors too fast to identify what was going by. Workers in cloth masks and hair nets scurried from one machine to another, or switching things from one lane of the conveyors to another. While it was exciting to get to see the site of work done directly, which they weren't permitted at the drug plant, it reminded Mishima of oil refineries with all the pipes and stainless steel.

Twin steel double-doors battered open and a worker pulled a cart laden with sacks of flour bigger than the worker herself. She spied the class and paused to wave and say in Japanese, "Welcome to Gold State Foods! We also donate to local schools and shelters," before hauling the cart away.

Ryuji gave a wide yawn, but kept up when the group moved along as the next assistant floor manager arrived to walk them through the next stage of the tour.

Mishima wasn't sure if the tour was intended to showcase employment in Hawaii or investment opportunities.

Friday, 9 September 2016
Early Evening
Hawaii, Waikiki, Wariott

Akira followed the group off the tour bus, antsy to run or at least get moving after a day of trudging through foreign businesses he didn't care about. Iida took off as soon as Mishima reported everybody present to Kawakami-sensei, though unlike the previous day where students waited to coalesce into larger groups, this time plenty rushed off in twos and trios to eat or go souvenir shopping.

Ryuji drew in a deep breath, then let it out in a huff. "I was expectin' alohas an' shit, but it's Japanese people all over the place. At least a quarter of the peeps at that packaging place had to be Japanese!"

A passing Shujin junior smirked and threw out, "Good to know you'll have a place to work when we graduate, huh, Sakamoto?"

"Fuck you, Hazuki!"

"What were you expecting?" Ann said. "We're just students, Shujin's not going to splurge to send us overseas for four days of loafing around a resort." Something buzzed, then Ann checked her phone. She tapped, then looked up. "If you want to do something different, let's go to that one park by the store with the blue front."

"But I wanna go divin'," the runner whined.

Mishima rolled his eyes and snapped a photo of the rolling hills and city. "You were just complaining about not having anything to do, Sakamoto-san. Besides, maybe we can get something Hawaiian to eat while I try to catch up on moderating the Phansite. Look on the bright side: at least we get to see opportunities outside Tokyo. If Shujin hadn't convinced a couple of the parents to drop lawsuits, they might've had such a staff scramble we might not have had anything scheduled. Or worse, we could've had this trip canceled entirely."

As they walked on, Akira quipped, "You make it sound like we should be glad the press attention on Kamoshida wrapped up just a few weeks after his confession."

Mishima brightened in that way of somebody about to divulge a secret. "Oh, speaking of that, did you hear about Principal Kobayakawa?"

Ryuji stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Ain't he behind bars already? 'Koto said he pled guilty to a buncha charges in exchange for keepin' it outta the papers."

"Not anymore," the class rep said, tone heavy. "He was assaulted. Apparently some of the inmates found out he'd been covering up Kamoshida's abuse and attacked him at the lunch line."

A few emotions flickered over his face before he pushed the discomfort away. Ryuji slipped his hands out of his pockets and brought up the Phansite. "I'd rather talk about how famous the Phantom Thieves are gettin'. Didja hear one of the bus drivers talkin' about us?" He pumped a fist. "It's effin' awesome! Peeps from outside Japan know about us an' Medjed!"

Akira scanned news feeds, then brought up a browser. "I don't see anything about Togo's confession."

Mishima shrugged. "If it made any headlines at all, it must've been treated as a local thing."

Ann nodded. "Well, the police were certainly tight lipped about it. I'm not surprised it hasn't been making big waves if she's being treated like part of larger conspiracy cases."

A yawn worked out of the runner. "I never thought I'd say this," Ryuji said with a big grin, "but I'm almost eager to get back home."

"Is that so?" a familiar male voice said as Yusuke paced around the topiary. "I would prefer to stay a little longer. Overseas travel is quite stimulating."

Ryuji fell backwards onto a tiled planter crammed with tropical plants. Ann helped Mishima pull him back up. "Holy shit. What're you doin' here?"

"Ann texted me about your location in Oahu after I informed her a hurricane rerouted our flight from Los Angeles," Yusuke explained. "Since we were both close by, we thought it would be a pleasant rendezvous."

"You bring rain everywhere, don'cha?" Ryuji gabbed.

Akira rolled his eyes. "No biting the artist."

The runner jabbed a finger into his chest. "There's also the fireworks festival. You sayin' there ain't a pattern?"

"Am I the only one who likes the rain?" Akira stepped closer, feeling a twisting in his gut as hope clashed with experience. "Is Hifumi here too?"

Yusuke nodded. "She is my group leader." His dark eyes gazed out at the hills. "Though she is incapacitated at the hotel at the moment. There was a shouting match about whether to try to keep to the planned itinerary even though we had a sudden change in location. About half of the students wanted to be given free time until the end of the trip, the other half wanted to attempt the planned excursions here in Hawaii."

Mishima nodded. "That makes sense. Why wouldn't the teachers have done that?"

"We do not have reservations or arrangements at any local business or art institutions," Yusuke replied. "As I understand, Ooe-sensei is still busy on the phone canceling and trying to get money back from our reservations in Los Angeles in order to have any capital to apply to here. We had to use Kosei's emergency fund just for our hotel."

"That sucks," Ryuji admitted.

Ann crossed her arms. "You said Hifumi's incapacitated at the hotel?"

Yusuke nodded. "A nearby shop owner interceded in the vocal disagreement being had, and offered her and Watanabe-san water. They did not realize it was tap water and are suffering gastrointestinal distress."

"I guess I should avoid that," Mishima said with an empathetic cringe.

"Is she okay?" Akira blurted.

The artist seemed as implacable as ever. "She was in her hotel room and not a local clinic, so I presume as soon as the discomfort passes and she rehydrates she will be well. Togo-san is a stoic sort, but would not falsely report to Ooe-sensei."

That soothed some but not enough of his worries. [Yusuke said you were in Oahu and not feeling well. Get better soon, okay?]

[Thank you for your concern, Aki,] Hifumi replied.

Ann clapped her hands. "Well, now that we're all together, why don't we grab some dinner?"

"Three cheers!" Yusuke said, throwing an open hand to the sky.

The transfer student's phone buzzed with Hifumi's next message, [I apologize for not texting you earlier, things have been a scramble and I am not feeling well. I will call when things are better.]

[For Queen Togo? Anywhere, any time.]

Ryuji laughed. "Well might as well get to it. I gotta grab souvenirs for Ma."

The class representative's stomach growled, but Akira sensed his own wasn't far behind. Time to be cheeky. "Well, I guess the vote's unanimous." As they headed to a market lane, he remarked, "You know, I've never gone souvenir shopping. What should I get for Futaba and Morgana?" He scratched his head. "I can't even think what Makoto would want."

"I got her an annotated booklet on Hawaiian law from the gift shop at the judiciary," Ann said. "To be honest, I prolly wouldn't have thought of it if it wasn't for the guide mentioning that law Kamehameha made before we started the tour."

"Tote fits," Ryuji said. "If it's rules, she is on top of it. I never knew someone so good at memorizin' names."

Mishima prodded as if afraid to be heard, "Y-you think I should get something?"

"Why not?" Akira quipped. "You've been with us even longer than she has. Yeah, she goes in with us, but if she qualifies for membership, I'd say so do you. Even soldiers need support." A beat passed and he added, "That sounded too militant, didn't it? What I'm trying to say is you don't need to hang on the periphery. Talk to her sometime."

The runner kicked a pebble. "Yeah, I mean the only thing you can't do that we can is understand Mona." A beat passed as they walked before Ryuji added, "Though… that's mor'a an advantage."

Akira shoved at the runner's arm, causing just one stumbled step. The runner gave a shove back, and the two kept jostling for position until they passed a familiar burger place.

Ann brushed a pigtail off her shoulder. "They've even got Big Bang Burger here?"

"Big Bang Burger is international," Yusuke said after sniffing at the air. "They have locations in Seoul and Hong Kong as well. Apparently enough for Togo-san's mother to boast about returns on her investment." At the transfer student's arched eyebrow, he explained, "Togo-san and I would talk after she started sitting with me during lunch at Kosei."

Feeling a gurgle in his stomach, Akira hoped the others didn't hear it and gestured to the door. "Well, I don't know Waikiki. Let's eat." The others paced in and he followed them. The menu was in English, which wasn't hard to figure out after a little checking with Ann for the weird options. Always one for trying something new, once his turn came up he ordered one of the burgers with a slice of pineapple.

As they sat down, Ann noticed the class rep busy on his phone. "Trouble on the Phansite?"

"I'm talking to Sakura-san, actually," Mishima said before going at his fries. "She's helping admin the Phansite and said her sniffers have found a bunch of suspicious requests for Okumura. All identical wording. Might be bots."

Yusuke swallowed a bite of his cheeseburger. "It is good we have such dilligent support as you and Futaba-san. I still think the poll would have been a good idea for engagement."

Akira swallowed a bite of tangy and sweet with the beef. "Makoto agreed with me. We should be driven by the good we can do and not metrics."

Ann let them eat, which took little time in the case of the artist and runner. But once the eating wound down, she clapped her hands. "Since we kind of have this corner to ourselves, we should play a game. Anybody done 'have you ever'?"

Yusuke swallowed the remaining fries from the class representative. "Ah. We played that every time the atelier got a new apprentice."

"Sounds dangerous," Ryuji remarked.

"You go first," Mishima followed.

She stuck out her tongue, but must have noticed the question in the transfer student's face. "The rules are super simple. The asker can make any yes or no question she wants. Everybody else has to answer honestly. Then the person to her left then becomes the asker and it repeats. The version we'd play with Mom and Dad at work included drinking if you don't give the story when you answer yes, but we'll skip that part."

"Wait, we have to detail if we've done something? You guys already had quite a sit-down after I told you guys how I got to Tokyo," Akira explained. A beat later his phone buzzed.

Futaba texted, [Wait, why have I never heard this juicy tale?]

At this point he couldn't even be surprised she was listening in. It was early in the afternoon in Tokyo, and the class rep already confirmed she was awake. [Because you weren't with us at the time, Futaba.] When he noticed the artist, he explained, "Our esteemed master of computers."

"Perhaps she should join us," Yusuke offered.

Akira snorted. "I don't think I'd be able to afford the out-of-district charges."

Ryuji blinked. "Wouldn'cha go for it jus' to stick it to your old man?"

"No," Akira said, blasé. "I've always paid for my phone myself. Why do you think I picked up darts? Phone bills are expensive and Mother linked it to my bank account instead of hers. She just co-signed the contract so she could text me to go away when she didn't want me home after school."

"Your mom's a dick," Ryuji spat. His eyes widened and he blanched. "Wait, I mean—!"

"I get it, Ryuji," Akira said. "What about calling Hifumi?"

Yusuke shook his head. "I attempted that earlier. She responded by text that she wasn't even in a state to talk over the phone, much less…" His eyes rolled up for a beat as he quoted, "Gallivant across Waikiki."

"Too bad Makoto's not here," Ryuji said with a grump and yet a faint tick up at the corners of his lips. "Would be nice to see her doin' somethin' fun 'steada studyin' all the time. I bet she's studyin' now."

Akira checked his phone. "It's almost two in the afternoon there, of course she's studying. She's in class." He huffed back a laugh. "We could probably all stand to use her example there."

"An' you could stand to cut loose a little more often," Ryuji retorted. He lifted his soda high. "So I'll go first. What's everybody's best run time?"

Closing her eyes, Ann brought a hand to her face. "It's supposed to be a yes or no question, Ryuji."

"Right," he said, undeterred. "Any'a you beat 17 minutes on the 5k run?" Silence passed for a few seconds as he looked around, his gaze stopping on the transfer student several times. "Seriously? I thought you were a big-time runner. I beat you last run we had, but you almost kept up."

Ann snorted a laugh at him. "Harsh, Ryuji. 'Almost'."

The runner gabbed. "Well… it ain't like I was tryin' to cut no one out."

Akira shrugged. "Parkour isn't about minimum run time like straight track, it's about smoothest path of travel across any two points. Making use of terrain to help you get places, learning to find a way to re-interpret the world around you as travel-aids instead of walls. Why do you think I got into it?"

Yusuke straightened. "I suppose I am the next inquisitor, then. Have you ever mistaken violet for fuchsia?"

Every single other member of the table stared at him for several seconds. Then Ann laughed, the sound airy. "That's so you, Yusuke-san."

"What is fuchsia?" Mishima whispered.

Akira pulled up a browser search on his phone. "Looks like purple."

Yusuke drew back with an offended gasp.

Ann pressed her fingers to the sides of her head. "Okay, okay. That was all a 'no'. Yuu-kun, you're up."

Mishima swallowed his bite of burger. "Uh, okay. Who's bought a box of pocky to share with someone else and finished it all before getting it to the one you bought it for?"

The natural blonde covered her face. "Ugh, that is so me. I can't even remember the number of times I got one to split with Shiho and wound up meeting her with an empty box."

Ryuji pointed with the hand not holding his burger. "Okay, now you're just singlin' peeps out." He gestured his head at Ann.

The class representative held up his hands. "I'm not, I've done the exact same thing! It was even for Shiho, too." He glanced at the others, eyes coming to rest on the transfer student. "You've never finished a whole box of pocky?"

"Oh, that I've done. But you asked if I ever bought one for someone else." He popped another fry in his mouth, chewed a bit, and swallowed. "The ones I got for Mother I delivered straight to. I never shared one."

"Awww, now I feel bad," Ann grumped. She looked at the artist. "As hungry as you always are, you've never eaten a 'shared' pocky box?"

"Of course not. I have never bought one, personally, but when I handle one I don't even open the box until with the person who requested them," he explained, tone calm. "At the atelier, that was usually Saki-senpai."

Ann poked the transfer student as she sat back up. "Your turn."

Akira finished wiping his lenses and settled his glasses back on. "Anyone ever gone to sleep, staring up at the stars?"

Ann raised a hand, but asked, "Does it count when it's looking out a window?"

Ryuji snorted a laugh. "Like anybody can even see the stars in Tokyo. Only lights bright enough are all satellites."

Mishima swallowed his last bite of burger. "I've never been camping." He turned to the artist. "But didn't you say Madarame brought you out of Tokyo to see some meteor showers?"

"Certainly, but that was an excursion of a few hours. We did not sleep, we were expected to get started on paintings while the shower was still under way."

Ann finished a sip of her soda. "Okay, then. I'm up. You guys have been playing hard to get, but I'm sure I've got one all of you've done. Have you ever gone on… wait, I probably shouldn't say it like 'group date'. Have you ever gone to see a movie with class friends?"

Ryuji perked. "Oh yeah, totally! We did that in the track team after almost any meet, even after a lotta our practice meets. There's nothin' like watchin' an action thing like The Cake Knight."

"You should talk to Makoto, she likes martial arts action flicks," Ann said, grinning at her success.

Mishima crumpled up his burger wrapper. "I watched When The Last Sword is Drawn when they had a throwback day at the theater, back at Sunao. I think there were six or seven of us."

Yusuke paused chasing down fry stubs from Mishima. "Do other students at the atelier count? They were not a class, but were fellow students."

"Sure!" she said, bright at another victory. That was three, but she looked at the bespectacled student. "What about you?"

"Nobody's ever invited me to the cinema," Akira explained. "Watching Shin Godzilla with you guys was the first time I've ever been… with a group. Yeah, I snuck into the movies a few times at Inuri, but that was about getting past security."

He realized the metaphorical cloud he brought over the group only after the silence settled over them.

After what felt like an eternity but could have only taken a few seconds in actual time, Mishima said, "Akira-san… have you ever invited someone else to the movies?"

He thought back, but it took little time for him to realize that for all his resentment at nobody else trying to include him, he hadn't gone through the effort either. He felt heat on his face as he admitted, "No." No wonder Hifumi was so disappointed in him when he invited the Phantom Thieves to movie night. "I guess I should invite you guys to movie night more often."

Ann elbowed him. "Maybe invite Hifumi a little more. Us girls like one-on-one time."

"True," Akira conceded. "Makoto's been more comfortable talking about things when it's just been us somewhere around Tokyo."

Ann and Mishima both clapped hand to face.

Of all unusual events, Ryuji picked up on the uncomfortable feeling settling down around the table and jumped in for his round. "My turn! Have you ever wondered why it feels like it sucks getting second place, but when you get third you just wipe the sweat from your forehead an' you're just happy to place?"

Akira rolled his eyes. "Of course it would still have to be about sports."

Ryuji kicked him under the table. "It's a yes or no question, ain't it?"

"He is correct," Yusuke mentioned. "The margins are different at art competitions where there tends to be a handful of finalists and sometimes only one honourable mention, but none of us at the atelier ever won final rounds. The best we ever achieved was honourable mention."

Ryuji swallowed a gulp of soda. "Think that's 'cause he knew which ones might win and get you dudes some fame of your own an' stole all the good stuff?"

The widening of the artist's eyes was more than enough answer.

"Wisdom from Ryuji," Akira said with exaggerated shock. "Will wonders never cease?"

Ryuji bared a flash of teeth.

"Okay, okay," Ann jumped in. "I guess I have felt that before." Her eyes flicked to Mishima and a faint dusting of pink appeared on her cheeks. Back to the question, Mishima just looked a vague sort of bashful and Akira shrugged. The model brushed a pigtail off her shoulder and prodded, "Let's keep going. Yusuke?"

The artist drummed his fingers on the table. "Have you ever kissed a girl?"

Everyone around the table raised a hand, even the artist despite him being the one to ask the question.

Ryuji gaped. "Ann?"

"What? Don't tell me you've never considered experimenting," she threw out.

Mishima seemed dumbstruck. "This adds a whole new dimension to all those rumors about you and the Venus of Shogi."

Ann covered her face with her hand. "Ugh. That was Hifumi's mother's fabrication."

Ryuji swiveled to the class rep. "What about you? When'd you kiss a girl?"

Whether because they were across the table from each other or something else, both Ann and Mishima glanced at each other and blushed. It took the class rep a few stammers before he got out a coherent, "Sh-Shiho was my girlfriend, remember? We never did anything close to school because we couldn't afford to let Kamoshida know." He stared into his lap. "For all the good it did."

Yusuke patted a hand on the representative's shoulder. "For all the gloom of your ordeal, it is all the more important to see the happy little trees. Shujin is free of Kamoshida's lecherous designs, and I am free of Sensei's stifling greed. Do not despair that it was not your hand to personally end one threat, just as it was not the hand of many craftsmen who completed a car. All took part."

Bracing her elbow on the table, Ann gazed out at the artist, her lips curled in a small grin. "You really are mature." When the runner next to her feigned gagging, she elbowed him. She looked to her side at the transfer student. "So c'mon, spill. When'd you finally give Hifumi a kiss?"

He deflated a little at that. "Oh. She kissed me."

A somber quiet came from the blonde, who'd already heard the story of the whole debacle. Ryuji, however, whooped in delight and held out a hand across the table. "Hells yeah, bro! I knew you'd score eventually."

Ann growled at him.

"Whaddya getting' mad at me for?" Ryuji blurted. "I'm sayin' it's a good thing he got a little action." He slumped back in his seat. "Man. We're all done eatin'. If all you are gonna just beat up on me, I ain't playin' this game. Let's go swimmin'."

Yusuke picked up his wrapper. "But I do not have a swimsuit. Swimming was not on the itinerary for Kosei's class trip."

Mishima looked at the transfer student. "Well, if you've never gone swimming before, you probably don't have one either, right? Let's go take care of that and we can go wading while everyone else is swimming."

Friday, 9 September 2016
Evening
Hawaii, Waikiki, Wariott, Room 417

From the comfort of the sea breeze wafting past the balcony, Mishima sifted through the mass of reports waiting in queue for administrator action. Even with Futaba-san and Kintome218 helping him, there was still so much to do. Futaba's bots may have been handling most of the flood of people calling for the change of Okumura Kunizaku's heart, but the trolls inciting fights were getting more creative. It was getting harder to differentiate the people with genuine problems, who might have been afraid or angry, from the ones just trying to bait flames.

The door to the bathroom swung open and Akira stepped out, still rubbing the towel at his hair. He had rather fluffy hair at the best of times, but now it almost resembled an anime character's afro. He had already changed into a ragged set of old pants for sleep, but lacked his shirt. The glimpse of the transfer student's musculature made Mishima glad the other boy had a different girl as a love interest, because Shiho would've loved the athletic physique.

"What's up?" Akira asked.

Mishima trotted back inside, sliding the door closed after him to keep out the bugs and rain as clouds moved in. "Activity on the Phansite. I'm starting to wonder if maybe you guys really should look into Okumura foods. There's a lot of settlements sealed behind non-disclosure agreements. If there's one thing I learned from Ohya-san, it's always to be suspicious if someone settles out of court and gags the party who won. There are a lot of rumors of their president, Okumura Kunizaku, exploiting his workers."

Akira rubbed the towel against the side of his scalp. "I believe that's the definition of a company."

"This is real, Akira-san," Mishima barked. "Late or unpaid overtime, and one of the highest rates of corporate write-ups of employees that I've seen in Japan. It's a wonder how they have so many stores with the number of times they write workers up for being four minutes late for shift."

Rough knocks sounded on the door. "Yo dudes!" Ryuji called from the hall beyond. When the transfer student opened the door, he stood there in fresh clothes with a bright green shirt. "Hey! How're the non-swimmers?"

The representative could imagine the hooded gaze from Akira's tone, "What are you doing here, Ryuji?"

His grin widened to levels that seemed too big to be real, even on the ever-cheerful track star. "I wan'ed to see how you guys were doin'." A beat passed and both class 2-D boys glanced at each other. Ryuji sighed. "Okay, truth? The guy I'm roomin' with brought his girlfriend an' it was gettin' totally awkward bein' in there with both of 'em definitely wantin' to make out. I just couldn't take it no more." He clasped his hands. "Please let me room here tonight."

Akira sighed in consternation, but stepped from the door to hang up his towel.

The track star came in and plopped down on the couch, but the instant his butt hit the cushions, another knock tapped on the door. He got back up and opened the door. "Ann? Wait… are you an' Mishima…?"

A lovely pink dusted Ann's cheeks and despite himself, the class rep couldn't help but think of their kiss weeks ago. She pushed through the runner. "The girl I was sharing a room with took off to her boyfriend's room! With the key!"

Ryuji tisked. "I feel that."

Akira sighed. "But why come here?"

Her narrow gaze turned on him. "It's not like Makoto's with us. She's probably kicking back and relaxing while waiting for us to come back."

After School
Mementos

Makoto's heart raced and she poured her energy into Johanna, billowing flame as they rushed around the fallen orb of writhing flesh. Shadows howled behind them.

Futaba, clutching the class president's waist and looking behind them, screamed, "Faster, faster, faster! It's catching up!"

Evening
Hawaii, Waikiki, Wariott, Room 417

Akira swallowed and held up his hands. "Well, you could just go down to the lobby and get some employee to unlock it."

Planting her fists on her hips, Ann's glare turned up the heat. "Hashida-sensei is down there. If I ask the desk clerk to unlock my room, I have to explain why and Hashida's going to go on a crusade on everybody on the school trip." She turned on the class rep and less asked than declared, "I'll just sleep here tonight."

"For real?" Ryuji gawked.

"You think I'd come here if Makoto was an option?" She flashed a knowing smirk. "I trust you guys."

Ryuji hung his head. "We were never gonna win this one, were we?"

Mishima sighed, but she'd been with him through way too much to kick her out when she just wanted to smooth things out. And she was probably right about Hashida. It might not end the trip early, but it would lead to a lot of enmity when her reputation at Shujin was still on the mend. "You can sleep in my bed."

Ryuji snorted, then held out a fist at the class rep. "Fuck yeah, man! Way to go for the gold!"

Ann smacked him, though even she had a blush. "He didn't mean fuck him, he's giving up his bed. Geez, Ryuji."

Akira stood at the foot of his bed and held up his hands, palms flat and held parallel. "There's actually plenty of width for two people to sleep on each bed. I mean, we shared futons for hundreds of years, didn't we?"

Mishima and Ann shared a long gaze, heat burning both their faces, then they looked away.

When the transfer student and Ryuji glanced at each other, the runner said, "Yeah, no."

Akira rolled his eyes. "Fine. Ann, you can take my bed. I've slept on the ground a bunch of times when I ran away."

"Dude," Ryuji retorted, "Now you're just making pity plays."

"No I'm not. I really don't have a problem sleeping on the floor for a night," Akira shot back, heading to the closet for the spare blanket on the top shelf. "Remember when I asked about falling asleep looking at the stars? That was how I started it. It… it wasn't until it was just me and the outdoors before I really took the time to appreciate the night sky. To lay back on the grass, stare at the stars. I was alone, but it was the closest I had to freedom until I came to Tokyo and met you guys." He laid down the blanket, folded it over, and settled down. Ann remained quiet as she took the offered bed.

Ryuji yanked a spare sheet from the closet and claimed the couch. As he straightened the sheet, he glanced at the beds to the class rep staring into his phone. "Phansite? You've had your phone out all day."

"Hm?" Mishima looked up. "Oh, no. I'm uploading today's photos. Even if Shiho had to transfer to another school because of what happened, I want to do something to try to give her the experience of coming here."

"That's cool, man," Ryuji said in surprising camaraderie. "I'd wanna do that if I had a girl."

"Really?" Ann said, halfway through working one hair scrunchie out.

He sat up, knocking his sheet to the floor. "Oh, do not go on about one of your rants about how all I think about is my dick. Miss 'everybody experiments'. I've backed all you up so effin' much."

"All right, all right," she cut him off, working her other hair scrunchie out and scratching her scalp. "What kind of girl would you go for anyway?"

Ryuji lay back down, clasping his hands behind his head. "Someone nice. Modest – ain't no good bein' with someone who'd walk all over other people. Someone who'd share what she likes jus' like I would."

Mishima smiled. "That's a surprisingly mature perspective, Sakamoto-san."

"Whaddabout you?" the runner tossed back.

Mishima lined up the next set of photographs and hit submit to start the long process of uploading. "Hm. I remember talking to Akiyama-san about girls with long hair, but… I think it wasn't until I met Shiho before I realized I like the athletic type. Energetic, not like the manic kind but ready to give it her all when she does something."

"Cool, cool," the runner hummed. He turned on his side to look at the transfer student. "What 'bout you?"

Akira lay back, the text messenger with Hifumi open. The class representative imagined his fellow dark-hair pondering the mysterious intricacies of slowly falling in love, only realizing it happened long after it did. "Everything?"

"Aw, come on!" Ann blurted. "That's cheating. Even if you had a bunch of reasons, there have to be a few you can describe."

Ryuji smirked from the couch. "You all ain't seen 'im lookin'? She's got legs for days. Even in her thief getup."

"It can be hard if he's never had anyone to talk about it," Mishima said. "The reason why I confessed to Shiho is she's the only one I felt like I could talk to her about anything, and I was afraid I was going to die if I didn't talk to someone. Before her I was alone, always last to be picked, last to finish, back of the group. She made me feel like I had a reason to get out of bed in the morning."

"A reason to live," Akira repeated, more as if testing the words than giving his own response. "With Hifumi…" He sat up and crossed his legs. "She made me think I could be a better Akira. And had the patience to wait while I stumbled that way. She was the first to do that without any ulterior motive. Big K wanted me to pay back for starting a fire in his kitchen, Father Motoori wanted another soul for the Lord. But Hifumi… saw a better man and treated me like I could become him."

Ann leaned over the nightstand to whisper to the class rep, a suggestive wiggle to her eyebrows, "Oh, she had an ulterior motive."

"I heard that."

Ryuji slouched against the back of the couch, not quite laying back down. His dark eyes locked onto the natural blonde. "Well we answered honestly. Now it's your turn. What kinda guy you like?"

She brushed a hand through her hair. "Someone… non-judgemental. Who'd accept me for everything I am, even if other people might consider it weird or different. Not like the Japanese people who judge me for having the blonde hair I was born with, or the Finnish people who stared at me for having pointed eyes."

The track star's grin shone in the glinting light from the balcony. "Or experimenting?"

She hurled a pillow at him, but with the track star being across the room it fell short and struck Akira instead.

With an unnerving calm, he got up with the corner of the pillow in hand, trotted to the closet for the remaining spare pillow, then came back to the middle of the room and shouted, "Return fire!" and threw both pillows at her.

With his photos still uploading, Mishima set his phone aside and jumped from bed. "I've got your back, Ann-san!" and launched his pillow with all his might at the transfer student.

Ryuji, having snuck up behind, raised one of the couch cushions, "Back attack!"

Saturday, 9 September 2016
Evening
Yongen, Leblanc Loft

Makoto settled down on a long box by the card table Akira left set up so they could meet easily. She picked up the cup of coffee from downstairs and took a deep inhale through her nose. She couldn't think of a time in her life when she disliked coffee, but today especially it provided a pungent sharpness she needed after checking out names they'd acquired from Matsushita's Palace. Or finding out both Sugimuras were too low in Mementos for them to reach. "Akira would never let me hear the end of it."

Futaba flopped onto the couch and kicked her legs into the air. "He's not that cynical. So we found some corrupt politicians."

"It's a more than just 'some'," Makoto snapped before taking a breath, then downing a long sip of hot coffee. She felt herself relax a little as it flowed down. "Excuse my terseness. But my concern is how high they go. Board members of the biggest companies in Japan. Even the treasurer of the UFP has connections to the Kuramoto Children."

Morgana sat on the table, his tail wrapping around his feet. "Both members of the Phantom Thieves with connections to detectives or investigative reporters are overseas right now. We need to investigate this further, but there's little we can do until the others are back. And at that point, our priority is changing Matsushita's heart."

AN: Yes, Yusuke's "happy little trees" is a Bob Ross reference.

Ann's fishing when she went hunting for a reason to insult Ryuji in the canon game bothered me, it's the kind of presumptive fishing an unchallenged racist or other prejudgmental mindset would use to justify a negative belief about minorities and doesn't even fit the savvy girl who was the outsider trying to hold off Kamoshida at the beginning of the game, much less all the growth Ann's been through since. So replacing that with a moment of genuine, juvenile friendship felt perfect. All of the Thieves are good at heart and broken in one way or another, trying to help each other piece themselves together.