myuzucompendium

[myuzucompendium]

I'm supposed to be on hiatus but suddenly I'm thinking of what if I rped as a human Aigis cause the art I've seen of it is very cute.

[myuzucompendium]

Takemi💊

[myuzucompendium]

Just like on my Futaba blog, I'm going on a small hiatus here but I just want to let you all know that once my hiatus is over I plan on overhauling the muses that I have on here. Removing some that don't get used and putting new ones that I want to use. and so on. I might be adding the 13th Doctor from Doctor who among other new muses :).

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Why was he still here?

Ah, the question of the hour. It was a fairly obvious question to be asked, and as Ren was crossing the floor of the cafe, he just let off a sigh at that. Given what he had said before he figured that was a fairly obvious reason why he was still here. Or well, came back here after going back home momentarily.

But still, it was a good question to ask. The attic wasn't the best place to live in that was for sure. It lacked insulation and AC so it was cold during the winter and hot during the summer. And it was just one room so he didn't have much room to do anything else in. And yet he much preferred this than being home.

Once he was behind the counter, his work ethics came out, feeling all nice and comfortable behind the counter as he was working on making the most perfect cup of coffee and the perfect curry for Akechi. Maybe this would woo him once and for all. Though he very much doubted it.

"Why am I here?"

He responded by reiterating that's the question that was asked. "Yes, my probation is over, that's true. I have no reason to be here." He stated with a simpleness to his tone. It was true. He had no reason but obviously all the stuff stated before was the reason. But Akechi only knew a little bit of it.

"Because I want to be here. Because I have to be here. I'd rather be here than be miserable back at home. I'm surrounded by my friends here. At home we were separated and I hated every moment at my poisonous and toxic home. They never cared to begin with. They were just disappointed in me like they always are."

Which was something she was just expected at this point. Disappointment. "They didn't even know Sojiro. They only knew of him because of a friend. And yet despite all of that, he's been more of a parent to me than my parents were ever were to me. So tell me, why should I be back home? To the place where nobody cares about me?

So I can just wallow in my misery more than I already do?

That's why."

The thought of combining something like coffee with curry had Akechi's stomach twisting in uncomfortable anticipation. That was not a flavor combination he would have ever expected to have someone suggest, especially not with complete sincerity. And Ren did seem completely and entirely serious about it. Famous curry, huh? Or was it actually infamous and everyone was simply too afraid to tell him the truth.

Maybe. Though there were plenty of people in Ren's life that weren't afraid to be uncomfortably blunt when they needed to. Skirting around the topic of how much he had blundered with something he had cooked didn't sound like something Futaba would indulge in, and Yusuke might not have done it on purpose, but he would have probably already inadvertently told Ren how... unique the terrible flavor combination was.

And Sojiro did seem to be a decent enough cook. So if Ren had learned from him then... well. Maybe? It felt like a trick to trust him, but it wasn't like Akechi had much of a choice.

"I suppose I'll defer to your judgement and let you make what you think would be best." There was only the thinnest sliver of hesitation in his voice when he spoke. "... This time." If this resulted in the worst meal that he had ever had then the privilege was going to be swiftly revoked.

As they arrived at Cafe LeBlanc, Akechi did pull his hand away from Ren's. Ren might have insisted that it was fine and he didn't care if anyone else knew about his intentions to try to woo the once-detective, but that decision felt like it shouldn't have been one entirely for just Ren to make. Akechi himself... wasn't sure how he felt about it. Concerned, mostly for Ren's reputation and his friendships. Which was strange and maybe even frustrating because shouldn't he have been jumping at the chance to tear the Phantoms apart from the inside?

Instead he was hemming and hawing and actually finding himself worried for the other. Pathetic.

Reaching there brought up another question for Akechi though. Strange that it hadn't occurred to him before, but his memory was patchwork at best anymore. "... why are you even still here? Isn't your probation over?"

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"Oh, I'm anything but cool taba. But I'll take being competent. Sometimes it's like herding sheep with you all." He admitted since it really did feel like that sometimes. But regardless he couldn't have asked for a better group of friends and people that he wanted to change society with.

He was proud of the curry part though.

"I'm most proud of that last part. Knowing that Sojiro and you had such high standards about the curry made me want to make sure that it's all perfect. So I'm glad I'm doing it just right. I might have more of a knack for food than I think." He was starting to wonder if this could be his future.

"Still, I appreciate you taba. For all that you do for me as well. I mean that. Plus the memes and shitposts you send as well are always amusing. Mona doesn't ever get them, but that makes it all the funnier."

A few gentle headpats had her flushing ever so slightly. She isn't quite sure why, but she did like when he did this. Only him though. If anyone else did, then it might come off as patronizing.

"Laying it on a bit thick today are we? That's alright. I will accept your paltry offering of compliments today." Futaba laughed. Of course, she would accept compliments from him any day, but now he's suddenly fishing for compliments.

And while she had a lot to say it was hard to really put into words, honestly.

"Fine, I'll be nice today and give you my honestly opinion."

A long and expectant pause as she frantically tried to grasp at words to say and think.

"You're cool, and a competent leader, and the only other person than Sojiro who can make the curry I like just right."

It didn't seem like a lot, but given how picky Futaba was with her food, the last part was high praise.

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Ah. Well damn, Tae had just revealed her hand here and it was all a bad hand. This wasn't good. If it weren't for the fact that she wasn't trying to reveal much more else at this point, it would probably be very apparent that she knew that she screwed up, making the wrong assumption here about the nature of the visit from Nijima-san here.

Well, she was just going to have to be incredibly careful from here on.

"Well, my point still stands just in case you are doubting that." Double down on that to make sure that she is aware about the standards that she puts up and to make it sound like she was still confident about it all, even though she very much wasn't at this point. Okay, this was going to be fine.

It was going to have to be anyways.

Pushing everything aside, she was just asked about her previous employer, and her mentor Oyamanda. And why she was cast out. A fairly obvious question here and one that was already in the public records so she wasn't sure why she was being asked anyways. "I trust that you already know the answer to this question and just want to hear it from my mouth."

"My medicine, which wasn't ready to be used yet, was used on a patient and that caused her to nearly die. Because of this I was blamed even though it turned out to not be my fault at all and I ended up getting ousted. My reputation in tatters and all that stuff. But it's come to light recently that it wasn't my fault and that Oyamanda confessed to all his crimes."

"Very convenient, wouldn't you think?"

Yet she's revealed far too much. The recent criminal element? Two possibilities, but the Thieves have been eclipsed by Shido's rise and subsuqent fall. Why mention them...unless she has a tie? Doctor-Patient confidentiality matters regarding people you have a duty of care towards.

And that puts a line of connection between the two that Tae would not want investigated. A month ago, Sae'd jump on the lead like a feral hound and rip at it just as fiercely. Cut and cut until there was nothing left but the lead...regardless of what was left behind. The detritus. Consequences. Sitting on one of the seats however, the target couldn't be more clear.

Perhaps the matter of Sae's impulsive and urge to accuse isn't a thing of the past. She does still want Justice. But her reasons and principles are hers again. Not for glory, or for victory, but for Justice's sake itself. What she had started the business of being a lawyer for. Tempered now, with what she had lost...and what she had almost lost, if she had not turned her back on her old ways.

Tae's worry then, is inconducusive.

"Oh I know you had connections with the people I'm after. Not constructive...but rather, destructive. Tell me, Doctor."

Not for the target in mind.

"Why did your previous employer cast you out?"

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orphemiss

"I can't wait to see you Galactic Punt again!"

"I haven't missed a step!...wait, how does timelines work..."

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Takemi💊

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"I heard steak skewers, where are my steak skewers."

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"They wouldn't let me race in the monamobile."

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"I'm not. I'm an absolute disaster of a human being and I know it."

"Personally, I think I'm a horrible person, but I'm trying my best, and that's what matters."

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"Guess Akechi finally is gunning me down. I give all my earthly possessions, for what little I have, to Morgana."

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"A trip to the planetarium? Sounds good to me. Definitely gotta ask him to see uranus though."

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"I sure hope Futaba is going to be alright." Sophia was mulling Futaba's current situation, being distorted and occasionally losing her memories for a bit. It was like her soul had been messed with and that was causing all the issues that she was having. And it was clearly affecting Necro who was acting all weird and occasionally glitchy as well.

Hopefully Minato would be able to help with these distortions, but in the meantime life continued to move on, and she was in the cafe taking care of the place by herself as Wakaba and Sojiro were currently grabbing groceries. No customers were in here so it was going to be fine. Plus she had been learning how to cook anyways.

But then there was a familiar chime as the door opened. But the person there wasn't all that familiar.

It was Mitsuru Kirijo.

"Hello Sophia. I'm glad to see that body is doing well." Mitsuru gave a quick introduction since they had only really met once or twice at this point. "I'm going around talking to the other members of the Phantom thieves. With everything that has gone on, including the tear incident and the portal that is in the Sakura household, we can't not have this conversation."

Sophia turned her head in confusion as she was wondering what this was all about. Yeah, the Kirijo group had supplied her body, though they only met once or twice so she didn't have her fully remembered. But none of that mattered since she mentioned some sort of conversation. "What do you mean?"

"The simple fact is, with everything you all have gone through, in particular Futaba Sakura, we are proposing to put the Phantom thieves all under our wing, so to speak. To become part of a secret group called the shadow operatives. So we can have direct communication with all of you."

Well, this was quite interesting to say the least. "We know that Futaba is currently staying with Minato Arisato as she is being taken care of for her distortions. We'll be in contact with her soon in regards to the shadow ops proposal along with working to figure out where that portal came from. Everyone we talked to so far has agreed to join us. So, will you join the Shadow ops, Sophia?"

The Kirijo group was full of surprises it seemed, along with having a ton of information she didn't think they should have known. With that said, if the others had decided to join the Shadow ops, even if temporarily anyways, then who was she to say no? This wasn't a trap, or at least, she didn't think it was, anyways.

"Yes, I'll join. Thank you for the offer, Mitsuru."

"Good. I figured you would say yes. Welcome to the Shadow Operatives, Sophia. We'll also be talking to her human persona to see where things go. Right now, with her distortions we suspect that they will be messing with her in a similar manner. So please, keep an eye on her. With that said, I must welcome you again to the Shadow Operatives.

We'll be in contact again very soon."

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"I did yes." There was a nod of acknowledgment at that. Of course, he wasn't going to not notice that little squeeze that Akechi did with his hand. An internal smirk, there was no way he wasn't getting to Akechi, at least a little. Maybe that was manipulative, but then again, Akechi could hardly say anything given well...

A lot of stuff in the recent past.

Internally though, Ren was just calming himself down after that outburst and was just getting his thoughts back in order, swallowing the intrusive thoughts that compelled him to divulge stuff that was never meant for other ears. Stuff that not even a therapist was meant to hear. Those evils that were only meant for him to stuff down deep in his core.

Oh well.

"I've been taught how to make the perfect curry, and I have been teaching myself other things in the meantime. Given everything though I think curry is the best way to go about things, hmm? The famous curry and coffee combo." An outward facing smirk was there now.

At first, learning all about the coffee and the mechanics that went into making it work so well together with that curry almost felt like a punishment. But now he looked back fondly on those times. He still had a ways to go if he ever wanted to be a master chef, but it made him happy whenever he cooked.

A true happiness that he didn't feel all that often.

In any case, this was all culminating it seemed with them heading to presumably Cafe Leblanc. That was where he could have his expertise, and give him that food that should woo and win over Akechi completely, getting rid of the friction between the two. Oh who was he kidding, that wasn't going to happen.

But it was funny to think about anyways.

"If you want something else though, I can try to make it. But I'm the best at that."

You would have to actually kill me for that to stop.

"So dramatic." Akechi mumbled the words before letting out a sigh. He still hadn't pulled his hand away, a tacit acceptance of Ren's efforts. There might have even been a part of him that wanted this to happen, that wanted the effort and attention. But that was... wrong. It wasn't something that he should be getting.

But between just accepting it, and forcefully making Ren stop, the former did seem like the lesser of two evils.

"You can try, Ren. I'm just not going to promise that you'll be able to succeed."

And there it was. He had relented just as much as he could. To Akechi, it felt like nothing more than wasted effort on Ren's end; someone like him, someone as beaten and broken as he was, could not be saved. Could not be helped. But--

He started walking, gaze downcast, and his hand squeezed just a little against Ren's. But he wanted it, even if it wasn't going to work out. Even if it wasn't something he deserved.

"... you said you'd make me dinner."

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"I don't see why not. My clinic is open whether one has an appointment or not. Though with that said I very much appreciate a heads up. Head into the exam room through the door there and we can talk." Her eyes turned their gaze to the anti anxiety meds that were still casually sitting there, the contents of which were the reason why she could deal with stress with ease at the moment.

Of course, she tried not to heavily rely on the medication. God only knew how much she hated it, with her past of being sick constantly. Those days were something that she didn't like thinking about, but she knew she overcame them to get to where she was today.

Which was a great thing, but now she was staring down the barrel of someone with a possibly itchy trigger finger.

For now, she took and pocketed her medicine, a back up in case things were to go aery. Who knew what was going to happen after all. Getting up from her office chair, she took the back way into her exam room, and Sae was there, no more barrier keeping them from being up close and personal with each other.

Well, here went nothing. She motioned for Sae to take a seat where her patients usually did and she took her seat in her chair, attentive as she was leaning forward a little bit. Of course, she was contemplating the words she was going to say. Vague, saying a lot but saying nothing at the same time.

That was the plan here.

"You say I have connections to some criminal element? I'm afraid I simply have no idea what you are talking about." A slight shrug, an unchanging look. Of course, she figured this was about the Phantom thieves, a group that she knew all about and was currently supplying medicine for along with using her skills with her newly acquired persona to help out with.

It definitely helped with the stress of life to take out on some shadows.

"Even if I did know what you are referring to, I'm afraid I can't and will not divulge any specific information. I'm sure you are aware of doctor patient confidentiality are you not? I can't and will not divulge information that will put any of my patients in a disadvantageous position. Not unless you plan to come back with a court issued order anyways."

Ah. There is the doctor in question. Looking...decidedly surprised. Expected. No appointment was given. When looking to pierce through lies...you have to catch your target off-guard.

"Fortunately not, Takemi-san. Nothing regarding the libel you've had thrown on you. I'm here regarding the most prominent criminal element as of late, and their connections with the medical field. You've had a run-in with them, several...and I have some questions regarding the events of the past few years."

Once, Sae'd be more than happy to forge some evidence and get an interrogation that way, or just incriminate whoever was in her way to get what she wanted. Now the very thought elicits disgust to her. In the pursuit of pursuing greatness...she had forgotten to do good. Same as so many other prosecutors. Path of least resistance.

No more.

Never again, she had vowed while staring into a kitchen knife's side like it was the blade her namesake lived and died by.

Now, it is a matter of taking the hard road for the sake of it being the right one. She was against the house, and though her odds of winning were almost zero...she'd take her hand, and drive it through the corrupted heart of Japan.

But she lacked a few cards to be able to close out the game. And. The Thieves trusted her with this end of their goal. Not the kind of tentative trust they had given her with the baiting via a gambling analogy in a dark room where death had grazed Joker. No. She had joined them...and they had given her their total trust.

She would not disappoint her team.

Especially not her little sis.

"May I come in?"

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"Of course I will. When I say I'll do something like that, I will. I'll take the proverbial bullet of Sojiro's wrath." That was, if Sojiro was indeed angry at this instead of being more curious than anything. Who knew how Sojiro would actually handle it but he really did doubt he would do anything drastically.

But the real truth was that Ren would take constant torture if that meant making her friends happy. But he wouldn't really admit that unless he absolutely had to.

But he was taken by surprise by Futaba's question of whether people's kindness were finite. If he answered based solely on his own parents? Definitely. But that wasn't an answer that he was going to give her. No way in hell would he say that. He didn't really have a good way to answer it though, at least initially as he was chewing through it.

"No, I don't think so. Though people are complicated naturally. If this is you worrying about Sojiro I really wouldn't get that worked up about it. But well...emotions are complicated and whether people are kind or not is just as complicated, to put it simply. Honestly I wish I had a better answer for you but I don't, beyond my initial answer." He wasn't a miracle worker, after all...

Then again, he wishes he were.

"Yeah, that's kind of a miracle in itself," Futaba muttered recalling the months she spent shut in her room. Sojiro was far too kind for his own good, honestly. After all, who just takes in some kid they have no relation to other than being a friend of their dead mom?

The same type of man who would let some delinquent serve out his probation in Tokyo without really knowing him. That had been for her sake too if she thought about it.

But somehow that made her more anxious. No one could remain that kind forever. One day the kindness had to run out, right? That's how it always went. Sojiro just happened to be more kind than most.

"You'll do that? Really?" Futaba felt a rush of relief wash over her, but then a thought occurred to her that Akira's kindness may run out one day, and what would she do without her key item?

A long pause followed before she spoke again.

"...Do you ever worry that... people's kindness is finite?"