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shapeshifting-wildcard · 3 years

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Jou generally didn't trust cops.

And yet, Leblanc was currently playing host to one cop, one aspiring cop, and one former amateur detective.

The group had gathered at the cafe to watch the aftermath of last night's endeavors. They were all arranged in various positions around the cafe, a few sitting in the booths, others sitting at the counter, and yet others simply standing. Zenkichi stood next to one of the booths, closest to Futaba, who was curled up on her seat and fixing him with a very wary look.

"What do you mean this case still isn't closed?" Makoto asked, suspicious glare fixed on Zenkichi.

"Oh it is far from closed," Zenkichi explained. "This Change of Heart epidemic is happening aaaall over the country."

"Of course it is," Goro muttered under his breath.

"And we know they can't all be Alice's victims. Therefore, you still have plenty to get pinned on you, dont'cha?"

"Ah, how classic," Goro commented dryly between sips of his coffee. "Blame it on the most convenient target instead of doing the most basic of police work."

"Hey," Zenkichi said, sounding noticeably taken aback. He stopped, sighed, and shook his head. "Still, that calling card stunt's fired up the public more than ever. 'These Change of Heart cases have to be the Phantom Thieves!' It's the only thing I hear down at the station now."

None of them noticed the quiet jingling of the door chime as someone slipped into the cafe and stood awkwardly near the entrance, gaze locked suspiciously on the cop standing in the middle of the room.

"Do you not realize how dangerous a position you're in right now?"

Ryuji looked about ready to snap at Zenkichi, but the awkward guy standing in the doorway beat him to it.

"Izzat some kinda threat, sir?"

All eyes turned to the newcomer, now taking a few steps towards the cop. He sure looked threatening, with his short black hair, beady eyes, and a nasty looking scar over his left eyebrow. He sported some small piercings in his ears, and a pair of oval glasses that just barely made him slightly less intimidating. He had on a sleeveless black tank top and a pair of blue jeans, and a bag slung over his shoulder with a pair of what looked to be knitting needles sticking out of one side.

"Who the hell-"

"Kanji? What are you doing here?" Morgana exclaimed. Kanji turned and nodded to the cat briefly.

Zenkichi held up his hands and took a step away from the young man who was a few noticeable centimeters taller than him.

"This is a private conversation, sir, I don't think-"

"What are you doing all the way out here, Kanji-senpai?" Jou spoke up, much to the surprise of everyone involved.

"Senpai? So, you know this man, Inojita?" Zenkichi glanced between the newcomer and Jou, caught more than a little off-guard.

Jou nodded and glanced to Kanji, hoping that he'd be the one to pick things up and explain himself.

"I'm someone he knew back in his hometown," Kanji explained, successfully picking up what Jou meant. "Name's Kanji Tatsumi. Who're you?"

Zenkichi straightened up and readjusted his tie. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a badge, flashing it at Kanji. "Inspector Zenkichi Hasegawa, from Public Security."

Kanji, for his part, continued to look unimpressed. "Uh huh, nice to meet ya. What're you hasslin' a bunch of teenagers for, inspector?"

Zenkichi wilted a little under Kanji's glare, garnering a soft snicker from Goro. With a soft defeated sigh, Zenkichi stuck his badge back into his pocket. "I'm not hassling—are you even aware that these are the Phantom Thieves?"

The teens all glared at Zenkichi with varying levels of intensity. Kanji, again remaining remarkably calm and level-headed, simply glanced over at Jou.

"Well, that'd explain why you kept popping up on the Midnight Channel."

"The what?" several of those assembled exclaimed in confusion. Jou, however, slightly paled.

"You knew the whole time?!" Morgana exclaimed, fur standing on end.

"Everybody settle down!" Zenkichi said, raising his hands. The assembled teens took an embarrassingly long time to actually calm down. "I could cuff Inojita and take him in right now if I wanted to. The reason I'm not is because I believe the Thieves aren't the culprit."

"In the... 'change of heart' stuff you were talkin' about, right?" Kanji clarified.

"Right. And in order to catch the true perpetrator, I need the Thieves' help."

"Of course you do," Kanji said, sounding obviously skeptical.

"What makes you think that?" Jou signed.

Zenkichi glanced over to Jou, took a moment to process, then shrugged. "Eh, detective's intuition, maybe? I mean, I'm PubSec, but that's close enough. The M.O. in this epidemic doesn't mesh with the Phantom Thieves' ideology. The motives also appear very different. These are two separate cases. At least, that's what I believe."

Makoto let out a heavy sigh, glancing around the room at the other Thieves. She locked eyes with Jou for a moment. He gave her a nod, and with that she turned back to Zenkichi. "May we have a moment to ourselves? We'd like a chance to discuss your offer first."

"Sure, I'll be right outside. Just holler when you're ready for me." Zenkichi slipped past Kanji and headed out the door. Kanji glared after him for a moment, before moving to follow him out.

"Ah, Tatsumi-san, was it?" Makoto said. Kanji turned back. "Could you stick around, actually? I think we all have a lot to catch each other up on."

"Yeah, that's fair." Kanji grabbed a seat at the counter, turning around to face the whole group.

#!drabbles #!long post #!event: Summer Scramble #((surprise! Kanji's here now))

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forkanna · 3 years

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[AO3] [WATTPAD]

WARNING: Rise's views and Ai's views on the LGBT community, and especially those of other characters in this work of fiction, do not always line up with those of the author. Please do your own research! The more you understand, the better our world will be.

CHAPTER WARNING: Bulimia.

NOTE: Happy New Year! Welcome to my particularly long and exhaustive crackship tome that literally no one asked for! What else is new, right? The first scene of this chapter is almost entirely copy-pasted from my other P4 fanfiction, "We'll Face Ourselves", though I tried to spruce it up and shift perspective so it doesn't feel like quite so much rehash. I thought it served as a nice lead-in to this story, with some added focus on the new ship. The second half of this chapter and the rest of the fic is all-new, don't worry. The "Golden" is more a reference to it being additional "dlc" for my other fic, not to me specifically focusing on Marie or any such content exclusive to P4G. Apologies if this dashes anyone's expectations but I hope you enjoy the fic regardless!

As for anyone wishing for that fic to debut... you know the one... well, all things in time. Soon, I promise. In the meantime, check me out at jxsleator dot carrd dot co !

Jessex

PROLOGUE

Once upon a time, in the quaint town of Inaba… a minstrel girl and a stubborn princess fought over a handsome prince. Very briefly.

"Can't you give me a little kiss goodbye?" the minstrel pulled back to look up into the boy's stoic face, her large doe eyes shining with tears — on purpose. She was a top notch minstrel, after all. "Something to keep me from… from dying from missing you?"

"Oh please," the quiet innkeeper muttered under her breath with a begrudging smile.

However, the prince obliged the minstrel girl with a kindly kiss upon the forehead. She was in awe of his tenderness. Right up until…

"Excuse me? What do you think you're doing, you bitch?!"

The others pulled back to see royalty approaching, hands on her hips. A truly glamorous princess indeed, even though her regal vestments weren't nearly as radiant as they had been in days past. The ever-present lacy pink turtleneck lived underneath a cardigan today rather than her school uniform.

"What is who doing?" the pouting siren protested, clinging a little tighter to her prince's arm.

"You! Little trollop!" The flawless beauty stomped over to the two of them, honey-brown waves bouncing as she got right up in the singer's face. "Take your greedy little paws off my boyfriend!"

The idol stamped her foot and snapped, "HEY! I don't see your name on him anywhere!"

The prince gulped and began to back away. "Uh…"

"Really?" the princess scoffed. "What makes you think you have any claim to him, slut puppy? He went to the festival with me — and spent Christmas Eve with me, too! And for your goddamn information, we got pretty close!"

Though the siren was comely, and manipulative toward many of the young suitors in the land, it was in playful jest; she did consider them friends but couldn't seem to suppress her womanly wiles, so she flirted for sport. Alas, the princess wounded her deeply with such words; her lip wobbled at the princess's declarations, even though that may have been for show.

"Senpai, say that's not true! How could you, when I… I let you… you know!"

"Hey, it doesn't count when I'm just sitting there and you plop your butt down on my hand," the prince said reasonably. "And Ai-chan, we hugged a little; please don't tease her by making it sound like more."

The prince's pair of suitresses were chagrined. The princess seemed a little more genuinely hurt than her rival for his attentions but neither were particularly happy with being called out.

"Whew," the flop-haired jester exhaled, wiping his brow. "Don't know how you get away with it, juggling two chicks like that."

"That's not…" The prince sighed, shaking his head as he facepalmed. "Maybe I'm glad to be leaving."

But in truth, he was not. Nor was anyone else present. As they alternately squabbled and lamented the prince's parting, other classmates and citizens of Inaba began to approach to wish him bon voyage. He really had left an impression in the short year he had lived there. When the train whistle signalled that it was about to pull away, the bickering came to an end so they could truly see their friend off. A lot of tearful hugs and well wishes were offered before the prince was inside, looking out the window at them as it pulled away from the station. They ran after him all the way to the end of the platform until they ran out of space, then stood waving after him until the train was completely out of sight.

And thus the prince's tale gave way to another. One about a minstrel who had lost her way and found it again, and a princess who had not always known she was a princess at all.

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CHAPTER ONE

"I just… he really left," Rise Kujikawa finally sobbed now that the click-clack sounds of the train had faded into the distance.

"Geez, turn it off already," Yosuke Hanamura sighed as he clasped his hands behind his neck, pressing his floppy hair hard against his neck. They turned away to start toward home or wherever the night might take them. "You don't have to keep up the act when he's not even here."

"Act?!" She shoved him from behind, and he stumbled a couple of steps as his arms windmilled out to the sides, attempting to regain his balance. "Not cool, Hanamura! I am grieving the death of my relationship!"

"What relationship?" Kanji Tatsumi grunted.

"Boys, you could be a little more sensitive," Yukiko Amagi told them in an even, reasonable tone. She was dabbing at her eyes like everyone else, and leaning a little more heavily than usual on her best friend, Chie Satonaka, but she seemed to be maintaining her composure better than Rise could manage. "We're all going to miss him so much."

"I'm just trying to get Rise to wake up," Yosuke persisted anyway. "She's delusional. We all know Nakamura was trying to scam on that chick at the hospital."

"What?"

"You know. The nurse. Though I think she moved away…"

Kanji cleared his throat. "Actually, I… thought that woman with the kid was his squeeze. Y'know, the one that came up to him a minute ago?"

Chie squeaked, "He was doing what with who?! That's… why? Why chase a married woman?!"

"Oh, I thought it was one of you girls."

The group of them turned to blink at the girl from the drama club. "Who are you again?" Yosuke asked — very rudely, even though they were all thinking it.

"Yumi Ozawa," she said softly with a slight bow. "He gave me a great deal of help when I was dealing with my own family problems, you know. And… well, I revealed I had feelings for him, and he shut me down. Just said he wanted to remain friends, and it's hard to argue with that, isn't it?"

While Chie and Yukiko were chattering to her about that, the boys suffering through a "girly" conversation they had no interest in, the slightly jealous Rise found herself momentarily distracted. Everyone kept moving along as she slowly came to a halt, turned her white sandals off to the side, and approached someone who looked like she could use her company. Even if she wasn't absolutely sure of that.

"You okay over here?"

"Oh… no, no, I'm fine. Mind your own goddamn business."

"Wooooow. I guess that's what I get for caring, huh?"

"Wait," Ebihara suddenly blurted, standing up from the bus stop bench and taking a couple of steps toward her. "All right, I may have been unnecessarily rude. I just have no idea why you would want to talk to me when I was your rival for Narukami's affections."

"Because you looked kind of pathetic over here, all by yourself."

"I did not! I'm not 'pathetic', I'm legitimately upset that my boyfriend left!"

"He wasn't your…" But at least she managed to cut herself off with a roll of her eyes, swallowing down the jab and instead moving to hold onto Ebihara's shoulder. Tears were already rolling down the teen queen's cheeks, and her voice was tight and strangled, as if she were fighting back tears — clearly a losing battle. "He could never stay here. We all kind of knew that, and just talked ourselves out of believing it. I'm so mad! But… I have to get over it."

Clearly shocked by her more reasonable response, the prissy girl took a moment longer to respond herself. By the time she did, she was looking down toward their shoes. "Completely ridiculous. Right? I should have known better, I… ugh, I'm so pissed at myself."

"Right?!" Rise still wanted to slap her for trying to steal the boy of her dreams, but it really felt irrelevant now. So instead she tried for her most convincing smile — which, considering her previous vocation, was extremely convincing — and said, "Hey, um, why don't you try getting to know us a little better? Might as well, since you'll have more time on your hands now."

"Sounds stupid." The words came out so fraught with emotion that they were nearly unintelligible, but Rise still understood. "But I have nothing better to do, so lead on."

However, the closer they drew to the remaining group of students, the more anxious the prima donna became. Rise didn't know why exactly — and she couldn't know until Ai cleared her throat to get their attention. She could tell Naoto had been deep in discussion with Yukiko and Chie, though not what about.

"Yes?" Yukiko prompted her in mild surprise.

"I… thought I should say… I am sorry." She swallowed hard, brows furrowed. The expression still made her look angry and snobby, despite her tone of voice being gentle now; she just had resting bitch face. "Probably too late. But I was really going through some things when I sidelined you two in Aiya, and being rude is second nature to me. Can't be the most stunning girl in school without it going to your head, can you?"

"You say that like I would ever know," Chie snorted.

"Right. And… normally I would be agreeing with you and belittling you, Bowl Cu- I mean, Satonaka. I have a lot of practice." Grimacing, she growled, "Got so used to being queen bitch that it's hard to just be nice."

After a brief silence, so awkward that it felt as if any sound would have been preferable, Yukiko laid a hand on Ai's arm, gentle and reassuring. "Please, Ai-san. We all have darkness inside of us; nobody is a perfect person. So I think it's very admirable you're seeing your flaws and that you're trying to improve. I am the same, and so are my friends."

"Oh yeah?" The girl let out a wet-sounding laugh; indeed, tears were budding at the corners of her eyes. "How the hell aren't you perfect, Miss Goody Two-Shoes? I mean… I've always been so jealous of how the boys talk about you. No 'buts'."

"No butts?!" Chie burst out. "What do you mean? She's got a GREAT butt!"

Ai chuckled a little more heartily at that. Naoto was the only one who tapped her chin while noticing Yukiko's slight blush from the compliment; the others weren't paying it any attention. "No, no, not her ass. Which — fine, sure, it's fantastic. I mean like, they describe both of us as really beautiful, or hot or whatever. Same words for both of us. But with me, it always had a 'but she's such a bitch', 'but she's stuck up', 'but she's psycho' attached. Yukiko… a couple of guys said you were snooty if you turned them down for a date, but the rest of them saw through that. You're a good woman and I'm just a good-looking woman. I did so much work to be beautiful so boys would like me, but I'm just… ugly on the inside."

Though clearly, Yukiko was about to speak up, Chie beat her to the punch. "So that's it, huh? You're pathetic."

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon, Ebihara. You're made of tougher stuff than that. Where's that girl who slammed her leg up on the table in Aiya and demanded we appreciate it?"

Though the teen queen had been firing up, being reminded of that moment in the diner made her squirm and fold her arms tightly over her chest. "That was stupid. Do you wanna know why I did that?" When Yukiko nodded, she pushed ahead, "Thing is, I was a... when I was little, I was nowhere near the adorable Ai you see before you now. Fat and hideous, got told I had pig hooves. So like, I'm sure it sounds really stupid to you guys, but having dainty little feet now is super amazing to me still."

"You were fat?!" Chie demanded, looking her up and down afresh. "No way! I call bullshit!"

"Yep, a total blimp. And I got hella teased because I didn't match up with their…" What a pregnant pause. "W-whatever. Yu already knows all this stuff, but pretty much I decided to reinvent myself when I found out we were moving to Inaba. Obviously it went to my head, but… at least I'm better now. Getting better all the time."

The rest of the Investigation Team was speechless. Rise, for her part, couldn't believe the superficial teen queen actually had some substance under that lip gloss. Certainly hadn't seemed that way when Ai basically bit her head off just for being at the shopping center with Narukami. Maybe he was the one responsible. After all, the stoic boy had touched all their lives, brought about an awakening of sorts to their inner beauty that they likely would never have found within themselves without him shedding that light. It just seemed to be one of his latent talents. Unsurprising that he had done the same for the entitled fashionista.

"There seems to be only one solution for this predicament," Naoto was stating firmly with a small nod, finger tapping her chin. "We must return to Aiya to remember our departed friend, and strengthen our bonds with each other."

"Oooh, a party!" Rise piped up with an excited little bounce, despite the light drizzle that was beginning to fall. "Yes please!"

"I guess that's a plan," Chie agreed as Rise, Kanji and Yosuke joined them. "What do you guys think? We catching the portal to the meat dimension?"

Grimacing, Yosuke demanded, "Do you have to call it that every time, Satonaka?! Geesh! Sounds super nasty."

"Bet you can't even handle it."

"Wha- OH YEAH?! BRING IT ON!"

~ o ~

"PHWOOOO! I can't even look at it anymore!"

The ragtag group of assorted teenagers, who would seemingly have nothing in common from an outsider's perspective, were all sitting back and holding their stomachs by now. It was almost painful how much meat was straining to escape the linings of their stomachs. Actually, it was painful for some of them.

"Yyyyeah," Rise groaned in agreement with Yukiko's statement, arms like wet noodles at her sides. "My… I'm pregnant… food baby…"

"Even I'm feeling it a little," Chie was chuckling as Rise staggered to her feet. "And normally I can demolish one of these no sweat!"

"Must be… getting old," Yosuke said as their voices began to fade into the background. She could hear Satonaka clapping back at him, but once the bathroom door shut she could no longer identify words, just noise.

In fact… there was a new noise filling the ladies' restroom. Not a pleasant one. Brow furrowing as her lip curled in disgust, she glanced at the bottoms of the stalls and saw a pair of designer shoes with their soles facing up.

"Is… are you okay… in there?"

"HRRK!" What a weird noise — but not nearly as weird as the sound of pronounced retching that followed. God, how disgusting! Maybe she should just backpedal out of the bathroom… but before she could act, there was some spitting, a clearing of the throat, and a strained tone calling out, "Mind your own business! Do you have to be so fucking nosey?!"

Oh no. "Wait — Ebihara?"

"Yes! And this isn't something I want anybody to…" Another gagging noise. "Ugh… you probably have an Aqua Balance on you, don't you, Risette?"

Her eye twitched. "Just because I did the commercials doesn't mean I have a bag full of them on me at all times, you know!" But she still hated to hear a girl in need, so she forced herself to continue, "Need me to hold your hair back?"

"No, I… I got it. Practice."

"Practice? Just how often do you toss your cookies?!"

Dead. Silence. When it had gone on for a few seconds too long to be normal, Rise began to sense she had broached a topic that Ebihara did not want broached. Her brow creased harder, and eventually she said in a meek voice, "I'll… go get you some water."

"Thanks."

She was so preoccupied as she hit the bar to get some ice water for the prissy girl that she didn't even comprehend the words of her friends calling out to her — though she couldn't even see Chie and Yukiko at the table anymore. The rest were probably asking her what she was doing. And what was she doing? Why was she helping this complete bitch who would never do the same thing for her? There was no doubt in her mind that Ebihara would have completely ignored her if she found her voiding her stomach in a public restroom. Might even have laughed at her. But she still remembered how distraught she looked when they said goodbye to their mutual love interest.

Maybe hanging out with the Investigation Team had revived the conscience of a jaded teen idol who had taken a brief hiatus from the spotlight. No, it definitely had done that; what was in question was whether or not the same could be said of Ebihara's willingness to open up to her peers.

"Okay, here," she sighed as she opened the door — and almost ran straight into the girl's face. "WHOA!"

"Shit!" Ai yelped as she took a step back, then patted down her chest. "You made my soul leave my body — what the hell are you doing?!"

"Bringing you water! Do you need to add a little ginkgo to your diet, Obaachan?! It's been like one minute since I told you!"

"Fuck your water! I'm gone, I don't need this!" And she actually tried to push past her.

"Wha- hey! No, you don't just get to run off like this!"

"Don't you tell me what I can and can't do, you cow! Now get your goddamn cankles and your crow's feet out of my fucking way!"

Holy shit. That was a lot of random venom. Rise knew already that she didn't have either of those things, but she still felt the sting regardless.

"I… was trying to help you, but fine. Go away." And she stepped to the side with a flip of one of her mauve-tinted pigtails. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, brat."

What a mistake it had been to be nice to Ebihara. They were too much alike. Sure, Rise knew how to be polite, and was always warm and affectionate with her friends, but they both had the Bitch Gene and it ran strong through their veins. Ebi just led with that instead of saving it for people who deserved it.

She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, looking stubbornly into the corner, before she felt the glass of water being taken from her fingers. She started to grab after it — instinct telling her she had dropped it and needed to catch it — until she saw Ai swishing it around in her mouth, then turning to spit into the sink.

"Oh," she breathed.

"What?" Ai grunted before she tipped the glass up again and started gulping it down. The lacy choker above her turtleneck bobbed with every swallow.

"Nothing, I just thought- I mean, did you leave and come back?"

Breathing a loud sigh as she set the glass down, she turned to glare at Rise. "Nosey. You ask too many questions all the time."

"I do not! They're really normal questions; you're just a bitch."

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her jaw tightened. Rise was absolutely positive she was about to give her a tongue lashing. But then she just snorted and shook her head, looking away.

"Wow. I don't know what I expected from Risette, but it wasn't you."

"I know," she began, making this up as she went along. "You either thought I would be completely spoiled and stuck up like you, or I would be such a goody-goody that I never had anything mean to say about anyone. Those are the two flavours of idols, right?"

Ebi smirked and pressed an open palm to the center of her chest. "I spoil myself. And I told you what I went through as a child; don't I deserve it? Isn't this my time to shine?"

"Not if it means you piss off everyone around you while shining. That's just selfish, you know. Don't you care about anyone but yourself?"

"No. Why should I? They don't care about me." Her haughty tone turned bitter. "Nobody in Inaba. Not anymore."

Most of her ire fading, she said, "You gotta put yourself out there. This whole time we've been at Aiya, you barely said a word. I actually forgot you were here until I heard you puking your guts out."

"See my point? The boys who idolize me are the only ones that remember I exist. And even them… I know they don't care about me as a person. They just keep hoping a strong breeze will show them a little flash of my panties."

"No, that's not right. I'm trying to tell you that it's your fault."

"Excuse me?"

"How are we supposed to get to know you if you just hang in the background and never say anything? That doesn't-"

"Look, I don't need to take this," Ebi sighed with a roll of her hazel eyes. "At this point, I just want to go home and be alone. Is that allowed? Or are you going to block the door again?"

Rise's lips thinned in frustration. It wasn't worth it. She didn't want to keep banging her head against this brick wall anymore. So she didn't even say a word; just turned her back on Ebi before she said something particularly nasty.

"Thanks for the water," the other girl offered shortly as she strode out through the door. And that really was it.

"At least she thanked me," she muttered to herself as she finally took her place in one of the stalls to do her business. But in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but replay those conversations over and over in her head.

Because none of that blustering truly hid the fact that Ai Ebihara was in pain. And if nobody did anything about it, Rise was almost dead certain she was heading for disaster.

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To Be Continued…

#We'll Face Ourselves #ai ebihara #rise kujikawa #rise/ai #forkanna writes #persona 4 fanfiction #p4 fanfic #persona 4 #jess the writer

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individuationfic · 5 years

Text

Seeking to Seize Chapter 21

AO3

The fog is gone.

That’s all Chie can think, staring at the clear blue sky. She didn't’ realize how much she missed it.

She, Yukiko, and Rise have been tasked with escorting Yu home while Kanji, Yosuke, Naoto, and Teddie take Adachi to the police station. Yukiko managed to stop the bleeding and Yu is awake again, but he’s still weak, and he still needs to be patched up. “No cooking!” was Yosuke’s only demand as they dragged him away. “You can help him with anything else but all of you stay out of the kitchen! He’ll never feel better if he eats your food!”

The girls manage to get Yu upstairs and into his bed with only a little difficulty (they’ve been getting stronger in the TV, too), and Yukiko, who’s had to deal with drunk and sick guests before, strips him down to his underwear. Chie feels sick to her stomach when she sees his bloodstained shirt and the nasty scratch on his side, but Yukiko is all business. She sends Rise to the bathroom downstairs for the first aid kit and Chie to get washcloths and a bucket of warm water.

They’ve had to do stuff like this before. Magic can’t heal everything, after all, and they can’t risk going to the hospital with their injuries because their parents would find out. Everyone but Rise, who isn’t combative, and Teddie, who can’t manifest his human form in the TV, will have scars for the rest of their lives.

Chie and Rise step out into the hallway while Yukiko works, and Chie sends Yosuke a text to let him know they got Yu home safe. She wishes she could’ve gone with them—seeing Adachi face the music for herself would’ve been cathartic as hell. But they all know Adachi would be harder to control if the girls went; he was angry and hurt and he would be more liable to lash out if they were there due to his rampant misogyny.

To distract herself, Chie turns to Rise and says, “We should wash those clothes for him when Yukiko’s done in there. Could you take that shirt to Kanji after we get that stain out for him to mend? The jacket, too.”

Rise seems to retreat in on herself. “Uh… I…” She can’t finish what she wants to say.

“Hey.” Chie wraps an arm around Rise’s shoulder and squeezes. “What’s up? We should be celebrating. What’s eating at you?”

As if the words have been waiting to escape her throat, Rise says, “Kanji-kun kissed me the night Nanako-chan almost died, and then he told me he likes me and Naoto-san, and now he wants to talk about it and I don’t know what to do.”

Aaaaand now she’s crying. Crap. Chie exerts a little pressure against Rise’s back with her arm. “How about we go downstairs to talk about this? We don’t wanna distract Yukiko, right? Maybe we can do some practice for tomorrow!”

Still shaking, and with tears in her eyes, Rise nods, and Chie leads her down the stairs.

Yu’s still in no shape for visitors, even after Yukiko’s done with them, so the team decides to postpone their debriefing for another day. Yukiko and Chie walk a teary-eyed Rise back to her grandmother’s shop. They make small talk with the older woman to distract her from her granddaughter’s emotional distress and, out of the corner of her eye, Yukiko sees the calendar on the desk.

December 24.

Christmas Eve.

Heart in her throat, Yukiko decides to give Chie her gift.

They leave the tofu shop and head for the bus stop. The shopping district is pretty empty, considering the date and the fog having disappeared, so Yukiko risks slipping her hand into Chie’s. Chie goes red and squeezes back.

The bus won’t be coming for another ten minutes or so, so they settle against the side of a shop facing towards the road to wait. Chie’s phone buzzes with a text and a delighted smile crosses her face when she reads it. “The police arrested Adachi!” she says. “Yosuke showed them a bruise on his neck from the fight and Adachi admitted to hitting him, so he’s getting charged with at least child abuse. Maybe even assault.”

“Do you think he’ll get charged with the murders?”

Chie squints at her phone. “Naoto seems to think so. The courts are aggressive when it comes to multiple murders, they say. He might even—” Chie stops, face suddenly pale. She takes a deep, gulping breath. “He might even get the death penalty.”

“Oh,” says Yukiko.

On one hand, she feels relieved. The man who organized her kidnapping with the intent for her to die is going to be punished for his crimes, and, if found guilty of everything he did, will never be able to hurt people again. No one else would have to suffer like her and her friends have because of Adachi. But on the other hand,s she and the people she loves most in the world have delivered a man to his possible death. An evil man, a man who has done horrible things, a man who chose to do wrong—but also a man who was a child. Once, with parents and friends. Does anyone really have the authority to kill anyone else?

Chie must notice Yukiko’s conflict, because she says, “I’m glad. I hope he hangs. I’d kill him with a rusty spoon and take relish in it.” Yukiko looks at her girlfriend, eyes wide at the bloodthirsty tone in her voice. “He almost took you away from me. I’ll never forgive him for that.”

Yukiko squeezes Chie’s hand. “Oh,” she says again, and decides not to give Chie her Christmas present just yet.

Mama Tatsumi lets Rise into Kanji-kun’s room without much fuss. She’d stuffed Yu-senpai’s shirt and jacket in her bag before she left his house, and had only returned to her grandmother’s shop to wash her face and make herself look presentable. “I’ll send him right up as soon as he gets home!” Mama Tatsumi says, eyes twinkling. “Make yourself at home!”

Rise settles on a cushion near Kanji-kun’s desk to wait and grips at the straps of her bag until her knuckles turn white. Would he even want to see her? She thinks she made him mad yesterday; who could blame him if he tells her to get out?

Stop thinking like that, Himiko says. You will accomplish nothing but making yourself more stressed.

Rise knows better than to argue at this point (Himiko always wins, anyway) so she nods and takes a deep breath. Calm down, she tells herself. It’s Kanji-kun. He deserves an honest conversation about this. The nasty, doubting voice in the back of her head tries to speak up, but she squashes it. I’ve had just about enough of this whole “self-doubt” thing, she thinks, and her anger is justified by Himiko’s pleased hum.

She hears heavy footfalls rushing up the stairs and before her heart has time to accelerate in anticipation, Kanji-kun is throwing open his door, face red. “Rise.”

Rise raises a hand in a weak greeting. “Hi, Kanji-kun.” The tail end of her words lilt up, making it sound more like a question than anything else. God, she feels like an idiot. She just saw him a few hours ago! She has no reason to be acting so shy. When Kanji-kun doesn’t reply, she reaches into her bag to retrieve her excuse. “I, uh, brought Yu-senpai’s clothes for you. To mend, I mean, not to wear. They got pretty beat up during the fight.” She sets the shirt and jacket on his desk. “We did our best to get the blood out before it got too stained, but none of us can sew as well as you can.”

Kanji-kun doesn’t move. Doesn’t blink. He just keeps staring at her. And she’s used to being stared at, but somehow this is different. Because usually the stares are an annoyance, but Kanji-kun’s means something else.

Steeling herself, Rise says, “I like you a lot, Kanji-kun, but I refuse to be someone’s second choice. I’m worth more than that.” Carefully, because her legs are on the verge of falling asleep, she stands. “My agency is pushing. Asking if I’m coming back to idol work. And I love my work, but I think I love you more. I’d give it up for you.” Her throat burns from the truth coming from her lips. “But you have to make a decision.” She moves to leave the room.

His fingers curl in the crook of her elbow and she stops. “Tomorrow,” he says, voice rough. “After the Christmas party at Senpai’s.”

Her breath catches in her throat. Somehow she manages to say, “Okay.”

Yu knows this is stupid of him.

Like, really stupid. It’s almost midnight and he’s still pretty beat up, but here he is, walking through the streets of Inaba towards the Velvet Room.

The others are planning a Christmas party at his uncle’s house for tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a surprise for him, but as much as he loves his friends, none of them are good at sneaking around. Sure, he’s deaf, but that doesn’t stop him from noticing the decorations Chie tries to hide in the linen closet or the dirtied mixing bowls left on the drying rack from the girls’ practice.

He slept for most of the afternoon and, as a result, can’t fall asleep now. This sleeplessness led to irrational thoughts, which has led him here.

Margaret is surprised to see him. ‘It’s late,’ she signs, ‘and you were injured today.’ He doesn’t bother asking how she knows that, because he knows he won’t get a straight answer. ‘You should be resting.’

Yu shrugs. ‘I couldn’t sleep.’ She glances around. ‘Is Igor away again?’

‘His master called to him.’

He feels his eyes widen. ‘Igor has a master? I thought he was the one in charge.’

‘Igor does not have as much power as you think he does. He is little more than a doll his master created.’ She pauses, like she’s giving him time to reply, then continues, ‘I am still loyal to Igor, as he is my master, and I am loyal to you, as you are my guest. I have no such obligation towards Igor’s master. I will stand by you before I stand by him.’

‘That’s… good to know,” Yu signs after a pause, head spinning.

‘Forgive my rambling.’ Margaret looks embarrassed now. She probably hadn’t meant to reveal so much. ‘Was there a reason for your visit aside from insomnia?’

‘I feel restless,’ he admits. ‘It’s hard to believe it’s over. I mean, I’m happy Adachi’s going to answer for his crimes, but something tells me this isn’t over.’

‘Trust your instincts. Wild Cards tend to be more observant than usual. Don’t give up your pursuit of the truth because things seem to be complete.’

He breathes out a sigh of relief. ‘Thank you. I thought I was just being paranoid.’

Margaret’s lips turn up in a smile. ‘I’m happy to help. Was there anything else? You really should go home and get some rest.’

‘My friends and I are having a Christmas party at my uncle’s house tomorrow,’ he signs. ‘You can come by if you want.’

Something flashes in her eyes, too quick for Yu to read. ‘Maybe. Good night.’

‘Good night.’ Yu blinks and he’s back in Inaba, suddenly much more tired than he was before. He yawns and starts the trek back home.

#individuation #ao3fic #persona series #persona 4

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silentsnowdrop · 7 years

Text

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

Chapter 5: Bleached Hearts

Or, In Which Yosuke Nearly Dies.

As always, help from whatisthisnonsense

November 10, 2010

“So you…want me to just be a normal teenager?”

“As much as possible. I know you’re a bit out of your time, but you’ve got all of your emotions. You can make friends, date someone, the whole nine yards-and everything you feel will be you.”

“…But I thought I wasn’t supposed to get close to people.”

“…No, just not tell them. …It might be a good idea to…ah…not get too close, though.”

“…Right. Thanks.”

Then what’s the point?

May 2011

Despite his constant foot-in-mouth disease, somehow Nanako still likes him, and somehow Yu hasn’t attempted murder for showing his uncle those ridiculous swim trunks. So he figures he can afford a break by taking the robot equivalent of a nap, even if he is supposed to be helping the others study.

(Sometimes, being a robot sucks. But when it comes to school, it’s awesome.)

Even when sleeping, his sensors are on, and when Yukiko mentions that there are haven’t been any attacks this week, something connects and sends him bolt upright. “That’s what I was thinking! It’s something we need to discuss.”

Chie jumps at his declaration, eyes wide and a little reproachful. “Sheesh! It’s like he just came back from the dead!”

“He looks good for dead.”

Yosuke’s lips twitch at Kaguya’s deadpan. “Well, technically, I am dead, so thanks.”

"You're a very talkative zombie, then." Yu comments with a straight face. Souji groans and elbows his brother, obviously ignoring his sister's amused snorting, and Yosuke has to repress the urge to throw his pencil at Yu. He likes this pencil.

He shares the theory he’s come up with-since every victim has been female, and every victim shared a connection with Ms. Yamano, it stands to reason that the killer’s motive is to kill every female associated with that case in some way. Why, he has no clue, but he has to put together something or they’re going to end up way behind.

Yu makes a good point about factoring in the Midnight Channel, and as he thinks it through, he realizes that the Channel might have been warning them about what was going to happen. They’ll have to watch it every night it rains, though, which honestly isn’t that much of a problem.

With that thought, he stands and grabs his bag, forgetting napping and studying in his eagerness to go check the weather.

Then Kaguya shifts. It's subtle, and quiet, at least as much as a tree falling is subtle and quiet, including the part where she falls and lands quite squarely on the robot. "Study time isn't over yet,” she mutters, even as Souji groans in exasperation at her.

Yosuke could shove her off, but he’s not going to risk the Boss’s wrath. Instead, he whines, “Awww, Kaguya, come on-I don’t need to study!”

"Neither do I,” she replies. "But if I got to social, so do you.”

“Fine. …Get off!”

***

Exams slog on, exhausting even his considerable energy. But they’re done soon enough, and that night, he catches sight of a news report on some freshman who apparently beat up an entire biker gang. He doesn’t think much of it until the next night it rains, and then he thinks a lot of it, because the figure on the screen is a dead fit for his profile. It kind of ruins his idea, but he’s not so worried about that as he is about dealing with the Shadow of a kid who took out a biker gang.

This Kanji kid seems to be determined to throw a wrench into everything. He was apparently the kid of a textile shop owner, and while that didn’t exactly mean he had to be nice, he believed Yukiko when she said he used to be sweet. He couldn’t exactly imagine his parents being anything but calm, kind people if they ran a textile shop. More importantly, though, knowing that he lived at a textile shop gave them a location to go check on him, so they could see exactly how much danger he was in.

The textile shop is pretty much what Yosuke expected—small, but inviting, with plenty of gorgeous fabrics on display. What catches his attention, though, was the short boy talking to the old woman in the middle of the shop. Something about him is making one of Yosuke’s sensors ping, but the robot couldn’t quite place what, even as the boy turned around.

As he leaves, the boy gives them all an intense side-eye that leaves Yosuke pretty much completely baffled. They were allowed to go to stores, weren’t they? Okay, yeah, having half-a-dozen teenagers in a textile shop is weird, but not that weird, and definitely not deserving of a side eye. He turns to look at the triplets, then hastily elbows Kaguya when he sees her death glare. The kid might have been a bit of a jerk, but making him more suspicious is counterproductive.

Yu and Kaguya latch onto the scarf fabric at the same time, and when Chie properly identifies it, Yosuke forgets for a moment that there is someone else in the room that didn’t know about the TV World. Fortunately, Kanji’s grandmother is either too polite to mention that they were obviously insane or slightly deaf, so instead of shooing them out, she tells them about how Yamano-san had ordered the scarf custom made. That is a connection to her, even if it isn’t the strongest, and while Yosuke’s theory on gender is as dead as his original body, it does give the connection-to-Yamano-san theory new life.

The arrival of the delivery man cuts off any chance to get more information out of her, and stepping out into the street nearly brings them into the middle of a conversation between Kanji and the boy that had been talking to Kanji’s grandmother. They scramble to hide, and then get to watch as Kanji has himself a gay crisis.

“He’s a dude that finds another dude intriguing…”

Yosuke risks a quick glance at Souji, then looks away, ducking his head slightly. Now is not the time to think about that, especially when it’s a moot point anyway.

Especially especially when it’s a moot point and Kanji Tatsumi is about to kick your ass into next week. Yosuke had never been one to refuse to retreat, so it was no surprise that he was the first one out of there.

Yosuke was apparently the only one to hear what they were talking about, so he gives them a vague overview without mentioning the whole gay-freak-out-thing, then suggests they stake out Kanji and the shop. If they can stop the kidnapping before it happens, then maybe they can catch the kidnapper in action.

Of course, parts of that plan were still not quite in place.

“All right, first things first—Yukiko, I’m going to need your cell phone number.”

Chie’s shriek makes Yosuke wince. “WHAT?! So that’s what you were angling for?!”

“Chill out, will you? Geez, I’m going to need it for the mission, that’s all. Boss, back me up here.”

"Don't mack on the job", Kaguya intones with a straight face, giving only the faintest snort when Souji elbows her. “Okay, okay—fork it over, Yukiko.”

“Are you trying to get me killed?” Yosuke shakes his head, then grins at Yukiko expectantly.

“Oh, I just remembered—I was supposed to get some tofu.”

“Whaaaa?”

***

Part one of the plan involves waiting for Kanji and the blue-haired boy from yesterday to meet up outside of Yasogami. Once again, the smaller boy makes something ping in one of his sensors, and Yosuke makes a mental note to have Souji check that sensor before focusing on what the pair was saying.

It’s…almost adorable how flustered Kanji is getting over this, but they have a plan to carry out. “Souji, Chie, we’ll go follow Kanji. You three go stake out the textile shop!” Ignoring Chie’s momentary call of protest, he runs after the pair, keeping his distance while still keeping within range.

This is some of what Yosuke was designed to do, and it’s easy to let his subroutines take over and guide him through the process. Souji’s repairs are showing his skill, too—no inopportune creaks or system errors to distract him or alert the pair. However, there is something a little distracting…

“So, um, d’you mind telling me why we’re using our phones?”

“If we were standing next to each other talking it’d be too obvious! Duh!”

“Okay, let me rephrase that—why are we using our phones when we’re less than two meters apart?! Go across the street or something! He can nab us while we’re standing here!”

Yosuke can hear Souji facepalming from his spot in a bush, and he takes a moment to give him a brief but very rude gesture. Somehow, Yosuke gets the impression that he’s facepalming harder, and instead of replying with the chain of rude gestures that he knows, he turns back to Chie. “Why aren’t you going?!” “They might hear me! Besides, I’m getting the munchies.”

“Then order delivery or something!”

“Delivery? But we’re standing on a corner!”

That gets an eyebrow raise out of Yosuke. “Didn’t you know? Aya says her place will deliver anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are—you just gotta call them up and ask.”

Chie’s face lights up, and before Yosuke can kick himself, she’s ordering two bowls of nikudon rather loudly. He turns to try to shush her, then freezes as a shadow falls over them both.

“Well, hello there.”

They both look up into Kanji Tatsumi’s rather enraged face as he growls, “Just what do you think you’re doing?” Yosuke stares back for a moment, then springs up, awkward smile firmly in place and suddenly very glad he cannot sweat.

“Uh, we were just passing by, looking for our friend—and there he is! Hey, Souji!”

It’s pretty obvious that Souji’s scrambling just as hard as they are, what with his slightly panicked waving. "Uh h-hi! S-sorry I uh—my poor phone took a nose dive into the uh...into the thing."

“The…bush?” Kanji seems pretty derailed by Souji’s appearance, something that Yosuke takes as a minor victory.

"Y-yeah. Sorry for the hold up, guys." Souji skitters over to the other two, and thankfully he looks embarrassed, even if it's for entirely different reasons than what Kanji’s probably thinking.

“Yeah, it’s the three amigos, all together again! So, if you don’t mind, we’ll just be—“

“Hey.” Kanji leans in, squinting at them, and Yosuke prepares to mourn the loss of another carbon-fiber breastplate. “Didn’t I see you yesterday?”

“We aren’t trying to follow you or anything, or think you might be gay! And if you are, that’s totally cool too! I think that’s great!”

Yosuke’s teeth seem to be trying to cringe their way out of his metallic skull, and he glances at Souji out of one squinted eye. Souji has paled horrifically and already taken several steps back, and Yosuke wants to follow him for multiple reasons—not least of which is that his mechanical brain has chosen this moment to bring up a full-fidelity soundclip from yesterday.

“He’s a dude that finds another dude intriguing…”

Yosuke shakes his head, then blinks a bit as Kanji’s face goes from angry to confused. “…Are you saying…I like dudes?” The boy is blushing, for heaven’s sake, and Yosuke blinks back before glaring at Chie.

“Chie, you moron, you just couldn’t keep your mouth shut!” He can’t help but sound flustered himself, and he very carefully avoids looking in Souji’s direction as he backs away. “Run for it!”

He is, at least, kind enough to grab Souji’s arm so his partner isn’t left behind with the guy who beat up a biker gang, and he figures that Chie’ll survive—she could probably take a biker gang herself if she were in the mood. That mood would probably involve meat somehow, but she had nikudon on the way, and heaven help the person who got in the middle of that.

From somewhere behind them, Yosuke can hear Kanji yelling after them, even with the sound of him and Souji panting and their feet echoing off the walls around them.

“I know what it looks like, but you’re wrong! I-I-I’m telling you! I-it’s not like that!”

Part of Yosuke is wincing in empathy, and he might have to smack that part later because he’s pretty sure it’s why he was jealous when Souji was ‘dating Ai,’ but the rest is generally screaming, both internally and externally as they run past Yu, Kaguya, and Yukiko. The chase goes on as the other three join them, and then takes a turn for the absolutely surreal as Aya catches up to them—two bowls of nikudon, for ¥1600. And when they finally ditch Kanji, Chie proclaims her meal delicious.

Yosuke just shakes his head. “Well, at least someone’s happy.”

#Wouldn't It Be Nice #Robot AU #Triplet AU #Yosuke Hanamura #Persona 4

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downtomyunderoos · 6 years

Text

animal cracker theater

// akihiko sanada (downtomyunderoos) & kanji tatsumi (needlepunk)

1. Kanji --

His face was red and sore from crying so much. It was stupid, but Kanji couldn’t help himself over it. How could Yosuke have done that to him without thinking? Now here the emperor was, without what he wanted most of all, and looking like an idiot in the middle of the JUNE’s food court.

2. Akihiko --

This was concerning. Not to mention embarrassing, as he tried to calm Tatsumi down before making a scene. Judging from the looks they received when Akihiko glimpsed around his surroundings mid-console, it was too late. He at least hoped nobody thought he was the cause.

“Hey. Hey..?” Akihiko whispered close to his sopping face, expecting the other to follow poise. Hands gripped his shoulders to sooth and to snap Kanji to reality. They were at Junes for chrissake. “What’s going on, huh? What happened?”

3. Kanji --

He knew how stupid he looked to everyone staring at him. At least he had Akihiko here to keep him company. Kanji dried his eyes and tried to calm down. “S-sorry man. I-it’s somethin’ really dumb. Let’s jus’ git goin’ alright?”

4. Akihiko --

He supposed he could let this go… Yeah, no way. Akihiko couldn’t allow himself to brush off a friend merely because they felt ashamed. His incompetence would only be a repeat of two years ago. Life was rough and confusing for a high school student, shadows aside. He had been there. And Tatsumi didn’t seem to be the type to bawl… It had to be serious.

“Geez, you’ve been giving me grief and now you want to pretend nothing’s happened? You know, it’s okay to talk to me if you need to, right? No matter how ‘dumb’ you think it is. C’mon…” Akihiko spoke as softly as he could as a way to coax.

5. Kanji --

“I-it’s stupid. Just…” He sighed, knowing Akihiko would drop it so easily now. He felt childish, having been crying in the middle of the food court over something so trivial! He grumbled. “I just…i-it’s Yosuke’s fault, damnit! He…HE’S THE ONE WHO ATE THE DAMN PENGUIN!”

6. Akihiko --

Dumbfounded eyebrows tangled. Okay, what. Was Kanji referring to here? Akihiko expected something… relatable. School or family matters maybe. Should he already know context? Nonetheless, he was distracted — with piqued interest, considering his encounters with bears — from Tatsumi’s actual woeing.

“Penguin? There are penguins in Inaba?”

7. Kanji --

Yeah. It was true. That’s what Kanji had been so upset about. He knew it was something really childish. Why would a an (almost) grown man being crying in the middle of JUNES over penguins? Truly he was one with a heart too soft and- wait what?

“Huh? N-no! I’m talkin’ about my animal crackers! Yosuke ate my damn penguin one!”

8. Akihiko --

…

Akihiko blinked. Then his brain registered.

Wow… that really was dumb.

Immediately his expression deadpanned, his hands still on Tatsumi’s shoulders.

“I… I see…”

If only there were real penguins in Inaba.

9. Kanji --

“It just really sucks, ya know? I really needed that cracker!” Kanji wasn’t at all noticing Akihiko’s disappointment. “It’s the only one I can never find, damnit! I got every other animal crack perfectly safe at home in a separate box. The giraffe, the panda, the kola, the zebra, all of ‘em! But I can’t do it if I don’t have the penguin with me!”

It was all coming out like word vomit. Kanji had never told anyone why he wanted that penguin so bad. It was a childish, embarrassing secret of his but now he couldn’t hold back with Akihiko of all people right in front of him in his emotional state.

“I can’t do my animal cracker theater without the star of the show!”

10. Akihiko --

With hands locked on, Akihiko literally witnessed Tatsumi’s inane prattling. This was one of those moments it seemed the two hailed from different cultures; Akihiko could not for the life of him wrap his mind around the fascination for indistinguishable-tasting cookies no matter the animal, and if he heard right apparently they served another purpose other than consumption?

( Although to be frank, he’d much rather listen to his passion for cookies than a certain someone else’s hormonal drivel for chicks. )

Tatsumi’s shoulders became exposed to Inaba’s sunny sky once Akihiko crossed his arms. Dare he cross this territory too or leave hesitant curiosity to the imagination? His decision was this:

“..What do you mean by ‘animal cracker theater’?”

11. Kanji --

“Erh…” he stuttered, realizing he had given away too much information with that last sentence. The younger emperor’s face became slightly red as he chose to continue. “W-well it’s sorta exactly what it sounds like! I uh…I made a little theater house outta cracker boxes and uh…turned a cracker of each animal into a puppet with some sewing thread!”

Man, Kanji was spilling a lot of secrets to Akihiko, today. He was pretty sure not even Narukami or Yosuke knew about his tiny little edible passion. “I just need the penguin and then I can finally do all the tiny plays I wrote for them to put on. E-even if they aren’t any good…..”

12. Akihiko --

“I see…”

Or, not really. This was one of those things Akihiko needed to see rather than imagine. He couldn’t understand, but at the same time, consider him intrigued? With Tatsumi being the one to pull the literal strings, an animal cracker theater might actually be a special feat.

Seeing how visibly tense the other was, Akihiko decided to get off his back. Sharing one’s interest took courage in its own right.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll come across another penguin soon enough. When you do, you’ll throw a show for the kids who visit your shop, right?” He momentarily scratched the back of his head at this detail, began wondering if he should help acquire the missing piece. Next time, of course, when he needed to go grocery shopping. That said, it occurred to Akihiko that he had other chores to tend to.

“–Oh, yeah. Tatsumi? Mind showing me where the nearest laundromat is?”

13. Kanji --

Kanji finally wiped away the tears on his face as he stood up and began to stretch out just for a little bit. It was silly, only a simple fun dream he wanted to do, but there would be more animal crackers and more allowance money for him to spend on them in the future. Right now he’d just have to learn to be patient.

“Yeah…it’s not far from here. I can show ya. It’s in the main shopping district not far from my place, right by the alcohol store.”

14. Akihiko --

“Alright, thanks. Pretty sure I can find it.” A little wandering wouldn’t hurt, either. Before Akihiko proceeded, his leading heel scuffed, halted, due to an afterthought. “I could use the company, though. If you don’t mind.”

15. Kanji --

He just nodded his head and followed along. “Sure thing. I got nothin’ important ta do today,” since someone had eaten his precious penguin, that is. Kanji slumped forward beside Akihiko with his hands in his pockets, leading the way to the laundry mat from JUNEs. Just thinking about it still made the blonde emperor a tad upset, and all the cute little skits he had written out for that prized flightless fish-bird to be the star of.

A glance at Akihiko was stolen at some point as he replayed the conversation in his head, and then suddenly… “You…thought there were penguins here in town, didn’t ya? Uhh…maybe we can take a weekend trip ta Tokyo. ‘ere should penguins at the zoo there or somethin’.”

16. Akihiko --

Best to admit his raw bewilderment and move on, like how Shinji used to, rather than deny. Even if the inquiry made Akihiko acknowledge his silly reaction… Never letting up what the other forgot were what friends were apparently for. “Ah — yeah.”

He chewed on that thought: browsing exotic animals with him (considering the passion for mere imitations, Akihiko foresaw Tatsumi losing his shit over the real deals) amongst an all ages crowd. Tatsumi didn’t need to be considerate, but. “You know what? Why not? Maybe there’ll be bears, too.”

Tatsumi followed as he went to snatch his belongings, then to the laundromat. They talked of various subjects, such as which animals their friends reminded them of (Yukiko, a giraffe; Mitsuru, a stylish but illegal crab) while Akihiko unloaded clothes from a cart into a washing machine, bunches at a time but pausing every now and then to finger through pockets. Once he continued feeding the machine, a small something suddenly tumbled off his fabrics mid toss. Akihiko’s only clues were a light thud and a glimpse of beige: it wasn’t change.

“What the…?”

At first he assumed it came from someone else’s belongings, but nobody near made their claim. So he pivoted and crouched, finding what had fallen chipped at the corner.

“What the hell?”

Akihiko needed to hold the item so close to his eyes that they nearly crossed.

The penguin.

Cheeks heated and muscular legs warped into jelly due to this discovery. Son of a gun. What were the chances of finding this? The exhilaration became so overwhelming that Akihiko started huffing and trembling. As if he gripped a winning lottery ticket! “..Ta-Ta–”

Now-strained legs sprung Akihiko practically onto the other’s midsection, grappling like a thirsty sad sack who just traversed a desert. This time he made heads turn via an emotional outburst. “TATSUMI.” He rose the cracker to his face. “I FOUND THE PENGUIN.”

17. Kanji --

Kanji had calmed down since his little outburst in the mall. Talking to Akihiko had helped, and so had the walk coming over here. Maybe he didn’t get his animal crackers, but now he did have plans to go see real penguins with a friend at zoo next week! Maybe that was better…yeah. Who needs cuteanimal crackers when you’ve good a pal like Akihiko?!

While in thought he almost didn’t notice his friend running at him at top speed from across the laundry mat and jumping at him. Luckily, Kanji’s mighty strength was enough for him to hold Akihiko afloat in his arms while the emperor’s legs wrapped around his hips. Confused, Kanji almost his his balance for a moment as Akihiko shoved something in his face…and then it hit him. “Wh-WHAT THE?! HOLY SHIT!”

Immediately, Kanji dropped Akihiko to the floor and grabbed the cracker, careful not to damage it. “T-THE!! THE PENGUIN!”

There was a moment of silent understanding before Kanji quickly raced home to dig through his materials and get back to the laundry mat in time. Within just a few minutes he had set up his entire animal cracker theater house with the other cracker puppets. The penguin was already being altered very careful into a puppet of its own. “Thanks,” he muttered under his breath while working. “I can’t believe this seriously happened, ya know?”

18. Akihiko --

Left alone with witnesses made him stew in embarrassment; eyes penetrated his (sore) back while he finished up with loading the washer. Akihiko leisurely sat with Tatsumi upon his eager arrival, intrigued with the setup as he watched the other prepare the penguin.

Akihiko sagely stroked his chin in thought. “I have no idea where it came from or why I had it. I don’t eat animal crackers. Anyway…”

Cueing himself, Akihiko readjusted his posture, briefly lifting his weight and turning his seat around so that he could lean forward onto the support. Closer.

“Well then. Aren’t you going to throw me a show?”

19. Kanji --

Kanji glanced up from his handy work to see Akihiko’s curious, cocky, but otherwise cheerful face directed right at him. He must have known what was coming, tho it wasn’t like Kanji was hiding it at this point if he had brought all the materials for it. He could only smile back and give a small nod as he snipped some thread. The penguin was finished. “You bet’cha! Just uh…ya gotta pretend ya like it.”

With that said, Kanji opened up his little theater house he had made out of all the cracker boxes and boy was it elaborate. It liked an old fashion tri-fold Shakespeare theater house complete with balconies, stage design, and even a small audience area where he place multiple other animal crackers he had saved for just such an occasion! Tho, not a single penguin was in the crowd that day.

No. Instead, the penguin was center stage, dangling from a wire thread alongside a bear and an alligator! “And now! The world premiere of…Animal Cracker Theater!”

20. Akihiko --

It may come as a surprise: plot silliness and the overall concept of an animal cracker theater aside, those and the performance rendered Akihiko engrossed. The amount of thought took him back to a night in 2009 when Junpei launched his Believe it or Don’t. However — with the inclusion of originality, props, and even voice acting! — Akihiko can attest more effort went into this.

Loaded machines whirled and hummed in the background. Everyone in the vicinity went about their business, but the ironic, intimidating pair received a few curious glimpses here and there. Akihiko, unaware of Tatsumi’s reputation in Inaba, wouldn’t had assumed notoriety in particular being the reason for possible, convoluted acknowledgements. Quite frankly, the two — or really, Tatsumi — were owning this otherwise drab laundromat.

Akihiko’s mellow hands clapped once the play concluded.

“Bravo, bravo..!”

21. Kanji --

The ‘skits’ he had written were nothing more than terrible penguin jokes and puns that no human alive should actually find funny or laugh at. Most of the punchlines didn’t even land, but that didn’t matter. Kanji never said he was a playwright or a comic. Just that he was artistic and had a dumb dream of doing this.

When all was said and finished he felt so pleased with himself. It was like the entire laundry mat was clouded over in a fog and all that mattered was his dumb animal crackers and his friend that it possible, sitting across the table from him in just his shorts. It was…nice.

“Hehe…thanks. I’m glad you were here for it! I couldn’t have done it without ya!”

#needlepunk #rp:ic #akihiko to kanji tatsumi #for the archive!

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