She'd seen much weirder things to be certain.



The true meaning of survival of the fittest is he/she who can get through high school without offing themselves. I'm convinced.

What even is the point of first year biology? Almost none of this falls within the realm of actual science. I would know.

Your school doesn't seem to do too well on that front then. No offense.

Ur doin better than I did already Futaba. I didn't even know what subject I was in half the time.

Should you not all be paying attention? :) You wouldn't want me to tell Mako-chan, would you? :) :) :)

Suffice to say, Futaba was bored. Starting high school had seemed like a tremendous first step towards getting herself to be normal again. Sure, she'd be a grade behind, but at least she had a path to start moving down. It was almost laughable that she was managing to sit in a classroom full of students, after taking a crowded train to get here, and wasn't freaking out at all. A year ago, leaving her room was an impossibility. Now, she felt the smallest tinges of panic when people pressed on her too hard on the train, got a bit sweaty when strangers talked to her for too long, but neither feeling was enough to derail her day. She felt like a real life person most of the time now and it was all because of...

As long as you're getting good test scores, it doesn't really matter if you pay attention in class.

Gasp! I'll make sure I put my best armor on then. Thanks for the intel. Btw, aren't you supposed to be slaving over a midterm paper?

She couldn't help but grin to herself. One of her biggest worries starting this year had been that despite the massive amounts of support she knew she could get from the other members of the now disbanded Phantom Thieves, Akira Kurusu had moved back to Kyoto to finish out high school in his hometown. She would always credit her revival from the corpse of her previous self as a victory for the entire group, but it was truly Akira who had stayed with her every step of the way. His warm presence by her side made pushing herself out of her comfort zone not only less scary, but infinitely more rewarding. They'd spent countless hours cultivating their bond both between one another and with Sojiro. Sojiro, Akira and Morgana were her family. And the Phantom Thieves were the perfect extension to that family. She would have been more than content to stay in that perfect bubble of happiness forever.

Alas, after saving the world multiple times and nearly dying for the sake of doing so, Akira had finally been granted the freedom he so deserved and was finally free to resume the life that had been stolen from him by Shido. Futaba had been gutted to know Akira would be leaving, but no matter how much she wanted him to herself, she knew he deserved the chance to try to put his "normal" back together, the same way she was trying to fix her "normal".

Still, it sucked pretty bad to have to start one of the potentially scariest steps in her life without her combo best friend and boyfriend there to cheer her on.

As soon as concrete plans had been made with regards to Akira returning to Kyoto, Akira had insisted that if they intended to keep dating, they had to tell Sojiro. Futaba had suspected that perhaps her loving boyfriend had developed a death wish, but agreed anyway. She had envisioned having this conversation with her adoptive father many times, and each had ended in some sort of disaster.

Thus, she had been thoroughly shocked when Sojiro's reaction was to sigh and grumble "I don't like the idea of Futaba dating in general, but if it has to be anyone, I guess I couldn't have picked someone better." They had hashed out rules concerning their alone time and curfews while Akira was still in town, but Sojiro made it very clear that Akira was still a treasured part of their family and was still welcome at LeBlanc if he was ever in town. Needless to say, there was hardly a dry eye in the room.

So they had kept dating. The concern that they'd drift apart was a valid one, but luckily both of them were good about keeping up with Skype dates and keeping in contact via text and phone calls. High school had been going better than expected, the old Phantom Thieves group was still super close, having dinner at LeBlanc every Sunday, and her relationship with Akira still felt just as fun and relaxing as ever. All in all, Futaba really couldn't complain about her current life situation.

It hadn't seemed like such a big deal at first. She wasn't even really sure there was an issue in the beginning. But the more they talked, the more she started to realize that Akira did not want to talk about himself, at all. She could go on and on for days about every little detail of her own life, down to even absolutely insignificant things like that one time Sojiro bought almond milk, and Akira would always stay attentive. But anytime she directed these questions back at him, asking about his school or town or even what he did with his free time anymore, she was met with vague answers and then a swift redirection of conversation back to herself.

Fueled by the intrinsic desire to be connected to Akira's life in a more reciprocal fashion, Futaba began her newest mission: decode the life of Akira.

That's weird. You did so much stuff here like every single day. You'd better not be holding back on having fun just so we could talk!!

Futaba sighed. This was going to be slightly harder than she had originally anticipated. That was fine though. She'd grab some intel from the friend group and then prepare her counterattack.

Ryuji paused in his desperate destruction of what might have been a sandwich at one point, chewed thoughtfully, then spat "rrvydy, hy?"

Ann scrunched up her nose in distaste, scooting away from the boy in mock offense. "Eww. Stop. Please be like a normal human being for like ten seconds?"

Ryuji gulped loudly, smacking his lips, "Whatever floats your boat, Ms. Princess." He received a warning glare. "Fine, fine. Anyway, yeah, we talk on and off basically every day, why?"

Futaba fidgeted a bit, playing with the leftover rice from the curry Sojiro sent with her to school for lunch today. "I don't know. Anything seem off about him to you?"

Futaba shook her head a bit, "it may be nothing, but it feels like he's avoiding talking to me about his own life right now? And I was wondering if you guys noticed it too."

"Oh man, I think I know what you mean!" Ryuji exclaimed, gesticulating wildly with filthy hands. "Once, I asked him if Kyoto had any good arcades. And he sent me a Google search instead of telling me about it himself. Like, what?"

Ann nodded, "I've never noticed it myself, but it doesn't seem completely out of his character. I mean, he never really wanted to talk about himself, even when he was here."

Futaba considered this for a moment. "He definitely would talk about himself to me, maybe not...full life story all the time, but he would tell me who he had been hanging out with and what he'd been up to. Now I can't even get that out of him. I'm wondering if something isn't wrong..."

Ryuji scoffed, "Naw man, ya know, I bet he's just trying to not make us miss him too much. I know I'd feel like shit if he was constantly going on and on about how much better his home is than here."

"Why?" Futaba asked, a bit upset by Ryuji's response, though glad he'd be that honest. "He has to stay there for a year. Don't you want him to enjoy that year? If he wants his life to go back to normal, I want him to succeed in that quest, ya know? I mean, he's done so much for us. Doesn't he at least deserve that...?"

Futaba blushed. While both Sojiro and Morgana knew of her and Akira's relationship, they had not told the rest of the group as of yet. She often wished she could, but they had agreed that they wanted to see how things went before getting the group all excited about this. After all, it would seriously suck if they told everyone then broke up...

A comforting hand settled on her shoulder. "I agree, Futaba," Ann smiled, "Knowing Akira he probably wouldn't wanna risk burdening us too much whether it be with good or bad information. And honestly, it could just be that he has nothing to say. After all, life now compared to life 6 months ago is really boring."

Futaba nodded, sulking. She didn't care if he was having the best time ever in Kyoto or had nothing to talk about except the A tier naps he and Morgana had been taking. She just wanted to be able to share whatever their mutual lives were like equally since they couldn't be together living the same life anymore.

Ann sighed, then offered, "let's shoot a private message to Makoto. She was talking about bothering him about his college plans awhile back. Maybe she'll have an opinion for you."

Futaba glanced up at Ann, and smiled, thankful for such understanding friends. "That sounds awesome, thanks."

With that, the first warning bell signaled that lunch was basically over. Hopefully, Makoto would answer before she Skyped Akira tonight.

She had luckily managed to snag a seat on the train ride home and was settling in to read a book when her phone chimed. It was Makoto. Futaba praised the God that blessed their friend group with such a capable and efficient Mom Friend.

Hey, Futaba. In reference to what Ann asked me about, I have noticed that Akira is acting a bit strange.

I did end up talking to him about college entrance exams and apparently he isn't currently planning to take any.

He wouldn't give me a complete answer but what I pieces together is that the issue is a combination of not being

in the right college prep classes at school, the school staff not taking his desire to go to college seriously,

and his father not believing he could pass the exams and thus not wanting to pay for them.

Now, keep in mind, he told me very little of this flat out, but from our conversation this was what I could draw

Futaba's jaw fell open a bit. So, Akira was having troubles and not speaking to her about them. Again. Damnit. She shot a message back to Makoto quickly, needing to process this information before her conversation with Akira.

Thank you so much for the info Makoto. God, he hasn't told me any of this. Not even a little bit of it. It's just like the prison thing...why does he do this?

Luckily, it seemed Makoto was still attached to her phone for the moment.

It's likely a complex answer. I'm sure he thinks sharing this sort of information with us would bother us because we would try to fix it.

Sadly, he's right. We will try to fix it. And he should probably just get used to that fact and let it happen.

That made her laugh. Their little group was quite infamous for being overly close and overly protective. Just because Akira was used to doing the protecting didn't mean he was exempt from the protection.

I want to talk to him about this. See if there's anything we can do to help. But I don't want him to deflect me. Any ideas, Ms Prosecutor-Lite?

Let's not call me that. In general, direct questions are more likely to get useable information. If he can purposefully side step a meaning of a question, he seems to do so.

She figured as much. Formulating the right questions might be hard though. She didn't want him to think the decision not to go to college was what she was upset with, so lingering on that topic might not help. Truthfully, she just wanted to know if he was happy and if not, why.

But being frank, Futaba, I don't think you're going to get straight answers with a screen in between you.

Skype may be slightly more effective but Akira is a face to face kind of person.

We may not be able to address this until break. And that's perhaps a long shot if he doesn't plan to come to Tokyo for break.

The thought stuck in her head for a moment. Face to face. Midterms were this upcoming week. After Thursday, she wouldn't have class again until Tuesday. Hmmm...now if only...

No, but shouldn't Boss? He did have mailed correspondence with Akira's family a bit over the last year.

Thanks Makoto. You're the absolute best. I'll tell you what I'm thinking of doing tomorrow.

The train announced that her stop was next and she hopped up, energized and ready to move the plan forward.

She surveyed her desk space to ensure she had everything she needed. Drink? Check. Bag of chips just in case? Check. Blanket draped over her desk chair? Check. Computer open to Skype? Check. List of questions conveniently out of sight? Check.

She was a bit hesitant to write up the list of questions. Futaba knew there was no way in hell she could link all those questions together coherently without sounding scripted. That was Makoto's thing. But still, Akira was by far the superior conversationalist. She needed some sort of backup if this went south.

She tried to remind herself that this wasn't about only getting answers. Their Skype dates were sacred. It was the closest they got to each other on a regular basis. She needed to find a natural work in for that line of conversation or needed to drop it all together. And besides, she consoled herself, plan B could still work out without this conversation being... productive. No pressure.

The sound of Skype's ring tone started up then, and she jumped a bit. She ran her fingers through her hair, pausing to take one huge breath before hitting "answer".

Her screen slowly resolved into what was becoming a pretty familiar backdrop. The walls were painted a medium shade of blue. All along the back wall, were countless posters. Rock bands, video games, movies, you name it. She fondly remembered their first Skype date, where he explained where he got every single one of those posters. That was the most he had spoken to her about his past since he told her how he got arrested...

The bed was messy, plaid blue comforter thrown across the bed in a half assed attempt at making the bed. She knew for a fact the thin black sheets underneath were bundled up the same as when he first woke up. The only thing in the room messier than the bed was the mop of hair in her line of sight.

"You, my friend, need a haircut," Futaba giggled, earning herself an overly dramatic eye roll and a huff in response. She actually was a fan of the extremely puffy hair, but knew it was getting long enough that his bangs would be hanging in his eyes, which annoyed him greatly.

The lights in his room were off, the only light source being the blueish light from his laptop screen. Futaba didn't try to keep it a secret how much she liked the way his face looked illuminated so minimally like this. The angle of the light showed off features she hadn't paid attention to when they were physically together. Now, she couldn't stop staring at the well defined jawline, sharp cut of his nose, the way his bottom lip was a bit fuller than his top. Maybe there was some truth to the phrase "distance makes the heart grow fonder".

Akira met her eyes, the ghost of a smile on his face. "I guess I'm kind of tired. Haven't been sleeping well lately."

This was good. Getting right into it. "Aww. How come?"

He paused, staring at something to the left of his screen. For a moment it looked like he was gearing up to say something, but then he simply shook his head. "I don't know. Happens sometimes."

The bags under his eyes told her that it wasn't as simple as a couple bad nights. Still, she knew he probably wouldn't give her an answer on this particular vein of thought just yet, so she moved on. "Speaking of sleep, where is the sleepiest cat in the history of history?"

That got Akira to smile. "My dad got him some catnip at the store the other day. Before I opened it, he swore over and over it wouldn't work on him because he is a human."

Futaba giggled, "let me guess: he went crazier than when he saw particularly nice looking treasures in the metaverse?"

The smile broadened into a smirk. "Babbled nonsense and ran around the house after 'ghosts' all night. It was a true sight to behold. That said: he denies the whole thing now."

They chatted back and forth for about half an hour about various things, mostly superficial. Still, it served its purpose as a recharge from all the social exhaustion of the week. She was content. But, she did want to ask him one thing.

"You've been in Kyoto for awhile now. And I guess I just wanted to know..." She paused, looking him straight in the eye, "are you happy?"

Lightning quick, his smile dropped away. For a bit, Akira's eyes darted between the screen, his hands, and the space just to the left side of his computer screen. This sort of frantic defense mechanism was new to Futaba. To her memory, she had never seen Akira cornered before. It only proved that this was a question she needed to have answered...but, an equal need to soothe him also sprung up.

It was a long pause before Akira finally plopped his head down onto his crossed arms and sighed. When he next revealed his face, it was with a soft, "I guess not."

Futaba's heart broke at the despair in his tone. Her voice was just as soft, "Is being back home not what you thought it would be?"

Akira shook his head. He didn't meet her eyes. "No, it's exactly how I thought it would be." He buried his face in his arms, fingers tapping out a rhythm on the desk. His next words were muffled so he couldn't make them out super well, but Futaba was absolutely positive she heard him mutter "It's me that's different now."

That was all she really needed to hear. "We don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't want to."

He removed his head from it's hiding spot and attempted a smile. "Thanks." The sound of a door opening in the background echoed through his room. He sighed and sat up. "I have to go."

Futaba's heart sank. She hated herself for saving this for last. Leaving conversations on a bad note was the absolute worst and yet...Well, she'd just have to make up for it.

Akira nodded, "Love you too." She smiled and reached for her mouse to cut the call, when he started, "Futaba?" She made a noise acknowledging him. "I miss you."

God, this kid really knew how to play her heart like a guitar. She smiled widely at him. "I miss you too, Akira. Good night!"

The call ended, leaving her alone in her room with her thoughts. Akira had always been there for her when she was going through something awful. Even forced his way into helping her even when she said she didn't want his help. There was no way she was letting this go. She nodded to herself and started writing a message to Makoto.

LeBlanc was deserted when Futaba got home from school that Friday. Sojiro was busy cooking, humming contently along with the radio. Considering what Futaba's goal was this evening, it was probably for the best that he was in a good mood to start.

"Hey Sojiro! I'm home. Need any help?"

Her father turned and raised an eyebrow, giving her a once over glance before nodding and beckoning her forth to help with dinner. Futaba winced to herself, realizing her huge tactical error. She never offers to help with dinner. Alas, the hint that she wanted something from him is perhaps better than springing it on him with no prior suspicion at all. She hurried to put on an apron and slice up the apples he placed before her.

They worked in companionable silence. And once the curry was done to perfection, they both sat down at a booth to enjoy their meal. The air was thick, pregnant with the anticipation of important conversation. Futaba hated this sort of unease, as it was exactly what she feared would occur. And she hadn't even said anything yet.

"So. You want to ask me something, Futaba?"

No surprises there. Futaba nodded, "Um. Yes. I. I do." God, this was harder than she thought. The words were there, right in her head, so why couldn't she get them out? It's just Sojiro! But that was the issue. It was Sojiro, the only father figure she'd ever really had. She could handle a lot of people rejecting her, but Sojiro was not among them.

He seemed to sense her rising panic, smiled at her gently, "Whatever it is, it's nothing to worry too hard over. If you're willing to talk, I'm willing to listen."

"Yeah I know." She took a deep breath, summoned her inner strength (whatever there was of it) and began, "I was talking with Akira earlier. He's...um, not feeling very well, I don't think. I don't know exactly what the problem is, but I really want to help him. He's done so much for me after all."

Sojiro nodded, showing he had heard her. She continued, "I've tried just talking to him about it, but he doesn't give me or any of our friends straight answers. And now he isn't sleeping well. I'm just really worried."

"And what exactly do you expect to do about this?" Sojiro questioned, luckily not looking mad at all. "You can't just force him to ask for help if he doesn't want it. Trust me. I've tried."

"Yeah," Futaba acknowledged glumly, "I doubt he will ever tell anyone what's really wrong over the phone. It's too easy for him to hide behind the screen and pretend he's protecting us. So...I want to go talk to him. In person."

Sojiro stopped eating. Placed his fork down and the folded his hands in front of him. Futaba gulped. "Who would be going with you, then?"

"No one. I don't think he would want to say anything if too many people came."

He sighed and shook his head a bit, sparking panic in Futaba instantly. "He'd probably talk to you and one other person, right? Why not that Makoto girl?"

"I...I already talked to her about it. She. Um. She said she can't take the time off and that he would probably not talk to someone who isn't me or her so it probably has to be just me."

"And I'm supposed to ignore the fact that my sixteen year old daughter with crippling social anxiety wants to travel over five hours to Kyoto by herself to see her boyfriend? On a whim because he seems upset? You're out of your mind."

Futaba's voice grew shaky, "The train there wouldn't be anywhere as crowded as the one I take to school! So what if it's more time, I'd be fine! And it is not just a whim."

Sojiro shook his head, glaring at her through with crossed arms. God she hated that look. "I don't think you realize how dangerous this could be for a young girl by herself. And what would you do when you got there? Talk really quickly and come back home? 11 hours of transit just for a conversation?"

"School will be off for awhile after midterms, Sojiro. I can probably just stay on their couch or something."

"Oh here we go. Probably isn't good enough when planning a trip like this, Futaba. You can't just show up at people's houses and expect them to let you stay with them. Are you insane?"

Tears jerked to her eyes. "N-no, I'm not! I was going to call Akira's dad a-after you and I talked and ask him. Why do you assume I don't think about things? You know I do!" The last thing Futaba had wanted was to cry, but sure enough the tears came rolling down her cheeks in rivers. Her nose was suddenly all stuffed too. Damnit.

"Do you even have his father's number? Their address?"

"Y-you do, Sojiro! I w-w-wasnt gonna go...go behind your b-back and ask when I already made all the arrangements! You h-hate it when people try to do that! And I know you d-do!"

"Yeah and I also hate it when you hatch schemes in private and then just expect other people to go along with them." Sojiro sighed, pressing his thumbs to his closed eyes. "Why does it have to be you who does this? Is this even necessary? You don't even know if something is actually wrong, Futaba."

"Yes. I. Do. You weren't talking to him, Sojiro. You didn't see how sad he looked. No, he doesn't absolutely need someone to go, but I want to now before it gets any worse." She paused to sniffle and wipe at her eyes, feeling a bit less frantic. "And would you please stop thinking about him as 'Futaba's boyfriend' and just think of him as Akira? Just because he is dating me doesn't make him any less a part of our family! Right? Right?? You were the one that said that! Well our family member is far away and something is wrong."

Sojiro was quiet then. He sat with his arms crossed over his chest and a deep frown for awhile while Futaba sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with her napkin. Her entire body was tense and felt gross, typical after crying. Still, it was a small price to pay if she could convince Sojiro. She had to at least try.

"Go home."

Her eyes shot up to meet her father's. "What?"

Sojiro leveled her with a stern stare. "It's getting late and you need to get a bath and get ready for bed. You have school tomorrow."

"B-but Sojiro...!"

"Enough. Futaba." Sojiro stood, collecting their plates and moving towards the sink. "No point discussing this any more tonight. You go calm down and get to bed. If there is anything left to discuss, we will talk about it after school tomorrow."

"Sojiro..."

"I haven't said no yet, have I?" Sojiro looked back at her with a soft look on his face. He hated it when she cried just as much as she hated crying. "Now get out of here so I can think, ok?"

The walk home was one of the most nerve wracking of her life. There was a snowball's chance in hell of her sleeping tonight, since her emotions felt like live wires all tangled together. But the less she fought him, the more likely he'd agree. That was all she could hope for at this point.

~~~

School on Saturday was the longest and worst experience of her life. She was bone tired from not sleeping even an hour the night before and somehow all the teachers seemed to know this because they kept asking her just about every single question they could. It was unbearable. She had zoned out through all of lunch too, far too tired to even register being hungry, so as she boarded the train to go home, she felt like she had had all of her stats lowered and inflicted with despair, dizzy and hunger all at the same time.

Her phone buzzed in her bag as she managed to snag a seat on the train (the only small miracle of the day).

From: Key Item

Hey. Ryuji and Ann both texted me and said you looked really out of it today. Everything alright?

Great. Now she had even managed to spread her bad day to Akira. Wonderful.

To: Key Item

Bad night. Didn't sleep. I'll go to bed early tonight, though.

From: Key Item

Alright. If you're sure. Get home safe. Get Sojiro to make you some curry with extra love in it!

To: Key Item

If his love is anything like yours, I'd prefer he keep the love to a minimum.

From: Key Item

Ouch. That hurt. Such betrayal.

She giggled, glad that even when she felt like death, talking to Akira could still make her smile.

Arriving at LeBlanc felt like a death march. There were five customers enjoying curry and coffee at the various booths, so Futaba place her bag down at the bar. Before she could sit down, Sojiro slid a pad of paper across the bar to her. She met his eyes first, then looked down at the paper. It contained a phone number and an address. Her heart sped up and she looked back at Sojiro, mouth wide open.

"You'd best try calling now. I could usually get ahold of his dad around this time. Go on."

Futaba grinned, kissed Sojiro on the cheek and then fled upstairs to call the number. Maybe things were going to work out after all.

~~~

The walk home from school was boring to say the least. Kyoto was a sizable city, no loss for things to do should anyone want to do things, but it felt more hallow than somewhere like Tokyo. Akira guessed this was because his high school and most of his life was restricted to mostly one suburb. He lived ten blocks from his school. The strip mall was only another 15 minute walk from school. He lived near a pretty large city, but it has all the intimacies of a small village in rural no where.

Strolling up the stairs of his complex, he unlocked the door and called out "I'm home", despite the lack of need. He heard his dad jumbling around in his bedroom, probably packing his suitcase. Akira checked the time on his phone. His dad was probably running late.

"Welcome home!" Morgana greeted from atop his favorite plush chair. Akira smiled and patted Morgana's head. He adored that he and his best friend could still communicate, but whenever his dad was around, he stuck to physical affection rather than verbal conversation with Morgana. His dad was skeptical enough of his homecoming as it was. No need to make him think he was clinically insane.

He peeked into his dad's room for a minute. "Hey. How goes packing?"

His dad turned and nodded at him. "Hey, Akira. Well enough. I'm almost done. Should be out of here within the next fifteen minutes."

Akira nodded, "how long is this business trip for?"

"I should be back Wednesday. I'll leave you some money for groceries. Don't forget to get the cat more food."

Akira smiled, slightly amused. "I don't think Morgana will ever let me forget that."

Three loud knocks at the door interrupted their conversation. Akira frowned. That was strange. They almost never had visitors, and there was no reason for it now that his dad was leaving for the weekend.

His dad smiled. "Go answer that, would you Akira?"

His eyes narrowed. His dad smiling like that was also a bit weird. "Sure."

When he wandered back into the main room, Morgana was up against the window trying to see who it was. Akira met his eyes and made a questioning gesture. Morgana simply looked back at the window, then at Akira once more then jumped down, heading back towards their bedroom.

What the actual fuck?

The knocking came again. The boy sighed and went to the door, opening it rather quickly and muttering, "May I help you?" before he had a chance to see who it was.

The shut down of activities in his brain reminded him of the screech of a train's breaks as it entered the station. Or the sound of a record player scratching to a halt. The day had seemed somewhat normal before getting home. Maybe he had been hit by a bus crossing the street? Or he fell asleep in class and was still dreaming? He had felt a little weird about the fact that Futaba had said she couldn't talk at all today, given that she was off of school for a short break. But nothing set off alarm bells.

And yet, marvel of marvels, Futaba Sakura was standing at his front door, wearing a mile long grin and carrying a small duffle bag and a huge backpack with her.

"F-Futaba...?"

"Surprise!!" she cried, bouncing on her feet a bit. "I figured since I have a break from school that I'd come visit for awhile."

He nodded, only slightly comprehending what she was saying. Futaba kept on smiling, obviously pleased with herself and his reaction. Not even registering how impossible this whole thing was.

"Akira?" he heard his dad call from behind him, feeling amused. "Are you going to let your guest in?"

He spun around to face his father, feeling a bit lost. "You knew..?"

Futaba chirped, "I got your home phone number and address from Sojiro. Planned this whole trip myself! You should be proud!"

His dad laughed, gathering his bags together. "She was quite persuasive, I'll admit. Come on in, Futaba. Make yourself at home."

Futaba spared Akira a look. He moved further into the house, still not quite sure how to react in this situation. Futaba followed him in, seeming uncertain for the first time since she got here.

"You'll have to excuse my quick departure. I'm a bit late. Akira? A word?"

He nodded, giving his best attempt at a smile to Futaba, then following his dad outside and to the street.

"I was promised no funny business but, I know how it is to be young so, just in case, there are condoms in my bathroom."

Akira groaned. "Dad."

"Not saying you have to or even should make use of them but better safe than sorry, yeah? Be a gentleman, Akira."

"Yes sir."

"You can sleep in my bed if you'd like to give her space, but I trust your judgement, ok?"

"Ok..."

"Good. My taxi will be here any moment. Enjoy your weekend."

"Alright. Same to you."

Akira turned and walked up the stairs, waving once more to his father. At the door, he took a breath. Then another. Everything was fine. This was a nice thing. A pleasant surprise. No need to feel panicked. When he felt a bit better, he opened the door and stepped inside to see Futaba still standing in the middle of the living room, looking just as nervous as he felt.

"D-did your dad threaten you or something?"

Akira shook his head, leaning back on the door for support. "No. He told me there are condoms in his bathroom in case we end up having sex."

Futaba blushed bright scarlet, squealing a bit and breaking out into fidgets. "O-o-oh geez. Ooookay. That. Um. That is NOT how my conversation with Sojiro went. Um. Yeah. Your dad is... surprisingly chill."

He laughed a bit under his breath, smiling awkwardly. "Yes. He sure is."

They were quiet for a moment, each stewing in their own embarrassment and thoughts. Akira had just finally gotten over his shell shock at Futaba being here, all the way in Kyoto (ok maybe he still wasn't over it) when a quiet voice called out to him.

"Um. Akira... you're not mad at me for being here, right?"

His eyebrows shot up instantly. "Mad?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was coming. I wanted it to be a surprise. But I guess, maybe, you may not have wanted me here. I...really never considered that. But, if that's the case, I'll change my return trip to tomorrow. It's really no big-"

"Futaba, no. No no no. Oh, you giant goofball, come here."

Akira hurried to his quivering girlfriend and drew her tightly into his arms. He squeezed her tightly, pressing his face into the crown of her head, though the angle was a bit weird for his neck. Futaba's own arms slide around his waist after a moment of hesitation, gripping the back of his jacket tightly.

"I'm sorry I froze up like that. You really did surprise me. Don't mistake that for anger or disappointment though; I'm...really happy to see you. And really nervous because I didn't expect to have a full weekend alone with you out of nowhere."

Futaba laughed, slightly muffled by his shirt. "I'm so relieved! I was worried."

They stayed that way for a little while longer, before separating. "So. It's almost dinner time. Sadly I don't have too much to offer..."

Futaba perked up, running to her backpack. "Never fear! I thought ahead and brought this!" She revealed a container of curry and rice. "Figured you might want a little taste of home."

Akira's heart melted a bit. What on Earth did he do to deserve this? "You're absolutely right. Let's go heat it up."

Before they could get very far and streak of black flew across the small home. "Futaba!!"

The girl gasped in delight, passing the food to Akira so she could catch the bundle of fur in her arms. "Oh, Morgana! I missed you so much. You stopped saying hi to me during Skype dates. How rude."

Morgana was purring profusely, nuzzling his head against Futaba's neck and cheek. "That's not my fault! I wanted to keep talking with you, but this guy thought his dad might be weirded out if he caught you guys having a conversation with me."

Akira winced. That wasn't exactly how he wanted this conversation to progress. Moving into the kitchen and pulling out a pot, he acknowledged that it was bound to happen though. Part of the reason he was so hesitant to be excited about Futaba's presence was the inevitable discussion of his situation here. And honestly, knowing Futaba, that might just have been her intention all along.

"Care to comment on that, Akira?"

Yep, suspicions confirmed. This was an intervention.

Akira turned to look at Futaba, but instead of seeing annoyance or anger, he only saw anxious worry. He smiled to himself. Sweet girl was probably running herself ragged over this for days just to help him out. He might as well repay her generous amount of effort with a bit of his own.

"Let's make ourselves some food, then we will talk."

~~~

The curry had been everything his memory supplied him with and more. Sojiro had sent so much with Futaba that not only did they have enough for the two of them, and Morgana, but they probably also could get some breakfast out of it. What a good man, that Sojiro Sakura.

Morgana, now extremely content with how full he was, offered to go take a walk. Akira popped the kitchen window open so he could let himself back in when he wanted to, and he and Futaba headed to his room.

"Do you have school tomorrow, Akira?"

He nodded. "Yeah but I'd gladly skip if you wanted to spend the day doing something else."

She laughed. "Naw. It's ok. I think Morgana and I will have a nice relaxing morning lazing around. Then we can do something fun after school. Sound fair?"

Akira smiled, content to be able to plan to spend his afternoons with Futaba again. Just like old times.

Futaba took her time examining his room. He had shown her most of the decorations over Skype before, but he enjoyed watching her at any rate. Her wandering eyes and childlike wonder were huge reasons he enjoyed her company so much, after all. She noticed things most people didn't. And once the outside world stopped being such a place of terror for her, her interest in exploring was certainly adorable. Even though she only showed that interest with Akira present.

And if that fact made him endlessly happy and proud back when she was first starting to explore, could you really blame him?

Her exploration stopped at the framed pictured on his desk, just to the left of where he kept his computer. He inwardly sighed. Of course she would notice that. Futaba gently lifted the picture from it's place and examined it carefully. After pondering it a bit, she inquired, "is this from a school function of some sort?"

Akira nodded. "Graduation party at the end of junior high. It coincidentally was also an awards ceremony for the parents, so most of our class' parents are there too."

Futaba looked carefully down at the picture, searching for something. Akira explained before she could even ask, "You won't find him. My dad wasn't at that event. He was in Hong Kong at a huge conference for work."

Futaba swallowed. "And...your mother?"

"Took off when I was 6 months old. Haven't heard from her since. I was the only student there with no family members in attendance. But it honestly never bothered me. My dad worked his ass off to get a job that paid well enough to support us both. Luckily for him, he even enjoys it. The trade off was that he leaves for business often. But that was fine too. I've never needed much guidance from anyone and usually occupied myself easily. So it wasn't an issue."

"What about this issue with Morgana being allowed to speak?"

A chuckle. "That's mostly me being paranoid. My dad wouldn't send me away to a mental hospital or anything just because I started speaking to a cat. He leaves me do my own thing, no matter how weird or out of the ordinary that thing is. He's really a good father, all things considered. Out of everyone in this town, I guess I just wanted to ensure I still had one person on my side. You know?"

Futaba nodded, smiling at him, and replaced the picture on the desk. She took Akira's hand and pulled him to sit on the bed with her. Once they were both settled, she asked, "were you lonely?"

"Not particularly. I wasn't a social reject or anything. I played with tons of other kids in primary school. Hung out with people in junior high and even the first year of high school."

Futaba took his hand in her, playing with his fingers. He grinned, amused by her cute fidgeting. He pressed on, "if anything, the only weird bit was that I didn't consider anyone my friend."

"Yeah? Why not?"

"The city of Kyoto is big, but everyone I've gone to school with has been in this same suburb since we were in primary school. There was the occasional kid that moved in or moved away, but the vast majority of the faces and people never changed. And that sort of meant that we were already resigned to our opinions of one another. And we knew what other people thought of us. I was the quiet loner with no mother. My classmates expected me to develop severe emotional issues because that's what their mothers always gossiped about. I guess that's why my arrest was a surprise to basically no one."

Futaba squeezed his hand but said nothing. He continued, "when we last Skyped, you asked if coming home wasn't what I expected. I told you it was exactly how I thought it would be. And it was. I was used to everyone expecting terrible things from me. Tokyo was exactly like that at first too, which is why I was never bothered by it. Just because my record went away, didn't mean the negative opinions would. Here, that sort of thing follows you forever. So when everyone here wanted to speculate about who I killed to get my record changed, I wasn't surprised."

He paused, returning the squeeze Futaba had given him. He knew she wanted to hear this but that didn't mean he wasn't waiting for her to ask him to stop. And if she did ask...he would. He didn't want to over step the boundaries of what she wanted to know accidentally.

"You also said it was you who changed. What does that mean?"

He laughed, slightly exasperated. "You heard that huh?" She nodded. "Like I said, the way I was treated at first in Tokyo was exactly what I expected. Sojiro treated me like a time bomb he was forced to hold. The kids at school were terrified of me, somehow personified my looks to match the rumors. As if a tall lanky kid with glasses looks like a criminal by stereotype."

"Fake glasses," Futaba corrected snidely. "Can't trust a guy who lies about being blind."

"Ha. Ha. You're hilarious," he snarked, obviously failing at hiding his grin.

Futaba nodded, compressing his hand once more. "So it was like that at first. But...?"

"But there were people who weren't like that. Ryuji and Ann fell to the rumors at first too. But after getting to know me, they would defend me to other people. The fact that they would do that...well it changed how I viewed the world essentially. I was changing the hearts of others in two different ways where I used to think those things were set in stone. Even Sojiro eventually came to welcome me into his world with open arms. After spending a year with friends, actual friends, and a patchwork family at LeBlanc, well how could I possibly be content with going back to square one?"

Futaba nodded, "So there's nothing actually wrong you just aren't satisfied with your surroundings because you found better ones."

"More or less."

"Makoto told me you weren't planning to take any college entrance exams. Said she thought you were facing some sort of resistance from your teachers and maybe even father. Is there any truth to that conclusion?"

He shook his head, smiling incredulously at Makoto's wit. "She really does put information together easily. Yeah, there's a bit of resistance I suppose. Dad wonders if I'm really serious about it. Said its pretty expensive to do on a whim. My teachers and advisors don't seem to think it's possible that I would want to take the exams. I was put into the regular, non college track classes by default. But honestly, I know that if I dedicated the time to talking to them, they'd all support the decision. I suppose my biggest hang up is that I'm not sure if I want to."

"Gotcha," she replied, releasing his hand and stretching a bit. Futaba turned to face him, opening her arms to him with a sweet smile on her face. Akira huffed out a laugh, unable to resist such a cute offer. Once he was wrapped up in her arms, she leaned back until they were laying back on the bed, both lying on their sides and holding onto one another.

The steady beat of Futaba's heart was calming. It could easily lull him to sleep if he wasn't still so lost in thought. Now, relaxed and much less nervous, the flood of emotions rose up to smack him directly in the face. Instead of trampling it down, as he always did, he let it spill out instead.

"I am not happy here. It's nice to see my dad again, but part of me is so bitter that he could just send me away like that, even if he claims it was for my benefit. Its funny. I expected Tokyo to feel more like a prison than jail, not to be more of a home than I'd ever had before. And I supposedly won my freedom back, but yet I returned here, to a place that still expects criminal actions of me. It's so hypocritical it's almost funny." His eyes started to burn. He closed them against the tears, snuggling further into Futaba's arms. "I don't know if I miss Tokyo. But I really miss my friends. And my family. The one I found and made for myself."

Futaba's thin fingers came up to stroke his hair, scratching lightly along his scalp. The feeling was heavenly. "What can I do for you, Akira?" Futaba tightened her hold on him. "Tell me. What do you need? Let me help."

Akira sniffled, shaking his head. "There's not a whole lot to be done for now. That's kind of why I didn't want to say anything to you. It's not that I don't trust you, or the group. Please believe me when I say that much. But, I don't want you guys agonizing over a situation you can't do much to fix. And don't say you wouldn't cuz you already have. You being here is proof of that." He smirked up at Futaba, whose eyes were also red rimmed and glistening. She stuck her tongue out at him, bringing another genuine smile to his face. "Honestly just this is enough. I feel better than I have in ages."

"Akira, even if I can't fix it, I want to help the situation. I think maybe you feel better now because you were able to vent. Think of Ann: how many times have we let her rant and rave about something we couldn't do anything about? This is just like that. No more secrets. Please?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You're right. Agreed, no more secrets."

He felt her smile against his forehead. "Good. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm about to pass out."

Akira chuckled. "Yeah. I'm tired too. I'll go sleep in my dad's room. Just a warning though, I share this bed with Morgana and he will likely join you in an hour or so."

"Perfect! I bet Morgana makes a great snuggle buddy." They shared a grin as Akira got up to show Futaba the bathroom and help her get ready for bed. "Hey, what should we do tomorrow after school?"

He considered their options for a moment before suggesting, "wanna see where I spent most of my life? I can give you the grand tour. I'll warn you though, it isn't very exciting."

"Sounds amazing!"

Akira spent that night in his dad's bed, eternally grateful that today ended up being completely and unexpectedly weird. And for the first time in awhile, he was looking forward to tomorrow.

~~~