Welcome To Hashi High: A Persona 3, 4, and 5 Crossover

Bloody Knuckles

Despite the sting in his knuckles, Akihiko kept slugging punches at the punching bag in his room. He'd been at this since he had gotten back to his room after the athletics auditions, which was however long ago. He never tended to keep track.

With the dull thuds that rung out in his room, Akihiko didn't hear the chimes of his clock until he glanced out the window. It's already dark! Broken out of his aggressive trance, he noticed the throbbing in hands at last, inspecting the split knuckles. It was probably best for him to stop now, especially with the way his stomach rumbled. He'd been at this all afternoon.

Akihiko watched the cold water in the sink turn pink as he washed the blood from his hands. He'd gone down to the kitchen to prepare a dinner of protein shakes and cold water. I still have no idea how late it is. As he was bandaging his fingers a small yelp rang out through the room. He turned to see a tiny red haired girl peeking around the corner of the doorframe. Oh it's Sakura.

"Eep! I-I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone else was here..." Sakura's face was bright red with nervousness as she tried to back away. Aki tilted his head at her. She was always so confident as a Navi, but outside of that strange world her timid nature shined through. "I just wanted to make my yakisoba, but I'll come back later." She started to back away.

"No it's ok. I'm not using the sink anymore." Something within him felt soft just looking at her, like a need to protect her. Aki stepped away from the sink so she could have access to it. "You're a really good navigator, ya know?" That made Sakura's face even redder. Is she not used to praise?

"Th-thank you." She stood on her toes to stick her instant noodles under that tap water, and now that Aki was right next to her, he noticed how short she really was. Without thinking, he took the box from her hands and filled it up before handing it back. As Sakura looked ready to implode from gratitude, a sharp meow sounded from the doorway.

"Oh there you are, Futaba. I've been looking for you everywhere- Hey!" The black cat of Kurusu's poked its head through the door and instantly hissed upon seeing Akihiko. "Get your paws off her!"

"Morgana! Calm down, he was just helping me." Sakura stuck her tongue out at the cat as she placed her noodles inside the microwave. "Sorry Sanada. Morgana kinda protects the Thieves." The high pitched beeping of buttons rang out through the soft silence before the microwave roared to life.

"It's fine." Akihiko looked down at the black cat who was glaring at him from the doorway. "He's a cute thing. I...used to know someone who'd like him." He chewed on the inside of his lip. He wasn't sure if talking about Shinji was the right thing to do here, but even just standing in the kitchen reminded him of his best friend. He had been trying to hide his grief over Shinji, though he was sure S.E.E.S. could still tell.

The microwave beeped and Sakura pulled her instant noodles from it. "Used to know?" She sounded genuinely curious about it, and for some reason, that led Aki to trust her.

"Yeah. His name was Shinjiro Aragaki. We grew up together. Last year, right after he joined S.E.E.S. there was an incident." Akihiko's voice caught in his throat. He cleared it and started again. "It's... Sometimes I'm over it. Most of the time I'm not, I guess." He couldn't look Sakura in the eye as he talked. S.E.E.S. knew about his attachment to Shinji never brought it up, and he was afraid that anyone else would mock him for it.

But that's not what Sakura did. "I know how that feels." After a struggle, she managed to get on the counter and sit, setting her noodles in her lap. "My mom died right in front of me." Her voice shook, but in a different way than her normal timidity. The more he listened, the more Aki could hear actual rage in her words. Why is she so angry? While he could feel fear for whatever made Sakura so angry, he couldn't deny the admiration he had. "Some awful jerk made her have a mental shutdown. That's why I joined the Phantom Thieves, so I could find out who did it."

Aki sighed. "Revenge, huh?" He looked at the tiny girl. "Don't let it taint you. I know how bad it can get, to where you'll hurt people you care about." I don't think Ken will ever recover from Shinji's death. He folded his arms across his chest. "I don't want anyone else to shoulder that burden."

"You're talking about Amada, aren't you?"

"How'd you know?"

Sakura shrugged. "I could feel it. He's got a lot of complicated feelings." She snickered softly, though it was a sad sound. "It's so awful that we have to deal with the things adults don't take responsibility for. That's why we made the Phantom Thieves."

We're all so similar. Why can't our leaders see that? Even he could see how much Minato and Kurusu hated each other, seemingly for no reason. But despite their hatred, he could tell that he and Sakura could be good friends. "You're such an interesting person, Sakura."

"Call me Futaba, and I'll call you Akihiko."

"Deal."