"He invited you to a party?"
"Mhmm,"
"And it's a date?"
"Yeah,"
Futaba and Morgana stared at Akira with the same squinted eyes as he drank his coffee.
"What?!"
"Doesn't it sound a little weird? I think he's doing it out of pity," Futaba said.
"I think it's a trap! What if Akechi pulls another trick? Akira, we don't want you to get hurt again!" Morgana yowled.
"Geez, you're all so loud over here..."
Sojiro came over and set two plates of curry in front of Futaba and Akira, then a small bowl of cat food. Futaba gave a little whine and stuck her tongue out.
"I'm not in a curry mood! Sojiro, can I have some money for donuts?"
"As if we can trust you with sugar in the morning!" Akira sneered.
"Nyaah!"
"Nyaaah!"
"Alright, enough you two," Sojiro handed a few dollars to Futaba, "don't get too many, it'll spoil your appetite."
"I'm buying the whole store!!" Futaba swiped the money, and Morgana, before hurrying out Leblanc. The cat gave disapproving yowls.
Sojiro smirked and went back to brewing coffee.
"You two sound just like siblings," he said.
"Yeah, I guess," Akira went to eating his breakfast. Just then, Sojiro reached over to lift some of Akira's hair out his face, exposing the stitches on his forehead.
"Damn... if you were so unhappy about something you should've just told me..." Sojiro spoke sternly, but Akira could hear the care in his voice, "don't go doing stuff like that again, you hear me? I mean it, boy."
Akira nodded.
"I'm fine now, Sojiro..."
The older man turned to the other counter but kept talking.
"So when's your birthday coming up?"
"Uh, 3rd of next month, why?"
"You're turning eighteen, right?"
"Seventeen."
"Mmm..."
Sojiro didn't say anything else. Akira didn't bug and continued eating. Then his phone buzzed with a text from, none other than, Goro:
'You in school today?'
Akira's cheeks turned a little red. A smile pinched his lips as he responded.
'No, they gave me a couple days off for recovery'
'What are you up to? :)'
'Back at work, they put me on some case investigating a couple burglaries'
'Like the one where I stole your heart~? ;)'
Akira laughed at his own joke, then laughed even more at Goro's response.
'I will come over there and slap you in the face!'
'Awww is that an excuse to see me~?'
'Oh hush. We'll save it for tonight. I'll see you then.'
Unexpectedly, Goro sent a photo of himself, dressed in that tan coat he always wore for work and smiling brightly. Akira didn't recall seeing smiles like that from him. It made him smile too.
————
Goro had a feeling he was having issues with his memory. Because not once did Kasumi mention they were going to be working together.
"It's gonna be so fun!" Kasumi was saying as she decorated her desk with one too many photos of herself in her youth, "Me and you, the Detective Prince and Princess! I bet we'll solve a bunch of cases together—oh, look at this photo! It's me when I competed in a gymnastics tournament! Look! Look! See! Are you looking?"
Goro could only fake a smile as his eye twitched.
"Yeah, that's a picture of you at a tournament alright..."
"Don't I look so cute in my leotard? I designed it myself!"
"Uh-huh..."
"I can wait for the party, I'm going to wow the crowd with my dancing! We should dance together! Do you dance at all?"
"Sometimes..." Goro started to tune her out as he opened the cases on his computer, "three recent burglaries around Shibuya... all from small stores... possible break-ins..."
"Is that our first case?"
Kasumi was suddenly behind him and staring over his shoulder. Goro breathed in, obviously pissed off, but spoke calmly.
"Yes, we're investigating burglaries in Shibuya. A few stores reported that money and products were stolen over night—"
"Awww!" Kasumi groaned. "That's boring! I wanna solve some real crime! Like murders or hit-and-runs!"
"This IS a real crime!"
"I'm sure whoever's stealing stuff needs it more than some shop owners do."
"Oh my fu—!"
Goro almost got up to tell Kasumi how wrong she was when Makoto's older sister, Sae, came in the room. Goro felt himself stiffen.
"Nijima-San," he nodded.
"Akechi. I've been meaning to pay you a visit, it's good to know you're doing alright."
"Hmm..."
"I'm Kasumi Yoshizawa, nice to meet you!" Kasumi jumped up and started yapping.
Goro sank back in his chair and went back to his work. But right before he did, Goro reopened tab that he was looking at earlier. It was the website for a popular clothing store on a page full of tuxedos. Goro blushed without realizing it and put a hand over his face.
'I wonder what people will think when they see us together...'
————
When school was out, Ann and Haru came to Leblanc arms full of shopping bags which they put all around Akira's room.
"Sooo what's this for?" Akira asked, sitting on his bed.
"You're going to a fancy party! We gotta doll you up!" says Ann.
"Why so many damn bags?"
"Some of these are clothes for us! I was invited to the party too and Ann's my plus one!" Haru grinned.
"We'll be keeping an eye on you two allll night!"
The girls giggled and Akira suddenly felt threatened. But no way in hell was he going to try and run away from Haru Okumura of all people. Besides, if she was invited that probably meant this party was going to be full of wealthy and fancy people. It'd be good to see some familiar faces.
For the next hour they all took turns trying on different outfits, deciding what looked best and what accessories matched. Meanwhile at the Sakura household, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Makoto sat in Futaba's room while her and Morgana argued over how to get back in the Meteverse.
"I bet you I can get the app working again! Then we can check out Akira's Palace!"
"He said he did it through sleep! And the Personas controlled whether or not we did it!"
"Quit doubting my computer skills!"
Ryuji's sighed and leaned his head back over the bed.
"This is getting us nowhere..."
"You said it," Makoto agreed.
"Was your sister invited to that party? It seems like they're inviting all the big shot people in Tokyo."
"Sis did get an invite but she turned it down. Neither of us really like big parties."
"I don't blame you," Yusuke sighed, "I remember going to big parties with Madarame a few years back. They were more than tiresome."
Ryuji snickered. "Lucky us! We get to hang here instead of being surrounded by snobs!"
Everyone laughed; Futaba and Morgana stopped their little argument.
"Ya know, I almost wanna go to that party just to crash it." Ryuji said,
"Yeah, we can steal all the food and change their classy music to some hard rock!" Futaba made an evil grin.
"You're both so immature." Yusuke cracked a smile. "The very first thing you do is spike the punch bowls and watch as everyone slowly loses their minds, then you start shoving food in your bag,"
"Yusuke, oh my GOD!"
Ryuji and Futaba both started laughing hysterically. Morgana and Makoto weren't as amused.
"Alright, alright, let's not forget our task at hand!" Morgana said, "We need to make sure Akira is safe and happy tonight and that Akechi doesn't hurt him in anyway."
"But if Akechi does hurt Akira..."
Makoto had that intimidating aura before it turned into a devilish grin.
"We're fucking crashing it."