thephantomthief | IC INBOX

Surprise me, Ren-kun. You're the curry master here, after all.

[ her tone is light in the hopes that she doesn't have to explain that food has lost most of its taste in the past few weeks. yukari pours in milk then adds two spoonfuls of sugar to her coffee. she's in the middle of adding another when she huffs a quiet laugh and places the spoon back in its container. ]

Haru-chan would never forgive me if I added more. [ she absently stirs her coffee, staring out the window at nothing in particular. ] Who's Sojiro-san? A relative?

Then I believe a Yusuke-type Curry would be best for you.

[Maybe he'll be at least able to give her something beautiful to look at was his guess. As he begins to prepare and start the fire, he looks over to her.]

Haru-chan? My friend Haru? [Then answers her question.] Yeah. He's like family, although he'd pretend not to care if he knew I was saying that. He took me in when I had to move from my Hometown to Tokyo and is Futaba's father.

Aw. He sounds like Shinjiro, a nice guy who tries to pretends he isn't. [ yukari takes a sip, grateful for the comfort of the hot drink. ren is as much a master at coffee as he is at curry. ] But why did you have to move? Was it because of school or something?

And yeah, your friend Haru. She's been nice enough to let me stay at her place until...until I figure some stuff out. Guess some of her coffee habits are rubbing off on me.

Yeah that sounds like they would get along, in that case. [Somewhere in the multiverse, Shinjiro rubs his nose. His expressions hardens. He knew the question was coming, and Yukari is a good enough friend for him to explain it.] I protected a woman against an assaulter. Unfortunately it happened to be a politician so corrupt he had the entire police force under his pocket. I was framed and no school would accept me. I left home because my parents were always being blamed for it as well. Sojiro was someone they knew.

[But then back to Haru because that is a much more fun subject.]

That's very nice of her. She would be the type to help anyone in need. That's what the Phantom Thieves try to do, after all.

[ her eyebrows raise right to her hairline as ren explains how he ended up at shujin academy. ] Oh, my God...that's crazy! All you did was the right thing! People that high in status really are the lowest of the low.

[ this is the most impassioned she's sounded in days. don't fuck with her friends.

however, she knows some deflection when she hears it. is this a wildcard thing...? ]

That should never have happened to you. Hopefully, Joker, Noir, and rest of the Phantom Thieves taught that politician a lesson, and they keep helping people. They've been pretty good at it so far.

[Ahh the sound of rebellion, he really likes it with his own coffee. He takes a small sip before answering.] They are. And yeah we took care of him. He fought us the entire way of course. Him and all the shitty adults attached to him. It was extremely satisfying when he finally went down and we managed to change his heart. You could say that was our journey...it's quite a long story...

[Siiiiiiip. He begins to find a proper bowl for her then set its up]

We can talk about it more after we talk about why you came here.

[Or maybe she'll forget about it :D]

I'll hold you to that, [ she says after taking her own sip. yukari might not cash in on that promise immediately, but rest assured, she will. it's only a matter of time.

she gasps an audible 'ooh!' when the plate of yusuke curry is set before her, man, she could only dream of being as dedicated to the a e s t h e t i c as ren). she gives thanks for the food, takes a bite. takes another. takes one more for good measure. ]

Man, no wonder Minako always tries to remake your recipe when she makes curry. [ a pained look crosses her features when she says minako's name. ] She's gotten closer to cracking the case, though.

[ yukari takes a deep breath, steeling herself for the difficult conversation ahead. ] We kinda got in a fight? It's complicated. God, we're so complicated. I know you guys are close, but how much do you know about...well, everything?

[It's the flowers and the fried shrimp that makes the dish. There's a smile to his face when she mentions Minako's been trying to replicate it.]

She won't be able to. I was sword to secrecy by Sojiro-san...the recipe came from him and Futaba's mother. It's the perfect blend and scientifically calculated to maximize the flavor. [Wow okay.] I'm sure she can get close to it enough...just not quite.

[Alright with that out of the way, it's time to put on the protagonist gloves, metaphorically.]

Complicated. [He repeats the word, he can understand complicated. Him and Goro was Complicated.] She told me what she was willing to share with me. I know that she had to sacrifice her life to save the world...what she had to do to get there. What Igor told her at the time...not complete details but you could say I know the abridged version.

[ her mouth flattens into a grim line and she nods. if ren knows most of what's going on then yukari doesn't have to dig into memories she'd rather leave alone for now. ]

At home, Minako got together with Aigis a few days before we fought Nyx. All of us could see how in love they were. Honestly, they're just--. They fit together.

[ yukari pauses, searching for the right words. explaining the enormity of their history thus far is intimidating. ]

There was a part of me that kind of relationship with Minako, too. I didn't realize because I didn't think I was into girls and she--she died. But then I saw her again when I arrived and I knew, Ren-kun. I just knew.

We talked about how we wished we took our chance when I first arrived and it made me hope, you know? We kissed at that big beach party and one thing led to another. Like it always does. [ her huffed laugh holds no mirth. ] And we've talked about Aigis and how Minako loves us both and I believe her, but now Aigis is back and.... I panicked. I don't know what to do from here.

Ahh. [He takes a small sip of his cup.] This is...partly why I didn't want to date any of my teammates. [But Yukari is very brave to say something like that.]

I can understand that part as well...I think Akechi had died and it's...not exactly like Minako since his history is different. There's people on my team that he harmed greatly. I can't forgive him for murdering people either but...It was nice to know he was here, after he sacrificed his life to save us. [But again. This isn't about him. It's about Yukari. He waves a hand.]

You panicked? I think you mean you acted like most people would, you know. Have the both of you talked since then?

[ yukari gives ren a long look when he mentions akechi. she doesn't know the extent of their history, but she knows the phantom thieves' drama feels like it's simmering underneath the surface. if another new person joined their team....

let's just say the groupchat would probably explode again.

she nods once in the affirmative, swirling curry rice around her plate in lazy spirals. it's delicious. she's lost a bit of her appetite in the course of their discussion. ]

We talked for a while on January 31. That's the day we fought Nyx so I wanted to check on her. Of course, we had an argument, but manged to talk some stuff out. We're still checking in with each other every day. Aigis, though.... [ a deep sigh. ]

I haven't talked to her as much, although I should. Like I said, her and Minako fit. They have....a history. [ understatement of the century. ] Plus, she's one of my best friends. We even lived together during our third year of high school. Neither one of them should get hurt anymore. Especially not by me.

[And Ren is aware of how...trouble this all is. Hopefully he could deal with whatever aftermath of someone else arriving.]

Fighting is a normal thing...I mean in Japan we're taught to avoid conflict as much as possible and stay quiet, but I think most of us would be the type not to follow that rule.

[Another understatement of the century. He's still amazed that Aigis went to high school at all.]

What's stopping you?

[ if ren were anyone else, yukari would stop the conversation here. she'd do what she always does: give a nice, soft, safe PR answer ("oh, you know, just something between us girls!"). it worked throughout her school years, it worked when she started modeling, it worked here in prismatica. people liked safety. it kept them from asking questions.

but she's so tired. she can't keep up the facade anymore. head bowed so that her bangs hide her face, her voice breaks as she answers, ]

I'm scared. I'm a selfish person who chases after everything--people, dreams, whatever--, but I don't even care if I reach them or not, Ren. [ she's too tired to keep up with honorifics now. ] I'm...empty. She has every right to hate me. I don't want to make her leave.

[It's difficult sometimes when people open to you. Ren is filled with empathy for her and shows this by carefully placing a hand on her shoulder. A sort of way to attempt to calm her down but also to say 'hey. I'm there for you."]

Being scared is a normal reaction. I don't think you're empty either. I've seen what empty people are like, you know...if you were, you wouldn't even be afraid. You wouldn't care. [Hmmm.] You need to talk to her. To the both of them.

[ 'maybe i'm good at acting like i'm not empty' is on the tip of her tongue when yukari feels his hand on her shoulder. she's never been good with touch, but his is grounding, keeping her from spiraling further into despair. shakily, she huffs, ]

Talking's never been my strong suit. Funny, right? [ she looks up into his eyes, giving ren a sad smile. ] Every time I try, I mess it up. It's just...hard. Letting people in.

I know. [He does. Really. It seems like for him it's easy, but it was via circumstances. Ren's good at being quiet too.]

What's important is you're trying. Just don't give up. It's...the worst, that feeling that you keep messing up. I'm aware of that too...but when you really care about something you want to make it work. [He briefly smiles again for her.] I feel like you're the type of person who won't give up without a fight.

When you really care, huh?

[ she cares about a lot of things. her independence. her need to keep a brave face, never let them see her sweat. her drive to always be better.

her fellow persona users who are more like family than friends and open their homes to her without a second thought.

a blonde robot who has seen her (fought her) at her worst. a redhead whom she loves more than she can say who taught her living is worth fighting for.

everything aches and she absolutely hates that all it takes is a friend saying they believe in her to push her to the brink of tears. ]

So you're calling me stubborn? [ her voice warbles, throat constricted with the rush of every feeling she's been holding back for weeks at once, but she smiles at him anyway. a real smile this time. ] Weird way to compliment a girl, Ren.

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