Ryuji was the first one to left with a laugh and a wave of his hand as he turned his back on everyone else, giving cue to the others to do the same as everyone went their own separate ways.

Joker sighed with a smile as he cracked his neck.

"It sure was one hell of a summer, right?" Morgana said from Akira's bag.

"Mm" he adjusted his glasses without wanting to say anything else.

"I know that expression, you don't want to go back do ya?"

The adolescent stiffled a laugh "who knows?" He made his way to the train station whilst he counted the money for the train...

"Four hundred thousand yen?!?! THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY!!"

The trickster nodded as he folded his wallet into his pocket "I guess I don't have to search for a work on my free time to live by at least half of the year"

Morgana opened his eyes and popped his head out of the bag to look at him "Still, you might want to save money for winter, aren't we going back here for the festivities? We gotta buy gifts for our friends"

"Well..." He looked at the sky for a second and then he began walking again "My father would probably tell me to get a job anyways, not like I can do much there"

The cat meowed "yeah, guess that's right" Joker's parents...a real handful of a father he had, he really gave Akira a bad time when he brought Morgana to the house saying that he wouldn't keep any 'stray cats' under his roof...but after one entire year of not seeing his son he eventually backed down...also because of his mother.

Yuriko Kurusu, a ray of hope that she was. Morgana learned that Yuriko didn't want to send Akira to Shibuya on his probation...his father had insisted so much on doing it because of his reputation at his work as a profesional surgeon.
Both of his parents were incredibly surprised when they found out that Akira no longer wished to follow the path of medicine that his father had recommended and, in some way, carved into to his son...they soon learned that how much Akira had grown up in one year away from his family...the responsibility of working and studying...but also the newfound sense of freedom, that was also new for their parents.

And everything in one year.

"You okay, Akira?" Meowgana asked

"Just thinking...how we all grew up. We came a long way." He said thoughtfully, with a contemplative tone of voice.

"Yeah! And we still have a long way, so don't get all reminiscent on me now" The cat smiled with a cheerful voice.

Akira hummed in response "Right we should-" a beeping sound interrupted him, he grabbed his cellphone and stared at the message.

'hey man' The contact was labelled as 'Skull'

'have you got to your train yet' Akira frowned.

'I haven't reached the station yet, why?'

'I was thinking...'

'That's new' Morgana let out a small laugh as Akira only smiled.

'Hey, man! Don't diss me like that!
Anyway I was thinking if we could get something to eat before you go...just the two of us, there's a sushi restaurant near the station'

Joker adjusted his glasses and typed the response 'I thought you went back to studying, you were the first one to go.'

'yeah, yeah I know that but I wanted to send you off my way y'know. You were my first friend and the two of us basically started the PT's on our own in Kamoshida's palace'

"Hey! What about me?! I too was with you in Kamoshida's palace" Morgana complained with a huff

"We actually found you a day later, remember?" The human explained to the cat. He typed 'fine, I guess I could use something to eat before the journey as well'

'I know you'd say yes to food. Omw'

Joker put aside his phone and sighed "guess were not getting out of Shibuya yet"

"Not that I'm complaining, I'm gonna miss the place" Morgana meowed with sadness

"You're only gonna miss Ann." The trickster smirked as he adjusted his glasses.

"We-well of course i'm going to miss her! She's a great friend and all that"

"Mm, she sure is" He nodded.

"I'm really going to miss everyone"

"It'll only be a couple of months, don't sweat it" Akira reasoned.

"You say it like you aren't going to miss them" Morgana stretched himself on his bag.

Joker sighed, it was true. He scratched his neck "Let's go meet up with Ryuji." He said, sadness clearly present on his voice.

"R-Right" Morgana said, feeling bad for saying that for some reason. Sometimes it bothered him how Akira barely talked about his own feelings, not only with him but with everyone...he could count with the fingers of his paws the times he witnessed Akira letting out his true feelings out and reaching out for help...he oftenly was the one to give the help but never the one in receiving it and knowing Joker how he was and how he beared the weight of being the holder of the Wildcard power for Igor and Lavenza he oftenly wondered how Joker was ever be able to pick himself up every single time on his own...without anyone there but him alone.

Most people would call it bravery but to Morgana it felt more like lonelyness.

...

"AAAHH! oh man that was delicious!" Ryuji sat back on his chair and gasped for air feeling full.

"Indeed, it was good" Joker nodded.

Morgana didn't say anything because he was very busy munching Sushi pieces inside Akira's bag.

"So...have you buyed you ticket back to you home?"

Joker shooked his head to the question "Not yet, once we get out. We still got some time"

"I see" Skull looked to his plate, Akira inmediately felt he was bummed.

"I will be back, y'know"

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I know it's just..." He wasn't able to found the exact words he wanted to say in order to express his feelings.

"I wanted to laugh when you and Morgana yelled all that stuff to EMMA back in Okinawa" He admitted with a small chuckle "I had a hard time restraining myself."

"Ah-" Ryuji quickly got all worked up about it "Wha-What did you expected me to do?! That bitch was insulting Sophie, it's not like I was going to let her...stupid AI with god issues."

Akira let out a genuine laugh this time as he couldn't contain himself "all right, all right I'll give you that one she was being nasty. I also wanted to kick her ass"

"Ye-he-hea! And her ass we ended up kicking. All in a summer's work. Everything worked out in the end, even Gramps."

"Heh, Gramps too. I am very happy for him and Akane. It really was a surprise seeing him get his persona...oh and don't get me started on the calling card, you two were...interesting to say the least."

"He-Hey! I was nervous okay!?"

"Skull...you had one line." Morgana said from the beyond.

"Well I'm sorry okay? Man I swear..."

Akira laughed once more, feeling more light.

"We also had dangerous moments...sometimes I thought my heart was going to jump outta my chest." The blonde kid kept going

Joker breathed in and nodded "Yeah, like when we almost got caught by the villagers on Okinawa"

"Or the police back in Kioto" Ryuji hummed.

"Or when we almost felled for our doom because of Dr.Ichinose." Morgana added.

"And when you took a bullet for Futaba whilst she was hacking the entrance to EMMA's server room thing."

Joker went silent, he stared coldly at the plate as he quickly remembered that.

How surrounded they were, every single shadow he could see and every single one trying to get to Futaba. He called his Okuninushi Persona and cleared a great deal but when he looked at the side another shadow was taking aim on her, with a clear sight.

He heard her words

"That's it ladies and gentlemen, we got a free pass to the-"

"Watch it Futaba!" He screamed.

He remembered Futaba turning her back to the shadow the moment this one opened fire on her, the clicking sound and the explosion...he remembered that he didn't knew how he got so fast to be in front of her, so fast indeed that he was able to catch the bullet in time...with his shoulder.

"Gah!"

"Jo-Joker?!" He heard her panicking the he took out his own gun and ended the shadow on the spot. He then began bleeding "JOKER! OH MY GOD I-"

"It's okay, Oracle" He tried to reassure her but she was still in shock...pretty much everyone was...it had been a close one. Futaba got on her knees and hugged Joker, he felt that she was trembling...then crying.

"I-I...Jo-Joker..."

"Shush...calm down...I'm okay and you're okay. That is all that matters Futaba" Then the other ones came at a moments notice, it was no hassle to heal joker back up but it would have been dangerous had that bullet reached Futaba, he knew...

"Akira, you there man?" Ryuji was waving his hand in front of him "Earth to Akira?"

Joker gasped for a moment and looked at Ryuji "Sorry, I was...backtracking to all the stuff that happened...it was a bumpy ride."

"That it was...man...I sure as hell gonna miss it...gonna miss you too." The blonde said with a sad tone "and Mona of course, it just wouldn't be the same"

"Do you think you're the only one in the predicament? You don't even know how it feels to be away of Lady Ann" Morgana started.

"Ah, there he goes again" Akira said, he took some time to came up with an answer. "I guess goodbye food it's not that good after all huh."

Ryuji smiled, his eyes were sad. "Yeah, guess you're right...but I don't regret it."

Both of them kept talking knowing they didn't had the time but still not wanting to leave...never. Joker looked outside and cursed when he watched that the skyes were getting dark.

"Oh shit..." He checked his phone 19:11 "damnit"

"What going-" Ryuji looked at his friends phone and realised the hour "Oh shit, can you still get to a train in time?"

The trickster shook his head "nah, the only ones left at this hour are the shinkansen and it would still take like five hours besides they are expensive as hell."

"What're we gonna do then?" Morgana asked, looking at Akira.

"We'll go to the LeBlanc, spend the night there and get out tomorrow morning. I'll just tell mom that the lasts trains got cancelled or something."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ryuji seemed worried but Akira lifted his thumb in the air

"It's just one more night, missing out a day of school won't kill me...besides we did spend our summer on PT's bussines." He smirked.

Ryuji let out a laugh "yeah...guess you're right. I think I should get back home and study for tomorrow then, catch some shuteye too" Ryuji took out his wallet and payed for the meal before Akira could even open his own wallet "you missed that train because of me so don't even think about paying"

Akira stood there for a moment with his mouth open, the he smiled and nodded. "Alright, leave you to it then."

Morgana got out of Akira's bag in order to stretch his legs a bit and the three of them went to the street out of the restaurant.

"Welp...guess this is the final goodbye, Kurusu. Take care" Ryuji said. Holding out his fist in the air.

Joker looked at Ryuji and the fist and nodded with a smile "It's not goodbye, Sakamoto, just an 'until later'" Akira bumped the blonde thieve's fist "You better pass this year or I'm kicking you out of the Phantom Thieves."

"Oi that's no fair! You're the leader!"

"Exactly, let's go, Mona" Akira crossed the street without looking at Ryuji.

With a meow Morgana answered "See ya 'round, Ape" he taunted as he followed his leader.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

...

A ding on the door stole the attention of Sojiro Sakura who was behind the counter of the café "Welcome to-" he sighed at the sight of the black haired boy "It's you kid, what happened"

"My train got cancelled" he lied "Can I stay here till tomorrow?"

The owner of LeBlanc sighed and nodded "Sure, one more night won't hurt anybody. I was just getting ready to close."

"Thank you, Sojiro-san" he vowed in front of the man as he groaned

"We know each other quite a while to do that stuff don'tcha think?" He grabbed his coat on a hanger and placed it on his shoulder before tossing the keys of the Café to Akira "No party tonight, you leave tomorrow morning, I don't want you to get all cozy here again and so that you end up missing school"

"Yeah, yeah...I got it"

"Wow, he really is a father to you huh" Morgana said but Sojiro only heard "meooow"

"Did he said something just now?" The old man asked

"If he did I believe it was something food related" Akira laughed

"Hey!"

"I'm pretty sure myself" Sojiro chuckled as he opened the door to leave. "See ya tomorrow, then. Have a good night"

"Yes, good night to you too Sojiro." Akira bowed once more until he heard the sound of the door closing, he approached it and locked it with the key and left it there.

"Well what do we do now?" Morgana asked as he streched himself on one of the tables.

"Are you still hungry? I can cook up something before going to bed."

"Good idea, I'm going to see if I can't turn on the T.V with my paws"

"That'll be interesting to see" Akira nodded.
...

He turned in his slumber, then groaned when he heard the sound of the phone ringing. He slowly opened his eyes to find out that it was still dark in his room. "What the..." He grabbed the phone and answered without even looking. "Yes...?"

"Hey kid, you up?" The voice of Sojiro made him flinch a bit in his bed, he contained the wrath of being awaken at such time

"Do you even know what time it is, Sojiro?" Okay that came out bad...but he heard a laugh on the other side.

"Two in the morning, believe me that I wouldn't be calling you this late if I didn't had a reason"

"What's wrong with Futaba?" He got up from his bed inmediately.

He didn't heard a thing for two seconds

"How did you know?"

"There's no other reason" he stretched himself a little bit and noticed that Morgana was still sleeping so he toned it down.

"She's...crying, I think she's having one of those panic attacks. She doesn't want to let me in either I-"

"Give me five and wait for me by the door." He said as he began to put on his shirt.

Akira heard a loud sigh and guessed that the old man was smiling on the other side.

"Right" he hanged up.

He pocketed his wallet, phone and keys and went down the stairs to the café. Morgana was sleeping like a baby cat so it was best not to bother him, you know what they say, if you wake up a sleeping cat then you're definetely going to hell.

He got out the LeBlanc and all it took was one block to get to the Sakura's residence, he was about to knock but the door opened on him right on time, Sojiro was behind it.

"Nice night out there" the man said.

"Yeah" Joker nodded politely as he could, under the circumstances.

"Come in." Mr Sakura invited Akira in amd closed the door behind him "you can go straight to her room, I'll brew some coffee in the meanwhile."

Joker had his doubts still "did she said anything before? She did ate her dinner right?"

"Yes she ate with me, and it was all fine until now...but I don't think she got any sleep yesterday. She's running on edge I think, a lot of stuff did happen right?" Sojiro lifted an eyebrow at the boy who only nodded with preocupation plastered on his face.

"Yeah...she seemed to be okay though...I must've overlooked something." Joker frowned.

"Did...something happened to you? Something bad?"

The feeling of getting shot inmediately came into his brain, he felt a strange ache in his left shoulder. "No...no that I recall. Why?"

"It's just...when you faked your...you know. After you came back...she cried the whole night through, she cried you name, Akira...tonight I heard your name as well...so I just-"

"Yes, something indeed happened" he confessed and looked down "Nothing too bad but I kinda took a shot for her...quite literally. It was nothing bad I can assure you but...I guess she blames herself for it."

The old man hummed and sighed "Don't sweat it...if anything I'm glad you kept her safe...go talk to her, maybe you can do something."

It wasn't that big of a deal...was it? Akira shook his head, with determination "Yessir." And head upstairs to Futaba's room...he heard sobbing almost right away, it was a big deal. "Fuck..." He muttered to himself.

He got close to the door and knocked, gently. "Futaba...it's me."

"Who's me...?" He heard from the other side.

"It's Akira."

Silence, he grimaced.

"I thought you were back home by now"

"It got...complicated." He paused for a moment as he leaned against the door. "You're gonna let me in?"

"Did Sojiro called you?" Joker smiled, smart girl.

"That's right."

He heard footsteps coming closer to him for a moment, then the door clicked. "It's open"

"You are not going to open the door for me?"

"I did once already...now it's up to you"

He gulped and placed his hand on the doorknob.

"Know that...once you enter this room you will be responsible...f-for taking care of me..."

He contemplated for a second. "Why's that?"

"Because I want you to stay here"

Joker bit his lip, already knowing where this was going. "Futaba I-"

"If you're gonna leave tomorrow might leave right now as well...I don't wa-want to send you off again...I can't." Crying she was crying...he made her cry.

He believed he had figured everything out with everyone, not only on the trip but before that...he took her for granted as well but she knew how to hide her emotions away from him, her true feelings.

"Futaba..." His voice got a lot more soft and quiet, he opened the door and unfolded the mistery before him.

The mistery was a crying young girl curled up in her bed like a kid...a crying young girl that at some point got scared shitless and while that wasn't his fault he still was connected to that in some way, and he wasn't going to turn his back on her.

"I'm home" he said as he kneeled in front of the bed and embraced the ball, Futaba.

The girl finally broke down, and cried to her heart's content.

He gently caressed her hair and her back as she leaned on his chest, hiding in it. "J-Joker I-I-I-"

He shushed her and got up on the bed right beside her "I'm not leaving you, not tomorrow...not ever, Futaba."

"A-ahh...?" That was all she managed as she opened her eyes to find the ones that had stole her heart way back when, those black eyes that were staring at her own.

"I'm staying here. A transfer at this point might be difficult...but I don't care."

She gasped and latched onto him, her shaking did not cease but it did got slightly better.

"Wh-what about your parents..."

"The only thing that I care about right now its in this very room and nowhere else." He answered with a soft whisper.

He heard her sigh, with relief.

"I love y-you, Akira"

Akira's heart melted at her shaky voice. He smiled and answered with a warm kiss on her cheek.

"I know, Taba...I love you too" why the hell else would he be here actually, what other reason could have existed for him to take her to the Wheel of Fortune on Sapporo...why was he wearing the necklace he handed to her two days ago not even taking it off to sleep...

Why did it scared him so much not being able to catch that bullet in time before it got to her?

He knew the answer but he decided to keep quiet about it.

Until now.

"I will make your life hell" she said.

"It can't be as bad as the other shit I had to go through." He retorted.

"I will make you stay up till morning"

"I guess I can find balance in that"

"You will have to buy me games, and manga and food and whole bunch of stuff"

"We can play those games together, then we could read those mangas together and eat good food just the two of us and Morgana too...from time to time"

"Sojiro will be all over your ass all of the time"

"I think we can get to an arrangement with him...after all I did manage to survive a whole year under his roof."

"I'll get mad over stupid stuff like being jealous of the other girls and there's my period too and then I'll end up yelling at you but then I'll want to apologise afterwards just to yell at you again and-"

His lips felt warm...really, really warm and soft, her's were cold maybe because of the room temperature...but it didn't mattered...the warmness from his lips would eventually pass down to her own.

She embraced the fact that the boy she loved accepted her confession...that was enough for her.

This time the tears were of joy, not sadness or desperation...only happyness.

I've yet to decide if I want to continue this or just leave it as a One-shot.