Persona 5 - Toast to the Queen

Akira/Makoto

Day 8- Shopping

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A/N: Hey! Guess who isn't dead! This fic is very much a "Do it when the mood takes me" kind of thing, and the mood has taken me. Sorry for the infrequency of this. I'm a busy boy xD I' gonna try to get better at updating though, so I might actually finish this in the next 3 decades xD You might have noticed our new cover art, by JXA. Apparently enough people like this fic that it's inspired art? I'm both confused and honoured xD This one ain't too long as I just wanted to get back into the swing of things. But I had a lot of fun! Expect more frequent updates in the future :D Regardless, Enjoy :)

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"This is where you get our weapons?" Makoto asked, eyebrow raised quizzically.

She wasn't sure what she expected when she asked to go with Akira to "restock" as he called it. As the lieutenant to the Phantom Thieves, she figured she should be at least somewhat familiar with their supply chain, even if she wasn't going to run those operations herself.

Untouchable was certainly a unique store… it seemed kinda skeevy given the location and the guy behind the counter. There was an inherent air of danger in here, like at any moment someone might jump out from behind one of the shelves and attack Makoto. At the same time however, it felt weirdly safe… secure.

Makoto concluded this might be what a prison feels like.

It was odd to her then that her boyfriend felt so comfortable walking around in here. He had this natural ability to fit in no matter where he went, or whoever he was associating with. It was something Makoto truly admired, given that she often had difficulty operating outside of her comfort zone.

"You were expecting maybe some kind of boutique?" Akira smirked.

"I honestly didn't know what to expect" She responded, still looking around, partly in wonder, partly in trepidation. "Are you sure this place is on the level?"

"Don't worry, nothing's gonna happen to you in here. Just don't ask too many questions." said the tattooed man behind the counter, fiddling with a model gun. At least Makoto thought it was a model, it looked so real… "What do you need this time, kid?" he said, addressing Akira.

"I'm here for your pleasant company, Iwai, as always". Even with this somewhat scary dude, Akira was self assured as always. Makoto had to conclude that they knew eachother. Akira often spoke of people in the city that he'd made deals with, perhaps this Iwai was one of them? It'd certainly explained how they knew one another so well.

"Cute" the man scoffed.

"In all seriousness, I need to talk to you. Can I come in the back?" He dropped his smirk, a serious look in his eyes.

"Sure, if you tell me who the girl is." Iwai said, sternly, taking his eyes off the weapon he was holding to size up Makoto.

"She's my bodyguard, can't you tell?" Akira chortled. This did nothing to calm Makoto's nerves. She was used to getting looks like this from adults, friends of her sister, even Shadows would occasionally do this, but something about Iwai didn't sit well with her. His man's gaze was heavy, and piercing, it bored right into Makoto, and she found she couldn't look away, despite how unnerved she was. This was a man who'd seen the darker side of the world.

"I'm not kidding." Iwai said, still not breaking his gaze. "Who's the girl, Akira?"

"Sh-" Akira started, however, Makoto cut him off.

"My name is Makoto Niijima." she bowed, deeply, partly to show respect and partly so that she wouldn't have to look this Iwai in the eye anymore. "I'm the student council president at Shujin Academy."

Iwai paused for a moment, his hand on his chin, contemplating what just happened.

"You're his girlfriend, aren't you?" Iwai laughed, pleased with himself that he'd figured it out.

Makoto couldn't keep herself from blushing. Looking over to Akira, it seemed that he too was overcome with embarrassment.

"H-how did you know?" she asked.

"I didn't, but you just told me" Iwai laughed again, setting his model down. "Besides, nobody I know can cut that kid off when he gets going, so you must be someone special." Makoto inwardly cursed herself for playing into the trap so easily.

"She's cute, Akira, you're punching above your weight" Iwai said with a smirk, unlocking the small hatch on the side of the counter to allow Akira into the back.

"Sh-shut up, man" Akira said, keeping his head bowed to hide his blush-stained cheeks.

This is interesting. Makoto thought, she had never seen Akira speechless before. Even when she teased him he always had some glib comeback ready, if she didn't know better she could have sworn he practiced them, but this was unprecedented. It would be completely irresponsible of her to mock him now. Entirely and completely awful. Unthinkable, even. The social embarrassment would be too great, even for him.

"Please. If he tried to punch me, he'd be flat on the ground unconscious." Makoto said, flashing her boyfriend a grin.

Iwai burst into full on laughter "Oh man, I like you!"

Akira remained wordless as Iwai pulled him into a headlock. "Good to know who wears the pants in this relationship!"

"Knock it off, man!" Akira shouted, trying and failing to struggle out of the hold.

Makoto couldn't help but giggle at her boyfriend's misfortune. It was so unlike him to ever be caught off guard by anything, he always seemed so infallible, so perfect, she forgot that he was a teenage boy sometimes. Younger than her, even. To see this more human side of the boy was not only refreshing, but also endearing.

Finally, Iwai let Akira and gestured his head towards the back, prompting Akira to get moving. Iwai lingered for a moment to talk to Makoto.

"We probably won't be too long, just shop talk." He said, his expression darkening at the mention of 'shop talk'. What exactly did he mean by that?

"Feel free to take a look around, there's some martial arts stuff over there somewhere" he said, gesturing towards a corner of the store. "Word of advice though, Ms. Niijima? Probably best if you don't go around yelling your full name in here. Get a lotta… less than scrupulous types in here."

"Don't worry, sir, I can take care of myself" Makoto said, an expression of certainty on her face.

"You can keep that delinquent in line, so I don't doubt that" the man chuckled, before bidding Makoto farewell and heading into the back of the store, leaving the student council president alone with her thoughts.

As she meandered into the back of the shop, to look at nothing in particular, she couldn't help but let her mind wander. If only her sister could see her now. Hanging out in a weapons store while her criminal boyfriend spoke to the owner in the back as she was looking for equipment to be a better thief. It was almost comical. Sae would kill her if she found out what was going on. She thought about that a lot, what her sister would think about her. Would Sae approve? Almost definitely not. Even if Makoto explained it to her, Sae was pretty adamant in her beliefs about what's right and wrong. Maybe if Akira talked to her though… He was always pretty good at getting people around to his way of thinking. She'd have to meet him at some point, that was an inevitability, Makoto could only imagine how that conversation would go down. It'd be hilarious.

So lost she was in her thoughts, that Makoto didn't hear the footsteps as they snuck up behind her.

Before she knew it Makoto's world was black. Someone was covering her eyes.

Shit

"Gue-"

Before her attacker could finish talking, Makoto was already moving. She drove her elbow into his solar plexus, hard, knocking the wind out of him. As the man's hands pulled away from her face, giving her her vision back Makoto grabbed his arm and swept her foot backwards, knocking her assailant, and a considerable amount of Iwai's merchandise, down to the ground. As he groaned in pain, she turned to give the man a piece of her mind...

Only to see Akira writhing on the ground in pain.

"Yup" He managed to get out. "Good one. Solid hit, great form".

"Oh my gosh, i'm so sorry! Are you ok?!" The girl asked, dropping to the ground to help her now disgraced leader up.

"Yup" he grunted, putting on a brave face. He was far from OK, Makoto hit him with everything she had.

Iwai could barely stand he was laughing so hard.

"Man the way she laid you out!" he said, nearly choking on his words.

"I don't think i've ever seen you so expressive, Iwai" Akira sputtered, barely hiding his contempt for his friend.

"I'm so sorry about the mess, sir" Makoto said, resisting the urge to drop into a bow lest she stop supporting her boyfriend.

"Don't worry about it, it was worth it" Iwai said, still laughing. "Don't ever let this one go, kid"

"Don't plan on it" Akira said, offering Makoto a weak smile as his breathing started to return. "I'm scared of what she'd do to me, otherwise"