Chapter Text
Akira was ready to start this meeting without interruptions. Sadly whenever he hopes for simplicity, his life always fails to provide it.
The team was making the final preparations to send Madarame's calling card. Even though the museum had been navigated and the infiltration route to the treasure was planned with a few days to spare, the Phantom Thieves wanted to finish this palace sooner rather than later. Seeing Madarame continue using his students' art for his own benefit, even going so far as to steal Yusuke's mother's most prized piece, made Akira's blood broil. He knew that someone as kind as Yusuke did not deserve the hatred and suffering Madarame had put him through.
Something about this situation vaguely reminded Akira of how his parents had treated him after his arrest. Just like Madarame when they found his hidden Sayuri-plagiarism room, as soon as something did not go his parents' way they turned into completely different people. Akira became angry as he remembered them treating him like a criminal, not even bothering to listen to his side of the story. The whole situation had led his parents instantly to move from loving their so-called perfect son to wishing he had never been born. Looking back, even before his arrest he doubted how much they cared about him. Half of the memories he had of them were dull and cold, as most of the time his parents had just ignored his existence. Sure, there were some good memories but by this point in time Akira had clouded it with anger due to what had happened earlier that year.
Because of all of these emotions he felt towards his parents, he did his best to avoid them. Thankfully, avoiding them up to this point hadn't been too hard, as neither his mom nor his dad had made any effort to contact him. However, luck was not on Akira's side and things just had to go wrong at the most crucial of times.
When his cell phone rang during the meeting, it was in the middle of planning the infiltration route. In fact, it cut Morgana off mid-sentence to which he did not seem too pleased. Akira quickly picked up his phone and looked at the contact. His eyes widened as he saw the screen and without thinking he hit decline.
"Sorry about that," Akira said a little too nervously, "those spam calls are so annoying."
The team eyed him suspiciously, but let it go as Morgana continued his speech.
"Anyway," Morgana's gaze seemed a bit more concerned than the rest of the team, "as I was saying, when we get to the treasure room we need to be prepared for anything. As of now, we don't know how exactly Madarame's shadow will attack, but based on his powerful distortions the fight won't be easy. Lady Ann, you and Yusuke-"
His speech was cut short by the sound of a ringing phone. Everyone quickly looked to Akira again, who had gone pale. The room was silent aside from the ringing but the silence didn't last long as Akira composed himself and pressed decline.
Before the call ended, however, Yusuke was able to see the caller out of the corner of his eye.
"If you need to talk to your mother," Yusuke said with a caring tone, "I'm sure this meeting can wait. After all, we have plenty of time to send the calling card. Why don't you go call her back, we all probably need a break as well."
Akira cursed whatever all-powerful being that had given him such bad luck today.
"No," Akira stated harshly. He paused for a second and cleared his throat. "No, I mean, that won't be necessary. We can continue."
"You already do so much for us," Ann said guiltily, "giving you time to talk to your mom is the least we can do."
The other nodded in agreement. Akira felt unmistakeable dread fill his chest. The last thing he wanted to do today was speak to his parents, knowing a lecture was certainly in store for him. They probably didn't even care about how he was doing, just calling to make sure he wasn't causing trouble for them.
"I don't want to talk to them," Akira said quietly.
The others seemed confused by this response, Ryuji decided to be the first to speak.
"Look man, I know you probably haven't talked to your family in a while, don't you miss them?" Ryuji had good intentions but his ignorance of the situation made Akira cringe, "I know if I went months without talking to my mom I'd go crazy."
"You don't understand," Akira stated bluntly, "my parents see me as nothing but a criminal. Before they used to view me as a perfect son who kept his nose out of trouble but after my 'incident' as they call it, they view me as nothing but a burden to their reputation."
The room stayed quiet, the thieves had never heard their leader show such raw emotion before. They were supposed to be his friends but they didn't even realize his struggle in this situation.
"So," Akira continued, "can we please just drop this and forget this whole thing happened?"
"I know how you must feel," Ann spoke up after Akira's outburst, "it's hard being treated as if you're constantly on thin ice by people who should care about you. My parents always tell me I need to be good for their reputation, that it's my responsibility to upkeep our family's image." She lifted her head and Akira could have sworn there were tears in her eyes, "They don't deserve to talk to you if they treat their son with such disrespect."
Morgana spoke in agreement with Ann, "And if it means anything, you have us now," the not-cat's gaze shifted to one of confidence, "You won't have to deal with them for a long time if we can help it."
"But if the time comes where you want to reconnect with them," Yusuke added, "Just know that we will be there to support you every step of the way."
Akira looked as his team and felt a smile grow on his face. He knew how lucky he was to have these people in his life. Even if he wasn't appreciative of the all-powerful beings who cursed him with bad luck today, he was grateful for his wonderful and supportive team.
So, when the meeting continued and Akira's phone inevitably rang for the third time, he gladly put it on silent.