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"It's too far. We won't reach it in time."
Ryuji worked his jaw as he heard Yusuke utter those words. You stood next to him, your hand almost turning blue under Futaba's vice grip. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you tighten your lips into a thin white line, saw you gently untangle your hand from Futaba's, saw you turn to fully face the distant life boat, and his stomach sank before you even said anything.
He already knew what you were going to say. That didn't stop his mouth from going as dry as a desert.
"I got this."
Ann looked over, her eyes wide. "Huh?"
"No," Ryuji said, finding his words around the cotton that seemed to fill his mouth. "No, I'm not letting you do that."
You shot him a fierce glare. "I'm not letting you do it either. Your leg is acting up again, I saw you limping while you ran, and I'm more fit for sprints like this anyway." He'd already measured the distance in his head, knowing you were better made from long sprints like this than he was, but that didn't stop him from trying to silently beg you to change your decision. "Hang tight, everyone. I'll grab the boat."
He wanted to say anything else to dissuade you. He knew anything would be futile though, and the longer your group went without action the faster the ship (and subsequently your chances of making it out alive) seemed to sink. Much like your codename, Arrow, you were straight to the point and determined in any course of action that you decided to take. You refused to hear any if's, and's, or but's. It was one of your worst traits but one of your best at the same time, and it was with great reluctance that he closed his mouth and stopped his silent refusals from becoming verbal.
You pulled your mask off your face and clipped it to the belt of your outfit. As though sensing his worries, you turned to Ryuji with a confident smile. "Besides, I'm a track star in my own right. Have a little faith in me, alright?"
Before anyone else could say anything, you jumped down from the open wall and landed on one of the column. You quickly adjusted your stance, trying to imagine that the sinking ship was just an incredibly unorthodox track field. Your legs tensed, and with a prolonged yell, you charged down the side of the building, the worried calls of your friends muted behind the sounds of the explosions.
Ryuji helped Haru and Ann out from the opening and flinched as a particularly loud explosion shook the sky. He looked over, keeping a firm grip on Ann as she struggled to steady herself, and felt his heart skip a beat when he saw you jump and land on the raised portion of the ship deck. A burning ember narrowly missed your face as it fell from the sky, and he could already see tiny scrapes beginning to show on your skin.
Yusuke called your name, his voice uncharacteristically tight with concern, and Ann encouraged you as loud as she could. Ryuji let go of her arm as the others spread out on either side of him, watching as you sprinted up the sinking ship.
He'd first met you in your first year at Shujin through the track and field team, when you had started making a name for yourself with startling ease. You had found each other through that sport, rising as stars and coming together in the end when Kamoshida ruined it all. You'd been the first and only one to visit when Kamoshida had broken Ryuji's leg, and he was one of the only ones to comfort you when Kamoshida had disbanded the track team and made it all out to be your fault alone.
At that first Palace, alongside Ann, Akira, and Morgana, the two of you had brought Shadow Kamoshida down to his knees and forged a permanent and everlasting bond through the Phantom Thieves. You'd landed the final blow on Kamoshida with your newly awakened Persona and he'd watched as two years of torture seemed to fade from your body. You'd been at his side ever since, and because of your vivacious personality, your kickass fighting, and your admittedly good-looking face, he'd fallen in love as well.
His heart jumped to his throat as he watched you jump to grab onto the lever to drop the boat. You used your forward momentum to pull it, and although he cheered with the others and high-fived Akira, he couldn't help the mild nausea that made his stomach churn. He wished he'd told you sooner about his feelings. If you didn't make it out tonight...
He shook his head firmly. No, you were going to survive. You had to.
He, Akira, and Ann grabbed the rope to pull the life boat closer to the ship. You made eye contact with him over your shoulder. He couldn't bring himself to look away, even as he helped Futaba and Haru hop onto the boat, even as Yusuke started up the engine. You seemed to notice how tense he was and gave him a lopsided grin with a thumbs-up. Although his anxieties were far from soothed, he managed to smile back.
"Hang on!" he yelled. Yusuke looked up from the engine as the boat sped over to you, although not nearly as fast as Ryuji wanted it to.
You watched them, dangling from the lever like some kind of beautiful decoration. His expression softened the closer they got. You were definitely gonna make it.
That was when one of the side engines exploded in a sudden wave of heat. He buried his face into the crook of his arm as the atmosphere seemed to shatter from the sound, explosion after explosion following in morbidly beautiful shades of red and orange and yellow. The water rose and fell around them in waves from the hot wind, and the moment everything calmed down, he disregarded the ringing in his ears and looked up.
You weren't there.
The entirety of the ship exploded and he covered his face again as bits of debris flew toward their small group. He was the first one to get up out of his seat, his knuckles turning white against the edge of the boat as he searched desperately for any sign of you.
Akira and Ann came up beside him, their faces mirroring the devastation and horror beginning to creep up his spine in a rush of cold. They'd known you for almost as long as he had, been there with you throughout everything in the past eight months, cried and laughed and celebrated with you for everything. You'd been one of the first to hear Akira's backstory, had learned of Ann's crush on Akira before anyone else. They trusted you to the end of the world and back.
And now, you were gone.
"No way...For real?" Ryuji asked, his voice trembling even as he tried to swallow back the tears. "What the hell..."
"Come on," Ann whimpered, eyes beginning to grow glassy with unshed tears. "This can't be happening!"
He bowed his head and screamed your name, feeling his blood turn to lead when his voice simply echoed in the night.
The world spun around them as they landed safely in front of the National Diet Building. He immediately looked around, spinning in a lazy circle and stumbling to a stop when he didn't see your familiar shadow coming over to meet them, a teasing grin on your face as you asked them why they were worrying so much. His legs felt like they were full of sand.
"They didn't...make it out..." Haru looked shell-shocked, her voice as quiet as a mild breeze.
You'd helped defend her against her fiancé and called the most vehemently for the other Phantom Thieves to change her father's heart. You'd been one of the first to approach her at school without any ulterior motives. If there was anyone she had to thank for her liberation besides Akira and Morgana, it was definitely you.
"We gotta go back!" Futaba insisted.
You and Makoto had been the most similar to her mother in the way you'd comforted her and helped her calm down after panic attacks and depressive episodes. When she woke up from her long nap after having successfully changed her heart, you'd been one of the first ones to greet her in her room.
Morgana looked down to the ground. "That's impossible."
Even though you'd taken countless opportunities to tease Morgana, you and he had formed a strong bond after he left the Phantom Thieves and even before then. You'd been the most attentive to his worries and his struggles, trying your best to comfort him and help him through. Next to Akira, he trusted you the most out of anyone he knew.
Yusuke shook his head, lips trembling as though trying to smile. "Ha...haha...this isn't funny at all."
You and Ann had both helped Yusuke realize the truth behind Madarame's supposed goodwill, but out of anyone in the Phantom Thieves you had also been the most accepting of his differences. If he was being honest, he might have ended up developing a crush on you, only quelling those feelings when he realized how Ryuji felt as well. That didn't stop him from admiring you both in the Metaverse and in the real world, and counting himself lucky that he'd ever met you in the first place.
Ann tightened her hands into fists at her sides. "They were our fastest runner too!"
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?!" Ryuji snapped, his words coming out far too angry and loud even for him.
Yusuke bent down to retrieve something from the ground. "So, this is the Treasure," he said as he stood back up, holding something tiny in the palm of his hand.
Makoto looked over. "It's a legislator's pin," she said, voice choked and cracked.
You and Makoto were like two peas in a pod; as Phantom Thieves, you supported the others and acted as their common sense, and as students you kept them in line and made sure they were taking care of themselves. When Kaneshiro threatened to extort Makoto and her sister, you had almost put yourself in danger for her sake. She had been so grateful for your help all this time but had never gotten around to thanking you, and now...
Ryuji covered his face with one hand, trying to fight back the hot lump in his throat. Futaba and Ann broke down into tears on either side of him while the others stood there in varying degrees of shock.
"Dude, that was so close!"
He looked up so fast he got whiplash. Futaba and Ann immediately stopped crying, their eyes widening as you came into the dim light from the streetlamp, back in your regular clothes and looking as though nothing had happened. Even the scrapes on your skin had all but vanished, the only evidence a spot of soot on your cheek.
Ryuji's hand dropped to his side and dangled there even as you leaned against the pole, seemingly not registering anything that was going on around you.
"Jesus, why do Palaces have to explode so much when we get out?" you asked. "Is it too much to ask for them to disappear normally?" You looked over and flinched at the looks on everyone's faces. You hugged yourself defensively and narrowed your eyes in mild suspicion. "...What?"
The others hurried toward you, standing mere inches away. Ryuji couldn't bring himself to touch you, afraid you would disappear if he got too close.
"Didn't you...die?" Haru asked in disbelief.
"What?!" You furrowed your brow and rubbed your head, trying to remember everything that had happened in the past however many hours. "I got blasted out from that explosion. When I woke up, I was lying in the grass...I'm alive, right? Head hurts like hell, so I'm guessing..." You trailed off and looked over at Ann. A confused smile came across your face at the puffiness around her eyes. "Wow, all those tears just for me? I'm touched."
Ann let out a frustrated yell and took a threatening step toward you. "It's your damn fault!"
You yelped as she slapped you out of nowhere, your head whipping to the side. You clutched at the stinging spot on your skin and gawked at her. "What did I do?!"
"We were worried about you!" Haru exclaimed, brushing the last of her tears away from her face.
Futaba scowled fiercely at you. "You troublemaker!"
Ryuji quelled everyone's anger by doing something that caught even you by surprise. You flailed your arms and legs as he wrapped his arms around your waist and picked you up in a tight embrace, squeezing you so tight against his chest that you felt a rib shift. "Ow, Ryuji--what the hell? What happened?"
"We thought you died!" Ryuji exclaimed. He dropped you down on the ground and cupped your face between his hands, seemingly oblivious to the others staring at him as though he'd just done something horrible. The blood drained from your face as he gave you an uncharacteristically pissed off look, something you'd always seen directed at other people but almost never at yourself. "Never pull shit like that again. Let me do it next time, alright?!"
"Absolutely not," you scoffed. "Besides, if I get treatment like this, I might as well pull stupid shit like that all the time."
He dropped his hands away from your face in shock as you gave him a cheeky smirk. Now it was your turn to bear the brunt of everyone's stares. You remembered telling Ann about your ideal guy, ranting to Makoto about how annoying Ryuji was at times, teasing Ryuji with Futaba over the texts, and flirting with guys to get them to stay away from Haru. Everything you'd ever done around the Phantom Thieves pointed away from you having a crush on Ryuji, and yet here you were, indirectly asking for more hugs and maybe other things from him in the future.
"Well?" you prompted when he didn't say anything else, putting your hands on your hips. "What else do you want, Ryuji? A kiss?"
His face flushed. "I--I--"
Akira stepped in. "Yeah, he definitely would."
Ryuji whirled on him. "Dude!"
Yusuke sighed and shook his head. "It really was not that big of a secret, Ryuji. You go heart-eyed every time you're around them and you even told us at one point that they're exactly the one you've been looking for all this time." Morgana didn't say anything but snickered in response to Yusuke's words, shooting Ryuji a suggestive side eye.
"I-I did not!" Ryuji turned back to you, face an adorable shade of crimson, and buried his face in his hands. You'd never seen him so mortified before, but you'd be lying if you said you didn't find it cute. (You'd never say that out loud, of course.) "Goddammit, for real?"
You laughed and gently tugged his hands down from his face. He looked anywhere except for you even as you said, "Well, I wasn't expecting my first kiss with you to be in front of everyone else, but just for the sake of embarrassing you again..."
He let out a muffled grunt as you pressed your lips against his. He could taste your cherry-flavored chapstick, felt the smoothness of your lips that he'd always imagined pressed up against his own and other body parts when he was particularly lonely. The presence of his friends around him was what fully stopped him from reciprocating, but as you pulled away, something about the situation made him realize that he really did not give a damn about who was watching and what they thought. The sheer relief of you being alive and the terror that something might happen again made him wrap his arms around your torso and press you flush against him.
Rather than getting flustered like he hoped you would, you grinned into the kiss and looped your arms around his shoulders. It wasn't revenge at all, but Ryuji couldn't lie and say it didn't feel good to finally have the person of his dreams trapped in his arms.
Futaba gagged, Haru and Yusuke gasped in disbelief, and the others all watched knowingly with varying degrees of happiness and impishness on their faces. You pulled away and winked at Ryuji, face flushed and lips slightly plumper than usual. The sight made his heart race and he was about to take you into another kiss, but before he could, Ann cheered and took you away from Ryuji to gush about how cute the two of you were together (as if Ryuji didn't already know that and wasn't standing mere feet away).
Akira came up next to him and watched as the girls accosted you. "Took you long enough."
Ryuji rolled his eyes and socked him in the arm, too full of happiness to put any real irritation into the punch. "Yeah, yeah, I know."