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Ann woke up to the sound of whispering.
“Told you. You owe me some yen.” One of them said.
“God dammit Ryuji..” The other one groaned. Ann opened her eyes and looked up to see Makoto and Ren standing above the couple in the space between the two beds, Ren handing some paper bills to Makoto. She tried to move to get up but she felt two strong arms wrapped around her. Looking over her shoulder she saw Ryuji’s sleeping face. She blushed before hearing Ren clear his throat.
“I hope we’re not interrupting anything.” He smirked. Ann felt Ryuji move behind her.
“Can y’all quiet down? I’m trying to sleep.” He yawned.
“Not until you tell us what’s going on here.” Makoto asked, crossing her arms.
“O-Oh. Uhhhhh.” Ryuji withdrew his arms from around Ann and sat up. “Me and Ann were just… Uhh.. We were.. Uhh.” He stuttered trying to form a complete explanation for why they were just cuddling. Ann sat up next to him.
“Don’t worry about hiding it, we already know you guys like each other.” Ren joked. “It seems like the only ones who didn’t know were you two.” The blondes blushed at that.
“W-Well what about you two? You guys tease each other and flirt all the time!” Ann mentioned. “And Ryuji said he saw you two holding hands in Shibuya!”
“Well Joker, I guess the jig is up…” Makoto sarcastically said, pretending to look sad.
“We’ve been found out.” Ren sat down on the other bed before pulling Makoto onto his lap to which she yelped in surprise.
“Wha-??” Ryuji looked at the couple with a confused face. The room was filled with an awkward amount of silence as Ren and Makoto blushed at what they just did.
“We thought that would have gone better, but apparently Ren is not that good of an actor.” Makoto said as she threw her arms around his neck.
“Makoto had this idea that if we walked in and you guys were doing anything remotely romantic, that we would reveal our big secret.”
“A-And if we weren’t?” Ann was still confused.
“Ren would have tried to convince Ryuji to ask you out.” Makoto said, kissing her boyfriend on the cheek.
“Thank God I didn’t have to do that.” Ren sighed. “I’m tired of trying to get you two together.”
“A-Anyway!” Ann added, trying to change the subject. “How long has this been going on? And when were you gonna tell us?” She gestured to the couple.
“Since late July or so.” Ren answered. “And I don’t think we planned on telling any of you.” Makoto looked a little embarrassed at hearing this.
“Y-You see, we didn’t really want to ruin the atmosphere our team had so we decided to keep it secret, but I guess that doesn’t really matter if half of the team is dating each other.” She explained. The others laughed at her last sentence.
Ann yawned and rested her head on Ryuji’s shoulder to which he reacted by his face turning red. He gently put his arm around her and leaned his head on hers.
“It’s getting kinda late. We should go to bed or somethin’.” He mentioned looking at the clock on the nightstand in between the two beds.
“Oh!” Ann smiled and clapped her hands together. “Makoto, you should have a sleepover with us!”
“That sounds like a great idea. How about it Mako?” Ren said while rubbing his girlfriend's arm.
“I guess I could spend the night, but what about Mishima? Isn’t he rooming here too?” She pondered.
“Nah, he’s downstairs talking to some Phansite chick or some shit like that.” Ryuji said. “He could take the couch too.”
“Alright, I guess that’s fine.” She accepted.
“But hasn’t it been a while? He should be done talking to her or something.” Ann mentioned as she laid down on her bed with Ryuji.
“Who knows, maybe he went back to her room.” He joked.
“Really? Mishima?” Ren asked, wrapping his arms around Makoto while spooning her on their bed. “The guy’s pretty cool and all, but I don’t think he has that kind of game. He once said ‘Kek’ out loud.”
“No shit, Really?!” Ryuji laughed. Ren nodded before Ann slapped Ryuji on the arm.
“Come on guys, don’t talk like that behind his back, it doesn’t always have to be the guy that initiates stuff, it could be the girl.” She defended.
“Wait, I have a small question.” Makoto raised a finger. The rest of the group awaited her question. “What does ‘Kek’ mean?”
Ren and Ryuji laughed while Ann just looked confused. The thieves chatted and joked until they finally gave in to the pull of sleep.
__________
Mishima was waiting in the hotel lobby for a friend he knew on the Phansite. The last time he did something like this, the girl and her friend both got sick, but he was pretty sure they were faking it. The lobby was empty, save for the attendants at the front desk and him sitting on a couch by a fake campfire. He kept flipping his phone over in his hand, nervously bouncing his leg. I’m not used to meeting new people. I wonder if they’re just as weird as me.
As he thought, he overheard the dinging of an elevator arriving. Oh God what if that’s them?! You can still just turn back and run! Wait, they have my contact info, they’ll just think I’m a jerk! He felt someone tap his shoulder. Looking up, his eyes met with those belonging to a girl with dark hair in a ponytail and glasses framing her face. She wore a t-shirt with baggy sweatpants. OH NO! ITS A GIRL?!
“Are you MishiYuki22?” She asked.
“U-Uh.. Yeah!” Mishima replied, standing up. “You must be SickOf2Zumi.” He went for a hug, but instead got the signal for a handshake. FUUUUUCK!!! WHAT AM I DOING!! They shook hands.
“You can just call me Izumi.” She explained.
“I’m Mishima.” He replied. “It’s so weird that we managed to be in the same place at the same time, I’m guessing you’re here on a school trip too?”
“Yeah, originally my school was supposed to go to Los Angeles, but a storm threw off our flight so we went here instead.” She explained.
“Ohhh. So you go to Kosei High?”
“Yeah It’s pretty nice but the amount of work makes me too busy to game.” She sighed before sitting down on the couch. Taking this as a hint, Mishima sat down next to her, but not to close.
“Oh what games do you like to play?”
“I used to be a big console gamer, but when my brother gave me his old PC I’ve managed to play some other games.” Izumi said.
“Have you played Gang Fortification 3?” Mishima asked. “I personally think that’s the gateway to PC gaming.”
“Yeah! That’s one of my favorites! I love how satisfying it is to shoot someone in that game! That’s why I play the Trooper class!”
“I like the Builder class. It’s nice to multitask and just sit around and let the turret do all the killing.”
“I guess so, but I also like more fast paced games. Lately I’ve been playing Top Luminaries, the movement in that game is so fun!”
“What is that?”
“It’s a FPS Battle Royale, and it has a class system like Gang Fortification.”
“Oh that's the one with the happy robot right?”
“YEAH! He’s like my favorite character!” Izumi pulled out her phone. She opened up an app that Mishima recognized all too well. “You should add me on Fume so we can play sometime! I feel like we spend too much time talking about the Phantom Thieves on the Phansite that we never talk about other stuff.”
“Oh yeah, but the Phantom Thieves are a really popular topic right now. For example I overheard some people talking about it at the beach today. All the way over here in the US!” Mishima pulled out his phone.
“I wonder if they’ll ever change the hearts of people outside of Japan, because there are people like that Kaneshiro guy all over the world.” She pondered. “But I’m glad they’re doing what they can.”
“Yeah.” They sat there, looking at their phones and thinking.
“Anyway! Fume!” Izumi turned her phone towards his. “We need to play some games when we get back.”
“O-Oh. Ok.” They added each other on the service.
“I should probably get back, I have a big day tomorrow.” She stood up, stretching. Mishima shouldn’t have stared as long as he did, but he felt strangely attracted to her. Nothing like when he hung out with Ren’s “sister” Futaba, or when he went to the maid cafe. This was something else. He wanted to hang out with her, and talk with her more. “Thanks for talking to me Mishima! It was nice to finally meet up.”
She started walking away. He felt an impulse and decided to say something.
“Hey Izumi!” He got her attention and she turned around. “I know a really cool arcade in Shibuya. You want to go there sometime?” She blushed and started fiddling with her hands nervously.
“O-Oh.. Uh.. Yeah! Let’s do that.” She quickly turned around and ran to the elevators. Did I just ask her out on a date? Mishima put his hands to his face to hide his blush. OH MY GOD DID I JUST SUCCESSFULLY ASK A GIRL ON A DATE?? He sat in the lobby for a while thinking about what he just did before heading back to his room.
Upon arriving at the room he was met with a strange sight. On the bed closest to the door he saw Ryuji and Ann laying on the bed, with the former’s arms wrapped around the latter. Looking at the other bed, the bed he earned by winning a game of cards, he saw Ren cuddling with.. Makoto Niijima?! What is she doing here? And what’s going on?! Are Ann and Ryuji a thing? What about Ren and the Prez?! Are they a thing? Damn. Ren’s got game! He moved over to the couch and laid down. I guess I understand what they’re going through, but I deserve an explanation in the morning. I’m still a little peeved that they took my bed. Mishima felt his phone vibrate, pulling it out of his pocket he saw that it was from Izumi. His heart rushed seeing the message which read:
SickOf2Zumi: Sorry if I acted a little strange, I’m not used to meeting up with people like that. See you in Japan, or maybe here if we (hopefully) run into each other. <3
Mishima smiled and replied to the message and peacefully joined the four phantom thieves into sleep.