Chapter Text
Normally at this time, the small café in Yongen-Jaya would be filled with its regulars coming for their afternoon coffee and chat with its owner, Sojiro Sakura (aka Boss). But today, the sign on the door read 'Closed', and a group of young adults were sitting around in the booths. This might've annoyed any other barista, and it probably would've at least ticked Sojiro off a little bit on any other day. But this was not any other day. Today, his Technically-son would be returning to Tokyo. But this time, he'd be living there permanently.
Ever since Ren Amamiya had served his probation, he'd visited the rest of the Phantom Thieves (Now currently sitting at the booths) twice. Once during the summer, a visit that quickly spiralled into another Phantom Thieves mission, and once during Christmas, where thankfully, nothing Metaverse related happened. But now, the young man had finished with school and had been accepted into the same College as Makoto Niijima. But, while she would be studying to become a member of the police force, he would be studying to become a politician. He even managed to get an apprenticeship under Toranosuke Yoshida, an old friend of his, as well as his job in Leblanc.
Speaking of his friends, all of the Phantom Thieves were sitting around on the booths, waiting excitedly for their old Leader to come home. Sojiro smiled as he noticed the fact that they were all seated in their respective couplings. Ann Takamaki and Ryuji Sakamoto were sitting at the farthest from the door, doing what they usually did, bickering. To an outsider, this would look like a serious lovers quarrel (pun very much intended), but to their group of friends, this was just their dynamic. the dead giveaway that it wasn't serious was the fact that the two of them were holding hands, and it was clear that all that was wrong was Ryuji made a friendly tease that annoyed Ann.
On the other end of that table sat Yusuke Kitagawa and Haru Okumura. Sojiro had to admit, he was very impressed with this relationship in particular. Not only was he impressed that the weird arty kid who sometimes forgot to eat managed to woo the head of a big food corporation, but the two of them were the textbook example of what a relationship should be, a team. Haru had Yusuke decorate the interior of her brand new café, and people were so impressed by it, that Yusuke started to get commissions for interior design, which is now what he's studying in collage. But, while they both earn money to support themselves and each other, Haru clearly made more, so Yusuke learned how to make curry, coffee and other foods from Sojiro, and would be the one to prepare food for the two of them while Haru worked. Sojiro really admired this dynamic, and thought the others could learn from them.
In the next booth over sat Sojiro's daughter Futaba Sakura and her girlfriend Sumire Yoshizawa. When Futaba finally came out of her shell, Sojiro was worried that she might start attracting boys. Being the naïve young woman that she was, he was concerned that some punk would try to take advantage of her. But all of those concerns were put to rest when Futaba confessed to him that she was gay, and was hoping to date Sumire, but only if he was ok with it. While he would never admit this, Sojiro was so relieved that Futaba wasn't into boys that he almost celebrated. But he restrained himself, and allowed Futaba to date the gymnast. He didn't even give Sumire the "If you hurt my daughter" lecture. Not because he thought girls wouldn't harm anyone, (he'd met the female Phantom Thieves after all) but because he knew Sumire's heart was too big to do something like that. Seeing his daughter sitting there cuddling her girlfriend just brought such warmth to his heart.
And last but not least, in the seat nearest to the door sat Makoto Niijima. Unlike the rest of the Thieves, she was sitting by herself. She wasn't as talkative as the others today. She kept sitting there, staring at the door, then glancing down at her watch, then reading something on her phone, then stare back at the door again. She had been doing this for the past half hour. She and Ren had been going out ever since his probation days in Tokyo. She had been looking forward to this day ever since Ren texted them in their group chat that he'd gotten accepted into the college. Now, she was antsy and restless, and looked rather worried.
"Relax Makoto" Sumire reassured her, finally untangling herself from Futaba. "If anything had happened to Senpai (I feel dirty just writing that), we would have found out." "I know!" Makoto replied. "But what if something happened to him and he wasn't able to tell us? What if another accident occurred? What if he was mugged and is now lying unconscious in an alley? What if...?" As her worried rants continued, the ex strategist started hyperventilating a bit. Har got up from her seat next to Yusuke and started calming Makoto down. "Mako-chan," she reassured, "if anything like that had happened to Ren-kun, it would have appeared in the news by now. and anyway, Mona-chan knows his way around here better than anyone, he would've run in to warn us by now."
"You're right," said Makoto, "it's just that it's unbelievable that Ren is going to be staying here forever. So unbelievable that sometimes I get the feeling that something is going to happen that'll put a stop to this plan." Ryuji couldn't help but laugh a bit after hearing that, earning a nice hard elbow to the ribs from Ann. "Sorry," he said, "I just think it's rather amusing to see our once level-headed strategist spiral into paranoia like that." This got a small chuckle from Makoto, before she went back into her routine of waiting.
The Thieves were originally planning to jump out at Ren and surprise him when he arrived, but after doing that on the day of his release from prison, the day he returned for the summer and the day he returned for Christmas, they knew he'd be expecting it. But, Makoto still came up with an effective way of surprising him. One that worked a treat when he finally arrived. When the fluffy-haired boy finally stepped through the door to the café, apologising for his tardiness, he was surprised to find that Makoto was the only one who didn't barrel into him for a hug. In fact, he didn't see Makoto at all. But, just as he called out her name, she leapt out from behind him and pulled him into a long kiss. Futaba quickly snapped a picture, guffawing at the surprised but content look on Ren's face as Makoto's lips made contact with his.
As the group sat down and began talking about their futures and what they planned on doing, Sojiro began handing out plates of coffee and curry. As he walked by each couple, he smiled at the memory of how they all got together. He was very thankful to one Phantom Thief in particular, Ann Takamaki. Without her meddling, those kids might still be dancing around their feelings right now, and just seeing them do that back when those feelings first started emerging were frustrating enough for Sojiro. He chuckled to himself as the memories of how Ann played matchmaker and got them all to confess came back to him.