Life Will Change Book 2

Chapter 27: A Romantic Night Off

Begin!

~Normal POV

After such an emotional day, when the evening rolled around, things had calmed down considerably. Thus, it was deemed that everyone could "take the night off," so to speak. At least until Zenkichi came back with news of Hyodo for them. Haru and Ryuji went off together somewhere in town to celebrate their victory in private. Makoto took the time to do last minute souvenir shopping. Yusuke went back to finishing his sketches of Odori Park. And Futaba was tasked by Akira to watch Morgana and Sophia for a while. (On the grounds that Sophia prevented her from tampering with his phone, like she was prone to do.) He didn't mind having Sophia on his phone, but the lack of complete privacy was getting a little tiresome. And he definitely wanted the alone time for his own personal plans tonight.

He found Ann standing by a food stall in the park. "Hey gorgeous." He greeted, brightly.

"Hey! What's up?" Ann replied, cheerily.

"Well, let's see... we had a successful job... Everyone else is doing their own thing... And I happened to notice that Sapporo has a Ferris wheel in the city..." Akira held out his hand to her. "Would you like to take a ride?"

"Ooo! A Ferris wheel, huh? I can't imagine why you'd ask me something like that." She grabbed his hand. "Ok, let's go!"

~...

The Ferris wheel being located in the heart of Sapporo meant that much of the view was of the buildings around them. But it went high enough that they could see a great view of the skyline eventually. The two young lovers sat close to each other, thankful for another rare chance at some privacy on this trip. Next time the Phantom Thieves took a trip together, Akira would be better prepared to set aside time just for him and Ann, accordingly. All this business with the Jails and doing Zenkichi's bidding was getting into their limited couple time.

"Wow, look, Akira! The lights are so pretty! Oh- I can see the tower by Odori Park! Look, look, it's so shiny!"

Akira chuckled at her enthusiasm while watching her. He never tired of her bubbly nature. And it never failed to make him smile.

"I had no idea there was a Ferris wheel right in the middle of the city like this!" Ann said, grinning.

"Mhmm..." Akira replied, softly. "The view is simply breathtaking."

Ann blushed and couldn't help pouting a bit at him. "Damn it, you! I can't focus on the scenery with you looking at me like that!" As punishment, she poked him in the ribs.

"Hey-!" He said, flinching from her touch. "I'm just being honest!"

"You're too sweet sometimes..." She said before kissing him.

One kiss quickly turned into several more, making up for all the lost time. Just letting themselves enjoy the spoils of their heist in each other's embrace. Unfortunately, they did have to come up for air after a while. After that, Ann leaned into his shoulder comfortably. Akira always loved how physically affectionate she was. It was perhaps the only thing that was genuinely difficult about their long distance relationship. Everything else they were able to work around; having the ability to text and video call whenever they wanted.

They sat there, wrapped up in each other, enjoying the slow ride together, before Ann spoke up again. "Akira...?"

"Hm?"

"I meant to ask last time we got to be alone but... is everything really ok? At home, I mean?"

Ann was the only member of the team who was directly privy to the information of what happened to Akira's old life and associates after the false charge. The others had made their educated guesses based on his attitude about the subject, but they'd been wise not to bring it up. Thus, after he had to go back to his hometown, she would get worried about his emotional state, having to be around all the people who abandoned him and broke his trust. It couldn't have been a pleasant feeling.