My Key Item (Joker X Futaba) Persona 5 Royal

Chapter Sixteen - Berserker

It's been almost a month since Futaba's first time fainting, and she's been remembering more and more. Lavenza has also been appearing rather regularly for lessons on Humanity, particularly on love. Lavenza had become infatuated with the subject, even requesting that I show her what a kiss is like first hand. I had to call Futaba for that one, as she was very insistent. Surprisingly, she agreed, and when I kissed her, she seemed to be very into it, but Futaba brushed it off, saying she was trying for an authentic experience.

We're currently on our way home, with a quick stop in Shibuya for Curry ingredients. As we leave the store someone bumps into me. I brush it off as a drunk until I realize my wallet is gone.

I start to chase after the pickpocket, and the man turns into an alley, Futaba running quickly behind me. When we turn into the alley, I freeze. Five men, all with guns.

"Down on the ground." I consider trying to hop into the Metaverse, but the transition would be too slow, getting us killed. I slowly lay face down on the ground. To my horror, Futaba doesn't.

"Give it back." The men laugh uproariously, and one walks up to her.

"You want it back? Take it." I scramble to my feet, putting myself between him and Futaba.

"I'm sorry! We're sorry, just let us go! We never even saw your faces!" The man shoves me aside, stronger than I expected, and pistol whips her across the face, knocking her out. I grip my head as a splitting headache fills my brain, forcing all thought away. Only rage.

*******

When I come to, Akira is on the ground, the muggers around us beaten to a bloody pulp. I hold my head, standing slowly.

"What... What happened?" Akira slowly stands and looks around, his eyes going wide. "Who did this?" We look down at his hands, and I take a step back. His knuckles are covered in blood.

"We need to get out of here." I run out of the alley, Akira kneeling down at a puddle of water to wash the blood from his knuckles. We run all the way to the train back to Yongen, and I won't deny, this is the first time I can say that I'm scared of Akira. Does he really not remember hurting those men?

When we get back to Yongen, I kiss him quickly, and run back home. I need to see the security footage of that fight.

When I get home, I run to my room, the photo of Akira and I sleeping next to each other on the couch framed on the desk. I slowly set the photo face down on the desk. I need to know.

After only five minutes I'm in the system, Protein Lovers Gym having excellent CCTV. I watch myself get hit in the face, falling to the ground, and rub the bruise tenderly. Then it happens. Akira stands up, the sounds of his screams making my headphones peak, the sound crackling. Akira swings his fist, sending one of the attackers flying into a brick wall, the next three being bludgeoned again and again, blood splashing from his attacks.

Then there is the final man. The one who hit me. The man fires an astonishing fifteen bullets into Akira's body, who simply shrugs it off, grabbing the man by the neck, and slamming him into a brick wall over and over, before finally collapsing back to the ground. A moment later, I wake up, as does Akira and I watch as we run away.

I quickly download the data to my phone before deleting the whole day from the server. No one would see this. I need to talk to everyone.

*******

I rush upstairs, dropping off the ingredients for Sojiro quickly, so he won't see the blood on my Uniform. I pull off my clothes, Morgana jumping off the bed, glaring at me.

"YOU FORGOT ME AT- oh shit... What happened to you?" I look down and hold in a scream. My body is riddled with scars that look like Bullet holes. Examining the holes in my uniform, I realize that when I blacked out, I must have been shot at. But that doesn't explain the scars. I should be bleeding out. I need to see Takemi.

I throw on a sweater, and run back outside, not heeding Sojiro calling for me, feeling something moving in my chest. I sprint to Takemi's, throwing the door to her waiting room open. I stagger into the examination room, panting. Moments later, Tae is inside.

"What is it, what happened?! Are you hurt?!?!" I pull off my sweater.

"T-Tae... These weren't here this morning... There's something in my chest. I can feel them moving when I move... Help..." Tae lays her hand on my forehead, and retracts it quickly.

"Shit, you're burning up. Here, take this." She hands me a quickly poured cup of blue liquid. "That should bring down the fever. Come on." I down the fluid in one as she leads me to another room. "Lay on this bench. I'm going to give you an X-Ray and see what's happening. Should I call Soj-"

"NO!!" I grab her arm as she reaches for her pocket. "YOU CAN'T CALL HIM! FUTABA EITHER! Please... I don't know what's happening to me..." I release her hand and lay still as she asks me, a worried look on her face. A few minutes later, she comes back with results, a look on her face that I can only describe as fear.

"I- I don't understand... There are fifteen bullets in your body. It's almost as if your body scarred the holes the moment you got shot... You're lucky though. None of them hit any major organs or arteries. Give me a few hours in basic surgery, you'll be fine. But I have to call Sojiro." I try to slow down my breathing, nodding my head, fading into unconsciousness.