Persona 5 the Royal: Serendipity (Akira Kurusu x OC, HIATUS)

Winter Mornings (Short Skit)

A/N: Hello, Everyone! It's been a while since Exams nearly killed me;-; but I'm still alive and kicking. The next upcoming chapter of Arsene, Captain Kidd, and Castile (Part 2) will arrive soon by around Sunday! Since I've been writing over 10,000+ words in that chapter, I have to make up time for writing it!

Here's a short skit, that is NOT related to the story, but it'll help cope with the time that I'm writing the main story chapter, and I might drop some short or long skits in this book once in a while, to relieve some of the prolonged story stress.
Without further ado, here's the skit!
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Mid-December morning, out of all the days, ' Rei wakes up early for one good reason.

She is in a frantic frenzy.

Desperately wanted to give Akira something special to her, feeling the need to provide a gift to him now than later, despite Christmas is around the corner, as her aunt and uncle plan to go to New York around that time.

Entering Leblanc as it is open for now, Rei took deep breaths as she felt unusually nervous about greeting him.

'I wonder... if he will like it?'

While snapping back to reality, she noticed a note on the counter, that decides to read the contents that are considered necessary.

"I'm at the grocery store right now to buy ingredients for curry right now. Since I heard that Mari had let me know that you're coming, I decide to write this to let you know. Don't worry about customers around here, as they do not normally wake up around this hour until later on. -Soijiro."

While concentrating on recollecting her thoughts as she is alone for now or so she thought, as unfortunately, Rei did not realize the mischievous cat nearby as he is behind her, Morgana decides to scare the girl by jumping in front of her unexpectedly.

As a result, she nearly tripped before glaring at the now spiteful-looking cat.

"Rei, What are you doing here at this time? Normally you would sleep in during the weekends." Morgana stated in the way of fake surprise, as the brunette's sleeping patterns considered 'Motionless' that Akira had unfortunately coined for her.

"And I thought I'm 'Motionless Rei.'" She said sarcastically before adding to her reasoning, "It's just I want to give Akira something special before I need to go back to the States for the holidays."

"The way how you phrase sounds like you love him, don't you?" Morgana said teasingly.

"I-It's not like that! He's just a friend that I considered like a brother I never had." Rei replied with some uncertainty about her feelings.

"Are you sure about that? You two been going through a lot throughout the following months. Also, I never have seen Akira would never go that far to arrange time away from the others, as he only wanted to be with you. Sometimes he might mention if you are dating anyone yet, but I can tell that he would try to hide his feelings for you. As he doesn't want to hurt you just like your other family would."

Her eyes peered down in disbelief. Slowly she starts to piece things together, as love and affection are somewhat unfamiliar to her due to the harsh living conditions over in the United States. Back when she was living in Los Angeles before her aunt took her into custody over guardianship as an opportunity to keep her safe. But her broken heart and scars remain, even after being in Japan, the loving affection from her aunt, and having good friends.

The occasional emptiness and sorrow she felt of being afraid of not being loved as a family that wanted to start expressing more of her true self-one that is wanting to help others. The irony is that she can barely take care of herself mentally.

After a long pause... the brunette finally gathered her words and responded;
"Now you mention it... there are times that he was glaring at Yusuke or Ryuji out of all people, that we normally discuss either video games or art. Or times... t-that..."

Rei recalled a memory that will forever embarrass her for life, as she remembered the time back in one of the Palaces, that she accidentally blurts out her true feelings in front of him. In return, he would tease or come close to her beyond personal space.

'How could I be so oblivious!? What I stated was love because of it as a brother figure, right? But is it much more? I'm so confused... I never felt anything like it before in my life as I never thought... love is necessary to back in the States, as none of my relatives over there cared about me... neglecting and treating me like a tool. Being with Akira... makes me feel like I can be myself. How...
could I find my answer on this...'

Rei felt something wet slid down on her cheeks, as wiped her tears away.

"Rei, are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm just so happy that he loves me back. B-But how I am supposed to tell him properly?"

"Don't overthink it. Follow your heart and tell him what you have to say."

"I'll try to consider it. But thank you, Morgana, you made me realize something important to me."
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Going up the attic stairs, Rei noticed Akira still sleeping peacefully in his bed.

Taken aback of how childlike he is, combined with his handsome features and his following actions of the occasional tossing and turning, in which the brunette finds herself trying to not squeal out of her best friend/crush's cuteness.

'How adorable...'

When he shifted positions, causing Rei to flinch slightly only to realize it was for nothing, as he is still asleep. This causes her to look down at the small bag she was holding,

Not wanting to disturb him anytime soon, Rei decides to place the small bag near him and to get out before he wakes up and getting the wrong idea, but however...
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"Ah!" She wa pulled close to the bed, while Akira is trapping her with a firm embrace with a soft smile on his expression.

"I caught a beautiful woman..."

"Wha-!? L-Let me go!" She attempts to pry open from his grip only for no luck, as he is more reliable in terms of physical strength.

"This is punishment for waking me up in the first place."

"How did I wake you!?"

"You forgot that you were talking loud enough with Morgana even when it is early in the morning that I woke up. You've forgotten that I'm not much of a heavy sleeper."

"I-Is that so?" She shyly turned her head away from him, flustered.

"Answer me as I won't take no for an answer. Will you be mine?"

....

Rei stayed silent as her ears turned nearly red, still staring at him like a deer caught in headlights, before responding with a rare genuine smile causing Akira to try to hold back of his over fleeting emotions.

"I would say yes, anyway." She giggled before realizing that she forgets something, "Oh, that's right..! Here."

Taking out the gift inside of the small bag, she placed on his wrist, which turns out to be an opaque charm bracelet that matches hers.

"An unbreakable connection."

Touched by her kind intentions, especially receiving a gift that is connected to herself, means a lot to him. Unable to hold back his emotions, Akira leaned closer to her, gazing at her deep blue eyes that he grew to love, pressing his soft lips against hers in which she returned.

"Can we stay like this for a while?"

"Of course. I promise that we'll both find happiness together. You deserve to have a much better life, yet your heart is untainted by society, which I admire a lot about you. Remember this. I'll always stay by your side, my beloved Angel."

'That's why... he is someone who I can count on and trusted the most.

Always and forever."
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**EDITED since 7/5/2020