The Place Where We Belong ( Persona 5 x Reader )

The unpleasant truth

A whole day of classes was over, one less exam to worry about. We were all still thinking about the Palace. I wasn't comfortable with this waiting game. The more time passed, the more Yusuke could be abused. All of us were with the same mindset, well, almost all of us. While they were still thinking of a way to get proof about the abuse, I was just hoping Yusuke called me for help. We were all running out of ideas until Yusuke sent me a message.

'(L/n)-chan, it is indeed true.' It read. I quickly glanced around to see where the others were and quickly started typing, moving the plan forward, but alone.

'What is?' I replied. He took a little while to respond, but he did so eventually. If he had gathered up the courage to tell me such a thing, he wouldn't back down now, knowing I could make my own conclusions with that one sentence.

'The painting. I am the artist behind it.' He wrote. My eyes got wide open, almost in disbelief even though I already knew what was happening, maybe part of me just didn't want to believe that he was being abused.

I rose my head and looked around me again and then glanced back at my phone. I stared at the screen for a short while.

'Why are you telling me this?' I asked as I started walking towards the station on my own, the others were nowhere to be seen.

'Do you think it is possible for you to come here for a short while?' He questioned. I texted back, stating that I was on my way there.

As I kept moving forward, I came across Akira and Morgana. I looked him in the eyes with a soft smile. He looked back at me with the same facial expression. Morgana popped out of the bag and looked at me too. They had been waiting for me so as to go home together.

"You took a little while to get here. Is everything okay?" He asked as he noticed I was previously looking at my phone. I nodded as a response. 

"Hum, I won't be going to LeBlanc right now, there's somewhere I got to be first," I told him. He slightly tilted his head to the side as we started walking together.

"Where?" Morgana asked. I sighed as I looked at what was in front of me.

"Madarame's house. I think I've got something that might help us with the proof of the abuse." I told them. I was going to do it alone, but then again, I wouldn't exactly be able to hide it from my roommate.

"Are you just going to spy on them?" Akira asked as we entered the train station.

"Nah, that would just be wrong." I was going to show them the messages that Yusuke and I exchanged, but he had deleted all of his part of the conversation. "It's not here anymore, but he admitted to the plagiarism." Akira nodded and Morgana looked at me suspiciously. He must've not believed I was telling the truth.

"But why are you going there?" Our team leader replied.

"He asked me to go there. Something must've happened there, he was basically asking for my help." I explained. Akira suggested that we went together, but I asked him not to. 

[TIME SKIP, MADARAME'S HOUSE]

I had told Yusuke that I was there and he came downstairs to open the door for me to come inside. We went to his room, Madarame wasn't home yet, so we had some time to talk about things if he wanted to.

"I apologise for the sudden request." He said as he sat down where he had been painting before I appeared. He did not pick up any brushes or paint tubes, so I assumed we were going to talk about things.

"How are you feeling? Did he hurt you in any way?" I asked as I sat on the floor, not looking anywhere else but in his direction. Yusuke on the other hand was avoiding eye contact. "Did he physically abuse you?" I asked. He remained silent for a while until he looked at me and spoke up.

"Not physically... No." He said. A worried look found its way to my face. Everyone knew that psychological abuse was just as bad as physical. "As you already know, he does use our paintings as the source of his income... I have to say, you have quite a keen eye." My lips were sealed in a thin line.

"If he is an abuser... Why are you telling me this?" I asked as I thought of the consequences that such an act could imply.

"I am not so sure about the reason, but I sense that you can understand what I am saying, almost as if you knew how it is to be abused." His words got me, but I couldn't give it away. No one could know and it was best to keep it that way.

"I used to be the student counsellor at my school. You'd be surprised to know how many abuse cases I have solved." I explained, it technically wasn't a lie, but counselling definitely wasn't the source of my problems.

"Solved? You really believe such a thing is possible?" He frowned his eyebrows, almost as if he was mad at me. I nodded.

"I am not lying when I say I can help, Yusuke," I reassured. He wrapped his arms around himself as he looked at the floor. He opened his mouth so as to speak, but he was interrupted by the sound of a stomach rumbling, and it wasn't mine.

"My apologies... Do you happen to have any food with you?" I reached out for my school bag, thinking I still had some protein bar or something of the sort left from the school day but found out I had none.

"Not right now, but I can go get some. I'll be right back." I told him while I got up. He nodded and thanked me in advance. I was about to leave the room when I remembered. "Hum, Yusuke...?" His eyes gazed my way, still with a tint of pain behind them. "In case your sensei gets here while I'm out, set things up as if I am coming to model for you for a short bit," I told him, already on the other side of the door which was still opened. He nodded and hummed accordingly.

I got out of the shack and went to a vending machine nearby. It wouldn't be much, but it would be enough to help him. I got a few snacks so that he could eat some later, I was hoping he liked eating what I was getting him. I stood in front of the shack, but right before I rang the doorbell, I heard something that seemed like an adult yelling. I frowned my eyebrows and rang the doorbell. The yelling stopped and Madarame was the one to greet me at the door, Yusuke wasn't there.

"Sir Madarame! It's a pleasure to meet you in person!" I put on the best fake smile I could. He seemed to do exactly the same as he looked at me, but I knew on the inside he just wished I wasn't there.

"Hello, young one. What brings you here?" He asked as he looked far to the road.

"I came here to model for Yusuke-kun, but to think I would be able to meet lord Madarame in person!" I smiled as if I was a super fan of his, but kept an eye open to see his reaction to hearing 'lord' before his name. He let a smirk slip through his façade.

"Oh, haha. No need for that, I'll call Yusuke down right now." He showed a sweet smile again. He closed the door and headed upstairs, this time a smirk found its way to my lips. I was pretty sure 'Lord' must've been something linked to his Palace because of that reaction to it. Getting on his good side might come in handy for the future if needed.

He called his pupil downstairs and we greeted each other as if it was the first time we were seeing one another that day. We went to his room, and there I handed over the snacks. He thanked me a lot as he got one to eat. I sat on a bench he had prepared, where I would pose for him. This was definitely not my thing, but I had to do whatever it takes to help him out. At least he did not ask me to pose nude.

After a few hours, we stopped what we were doing as I had to go home. Akira had already texted me twice and I hadn't responded. Yusuke got a bit closer to me which was a surprise since he was always keeping his distance. He avoided eye contact with me as he spoke. "I accept it." I looked at him, confused. "I don't know how you'll do it... But I accept that you try to help me." He stated and then stepped away, looking at me. I showed him a soft smile. Not only did I have proof of the abuse, but I also had an ok to go forward with the plan.