Persona 5 Royal AU

Chapter 13 - Meeting Dr. Maruki and Yusuke

The day of the exams has come, for the whole day we had to do exams. At lunch we ate in the cafeteria, I sat with Ann and Ryuji.

"How do you think you're doing so far?" I asked.

"Don't ask man." Ryuji said.

"You're going to fail I bet." Ann said.

"Shut up." he said.

After lunch exams continued through till the end of the day. I can't do anything else today aside rest up early for the next two days of exams. After the next day of exams, came the final day of the exams. We finished up another set of exams and were called for an assembly. The principal told us all that there was going to be a therapist to help us after what happened to Kamoshida. He introduced himself as Dr. Maruki, and he seemed okay. I had to wonder in he was okay after bonking his head against the microphone on the auditorium stage.

After the assembly; Ann, Ryuji, and I met up to discuss a bit about Dr. Maruki when he walked up to us.

"Hey there." he said. "You must be Sakamoto-kun and Takameki-san correct? And that means your are Amamiya-kun right?"

We were surprised he knew our names.

"How'd you know our names?" Ryuji asked.

"The school told me about certain students who have had previous interactions with Kamoshida." Dr.Maruki replied. "That also must've been tough on you since you had just transferred here Amamiya-kun."

"Well yeah it was kinda tough." I replied.

"Glad to know that you're fine now." he said smiling.

"So whaddya want with us?" Ryuji asked.

It was easy to tell that Ryuji was suspicious of Dr. Maruki but he doesn't seem like a bad guy. Shadeon isn't tense around him at the very least.

"Oh right I had almost forgotten. I know I offered my services to the entire student body but I was wondering if you three would be interested in counseling?" he said.

I knew Ryuji was going to straight up say no. That's the way he is really.

"Nope, not gonna happen." he said.

"Oh? That's surprising!" he said.

A bit more back and forth and then Maruki mentioned that he'd have snacks during the session.

"Snacks?" I said.

"Dude really?" Ryuji said.

"Don't just focus on the snacks Ren." Ann said.

"I'll be honest, the school wants me to counsel the students who had interactions with Mr. Kamoshida." Dr. Maruki said. "Though making it mandatory would probably be worse on you."

"Course the school would." Ryuji grumbled.

"Oh I know, if you come to counseling, I'll give you mental training. It'll help you focus more on studying and not get nervous on dates. How about it?" he asked.

Mental training could be good for the phantom thieves.

"There's also snacks." Dr. Maruki said.

"Alright enough with the snacks!" Ryuji said.

"I think we have to." I said. "It'd be more of a hassle not going cause the teachers would no doubt ask us if we went."

"Then it's a deal." Dr. Maruki said smiling.

I guess after school today I'll go see him. But only after exams are finished for the day. Soon after school, I went to the nurses office since that's where Dr. Maruki would be. He was talking to Yoshizawa-san. I guess she's being counseled too.