Jokers and Maids

Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5, or the characters.

Fishing

"Tell me why I can't use my third eye again? That would be so much easier."

"Because that's cheating," Ms. Kawakami insisted, flashing her engagement ring at her fiancé. "You want to learn from the 'Master Fisher', right?" she chuckled. Instead of the regular fishing pond, the two decided to take their fishing adventure to Seaside Park. While it was relaxing to be able to catch fish that were already tagged, the teacher desired a more "spontaneous" experience with the ocean.

"Of course," Akira said, obediently. "Teach me, sensei."

"That's more like it. Now, before I reveal some of my secret tips, we must first go back to the basics. Clear your mind and free yourself from negative thoughts."

"Like accepting the grim reality of society," Akira expanded.

"Exactly," Sadayo confirmed. "For instance, I hate that I can't show you the true affection like I want to while we are in public. I'm not of fan of having to wait until you leave." Today was an exceptionally difficult situation as they both agreed to show no public displays of affection. While there was a small thrill in seeing how long they could keep their hands off each other, they both deemed Seaside Park a high-risk area to do anything like that. Sure, a student fishing with his teacher was out of the ordinary as well, but fewer passerbys would bat an eye at that.

"It's taking everything in me not to drag you away to a more private place and kiss those lips of yours," the teacher seductively added in, looking directly at him.

Akira could have been the master of self-control. "I feel the same way, but we're supposed to be on our best behavior, remember?" her student teased back with a smirk, not diverting his eye from the buoy. "Accept that grim reality," he semi-jokingly ordered. Akira slowly raised his hand and pointed to the body of water. "And I have a bite."

Sadayo turned to the direction and briefly noticed the buoy before it went under. Akira immediately cranked his reel handle. The fight between the two was intense, as the fish's strength pulled him into the rail. The nurturing side of Sadayo caused her to instantly come to his aide. However, he insisted that it was okay, wanting to impress her with his skills.

"T-this….is a big fish!" he strained, attempting to plant his feet firmly into the ground. "This must be some type of Guardian." Akira's heart raced as he could feel this massive fish's tug on the lure.

"The stress on the rod made Sadayo think that the line could break at any moment."

"Control your breathing!" she warned. "You don't have a hook in your mouth. Remember that you have the upper hand here!"

The student followed the master fisher's advice, as simple as it was. Failure was not an option for him. He was going to impress her. Slowly but surely, Akira regained his composure, and steadily reeled the fish in

"There you go, mas- I mean Akira!" Sadayo cheered. She quickly remembered that this was not the best place to call him 'that'.

Both of the duo's hearts were pounding as the fish was getting closer to land. A silver outline formed at the top of the water, followed by orange. At first, they thought it was a multicolored fish, until they saw writing. The excitement was wiped off of Akira's face once the truth of their catch came fully to surface.

"What? A bus stop sign? A BUS STOP SIGN?! All of that for a BUS STOP sign!"

A little irritated, Akira unhooked the sign, and tossed it to the side. Sadayo couldn't help but to laugh. It was rare to see him unnerved like this.

"I'm glad you find this funny."

"I sure do. I rarely get to see you lose your cool. It's quite entertaining, actually."

Akira smiled and pointed at his 'catch' lying on the ground. "I hope you know how to make bus stop curry, because I'm done fishing for today." He might have been irritated, but he always enjoyed the playful banter between them.

"How about we go to that popular Ogikubo ramen restaurant instead?" Sadayo suggested.

"Or that could work, too…." Akira told her.

Curious about the random bus stop sign, Sadayo knelt and gave the object a closer look.

"Hey, this is an Inaba bus stop sign."

"Inaba?" Akira questioned. "How did that get all the way over here?"

"Not sure. You know, I have a cousin that lives there. She was the reason I was inspired to become a teacher in the first place. She always wore an Egyptian hat and carried a crook to go along with it. It has been a while since I've spoken to her. The last time we spoke, she told me of a very special student she had. He kept good grades all year long, and always came through whenever she needed him to do something for her."

"Did she date him, too?" Akira asked, hoping to get under her skin.

Sadayo paused for a moment, and glared at her student.

"I'm going to hurt you…."

Akira was laughing before she could even finish her sentence. It was now his turn to make her irritated.

"No!" Sadayo finished, explaining herself clearly. "She did not date her student, you problem child. This was a few years ago. He's actually engaged to that famous Rise Kujikawa girl now. Anyways, let's get on to the ramen restaurant before I change my mind and really make you some bus stop curry."

"I love you, Sadayo!" Akira exaggerated. It was his silly way of asking for forgiveness. The two smiled at one another, and instinctively reached out to hold hands before remembering that they were to show no physical displays of affection there. Pulling his hand back, Akira took one last look at the bus stop sign, thinking of how useful that sign could have been useful back in Mementos.

Unbeknownst to the two, someone was promptly watching their every move, with her only form of stealth being a tree, and a book.

"No way!" Makoto gasped, lowering the book from her face. She was there on behalf of Ann, Yusuke and Ryujii, whom insisted that there was something going on between Akira and his teacher. Despite telling her what they saw, Makoto had her doubts, and attempted to write them off as overreacting, especially Ryujii. As someone whose dream it is to be in law enforcement, it was her duty to give Akira every benefit of the doubt: innocent before proven guilty. This became especially true since her distance from them made it extremely difficult to hear what they were saying. They weren't 'kissing', and there was no 'lipstick' on the inside of Akira's shirt. As for Sadayo flashing her ring: perhaps they were good friends, and she was excited to show Akira the ring her fiancé had purchased for her! Pulling their hands back from each other? Well, that was much harder to write off, but it could have been a coincidence!

"Who am I kidding?" Makoto asked herself. As someone who was also studying love, she couldn't deny the circumstantial evidence in front of her, and their matching rings proved to be the final piece of evidence she needed. Sure, she could have still given them every benefit of the doubt, but deep down, she knew this only pointed to one conclusion.

"They were….right…."

Author Notes:

I am soooooo sorry that this chapter took so long to get out! This has been the hardest chapter for me to write so far because there were so many directions I wanted to take it. Also I got so excited thinking about future chapters when I didn't even have this one started! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this! Rise was my favorite in Persona 4, so I HAD to give her an honorable mention! XD

As always, let me know what you think in the reviews!