Faith's confession

MAJOR SPOILERS

This is the last warning, this story has major spoilers for Persona 5 Royal, if you haven't reached the third semester then, unless you don't care about spoilers, I recommend you turn back.

With that said, welcome to a new one-shot!

To put it simply, this is Sumire's rank 9 confidant but with more dialogue from Akira/Ren/Joker.

Two things to note before I leave you with the one-shot.

One: I'm using Akira for MC's name, I don't have anything against Ren but I like that name better, simple as that.

Two: I'm using Kasumi's tag in the story to avoid spoilers as much as possible but I will change it to Sumire once some more time has passed.

With all that said, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Persona or any of the characters.

On with the one-shot!

"Hey, Sumire." Akira called out as he approached his red-haired kouhai.

"Oh, Akira-senpai." She said after he made his presence known. "Is something the matter? Are we meeting with everyone?"

"I wanted to ask if you'd like to hang out." The frizzy haired teen answered with a smile.

"Eh, hang out?! But… what about the Palace?" The Yoshizawa lowered her voice for the last few words to avoid others hearing her.

"We have time and… honestly? I really need a break from all the fights." Akira said. "What do you say?"

"W-well, if you're sure…" He nodded after she trailed off. "In that case, I-I wanted to tell you something! May I have a little bit of your time?"

"I'm the one who asked first." The Kurusu answered with a grin.

"Thank you so much." Sumire smiled before frowning. "Oh, but as to where we'd go… if possible, I'd like to go somewhere we can have a quiet discussion."

"Wanna come over?" The black haired teen said immediately.

"Wha-?! Y-y… your house, Senpai?!" The red haired girl half-yelled. "I, um! I-I think that's a bit early! I mean, I don't know if my heart's ready for that! So…"

"I meant the café, it's a pretty quiet place." Akira clarified, holding back a chuckle.

"Oh… when you said come over, you meant to Leblanc? I'm so sorry! I jumped the gun! I'm such an idiot!"

"You're not." He immediately denied. "But back to the matter at hand, is Leblanc okay?"

"I suppose we should be able to talk in peace there." Sumire smiled. "Um, if that's really okay, I'll head over there…"

"Let's go." Akira said, turning halfway and waiting for her to begin to walk beside him before they moved to the train station.

The sound of the bell signaled that someone just entered Leblanc.

"Welcom- oh, it's you." Sojiro said when he saw Akira and Sumire. "Good timing, I need to run an errand, could you watch the shop for a bit?"

"Sure." Akira answered. "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back." He said to Sumire before quickly going upstairs to leave his stuff and change from his school uniform, coming back down in his normal clothes; Sojiro was already gone by the time he was downstairs so he grabbed an apron and moved behind the counter. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, please."

"I'll go take a walk so you two can talk, I'll be back later." Morgana said.

"Be careful." Akira called out as his friend left.

Akira adjusted his glasses and began to brew the coffee, an easy task after learning from Sojiro for so long.

After some time spent in comfortable silence, Akira presented the cup to Sumire.

"Thank you." She said. "And sorry for dropping in on you like this. I hope it's not too much trouble."

"You're never trouble, Sumire."

"Thank you." The red haired girl repeated. "I just needed to talk to you about something in person." She took the cup and brought her near her mouth. "It smells great." She said before taking a sip. "Mm… it's really good, something about it is relaxing."

Akira smiled at the compliment and waited for her to speak.

"I think I'll be ready to show Coach Hiraguchi my performance soon." She began. "And if you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to be there when I do… is that okay?"

"I'll definitely be there."

"Great! I'm so glad… but that's not what I came here to talk about."

"Oh?"

"Do you remember what I said when we went clothes shopping?" Sumire asked but answered herself. "I talked about wanting you to see me, and how that helped me stop worrying?"

"I remember, yes."

"I'm really glad." She said with a smile before suddenly looking at the ground. "I was thinking about Kasumi… I wondered how she must have felt. Thinking she didn't want to lose to me, and wanting me to watch her…" She shook her head with a small smile. "Maybe that's what we had in common. We both wanted someone specific to see our efforts- to see us as we are. As long as we have that someone watching us, we can stay strong. So I finally realized something. I think part of Kasumi's strength came from that… I was the one she was thinking of." Sumire said, finally looking up again. "I never heard her say it, but… maybe she'd trying to tell me through her performance."

"That sounds like her." Akira chuckled.

He may never have actually met 'Kasumi' but considering the scope of Maruki's powers, he is fairly certain that the way Sumire acted back then is pretty close to how she would act and that sounds like something she would do.

"Haha… I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out… I'm such an idiot."

"You're not." Akira interjected with a stern gaze.

"…thank you." Sumire answered after a moment with a small smile. "In any case, I'm glad I finally realized it. Even as worthless as I am, I hope I still helped Kasumi somehow…"

"You're not worthless." The frizzy haired teen said with a shake of his head.

"Right… I have to believe in myself." Sumire said with a nod before looking downcast once again. "…Kasumi's beyond any apologies I could give her. I can't tell her how I feel, she'll never see me perform." The red haired girl spoke softly. "That's reality, and it happened because of me. I've been running away from that for a long time." She looked up again with a determined gaze. "But I'm done running now. It's time to stand on my own two feet. I want to live for both of us now, for the sake of everything we wanted."

"That's a good goal." Akira smiled.

"Yes; I want to grow even stronger. Even if I end up in tears from failing at a meet, or if the pressure's too much for me sometimes… with Kasumi's confidence and the grace she recognized in me… I'm going to keep moving up. I'm going to show Kasumi who Sumire Yoshizawa really is."

"You have a good look in your eyes right now." The Kurusu commented earning a giggle from his kouhai.

"Um… and so…" Sumire suddenly looked down, a small blush dusting her cheeks.

"Um?"

"Now that I'm committed to, you know, not running away from my feelings… I, um… there's something I need to tell you, senpai!" She suddenly yelled.

"Go ahead, I'm not going anywhere." He answered after a moment of surprise at her sudden yell.

"Th-thank you very much, the nervous sweats just kicked in, I guess…" She took a deep breath to calm down. "I realized it was less of a matter of showing off, and more wanting someone to watch me… that is, wanting someone special to watch me. Someone I'd want to have eyes only for me. And I thought to myself, well, for me, that special person's obviously senpai! So… I think that means…"

'Wait… does she mean…'

"I'm in lo… l-l-lo… I'm in… lo…"

"What?" Akira blinked, wanting to make sure he was on the right track before answering.

"I… I'm in love with you!" The Kurusu blinked twice, as if to process her words. "Um, but… the last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable, so…"

"I love you too." He said quickly after she trailed off.

"Y-you… love me back?!" Sumire yelled, clearly surprised.

'Good thing there aren't any other customers around.' Akira thought idly. 'For more than one reason.'

"Oh, huh? S-so… I guess that means it's mutual, then?"

"That's what it means, yes." He said with a grin.

"So, um… wh-what happens now? Wait, does that mean… you'll be my boyfriend?!"

"That is the way this usually works." Akira had to bit his tongue to avoid letting out a chuckle; he couldn't help it, her stuttering was too cute but he didn't want to tease her when she just confessed.

"W-well, um, I mean, I guess that's what I'm hoping for? So… oh… what am I saying?"

"Take your time, I told you, I'm not going anywhere." Akira assured her, his grin turning into a soft smile.

"S-sorry, I'm the one who confessed, and now I'm totally messing this up…"

"You're not, trust me." He said, still with the same smile.

"Honestly? I never expected I'd get this far." She took a deep breath before looking back at Akira. "Akira-senpai, would you… look at me for a moment?"

"Hm?"

"I want to know if… if it'll feel any different, now that we're… wow, I don't know what I'm saying anymore…" She trailed off again with a blush. "You know what, never mind…"

'Ok, that's my breaking point.' Giving his best 'Joker grin' Akira leaned forward on the counter.

"Eep!" Sumire yelped in surprise. "U-um…"

And Akira, using both hands for support, leaned even further towards her.

"I can look from even closer if you want." The Kurusu said, making his, now, girlfriend's face turn the same color as her hair.

"I-I-um-you-"

"You're so cute."

"Wha-" Her eyes began to dart around. "I-I can't take it… I feel like I'm melting…" She continued for a few moments before moving back to sitting normally, her face still red. "What do I do…? I'm so embarrassed, but… I want to be even closer to you, senpai." With that, she leaned forward on the counter, the action turning Akira is 'Joker grin' into a large smile.

"I love you so much, Akira-senpai."

"I love you too." He answered immediately.

"I'll always want your eyes on me…"

Akira chuckled.

"That can be arranged." He said before moving even closer.

"Um… I think if we get any closer, we'll bump our glasses together…"

Wordlessly, Akira used his right hand to take off Sumire's glasses and his left one to remove his own, letting them down on top of the counter.

"There, not a problem anymore."

Sumire nodded as she also moved closer, their noses almost touching and being able to feel the other's breath.

"A-Akira…" She mumbled, making him smile even more since it was the first time she didn't add 'senpai' to his name.

He moved a bit closer but stopped.

"Can I kiss you?" The black haired teen asked, not looking away from her eyes.

"…y-yes." She mumbled, her blush coming back in full force. "Go ahead." She added in a whisper.

With her permission, he closed the last of the distance touching her lips with his own.

Some seconds later, they separated, both blushing.

"U-um…"

"Something wrong?"

"N-no! Not at all! It was great! I-I really enjoyed it- I-I mean… ngghhh."

"You're really too cute." Akira said, bringing her out of her mutterings.

"…can I ask… for another one?" Sumire asked in a whisper.

Akira was delighted to grant her request.

I really didn't think I'd like Sumire as much as I did but I was pleasantly surprised.

I hope you enjoyed!

Until next time!