2026-08-30: The Tragedy of Morgana's Fatty Tuna
- Log: 2026-08-30 The Tragedy of Morgana's Fatty Tuna
- Cast: Ren Amamiya (featuring Morgana), Futaba Sakura (featuring Sojiro Sakura)
- Where: Leblanc Cafe, Yongen-jaya, Tokyo
- OOC Date: August 30, 2026
- IC Date: January 01, 2013
- Summary: Ren returns home from the Arisato twins' birthday with leftover sushi. Unfortunately, Futaba and Sojiro are also there, and Ren doesn't specify to them that those leftovers are for Morgana...
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's well into the evening by the time Ren returns home from Port Island, where they'd attended Minato and Minako Arisato's birthday party. Considering it was a sushi dinner at a good restaurant with lots of SEES members (in fact, Ren is pretty sure they were the only one there who wasn't), Morgana both desperately wanted to go and absolutely could not. Ren promised to bring back some sushi, to which Morgana had given them a long order. Ren had sweatdropped and said they'd do their best.
And they have! Did they get the complete list? No. Did they sneak two pieces of fatty tuna? Yes. (Well, one is medium-fatty. Still.) They also got a salmon roe, a regular tuna, a yellowtail and even an albacore. Alas, Ren didn't get a chance to score any anago or sea bream; so dialed in on getting Morgana his beloved tuna, they missed out on those. They don't think he'll complain.
The bell over Leblanc's door jingles as they walk into the cafe. Sojiro's behind the counter and Futaba seated in front of it. Ren offers both of them a smile of greeting as they shut the door behind them.
"Welcome back. You look like you had a good time," Sojiro comments, crooking a smile back.
"Yeah. I got a bunch of leftovers," they reply. Their fatal mistake at this point is to set their shoulder bag down on the counter, in which said leftovers are kept. They didn't say the leftovers are for Sojiro and Futaba, but who else would they be for? It's not like sushi keeps overnight. "Be right back."
They head upstairs to shrug off their coat and scarf. Morgana, who's been watching the window with tail curled in anticipation, all but leaps off the bed and stampedes over to him. "Did you get me my tuna?!" he demands eagerly.
"Yup," Ren replies.
"Yeaaahhh!! Tuuuna, tuna tuna tuuuna, fatty tuna, anago, seeea breeeeeam~" he sings, prancing in a circle around Ren.
Ren's smile turns a bit nervous as they drape their coat and scarf on the railing. "Well... I got the tuna, at least. All three levels. And albacore, salmon roe, and yellowtail. No luck on anago or sea bream, though."
"Aww... Well, that's still lots of tuna, so I'll forgive you!" Morgana says cheerfully, determined not to let this news get him down. "Good work, my disciple! You've done me proud! Now it's time to eat!" A beat. "Hey, where is it, anyway?"
The sincerity of their smile reasserts itself. "Downstairs, in my bag. I just wanted to shed some layers first. I'll go get it."
Morgana jumps nimbly up to the railing. "I'll come with you!"
So Ren raises an elbow, and he jumps again onto their shoulders, using their arm to balance his landing until he can settles in to a proper perch with his nose poked in next to theirs. He hums in anticipatory glee as they walk him down the stairs and around the corner...
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
It's unfair, but nevertheless true, that Morgana's appearance leaves him awkwardly profiled. After all, for all that he's truly a human, he sure looks like a cat.
Futaba - who has the dubious blessing of a human form, for all that she may in some ways be more catlike than Morgana - looks up abruptly from what she had been reading when Ren comes in. (The book is a fat softcover of some kind. It may have something to do with computers. Kind of has that look to it. Not a lot of pictures, lots of text inside.)
"Oho," Futaba says, and her eyes turn to rest
on
the goods
Ren steps upstairs and Futaba slides a chopstick-paper she'd used as a bookmark into the space she was at and closes it with a phonebookian 'thunk' and dismounts her stool, approaching the package... which is in Sojiro's hands.
Once the box is opened, all but casting a luminous golden light of glorious treasure, Futaba's eyes widen -- and her hand snaps forwards!
"Hey," Sojiro says - mildly, perhaps still in the afterglow of seeing Futaba out here, in the shop, actually interacting with the world - "wash your hands before you eat sushi."
By the time he finishes the sentence, that prime piece of fatty tuna has been brought out and already put into Futaba's mouth. She looks up, still chewing. Not much chewing is necessary: it is *so rich* and buttery. She has had her share of sushi, too, and knows how to chew it properly.
Without the slightest bit of guilt, she gives an 'OK' sign and leans back to trundle over to wash her hands. Well, it's not the end of the world, right?
Sojiro takes the other piece of slightly-less-premium tuna, popping it in his mouth as well. Hypocrisy manifest! After this, though, he puts it down and crouches to get one of the plates so they can have some semblance of civilization. He is, in fact, just unpacking it onto that plate when Ren and Morgana come down.
"Oh - you want a plate for the little guy?" he asks, even as Futaba half-hollers, "Hi Ren! Hi Morgana!" while vigorously scrubbing her hands. She's really getting in there. She's using the nail brush and everything.
*Removing the evidence, no doubt.*
(Of course, it's often the little things that hit the hardest.)
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Not to mention, to normal humans, he also sounds like a cat. If it looks like a cat, and sounds like a cat, and walks like a cat...
Morgana might even be making happy feet on Ren's shoulders that look suspiciously like biscuits. This lasts for just long enough for them to take in the scene of Futaba's cheerful hand-washing and Sojiro unpacking the remaining pieces of sushi. Both Ren and Morgana realize in a glance that a) the two of them got into the sushi b) they would have definitely got for the two most premium cuts first.
"GAAAH!! MY FATTY TUNAAAAA!!" Morgana wails.
"Damn, that cat's loud. You'd think it was his sushi we were eating," Sojiro comments, blasé.
This is just the nail in the coffin. The not-a-cat promptly expires, soul leaving his mouth, all over Ren's shoulders. They catch him hastily and bundle him up in their arms.
"Uh, it actually... is," Ren replies awkwardly.
"Oh," Sojiro utters. Pause. He raises a questioning eyebrow. "You brought back all this for one cat?"
"Uh..."
Morgana weeps.
"Oh well. There's still some left, so come on over. And you wash your hands too," he adds.
Ren sighs and side-glances at Futaba, scrubbing away at her hands. They deposit Morgana on one of the counter stools, then head over to the sink.
"Morgana was really looking forward to the fatty tuna," they murmur out of the corner of their mouth. "You didn't know so it's not your fault, but make sure you apologize, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
... then it's a duck.
wait
Futaba is in the process of rinsing off the suds when Morgana lets out that plaintive wail of emotional, moral, perhaps spiritual death. Even as Sojiro pops a comment about just what a big screm that was, which makes Futaba glance over her shoulder at him. Then she has to dry her hands.
"Orz," Futaba says, which is a completely cryptic non sequitur in this moment, since she said it with her mouth. Almost sounds like 'orza?' The *scientific name for rice??*
But it turns out that... yeeeeah, most of it was in fact... pledged...
To Morgana.
Futaba's jaw tenses a little. She relaxes, slightly, when Morgana continues to weep, which suggests he didn't legit die of fish lack. (Not that this is likely, but Futaba can, just, credit some possibilities.) Ren comes to join her.
Very quietly, she answers, "oh."
And looks at Morgana with a long pause.
"... umm-m..."
Her arms fold over each other as she squirms in place for several seconds.
"... there's a bunch of other tuna in there," Futaba tells Ren, "so I'll just skip the rest...?" Again, quiet, sotto voce, even as she scoots over so Ren can wash up as well.
As for Sojiro, he's eyeing the dramatic-as-hell cat warily. But... he gets out a side-dish plate. He can meet them that far. "I'll let you handle the service on this one," Sojiro concludes with a shake of the head. The plate is put down at Morgana's 'seat', but at this point he moves to walk out from around the counter.
Futaba sidles to the side, looking towards Morgana for a moment before her eyes turn away. The expression, no doubt, of *guilt*. Or at least of complicitness.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
At least there's still a few pieces of sushi left, so it's not like Morgana will be completely deprived. He will not get to feast on fatty tuna of medium or high grade tonight, though.
Ren's mouth pulls in a thin line when they see Futaba's reaction and guilty glance back at Morgana. They didn't want to guilt-trip her, but that was going to be hard at best to avoid. "Regular tuna and albacore. He requested the others too, though--Morgana is crazy about sushi." Ren offers her a tiny smile. "Honestly, Sojiro-san isn't wrong about it being a lot, but you haven't seen how much he can pack away." It's just a good thing that trip to the sushi place in Sumaru was so well-funded by the proceeds of a certain golden frame.
Once they finish washing and drying their hands, they head back to the counter. "Thanks," they tell Sojiro, seeing that side-dish and hearing his response. They rest their off hand on Morgana's head as they seat themself next to them, and while Sojiro's making his way around, they murmur under their breath, "Sorry. I told them it was leftovers but I didn't think to say who for. They didn't realize."
With titanic effort, Morgana pushes himself up to his beans. "It's... fine," he murmurs back with difficulty. "I--shouldn't be so dramatic in front of the Chief." To say nothing of making a lady feel bad, but his head is still hanging, so he doesn't yet see her guilty expression.
Ren shoots her a concerned look, then sets the tuna and the salmon roe on the plate for Morgana. With four pieces left, the logic would be one for each of them, and Ren's willing to give up theirs to him, considering they were supposed to be all for him in the first place. The latter might not be the last tuna--that'd be the albacore--but it's the next-fanciest after the fatty tuna, and Morgana will appreciate that.
Indeed, when he looks up, he leans in and starts nomming on the roe first. It pops in your mouth, so Ren gets the appeal. They know that's why they like it. They lean their cheek on one hand to watch him eat; then they glance up at Futaba and discreetly tilt their head towards Morgana.
"So how was your New Year's?" they ask her and Sojiro, leaning their head back as necessary to look at him. "I didn't think I'd see you two still over here." The cafe's closed for the holiday, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
("makes sense tbf," Futaba answers about the sushi. At the question of just how much Morgana can pack away, Futaba nods once, emphatically. "same")
Futaba remains near the sink and visibly relaxes when Morgana rallies - he even says it's fine. No hard work needed from her! She still stays over there, folding her hands behind her back, and when Morgana gets up on his paws and starts to eat the roe with a series of little snipple-pops, most of the tension remaining leaves her shoulders.
But then Ren looks at her... promptingly? Immediately the tension returns. "Oh -- um -- I already took mine, so give him mine too. Apology gift!"
which is not the *same as an apology*
BUT! Before Futaba can blabber herself into a bigger hole, Sojiro chuckles. "Well, we had the usual dishes... it was from the market, but you know how it is. Doesn't feel right to just have curry. Then it was a bunch of stuff on TV... and around 1500 we were getting hungry. And thirsty." He brings a hand up behind his neck, squeezing it for a moment. "... Turned out that we didn't have any grounds worth brewing in the place."
"There was the mystery Showa-era coffee," Futaba offers.
"That wasn't - ugh," Sojiro grunts. "Look at what I have to put up with. That was Jamaica Blue Mountain. ... 'Was' being the operative word. Back when I was still getting all the blends right..."
"That's why we came over here," Futaba tells Ren to conclude. "And it'd be a pain to go back to the house to make coffee when all the equipment's here, right?"
"Might as well put in a kotatsu," Sojiro grunts. Back to Ren. "So... if you've got sushi good enough to bring home, I'm guessing you had a good time. That, or your host messed up on the order."
Futaba meanwhile walks over to sit in the stool adjacent to Morgana. Gingerly. As if she's expecting a hiss or a swipe.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
(For all that Futaba's replies are hopelessly online, Ren smiles back anyway.)
Indeed, Morgana's tail curls in a less charming way when Futaba declares her piece to be an 'apology gift' to him. This was supposed to be his sushi to begin with!! ...but once again, he is a gentleman and she is a lady and now he feels bad about making her feel bad. So, without working through the resentment that just bubbled up in him, he sits up straight and raises a paw to her. "No, no, a gentleman shares," he says loftily. "You can have another."
Besides, Sojiro sure isn't going to donate his, and it doesn't sit right with Morgana that he get another but Futaba doesn't. So, no hiss or swipe when she comes to sit next to him. He even gets to mentally pat himself on the back for being so ~mature~ and ~understanding~ about it. It would be pathetic to make a scene over something so small!
(and never mind that he already did)
So Futaba and Sojiro have the yellowtail and the albacore left between them; it'll have to be up to them to decide who gets what. The salmon roe is delicious, at least, and that helps mollify him too. (Later, once they've both gone back upstairs, Ren will invite him to join them for hot pot at Umie's tomorrow, and that'll dispel his bad mood entirely--for tonight, anyway.)
Ren nods at Sojiro's answer. Curry's delicious, but they literally have it every day. It's nice to have a change of pace on a special day. Their eyes widen in surprise at the news about the grounds, though. "You didn't have good coffee in your own house?"
On reflection, it does make a certain amount of sense. Leblanc is right around the corner; he can just walk right over, and hopefully encourage Futaba to follow, if he wants a cuppa done right. On its face, though, it's unexpected.
Sure enough, though, Futaba confirms that it's easier to come here since this is where the equipment is anyway. They smile at her, before looking back at Sojiro. "A great time. There was a sushi boat. I put a few pieces to the side while I was eating."
And ate less themself to make up for it, but they don't mention that part. They still had a few good pieces.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
Everything's fine now. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding. Like if you bump into someone with toast in your mouth, or when you drink the wrong container of juice, or when someone drops a notebook and it falls open, or...
...
"Ooh," Futaba says, going for the yellowtail, which seems to determine that much for Sojiro. Unlike Futaba, who immediately bites in (though she's going for a two bite angle of attack on this one, instead of just putting the whole thing in at once), he takes a moment to get out a dipper dish and a splash of soy sauce.
"It's an incredible scandal," Futaba tells Ren, then.
"I *had* coffee, it's just - ugh," Sojiro complains. "Look... Call it an old man's stubborn ways, but I don't just order it from the wholesaler for my own sake. That's the store's property. It's one thing if I pour myself a cup. That's... process testing."
Futaba seems unconvinced by this train of logic, and puts the sushi in her mouth. Ren may be validated in their hypothesis that this might have had a little bit of 'train the nerd to not sit at home.' The living room (presumably) is an improvement, but you don't want to encourage a relapse.
Her eyebrows lift up as Ren describes the situation. "Wow. Like, a party sized boat! I don't think I ever saw one of those in real life..."
"You get a picture of it before it got attacked by high schoolers?" Sojiro asks. To Futaba: "Those kinds of things aren't cheap, you know. They've got some good friends."
"Are they seriously twins?" Futaba asks, over Morgana's fuzzy head.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Scandalous max!!
...Well, not really. Ren does smile again in amusement at Sojiro's grumpy reaction to Futaba, though. They nod once. Futaba may keep skeptical, but-- "Makes sense," they say. They don't know that they'd do the same if they were the owner of Leblanc, because it might be the store's property but they'd be the owner of the store, but they get the logic there.
It does seem to be encouraging Futaba nicely to continue going out, though. They're especially in favor of that.
"Yeah, it was pretty cool," Ren tells her, not mentioning that they have seen those before. Inaba might be out in the sticks, but when you're the mayor's child, you get to attend some fancy celebrations growing up.
At Sojiro's question, Ren fetches their phone from their pocket and brings up photos. Turning it around, they reveal a photo of the lavish sushi boat in question and Minako, grinning at the camera while wearing a tiara, and Minato looking typically laconic. Sojiro gets to see first, since he asked and because he's met Minako before, and then Futaba.
"Yeah. Fraternal. Born five minutes apart right at the end of New Year's Eve and start of New Year's Day." They crook a smile. "They bicker about it a lot. It's funny."
Morgana, having just finished relishing his salmon roe, prods them with one paw then. "Hey, ask the Chief if he's got any siblings. I'm curious," he whispers.
"D'you have any siblings, Boss?" Ren wonders, not missing a beat. "I'm an only child, so I don't know what it's like."
They and Morgana both assume Futaba doesn't have any. Why would she?
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
A big fish in a rather small pond. Maybe it's good that Ren came to the big city. Some simply blend into the shoals, but they seem to have what it takes to thrive.
The phone, though, the phone. Futaba stands up on the balls of her feet and leans over to squint at the shots, saying as she does, "That is *too much* sushi. That's like an entire fish market!"
"Ain't it great?" Sojiro says.
"Pff," Futaba says. "I guess that's convenient. Do they really fight over who's older like that...?"
"Ten minutes can make a hell of a difference," Sojiro opines.
Futaba looks over to ogle the tiara more, possibly heedless of the even theoretical prospect of siblings.
"Hm? Siblings? Well... heh. If you want to know about siblings, you should have met Wakaba," Sojiro says, with the air of fond memories. (Ren can see Futaba's eyes go from focused on the phone screen to snapping over towards him, her head following a couple of seconds later.)
"She had a pretty big family. I'm actually not sure where she'd fit in in the birth order, now that you mention it. Hm..."
A cloud seems to pass over Sojiro's face. Futaba seems obscurely crestfallen.
Sojiro grunts once. "... Well, they weren't exactly close."
"..." (That being from Futaba, who hugs her own shoulder for a moment.)
"With all that said... so you said they were born ten minutes apart," Sojiro says, "and it just happened to be so late in the day. That said... ten minutes is a pretty long time. The doctor just forget to write down which was which...?"
"I bet they put the same time down on both," Futaba says.
This seems to be a topic to flee to, instead of whatever that was. "That's the kind of thing they'd notice later if they ever saw their birth records. Of course, there's one way they could've been born at the same time, but even then, there'd have been a gap between..."
Sojiro looks at Futaba. Then at Ren. "... You follow any of that?"
(It's not that arcane, really; Sojiro just was swallowing sadness. No need to put him out to pasture just yet. The implication would be an identical time mark would be impossible, unless it was a Caesarian delivery! ... And even then, logically, they would have still had one of them come out first.)
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"Kept all nine of us fed," Ren replies with a slight smile and a shrug. The question gets them to pause as they realize that Futaba's misunderstood what they meant, but before they can clarify the question, Sojiro's waxing on not about his own siblings and whether he has any or not, but Wakaba's. That gets Ren's and Morgana's attention too--that piece of tuna sushi sticking halfway out of Morgana's mouth at this point--and Ren's brows furrow.
When they think about it, there sure were a lot of voices screaming at Futaba that she'd murdered her mother, huh... As Sojiro trails off, Ren glances over at Futaba, who doesn't look any happier about the topic than he did after a moment.
Before they can say anything about that, though, Sojiro changes the topic again. Ren offers Futaba a subtle hand, passed behind Morgana's back, for her to hold or bump or whatever she pleases if she so chooses.
Morgana notes this with a, "..." But his mouth is full, after all.
Ren lets the topic run away for a little while longer, just to take them further away from the topic of the large family that Wakaba wasn't close to. Finally, when Sojiro asks Ren if they followed that, they shake their head--not to indicate that they didn't follow it, but: "It's not over who's older. How much older. Arisato-kun's the older one, born on New Year's Even, and Minako-chan's younger, born on New Year's Day. It's just that he likes to say he's one year older, which drives her nuts, because he's technically right."
Morgana, finally finishing his delicious tuna (if not quite as delicious as it would've been if it'd been marbled with fat!!), licks his paw and rubs his whispers to get the last bit of flavor out. "They seem really close, for all the time they spent apart," he remarks as he does. "I'm glad for them they got to celebrate their birthdays together this time."
"The two of them lived apart for years," Ren adds, mostly for Futaba's benefit so she understands the context of what Morgana just said. "Complicated family situation." They pause, considering Futaba. "...You might get along with them, actually."
It's complicated in a similar way, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
Let the topic slide on by. It's all ultimately fine, right? It's a new year. Don't start it off on the wrong foot!
Or is it too late?
Either way, that topic of unease comes with some silence on Futaba's part. She shifts her stance, bringing her knees up - or at least one of them. Turning a little to do that is when she can see Ren's proffered hand, casual as it is. There's a beat of a pause, and then Futaba reaches out to give it a squeeze from a slightly weird angle - hand coming over and around the back, fingers squeezing over their palm from the opposite side from the thumb. Her hand hangs there for a couple of moments more. Especially since...
"Oh, hah!" Futaba says with a laugh, when the real root of the discourse is revealed. She says, "I bet he's been doing it for a long time. But they would have been totally on the same level otherwise. That's not enough of a time gap to make a big difference."
Futaba leans back, letting go of Ren's hand from that odd-angle grip and bringing up her other knee, arms folding loosely on top of them. She listens to Morgana and turns her eyes towards him, even if he's not the one who's fully elaborating. (After all, he's totally a cat, right Sojiro?) Ren brings it home on several levels - both someone who spoke with conventionally accepted language *and* providing more clarity on the background.
"Huh... At least they're both alright, right? And -- are they living together now?" Futaba asks.
(Sojiro, for his part, turns to take some stuff over to the dish pit. This includes the original sushi plate, though Morgana's sub-plate is left alone. He's not dumb enough to fight a cat on equal footing.)
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's fine if it's weird. Ren likes their friends' weirdness. That's what makes the team so lively. They keep their hand out for as long as Futaba needs, holding hers back comfortably, and when she pulls away, they do too.
"Probably," Ren agrees. There is a big gap in the time they've been together, but they have the impression that it's been an argument since they were both young. Hard to say for sure, though, considering how long ago their parents passed away.
As for their living situation, Ren nods. "They live in the same Gekkoukan High dorm house now." They glance at Sojiro as he puts the plates (minus Morgana's, for he is a wise man) away and give him a silent nod of thanks for handling it, then give Futaba a meaningful look. "There's this school club over there called SEES, and they're both in it."
That isn't unknown to The Phantoms, but... as a newer joinee, Futaba might not fully realize the significance of it.
"In fact, almost everyone who came to the party was from that club of theirs, far as I could tell. I was the only one who wasn't," they add, leaning their cheek on one hand. "They're both really popular in it."
After all, they're its co-field leaders. Not unlike themself for The Phantoms, ironically enough.
"There's one other girl in their club I also think you'd get along with, come to think," Ren muses. "Her name's Fuuka Yamagishi. She's sweet and she's into computers and video games too. She's in Gekkoukan's art club with Yusuke on top of that, so you could try bugging him at the same time if you wanted."
Of course, that would require Futaba to go all the way to Port Island on her own, but at least the idea's been seeded.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
It's not more than, say, seven seconds, but it *is* seven seconds, and that's a pretty important time frame.
"Same school, too, huh," Sojiro remarks. His eyes turn towards Futaba, but perhaps he doesn't want to hammer the nail too hard on New year's Day.
"Oh, nice," Futaba says. "... Do you do any clubs, Ren?"
presumably they are in "phantom thief" club but maybe this question also has more angles.
"Did it feel weird being the only one who wasn't in the club?" Futaba adds almost immediately after. At the mention of Fuuka Yamagishi, however, Futaba straightens up a little. "Is that so? Huh. Do you talk about online stuff or anything? -- Oh! He's there too?" Yusuke.
"Hmm... Yusuke's probably not going to have her email or anything. I don't think he knows what email is."
"That guy's definitely an artistic soul, but... I don't think email's that complicated, Futaba," Sojiro says with a chuckle. "Even I can figure it out, most of the time."
"Oh yeah? Are you using POP3 or IMAP?" Futaba accuses.
Sojiro chuckles.
And notably doesn't actually answer the question.
"Still, though, I'll look into her. Do you go out there a lot?" And that, perhaps, is another angle -- go out there with *Ren*. Then it's fine. They're a key it-- essential party member, after all!
"Speaking of going out, and email," Sojiro mutters, getting out his phone. He checks something. "Hrm. Later than I thought. I hate to do this to you, but there's hardly any dishes and nothing on the stove," Sojiro tells Ren: "Can you lock up?"
This doesn't seem to disturb Futaba, who looks at him. "Can we make curry though? I'm suffering a curry deficiency."
"You just had sushi," Sojiro says.
"I had like two pieces! That's a snack, not a meal."
"Just don't burn through everything in the cooler, would you?" Sojiro sighs. "I'll leave it to you two - and the cat - to figure out your late dining strategies." As he gets out of the apron, there is a quiet add, to Ren, "Make sure she gets home alright, yeah? ...Thanks."
Futaba doesn't speak up until Sojiro's out the door.
"... I guess that's that. If you don't feel like cooking, I've got ample rations up in the secret base," Futaba says, raising her arms up and folding her fingers together to stretch without standing up or moving her legs or anything. "B-u-t, if you were ALREADY going to make something..."
That isn't the only thing Futaba says, in the end.
"... does it feel weird? I mean, like. You, and Inari I guess, being out there. I'm guessing he's not with SEES, even if he's in the art club."
"... and I wanna know about clubs, too," Futaba concludes with a firm nod. "I've only seen them from a distance, and it sounds like they go even deeper than I had expected."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
A lot can happen in seven seconds. Much more than you might think.
"Nah. Unless you count the 'go home' club," Ren tells Futaba, because they're sure not going to talk about Phantom Thief Club in front of Sojiro. Who do they look like, Ryuji? "The whole school knows about my criminal record so I'm pretty unpopular. I stick with hanging out with friends and doing part-time jobs." Jobs, plural, because Leblanc doesn't actually pay them in anything beyond clout with Sojiro (and learning how to make coffee and curry), so if Ren wants personal spending money, they need to work other jobs too.
"A little. Not enough to be a bother, though. Nobody talked about it," they add of not being in SEES. They crook a slight smile when Futaba takes a sitting-straight-up interest in Fuuka. Nailed it. "I don't know her very well, but we've talked about video games. I met her by coincidence in Akihabara, but she's a friend of Minako-chan's, so I heard a lot about her before I ever ran into her."
Ren smiles a soundless laugh at both Yusuke's likely ineptitude with technology and Sojiro's definite ineptitude. (To be fair to Sojiro: Ren doesn't know what POP3 or IMAP are either. They're all inept compared to Futaba.)
They recognize what Futaba's angling for when she asks. "Sometimes. It's a decent train ride, but there's cool stuff over at Port Island, including an incredible view of the ocean. It's intimidating late at night, though." Another significant look. They mean that hour of the night.
They glance over at Sojiro when he makes his request and nod once. "Sure." They smile again when Futaba requests curry. "Curry's not really something you whip up on the spot," they point out to her. Still, Sojiro gives his permission, so they nod again.
"Of course," they murmur back to him.
Morgana likewise waits until Sojiro's out the door and around the corner; then he hops up onto the counter. "If you're heating something up, I want milk," he declares. "You know how I like it, Ren."
"Gently heated up on the stove, then cooled to room temperature and served in a saucer. I know."
"That's my disciple~!" Morgana seems to be back in good spirits, at least. He isn't even forcing it right now. It's not forgotten, but... he's managed to push past it for now.
So Ren slips off their stool and heads behind the counter, grabbing an apron along the way. They aren't that hungry, but they certainly didn't eat as much sushi as they would've liked, and they can practice making curry this way. They'll snag some of the pre-chopped vegetables for tomorrow with the intent to chop more afterwards to replace what they've taken; it's winter break, they can stay up. (Morgana's nagging aside.)
"How spicy d'you like your curry, Futaba?" they ask as they grab spices.
"Say 'not.' Believe it or not, this guy's a maniac for spicy food," Morgana mutters to her out of the corner of his mouth. She may have stolen his sushi, but a gentleman would never let her suffer like that.
They're browning the vegetables when Futaba asks a couple more questions. "Mmm... Not really. Ichika's got family out there, and it's a normal town most of the time. Finding out Minako-chan wasn't just with them, but one of their field leaders? That was weird," they reply over their shoulder, pushing carrots, onions, and potatoes with a spatula. "And Yusuke's not with them, no. On paper, it's a school club, but it's strictly for Persona Users, as far as I can tell. They've got a whole Thing going on with the Dark Hour, and Tartarus--this huge tower that forms out of Gekkoukan High during that time. I'll explain more if you want, but that's the cliff notes."
Clubs, huh... "Come to think, I wasn't really in any clubs at my old schools, either," they muse. "I used to use the gym to train when I couldn't go to the skating rink, but that was my own thing, really. I guess I did do lit club in middle school until ice skating took over my life, but that was literally just a bunch of friends hanging out in a room together and reading, and sometimes chatting about what we were reading. We weren't serious about it. At least, I wasn't. It was just an excuse to do things I liked doing already."
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
Seven seconds is enough time to say a sentence. And sentences have power. Why, a sentence can change your entire life.
Just ask the courts...
Futaba glances over at Morgana as he makes his specific request for milk. "Oho... Do you take anything in your milk?" she asks, tone perhaps joking, or at least pretty light. She looks back towards Ren then, and says, "Make it how you'd make it --"
Morgana pitches in.
Futaba's lips purse for a moment.
"... maybe just a little bit of heat," she says. "I don't wanna burn my mouth off before I can really appreciate this kind of home cooking from the fearless leader."
Ren outlines more of the social situation. Ichika's got people out there (and, fret not, the memory of the astounding ocean view has already been filed away - Futaba may ask to be Taken Over There, once it warms up enough to make beachgoing not an exercise in fishing or hypothermia - but alas, a parenthetical) and Minako is a *leader* in SEES. "There's a huge tower?"
Futaba purses her lips.
"... I think I want to hear more, but that's just... ...I mean, anything's possible, with everything I've already seen. But it still sounds really weird! Especially if there's a school under it." Unless, Futaba thinks, it's like that one anime--
"That seems to be how most clubs are, tbf." 'tebiyefu' is not a word futaba
"... What about school festivals!"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"No, I take it white. Full cream," Morgana boasts to Futaba. (I-is that really something to boast about...?)
Ren at least knows they like spicy food and that their preferences may not be appreciated by others. That's a few levels above someone who'll gladly serve ultra-spicy food to anyone without any seeming understanding that most people don't like ingesting nuclear waste. They crook Futaba and Morgana a bit of a smile and nod once. "Just a little, then," they say mildly, and leave the cayenne pepper for last, to add just a pinch later.
"Yeah. I haven't been inside beyond a quick peek once--" they were out in the Dark Hour anyway to help with setting up Eiji's calling card; how could they not at least poke their nose in while they were in the neighborhood? "--but supposedly it's teeming with Shadows. The entrance seemed fine, but so does the entrance to Mementos."
A school under it... "I understand it is the school, transformed," they reply. "It's a long story, and I only know what SEES chose to tell us." Still, they'll share--how SEES is sponsored by the Kirijo Group, how the Kirijo Group and specifically the father of one of SEES' members accidentally created the Dark Hour by trying to prevent something even worse, how they're trying to get rid of the Dark Hour... It is pretty wild.
"Guess that's true," they admit of clubs. "School festivals seem to vary by school. I grew up in a country town, so back there, they had kind of a... mmm, not exactly a folksy vibe, but like something you'd see straight out of a slice-of-life anime. Meanwhile, at Shujin, they did a joint festival with two other schools, and they did it in December instead of October, and it took over a huge chunk of the Underground Mall in Shibuya. Wild stuff. I ditched, though."
They don't say to do what. That's private. They just get to work on filling a pot with the browned veggies, then toasting the spices to go with them. On reflection, they should've started with the spices, but... Oh well. It's fine for a small meal for two, two and a half. They'll be more careful next time.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
"Woah," says Futaba. because she does not really understand what ~FULL CREAM~ means.
(Morgana's ego is dealt a mercy by the fact that Futaba never researched the underlying reason why it is often discouraged to give milk to cats, and as such it doesn't come to mind to ask. That's the flip side of hyperfocus.)
"Mm," Futaba says, kicking her legs. "That's got to mess them up. Wouldn't it be dangerous for him or for other folks? If they were staying in the area, I mean," Futaba continues. "But I guess he's got his ways... maybe he just stays in his dorm room and paints."
Futaba's nose wrinkles as the glasses scoot back up her nose. "... Huh. So all of you guys were having to deal with that... still, if you got a piece of Shibuya commercial real estate, that must have been incredible! Did -- well, I guess I ought to ask the others, if you weren't there."
How cunning of the boss, to not go to a school festival to set up Futaba to read more on her own later!
After this, there's companionable silence for a while. At one point Futaba gets out her phone; Morgana, if he peeks, can see that she's checking email. What email? Perhaps she has aliases. Businesses.
"I can tell from the scent that you've got the basics down. But..."
The plate slides into view.
"Hm, hm... yes, everything's in order... Sojiro didn't leave out a single step," Futaba says, merely admiring the plating. Fluffy white rice! Curry in its earthy and luxurious tones! Fragments of fork-tender meat intermingled with those adorably al-dente vegetables! Her eyes lift up to Ren.
"Now for the ultimate test."
Spoon up...
Gather...
Slide into mouth...
"!"
"Ah! This is purple-quality high-grade curry!" Futaba exclaims. She looks up to Ren, telling them with obvious and unfeigned vigor, "I can feel hit points flowing back into me! You even got the heat level perfect! Now I wanna try it as hot as *you* - hold on -" omph, nomph, "Ah! Delicious. Though..."
munch
"... It's a *little* different..."
nom
"... But I'm not sure it's any more different than the natural variance..."
gulp
"Hmm... did you use... No, I know what it is," Futaba concludes. "When you added the instant coffee, was it a smooth spoonful or was it a little heaped up?" From her tone, this is no sort of disapproval.
... but she must know this recipe incredibly well
... then again, she's probably about 30% Leblanc curry by dry weight at this point, if you really are what you eat...