Prologue
The chatter on the early morning train wisped by the few passengers. The announcer’s voice came through, breaking the peaceful atmosphere. The next stop was arriving soon, a new city life for our country boy. The train slowed to stop as the teen stood from his seat, the doors opened as few passengers passed through them. The station had few people walking around, the boy walked quietly among the silence as memories played of the last month. His bag was heavy on his side, filled with all of the items that didn’t fit in the box that was sent last week. He didn’t have much to begin with, but nonetheless it didn’t all fit in the one box.
As quiet as the underground system was, the city was bustling with noise. Even though it was early in the morning, on a Saturday no less. Early birds talking and night owls tiredly slouching around, one would think they were almost so tired to the put that they were seeing illusions but that just couldn’t be. Illusions of a large flaming figure or new apps on a phone, as if time stopped for a moment but a simple blink broke it all. It must be the stress, the boy thought. That’s just how Yongen-Jaya was as it was in Tokyo, however the backstreets were not as busy as the main part of the city. It was nearly midday as the young man walked about, looking for the Sakura Residence. There would be his new home for the next year as he was on probation. Time passed and he finally found the home, after asking the nearby police officer for directions that is. He rang the doorbell at the gate, no answer from inside. “Looks like no one’s home… Oh, yeah… Sakura-san’s usually at his cafe around this time ”, someone voiced next to the teen. “ Well, Leblanc’s in the back alley so I should make my other deliveries first …”, the parcel delivery man trailed off. That seemed the place to stop by to meet the new guardian.
A short walk down to another alley led to the quaint cafe, another hole in the wall with the rest but at the same time stood out a little. The small chime of a bell rang as the door was opened. The three people inside paid no mind to the newcomer as the wall mounted television spoke. The show host reported about how a transit bus went down an opposing lane with its customers still in it. The elderly couple made their comments, talking about views of the recent situations happening in the city. The man that seemed to be the manager mumbled about some crossword in his newspaper, soon taking notice of the new person in the room. “ Oh, right… they did say that was today. ” The couple got up, saying their goodbyes and paying. Soon the man turned to the younger of the two, “ So, you’re Akira? I’m Sojiro Sakura. You’ll be in my custody over the next year. ”
After a scolding for being an unruly kid and discussion about how the year will go, the two walked up into the attic of Leblanc. Akira stared at his box of belongings on the floor as Sojiro explained how he would be living up here for the year. The room was large, as it was the complete upper floor to the cafe below, however it was a mess of miscellaneous bags, boxes, and more. The following rant from Akira’s new guardian summed up his situation well, with some colorful threats of being thrown out if he did anything wrong thrown into the mix. Everyone blames Akira for what he did, getting himself a criminal record and all but he didn’t really care. Well he acted like it at least, but that was a problem to confront another time. The older man also brought up Akira’s new school, Shujin Academy, and how they were to go there tomorrow to get Akira acquainted.
Eventually Sojiro left Akira to his own devices, to which the teen decided to clean. If he was to live here for a year then he might as well make it home right? He organized bags of coffee beans and mopped the floors; he put away his luggage and put away useless equipment. There was still a lot of clutter but it was a good start. Evening came and Sojiro went upstairs before locking up. He seemed shocked to find the other cleaning, but soon seemed to understand as he looked around at the room. The place was still a mess but it was significantly better than before. A few snide remarks and a goodbye left Akira to himself.
Tiredness set in as the warm atmosphere settled and the sun was on the horizon. His body wanted sleep and Akira didn’t argue. He changed and lay in bed, it wasn’t as comfy as home but he didn’t complain. It was plenty enough for him, what made him uncomfortable was reviewing himself getting here. The accident, the interrogations and trials, the arguments with his parents, his criminal record, it all led up to this. Him laying here in his new home in the big city with no one he knew. He was by himself and that was not very comforting. With all those thoughts in mind he drifted into a restless slumber. Or least he would have if his phone didn’t ping. He looked for a moment at his phone in the low light, sleepiness messing with him. He didn’t bother looking at the new app any longer, he deleted it and closed his eyes once again. A heavy sleep came, and no nightmares arrived this time.
Dreams of a blue room of jail cells and velvet accents accompanied the darkness. Twins and a mysterious man spoke to Akira, talking of rehabilitation and how this prison represented his heart. Akira listened carefully, he had no reason to disagree to such an offer. He had hit rock bottom, why not climb higher when he had nothing to lose? With a slim chance of hope, he called himself wild card to a future of hardship, to break his chains of captivity, to give freedom to his rebellious heart. Caroline and Justine, his wardens, told him he was to leave soon, and the mysterious man, Igor, said goodbye. Akira had more to ask but his mind was whisked away before he got the chance to open his mouth.
Sunday morning hit like a ton of bricks. Akira silently reviewed his dream as he got dressed in his new school’s uniform. He took a moment to look over the plaid pants, they really made students stick out. On another note, Sojiro joined the new student in his room not too soon after he finished getting dressed. The pair left in Sojiro’s car, with the trip to Aoyama district not being too long of a drive.
The school itself was nice, it lived up to its name of being a fine school. Sojiro signed papers as Principal Kobayakawa spoke. A strict talking about expulsion and an introduction to his new home room teacher, Ms. Sadayo Kawakami. With complaints from all the adults about his sudden transfer, the pair left. The car ride home was a lot longer, Sojiro getting stuck in the afternoon traffic. Traffic agitation led to Akira’s stern reminder about his situation with Akira decidedly not talking too much. A radio cut in one the guardian's rant: news of a subway derailment in Shibuya Station.
It was evening by the time the two got back to Leblanc. Before Sojiro locked up the shop, he gave Akira a diary. He wanted the boy to record and document his daily activities to make sure he wasn’t getting into trouble. That’s just how a kid with a criminal record is treated. Akira set his bag down on the small couch as he began writing in the journal. He wrote about today and yesterday, how his first weekend in the city has been. His concentration was interrupted by the ringing of a phone downstairs. He went and answered the small red phone, “ Yo, it’s me. Uhhh… I closed up shop, but I forgot to flip the sign to CLOSED. It’s too much of a hassle for me to go back, so you flip the sign for me. ” Sojiro spoke of other things that Akira didn’t listen to closely to. Sojiro hung up and Akira walked outside to flip the sign.
Soon enough, Akira was lying in bed again. He had to take the train to school tomorrow, he knew the transfers but didn’t know exact locations. He pulled up his phone to look up maps, it didn’t seem too difficult. The timetables tomorrow are probably going to be affected by today’s incident, he should take that time into account and wake up early tomorrow morning. With that figured out, Akira went to put down his phone but something caught his eye. He didn’t bother analyzing the app, instead opting to delete it once again. Maybe rebooting his phone would fix the problem. With that done, tomorrow was the day. New school, new friends? Akira could hope. A dreamless sleep came that night, and for once the loneliness was peaceful.
Early Monday mornings in the backstreets were nice, Akira could be groggily with no interruptions. He got dressed before heading down to leave. Unsurprisingly, Sojiro was already in the cafe getting ready to open. He patted the counter where a bowl of curry sat, breakfast before the student went to school. Akira remembered something about the cafe specialty being curry and coffee, either way he didn’t complain. The flavors worked well with the bold spice, in other words Akira was happily awake.
With a tiny goodbye, Akira left. It took a little longer than the teen would have liked. He was making good time nonetheless. Or he would have been if not for the fact it started raining on his walk to school. Stranded with no umbrella he stood under a nearby awning, watching students run by with bags on their head and patrons pulling out their umbrellas. There went the chance to not be late. He looked at his phone to check the time, but that strange app he kept seeing has appeared again.
Before he could even look into the new application, a girl ran next to Akira and pulled her hood down. Large platinum gold pigtails fell to her shoulders. He stared at her, not knowing what it was about her that piqued his interest in her. She turned to look at him, sapphire met silver behind glasses.. Time almost stopped for a moment, but the two turned away from each other. No words ruined the silence, but it was interrupted by a car pulling up to the students.
The white car’s window wound down to show an athletic looking man. He asked if they needed a ride to school, he must be a teacher or coach. The girl accepted, Akira politely declining. He watched as the window was rolled up, a sad look swam in the girl’s eyes. Before he had the chance to take back what he said the two were gone. The sound of a person running through puddles was heard to Akira’s right, a blond delinquent boy stopped chasing the car. “ Damnit, screw that pervy teacher! ”, he grumbled to himself.
“Pervy teacher?”
The vulgar boy turned to Akira, he seemed quite agitated with that car leaving. “ ... What do you want? You plannin’ on rattin’ me out to Kamoshida? ”, the blonde sneered.
“Kamoshida?”
“ Huh? In that car just now, It was Kamoshida. He does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is- the king of the castle? Don’t you agree? ”
“The king of the castle?”
“ ... Wait. You don’t know Kamoshida? Are you for real? You’re from Shujin, right? ”
“You go to Shujin too?”
“ Are you messing with me? You’re wearing a Shujin uniform. A second-year, huh… We’re the same grade then. Never seen you before though. Oh, you a transfer student? Then no wonder you don’t know him. This rain ain’t too bad. We better hurry up, or we’ll be late. ”
A moment of lightheadedness stopped the discussion, but it faded as soon as it came. Like that, the two delinquents started walking to school in the drizzle. Soft drops of dew falling from Akira’s frizzy black hair. He’s surprised his glasses haven’t fogged up. And down the alley shortcut to school they went.
What Akira didn’t know was that this was only the beginning of weird occurrences. This was only the stormy beginning to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and of the Velvet Room rehabilitation. This was also the beginning of Cupid Akira’s reign, but no one seemed to notice the last part.