Persona 5 : Royal ~ STORY of AKAI

Part IV

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⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐕.

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⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ June 27th, 20XX
⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ after school.

Kasumi wasn't available to hang out today, which left Sayaka with the rest of her day free. Though the girl spent most of her time alone, she didn't really have any ideas as to what she could do that was particularly entertaining. Sayaka found that places she enjoyed with Kasumi were not particularly interesting on her own. This left her in a sort of pickle of a situation.

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As the girl contemplated what she could do with her day, she was approached from behind, only alerted to the presence once spoken to.
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" Hey you, " the voice said. It wasn't soft and kindhearted or energetic and peppy, but obviously belonged to a female. Sayaka would turn to see who was speaking to her. The student was shorter than her, but not by much. She had short blonde hair with some longer chunks by her neck. Her bangs were similar to hers, but there was a gap in the middle that showed her forehead, and her hair had a red hairband in it. The uniform was almost the same as the one Kobayakawa had provided her on her first day of school - except she wore a pink hoodie wrapped around her waist, and instead of the Shujin skirt, she was wearing pants today. Sayaka had never seen a female student wear the Shujin uniform's slacks...
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" Ah ... hello there ! " Sayaka waved to the other after taking far too long to respond.
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" You're that girl with all the weird rumors about her right ? " The blonde asked, but it was more of a statement, " I've heard about you and your lack of friends - I was wondering if you'd like to hang out with me today ? "
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This was a surprise to Sayaka. Sure, Kasumi wanted to be her friend, but something about Kasumi was ... off. This girl didn't seem to be hiding anything from Sayaka. So the red haired girl would smile brightly, and nod her head in agreement while saying, " Sure thing ! "

" That's great ! I'm going to the park today, before heading to Penguin Sniper this evening. "

Sayaka's eyes lit up at the mention of the familiar location.

" You know that place as well ? I went there .... " There's a pause as Sayaka recalls the dates, " on Saturday. "

" Oh ? You know, I think I remember seeing you there ... " the blonde said. It was a lie, really. " Oh, I forgot to mention .. My name is Koko. "

" Mine is Sayaka - though, I assume you knew this ? "

" Yeah ... but thanks for sharing anyway. "

Sayaka would nod, and the two would begin to walk towards the subway station. Sayaka was relying on Koko to lead her the way, and the two would chat amongst one another as they walked. Similar questions to when Sayaka and Mr. Akechi had previously spoken a couple nights ago. However the conversation was far from dry - Sayaka learned that Koko lived with her aunt and she was actually from the United States of America ( whatever that was ... ), but that her aunt was almost like a deadbeat - her only redeeming quality being that she spoils Koko as a means to ' being there ' for her from time to time. It felt nice to learn about someone else for once. Sayaka knew a little bit about Kasumi, but nothing particularly substantial. Just that she did gymnastics, liked Risette's music, and that she was struggling a little bit with her athletic activity of choice.