Persona 5: Beneath The Mask

CHAPTER XCII

Chapter 92: Conspiracy

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Morgana flicked his tail irritably as he nestled snugly against Akira's side on the bed, letting the warmth of him, or maybe it was the blanket really, lull him into slumber. It wasn't the worst place to sleep, and as much as he hated to admit it, it beat curling up alone somewhere cold and drafty.

But, of course, Akira had other plans. One arm propped behind his head, the other lazily scrolling through his phone. Morgana couldn't see what he was looking at, but if he had to guess, it was probably his friends. Because, for someone supposedly carrying a criminal record, Akira sure had a lot of people eager to talk to him, sometimes even at ungodly hours of the night.

Morgana still remembered the time something clattered against the window, jolting them both awake. When Akira finally got up to check, they found Yusuke Kitagawa standing outside Leblanc, poised to hurl another stone. It had nearly smacked Morgana in the head when he perched by the sill to take a look.

He had hissed, naturally.

Because, honestly, who in their right mind thought that was a reasonable way to ask someone to hang out in the middle of the night?

"You should sleep already," Morgana perked his head up from his comfortable position on the bed, watching as Akira continued scrolling through his phone with a smile on his face.

It was strange, really. The first time Morgana had ever slept beside him, actually slept next to him, there had been something distant about him. Like a room where the lights had burned out and no one had bothered to replace them. He wasn't restless, nor did he toss and turn like someone plagued by nightmares. No, it was something close to hollowness, maybe. The kind that settled into a person so deeply that even rest couldn't smooth it over.

Morgana didn't claim to know Akira all that well, but he had heard enough to know the boy didn't deserve the scrutiny people placed on him. They whispered behind his back, judged him based on records and rumors, painted him as someone dangerous because it was easier than seeing the truth. Whatever crime he had supposedly committed, it had already condemned him to a loneliness that clung to him like a second skin.

"Don't you have classes tomorrow? Not all of us can just laze around all day."

He wouldn't say it aloud, but he liked that the boy could smile easily now. It was a quiet sort of change, one that had taken its time settling in, but Morgana noticed how the weight on his shoulders didn't seem as crushing as before.

Akira fleetingly looked up from his phone and towards him a little playfully, despite having spent the entire day training with that Yoshizawa girl at the gym. "Funny, coming from the one who naps twenty hours a day."

Morgana scowled. "Excuse me for respecting the natural instincts of my species... wait, no, I'm not a cat!" He huffed, fluffing up indignantly. "And anyway, I have to sleep a lot. I use my brain more than you do."

"Right, of course," Akira murmured lightly, and Morgana shot him a glare. But sleep itself seemed to catch up with him too, because not long after, he yawned, once, then twice, before finally flicking off his phone and placing it next to his pillow.

Fluffing finally.

"Night, Mona," He pulled the blankets higher around himself as he curled into a more comfortable position.

"Night," Morgana grumbled back. Akira absentmindedly reached out to stroke his head, only for him to meow aggressively in protest. "Stop that! I'm not a cat!"