Fandom Stealing Hearts

[Cybear]

Despite having lived in Tokyo her entire life, Makoto Niijima had never really been to Yongen-Jaya.

Of course it wasn't on her usual route from home and to school, so she'd had little reason to go there. Oftentimes she found herself much too busy to be exploring parts of the city that had no effect on her day-to-day life, and yet today, she was making an exception.

There was a lull in her seemingly unending work-load, enough time to catch a breather, and she really did need one. It felt like her mind was going to explode from the inside out, and yet she had to persevere. If she was going to be as successful as her sister was, then she needed to put in the leg-work required of her. These were merely the facts, and even though sometimes she felt like she was teetering on the edge of her sanity, she had to continue moving forward. No matter what.

But that didn't mean that she could never have a breather.

One worked best if they scheduled breaks for themselves. Though these breaks were usually only five to ten minutes long, today was a bit different. True, she still had her school-bag strapped to her back, intending for her to go over some of her work while she relaxed, she'd still wasted the train ride over, and would waste the train ride back. Though it was admittedly not a long journey, it was still more down-time than she was used to. But, so long as she remained efficient, then she could - perhaps - waste that time. She'd just have to make up for it later.

She'd heard of a small coffee shop located in Yongen-Jaya from her sister, who had apparently been there before. The place was called Leblanc, and after a quick search on her phone, she found the address, and found the shop tucked away in a back-alley. Opening the door, the soft jingle of a bell entered her ears, as the smell of curry and coffee drifted into her nose. Yes, this place was quite small, but she had to admit it had a calming vibe about it.

It would be a nice change of pace.

 

[MrLegend]

Man how fast life could change. Akira Kurusu figured that when he was put on his probation and sent away from his home and his friends, he would be miserable for a year. At first that was true and then suddenly everything changed.

He was more than Akira now, he was Joker. His three friends (one being a cat despite his constant arguments against that) had become super heroes. At least that's what they fancied themselves as and if you asked Ryuji there would be movies and shows about them one day.

That was all in a different world though. Here at Leblanc, he was simply Akira Kurusu, the quiet kid behind the counter who spent most of his time after school washing dishes and cleaning up for his current guardian Sojiro. He treasured this downtime though, away from the Metaverse and all the rumors that flew around about him at school. At least he was working to make the world a better place, despite what his fellow students said about him.

He was standing behind the counter, washing a few cups when he heard the bell ring to the front door and he looked up to see a familiar face. He hadn't spoken to her really at all but he knew who she was, Makoto Niijima, the class president at Shujin. It was the absolute last person he expected to walk through the door into Leblanc.

He caught himself staring and quickly looked down before drying off his hands, "Uh, hey," He said awkwardly, making Sojiro give him a glance.

"Sorry about him, he's not the best people person. Make yourself at home," He said to the girl, with a small smile.