Who's the smooth talker now?

"Do you have no friends?" asked Shin.

The general atmosphere seemed to turn somewhat depressed as Akechi turned his gaze to the ball he intended to hit.

"I often find myself too busy to build any meaningful relationships with others." the brown-haired teen said.

Akechi bent over the table and aimed his cue stick at the white ball, ready to begin the game.

"I trust you've played pool before, correct?" asked Akechi, and when Shin nodded, he immediately hit the white ball, quickly pushing the red, blue and yellow balls into the holes.

"That was a nice shot." commented Shin.

"My apologies. I didn't expect a break ace from the very first game." said Akechi. "Let's start over."

And with that, the two played a few more games, casually chatting all the while.

"...And could you believe that she was, in fact, a girl?" said Akechi.

"I'm not above talking about girls, but why are we talking about your predecessor, as the first Detective Prince, specifically? Or should I say, Detective Princess?" asked Shin.

"Because so many people didn't know her real gender until she revealed it, and I find that to be ridiculous."

Shin hummed in response.

"Yeah, that's amazing and all, but you do realize it's been your turn for the past 5 minutes, right?"

"It was? I apologize, I got too absorbed in our discussion." said Akechi, embarrassed.

"We were quite literally one hit away from ending this game. Just arrange the balls again. This time, I'd like if you used your good hand." said Shin.

Akechi was quiet for a few seconds, simply looking at Shin's face.

"I'm honestly amazed. I didn't expect you to see through me like that. I can easily convince others my dominant hand is my right hand."

"Well, I tend to have that effect on people. Don't stress over it." added Shin.

"In any case, you are very intriguing." said Akechi, ignoring Shin's last statement. "You keep surprising me."

The teen took a quick look at his watch, and clicked his tongue.

"I have an interview planned for today, in about 30 minutes, so I'll have to take my leave- Oh?" he said, but he was interrupted by a notification sound coming from his phone.

Akechi read the message and Shin could see a slight smile forming on the other teen's face.

"I just got word that the interview was cancelled, as the TV station I would've gone too just had an accident. Apparently, someone fiddled with the power cables, and the entire station shut down, along with most of the neighboring buildings." as he said that, Akechi looked up from his phone. "I happen to have quite some free time. If I'm not disturbing any plans you might've had, would you care to come along with me to a cafe I've been wanting to check out? We could continue our discussions over some tea."

Shin briefly considered any other option he had, but there wasn't anything blaringly important at the moment. Of course, he could've went to train the rest of the Phantom Thieves, but as he previously discovered when he put them through physical exercise, only Shiho could actually make use of any martial arts he could teach her, but the girl had her own training schedule, for the moment.

"Alright, I'll go with you." replied Shin.

"I'll have to warn you, though. Thanks to my appearances on television have earned me a rather extreme fanbase. Anyone in my company is expected to meet their standards of intelligence and attractiveness. If not, well, they take it to social media, denouncing and harassing the people in question. I wouldn't wish that on you. Not that I have any doubts that you wouldn't be accepted by them, what with your looks." said the teen, a look of distaste on his face as he spoke of his annoying fanbase.

Shin clapped his hands a few times.

"How smooth, Akechi. I'll admit, I had a few doubts regarding your flirting ability. I think there might be a future for you as a ladies' man." said Shin, holding his chin as he looked at Akechi once more.

"That would be wonderful to hear, had I any interest in something like that." said Akechi.

"Mmhm, sure, let's go with that for now."

-

Confidants:

0. Yaldabaoth (The Fool) - Rank 3

I. Morgana (The Magician) - Rank 3

1. Takuto Maruki (The Councillor) - Rank 1

II. Makoto Niijima (The Priestess) - Rank 3

IV. Yusuke Kitagawa (The Emperor) - Rank 3

Odd man - Rank 1

V. Sojiro Sakura (The Hierophant) - Rank 3

VI. Ann Takamaki (The Lovers) - Rank 7

VII. Ryuji Sakamoto (The Chariot) - Rank 7

VIII. Goro Akechi (The Justice) - Rank 2

IX. Futaba Sakura (The Hermit) - Rank 3

X. Maemi Maeda (The Fortune) - Rank 1

XI. Caroline & Justine (The Strength) - Rank 10

XIII. Tae Takemi (The Death) - Rank 5

Reaper - Rank 1

XIV. Sadayo Kawakami (The Temperance) - Rank 5

XVIII. Saki Yoshiko (The Moon) - Rank 3

XIX. Sho Minazuki (The Sun) - Rank 2

Toranosuke Yoshida - Rank 1

XX. Sae Niijima (The Judgement) - Rank 2

Shiho Suzui (The Hope) - Rank 8

Marie (The Aeon) - Rank 1