Chapter 24: We're on the Air!

(Mari's pov)

June 9th, Thursday, daytime, I was touring a T.V station with my class. The woman who was leading the tour was explaining all about how the T.V business works. I was barely paying attention. I was standing next to Akira, wondering when this will end. Akira looked like he was dozing off a bit.

"He ain't even listening..." Ryuji whispered. I let out an amused sigh. A while later... the woman is still talking!

"Could this get any more obvious?" Ann muttered.

"How is this a social studies field trip again?" I asked quietly.

"So sleepy..." Akira whispered. Why did he look so cute when he said that?

"Agreed..." Ann yawned.

"Hey, how much longer does this go?" Morgana asked, peeking out of Akira's bag.

"I swear, I'm not gonna last..." Ryuji yawned.

"Just hold on..." I said to my blonde friend. Just then, a man shoved Akira out of the way and made his way to the woman who was talking.

"What's going on? I can't stand all this noise!" The man said. The utter nerve of that man!

"Hey, a**ho-" Ryuji started.

"My apologies! I'll have them leave right away!" The woman said.

"Now then, it's time for a bit of hands-on experience!" The woman continued. The crowd then dispersed, I sent a glare to the man who shoved Akira.

"Damnit... Who does that jerk think he is?" Ryuji said with frustration. I stood between Ann and Akira just then, I noticed a guy weirdly looking at Ann.

"Can I help you, sir?" I asked him. The guy then looked at me and nodded.

"Hey, do you two want to be on T.V?" He asked.

"You two have slammin' bods~," I'm uncomfortable with this...

"Umm... we're on a school trip..." Ann said. The guy looked like he was about to say something else, but he shut up when he saw my glare.

(Time skip! Brought to you by my new comic: S.C.P: Miraculous: Pandora's days!)

"I'm so... p***ed off! Aren't we supposed to be guests? Why the hell do we have to be doin' manual labor?!" Ryuji ranted. My friends and I were walking down a hallway after coming from the bathrooms.

"Calm down, Ryuji-kun. I don't know... enrichment?" I said.

"I feel like that grasping for straws..." Akira commented.

"Knew it..." I muttered.

"Quiet down, you guys!" Ann said walking, towards us.

"I get how you feel, though... it sucked for all of us..." She continued.

"Is that the right word for it?" I asked.

"Is there another word for it? If we have to do stuff like this tomorrow..." Ryuji started.

"If we do, no flaking out, Ryuji!" Morgana said, peaking out of Akira's bag. I nodded in agreement.

"I know, I know. I gotta be a "Good boy," Right?" Ryuji sighed.

"Being Phantom Thieves ain't easy..." He muttered.

"Be that as it may, remember, we go home from here today!" I reminded my friends.

"That's right! We don't spend that much time in this area, so why not relax and check out some shops beforehand?" Ann suggested.

"Oh, I know a place! I wanna go to that huge pancake looking place that we passed on the way here! It looked delicious! What was that?" Morgana said, looking very excited. I smiled at the antics of my small friend.

"Ohhh!... do you mean Dome Town?" Ryuji asked. He then explained how it's an amusement park and a baseball stadium. Ann chimed in about the hardcore rides. She, Ryuji, and Morgana then started to discuss the 'Puke rides' or something, but I felt something. A... presence? I tried to concentrate, but I couldn't pin it down.

Suddenly, a boy came around the corner. He looked around our age, wearing a uniform of some kind. He had longish brown hair and eyes that looked... red? Did he have irises that were naturally that color? Not that I'm one to talk about the odd coloring of body parts.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice your uniforms. Are you students of Shujin Academy?" He asked.

"We are... do you need something?" I responded. Why do I feel... faint?

"I happen to be passing by, so it would seem polite to greet you. We will be filming together, after all." He said, walking towards us. Why is my head hurting? It wasn't a bad pain, but it was there, on the edge of my senses.

"Ah, where are my manners? My name is Goro Akechi." He introduced himself.

"Akechi?" Ann asked.

"Filming? What, are you a celebrity?" Ryuji asked.

"Only to the extent of appearing on T.V a couple of times," Akechi responded. There was a period of awkward silence. Akechi then pulled out his phone.

"My apologies, I truly was just passing by. I must be going. There's a briefing for tomorrow's recording that I have to attend." Akechi said.

"So, you're going to have cake now? I missed lunch today, so I'm quite hungry myself..." He said.

... What?

My friends and I looked at him, confused.

"Huh? Cake? What're you talking about?" Ryuji asked.

"Oh, am I mistaken? I thought I heard something about delicious pancakes..." Akechi said.

"No matter. Welp, see you tomorrow." Akechi continued, bidding us goodbye. As soon as he left, my small headache went away. How strange... Why did that happen?

(Later that evening...)

As I ate my dinner, I thought about today's events. The tour of the T.V station was cool but, that thing with Akechi was... Strange... to say the least. It's bothering me so much... I think I should go to sleep...

(A/N: To those who are curious about the comic I mentioned above, here's a link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28927455/chapters/70975578 I'm working hard on it!)