"Uhhhhhhhh strawberry."

Ryuji nods, sets down his pack, and heads up to the stand to order three crêpes. He comes back and sits down. "No word yet, I guess?"

"No, no word yet. I feel helpless. I could go, but there's no way I'd be able to keep Shiho actually safe without making her leave practice, and I'd never be able to get her to leave without her active cooperation."

She rubs her face. "This could absolutely be a mistake. But I have to trust her. She's strong. She's dealt with all this for a long time, after all."

Ann shows up before the crepes come. 

"Hey," she says. She looks worried too.

A server shortly arrives with one strawberry crêpe for Akira, one salmon crêpe for Ryuji, and a chocolate double-cream crêpe for Ann.

Akira accepts her crepe and tries to focus on the food.

It helps a little. It's at least a distraction.

Ann accepts her double chocolate cream one, and tries to focus on the food as well.

Ryuji digs into his too. He hates that he can't just fix this by punching Kamoshida, but he'll do what he can.

"From what I saw when you talked to her yesterday, and from what you've all said, are you sure she'll even text if he's awfuller than usual? Don't know if waiting will help anything. Would working to ruin him at least take your mind off it?"

"Yeah. That's sensible, Morgana. I just..." 

She frowns.

"Okay. Yeah. We're continuing with the plan. Work on the treasure."

"I guess that's probably for the best."

Ryuji nods. "Oh, I noticed the metanav on my phone this morning, too. But yeah, let's head over to campus and do this. Sooner we find the treasure, sooner none of us — including Shiho — ever see him again."

"Yeah."

Akira gets out her phone again, and starts on the trip back to Shujin Academy, making sure not to approach it from the practice-field side. 

And from a secluded alley near Shujin, they vanish from one world and appear in another.

And for the first time since her awakening, Akira has a moment to consider her empowered outfit. 

It's dark, gothy. She has an ivory masquerade mask, and a bell-shaped coat that stops at her mid-thigh, the same length as her skirt. Knee-height heeled boots wrap her feet, covered in red buckles on black straps. Her PVC skirt bears a pair of silver D-rings to each side of it, and is short enough she'd be flashing Ann if not for the snug leggings beneath that hug her legs and pelvis. Opera-style gloves dye her hands blood red. 

The real problem is with what's beneath the coat. Rather than a vest or blouse, there's an underbust corset layered over a mesh shirt, which completely bares her breasts. She's only kept from flashing her nipples by the enshrouding coat: when she moves it aside slightly she sees a cross of black electrical tape over her nipple beneath the mesh. 

Akira instinctively throws her arm over her breasts and looks away from Ryuji and Ann. "I, uh..." 

Fuck it's embarrassing to be wearing something like this in front of them. 

Ann looks over, and a distinct blush rises to her cheeks. 

"I, um." She blinks. "Wow. I didn't really parse that in all the chaos earlier but that's quite the outfit."

Ryuji gapes, blushes fiercely, and then looks away, seemingly unsure whether he's even allowed to witness this.

"Wow, Noir. That... fuck."

Ryuji's mouth opens and closes again, but he fails to generate any further words.

"Wow! Those are some awesomely rebellious clothes, Noir! Truly worthy of a phantom thief!"

Morgana does not seem to have parsed why Ann and Ryuji are blushing.

Noir carefully buckles her coat closed. Very fortunately it has a clasp. Unfortunately it only has one. It holds it closed over her breasts, but the corset's still fully on display.

She really doesn't know what to say. It's an outrageous outfit, but she can't say she dislikes it. Every single piece of it's something she's looked at online and wished she could purchase. Even the... nipple situation... is not something she's unfamiliar with. 

She takes a careful step in the boots. They've got serious heels on them, but feel as natural as walking normally. 

... she can't lie, she really likes how she looks. 

"... Yeah, it's a lot." Noir shakes her head. "I'm — I used to look at goth fashion and clubwear online and wish I could wear it. Guess Julie answered that wish."

"It looks good but I have no idea where I'm supposed to look, y'know?"

Ryuji is continuing to look away.

"Yeah, uh, it really is a lot."

Ann's gaze lingers on Noir. "There's no helping it though, so..." 

She glances over at Ryuji, then looks back at Noir.

"I did up the coat, Skull, it's okay to look now."

The skirt situation is pretty much irretrievable. And she has got leggings on.

The coat conceals her broad shoulders. The skirt's short but she doesn't need to worry about her bare legs being on display. She feels... kind of sexy, actually. And like she could kick someone to death in these boots.

Noir pulls her dagger from the holster at her hip and sheathes it again. The motion feels natural. The same motions with her gun feel equally easy. 

"We should stick to the plan," she says. "We've got a castle to infiltrate."

"In through the vent, then?"

"Indeed."

And Noir ducks into the vent and starts to crawl in.

Clover follows. She gets way too good a look up Noir's skirt on the way in: Akira's butt is practically in her face.