Joker follows. 

That went well. 

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. 

Relax, Akira. Takemi's cool. 

Truly, you have good taste, moitiés.

And the outfit returns to normal as they return to the surface.

"Probably we should get back into the office before crossing back over. Don't want to risk people seeing us appear outside the station."

Akira falls back into front. 

"Yeah, agreed."

Takemi leads the way back to the office. The streets are still deserted.

And, once more back in the office, Akira ends the transport on the Metaverse app. 

Another wave of wooziness passes, and the darkness fades a little. They're back in reality.

Takemi checks her phone.

"And apparently that only took two minutes."

"Time is weird in the Metaverse."

"It really is."

Then she looks up and blinks. "Interesting. That worked too. I can understand you out here now, Morgana."

"Yep!"

"Well, apparently congratulations are in order, because it looks like you've unlocked fast travel?"

"It's not a reliable time difference, and I don't have a vehicle in the Metaverse. I certainly wouldn't trust the subway. But it does seem exploitable, doesn't it?"

"Um. You kind of do have a vehicle in the Metaverse, at least if I'm with you. Something about people believing cats can turn into buses."

"Oh, like in My Neigbour Totoro!"

She grins. "Cool."

Morgana hops into Akira's lap and curls up, purring.

"That's pretty handy. Well, as enlightening as that was, you still haven't told me the story of your mysterious date yet. What did you dress up like this for?"

"Oh, ah. That's part of the longer story. Basically, me and some friends from school got into the metaverse and worked together to take down Kamoshida, and grew close to each other through all that... such that we ended up, um. All dating each other, simultaneously. I had my first date with one of them today, Ryuji. And I thought I'd wear this... but then I had nowhere to prep for the date over at Leblanc, so I went over to my girlfriends' house — Ann and Shiho, they're each other's primaries — and they did my makeup and everything together. Ann models, so..." she rubs the back of her head. "I owe a lot of this to her skill."

"Well, they certainly did a great job. You look gorgeous. Was Ryuji suitably appreciative?"

"He was." Akira smiles. "We spent a couple hours on a park bench together. He's... very earnest. I might be catching some of that, honestly. I couldn't even keep a straight story talking to you."

"Oh good. I'm glad. You deserve love in your life, Akira-chan."

"Thanks, Takemi." She glances away.

"So is there anything I can do for your clinical trials tonight, or...?"

She looks off to the side for a moment, then nods. "I can whip up a test batch right now, in fact. Are you up for a trial?"