Disclaimer: I do not own anything. All characters belong to Atlus.
Author's Note: I say short, I ship them so I want to write something about them and it ended up this way and I'm not sure I will write it long or not. Anyway, hope you will enjoy it.
"Something's wrong?" - Niijima Sae, a woman in a black suit with long hair, turned back just to see a teenager, who had a frizzy hair and wore glass, standing behind her and looked at the phone silently.
"…" – Akira Kurusu did not answer her immediately. Apparently, his phone rang, alarming him that he had a message. When he opened it, it was a message of a familiar name.
"Do you think we can hang out tonight?" – Short and simple, but Akira had not answer yet. He had something very, very important to do right away and he had no time to play around. But one side of him wanted to answer immediately. He knew he had to go away and could not be able to see her. He did not know how long he would return, even though Sae promised and guaranteed that she would do and try as hard as possible and made sure Masayoshi Shido, the man who nearly became the Prime Minister of Japan and the one that pushed Akira under probation, would be punished for his sins. And even if Akira turned himself into the police, confessing he was the leader of the infamous Phantom thief, who stole and changed people hearts, nothing could be sure that Shido's subordinates would not try to get rid of Akira in order to keep Shido clean from all the crimes he did. But what choice did he have, when it was the only choice to protect his friends, and the one he fell in love. If it was that case, the answer was clear as day. In order to protect them all, he needed to turn himself in and went to the juvenile for quite some times. But still, what he should do with the message, should he ignore, or answer it? Would he have time to spend with her?
"You don't answer it?" – Seeing the young man just kept silent, Sae got the idea and spoke to him to wake him up.
"Can I… go with you tomorrow?" – Akira spoke on and wondered if Sae could accept it. He only needed one night, this night, the Christmas night.
"…. Very well." – Seeing Akira was hesitating, Sae nodded and let him last the little time he had left. She understood the pressure he had to take and if it had a way to reduce, she would give him. – "Make sure you use your time well. See you tomorrow."
After Sae had left, Akira did not waste any more time and answered the message immediately, before he rushed to the place they were going to meet. Despite the speed, he was still late and his girlfriend was waiting for him, alone in the middle of the snow rain. He felt regret but he knew he had no time for it. Rather than that, he decided to use all the little time he had to spend with her. After walking together for a long road around the city, they returned to LeBlance, where Akira lived, and would leave soon.
"Although I know it is Christmas, I didn't think there were so much couples on the road." – Stepping through the front door, the short brown hair girl sighed and tried to shake off all the snow on her blue coat.
"Did you have fun?" – Akira asked, just to make sure that she did really have it. He wondered what more he could do for her. – "Want a cup of coffee?"
"Yes, please." – Niijima Makoto nodded joyfully. It was a great thing to have a cup of hot coffee in the middle of the cold, and it was greater when the one who would make coffee for her was her boyfriend. Reminding of the word, she did not think that she would end up to have a boyfriend in the last year of high school. Back before she met him, she was only focusing on study and aimed to a good college, and found a stable job to have a stable life. But after meeting Akira and the others, she became a Phantom Thief and helped them to change people's heart, a thing she could never imagine. But if it was not for it, she would have never sat here and enjoy her boyfriend's coffee.
"So, what do you want to do tonight?" – After going up the attic, the couple sat on the sofa and Akira opened the conversation. – "You seemed stress, is everything okay?"
"No, it's fine. Thank you for worrying about me." – Makoto smiled innocently. – "I want to tell you that I want to become a police commissar. I want to bring all the crimes that are never been revealed and help the weaks so they can stand up by their own."
"Just don't push yourself." – Akira was kind of worry. It was an admirable job, but also an extreme hard one. He hoped that she would not push herself too hard and did not get herself into dangerous, just like she did before. Though, he could see the fire in her eyes.
"Thanks, I will." – Makoto smiled back, but then her face turned down.
"What's wrong?" – Akira asked doubtfully.
"You know… sometimes I cannot get rid of some thoughts. You know that I was once an honorable student, who just appeared to study very hard, and only focused on studying without learning anything else, like social communication. Everyone considered me as an admirable president of the student council, who never notices people's things except her studying. Some admires me, some hates me. I wish…" – Makoto stopped and it seemed she was stressful. – "… that I was just a normal student. Maybe people would not look at me too high."
"Who you are or what you will become doesn't relate to the fact people like you or hate you, it's just their own ideas and opinions about a thing, a person, or just a fact." – Akira comforted her. – "You cannot satisfy all of them, or I should say no one can satisfy all the people. They just say what they want to believe, and keep them for themselves, just like us who have our own ideas. It isn't easy to change person's mind, or heart. Now, we lost our power and it is more difficult to change people's mind. But that doesn't mean we should not give up easily, right? Because we are like them, we do what we think for the best of us."
"Yeah, you're right." – Makoto felt ease and was surprised. Although she was older than him one year old, Akira was so much mature than her. He knew a lot of things that she did not know although she was studying very hard and even taught him sometimes. She wondered if that was called "life experience". If that so, she admitted that she had little of them. – "Being with you makes me realized I still don't know anything."
"Don't say that. There are things that you know and I don't. Didn't you forget that you often helped me studying? It is the thing I am not good at. Thank to you, I could make it up to the top of the class. There are a lot of knowledge and we can still learn, so don't worry about that." – Akira smiled and he was glad that it could help her stress went down.
"You're totally right." – Makoto chuckled, but then, she looked at Akira and asked shyly. – "Can I… lean to… your shoulder?"
"It's all yours." – Akira even helped to put her head on her right shoulder. He wished that this moment could last longer.
"It's really warm." – Makoto smiled happily. – "I didn't think that you have a strong but also soft shoulder. You're so special… Akira, very special… to me."
"The same with you." – Akira told back.
"I'm glad that you didn't hate me, after all the thing I did back when we were dealing with Kaneshiro." – Makoto then felt trouble again.
"It wasn't your fault at the beginning. Principal Kobayakawa forced you to do it. You were under heavy pressure and there was very hard to be calm. Nobody could and if anyone said that you're just a snitch or a troublemaker, or a useless person, screw them. Don't even bother with them. It isn't worth." – Akira showed his strong will that he would use it to protect her. – "We all make mistakes or screw things around us sometimes. The matter is what we are going to do with the mistakes."
"But if you weren't Phantom Thieves, what would have happen to all the victims of Kaneshiro?" – Makoto asked back sadly. – "I was asked to help them but all the things I did were just following you around and gave you trouble."
"Back to that time, you're just a normal person. Although it's cruel, it is just how it is in this world. Sometimes, we see cruel and unforgivable things in front of our eyes, but we are powerless to deal with them. But isn't because of it, you want to become a police commissar? So that you will bring criminals like Kaneshiro to the light of day?" – Akira explained and encouraged his girlfriend slowly and understandably. However, he did not want imagine what would happen to Makoto if they did not change Kaneshiro's heart in time.
"R-Right. It is my goal." – Makoto was surprised and tried to gain back her confidence thanks to Akira. – "You always encourage me in the dark times, you know."
"That's my role." – Akira smiled. – "And I will always be with you when you feel stress." – Suddenly, after saying that, Akira stopped quietly, realizing that he had forgotten how little time he had. From tomorrow, he would not meet her again.
"You okay?" – Makoto wondered what happened with the sudden change.
"Oh-uhm, nothing. Don't worry." – Did not want to worry Makoto, Akira smiled again and tried to hide his sadness.
"Ah right, here." – Remembering something, Makoto drew from her pocket a small box, and gave it to Akira. – "This is my gift to you."
"It is… a wristwatch?" – Opening the box, Akira was surprised when it was a nice wristwatch. – "Thank you."
"Remember to handle it with care." – Makoto chuckled happily when Akira seemed to like it. But she did not know that Akira could not wear it for long. After that, she spoke up. – "I-I don't mean to change the subject so suddenly… but my sister is handling with Shido's case and she seems to run into some troubles. I'm not sure what on it though… but she says they're having hard to time getting people to testify against him. Even though, I trust my sister and I'm sure she will do it well because if we can prove Shido's crimes, your probation will be disband." – Despite the worrying, Makoto still had some hope in her words.
"Right…" – Did not want to interrupt Makoto, Akira just let her said although he already knew all the things she said. And he himself was one of the people who could testify against Shido, and in order to do it, he needed to confess that he was a Phantom Thief, who made Shido confessed all the crime he did. But it also meant he would be sent to jail due to crime that changed people's heart illegally and god knew what more the police could put onto him. No matter what the result was, he was aware what was going to happen to him and inside that, he was vulnerable to anything and anyone. Worst, there was also a possibility that Shido's subordinates would try to silent him and if it happened, he would never meet Makoto again. It was also possible that they all had the needed information to fabricate and arrest all the Phantom Thieves and in order to protect them, there was only one way. In spite of knowing that, he wanted to tell Makoto the deal he made with Sae, but he knew it would only cause panic for her so he preferred to keep it secret to her.
"Hm? What's wrong?" – Noticing Akira kept silent abnormally, Makoto asked.
"It's… nothing." – Akira tried to smile. But they both felt the strange atmosphere around them.
"I-I'm sorry to bring up a strange topic, in Christmas Eve…" – Makoto spoke up but it did not help things better. Quietly, they remained silent, before Makoto stood up. – "I'll be going now."
"I'll walk you back." – Akira stood up. He did not want to leave her, not yet.
"I'll be okay. Besides, you must be very tired. The battle at the afternoon nearly drained out your energy, I can say that through your face." – Makoto smiled and touched Akira's face softly. She was right when she looked at his tired eyes. He barely stood up and he could not even walk anymore.
"Makoto… I…" – Akira wanted to say something but he was too tired.
"I bet Morgana often told you go to bed after every times we went to palaces and mementos. Now he isn't around and as your lover, I need to make sure that you don't wake up too late. Come on, listen to me, okay?" – Makoto still kept her smile.
"Okay." – Despite his will, Akira had no choice but to go to bed.
"Akira…" – After turning her back, Makoto called him. – "You're not keeping anything from me, are you…"
"…" – Startling, Akira did not know how to answer.
"It's okay, don't bother it." – Seeing Akira was in silent, Makoto decided to end the conversation. – "Good night and sleep well. I'll see you… tomorrow."
After watching Makoto leave LeBlance, Akira could not help but to blame himself from keeping secret from her, but what more he could do? Between telling her the truth and keeping it from her, he chose the second one because he decided it that was the best for her and for his friends. He was in pain, more than ever because of lying to Makoto. After calming down, he decided to turn off the light and go to bed. The more he thought, the sleepier he was. But one thing he could be sure that the "tomorrow" Makoto and he was expected to happen…
He would never see it coming…