First time trying out a week challenge. This is day 1 of the Makoto Niijima Week!
Day 1: Buchimaru
Where is it? Where? Where? Makoto scolds herself as she digs through her bag, normally not one to easily lose things. She unpacks nearly everything, laying them all out before her on a desk in the student council room.
She sighs, putting her head in her hands. Makoto sits there, trying to retrace her steps.
She'd been in class all day and obviously would put it back into her bag when she heads off for lunch. She normally takes lunch here so maybe it's in here? She glances around the room, hoping to see even a hint of it peeking out from somewhere.
Once that fails, she starts going through the desks and shelves in the room. She tries to slow herself down but she can feel her anxiety start to increase.
After turning the room upside down, she sits down. Where did it go? She could try to ask her classmates if they've seen it but the majority of them still don't really interact with her.
The door to the council room slides open and Makoto turns around, seeing Akira. "Oh, Akira. What are you doing here?"
"The others wanted to get together for a study session. Didn't you get the texts?" Only now does Makoto check her phone. She had been so busy looking for it that she completely disregarded everything else.
She quickly scrolls through the chat, skimming the messages. Her heart swells for a moment, knowing that there are people worried for her as she goes through the chat. She didn't realize how concerned they were just because she wasn't responding for a couple hours. "Sorry, I was busy looking for something."
"Did you find it?"
Makoto shakes her head sadly. "I have no idea where it is. I've spent the past hour looking around the council room but I still haven't found it."
"I can help you look elsewhere." Akira is already halfway out the door.
"Thank you," Makoto follows closely behind him, her heart racing out of fear of having lost it.
Makoto puts the boxes back into their place dejectedly. She and Akira had spent the entire afternoon looking for it; Akira had even contacted the others to help them look around the building but they still hadn't found it.
She lets out a frustrated sigh. How could she have been so careless? She hears the door slide open again. "Oh, Niijima! You're still here!"
"Kawakami-senpai? What are you doing here?" Makoto's eyes widen. "Oh, I'm sorry! It's just that you normally don't come here."
Kawakami dismisses it, clearly not too concerned. "I passed by Kurusu and he mentioned that he was looking for something. He mentioned that he'd already looked in here, but I wanted to try myself."
"I see. Well, he was helping me look for my pencil case."
"Oh the Buchimaru pencil case? Is it an old one?"
"Yes! Have you seen it?" Hope begins to swell within Makoto.
Kawakami hesitates and Makoto could feel that same hope burst. "I…think I saw it in one of the trash cans. A student must have thought it was an old case and accidentally threw it aw-"
She doesn't finish her sentence but Makoto has already charged out of the room, making a beeline for the dumpster.
Makoto collapses against the dumpster, grime all over her clothing but her hands clutched tightly to the object she had been searching all day for: her Buchimaru pencil case. She fights back the tears as she can feel the adrenaline slowly leave her body. She was terrified at the possibility that she had lost the case. She wouldn't know how to replace something that means so much to her.
"I found her!" A high-pitched voice announces. Makoto glances up and sees Morgana bounding towards her. The rest of the Phantom Thieves turn the corner, almost frantically running towards her.
"You okay?" Ann asks, the first one kneeling next to Makoto. Haru pulls out a handkerchief from her pocket and starts cleaning away the dirt on Makoto's face.
"Yeah, I managed to find it," she brings up the case triumphantly for the group to see.
"Whassup with the pencil case? When you said you lost something, I thought it was like a homework assignment or somethin'," Ryuji asks, curious.
Makoto stares at it longingly, "It has sentimental value. It was one of the last things my father bought for me before he died." She could feel the mood drop as the Phantom Thieves' facial expressions dropped, Ryuji had even glanced away, feeling guilty for having asked. After all, in their band of misfits, not a single thief has a happy family. She winces, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring the mood do-"
"Don't worry about it, Makoto. We all have our reasons and it's nice that you trusted us to help you look," Ann reassures her.
"Yes, we now understand why it means so much to you, after all. So don't feel bad," Haru adds, smiling. Makoto could feel the tears threatening to spill out, but she fights them back with a relieved smile.
"Thank you, everyone."
Hope you enjoyed Day 1!