In My Life

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"Dreary, rainy days often give you the chance to contemplate everything. I wonder when I'll start going mad."

-From Makoto's journal

It was the first time it had rained since Makoto arrived in Mineral Town. He decided to get himself some breakfast at the Inn, and that's where he was at 7:30 that morning, sitting behind a breakfast menu as Ann bustled around the Inn. At about 7:40, Makoto finally decided what to eat.

"Eggs," he said. "I'll have fried eggs. Sunny side."

"Bacon or sausage?" Ann asked.

"Sausage. And some coffee. Black coffee."

Ann smiled and took his menu. As she headed for the kitchen, Makoto watched her for a bit, and turned back to the table.

A carrot-headed boy around Makoto's age came down the stairs, his hair hidden underneath a blue baseball cap with some kind of logo on it… "UMA". He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and tilted his brim into his eyes, taking a quick look around the Inn. He noticed Makoto sitting at the table across from him, walking over.

"You're the new guy?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm Gray, and unfortunately, Saibara the Blacksmith's grandson and apprentice."

"Makoto."

Makoto turned away.

"You can sit if you want."

Gray plunked down into a seat across from Makoto. He turned to Makoto, giving a little grunt as he started talking.

"Any other place in the world… and you picked the boondocks to show up in."

Makoto looked over at Gray as the rain started pounding harder from outside. He gave him a somewhat acknowledging shrug.

"You're not so bad," Gray said. "A lot of the townies around here were discussing you when you first arrived."

Makoto looked over.

"Half of them think you're a good-for-nothing straggler, and half think you're some insane guerrilla fighter."

"Great."

Gray sighed.

"Either way, I don't care," he muttered. "You're just a normal guy."

Makoto gave Gray an unexpressive stare in response, nodding. Gray cleared his throat.

"Wanna come with me to the Library today?"

"Library?"

"Yeah… it's better than the rest of town. You can kind of get away from the rest of these people… no one ever goes there."

"Sounds great."

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That dreary afternoon, Makoto and Gray hid behind the fiction section, browsing around. The library was huge, dimly lit, cold, and strangely inviting on a rainy day. Makoto was aimlessly poking through the books, and Gray picked up a copy of Lord of the Flies. Makoto shrugged, and grabbed a random Hemmingway book off the shelf, following Gray to a large oak desk.

They sat down, Gray craning his neck over to the librarian behind the counter. She was about the same age as the boys, a bit of a small, mousy looking girl. Her dark bangs fell into her focused eyes, which took shelter behind a pair of thick glasses. A braid ran down her back, sitting as intently as she was as she read through what could have been the largest book the library had to offer.

"That's Mary," Gray whispered to Makoto, motioning his head to the librarian. "I like coming here because I can reflect in peace, but I also like coming here because she's always got something interesting to say!" He grinned and blushed a bit underneath his cap.

Makoto somewhat nodded, turning to his book.

"Hey wait… I read this one…" he muttered to himself.

Gray looked over.

"Not the best book…" Makoto shrugged a bit. "But hey."

"What's it about?"

"World War I… a field nurse falls in love with an injured soldier. Could've been better, but whatever." He flipped the book open and began to read. He groaned, shook his head, and dropped it.

"What's the matter?" Gray asked.

"Things I want to forget," Makoto quickly replied. Gray nodded, burying his face in the book. Makoto looked at him; his face was red like a tomato. Feeling someone standing behind him, Makoto looked up.

Mary looked down at the boys with a shy little smile. They quickly looked up, Makoto's throat jumping up and Gray turning and blushing underneath his cap. Mary stepped back a bit, holding her hands to her face.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" she said. "I didn't mean to disturb you. I just wanted to say hi…"

"Hi Mary…" Gray blurted out, his cheeks turning brighter.

Makoto looked to Gray, and looked back to Mary. Mary looked back at him, and in the battle of shyness, Mary had to go with introductions first.

"I'm Mary…" she said to Makoto with a warm smile. She turned away a little. "You're Makoto, right?"

Makoto nodded.

"I'm so glad you came to the library, Makoto. Not many people come here, you know."

Makoto shrugged.

"A crying shame."

Mary gave him a strange look.

"I really do appreciate this kind of thing," Makoto added. "But you should be closing soon."

Mary smiled.

"I'm glad you do. Thanks."

Gray and Makoto got up from the table and headed to the doorway. Gray flashed Mary a smile, Mary gave Makoto a warm look, and Makoto doesn't smile to begin with, so he walked out the door with a simple wave.

Gray turned to Makoto outside the Library.

"One more stop on the Brooder's Club tour. Let's get a drink at the Inn."

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The rain pounded down even harder as Makoto and Gray headed to the Inn. Most of the drinking crowd hadn't arrived yet. It was still the last of the dinner hours, so Makoto and Gray took a seat at some nearby tables. Gray took off his hat and shook it out a bit; underneath his hair was fine, but matted from the cap.

They sat, and they talked, and in what didn't seem to be long enough, the rest of the drinking crowd began to pour in, and like clockwork, Doug and Ann burst from the kitchen, and were ready to open the bar. The Inn was lively, the atmosphere cheery, and Makoto and Gray sat brooding at the table while Ann bought over some beers. It was all good: drinking age was a term used loosely in such an upbeat environment. It went on for hours. Makoto and Gray had their fare share to drink, and were rather shitfaced.

From the counter, Karen turned around and noticed Makoto on the other side of the bar. She scooped up her drink and hopped over to where he was sitting, taking the seat next to him. Makoto looked over at Karen.

"Hey Makoto," she grinned, blushing a bit. She already must've downed a few.

Makoto nodded acknowledging.

"How are you doing?" he asked rather nicely. He didn't look at her.     

They kind of sat for a moment. Gray had gotten up to get another drink or something. Makoto looked at Karen and Karen looked back at him.

"Did you and Rick make up?" Makoto suddenly blurted out.

Karen turned to her mug, staring down at the liquid bread.

"No."

Makoto sighed. He tried to say something, but looked up at Karen rather helplessly. Karen noticed the message his gray eyes were trying to scream out, and sighed.

"It's okay, Makoto," she began. "There's not much you can do. We always get into fights like this."

Makoto turned his glance away for a moment, until he felt a tap on his back. Quickly turning around, he saw Rick stumbling to keep his balance. Makoto stood his ground. He was taller than Rick was, and looked much more intimidating.

"What do you want?" Makoto asked flatly, fixing his cold gray eyes straight into Rick's.

"What do you mean by that?? Why are you sitting with Karen again??" Rick demanded, speaking a mile a minute.

Karen sighed.

"Rick, you're drunk. Sit down."

"No I'm NOT!!"

Makoto couldn't stand it anymore. He promptly socked Rick in the stomach. With a moan, Rick doubled over and hit the floor, dragging the rest of the Inn down into total hushed silence. Everyone turned to look at the scene, Makoto staring, Rick barely rolling around on the floor.

Doug gaped out from over the counter. Ann dropped her tray at the nearest table. Karen turned to stare at Makoto. The rest of the people all stared at Makoto, disappointed looks tacked onto their faces.

A large, middle-aged man with white-streaked, blackish hair turned to the rest of the crowd. His presence was enormous, and everyone sat and listened to him.

"It's that guerrilla freak Mayor Thomas let loose in our town!! I knew it wouldn't be too long before that freak started causing trouble in our town! You just can't trust some people!"

"Duke, look out!!"

Bad idea. Duke was promptly tackled by Makoto from behind, who now had the upper hand as he sat over him, delivering blows to his face as he screamed more curse words than anybody wanted to hear.

"MAKOTO!!" Karen screamed as she ran up to him. She and several other townies tried prying Makoto off of Duke. Makoto was light enough, so he eventually succumbed to everyone tugging on him. Makoto slowly staggered to his feet, turning to everyone else as they stared back in utter shock. Another group of townies tried helping Duke to his feet, but Duke pushed them away and got up on his own. He glared at Makoto, who was standing there motionless.

"The old man'd be shitting over in his grave right now!" Duke blurted out. "He was nothing like you, freak!!"

The accusing glares coming from the adults. The shocked looks coming from his peers. Makoto turned to head out the door, tripping on a loose floorboard and passing out.

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The first thing Makoto noticed when he slowly woke up was that the night had cleared. As his senses slowly returned, he realized that he was being carried by Rick and Karen off somewhere. He groaned as his skull wailed on his brain.

"Where… where we going?" Makoto muttered as he looked up at Karen.

"Rick's taking you to his house."

"What about my house?"

Rick looked down at Makoto.

"I wanna make sure you're alright in the morning." He grinned a bit.

They came to the stoop of Rick's house, Chicken Lil's Poultry Farm. Makoto groaned a bit as Rick brought him upstairs, Karen following behind. They opened up the door to a simple room, with a small bed in the corner, and several pictures of Rick and Karen pinned up to a bulletin board.

Rick laid Makoto down in his bed, and Makoto passed out again before Rick knew it.

A gentle, enchanting moonlight washed in through the large window. Karen took a seat down on the windowsill, a comfortable spot for her, while Rick sat on the floor next to the window. They sat quiet for a while, sighing occasionally and exchanging quick glances.

The clock had read 12:22 AM. Rick sighed again, looking up at Karen.

"Makoto really taught me something…" he began uncomfortably. Taking a moment, he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Karen, for being so stupid and jealous…"

Karen looked out the window for a moment, and then turned back to Rick.

"Hey, you don't have to apologize…" she told him.

Rick smiled, looking up at Karen.

"Hey, we're still on for the Goddess Festival, right?"

"Can't think of a reason not to!" Karen blushed lightly.

They shared a quick laugh, staring into each other's eyes for a moment. Karen broke the silence.

"What do you think of Makoto?" she asked Rick suddenly.

Rick looked at Makoto, passed out in his bed. Makoto had a bit of a pained look on his face.

"I'm grateful for him…" Rick replied solemnly. "It's sad how so many people judged him at that meeting before they even met him…" He sighed. "I don't know where he's coming from, really. He seems anti-social, which he is… but then again, his heart is in the right place." He paused for a moment. "You know what I mean, Karen?"

Karen nodded, looking out to the starry sky again.

"I hope he finds someone who he can open up to… someone who understands him."

She looked at Makoto and smiled.

"Makoto, I'm sorry for starting that fight with you. I realize now that you've taught me a lot, and I want you to stay in this town. I already feel like you're a part of this town… though, I'm not sure how you feel, and I don't want to push that."

            -From Rick's Journal

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Next time, things are heating up for Makoto. Doug thinks Makoto is a great guy, and an even greater man for his daughter. Makoto begins to wonder whether he likes Ann or not... and hey, the Goddess Festival is coming up soon. Until next time!