Makoto 8: Hifumi's Thoughts

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Hiroshima; August 19th, 1994

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Everyone was present at the first official meeting of Hope's Peak Ministers; shown by all the pairs of shoes neatly lined up in front of the door. The meeting was held at Sayaka and Makoto's place again, and Sayaka wore her kimono and made cookies for everyone once more. The first thing on their agenda was just Makoto congratulating everyone for getting elected to serve.

"We've gotten to know each other quite well in the past few days we've assembled this council. I'm so happy to know that none of us are going anywhere!" He smiled. Everyone smiled back and gave a tiny round of applause for themselves. Makoto then cleared his throat. "Our first item to talk about tonight is the issue of our spies. It's getting time that we should think about sending them soon, but who will go suggest the offer to them? I think it should be the person who suggested them in the first place. Leon-san, you go talk to Kizakura-san. Asahina-chan, you go talk to Kirigiri-san. And Fujisaki-san, you and Kaito-san can go talk to Gonta-san."

Chihiro shyly raised his hand, then quickly wrote out something and handed it to Kaito to read.

"While he doesn't disagree with that idea, he does worry that it might take a few days to work with Gonta-san and get him to agree," He read.

"When are we sending them?" Aoi asked curiously.

"We can't send them all at once, that's too obvious. 'Cuz...what else would it look like? We gotta send them one at a time," Leon said. "Kizakura-san and Kirigiri-san might suspect we've sent others, but they won't say anything if they don't know a name,"

"But what if they're tortured? The fashionista seems like the kind of person who'd just torture people for fun!" Sayaka cried. "Let alone trying to get out information,"

Makoto winced. "We all know this is a dangerous and risky situation...but we've decided on it."

"If I may suggest a schedule," Yasuhiro cut in. "How about Kizakura-san leaves on August 26th, Kirigiri-chi leaves on August 27th, and Gonta-san leaves on August 28th? Tell them to take different roads and different vehicles so their arrivals seem more natural. With Gonta-san leaving last, that gives Fujisaki-chi plenty of time to work with him,"

"Yeah, that could work!" Aoi nodded.

The spies should be told to come back whenever they feel it's time. With the exception of Gonta-san, who'd have to be put under hypnosis and told when to return, Chihiro got a thoughtful expression on his features. But the weather might also be a factor. This has been a very active typhoon season and around late September or early October there could be some bad storms coming that'd strand them on another island. I say they should only spend three weeks at the most in Nagasaki.

"Surely they could just move in further mainland if a typhoon does come? Like further south of Nagasaki," Sayaka suggested.

"No way, that'll just delay them even further! Then we might not see them until spring!" Kaito declined.

"If that's the case, then Kizakura-san should be given a headstart," Leon said. "Just in case. I'll go talk to him tonight, probably. I'll send him off on his way the day after tomorrow,"

"What's next?" Makoto looked around at everyone.

"I think we should start thinking about how to make our community here more official. Start counting people who come in and keeping track of people who come out. A census. And make everyone here be the head of something!" Yasuhiro suggested.

"Keeping track of people who come out? Like leave? Why does that matter?" Aoi asked.

"What if they leave and head off south with vital information?" Leon stated. "What then?"

"We can't just lock them up though to stop them from leaving! Just because they don't like how we run things...that's pretty bad," Sayaka mumbled.

"Yeah, no secret police force!" Yasuhiro seconded.

"I like what Yasuhiro-san mentioned earlier about making everyone be the head of something. It'd help us focus our strengths into one specific thing and help the reconstruction go faster. It'll be like the real Ministers and their Prime Minister!" Makoto laughed. "Does anyone have any ideas in that area?"

Chihiro blushed a bit and handed Kaito another piece of paper to read, which he did so after clearing his throat.

I wrote all of this down this morning just in preparation for this meeting. I don't like a lot of what I'm suggesting, but know that I thought about it long enough and this is as confident as I'll ever get about it. It's really hard to be a mute sometimes, so please just bare with me as I try to sort out all my thoughts on this matter. First things first, we should re-establish the courthouse and make Makoto-san the new Minister of Defense. He will have the power to deputize at least thirty other men, and also be responsible for answering to any lawbreakers we have in town.

"That's a lot to spring on me there," Makoto smiled awkwardly. "I'm not sure if I could do all of that,"

"Surely our community doesn't have that many problems with violence though? Or any sort of crime?" Sayaka worried.

"Do you want there to be? People get antsy, Sayaka-chan. What if some guy sees his girl talking to a dude he doesn't like and he just grabs a knife that's left lying around and stabs both of them? Then there'd be a killer walking around free,"

She was silent, a hand on her stomach.

Places without some sort of law get messy fast. I learned that first-hand when I was made to take over as Daiya-san's deputy back in June. I'm not very happy to suggest this either, but what can be done? Chihiro placed his hands on his chest. I picked Makoto-san because he's loyal and kind and has a way of handling people like that. Everyone here looks up to him. He's a good person with a good heart, probably moreso than everyone else in this room, and that's saying a lot.

"I guess I have no choice..." Makoto rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I'll accept it. Never once in my life did I think I'd be made a Minister of Defense..."

"Um, I have a question," Sayaka's features darkened. "Can I decline this? It's not safe! What happens if Makoto-kun gets in over his head? Or someone gets upset with him and shoots him? What then? Are you really going to say: 'Oh, I'm really sorry about that, Sayaka-chan,' Fujisaki-san? Because I won't accept that apology! I'm going to have a child and so I think I have a bit of an authority to speak on making stupid decisions!" She then burst into tears and it took about ten minutes to get her to calm down and continue on with the meeting. The vote for making Makoto Minister of Defense was 7-1; Sayaka still declined.

"But what is the Minister of Defense without the others?" Makoto added. "Did you have anyone else in mind for the others?"

Kaito nodded. "There's still quite a bit written here, though not as awfully dark as the one we just read," He flipped the page over.

I have a few ideas for other Minister members, if they agree to take it. After all, there is still a lot more to do in a city than just keeping track of law-breakers. Sayaka-san, you get to be Minister of Education/Culture. Due to your...current status, I think you would be a good choice to help rebuild schools and give children around here like Kotoko-chan and Nagisa-chan a proper education. You can also help preserve relics of our old world for the new generation.

Aoi-san, you get to be Minister of Agriculture/Fishing. You seem like someone who knows her way around when it comes to edible plants. You could help grow plants and teach others the right way to catch seafood.

Leon-san, you get to be Minister of Finance. Keeping track of valuables and money, well honestly mostly valuables in a world like this. Money is a bit worthless..but you seemed like a good choice for the job.

Yasuhiro-san, you get to be Minister of Communication. Due to your job, you are responsible for making sure the community is aware of everything we decide on in here if anyone is curious enough.

Kaito-san, you get to be Minister of Science/Technology. You did astronaut training and aced it before the world ended. You told me that once. That sort of thing can't be easy and thus I really admire your strength and bravery. You can help rebuild science facilities and make sure we don't go completely dark in terms of scientific knowledge. Surely you are more qualified for this job than anyone else in here.

Hifumi-san, you get to be Minister of Reconstruction. I cannot think of a better person for that title than you. You are always tirelessly working on reconstruction projects, taking the hardest ones that nobody else wants. Volunteering for them, even! I name you this in greater pride than I named the others because I have the most faith in you.

Chihiro was blushing heavily once Kaito finished reading, and everyone was silent as they mulled over what was written. Each job was practically tailor-made for them.

Finally, Sayaka nodded. "Alright. If it means we can all be useful and help each other out...then I accept. I'll become a Minister," The others all nodded in agreement, and the vote was unanimous for every choice.

"But we've forgotten the most important part! We can't have the Ministers without a Prime Minister! He's the most important part aside from the Emperor of course! Which one of us wants that job?" Yasuhiro announced, looking around.

"I think the Prime Minister should be the one who helped found this community and council. The only one of us who didn't make himself a Minister," Makoto begun, and everyone smiled at Chihiro. He blushed heavily again and tried to write something down.

"Oh, that makes Makoto-san his second-in-command if anything ever happens!" Aoi realized.

Chihiro finally managed to write something down and held his notebook up in front of his face, his face red-hot from his blushes.

I don't deserve all this flattery. I just had an idea. I'm not sure if I'm Prime Minister material.

"Too late for that now!" Leon suddenly grabbed Chihiro and gave him a noogie, laughing. "Always wanted to do that to a Prime Minister!" Everyone laughed.

And on that note, the meeting adjourned.

Sayaka continued to stare at Makoto long after everyone else had left, a serious expression on her face. "I still don't think you should've taken the job," She said after a time.

"But what about your baby? All you talk about is how you want him or her brought up in a safe, non-crazy world. I understand that, Sayaka-chan. And that's why I accepted the job," Makoto tried to take her hands, but she placed them firmly at her sides. "I'm the best choice,"

"What about me and the baby?" She finally started crying again and buried her face in Makoto's chest. "What about us?"

"Everything will be alright," He gently rubbed her back, but Sayaka looked up at him with such ferocity and uncertainty in her eyes Makoto actually stepped back.

"No. No, it won't be. I really don't think that it is," She looked away, rubbing her eyes.

"Sayaka-chan...why don't we get married?" Makoto offered. "Not right now, but in a few weeks or so. We'll make it be a huge traditional thing in that temple and invite the council. How does that sound?"

Sayaka sniffled, placing her hands on her belly. She randomly thought of her nightmare a few months ago, the one with the scalpel. She also randomly thought of her encounter with Hifumi the previous night and his mysterious, cryptic nature. No, somehow, she felt as though nothing would be alright again for quite a while. Still, she offered him a weak, sad smile.

"Yes. I would love that,"

The next morning, Hifumi was up early and after dressing headed down to the park in the middle of town to meet up with a group of several other men who all made up the Burial Committee. Hifumi helped look for Chiaki in his spare time; though a small part of him truly did wonder if such searches would forever be fruitless, maybe she was secretly hiding out in someone else's house or something and they'd never know unless they started kicking down peoples' doors. He was chosen to be head of the Burial Committee alongside his right-hand, Kiyotaka Ishimaru. 'Burial Committee' was a bit of an old term for it, as they weren't actually burying the bodies, they were burning them. But 'Burning Committee' didn't sound right and its current name stuck.

He didn't eat breakfast that day, worried about keeping it down, but still addressed the eager-looking men with a proud stance.

"Morning, everyone!" He grinned. He wore the same heavy gloves and boots and protective clothes as everyone else, though his had a single white sash going down his chest that marked him as their Minister of Reconstruction. "Today I thought we'd go a bit simple and go a bit out of town today and clean out that shrine,"

The men nodded in agreement and got onto their truck, driving out. Hifumi ran a hand through his hair, looking out the window past the houses going by. Really, one day he ought to thank Chihiro-sama for having such doubt in him prior. If he hadn't, Hifumi wouldn't have stepped up to prove himself and his worth and gotten himself a spot on the council, the head of such an important committee, and the respect of the other citizens. Why, Aiko practically kissed the ground he walked on! It was almost too much to bare!

To think that him, Hifumi Yamada, was originally some fat loser whose only friend was his older sister just a few months ago, the one who never got picked for anything, not even the original high-school of his choice, was now seen as a respected leader. If his older self could see, he likely wouldn't believe it.

After they arrived at the shrine, Ishimaru clapped his hands together. "Let's get started, everyone! We're going to spend the remainder of our day here, so best to work diligently! And don't get sick!" He laughed. "That was a joke!"

Hifumi worked alongside the men, gingerly lifting up the crouched and kneeling bodies and handing them off to whoever was in charge of piling them up outside. His stomach turned particularly hard after lunch and he felt embarrassed as he tucked behind a corner and threw up the pie filling he ate earlier; were Ishimaru's eyes on him? But he couldn't help it! It smelled so bad in there; sickly-sweet.

They worked for the remainder of the day, setting the large pile on fire and hopping back into their truck afterwards. One of the men randomly clapped Hifumi on the back, making him look over.

"You did a great job today, Minister Yamada!" He grinned.

"He did indeed! Maybe we should start calling him Hawk!" Ishimaru nodded in agreement.

"Hawk...?" Hifumi repeated in confusion. Was Ishimaru making fun of him? He had to have been. Why else would he call a fat, ugly loser something fast and slim-

Except he wasn't fat anymore, was he? He had dropped the pounds like crazy and was now quite slim and at a healthy, reasonable weight. He looked and felt like a whole new man. And Ishimaru didn't know him before the pandemic, so he had no clue about Hifumi's prior torment and humiliation about his appearance, and even if he had, Hifumi got the sudden feeling he wouldn't care much.

"Yeah, that's a great name for him!" One of the other guys nodded in approval, and Hifumi found himself nodding along. "If that's alright with you, Minister Yamada?"

"Yeah. It's a good name! What's a protagonist without an alias?" He posed proudly before hopping back onto his motorcycle, heading back home. He noticed another group of men taking a wrecking ball to some of the blocked streets as he drove and stopped for a second to just stare at them. He didn't recognize a single one.

Hiroshima was really starting to turn into a regular city again, wasn't it?

Aiko was waiting for him at home, a bowl of ramen at the ready. "How was work today, Master Hifumi? Did you want your dinner first? Or a shower?" She asked sweetly, bowing lowly. He took the soup from her as an answer and he sat down on the couch, reading a manga as he ate. Aiko stared after him lovingly.

His day started on a high note and ended much the same way.

After a quiet dinner of boxed curry, Kaede read a story to Nagisa to help him sleep while Leon was startled by a knock at his door. "Who is it?" He called out, wildly fearing it might've been Mukuro come to beg on her knees again to take him back.

"Leon-san?" Sayaka's soft voice reached his ears instead, and he quickly threw open the door. She was standing there in an orange turtleneck and dark green jumper-dress, a matching headband pulling her bangs back. She was hugging herself and refused to look him in the eyes.

"What's wrong? Why'd you come here at this hour? To me, of all people?"

"I...you're going to think I'm crazy. People aren't acting right. Nothing seems right. We're all psychic, but even now, for once, I can't figure out what's wrong, what's going to happen," She rubbed her eyes, looking close to tears.

"Just tell me, Sayaka-chan! I promise, I've likely seen crazier," He pulled her inside the house and slammed the door. "Just keep it down. Don't want Nagisa-chan to startle,"

"It's...It's Hifumi-san. There's..." Sayaka suddenly burst into tears. "I can't tell you, you like him too much! Everyone likes him too much, but you most of all because you see him as some sort of savior!"

Leon grabbed her shoulders. "Don't start cryin' on me now! Tell me!"

Sayaka took a shuddering breath and collapsed on his couch, spilling out everything that had happened between her and Hifumi since he first pulled up in front of her house that day she was lighting incense for her family in Nagoya and finishing with him finding her earring and giving it back to her a few nights ago. A silence stretched between the two for a time.

"You know, in the shed he got the paint at, he wrote an umbrella on the wall. It was small but I could still make it out. He wrote both of your names underneath it like a lovesick elementary-age kid," Leon finally said.

Sayaka shivered.

"You...you don't think he secretly has it out for us, do you? I mean, that'd be silly, right?" He suddenly asked.

"I don't know...everyone in town loves him. Hope's Peak Ministers, we all love him. His darling doll surely loves him. Everyone in town loves and respects him both, and you can tell he's pleased as punch. He's never received so much positive reception before," Sayaka played with her hair. "If he ever did, I don't think he does anymore."

"You said you had a diary that he read, right? Well...what if he started his own afterwards? Out of jealousy or some crap like that? I don't know anythin' about writers, but I do know with musicians, it's different. Someone takes your idea for a song first, you can sample it all you want, but people will forever be comparing you to the original. When I visited him, I noticed a bunch of books randomly placed on his bookshelf. He seems like a bookish guy who'd take care of them, so I found that weird. But now..."

"Yeah! I-I saw them too, the same day Ikusaba-san came over! I thought it was strange...he really was a person who loved his books,"

Leon jumped up. "Tomorrow, we'll go over to his place and look for it. He'll be out all day with the burial guys. And that girl of his will be over at Tsubasa-san's place, braiding their hair or something. Whatever chicks do together. It'll be perfect!"

Sayaka stood up as well, nodding. "But...what if we really do find something? Should we...tell someone? Makoto-kun?"

"We'll have to tell Hope's Peak Ministers in general, I guess. I'm sure one of them could arrange a secret meeting that Hifumi-san wouldn't know about especially since none of us live with him," He shrugged. "I hate to admit it, because I never believed in all that physic stuff before, but...I have a feeling. A really bad feeling."

"Me too," Sayaka looked away. "That's why we have to do this,"

The next day, Sayaka arrived at Hifumi's place first, looking around as she hid her bike in a nearby garage and jumped a bit at a hand suddenly touching her shoulder.

"Leon-san!" She gasped. "I...I thought you were..." She silenced as they walked towards Hifumi's house, quietly knocking on the door and getting no answer. "It's empty. They're both gone," She sighed. "If we do indeed find anything...Makoto-kun should be the first person to know. He's our Minister of Defense and practically a judge. If anyone would know what to do next, it'd be him,"

"Yeah, but he might consider putting Hifumi-san in jail," Leon slipped his hands into his pockets. "Could you live with that?"

"If he's truly planning something horrible..." She trailed off as she went around the back, squatting down and pushing her hands hard against the basement glass, groaning. "He locked it,"

"Break it,"

"What?!"

"If Hifumi-san has nothing to hide, then he'll just assume some rowdy kids broke it. If he does have something to hide, well, then, he deserves the guilt, doesn't he?" Leon crossed his arms in front of his chest, shrugging.

And with that, he took his foot and kicked the glass in, both of them shielding their feet from the spray of glass. Leon crawled in first, taking Sayaka's hand and gently lifting her in and setting her down on her feet. "No sense in having you miscarry as you try to crawl through that window,"

She glanced around as her eyes adjusted, seeing everything perfectly in place. Really the only thing that changed were additional details on the cosplay outfits. Leon walked up the stairs and threw open the door, and Sayaka followed after him nervously.

"We have to hurry...his girl might come back soon," She whispered, feeling her heart hammer in her chest. How ironic it'd be if Makoto's first official job as Minister of Defense would be to arrest his own fiancée for breaking into someone else's house-Hifumi's house, nonetheless.

"Found it!" Leon announced, carefully moving some books aside and pulling out a royal blue book with gold letterings on the front. "Surprisingly nice-lookin',"

"Open it," Sayaka's voice sounded like it was coming from a million miles away. Her heart hammered loudly in her ears still and she kept sneaking glances over at the front door, even as she inched closer to Leon to read the journal too.

They flipped through it together, mainly finding long sections of drafts and short stories he wrote; their eyes widened as they recognized physical features the characters had.

"He's writing about us!" Sayaka gasped.

"Most of this seems pretty self-indulgent...weird and kinda disturbing, but not harmful. He's taking out his frustrations by writing about us, I guess," Leon shrugged, still reading. Most of the short stories featured warriors or other fantastical careers going on adventures to fight evil. Despite vaguely resembling their muse's personalities, it was obvious the council had inspired the stories, as well as a few other people he likely met around the community; such as the perky, sweet-loving archer, the soft-spoken and emotional princess, the wise and eccentric shaman, and the deaf-mute priest who could make people love him with the wave of his hand.

Some other entries were just that; journal entries that mainly spoke of pride and true Buddhism and Hifumi setting out on his great journey. Sayaka cringed.

"Yeah, this stuff...I don't think it's normal," Leon agreed. They flipped back to the first page, noticing just a simple line written there in big, hurried strokes. The kanji for 'one' was placed on the side. They both leaned in to look and Sayaka nearly collapsed, feeling dread sink down into her feet. "Sayaka-chan? Sayaka-chan?"

"H-Huh?" She was acutely aware of Leon grabbing her arm tightly.

"We have to show this to Makoto-san. This just proves that fact. There's something deeply wrong with Hifumi-san, to write something like that," He shuddered. "Him and Ikusaba-san both," He trailed off.

She nodded numbly, watching Leon close up the journal and cover up their tracks, taking only the book. Even the bookshelf looked untouched. Sayaka couldn't stop trembling even as she got back onto her bike and took slow pedals back to her house.

The first sentence in Hifumi's journal read:

It would be my greatest pleasure this post-apocalyptic summer to make something of myself; I think I shall do just that by murdering that goodie-two-shoes, 'Sir' Makoto Naegi, and just perhaps, that little slut of a girlfriend of his too.