"I don't believe we're here to tell Sis that we're beginning a relationship," Makoto says with a completely white face as they walk through Sae's workplace.
"We might as well get her used to the idea as early as possible. She'll get used to the idea of it, though." Ren tells Makoto with a grin. He doesn't tell her the rest of what he's thinking though.
Even if I have to change her heart.
"I wish I could be as confident as you are." Makoto tells Ren quietly. She wishes they could hold hands, but she doesn't want her sister to know what's going on before they have a chance to express it verbally for themselves.
"You always worry too much, but you're cute enough that you get away with it." Ren tells her with a sideways grin. Makoto blushes at that.
"Cute?" Makoto asks him with a smile.
"Cute, beautiful, pretty, sexy, dynamite…you're all of them." Ren tells her, still grinning.
"You're obstinate, but sweet." Makoto tells him, still blushing heavily. Ren grins at that. She's always careful not to compliment him too much, so that he doesn't get too big a head.
"If you don't pick up the pace a bit, I'm going to pick you up and run to wherever Sae is at." Ren tells her, since it's obvious that she's dragging her feet. Makoto flushes a bit at that, she'd hoped he wouldn't notice her walking more slowly than usual.
"I'm glad one of us is confident about this." Makoto grumbles at him as she picks up her pace, causing Ren to grin.
He knew there was no way she wanted to arrive there and see the look Sae would give when she saw her sister in his arms, so his threat worked quite well, since they're now moving a much more quicker speed.
"I told you I'd take care of it, so you need to stop your worrying. Nothing is going to stop us from being together. I won't let anybody come in between us." Ren tells her, and Makoto looks up at him with admiration in her eyes.
His face has a very determined, strong, and confident look to it, and he doesn't look the least bit worried. His lips are curved into a slight smile, as though he's looking forward to talking with her sister. When he's like this, it always makes her feel even stronger. His strength always flows into her when she needs it the most.
You're amazing, Ren. That you're willing to do whatever you have to do in order for us to be together, it means more to me than you even know.
"Ren…we have to turn here." Makoto says, and Ren looks around with a bit of confusion, which doesn't suit him as much as his confident look does. He gives her a sheepish grin.
"I guess I don't really know my way around here." Ren admits with a bit of a grin, as he goes in the direction she indicates.
"We're almost there." Makoto says.
"You sent the message for her to expect us, right? I don't want her to act like she won't see us because it's not in her schedule." Ren tells Makoto, as that thought suddenly pops in his head.
"I did send the message, but even if I hadn't, Sis would still see me if I said I needed to speak to her." Makoto informs Ren, who rolls his eyes at her staunch defense of her sister.
"Good." Ren says, only concentrating on the part of her answer that he had been asking about.
"It's through those doors." Makoto says, as she and Ren approach the gates with a guard posted outside of them. They walk forward and the guard immediately stands up straighter.
"Makoto-san, Sae-san is expecting you." The guard says formally.
"Thank you," Makoto says as she and Ren step forward. The guard steps in front of Ren.
"The only people outside of our division allowed to enter are any of the attorneys, their clients, or their families." The guard tells Ren, who scoffs and pushes the man out of his way
"I'm with Makoto." Ren informs her as he and Makoto walk through the doors. Makoto has a horrified expression on her face at that. She glares at Ren.
"Real subtle." Makoto hisses under her breath so that they aren't overheard. Ren glances at her, and quickens his pace towards the offices.
"He was stupid enough to get in my way." Ren reminds her, as they reach the doors. Ren grabs the doorknob and Makoto has to yank him back by his ear.
"You always knock before entering." Makoto tells him in a hard voice. Ren squirms at the pain she's causing him as she pinches his ear.
"Okay!" Ren sputters, and Makoto releases him. She crosses her arms and watches as he pounds on the door like the police, rather than just lightly knocking on it. She glares at him, and hopes he didn't startle her sister at a bad moment.
The door swings open seconds later.
"Good morning, Sis!" Makoto says, as her sister appears from within her inner office.
"Good morning, Makoto." Sae says as she steps closer. Ren can feel Makoto tensing up next to him
"Sae-san, we came here to talk to you." Ren says, straight out, and Makoto's eyes widen. As much as he's changed since they became a couple…some things always seem to stay the same.
"Very well," Sae says, as she gives them her undivided attention. Makoto feels shock. Has her sister gotten used to Ren's casual attitude?
"We came here to tell you that we want to be together, and since Makoto was concerned that you wouldn't approve, I thought it was best to tell you now rather than later." Ren tells her as he crosses his arms and watches Sae carefully.
Makoto is bright red, but she looks at Sae with pleading eyes. She's looking back and forth between Sae and Ren with a very nervous look on her face as she contemplates the possibility of a fight.
But no, he's right, it's time to be direct
"I love him." Makoto tells Sae, who just gives them an expressionless look for a long moment before she responds. Sae turns her back on them and begins to head back towards her office, before she turns to the side and turns her head to look at them again.
"I saw this coming a long time ago. I'm hardly surprised Makoto. Even though I didn't think he was good enough for you when I first laid eyes on him, he earned the right to be considered good enough for you a long time ago. I don't disapprove." Sae tells them, before turning back towards her office. She turns back one more time with a parting message for Ren. "Hurt her, and you'll be dealing with me." Sae says, before walking inside her office and shutting the door.
"I don't believe it," Makoto breathes with a loud sigh of relief.
"Me either." Ren says, with wide eyes. Of all of the ways he expected the talk to go, that had not been one of the scenarios that he had come up with.
He had imagined having to fight Sae, to win the right to date Makoto, but instead, she just went ahead and accepted the situation as they presented it.
"I seriously don't believe it," Makoto says again, and Ren nods.
"I get the feeling that she was expecting us to get together a long time ago," Ren grumbles, even as he remembers how he spent so long getting up the courage to finally tell Makoto how he feels.
"You're right, she gave me that impression too," Makoto says with agreement.
"And you were all worried," Ren says with a grin. Makoto smiles up at him.
"Not anymore!" Makoto says.
"Come on, we need to head back home before they try to charge me with something. I'm sure they've figured out that I'm around here somewhere already." Ren says as he glances out the window, expecting to see police flying towards them with handcuffs out. He breathes a sigh of relief that no one is there.
"Yeah, now we need to go tell our friends the good news," Makoto says, with a beaming smile.
Ren grins at her and throws his arm around her as they exit the offices.
When they arrive back to Shibuya, Ren is still astounded that they didn't encounter any drama when they went to Sae's legal office to inform her sister that they were in love and going to be together. The whole thing just shocks him.
They hold hands as they head to go and treat themselves to something sweet for all the stress that they had been put under, to go and visit Sae, to tell her how it was going to be.
Ren buys them both ice cream cones. Makoto gets vanilla, and Ren gets chocolate. They sit on a bench together and enjoy their cones, frequently glancing at one another to smile in happiness at what has begun for the both of them.
"Thank you for the cone." Makoto says, before she licks the top of the ice cream cone.
"You're welcome. I'm surprised you picked vanilla, to be honest." Ren tells her as he watches her lick the cone.
"I like the way it tastes…even though it's not nearly as sweet as a kiss from you," Makoto tells him with a blush, causing Ren to lean over and give her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"You make me really happy, you know that?" Ren tells her, and Makoto gives him a big smile when he says that.
"That's really good, because you make me incredibly happy." Makoto shares with him, before she licks her cone again.
"Do you want to try mine?" Ren asks as he holds his cone out to her. Makoto grins at him, and turns a bit pink when she nods her head yes. She licks in a spot that he has already licked, and she realizes a chocolate cone is tasty too.
"Mmm, it's good." Makoto tells him with a grin.
They don't talk much more as they work on their cones, but they keep throwing each other smiles and happy looks while they eat.
When they are eating the last of their cones, Ren yanks a couple of napkins out from under his leg and hands one to Makoto. He tosses out the one that was touching the bench though, and he wipe his face and hands with another one.
"So, who should we go tell first?" Ren asks her as he puts his arm around her on the bench.
"Why don't we tell them, all at the same time?" Makoto asks him with as she looks to see what his reaction is to her suggestion. He nods his head slowly and smiles at her.
"That may be the easiest way to do it." Ren tells her with a grin.
Makoto pulls out her phone and makes plans for everyone to meet at LeBlanc. Makoto and Ren take their time walking there, since they're not in any particular hurry.
When they get to LeBlanc, they're surprised that nobody else has shown up yet, even Sojiro isn't here. Ren and Makoto walk in and then take seats next to each other in one of LeBlanc's booths.
Soon there is knocking at the door. Ryuji and Ann walk in, and within moments the rest of their friends are here too and they're in seats, so that the crew is together.
"Is something going on?" Yusuke asks. A spark appears in Ren's eyes, capturing everyone's full attention, except for Makoto, who's slowly turning redder as the moments pass by.
"Don't keep us in suspense, what is it?" Ryuji asks as he peers at Makoto, who has begun to squirm a little bit.
"Makoto and I, are officially a couple." Ren announces, earning a gasp from the girls and wide eyes from the guys.
"I saw this coming." Futaba says, even though she's a bit surprised that they finally got their acts together to become a couple.
"Yeah, me too" Ann chuckles and Ren blushes, was it really that obvious?
Ryuji has known a long time, that they had a thing for one another. He's more surprised than anything that it took them this long to getting around to acknowledge that fact.
"I'm happy for you, I think you make a great couple." Morgana says, as he gives Ren a genuine congratulatory smile.
Suddenly though, everyone is focused on Haru, since her eyes are filling up with tears.
"I'm sorry…I should be happy for the two of you…but…" Haru says as a few tears trickle down her cheeks.
"Haru…what is it?" Makoto asks in concern as she slides out of the booth , in front of her friend.
"I'm so sorry Mako-chan…but…I've loved him for the longest time, and…this hurts." Haru says through her gasps, as she cries. Ren's eyes widen in shock.
"You love me?" Ren asks in a quiet voice. Haru glances up at him with pain filling her eyes.
"More than you'll ever know, Ren-kun. I always hoped that one day you'd finally notice me…I always hoped you'd realize it." Haru admits, in front of everyone. Ryuji and Yusuke look fairly horrified, but Ren and Makoto look mighty shocked with wide eyes. Ren clears his throat, getting everyone's attention.
"I'm in love with Makoto, it's been that way for a long time, and that won't ever change." Ren finally says in a firm voice to Haru. "I'm sorry that you're hurt, but you and I would never work out." Ren finishes up. Makoto gives him a horrified look.
"How serious are you?" Ann asks quietly, and Makoto blushes again, before she gives Haru a look of concern. Ren answers, since Makoto hesitates.
"Serious enough, that we went and told Sae." Ren says without so much as a waver in his voice.
"Really?" Futaba asks with wide eyes. She's surprised that he would go that far, she always imagined him chickening out of telling Sae about his true feelings for Makoto.
"So there's no hope for us?" Haru asks Ren very softly, and he gives her a weird look.
"No." Ren says, and Makoto jumps up and glares at Ren.
"Do you have to be so insensitive? She just said she's loved you for ages!" Makoto says, feeling bad for Haru.
"I'm not trying to be insensitive, but I don't want to give her false hope either. Haru…you should date someone, don't keep waiting around for me." Ren says, even as he notices that Makoto doesn't like the way he's choosing to handle this all so bluntly.
"Ren!" Makoto says, in an appalled voice. Haru stands up and grabs Makoto's arm.
"Mako-chan…it's okay." Haru says, before she looks back at Ren. "Ren-kun…thank you for your honesty." Haru says, and struggles to get a hold of herself.
"Are you okay?" Makoto asks her in concern, Haru looks up at her and smiles through her tears.
"I'm going to be okay. I may not be able to be with Ren-kun, but you always will be. If it can't be me, then I'm glad that it's you. I know you'll love him the way he deserves to be loved, and so I'll be okay." Haru says, quite graciously, feeling bad that she cried when they were obviously so happy about getting together.
"Thank you, Haru." Makoto says, before she leans over and offers Haru a hug. Ren gives them a strange look of confusion, since he really doesn't get why Makoto's being so kind about Haru's feelings towards him. If Ryuji or Yusuke told him out of the blue that they were in love with Makoto, friendship be damned, he'd probably tear them to shreds with his bare hands.
"Thank you, for not being mad at me, Mako-chan." Haru says as she hugs Makoto back.
"We'll always be friends," Makoto assures her as she pulls away and smiles at her. "After all, it's probably those very strong feelings that made you capable of saving Ren whenever he was in danger in Mementos." Makoto says, and Haru nods her head, and wipes the tears from her eyes.
"So, when the two of you get married, you'll definitely invite all of us, right?" Yusuke asks, ready to be done with the emotional drama. Makoto shoots Yusuke a small smile at that comment, and Ren grins hugely.
"Definitely." Ren says, and Makoto takes her seat next to him again.
"God help us all if you two decide to reproduce," Futaba says, as she pushes her glasses up. Ren and Makoto blush at that comment. Ren says nothing, though his cheeks are a bit pink as images of what his and Makoto's kids would look like flash through his head.
"Does anybody else have any news, while we're all here?" Makoto asks as she looks around. Everyone shakes their head no, and Ren grabs Makoto's hand and stands.
"I promised Makoto I'd take her out, so we're going to get going" Ren says, as he pulls Makoto away with him. She shoots the group a quick smile, but lets Ren pull her along.
"What did I tell you, Makoto? Didn't I say it will work?" Ren asks her with a wink.
"See you later!" Makoto says, Haru watches them leave, and feels a heaviness in her heart, from feeling acceptance in her brain.
Ren-kun deserves to be happy, and now he's with the one who really makes him happy. I guess the better woman won.