"Naegi! Pay attention!" Mr. Ushimaru's stern voice shook Makoto wide awake. "Do not let Sakamoto's delinquency rub off on you."
"What the fuck do I have to do with it?" Ryuji shouted back.
On the first day back in school everything went right back to normal, like their whole week off never happened at all. The history teacher ignored Ryuji and flew off into his lecture again. "How embarrassing" some voice in the class whispered. "He's lucky he didn't catch chalk for that." Makoto's eyes darted around the room, from the blackboard that transformed every few minutes, to Ryuji to his one side, and the empty seat to his other. Almost everything was back to normal.
A pompous sounding voice crackled over the school's intercom. "Makoto Naegi, please report to the Principal's office."
What, already? On instinct, he looked to Ryuji, who shrugged back at him. "Good luck in there, dude."
"Yeah," Makoto said, getting slowly out of his chair. "Thanks, Ryuji." After sweeping half the class and seeing everyone staring at him, Makoto locked his eyes on the door and went outside. In the hallway, he caught a reassuring smile from Kasumi in the stairwell, before he got to the office.
"Naegi! Glad you could make it!" the Principal said the instant he stepped inside. The large man gestured to the chair across from his desk, "Am I getting your name right this time?"
"Yes, sir." Makoto sat down, looking anywhere else except directly at the Principal. This close, even though he tried to avoid it, he couldn't help being disgusted by how the Principal's body fat bulged and wiggled every which way.
"Well then," the Principal shuffled some papers around on his desk, "You saw the state Kamoshida was in, didn't you? It's as if his personality has completely changed. Something is definitely wrong here."
"It's not that strange, is it?" Makoto said.
"I'm surprised to hear you say that. As I understand," the Principal leaned closer, "you and Kamoshida were rather close. Did you ever notice him do the things he said?"
"Well, no," Makoto pulled back and shook his head. "I wouldn't say we were close, though. He always seemed too forward, like he was always trying to impress me."
"Whatever the case may be, you were on better terms with him than most of the student body," the Principal said. "Especially some few students who were meddling in his business. If they did something to him, who could they be?"
"Are you saying, it was a group of students at this school that made Kamoshida confess?" Makoto said.
"No!" the Principal said. "I mean, that's not exactly it. I want to be clear about this, Niijima. Whether there is any substance to Kamoshida's statements on Monday remains to be seen. I will continue speaking to him myself to get to the bottom of that matter. But the possibility remains that his outburst was caused by a group of Shujin students."
The Principal took out a tacky looking index card decorated with cutout letters. The Phantom Thieves calling card. He placed it neatly at the center of his desk. "I would like you to investigate this end of it."
"Even if it means poking into my classmates' lives?" Makoto reached for the card.
"I'm afraid that drastic measures must be taken." The Principal sat straight up, a surprisingly visible motion. "I will appoint you to the student council as vice president. You should attend the meetings on student affairs, that may give you a lead."
"That seems a little disingenuous, doesn't it? Pretending to listen to their problems just to get evidence…" Makoto dropped his head. Held the calling card just below the edge of the desk. "That, and, I'm not exactly student council material."
"Like I said, drastic measures. Don't worry about your place, just focus on the task at hand. It's undeniable that Kamoshida has changed in some way, and talk about the Phantom Thieves is spreading. I want to know the cause, and if this rumored group is real, and if they're related." Principal Kobayakawa leaned back. "This will also ensure that I handle the mass media and the police in the correct fashion."
"Ah, I see." So there was the Principal's motive. Shujin Academy's reputation.
"Unless you find whomever did this, those irresponsible rumors will likely never die down. Don't you agree?" From one perspective, it made sense. If Kamoshida was innocent, if someone in Shujin could destroy a teacher on a whim, if an outrageous lie spread all over the city, or the country, or beyond, it made sense to want to cut it off before it got out of control.
If Kamoshida was innocent. Could Makoto just take Kobayakawa's word on that?
The Principal moved on before he could decide, before he could even answer the other question. "You have the prestige of your candidacy with Hope's Peak. Your conduct is good, and teachers favor you. I could write you a letter of recommendation for any college of your choosing, Makoto Niijima." There it was again. Niijima.
But more to the point, "That's still the whole next year away, though."
"Is that so?" the Principal said. He blinked at Makoto, and at that moment he must have realized something. "Ah, I apologize. You're a second year student. That must have just slipped my mind. Still, consider it a standing offer. I'm sure you'll make up your mind by then."
His tiny eyes scanned his papers. He froze for a second, before continuing, "How is your sister doing, by the way?" The Principal's voice took a darker tone. Makoto tried not to laugh. He'd seen this in a few movies before, never thinking it'd happen to him in person. "She is still young, yet she holds an admirable position at the Public Prosecutors Office, no…?"
Now that sent a chill on down Makoto's spine. His sister? A public prosecutor?! The idea alone filled him with dread. As he shuddered at the thought, the Principal leaned in with a slimy look on his face. "If something disappointing were to happen here, that wouldn't reflect very well on your sister… Do you understand?"
Oh. That's what he was going for after all. "Uh, no?" Makoto said. The Principal tried the carrot and he tried the stick, and neither of them really hit the mark. He cast his glare at Makoto, but now he was in his own head, and the Principal's anger didn't bother him. Because it wasn't about what the Principal wanted anymore. As he considered the calling card, all the rumors and mysteries behind it, there was only one thing left that mattered.
Okay. Yep. Haru was right. This was a bad idea. Two whole afternoons of student council meetings had led Makoto absolutely nowhere, but some of the other students' minds were put at ease, if only a little. That had to count for something. Still, he needed somewhere he could think alone for a while.
He looked at the library, and quickly turned the other way. The PE office was probably empty, but Makoto thought that might be a little morbid, to be thinking about this from Kamoshida's own chair. There was another option. Off limits, technically, but he would be alone with his thoughts there.
The push bar clacked and the warming air of spring swept across Makoto's face as he stepped out onto the rooftop. He focused on one of the empty chairs and sat right down, leaned back and stared up at the sky.
He heard a cat meowing, it sounded like. Then a more familiar voice, "How the hell should I know?" Ryuji was yelling at something, but that wasn't so uncommon. Their eyes met. "Hey, dude."
"Hi Ryuji." Makoto looked around, at a blonde girl with huge pigtails, "… Takamaki," and a boy with messy hair and shiny glasses, standing awkward off to the side. "I don't think I've seen you before."
"I just transferred here," the awkward boy said.
"So did I." Makoto shrugged and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. My name is Makoto Naegi."
The other boy stood still, and behind his glasses he looked deep in thought. Makoto knew the feeling well, the compulsion to pick exactly the right words at the right time. Eventually, the boy shook his hand. "Ren Amamiya," he said. "What brings you up here?"
"I thought I'd have some space to think over a few things," Makoto said. "Same for you guys?"
"You could say that," Ann said. "So, what's on your mind?"
"I've been thinking of Kamoshida all week," Makoto said. "I just want to get that out of my head, but it's all anyone's talking about." He reached into his pocket, and took out the calling card, turning it over in his hand. "And now the Principal has me looking into this."
He expected some curiosity, some passing interest, anything really. Not silence.
Everyone looked shocked to see the calling card. Like they might have a change of heart next, now that Makoto showed it to them.
Ann was the first one to talk. "Why is Principal Kobayakawa interested in that?" Her voice sounded a lot different than it was just a minute ago. "Isn't that just a piece of trash?" Her arms flailed around as she spoke.
"Probably," Makoto said. "He was stuck on the Phantom Thieves, though. Like he was a student, as deep into the rumors as anyone else."
"Wait, that's what he wanted to see you for?!" Ryuji said. "I thought you were in trouble yesterday but now you're working for that prick!"
"What are you getting out of this?" Ren said.
"Screw what he's getting!" Ryuji said. "He probably agreed as soon as that fatass said college, it's the student council queen all over again."
Makoto sank back down and sighed. Best to just let him vent.
"Will you quit jumping to conclusions?" Ann said. As quick as Ryuji backed down, she turned the heat up on Makoto. "Makoto, what exactly did the Principal tell you to do?"
Makoto waved the calling card around. "He wanted me to investigate the Phantom Thieves. Whoever put this up." He rubbed the back of his head. "Whoever forced Kamoshida to say what he did. The Principal thinks it's all connected. That's what he wanted me to find out."
"And you just believed him?" Ryuji said, cooler headed than before Ann intervened. "Kobayakawa's a piece of shit that'll say anything to get what he wants."
"That's kinda what I thought too," Makoto said. "He did bring up college, and when I told him that was still two years away, he brought up my sister. Only, I had no idea what he was talking about." He shook his head, no more dwelling on that public prosecutor idea. "But even I could see he was just trying to convince me to do this investigation."
"And yet you're doing it," Ren said. "Just like he wanted."
"No," Makoto said. "He wants me to focus on the Phantom Thieves. Whoever they are. Find them, and stop them. He wants me to believe Kamoshida, that everything he said came from the Phantom Thieves, instead of his own actions. That's not an investigation, that's a witch hunt."
Makoto turned over the calling card again. He read the words on the front.
Sir Suguru Kamoshida, the utter bastard of lust. We know how shitty you are, and that you put your twisted desires on students that can't fight back. That's why we have decided to steal away those desires and make you confess your sins. This will be done tomorrow, so we hope you will be ready. From, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
"He's hiding something from me," Makoto said. "Something about Kamoshida. Something about the Phantom Thieves. Something that connects them. He wants me to investigate this? Fine. I will. I'll find out what really happened."
That silence fell over the rooftop again. Makoto breathed out and put the card down, and he saw Ren, Ann, and Ryuji looking at him, different from when he first took it out. Not shock, but careful consideration. He got up from the chair. "I'm sorry to intrude, actually. I think I got that out of my system now." Makoto reached for the roof door handle, pulled it open. "See you guys around!"
When the door slammed shut, a black cat jumped down from the top of an AC unit. It meowed, and the three students hanging out on the roof looked at the cat like they knew what it was saying.
"Maybe," Ren said. The cat talked again, and Ren, Ryuji, and Ann followed it down the stairs, to somewhere maybe only the cat itself understood, and the rooftop door creaked shut behind them.