Way up above, past the treeline and the sunlight peeking through, a wisp of leaves fluttered in the wind. Makoto stood beneath the flying leaves, looking straight up and following their wake, or even considering that they were following him. He watched the trail they cut through the open, blue sky and wished he could look up forever, and not at the layer of trash that surrounded his feet as far as he could see.

The sleeve of a neatly folded black blazer hung just off the edge of hastily set up table on the side of a dirt trail. A stack of clipboards laid on top of the table, holding paper sheets sectioned off in grids. Haru's handwriting listed several names Makoto didn't recognize, and her pencil shifted and stirred in the ground level breeze.

When she returned from the bathroom, Haru's hair was tied back. She brushed back a stray lock that fell along the side of her head, and tucked it back behind her ear. With her hand halfway down, she met Makoto's eyes, and looked over his regulation black and red. "Good morning, Makoto," she said. Haru slung her bag off her shoulder and set it down by the foot of the table. Zipped open, he could see her school clothes packed away. "You'll be changing before the cleanup begins, right?"

"Yeah, I should do that before people start showing up." Makoto tugged on his backpack. "You know, I hoped things would go back to normal, after the whole Kamoshida thing."

Haru tilted her head. Her loose lock of hair fell down the side again. "What did you think was normal about it?"

Teachers getting away with abuse. Vigilante students stealing hearts. Thinking about it now, Makoto really couldn't say anything was truly normal before. "Just my place in things, I guess." But that wasn't really true, either. He had transferred here from Hope's Peak Academy. He switched places with someone else named Makoto. There was nothing normal about that.

"You don't have to look so down about it," Haru said. "It's not a bad thing to be different. Everyone's different. You're even different from how you were before, how you were a month ago, or even just yesterday. Everything changes." She walked up close to Makoto and nudged him on the silk of his sleeve. "Speaking of which…"

"Yeah, yeah, you got me." Makoto started towards the bathroom. He didn't feel so different. But he knew that a month ago, he wouldn't have taken such a convicted stance against the Principal. Or would he? Makoto didn't know anymore. Perhaps it was just another side of him he didn't know about until now, a power he didn't know he possessed. Or maybe Haru was right, and he really did become a stronger person in less than a month.

But as he unbuttoned his blazer, and his dress shirt, and as he zipped up his Shujin red tracksuit, as he saw himself in the bathroom mirror, he looked just the same as before. No matter what, he was still Makoto Naegi.

Steel tongs clamped together over a discarded hard foam box. Plastic bags rustled as each piece of waste dropped inside. The cleanup was in full swing.

"Is that him?"

"Yeah, that's Makoto, alright. I'd recognize that hair sticking up anywhere."

"Did you guys hear what he did?"

"Is it true? Is he sticking up for the Phantom Thieves?"

"He's sticking up for all of us. He had Kobayakawa pissing his pants."

"I'm so sorry I called him a loser."

"Didn't you just say that, like, yesterday?!"

"His grades, though. He might still flunk out. Is it too late to help him?"

"Damn, that sucks. He doesn't deserve to go out like that."

"I hope it's not too late. I… I really need his help."

Weren't these people just trash talking him two days ago on the train? How did their opinions change so fast? Makoto plucked a whole unopened can of soda from the ground and dumped it in his trash bag. The bag gradually filled up, and when he brought it to the drop off spot, something exploded inside.

He traded his tongs for a litter rake. Some time after that, a broom and dustbin. With a whole array of tools, the volunteering students scoured every last centimeter of the park until there was nothing left but the grass sprouted up from the dirt and the leaves fallen off of the trees.

In the short breaks from her own toil, Haru checked and crossed off each sector of the park that the team leaders reported finished. When the final task was done, she announced the end of the day. "Attention, everyone! We've finished this year's cleanup! Thank you for all your hard work! Team leaders, please come up to accept a lunch of soup for your teammates."

A third year boy brought back four sealed bowls of miso and pork. Even after washing his hands, Makoto still turned his nose as the smell of the soup clashing with the stench from the trash bags, a stench that still clung to his gym outfit. But he thanked his team leader nonetheless.

After parting ways, Makoto roamed the park, much nicer looking now than in the early morning. On the other side of a riverside trail, he spotted Kasumi talking to someone at a bench, and walked over to join them.

"Burglary, murder, and… elephant tusk trafficking, was it?" Kasumi was stifling her laugher.

"Do I even want to know what this is about?" Makoto waved to Kasumi, and to the other person with familiar looking messy hair and shiny glasses.

Kasumi and the boy with glasses looked his way. "Hey, Makoto!" Kasumi said. "I was just getting to know…" she turned to the other boy and flitted her eyes left and right. "Oh, shoot! I haven't even introduced myself, have I? I guess I'm not doing a great job."

The boy broke off and rubbed his head. "I'm Ren Amamiya," he said. "Second year."

Oh, yeah! From the rooftop! Makoto remembered now. His name had come up every now and then in the investigation, but he only recalled ever seeing him once.

"You two know each other?" Ren said.

"Sure do!" Kasumi said. "This is Makoto Naegi." She looked at him expecting something, and instantly deflated. "You must know each other already, too. That makes me the odd one out. I'm…"

Kasumi sprung off the bench and up into the air. Her hand snatched the end of the string of a balloon right before it drifted away, and she landed next to a young girl to hand it back.

A cat yowled from somewhere, and Ren bent to pick up a pocket notebook from the ground.

"Got it just in time," Kasumi said. The young girl took the balloon back with a firm, careful grip. "Here you are. Don't let go of things you like, okay?" The young girl left with a warm smile, and Kasumi stepped back over to the bench. "Sorry, I didn't mean to run off on you two like that."

Ren considered the notebook, and held it out to her. "So, you're Kasumi Yoshizawa?" he said.

"Oh?" She took her notebook back. "Looks like you sleuthed me out before I got to tell you. Well, you've cracked the case. I'm Kasumi Yoshizawa, a first year!" She prodded Makoto with her elbow. "Seems you've got some competition, Senpai."

"Actually, I think I'm done with that now," Makoto said.

"Then I might just have a chance to catch up," Ren said. "I don't suppose you're a detective, too?"

"Ooh, maybe one day." Kasumi loosely shook her head, and stopped with an eye toward Makoto.

"But until then, you're an athlete."

"Bullseye," Kasumi said. "I mostly compete in gymnastics, but Makoto can tell you, I'm up for anything, really."

The cat, Makoto was sure it was the same one from a moment ago, started meowing again. Ren nodded when it stopped, and from Kasumi's start it looked like she noticed it too.

"What's the matter, Ren?" Kasumi said. "Wait, is there a cat somewhere around here?"

Ren shrugged and mumbled something inaudible to nothing in particular. "I, uh, I'd like to learn your moves," he said.

Kasumi bowed, her eyes lit up. "It'd be my honor to teach you," she said. "You too, Makoto. We can all do this together." A devious smile gave both boys pause. "Don't worry," Kasumi said. "I won't make you two do anything extreme. Not unless I know you're ready for it. So, are you ready to begin?"

Ren looked to Makoto. Both of them were already starting to sweat and Kasumi's training hadn't even begun. "I'm ready if you are," Ren said. Off Makoto's nod, he turned back to Kasumi.

"We can start with some core exercises, then," Kasumi said. "Those are the foundation for staying in shape." The three of them picked a spot in the park to begin their gymnastics training. Although they both tired themselves out faster than they expected, Makoto and Ren both left feeling eager to do it again.

A knock came at the door. A harness fixed to the ceiling squeaked and groaned, and cloth bound gauze shuffled and rubbed together underneath.

Ann took her hand off a railing in the middle of the hospital room, and headed for the door when Shiho stopped her. "I'll get it," Shiho said, holding herself up with both hands. She took one slow step after another.

"Alright. You can do it, Shiho!" Ann said. She gently patted Shiho's shoulder as she took another step forward.

A boy with protruding hair looked through the window and knocked on the door again. Shiho took another shaky step closer to the door, and on the other side, Makoto pushed his palm against the ridge of glass and steel.

Shiho stumbled, and Ann was quickly at her side, helping her back up to the rail. "Ngh. It's gonna have to be you," Shiho said.

"That's no problem, Shiho." Ann walked backwards to the door. "You're doing great!" She turned and opened the door, stepping outside to see Makoto. A faint smile on Shiho's face flattened out when Ann closed the door behind her. "More questions?" Ann said.

Makoto shook his head. "Nah, I'm done with that," he said. "Actually, I have something to tell you." Makoto looked around for anyone near enough to hear them.

"For me?" Ann said. "What is it?"

Oh, where to begin? "I told Kobayakawa that you were the most likely suspect to be one of the Phantom Thieves."

"You told him what?!" Ann leaned in close enough for Makoto to feel her breath, and he winced away. "Th-that's," Ann took a step back, "That's completely ridiculous!"

It wasn't a good act. It was even a little painful for Makoto to watch. "A suspect," he said again. "Not a definite culprit. And I didn't tell him about Ren or Ryuji."

"Then why did you tell him it was me?"

Ignoring that Ann didn't object to Ren or Ryuji also being potential suspects, and ignoring that she didn't again object to herself being a suspect, Makoto looked into the room. At Shiho, as she struggled along the rail, back to her bed. "I couldn't tell him it was her," Makoto said. "Besides. I don't know how much you heard about it, but I don't think he liked what I had to say after that."

"So what's this about?" Ann said. She relaxed, a bit, held on hand on the doorknob.

Makoto shrugged. "Just a heads up, I guess. In case Kobayakawa does remember anything I said, and decides to take it seriously. But I don't know what he'll do about it. I'm pretty sure I was the last person he thought he could trust. Now, everyone knows where I stand."

"And where's that?" Ann said.

Did everyone know? "… Everyone except me."

He looked after Shiho through the window again, saw her waving at him, and he waved back. Ann's expression softened. "Well, Shiho thinks you're on our side at least, so that's good enough for me. Thanks for the warning, Makoto."

"It's really great to see her up on her own two feet like this," Makoto said.

"Yeah. It really is." Ann slipped back into the room, and after the door closed one last time, they parted ways. But while she and Shiho got back to talking and laughing and crying, Ann stole another look out the door, where that unmistakable protruding hair faded into the hallway, and a mystery stayed behind. Just who was Makoto Naegi?

That massive high school that towered over everything. Hope's Peak Academy. A month ago, it was like the school stood at the center of the entire world, but today, standing before its gates with his black blazer folded over his arm, Makoto didn't feel that gravity anymore. He looked down the path to that door, he saw that air of intensity, he saw her deep red eyes, and knew Niijima saw him too.

May had turned to June. Things were going to heat up soon, already started to, and Niijima took off a headband from her hair as she approached him. "Good afternoon, Naegi," she said.

He gawked up at her head, meekly pointed up. "You got something…" Following Makoto's gaze, Niijima slowly brushed over her hair until she felt it. A little stray strand that poked up from the rest of her bob.

"Says you!" she said. "Yours is so much worse!" A moment passed and they traded glares, and then they both broke away laughing. It was such a silly thing to argue about, there was nothing to do but laugh that they had even started.

In a short while, they calmed down from their outburst. "Hello to you too, Niijima," Makoto said. "I was actually hoping I'd find you. I wanted to say thanks."

"You were just hoping you'd run into me?" Niijima tucked her arms together. "And, is this for the story about Sakamoto?"

"Not so much about Sakamoto," Makoto said. "It ended up being more about you. Kobayakawa actually put me in the same position, investigating how Kamoshida pushed one of my classmates to kill herself, and who and what made him turn himself in."

"Did you figure out who it was?" Yes. "Did you let him know?" No. Niijima clutched her arms tighter on her chest. "Sounds like you did a lot better than me, then."

"No, that's wrong." Makoto held his hand out to her arm. "I couldn't have done it without you. If you didn't tell me what Kobayakawa did to you, I wouldn't have known he was doing it again. I think I would have made the same mistake."

Niijima unfurled her arms, and clasped her free hand over his. "But you didn't," she said. "Naegi. If you ever need my help again, with anything, just let me know, okay? I want to help. I…" But those last words caught in her throat, and she couldn't spit them out. Or maybe, standing there with their hands interlinked, maybe Naegi already knew.