Dripping water trailed from a ladder on the edge of the swimming pool, to the fixture of a diving board on the far end. The white ruffles of Makoto's bikini clung to her legs, as she climbed onto the springboard with less than confident footing. She approached the center of the board, the end of the board, one step after another, as the board shook beneath her feet.

She looked down, at the drop to the water's surface that looked much further than she knew the board was raised. Beyond the landing zone, her classmate Aoi popped both her hands out of the water, two thumbs up. "You got this, Makoto!" she said.

She raised her hands over her head, and took the plunge.

Underwater, Makoto flailed her arms and flailed her legs. Above, she gasped for air, and that Aoi was floating right in front of her face. "That was pretty good, Makoto," she said. "It's still gonna take some getting used to, but, I'm sure you'll get there soon."

"I'll try my best," Makoto said. "Thank you for helping me." She started stroking towards the edge of the pool again.

"Going for twenty?"

Makoto pulled herself out of the pool, and everything felt heavier all of a sudden. She shook her head, "Not today, Hina. I can still feel the other nine." Hina was Aoi's last name. Well, part of it.

"One more, then?" Hina said. "Just to make it even?"

She thought about it for a bit, circled her shoulders, stretched her arms up and down. "One more." Makoto stepped onto the diving board again, surer than last time, if only by a little. She tried to let the whole talk be one move, and jumped off the board at the peak of its wave.

The ripples from her dive broke over the surface of the water, and spread across the whole of the pool.

Makoto surfaced to a splash of water in her face from Hina, giggling behind her ambush. She spat it out, "Nope. Nice try, but seriously, that's it for me today."

"It's fine, Makoto. If you have somewhere to be, don't let me keep holding you." Hina swam to the edge of the pool and laid her arms out on the rim.

"Just exhausted," Makoto said. "I can stay a while, if you want."

Hina looked up at a device on her wristband. "Oh, shoot! I actually gotta get going, too."

As Hina hoisted herself up, Makoto's gaze stayed on the thing on her wrist. "Is that a watch?" she said.

"It's a fitness tracker," Hina said, holding it up for a closer look. "It tracks your vitals during a workout. I think it's super useful, especially when you get in the zone and lose track of how much or how long you're going."

The tracker's digital display showed a running chart of Hina's activity, with an upper and lower threshold highlighted. "You had this on you the whole time?" Makoto said.

"Yeah," Hina said. "It's totally waterproof, so it's perfect!" Makoto saw the water dripping off the tracker. "Like I said, I lose myself in the workout a lot, so I think it's a big help. Oh, I know, we should get one for you, too."

A day out shopping with Hina didn't sound bad. But it would have to wait for another, less tired day. "I'll think about it," Makoto said.

The girls headed into the locker room, checked that their things were still where they remembered putting them before taking turns in the shower. Makoto went in first, laying down her change of clothes neatly in her locker before pulling the curtain closed.

The end of day bell rung, and all his classmates picked up their belongings and filed out of the room, except…

"Sakamoto," Ms. Chouno said. "You're wanted in the student council room. They wouldn't say what for, I'm only told it's serious."

Ryuji pulled away from the door, still a few students left squeezing their way out to afternoon freedom. He slumped over with a long breath out, "Just a second." He took out his phone for one quick message, then turned out the door himself.

Makoto got up and followed him, running to catch up.

Ryuji spun around, hearing his loud steps up the hall. "Hey dude," he said. "Council want you too?" It took a second to click in his mind. "Wait, you're on the student council aren't you? So is this about the midterm scores? Cause I still don't know what's up with that."

Makoto shook his head low. "I wish it was that." It wasn't something so easy. That became clear to Ryuji when they saw Ren and Ann heading for the same stairwell to the third floor.

The door to the student council room was open. Haru was alone inside, and closed the book she had when she looked up at the incoming party. She got up and pushed her chair in, neatly under the table. "The room is yours, Makoto," she said, stepping outside.

He nodded after her, and locked the door, and beckoned the other three students to take a seat. "Alright. I want to get this out in the open," Makoto said. "Does the name Junya Kaneshiro ring a bell?"

The look of shock on their faces. Makoto remembered those well. It was the same shock as when he showed them the first Phantom Thieves calling card, way back on the rooftop, which could only mean one thing.

Makoto buried his face in his hands. "He's your next target, isn't he?" He didn't want it to be true. He hoped the flimsy chain of logic from Ren to Shogi to Hifumi to matchfixing to the Yakuza could all be broken as just one big coincidence.

"How do you even know who that is?" Ryuji said.

He raised his head up and pointed to the knife scar on his neck. "I did something really stupid," Makoto said. "But it put me in contact with someone who knew what I was doing. That's what led me to Kaneshiro."

"You knew someone who knew someone who knew someone else who knew Kaneshiro?" Ann said. "I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying it."

Makoto sighed. "It's just how it is. I don't know how Niijima found the journalist. She just did."

"Niijima?!" Ann and Ryuji said together.

"Yeah. Her first name is also Makoto, so it gets a little confusing-"

"Point is, you got to someone who knew Kaneshiro," Ren said. "I'd like to know who you're all talking about, but that can wait. Back to the matter at hand. What would it mean if he was our next target?"

Why the hypothetical? "It means we've been chasing the same person. It means we're trying to solve the same problem. And it means that prosecutor I gave all your names to also knows you're going after him too," Makoto said.

"Do you just tell everyone everything?" Ann said. "Well, at least you're telling us this." She crossed her arms. "Who knows what Other Makoto would do if she was still here and found out."

"For what it's worth, as much as the prosecutor is on your case, I think Kaneshiro is the one she really wants," Makoto said. "It sounded like it was really personal for her. That's why I told her you were targeting him too. I thought it would make her rush to arrest him for anything she could think of, and then she'd be done."

"What about us?" Ren said. "It doesn't sound to me like she would stop."

"When I told her that, that you were targeting Kaneshiro next, I thought she'd keep looking for a while but not find anything," Makoto said. "She'd have to stop eventually. I didn't know you'd actually be doing that."

"So you just… you just lied to her?" Ann said.

"That's pretty ballsy," Ryuji said. "Told you guys Makoto was on our side. Course, then it turned out to be true."

"I made a mistake," Makoto said. "I can't just take it back, but if it affects you guys, then you need to know about it."

"Well, we know now," Ren said. "Is this going to happen again?"

Makoto turned his head away. "Are you going to go stealing hearts again?" Ren nodded. Makoto nodded. "There's one way this doesn't happen again."

"If you never find out."

Makoto looked at Ren like a laser sight. "No, that's wrong. We're looking for the same kind of people, with the same kind of problems. Next case, next target, I'm bound to find out what you're doing, because I'll be doing the same thing. We help people."

Ren looked to Ryuji, and to Ann. "So what's your way?" he said.

"We work together," Makoto said. "I'll tell you what I find. You tell me what you find. So there's no more misunderstandings, like this."

"Can we really trust you, though?" Ren said. "You leaked Ann's name to the principal. You leaked all our names to a prosecutor. Now you leaked our plans. Can you really keep a secret? I know we talked about this before, that you're just doing what you think is right. But if this is it, then it's just not going to work."

Makoto's head sank again. "Look, I want to trust you guys, but if you're not going to tell me anything, and I have to just guess, what if I get it right again? If I figure it out, what am I supposed to do then? Because I can't just do nothing."

"If you really do trust us," Ryuji said. "Then trust that we can handle anything you throw at us!"

Ren and Ann gaped at Ryuji. "Say what?!" "Ryuji, are you sure that's-?"

"Come on, guys. What's the worst that can happen?" Ryuji said to the transfer student on probation. "What? It's just like you said. He does his thing, we do ours, just with one more challenge."

That was certainly one way to look at it. Makoto couldn't imagine that whatever they did was easy to begin with. If his investigation was making it harder for them, how much harder? That was something he'd probably never find out.

Hard enough to deter the Phantom Thieves? Not in a million years. "If you guys think it's for the best, then I'm with you," Ann said. "You hear that, Makoto? Hit us with your best shot!"

A vast assortment of foods sat on a pristine tray, pushed along raised steel ridges. Red nylon cords dangled just over the icing spread of a chocolate cupcake.

Maruki picked up his tray and joined Makoto at her table in the middle of the cafeteria. "I hope you're okay having this session out in the open like this," he said. "This is a lot better than the snacks I keep in my lab."

"It's not a problem, Dr. Maruki," she said. Makoto had a lot less on her plate, and looked down at the dark blue device on her wrist.

Maruki picked something off his tray and started eating. He locked on Makoto's wristband. "That looks new," he said. "Did you just get that?"

"Yeah, it's a fitness tracker. Hina picked it for me," Makoto said. Maruki's eyes rolled up, trying to remember. "Aoi Asahina," Makoto said.

"Ultimate… Swimming Pro, is that right?" Off Makoto's nod, he rubbed the back of his head with his eyes closed. "I'm sorry to come off so reductive there. I know you kids are so much more than just your talents, but as, well, pretty much a part time therapist at this point, it's embarrassing how bad I still am with names sometimes."

Maruki laughed, mostly at himself. "Well, I'm glad to have this chance to talk to you, Niijima. Is there anywhere you wanted to start, specifically? Unless things have changed, since you first asked."

Well, some things certainly have changed. From Maruki's reaction, he could see it on Makoto's face. And just as many things have stayed the same. "It's my talent," Makoto said. "I still can't figure out what it's about."

"You're the Ultimate Lucky Student this year, is that right?" Maruki said. He set his chopsticks down, jammed in the dish. "That one sure is tougher than it first appears. Luck tends to be different for everyone."

"I guess I just don't know what it means for me," Makoto said. She wasn't even so sure what luck meant for anyone, except maybe Nagito. But he was such a case in extremes, it didn't even seem right to compare his luck to hers.

Maruki picked up his chopsticks again, floated them around to decide what to eat next. "There's no rush to figure it out right away," he said. "Even the more straightforward talents can be deceptively hard to fully understand."

"Such as?" Makoto said.

He twirled his chopsticks in his hand. "Take me, for example," Maruki said. "I was a researcher before I became a teacher, and then a counselor. The actual science keeps getting further away, but I find myself getting deeper and deeper into its applications all the time."

"I suppose that's one way to look at it," Makoto said. "If I may ask, what was your field of research?"

"Ah, no trouble at all," Maruki said. "It's not every day I find someone interested. I used to study Cognitive Psience, an emerging field at the time, and still today, to be honest. It's like psychology, but more literal, I'd say."

"Methods to affect the brain?" Makoto stroked her chin. Like the mental shutdown cases over the past few years? It was a shock, if only a small one, to hear there was a science behind it.

"Among other things," Maruki said. "I've been out of the research end of it, so my exact knowledge on the subject might be a little bit outdated. But it seems like there's been an uptick of awareness, or maybe popularity. For better or worse."

"You're talking about the Phantom Thieves," Makoto said.

"Oh, you know about them, too?" Maruki tilted his head over. "I shouldn't be too surprised. In fact, you transferred here from Shujin, did you not? I can hardly imagine what it'd be like to go through all that."

Of one mind, Makoto fought her hardest to suppress a knowing smirk, and of another, she thought there was something strange to Maruki's tone, something insincere. "I guess I dodged a bullet on that one," she said.

Maruki sat back. "Maybe that's what your luck is about," he said. "A chance at a fresh start. After all, I doubt the struggles that made the Phantom Thieves happened all at once. Maybe it's for the best that you got away from that."

"I don't think it's that simple." Makoto couldn't shake the feeling that she could have done something, that she should have done anything other than run away. "Every time I think about it, I feel like I should have stayed. Even if there wasn't anything I could do, I should have tried."

"I've been down that road too, Niijima. It doesn't lead anywhere good." Maruki dropped his head down. "You think about all the ways you could have prevented things, but you can never know if they were really possible. The best thing you can do it is get out of that pit, and if there's a way to make things right afterwards, then you can look for that."

That was another way to look at it. But if it was impossible to know all the variations of the past, surely it'd be impossible to know all the variations of the future. Waiting and hoping for an opportunity to make things right, wouldn't that also come down to luck?

It was also exactly what happened. "Maybe that's what luck means for me," Makoto said. That if she tried to do good, and trusted her judgment, good things could happen.

"It must be rubbing off on me, then," Maruki said. "I'm glad there was a way I could help. And if you ever want to do this again, just say the word."

For the rest of lunch, Makoto watched as her teacher anxiously spun his tray around, like his life depended on every choice he made here. It was increasingly obvious to both of them that Maruki took too much.

It must have been the size of his whole head, Makoto thought. There was no way he'd be able to eat this, not in an hour, not even in a whole day. It was an ordeal on its own just to pick up the burger.

And then there was Sumire, sitting across the table and eating like a feral animal. Whole chunks vanished at once. It was inexplicably inspiring to see, at least in how committed she was to the challenge, and it was everything Makoto could do to try to keep his own pace.

The hour was up before he knew it. Makoto couldn't really process how or what he even did, but when the cashier returned to check on him and Sumire, they were both finished.

"Congratulations on completing this challenge!" the cashier said. "Since you managed to extinguish the Comet Burger, I present to you the Second Mate Badge!" She took an over-designed piece of plastic out of her apron pocket and handed it to Sumire.

She did not have a second one for Makoto. "Oh, excuse me, sir! I am so sorry about this. I'll return with your prize right away." The cashier walked fast back to the staff only area of the shop, before Makoto could even get a word in.

Sumire turned the badge around, then placed it on the table. "You can have mine." She pushed it over to him.

He flicked it back. "It's not that big a deal." Makoto rubbed his stomach, feeling like it was about to explode. That or his heart, or both. "I don't think I want a reminder of this."

"Yeah." Sumire lurched over the table. "I don't anything really makes this worth it." She limply reached out one arm toward Makoto, only making it halfway across.

A familiar voice rang out from the next table over. "Hey, beautiful." Makoto slowly looked over at the man there, in as fancy a suit as he remembered from an incident he'd been advised to forget. "Oh, it's you," Sugimura said. "Makoto Naegi. Who's the girl? I thought you were with Haru."

"I-it's not like that," Makoto said.

Sugimura shook his head with a wide grin. "Hey, I'm not judging." His eyes landed on Sumire. "You got good taste. Maybe we could share. Make up for what happened last time-"

"I'm right here," Sumire said. "What do you mean share? Who even are you?!"

"You don't know?" Sugimura flung himself back, one hand over his heart and the other far and wide back. "Well, I'm Izo Sugimura, son of Toshiro Sugimura."

Sumire lifted her head up off the table. "I've heard of your dad," she said. "But that doesn't explain who you are."

"Well who the hell are you?" Sugimura said.

"She's my friend," Makoto said. "So back off!"

Every passing moment, the tension ratcheted up, more and more customers started to stare at the scene unfolding.

The cashier returned. "Mr. Sugimura!" she bowed. "I apologize for this disturbance! I will ask these two to leave at once."

"It's fine." Sugimura brushed her off. "We were just having a little chat. It's nothing you need to worry about." He made a swaggered turn of his head and held out his hand. "Isn't that right, Makoto?"

Makoto reached out just a little farther, tugging on Sumire. And he slapped Sugirmura's hand aside, and led Sumire away. But as soon as they got out of Big Bang Burger, he fell into her arms for support, and they walked to the train station together.