So, without further delay! Here! Disaster, at your service!

XVI: The Crumbling Tower

Tower: Sudden Upheaval, Broken Pride, Disaster

Reversed Tower: Disaster Avoided, Delaying the Inevitable, Fear of Suffering, Resisting Change

Ryoji looks sad all the time, and Makoto looks deeply troubled.

She wonders what happened.

They still hang out just the same, but the sorrow is palpable in the air. Ryoji isn't his usual, flirty self anymore, and he looks like he wants to cry all the time. His usually unflappable smile is no more, and his words are careful, distant, cold.

"Makoto?" She asks, taking the chopsticks from him like she always does as he puts the bento box on the table. The scowl is permanent on his face now, and the look in his eyes is deeply troubling. When he looks up, she continues. "Are you and Ryoji-kun in a fight or something? You two look… off."

"No," He denies with a shake of his head as he picks at a fried chicken and nibbles at it. He doesn't seem to enjoy the food like he usually would. "Just… it's hard to explain."

"Try me."

"No," He denies again, the frown deepening further.

"…Makoto."

He sighs, putting the chopsticks down and resting his forehead against his joint hands, his breath is slow and shaky. She frowns, but pushes no further. He looks so distressed that it scares her.

He looks at the table in silence for a solid minute before he murmurs. "I'm not sure. It's just a hunch, but… I think we're not going to be friends for much longer."

She scowls. "What do you mean by that?"

"As I said, it's a hunch."

She's not going to be getting anything more out of him. She hates this look of sadness on both of them, as she wishes she'd be able to help just a little more. "Can I help with anything at all?"

"I don't think so," He murmurs, hand grabbing the chopsticks again. "…Well, maybe you can. Just… help me keep my mind off things?"

"How?"

"I dunno," He murmur, unsure. She knows he's still reluctant in asking for what he wants, but this is a bit different. He genuinely does not know what he needs, and this is much worse than not voicing out one. "Can you think of something?"

"…I'll try my best," She finally says, glancing at Ryoji, who's looking at them with a sad smile. Makoto's eyes follow hers, and they exchange something with their expressions alone before the scarfed boy walks out of the room, leaving the two of them in solace.

"Thank you," He mutters before going back to the food, his eyes as gentle and soft as ever.

"You're welcome."

"What happened between Yuuki and Ryoji?"

Mitsuru asks as the rest of the girls hang out in the lounge. Sanada, Aragaki, and Makoto are out doing their usual shenanigans (it's funny how Sanada asked to be a part of it), while Junpei and Amada take Koromaru out for a walk.

She crosses her arms and makes a face. "He didn't tell me much. Said it's a hunch that they're not going to be friends for much longer."

Aigis states flatly. "That is good."

"No, it isn't," She interrupts. "They're good friends. Hell, I think Ryoji-kun is the closest to Makoto, counting out Aragaki-senpai, of course."

"Speaking of a certain Shinjirou, I think Yuuki's a good influence on him," Mitsuru says with a smile, her eyes softening slightly. "I've not seen the man that lively for quite some time now. It's good to know there's at least a person out there who could bring the kind side out of him."

"I know, right?" She laughs. After a moment of quiet laughter and light-heartedness, however, her smile falters. "But I'm worried. Makoto looks so troubled, and he himself doesn't seem to even know what to do with that."

"I see," Mitsuru hums. "But he's out with those two idiots now, so I think he'll be alright, at least for a moment or two."

"Why are you calling them idiots, Mitsuru-senpai?" Fuuka asks, a bit curious.

To be fair, Yukari thinks she already knows why, but refrains from saying so.

"Oh… trust me, Yamagishi, you wouldn't want to know that," Mitsuru hums, a fond smile on her lips as he sips on the tea. "But they're both like Yuuki's slightly dysfunctional brothers, at this point. It is a good thing… I think?"

"You think?"

"I hope."

She giggles. "So there are things you can't be certain of too, huh, Senpai?"

"Of course," The heiress says with a small smile. She takes another sip before looking out the window. "Well, I hope they'd be able to at least pry something out of Yuuki, although I doubt it. He's open only to a few people, and being open is already a bit of a stretch."

Yukari sighs at the truth Mitsuru is saying. Makoto listens to people's problems and helps them with that a lot, but when it comes to himself, he rarely says anything. This time is no different. Or rather, the scale of the problem is bigger than before, and he's refusing to say anything to anyone.

As much as it pains her (makes her jealous), if there is going to be a person who could make him talk, it would be Aragaki. The way he confides to the two of them is different; to her, it's his fear, and to him, it's everything.

"Has he told you anything?" Yukari asks.

"No," Mitsuru shakes her head. "I, sadly, am not on the list of his closet confidants. That would be you and Shinjirou."

"I see. Sad, huh."

"Even though I did confide a lot to him," Mitsuru says with a chuckle. "It doesn't seem like we're close enough. But then again, the things he had been through isn't something he could just tell anyone."

"True enough," Yukari sighs. "Well, I guess there's no point thinking about that now. How have you been holding up, Senpai?"

"I'm alright, thank you for your concern," She says with a hum. "Thanks to you and Yamagishi, I'm okay now."

"Oh, it's no problem," Fuuka says with a smile.

The air is light, and she likes it.

She just hopes nothing bad happens.

Makoto returns from his little outing around an hour before the Dark Hour strikes, with Aragaki looking half… drunk? And Sanada is speaking nonsense, at that point.

"…What were you guys doing?"

"Ended up in Club Escapade," Makoto replies, his eyes glinting with mischief as he helps Sanada walks as straight as he could. "As it turns out, I'm quite the heavyweight."

"Why are they even serving you?" Yukari asks.

"Me, of course," Aragaki mutters. "Fuck, to think that I would lose a bet with a fucking kid."

"I'm only a year younger than you, so I'm less a kid and more like a teenager, Senpai," He says, a little teasing, as they walk to the lounge. Aragaki promptly sits himself down at Mitsuru's left, while Sanada occupies the vacant spot on her right.

Makoto walks over to her and sits beside her, their knees touching. He leans his head back on the couch as he grabs his face, letting out a long suffering groan.

"…Are you okay?"

"I'm tipsy, that one's drunk, that one's right at the edge," He says, pointing at Sanada and Aragaki in quick succession. She hears Sanada groans, while Aragaki just grunts, but says nothing.

"You do realize there is school tomorrow, yes?" The heiress says, half-amused, half chiding.

"Yes," The three boys say simultaneously.

"But then again, I ain't planning on going tomorrow anyway, so who cares," Aragaki just shrugs, head in hand.

Mitsuru sighs. "Unbelievable."

"Well, I'm heading to bed," Makoto says as he gets up, stumbling a little. He yawns before stretching his arms up over his head. "See you tomorrow."

A chorus of good nights and byes follow him, and after he's gone, Aragaki glances before sitting up straight, his face serious. She spies Sanada being much less dramatic about his drunkenness, too.

"I'm still drunk, kinda," Sanada says first. "But not as much as Yuuki thinks."

"He's not telling me nothin'," Aragaki growls. "Kid zips up like the world's gonna end if he spills."

"Good god, not again," She moans into her hand. And here she thought he's already over his tendency to carry his burdens on his own, too. "I don't want to force him to say things, but I'm worried. He looks so down lately. Ryoji-kun, too."

Mitsuru sighs. "I guess I'll have to trust him not to destroy himself."

"I think we can be sure of that, at least," Aragaki says as he slings his arms onto the backrest. "Kid says something's bugging him, but I probe around. No signs of panic attacks or something like that. It looks like he's worried more than he's terrified."

She isn't sure if she should be happy he's worrying about something so much that he wouldn't tell a soul or not, but at least it's better than him being afraid of something, she guesses?

"That's good, at least," Mitsuru hums. Then she looks over to Sanada. "Akihiko, are you really… hm, alright?"

"No, I'm going to have hangover tomorrow, that's for sure," The boxer grumbles. "These two drink like it's water and not vodka."

"It's you who's the lightweight 'round here, Aki. Suck it up and admit that you lost."

"Shut the hell up, Shinji!"

She laughs a little at their bickering, her worries briefly forgotten.

A few days later, she finally gets enough time and privacy to catch him in his room.

He looks a bit surprised, but lets her in regardless, his gaze as soft and warm as ever, but there's still a bit of confusion in it. He doesn't say anything to her, though, and opts to stay silent as she makes herself at home (it kind of already is, to be fair), seating herself on his bed and patting the empty spot right beside her.

He hums and walks over, sitting down, his weight making the mattress dips a little. She takes his hand in hers, like always, and unfastens the strap of his watch before she starts tracing her fingers on his skin and his scars. He seems content, a small smile on his face, but that look of misery remains in his gray eyes.

"Can you elaborate?" She decides to say. The look on his face tells her that, yes, he knows exactly what she's talking about. Feeling like Ryoji and him are not going to be friends for much longer is ominous, at the very least. She doesn't want to think about the worst case scenario.

He frowns a little, not saying a word as he curls his fingers over her hand. After a minute, he murmurs. "It's… I really don't know if I should say this at all."

She tilts her head. "How so?"

"Ryoji's a friend that's important to me. Very much so," He begins slowly, each words heavy. She feels him tensing up under her fingertips, and decides to knead the knots in his muscles away a little. "But… something feels off. I can only tell that much."

His contemplative look and the uneasiness are clear as day, and yet, there's something else he's still not saying. It's like he can't, rather than doesn't want to, and she feels like it's best to leave it there. Instead, she cups his cheek with her hand and turns him to her as she offers him the best smile she could've mustered at the moment.

"If you can't say it, then it's alright. Just know that I'll always be here to listen to you, okay?"

He sighs before smiling at her, a hand over her own as he presses it firmer against his cheek. "Thank you, Yukari."

"So," She begins anew, trying to lighten up the mood somehow. "I didn't know you drink."

He winces a little. "It never came up before, so I don't see the need to bring it up."

"Well, here's your chance," She says, nudging his rib lightly and carefully. His scars are not as sensitive now, but it'd hurt if she hits them too hard. "Just… when and why?"

"I think… it was after I tried to push you away," He murmurs, finger scratching his cheek, embarrassed. "Walking back from therapy gave me too much time to think, so I suggested straying for a bit. Aragaki-senpai's against the idea at first, but…"

"…He bit the bait," She says, borrowing Sanada's words.

"I wouldn't say he took the bait," Makoto says with a small smile. "More like he saw the opportunity to help me wind down as much as I can… it started out innocently enough. Iced drinks, non-alcohol. And it just… yeah, next I know we were already drinking shots after shots just for the hell of it."

She sighs. "You're unbelievable."

"…Sorry?"

"Don't apologize if you're not even sorry," She huffs slightly. "Seriously, you can be so random at times, and it's both endearing and frustrating."

He laughs quietly, his eyes warm. "I'll try not to keep secrets from you again, okay?"

"Fine," She mumbles.

They end up cuddling on the bed after that, with his hand absently carding through her hair while she traces careful fingers on his chest through his slightly crumbled shirt. After maybe a moment, he says softly, "Yukari?"

"Hm?"

He smiles as he presses a careful kiss on her forehead. "I love you."

She feels herself flushing a little at that. "And I you."

It all starts with the blaring of the alarm on the Full Moon night.

Fuuka detects a Shadow, larger than the previous twelves combined, with Aigis and Makoto nowhere to be found.

She has to resist the urge to run ahead of the others towards where Fuuka identified the Shadow — towards the Bridge, the very place it all began. She couldn't see much, from the distance, but she could hear something akin to an explosion going off, and then trails of smoke follow.

"What the fuck did Yuuki get himself into this time!?" Aragaki snarls, the axe weightless in his grip, his Evoker clutched tight in his right hand. "I swear to god, that kid just has the shittiest luck out of all of us!"

"I'm beginning to think he's a disaster magnet," She manages through her teeth, her fingers colder than the steel of her bow. They're at the main street now, not too soon they'll have a view of the Bridge, and maybe, just maybe, they'll see what's happening.

And when they finally reach it, she sees…

"Ryoji-kun…? Makoto?"

The two boys turn towards them, Ryoji's gaze sorrowful and cold, while Makoto's eyes are unreadable, even to her. None of them say a word, but Makoto points at something smoking not too far away from him, and it takes her a few seconds to make out the form of a human—

"Aigis!?" Mitsuru cries as they rush forward. She's spluttering out smokes from her joints, the rotors in place of her ears red hot, and her eyes – her optic lens – are unfocused, at best. The heiress kneels down beside the robot as she tries to say something, but then she just stops.

"What the hell's going on?" Junpei asks, looking between Makoto and Ryoji in confusion. "…How are you here, Ryoji? And… Makoto? What—?"

"I'm sorry about this, Makoto," Ryoji seems to ignore them as he smiles, forlorn, his eyes and his lips unmatched. Makoto doesn't say anything as the scarfed boy staggers a bit closer. "I'm so sorry."

"…You didn't choose this, you just are," She hears him say. She couldn't really see his face, but his voice is low, soft, reluctant, and pained. The Evoker in his hand is halfway off of his grip already, and it's only because of reflex, she thinks, that he's tightening it before holstering the thing away. "And… I'm sorry, too, you know…"

"For what?" Ryoji asks, tilting his head slightly.

"Calling you a parasite," Makoto says, confusing Yukari even more. She tries to walk closer to them, but Makoto puts up a hand to stop her, without turning her way. She exchanges a confused (scared) look with Aragaki, who just scowls, but doesn't take a step closer. "It's not like you're the Grim Reaper or anything."

"Well, I do bring Death, so… I don't really mind," He says with a small, broken laughter that fills the silence with despair. "I'm sorry, for all the terrible things I caused you."

She couldn't see his expression well, but he's balling his hands into fists, nails digging deep, drawing out drops of blood that slowly make their way down his hands and into the ground. She then sees Mitsuru looking briefly at Sanada, stopping him from whatever he's trying to do.

Then, Mitsuru speaks up. "What happened? What's the meaning of this?"

This time, he turns towards them, his gray eyes pained and nearly lost, a smile that doesn't belong on his face. He glances at Ryoji, who's looking down at the ground, his legs slightly shaken, before looking back at them. "…He's a Shadow."

"He what?" Mitsuru hisses.

"Or rather, the completed form of the Twelve Shadows we defeated," He continues before turning back again, his steps careful as he walks closer towards Ryoji, who looks like he wants to cry and disappear from the world forever. "The Appriser of Death."

"Death, as in… what Ikutsuki said? The almighty Death?" Aragaki says, readying his axe. "If so, then step back, Yuuki! We need to—"

"We can't," Makoto says with authority and finality that makes her shiver. Ryoji offers all of them a brief look that says, he's speaking the truth. He stops when he's but a step away from the… Shadow, when he places a careful hand on his shoulder. "…Ryoji."

"I'm the Appriser," The boy says, his voice hoarse, pained, soft. She isn't sure what she could make of it, just that it sounds like she's listening to the story of the end of the world. "The guide who would call fourth the maternal being that would awaken and be drawn to me in order to—"

"Ryoji," Makoto cuts him off, his voice tense. "You have to rest first. I'll tell them what I know."

"But I—" The boy shakes his head before his knees seem to give out under him, and before long he's already unconscious in Makoto's arms. The Leader carefully lowers him to the ground, checking his pulse, touching his forehead.

"Yuuki, step aside," Aragaki growls. "If you can't kill him, I will."

"We can't," He stresses, his face neutral – too passive – as he keeps his eyes on his close friend, his lips pursed into a tense line. "You saw what happened to Aigis. We can't take him on, not with how we are now."

She turns towards the android again, battered and broken, and feels the terror and the dread that's always been around her forever resurfacing again. She looks around, at the confused, uneasy expressions on all of their faces, and then to Makoto, whose expression are not readable anymore, and whose eyes are cold like ice.

"He's the Shadow born inside the Kirijou research facility, ten years ago," He begins, refusing to look any of them in the eyes. "The unification was interrupted, and he awoke in an incomplete state. And then, he fought with Aigis on this very Bridge."

His jaws are tense as he stops, eyes closed, shoulders hunched.

"Ten years ago…?" Amada says. "Isn't that… when the Dark hour began?"

"It is," Mitsuru says, one hand grabbing onto Sanada's sleeve to stop him from advancing, her eyes glaring at Aragaki to stop him as his grip on the axe become impossibly tight. "What happened next, Yuuki?"

"Aigis couldn't kill him, and she's about to malfunction, so… she sealed him away within a child who happened to be nearby."

This bridge, ten years ago, a child—

"…You?" Yukari whispers, legs quivering.

He looks at her with a melancholic smile as he stands up. His hands are shaking, she realizes, and he nods once before he murmurs. "Yes."

They could say nothing.

After the silence that seems to stretch into an eternity, Makoto looks down at the sleeping Death, before he looks up at Junpei. It looks like he wants to say something more, but couldn't bring himself to. In the end, he just kneels back down, slinging Ryoji's arm over his own shoulders, and sighs. "You should… take Aigis to the lab to fix her up. There's a spare room in the dorm, right?"

"You're not seriously considering harboring him, a Shadow, in there!" Aragaki snaps. "He's unconscious right now! We can kill him!"

"We can't, Senpai," Makoto grits out. "I'm sorry, but we can't. He's the only one who knows what's happening. We need him to tell us what is this maternal being first before we can do anything about it."

Aragaki chews on his own tongue at that before he spits, hand punching the nonfunctioning bus right next to him. "Goddamnit!"

"Yuuki's right," Sadana says, frowning. "And even if we can… he's still our friend. We have to listen to what he has to say first."

"I know that," Aragaki growls. "I fucking know that! Fuck!"

"Makoto—" Yukari begins, reaching a hand out. He stops her with a look, and that's when she realizes one thing that she wishes she hadn't. "…Is this what you've not been telling us?"

"…Yes," He murmurs. "The memories were incomplete, and I wasn't sure. I only know that he's a Shadow, but not his purpose, so…"

"You know about this?" Junpei snarls, angry, mimicking her thoughts exactly. Why would Makoto lie about something like this? About an enemy? Before she could say anything, her childhood friend is already stomping his way to Makoto, fist raised. "Dude, what the hell!?"

"Stop, stop, all of you!" Mitsuru snaps, making Junpei freezes in his track. The boy clicks his tongue and forces himself away from the two. "Just… Yuuki, take him to rest. I and Yamagishi will deal with Aigis, and don't any of you dare do anything to anyone until he's awake. Then, we'll talk."

The irritability hangs heavy over them, and she isn't sure what she's supposed to even think.

Makoto keeps the fact that Ryoji is a Shadow a secret from the SEES; a secret that could've killed someone.

She isn't sure if she could still trust him at all afterwards.

And the thought scares her.

He's not in his room.

She sighs after opening the door to find his bed empty. She has an inkling of where he might've gone to, but she isn't sure if she should be talking to him at all or not.

Ryoji is their friend, but he's also a Shadow… and Shadows are humanity's enemies. Yukari wishes things were simpler; that killing him would just end the conflict. But after what the two of them told the SEES, about the maternal being, they have to listen to whatever outlandish tales Ryoji has. With Ikutsuki gone, they have absolutely no clue what to do next, so any information is valuable, not to mention that, unlike Aragaki, some of them are… pretty close with Ryoji. Killing him's not going to be easy.

Not to mention that something happened that put Aigis out of commission. She thinks… no, she isn't even sure if Makoto would've killed him or not if Ryoji's not protected by whatever incomprehensible force there is that defended him against someone like Aigis, against something like Palladion at full throttle. She shivers at the mere thought; how powerful does he need to be, to repel someone like the android without so much as a scratch?

And Makoto—the kind, the always gentle Makoto, lying about something absolutely unforgivable. She couldn't bear to look at him right now, and she isn't even sure if she could look at him the same after. Such secrecy is unthinkable. Even if Ryoji's a friend, if he knows beforehand that he's a Shadow, he should have told someone something!

She sighs, shaking her head a little. Thinking in circles won't do; she'll just have to ask him directly.

She finds herself in front of the used-to-be vacant room on the second floor. She could hear footsteps from the inside, and it isn't hard to guess whose. Steeling herself, she doesn't knock and opens the door slowly, the creaking of the woods drawing the occupant's attention towards her.

He looks… conflicted, guilty, and reluctant. He's smiling, but it's far cry from an actual smile; it's just a ghost of one, at best, scraps of nothing more than pain and despair in equal measure. He turns his eyes towards Ryoji, sleeping, tossing and turning ever so slightly in his nightmarish stupor. She closes the door behinds her and stands there, lips pursed.

He's the first to start the conversation. "I'd understand if you don't forgive me. I'm fine with it."

"Just… why?" She asks, her voice cracking at the end. "Why did you lie? This is something you should've told us! All of us! It could've—"

"I know," He cuts her off, his face turning away from her, refusing to let her see. His voice is controlled, too, and a bit exhausted. He lowers his head into his knuckles and heaves out a shaky, unsure breath. His whispers are hoarse, at best, barely able to pierce through the sound of rustling leaves from outside. "I know. I'll face the consequences in due time, but… just let me do what I have to, for now."

"Makoto, this isn't forgivable, you know," She hisses, walking a bit closer, but he stops her with a raised hand, still not looking her way. She scowls. "Even after stopping you, Mitsuru-senpai thinks you'll have to answer all of us why you did what you did."

"I know," He murmurs. "Every action and inaction have consequences. I didn't mean to endanger any of you, but…"

"But what?"

He sighs and forces himself to sit up straight. "It's hard to explain, but he saved me, more than once. I owe him my life, so I thought… maybe, just maybe, him being a Shadow isn't—"

"—A bad thing?" She finishes, voice raw. "Makoto, how is being a Shadow not a bad thing? You saw, you experienced, what they did! So—"

"He saved me," Makoto grits out, his voice broken like shattered glasses scattering across the floor. The distance between them is growing unbearably wide, and she isn't sure if she still wants to mend it or not. His actions made no senses, and he's putting an enemy above all of them.

"Makoto, that—"

"—Doesn't excuse him, I know," He says, half begging her. She stops. His voice, his posture, is terrifying and heartbreaking to her; the way he seems so conflicted about all of this… it's hard to stomach. Then he continues, and she realizes that he's crying. "Please, just… at least, for tonight, just don't ask questions."

"…Fine," She relents, sighing, before twisting the knob and opening the door. "You better have satisfying answers for us later, Makoto… or we're through."

"Okay," He murmurs. "…Okay."

She doesn't want to admit it, but right now?

Right now, she can't trust him. Not after what he'd just done.

Mweh heh heh. Hope you like this. And be prepared, since the story's really gonna spiral downhill from here huh huh huh.