—Chapter 3—Thursday, April 28th, Evening—
Per Makoto's instructions, Ren and Jiro had taken the campus shuttle to the eastern end of the Academy district, and Google filled in the rest from there. The party house was located on a quiet street not far from campus in a neighborhood largely populated with students—the rental market in this part of Utsunomiya was alive and well. A balloon tied to the front gate posts signaled that they'd found the right house.
"This looks like a nice place," said Jiro. "Her parents must pay the rent, right? I wonder if my parents would spring for a place like this for me."
"Better keep your grades up if you're going to try asking them," Ren joked, approaching the door and rapping a few times on its surface. A young woman Ren didn't know opened the door.
"Uh, hi! Did someone invite you?"
"A friend of a friend invited us," said Ren. "Makoto and Naomi?"
"Oh, sure! Come on in. My name's Momo."
"Hi Momo, nice to meet you. I'm Ren."
Momo's eyes opened wider. "Oh, you're Ren? Cool, I've been looking forward to meeting you! Welcome!" she said, opening the door to invite them inside.
"And I'm Jiro," he said, stepping in front of Ren and giving a shallow bow.
"Hi, yeah… Ren, come have a drink!" she said, almost completely ignoring Jiro as she ushered them further into the small house.
Ren looked apologetically at Jiro, who just shook his head and blew out his cheeks. "It's cool man, don't worry. If I'm 'the guy that came with Ren', I'll still be better remembered than I would have been on my own."
Ren and Jiro helped themselves to a beer each from a cooler in the middle of the kitchen, and popped them open using a wall-mounted bottle cap opener. A tin under the opener had already collected a healthy number of caps from the other guests in attendance. There were students scattered all over the house, conversing, flirting, and playing games. Here in the kitchen, only a couple people appeared to have settled against a counter to chat—most of the students in there were either coming or going from the cooler full of booze.
The living room, centrally located, was stuffed with a large couch, a coffee table, and a handful of fluffy chairs. A small TV crammed in the corner rounded out the furniture in the room. There was music playing over a sound system with speakers in every room, but the volume was kept at a level where conversation was easy, at least at close range. A string of Christmas lights running the perimeter of the ceiling set the mood.
Besides a couple of bedrooms that groups of students had gathered into to try to get away from the rest of the party-goers, a bathroom was all that remained of the inside of the house. However, a large covered deck at the rear of the house revealed the rest of the guests. Ren and Jiro stepped through the sliding glass back door to find more outdoor seating stuffed with guests, a gas heater, and a pool table. The house was small, but it was set up to party.
Standing near the pool table was Makoto and her circle of friends. They were watching a couple of other students play a round of one-on-one 8-ball, but it appeared they were almost done. Emiko spotted them first, and Ren could see her tapping on Makoto's arm to draw her attention Ren's way. Makoto, shrouded by Tetsuo's beefy arm, mouthed a greeting and waved for the two of them to come closer. Ren and Jiro complied.
"You made it!" Makoto shouted, smiling as they approached.
"Wouldn't miss it," said Ren, raising his beer to signal a small toast to their reunion.
"Walking here must've sucked," said Tetsuo. "But I guess even we had to walk a little—I parked over at Makoto's place, and she lives pretty close by. It's nice to have wheels."
"I'm sure it is," agreed Ren amiably.
"Do you guys want to play next?" asked Naomi, tottering up to Ren and placing a presumptuous hand on his shoulder. It was clear she was at least a couple drinks in. "I'm suuuuuper good at pool. Like, really good."
Ren glanced from Naomi to Makoto, who mouthed a silent 'she's not' with a wide, pronounced shake of her head. In spite of this warning, Ren accepted enthusiastically. "Naomi, I would love to. Teams?" he suggested, gesturing to Makoto and Tetsuo.
"Oh! I don't know about that," said Makoto, trying not to look uncomfortable. "I'm already on my second beer, and I'm not totally steady. And I haven't practiced in a long time…"
Ren wasn't having her excuses. "Yeah yeah yeah, I'm sure you're a wreck. It's fine, this is just for fun. Tetsuo? Are you in?"
"I've been known to play a mean game of pool," he remarked, bragging. "Count me in. Mako, grab the chalk," he said, taking the pool cues from the two players who had just finished. "There's a rack of cues over there for you two to pick from."
"Thanks," said Ren, heading to the rack. Jiro stayed close behind him, following him conspiratorially.
"What are you doing?" he whispered. "I can't tell what you're scheming, but that look in your eyes speaks volumes."
"I don't know what you mean," replied Ren innocently. "Just a game." He handed a cue stick over to Naomi. "Here you go, partner," he said.
Tetsuo was racking the balls at one end of the table. Ren looked over his handiwork, and dipped his head in perplexity. Makoto was watching too, but the cockeyed expression she wore was a knowing one—she wasn't confused, but she could see that something was wrong. Naomi was at the other end of the table, getting ready to break.
"Wait, wait, wait, don't break yet," Ren cautioned, holding out his hand to still his partner. "The eight ball is on a corner—we need to rerack."
"Huh?" said Tetsuo, forehead crinkled, not comprehending. "What do you mean?"
Ren explained: "The eight ball needs to be in the middle, and the other balls should alternate between stripes and solids. If Naomi were to break now, she'd likely put the eight ball in right off the bat. There should be a stripe and a solid on each back corner so the game doesn't start so lopsided."
Tetsuo sighed in frustration. "Whatever man, do it how you want. Just go already."
"Did you want to break? 'Cause if we're breaking, your team should rack."
Tetsuo was already irritated by all this nitpicking about rules, and didn't seem to understand what Ren was asking. Makoto stepped up to take over before Tetsuo could get any snippier. "You know what he's talking about? Awesome, that's my girl," he said, rubbing her back as she swapped ball locations inside the triangle, and firmly reracked them.
"Your break," she said.
Naomi stepped confidently up to the table, cue in hand. The others watched as she set her left hand into a bridge, of sorts, and lined up to take the shot. She was very wobbly.
With an enthusiastic swipe, her cue thrust forward, just scraping the top of the cue ball. It rolled impotently forward, barely missing the collection of balls at the other end of the table.
Everyone watching, including Naomi, burst into raucous laughter at the pathetic attempt at a break. Blubbering, she buried her face in Ren's chest, hiding her embarrassment in the folds of his shirt.
Ren patted his partner's back in sympathy, then shrugged to his opponents. "Uh, you wanna rerack and rebreak? What are the house rules here?"
"I don't think we need to rerack," said Makoto. "The balls are undisturbed…"
"Wow, Naomi, nice job!" said Tetsuo, clearly amused. "Boy, Ren, I sure hope you don't suck, because you're carrying some serious dead weight there!"
A goofy smirk on his face, Ren shrugged again. Makoto shot him a knowing look.
"I got this, honey," said Tetsuo, plucking the cue ball off the table. He reset the cue ball, set a firm bridge, and readied his cue to strike. In a strong, swift motion, he blasted the cue ball into the tight cluster, sending pool balls ricocheting wildly around the table. In the end, the balls were evenly distributed across the felt, but none had gone in.
"Your turn," said Tetsuo, stepping away from the table and next to Makoto.
The cue ball had settled near the corner pocket in front of where Makoto was standing. Ren moved to stand between her and the table. "Excuse me," he said, bending over to view the table from a lower angle. Makoto sidestepped so she wouldn't be directly behind him, and Tetsuo followed her to keep her close by.
There were no good, direct shots from where Ren was situated, but if he hit the 2-ball into the 9-ball, he could sink it in the far corner. Nothing had been called yet, so there would be no foul in hitting a solid to claim a stripe. He called his shot: "Nine ball, corner pocket," he said, gesturing to the intended target.
"We don't play that you have to call the pocket," said Tetsuo.
"Oh, well, I don't mind," he replied, and took his shot, earning him the result he'd anticipated. "Stripes," he said, formally declaring his suit.
"Nice shot," said Jiro, nodding his head in approval.
"Ooooh, my partner's gooood!" Naomi gushed. She grabbed his arm and gave it a good squeeze, bringing her face very close to Ren's as she smiled her appreciation at him. Tetsuo snorted a laugh. Makoto just watched.
"Thank you," Ren said, proceeding to line up his next shot. He sank another two balls in this same fashion, calling each one. His fourth shot had him set up to easily sink the 13-ball in the side pocket. He lined up the shot, carefully eyeballing where he was going to strike. Before doing so, he glanced inconspicuously up at Makoto, and the two made eye contact. Ren smiled at her, then looked back at the thirteen and called his shot. Striking gently, the ball moved slowly toward the pocket, but ultimately bounced off the corner of the felt and rolled away.
"Awww, flubbed it!" exclaimed Tetsuo. "Nice run, though. Your turn, babe," he said, elbowing her gently in the side, encouraging her to step up.
Makoto surveyed the landscape of the table—she had lots of options. She had a relatively straight shot into the corner pocket, and took it, sinking the 2-ball. In the aftermath, the cue ball rolled into position just behind the 7-ball, set up to easily sink it in the adjacent corner. In this manner, Makoto made up the difference, sinking a total of three balls in a row. She never called any of her shots, though.
For her fourth shot, she too had an easy setup to sink one of her suit into a nearby pocket, but she didn't seem to want to run the table any more than Ren did. She scratched, allowing Naomi, who was next up, to move the cue ball to wherever she wanted.
"Ohhhh, damn!" shouted Tetsuo, raising an excited fist in the air. "So close! Nice try, babe, we'll get 'em next time."
"Sorry," she said, stepping away from the table to stand next to Tetsuo. "Your turn, Naomi."
Naomi started looking around the table for a shot she could take from where the cue ball had settled—there were no good shots from there. Before she could miss another opportunity, Ren stopped her, plucking the ball from the felt. "You can move it to wherever you'd like," he supplied helpfully.
"Ohhhh, got it, thanks," she said, taking the ball from him. She went back to studying the layout of the table some more, finding a reasonable ball in their suit to sink. She set the ball down in a perfectly straight line, setting herself up for an easy shot. "Twelve ball, side pocket," she said, winking exaggeratedly at Ren, who shot her a shit-eating grin and an overly enthusiastic 'OK' sign. Setting a bridge, she took the shot, and managed to execute it successfully—except that the cue ball followed the 12-ball into the pocket, scratching.
"Ohhhhh, shit!" she cursed. "Why's it gotta do that? I shoulda had that…"
"You have to give the cue ball some back spin if you don't want it to follow the other ball forward," said Makoto, pulling the two balls from the side pocket. She set the 12-ball on the table's foot spot, and offered her friend some free instruction. "Make sure your cue is well chalked, then strike the cue ball lower down from its center. It'll roll backward after striking the target ball," she said, handing the cue ball to Tetsuo. "You're up," she said sweetly.
"Yeah, I got this," he said, loosening his shoulders. He set the cue ball down in front of the 3-ball, which was perfectly situated for exactly the kind of shot that Naomi had just missed. The beneficiary of instruction he didn't have to earn, he did precisely what he had just heard explained to Naomi: He lined up the cue ball, chalked up his cue, and aimed lower down on the ball. He gave the cue ball a resounding crack, and blasted the 3-ball into the corner pocket, the cue ball rolling quickly backwards, well away from the dangerous pocket. "That's how it's done," he proclaimed proudly. Everyone watched as the cue ball took its time coming to rest elsewhere on the table, finally stopping just behind the 8-ball, shielding it from anything else.
Tetsuo threw up his hands in exasperation. "Well, fuck. That's some shit luck right there. Good thing we're not playing where you have to hit your color first!"
Ren snorted a laugh—everyone, even Naomi, had been playing where you had to hit your suit first. He decided not to say anything though, and notably, neither did anyone else. He supposed they were all just going to pretend that they'd been following that rule by pure dumb luck.
Tetsuo struck the 8-ball into the 6-ball, sending it headed toward, but just wide of, the side pocket. Since he couldn't seem to hit anything softly, the 8-ball continued to roll for some time, eventually plopping itself right down into another pocket, ending the game in a loss. Tetsuo's jaw dropped in astonishment, and he threw his cue on the table in disgust. "What the fuck?! That's some horseshit!"
"Relax, Tetsuo, don't get so bent out of shape," said Makoto, trying to calm him.
"We should've had that…" he complained, shaking his head. "Well, whatever, who cares. May as well drink some more," he said, lifting his beer to his lips and finishing it in three gulps.
"Nice job, partner," cooed Naomi, planting a soft kiss on Ren's cheek.
Ren smiled awkwardly at her, then stepped over to Makoto. "Good game," he said, taking her cue stick from her and returning them both to the rack on the wall.
"Likewise," she said. "It was just like old times."
"Ha!" he barked in amusement. "You mean it was like playing with Ryuji."
Her face cracked into a reluctant smile. "It was sort of like that, wasn't it?" she said, breaking into stifled laughter.
The two friends shared in their mirth, letting the sentiment taper off gradually. Ren lifted his beer to her in a toast. "Here's to old times," he said.
"I'll drink to that," she replied, clinking their bottles together. They each took a generous swig, and returned inside to find their other friends already there. Emiko was seated in the corner in one of the floofy-looking chairs, and Naomi was in the middle of the couch, gesturing to Ren to come join her there. Jiro already occupied the spot to her left, trying desperately to get her attention.
Tetsuo returned from the kitchen holding another couple of beers, and handed one to Makoto. She quickly swallowed what was left of the beer she had and handed him the empty. He, in turn, just set it down on the coffee table, and the two of them headed for an empty bit of wall to lean up against, since there were no two adjacent seats remaining. Ren, sympathetic to his poor ignored friend, tried to avoid taking the empty seat next to Naomi. It was all for nothing though, because she simply got up, walked over to him, took him by the arm, and pulled him over to the couch to sit with her, putting him in between her and Jiro, who threw his hands up helplessly.
"You two looked like a couple of sharks back there," remarked Emiko from her seat in the corner, addressing Makoto.
"We played together frequently back in high school," said Makoto.
"Huh?" said Tetsuo, not immediately comprehending. "Oh! You two!" he said, finally realizing he wasn't one of the two sharks Emiko was referring to. "Hmph," he grunted.
"So, Ren," said Emiko, starting over, "what courses are you taking?"
"Jiro and I are taking the same things, pretty much, so I gather most first-years take basically the same classes?" he guessed.
"Well, there is some wiggle room," she clarified. "But not a lot, you're right. Did you get Kurosuke for Intro to Criminal Law?"
Ren knew exactly why she was asking. "Yes, we did," he said, nodding exaggeratedly. "Is he on drugs or something? Why does he talk so fast?"
Emiko and Naomi laughed in agreement. "No one knows!" cried Emiko. "We've watched him to see if we could catch him popping pills or something, but no one's seen anything. It's unnatural though, isn't it?"
Ren and Jiro nodded affirmatively. "Definitely weird," said Ren.
"Suuuuper weird," Jiro agreed loudly and emphatically, reminding everyone he was there.
"And what are your weapon specialties? I imagine you each have a different focus, right?"
"Baddest motherfucker on the nature trail!" Jiro blurted from his lonely spot on the couch. He'd swallowed an alarming amount of his beer since sitting down.
Everyone looked at Jiro, bewildered by his comment.
"Uh, yeah, he uses a bo staff…?" supplied Ren, trying to clarify what otherwise would have appeared to be a complete non sequitur. "It's a stick, so…" he said, trailing off. Their expressions were empty.
"—No, really, it's boss," insisted Jiro. "Because it's so simple, I can make a weapon out of anything. Just give me a broom, and I'll fuck you up…" he said, with a look that begged to be taken seriously.
In an effort to relieve Jiro of the scrutiny he'd drawn, Ren answered next. "I use knives," he said, moving things along.
"Oooh, knives are sexy," said Naomi, playing with the hair on the back of Ren's neck. Jiro was glassy-eyed, watching her.
"Oh, did you hear?" said Momo, who'd been casually listening from one end of the room. "The dean just put out a statement today saying to be careful going out at night. Apparently, two people have been killed so far. Stabbed to death."
"Uh oh, sounds serious," said Tetsuo. "You got an alibi, Ren?"
"Ha ha," said Makoto, sarcastically. "Not funny."
"Oh, just joking, babe," he said, pulling her in tight. "Besides, for the recovering criminal who just happens to specialize in knives to show up in town and immediately start stabbing people would be a little on the nose, don't you think?"
Makoto stifled a retort, and it was Jiro's turn to redirect the conversation. "So, uh, Naomi, what's your weapon specialty?"
"I like tonfa," she said proudly. "It's two weapons in one! Plus, you can use 'em like a shield."
"Tonfa, like Talim, from Soul Calibur?" asked Jiro. Now, this wasn't as bewildering a comment as his earlier statement about his bo staff, but it did create its own conversational vacuum.
Naomi froze in place, and, though her fingers had stopped moving, Ren was instantly much more aware of her hand in his hair. Then without warning, she extricated herself and leaned forward to get a better look at Jiro. "Ohmygod yes, I love Talim from Soul Calibur!" she exclaimed breathlessly.
Jiro gulped. "R-really?" he shouted in disbelief. "We have an old PlayStation back at our dorm—you should come play sometime!"
Naomi was practically crawling over Ren's lap to talk video games with Jiro, so Ren quietly wormed his way out from under her. She scooted closer to Jiro, who could hardly believe the improbable inroad he'd found to get her attention. Ren left the couch entirely, and leaned himself up against the wall between the couch and the chair Emiko was sitting in. One of Tetsuo's friends had drawn his and Makoto's attention, so at present, the only two in the room not engaged in some sort of conversation were Emiko and Ren. To make conversation between them easier, she stood up, settling into an adjacent bit of wall. She smiled warmly at him, taking a delicate sip from her drink.
Ren made room for her on the wall next to him, smiling back. "So tell me how you and Makoto became friends?" he asked.
Emiko looked away, remembering. "We met in our second year. We shared a suite in a student housing building on campus—different rooms, but shared living space. I think Naomi caught her attention first. Makoto was always alone, but she would sit where she could watch us. One day I just invited her to sit with us, rather than near us."
"She's always had a hard time breaking the ice," said Ren. "She feels like she needs to have an excuse to talk to someone, like reaching out just to be friendly would be an imposition. It's good that you extended the invitation."
"Did you reach out, or did she find an excuse?"
With a pronounced nod of his head, Ren laughed, calling up his memories of her. "Excuse. Major, major excuse," he said. He raised his eyebrows and lowered his voice conspiratorially: "She was investigating me for potential wrongdoing," he added.
"You're kidding!" Emiko exclaimed, covering her mouth with her free hand.
"Hand to god," he said. "In fairness, the principal at our school had asked her to investigate some 'issues' there, so it wasn't totally out of nowhere—but she zeroed in on me and my friend group pretty much immediately."
"And why'd she do that?"
"Because I was the infamous, criminal transfer student, and they were another couple of misfits that no one else wanted to be around. She assumed our getting together had to have been for some nefarious reason."
Emiko scrunched up her mouth. "That hardly seems fair."
"Perhaps not, but to her credit, in spite of the preconceived notions she'd been carrying, when she saw evidence to the contrary, she let that speak for itself. She didn't try to make it fit the narrative she'd already concocted in her head—she revised that narrative."
"That sounds like the Mako I know," said Emiko sweetly. "Not everyone can so easily admit that their ideas are wrong—especially not people who are as accustomed to being right as Makoto is!" she laughed.
Ren paused, choosing his next words carefully. "Have you ever seen her make a mistake about something?"
Emiko glanced over at Makoto, who was staring absently across the room as her boyfriend tried, and failed, to get her to kiss him. Her cheeks were red from the alcohol she'd drunk, and she looked tired.
"I think she undervalues her worth," said Emiko quietly.
Ren followed Emiko's gaze across the room to a very bored-looking Makoto, standing against the wall with her boyfriend and his friend. As though she could feel the attention on her, Makoto looked up, catching Ren in the eyes. She fixed him with a penetrating stare, as though she were trying to look through him. She didn't look away, even as his eyes drifted back to Emiko.
"Tell me honestly," he said, returning his attention her way. "What does she see in him?"
Emiko sighed, taking a sip of beer. "I know he's obnoxious, and it's clear that he doesn't like you—he's been more of a jerk than normal lately—but he's actually good to her. Makoto has been on lots of dates—there were guys everywhere she went that wanted to go out with her—but she could never get past the first couple of dates with any of them. He was the first one she didn't scare away. They've been together for about… three months, I think? They met at a Christmas party hosted by some students in the Martial Arts class—he's a boxer."
"How did she scare the others away?"
Emiko shook her head. "She's just too good at everything, that's all. Boys could tell she was smart and good looking, but they didn't understand how smart until they'd been out with her a few times. She makes guys feel dumb and bad at everything, Ren. They'd go to the fair, and she'd outshoot them at the gun range. They'd do trivia, and she'd answer all the questions on her own. They'd say something ignorant, and she'd correct them, embarrassing them in front of their friends. She was stronger, she was sharper, she was better. And they hated it."
Ren sighed, glancing Makoto's way once more. "And that musclehead wasn't intimidated?"
"On the contrary, he loves when she does well," Emiko replied. "He celebrates her every success, lifting her up for others to appreciate. He wants to be there when she does well. She doesn't have to hide what she can do from him."
"Hmm," replied Ren, considering. He knew that couldn't be entirely true—he'd seen her refrain from outdoing or correcting Tetsuo on several occasions already. The Makoto he knew called her shots.
"You're sweet to worry about her. I can tell you're genuine friends." Emiko placed a hand on Ren's arm, but didn't leave it there for long. "Now, my beer is empty, and I don't know how to function at parties if I don't have something I can suck on when there's a lull in the conversation," she said plainly. Ren chuckled at her unassailable honestly, and nodded at her as she excused herself to find something else to drink.
Ren remained rooted to his wall, quietly nursing his own beer, which was also running low. He looked back at Makoto, who was still staring at him—or was staring at him again, at any rate. He watched her say something to Tetsuo, who nodded and went to kiss her, but she turned her head and gave him her cheek instead. He then headed into the kitchen. After he'd left, she plodded unsteadily across the room to Ren.
She had kind of an annoyed look on her face as she approached. "You need to take these off," she said, reaching for his glasses and shoving them up onto his head. "I can't tell where you're…" she began, but changed course. "I can't see your eyes," she said instead. "The glare." She let her hand fall on Ren's shoulder, and Ren could feel how uneasy she was.
He took her gently by the wrist with his free hand, and his beer hand moved to her side to steady her. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"'M fine, yeah. Just tired. And here, could you take this?" she asked, offering him what was left of her third bottle. "I told him I needed another beer, but there's more of this left than I can drink before he gets back, so take it." She shoved the bottle at him, and he released her wrist to accept the beverage. There was about a third of it left. "'Kay, thanks," she said, then plopped onto the now vacant couch.
Finally noticing their absence, Ren looked for where Jiro and Naomi could have gone. He couldn't see them from the living room. He checked his phone to see if he'd missed any texts, but there was nothing. Looking up, he spied Tetsuo returning from the kitchen with another couple of bottles in his hands.
"Here, sweetie," he said, handing Makoto a fresh drink and taking a seat next to her on the couch. "Drink that."
Ren surveyed the couple on the sofa next to him. Makoto was tired, but reasonably alert. He didn't think that would still be true another beer later, though. He weighed the risks and benefits of inserting himself into their private affairs, ultimately deciding that the benefits outweighed the risks. He rolled the dice and made a further nuisance out of himself.
"She's already pretty sleepy," he said to Tetsuo. "She may not make it through that beer before you'll need to take her home."
"Mind your own business, 'friend'. I've got her," he replied testily.
"I'm fine," Makoto said, taking a sip from her new bottle. "I told you: just tired."
Reluctantly, Ren decided to look around for anyone else that he could talk to, or potentially put in charge of Makoto's welfare. He couldn't put his finger on why he felt this way, but he simply couldn't bring himself to trust Tetsuo. If there was anyone else around he could use to help peer pressure Tetsuo into behaving himself, he wanted to try.
Looking for Emiko, he stepped into the kitchen. He found her there leaning against the fridge, talking to Momo. There were a few other people in the room, but none whom he knew. He emptied Makoto's beer into the sink, then dropped the two empty bottles into the recycling. He fished another beer out of the cooler, pried off the cap, and planted himself near the two girls, signaling his intention to interrupt.
He listened for an opportunity as Momo was talking. "I know, I'll probably be taking the campus shuttle a lot more often from now on, too," she said.
"Are you two talking about the stabbings?" he asked, pulling his glasses back down over his eyes.
"Yeah," said Emiko. "We're just thinking of ways to be safer. Naomi and I already walk to campus together, but there's a shuttle stop a couple blocks away that we could be using. You just need a student I.D. to get on. We already don't do a lot of walking alone at night, but sometimes that's unavoidable. I guess we'll have to try harder to go in groups."
"I already live on campus," said Ren, "but I'll stick closer to Jiro from now on too. Speaking of, do you know where he went?"
"I haven't seen him, but judging from how things were going with Naomi, I wouldn't be surprised if she took him to our house. We just live next door, and she has a PS5."
Ren laughed. "How wholesome. Good for them."
"It is kind of cute, isn't it? He seems like a nice guy."
"We get on well. Anyway, uh, I'm a little worried about Makoto. She just looks a little tired, and I want to make sure she gets home before she passes out."
"Her house is just a few blocks away. She and Tetsuo walked here from there. I'm sure she was planning to walk back—if she doesn't pass out, I guess. Is she that drunk?"
"She's wobbly. Tipsy and tired, I'd say, but not wasted." He glanced at Momo, who was still listening. Not wanting to sound like a jealous ex-boyfriend, he kept his concerns about Tetsuo to himself, and tried to focus just on the alcohol consumption. "However, she's got another beer in her hands, and if she finishes it, she probably will be wasted."
"Tetsuo will get her home okay, don't worry," she said. "I'll probably go once I finish this," she added, holding up the beer she'd opened.
Ren tried to trust Emiko's judgment that it would all be fine, so he resisted the impulse to return to the living room just to check up on Makoto. He stayed in the kitchen, talking and drinking with Emiko and Momo. He was feeling overprotective, and guilty about it. He was the stranger here, after all.
After a few more minutes of idle chit-chat, Ren was feeling anxious. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check if he had any texts. There were none, so he opened his chat with Jiro to check in. Are you with Naomi? Are you going to be okay if I leave without you?
After about thirty seconds, he got his reply: YES AND YES
Ren chuckled, replied with a succinct 'K', and decided it was time to think about leaving. He said good night to Emiko and Momo, excusing himself. If everything with Makoto looked above board, he would respectfully duck out and finish his beer over the walk home.
Makoto and Tetsuo were still on the couch. Other couples were scattered around the room, speaking in hushed tones, getting handsy. The bedroom doors were closed. This was clearly the make or break part of the evening for people who were there to hook up. From the look of things, Tetsuo was among those interested in ending the night with a bang.
Makoto, however, had gone downhill fast. She was conscious, but only barely. Her head was tilted back against the wall, her neck unable to support its own weight, and her eyelids fluttered open and closed. Her arms hung limply at her sides, and her beer had been abandoned precariously in the space between her legs, still more than half full. Tetsuo was turned toward Makoto, stroking her hair and neck with one hand while the other rested on her thigh. With his thumb, he caressed the skin of her leg, dusting the hem of her skirt.
Amid the amorous couples, Ren found another wall to park himself against. He would finish his beer before he left.
Tetsuo wasn't oblivious—he knew he was being watched. "Time to go home, friend," he said, not looking at him.
"Think I'll stick around a bit longer. I still have all this delicious beer to drink."
"You're a funny guy," said Tetsuo. "A real joker. Well, don't be offended if I decide to pretend you're not there. You're not what I want to look at right now."
"I'm not offended at all," he said, letting it drop.
True to his word, Tetsuo proceeded to ignore Ren, making no effort to shield his deeds from view. He reached for the bottle in Makoto's lap and moved it to the coffee table. When that was done, he let his hand wander between her legs, creeping up her thigh until it was out of sight beneath the pleats of her skirt. Makoto didn't seem to notice.
Ren bit his lip. "Makoto? Are you awake?"
"Shut up, don't talk," ordered Tetsuo. "Get the fuck out of here if you can't keep quiet."
"You know she's practically asleep, right? She's hardly in a position to offer her consent."
For the first time since Ren had re-entered the living room, Tetsuo turned to look at him. "Do you really think she'd say 'no' to me?"
Rendered speechless, Ren just held his gaze on Tetsuo. For a tense moment, the two men stayed like this, assessing one another with their eyes. Tetsuo broke first, returning to his groping.
"If you believed she'd say 'yes'," said Ren, interrupting him again, "then you'd have tried this when she was alert."
"Man, fuck off," Tetsuo cursed, finally giving up. "If you won't piss off, then we will. Come on, Makoto, we're leaving," he said, taking her arm in one hand and scooping her up from around the waist with the other. Makoto groaned, her fluttering eyelids revealing only the whites of her eyes.
"Good, yes, take her home," said Ren. "Way to be a gentleman."
Makoto couldn't seem to stand on her own, so Tetsuo practically dragged her out of there, one arm draped across his shoulders as he held her around the waist. Without a word to his host or anyone else, Tetsuo took Makoto and walked out the door.
Ren considered his next move. After what he'd just witnessed, he couldn't just go home—he had to follow them. He popped his head into the kitchen to have a last word with Emiko. "Tetsuo and Makoto just left, so I'm leaving now too. Good night."
"Oh!" said Emiko. "I thought you left ten minutes ago."
"I was going to, but then decided to hang out for a bit longer. Calling it a night now, though."
"Okay, good night! It was nice chatting with you tonight—I hope we can do it again soon."
"Likewise," he answered with a genuine smile, then ducked back out of the kitchen. He took one last look around the living room: couples, couples… beer. Ren traded his own beer bottle for the one on the coffee table, the one Makoto had been drinking, and hurried out the front door. Closing it behind him, he surveyed the streets.
Ren spotted the pair under a streetlight. Tetsuo and Makoto had only made it about a block, but were moving quickly in spite of Makoto's inability to carry her own weight. Ren moved swiftly to catch up to them, but took pains not to be seen. He stayed away from streetlights and walked behind trees or other obstacles when they were available.
Tetsuo carried Makoto like this for several blocks. At one point, his hold on her wrist slipped, and she collapsed to the ground. Ren could hear Tetsuo cursing as he scooped her back up, her head lolling back and forth as he moved her. After a couple more blocks, he began slowing up, eventually pausing in front of a small house with an illuminated front light. Not far from where he paused, the welcome lights on a newer sedan flashed their recognition of a key fob close by: Tetsuo's car.
The front courtyard of Makoto's house was shielded by a five-foot high wooden fence. There was no gate to block the opening, so Tetsuo walked right in and up to the front door. Ducking down below the fence line, Ren ran covertly up to the opening and peered inside. At the door, Tetsuo was fumbling with his pockets, eventually producing a key. He unlocked the deadbolt, then the keyed knob, helping himself into Makoto's house.
Pulling her inside and closing the door behind him, Tetsuo was once again out of sight. Ren snuck into the courtyard and crept up to a front-facing window, looking into the living room. Tetsuo had dropped Makoto onto a couch opposite the front door. Besides a small lamp on an end table next to the couch, the house was dark inside.
Makoto was completely out, and Tetsuo didn't waste much time picking up exactly where he'd left off at the party. Kneeling down on the floor in front of her, his hands disappeared under her skirt once again.
Ren silently cursed, his mind reeling over how he might intervene. Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he scurried out of the courtyard and back onto the street outside. Running up to Tetsuo's car, he pounded hard on the driver side window, trying to get it to break, but failing. Bending down, he hiked up his right pant leg, revealing a stiletto tucked into a scabbard high on his ankle. Pulling the blade from its sheath, he stood back up and gripped it firmly in his palm. Using the butt of the handle as a cudgel, he laid into the window and sent shards scattering all over the front seat.
The car alarm started blaring. Ren hurried into the courtyard before Tetsuo could emerge, and ducked behind Makoto's garbage bins. Tetsuo threw the front door open wide and ran to his car, shouting off any would-be thieves. Meanwhile, Ren ran through the open door and quickly took in his surroundings.
Makoto was out cold, splayed out on the couch. Ren wanted to go to her, to see if she was alright, but any attempt to help Makoto would be in jeopardy if he found himself in a fight with Tetsuo, who had just disabled the car alarm. Setting his jaw, Ren ignored Makoto and stole into the dining area on his left, ducking down behind the table and chairs. The room was dark enough that Tetsuo shouldn't be able to see him as long as he remained still.
Tetsuo stomped back to the house, cursing his rotten luck. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" he whispered furiously. Without re-entering, he turned the button lock on the knob and shut the front door. A moment later, the squealing of tires signaled that it was all over.
The sudden calm was otherworldly and disorienting. With the quiet of his environment, the sound of his heart hammering in his ears became impossible to ignore. Ren stood up slowly and looked out the windows, trying to listen for any new sounds, or other signs that the peace was an illusion. Once the thundering of his heart had quieted down, he sighed deeply, letting the cool of the air as it passed through his nostrils ground him to reality. He took a moment to properly survey his environment. He suddenly realized that he was still clutching the beer that he'd snagged from the coffee table at Momo's house, and he set it down on the dining table with a quiet tap. There was a dark kitchen to his left. On the other end of the living room was a closed door, probably to the bedroom.
Ren stepped calmly out from his hiding place and toward the living room. His heart still raced, but he was steady. Tip-toeing into the living room, he closed the distance between himself and Makoto. It hurt to look at her. Tetsuo had dropped her onto the couch in a half-sitting, half-lying position, her torso sprawled awkwardly across the back of the couch. Her hair was draped over her face. He went to her, brushing it back across her cheeks and tucking it behind her ears. He then got closer, putting his cheek to her lips and looking down toward her chest to check for breathing: Shallow, but steady, he felt her breath on his cheek and saw the rise and fall of her chest. The top few buttons of her blouse were undone, so Ren took a moment to refasten them, only looking as closely as was absolutely necessary.
She was deeply unconscious, but she wasn't in any danger. Ren stood up and headed for the closed door. Opening it revealed a large bedroom with a desk in one corner, a full bed with attached nightstands, and an expansive wardrobe. Another door to his left opened into a small bathroom. Ren went to the bed and switched on the lamp on the nightstand, then pulled back the covers of Makoto's neatly made bed. The sheets were tucked in tight on the sides, and everything smelled fresh and clean.
Back in the living room, he removed Makoto's shoes and left them next to the coffee table, side by side. She wore a teal blazer over her blouse that he thought she'd rather not sleep in. Careful not to let her head flop around, Ren carefully removed her jacket and set it on the coffee table. Then, with an arm under her torso and another under the bend at her knees, he slowly lifted her up off the couch and carried her to her room. Makoto sighed peacefully, shifting her head from one side to the other, a welcome response to her environment.
Turning sideways, he carried her through the doorway and laid her down gently upon her mattress, pulling the covers out from under her legs to tuck her in. He moved to switch off the light, but thought better of it—should she wake in the middle of the night, he didn't want her feeling panicky and disoriented. He returned to the living room to fetch her jacket, then draped it over the back of her desk chair. He looked her over, trying to anticipate her needs.
Peeking into the bathroom, he found a glass and filled it with water. Spying a small trash can, he gathered that up as well and took both items back with him. He set the glass of water on the nightstand, and the garbage can on the floor at the edge of the bed, in case she got sick in the middle of the night. Now, was there anything else he could do…
Out of ideas, he supposed it was time for him to go. He had already tucked her into bed, but he went back to tidy and tuck a little more anyway. He hesitated over her, just watching her breathe. Her eyelashes brushed the tops of her cheeks. She looked at peace. "Good night, Makoto," he said finally, with just a twinge of reluctance.
Makoto hummed in her sleep, and the tiniest smile played on her lips. Ren gently pulled away, leaving her to her slumber. He hoped she rested well.
He left her door open just a crack and stood alone in the living room, scanning its contents. Her home was small, but homey and well kept. Besides the couch and coffee table, there was a comfortable looking chair in the corner by the bedroom, a large potted plant, a coat rack, and in the opposite corner, a stationary bicycle. The far wall opened into the dining area, and around the corner from there was the kitchen. He helped himself to a glass of water while he decided what to do with himself.
I should stay for a few minutes, at least… in case she wakes up. Ten minutes max, then I'll head out.
Ren sat himself down on Makoto's couch. He checked his phone—no messages. He set it down on the coffee table, followed by his glasses. Relaxing back into the couch cushions, he rubbed his palms into his weary eyes. Less than ten minutes later, he was fast asleep.