Aug 1st, 2017: Tuesday

"Man, this place is pretty sweet," Ryuji proclaimed, placing a box down on the floor of Makoto's new apartment.

Akira sat another down box next to it and wiped his forehead of sweat. "I would've picked a room on the ground floor, personally."

Makoto grimaced at him and pointed a wooden spoon she was putting away in the kitchen at him. "Then next time, you can find me a place to live."

Across from her, Sae looked back at Akira and asked, "Was my choice of apartment not good enough for you, Kurusu-san?"

Akira snapped his fingers. "Did I say ground floor? I meant top floor. I don't think we carried these up enough stairs."

One Niijima bearing down on you was already terrifying, having two of them giving you those glares? It would make any man tremble in fear.

Sae nodded in satisfaction at putting the fear of God in Akira and then turned to Makoto. "Do you think you'll need any more help unpacking?"

"No, you can head out if you need to, Sis," Makoto said. "I have a couple heavy-lifters to do anything too strenuous."

Akira traded a look with Ryuji, who simply shrugged at the declaration. There was no respect in this household, no respect.

Sae bid her farewell and left the three of them. The apartment itself was a simple one bedroom affair with a small kitchen. It was small, but Makoto had specifically requested nothing too fancy when Sae offered to help look for a place to live.

It was only a train ride away from the university she was attending and there were plenty of food stores and other areas of interest nearby.

After another hour of the two boys setting up furniture, Akira stretched his back and announced, "Alright, that's about all the time I can spare today."

"Leaving us behind, dude?" Ryuji shook his head and wagged a finger at him. "For shame. What happened to honor among thieves?"

Makoto giggled. "It's fine, Ryuji, we can handle the rest."

"Besides," Akira said, trying and failing go hide a smile, "now you can celebrate that you can use someplace other than my room to-"

He wasn't able to finish the sentence before he had to duck a pillow thrown at him by Makoto.

"BYEAKIRATELLTAEISAIDHI!" the red-faced Makoto shouted.

Akira quickly left, laughing all the way.

When he was gone, Ryuji sighed. "Man, he's never gonna let that go, is he?"

"Probably not," Makoto agreed. She opened another box, this time one of various clothes. "Besides, he's not wrong."

"Right, because you totally got an apartment just so we could bang," Ryuji snarked, moving a box of books over to an empty bookshelf.

"It was certainly a bonus," Makoto confirmed with a straight face.

Ryuji coughed and sputtered and dropped a book. "Uh, really?"

"That wasn't the only reason," she said, laughing at his reaction. She sighed and looked up at him. "Truthfully, I mostly needed to get away from Sis."

Ryuji placed the book on the shelf and turned to face her. "I thought you guys were cool now?"

"We're certainly better. She's trying to make up for… well, everything. But that was a very bad environment for me for a very long time and just being there was starting to cause some unwanted complications."

Ryuji moved over and sat down next to her. "Like what?"

Makoto tensed and looked away.

He quickly waved his hands. "You don't gotta tell me if you don't wanna!"

"No, I want to," Makoto assured him. "It wasn't anything explosive, I still love her. She's my sis. I guess the weight of what she did started to weigh on her.

"I can't help but feel this need to please her, to do what she wants me to do. She tried so hard to convince me not to be a police officer."

"I thought, y'know, she was letting you be you?"

"In the end she did give her blessing," she confirmed. "I think she's just scared that I'll end up just like Dad."

Ryuji reached out and rubbed her shoulder. "Hey. If there's one person that can survive the mean streets of Tokyo, it's this badass girl right here."

Makoto gave him a smile. "Thank you. And she isn't saying I need to follow in her footsteps, but I can't help but think she wants me to be what she is. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I think so, yeah," Ryuji replied. He set his jaw. "I'm gonna tell you something I never told anyone else. Can you promise not to tell no one?"

Makoto furrowed her brow. It must have been serious if Ryuji was acting like this. "Of course."

He drew in on himself, fiddling with his fingers. "When my dad was at his worst, and I'm talkin' real bad, I always thought… Maybe if I did better, he'd stop. He'd be proud of me and love mom again, y'know?"

"Oh my," Makoto breathed, bringing a hand up to her mouth.

"It was total bullshit, 'course," Ryuji said bitterly. "He was an asshole and was always going to be an asshole. But that didn't matter, y'know? He was my father. I just wanted him to love me."

"How did you get over it?"

He shrugged. "He left. Even after I did everything I could do, he left. So then and there, I said 'eff that'. I'd be better. Better than him, at least."

She shook her head and curled in on herself. "I feel so stupid. You went through all that and you don't let it bother you. Meanwhile I'm here worried about what my sister thinks of me."

"Hey now, I never said it didn't bother me," Ryuji corrected, bringing her closer to him. "I just do my damnedest to push through those thoughts. They don't do nothing 'cept bring me down."

"Still…" she said.

"'Sides, we went through two different things," he added. "With my dad, it was mostly physical. Sae never laid a hand on you, right?"

"Never," Makoto assured him. "Not once."

"See? Different things. Don't mean you had it any easier than me." Ryuji shrugged his free shoulder. "I ain't gonna pretend to know what you went through, 'cause I don't. But I do know that you're strong, stronger than me or anyone else I know."

Makoto found it hard to agree with Ryuji in this instance. It felt like she was running away, not facing the issue head on.

Then again, maybe this distance really was what she needed. It wasn't like with Ryuji, where the distance between him and his father made it crystal clear he wanted nothing to do with him.

Even now, Makoto didn't want to lose her relationship with her sister. She wanted to rebuild it, stronger than it ever was. And Sae had made it perfectly clear that she would do the same.

Perhaps she really did just need to take a step back from it all. Maybe Ryuji was right. Maybe she was strong enough.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed. "You're too good for me."

He snorted. "I don't know 'bout that." He planted a kiss on her forehead. "But I'd like to think I'm gettin' there."

Makoto gave him a little pat on the cheek and got to her feet. He stroked her chin and asked, "Does your mother expect you home tonight?"

Ryuji shrugged. "I'm sure she'd be cool if I said I wanted to spend the night with you."

"Good," Makoto replied. She moved over to a box and pulled out some dvds. "I was hoping we could celebrate my new apartment with a movie night."

Ryuji grinned. "Oh you know I'm always down for a movie night! Let's get the TV and shit set up, then I'll go grab some snacks."

A few hours and a couple dumb monster movies later, Makoto was rested deep into Ryuji's embrace He was fast asleep, snoring softly.

She smiled up at him. Part of her couldn't wait until this was a normal occurrence. The two of them, here, with no other concerns in the world.

Maybe that would have to wait for a little while, but so would her other problems.

Right now, she would take what she could get. And what she got was a loving boyfriend and a dumb movie night.

What more could she want?