While everyone was having a joyful reunion at LeBlanc, with everyone being very talkative and social, during all this, Ryuji just sat in his usual spot, being completely silent, arms crossed, with his eyes mildly being covered by his hair, giving off uncomfortable vibes that any unbeknownst bystander would be alarmed by about on the spot. But nobody noticed it, as they were too glad to see each other again, after more than a year of absence because of the team having previously separated.

All this gleeful atmosphere only served to genuinely make Ryuji's blood boil. After Ren had done him so dirty by quite literally stealing his first kiss away from him, by kissing Makoto FIRST before him, it broke not only his heart, but his soul as well.

It wasn't just that he was genuinely in love with Makoto, as he had realized after that confrontation, which only added further bruises to his emotional state, that he suffered a mental meltdown at home, but... the very idea itself of Ren always having been above him on top of the food chain, in every single way and still having had the NERVE to still belittle and mock him too, every time the chance would offer itself, with everyone else indirectly joining in on it, only in their minds, dogpiling on top of him... he felt more than just anger at his core... he felt... betrayal. The feeling of being abandoned by god. Being totally helpless. Lacking direction.

He had never felt that way before, ever, in his entire life of knowing his now "friends". And seeing them all cheerful and unaware of the damage they had done to him, which he also slowly grew to realize over time, is like being hit with a reality so ice cold, it paralyzed him and made him ask... do they even really care, if he was around? Or they do only start caring, when he gets hurt and he is only cannon fodder for them, a damage sponge?

And when he asked that question inside his mind, he felt himself being struck by thunder and as a follow-up, he began muttering to himself...

Ryuji: "...do any of you care?"

Nobody heard him. No response, they were simply continuing onwards with whatever they were busy doing right now.

That was sealing the deal for Ryuji, especially since he also recalled what Morgana had told him a few weeks ago...

FLASHBACK

Ryuji: "Will you ever shut up about me?! Can't you spare me your lousy jokes about me being a "useless yellow-haired monkey?"

Morgana: "What, you think I am KIDDING when I call you useless, huh? Let me tell you something, buddy. Nobody has ever truly seen any worth in you, we only keep you around, because you're our friend. If you weren't, you'd just be a spectator."

Ryuji: "Oh, is that a fact now? I literally risked my life for you guys! Can't you be a little bit more considerate about this?!"

Morgana: "Don't make me laugh, we ALL risk our lives, trying to save this rotten world! Don't make it seem as though, it's only all about you! Have some backbone already!"

Ryuji: "Backbone, huh... speak for yourself... I am always the first to knock on death's door and what do I get in return...?"

FLASHBACK END

Hearing that again in his head and on top of it, also remembering how the girls beat him up over him literally having risked his whole life, trying to save them all from Shido's collapsing palace... being tormented by their words, causing him to hold his head with both hands, starting to sweat as he is suffering a severe case of PTSD...

Ann: "You dick! Why. Did you. Do that?! My heart can only take so much! Have some consideration!"

Futaba: "You are an asshole, Ryuji Sakamoto! Get bent, you wanker!"

Haru: "You insolent rascal, what were you thinking...?! You should thank me that you are our friend, otherwise, I would have done something far worse...!"

Makoto: "You are the definition of a tactless dickface! Normally, I would just love to tell you, leave us alone and never show your face around us again, douchebag!"

But that with Makoto affected him the worst, as he really began shivering and gritting his teeth now, as he feels his pulse also increasing ten fold... he truly had never felt this level of anger once in his entire lifetime and it soon reached a point, where he would breath heavily and softly mutter in the voice of a little kid that has seen nothing but abuse...

Ryuji: "Please... don't do this to me... I am sorry, OK...?! I am sorry! Leave me alone, damn it...! PLEASE!"

Then Kamoshida's voice began ringing in his mind...

Kamoshida: "You really are a worthless dog. All you are good for is barking, but you lack the bite. And you were thrown out here with the rest of trash... only you are the WORST of the whole bunch. Haven't your parents taught you obedience in the face of authority, son? Hahahahaha!"

And the voice of his abusive father as well...

"If only you were! Never! Born! You little shit! How dare you speak to your father that way! How! Dare! You! How! Dare! You!"

...then, in one brief instance... his head drops down... and as he slowly raises it, Ryuji's gaze becomes lifeless and as he stands up, everyone immediately stops talking and instead turns his or her head over to Ryuji, who was looking more lifeless and dead on the inside as ever... Ren was the first to ask...

Ren: "Ryuji, you OK? What's wrong? You are looking quite pale right now."

Ann: "Ryuji...?"

But instead of responding to their questions, Ryuji just ignored them and instead left his spot to just casually walk around, before then speaking up... his silent treatment towards them all made them legitimately uncomfortable and all could not explain what's going on... and the moment Yusuke tried to speak:

Yusuke: "Ryuji, can you please explain-"

But the only response Ryuji could give was violently and totally out of the blue, kicking over a chair that was nearby which scared the crap out of everyone and Ann was the first to be scolding him...

Ann: "Ryuji... What is wrong with you?! Why are you-"

But she quickly got shut up by him yelling angrily at her:

Ryuji: "Don't. Say. ONE MORE WORD."

But then he sarcastically starts speaking...

Ryuji: "Oh! My bad, I didn't feel like interrupting stuff. Please, forgive me. You were all done? Good."

He then looked over to Ren, piercing him with an ice cold glare that made him freeze up, as if he could sense WHY Ryuji had his eyes locked onto him now. So he prepared himself...

Ryuji: "If that's the case and I am not misjudging the situation... allow me to ask you a question, Ren. Just for a moment, please..."

He leans onto the table to get closer to his face to show how serious he is being about this and his ice cold, lifeless, yet genuinely pissed off stare literally paralyzed Ren in place with a completely new sense of dread and fear that he was not able to describe...

Ryuji: "...What does Makoto look like to you?"

Ren: "What?"

...and the second he said that, Ryuji violently grabs the table, rips it out of its place to throw all the coffee cups down on the ground, not caring for one second if it caused a total mess or not, scaring the daylights even further out of his friends, with Yusuke, Morgana and Haru being so ready to tackle him down to the ground, as Ryuji kept yelling:

Ryuji: "What country are you from?!"

Ren: "What the- what are you talking about-"

Ryuji: "I don't know a country named "What"! Do you understand what I am saying?"

Ren: "Ryuji! What is your deal?! Why are you so ticked off?! What did I ever do to you that warrants going off on me like this, care to elaborate?!"

Ryuji: "You didn't answer my damn question."

Ren: "Wha-"

And then, he felt a really powerful slug to the face by Ryuji, who was now being wrestled away from Ren from behind by trying to restrain him with their combined weight of Yusuke, Ann, Haru and Futaba all in one, with Ryuji fighting back as harsh as he could, trying to shake them off.

Ryuji: "Get your dirty hands off me, assholes! Don't interfere!"

Futaba: "You wish! You just attacked the leader!"

Yusuke: "Those who don't respect the leader have to be schooled, those are the rules!

Ann: "Ryuji! Stop! Right now! I TOLD YOU TO STOP!"

Ryuji: "Heh! Very manly of you, Ren! Sending in people to hold me back, while you're too chicken to face me like a real man!"

But no matter how hard they tried to try in restraining the blonde thug, it didn't work out... and worse yet, the moment Morgana decided to jump in to scratch Ryuji's face, saying:

Morgana: "You wanna cry? Useless primate! Rude to boot as well, aren't we?! Nobody dares touching Joker without responding to me FIRST."

Ryuji: "You little... GET OFF ME! RIGHT! NOOOOOOOW!"

Suddenly, all those that tried to stop Ryuji with all their weight, felt themselves being violently shaken off, causing more chaos to ensue, as their falls caused the café to get busted up some more, bent seats, broken glass and china, windows as well, nothing held Ryuji back anymore...

And he went on ahead to punch Ren one more time, which he was ready to block this time around...

...all the while this is all happening at once, Makoto was the only person in the room, not having moved from her spot, even after Ryuji had thrown the table over. And there was a reason for it...

...she wanted to help the others... but she couldn't bring herself to. She held back. And she knew why: Deep down, piecing it all together, seeing Ryuji having a total meltdown like that and being plagued by constant belittling and mockery at the hands of both their friends and their former enemies, it all made perfect sense to her and thus, she allowed him to have his way with the team, especially Ren.

And she didn't bother helping for a different reason: She wants to hold on to her promise of confronting Ren about how he had dared kissing her, as she was waiting for Ryuji to arrive, thus ruining her growing bond with him and Ren as well. She despised herself for doing this, but it's all for Ryuji's sake... this is the only way she is going to be able to make it up to him.

But also, before all this, she had decided to do some investigating on Ren himself. She found something incredibly strange about this entire situation. Every time Ren would talk to her, in the chat or in real life, Haru would be dead silent all the same. And it wasn't a one-time occurence. Haru had already stated before, numerous times that she had grown an extra load of busy, because of her running her own café, building it up, upgrading it and also, working at Big Bang Burger as a regular employee to earn extra money... she wouldn't ever suspect Haru of knowingly being in on this, she is far too loyal and gentle to be committing to a "charade" of knowingly stabbing Mako in the back... not to mention, for one, as seen right now with this fight in front of her, Haru is the MOST hesitant to hurt Ryuji, which only further adds to her probably knowing something she may not, in addition to her being generally far too caring towards Ryuji even outside of the team, and for another, she is far too easy to read for her for how much of a dork she can be.

So it all comes back to one suspicion she has: Ren possibly cheating on both Haru AND her. He is certainly more likely to be the type of guy to be double-timing here. But wanting to remain fair and diplomatic, she doesn't possess the full context yet, so for the time being, she decided to remain silent and neutral, knowingly not picking sides for now.

...but in that instance, right as she was about to form a coherent answer to it all... she saw something horrifying unfold before her eyes: Everyone, mind for Haru and Futaba, who was knocked flat on the floor with a bleeding nose, was immediately ganging up on Ryuji, hitting and kicking him in hopes of trying to tame him, with Morgana scratching him as a painful addition and this is where she truly realizes: She HAS to jump in and interfere NOW. She just couldn't bear anymore to watch Ryuji, who was covered in bruises and with blood dripping out of his mouth, continuously being beaten extra tenderly.

A bruised and bleeding Ren, was approaching him slowly, ready to give him one more slug to the nadz, with Ann and Yusuke restraining him in place...

Morgana: "You really should know your place more, you dumb gorilla! Now he is giving you what's what!"

Ryuji: "Damn it, I...! I can't... move...! My body... is failing on me... move...! Move...! Move! Move!"

...but as Ren swung his fist straight at him, Ryuji closed his eyes, expecting the worst... but it never happened. Nothing connected with his face. And when he looked up, Ann and Yusuke stared in disbelief, as Makoto was the one to eat the punch and not him.

Ren: "Makoto... out of my way. Are you planning on defying me as well?"

Makoto: "Speak for yourself. You being the one to have the audacity to claim ME or Ryuji of being treacherous scum, all the while you go around, flirting with other girls, while me and Haru sit in silence, twiddling our thumbs, wondering where you're at, literally armed with the knowledge of there being a high possibility of you maybe dying in action. And by the way... if you dare lay a single finger on Ryuji..."

She points at herself with a thumb with a glare.

Makoto: "...you respond to me first."

Seeing this raw and unfiltered bravery on display and the willingness to get herself hurt for his sake, Ryuji, for one brief moment, snapped out of his rage-induced trance... feeling as though, this is it. He feels... complete on the inside, for the lack of a better word. In a moment of nothing but darkness in his mind, Makoto came and showed him the way... and this time, she decided to be the one to guide everyone to clarity. He could only weakly mutter in deep appreciation for her sacrifice...

Ryuji: "Mako... you really do kick A LOT of ass..."

But Ren and pretty much everyone else, surprisingly excluding Haru, just as she suspected, was so confused over what she proclaimed over him being supposedly duplicit and not as real with all of them as he had initially claimed. And no longer wanting to see Ryuji get hurt anymore either, Ann and Yusuke let go of him and let him go free, as Ren was the center of attention now.

Ann: "Ren... What is she talking about? Did you actually... cheat on Haru? ...you better have a good explanation for this."

Ren had no way out of this situation and, wanting to remain a smooth talker, he folded his arms and smirked playfully, as though he was in any position to brag, however... There are always two sides of a story and he wants to make something clear here.

Ren: "Hmph. Your mind works as sharp as ever, Makoto. I am impressed. Yeah, I did... but before you start judging me-"

However, all it got as a response for this reveal... was a strong slap to the face from Makoto, who looks like she is at the verge of crying.

Makoto: "So I was right! You really are duplicit! At first, I didn't want to believe it, but... what were you thinking?! And it's not so much as it's me being pissed about this, I couldn't care less! I am more pissed at how much of a unempathic piece of shit you are being towards Ryuji!"

She points at Ryuji, who was sulking in a corner, sitting with his legs stretched and looking in miserable condition...

Makoto: "Isn't he supposed to be your friend? He literally risked his well-being, more times for us than we can count, and this is how you tell him "thank you for all your service?!" Why did you kiss me in front of him?! Did you KNOW that we were about to have a date or something and you wanted to maliciously tear him down, because it's him?!"

When she said the word, "kissing" and "date", everyone's jaw dropped, excluding Ryuji... but Ren had some explaining to do:

Ren: "Hold on, for a second! You two were dating? Why didn't anyone warn me about this? It really wasn't my intention of interrupting or ruining anything, I mean it! Had I known any better, I would have let him savor this, I am not kidding around here! It's one thing that I came to give you a kiss, but I didn't do it with the intention of wanting to anger Ryuji, I genuinely had no idea about any of this..."

He looked over to the rest of his team, demanding an answer to fill in the blanks for him...

...but a surprising revelation came, as everyone was quick to notice: Nobody knew, except for Makoto. Not even Ann, and normally, she and Yusuke were always the one shoulder for Ryuji to lean against, if something was on his mind that he needed to share.

Ann: "I... really didn't know either... did you?"

Yusuke: "No, me neither... and normally, Ryuji would always be willing to speak to me, if it was something a lot more personal than most topics..."

Futaba: "I really don't get any of this anymore. You lost me there..."

Makoto then turned around to see Ryuji getting up and turning over to face her and everyone, looking really dead on the inside, all over again... and he spoke:

Ryuji: "I just don't care anymore... do whatever you want, you'd be all better off... if I left the team, right now. You never even really wanted me on-board anyhow, so what the hell? Essentially... you'd just be rid of unnecessary weight that drags you down, right? I am just doing you all a favor here..."

But Ann protested, knowing exactly what he plans on doing, starting to look really desperate, as her heart shatters upon those phrases reaching her ears.

Ann: "Ryuji... no, no...! You can't! Why not let us solve this first-"

Ryuji: "Just like you did that one time...? When I came back and all you had to say to me coming back to you alive and well, was to beat the daylights out of me, all because of me being "tactless"? Excuse me?!"

Yusuke: "You're the one being irrational right now, Ryuji! Whatever happened before doesn't hold any merit now, we can still make this work-"

Ryuji: "Get outta here! You are only trying to reason with me NOW, because you know all too well, that it's pointless deep down! You never cared about me, neither as a teammate or a friend and only once there is a teeny-tiny chance over me getting possibly crippled for life, then you care! Don't gimme those lame ass excuses over you caring, because you just NEVER. FUCKING. DID."

Futaba: "Ryuji, please listen-"

Ryuji: "No! NO! You listen to me! I am so freaking sick of all of you... sitting here all day, complaining about how expensive things have gotten, how good something tastes, how awesome this and that is... meanwhile, I am sitting here, day in and day out, wondering to myself, "Where will I see myself in the next five years or so?". I am so through with constantly listening to some blonde airhead model bragging about fresh new clothes that she can't even fit into her closet anymore, an artist guy complaining about food being too pricey, a shut-in NEET complaining about the newest games on the market or some weirdo plant girl wondering how sharp her ax is for chopping wood, despite not ever needing all this damn wood and only wanting an excuse to live out her own psychotic fantasies! ESPECIALLY a total weirdo like you, Mona, who constantly denies being a cat, when quite obviously, you look like one, you act like one, you behave like one, you follow us like one, YOUR STRUGGLE, MEANS SHIT COMPARED TO MINE. You all have no fucking clue, how lucky all of you really are... that you're literally, not me! FUCK OFF, ALL OF YOU!"

Makoto: "Ryuji, wait!"

But with that, he was gone, running out of the door, slamming the door shut behind him and leaving the entire team, all speechless and without a proper way to react to any of this that had just transpired in front of their very eyes...

...but while everyone had returned to their still-in-tact seats, being busy processing all that had happened just now, Makoto had just received a message on her phone... It was from Ryuji. She feared the worst, but really, the message was truly surprising to her... and what she read moved her to tears.

Ryuji: "Hey, I... I am so sorry that you had to hear all this, Makoto, but I just couldn't bear it anymore, I had to say it. ...and you knew it too, didn't you?"

She choked reading that last part, covering her mouth, trying so hard not to sob, as she continues reading:

Ryuji: "I stand by my decision. We are no longer a team from now on. I really am THIS fed up with the bullshit from our team. I am done. I literally am so tired of making excuses, I couldn't stand it another second longer with those asshats. ...excluding you."

Reading this, her heart began beating faster and two huge tears escaped her eyelids...

Ryuji: "You were literally the BEST thing that has ever happened to me, Mako. Every moment we spent together felt almost MAGICAL to me. Sure, you were bossy, moody as hell, you sometimes hit me, but... because it's you, I am bearing it for you, as I enjoy your presence far too much to care. And those last 2 months... I am really thankful to have spent them alone with you. We can still remain best friends. But as of today, I am no longer part of the team effort. I am sorry."

Makoto wanted to respond so badly, but something held her back. She knew he needed some time away from them all to recollect his thoughts first and maybe, just MAYBE, change his stance on matters.

Ryuji: "Seriously, I cannot say this enough... You were my torch these past 2 months and though it was stressful, you majorly helped me get a grip on my own life again. I can only make it clear: I will always open the door for you. And by the way, the way you shielded me from the others back there... you're one badass babe, Mako. I doubted your friendship with me the LEAST and you proved me right about you... thank you. From the bottom of my heart."

Though Ryuji has left the team, he did at least manage to reconcile and reconnect with Makoto...

Something changes in their relationship...

Priestess & Chariot Arcana! Un-Reversed! Level up! Level 6!

Makoto returns her phone back into her bag and wipes her tears, knowing she has to be brave from now on. For Ryuji. And for the team... as she can sense some dark times ahead without him...

THE END