Makoto glanced up at the clock. It's closing in on midnight, she thought, frowning. Makoto sighed and closed her book, no longer bothering to tell her herself that she would just study until her sister got home. She'd made dinner in the hopes that she and her sister might have dinner and talk again, but it looked like Sae simply wouldn't be getting home at a reasonable time that night.
Sae wasn't late coming home most of the time, reflected Makoto as she carefully saran-wrapped the meal she had made for her sister. But these late nights were becoming more and more frequent, and it was starting to make Makoto uneasy. She placed her sisters would-be meal in the fridge, feeling a curious sense of emptiness in her chest.
Having put the dinners back in the fridge, Makoto found herself at a loss for what to do now. For a long moment, she stood in the quiet apartment, with a dual sense of paralysis and nervous energy that rooted her to the spot. Tonight, the immaculately organized home Makoto had always known felt stifling. Breaking the spell, Makoto found herself pacing the length of the apartment in an effort to vent her nervous energy. Pacing proving inadequate, she tried to go back to focusing on her book, but found that the words slipped from her memory like sand. She had to read a page several times before she could retain the meaning of it. Frustrated, she slipped in her laminated bookmark and stood up again, a crease beginning to form between her brows.
Makoto needed to do something, and reading or grading papers wouldn't work tonight. Not with this strange, electric energy that made it seem like the walls were closing in around her. No, she needed to do something more...drastic. Well, as drastic as her straight-laced nature would allow for. She considered several possibilities in her mind before coming to a decision.
The young student council president decided that she was going to go out tonight.
Well, she decided that she'd at least have a walk down to the station and back. It might not be terribly adventurous by the standards of others, but for someone as devoted to routine as Makoto, it was downright rebellious. The idea of rebelling brought a tinge of satisfaction, and she thought that maybe she'd even watch a movie when she got home. It'd been quite sometime since she'd indulged in a yakuza film, and with the small spark of rebellion urging her on Makoto's decision was cemented. She pulled on a pair of soft boots, as well as her coat that held her wallet, and took a set of keys out of the ceramic holder. Then, after locking the door behind her, she began her walk towards the station.
As she walked, she found herself reflecting over the events of the past few days. She'd been reporting back to Kawakami and Principal Kobayakawa about Ryuji's progress to admittedly mixed reactions. Kawakami had been barely restraining herself from cheering and pumping her fist, while Kobayakawa remained carefully composed. Though upon further reflection, she thought, he seemed to be ever so slightly disappointed.
Thoughts of her meetings about Ryuji naturally turned to thoughts regarding Ryuji himself. She had to admit that her first impression of him had been sorely mistaken. She wasn't tasked with trying to teach someone hopelessly unacademic, but rather, someone with a different learning style that had never learned how to study. In addition to his surprising intelligence, he was dedicated to his pursuits, still running in spite of the fact that he had been cast out of the track team. Really, Ryuji had some very admirable qualities when you looked past his rough exterior.
Makoto's mind continued to go over the past few weeks, and she found herself going over a number of things she needed to do. Her essay was still only in its first draft and would need heavy editing before she dared to allow her sister to look it over. Makoto had always thought of herself as a fairly tough editor, but the way Sae methodically tore apart Makoto's early efforts made it so that the young student council president only ever let Sae see an essay that had already undergone at least three rounds of revisions. Makoto told herself that Sae was only trying to make sure that she submitted quality work, but the unusual satisfaction that Sae took in marking up Makoto's carefully constructed essays seemed...Makoto broke off that thought. She didn't dare follow that consideration; Sae did everything she could to support her after all. It'd be disrespectful to think that Sae might take some delight in making Makoto feel small.
The walk to the station seemed to take no time at all, given that the student council president was almost entirely absorbed by her own thoughts. The world had blurred as she walked, and Makoto felt as though she had just woken up from dreaming when she saw the entrance looming up before her. She stood for a moment in front of the station, contemplating whether or not she actually ought to go through with her earlier plan, wondering if it would be better to just turn around and head home.
'Well, I've already walked all the way here. It'd be a little bit of a waste to turn around already' thought Makoto. So, her mind made up, the dark haired girl headed down into the underground mall.
As the student council president walked down to the shopping area, she found it a little surprising that there were so many people out this late. Not nearly as many as there would be during the morning rush hour, but more than she expected. Most looked like tired blue collar workers who were either coming in from an evening shift or getting ready to go cover the nightshift. A few were suited business-type individuals, perhaps ones who had stayed late to catch up on work. Makoto wondered if Sae would look as tired as any of the people she saw waiting on the platforms.
Then, as she was about to cross into the mall, a flash of bleach blonde hair caught her eye. Among the passengers disembarking from the train, Makoto could clearly see Ryuji stepping off of the train with a pair of styrofoam boxes tucked under his arm. She stared as the punk plopped himself down on one of the benches and began checking his phone, apparently waiting for a connecting train to arrive. Makoto found herself quickly being overwhelmed by questions such as What is Ryuji doing here so late? What's he carrying under his arm? Where is he going?
These questions compelled Makoto to seek answers, and she found herself walking over to Ryuji in the hopes of finding them.