Suddenly Chisa speaks up and he is surprised to see her right in front of him.

"If you are feeling up to it Naegi-kun, it is time for your daily checkup."

"I am up for it, are you good Tsumiki-san?"

"I-I am fine. Enoshima-san is rather. Uhm." Makoto chuckles as Mikan tries to think of a word to use.

"She is something alright. Definitely better than her virtual self though, and she was surprisingly considerate. Even though she teased me she seemed actually concerned about me." Makoto wonders how everyone else differs from their virtual selves. And how long it would take for them to be willing to face him, actually, thinking about one thing in common with those missing vs. here. "Yukizome-sensei, were they all sent those files you mentioned?"

"Yes they were Naegi-kun, I was told they should expect to receive them before classes today, now come on, I have another class soon, let's get you checked out." That does explain why most did not show up, it is a lot to take in.

"Checked out? Am I being bought in a store?" Chisa freezes in front of him and looks at him surprised, his smile wavers as he looks to Mikan to see a similar look. Before he can ask Chisa giggles, Mikan then does so as well.

"I think that might be the first time I heard you joke. Enoshima-san might be a good influence on you." Makoto is momentarily stunned by such a thought, especially since she might be right, Junko really lifted his mood in a way he had not expected. HIs checkup goes smoothly, Chisa goes first, asking the questions, nothing he says raises any flags so she makes her way to her next class. Mikan then checks him, and asks about what he has been eating today.

"Oh. Uhm. I may have forgotten to eat today. Hehe." He chuckles awkwardly as he scratches his cheek. Mikan glares at him.

"I am going to go to class. You are going to go eat. If I find out you did not eat, we will have an unpleasant conversation. Do I make myself clear Naegi-kun?" Makoto stares at her shocked and nods his head dumbly. It is one thing to have noticed she is far more composed when acting as his nurse, which makes a lot of sense all things considered. However it is an entirely different thing to experience her actually being strict, clearly unhappy with him not having eaten, it is probably for the best she does not know how little he ate yesterday too. Although he doubts that upon arriving at the dining hall.

As he arrives he hears a familiar voice "Heya Kotes." Turning he is surprised to see Junko happens to be arriving at the same time, or so he thought. "A little birdie told me to come here to make sure you eat." It was at that moment Makoto suspected Mikan did know he skipped more than just today's meals, not that he is complaining, Junko might be, well, a lot, but he prefers company over solitude.

"Err, yeah, with all that happened today, I kinda forgot, but I am eating now."

"You better, otherwise your other girlfriend might blame me." And he is already blushing, he takes a moment to decide how to respond, and lands on it is better to refute it because if he doesn't she will likely latch onto that.
"You know she isn't my girlfriend, and I will eat, you don't have to babysit me if you don't want to Enoshima-san." Makoto is admittedly feeling a bit guilty for making Junko take time out of her day just to make sure he eats. Admittedly he is surprised she was free at such short notice. He is not surprised this is who Mikan asked to make sure he eats based on how today's class went.

"I do know that, but it is just too fun to tease you. As for not needing to babysit you, I don't mind, I need to eat too anyway. So, you are going to go find a place for us to sit, and I will pick out our food." Despite the teasing about Mikan, Junko is oddly serious, Makoto starts to wonder if she too is concerned about him not eating, as for her picking the food, well. He has no idea what he wants to eat and he has never been that picky of an eater.

"Thank you Enoshima-san." Junko just smirks and ruffles his hair and walks off before Makoto can even think of a response. Blushing once more he sits down and waits for Junko to join him with their food.

Before long she is joining him at the table with two meals giving him one. A double bacon cheeseburger with fries. While he recognizes it, he never really eats this kind of thing. He looks up and is surprised Junko has the same thing. "What? You thought I would just get a salad? Sometimes, but not now, you need real food, and I love me a good burger. One of the models I worked with was American. She made me try one once. Now I am making you try one, you can thank me later."

"Thank you Enoshima-san."

"It is not later yet Kotes, you haven't even tried it. Also, call me Junko." That catches him off guard, they only just met, then again she has been far from formal from the start.

"Okay, well, thank you Junko-san. And not just for this, you are being so nice to me."

"Well duh, why wouldn't I be? We are classmates, and based on what I saw of you here and heard of in that sim, you are kinda awesome, so I wanna be friends."

"Me, awesome? I am not so sure about that, I mean, I think you are, but me?"

"Yeah Mr. Ultimate Hope. Anyway eat up. And I am indeed awesome, that is how I know you are too cutie. After all you were able to beat an evil version of me. And if you beat someone as awesome as I am, you must be at least a little awesome" Makoto blushes and stammers a bit trying to find words to say, but ultimately decides to just eat, having no way to respond to what Junko had said. Apparently though what he thinks of the food shows very clearly on his face. "Told ya it was good Kotes." After chewing and swallowing he speaks up.

"You were right, thank you. Oh! Almost forgot, what do I owe you?" She gives him a calculating look as she finishes her first bite, he returns it with one of confusion, unsure what is going on in her head.

"You owe me nothing Kotes. This is on me."

"Thanks Junko-san! In that case I will pay next time."

"Next time huh? You askin me on a date Kotes?" Makoto blushes once again, that was not what he meant, fortunately he has food left so it is easy for him to simply take a bite while he tries to think about how to explain, he knows if he tried right a way he would be fumbling all over his words, again, but this is not a decision he fully thought through. "Not denying it, gotta admit, I am surprised, you didn't seem the type to be so forward." Makoto starts to think maybe he should have tried to respond quicker, he starts to shake his head as her next words hit him. "Can't say I'm against the idea, so, sure. You can take me to lunch tomorrow." Suddenly he starts choking, he had gasped as she said that, but had not finished eating, Junko's face shifts from faux seriousness, she was teasing him but he couldn't tell, to concern and guilt. She thumps him on the back and hears a louder deeper cough, she hands him a napkin and he turns his head as he spits the food into it.

"Sorry Kotes, it's just so fun to mess with you." Looking up he is surprised to hear, and see, the guilt.

"No no no. You did nothing wrong Junko-san, I should've realized you were teasing. I overreacted." To his dismay her mood seems to get even worse, instead of reassuring her, she looks guiltier.

"No. Stop that. I may have been messing with you, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't say yes Kotes." For a moment there is just stunned silence as he takes in what she said. She would say yes? To him asking her out? But, does he want to? She is super pretty of course, and really nice, and so far rather fun to be around. Nothing like her simulation counterpart. But her counterpart was, well, she traumatized him. Though so far that hasn't been an issue. Maybe it would be nice?

"Well. If." He clears his throat, clearly nervous. "If that is the case, then, does that mean you would like to have lunch with me tomorrow?" Her mood finally brightens and she smiles at him, he is quick to smile warmly back at her, happy to see she is no longer looking so guilty.

"Yep! And to be clear, we are not eating here. Actually, let's just skip class, I doubt anyone else will be there besides your nurse and my sister." Makoto thinks about that and speaks up, speaking rather slowly.

"I guess we can do that, they are optional. I suppose I can call you after I see Tsumiki-san and Yukizome-sensei."

"Yukizome-sensei?"

"Oh. Yeah. Uhm. I have to see them both for checkups each day. Kirigiri-sensei is rather concerned with how the simulator affected me, so Tsumiki-san is in charge of making sure I am okay physically, and Yukizome-sensei helps with the mental part." Junko then remembers how he reacted when Kyoko banged the desk. Her expression sours briefly, it was obvious she expected something. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just. Mad at Kirigiri-san."

"Why are you mad at." Then the reason hits him, everyone did see his reaction to her slamming on his desk. "Oh. It's okay, she apologized for it, she didn't intend to upset me that much. She expected a much smaller reaction. Don't be mad." By now they have finished eating, Junko just now eating her last bite. So, she has an idea and a mischievous smile comes across her face.

"You're too good sometimes Kotes. But I do like that about you. I saw your brief interaction with Mukuro-chan. You treated her like anybody else, she liked that, and so did I. Too many people, including our other classmates, treat her differently because of her title." Makoto frowns at that, that seems unfair, Junko's smile widens, still just as mischievous, as Makoto is about to say something she surprises him with a quick kiss on the lips. Leaving him wide-eyed with his mouth agape and blushing heavily, Junko giggles at the sight.

"See ya tomorrow Kotes." Makoto barely manages to recover before she leaves.

"See you t-tomorrow Junko-san." For a few moments, he sits there dumbstruck by what had just happened. Junko really is something else, today was an odd day. He then cleans up after the two of them and messages Mikan and Chisa about tomorrow, Chisa seems happy despite missing class, she likes that he is making friends. Although she does add it better not become a habit and Makoto promises it won't. Mikan seems happy for him too, but Makoto gets an odd sense that she might not be as happy as her words claim, but he shakes that off, probably misreading things, and besides it was just a text message.

Arriving at his room he feels better than he has in a while. He has new friends and a date, and also he finally ate. He did not realize that despite the fact he didn't notice he wasn't eating, it still had a negative effect on him. For the first time since the simulation, he falls asleep with a smile on his face and manages to not have any nightmares that night, a rare occurrence.

Authors Note: So so sorry for taking forever to post. Writer's block hit hard, also life is a bit busy, but its mostly the block. I am going to just start posting as I finish chapters, the next one should not take as long as this one did. Sorry again. Thank you all so much for the positive feedback despite how long it took.