Almost a week ago, Makoto pushed Minako off the bench. Only a few hours after that, he was able to leave a mark on the physical plane via a cup of tea. Only minutes after that cup magic, he was able to control his tangibility. And only seconds after that, he felt his stomach growl in hunger.
I forgot how good this was, Makoto thought as he chewed on the leftover takoyaki that a child left on the table. There hasn't been a minute since the child ran off, leaving behind three balls of food, when Makoto pounced at and devoured them. He didn't bother if people saw the takoyaki floating in thin air and then vanishing without a trace; he didn't bother if the child was coming back. He was hungry. That was one of the many things in his mind since the day he warmed Ryoji's cup of tea. Makoto felt like it has been years since he last ate, which was true. For the past few days, the blue-haired boy has been scavenging food. Occasionally he would take a "bite" from his friends' food when hope of finding a meal was next to none. He made sure not to take too much from his them, but there were just some times that he couldn't control his hunger from rampaging at the sight of a meal. "I'm sorry," he would say sincerely with his ever monotonous tone when he took too much.
"That was good," he said sadly as he stared at the empty paper container. What do I do now? He had already thought of trying to contact his friends, to tell them how to solve everything. But every time he does, no one could hear him. He tried to write the message, but whenever that happens, he finds himself hesitating. The key to solving everything comes with a price that he just can't afford. Sure Makoto wants to keep his friends - and maybe even the whole world - safe, but the fear of losing something important to him keeps pushing him back. He knew better than to give in, but he dreads the day all this will be over - when the world is safe and the thing he holds dear is gone.
What do I do...? What should I do? he sighed. Either way, they're already doing a good job with this...They don't need me telling them what to do...
Makoto bit his lip, wondering if it would bleed if he did it hard enough. He wanted all of this to be over, but at the same time he didn't. He thought that he has changed, that he has matured since Shinjiro's death, but somehow he felt like his old self again - the him that wanted things to remain as they are in his little world. He felt like he was joining SEES all over again, but this time more alone than his ever been then. More lonely. Maybe even empty. I shouldn't be so pessimistic; I wouldn't want to infect Minako any further...
"I'm sorry you had to do that alone."
Huh? Is that Amada? Makoto turned to the source and saw Ken and Minako walking Koromaru. Makoto couldn't help but to smile when he saw the crimson-eyed girl acting like how she used to - when they were in junior high. She ambled in her child-like way to look taller, and was dressed in the way typica,l twelve-year-old Minako would: baggy shorts reaching below her knees, a two-sizes-too-big hoodie over her loose shirt, a beanie, and sneakers. The only difference was that her barrettes were attached on her beanie this time in the same XXII fashion. If it wasn't for her long hair on her shoulders, she would've been mistaken for a young boy.
"It's alright, Labrys was with me. And it's best that everyone thinks that you've only found out recently."
"I think Labrys and the others know that already."
"No, Labrys asked me yesterday if you already knew. I just told her that you only found out when we were on the way back from the funeral."
"I see...By the way, why are you dressed like that?"
"Do I have to dress like a pansy all the time?" Minako suddenly whined. "Anyway, I still have that ¥1,000,000...Well it's not really a million anymore, but it's still a lot. I bought these shorts with it. The rest of these clothes are Elizabeth's donation."
"Wait, you don't like how you usually dress?"
"It's not that, it's just that it's hard to move with those clothes...and I'm more used to wearing clothes like this. Besides, I'd rather look like a boy than to die of hypothermia from wearing a skirt, or to be attacked by another mob of raging, hormonal women." Minako cast a wary glance around before scowling at Ken. "Maybe covering your face is safer," she muttered before looking away. "Or maybe I should tuck my hair in?"
"I don't think anyone's gonna ambush us today," Ken said.
"Are you kidding me? This place used to be one of the territories of Akihiko-senpai fangirls. Though it didn't really happen, the stares of those beasts felt so real and enough to kill. That's why I'm not safe walking with you parading that face of yours." She took of her black beanie - removing the hair clips and putting them in her hoodie's pocket - and motioned for Ken to bend. Once he was on her level, she placed the beanie on his head and pulled it down until it was nearly covering his eyes. Then she grabbed his hood and pulled it to make sure that it was concealing a great deal of Ken's face. "For the sake of my life, please, don't remove that or pull back your hood."
Ken stood back straight and adjusted his hood and the hat. "Okay?"
"Swear to me," she said seriously with authority. Authority that Ken and Makoto unknowingly agreed could be on par with Misturu's.
The student council president gulped before nodding. "I swear."
"Good."
Makoto chuckled at his friend's actions. I guess she's still the same. "Honestly," Minako continued nonchalantly, "sometimes I don't understand the female species. Why do they paint nail? Why do they wear high heels? Why put makeup? Why do I have to wait for an eternity just so I can get my turn to use the lady's room on malls?!"
"Minako-san, are you really a girl?"
The girl raised a brow. "What do you mean by that?"
Ken let out a nervous laugh. "Nevermind."
"The truth is, if it wasn't for my aunt, Makoto, and imaginary Yukari, I would look like this every day."
"Makoto-san?"
"Yup, him. Did you know that he knows more about being a girl than me?"
"Are you saying he likes guys more?"
"Nah, that's not what I meant. Makoto picked up some things because he grew up with so many women around him."
"Maybe that's why he had so many girlfriends, because he knows a lot about them."
Minako stopped and blinked. "...Wait, what? He had many girlfriends?"
"I'm not really sure if they were his girlfriends, but I saw him sometimes hanging around with different girls. There were also some times when Junpei-san dragged Sanada-san and I to stalk him."
The girl giggled at the capped-male's stalking tendencies. "That's Junpei for you. Though I never thought of someone who looks girlier than me can be a playboy." Makoto could feel his eyes twitch at their conversation. He didn't know which bothered more: that he was called a girly or that he was called a playboy.
"They might just be his friends."
Minako shrugged. "Who knows...? At least he's improved." The girl smiled fondly. She remembered how her aloof her blue-haired friend was. She recalled how he used to give her the cold shoulder during the start of the first year of their junior high. She had to cry just to make him her friend. Good times...
Then her smile melted into a frown. "Now back to reality. What do I do know, Ken-kun? Ryoji and Shinji still aren't talking to me."
"Just give them time, alright?"
"Yeah, okay." The sulking female wild card walked up to Koromaru and knelt. "Don't tell this to anyone, alright Koro-chan? This would be our secret." The dog barked, making the brooding girl grin. "Good boy. Now let's go to Octopia!"
The girl and dog ran to the stand, leaving the boy behind in amazement. Just a moment ago, his friend was afraid for her life, then she turned all hopeless because of her two friends, now she looked so happy and spirited. "Her love for food is immeasurable."
"What kind of sorcery is this?" Minako muttered darkly.
Ken could feel a menacing aura seeping out of the girl. He inched away from the girl before asking her, "W-what's wrong?"
"The takoyaki I ate is short by two. I just know it."
"Maybe the cook made a mistake?"
The crimson-eyed girl shook her head. "It's not her. My eyes tell me that there was eight after I gave Koro-chan his share. But my stomach tells me I only ate six."
"Then maybe you gave Koromaru four instead of two."
Minako glanced at the dog who looked up at her innocently. The girl turned to the dog with an accusing glare, causing him to whimper. Then she quickly smiled at the dog and stroked his head. "It's okay Koro-chan, my bad."
The brunet paled at what just happened. For a moment, he felt like the ground shook, and the atmosphere went down a few degrees.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Koromaru," Makoto said. "I just don't know when's the next time I'll be able to eat."
"What can you say about it?" Mitsuru asked Yu and Naoto after she clicked paused. Right now, Mitsuru sat behind her black desk, while the two sat across each other on the two sofas in front of Mitsuru's desk. They just watched the recording of Minako spilling her guts to her dorm mates. For the time being, she could only show it to the two because they were the only ones who were free, and she needed their opinion on it before doing anything else. "It doesn't really seem plausible, and is barely substantial."
"True," Naoto said, "but it doesn't seem like she's lying. Still there's something bothering me. If she did this, couldn't she just undo it?"
"I think she can't just use her powers to reverse her 'wish'," Mitsuru answered. "If she could, she would've done it a long time ago. Unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless, she doesn't want to do it just yet," Yu said.
Mitsuru said. "That is possible. But then again, I doubt could bear people suffering. After all, she did live in this world once, be it real or not; she probably has people she cares about in this world too. I doubt that she could bear that to happen to the people she loves."
"That aside," Naoto said, "now that Minako-san spilled the beans, or at least some of them, we now know that no one knows how we can stop everything from disappearing. Though defeating the full moon shadows does help some people remember what they've forgotten, this tactic might backfire - just like what happened seven years ago with SEES."
"Well what are we supposed to do then?" the Wild Card asked. "Defeating those shadows is the only way we can see some progress. What if we were supposed to do the same thing they did seven years ago?"
Mitsuru eyed the gray-haired male curiously. "Where are you getting at Narukami?"
"Fuuka-san went missing for ten days, the same thing happened before, right? Not only that, but the girls who were found outside the gates of Gekkou High are the same girl that were found there not long ago, during Fuuka-san's latest disappearance. Then what happened during the Empress and the Emperor, the shadows appeared at the entrance.
"Now what I'm saying here is, what if the tower is reenacting what happened seven years ago? And what if just like the Apathy Syndrome, we could stop it once we defeated all the full moon shadows?"
"But what about Nyx?" Naoto retorted. "If this indeed is like before, then whose life will be sacrificed?"
"It's possible that it will be Arisato," Mitsuru said. She sighed on her intertwined fingers and closed her eyes to calm the storm of information in her mind. "But we can't just jump to conclusions. For now, all we can do is continue what we're doing. At least with that we can get something done."
How the hell did I get here? Shinjiro asked himself as he stared at the police station. Makoto stood behind Shinjiro and pushed him forward, causing the pony-tailed male to stumble forward. Shinjiro looked behind him to see who pushed him, but there was no one - who he can see - behind him. "What the hell was that?"
"Shinji?" The teen flinched and turned towards the source of the voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Aki...Yo."
"Yeah...hi?" Akihiko loosened his necktie. "I'm on a break, wanna go somewhere?"
"Sure..."
"Where to?"
"Hagakure," the biologically younger of the two immediately answered. Akihiko gave him a look that said "Really?" Shinjiro answered back with a shrug. "C'mon, let's go." He led the way and Akihiko followed close behind.
"So what were you doing back there?" the silver-haired man asked, pointing back at the station.
"Nothing. I just happen to pass by." They walked together silently. From time to time, Shinjiro would glance at his friend. He would remember that he might not even be the Shinjiro Aragaki that Akihiko grew up with. That he was just a stranger with someone else's memories. What if we weren't really friends? he wondered. He gave one last glance at his friend before returning his attention to the road. How will this blockhead react if he knew?
"Sanada-san will continue to be a blockhead if he knew, Aragaki-san," Makoto said.
"Hey Aki?"
"What?"
"Let's race. Winner pays for the loser's meal."
"Why are you suddenly challenging me?"
" 'cause I know I'll win now that your old."
The insult wasn't even that good, but it fired Akihiko up. "You're on!" The competition concluded with Akihiko losing after bumping a girl, who happened to be one of his fangirls back in high school.
Minako was right, the blue-haired boy said.
"Come here, Minako," called the girl's aunt. "I have something to tell you."
"What is it auntie?" asked seven-year-old Minako.
"Starting next week, you're going to be living with your grandparents."
Minako suddenly felt the urge to tear up, but she forced them in. "I understand." Her older cousin is sick. Not only that, but his medicines are so expensive that Minako's aunt, a widow, had to take five jobs to support them. From the very beginning Minako knew that it would come to this. But before that, she knew that a wish would happen.
"I wish my son was cured," was what Minako heard a few weeks ago. And just right after that, the doctor called saying someone could treat her cousin overseas. Along with that, Minako's aunt got a promotion on her main job and got reassigned to where her son can be treated. The catch was, Minako couldn't come for a long list of reason – mainly her aunt couldn't buy the child a ticket, and couldn't support Minako even with the new salary she'll earn plus the others jobs she might take.
"Thank you Minako," the woman said sincerely and embraced the child.
If only I could cure him myself, Minako thought sadly, hugging her aunt back.
College is hard if you don't know what they're talking about. I feel so dumb during lectures that I just want to lock myself in my room and read and sleep all day. Maybe eat in between. Sometimes I want my life to be like Last Game (manga). Anyway, happy holiday to some people out there.
Thank you everyone, and to CrimsonRabbit00 and AnimeMangaLover35.
Rittie: It will be revealed sometime in the future (lol not sure when).
Guest: I still haven't searched that song. I'll look it up.
Megami Tensei Emperatriz: I forgot Shinjiro has fangirls. It sucks that he woke up, but the girl (supposed they got together) dies. Honestly, the whole game I was crying over how tragic Ryoji's Social Link was if you don't friend zone him.