Ultimate Kuuga : ... I don't have any idea what you're talking about.
RAX : Oh, if you only knew... if you only knew...
Raymond Lightbringer : Of course he's a nihilist. Watching your family die when you're 6 - 7 tends to fuck you up for life.
Clevernameeh : The voice? Well, it's *censored* got it? I'll explain again, it's *censored* alright? Glad you understand.
Nightlyy : Oh, you see, like I said before, the voice is *censored*. Got it? Yes? Okay.
Just a reminder, the poll is still up to decide who will spend the rest of the story in the AN/s with me. Guest may appear, but this 1 person will be with me until it's conclusion... probably.
Again, the options are Minato/Makoto, Kotone, Pharos, and just me. Why add Kotone as an option? Because I hate odd numbers. Except 7... 7 is alright. But, seriously, it's currently stuck on a tie that needs to be broken.
Home
What the hell is going on...? Makoto thought as he took off his hoodie and put his hair that had been slicked back down again.
"Do you think she knows?" Pharos asked, not following Makoto's concern
"She was bluffing." He answered confidently as he tossed the scarf to the side and slowly took a seat "She's smart, but I doubt she could've figured that out..." he said as he repeatedly tapped his finger on the table
"She... She was just shaking the tree to see what falls..." he said, his voice trailing off as many thoughts came to mind.
That voice he heard... Who was it? What was it? What was going on...?
"Are you alright?" Pharos asked concerned
"I'll be fine." Makoto said as he stood back "Look, tell me if you remember anything later. I... I need some time, okay?"
The younger boy nodded "As you wish." before fading away. A lot happened tonight, it was best that they sleep it off for now.
Paulownia Mall
Makoto sat alone on a bench as he watched the world around him continue. He didn't have anything to do with school being out and there was nothing to gain by staying in his apartment all day.
He had no idea what that voice he had heard twice now was, but there was no way for him to find out now. All he could do was try and get by until the day was over.
Then, he noticed a crane machine right next to the arcade.
"Hmm..." Makoto stood up and walked to the machine and saw what the prize was...
... A small Jack Frost plushie.
He quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching so that there's be no witnesses as to what he was about to do.
He quickly inserted some yen and began to move the claw to one of the toys.
"C'mon, c'mon..." He whispered gently as the claw picked up the toy that he managed to position it over just right.
Makoto reached and pulled out his very own Jack Frost plushie.
He heightened the pitch in his voice and said "Hiya, Mako!" he shook the toy as 'Jack' spoke "I wanna be your new friend because you're snow, snow cool!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Makoto's fun was halted when he heard the sound of someone laughing... wait.. no... no... what were the odds...? What were the odds that the one that caught him was the one person he'd never want to see him dressed in an boots, black leggings, an orange sweater, and complemented by a red scarf.
"S-S-So imagine this.." Kotone said as she barely managed to control her belly laugh "I went to go get a yawn-b-gone after a rough night and then I find the snow, snow cool Makoto Yuki playing with- Ha ha ha!"
Makoto was frozen in place as his red face contrasted with his dark blue hair.
"U-Uh..." There was no recovering from this one. He could only try to regain his normal demeanor as he frowned and said "You saw nothing." he sounded like he was informing her rather than warning her.
This, however, only made the girl laugh even harder "Aw, are you embarrassed?" she teased, sounding like she was talking to a 5 year old
"Stop it!" He demanded, silently wishing that he'd die there and then.
"How would everyone react if they knew that the mean, mean Makoto-kun liked to play with dolls?" She asked as she looked up, all sorts of possible mayhem going through her mind.
"Don't you dare." Makoto demanded as he glared at her, regaining his usual cold aura that seemed to radiate from him.
Unfortunately for him, that didn't work on her "You want me to tell everyone that bad?" She asked with a smirk before turning around "Okay, I'll go tell-"
"What do you want?!" He asked which made her stop. If she was teasing him this much, then she must've wanted something from him, whatever that may be.
She turned back around with the same mischievous smirk on her face "Hmm... What should I do?" she pondered as she put her hand to her chin "Do what I want? Or listen to the big meanie?" She named her options "What to choose, what to choose..."
"Oh, come on!" He complained. He just wanted to indulge his rarely seen childish side, he didn't want any of this.
"Well, I may be convinced if you have coffee with me at the cafe here..." She relayed her demand "Whaddya say snow, snow cool Makoto-kun?"
The boy looked down as he used his fringe to hide his blood-red face "Whatever it takes to make you forget."
Kotone giggled in satisfaction as she walked to the boy and patted him on the head "It's a date then."
He looked back up and glared daggers into her "What am I? On your hit list?"
She laughed some more "And you're the primary target." Looks like that no matter what, he was now her personal slave. All of this because of his love for plushies that he never outgrew... Was this god's way of punishing him or something?
...
...
Makoto kept his head down as he sat across from the devil herself in the cafe. He briefly wondered if fate itself was trying to torture him by making him encounter this girl over and over.
"So, how was your day?" She asked as she gently bobbed her head left and right in tune with music that was playing all over the mall
"Suddenly, much worse." He answered with a mumble, he could almost feel his dignity (which was already in short supply to begin with) just burn away
"Come on, don't be like that..." She asked before taking a sip of the coffee she ordered "I mean, at least you're with one of the prettiest girls in the school."
Makoto looked back up with an annoyed frown. He was hearing voices, was on a manhunt, and was trying to figure out how the Kirijo group was connected to the Dark Hour and/or his family; The last thing he needed was bullshit like this "I'm not here to feed your ego."
She blinked "Wow, you're hostile today." she noted as she leaned slightly forward, her expression and voice going from upbeat to concerned "Something happen, Mako-kun?"
"Don't call me that." He demanded before looking back down "And it's none of your damn business."
Kotone gave a glare of her own and kicked him straight into the shin "Don't talk to me like that." she demanded, using the same confident and authoritative tone she used last night
The boy grunted in pain as he rubbed his leg under the table as his cold glare got colder
"And just what has you worked up today?" She asked, still using her leader-voice while keeping it level enough as to not cause a scene
He glared into her crimson eyes "Maybe it's because some girl I barely know is forcing me to do something I don't want to do and then feels she has the right to know my personal life."
"Liar." She replied instantly "You weren't nearly this bad when we had dinner the other day, and you did look annoyed but not hostile then too, so don't even try saying it was 'in the moment' to me." she continued before narrowing her eyes "So I'll ask again : Did something happen?"
He let out a "Hmph..." as he leaned back over the table and looked down "Yes, something happened." he answered vaguely
"Okay." She said as she dropped her frown and sipped her coffee again
The boy froze for a moment as he blinked rapidly "T-That's it?"
"Yup..." She answered as she leaned back into her seat "Was that worth getting all worked up for?" she raised an eyebrow
Makoto leaned even further back surprised and now feeling guilty for his little outburst.
Pf, you asked for it... Makoto thought
I should apologize...
The boy almost instantly froze the moment he heard that. That voice again... where the hell was it coming from?
Kotone closed her eye as she sighed before looking at the bluenette again "Look, you're right that I haven't given you much choice, so I'm sorry for that." she apologized "But that doesn't excuse being an ass hat."
The boy looked back down
Insults, insults, insults... Like I need to take this kind of bullshit from her. Makoto thought
Just apologize and let bygones be bygones. The voice spoke again
Yuki leaned slightly forward again and looked to the side "I.. I..." he audibly groaned before weakly saying "... sorry."
The redhead smiled and she returned to her usual warm and comforting demeanor "Thank you, Makoto-kun" she thanked "So, how was your day?"
The boy looked off to the side and saw Pharos looking at some of the other customers "... Fine."
"Still can't believe it, though." She said before giggling again "You're into dolls, huh?"
"I-I'm not into dolls, just..." He looked down again, but this wasn't like all the other times. This time, he had a sad look in his eyes. "... Someone close to me really liked them, once upon a time."
"Oh..." She said, taking the hint. Whoever this person was, he/she must've meant a lot to him. Suddenly, she felt pretty bad for blackmailing him to come here "You know, I didn't really mean what I said, right?" she asked, her voice sounding much softer "You can leave if you want."
"Hmm..." The boy hummed as he thought to himself. He could leave now and there'd be no hard feelings, but would that really be right? She wasn't that bad, but still...
Just leave. Makoto thought to himself Just like she said, she blackmailed me into this.
Maybe I should stay... The voice said ... What else is there to do?
The bluenette froze as he considered the two options... Stay or go...? Stay or go...?
"Hey!" She called as she snapped her fingers in front of him "You still in there?"
"Y-Yeah..." He both stuttered and nodded "I mean, I... I guess I'll stay." he gave an answer which made the girl smile again
"Oh~..." She donned her mischievous smirk again "Thinking you'll get lucky, are we?"
"..." Makoto just looked at her blankly "Is this a trick question?"
"Pfffff!" The girl snickered and nearly banged her head on the table "That's... That's a very good answer."
"What about you?" He asked which made the girl stop laughing and instead be very confused
"What about me?" She asked, not understanding what he was implying
"You know my favorite color is blue, you know I've never been with anyone before, and you know that I'm an orphan." He relayed what was already known about him "So, what about you?"
"What about me... Hmm" She looked up as she thought about what to say "My favorite color is red, but orange is nice..."
"I figured..." He muttered, his assumption being based off the fact that what little of her wardrobe he'd seen always had some form of red in it
"I'm an only child, and before I came here I lived with my dad." She finished
"What about your mom?" Makoto asked, normally kids lived with their mothers as opposed to their fathers
She shrugged her shoulders "I dunno. She left me and him years ago."
"Oh.." Was all he could say "You... can just casually say that?"
"Why not?" She asked back as she sipped her now nearly empty cup of coffee "She did it when I was, like, 5. Not a lot to dwell on when it's how you were raised your entire life, at least the bits that you actually remember."
"I see..." He said as he pondered what she said. Not much to dwell on... Yet, here he was. Still remembering what happened when he was around that age... What did that say about him?
Then, a thought crossed his mind
"Wait, is this all a date is?" He asked, remembering her use of 'date' earlier "Just sitting around and talking?" From the big deal everyone made of them in school, he expected a bit more.
"I dunno." She answered as she shrugged "Never been on one." And apparently, she was just as clueless as he was
"Then about this..." He asked as he supported his head with his arm "Wanna go see a movie then? It's cliched, but..."
Kotone jumped out of her seat immediately "Well? What're we waiting for?"
And that answered that...
Outside The Theater
The two ended up settling for some fantasy thriller that was an adaptation of a novel about a girl who finds that another realm that seems to be her ideal world isn't all it's made up to be (basically, Coraline (Good movie, by the way)).
Even though Makoto didn't think it'd be much, it was actually pretty good. Also, some of the tense scenes also somehow made him feel like it increased his courage... But that was impossible, right?
That was a waste of time... Makoto thought, fun or not that time could've been spent more productively than being with some pretty girl
It was fun. Simple as that. The still unknown voice said
"That was a pleasant surprise." The boy said as he walked out of the theater with the redhead beside him "What did you think, Kotone?"
"Calling me by my first name only, already?" She teased as she raised an eyebrow and smirk
"I do that with everyone." He said, completely dismissing whatever game she had in mind "Still doesn't answer my question."
She sighed "Looks like you're still a work in progress..." she muttered to herself before answering "And yeah, I thought the movie was fun, too."
Suddenly, she started laughing "I can't believe she actually threw the cat at the end there."
"I can't believe the dad was that bad at making... well, anything." Makoto said as he shook his head "More surprised that the girl refused, though."
She suddenly looked at him confused "Would you want to have buttons sewed into your eyes?"
"To live in my ideal world?" He asked as he thought to himself "I..." A world with them back... and world with her back... A world in which he never... never... "I don't know..." he said in a somewhat shaky voice
Suddenly, Kotone just seemed to just... zone out for a moment as she placed a hand on her head for a moment before shaking her head quickly "Sorry, got light-headed for a moment there."
The bluenette checked his watch "It'll be dark soon..." he pointed out. Iwatodai was a nice place during the day, but even without the Dark Hour this pace wasn't the safest place to be at night. There were numerous punks that liked to band together and generally do whatever the hell the want.
"Hey, Makoto..." She called, drawing his attention back to her as she smiled warmly "I had a lot of fun today."
"Yeah..." He said as he looked off to the side "So uh... Can you keep what happened at the mall a secret now?"
"Your sudden outburst or the plushie thing?" She asked "I mean, not like I can blame you. Who doesn't love good ol' Jackie?"
"Right..." Looks like no matter what, she was always weird as hell. Then, another thought came to mind "One question : Was this really a date?"
"Hmm..." Kotone seemed to ponder this for a moment before turning around "Guess you'll have to figure it out yourself..." she said as she walked away while waving "Bye-bye!"
"Uh..." Makoto turned to who had been the 3rd wheel this entire day "What do you think, Pharos?"
The mysterious boy blinked "Can we get 'lucky' soon?"
"Pf." Makoto snickered and shook his head as he started to walk home "You little perv."
It's moments like this I remember how underdeveloped all the romances are in Persona 3 onward aside from S-link scenes and Christmas. Anyway, got to see more of the mysterious voice... who doesn't seem all that dick-ish actually. If anything, it's a lot nicer than Makoto.
Whaddya know, I might've done something nice for a change, and I think RAX and all the other AT readers can tell you all about how rare THAT is. Go head, tell 'em about all the things I've done for the sheer hell of it.
But, seriously, I can't emphasize the poll enough because it's at a tie right now. And if it's a tie, I'm literally going to flip a coin.
