—Chapter 2—Wednesday, April 6th, Evening—

Tochigi Central Park in early spring was a sight to behold. The trees were lush with fresh foliage, and the tulips and camelias were in full bloom. With their sacks of takeout curry swinging casually at their sides, Makoto showed off some of the local color on display in Ren's new surroundings.

"This is pretty stunning," remarked Ren.

"Isn't it? You should see it in the fall. The trees turn a dazzling orange, and you can see the kids all flopping through the piles of leaves. It's quite darling to see."

"I hear the flower park is also quite a draw," said Ren.

"Ashikaga? I've heard that too, but I've never actually been there," said Makoto.

"No? Why not?" asked Ren. "Seems like something you'd have made time for by now."

"Well," she began, somewhat pensively, before trailing off. "Hey, let's sit down over there." Makoto pointed to a vacant bench on the edge of the path. Together, they sat down with their takeout curry boxes and prepared their chopsticks.

"'Well'…?" nudged Ren. "You just trailed off without answering."

"Ha, I guess I did," she answered. "I don't know, it just sounds so beautiful," she said. "It seems like the sort of place you don't go to… by yourself."

"I see," said Ren, pointedly. "So you want to go there on a date? Have you been so busy these past couple years that there's been no one to take you?" He fixed her with a piercing stare as he chewed a bite of curry.

"Ha ha, not exactly," she chuckled. "I've had plenty of dates. And I have a boyfriend, if you must know, he just doesn't… really seem like the flower-park sort of guy."

"What 'sort of guy' can't enjoy a world-renowned flower park?"

"Tetsuo is… he's just very… simple, in his interests. He likes sports, and action movies, and socializing with friends… Spending a quiet afternoon strolling through the flowers just doesn't… seem like something he'd want to do," she said, frowning.

"Have you asked him?"

"No, I haven't," Makoto admitted. "It's probably not fair of me. I shouldn't just assume he'd poo-poo the idea."

"Tell me more about him," encouraged Ren.

Makoto smiled. "I'm sure you'll meet him eventually," she said, dodging. "I'd really rather talk about our classes. What are you taking?"

"Still all business, I see," grinned Ren, pulling a slip of paper from his back pocket and reading it. "Let's see… 'Intro to Criminal Law', 'Evidence Handling I', and 'Systems of Justice'... and I'm in 'Elementary Firearms' and 'Elementary Bladed Arts'," he said, chuckling dismissively.

"'Elementary Bladed Arts?'" she laughed, knowing full well there was nothing 'elementary' about his handling of a knife. "Are you serious? I guess they didn't ask you to demonstrate your proficiency before slotting you into your weapons courses, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping there's some way to test into higher ability groups… If not, at least that'll be an easy course."

"Just try to not embarrass any of your classmates," she warned good-naturedly. "If I've learned anything about the students here, it's that they don't like being shown up by any noobs."

"Speaking from experience, hmm?"

Makoto gave a small shrug. "Well, maybe a little," she admitted. She'd definitely rubbed some classmates the wrong way with how quick she could be on the uptake.

Ren could read the past disappointments on her face, and quickly changed the subject. "How about you? What are you taking?"

Makoto didn't need to consult a class schedule to answer his question. "'Forensic Chemistry', 'Intermediate Interrogation', 'Crime Scene Processing', 'Firearms III', and 'Fists IV'."

"'Fists?'" exclaimed Ren, nearly choking on his curry. "'Fists' is a course sequence? Holy shit, how do I sign up?"

At his outburst, Makoto exploded into her own fit of laughter, almost spilling her dinner. After a moment to catch her breath, she clarified her earlier statement. "Well, actually," she said, "'Fists' isn't really what it's called, that's just sort of the nickname we use. It says 'Expert Martial Arts' on the schedule."

"'Fists' is much cooler," he said. "Gives it a real Streetfighter vibe."

"Rest in peace, Sonny Chiba," she said, looking up adoringly.

Overcome with affection, Ren reached an arm over her shoulders, giving her a warmhearted squeeze. Talking to her was so easy. Feeling Makoto tense up under him, he quickly withdrew his arm, realizing he might be overstepping his familiarity. Things were so comfortable between them that it was easy to forget that in the last two years, she'd forged new relationships. The last couple hours had him feeling more at home than he had in years, but this reminded him that he was still basically a stranger in a strange land. Though Makoto may have clutched at him for comfort in the past, in this new context, the limits of acceptable physical contact may have changed.

They shared a moment together on the bench, quietly resetting. It wasn't awkward, but there was a lingering tension that wouldn't dissipate. "Sounds like we have no classes together," said Ren, somewhat ruefully.

"No, but I didn't really expect that we would," she said. "After all, I started two years earlier, and I'm ahead in a number of subjects. You may find Naomi in a class or two, but not me," she added, more quietly than before.

"Who's Naomi?" he asked.

"Oh," she started, sighing, "I'm sure you'll meet her soon, too."

—Wednesday, April 27th, Daytime—

The beginning of the year had been incredibly busy for them both. Before the first day of classes, Ren had numerous orientations to attend, accounts to set up, and materials to purchase. His only socializing had been with the other guys in his dorm, but that had mostly been superficial getting-to-know-you stuff, just to establish their relationships as neighbors. Once classes were underway, things were no easier. Makoto was as big a studier as ever, so her evenings and weekends were usually spoken for, and what extra time she had was usually spent with Tetsuo or her girlfriends. It didn't help that they lived on opposite sides of campus and neither of them drove.

As Golden Week approached, time passed with little change in this routine. After spending one whole week in Elementary Bladed Arts, Ren was advanced to the intermediate class, which was still way too easy for him, but progress was progress. All of the students were heavily engaged in their studies, and Makoto spent most of her 'free' time training in preparation for her martial arts certification exam. She and Ren had done little more than text one another since school started. Ren and his roommate, Jiro, got on very well. The only class they didn't have together was Bladed Arts, as Jiro's preferred secondary weapon was the bo staff. "I can turn a stick into a weapon," he'd said. "I'll be the baddest motherfucker on the nature trail." They did most of their studying together in their dorm room.

Makoto was slated to take her aikido certification exam today, the Wednesday before Golden Week. She tried to discourage her friends from attending, but these exams were open to the public, and they would not be dissuaded. Even Ren made it a point to attend, dragging Jiro along with him.

"Why again are we here?" Jiro asked. "Didn't she tell you not to bother?"

"I have to see this," Ren said, quite determined. "Come on, we'll take a seat towards the back." The large gymnasium had a wall of permanent bleachers built into one side of it, and together they climbed the stairs looking for an inconspicuous spot somewhere at the top.

"So you went to high school with this girl, and you both ended up here? Small world," remarked Jiro.

"This is the best place to go for what we want to do. There's no world in which I wouldn't have followed her here."

Jiro's eyebrows popped up. "Is she that good looking?"

Ren sighed, "It's not about that, Jiro."

"That's not a denial," Jiro teased, suddenly much more anxious for the exam to begin. Ren ignored him.

The gym floor was lined with tatami mats, and students from the various disciplines were already engaged in their own exams. The loudspeaker announced the start of Makoto's exam, and she stepped out from a back room and onto one of the mats. She was dressed in her aikido gi with her hair pulled back in a ring of braids around the back of her head.

"Is that her?" asked Jiro, pointing. Ren gave a succinct nod, and Jiro sat up a little straighter to get a better look. He made an impressed noise.

Another fighter, a student instructor from the Expert group, took to the mat on the opposite end. The two combatants bowed, and a whistle signaled them to begin.

The two fighters danced around the tatami mat, weaving and bobbing around one another. Makoto's attacker came in for a grab, and Makoto dodged easily. They were starting slowly, the combatants feeling each other out.

Aikido is mainly about self-defense. As the tori, the person receiving the attacks of the uke, the majority of what Makoto had to demonstrate was that she could avoid or escape from various types of grabs and lunges. It was several attempts before her proctor, the uke, made an attempt that actually landed. When it did, Makoto deftly neutralized the attack with the appropriate technique, and the uke ramped up the difficulty.

There are fewer than twenty basic techniques in aikido, but depending on how the uke decides to initiate contact, there are over ten thousand possible iterations of how the techniques might play out. Once the uke made sure to confirm that all the basic techniques, including several variations thereof, had been capably demonstrated by Makoto, a signal was given, indicating that their roles would reverse—it was now Makoto's turn to play the role of uke, and initiate her partner to perform those same techniques.

This all went exactly how Ren expected it to go, up to a point. The goal of this exam was not for one opponent to "best" the other—the goal is to demonstrate that you have correctly assessed the ability level of your partner, and to give and receive progressively more advanced techniques until you reach the upper limit of what your partner can handle. There came a point in the demonstration when, upon receiving a lunge from Makoto, her tori stumbled ever so slightly. Scanning the other faces in the crowd, it was clear no one else had noticed, but Ren had seen Makoto fight countless times, and he could see it on her own face that something unexpected had happened. She'd overestimated her partner's ability level, and been forced to dial back the aggressiveness of her own moves.

The match did not last much longer after that. Following the exchange of a few more techniques, the partners signaled to one another that they had reached the end—Makoto's abilities had been thoroughly assessed, and the demonstration would be analyzed by her superiors and a verdict reached. Did she pass her certification exam, or didn't she? It would be a little while before she would know for sure.

The partners bowed to one another, and some spectators in the crowd cheered. One man in particular put on quite a display, hooting and pumping his fist.

"God, who's that?" asked Jiro disapprovingly. "Is anyone else cheering like that? How obnoxious…"

Ren hadn't seen the man before, but he knew instinctively who he was. The man stepped out onto the tatami mats, something no one else in the crowd had done for any of the other combatants, and grabbed Makoto with both arms, kissing her full on the lips. He then turned to the crowd and pointed proudly at himself as he held her at his side.

"Oh…" said Jiro bleakly. "That's who he is."

Makoto gently pushed him off and retreated into the back room with a wave.

Pulling Jiro along with him, Ren stood up and headed toward the aisle leading down and out of the gym. Exiting, he found several groups of students all waiting around patiently for whomever they'd come to support, socializing as they stood there. Ren spotted the man from earlier in one such huddle. "Let's wait here for a minute," he said to Jiro, keeping a respectful distance from the exit door and the group of friends who were waiting for Makoto.

After a few minutes, Makoto finally emerged, having changed out of her gi and into some sweat pants and a hooded sweatshirt. Her hair was still tied tightly behind her.

"There she is!" effused the man, somewhat sing-song, going up to her to hug her once again. "That was enormously boring to watch, but I could tell that you did well. That's my girl."

"Way to go, Makoto," said one of the women in the group. "You looked really fluid, and got in some really excellent throws."

"Thank you," said Makoto. "I hope they think I did well."

"Of course they will," said the man. "You're aces at everything you do."

Just as Jiro was beginning to wonder why they were just standing around watching this little reunion, Ren decided to assert himself. "Makoto!" he shouted, waving his arm to get her attention. Makoto's eyes widened as she saw him, and Ren pulled Jiro along with him to introduce themselves to the group.

"Ren!" she said in surprise. "What are you doing here? I told you not to bother."

"Yeah, but I was curious," he answered. "I wanted to see you in action again. Besides, I needed to check out what the certification exams around here are like. When will you know how you did?"

"Makotoooo," said one of the women, cutting in. "Are you going to introduce us, or what?"

"Sorry! Yes, of course," exclaimed Makoto, bowing apologetically. "Naomi, this is Ren, my friend from high school. Ren, these are my friends Naomi and Emiko, and my boyfriend Tetsuo."

"Hello," said Ren, nodding politely to each of them. "This is my roommate, Jiro." Jiro bowed in response.

"So, you're the famous Ren Amamiya?" said Tetsuo. "Makoto's told us all about you. What was it like in juvie?"

Jiro looked confused, and Makoto blushed in embarrassment, but Ren took it in stride. "It was rough," he said, "but I had friends who made sure it was bearable. I assume Makoto also told you that I was wrongly convicted?"

"Yeah, she might've mentioned that," admitted Tetsuo dismissively.

"So Ren, I'm so excited to finally meet you," said Naomi, stepping between him and Tetsuo. "My neighbor is throwing a party tomorrow to celebrate the start of Golden Week—you and your friend should totally come!" Makoto smiled. As overbearing as she could be, Makoto had to love Naomi for her boundless positivity.

"Yes," agreed Emiko. "I would love to hear some stories about what Makoto was like in high school."

"I think we could manage that, right Jiro?" he said, looking at his friend, who nodded in agreement. "Makoto? Will you text me the details? I assume it's within walking distance?"

"Yeah, but it's a long walk," said Makoto. "The campus shuttle can get you pretty close, though."

"I'm sure we'll manage. Thanks, everyone, for being so welcoming. I look forward to seeing more of you tomorrow evening." And with that, Ren waved goodbye and he and Jiro turned and left.

The four friends watched the two of them depart, and once he was out of earshot, Naomi let her feelings be known. "He's so cute! And charming! Makoto, how is it the two of you were never a thing?"

Makoto was practically squirming under Naomi's scrutiny. Tetsuo pulled her in closer and let his own opinion fly. "She has better taste than that. He's too skinny."

"Oh Tetsuo, you're so jealous," said Naomi, all too honestly. Makoto and Emiko giggled awkwardly. Tetsuo just grumbled. "Well, if no one else wants him, I call dibs," she added, gushing.

—

The phone rang, and his guts instantly twisted themselves into knots—a ringing phone was a harbinger of trouble. Dean Giichi Yoshinora plopped down into his red leather desk chair and picked up the phone like he was handling a dead raccoon. "Hello?" he answered into the mouthpiece.

"Dean Yoshinora?" said the voice on the other end.

"Speaking."

"Dean, this is Detective Hotaru Naabe of the Capital Police Force. I have some troublesome news to share that may… complicate your campus security."

Of course. "That's unfortunate," sighed the dean, thinking back to the pickpocket annoyance from a couple years back. "What is it?"

"Well, there have been two deaths—murders, that is—in the past few weeks that appear to be related, both occurring very close to your campus."

The dean jumped in surprise. "Murders?" he asked, aghast. "Are you sure?"

"It's possible the deaths are unrelated, but since both victims were found so close together, and share the same cause of death, we are, at this time, investigating them as though they are related. We think it would behoove you to encourage your students not to go out alone at night, and to remain in well-lit areas, in case there is a single killer and this is his M.O."

"How did the victims die?"

"I can only share what information is publicly available, but both victims—males—died from multiple stab wounds."

"Does robbery appear to have been the motive?" asked the dean. He was, after all, still a detective at heart.

"I'm afraid I can't divulge that kind of information. Just please urge your students to remain safe and vigilant. We are working to resolve this as soon as possible, but until we do, extra caution is in order."

"I understand, Detective. Thank you so much for letting me know. I will put out a bulletin as soon as I can, though, it being the beginning of Golden Week, the news may not spread that quickly."

"Thank you. We will try to keep you informed as we learn more, but please follow the media for additional updates on this case."

"I will, Detective. Thank you."

The detective ended the call with a curt "good day", and the dean was left with a dial tone and a heavy weight in his hands.

—Wednesday, April 27th, Evening—

Ren and Jiro had dinner together in the dorm that evening. The dining commons was serving udon with shrimp and broccoli. They took a table by the window.

As soon as they were seated, Jiro dove right in, giving no context to what he was saying—none was needed. "Wow, that guy was a dick—does she have terrible taste or something?"

Ren smirked. He wasn't entirely sure what Makoto was thinking either, but he trusted her not to be a fool. There was something Tetsuo did for her that made him worth keeping around, and Ren was curious to learn what it could be. "He did seem like kind of a meathead, didn't he?" said Ren, bringing his chopsticks to his lips. It was rhetorical.

"Hell yes, he did. The girls were cute though, right? All three of them—hotties. Naomi was sure bubbly."

That's one word for it, thought Ren. "Yeah, she was very friendly," he agreed. "Nice of her to invite us out."

"Yeah," said Jiro. He took a big bite of shrimp, and sat with his food for a moment, chewing quietly while staring absently out the window. After a time, he swallowed his food and looked back at Ren. "Also: Juvie?"

Ren had to laugh. "Yeah, juvie…" He smiled, mulling over where to begin. "Do you remember Masayoshi Shido?"

"Uh, that politician who went to jail? Yeah."

"You remember how, before he went to prison, he confessed to a whole bunch of shady shit?"

"Yeah…"

"And do you remember the Phantom Thieves?"

"They were the biggest thing on the internet for a while—of course."

"Okay, so… this is going to sound really convoluted…"

"Lay it on me," urged Jiro.

"So… Masayoshi Shido is the reason I had a criminal record."

"'Had' or 'have'?" interrupted Jiro.

"Had. One of Shido's many dickish acts was the wrongful prosecution of a high school kid who happened to catch him in the middle of an attempted sexual assault."

Jiro leveled a perplexed look at him. "… You caught Prime Minister Shido about to commit sexual assault."

"Yes."

"You stopped him committing sexual assault."

"Yes. Probably."

"So he sued you."

"Yes."

Jiro took another long pause. "Wait, what did he sue you for?"

"Assault—he said I assaulted him. And the woman went along with it because of some blackmail or bribery shit that I wasn't privy to understanding."

"… And you were convicted."

"Yes."

Pause. "So juvie."

"Yes, juvie," Ren confirmed. "And also getting expelled and transferred to another school. The school where I met Makoto."

"So… explain how you got your conviction overturned?"

"Enter, the Phantom Thieves."

Pause. "… Ohhhh, when the Phantom Thieves caused his change of heart, right?" he said, finally getting it. "He confessed to that? Huh, seems like kind of a minor crime, relative to all the other crap he ended up confessing to… Sort of funny that such a corrupt guy could even remember doing such a small thing…" Jiro shook the thought from his head. "So what, did you and Makoto become friends because she felt bad for you or something? Victim of the system she so wanted to be a part of?"

"Ha, no. She was investigating me—she, uh… she thought I was a Phantom Thief."

Jiro sat astonished, an udon noodle falling from his chopsticks as he held them in mid-air. "What?"

"I know, right?" said Ren exaggeratedly, playing up the ridiculousness of the notion. "And this is why I'm a year behind where I should be—I'm a year older than you. My conviction—even though it was bullshit—put a stain on me that I've been unable to completely rid myself of."

"This is the craziest shit I've ever heard." Jiro started listing things off on his fingers: "You caught the Prime Minister in the middle of an assault; got convicted of assault yourself; got expelled; were suspected of being a Phantom Thief; and even though it was all bullshit, you're still dealing with the consequences."

Ren took a sip of his drink, giving this information a moment longer to gestate. "Yeah," he sighed. "All bullshit…" —Mostly bullshit.

"I know this is fucked up, and I should feel bad, but… I feel a lot cooler to know you than I did ten minutes ago. Can I tell chicks about this at the party tomorrow?"

Ren laughed. Regarding his past criminal record, it appeared the cat was already out of the bag. Ren had spent the last four years trying and failing to free himself from the shackles of that unearned notoriety—what difference would it really make for people to know about it now.