—Chapter 1—Tuesday, April 5th, Nighttime—
His train was late. Again.
The stars twinkled serenely in the clear sky above him. It was cool tonight. Not cold, but chilly enough that he felt compelled to keep moving, awkwardly dancing with himself, exacerbating the ache from his tight leather business shoes.
This is the last time, cursed Hiroshi silently, shifting his weight from one sore foot to another. Tomorrow, I'm going car shopping. Of course, he didn't like driving either, but that was just too bad—it was better than this. With a car, he could spend less of his life alone in the dark, waiting. His family in Edo might see more of him that way.
He realized his awkward dancing had taken on a dual purpose. Sighing, he looked up and down the platform. No one else around. He headed for the steps at the end of the platform, looking for a tree or equivalent target for him to relieve himself upon. Finding a small storage shed, he tiptoed around to the back side to find a stack of abandoned pallets. The moon tonight was bright enough that even without the benefit of the station's halogen glow, he could still see his zipper. Setting his briefcase on the ground next to him, he proceeded to empty his bladder into the stack of discarded lumber.
As the last drops fell, he shivered, a stabbing pain erupting in his back. His mind reeled—kidney stones? His dick still out, he reached for his lower back to feel around, and was met with alarm at what he discovered.
A gloved hand, pulling a knife from his flesh, plunging it back in a moment later, inches from the first gash. Hiroshi sucked in a chestful of air, but was unable to scream it back out as another hand sealed over his mouth. His eyes bulged in horror as his legs buckled underneath him, collapsing into the stack of pallets.
By the time the light from the approaching train reached him, there was nothing left to see. Hiroshi wasn't going to make it back to Edo.
—Wednesday, April 6th, Daytime—
"God damn, is it ever sexy watching you beat the shit out of something," said Tetsuo, shaking his head in sincere appreciation of Makoto's skills.
Makoto jumped at the interruption, having been too deep in the zone of her workout to have noticed his arrival. She took the full-body punching bag in both hands to stop its swinging, and looked back over her shoulder at him. "Stop it. I was just wrapping up," she said, blushing, her already flushed skin turning even redder under her boyfriend's lingering gaze.
"You're all hot and bothered," he said, taking her by the shoulders to plant a kiss on her sweaty forehead. "We'll have to do something about that."
"I can only assume you're implying I need a shower," she said, lifting her chin to give him a proper kiss. She could taste her own sweat on his lips.
"Showers are good too." He bent over to grab her workout bag for her, and together, they turned and left the gym, pausing when they got to the locker room door. "Dinner tonight?" he asked, handing her gym bag back to her.
"Did you forget? My friend from high school is getting into town tonight. I told him I wanted to see him after he got settled in at the dorm."
"Ohhhh, right," he said, leaning back slightly and giving a pronounced roll of his eyes. "The high school buddy. What was his name again?"
"Ren," she answered. "Ren Amamiya."
"Ren, right. Wasn't he the delinquent, or was that someone else? I get your high school friends confused…"
Makoto dipped her chin, shooting him a look of impish reproach. "Yeah, him. He wasn't really a delinquent, though. Anyway, he's starting his first year here, so I want to help him settle in."
"Alright, no dinner then, but I bumped into Emiko and Naomi earlier, and they wanted to meet us for drinks in Blue Square later. I put them off because I was hoping to drag you to dinner, but if that's not happening, do you think we could squeeze that in before you ditch me for your ex-con ex-boyfriend?"
Mildly exasperated, Makoto punched him playfully in the arm. "Tetsuo, he was never either of those things. Anyway, yeah, meeting in the Square sounds doable. I'm not really sure when exactly he's arriving, so I may have to leave suddenly."
"Alright, I'll text them and let them know. Come find us when you're done getting cleaned up."
"Okay. See you in a bit then," she said, taking a step toward the locker room.
"Later, sexy," he said, leaning in to plant a parting kiss on her temple and giving her ass a light squeeze before departing. Makoto's color had returned to normal, but at this, her cheeks were once again aflame.
—
The weather was perfect for an afternoon spent outdoors with a cool drink. It was early April, and the spring air was just right. Makoto reveled in the way the warm breeze washed under her hair and over her neck. She always felt light at the start of a new school year, but this year promised to be even better.
Makoto was in her third year at the Academy of Justice and Policing located in Utsunomiya. Students from all over Japan came here to learn and train to be the very best in the field of law enforcement and detective work. Having entered just after high school, she was well on her way to becoming a police detective, in pursuit of her dream.
True to form, she'd been getting the best marks in her classes, and was among the top contenders in hand-to-hand combat. Each student at the Academy had a specialty. Everyone was trained in the use of firearms, but they were also required to study an alternative form of defense. Makoto had chosen to continue studying aikido, and in a bare-knuckles brawl, there were few who could land a blow against her.
The hardest things about the Academy were the things that didn't go on a resumé. Makoto made success look too easy, and her peers resented her for it—making friends had been challenging during her first year there. Luckily, she'd met Emiko and Naomi at the beginning of her second year. The two of them were already friends from the year before. What had first drawn Makoto's notice was Naomi's loud and ditzy behavior, which, in and of itself, was not appealing. However, at her side, staunchly supporting her, was Emiko, offering patience and dedication to Naomi in spite of the fact that she was a bit of an embarrassment to be around. Makoto was intrigued by the pair, certain that there was something more to this mismatched couple of young women. She wasn't wrong. Makoto had moved into a house off campus before the year was out, but she maintained her friendship with the two even after proximity was no longer on their side.
"Makoto! Makoto, over here!"
It was Naomi. Makoto could see her standing up at a table next to Emiko, waving her arm to get Makoto's attention. Tetsuo was sitting opposite them at the table with his back to Makoto. He turned halfway around to look her way, offering a single wave of his hand in greeting. Makoto waved back, picking up her pace as she went to meet them.
"Heyyy, Makotooooo," greeted Naomi in a sing-song. "Tetsuo tells us you're already hitting the gym—you do know we're still on break for five more days, right?"
Makoto laughed, setting her bag down on the ground next to the table and taking the empty seat next to Tetsuo. "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. I'm going for my aikido certification this spring, and wanted to make sure my form hadn't dipped too much."
"'Dipped', ha," chuckled Tetsuo. "It hasn't even been a month, and she's worried about her form. That's my girl." Tetsuo draped his arm over Makoto's shoulders and pulled her a little closer to him, wearing a proud grin. Makoto blushed.
"So, Makoto," began Emiko, "Tetsuo tells us you're meeting a friend from high school this evening?"
"A delinquent!" laughed Naomi.
Makoto rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he's starting here this year. I'm excited to get him familiar with everything."
"How is it that you managed to befriend a first year?" asked Emiko.
"Hm?" said Makoto, confused. "Oh, well, he wasn't a first year when I met him," she began, a little uncertain how to describe how she and Ren had become acquaintances. The full story, even if she left out the palaces, the talking cat, and the Velvet Room, would take too long to explain. "He was a transfer student to my school in his second year, and I was student council president, so… I helped him get acquainted then, too."
"So if he's only a year younger than you, why's he two years behind us in school now?" asked Tetsuo.
"Well," Makoto began, sighing, "his story is a bit complicated." Perhaps some of the details of his past would be necessary in order for them to accept some of the weirder things about how they met and why his admission was delayed. "You see, he had a criminal record for an assault—which was later overturned, okay?—and because of that, he'd been expelled from his home school, and that was the reason for his transfer. Even though his conviction was voided—his accuser had even publicly recanted his story—he had already spent too much time with that stigma."
Emiko leaned forward on her elbow. "He was caught in the system, huh?"
"Yeah," said Makoto. "So, even though his grades were fantastic—he was pretty much a model student in every way—he struggled to get into a decent university. But Tokyo has this foundation, the Second Chances program, that takes youth who have been through the juvenile detention system and helps them find other avenues into society. They were able to set him up with an apprenticeship at the Tokyo PD, and after a year with them, with stellar recommendations to back him up, he was able to get in here, no problem." As she retold the story of Ren's situation, Makoto could hear the defensiveness in her own voice. These were simply the facts—she hoped it was clear to her friends that Ren was much more than his criminal record. He'd been burdened with an unfair label and had risen beyond it thanks entirely to his own grit and extraordinary talents.
"Why didn't he just stay with the Tokyo PD?" asked Tetsuo.
Makoto smiled knowingly. "He'd have been wasted as a beat cop."
"He sounds intriguing!" effused Naomi. "Is he hot?"
Emiko gasped. "Naomi, don't ask her that!"
"What? I just wanna know if he's good looking! Why is that off limits?"
Tetsuo donned a distinct annoyed-face as Makoto did her best to shield her expression from him.
Naomi took one look at Makoto and squealed girlishly, "Oh, he is!"
The others at the table shifted uncomfortably in their seats, so Emiko did her best to dial back the fangirlish enthusiasm on display from Naomi. "Oh, stop it," she said, gently chastising her friend before trying to move them on to a different topic. "So, when does he get into town?"
"His train should arrive any minute. I told him to text me when he got there, and I'd meet him at his dorm."
"Ew, he's staying in the dorms?" said Naomi, scrunching up her face. "Guess I'll just have to drag him back to our place then!" Naomi declared, nudging Emiko conspiratorially in the ribs. Emiko's exasperation returned in full force as she rolled her eyes at Naomi.
"A-anyway," Makoto stuttered awkwardly, "I'm sure that once classes start, it will be hard finding time to socialize, so I wanted to be sure to reconnect with him before then."
Tetsuo pulled Makoto in a little bit closer still, "Well, you can tell him from me that—"
At that, Makoto's phone buzzed, and everyone at the table jumped. Naomi squealed, "Ooooh, is that him?"
Makoto chuckled nervously, awkwardly rising from her seat. "Yes, that's him. He's at the station now. I should go."
"How about I give you a ride?" offered Tetsuo. "Which dorm is he at?"
"Oh, uh, thanks, but I don't actually know yet anyway. I was going to go home first, drop off my stuff, and go from there."
Tetsuo looked disappointed, and mumbled something about needing to meet the guys for basketball anyway. He gave Makoto a quick peck on the forehead, then gathered his things as he absently walked away. Naomi and Emiko watched as the two of them headed off in opposite directions.
"He must be really hot," Naomi said, as Emiko smacked her.
—Wednesday, April 6th, Evening—
The doors of the train opened, and Ren Amamiya stepped out onto the platform. He breathed deeply of the relatively clean Utsunomiya air, as he looked out across the modest platform. Utsunomiya was the prefectural capital of Tochigi Prefecture, but it was no Tokyo, and the train stations were less busy and more spread out. He shot a quick text to Makoto, letting her know he had arrived, while he googled directions to his new home.
The station was about a twenty-five minute walk from his dorm. He shrugged his heavy backpack better into position on his shoulders, and tightened his grip on his large, clunky suitcase. Between those bags and a medium-sized satchel criss-crossing his chest, he carried his whole life with him. Planting one foot in front of the other, he began the next leg of his journey.
His phone buzzed. Makoto was heading home to drop some things off, and would meet him at his dorm. He bit his lower lip and quickened his walking pace ever so slightly. The next twenty-five minutes would go by quickly, his mind reminiscing over old memories as his feet carried him wherever Google told him to go.
Barely registering the new scenery all around him, his mind flitted backwards through his time with Makoto as he walked. He recalled with perfect clarity their time spent in Hawaii during their school trip. How it felt to watch her awaken to her Persona. How she put herself completely on the line to help them track down Junya Kaneshiro and put an end to his blackmail schemes. How easily she'd uncovered his identity, and the existence of the Phantom Thieves. As his memories of the past floated by in reverse order, the present slipped by at an accelerated rate.
"You have arrived at your destination." Ren stopped abruptly in his tracks as he suddenly became aware of where he was. Looking around, he chastised himself for having paid so little attention to how he'd gotten there—he was usually more observant than this. He appraised the building to his left, then pushed open the gate to the small courtyard in front. Once inside, he found a front desk staffed by a pleasant looking young woman in her early twenties. She smiled at him as he approached.
"Hello!" she greeted warmly, sitting a little straighter in her seat. "You must be one of our new residents?"
"That's right," he said, bowing politely. "My name is Ren Amamiya." He held out his I.D. card for her to see.
Taking his I.D. and placing it under a scanner, she shifted her gaze to the computer in front of her. "Ren Amamiya," she repeated slowly, scanning through the information on the screen. "Amamiya… Ah! There it is. You're in room sixteen, which is on the third floor. Here's your key, and your I.D. card back."
He accepted the items in both hands, nodding gratefully at his host. "Thank you very much," he said. He took a quick look around the lobby, and pointed to a door on the far wall. "Are the stairs that way?"
"No, that leads to the dining commons. There's an elevator just around this corner," she said, gesturing to the area back around the kiosk-esque area she was seated inside.
"Thank you," he said again, and heaved his suitcase back up off the ground.
As the elevator doors opened on the third floor, Ren looked out to see a short hallway extending in both directions, left and right, with just a few rooms on either end. Room sixteen, he recalled, glancing down at the key in his hand. Pivoting left, he found the door to his room at the end of the hall.
Ren inserted the key and turned the knob. Inside, he found a spartan living space surrounded by four dull beige walls. Inside, stood a desk/bunk bed combo on either side of the room, and a small closet in each near corner. A window in the far wall looked out onto an emergency exit and an alley, and another window on the wall to the right revealed the street he'd approached from. Opposite that window, a pedestal sink overhung by a mirror was the only other piece of furniture in the entire space. As it appeared his roommate hadn't checked in yet, Ren helped himself to the bunk by the front window.
Letting his bags spill out onto the desk, Ren stretched and straightened his spine as he let his eyes grow accustomed to his new home. Memories of the dusty, cluttered attic above Leblanc flashed in his brain, and he smiled—he knew he could turn this drab, lifeless space into something he could be comfortable in.
Looking once again at the key in his hand, Ren reached into his pants pocket, producing a flamboyant, palm-tree-shaped keychain. After pausing momentarily to reminisce, he hooked his thumbnail under the metal edge of the keyring. Slipping the room key onto the ring, he returned it to his pocket and picked up his phone.
Before he could even unlock it, it was pinging in his hand. A message flashed across the screen: I'm in the courtyard. Turning quickly to the window at his side, he shimmied it open and stuck his head out.
Looking down, she was right there. She was already peering up at him, staring quietly from the grass below. Though it was obvious they saw one another, for a few seconds, neither moved.
Finally, Ren broke the silence. "I'll be right down!" he called. She just nodded.
Moments later, the front door opened, and Makoto watched as he stepped out. She hadn't seen him in two years, but he looked almost exactly the same: Same jacket, same glasses, same untamed haircut. Same cocky way of holding himself. She couldn't help but chuckle.
"You look terrible," she said, grinning ear to ear.
He took a second to respond. "You look… exactly as I remember." He walked forward a few paces, stopping just short of arms length of her. "Your hair might be longer, but…"
Makoto leapt forward, wrapping both arms around him in an enthusiastic embrace. "It's so good to see you," she said, pressing her cheek into his chin as she pulled him down to her level.
Ren smiled right back. "Same," he said, holding her solidly as they hugged one another. "It feels good to know someone here. I'm glad it's you."
"I can't believe we get to be schoolmates again," Makoto said, letting him go. "You're going to love it here—the instructors are fantastic and the programs are so well-equipped. You won't believe how easy it is to learn things."
"Are the people nice?"
"Well," she said, pausing to consider his question. "I haven't actually gotten to know very many people, but the ones I have gotten to know are very nice, yes."
"Are you still 'broadening your horizons'?" he asked, tongue in cheek.
Makoto smiled sheepishly. "Not terribly well, no." She didn't elaborate.
"Well," Ren said, preparing to change the subject, "Would you like to come inside? There isn't much to see, and I haven't unpacked yet, but—"
"—Yes, I'd like to see. Please show me," she added hastily, pinching his coat sleeve between her fingers.
Ren placed one hand on her back and spread his other out in front, gesturing wide as he guided her toward the entrance. Once they were upstairs, he produced the key from his pocket and inserted it into the door. Makoto couldn't help but notice the ostentatious charm dangling from the key. "Oh my god, is that the tiki charm from Hawaii?" she laughed.
Studiously looking at the knob and not at her, he answered simply, "Yes, it is."
As she stepped inside, she took in the bare concrete room and its contents. "Wow, there's an actual dome over the light bulb—how swanky. They're really spoiling you here."
Ren laughed inwardly at the obvious sarcasm. "I'm on scholarship. I'm sure the nicer dorms are for paying customers."
"Leblanc was shabby chíc, but this is just… shabby," she added, giving him a sympathetic look.
"I'll pretty it up some, don't you worry."
"I'm sure you will," she replied. "Well!" she exclaimed, turning back to face him. "Can I help you unpack at all? What can I do to help you settle in?"
Ren smiled at how comfortable it felt. It was like she'd never left—like the last two years hadn't even happened at all.
"Where in this town can a person go to find some good curry?"