Prologue III – Start
When she first heard about it, Honoka was ecstatic.
To congratulate Makoto's class finishing preschool, the entire class and their relatives received invites for the hot springs at the outskirts of town.
The same ones where Honoka and Daisuke fell in love!
Of course she was excited to go back there, especially with the kids. She wanted to make the most amazing memories, in a place she held dear to her heart with the most important thing to her.
The Naegi family, her family.
But life sometimes decides to throw a wrench in our plans.
While yes, that 'field trip' if you wanted to call it that, had some amazing memories.
It was also one of the most stressful times on the family's life.
"Nii-chan!" A little Komaru yells with a pout. She is wearing a simple sleeveless strawberry themed dress with a honestly too oversized straw hat. "Let's play!" The little girl pulls on her brother's shirt. "Let's play!"
"I got it, Maru-chan! Just wait a minute!" Makoto, who is wearing red shorts with a white t-shirt and the same type of oversized straw hat, replies trying to calm the little girl down. "We're almost there!"
The words entered one ear and came out the other. "Nii-chan..." Komaru says with a sniff. "Mama! Nii-chan doesn't want to play!" She cries as her mother laughs on the front seat of their family car.
"Listen to your brother, Komaru-chan." Honoka says calmly. "We're almost at the hotel."
"B-but-" The young brunette tries to reply, but her father at the driving seat interrupts her.
"Just calm down pumpkin, we're almost there." His stern, but kind voice seems to have the effected desire. "Once we're there, you'll have your brother all to yourself!" He let's a belly laugh as Komaru flashes her most bright smile.
"Really?" She asks and her father nods, then, the young brunette turns to her brother. "Really, Really?" She repeats and Makoto laughs.
"Really, really!" The boy replies and the little girl squeals in her seat.
"Yay!" Komaru cheers.
Honoka just giggles while watching the scene unfold, with a smile plastered on her face.
As Komaru and Makoto start happily chatting, the brunette woman falls deep in thought.
Daisuke notices the expression on his wife's face. "Something wrong honey?" He asks and Honoka gets out of her trance.
"Oh it's nothing dear." The brunette woman then looks at the ring on her finger. "I was just thinking." She then looks at her husband and smiles softly. "Back then I couldn't have imagined we would go back here like this."
The black-haired man returns the smile. "Like this?"
"As a family, I mean." Honoka then closes her eyes. "It seems so unreal." She caresses the ring on her finger. "Sometimes I still think I'm dreaming."
"Well, I can guarantee you're not." He smiles before cracking a joke. "If it was a dream, then we could sleep at night without any of those two crying." The woman holds back her giggles as Makoto blushes and let's out a 'Hey!'. "I'm sorry big guy, but it is true!" Daisuke replies and after some seconds of silence, the tree laugh, leaving a very confused Komaru out of the joke.
Not too long after that interaction, the family pulls up at the hotel and gets off their car.
It all looks just as Honoka and Daisuke remembered.
Makoto and all the other children try to go straight to the hot springs, after they are told they can only enter with one of their parents, the children come running back to grab their parents and rush them to the springs.
After some time on the hot springs, the children got off to play around the hotel while the parents socialize with each other on the main hall.
Don't people say that children just mimic the way their parents act?
That if a parent is violent or distant, the child, independent of how smart they are, will always follow that example?
That day, we found out why that girl with scarlet eyes acted the way she did.
Honoka wasn't the type of person to judge someone at first sight. She preferred to talk to them, after all, first impressions and appearances are only one side of a person.
Yet, there's just those people that you just know, mean trouble.
On that day, Honoka met two people that she couldn't help, but judge based on her gut feeling alone.
She met them as the Naegi parents are talking with one of the teachers.
"Oh, Ogura-san!" A voice called for the young teacher, a woman with puffy black hair and glasses. "It's always sooooo nice to see you!" The voice belonging to a tall woman with thick black hair, her pale white skin was only complemented by the over excessive amount of jewels and her clearly expansive dress. "How have you been?" Standing by her side, the woman's husband is dressed just as nicely as her.
The moment Honoka laid eyes on the couple, she felt what could only be described as 'a really bad vibe'.
"O-Oh Otonashi-san!" Ogura replies, clearly uncomfortable just by being on the presence of the other woman. "I'm d-doing great! You?" The teacher awkwardly adjusts her glasses.
"Could not have been better!" Otonashi let's out a giggle that almost makes Honoka vomit. "Who would those fine people be?" She asks, now directly facing Honoka and Daisuke.
"Oh! F-forgive my rudeness!" Ogura quickly apologizes. "Those are Naegi Daisuke and Honoka." Daisuke smiles uncomfortable, while his wife waves awkwardly. The teacher then points to the other couple. "Those are Otonashi Ryu and Himiko!"
"Naegi?" Otonashi Ryu, a wall of a man with short red hair and a thick mustache of the same color, asks. "I believe you had mentioned their son once or twice." The man says, bringing his hand towards his chin, where everybody could see his fingers adorned by different rings, each seeming more expansive than the previous. "What was his name again?" The man then gives them a strange, almost mocking smile. "I believe it was Masaki?"
"Uh, no, it's Makoto." Honoka corrects the man and he starts laughing, sending chills down her spine.
Nope, she really didn't like those two.
"Of course, of course." He waves his hand. "Sorry about that."
"It's nothing." Daisuke replies, lying through his teeth.
"We heard a lot about your boy." Himiko comments a smirk forming on her bright red lipstick covered lips. "He's such a nice little guy, helping the teachers deal with the other children." The woman covers her mouth and giggles. "The teachers are always praising him."
Daisuke laughs awkwardly, he didn't know where this conversation was going. "Yeah, we raised him to be like that." The man awkwardly replies before looking at his wife, who is just as uncomfortable as him, she nods, signaling him to just keep the conversation going.
But none of the two were prepared to what the woman said next.
"Not that he can compare to our little girl, of course." Himiko complete changes her tone, to one more competitive.
As the black-haired woman makes her remark, all of the other parents conversations abruptly stop.
Their attention solely and completely on them.
Completely perplexed by the quip that came out of absolutely nowhere, Honoka can't help but blink twice, before asking. "E-Excuse me. What?"
This time, Ryu is the one to reply, with a smug smile. "Our Ryoko is such a smart girl!" He announces proudly. "We actually wanted her to go straight to middle school, but sadly the law doesn't allow it." He crosses his arm and sighs.
Daisuke and Honoka are more lost than ever before. "O-Okay?" The brunette woman says, not really grasping the situation.
"Do your boy know how to read kanji?" Himiko asks, her mocking smirk not leaving her face.
"N-No. Why should he?" Now, starting to get what is happening, Daisuke replies.
"Our Ryoko can read it flawlessly!" Himiko laughs, putting a hand slightly over her mouth. "She's so smart!" Then with a whisper that no one could hear, the woman says with disdain. "So different from her useless sister."
Now understanding that the other couple is mocking them, Daisuke was about to retort when he feels a discrete push on his shirt.
Looking at his wife, she nods negatively, understanding what she meant, Daisuke closes his mouth. "She seems like such a amazing girl." Honoka says, trying to end the conversation. "Well, it was good talking to you two, hope we can meet again some other time." Honoka waves and quickly drags her husband away from the other adults.
"What the hell was that?" Normally the Naegis didn't like to swear, but this situation called for it.
"I have no idea." Honoka let's out a heavy breath. "But whatever it is, we can not let it disrupt our day!"
Daisuke wraps his arm around his wife's shoulders and smiles. "You're right." He looks outside and sees that the sun is almost setting. "Wanna grab the kids and show them our special place?" He points to the window. "We still have a little bit of time."
Honoka smiles back while leaning closer to him. "Of course dear, let's go!"
The two then go to where the children are sitting on the floor, playing some board games.
Only to discover that the Naegi siblings aren't there.
After looking all around the hotel and even the hot springs, the two adults start to panic.
"Where could they be?" Honoka puts a hand over her mouth and looks at the window. "The sun is setting!" Panic starting to leak into her voice.
Daisuke quickly turns around and grabs her hand. "Let's talk to the teachers!" He doesn't wait for a answer and starts ruining back to the main hall.
Once everything has been explained to the teachers, they quickly notice that Otonashi Ryoko was also missing, so in a panic they alerted the hotel and the searches around the grounds begin.
While the adults are discussing what do to, a small boy, the same age as Makoto, walks up to them.
"Ah, uh…" The boy looked like he wanted to say something.
"Have you seen them?" Daisuke asks, clearly desperate.
"Y-Yeah." The boy stutters.
Daisuke wanted to yell at the child to just speak up, but even when desperate, he knew that wouldn't help. With a sigh, the black-haired man kneeled down in front of the boy and smiled. "Could you please tell us?" He asked, trying to hide his anxiety.
"Y-Yeah!" That seemed to work. "I saw Mako-nii and Ryoko-chan running towards the forest!" He says and all the color leaves Daisuke's face.
"T-The forest?" He repeats, now looking at the window, where the sun had just settled.
He wanted for his kids to see the forest.
But not like that.
We tend to forget a lot about our childhood days. It's natural really.
But there are some experiences that we can't forget, we may believe that we did, we may want to, but we can't.
It's just a fragment of a memory, floating around your brain, just waiting for a spark to make you remember it.
As the other kids started playing board games, Makoto was dragged to the outside of the hotel by his sister.
"Nii-chan! Nii-chan!" Komaru yelled happily as she tugged on his shirt. "I want to see the forest!" With sparkle in her eyes, the little girl could barely contain herself.
"Later, Maru-chan. Kaa-san and Tou-san said they would show us there later." The older brother says calmly.
Komaru looks down at her feet and sniffs. "B-But I wanted to go now."
Makoto sighs as he hugs his sister. "Don't worry Maru-chan! We just need to wait a tiny bit more and then we can see the forest all you want!" He separates himself from her and Komaru sniffs one last time.
"Okay, Nii-chan." With that said, the two walked back into the hotel.
What they didn't see, was that a redhead girl, around Makoto's age was listening to them.
After the children gathered to play, the redhead walked up to where Komaru was sitting, playing by herself. "You're Makoto-kun's sister aren't you?" The redhead asks and Komaru looks up at her.
"Do you know Nii-chan?" The little girl replies and the redhead nods.
"Yes, I'm from the same class as him." She looks back at where the other children are playing before replying. "I thought you wanted to see the forest?"
Komaru's eyes turn slightly sadder as she looks down. "I do, but I need to wait for mama and papa."
The redhead smirks. "Well, you don't really need to wait for them." As she says that, Komaru's eyes perk up. "Did you know that Makoto-kun really likes hide-and-seek?"
"Really?" Now having Komaru's full attention, the redhead nods.
"Yes, yes, he plays it all the time at school." She walks past the younger girl, a grin planted on her face. "I bet he is going to love playing it with his little sister." Putting a hand on Komaru's shoulder, the redhead continues. "And do you know what the best spot to hide is?"
Komaru turns to face her. "The forest?"
The redhead clasps her hands together. "You're such a smart girl! Bet Makoto-kun is proud of you!"
Komaru's eyes beam with pride for a second, before they fall down again. "I-I don't know, mama and papa get angry whatever I go out alone."
"I know, but that would make your brother soooo happy!" The redhead grabs Komaru's shoulders and looks directly into her eyes. "Don't you want to make your brother happy?" Komaru nodded. "Then go hide, and I'll tell him to search for you."
The younger Naegi was still uncertain, but she nodded nonetheless.
Komaru ran off the hotel while the redhead waved at her, a devilish smirk on her face.
Noticing his sister running off, Makoto excused himself and walked towards the redhead.
Approaching the girl, he asks. "Ryoko-chan? Were you talking to my sister?" The redhead turns to face him with a toothy grin.
"Yep, I told her to hide in the forest!" Ryoko says nonchalantly.
All of the color on Makoto's face disappears. "Y-You what?" He asks in a panicked voice.
"Yep, if you run, you can probably catch up with her." The redhead says putting her hands behind her back. "If I were you, I would start running!"
Makoto normally would tell their parents or any of the teachers first, but the sun was setting and he was too worried about Komaru to really process his options.
The brunette gives Ryoko one last look, before running out of the hotel, full speed towards the forest.
The redhead was know on their class to play pranks on the other children, particularly mean ones on those she didn't like. The teachers tried to reprimand her multiple times, but she always did it again and again, all of her pranks getting worse and worse each time.
Normally Ryoko didn't care for what the teachers had to say, nor didn't she cared for the children she'll prank, they are just a bunch of cry babies anyways, why should she care?
Yet, the moment she saw the desperation on Makoto's eyes, she felt instant regret. After the boy book it, she turned around and tried to walk away, but she couldn't, looking at where he was standing just moments ago, a single thought passed her mind.
Why?
It's been minutes since Makoto entered the forest, while the sun was still visible, the leaves on the trees did block a lot of the light from coming in, which for a adult would be fine.
But not for someone young like Makoto or Komaru.
"Maru-chan!" Makoto yelled from the top of his lungs.
No response.
"Komaru!" He yelled again, his voice shaking with panic.
Again, no response.
For the next several minutes, Makoto yelled, trying his hardest to move around in the forest, hoping for his sister to yell back.
"Why are you even doing that?" A voice makes Makoto turn towards a tree.
"R-Ryoko-chan?" He asks as the redhead walks closer to him.
"Why are you so worried about her?" Before the brunette can reply, Ryoko continues. "Don't your parents pay more attention to her?" He is taken aback by the girl's question, but still, he nods.
"Y-Yeah."
"Don't they give all the toys to her?"
"Y-Yes."
"Don't they ignore you because she wants their attention?"
"…" He nods positively.
Ryoko looks at him, curiosity filling her eyes. "Then why don't you just leave her here?"
"W-What?"
The redhead approaches him and looks him right into his eyes, with a look that no 6-year old should be capable of doing. "Don't you want to get rid of her? To be the sole focus of the family again?" She asks and he doesn't reply. She sighs.
Turning around, Ryoko was about to walk away, when Makoto finally answers. "No."
"Huh?" She turns around and looks at the boy stands there.
"I said no!" He yells looking at the ground. "That's wrong!" He clutches his fists tightly. "I-I mean, yes, sometimes Kaa-san doesn't play with me because Komaru is crying." He looks at Ryoko. "A-And sometimes Tou-san will buy her any toy she wants while I have to beg for them to buy me anything." Then, he smiles. "But I can't leave her here. She's my sister."
In the redhead's mind, the image of a black-haired girl looking at her from a slightly open door appears.
"I Love her!" Makoto yells.
'I hate you' The black-haired girl whispers.
Silence falls as the two children glare at each other.
"I wish Muku-nee could be more like you." Ryoko whispers to herself. "I'll help you look for her." She says surprising the boy.
"Huh?" Makoto gasped. "But wasn't you the one that send her here?"
Ryoko crosses her arms and pouts. "Do you want the help or not?" She asks and he nods. " Idiot." She whispers.
The two children then get to work. They search around for sometime, until the sun starts to set.
"It's getting dark." Makoto remarks, grinding his teeth. "Komaru, where are you?" He yells, almost losing hope.
Then, they hear a sniff.
"What was that?" Ryoko asked looking around.
Then, another sniff, this time followed by a low. " Nii-chan.".
After hearing that, Makoto wastes no time running towards the sound. "Komaru!" He yells all the way.
Once the two finally get to where the sound is coming from, they found Komaru sitting on the ground in front of a old little shrine, her arms wrapped around her legs as she sniffs.
"Komaru!" Makoto screams, running towards the little girl.
Once she hears his voice, Komaru gets up and throws herself at her brother's arms. "Nii-chan!" She cries of relief, while holding tightly onto him. "You came!"
"Of course I did!" He wraps his arms around her and sniffs. "I was so worried Komaru! Don't ever do this again."
Ryoko just watches the scene unfold, without even noticing, a glad, but sad smile appears on her lips.
"Are you okay?" Makoto asks as he finally separates himself from Komaru.
"I tripped and hurt my knee." The younger Naegi says, showing him her scratched leg.
"It doesn't look that bad. Can you walk?" She nods furiously and Makoto sighs. "Really?" She then nods negatively. "I'll carry you." He pats her head before turning to Ryoko. "But how are we gonna get out?"
The redhead scoffs. "Who do you take me for?" She says before turning around. "I've analyzed every tree we passed by up until now, so I know exactly where we are and how to get out!" Ryoko crosses her arms and smirks.
Both Makoto and Komaru's eyes sparkle with admiration. "Really?" The siblings ask in unison.
"Haha! But of course! The path we need to take is… right… there…" Ryoko looks around only to see one thing.
Darkness.
During their search, the sun had settled and the night had began. Which means it was dark and she could barely make out the trees in front of her.
"Ryoko-chan?" Makoto asked, now holding Komaru's hand.
"I-I-I." Ryoko was trying to process it. "I don't know the way back." She finally realizes it. "I-" Makoto approaches her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know the way back." She repeats, this time, her voice cracking.
"Ryoko-chan?" Makoto asks, before the girl suddenly crouches down.
"I DON'T KNOW THE WAY BACK!" She screams, making both Makoto and Komaru flinch.
They couldn't possible know, but the redhead's mind was a absolute mess, the words of praise her parents always gave her, the hateful stares she would get from her sister, everything came back to the girl all at once.
"I'm not a failure." She says to herself, tears starting to fall down from her eyes. "I'm not a failure." She repeated to herself as Makoto and Komaru stared in shock.
The boy didn't knew what do to, so after some time in silence, he decided to just do what he always did when his sister started crying.
Still holding onto Komaru's hand, Makoto approaches Ryoko and hugged her.
The girl sniffs, before asking. "W-What are you doing?"
"Kaa-san and Tou-san always do this whatever me or Komaru are sad." He replies. Komaru decides to follow on her brother example and hugs Ryoko from the back.
"It's true and Nii-chan's hugs are the best!" Komaru says with a smile.
'How can they smile like that in a situation like this?' Ryoko thinks, before unconsciously hugging them back.
"I know everything is scary right now." Makoto says smiling, he was clearly trying to be strong for the other two. "But I know our parents are going to find us!" He says, more to himself than to anyone else.
Ryoko wasn't listening to him, she was too focused on something else. 'They are so warm.' The redhead thinks to herself. "My parents never hugged me." Ryoko says, getting the attention of the siblings. "Neither does Nee-san." She buries herself on Makoto's chest and sniffs. "It's nice."
'So she has a sister?' Makoto thought of asking, but right now wasn't the moment.
So, with Ryoko still sniffing in his arms, he waited.
"Still nothing?" Daisuke desperately asked one of the hotel employees.
"No sir. We looked at all the surrounding area, but we found nothing." The shorter man said while bowing.
Daisuke turned around and put a hand on his forehead. "God. Where could they be?" He walked away to where his wife and the Otonashis are.
Running towards him, Honoka asks as she clasps her hands together. "Any news?" On her face a hopeful smile.
Daisuke shakes his head and his wife's smile disappears. Not knowing what do to, the black-haired man embraced his wife, trying to calm her down.
More on the back, the Otonashis are also worried, although for a completely different reason.
"Why did she do that?" Ryu asks, clenching his fist. "If we lose her then-"
His wife Himiko cuts him. "Do not even think that!"
With a huff, the man looks at his wife in the eyes. "Not thinking about it wouldn't make it less true." He then looks forward towards the Naegis and clicks his tongue. " Tsk. All of the money we invested in making her perfect." His eyes fill with disdain. "Just for some good-for-nothing kid to fuck it all up." He sighs, looking back at his wife. "Why would she even follow him to the forest?"
The redhead woman shakes her head. "Beats me."
Back with the Naegis. Honoka couldn't barely think straight.
' Why? Why did this have to happen?' She thought while hugging her husband tightly. ' And right here, in the place where we first met. ' Suddenly, a small idea pops into her head. ' in our… special… place?' Hope finally comes back to the brunette's face. "Our special place!" She exclaims, leaving her husband confused.
"Huh?" He asks, not understanding what she meant.
"They looked all around the area didn't they?" Honoka asks and Daisuke nods. "But did they look into our special place?" Just as the words leave her mouth, Daisuke understood what she meant.
Grabbing onto each other's hands, the couple runs off, with a bubbling feeling of hope in their chests.
Ryoko didn't leave Makoto's arms even as she stopped crying. She really liked the warm that he gave off.
"Do you think they'll find us?" The redhead asks suddenly.
Makoto smiles. "I know they will!"
"Whenever we get lost, mama and papa always find us!" Komaru follows her brother statement.
"Must be nice." Ryoko says, grabbing onto the brunette harder. "Having parents that actually care about you."
Makoto was about ask what she meant, but he was interrupted by the voice of his parents yelling. "Makoto! Komaru!"
The eyes of the younger Naegi sparkle with hope. "Mama! Papa!" She yells back.
Not long after that, a light shines past the trees and a smile grows on the Naegi siblings' faces.
They're here!
After they found the children, Honoka hugged them tightly and only let Komaru go when she had get her leg examined.
Turns out most of the employees of the hotel had forgotten about the small abandoned shrine, seeing that no one visited that place in years.
For the rest of the night. Honoka and Daisuke never let their children's side until they are fast asleep on their rooms.
"What a day." Daisuke commented while watching over the siblings on their futon.
"Understatement of the century." Honoka replies while brushing Makoto's hair with her fingers.
Daisuke sighs with relief. "But at least everything ended well." He then turns to face his wife. "Still want to show them the shrine?"
Honoka stops and thinks for a second, before replying. "Yes, but do we have time?"
"We can wake up a little bit earlier tomorrow and visit it before going home." The black-haired man replies and his wife nods.
Sounded like a plan.
Waking the children up earlier than usual was a challenge, but after some promises of play time once they got home, they got up.
Komaru and Makoto were eating their breakfast, well, Komaru was eating her breakfast happily.
Meanwhile Makoto was drawing something, when his parents asked what it was, he would shake his head and say that 'It's a present for someone.'
Not too long after breakfast, the Naegi family made a short visit to the old shrine.
While not religious per say, Daisuke and Honoka felt the need to do a quick pray at the abandoned shrine, it did help them rescue their children.
Seeing their parents kneeled down, Makoto and Komaru did the same, although not knowing how to pray, Makoto just thought of his drawing and Komaru thought about the yummy breakfast she eat today.
After their visit to the shrine, it's time to go back home. As the other families are getting into their cars, Makoto is looking all around, trying to find someone.
"Oh." He finally spots who he wanted. "Ryoko-chan!" Makoto runs away from his parents and approaches the redhead.
She was standing alone at the hotel's entrance, waiting for her parents when Makoto approached her. "What is it?" She asks in her typical high-and-mighty attitude. "Make it quick."
The boy just smiles and handles her a piece of paper. "Here! As thanks for helping me find Komaru!"
The redhead grabs the paper and opens it.
It's a honestly pretty bad drawing of a white bear holding a rose with the words 'Thank You' written on the middle.
Normally whatever any of her classmates tried to show her their drawings, she would rip them in front of their maker and laugh as they cried about it.
But not this time.
Feeling a warmth in her heart, Ryoko folded the paper with as much care as she could and smiled, a genuine smile, to Makoto. "Thank you. It's pretty cool." She then looks at the folded paper again and continues. "Although why thank me? I was the one that put her in danger."
Makoto looked at grabbed onto her hand. "Yeah and I still pretty angry about that." He then smiles and closes his eyes. "But if it wasn't for you, I might not have found Komaru in the first place."
Ryoko looks at their interlaced hands. "But I failed." She says, wrapping her fingers around his. "I couldn't find the exit."
In what was a surprisingly mature moment for a normal 6-year old, Makoto replies. "But you still tried." He smiles. "And that what matters."
Ryoko smiles again and squeezes his hand. "Idiot." She giggles. "Thanks." Finally separating their hands. The redhead holds the paper closer to her heart. "I'll treasure it forever."
With a last exchange of smiles, the two go their separate ways, just as Ryoko's parents finally come out of the hotel.
"What was that boy doing?" Ryu asks and Ryoko swiftly hides the folded paper on her shirt.
"Nothing." She replies emotionless. "He was just thanking me for helping find his sister."
"Why did you help him?" Himiko asks and Ryoko shrugs. "No matter. It's not like you will ever see him again."
With that, the Otonashi family walks towards their car.
Ryoko holds onto her heart and smiles to herself.
She might never see him again, but at least she knows that, for the first time in her life, she made a real friend.
After getting home, the Naegi siblings received a light scolding about the event of the previous day. Makoto decided to not bring up Ryoko's role on the incident.
After that, the family passed some nice time together, playing, watching some movies and even discussing if they should get a dog.
By the afternoon, Daisuke was preparing their dinner with Makoto's help, when suddenly he remembered something. "Oh yeah!" He exclaims before turning towards his son. "I brought a present for you, wait here just a little!" With that said, the black-haired man runs towards his room, leaving behind a confused Makoto.
When he came back down, Daisuke was holding a small present in his hands. "We are going to wait until April to give you this, but seeing what happened yesterday." The man smiles and handles the boy his present. "I think you deserve it a little early big guy."
Makoto smiles and grabs the present, quickly and kind of violently ripping it off.
The boy holds his present up as his father smiles. "So? Do you like it?"
Holding a small green hoodie in his hands, Makoto smiles.
I loved it!
Strange how the world works.
Even though they had such impact on each other's lives, they wouldn't ever meet each other again.
I mean, they will, just not in the same way that they did here.
Well, guess that's the end of this chapter of the story, trust me, things are going to get hectic from here on out.
…
How do I know that? Well…
Guess I never introduced myself didn't I?
Sorry about that.
…
My name is Naegi Makoto.
It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!
Prologue III - End
Damn, three in a row? Man I'm on fire!
Or more accurately, the prologue was already written, I just needed to tweak them a little before posting.
Now, I know some of the stuff on this chapter doesn't make a lot of sense, nor is it very well explained, but trust me, it was planned that way.
Some of those plot points will be brought back in the future, mainly Junko/Ryoko's past, seeing that I changed quite a lot about. I just want to add a little bit of my own spin on certain characters backstories, mainly Makoto, Junko, Komaru, Mukuro and a certain group of rpg-themed characters.
Anyways, now that the prologue is finished, we can start the childhood part of the story.
Well, see ya around!