Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 7:29 AM
Iwatodai Dorm
As Makoto walked downstairs, he saw Kotone sitting at the dinner table. Her eyes were tired and narrowed, lost in deep thought. Her lips were pursed, and her chin resting on a tent made of her fingers. She looked unusually serious and contemplative.
His stomach turned. Something must have happened.
"Hey. What's up?" Makoto asked gently.
"I'm thinking." She said. "Now that the Chairman is coming back to town, I have find somewhere to take nine whole people without busting my wallet. Nothing is coming to mind."
Makoto tilted his head to the side.
"The bet we made before midterms? Dinner for everyone?" She frowned. "Don't tell me you forgot!"
"...oh yeah." He muttered. "I did."
Kotone slammed her head on the table, groaning.
"If it's too expensive, it's fine." Makoto shrugged. "You can forget about it. Or, since no one else actually knows about it, we just do it for the two of us. Either or is fine."
She looked up at him, eyes burning with offended fury. "My honor, nay, my pride as a woman won't let me back out of a bet I made, no ifs, ands, or buts."
"If it's that important to you, why didn't you mention earlier? Or start planning until now?"
She slouched. "Cuz I also forgot."
Makoto snorted.
"Yeah, yeah," Kotone scowled, "muck it up why don'tcha? I'm feeding you nothing but scraps, you joker."
He patted her on the back. "As long as Scraps was the name of the lobster before they killed it."
She groaned. "I'm doooooooooomed."
Makoto chuckled. "Your wallet certainly is."
As Kotone walked into the auditorium, she saw Rio standing alone in the corner, completely stationary. Kotone waved to her, getting no response. As she walked closer to Rio, she saw the black-haired girl was staring at the empty auditorium with almost no reaction. The pupils of her gray eyes were widened, and only the occasionally blink confirmed that she was alive, and not some convincing statue.
"No practice today?" Kotone asked, as neutrally as she could.
"There was supposed to be." She said, voice scratchy and tired. "But they all canceled to go on a group date." Her voice barely changed, but Kotone could feel an undercurrent of rage in those last two words.
Kotone opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Rio turned to her.
"Am I the problem?"
"Huh?" Kotone took a step back. "W-What'ya talking about?"
She lightly kicked the volleyball at her feet away. "Most of the team doesn't want to show up anymore, they're always complaining about how hard practice is, or about boys, or going out, or how much they want to do anything but volleyball. They're never happy, they're always whining, no one ever seems like they care. A-Am I just a bad captain? Am I the problem?"
"W-Well..." Kotone looked away.
She didn't want lie and pretend like her friend was a great team leader, given how she was objectively unable to lead her team – the entire time Kotone had been on the volleyball team, she had seen things slowly get worse – but she also felt like telling Rio to her face that she was too strict and unsociable of a person would be the absolute wrong choice for her right now.
"I-I think they're just seeing the team in a different light then you. They see it like a social club, not a sports club. You want to win, and they want to have fun."
Rio's eyes went wide in anger. "I do want to have fun!" She yelled. "I want to win, that's what I find fun!"
Kotone flinched. "Well yeah, but-"
"It's not even just them, Kenji barely talks to me anymore because he's trying to hook up with Ms. Kanou, and I can't even tell you how wrong that is. The only reason he reached out to me yesterday was because Mr. Ekoda got murdered. And speaking of that, everyone's first reaction has been to make fun of him. I mean do people have no dignity or manners anymore?"
Kotone resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that.
"It's just..." her arms and shoulders tensed up, "everything's gone to shit this year." Her voice cracked. "No matter how hard I try, no matter how much work I put in, it feels like I get nothing back. Am I going to end up like Ekoda? I'll put in all of this work just so everyone's going to end up hating me, and I'll die alone and unloved?" She asked bitterly.
"Rio-chan! That's ridiculous!" Kotone gently put her hand on her shoulder. "You're not the problem! And you're not gonna die unloved! That's crazy talk. You give 110% when other people only give 60%. That's not something you should be ashamed of...just something you should keep in mind. You've got high standards and other people settle for less. That's just...you know, the way things are. I-It's not your fault they don't want to try as hard as you, that's on them."
Rio did not look convinced. If anything, she looked even more dour. "I'm sorry." Rio said. "It's fine, I'm fine." She said unconvincingly. "How about we just meet another day? I-I think I just need to be alone right now."
"Ri-"
"It's fine." Rio said firmly. She turned and left, leaving Kotone alone in the auditorium.
As Makoto stepped into Bookworms, he saw the two owners, Bunkichi and Mitsuko, having a lively discussion with a man in a shabby brown coat and hat.
"And when I came back, my brothers were days away from selling my house from under me!" The bearded in man in the brown coat said with a hearty guffaw. "I know I don't call that much, but you'd think they would at least confirm I'm actually buried before trying that!"
Bunkichi laughed so hard he started coughing, while Mitsuko just chuckled and nodded.
"That's just how siblings are, you know." The man said. "My kids were just as rambunctious with each other when they were little."
Mitsuko turned to Makoto and gasped. "Oh, hello Makoto-chan, I didn't see you there."
"Say what!?" Bunkichi adjusted his glasses. "Oh! Well if it isn't our favorite blue-haired customer."
Makoto chuckled. "Are there any more than me?"
The man in the brown coat looked Makoto eye to eye, literally since one of his was shut tight. "Good to see you again, son."
"Eh?" Bunkichi adjust his glasses. "Makoto-chan, you know him?"
It took Makoto a few moments to remember the one-eyed man he had seen before. "Oh, uh, Ikari-san right?"
"That'll be me." He said. "I was just doing some light shopping, and got distracted by the good company here."
As the two proprietors of the store chuckled, Makoto looked down at the contents of plastic bag in Ikari's hand. Most of them being cheap pink paperback books. "I take it you are a fan of romance novels?"
Kazuo pulled down his hat, looking rather bashful. "They uh, they were the missus' favorite. That and fantasy. They remind me a bit of her when I read 'em."
"Nothing wrong with that." Makoto said. "I like reading some of the cheap paperbacks on the way to and from school."
With a big smile, the old man patted Makoto on the shoulder and bid the three farewell.
"It's always nice to get new customers." Bunkichi said. "It's also nice when they can pick up some of the merchandise that has been sitting there for ages. Saves me the effort of dusting it!"
"Oh, Makoto-chan!" Mitsuko's expressions suddenly became very sad. "I-I heard what happened at your school, it's-" she stopped herself, on the verge of tears too distraught to continue.
"Please dear, don't get yourself worked up." Bunkichi said softly.
Makoto scratched his head. "So uh, you guys heard about that." He suddenly remembered them telling him about their deceased son, a former teacher at Gekkoukan. Shit, no wonder she's taking it so badly. Probably brings up a lot of bad memories.
Bunkichi nodded, eyes downcast. "We always try to keep in touch with what's going on at the school. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard it. Such a horrible thing to happen."
"The world is terrifying and cruel, Makoto-chan," Mitsuko said, trembling, "please be careful out there."
Makoto smiled and nodded, trying to put up a brave front, even as he knew he couldn't really promise them that.
When Makoto arrived on the fourth floor, everyone but him had already been seated. Ikutsuki sat in the back chair and looking utterly exhausted. His eyes were red and constantly blinking, he leaned forward with only his cane to support him, his shoulders were slack. He usually looked so dignified and statesmanlike, even when sharing the occasional cringe-inducing pun. Now he just looked beaten.
"I appreciate you all meeting me here tonight." He said, voice strained. "Mr. Ekoda's death this past weekend, it um, it has been as much of a shock to me as it as been to you. He was a colleague of mine for some years, I uh-" he sighed deeply and sunk into his chair, looking so much older and more tired. "Pardon me, I just got off the phone with his elderly parents a few hours ago. One of the least pleasant facets of this job is having to tell someone their child has died, especially since I can't divulge to them who may have killed him."
He took his trilby off and ran his fingers through his hair.
"It has been made aware to me that you are operating under the assumption that his murder was done by other Persona-users, correct?" He asked no one in particular, as sweat traveled down his face and neck.
"Correct. Yamagishi and I spend the previous two nights attempting to scan the area for them. Unfortunately we were unable to locate anything." Kirijo said. "Of course, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
Ikutsuki exhaled hard. "Indeed. The ability to use a Persona is obviously not something that is exclusive to SEES, or even just this city. Out of the billions of people on this planet, who knows how many people exist out there with the potential, unbeknownst to us."
"Speaking of which," Shinjiro kicked up his shoes on the desk, "how've you managed to find all junior Persona users these past few months, but not these guys? Isn't your Persona also a searcher-type? Shouldn't you have picked them up"
"W-Well yes, but my Persona's power have limits, just as yours do." Ikutsuki said. "Besides, not all of them were found that way, some of them were narrowed done simply via regular investigative means. The same investigative means that will be used to find these alleged Persona users."
Kirijo raised an eye-brow. "Oh?"
"I've been in contact with Officer Kurosawa, while he's not privy to some of the more sensitive details regarding SEES' operations, I have shared with him and the city's police force the information that I and your father have deemed relevant. I want to make something clear, leave this to us. You must focus on Tartarus." He said firmly. "There's no need to divide your focus even further. Trying to do too much will simply leave you unable to accomplish anything."
"...understood." Kirijo said hesitantly.
"If you'll excuse me," he stood up, "not only do I still have to find a replacement classic literature teacher, I will have to fly back to Tokyo in a few days." He shook his head. "Work never ends for the adults, keep that in mind kids."
As Makoto settled into bed and started drifting off to sleep, he heard his phone ring out. When he flipped it open, he saw Kenji's number.
"What's up?" Makoto asked.
"I um, I-" He could hear Kenji moving something around. "I've been doing a lot of thinking."
Makoto yawned. "That's rare for you."
Kenji burst out laughing. "Screw you dude." And just as quickly, he stopped. "I, ugh, I've really been thinking seriously about my future. Like actually thinking about stuff."
Makoto sat up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. "Alright."
"About college, about work, about...um, about..." He could hear Kenji's haggard breathing. "I'm going to ask Emiri to marry me." Kenji said confidently.
Makoto inhaled sharply.
"Life's short." He said, voice strained. "At any moment you could die. Disease, a traffic accident, some nutjob killing you."
"Is this about Ekoda?"
"Honestly? Kind of. I was already thinking about proposing beforehand, but now...I think him dying really made me put things into perspective. I-I don't want to live my life with regrets, always hesitating and losing my chance."
Makoto covered his phone and sighed. There's nothing I can say to convince Kenji to not do this.
"I uh, I want you to be there tomorrow." Kenji sound, sounding unusually meek. "I want you to be there when I propose to her."
"...are you sure?"
"Yeah dude, you're my best bud." He said. "I don't know if I could ask anyone else to do this for me."
"...alright." Makoto said, gritting his teeth. "I'll be there."
"Thanks man. It means a lot to me."
As Kenji hung up, Makoto pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ohhhhhh, this is going to be a fucking disaster."