Hopeful Days XV – Pictures
"Urgh." Makoto groans while getting out of his bathroom. "Everything hurts." The brunette drags himself back to bed and gently lays down on it.
All of the exercise he did yesterday with Nekomaru and Akane finally caught up to him, the boy was feeling incredibly sore all over.
'Maybe I really should exercise more.' Thinks Makoto, before forcing himself out of bed.
Sure, he was sore but that was no excuse to be in his room all day.
Walking up to his closet, the brunette dresses himself while thinking about what he was going to do today.
He had already explored pretty much all of school, well, at least he explored enough to not get lost in the coming weeks… hopefully.
Grabbing his phone that was on the nightstand, Makoto looks at the time. "It's pretty early." He hears his stomach growl. "First breakfast, then I'll think of something to do." Putting his phone on the pocket of his hoodie, the brunette turns around and leaves his room.
Makoto went to the kitchen and started making his breakfast, nothing too fancy just some omelet and a cup of coffee.
As he sat down to eat, he saw Mukuro pass by the kitchen and go outside, judging by her attire, he assumed that she went out for a run.
Just thinking about morning runs made Makoto shiver and his soreness to somehow worsen.
Shaking his head, the brunette finishes his breakfast and goes to clean the plates. Once he's done, Makoto stretches his arms only to recoil them with a whimper.
Darn soreness.
"Oh, good morning Naegi-kun."
Turning around, the brunette sees Monaca entering the kitchen with a soft smile on her face.
"Morning, Towa-san." He smiles back a d she giggles, before moving her wheelchair closer to the table. "Would you like to eat? I could prepare something for you." Makoto offers and the greenette nods.
"Thanks, you're so sweet!" She replies and the boy blushes slightly, before chuckling.
The two talk for a bit about mundane subjects as the brunette prepares another omelet.
He finishes the dish and puts it on a plate. "Here." Serving the other Ultimate.
"Thank you for the food." Monaca does a little pray, then starts to eat. "I guess we are now even right?" She says and Makoto looks at her confused.
It takes him a second to understand what she said. "Oh, yeah." He chuckles softly. "I don't know if my cooking will be as good as yours though."
The greenette smirks. "I'll be the judge of that." She then starts to eat. "…" Monaca takes some to get a good taste, then locks eyes with Makoto and says. "It's pretty good." She smiles and gives him a thumbs up. "You pass!"
Laughing softly, the brunette returns the gesture. "Glad you liked it."
Sharing a laugh, the two teens have breakfast together, well Monaca has breakfast, Makoto already had his so he pretty much just sat there for company.
Once she finishes, the girl thanks him again for the food, then says. "Hey Naegi-kun, I got an idea." The brunette looks at her. "How about we make some breakfast for everyone on the first day of classes? You know, to start our scholarship in the right track."
Makoto thinks for bit. "That's a great idea, but I don't actually know how to cook anything outside of omelets and some simple recipes that my Mom taught me." He states and she chuckles.
"That's not a problem! I can teach you some recipes." Monaca smiles. "I'm not that great of a cook myself, but I am confident I can make something good." She then winks at him in a playful way. "Aaaaand I could use a cute assistant."
The brunette blushes slightly, before getting in on the joke too. "And I'll be pleased to work under the beautiful master chef Towa-sama!" He bows playfully and Monaca giggles.
"So, is that a yes?"
"Yeah." Makoto closes his eyes and smiles. "It'll be nice to do something for everyone."
"Then it's settled!" The greenette says while pulling her wheelchair away from the table. "Meet me in the kitchen at 6."
"Gotcha." Says the brunette gets up from his chair and nods.
The two say their goodbyes and Monaca goes back to her room, while Makoto decides to go outside.
'Okay, maybe going for a walk wasn't the best idea.' The boy thought to himself while walking up to the bench on the school's courtyard.
Now the soreness in his body was truly being felt and he was slowly regretting the decision of coming here.
Sitting down at the bench, Makoto groans and looks up at the blue sky. "Today's kinda nice huh?" The boy closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, feeling the breeze hitting his face.
The courtyard was quite the serene place, he could understand why Chiaki would make it her hangout spot.
Click, click
Makoto opens his eyes as the sound of clicking enters his ears. "Huh?" The boy turns around and gazes towards where the sound is coming from.
Standing there in front of the flower beds is a redhead girl with freckles, she was holding a camera and moving from side to side, taking photo after photo of the flowers.
Getting up from the bench, Makoto slowly approaches the girl, he was about to call out for her but noticing just how focused she was on taking the photos, the brunette just stopped in place and waited for her to finish.
The girl was so focused on her work that she didn't even notice him standing there, instead she kept taking her photos. After each one, she would look down at the camera and adjust something before taking another one.
While waiting for her to finish, Makoto took in the scenery. He could understand why she was photographing the courtyard, there was just something pleasing about the way the flowers beds are placed, vivid colors close to more cold ones all mixing into quite the pleasant view.
"I think that's enough." The redhead whispers to herself, before turning around. "Uaah!" She yelps, taking Makoto out of his thoughts. "What are you doing?" Stepping back slightly, the girl asks angrily.
Makoto quickly bows and apologizes. "Uh sorry for scaring you." He lifts his head and scratches his cheek sheepishly.
"You didn't answer my question." The girl crosses her arms, still very much angry. "Why are you just standing there, creeping on a girl out in the wild?"
"Oh yeah, sorry." Laughing awkwardly, the brunette starts to explain. "I just saw you taking pictures and came here to talk, but you're so focused that I didn't want to interrupt." She stares holes in Makoto and he just awkwardly scratches the back of his head.
After a moment of silence, the girl uncrosses her arms and sighs. "Fair enough." Before Makoto can let out a sigh of relief, she points at him. "But!" He jumps back a little. "Next time you see a girl just doing something, call her out. Don't just stand there staring at her, it's creepy."
"G-Got it." The brunette replies and she finally softens her expression.
"Well at least you seem polite enough for a boy." She dusts her clothes, then extends her hand towards Makoto. "I'm Koizumi Mahiru, class 77-B."
Shaking her hand, Makoto smiles. "Naegi Makoto, class 78-A."
"Eh, I kinda knew who you are." Mahiru comments as the handshake ends, she puts a hand in her hip and says. "You're the guy from the first day right? The one that Akane-chan knocked out?" The boy blushes, then shakes his head. "Knew it." Mahiru opens her mouth to say something else, but stops herself. 'He's the guy Chiaki-chan is always talking about, yet I can't see anything special on him.' She thinks, before shaking her head. "Anyways. You wanted to talk to me?"
Makoto nods. "Yeah, I was just curious to what you're doing."
The redhead turns around and looks at towards the flower beds. "I'm the Ultimate Photographer, so taking photos is kinda my thing." Feeling the breeze, she looks down at her camera and sighs. "Although, to be fair I don't normally walk around taking photos of everything." Facing him again, she continues. "I was just in the mood for some photography."
"Can I see it?" The boy asks and Mahiru looks down at her camera again, seemingly unsure.
"Fine, but they are not my best work." She motions for him to come closer.
Makoto watches as Mahiru shows him the photos she took. "Those are beautiful." He comments.
While the brunette wasn't a expert on photography by any means, his father was part of the photography club back in his high-school days, it was also a hobby that he kept up with, so Makoto had at least some level of understanding of the art.
"Eh, not really." The older girl says while shaking her head. "I'm not a environmental photographer, so taking shots of nature isn't my specialty." She sighs. "The angles are poor, the lighting was captured in a amateurish way and all the life in the picture is just gone." Mahiru unconsciously adds. "That's why taking pictures of people is better." Her eyes widen as she notices that she said that out loud.
Makoto decides that is better not to comment on it. "I'm not exactly qualified, but to me those look good." He says and the redhead shrugs.
"No offense Naegi, but for an untrained eye like yours, everything above average probably looks great." She puts a hand on her hip while holding the camera with the other.
"I guess you're right." The brunette replies. "But you're already above average right? Perfection is just a step away then." Mahiru sighs.
"Not exactly." She looks at the pictures once again. "It's not something someone like you would understand, but I appreciate your encouragement." Suddenly a beeping sound interrupts the two. "Huh?" Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Mahiru quickly turns it on then looks towards Makoto. "I have to go now."
The brunette nods. "I see." He then bows politely. "It was nice meeting you, Koizumi-senpai." The girl looks at him with a slightly surprised expression.
"Likewise." She bows too. 'Way more polite than I was expecting for a lucky student.' Lifting her head, Mahiru then points at him. "And remember! No creeping up on random girls, okay?" He laughs awkwardly and nods. "Good. See ya around." The redhead turns around and walks out of the courtyard.
Once Mahiru was out of his vision, Makoto looked down at his hand. "Someone like me?" He looked back at where the girl once stood. "I wonder what she meant by that." His thoughts are interrupted by someone calling for him.
"Hey Naegi!"
Turning around, Makoto sees Leon on the other side of the courtyard waving his arms.
"Wanna hang out?" The redhead boy asks and the luckster chuckles.
"Sure!" Yells the brunette, before walking up to his classmate.
Putting what Mahiru said to the side for now, the lucky student went on with his day.
Hopeful Days XV – Pictures
Mahiru may seem a little out of place for a character to be introduced here, but she'll be quite crucial to the first big event of this story, so I decided to introduce her here instead of later.
Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed and see you around!