Makoto is self-aware.

"Representing the High Priestess, Saint Agnes was one of the first abbesses of the Order of Poor Ladies, founded by her elder sister Clare, a fellow follower of Francis of Assisi. When she fled home to follow her elder sister into the monastic life, her relatives tried to violently drag her back home at the behest of their father, but were unable to as Agnes' body became so heavy that they eventually gave up, chalking it up as divine intervention. Taking that as a proof of her faith and fervor, Saint Francis himself cut her hair, and gave her the habit."

[14 Years Ago]

"Tell me, again, why the hell does it have to be him?" The silver haired woman asked with pure venom in her voice.

"...Because he is the only therapist I know that we can discuss my thief days with." Makoto told her sister dryly.

Sae shot Makoto a dirty look. "How do you expect this to go well? Don't you remember what he did?"

Makoto scoffed and hugged herself, bitterness lacing her voice. "Like you have the moral high ground to talk. Yes, I was there, I helped stop him, remember?"

Sae glared at her sister.

The therapist in question, one Takuto Maruki, sat in front of them awkwardly and laughed the tension off.

"Umm… Do you want some snacks? There is some Jui-"

"Tch. We're not six year olds. Are you even qualified for this role? Last time I checked, a decent therapist didn't go around brainwashing people." The elder Niijima ridiculed him.

Makoto raised her eyebrow at her sister's holier-than-thou attitude. She considered telling Sae that Makoto herself had brainwashed some people as well, but thought better against it.

It's not like she felt bad about it, anyways. She hoped Kamoshida, Kaneshiro and Madarame enjoyed their stay in prison.

At Sae's words, Maruki sobered up, and the goofy and quirky guy stance was dropped in favor of a serious, regretful, if not a little bitter, look. He put the snack tray down, and adjusted his glasses.

"Niijima-san. I am well aware of my faults… It took me a long time to be a man and face them. But are you ready to face yours?"

Sae stayed quiet, her posture defensive and angry. Closed.

"Now, I understand the two of you have grievances with each other… Who would like to start?"

"I'll do it." Makoto told him calmly.

"Go on, Makoto." Their therapist said.

"I love my sister. I'm happy she changed for the better. We have a great relationship nowadays, and the past year has been healing and wonderful for us both. But…"

Maruki gave her an encouraging smile.

"She never directly apologized to me. Ever. At best, some implicit gestures. But not a single, heartfelt word." She said, her voice strained.

Sae paled, and looked away in shame at the reminder.

"Sae-san?"

Sae stayed quiet for a time. Then-

"I don't think I can say sorry enough and make up for what I did. I… I didn't know how to approach her with it. I was scared it would make Makoto hate me even more if I reminded her of it. So I decided to stick with doing as many gestures as possible, to show that I love her and that I'm really sorry." She told them, voice full of regret.

"I see. But you must understand, sometimes, we need verbal confirmation and validation too, to internalize the message. Communication is very important to make sure you are both on the same page."

Sae said nothing in response, as a couple of tears gathered in the corner of her eyes.

Maruki turned to Makoto.

"And you Makoto? What do you think of what your sister just said?"

Makoto thought she was numbed to the pain of that subject, and still-

"Honestly, I get it that she is doing her best to show me that she loves me and that she regrets everything. I acknowledge it. Like I said before, we have a wonderful relationship nowadays."

"Do you want her to apologize to you?"

"...I thought I did. But maybe sorry isn't exactly what I want to hear from her."

The doctor gave her a prying look. "What do you want, Makoto?"

"I want to know why." She mumbled.

She looked her sister in the eye.

"Why did you hurt me? Was I ever that worthless to you?"

Her sister looked at her with a sorrowful look. "You're not! How can you even say this!?"

What a fucking hypocrite, did she just conveniently forget, as Ryuji-kun would say in one of his crazy analogies, Sae Niijima's Greatest Hits?

"You hurt me. You said I was a burden to you. That I ate away at your life. That I was childish, asking pointless questions. That the food I cooked for you was bland. That I was useless to you."

Makoto's red irises shone with pure pain.

"You forgot my eighteenth birthday."

Hearing this, Sae burst into tears against her will.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry Makoto. I- I don't know what was wrong with me. I didn't mean to say or do any of these things. I'm sorry I wasn't there for your adulthood milestone. I'm so sorry…"

Makoto let out a self deprecating laugh. "If you said that, then you must have been thinking about it. More than once. And honestly, you often forgot I existed anyways. I'm not surprised you weren't there."

Maruki stayed quiet through this exchange. A spark of ironic amusement hit Makoto amidst her sorrow, as she realized she played the therapist a little in her responses.

Sae continued to cry in pain and regret, hearing the truth of her words.

Makoto continued to get things off her chest. "I often questioned my own self worth, thanks to you. I have questioned it, multiple times… What did I do to make you hate me so much? Was I not worthy of your love?"

Sae shook her head. "You are worthy! Makoto, please, don't say things like that… I care so much, Makoto…You're all that I have!"

Seeing sister's sincere desperation, Makoto deflated a little.

Sae… Was a complicated person. Makoto couldn't defend her actions any longer, but she still loved her. Sae was her sister, but also the closest thing to a mother she would ever have. They have been through a lot together, her and sis against the world. She hated what she became eventually, but deep in her heart, she had nothing but compassion and love for her.

Her grouchy, judgemental, hypocritical, smart, brave, beloved, precious big sis. Other than her fellow Thieves, Sae was all that Makoto had too.

Time to face the past.

"You know Maruki, you got a lot of things wrong in your fake, happy world. Yes, I did at one point, want my dad back." She said as she shot him a dark look.

Maruki looked ashamed, and pensive. She had to be real, this time.

"But that guy you came up with was not my dad. A wonderful dream, perhaps, one of wishful thinking. But… Not even close to how my real father was. At all."

Sae froze, horrified as she realized where Makoto was going.

"Makoto…" Her sis pleaded with her voice.

But Makoto continued. "I have a confession to make. I lied to you, Maruki."

She saw his eyes widen in shock. She was unstoppable now.

"Back in the days, I told you and Ren-kun that my dad fought for justice, that he died for it, and that he was my hero. And he was all of that. But that was not the whole picture."

Time to face reality.

"Dad was an alcoholic. He would often not come back home most days so we couldn't see him in that sorry state."

"D-Don't go there…" Sae pleaded.

Makoto had to go there. She had to, because this hurt her too.

"I think I was 12 or 13 at the time, but dad arrived home drunk out of his mind once. He and sis fought, and…"

She started crying, her heart hurting.

"He just got enraged and told us he was done with us both, and left. He abandoned us for three months. I was inconsolable."

Sae hid her face, ashamed and pained, in horror at the unwelcome, traumatizing reminder.

Makoto herself also only felt pain.

"Sis got a part time job so we wouldn't starve. The neighbors helped too. The landlord felt bad for us and gave us six months to stay in our house. Luckily for us… Luckily for us, Dad came back before that time."

Maruki looked grave and sorrowful at her tale. She was probably somewhat reminding him of Rumi all over again.

"Dad sobered up for a while, he improved… Only to die a few years later, leaving us again, this time for good."

Makoto loved her dad. She knew she did. But she had to stop clinging to the idealized version of him that she built on her head to escape from the pain of his faults and sins.

She turned to her sister. "This is why… This is why it hurts so much, Sae. I thought you were counting the days when you could officially abandon me without feeling bad about it."

Sae looked devastated at her confession, and swiftly crushed Makoto against her bosom in a desperate hug. "I would never! I love you, I'd never leave you behind!"

Makoto finally shattered and hugged her sister back, sobbing with relief.

That's all she ever wanted to hear from her.

[The Present Day]

Sae Niijima - or rather, Sae Maruki - was not a patient woman. She may have repented, changed, and mellowed out (just a little, she can't have people thinking she is a softie now), but patience was not a resource that God blessed her with.

The Niijima temper cursed her and Makoto both.
Becoming a mother to a child of her own had given her a lot of perspective, though. In some ways, it was like nothing had changed, since she had helped her father raise her baby sister during the toughest time of their lives. But in other ways, it was an entirely new experience. Sae never thought she would be able to experience so much anxiety, fear, love and joy in her life in such a short span of time, all thanks to her little bundle of joy.

She never realized until her Yukino arrived just how blessed, calm and easy Makoto had been as a child. Maybe Yunchan's craziness was karma saying hi to Sae for having been one hell of a shitty older sister in the past.

Makoto deserved better.
Well, at least the majority of her bad stressors were gone for good, though, ever since she gave a chance to Takkun. No matter how silly he was, he always helped shoulder her burdens. He had his fair share of dark struggles after all.

"Takuto." She spoke out sternly. Her hubby, who was slouching on the couch and napping, was promptly jolted awake. She trained him well. "Go see what Yukino is up to. Whenever she is too quiet you know trouble is going to follow soon."

He scratched his neck and smiled sheepishly as he got up.

"Leave it to me, love." He told her, pausing to give her a kiss on the cheek.

She sighed and ran a hand through her temples. Now that Takkun went to take care of their little girl, it was time for her to track down their big girl.

She pulled her phone out, and dialed the number of that trashy helpline. She waited for the stupid pre-recorded message to end as she inspected her nails.

"Thanks for reaching out to The Confessional. My name is Matt, I-"

"Transfer to Hanna. Now." She told the operator with her no nonsense, evil witch tone.

The man sighed. "Uh… Right, it's you again. One second."

She waited a little. Then the line picked up again.

"Thanks for reaching out to The Confessional. My name is Hanna, and I will be your personal priestess today." The operator spoke with an approachable and tranquil tone of voice, one that carried a sweet note of motherly femininity.

Too bad it couldn't fool the fuck out of Sae even if she tried it. She knew the woman on the other side of the line since the very day she was born.

"Makoto. It's me." Sae spoke bluntly.

The operator - none other than her baby sister - gasped out at hearing her.

"What the- Hey, I told you to not call me during work!" Makoto hissed, reverting her voice back to her natural, tomboyish tone.

"You haven't picked up your actual phone all the other times I have called." Sae told her, not a single shred of remorse in her own voice.

"We record these calls. You're going to get me fired at this rate!" Makoto scolded her.

Sae rolled her eyes. "Don't threaten me with a good time. Maybe that way we can get you an honest to God job."

"Jesus Christ. Hold on, I'm gonna ask for a break, and then I'll call you."

Makoto hung up on her. Then, a few minutes later, she got a call, this time from her baby sister's personal number.

"Sis!" Makoto growled out. "Can you NOT keep doing that? I need this job!"

Sae scoffed. "You do not. You're overqualified. Heck, I could make an attorney out of you within the week."

"I'm never going back to working in anything even remotely close to law enforcement ever again. End of discussion." Makoto's voice was stern, with a dark undertone bleeding out from it.

Sae's heart clenched painfully at the reminder of her sister's situation. The topic was a devastating subject for Makoto, one that only brought her suffering.

"...Fine. I'm sorry. I was merely jesting." She said sincerely.

Makoto sighed. "It's okay. I know you worry for me. But you don't have to, I'm okay. We're okay, aren't we, Aki-kun?"

From the other side of the line, Sae could hear a chipper "yeah!" coming out from her precious and adorable little nephew, Akio.

"See, the child speaks the language of the angels. Heed his words." Her sister said, a little goofily with her trained roleplay voice.

Sae rolled her eyes. Her sister certainly changed. She had spent too much time around Eiko and Futaba.

And speaking of Futaba…

"Futaba is likely planning your murder as we speak. She was angry that you didn't make it to the get-together the other day." Sae reminded her gently.

Sometimes it felt like Sae saw more of her sister's friends than she did. It made her ache with worry for her.

Makoto groaned. "I know… She already came here yesterday to let me know in person. I let her take Akio to see Boss on Leblanc as a compromise."

"You could have gone yourself. Boss gets worried at times." Sae told her, her voice laced with concern.

Makoto shuddered out a heavy breath. "I don't want to be near Ren or Sumire if I can help it."

Sae rubbed her temples. "Makoto… Don't you think enough time has already passed for you and Ren-kun to bury the hatchet?"

"No. He is a self-centered hypocrite."

Sae snorted, half in pain, half in amusement. "...Yet you're still pining for him."

Makoto bristled. "Oh shut up, I'm gonna hang up the call if you say another word."

Sae was interrupted from retorting by the reappearance of her husband with their beloved little fiend in tow, her cherubic face and cute clothes littered with multicolored ink marks.

The silver haired woman groaned in exasperation. "Hold on a minute, Mako." She told her sister, then turned to her daughter and husband. "Yunchan! What on earth was she doing, Takkun!?"

Her husband just laughed in a mix of pained embarrassment and joyful amusement. "She was trying to artistically paint on the walls of her room. You're going to faint when you see her artwork."

"What!? Yukino, where did you even get those paints!?"

Her baby looked up angelically at her and grinned. "Uncle Inari gave them to me!"

She heard Makoto cackle from the other side of the line. Sae was going to strangle Yusuke Okumura the next time they saw each other.

"Put Yunchan on the line, sis." Her sister requested, her voice full of mirth.

Rolling her eyes, Sae switched to speakerphone and motioned for Yukino to approach.

"Hi Buchi-pal!" Her child greeted Makoto happily.

"Hey Snowball! How are you, love?" Makoto asked adoringly.

"I'm fine! Where is Aki-kun!?" Yukino asked impatiently. Takkun stifled a laugh at their little hellspawn's bluntness.

"Hellooo! I'm here, Yunchan!" From the other side Akio screeched joyfully to his cousin. She heard a few commotion noises. Makoto was likely covering her own ears.

Sae winced at both kids' volume as well. Yukino and Akio got crazy whenever they interacted with each other.

"Alright, kids, not so loud." She told them, trying to save her hearing from being further damaged.

"Sorry mama. Hey auntie, are you and Aki-kun coming to watch my show!?"

Yukino played the clarinet in her elementary school concert band (Sae had to allow her a healthy, productive and time consuming hobby to occupy her idle mind as much as possible). They were going to have a presentation in a couple of weeks.

"Of course Yunchan! We'd never miss it."

Beside Sae, Yukino cheered, making her wince at the volume of her child's hype.

"Say bye to aunt Makoto and Aki-kun, Yunchan, we don't want to take up much of their time." Sae said hastily.

"Okay. Bye bye, Buchi-pal, Aki-kun! Love you lots!" Yukino shouted, then dashed away to where her dad was seated.

From the other side, she heard Makoto chuckle fondly. "Bye bye, Snowball. Love you too."

Takkun hugged their little devil, a content smile on his handsome face as he turned to face her. Sae gave him a loving smile back. With both of her girls now having a fill of talking with each other, she decided to give her sister a respite.

Sae switched back to speaker. "Alright, I won't hold you up any longer, since you're on the clock. Just remember that we love you, okay? Don't be a stranger. Give Aki-kun my love."

"Alright. I'll try to keep in touch. Bye sis." Makoto told her, voice relaxed and content.

"Bye, little panda."

Ren Amamiya was a fucking idiot.

"Thanks for reaching out to The Confessional. My name is Tom, and I will be your personal priest today." A charismatic and calm, youthful male voice echoed out from the other side.

Actually, that voice sounds pretty familiar too…

Nah, no way. He would never get a job this ridiculous.

"I have a question." Ren spoke out.

A heavy pause. Then he heard a small, almost dark chuckle that felt slightly wrong to his ears.

"...We're here for your troubles." Tom said. He sounded almost ironic.

….Maybe he was an operator for those that liked a rival styled priest?

No matter. He wanted someone else.

"How can we get in touch with a particular priest or priestess?"

"Ah, I see. You probably just dialed the main contact point. One moment." The priest paused for a bit, likely to check for something. "Well, my dear confessor, you can request a line transfer to one of your choice, or take a look at our website. The address is in our business card. We have the line numbers for each individual priest and priestesses there, but they won't pick up if they're busy."

"I see. So, I can ask for a transfer here, right?"

"That's right, esteemed confessor." Tom said.

He was a goddamn idiot for it, but…

"Then I'd like a transfer to Hanna."

Silence. Then he heard a strange commotion. He couldn't exactly describe it, it looked like a mix of a cough with an unhinged sound. A laugh?

"My apologies, dear confessor. I am a bit afflicted with a small cold. You want a transfer to Hanna, is that right?"

"Yes." Ren said impatiently.

"Hm… You know, dear confessor, she is very popular. Perhaps she is occupied… Are you sure you don't want another in particular?" Tom asked almost tauntingly.

Ren is not a catholic, but he wondered if punching a priest could land him in hell.

"I'm positive. Please check."

"Very well, my dearest confessor." Tom taunted.

Then the line died, and a church organ rendition of 'Adoro te Devote' began playing in the background for almost a minute. Ren waited impatiently.

Finally, the line picked up again.

"Thanks for reaching out to The Confessional. My name is Hanna, and I will be your personal priestess today."

Oh, Holy Mother of God, thank you…

"Hello Hanna. It's me again, the man with the marriage problems."

Her voice was honey. "Hello again, my dear confessor. How are you?"

"I'm much better now, Hanna. My wife and I resumed speaking again, so I decided to leave her be for now."

"That's understandable. I imagine peace is important while you spend some time reflecting."

"I was wondering… Could we talk a bit more about that subject?"

"Of course. We're here for your troubles." She told him in a friendly, compassionate tone.

He finally relaxed.

"I spent some time thinking about the subject of parenthood… I think a part of me wants to be a father because I feel the need to nurture someone else, to watch them grow and become amazing people. Back in the days, I would be the friendly ear to everyone, and participating on their journey always brought me joy."

"That seems like a very selfless perspective. Our Lord Jesus had a similar approach to life. You sound like both a friend, a mentor and a father figure in one."

"Huh, I didn't consider that…" He said awkwardly. It sort of made sense. "But yeah, I guess that's why."

"I understand, my dear confessor. Why don't you tell me more?" She prodded gently.

"I have been watching my friends raise their respective kids and how their personalities reflect their upbringing and parenting styles. And also, how that clashes with the child's personality too. It's actually pretty fascinating just how independent the little ones become as soon as they can walk and talk." He said with a chuckle, as he thought of the differences between the phantom kids.

Reika Okumura was a beautiful flower, inheriting Haru's (and you could even say, Yusuke's) beauty, and a mix of their personalities. She loved to smother her Mona-chan with love and would cry if anyone pried their friend away from her. Serves Morgana right for abandoning Ren.

Yukino Maruki actually felt nothing like her parents, or her aunt. Her personality was her own, and it was a disastrous one at that. Maybe she was a karmic blessing, but he loved her to death.

Akio Niijima was a mystery. Ren wasn't allowed to get close to him. Then again, after the things he said to his mother's face right after Haru's baby shower, it wasn't unexpected of her to want to cut ties with him.

He sort of hated her for it. And he still had doubts whether or not she told him the truth.

In any case, it didn't matter. At least the little he knew was that Aki-kun was a sunshine of a child, always laughing and bringing joy to others with his friendly and gentle personality.

She was a good mother. He had to admit it.

Hanna let out a beautiful, angelic laugh. "That is true, dear confessor. Children are very smart and intuitive, we should treat them with respect and love. They are little people of their own, after all."

He felt relaxed and content. Hanna and her voice were wonderful.

"Couldn't agree more." He told her sincerely.

Hanna seemed to pause for a bit. Then, she spoke to him once more.

"If I may make a suggestion, my dear confessor?"

"Yes?"

"Why don't you spend some time with your friends with children? Ask them for their perspectives and experiences in parenting. Perhaps that can give you more food for thought on this subject."

He considered her words. Well, it wasn't a bad idea. At all.

"That actually sounds like a great idea, thank you."

"You're welcome, my dear confessor. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"For now, I don't think so. I'll likely spend some time reflecting about this."

"I'm glad. Please, don't hesitate to reach out to The Confessional if you have more to get off your chest. We're always, always here for your troubles." She told him in a sincere, caring and warm tone.

He felt a little blessed, even.

"Thank you, Hanna. Have a wonderful evening."

"To you as well, my dear confessor."

He hung up the call. Unbeknownst to Ren, he had a small, satisfied smile upon his lips.

To be continued…