Monday, August 3rd, 2009, 1:35PM
Iwatodai Dormitory, 2nd Floor, Kotone Shiomi's room

As Kotone lifted herself off of her pillow, stretching and yawning loudly, she felt a new appreciation for the simple pleasures in life. Like having her own room, her own bed, her own sink, and not having to listen to Ms. Kanou whine about how derelict and backwards Inaba was for the hundredth time in a day. Traveling with the volleyball team was fun, sharing a room with all of the girls for a couple of nights was fun, sleeping on the floor and having to share all of the amenities was...not.

She looked at herself in the mirror, hair unfurled and wild. For a moment she debated if it was worth putting it up, or putting on any make-up, or doing anything. Screw it, I ain't going nowhere today. She proudly decided.

As she stumbling her ways downstairs, half-awake and clinging to the railing, she found it absolutely silent, lacking either the familiar drone of the TV or the chatter of her friends. As overstimulating the last few days might have been, this felt almost understimulating. It was only after violently rummaging through the kitchen for some snacks, moving heaven and earth and ramen in search of her salt and vinegar chips, that she noticed Makoto, sitting quietly and perfectly still on the sofa.

"Maaaan." She crashed next to Makoto on the sofa. "I slept in way later than I thought."

"Yeah." Makoto whispered.

"So 'eepy~." Kotone said as she curled up. "The people at the Amagi Inn were nice and friendly and all that, but nothing beats the comforts of home." She snickered. "Ms. Kanou complained so much about Inaba, you'd think we'd stepped back into the Edo Period or something. I mean, I liked it. It was very homely, you know"

"Yeah."

"You know, I figured you would have slept in even longer than me. How'd your track meet thingy go?"

"Yeah."

She cracked opened one eye and glared at him. "You wanna say something other than 'yeah'?"

As she took a closer look at Makoto, she saw how unusually well-dressed he was. A clean white dress shirt underneath a black suit and tie, paired with similarly colored pants and shoes. His shoulders were tensed up, his breathing labored, his eyes narrowed, and his gaze fixed on the wall across the room. It barely seemed like he ever recognized her presence.

"...you feeling okay?" Kotone asked carefully as she sat up.

"I um-" Makoto swallowed and tilted his head away from her, "did I- did I ever tell you why I applied to Gekkoukan in the first place?" His voice was soft and quiet, but she could still hear it waver as he spoke.

"No, but," Kotone said, recalling the SEES meeting before finals, "I can kind of assume." She sidled closer to him.

Beads of sweat trailed down his face, his fingers tightly balled into white-knuckled fists. "When I was younger, I...I promised myself one day I'd come back here. The city a-and the bridge where my parents died."

Makoto's voice cracked, and he lowered his head as Kotone gently placed her hand on top of his.

"When I was in middle school, I-I had to really fight with my aunt and uncle to even let me apply here. When Gekkoukan didn't accept me, I figured it just wasn't meant to be. But when I got that late acceptance letter I th-I thought it was fate, you know? This year is...it's been been ten years since then."

"Is that what you want to do?" She whispered. "You want to go there today?"

He closed his eyes and very slightly nodded. "When we were fighting on the bridge last month I didn't really have a chance to just, to just stand there, to pray for them, to say goodbye-" He choked on his words, trying his hardest to hold back tears.

She gently opened up his hand and intertwined her fingers with his, and he held onto her as tightly as he could.

"Sorry." Makoto mumbled as he wiped his eyes, and slowly loosened his grip.

"If you can't do it, don't force yourself." She pleaded. "I know you want to, but it's not worth it if it's making you feel like this."

Makoto shook his head. "I've been trying to go for months, trying to convince myself that today is the day. If I chicken out now, I'll never do it." He exhaled deeply and looked at her, with tired, pitiful eyes. "Could you...come with me? Please?" Makoto whispered. "You're the only one I can ask."

Kotone moved a bit closer to him, and he rested his head on her shoulder. "If you don't think you're ready, you don't have to go." She said. "But if you think you are, I'll be with you every step of the way. Promise."

"Thank you." Makoto whispered.

Despite living in the dorm for almost a full year, Kotone couldn't remember a single time she actually went on the bridge. She had been near it plenty of times, as it wasn't even half an hour's walk on a busy day. It was one of the only two ways to get to the island, and arguably had a faster direct route to the mall. But hopping on the rail line, stopping by her usual haunts, and tracing her steps back from there was second nature to her by now.

Makoto's been living here for months...how many times has he thought about this place? How many times has he thought about going near it and just couldn't bring himself to? She turned to him, taking in how desperately he tried to make himself look presentable and serious, with every feature and facet set in stone...aside from his eyes. Only the look of pain and terror betrayed his true feelings.

"You're the only one I can ask."

Her stomach turned.

She was absolutely not the only person he could ask.

There were at least three other people they knew who understood Makoto better on this, and were much, much more suited than her to be here. Yukari, Shinjiro, and Akihiko, any one of them understood how Makoto felt better than she ever could. Yukari lost her father on the same day due to the same circumstances, and both of the seniors could probably relate as men to Makoto's pain of losing both parents. She was just a girl. A girl who wasn't even on speaking terms with her two living parents. What could she possibly do here?

She took a deep breath and held it as they approached the bridge. None of them were here, she was.

She exhaled. None of them were asked by Makoto, she was.

She inhaled. None of them were a couple of minutes away from the bridge, she was.

She exhaled. None of them were here to help him, she was.

Not today, Kotone, not today. Only one of the two of them had the privilege to be vulnerable in this situation, and it was not her. Not today. Today you've got to woman up. There's no time to second-guess yourself, there's no time to do anything but be here and be strong.

As the bridge came into view, Kotone took in just how picturesque it was. A sky-high marvel of human engineering, glistening underneath a bright blue cloudless sky, as scores of cars came whizzing by them on the street.

It was almost cruel how beautiful it all looked.

It had been nearly a month since the fight on the bridge. The damage done by them, by Justice, by the various Shadows, had all been fixed. The people patching up the roads and filling in the holes would probably never know why it happened, but they didn't need to. All they needed was to fix it up quickly and with minimal disruption. Your average passenger could pass by here every day without ever even knowing about the damage.

But Makoto did know about it. Most of his life he had been burdened with the knowledge of the Dark Hour. Now, he had been burdened with further knowledge: knowledge of Shadows, knowledge of how they preyed on the minds of humans during a time they didn't know existed, and knowledge of who killed his parents. Worse yet, the knowledge that no matter what he did, no matter how much he prayed, no matter how much he wanted revenge, his parents could never be brought back to him.

Nothing he ever did would fix the past. All he could do was to try and move past it.

Minute passed after they arrived at the entrance to the Moonlight Bridge. For all that he had done in his life, taking that single solitary step onto the walkway felt like the most insurmountable challenge he had ever faced. All that he had learned fighting Shadows, excelling at school, growing to enjoy track, learning to stand up for what he felt was right, had abandoned him.

Damn it. Makoto bit his tongue. I've survived so much just to get here. The memories of him awakening Orpheus, the mental and physical battle against Hierophant and Lovers, and the battle against Justice that happened not too far from here. Makoto had survived all of that. All of that was leading to this moment.

He slowly inhaled, and slowly exhaled, and with a single, unsteady step, he walked unto the bridge.

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, I can-

A few steps onto the walkway, Makoto froze. His ears were burning hot, and he could feel himself stumbling as he tried to take another step.

The sudden feeling of being thrown out of the car, waking up smelling the stench of smoke and death on a windless night, the sight of a monster staring him down and coming for him, knowing that he was next, the terrified acceptance that his parents were dead and he was next. It all came rushing back to him.

His limbs felt numb, he could feel his whole body shaking, his heartbeat pounding in his chest like thunderbolts, his chest so tight he couldn't breath-

Damn it. Tears flowed down his face. Not like this not like this not now not now not

"Shhh, it's alright, it's alright, I'm here." A soft, gentle voice brought him back to reality. Kotone's voice. Over the loud rumbling of cars driving by, he heard her comforting, soothing voice. "Don't worry, you're okay, no one's going to hurt you." She softly rubbed his back as he laid on the ground, quivering, gasping for air, tears falling to the concrete as the world passed him by. "Come on," she said, "let's get you out of here."

"I'm sorry." Makoto's head rested on her shoulder as they sat on a bench. All the strength in his body was gone. His voice was so strained and so quiet that he could barely hear himself.

Kotone rubbed her cheek against his head. "Don't apologize."

"I-I didn't think it would go this badly. I just thought that..." Makoto wiped the tears from his eyes again.

"You don't have to justify anything to me." She said, tone equal parts soft and uncompromisingly firm.

He sniffled and wiped his nose. "I looked pathetic out there."

"Yeah, yeah you did." He flinched, face burning like an open furnace. "But so did I." He turned to her, eyes soft and warm like a campfire. "Plenty of times. And you never judged me for it." She cupped his face with her hand. "So why would I judge you?"

"Kotone..."

She giggled. "We can go home whenever you're ready. Just take your time, 'kay?"

He let out a small sigh of relief and nodded, having enough strength to bring out a weary smile. "Thank you." He rested his head on her shoulder again, as she wrapped her arm around him and pulled him in closer to her.

"Anytime." Kotone said with a thumbs up. Makoto quietly chuckled and stayed there with her for a just a bit longer. She was warm and soft, yet an unbreakable anchor to him.

Eventually he gathered the strength to get up. As they walked back home, Makoto trailed behind her. He noticed, between her unraveled hair, orange dress, and brown skirts, just how beautiful she was inside and out.

"You coming?" She asked, jolting him out of his thoughts. Makoto hurriedly caught up with her. "Don't freeze up on me now." She said with a frown.

"Thanks for coming with me." He said once more. "Really, it meant a lot to me."

She smiled, eyes glowing. "Of course.."

"It was kind of a bust, but..."

"One step at a time. You'll get it next time." She said confidently.

"I..." he looked away, "I don't think there's anyone else I would have felt as comfortable asking to go with me."

Kotone froze, her face suddenly feeling very warm.

"I just...really appreciated it is all." He mumbled.

"...yeah, of course." She lightly rapped her knuckles against his arm. "I told you I was your gal if you needed a shoulder to cry on. I'll always be there for you, silly." They looked away from each other, both red-faced and smiling as they walked back home together.