4/21 Thursday
Days until Ren and Ryuji's Expulsion: 11
Even though they had changed his heart yesterday, she was admittedly still concerned when she walked into school, wondering if Kamoshida would be there waiting for her.
Her fears turned out to be unfounded, however, as soon as she entered.
"Ah, Niijima-san!" a teacher greeted, walking over to her. "Have you heard about Kamoshida?"
"Heard what?"
"Kamoshida has taken a number of days off. Said he wasn't feeling well." the teacher explained. "Must have something to do with that awful prank some students pulled on him."
"O-Oh, yes, that might be it." she nodded.
As the teacher walked away, she pulled out her phone to text the others.
Makoto: I have information about Kamoshida.
Ryuji: For real?!
Makoto: Yes. Kamoshida took several days off.
Ren: It must be because of the change of heart.
Ryuji: But ain't he supposed to be admitting to his crimes?
Makoto: Morgana mentioned that it might take a while for it to take effect.
Ren: At least he won't be able to hurt anyone else.
Makoto: That's true. I suppose that all we can do for now is wait.
She put her phone away, heading to class.
"Yo, Miss Prez!"
After classes had ended for the day, she ran into Ryuji in the hallway.
"Ryuji, hello." she greeted.
"I have to ask you somethin'." Ryuji said. "We did a pretty awesome job back there, huh?"
She smiled. "Yes, I suppose we did."
"What is it that you yelled back there? Fist of Justice?" Ryuji laughed.
"I-It was in the heat of the moment!" she stammered. "P-Please don't bring that up!"
"Well, I thought it was pretty cool." Ryuji grinned. "I think we should have a celebration, yeah?"
"That does sound nice." she admitted. "But I don't want to celebrate prematurely."
"Well, it might be good to get our minds off of everything." Morgana brought up. "Not like we can do anything but wait."
"Have you seen Ren?" she wondered.
"I saw him hanging out with some red-haired girl. Ryuji recalled. "I'll ask him about it later."
"Really?" she asked, surprised. "Well, I'm glad that not everyone's avoiding him."
Before Ryuji could respond, however.
"What's all this about 'doing a good job yesterday'?"
They both turned to see Ann glancing suspiciously at them.
"What exactly are you up too?" Ann asked. "I told you I didn't want you getting into trouble."
"We aren't doing anything suspicious!" Ryuji quickly denied. "What about you? What are you doing?"
"... I was going to visit Shiho in the hospital." Ann muttered.
"...Oh." Ryuji muttered.
"I'm so sorry for what happened to Shiho." Makoto sympathized. "If you ever need to talk-"
"I don't want to hear that from you!" Ann shouted, cutting her off.
Ann run off, leaving the two of them alone.
"I guess it'll still be a while before the student body trusts me…" she lamented.
"Hey, don't take it personally." Ryuji encouraged. "She's totally stressed out, you know?"
"Still…"
"Hey, come one, you got me to trust you, right?"
"I suppose you're right." she smiled. "So, are you and Ann friends?"
Ryuji shrugged. "We just went to the same middle school, is all."
"I just hope that Kamoshida's victims will recover…" she trailed off.
Maybe she should visit one day...
"Urrgh… I just can't take my mind off of this." Ryuji grumbled. "Maybe I'll go for a workout or something."
"Maybe… I could join you?" she asked. "Would that be ok?"
"Yeah, sure!" Ryuji grinned. "We should go for a jog one of these days too!"
She grinned. "I'd like that."
They spoke for a bit more before exchanging goodbyes. As soon as they did, Morgana poked his head out of her bag.
"You know, taking your mind off of everything might not be such a bad idea." the not-cat advised. "You seem kinda stressed."
"There's just a lot on my plate at the moment." she mentioned. "There's a council meeting next week, and there are midterms, and entrance exams, and now this…"
"Well, don't overwork yourself, ok?" Morgana told her. "Make sure you get plenty of rest."
She nodded, making her way home.
4/22 Friday
Days until Ren and Ryuji's Expulsion: 10
Considering that it was Friday, she quickly made her way to the school store, hoping that she'd be able to grab some yakisoba pan there.
"Oh, Niijima-san!" the vendor smiled. "It's your lucky day! You got the last yakisoba pan!"
She grinned, paying for the bread before heading to the cafeteria.
Right before she took a bite of it, however, she saw Ren walk into the cafeteria, a dejected look on his face as he sat down next to her.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"It's awful…" Ren muttered. "It's so awful."
"W-What happened?!" she exclaimed, growing concerned.
"My yakisoba pan…" Ren muttered in despair. "My yakisoba pan…"
Oh… so that was what this was about.
"Were you... hoping to have one, Ren?"
He turned around, gasping as he saw Makoto with the coveted bread in her hand.
"I got the last one." Makoto told him. "Would you like to share?"
His eyes widened in disbelief, as if she had just offered him her most prized possession. "R-Really?" he stammered.
"Sure." she nodded, handing him half.
She couldn't help but smile when she saw the joyful expression on his face when he took a bite.
She hoped her small acts of kindness would cheer him up, even though other students avoided him.
"Now that everything's taken care of, we can start studying together again." she brought up.
"The exams start… on the 11th of May, right?" Ren asked.
"That's right." she nodded. "Although, I have a council meeting next week Monday, so I won't be able to study with you then."
"Sounds like you're pretty busy." Ren commented. "We could take a break from the tutoring if you'd like."
"No, it's fine." she said, shaking her head. "Although… Ryuji did mention us having a celebration later."
"Sounds fun." Ren grinned. "Maybe… we could sell some of the treasures we found and go somewhere nice."
"Oh, I didn't think of that!" Makoto said excitedly. "Although…"
"Although what?"
"Lately, I've been thinking of expanding my horizons." she explained. "Understanding what other fun activities students do in their spare time."
"Is it hard for you to understand humans, Ms. Beep Boop?" Ren smirked.
"B-Be quiet!" she hissed. "I just… most of the time, I study, so…"
"Well how about we go somewhere together one of these days." Ren offered. "Somewhere lots of students gather."
"That sounds wonderful!" she smiled.
"Great! I'll let you know when I think of something, ok?" he asked.
She nodded her head, happy for his assistance.
They spoke for a while longer before she had to head back to class.
After classes and tutoring ended, he walked through the halls, wondering where he would take Makoto.
"Karaoke… no, she might not be comfortable singing." he thought. "Then… oh, the arcade! That works."
As he was making his way out of school, he noticed a panda patterned diary on the floor.
He picked it up and flipped through it, trying to find who it belonged to.
He read the latest entry in the diary.
April 22nd
Today I managed to grab the last Yakisoba Pan. It seems that Ren really likes them too, as he was rather disappointed he didn't get one. I gave him half of mine, and brought up the celebration Ryuji suggested. He seemed to be all for it, although I'd rather wait a bit until we can confirm the change of heart. Then again, my birthday is tomorrow. I hope that my sister won't be too busy this year.
"Wait a minute." Ren thought to himself. "This is Makoto's diary… and her birthday's tomorrow?!"
He pulled out his phone, texting Ryuji.
Ren: Hey, Ryuji.
Ryuji: Yo, Renren. What's up?
Ren: This is a little sudden, but I found out that tomorrow's Makoto's birthday.
Ryuji: For real?!
Ren: Yeah. I was thinking maybe we could throw her a little party.
Ryuji: Oh yeah, that's a good idea! But do you have any idea what she likes.
Ren: Well, I was thinking that we could bring her to the cafe I stay at for dinner and desert.
Ryuji: Oh, hell yeah! And now that I think about it, she mentioned that she liked Yakuza movies.
Ryuji: Guess I could get her one for her birthday.
Ren: I'll have to think of a gift too.
Ren: She did mention that she wanted to learn more about stuff other students do.
Ren: So maybe we could bring her to the arcade.
Ryuji: Sounds good! So we'll meet up after school tomorrow.
Ren: Don't tell her, though! I want to make it a surprise.
Ryuji: Ok, got it!
He put his phone away, heading back to Leblanc by train, trying to think of a gift idea on the way.
"Hey, Boss." he called, walking into the cafe. "Can you do me a small favor…?"
4/23 Saturday
Days until Ren and Ryuji's Expulsion: 9
"Ok, we're finished!" Makoto smiled. "You did very well. I'm sure you'll do great on exams!"
"Thanks." Ren smiled. "I'm glad that I was able to catch up to everyone else in the class after transferring."
"I'll see you tomorrow then." she said.
"Hold on!" Ren quickly called. "Remember what we talked about yesterday? About expanding your horizons?"
"What about it?"
"Ryuji and I are heading to the arcade." he explained. "Would you like to come?"
"Oh, the arcade!" she nodded. "I wouldn't have thought of that. I'm glad that the two of you are helping me. I'd be completely lost otherwise."
"To be honest, I haven't been to arcades a lot myself." Ren confessed. "We didn't have any in my hometown."
"Really?" she wondered. "Then I guess we'll experience it together."
"Oh, before that, though… here."
He handed her the diary.
"I found this in the hallway. This is yours, right?" he asked.
"There it is!" she gasped. "I've been looking for it everywhere!"
She gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you so much! You… didn't look at it, did you?"
"Sorry… I was looking for who it belonged to, so I looked at a page…" he admitted.
"I suppose I can't blame you for that." she said. "Thanks again for finding it. Now let's get going."
The two of them walked to the arcade together, meeting Ryuji outside.
"Hey you two." Ryuji greeted. "Are you ready for some fun?"
There were a lot more students than she was expecting. There were quite a few female students, even!
"This is a little overwhelming." she admitted. "There are so many games, but I'm not sure which I should do first."
"Same for me…" Ren agreed.
"Just relax!" Ryuji grinned. "I'm sure you'll find something you'll like."
She walked around, wondering what she should play. She saw Ren enjoying a retro arcade game, so she decided to join him. She spied a game called Punch Ouch, the boxing game immediately interesting her. While it started out easy, she quickly learned that she would need to be strategic in order to take down the opposing boxers. As the game went on, she began to unconsciously bob and weave along with her character, letting out a sigh when she was finally K.O.'d.
"Having fun?" Ren asked, finished with his own game.
She nodded. "I really enjoyed that game, although maybe I'll look for something else."
She glanced around, nearly letting out a gasp when she saw the claw machine.
Inside the claw machine was an adorable Buchi plushie. She wanted to grab it right now, but…
What would Ren and Ryuji think? Her sister had told her before that she was too old for plushies. It would be way too embarrassing.
She quickly looked away, only to see Ren giving her a questioning look, having followed her gaze.
"Hey, you two, check this out!"
The two turned to Ryuji grinning at them, holding out two plastic guns attached to one of the machines.
"I found a co-op game." Ryuji grinned. "You two want to play?"
"Sounds like fun." Ren nodded. "What about you, Makoto?"
"Well, alright." she agreed. "Let's see how well we work together."
They worked together, shooting down any enemy that got into their path. While the first level had gone smoothly, the difficulty quickly picked up.
As she played through the game, she couldn't help but gasp or squeak whenever enemies popped up and shot at her. She found herself trying to dodge in real life, only to gasp when the enemy hit her in the game.
When the game finally ended, she turned to see that they had amassed quite the crowd, and that Ryuji was trying his hardest to suppress a laugh.
"U-Um… how did I do?" she stammered.
"You, uh… you were really getting into it." Ren told her, before letting out a chuckle. "Guess you're a real gamer."
"Urrgh… I looked completely ridiculous, didn't I?" she muttered.
"H-Hey, come on, it's fine." Ren comforted. "You had fun, right?"
"...I suppose I did." she admitted, a small smile creeping onto her face.
They continued to play several move games for a while, and she found herself glancing at the Buchi plushie inside the claw machine again and again.
Ren definitely saw her looking at it that time…
"Man, I'm gettin' hungry." Ryuji commented. "Why don't we head to that one cafe Ren lives at?"
Normally she would be home by now, but… she found herself having so much fun, that she didn't want it to end so soon.
"Sure, I'll come. I really enjoyed the curry the last time I was there." she agreed.
"You two go on ahead. I'll catch up." Ren told them.
"Huh… was there another game you wanted to play?" Ryuji asked.
"Yeah… don't worry though, I'll meet you guys at the train stop." Ren responded.
Ryuji and her went to the train stop, waiting for Ren. Just as the train was pulling in, they saw Ren sprinting towards them.
"Phew… made it just in time." Ren grinned.
"What could he have been doing…?" she thought to herself.
The three of them made their way to Leblanc, seeing Sojiro behind the counter, the cafe empty aside from an old couple sitting at a table.
"Everything ready boss?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, upstairs." Sojiro grunted.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"I asked Sojiro to make some food for us upstairs." Ren told her. "The coffee and curry's already there."
She happily climbed up the stairs, eager to try Sojiro's curry again.
When she arrived in the attic, however, she was completely shocked. Aside from coffee and curry, there were also several tantalizing pastries on the table, and balloons hanging around.
"What is this?" she wondered.
"Well… when I went through your diary, I might have figured out what today is, sooo…"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Ryuji shouted.
"You've done a lot for us, so we wanted to throw you a surprise party." Ren explained.
Morgana hopped out of her bag, glancing around.
"Don't worry, I didn't forget about you." Ren smiled, putting down a bowl of milk for Morgana, who happily slurped it up.
"So, what do you think?" Ryuji grinned.
They had gone through all this trouble for her…
She couldn't help but shed a few tears as she looked at everything they had done for her.
"H-Hey, what's wrong?" Ryuji asked, clearly not expecting her reaction.
"I'm really sorry about reading your diary!" Ren quickly apologized. "I just-"
"N-No." she cut him off. "It's just… no one's ever… you two are so kind."
She managed a small smile despite her tears, but they still looked concerned.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Ren asked, leading her to the couch.
"I… haven't celebrated my birthday in several years." she admitted.
"Why not?" Ryuji wondered.
"It's just me and my sister." she told them. "And she's often so busy working that we don't have time to celebrate."
"What about your parents?" Ren asked.
"My mother died when I was very young." she told them. "And my father… he was a police officer. He was investigating gangs in Shibuya… when he was killed by an errant truck."
"Shit… I didn't know you had it so bad." Ryuji muttered. "I never thought that you'd gone through stuff like that."
"It's ok… there's no way you could have known." Makoto assured him.
"What happened to the man who ran into him?" Morgana asked.
"He died on impact." Makoto explained. "I remember it being very strange… I remember an investigator talking to my sister at the funeral saw that the driver was driving completely normally until he suddenly swerved around and hit my father as fast as he could."
"The hell?" Ryuji gasped. "Were they on effin' drugs or something?!"
"They didn't find any in his system." she told them. "But there were suspicions that he was tied to a gang."
"Hmm… that is strange." Morgana muttered.
She shook her head. "I'm sorry. You all worked so hard for this. We shouldn't be focusing on this heavy stuff. Let's celebrate."
They happily dug into their curry and pastries, enjoying every bite of it. She sipped at her coffee, enjoying it even more than last time. She could certainly understand why her sister loved it so much!
After they finished their meal, Ryuji grabbed a small bag from the corner of the room.
"I got you a present." Ryuji grinned, handing it to her.
She carefully pulled out her gift, smiling as she saw what was inside.
"A Yakuza movie!" she beamed. "Thank you so much!"
"I, uh… got you something too." Ren told her.
He reached into his backpack… pulling out a big Buchi plush from it.
"I saw you looking at this back at the arcade." Ren told her. "I thought that… maybe you'd like this?"
She gently took the plushie from his hands, giving him a warm smile as she held it close to her chest.
"Thank you so much, Ren." she beamed.
"Ah… n-no problem." Ren stammered, scratching the back of his head.
"Heh… looking a little red there, Renren?" Ryuji smirked.
"I-It's just the heat of the coffee!" Ren quickly defended.
She let out a giggle at the two boy's antics before grabbing her Yakuza movie.
"You two don't mind if we watch this, do we?" she asked.
"Sure thing." Ren nodded. "I just got a TV for my room."
They set the movie to play, all of them noticing how excited Makoto was as the movie went on. She was at the edge of her seat the entire time, her fists clenched and a serious expression on her face.
"Jeez… I knew she liked them, but…" Ryuji trailed off.
"Yeah, she is way too into these movies. Don't you think so too, Ren?" Morgana asked. "...Ren?"
When the not-cat glanced over, however, he saw that Ren was just as engrossed in the movie as Makoto was.
"Seriously?! Not you too!" Morgana groaned.
The movie continued for a while before, Makoto giving a loud cheer at the ending.
"That was amazing!" she cheered. "Don't you two think so?!"
"The action scenes were pretty badass." Ryuji agreed. "I gotta get going now. My mom's gonna be wondering where I am soon."
"Thank you both so much for all of this." she beamed. "I loved this."
"Hey, it's no problem." Ryuji grinned. "The three of us are all friends, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah. That's right."
After they said their goodbyes to Ryuji, and began packing up her stuff.
"Did you like the movie, Ren?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was pretty entertaining." Ren smiled. "But it looked like you enjoyed it even more than I did."
"Is that… ok?" she bashfully asked. "Is it ok for me to like things like this?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, confused. "Ryuji and I liked it."
"That's different." she argued. "My si-err, someone I know told me that I'd be made fun of if I told people I liked things like this."
"Why would people make fun of you?" Ren wondered.
"Getting excited for things like Yakuza movies… it's not very ladylike, is it..." she whispered. "And I was staring at the Buchi plush before… but I thought that it was childish to still like those things."
"Makoto… I don't care about that stuff." he told her. "And… I think that people who do judge you for stuff like that aren't worth your time."
"R-Really?" she stammered.
"I actually think it's kinda cool how we have something in common." he told her. "I think you should like what you like, not what other people want you to like."
She thought over his words. In a way, it was a little like the Kamoshida situation. While the staff likely didn't want her getting involved, she still felt like it was the right thing to do. In the end, the lesson was the same.
"You're right, Ren." she agreed. "I think it's like when I resolved myself to stop Kamoshida, even though that wasn't what the staff wanted me to do. I… don't want others to dictate my life."
"Yeah, it's like that." he nodded. "And also… my incident back in my hometown. Even if people believed me, they told me that I shouldn't have gotten involved. But I couldn't just stand around and do nothing."
"Because you have a strong sense of justice." she told him. "I suppose that's another thing we have in common."
She finished packing up all of her things, Morgana hopping into her bag.
"I have to go now. I had a lot of fun at the arcade." she smiled.
"I'm glad. Maybe we could wander around the city sometime." he offered. "I still don't know this place very well, myself, but there has to be tons of cool spots in the big city."
"I'd like that." she beamed.
Helping her with Kamoshida, and throwing a party for her, and encouraging her to be herself. Ren had done so much for her, his kindness touching her heart.
FOOL CONFIDANT: RANK 2
They exchanged goodbyes, and she headed home.
A bright smile on her face, she entered the door to her appointment, only to find her sister siting at the dinner table.
"Hey, sis!" she happily greeted.
"We need to talk."
Her expression fell when she heard those words, and saw the serious expression on her sister's face.
"Everything ok, sis?" she wondered.
"Sit."
Not wanting to try her sister's patience, she quickly did as she was told.
"Is something wrong?" she wondered.
"Where were you?" Sae asked, narrowing her eyes.
"The principal is having me tutor a student." she explained. "So I've been staying after school to do that."
"That wouldn't take so long." Sae argued. "Where else were you?"
"I was spending time with my friends." she told her. "We went to the arcade and watched a movie."
"And why were you doing that?" Sae muttered. "Why weren't you studying instead?"
"I've already done plenty of studying these past few days." she told her, lowering her head.
"But you've been coming home late often as of late." Sae pointed out. "Especially today. You've been gone the entire day."
That was true. Normally her sister would get home much later than her.
"Why were you goofing off in an arcade?!" Sae snapped. "Don't you realize that your exams are coming up?!"
Day in and day out. Study for this, study for that.
Dealing with exams, dealing with Kamoshida…
More and more being piled onto her plate.
She just wanted a break…
Was that too much to ask?
"Sis, I know that but-"
"It's your last year of high school, Makoto!" Sae reminded her. "Not only do you have to worry about your midterms, but also your entrance exams!"
"I-I-"
Why couldn't she just relax? Just once? Just for a special day like today?
"You can't afford to slack off at a time like this!" Sae yelled. "Why were you even-"
"Because it's my birthday!" she screamed, cutting her off.
She felt something in her snap.
She would normally never yell at her sister, but all this stress must have been getting to her…
She could see her sister's eyes widen, quickly glancing over at the calendar, as if she didn't want to be seen.
But she did see her.
She saw her sister's eyes glance at the calendar to confirm the date.
"Sis… you forgot." she whispered. "You forgot my birthday…"
"...I need to get some work done." Sae muttered. "My latest case is really taken a lot out of me…"
"She must be very stressed too…" she thought to herself. "I shouldn't have yelled… it's all my fault."
She watched her sister bring out her laptop, typing away at it.
She went to her room, clutching her new Buchi plush close to her in her bed.
Ever since her father died, it felt like her relationship with her sister had fractured more and more.
They both were so stressed these days.
As if sensing her stress, Morgana curled up next to her, a concerned look on his face.
"I'm sorry about that." Morgana sympathized. "That sounded like a rough fight you two had."
"Sis is just really stressed, that's all." she defended. "She needs to take care of both of us."
"Even so, wasn't she a little harsh?" Morgana questioned.
"I'm the one at fault." she told Morgana. "I shouldn't have yelled. I… don't want to make things more stressful for sis."
"What about your stress?" Morgana asked. "Surely you can take a break once in a while?"
"Sis just wants the best for me." she whispered. "I know she can be strict, but it's because she loves me."
Morgana didn't look convinced, but he didn't press the issue.
And as she rested her head on the pillow, and drifted to sleep…
She realized she wasn't convinced either.
Makoto Confidant Progress:
THE FOOL - Ren Amamiya: Rank 2
THE HUNGER - Igor: Rank 2
THE CHARIOT - Ryuji Sakamoto: Rank 1
THE MAGICIAN - Morgana: Rank 2
THE FAITH - Eiko Takao: Rank 1