Chapter 2: Encounter

A few days later, Makoto walked across the university campus, gym bag hanging from one shoulder, watching people as she went and considering just how quickly things could change.

Her time with the Phantom Thieves had changed things for her, that was certain; there was no way to know who she would be now if she hadn't joined them. Sometimes she thought they had changed everything for her – the way she saw herself, how she handled what life threw at her, and the way she wanted to approach her plans for the future. But it seemed that her friends weren't done changing how she saw the world.

And learning that Ann and Shiho were together only proved that was true.

She'd known about same-gender couples for a long time, so that was nothing new. She wasn't sure when she'd first learned that sometimes boys liked boys and girls liked girls, but she was grateful that it had been presented to her neutrally, without any kind of suggestion that it was bad. She'd also talked about some of the legal issues around same-gender relationships and marriage with Sae, as there had been several court cases over the past few years as people sought to secure equal rights.

But there was a difference between a simple fact or something in the news and having one of her friends come out. Seeing Ann so happy to be dating Shiho somehow made it more real, like the difference between seeing something on TV and having it happen right in front of her. And now, as she made her way toward one of the athletics buildings, she couldn't help wondering every time she saw two people together.

Those two men walking out of the engineering building, were they a couple, or just friends? There was an easy familiarity to the way they talked with each other. Ryuji had mentioned some of the men he knew at college liking guys, so it was certainly possible.

And the two women, laughing as they stood next to a vending machine, were they together? They were certainly standing close enough to be. Perhaps they knew what the other's favorite snack was, or something like that.

Makoto shook her head, sighing at herself. She wasn't quite sure why this was on her mind so much. Normally, she would have simply gone wherever she was going without thinking too much about the people around her, unless she was looking for someone or she saw a person who looked like they were some kind of threat. Her father had told her stories of keeping a close eye out for possible suspects when working his cases, so Makoto knew how important it could be to watch people carefully.

Though she might not be all that good at it. Memories of following Ren and Ryuji around Shibuya, trying to hide herself behind a magazine, came back unwanted. Not her finest moment.

But this wasn't the same thing, she thought. This felt like her entire perspective had changed, and she wasn't used to looking at people like this. She'd known enough people who were in relationships, but she'd never before found herself trying to figure out if random people were dating or not.

And she had no idea why it was still getting to her, days after Ann had told the group about herself and Shiho. Makoto never would have guessed something like this would stick in her mind so much, and she wasn't sure if it was about–

"Mako-chan?"

Makoto froze, then looked toward the familiar voice. Haru was coming out of a lecture hall right in her path, and she'd almost walked right into the other woman.

"Haru," Makoto said, then blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, I was lost in thought. How are you?"

"I'm doing all right," Haru said. "I was just talking to one of my professors, and I knew I had to be done in time to see the aikido club with you." She smiled. "I didn't think I'd run into you on the way, though."

Was Makoto imagining things, or was there something faintly strained about Haru's voice? Maybe she was just nervous about meeting a group of new people. "I'm glad you did," Makoto said. "The building's this way, if you're ready to head over."

Haru nodded, and fell into step beside Makoto as they headed across a plaza and toward the campus's athletics buildings. "I thought about wearing my old Shujin tracksuit," Haru mused as they walked. "But then I remembered I had to talk to my professor, and I didn't want to go in wearing that."

"I can imagine not," Makoto said, smiling. An old memory tickled at the back of her mind. She'd first met Haru – the first time outside of the Metaverse – near the entrance of Shujin campus, and the other woman had been wearing her tracksuit then. What was it Haru had said to her?

She couldn't remember.

"Makoto?" Haru asked, peering at her. "Are you all right? You looked confused for a moment."

"It's nothing," Makoto said, shaking her head. Whatever it was, it couldn't be that important, and if it was, she'd remember it later. "It's this building, come on."

They pushed open the double doors into the smaller of the athletics buildings, and walked into a wide hallway, with tall doors on either side. "The club's on the second floor," Makoto said. "They usually meet three times a week, though you don't have to go to every meeting. It's not too serious, and most people are just there to hang out and get some exercise."

"That sounds like it would work," Haru said, a contemplative look on her face. "I'm not sure if I could make it three times a week, but I could probably manage two."

They headed up the stairs and through the first doors on the left, into an open room with padding on the walls and mats spread out all across the floor. The familiar smell of sweat and the gym mats hit Makoto all at once, and she hoped it wouldn't put Haru off. She wouldn't quite say she liked the aroma, but there was something about it that spoke to her, that said this was a place to work out, to clear her head and get her body moving.

Next to her, Haru waved her hand in front of her face, grimacing. "It's like the locker rooms back at Shujin," she said, again sounding a little strained.

"You get used to it," Makoto said, trying not to chuckle.

Someone called out from across the room. "What's up, Queen!"

Makoto waved, and Haru turned to her, a shocked look on her face. "Everyone gets a nickname," Makoto said quickly. "They wanted to call me something like 'iron fist' and I told them no. When they said I still needed one, I told them to call me Queen."

Haru peered at her, eyes still wide. "And they agreed with that? I wouldn't think they would argue, but. . . ."

"Strangely enough, nobody questioned it." Makoto nodded to a tall man with his long hair in a ponytail as he walked up to her and Haru. "Kintaro," she said. "This is Haru, an old friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you," Haru said. Makoto wondered if her formal side always kicked in when meeting new people, or if that was just a habit from how she was brought up.

"Hey, good to meet you too." Kintaro grinned, and tugged at the collar of his battered white gi. "Name's Kintaro, and I'm one of the club's leaders. Lots of people here call me Golden." His grin turned into a grimace. "It was one of the older guys in the club a year back who gave me the name, said it was from some manga, but I have no idea."

"That's interesting," Haru said, and it still sounded like she was trying hard to be polite.

Time to step in, Makoto thought. "Haru's thinking about joining the club. Is it all right if she stays around and watches?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," Kintaro said, nodding. "You got any experience with this, Haru, done any martial arts, anything like that?"

Haru shook her head. "I've swung an axe a lot, but that's all," she said. When Kintaro's expression went slack, she waved her hands, smiling a little too frantically. "For chopping wood, that sort of thing. You know, camping?"

Kintaro looked at Makoto. "You've got interesting friends, Queen," he said, then laughed. "We're about to start warmups, so if you want to suit up, now's a good time. I'll catch you both later."

Makoto looked at Haru as Kintaro jogged off across the room. "I'll be right back, I just need to change," she said. "Any place you want to sit and watch should be fine."

"All right." Haru pressed her lips together. "I didn't scare your club leader, did I?"

"I'm not sure." Makoto considered for a moment. "I don't think anyone's ever told him they swung around an axe before." She smiled as Haru looked embarrassed. "It'll be fine. I'll be right back."

Makoto ducked out, changed into her gi in the bathroom across the hall, and hurried back into the gym room as the rest of the club lined up for warmup drills, with Kintaro standing at the front. She found a space in the lines, then glanced around, looking for Haru and seeing her standing against one of the walls.

She'd be fine, Makoto told herself; awkward introductions weren't really that big of a deal, and she was sure people had said stranger things when they first showed up at the club. Now was time to focus.

Makoto dropped into a basic stance as Kintaro called it out, and breathed in, slow and controlled. The movements were familiar, reassuring, and somehow calming, and she flowed from one to the next with ease, breathing in time with each step. The stress of her studies and keeping up with everything else never truly faded, but she felt it start to ease as she let herself just be in the moment, moving through something she knew she could do well.

During a pause in the warmups, Makoto glanced over at Haru, to make sure the other woman was doing all right. She could handle being in a room with strangers, Makoto chided herself. But all the same, she didn't want her friend to feel like she'd been abandoned.

Haru was looking right back at her.

Not at the whole club, not just watching the warmups. Looking at her. Their eyes met, and Haru smiled, a faint blush on her cheeks.

Makoto smiled back, then snapped into a new stance as Kintaro called it out. That was not what she'd thought would happen. She'd figured Haru would watch the way they did things at the club, the better to determine if she wanted to join. But Haru had been looking at her, very specifically her.

She supposed it was natural to want to keep an eye on a friend, even though it wasn't like Makoto was in any danger. It had been a long time since they'd been in a dangerous situation, but that happened all the time when they were the Phantom Thieves, so maybe it was an old instinct. Maybe Haru was just looking out for her.

Makoto made a distinct effort to stand up straighter, to punch harder, to call out louder as they moved into more advanced warmups. She might not have fought a shadow for quite a while. But she was still strong, still capable. Maybe showing Haru that would ease her mind, keep her from needing to make sure she was okay.

Haru must know that, shouldn't she? They'd spent so much time fighting together. No, Makoto thought. She didn't need to prove her strength to Haru. So why was she throwing herself harder into the warmup when she knew Haru was watching?

During another pause, Makoto glanced over. Haru was still watching her. Just her. She looked . . . maybe not happy, but calm. Like she was okay with what was happening, like she liked what she saw.

The memory came back all at once, slamming into Makoto's thoughts with all the weight of a hit she hadn't seen coming.

"You looked really good in that biker gang outfit!"

That was what Haru had said to her, years ago, when they'd met for the first time outside the Metaverse. Makoto's mind flicked back to what she'd been thinking about before she ran into Haru, about wondering if people were couples or not.

If someone said that to her now, what would she think they meant?

If someone saw her and Haru walking together, would they think the two of them were a couple?

Makoto froze, then fought to regain her balance as she stepped into the last part of the warmups. That was . . . out of nowhere, she thought, but now that she remembered it, her mind insisted on replaying the moment over and over. She remembered her own embarrassment, as she'd never been the biggest fan of her Phantom Thieves outfit, but she also remembered the look on Haru's face.

The smile she wore then . . . it wasn't far off from the one she was wearing now.

Kintaro yelled for them to stand, face him, and bow, and the warmup was complete. Makoto rose from her bow, and before she could think about what to do next, Kintaro called for them to form pairs for basic sparring. She turned to the closest person, a man a year behind her in college and new to the club, and nodded as he greeted her.

Now was not the time to think about any of this.

Makoto fell into her stance, and did her best to take it easy on her new opponent, as she knew he didn't have her experience. But her focus was gone, and by the time Kintaro called for an end to the sparring, she'd let at least two of his strikes get past her guard.

That was sloppy, she told herself. She couldn't afford to let herself get distracted like that. But she took one last look at Haru over her shoulder, smiled as Haru clapped for her, then turned back to the club.

She was here to work out. Everything else could wait.

Once the club's time was over, Makoto wiped sweat from her forehead and cheeks, then walked over to Haru, trying not to stand too close. Nobody was at their best after a workout, and now was not the time for . . . anything she'd been thinking about.

"So," she said as she walked up, "what do you think?"

"I think I would like this." There was some of the familiar intensity on Haru's face, something Makoto hadn't seen since the other woman had an axe in her hands. "I'd like to join."

Makoto smiled, then wiped at her face again. "That's great. Let Kintaro know, I've got to go clean up, but then we can head back to the dorm."

She ducked into the bathroom with her workout bag, cleaned up as best she could in the sink, then changed into a simple sweatsuit. It wasn't what she'd normally like to wear when out and about, but the showers in the building weren't cleaned as often as they should have been, and it'd be fine for the trip home. When she stepped out, Haru was waiting outside the gym room, and walked up to her. "All set?" Makoto asked.

"I'll be here for the next meeting." Haru smiled. "Shall we go?"

They caught the train back to the dorm, and Makoto did her best not to lean against the pole as she held onto it. The trip home after aikido club always felt way too long, especially after a long day on campus. It would be nice if there was a better way to get home after aikido club, but she really had no other choice, since owning a car was out of the question.

As they headed out of the train station, Haru spoke up for the first time since they'd left campus, her voice a little shaky. "Mako-chan . . . do you want to go get a coffee? There's a good place nearby, and I was wondering. . . ."

Makoto shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I have to pass for now. I really need to go get a shower, after all that sparring."

"Oh, that's all right, I should have thought of that," Haru said. Was that a hint of sadness in her eyes? She turned away too quickly for Makoto to be sure.

When they reached their dorm, they said their goodbyes and separated, as their rooms were on opposite sides of the building. Makoto hurried to her room, stepped inside, and dropped her gym bag to the floor, then grabbed a towel and some comfortable clothes and stopped all at once as something occurred to her.

Haru had asked if she'd wanted to get coffee. That was nothing unusual; they all knew about Haru's love for coffee. It was probably second only to Ren's. But Haru had sounded unusually nervous when she asked.

Makoto thought back to what she'd considered earlier, and her eyes opened wide as she put it all together.

If people saw her and Haru together, would they think they were a couple?

Had Haru been trying to hint at something by asking her to coffee?

Or was Haru trying to ask her on a date?