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It had been a little over a year since Yaldabaoth fell and life had moved on for the former Phantom Thieves. Makoto and Haru were beginning their second year of college, whereas Ren, Ryuji, Ann, and Yusuke were all just starting to pursue higher learning. Futaba was facing her second year at Shujin Academy solo, no longer able to rely on her older friends for support at school. Life had certainly become busy for the group, save Morgana who as a cat was beholden to neither academic nor career expectations. Hang-outs were becoming less and less frequent, and most of the interactions between the group took place in the old Phantom Thieves chatroom. Although lately, one member of the group had been notably absent from all of the chatter.
For the past two weeks, Makoto had been under strict radio silence. She made it very clear that she wanted no distractions during her finals, and was not to be contacted until the end of the semester unless it was an emergency. Ren had tried to find a loophole in the rule by coming to visit her in person at her dorm room one evening, but a single malicious glare into his eyes quickly sent him back from whence he came. Maybe it was overly-harsh of her, but it had the desired results. When all was said and done, Makoto was confident that she aced her final exams. For the first time in a fortnight, she switched her phone off of silent mode, preparing to reconnect with her friends. To her surprise, there was already a message waiting for her, but it wasn’t in the Phantom Thieves chat. It was a private message from Futaba, sent just this morning:
Futaba: Hey, when you’re done being a study-crazy no-fun loner, I’ve found something you’ve GOTTA see! \(★ω★)/
Included with Futaba’s message was a link to a website Makoto recognized as being mostly news about movies. Once the page loaded, the article’s title immediately caught her attention.
BUCHIMARU-KUN TAKES ON THE YAKUZA IN NEW CROSSOVER MOVIE
Since his cartoon’s revival one year ago, Buchimaru-Kun has taken a new generation of Japan’s children by storm, and merchandise sales have been through the roof. There’s been rumor of the beloved mascot making the jump to the big screen while the property is still hot, but nobody expected anything like this. Acclaimed director of the “Like A Dragon” series, Hiro Yamamoto, has teamed up with Buchimaru-Kun owners Banrio to retell the first chapter of his hardboiled crime-thriller series with the precocious Panda-Dog taking the lead role. This reimagining, titled “Like A Buchi”, will reframe the gritty yakuza story to be appropriate for children of all ages, and is described as an animated martial-arts comedy. However bizarre that may seem, we at FlicksFix are excited to announce that we have exclusively been given the trailer to release to the public!
At the bottom of the article was a video embedded that used the website’s own player. Makoto nearly broke her phone’s screen smashing the play button with her finger, and the few seconds it took for the video to start playing felt longer and more grueling than all of the time she’d spent studying over the past few weeks.
The trailer began with Buchimaru getting a big temporary tattoo on his back. As the paper peeled off, it was revealed to take the form of a cartoony smiling dragon. Afterwards, Buchimaru put on a red shirt and white suit, and slicked back the fur on the top of his head.
The sound of a prison cell opening, followed by a change of scene.
The next shot had two glasses on a bar. One was filled with regular water. The other had apple juice poured into it. The shot changed to show Buchimaru holding the apple juice while a fish in a white suit and black shirt sat next to him.
“You were in time-out a long time, Buchi-Kun” the fish said. “The rules have changed.”
“Things don’t seem that different, Fishiki.” Buchimaru downed the entire glass of apple juice at once. “There’s meanies who don’t share like there always were. You’re just one of them now.”
“I wouldn’t mind sharing with you” Fishiki said, sipping his water. “We were BFFs then. We could still be now. Just tell me where the girl is.”
“No.”
Next was a montage of Buchimaru in action shots.
Buchimaru drop-kicking a big hippo in the face.
Buchimaru sweep-kicking a tiger karate master.
Buchimaru sticking out the back window of a car, firing a water gun at some cats on motorcycles.
Buchimaru and Fishiki, both shirtless, throwing punches, fists bouncing off each other…
Which transitioned perfectly into Buchimaru playing patty-cake with a tiny Panda-Dog girl.
And then the title card came up: “LIKE A BUCHI”. It was followed by a date: “SUMMER 20XX”.
All throughout Makoto’s dorm building, a very loud squee was heard.
“But the presence of a younger Panda-Dog raises the question we’ve been asking since the reboot started: Is Buchiko finally coming back?”
“Uh-huh.”
Ren slurped on his ramen as Makoto talked his ear off about the trailer. She’d been at it a solid 15 minutes, having barely touched her own lunch, and Ren hadn’t gotten a word in edgewise throughout the whole conversation.
“Because the fans have been waiting for Buchiko for a long time now, and she was such a key part of the classic cartoons. Some people think the distaff counterpart trope is out of style, but you simply cannot leave out a main character like that for as long as the show runners have, so this would be a brilliant way to finally re-introduce her to the franchise!”
“Yup.”
“So what do you think?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Ren!”
Ren almost choked on his noodles. He wasn’t looking at Makoto but he could feel her glare burning into the side of his face. He slowly swiveled on his stool and turned to her, giving her an uneasy grin.
“Yes, my one and only?”
“Don’t try to get romantic with me!” Makoto poked Ren in the chest far too hard, almost knocking him off of his stool. He never understood how a single finger could be so powerful. “You weren’t listening at all, were you!?”
“I’m sorry, Makoto.” Ren sighed. “But you know how I feel about this Buchimaru stuff. I know it’s important to you, and I would never try to take that away, but I’m just not that into it. Can’t you talk about the trailer with your online friend? The guy in Inaba?”
“Kanji-San hasn’t been online lately.” Makoto started to sulk. “And the chatroom’s server is down. I can’t talk with any of the Buchi community about this, and it’s such a huge development!” Makoto leaned over, letting her head fall on Ren’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve been pestering you about this. It’s just that my usual outlets for discussing this sort of thing are unavailable to me and I’ve spent so long with my head in books lately that I just wanted to have some fun.”
“Well, there’s lots of things we can do for fun.” Ren started counting on his fingers. “We could go to the arcade, rent a motorcycle, relax at LeBlanc, take Yusuke to a buffet and see how much he can eat before we get kicked out-“
“What was that last one!?” Makoto sat up straight and looked at Ren in horror.
“Yeah, Ryuji and I do that sometimes.” Ren grinned. “We take Yusuke to all-you-can-eat places and let him go to town until the manager gets pissed at us. That guy’s like a bottomless pit.” Ren held up four fingers proudly. “We’ve been banned from four restaurants this year!”
“That’s mean!”
“Yusuke knows what we’re doing. He doesn’t mind.” Ren returned to his lunch. “So long as he gets a free meal, he’s happy.”
“What about the restaurant owners you upset?”
“Hey, they shouldn’t have said ‘all-you-can-eat’ if they didn’t mean it." Ren slurped up the last of his ramen. “It’s a crime so victimless it’s not even a crime. So what do you say?”
“Well, except for that last item, the things you listed DO all sound fun…” Makoto seemed to perk up. “Let’s go.”
The afternoon was a little frustrating for Ren. It appeared that no matter what they did, Makoto constantly had Buchimaru on the brain. Everything seemed to be fine when they rented the motorcycle, Makoto putting a helmet on Ren and telling him to hang on tight, which he was more than happy to oblige. But once the two reached a stoplight, Ren looked at his reflection in a nearby window, learning that Makoto had picked out a helmet for him that resembled the head of a panda bear. Once they got to the arcade, they played a few rounds of Gun About, but after Makoto discovered a new machine called “Buchi Jump” she was completely consumed by the new game. After growing concerned about how much yen Makoto had invested into the machine, Ren somehow convinced her to go to Leblanc. He was elated when he saw Haru there, figuring having another friend around would be enough to get Makoto’s mind off of Buchimaru. Unfortunately for Ren, Haru just happened to be practicing her latte art that day, and unwittingly gave Makoto a cup with Buchimaru’s face floating on the surface. Naturally, this set Makoto off, causing her to talk about the movie again. Haru left shortly thereafter, and Ren took Makoto to the attic and finally figured out a way to get her to stop talking about Buchimaru: All he had to do was cover her mouth with his lips, and the rest took care of itself.
After a little while, Makoto decided to take off, citing that she needed to return the motorcycle to the rental shop. After seeing her off, Ren headed back to his room and crashed on his bed. Before he could get settled in, his phone buzzed. Grunting, Ren slowly got up and fished it out of his pocket.
Futaba: Hey, you wanna see something cool? (^０^)ノ
Ren: Sure.
Futaba sent a link. Ren tapped on it and it opened a private webpage with a video titled “SkullVMonaWIP”. Once the video started playing, Ren saw a surprisingly detailed model of a cartoon Ryuji in his Phantom Thieves attire. He was staring down Morgana as he used to look in the Metaverse. It’d been so long since Ren had seen that form, but here it was in cell-shaded glory.
“Today’s the day we finally settle this” Skull said. It sounded almost exactly like Ryuji’s voice.
“That’s right!” Mona pulled his sword out of nowhere. His voice sounded very close to the real thing. “Today we see who the true idiot and loser and moron of the Phantom Thieves is!”
“It’s totally you!” Skull pulled his pipe out of nowhere and the two started clashing. What followed was a solid minute of combat, sword and pipe bouncing off each other. Mona jumped around Skull, doing all kinds of flips as he struck out with his sword. Skull would parry them before trying to strike back, only for Mona to jump out of the way again. Eventually, their weapons broke in two.
“Well, so much for that” Skull said.
“Don’t try to back out now!” Mona pointed at Skull angrily. “I don’t need weapons to best you!”
“Bring it on, you mangy cat!”
“I am NOT a cat!”
Skull and Mona charged at each other, both throwing punches rapidly, like something out of an anime. Their fists were bouncing off each other the whole time, then the clip abruptly ended.
Futaba: It’s still a work in progress, but what do you think? (⌒‿⌒)
Ren: That’s incredible! You did all that!?
Futaba: Yeah. I started messing around with animation stuff as a hobby. It’s fun! ☆ ～(‘▽^人)
Ren: Who did the voices?
Futaba: Synthesized voice program. Technology is magical! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
Ren: I’m impressed. You’re good at this kind of thing too, huh?
Futaba: Nothing that can be done on a computer is beyond my power! ☆⌒(ゝ。∂)
“Hmm…”
Ren didn’t register the sound as anything notable at first. Sojiro made lots of sounds while waiting for customers to show up. Grunts, groans, sighs, the creaking of joints, etc. Still, as Ren swept the floor of Leblanc, he couldn’t help but feel that something was amiss. He looked up from the floor to Sojiro, only to see the old barista’s eyes trained on him suspiciously, stroking his beard in thought.
“Uh…” Ren stood up straight and stopped sweeping. “Is something wrong, Boss?”
“You tell me.” Sojiro crossed his arms.
“Um… I…” Ren scratched his head. He had no idea what Sojiro was getting at. “What do you mean?”
“C’mon, kid.” Sojiro rolled his eyes. “Just tell me what’s going on between you and Makoto.”
“What!?” Ren let go of the broom for a second, but caught it before it hit the floor. He started sweeping frantically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Mmhm.” A smirk appeared above that well-groomed goatee. “Don’t try and deny it. I know women troubles when I see ‘em.” Sojiro eyed Ren top to bottom. “Stiff shoulders. Light gone from your eyes. An aura that screams ‘I know I’m right about this thing but if I tell her she won’t agree and everything will be ruined forever.’”
Ren stopped sweeping. Sojiro has very accurately described how he was feeling.
“So…” Sojiro leaned forward on the counter. “What’s got you in the doghouse?”
“I am not in any kind of trouble with Makoto.”
“Good. Because I know I didn’t raise you to be dumb enough to piss off a Niijima.”
“You didn’t raise me, Boss.”
“Oh right.” Sojiro stood up and stretched out his back. “I guess that gets me off the hook if you get yourself hurt.”
“Makoto’s not going to hurt me.”
“So what’s the problem then?”
“Screw it.” Ren shoved the broom into a booth and sat down at the counter. “Boss, what do you do when a girl’s obsessed with something and you don’t care about it?”
“Depends on the thing. If it’s fashion, see if you can get any enjoyment out of it. Hope she picks something nice to look at.”
“And if it’s more complicated than fashion?”
“What, like her work?” Sojiro scratched his head, thinking back to his attempted courtship of Wakaba. “Well, I can’t exactly help you there.”
“It’s a TV show.” Ren sighed. “Well, a movie based on a TV show, I guess. That’s also a franchise with lots of toys and merchandise and stuff.”
“You lost me.”
“Makoto’s really into this mascot character called ‘Buchimaru’. It was a really big thing when she was little, and they recently revived it. And ever since they announced this new movie for it, it’s all she thinks about.”
“I see.” Sojiro poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Ren. “And I’m guessing it’s some kind of girly thing you have no interest in.”
“Pretty much.” Ren took a sip of coffee. It lightened his mood a little, although it occurred to him that actually getting to talk out his problem might be helping with that too. “I mean, I probably wouldn’t mind going to see the movie itself with her, but when she can’t focus on anything else during our dates I just don’t know how to deal with it. We don’t have as much time together since she started college, so I’d like to enjoy every moment with her, but it’s hard right now.”
“Pain in the ass.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“No, I meant you.”
“Huh?” Ren jolted up in his seat, just barely managing to avoid spilling his coffee.
“‘Oh boo-hoo, a pretty and smart girl who loves me even though I’m a lanky dumbass who looks like bunch of rats died on his head is happy when we’re together but not in the way I want her to be.’” Sojiro’s eyes narrowed, trained on Ren. “That’s you right now.”
“Come on, that’s a little unfair, don’t you think?” Ren crossed his arms. “Relationships are supposed to be about both people.”
“Relationships are about keeping the woman you love happy. Which means putting up with whatever quirks she has without whining about it.” Sojiro looked down his nose at Ren. “If she’s excited about something you don’t care about, just suck it up.”
“So what, it’s the guy’s responsibility to just deal with it and forget about what he wants?”
“Pretty much.”
“That’s a really outdated way of thinking, Boss.”
“Hmmph.” Sojiro shook his head. “Punks like you are why they say chivalry is dead.”
Before Ren could refute that claim, the bell over the door rang. Ren and Sojiro looked over to see Makoto stepping into the cafe.
“Hello, Ren.” Makoto seemed a little moody. Still, she managed to put on a small smile. “Hello, Boss.”
“Hey.” Sojrio stepped out from behind the counter and headed for the door, patting Ren on the shoulder as he passed him. “I’m gonna step outside for a smoke. Watch the shop.”
“Sure.” Ren got up and took Sojiro’s place behind the counter. He looked at Makoto and gestured to the seat he’d just been in. “The usual?”
“Yes, please.” Makoto sat down at the bar, twiddling her thumbs.
“Wasn’t expecting to see you here today.” Ren got ready to prepare Makoto’s favored blend. “What brings you by?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something” Makoto said.
“Oh yeah?” Ren finally took note of Makoto’s sullen mood. “About what?”
“The Buchimaru movie.”
It took all of Ren’s willpower not to groan with exasperation.
“What’s wrong?” Ren started grinding the beans. “Did it finally dawn on you how bizarre of a crossover it is?”
“No, it’s not that.” Makoto’s brow furrowed. “I wanted to apologize to you.”
“Huh?” Ren stopped grinding for a moment and looked at Makoto curiously. “What for?”
“I was acting in a very inconsiderate fashion yesterday.” Makoto whined slightly. “I know you don’t care for Buchimaru in the same way I do. We were supposed to be spending time together, but I spent the entire time blathering about something only I cared about.”
“I wouldn’t call it ‘blathering’...” Ren got back to grinding.
“Still, I could tell you weren’t interested, but I selfishly tried to make it the subject of our entire day together.”
“Yeah, well…” Ren’s shoulders sagged as Makoto’s coffee began dripping. On the one hand, this was exactly what he wanted to hear. On the other, he began to think that Sojiro had a point. Not about the idea that a man should give up any desire of his to make a woman happy, but he sure didn’t like seeing Makoto feeling guilty like this. Especially not over something so silly. It’s not like she’d done anything to hurt him. “It’s not like I was much better.”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”
“No, really.” Ren stopped the flow of coffee before the cup overflowed. “You wanted to share something with me because it was special to you, and I just ignored you. And then while you were having a good time, I was just getting angry because you weren’t having a good time for the reasons I wanted. That’s pretty selfish too.”
“I suppose we both have some room for improvement.” Makoto’s mood seemed to pick up a bit.
“Yeah.” Ren placed the coffee on the counter. “What do you say once Boss is done with his smoke, you and I go somewhere comfortable and watch a couple of your favorite Buchi episodes?”
“You don’t have to humor me like that.”
“I’m not humoring you. I just think I should make an actual effort to try and appreciate what you love about it.”
“Well, I appreciate the thought. And maybe we can do that some time.” Makoto took a sip of her coffee. “Though I think it’d be best for me to take a step back from Buchi-Kun for a little while.”
“If that’s what you think is best.”
“I do.” Makoto started to sulk again. “Besides, I’m starting to wonder if I should be excited for the movie at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Last night, Haru messaged me. She said she was interested in seeing the trailer after I told her about the movie, but couldn’t find it anywhere online.” Makoto paused to take another sip of coffee. “I tried to send her the article I read, but couldn’t find it on the original website. But I could still access the article from the link Futaba sent me.”
“Huh...” Ren’s eyes drifted towards the ceiling in thought. “Maybe that website accidentally published the article early?”
“I thought that might be the case, but I finally got on the chatroom this morning, and nobody knew what I was talking about.” Makoto touched her chin. “Even if they took down the accidental leak, somebody besides me should have seen it. There should have been other articles reporting on it, but there was nothing. Not even on the forums.”
“Well, I don’t know what’s up with that…” Ren pulled out his phone. “But I think I have something that might cheer you up.”
“Oh?” Makoto put her coffee down. “And what would that be?”
“Check out this video Futaba made.” Ren pulled up the link Futaba sent him last night. “It’s wild.”
Makoto leaned forward, watching the video on Ren’s phone, a slight smile appearing on her face. She seemed very impressed with the animation, although from the way her eyebrow raised at the start Ren was guessing she found the dialogue somewhat questionable. Still, Makoto’s mood had definitely lifted, which was what Ren was going for. Until the end of the video, at which point her eyes widened.
“Play that one more time” Makoto said.
“Ok.” Ren played the video again. Makoto watched it intensely, as if she was looking for something. In the last few seconds of the video, her signature terrifying glare appeared on her face.
“Ren…” Makoto’s furious eyes turned up towards Ren’s face, sending a shiver down his spine. “Send me the link to that video.”
“What for?”
“Please just do it.”
“Ok.” Ren was glad Makoto was no longer talking about Buchimaru, but frankly, he was not equipped for her sudden turn to anger. He forwarded the link to Makoto, who took out her phone and nodded once she saw the message come in.
“Thank you.” Makoto lifted her coffee and chugged, downing the entire cup in one go. She rose from her stool, headed for the front door.
“Where are you going?” Ren asked.
“To get answers.”
Makoto stomped out of the cafe angrily. Ren stood in confused silence. After a moment, Sojiro came back inside, a slightly terrified look on his face.
“What the hell did you do!?”
“I don’t know!”
“Hmmm…”
Futaba stared at her computer screen. Right now, the 3D model of Mona’s paw was pushing into the 3D model of Skull’s face.
“Should Skull lose a tooth from this, or not?”
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
“Door’s unlocked, Sojiro!”
The door to Futaba’s bedroom creaked open. The footsteps that entered the room clearly did not belong to Sojiro.
“Hello, Futaba…”
Futaba froze up in her chair. Not only was Makoto’s voice unhappy, but she could FEEL the Niijima glare burning holes into the back of her head. Slowly, Futaba swiveled around, hugging her legs extra tightly as if that would somehow offer any protection from Makoto’s wrath.
“H-Hey, Makoto…” Futaba grinned nervously at the older girl. “Something I can help you with?”
Makoto said nothing. She held up her phone and played the final shot of Skull vs. Mona video, where the two of them were trying to punch each other, their fists bouncing off each other.
“Pretty great, right!?” Futaba forgot her fear for a second, pointing to her computer screen. “Check it out, I’m working on the next part right now!”
Makoto remained silent, glaring at Futaba.
“What? Is it because I didn’t get their permission first? I’m not going to make it public, this is just for us to enjoy! They’ll love it!”
Makoto opened the Buchimaru trailer on her phone, fast-forwarding to the part where Buchi-Kun and Fishiki were trying to punch each other, their fists bouncing off each other.
Futaba’s mouth clamped shut and her pupils dilated. She and Makoto stared at each other silently, the room filling with rage and fear. This continued for a solid twenty seconds until Futaba decided to break the silence.
“Wow,” Futaba squeaked, “that’s an interesting coinciden-“
“The animations are exactly the same” Makoto said.
“Hey, I guess they are!” Futaba laughed nervously. “What are the odds?”
“Why did you do it, Futaba?”
“Do what?” Futaba hugged her legs so tight she was starting to cut off blood circulation. “Make a fun video for our friends to watch? I suppose I’m just a fun-loving kind of-“
“If you won’t admit it, fine.” Makoto started walking towards Futaba menacingly. “I’ll just have to execute justice myself.”
“‘Execute justice’?” Futaba started to sweat. There was nowhere for her to run. “W-what do you m-mean by that?”
Makoto switched back to silent mode. She stood over Futaba, bending over and reaching her arms out.
“No, don’t!” Futaba shut her eyes. “I’m too young to die!”
Futaba didn’t feel any hands on her body. She DID, however, hear some popping sounds. Futaba slowly opened her eyes to see Makoto rising up, holding Futaba’s PC in her arms. It had been unplugged from under the desk and Futaba’s monitors had gone blank. Makoto turned around and headed for the door.
“NO, WAIT!” Futaba grabbed the hem of Makoto’s shirt, but it did nothing to slow her down. Futaba and her chair were pulled by Makoto until reaching the door of her room, at which point the chair tipped over and Futaba fell to the ground. It was a low fall, so it didn’t hurt, but Futaba had to grab onto Makoto’s leg to keep from losing her.
“HEY!” Makoto took another step, dragging Futaba along the floor. “COME ON!” Futaba wasn’t slowing Makoto down at all. “DAMN IT! Why are you so strong!?” Another step. “Why couldn’t I have been one of those morbidly obese nerds!?”
Futaba kept making pleas that fell on deaf ears as Makoto dragged her down the stairs. Now the ride was starting to hurt. Once they reached the bottom, Makoto turned towards the front door of the Sakura home.
“Ok!” Futaba groaned. “I’m sorry!”
Makoto stopped moving.
“For?”
Makoto was looking down at Futaba, her glare having softened slightly.
“I’m sorry for making a fake movie trailer to trick you.”
“You should be.” Makoto was still upset, but the hostility had left her expression. All that remained was betrayal and disappointment. To Futaba’s surprise, that felt worse. “I feel like a fool. For the past two days I’ve obsessed over something that doesn’t exist, neglecting the chance to do anything meaningful and grating on the nerves of somebody I love dearly in the process.”
“That’s-“ Futaba let go of Makoto and sat up on the floor. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far.”
“Why did you do it at all?” Makoto crouched down to be eye-level with Futaba, or at least as close as they could get in current circumstances. “What would you have to gain from setting up such an elaborate ruse?”
“It was funny.”
“Funny?”
“It was just a prank.”
“A prank.”
“Yeah. A practical joke.”
“So, tricking me into thinking a crossover between my two favorite franchises was happening was a joke.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t get it.” Makoto stared at Futaba curiously, but there was a powerful undercurrent of malice to it. “Please explain the joke to me.”
“W-well…” Futaba pushed herself backwards a bit. “F-first you would watch the trailer…”
“Yes…”
“And the you’d think it was real…”
“Go on…”
“Then you’d get all excited about it, and that’s funny.”
“It is?”
“I… Uh…” Futaba started to feel a pit in her stomach. “I thought it was.”
“What about the part where I would learn it was all a lie?” Makoto’s glare intensified. “Is that funny too?”
“K-kinda…”
“And the part where my hopes are crushed and my feelings are hurt? Is that also humorous?”
“No…” Futaba felt like she was about to cry. “I didn’t think it would blow up into this big thing. I thought you’d believe it for a few hours at most, figure out it wasn’t real, and then we could laugh at the idea of how ridiculous the movie idea would be. I wasn’t trying to be mean, I thought we’d be able to laugh about it together.”
“I see.” Makoto’s glare softened again. “So you thought I would see the humor in this too.”
“Yeah. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just got carried away because I was having fun learning all this new animation software. I’m really sorry, Makoto.”
Makoto patted Futaba on the head.
“I forgive you, Futaba.”
“Really!?” Futaba looked up at Makoto. She was smiling.
“As the others can tell you, I have gotten carried away and made mistakes myself. It’s human nature.”
“So we’re good?”
“Yes, we are.” Makoto turned towards the door. “But I’m still taking your computer as punishment.”
“NOOOOOO!” Futaba grabbed onto Makoto’s leg again. “You can’t take my PC! I need it! My whole life is on there!”
“Yes, I’m aware.” Makoto started walking to the door, once again not hampered by Futaba’s weight. “That’s really no way to live. I believe some separation will be good for you.”
“No! Please! I need it! Is this because I don’t seem sorry enough!? Because I’m really, really sorry!”
Makoto’s hand reached the doorknob.
“I mean it! I’m sorry! And I’ve learned my lesson! And I’ll never do it again!”
Makoto opened the door.
“Please just give me my PC back! I’ll do anything!”
Makoto closed the door.
“Anything?”
“Uh… yeah.” Futaba let go of Makoto’s leg, sitting up again. “Just name it!”
A new ominous feeling came over Futaba. She looked up to see Makoto’s eyes trained on her again, but it wasn’t the usual glare. It was scarier. There was a wicked glee to it. It was the same look Makoto used to give a Shadow before delivering a powerful hit that would absolutely demolish it. It was a look that said “You’re mine now”.
“You know, Futaba…” Makoto was not laughing, but the room became consumed by this strange feeling, like the air was laughing evilly for her. “Even though it was a prank, I really did enjoy your trailer. The quality was excellent.”
“Thanks” Futaba said nervously. “I’m glad you… liked it?”
“Oh yes, I did like it. I liked it very much. In fact…” Makoto crouched down, her face inches from Futaba’s. “I wouldn’t object to seeing more.”