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Makoto usually felt so comfortable within the confines of the Shujin library, her safe haven and escape from the demands of her council members and faculty. On a typical day, she would revel in the absolute silence and solitude that awaited her once she crossed its threshold.
But not today. Instead of heading to her usual table after classes, she made her way inconspicuously (or at least she hoped) to an unfamiliar section near the back of the room. Hesitantly, she began to scan the titles, shooting glances over her shoulder to make sure that no one was watching her.
Eventually, it became apparent that she would not be able to find what she was looking for. Not that she would have had the nerve to check out anything she did find. The last thing she needed was other students making fun of her awkwardness and social naivety.
Discouraged, Makoto sped walk back through the library, nodding politely to the student worker at the counter before quickly exiting the room, barreling straight into someone who was trying to enter at the same time.
"Ugh!"
As she straightened herself out with a groan, she was greeted by a familiar flop of messy black hair and bespectacled face–Ren. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a shrill yowl.
"Watch it!" Morgana hissed from Ren's backpack. He rolled his eyes, turning to face Makoto with a smile that she could have sworn seemed somewhat forced.
"S-sorry!" she stammered. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
Ren shrugged at her. Makoto couldn't tell if he was annoyed or not. While the rest of the Phantom Thieves were more or less open books when it came to their emotions, he had always been difficult to read. "It's fine. Looks like you're in a hurry. Something important?"
Makoto shook her head. "I'm just looking for a...book. But the library here doesn't seem to have what I need."
Ren pondered that for a moment. "Well, I know a place in Jinbocho that has pretty much anything you could think of. It hasn't failed me yet. If you want, I can go with you-"
"No, no!" She said a little too quickly. Ren raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean, I wouldn't want to waste your time with this. It's just for a...personal project of mine. J-just text me the place and I'll take a look?"
The corners of Ren's mouth twitched slightly. He was probably suppressing a laugh at how awkward she was being. "Alright then."
Makoto breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you for your help, Ren-kun. I appreciate it."
"Anytime, Niijima-senpai," he said with a teasing edge to his voice. "Hope you find what you're looking for."
A frequent visitor to Jinbocho, Makoto thought herself familiar with most of what the sector had the offer. But somehow, the place Ren recommended was foreign to her. How he managed to discover these places despite having only arrived in the city a few months prior continued to baffle her.
It didn't take her long to find the section she was looking for: a rather sizable collection of self-help books. Most of the volumes were older, with some modern works sprinkled throughout.
Deep down, she knew she was being ridiculous with how she was approaching her current problem. She could easily find the information she needed online, where hundreds of articles would be at the tips of her fingertips. But there was something comforting about learning from a book - like taking advice from an old and trusted friend.
Friends. Right, that was what had brought her here to begin with.
She'd never been skilled at making friends, struggling in both primary and middle school to make a few flimsy and fleeting friendships which always sizzled out. By the time she reached high school, with her father gone and Sis the primary breadwinner, her focus had shifted wholly onto her schoolwork. Which was how, at eighteen, she found herself with no close friends to speak of, just acquaintances made out of convenience.
But now she had the Phantom Thieves. It was a new chance to bond with her peers and finally feel like she belonged somewhere.
This was not an issue in the Metaverse. When she was Queen, they had goals to reach, objectives to fulfill. But all that changed upon exiting to the real world. While her teammates were perfectly nice to her, she still didn't quite feel like part of the group. When they invited her to non-mission related outings, Makoto could tell that they were doing it out of politeness and not because they genuinely enjoyed her company.
She was determined to change that. And without a proper parental figure to turn to (even if Sae wasn't constantly busy with work, she would be too mortified to bring up the subject with her sister), Makoto was once again turning to books for direction.
After browsing the section extensively, she eventually selected one reasonably priced book that she believed could be useful - a translation of a popular American title with worn edges and notes in the margins. Just her style. Making sure to bury it at the very bottom of her bag after checking out, she hurried to the train.
For the next few nights, Makoto stayed up late to absorb as much of her new book as possible, only daring to pull it out from under her bed after making sure that Sae was gone for the evening. She approached the exercise as she would her studies, memorizing key takeaways so she could repeat them to herself during the day like a mantra: smile more, use a person's name often when speaking to them, shower those around you with praise and appreciation, and express enthusiasm in the interests of others. Easy enough, she figured.
Makoto took advantage of each opportunity to compliment her teammates during trips to Mementos, praising them when they landed a particularly good hit or pulled off an impressive dodge. This proved to be particularly effective on Ann and Ryuji, with the added bonus that their concentration and performance seemed to drastically improve in response to flattery.
Her first opportunity to employ these strategies one-on-one came while she and Ann waited for the boys at their hangout in Shibuya. As her bubbly companion tried to make aimless small talk, Makoto racked her brain for a way to deepen the conversation. What was it that the book had said - to take an interest in things that the other liked?
"How's your modelling going, Ann?" Makoto settled on asking. "Have you been on any interesting jobs lately?"
The change in subject seemed to work. Ann's eyes lit up. "Oh, I'm so glad you asked! I just got a call this morning from my agent that they want me to take part in a photo shoot for one of my favorite magazines."
Makoto smiled widely. "That's exciting! Congratulations, Ann."
Ann's face became brighter as she smiled back. "I know! Although I'm a little nervous because I really want to do a good job on this one, more than usual, you know? Since I like the magazine so much and want to have the chance to work with them in the future. They're used to having models with lots more experience posing for them. It's so intimidating."
"I'm sure you'll do well," Makoto reassured her. "I've seen some of your photos and they always come out great, Ann. You're extremely photogenic."
Ann looked sheepish. "Aw, thanks! You're so sweet. Ryuji usually just teases me when I talk about this stuff, he thinks I'm just fishing for compliments. Boys can be such jerks sometimes."
There was a pause before Ann continued. "Hey, Makoto, if you're not busy...maybe you can come with me to the shoot next week?"
Makoto fidgeted against the railing. "Really? You'd want me there?"
"Yeah, for sure! It's always nice to have a friend around. I usually ask Ren but I'm pretty sure he gets bored at these things. Plus, we can totally hang out afterwards, maybe go shopping. Or, ooh!" She clapped her hands together. "We can go get some crêpes! There's this place that just opened - it's got really good reviews and I've been wanting to try it but Ryuji refuses to go with me…"
As Ann began to salivate as she described the flavors of crêpes that they could indulge in, Makoto felt a warm and fuzzy feeling flow through her.
Ann had called her a friend.
After her breakthrough with Ann, Makoto felt more confident about her interactions with the rest of the group. Ryuji brought her to train with him at his gym, which she enjoyed a lot more than she expected. Ann would ask her to spend time window shopping across the city, dropping not so subtle hints that she would love the chance to give Makoto a makeover. These excursions were often followed by trips to dessert places, which Makoto suspected was Ann's ultimate goal for each hang-out she organized.
Yusuke requested she join him for a round of people watching when Ren was unavailable. Makoto didn't quite understand what was so exciting about the activity, but she pretended to be intrigued for his sake. Despite their rocky start, Makoto had even managed to bond with Futaba upon discovering that they had played some of the same fighting and strategy games growing up.
There was only one person on the team that she hadn't managed to get to know, despite her best efforts.
Ren.
Whenever she tried to learn more about him, he would somehow turn the tables on her and she would end up talking way too much about herself. Their outings were almost always focused on her trying new things and never doing what he liked. Despite having known Ren for months now, she couldn't say that she necessarily knew more about him than she did back when she first joined the team.
And it didn't help that anytime they found themselves alone, she couldn't help but feel an awkward atmosphere around them. She noticed that sometimes he had a hard time looking her in the eye, and that he didn't seem to have as easy a time conversing with her as he did the others. Makoto figured the reason he was so much harder to crack had to do with their strained beginning. She had spent weeks stalking him, and had even put him at risk of violating his probation by threatening to expose him as a Phantom Thief. No wonder he was most likely keeping his distance from her.
But figuring out how to bond with Ren could wait for later. For now, she was focused on building up her budding friendship with Futaba. After their latest trip to Mementos, the younger girl had rather excitedly invited Makoto to watch a movie together at the Sakura household.
"Of course I will, Futaba," she had replied with a genuine smile.
"Great! You'll be so psyched when you see what I found. It's going to blow your mind!" The tiny girl's enthusiasm was contagious, and Makoto found herself genuinely looking forward to spending time together.
But the tone of the evening shifted considerably just as she was exiting the train at Yongen-Jaya the following night. Her phone buzzed, signalling that she had a text from Futaba.
Change of plans, we're watching the movie at Leblanc. Ren and Morgana are coming too. Makoto groaned. So much for keeping her mind off Ren for the evening.
The door to Leblanc was locked, and Makoto rocked on the balls of her feet as she waited to be let in. When Ren appeared, he was dressed casually, as if ready to go to bed. Makoto worried for a moment that she had misinterpreted Futaba's text.
He stared back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Well, this is unexpected."
Makoto couldn't help the heat rising to her face. Something about the way he was looking at her made her nervous. "Um, Futaba invited me."
His expression changed from one of amusement to comprehension. "Ah. I guess she forgot to tell me. Come in."
Makoto followed him inside the empty café. "Where's Boss?"
"Futaba asked him to lock up early so we could watch the movie upstairs." Makoto trailed behind him as they made their way up to the attic. She expected to find Morgana there, but he was also nowhere to be seen.
"He went to fetch Futaba," Ren explained, as if reading her mind. So they were alone. He settled in on the couch, which had been rearranged to face the television.
Makoto simply nodded as she made her way nervously to the other end of the couch. They sat in silence for a moment.
"I'm surprised to see you here, actually," said Ren. "I didn't think this would be your thing."
"What - movies?" It came out a little more forceful than she intended. She was aware that she had a reputation for not being as carefree as most of her peers, but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy movies of all things. Had he already forgotten their trip to the cinema just that summer? "Of course I like movies. I'm not that out of touch."
Ren opened his mouth as if to formulate a response, and then paused. The corner of his lips twitched a little. "She didn't tell you what we're watching, did she?"
Before Makoto could ask him what he meant, Futaba practically galloped up the stairs, Morgana at her heels. She seemed to be buckling under the weight of snacks and a pile of DVDs.
"Yes, you're all here!" Futaba beamed as she saw Makoto. "Let's get this show started!"
Makoto awkwardly played with her hands as Futaba dropped the food onto the floor in front of them and began to set up the movie. Curious about Ren's comment from earlier, she craned her neck to try and get a good look at the DVD case. Hearing a chuckle from her right side, she turned to glare at a smirking Ren who was pointedly avoiding her gaze.
Futaba hurried to shut off the lights before practically vaulting over to the couch, pushing Ren aside into Makoto so that she could take one side of the couch to herself. Makoto nervously pushed her hair behind her air, her hands brushing his shoulder. She felt him fidget next to her.
"I still can't believe I found a copy of this!" Futaba exclaimed, as Morgana jumped on the back of the couch to curl up near her shoulder. "It's a classic!"
As the movie's menu lit up the screen, Ren's comments from earlier finally made sense.
Oh, no.
"This is my favorite horror movie but I haven't seen it in forever," Futaba said, reaching over and grabbing a bag of sweets from her stack of snacks. "This is the director's cut too, so there's like twenty minutes of extra footage. How cool is that?"
Sounds excruciating, thought Makoto.
"Wonderful, can't wait," she managed to say aloud, her voice cracking a little. There was another snort at her side, which she ignored despite the heat rising to her face. Just why did Ren find this so amusing?
Makoto did her best to hide her fear so as to not look like a child, but it didn't take long before she was watching the movie through her fingers, her knees huddled to her chest. Futaba seemed oblivious to Makoto's discomfort, laughing at the most brutal of moments while providing colorful commentary at her favorite scenes. Ren jumped a couple of times throughout the film, but for the most part seemed unaffected.
At a particularly intense jump scare near the climax of the movie, Makoto yelped and grabbed onto the closest solid thing to her. Futaba's cackles rang out through the room along with a howl from Morgana, who didn't seem to appreciate the scene as much as his companion. As the moment became more intense, Makoto hid her face behind whatever she was holding onto, realizing with an acute embarrassment that she was actually clutching Ren's arm.
"S-sorry," she mumbled meekly, avoiding his gaze as she released him.
"Don't worry about it," he responded, quiet enough so only she could hear him. It was too dark in the room to know for sure, but she could swear that he was smiling again. Apparently, her leader found her discomfort to be wildly entertaining.
As the credits finally rolled, Makoto let out a sigh of relief, barely registering Futaba's excited praise. She was glad that the younger girl seemed to be coming out of her shell around her, but wished that they could have found some other way to bond.
"Oh, no!" Futaba exclaimed as she checked through the pile of DVDs . "I forgot part two!" Makoto blanched. "I'll have to run back home and get it. Mona, come with me and I promise I'll give you some fish!"
"Fine, but you better not be lying this time!" Morgana grumbled, following the girl as she bounded down the stairs.
Makoto waited until Futaba was out of range before letting out a groan, resting her forehead against her knees. Ren laughed again beside her. The stress of the situation now having dissipated, she turned to glare at him. "What's so funny?"
Ren, to his credit, seemed to falter a little under the intensity of her stare. He looked almost sheepish. "Nothing, I just find it...interesting how hard you're trying."
She narrowed her eyes. "Trying to what?"
"Get people to like you."
Makoto looked away, chewing on her lip. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."
He leaned closer so that he reentered her field of vision. "Come on, Makoto. You don't think I noticed how you've been going out of your way to get on everyone's good side? Yusuke mentioned that you bought tickets to some weird art exhibit that only he could find interesting. And Ann told me you go shopping with her on Sundays in Shibuya, even though I distinctly remember you telling me that you avoid that area at all costs on the weekends because of how crowded it gets."
That was true. Large crowds tended to make her panic. Had she really told him that? She didn't even remember.
"And now, sitting through this," he gestured at the screen in front of them, "just to make Futaba happy. Even though we both know how much you hate these movies. You were shaking so hard at one point I thought you might pass out."
Makoto crossed her arms in front of her, unable to hold back a pout. Was she really being so transparent? If anyone was going to see right through her, it would be Ren. He was so good at reading people, while she still struggled to make the most shallow of personal connections.
She pressed her lips together as she shifted in her seat. "Well, I'm sorry, Ren, but we can't all be like you."
Ren scrunched up his face in confusion. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Makoto avoided his gaze, heat rising to her cheeks once again. "People like you. They want to be friends with you. I...I've never had that. I need to work hard just to get people to tolerate me. Not to mention that I still need to make up for all that I did to you and the rest of the team - w-with Kamoshida and Principal Kobayakawa."
A loud sigh caused her to look back in Ren's direction. "Makoto, you're constantly risking your life side by side with us. Believe me when I say you've more than made amends by now."
Makoto shook her head, nervously tucking her hair behind her ears. "You're just saying that."
"I'm not. PIus, I think you need to trust in yourself a little more...so that you realize there's plenty for people to like. Or at least I think so."
Makoto's eyes widened at the frankness of the compliment. Ren's seemingly cool exterior faltered for a minute as he looked away from her and began to rub the back of his neck. "So, why don't you stop thinking about what everyone else wants and just plan something that you want to do? Invite the others, and don't worry about whether or not they'll like it. Come on - there must be something you've been putting off for awhile."
Makoto fidgeted, twisting her hands together. It had been awhile since someone had so candidly asked her a question like that. "How about...the aquarium?"
"...The aquarium?" He raised an eyebrow in her direction.
Makoto couldn't help but feel a little foolish at the suggestion. "I know it sounds childish, but my father used to take me there when I was young. I haven't gone in so long, not since...I'd like to go again. With friends."
This time, Ren nodded. "Good. The aquarium it is. So send an invite to the group chat tomorrow."
"O-okay. I will. I promise."
"I'll hold you to it." He was smiling at her now, seemingly pleased with himself. Stifling a yawn, he leaned back into the couch. "Now that's settled, we need to figure out how we're going to let Futaba know that there's no way we're watching part two of that movie."
She groaned. "I had almost forgotten. I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight."
Ren turned to look at her, his expression unreadable. He then shook his head, as if changing his mind about something. "I'll just distract her with a game when she gets back, if that's alright with you."
She nodded. "Yes, that sounds fun. Like that time we went to the arcade."
A smile returned to his face as he remembered. "Yeah, that was fun." There was a sudden twinkle in his eye as his grin widened. "Speaking of which, isn't it time we do something like that again? You know, to broaden your horizons?"
Faced with both Ren's smiling face and the teasing edge to his voice, Makoto felt an unfamiliar fluttering in her stomach. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before, but not unpleasant, and it caused her to return his smile almost reflexively.
Maybe later, when she was back at home, she could look it up in one of her books. But for now, she would focus on enjoying the evening. With her friends.