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Makoto tapped her fingers nervously on the tabletop of her regular booth at Leblanc. All around her, the other Thieves kept themselves occupied by means appropriate to each of them. Ann and Ryuji were arguing, of course, about whether Akira would prefer Sojiro’s curry or to go out for something nice for his first meal as a free man. While both had been furious when they discovered that he had to turn himself in to provide testimony against Shido, as soon as they began working to free him they had seemed entirely confident that they would succeed, and their optimism had been a beacon of light in getting them through the long, difficult process of securing his release.
Yusuke was seated at the bar with a pensive look on his face, his thoughts as inscrutable as ever. If she were to guess, he was probably planning a painting expressing the injustices Akira had faced at the hands of the justice system. Haru kept herself busy examining Sojiro’s selection of beans, but the way she fretted with her hands showed the worry beneath her calm demeanor. Futaba was perched beside Makoto in the booth, constantly checking traffic reports on her phone, calculating to the minute when Akira would walk through the door.
Next to Makoto, Futaba had taken the loss the hardest. While everyone had lost their friend and leader, she had lost her big brother and her key item. If there was a silver lining to the long overcast of his absence, it was the closeness that had grown between Makoto and Futaba, borne of their shared sense that the best part of their lives had been torn away. Makoto was all too familiar with the feeling of unbridgeable distance from an older sibling she had relied on, and while she knew she couldn’t take his place, she made it clear to Futaba that she was always there for her.
Glancing over, she noticed a nervous look in Futaba’s eyes that mirrored her own. She wrapped a gentle arm around the younger girl’s shoulders, pulling her a little closer and whispering. “I’m sure he’s okay.” It was as much a reassurance to herself as to the younger girl.
Futaba nodded against Makoto’s shoulder and quietly responded. “I know. He has to be.”
Another point in common between the two was their shared worry for the lasting effects his imprisonment could have on the young man they both loved in their own ways. While he had concealed much of the extent of the damage done to him during his interrogation from the other Thieves, Makoto and Futaba had shared the painful task of nursing him back to health, and knew both the physical pain he had endured and the lingering psychological effects. Both were well acquainted with anxiety and trauma, and the thought of Akira’s beautiful spirit broken was a persistent wound in Makoto’s heart.
When Sae had finally admitted, upon persistent questions from Makoto about his well-being, that Akira was being held in solitary confinement, with the rationale that his powers were still unknown, she had been terrified. Even hardened criminals had been known to suffer lasting psychological damage from far shorter terms of solitary, and they had locked a minor away from all human contact for fifty days. It was one final act of barbarism inflicted on the man who had dared to challenge social norms, and she could only hope that his iron will had carried him through his ordeal intact. And if he was broken, she would do everything she could to put him back together.
The other thing that worried Makoto she considered too selfish to admit to herself, but continued to creep unbidden into her thoughts. After all he had gone through and all their time apart, would he still want to be with her? How much had they both changed, and would their feelings for each other be the same as they were before that terrible Christmas? A small part of her wanted to strangle him for keeping his intention to turn himself in a secret from her. A much larger part of wanted to… well, do things with him that she was still working up the courage to ask him to do with her. Mostly though, she just wanted to hold him again, and to never let him go. Had his time locked away intensified the pull for him as it had for her, or had it snapped the emotional thread between them?
Their relationship certainly felt very real and very strong to her, but she didn’t exactly have much experience to compare it to. She remembered the light in his eyes, and how happy he looked when she asked him to stay with her forever on their date at Destinyland. She remembered how relaxed and content he looked as they watched the sun set over the ocean on their Hawaii trip. She recalled, with a bit of a blush, how he blurted out that he had always loved her in front of the whole school, and how he had asked her to say it again when she accidentally told him that he was just the type of person she would like to marry someday. Most of all, she remembered how warm and gentle and comfortable he felt when they paused their study sessions in favor of a cuddle session.
She knew him to be reliable, a man of his word. She only hoped that when he told her he loved her, and there was nothing he would rather do than stay by her side forever, he meant it.
Sensing her inner turmoil, Futaba nudged Makoto with her elbow and whispered to her with a grin. “I bet he wants to smooch you, first thing when he gets back.”
Makoto blushed furiously and made a quiet whine of protest, but she really, really hoped he did.
The heads of all the Thieves snapped up towards the door as Leblanc’s bell heralded the return of their leader. Ann and Ryuji immediately rushed over to envelop him in a group hug, with Futaba bounding out of her seat to join them. Makoto held back, though, both out of her persistent anxieties and because, once she finally held him again, she didn’t think she would ever be able to let go. He looked pale and had clearly lost some weight from his already lean frame, and while he was smiling as the Thieves all welcomed him back, there remained some hesitation, some small cloud that still hung over him.
Her eyes met his, and she saw in him the same worry that had been gnawing at her, a desperate question: After I lied to you, after I broke my promise to stay with you forever, can you forgive me? Do you still love me? Her lips curled up into a soft, gentle smile, and the light returned to his eyes. He strode over, gently tilted her chin up, and leaned down to give her the kiss that they both needed more than anything in that moment. While she blushed at the cheers and hoots of her fellow Thieves, in that moment, Makoto didn’t care, and she melted into Akira’s embrace. He was back, at last, and the rest of the world could wait.