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Haru doesn’t know when, exactly, it started. She knows that in the beginning, there was a surplus of stress about Sugimura, and then the whole… thing… with her dad…
So it wasn’t at the start. Probably. Not when she still feared being married off by force and not when she was grieving, but.
But.
At some point, it changes. At some point, it becomes a constant buzz at the back of her head. There’s a moment when the grief seems a bit less never-ending and a bit more livable, and other things start gaining importance, and just…
Haru realizes she’s always there. Right by her side. At school, their classes shared, her time tending flowers no longer by herself. At battles, protecting her back, facing off every enemy that gets past her ax’s reach.
Brilliant. Brave. Beautiful.
Fierce eyes and fiercer hands, sharp mind and soft tongue. So much care for Haru and every single one of their friends. So much devotion to what she thinks is right.
Makoto shines bright like the sun, and Haru can’t avert her eyes.
During the mornings, she now has a bright spark to look forward to at school, the reassurance of knowing Makoto will always allow her in, will always let Haru eat with her and will always offer her those small, hesitant smiles. So sweet and so careful and so brilliant in their existence.
During the afternoons, in the Metaverse, she now has a brilliant partner, a knight in shining armor. Makoto in her tight leathers, her hands cruel under the stark light of unknowable universes, her Persona a mockery of a bike that makes Haru think of dark horses and promises of untold tales.
Haru hasn’t had a friend like this before.
Haru hasn’t felt like this before. Painful in its intensity and beautiful in its warmth.
She loves her friends, every single one of them, and would give them the world, if they asked — but there is something about Makoto that feels different. Something that makes her think of late nights and candlelight and warm kisses and not feel disgusted, for once.
Haru doesn’t know when it started, but she knows how it feels now. Encompassing and kind.
Now that there is no longer a threat of unwanted marriage, Haru… Haru suddenly finds herself thinking that romance may not be so bad.
Finds herself putting aside the most beautiful of her flowers, and sharpening her ax to its deadliest edge.
Makoto has been here for her for long enough. Haru thinks it’s time for her to show Makoto what she means to her.
Now, all she needs is Makoto’s agreement for a date.
Haru can barely wait.