2White Day: As I Count the Things I Want to Tell You
When the rain stops, where do I return to?
If I want to see you again, how do I call out for you?
Makoto stood on the crowded train gripping one of the rails, swaying to the song that played on her phone.
This is the scenery I've been searching for, my one and only miracle.
Hey, just like this, you are changing me.
She smiled to herself, visualizing the person the lyrics brought to mind. The song ended and she packed away her phone and earphones right as the train came to a stop.
-Aoyama-Itchome, this is Aoyama-Itchome-
She stepped off the train and stretched her arms. It had just rained the night before and the air smelled clean and fresh, invigorating her. After adjusting her bag and tugging out the wrinkles on her teal peacoat, she headed towards the School Gate. And there waiting for her was a young man with untameable, unkempt black hair sporting a black blazer and dark wash skinny jeans, his lithe frame leaning against the potted hedges. He jerked his head and flicked his bangs out of his face.
"Ren!" Makoto rushed over and leapt into his arms. He lifted her up and spun her around. His eyes were alight with excitement and he had a carefree smile on his face.
"Where shall we go today? Somewhere new? Somewhere old? What does my Queen desire?"
She giggled and bumped his nose. "I request that you put me down before we make our decision."
He did and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"If it's alright with you, I want to go someplace where we can be together...just the two of us." She looked down and turned a lovely shade of pink. "Preferably outdoors. It'd be a waste to stay indoors on a nice day like this."
Together...just the two of us.
"Yeah." Ren's cheeks were tinged red. "I was thinking the same thing. I thought we could go to Odaiba Seaside Park."
"That sounds perfect."
They sat on a wooden bench with the Rainbow Bridge in full view. Lines of cars crossed the bridge, exiting Tokyo to destinations known only to them. Makoto felt a pang of melancholy. Soon Ren would also…
From behind his back, Ren whisked an ivory paper cube embossed with ocean wave swirls, wrapped in a crimson bow tipped with gold.
"Makoto, happy White Day." He felt giddy. This would be his first of many White Days with her.
Makoto accepted the box with both hands. "Thank you. May I open it now?"
He nodded. She carefully untied the red ribbon and lifted the cover.
"Oh." she gasped in delight. In the box lay nine chocolate seashells of different patterns, their geometric striations intricately carved, ranging from white to milk to dark, some containing pralines, hazelnuts, or almonds.
"They're almost too pretty to eat. But they look delicious. I could probably gobble all of them up right now. I want to save them but I don't want them to go bad!"
Ren chuckled. She was being so adorably indecisive. "I suppose you could take a picture." He pulled out his phone and pointed the camera at the box.
"Wait," she said. "Let's take a picture of us together with the chocolates. Could you please help me rotate the box so the chocolates are showing?"
They leaned close, holding the box of chocolates between them. Makoto hoped she was looking properly at the camera.
"I'm taking it now."
Ren evaluated the photo. "Looks good." He sent it to her via IM. She beamed, pleased with the result. Then she turned her attention back to the chocolates. "They're all different shapes. I've seen illustrations and photographs of them before, but you'd probably have to go deep sea diving or to a science museum if you wanted to see them in real life, wouldn't you?"
Ren picked up a shell turning it over in the sunlight. "This one's a conch shell."
He pointed at another. One by one he identified them all. "And that's a cowrie. Probably has praline. And that one's a dog head triton. The one next to it is a common spirula. This one's a tulip shell and the one in the middle is a long-spined star shell. These two are tellins and I think one's called a 'knobby scallop'. And there's even a starfish made of white chocolate."
She stared at him, astonished. "How do you know what they're called?"
"Spent a lot of summers at the beach back home, collecting shells, dodging waves, looking for whales spyhopping. I would collect so many of the same shells, eventually I got curious and looked them up at the library. For my picture diary, I just wrote 'collected seashells' every day. My teacher wasn't too happy about that."
Makoto laughed imagining Ren as a child running up and down the beach, bucket in hand, eagerly pouncing on whatever shells he spotted. Or maybe he was as easygoing back then as he was now. This gave her pause. She had learned so many things about him in the past year that she grew to love, yet there was still so much about him that she didn't know. She chewed on her lower lip.
"Speaking of, it's pretty nice this time of year. I'd like to take you someday."
Her heart fluttered at the idea of seeing his home. "That sounds wonderful. We could stroll down the beach at sunset. It'd be like Hawaii."
He laughed, agreeing with her sentiment, and held the chocolate to her lips. "Eat it before it melts!"
She obliged. "Mmm! It's so sweet and creamy. You should have one too. Here!"
She selected a spiral shell and popped it into his mouth. He rotated it with his teeth.
"Split it?" he teased with a grin.
"Wha-" she sputtered. "No! It's yours!"
He ate it in one gulp. "Not bad. It's dark chocolate but it's not too bitter. Really smooth too." He licked his lips. "Velvety."
Makoto considered eating another but decided to exercise some self-control. She always ended up having too much chocolate.
"I'm going to save the rest. I'll share some with Sis later."
She toyed with the box. Ren could tell she was formulating many questions in her mind and was thinking of the best way to ask them. He waited.
"Um, Ren?"
He tilted his head and met her eyes. "Yes?"
"What's life like for you back home?"
He kicked back against the bench and puffed the air out his cheeks.
She held up a hand. "Oh, if you don't mind me asking. It's just something I've been curious about but never had a chance to ask since, well, after everything that happened."
"It's fine, I don't mind. It's just, there's really not much to say. I mean home is..." He fiddled with his bangs. "Anyway, what would you like to know?"
"What's your hometown like?"
He gazed wistfully at the sky as he rhythmically drummed his fingers on the bench. "Well," he began. "For one thing, there aren't waves of people everywhere. And it's a lot quieter. It's in the countryside and a lot of people like to go camping or hiking."
"Sounds completely different from Shibuya." she said trying to imagine it all.
"A lot more trees too." he said with a smirk.
"Is your house near the city?"
"No, our house is in a neighborhood closer to the rural areas. It's a two story house right in the middle of our street. We're on a slope and you have to take the stairs to enter the front door. You can see the ocean from my room. Just a sliver though ever since they started building more homes. Sometimes I like to sit by the window at night and read while enjoying the cool breeze."
"I know what you mean. I like sitting by the window in the morning with a book in hand and a warm drink. It's so peaceful." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe that's something we can do when I come visit."
"Great, I'll be sure to clean my room before that. Just give me a heads-up. My mom's strict on cleaning, especially if we have guests over."
He blushed at the thought of introducing Makoto to his parents. She clapped her hands together in delight. I'm sure his mother and Sis would get along. Oh, I hope I can get along with them or at least have them approve of me.
"I'm guessing, since it's a small town, everything's within walking distance?"
"Yep. Everything from the local market, to the mini-mall where the theater and all the chain restaurants are, to the train station, and my school. You can also take the bus if you need to which is what most people do. That or bike."
"What's your school like? I'll bet it's different than Shujin." She imagined a one story building, a rectangular block of concrete set in the middle of a field.
His fingers stopped their drumming. "It's smaller than Shujin and there's not as many events or clubs. And, well, people like to talk."
She saw his eyes darken slightly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I didn't mean to trouble you."
The light in his eyes returned. "Don't be. After what happened at Shujin, I doubt I'll be fazed by anything anyone throws at me." He scratched his temple. "You know, talking to you about these things makes me realize, I've still so much to tell you. But I hope I'm not boring you. Home is pretty ordinary compared to Tokyo."
"I got to learn more about you today. I'm happy." He smiled at this.
"Now I'm curious to see what you look like in your school uniform."
He smiled wider. "You'd look nice in our uniform."
She raised both palms. "Oh no, I'm done with school uniforms, thank you very much. I'm looking forward to casual wear all year. Well, at least until I make it as police commissioner."
Makoto didn't want to keep bombarding him with questions but she had to know: "I know it's been a year but did you ever get homesick?"
Ren rolled his neck. He thought for a moment. "Not in particular. Or rather, there wasn't really time to feel homesick." His mind flashed back to the day Arsene appeared before him, the unanimous decision to continue acting as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and the choices that catapulted him and his friends to taking down the false ruler of Mementos.
"No big deal." he shrugged.
She expected as much. Ren always took things in stride.
She put the box aside. "Thank you for the chocolate. It was a delicious White Day present."
"But wait! There's more!" With a flourish, he produced a small paper bag dyed scarlet and sealed with a laminated white sticker in the shape of a foldable fan.
Makoto smirked. "Browsing the Underground Mall in Shibuya?"
"Heh. As expected of Makoto. Nothing gets by you."
She drew from the bag, white cotton gloves with snap closures.
"It's almost nostalgic." she murmured. "I wonder...if we'll ever be able to go back there."
"Anything's possible. I mean, Morgana came back."
Makoto murmured in agreement. It was still a mystery how Morgana, born from the depths of the Metaverse and whose existence was tied to Mementos, was able to retain his cat form, cognition and all, solely because the Phantom Thieves kept him in their hearts.
Ren ran a hand through his hair. "They reminded me of the gloves you wore in the Metaverse. Plus they resemble police gloves, don't you think?"
"Well, police gloves don't have a fuzzy lining on the inside like these." She smiled and tried one on. The glove went a little past her wrist. It fit snugly but she could move her fingers freely and she liked the way the soft lining felt against her skin.
"How did you know my hand size?"
"Like this." He casually pressed their palms together. Makoto noted how the tips of her fingers measured just below the tops of his middle phalanxes and how his hands were always warmer than hers.
She blinked. "I don't remember us comparing hand sizes."
"I did it one time when you took a nap on the train."
"What?!"
He wasn't about to tell her that while she slept, her face pushed into his shoulder so hard, it left fabric imprints from his jacket.
He cackled. "You're looking at the guy who's become an expert at trimming the claws of his sleeping cat who would otherwise shred him to ribbons. I can do all four paws in one go and he doesn't even realize till after he wakes up."
He interlocked his fingers with hers. "Besides, we've held hands many times for me to know the size of your hand." She flushed crimson and gave a tiny yelp.
"Honestly…" she pouted. She turned her head to hide the fact she was smiling uncontrollably and squeezed back.
It made her think of how much she loved the way his hand enveloped hers. The way their hands fit together...like a glove. She mentally facepalmed on that last thought. So, his fingers are about 2.5 cm longer than mine. She smiled inwardly. I think I know what I'll get him for Christmas.
Makoto folded the gloves and put them back in the bag. "Thank you, Ren. I'll put them to good use."
"I hope they'll keep your hands warm."
She clasped one of his hands with both of hers.
"They'll have to do. Especially when you're not around to keep them warm." She meant it as a joke but her voice betrayed a hint a sadness.
He intertwined his fingers with hers and placed his other hand over their joined hands. She nestled her head against his shoulder and he rested his chin on the top of her head. They sat in silence for a while taking in each other's warmth.
"I wish you didn't have to leave." she whispered.
Ren slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. He nuzzled his nose into her hair. "I know. But there are things I have to take care of back home. Graduating high school for one. Working things out with my parents for another."
She turned her head and pressed her face in the crook of his neck. Her nose was cold but she knew he didn't mind. She wrapped her arms around his torso and he caressed her hair.
"Makoto," he murmured as he stroked her back. "The relationship we have, nothing will change that."
She pressed closer, reassured by his words, comforted by his gentle affection. Then she drew back to meet his eyes.
"Ren," she tenderly touched his cheek. "You're right. Even if we're apart, our bond won't break that easily. I know you'll be fine. But if you need someone to talk to, know that we're just a phone call away."
She smiled apologetically. "Sorry. That was my selfish side rearing its ugly head."
He smiled kindly and brushed his lips against her palm as he took her hand in both of his.
"You know, I've been thinking of applying to a college in Bunkyō. Once I graduate high school, I can move back here and we can see each other more often."
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "This will be our goal one year from now! I will finish my first year in law school strong and you'll apply for a college around Tokyo after you graduate. Then we can meet somewhere halfway."
She leapt to her feet and balled her fists with a determined expression. "Alright. I'm all fired up now."
Ren also stood up and embraced her from behind. He tilted his head forward so that his nose was buried in her shoulder and his earlobe pressed against her neck. Makoto's pulse quickened, her breath caught, and she felt that no matter how many years passed, she would never tire of his embrace.
"I hope you guys can come visit soon. It's spring break after all." he murmured.
She squeezed his hands and leaned into him then suddenly gasped. She tilted her head back, smiling widely.
There was a glimmer in her eye. He could see the cogs turning in her head. The team strategist was planning and plotting, possibly scheming. "You're leaving in six days right? I have an idea."
He tipped his head down, his face hovering over hers. "Care to share it?"
She quirked an eyebrow. "It's a surprise. You'll just have to wait and see. Just be prepared to meet up at downtown Shibuya come March 20th. I'll text you more details later."
She hugged his arms again. "I'd better start preparing now."
He hugged back before releasing her. "Alright. See you then."
She took off with a spring in her step. Ren watched her go with a soft smile on his face.
He lifted his right hand and with his Third Eye, envisioned The World arcana suspended over his palm. "The willpower to stand up in this world on my own two feet unswayed by no one, huh? As long as I hold onto the bonds I share with my friends."
Yeah, it's gonna be alright.
Then he slipped his hands into his pockets and headed in the other direction running over the list of things he still needed to pack.
