Chapter 102
[133]
Makoto sighed as she looked out across the street from the rooftop she was sitting on. How long had she been at this? The team was currently watching Goro Akechi’s apartment, waiting for him to return. Ren had warned her that stakeouts were boring but she hadn’t expected it to be this bad. Thankfully, the team had devised a partner system to help pass the time and ensure each other’s safety.
Different group members would show up every 2 hours to keep the Spider-person on duty company. Every 8 hours, Ren and Makoto switched so the other could get some rest. Given how dangerous Akechi could be, it was a requirement that at least one of them be there at any given time. And, if the two of them were put on duty together, needless to say not a lot of spying would get gone.
Just as Makoto went to check the time on her phone, she heard the door to the roof open and turned around to see who it was. Her last partner had been Yusuke (he’d been busy painting the city the whole time) so then her next partner would be…
“Ann.” The brunette greeted the girl with a nod, noticing that she’d brought a takeout container with her.
“Hey,” The blonde greeted. “I brought crepes.” She held up the container before offering it to Makoto who graciously accepted.
“Thanks.” Makoto replied, pulling out a strawberry crepe before taking a bite.
The two of them sat quietly, chewing their food as they looked down at the street below. Makoto glanced over at the blonde before quickly looking away. This was the first time in a while that the two of them had been alone together and she didn’t really know what to say to the other girl. With everything that had happened between and Ren, the dance, their competition...What was there to say?
“Um...Hey Makoto?” Ann said, still looking over the street.
“Y-Yeah?” The girl in question turned to her. “What’s up?”
“I’ve...I’ve been thinking recently.” A sad look crossed her face. “I think I messed things up with Ren. Pretty badly at that.”
“Huh?” Makoto raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I guess he didn’t tell you then.” Ann remarked. “After our date, I brought Ren back to my place and we...yeah. He wasn’t so sure but I pressured him into it. When it was over, I asked how I was compared to you.”
Makoto didn’t say anything in reply, but her jaw was slightly agape at learning this.
“Looking back, all I could think about was competing with you. I just...I wanted to be acknowledged I guess.”
“Ann…” Makoto reached out a hand toward the other girl before hesitating.
“In truth, I’m jealous of you. I always have been.” The younger girl admitted. “You’re smarter than me, you’re stronger than me, you and Ren have way more in common…” Tears began to drop from her eyes. “I guess that’s why I wanted to be the one to take the serum so badly. I thought that maybe for once, I could beat you at something, show that I was worth something. Y’know?” She sniffed and wiped her nose.
“I-I had no idea you thought that way.”
“Of course I do, look at you!” Ann finally turned to her. “You’re perfect! You’re smart, beautiful, you have friggin superpowers! And I-I just thought, maybe if I gave it everything I had…” She looked back down. “But my jealousy got the best of me. And I ruined my chance. So if it wasn’t already obvious, I’m giving up. Looks like it’s just between you and Haru now.”
“Ann,” Makoto contemplated her next words carefully. “Do you still love Ren? I mean, do you really love him?”
“Wha?” Ann looked confused. “I’m telling you, I’m giving up! You don’t need to rub it in.”
“Do you love him?” The older girl repeated.
“Yes! Yes, I still love him! Okay!?” Ann yelled before sulking again. “Feelings like that, they don’t go away overnight.”
“Okay.” Makoto nodded. “Then I have something I’d like to propose to you.” Ann looked confused again so she continued. “Haru has...an idea. She suggested *ahem* th-that we um,” She turned away awkwardly, her cheeks red. “Share him.” She murmured.
“What?” Ann leaned toward her. “I didn’t hear you.”
“W-What would you think about sharing Ren?” Makoto turned to her and asked, a bit louder than she intended. The two girls’ faces were inches apart now and Ann’s eyes were the size of dinner plates.
“H-Huh?” She recoiled, unsure that she heard right. “Y-You want t-t-to-”
“Share him, yes.” Makoto nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, b-but Haru made a very compelling argument. I mean, this way nobody gets hurt right?” She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. “A-And maybe, instead of rivals, maybe we could be, I don’t know...teammates?”
“You’re serious? This isn’t some sort of joke right?” Ann asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.
“You’d only be as involved as you want to be.” Makoto prefaced. “A-And if you decide that it isn’t for you, you can opt out at any time.”
“Wow.” Was all that Ann could muster, still reeling in shock.
“Do you think you’d be interested?”
“I...What does Ren think of all of this?” Ann asked.
“We haven’t exactly told him yet. But do you really think he’d refuse? I mean, most guys dream of this kind of thing, right?”
“Y-Yeah…” The blonde nodded, pausing to think for a moment. “Okay, I’m-I’m willing to give this a shot if you are. Let’s try it.”
Makoto smiled at the younger girl before pulling her into a tight hug which she gladly accepted. Finally, after weeks of rivalry and awkward feelings, the two of them could put aside their feud and rekindle their friendship. Even if it was somewhat unorthodox.
Meanwhile across town, Ren and the team’s other blond were on a different mission. Normally, he would be taking this time to rest after an 8 hour shift of watching Akechi’s apartment, but after 24 hours to no avail, this plan seemed to be going nowhere fast. So instead, he’d decided to gather more information from the source. Akechi’s job.
“Tokyo Bugle, looks like this is the place.” Ryuji read out the sign on the side of the building.
Sign might’ve been a bit generous of a description, the object in question was closer to a cheap banner strung out over the front of a small, cheap building that they appeared to be renting. If Ren recalled correctly, their original building had been destroyed in the original Shibuya attack back in June. From the looks of it, they weren’t getting their place back. And while he did feel bad for them, he honestly couldn’t say he was too surprised. Journalism was a dying profession after all.
Opening the door, the pair of teens were immediately bombarded by the sounds of workers rushing around the office, ringing phones, and loudest of all, a rotund, balding man barking orders at his workers.
‘Maybe it’s not as dead as I thought.’ Ren mused as he looked over the crowded office.
“Excuse me?” He tried to get the attention of a woman, but she just ran past him.
“Yo!” Ryuji yelled at a man on the phone at his desk who replied simply by flipping them off. “Dick.” He muttered in response.
“What!? Risette’s back in town? Where’s she staying?”
“The latest poll projections are in! It’s Shido’s race by a landslide!”
“He got free!? Are the police searching for him?”
The various reporters spoke to one another as the two boys walked through the office seemingly unnoticed. Seeing the balding man from earlier enter his office at the back of the room, Ren decided to speak with him. Pushing past the workers, they reached his secretary who was too busy on her phone to notice them.
With a shrug, the teenagers entered the office and found the man they were trying to speak to sitting behind his desk with a large cigar in his mouth. According to the nameplate on the desk, his name was Toranosuke Yoshida. Ren was pretty sure this guy had a podcast badmouthing Spider-Man.
“You two the new interns?” He asked, eyeing them. “You’re late! YOU’RE FIRED! Wait, do we have anyone to go to that conference tonight? I changed my mind, you’re unfired!”
“Actually sir, we were wondering-” Ren began but was cut off.
“You, Blondie!” The man pointed at Ryuji. “You look hip, write me a section on what kids are into these days!”
“Huh!?” Ryuji was baffled. “I don’t work-”
“Frizzy Hair, you’re writing about women’s sports now! Got it?”
“Uhhh.”
“What are you two still standing here for? You expect me to hold your hand through this? We can’t employ idiots like you two! YOU’RE FIRED!”
“Sir!” Ren finally spoke up. “We’re here about one of your reporters! A guy by the name of Goro Akechi? He’s-”
“Don’t even get me started on that kid!” Yoshida’s expression turned even more bitter. “He can’t even be bothered to come into work the past week! You see him, you tell him HE’S FIRED!”
“I don’t think we’re gonna get much outta this guy.” Ryuji whispered to Ren who nodded.
“Right, thanks for all your help sir.” Ren bowed before turning to leave. “We’ll just show ourselves out.”
“Hold on!” The man called out to them, causing them to pause. “Either of you any good at photography?”
“Uhh-” Ren and Ryuji glanced at each other.
“Who am I kidding? Kids these days, you practically live on your phones! It isn’t hard, you just point the camera and shoot!” He took a puff of his cigar. “Anyways, you see the news lately? We need pictures of the thing that attacked Shido Sciences Tower the other day. You get me a picture of that and there’s a 10,000 yen reward in it for you.”
“10,000 yen?” Ryuji whistled before turning to Ren. “Not a bad offer.”
“And if you come back here without any photos, YOU’RE FIRED!” Yoshida yelled. “Now get the hell outta my office!”
They didn’t need to be told twice, quickly exiting the office and the building, the two turned to each other.
“Well, I think it's safe to say that was pretty fruitless.” Ren remarked.
“Yeah, but you can bet I’m trying to get that photo next time we see him.” Ryuji smiled before his expression became more somber. “For real though, how the hell are we supposed to catch Akechi like this? Dude’s a ghost.”
“You two are looking for Akechi?” A voice asked them from behind.
Turning around, the two came face to face with a woman with orange sunglasses and messy shoulder length brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Notably, she had a large bandage on her forehead and was unapologetically blowing cigarette smoke into their faces.
“Name’s Ohya. I think I can help.”