2026-09-28: The Back Foot
- Log: 2026-09-28 The Back Foot
- Cast: Ren Amamiya, Makoto Niijima
- Where: Back Alleys - Leblanc Cafe
- OOC Date: September 28, 2026
- IC Date: January 16, 2013
- Summary: Makoto chews Ren out for letting Akechi know they're the leader of the Phantom Thieves. However, as the lecture continues, Ren realizes there's more to her anger than just that.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Of all of their friends, Makoto was easily the angriest to learn that not only is Ren dating Goro Akechi now, Akechi has known their true identity for ages. (Well, it's really the latter half that she's mad about. Still.) The two agreed to talk about it later, and while Ren isn't looking forward to it, they know they deserve to get chewed out.
They didn't mean to hide it from their friends. However, when The Phantoms discussed Akechi's suspicions ages back, Ren only said he probably knows when they were 95% sure of it because they didn't want to make the others freak out--and then never updated them when they and Akechi stopped pretending not to realize. It'd always been such an obvious thing to them that it never really felt necessary to confirm it. Of course, it's been obvious to them because they're the one that Akechi engages with the vast majority of the time.
So, after talking to him about who he suspects is also a member and sharing that info with the rest of the team, Makoto is coming over to Leblanc to speak with them privately in their room about the matter. They hope that them getting on top of that will help blunt her anger...
...hope, but don't expect.
At least they'll have fresh, hot coffee and light, crisp snacks prepared for her on the table next to the couch, on which they currently sit. Ren doesn't think that Makoto is someone who can be bribed out of getting pissed, but they can still be a good host to their friend. Or try.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Makoto had plenty of reasons to be upset, but none of those reasons have to do with who Ren is dating. At least that's what she's told herself. It's purely about the safety of the group, and the risk of being discovered.
Still, normally, she just yells at whoever is being careless, maybe slaps them upside the head if they're in the Metaverse, or stomps on a foot or jabs with an elbow. It's much rarer that Makoto simmers with her anger for so long. Normally it's left behind or let out quickly, after all.
That gets them to today, where Makoto enters into Ren's room wordlessly. She doesn't take the couch next to them, instead grabbing the chair from Ren's workbench to sit across from them. That anger is still there, still obvious in her red brown eyes that fix on Ren. She doesn't even touch the coffee or the snacks.
And then she finally speaks, and that same anger bursts out in her voice. "What were you thinking!?" It sounds, technically, like a question, but Makoto doesn't give Ren time to answer. "We knew Akechi was on to us, we knew he knew who Tsubasa was- but now you've eliminated all doubt!" Makoto's fists clench at her sides as she lets this out. "There's no evidence weighted stronger than a confession in Japan, and now you've basically given him one! What if he's recording you? Even if they can't prove using the metaverse is illegal, there's no court that wouldn't take that as a confession to any of the things we've done around it- and you're still on probation, too!"
The words come out quickly, and heatedly- it's all true, after all, and all valid dangers. But it's hard to not feel like something rings hollow...
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Oh. She's really mad.
That's Ren's thought when she pulls over the chair from their desk and doesn't so much as glance at the refreshments. Meeting her eyes only underscores that--with a knife, it almost seems, given the interrogation room positioning she's set up for herself. And when she lays into them, they flinch. She starts out relatively quiet, but she gains heat and volume as she continues, until Ren's chastisement shifts into alarm and they raise both hands palm-out.
"Shh, shh--the floors aren't that thick," they murmur. "I'm sorry to tell you to quiet down when you're mad." They knew she'd be angry, but they didn't think she'd still be this angry.
That understanding that they've yet again misjudged a friend's feelings makes them even more uncomfortable. They take a moment and a deep breath to calm their nerves, but when they set their hands down, they're trembling.
"I... don't think he's doing any of that. I started off deeply suspicious of him--paranoid, even--and over time, he's demonstrated..." They swallow hard. Stay calm. Stay calm. "I mean... he's shared some very private, personal things with me. If he were just pulling a long con, I don't think he'd do that. He's got a lot more to lose reputation-wise than I do."
There is something that rings hollow, but Ren isn't in a frame of mind to sense it yet. Makoto's put them thoroughly on the back foot. Right now, all they can do is defend.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
The reminder to keep her voice down stings- but it would be even more of a problem for her to be ripping into Ren only to cause trouble for everyone herself. She closes her eyes as Ren apologies and takes the opportunity to take a breathe and try and focus.
When she opens her eyes, though, Makoto is still glaring and ignoring or perhaps not noticing Ren's trembling. She does give them a chance to respond, at least, even if she frowns as Ren speaks.
And indeed, Makoto was there for some of it. She knew Ren hated Akechi at one point- she remembers how they reacted in Eiji's palace- but that's clearly changed too. "Do you really think, if push came to shove, his reputation is more important than whatever Justice it is he's seeking?" ...That was part of what helped Makoto warm up to Akechi. Even though they were enemies, he had some sort of goal, some sort of drive that mirrored her own.
"Even if he isn't prepared to sacrifice his reputation, if he slips up around Sis, she won't let that go. She just needs to have a hint that Akechi knows who we are, and she won't let go of it! Or did you forget that a large amount of that reputation has to do with having a high ranking prosecutor who actually listens to him!"
Makoto finds her voice rising again, and at least this time she catches herself, falling silent and taking a few more deep breaths. She needs to calm down herself. Recenter.
It's now that she reaches for the coffee, gripping the beverage tightly as she tries to talk a sip and get herself back on track.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"...No," Ren is forced to admit. Goro values his reputation dearly--it's something he's fought tooth and nail to cultivate--but Ren knows his Justice is even more important to him than that.
They take another deep breath. Focus. Focus. Prepare your next argument. She's still angry, so if you stay calm, you'll make it through. They fold their arms and cross their legs--not defiant, but gathering themself up physically so they can gather themself up mentally. If it's closed-off body language too, well, they are still on the defensive. She does raise a good point about Sae and Goro's working relationship, but...
"That could've happened anyway. Like you said, he already knew about Tsubasa before they even joined us. If he hasn't slipped up about them, he's not going to slip up about me. Long before we were dating, we were competing. We're rivals. He takes that seriously. He's not going to let someone else haul me away. If she listens to him, then she'll also listen if he covers his tracks by saying he doesn't have hard evidence--which he doesn't. It doesn't matter if I've as good as confessed to him." In more ways than one, they know better than to say out loud.
"And if you're worried about this compromising the rest of the team, then I've only admitted my own identity, not anyone else's. Not even Tsubasa's, who I explicitly know he already knows about. If he hasn't done anything about them, I don't think he's going to do anything about me either. He..." their cheeks faintly flush, "knows me by now. He knows I'm not the kind of person who'd try to pull mind control on someone else, which is essentially the thing he's afraid of when it comes to changes of heart. If we can convince him of our Justice, he doesn't need to be our enemy at all."
That might be overly optimistic, considering how SEES reacted, but the thing they had the biggest problem with is how cagey The Phantoms were about how one actually pulls off a change of heart. For Goro, trying to figure that out is part of the appeal, even if it's also a source of concern.
Now that they've calmed down some while talking through their arguments, though, they have a clearer eye on how Makoto is behaving. She's also trying to re-center herself with deep breaths, but her knuckles on that coffee are white. They remember what a tumultuous relationship she has with her sister, and...
"...or is this less about what he knows and more about what your sister knows?" they hazard.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Makoto's not sure she's exactly happy to extract that agreement from Ren, but in her mind, it's necessary. She simply nods, though, and doesn't focus on it. Instead she's focusing on Ren's next point. She frowns- that it's about their rivalry, and that's too important to Akechi. She does bristle when Ren turns her words back at her, about Sae listening to Akechi.
But the way Ren's talking, it feels like there's some fundamental thing about Ren's positioning she doesn't understand here. "But he's already figured most of us out," Makoto says, after a moment. "Any prosecutor worth their badge could draw a line from that confession. And Sis is..."
She frowns, though. Once again, Makoto has her own words thrown back at her- from when she first tried to investigate the thieves herself. She finds herself stumbling for the right answer, but for some reason... "Do you really think we can do that!?" Makoto nearly yells, in a way that seems to surprise herself. "It's not like it's that easy!"
Wasn't it for her, though?
But as she starts to fumble her argument, Ren asks her a questions and Makoto's momentum is totally halted. Makoto's body language shifts inwards, from aggressive to defensive. "That's- this is about Akechi, not..."
...Dead on the money, it seems.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren stares at Makoto when she nearly loses her temper again. Their eyes lid when she's put on the back foot by their question, and they study her as she stumbles over her response.
"Isn't it?" they ask quietly. "You know Goro isn't that sloppy. He's been infuriatingly hard to pin down all this time, and he knows how to work with your sister. What's more, he's got reason to hide the supernatural from her, too. Even if he did slip up, wouldn't he know the right thing to say to allay her suspicions?"
A beat.
"Didn't you know the right things to say to allay her suspicions?"
Another beat. This time, Ren lets their carefully neutral expression soften. They know that was probably a low blow, but they also know that sometimes Makoto needs to hear these things to realize how she feels. The least they can do now is be direct.
So they unfold their arms and legs and lean forward, elbows resting on their knees. "Makoto... Are you maybe jealous that Goro and I can be open with each other, but you and your sister can't?" they wonder gently.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
"I know he's not, but..." It's clear the wind has been aggressively taken out of her sails, quickly and viciously- but Ren's 'low blow' makes her sink back into herself, that white knuckle grip on the coffee and Makoto's whole body sagging.
She's silent for a little while, as Ren leans forward and asks that last question, not answering for a moment, and when she does, she's answering more than one.
"...That would require her to suspect me," Makoto says, the words leaving her mouth with a deep sigh. "I don't think she's even realized anything is different."
Sae's supposed to be a rising star prosecutor, isn't she? You'd think she could notice a change in her sister's behaviour and schedule.
Her voice rises in intensity, like she can't work out whether to be sad or angry so it just wavers between us both. "It's just... all of a sudden, you decide you get to drop the whole charade with Akechi, but every time I see Sis, I'm lying to her, I'm hiding things from her- it hasn't even been difficult, but it still..."
Makoto puts her coffee back down on the table, and crosses her arms in something that could be considered a self hug- but once again, she's gripping her left bicep with her right hand somewhat forcefully. "And you both see so much in Akechi!" she says, a little too loud, a little too venomous. "Even I can tell that he's special to you, and Sis actually respects him!"
And once it starts flowing, it's hard for Makoto to stop. "It's not even just at work, she'll tell Akechi things about our family, take him shopping with her, but barely even talk to me at home-"
All you do is eat away at my life!
Now, Makoto starts to dig her trimmed fingernails into her left arm, the thick sleeve of her uniform stopping her from drawing blood. She wants to scream, and yell, and just start hitting something- but the only person here is Ren, and he hasn't earned that level of aggression. She has to just. Keep it together a little longer.
It would be a little easier without these tears blocking up her vision.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren is silent as Makoto sags on herself. They simply watch her with concern. Once she finally speaks, they nod once to show they're paying attention and don't interrupt. I don't think she's even realized anything is different. That in particular, though... It really does set the tone for the rest of what she has to say. If Ren's fallen in love with Goro because of how closely he pays attention to them and cares about how they feel, how painful must it be for Makoto to have a sister she relies on who doesn't seem to care about her at all?
So while it does sting what she says about them and Goro, they keep their eyes on her. Not only is he a close co-worker to her sister, he's the one they functionally broke up with her for. Sure, Makoto had feelings for someone else too, but her insecurity probably doesn't care about that. It just feels like he's more loved, more valued, than she is, both with her last living family and one of her closest friends.
She cuts herself off, but it's clear she's bottling up whatever more violent feelings she's got--just as clear as how she's got so many of them. Ren stands and draws close to Makoto, resting a hand lightly on the back of her chair before they get down on their knees to be closer to eye level with her.
"I'm sorry," they murmur. "For what it's worth, you're still a very important friend to me, Makoto. I rely on you a lot to help lead the team--especially when it feels like I'm messing up. I'm always scared I'm going to end up letting everyone down, and you do an amazing job of backing me up and keeping me principled. You might not be to me what Goro is, but I still need you, and I care about you."
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Honestly, Makoto had thought she had handled the break-up pretty well, in the moment- especially given the revelation of what it meant about her sexuality. But... it's hard not for the feelings to blur given how little she processes them. How often she is focused on not dealing with them.
Unfortunately, the barrier of denial has broken down now, and she has to face those feelings she's been pushing back against- some old, some fresh. She doesn't pull back when Ren gets close, or flinch as they place a hand on her chair, but she doesn't meet their eyes when they start talking to her.
She doesn't expect an apology to be what comes out any way. She lifts her head a bit, as Ren addresses her issues directly and gets to the heart of the issue.
Specifically, though, it's the words 'but I still need you' that bring a little bit of light back to her face, the hint of a smile. "...Thanks," she manages, after a few more seconds.
But there's a lot for her to grapple with now, that she had been avoiding so long. It's not gonna be easy to just switch streams back now.
"Sorry," she mumbles, apologizing for the simple act of drawing an apology out of her friend and leader. "Is it okay if we take a break for a bit?" The coffee and snacks are still there, and she could probably use them right now.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren's watching Makoto closely as they speak, and they see that it's the words I still need you that make it through to her. They give her a tiny smile back; it's too early to be relieved, but it's a step in the right direction. They nod once with a low noise of acknowledgement at her gratitude.
"It's fine," they reassure her of her own apology. "Like I said--you keep me principled. I don't want you holding back if you think I'm wrong about something." The fact that it was motivated by unacknowledged jealousy is besides the point, in their view. Being motivated by ugly emotions doesn't inherently make a point invalid. They rise to their feet and nod again. "Of course."
They'll have some coffee and snacks themself, hopefully prompting her to do the same. It'll probably take some time before she's ready to talk more, but once she gives signs that she's there, they look at her anew.
"...What do you want to do about Goro and Sae-san?" they wonder quietly. "I encouraged Goro to put a better foot forward with everyone, if you want to talk to him directly--but I understand if you'd rather not remove your plausible deniability." If she doesn't have an answer for that right now, it's still worth asking so she can think on it more.