Annkoto - P5

Annkoto - Chapter 11: By My Own Merit

Another 3 days have passed. Seeing Ann and Makoto at school is night and day compared to how they were before they went to mementos. When seeing each other in the halls, they can't help but smile. They have even started having lunch together every day. No one's sure if they're officially in a relationship or not, but one thing that's for certain is whenever the Phantom Thieves meet up, whether it be business or casual friend group activities, there would be quite a bit of flirting. And again it's only been 3 days. Morgana especially, is quite sick of it.

The date is Saturday, July 9th, and Ren is the first one to arrive at the hideout.
Ann arrives shortly after him.

Ann (gleefully): "Hi Ren!"

Ren: "Well someone's happy."

Ann: "Makoto's really the best."

Ren: "That's great to hear. So... are you two officially dating yet?"

Ann: "U-uhm, I don't know. I think I still need to figure myself out y'know? And Makoto's totally supportive of that I just-"

Ren: "It's as if you've never considered the possibility before. Sorry for butting in, I just have had a similar experience."

Ann: "About y-you and Akechi being gay?"

Ren: "Well that's the thing, I'm not gay."

Ann: "Really? Then how does that work?"

Ren: "I'm pan, it stands for pansexual. You probably haven't heard of it before, but it basically means I don't have a preference for gender. I love Akechi, but him being a guy has nothing to do with that."

Ann: "Wow. I thought I was well informed but I've never even heard about that. Thanks for telling me Ren!"

Ren: "You're my friend Ann, of course. And you know, there's plenty of other sexualities too. Bisexuality seems to be the most common among queer people."

Ann: "Bisexual... that's the one where you like both genders right?"

Ren: "Not exactly. It really just means they're attracted to more than one sex or gender."

Ann: "Oh! I think I get it. I'll have to learn a lot more about this at home."

Ren: "Makoto's actually been doing the same thing."

Ann: "She has? She never mentioned that to me."

Ren: "She's been educating herself for her own self-discovery. That's how she was able to so confidently say that she's a lesbian back in Mementos."

Ann: "So that's why. Makoto's so quick to learn these things. And to think she barely knew anything about month ago-"

Morgana: "Yeah yeah, well Lady Ann better be that pansexual or bisexual thing. Otherwise I won't have a chance with her."

Ren: "I don't think a cat ever has a chance here."

Morgana: "You're wrong! I'm human!"

Ryuji and Yusuke arrive, finally.

Ryuji: "What's the cat screamin' about"

Morgana: "I'm NOT-"

Yusuke: "Apologies for the delay. The scenery was simply exquisite on our path."

Ryuji: "This guy just had to stop and sketch just about everything."

Yusuke: "Not everything. But the sketches did turn out quite well."

Ren: "Kaneshiro's confessions to the police were made public."

Ryuji: "And our ratings have totally gone up. It's awesome! We gotta take out more big shots like him."

Ann: "Hold up, it's too early to think about our next target. We have to celebrate!"

Yusuke: "That would be splendid."

Ryuji: "Yeah! What are we gonna do?"

Ann: "Let's wait for Makoto to get here before we decide."

bzzt! bzzt!

Ren pulls out his phone, it's a call from Makoto.

Ryuji: "Who's that?"

Makoto: *Hello everyone? It's Makoto.* [I'm doing ** for phone calls now]

Ann immediately gets closer to Ren so she can hear Makoto, even if his phone was on speaker.

Ann: "Makoto-senpai where are you? We have to decide what we're gonna do to celebrate defeating Kaneshiro!"

Makoto: "I'm sorry Ann-chan, but I was called into the principal's office this afternoon."

While the boys were shocked and worried as to what Principal Kobayakawa might want. Ann was beside herself blushing off to the side.

Ann (blushing and filled with glee): "She called me... -ch-chan~"

Ren's bag shakes with rage.

Makoto: *And about the celebration, I hope you remember we have finals next week. Yusuke and Morgana excluded, of course. If you wish not to stand out, you all should avoid getting bad grades, okay?*

Ryuji (with his head down low): "I had completely forgotten about finals..."

Ann: "Me too..."

Makoto: *I may be part of the team now, but I'm still student council president. Don't worry, we can have fun once finals are over... Understood?*

Ryuji: "Yes ma'am!"

Ann swoons just a little bit at Makoto's commanding authority. She never cared for it before, but now was a different story.

...

Makoto: "There will be no need for the letter of recommendation Principal Kobayakawa. I intend on getting into a good college by my own merit."

Kobayakawa: "But- Hey!"

Makoto: "If that is all, then I will be off. Have a pleasant evening, Principal Kobayakawa."
She leaves.

Kobayakawa: "What am I going to do?"

This marked a fresh start for Makoto, who's finally taken charge of her own life.