Chapter Text
“I hope it’s not too cold,” Ren said as he and Makoto looked over the bay from one of the viewing decks on the Rainbow Bridge’s south side walkway. The weather had been fairly mild when he arrived in Tokyo, but lately it had hovered around the low teens.
“It’s fine, I dressed appropriately.” Makoto had her hands in her jacket pockets. She brought her shoulders in and shimmied, as if to say her coat was doing its job. Her smile as she did…
She was really cute.
It was a side of her that few got to appreciate back in high school. He wondered if it was any different now.
“Despite living here all these years, I’ve never done this walk,” Makoto added, peering over towards the old island forts. “I’d been meaning to, but… I guess I never really had a good reason to.”
It seemed he had chosen an appropriate match to their meeting the previous weekend. He had considered warmer indoor options, but somehow nothing felt as right as this one. They were headed towards the seaside park. They had visited once as students and he recalled that she enjoyed it.
Could there have been some “signal” that he missed back then? It was so long ago… he mostly remembered looking at the bridge and the city so far away, thinking how peaceful it was from where they were.
He swallowed a chuckle. He was letting Ryuji get in his head. Whatever happened back then was back then. Despite the familiarity, they had all grown as people. Now he was here to put down roots. He didn’t need to jump at signals. He could let things take their natural course.
“Yeah, I always came here by train,” he said as they left the observation deck and began walking towards Odaiba again.
“Did you visit Odaiba a lot?” Makoto kept pace alongside him.
“A few times, usually helping someone out,” said Ren. “Like Ann had a shoot there once.”
“I see,” Makoto nodded. Her face seemed flush. Maybe she was cold after all.
Ren walked a little faster.
“Why don’t we find somewhere heated?” he suggested. There could be some truth to what Ryuji had said… maybe he could feel things out a little more. “That ferris wheel has some cars like that, right? I always wanted to check that out.”
“Oh.” There was a strangely somber quality to Makoto’s voice. She looked up at him. “The big ferris wheel? That closed a few years ago.”