Gift for Theo

Content warning: mention of death

Junpei parked his car at the recording studio, looking at the loft in his rearview. He’d gotten in easily, and the security guard opened the gate as soon as he saw Junpei’s license plate.

He was really on the set of Phoenix Ranger Featherman: Victory — as well as other shows, but. Phoenix Ranger Featherman: Victory! Here he was, on this gorgeous, frigid, sunny Saturday. His daughter and him bonded over this show, and he was so proud that his daughter idolized his old friend Yukari. But he had to admit…he wanted her to idolize him, too. She did, in that she loved him very much, but…he was no Feather Pink.

Until today.
He’d written a script where him and Feather Pink are allies. They’d come to each other’s aid, save the day. Just like the good ol’ days! Except…no Makoto stealing the limelight.

Stealing?

No, that’s harsh phrasing.

No Makoto ‘being the leader because he was naturally incredibly gifted thanks to forces out of everyone’s control.’ Yes, that’s better. Just him and Feather Pink! Against a large, very powerful CGI villain that would be edited in later!

With conviction he pushed his car door open and stepped out and stretched in the cold morning sunlight — and another car pulled up beside him. Aigis and Makoto waved from the passenger’s side; Aigis with a polite smile, Makoto with a barely existent ornery smirk.

Junpei saw Aigis every once in a blue moon at HQ, but. Makoto. He hadn’t seen since…watching him get rolled out of Gekkoukan in a body bag on the last day of Junior year.

The news of his rescue was sent out through a mass email to everyone on the Shadow Operatives’ e-mail list, including him who was in the reserves. He read that the Kirijo group had found a way to revive Makoto in that fashion, which was baffling and impersonal (as Mitsuru’s methods often were), considering he’d gone to the man’s wake several years ago. It was hard to believe, and painful, but as soon as he saw Makoto- looking 17 years old on a holiday card he and Aigis sent out captioned ‘I’m back, happy solstice’. He started coping. All of SEES’ former members did. They video chatted a few times, though this was the first time he’d seen the guy in person.

Yukari stepped out of the driver’s seat in full costume sipping on an iced coffee.

“Good morning. It’s been a while.”
“Yuka tan it’s 8 degrees out,” Junpei noted, looking at her drink. It took a moment for what he was saying to click for her, and she looked at her drink, shaking the ice around a little, not really seeing the big deal. The women he knew were always complaining about being cold, and yet.

“So it is. Anyway, we should get started.” She pushed the door closed.
“Ai chan! And Makotooooo!” Junpei walked over and circled him, then poked his shoulder.
“In the flesh,” Makoto noted gently. Someone had apparently taken him shopping, he wore clothes that looked comfortable, a nice zip hoodie and slacks, fashionable sneakers. Just as tiny as he used to be.

“Well look at you. What are you up to?”

Makoto took a long inhale, exhale. A four hundred yard stare.

“Studying for my GED,” he mumbled. He didn’t seem thrilled about it. He had a camcorder in his hands that he was fiddling with. “Aigis is tutoring me.”
Smiling, she stood next to him, as if to stake her claim.

“Did you know the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell?” Makoto parroted with a tinge of annoyance.
“Heh…oh yeah…” Junpei scratched the back of his neck. “I guess it is.”
At that Makoto cracked a smile and took Junpei into a hug. He only came up to his shoulders.
“I missed you, Junpei.”

His heart…jumped? It jumped in his chest, and he bent a little to hug Makoto back. He was real. There he was right there in his arms. Tiny and warm.

“Back at ya, Makoto.”

~~~

Yukari flipped on a cartoonishly large switch on the wall, and the recording studio groaned to life, all of the lights and electronics turning on in unison. The studio was huge, and there was a set still up fashioned to look like a city under siege — there were toppled, wrecked cars, mailboxes, trees, debris — there was a nearby scaffolding structure, and a mezzanine with a ladder and a landing pad on the bottom.

Yukari rubbed her upper arms, looking around at the studio, then pulled a printed version of Junpei’s script out of her tote bag.

“Okay, so scene one, I’m fighting a monster alone, and you come and help me, then stun it by throwing…” she checked the script. “A bat into its eye. Like a tomahawk.”
“That’s the plan!”
“Why wouldn’t I just shoot an arrow into its eye?” she asked.

“Well…maybe you’re out of arrows?”

“Feather Pink out of arrows…” she scoffed a little. “Sure. It could happen. For the sake of your script — ” She snorted, trying to not laugh out loud. She was really trying to be nice. “Feather pink is ill prepared and out of arrows.” Her soft brown eyes flashed a dubious look at Makoto and Aigis, then flipped the page on the script. “Then I dodge a foot, as it’s trying to step on me, I try to call the Feather men for help but my communicator is… broken. Oh boy. It is just not my day huh? Then I scream. I feel like you’re writing me as…not a capable protagonist.”
“Well why didn’t you tell me that earlier — I could have made edits!” He was getting flustered at this point.
“Calm down I’m just messing with you. But — yeaaaah I may take a few liberties. I’m not gonna hurt your creative vision, though. Don’t worry.”

She walked over and climbed onto the set, positioning herself in the midst of some debris and in front of the green screen. She looked so powerful, yet casual.

“Aigis!” She called from the set. “Get the lighting!” Aigis nodded, and the lighting of the entire studio shifted, lighting Yukari beautifully.
“Whoa! Aigis, do you have the lights controlled via bluetooth or something?” Junpei asked, genuinely impressed.
“I…have a remote.” She deadpanned and held the device up for him to see.

“Oh! Uh…sorry Ai chan.” He laughed nervously. He saw a teasing smile on her lips seconds later.

Makoto slowly turned his head to Junpei and squinted at him.
“Sorry, did you just imply my girlfriend has bluetooth capabilities?”

“I didn’t — ” Junpei fretted.
“Makoto! Start filming!” Yukari called.

“Sorry, gimme a second!” He found a tripod and fastened the camcorder he had on it.

It seemed they were all really going all out for Junpei’s gift.

Well lit.

Smooth stable camera.

“I will assist with the boom mic,” Aigis offered, ready to walk over, but she was stopped by Yukari’s gestures.

“No it’s okay! I have a pin mic. It’s way easier. I’m ready to roll!”

There was…silence.

“You gotta say ‘action’,” Makoto noted to Junpei.

“Whoa wh — me?”

“It is your script, right?”

“Here you are, director,” Aigis handed Junpei a clapboard. He had no idea what to do with it. This whole thing felt a little goofy, but it was fun! And Makoto was taking his instruction, which… felt really dope.

“Take one! Action!” Clap.

Feather pink, helmet off, started dodging invisible obstacles, she had 3 arrows in her quiver.
She reached back — shot a target.
She reached back — shot a target.

Junpei didn’t realize that around the set there were actual targets for Yukari to shoot with her authentic arrows. It was so fuckin’ cool. Her bow was intricately designed, yet functional.

One bow left, panting, she scurried over to hide behind a mailbox from the — invisible threat.
“H- hello! This is Pink Argus calling for back up! Hello?!” She fussed with her communicator, looked up, shrieked, barrel rolled.

She was a goddamn professional.

“Rrrgh! It’s busted. I wish…” She started to cry. Real tears. Real damn tears. Makoto zoomed in on her face. “ — my friend Junpei were here to help me…with my last bow I…send my wish up!” Elegantly, poignantly, she reached back to grab her last arrow, and shot it into the sky. There was a target on the ceiling, too.

And then she held that pose until Junpei got the picture.

“Oh uh — cut!” Was he supposed to snap the clapboard again? He did for good measure, then ran over to Yukari. “Yuka tan are you actually crying!?”

“Uh, yeah?” She left the tears on her face. “Hurry and get your weapon and join me on set before my tears dry up.”

“Oh! Uh…” He looked for where he’d placed his baseball bat, but Aigis rounded the corner and handed him a sword.

“Here, director.”
“WHOA Ai chan where did you get this?!” It was a two handed sword. Kinda heavy, just like how he liked it. He took it in his hands, admiring it. It was definitely not metal, but it looked metal.
“The set of Kamen Rider,” she replied.

“Oh, maybe you could use that? I think it’s more convincing that you come to my rescue with a sword than…a bat,” Yukari suggested.
“I’ll have to write out all of my baseball puns…” he lamented. She gave a small gasp.

“Oh no.”

“Buuut this sword is pretty sweet, though! Sword it is. Action!”

“Rolling,” Makoto called. Aigis snapped the clapboard. “Scene two.”

“Haaah!” Junpei jumped in front of Feather Pink, as if summoned, and held off the monster with his sword. He held it above them both, shaking it a little, to make it look like he was straining, matched in strength against their foe.

“Don’t worry Feather Pink, I’ll always have your back! Haaah!” He pushed the monster away with his *strength*, then looked over to smile at his friend — who shrieked.

“Junpei Look out!” She shoved Junpei — hard — and he flew back a meter and landed on his side. She crouched then jumped and fell back dramatically a few meters herself.
“Oh owww, are — are you okay?” she called.

“Yeah — I think so?” He decided to play along even though this shove was not in his script.
“Then let’s ruuuun!” She got up and ran to him, offering him her hand, and pulled him up.

“Th-thank you Feather Pink…” Junpei did his best to look tired and roughed up, he was hurt a little, he played it up.

“Any time friend. I knew you’d come if I called!” Keeping a grip on his hand she ran off of the set with him. Junpei held his hat while he was pulled away.
“Cut!”

~~~

By lunch they had just about everything filmed. Without multiple takes, multiple cameras, distractions, etc. they were moving through this project pretty quickly.

Aigis, for a while now, had been preparing shabu shabu for everyone. The delicious smell wafted through the studio, nearly crippling the hungry actors.

When Aigis called for them to take a break, they all sat in a circle around the hot pot plugged into an impossibly long extension cord and prepared to eat.

“We deserve this break!” Yukari exclaimed, pulling her chopsticks apart. “And props, Junpei I didn’t know you could act. At this rate maybe I will be able to recommend you as an extra on Featherman Victory.”

“Wow, you know I’d love that. Thank you.” He reached for meat, but his chopsticks were gently moved aside by Makoto’s chopsticks, and he took the first slice of meat with a gentle “Dibs.”

Aigis sat on her knees happily watching everyone eat the food she prepared.

“Aigis I didn’t know you could cook! It’s delicious!” Junpei complimented, careful not to use a baseball idiom. “You got the mushrooms, leeks…”

“I’ve been practicing since Makoto’s return,” Aigis smiled, offering him a glance. Makoto nodded, putting more meat in the pot.

“She’s good to me,” he said.

“We should take a picture,” Yukari suggested. “I’ve gotta admit…I know it’s just the four of us, but. This feels nostalgic.” Not missing a beat, Aigis scooted a little closer to Makoto, Junpei scooted closer to him also. Makoto had his eyes on his sizzling meat, Yukari turned away and snapped a selfie with everyone, then smiled warmly at her screen. “I’m sending it to Mitsuru and Akihiko.” She typed on her phone a bit.

Junpei placed a bunch of food in the pot for it to cook.
“So how’s it been goin’ Ai chan?” Junpei asked, keeping an eye on his food.
“I’ve been doing well. Working. The shadow operatives and I recently busted a child trafficking ring,” she added coolly.

“Whoa, what?!”

“Some ex-employees of the old Kirijo group were kidnapping orphans and experimenting on them, as well as recreating Kirijo tech for personal and political gain.” Her smile faded. “We decimated their operation.”

“Oh…I think I heard about that on the news…” Junpei sighed. “With different details. So the Shadow Opps were behind that, huh?” He sighed shakily, making a mental note to go home and hugging his daughter extra tight. “I know I’ve been in the reserves since Mako chan was born but if there’s kids in danger you call me,” he huffed. Chewing, staring into the distance, Makoto swayed a bit, looking pensive. The whole group was silent until

“Dude did you name your daughter after me,” he asked gently, looking away. Junpei jumped a little, then laughed.

“Oh! I can see how that might look,” he started pulling his food out of the pot. “There were lots of reasons we named her Mako, but I’m not gonna lie, you may have been one of the reasons.” Makoto gave a slow nod.

“My wife also likes sharks and sailor moon!” he added. “It just felt right.”

“I wanna meet Mako,” Makoto asked.

“Really?”

“Well if she’s my namesake,” flustered, he shrugged, still unable to make eye contact.

“Well alright. I think she’d love you.” He chuckled, slinging his arm around Makoto, who was blushing. “She’s almost three! I’ll invite you to her birthday, it’s at the end of the month. Now I won’t bore you with tons of baby pictures, but she looks a lot like me. She’s got my nose.” As he spoke his voice raised in pitch, he was completely smitten and giddy over his toddler.

“I don’t want tons of pictures, maybe just. One. One picture of Mako.”

“Alright!” Junpei took his arm back to grab his phone and he started scrolling.
And scrolling.

And scrolling

And scrolling.

Jeez, did he need 700 pictures of his daughter on his phone?
Probably, yeah.

And scrolling.

Junpei subscribed to parent life, and like any parent was consumed with guilt any time they had to delete a picture of their child off of their phone.

All pictures of her were perfect in Junpei’s eyes, but. He found the most perfect picture, and sent it to Makoto’s phone.

Mako was laughing, and covered in stickers — mostly her clothes, some on her skin, tons on the wall. She was wearing an alligator onesie, shoulders surrounded by teeth since her hood was off. It looked like she was sitting in its mouth, and her hair was in pigtails.

Makoto stared at the picture for a while, then looked at Junpei. They were technically the same age, but Junpei was a dad now. And had a beautiful family. He wasn’t expecting to be hit with emotions like this, right in the chest. Pride, jealousy, happiness, reverence.

“There’s no way that’s your nose,” was all he could say. “She has your hair, though.”

Junpei could tell Makoto was teasing, but he still leaned in close to him so he could look at his phone.

“Hm…I disagree, but she’s still growin’. We’ll see in a few years.”

After a bit of silence, Aigis piped up.

“I still have an update on my life, Junpei, if you’re interested.”

“Oh yeah! Sorry to cut you off, Ai chan. Gimme the ‘rundown’… Shit…Sorry Yuka tan I’m trying.”
“I can tell you’re trying, Junpei,” Yukari chuckled, letting him off the hook for yet another baseball idiom.

“Makoto and I are considering moving in together,” Aigis announced. Makoto smirked, but didn’t look up from his food.

“Oooh, that’s a pretty big step,” Junpei noted. “But it’s worth it, if you’re sure.”

“We’re still discussing it, but I do like to be by him.”

“What’s your living situation like right now, Makoto?” Junpei asked.
“Mitsuru pays for a studio apartment for me and my dog in Inaba. It’s nice, having time and space to decompress, but company would be nice too.”

“It would,” Aigis agreed.

“So… you’re making this video for a toddler?” Makoto asked, seemingly getting a kick out of this.

“Well yeah, she’s a really big fan of this show, but I also want this to age well so, everyone please do your best. So she can still love it when she’s four, five, and all of that. When she’s a teen she can look back at his video and see how much I care about her.”

Makoto nodded. He was by no means a wiz with a camcorder, but the homemade feel of this video was sure to be charming and get some laughs in the future. And even through the laughs, hopefully Mako would be the kind of kid to appreciate how hard Junpei was working right now.

~~~

“No I don’t think I can do it. Is it just me or is this really high?” Junpei asked, looking over the edge of the mezzanine, gripping one of the safety rails on the side.
“Heeey!” Yukari called from the floor. “It’s impossible to get hurt, just jump!”

“Do it,” a small sadistic smile spread on Makoto’s face.
“This has uh…got to be at least 4 meters up,” Junpei fretted.
“Just jump! You’re the one who wrote the jump into the script, Junpei!” Yukari insisted.
“Well I thought we could green screen something? Like my jumping off of a step or something? A step maybe…just a little off of the ground?”

“I’ve jumped off of this mezzanine nearly a hundred times, it’s fiiine,” Yukari assured, walking over and kicking the industrial strength crash pad below Junpei.

“What if I miss?”

“You can’t miss it, it’s huge? Plus you agreed to do your own stunts!”

“Eh.” Makoto walked over to climb the ladder to the mezzanine.

“Ey ey ey if you push me off — ”

“ — wouldn’t dream of it,” Makoto replied walking over. His answer was so emotionless Junpei couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Makoto drew near the jump off point and looked down. “It’s not that far.”

“Dude yes it is.”

“C’mon we’ll jump together. And by that I mean me first, then you, because I have to catch you falling on camera.” Makoto beckoned Junpei to come closer to the edge, but he shook his head.

Makoto turned his back to the edge.

Junpei stood up. For Mako chan, huh? Yeah. And his friends were rooting for him. Kinda.
‘I gotta just let go of my inhibitions, and — ’ Junpei jumped. For Mako. Down the road when she was a teen, he’d tell the story of him jumping off of a mezzanine for her third birthday for a short skit that he wrote.
They’d look back at this and laugh.

He handed on the crash pad, staring at the ceiling, trying to steady his breath.

“I did it.”

Makoto landed beside him. He was apparently not completely off of the crash pad before the landing, and Junpei launched him into the air, then he slid close until him and Junpei’s weight created a slope that Makoto slid down until their upper arms touched.

“Proud of you,” Makoto rolled over and smiled at Junpei, who blushed and got up.

“C’mon dude, what if I landed on you. That was dangerous…but. I did it.”

“Bad news is I didn’t get it on camera,” Makoto continued, sitting up.

“W — what?!”

“Yeah I wasn’t expecting you to jump so soon.” A little disoriented, Makoto fumbled off of the crash pad and wobbled over to Aigis. Junpei’s soul nearly left his body, he sighed, looking defeatedly at the ladder to the mezzanine again.

“Good news, I got it on camera,” Aigis noted, smiling and pointing at the camcorder. Yukari chuckled, having been in on it.

“Oh alright it’s tease Junpei day isn’t it? Cut!” Junpei shouted.

Aigis stopped the recording.

“You should have a blooper reel,” Makoto noted, leaning into Aigis’ space as she replayed Junpei’s despair on the LCD screen.

“Oh! You should! I can ask the editor to do it! She has incredible comedic timing.”

“Oh uh…sure! Why not. It’s just…” He folded his arms. “Yuka tan is a one take wonder and all of the bloopers would be… my blunders.”

“Oh, I can do some bloopers too so you’re not singled out,” She offered.

“But then it wouldn’t be a blooper.”

“Hah! Bold of you to think bloopers aren’t scripted half the time,” she beamed.

“Oh no…are you telling me all of the feel good candids I’ve enjoyed over the years were all lies?”

“Probably about 60% of them yeah, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable, right?”

“Yaka tan…please don’t explain any more movie magic to me,” he sighed.

~~~~~

“That’s a wrap!” Jumpei exclaimed when they finished filming.
Yukari and Junpei climbed down from the film set, Junpei pulled off his hat and swiped some sweat off of his brow.

“Damn Yuka tan you do this every day?”

“Mostly yeah, except for way more strenuous and stressful. It was nice to have an easy off day, though.”

“Well, it’s all filmed. Here you go.” Makoto handed the camcorder to Yukari.

“Thank you, I’ll handle the rest. How long till Mako chan’s birthday again?”

“Two and a half weeks,” he said.
“Alright. I’ll tell my friend the deadline. We should get together for a screening!”

“Oh, what about my place?” Junpei asked. “That way you all can meet Mako! I have a pretty sweet TV, too. Biiiig flat screen. I can pull her out of daycare early.” They all started walking toward the parking lot. “Again, thank you guys so much. It means a lot to me…it’s nice to spend time with you in a setting that isn’t a life or death situation, you know? It was especially nice to see you,” Junpei up-nodded toward Makoto, who up-nodded back. “And I’m glad you’re back. Please, visit my family any time. We live right outside of Tatsumi Port Island to the east.”

“In the ocean, got it.”

“North east, if you want to be specific,” Junpei rolled his eyes.

“If I can bring Masa…” he noted. “My dog.”

“Oh, yeah! We love dogs. Don’t have any, but I think Mako will be thrilled…we will be thrilled to host you. Yuka tan!”

“Junpei,” she smirked.

“Words cannot express my gratitude.”

“But video can! I’m still excited to see how your kid reacts to this.” She tossed and caught the camcorder. “Anyway, I’m gonna get these two lovebirds home and try to relax for the rest of the day. It was real, Junpei.” She sat in the driver’s seat. “And yeah. Maybe we can do some sort of a reunion thing. Mitsuru pretends to be busy, and ya know, she is, but she’s always able to pencil me in. We’d just have to…find Akihiko. Ken’s in college and working for Shadow Opps, so he’s easy to find weekends. Fuuka lives down the block from me and,” she chuckled, “Koromaru might be immortal. We’ll see. I’ll try to make it happen! Keep your eyes on your phone, okay Junpei?”

He smiled. A reunion. With Makoto, and everybody? Could it really happen?

“I’ll be waiting for your text!” he exclaimed, walking to his driver’s seat.

“See ya around, Junpei. I’ll be waiting for your message,” Makoto noted before climbing into Yukari’s back seat.

“It was fun,” Aigis started with a lowered gaze, holding her hands behind her back, looking bashful. “I know you weren’t expecting me, but it was nice to feel included, so I imposed. I thought it would be nice to see you.”

“Aw, Aigis, you don’t need a special occasion to contact me! Maybe we could be closer friends. I’ll check in on you from time to time, send you memes and stuff.”

A genuine smile spread across her face.

“You’re da man! I’d like that. Until next time.” Aigis gave a little bow, then stepped into the car. “Good luck with your project!” Aigis called out the window as Yukari drove them off.

Junpei had a warm feeling in his chest watching his friends drive off. He exhaled shakily, his breath white in the chilled air.

He climbed into his car and drove home, giving his daughter Mako the biggest hug when he saw her. He could not wait to share this video, this labor of outpouring love from him and all his friends. Hopefully someday she’d understand how hard everyone worked for it, and how it brought him and his high school friends just that much closer.

And this was possibly the start of his career as an extra on Phoenix Featherman: Victory? He definitely needed to follow up with Yukari about the validity of that statement. Mako placed her small chubby hands on Junpei’s cheeks, as she often did, and beamed up to him.

“You’re back! Where did you go?”

“It’s a secret, Mako chan! But you’ll find out soon,” he chuckled, ruffling her hair.

~~~

Two weeks later Yukari showed up at Junpei’s house, the DVD secured in her purse.

“Yuka tan!” Junpei greeted, opening his door, his eyes lowered to her hand.

“Oho, is that it?”

“It is! I thought I’d drive it over. My friend gave it a pretty sweet photo DVD label and a nice DVD menu complete with a blooper reel,” she chuckled, pulling the disk out of its protective case, showing him. The DVD graphic was the selfie she’d taken of them around shabu shabu.

“I love this…” Junpei gently took it into his hands. “Can I watch it?”

“Well yeah, of course. You wrote it. And Mitsuru is offering her private theater for us this friday! I mean, I’m sure your flatscreen is magical buuut — ”

“No, no! Nothing at my place can even come close to beating a home theater.”

“And everyone’s coming. Even Ken and Akihiko, can you make it?”

“Well I’d better!” he exclaimed. “I’ll be sure to get a sitter.”

“Nah, just bring her,” Yukari shrugged. “You gotta make sure she doesn’t like. Break anything priceless, but we’re all excited to meet Mako chan. I’m sure we can collectively handle one toddler, right?” she laughed. “I’ll text you more details soon. Gotta jet, but I’ll see you soon, okay?” She turned, waved, and jogged back to her car, eager to get out of the cold. Junpei waved at her as she pulled out of his driveway and drove off.

With Mako down for a nap, and his TV turned down to barely a whisper, he plopped on the couch to admire the disk. This little disk in his hands was gold, and the group picture Yukari took was…

Junpei’s heart swelled in his chest looking at it. He hoped they’d keep in contact. He was going to do his part and reach out. For sure.

He pushed the disk into his X-box, checked out the menu. It looked super official. A fully rendered monster on the home menu, seemed to be a very large and grizzly gerbil humanoid? Just as well, at least it wouldn’t be too scary for Mako.

He pressed play.

Feather Pink barrel rolled around, dodging the gerbil’s attacks, she couldn’t communicate to her team, but Junpei answered her call. They helped each other escape — but they were being chased.

They had to jump off of a cliff to get away and hide.

They regrouped, fixed Yukari’s communicator. They called for backup, but it would be time until the rest of the Feathermen could get there, and the Gerbil Man was causing a huge amount of chaos and devastation in it’s wake now!

They go and face the Gerbil Man head on with a sword and Yukari as a distraction. Together they managed to hogtie the gerbil man before the other Feathermen arrived.

The movie had a stage play feel, since there was only one camera angle, but it was still pretty cool. The greenscreen served them well, and the Digital effects artist went all out. The lighting was pretty consistent, the monster was believable enough, the city was edited into the background thanks to the green screen. It looked incredible for something they’d made with no experience and on a whim.

He took the disk out and hid it before Mako woke up.

~~~

Friday Junpei took Mako out of daycare early. She’d just woken up from a nap and had a lot of energy, but as soon as she was strapped in her car seat and they got driving, she passed out.

Which was nice. He could listen to his music instead of nursery rhymes on the way to Mitsuru’s (second) beach house, a relaxing cruise up the highway coast.

Wow, a SEES reunion. And they all gathered because…of his whim of a project that he messaged Yukari out of the blue for. He couldn’t believe this was happening, they’d all really be there. And they all wanted to meet Mako chan. He really did love his friends.