Can We Reconcile?

24 Jul, 2016

Seeing him again so up close had reawakened so many things within her. Before, she only heard him and saw him through the tv screens or through the phantom thieves. It's been so long. So long since they were in each other's presence. Was she anxious? Of course she was. Goro was someone she held so dear to her back in middle school, but then... she messed things up.

Mina tried so hard to forget it and to shove the feeling down. But she just couldn't completely rid of the memories she had of him. And truth be told... a part of her deep down truly missed him. Maybe that's why the world reunited them in someway. It was if she was being given a second chance and Mina really didn't want to fuck it up.

A conversation with Yusuke two weeks ago echoed in her head. "You made a promise to yourself to not run away from the things you enjoy and love anymore. You also said you'd be more willing to give people a chance, so shouldn't you extend the same to Akechi?" She did promise herself that. She should let Akechi decide whether or not he wants her back in his life. It's not fair to him to just make the assumption.

Akechi had singled her out a little. It was a sign that he very much remembered her and who she was. She had that at least. Once Akechi began walking away, she quickly spoke up to the others. "Hey. You guys are going to Leblanc, right? You go on without me. I'll be there later. Promise." she said fast enough. The others barely had time to register anything before she was walking off. Even Yusuke had tried questioning her, but Mina was already gone.

She quickly walked ahead to catch up to that familiar head of brown hair. "Akechi!" she said once she made it close enough. The brunette in question stilled in his tracks. "I.." she began speaking before he even turned around to face her. "Oh, it's you, Myouten-san." he said, red eyes glancing her over. She grimaced at the formality. It wasn't always like that. She tried to not let the disappointment show. "Did you need something?" he asked.

Mina grabbed at the sleeve of her left arm. Force of habit. Something Akechi knew about. "Yes.. I—" she sighed, clutching at her arm harder. What was she even doing here right now? Walking away from her friends and to this... because she still cared about this and wanted to hold onto some kind of hope. It was beginning to feel silly now. She should walk away, tell him to forget about it. Then the two of them could probably move along and be some kind of rival to each other due to being on opposite sides.

"It's.." the words died on her lips. She wanted to say it was nothing and walk away but then she'd be no better than the person she was back then. "I'm sorry." she decided to just blurt it out. Her deep violet eyes looked into his as she said it and she noticed how they widened a little. Mina dropped her hand to the side. "I'm sorry about pushing you away and treating you as if you didn't exist." she continues to speak because it's far too late to turn back now. "I.. I never—" her throat began to swell with years of feeling regret and sadness. She couldn't keep up the eye contact.

She couldn't look at him. Too afraid of what his face might say before his words. "I thought that I was making the right choice for your sake. I thought that it'd be easier—"

"That was never up to you though, was it?" The question caught her off guard. "You made that choice but never stopped to consider how I'd feel about it." Her eyes glanced away. Mina knew he was right and it made her throat tighten. "I'm sorry. It was stupid I know that now." she made sure to apologise again for good measure.

Those red eyes lingered on her for a long moment. Then he sighed, shaking his head. "Are you really with them?" he changed topics. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad thing. She knew who all he was referring to. "We're friends." she answered hesitantly. His eyes narrowed. "Friends... huh." his tone was bitter. She could tell. "Is that so?" Mina nodded to confirm. "Yes, but.."

She didn't know how to tell him that she wanted him back in her life. Maybe it was selfish to think she even deserved such a thing. But if being selfish would possibly get him back in her life again, then it was a risk she was willing to take. "I want..."

"You want what?" he didn't let her mule over her words. He pressed for her to say it. "You." It tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it or reword it. Ugh. She hadn't meant for it to sound like that. "I-I meant.." she tried her best to ignore the heat that rose to her cheeks out of embarrassment. Meanwhile, Akechi laughed. The bastard laughed. Mina gasped as soon as she heard it, snapping her head up to look up at him. "H-Hey! That's not even funny!" she huffed.

Akechi tried to hold back his laugh. He really did try, but failed. "My apologies." he was still stifling his laughter making Mina pout. "The way you said that was very amusing." Mina visibly frowned and rolled her eyes. "Well.. I'm not taking it back ..." she crossed her arms. "So I meant what I said. I want you back in my life again." Akechi went quiet for a moment or so, face turning serious. Mina took notice and began to worry. What if he did despise her?

"You won't leave again, will you?"

She raised her brows. "I won't. I promise." she answered earnestly. "So... can we drop the formalities... please?" she asked hesitantly. It didn't feel right to call him Akechi after everything. "Some things really never change with you, Mina." he commented, signalling that they could indeed drop the formalities. Mina remembered that when she first started talking to him all those years ago, she had soon asked if they call each other by their first names.

Mina fetched her phone from her bag. "Can we... exchange contact info?" she asked, holding out her phone. Goro nodded and took out his phone two. The two successfully exchanged information and Mina was then back to her usual self. "Yay!" she cheered, plopping her phone back into her bag. "I should really get going before the others get worried. But I'll call you tonight if you're not busy? We can hang out even!" Planning outings already. Just like old times. "Yes. We have much to catch up on it seems."

That was true. It's been years after all. They bid each other farewell and Mina felt a certain warmth fill her chest. It felt nice to connect to him again. She already found herself looking forward to spending time with him.