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Chapter Text

"Do you need any help with anything?" Makoto asked as she finished her homework and looked over at Sojiro.

Sojiro shook his head as he lifted a box onto the counter. "I'm good Makoto, I promise."

"Are you sure?" Makoto asked, walking behind the counter to help Sojiro anyway.

"I just got a shipment of new coffee cups for the cafe. I can put them away... Once I find room." Sojiro said as he started taking the ceramic mugs out of the box. He paused as Makoto opened up some of the cabinets behind the counter to find some room. Sojiro laughed as he said, "You know, it's funny... I had mentioned it out loud to myself when the cafe was empty so I would remember to write it down... But I don't actually remember ordering them."

Makoto smiled to herself, managing to find where Sojiro had kept the coffee mugs. "Maybe you secretly have a coffee mug fairy who helps around the cafe."

"I doubt that, highly." Sojiro commented.

"Was there any particular reason you needed new coffee mugs?" Makoto asked as she took a few out.

"Some of them are just turning brown from years of coffee being served in them." Sojiro said as he bent down to help Makoto get out the coffee mugs. "I want the cups to look nice when I serve them, so they're just looking their age."

"That makes sense... Though it looks like the new mugs won't have that noticeable of a problem." Makoto said, staring at the new mugs. They were a nice cream color... Slightly tan. "They're off white, so the brown stains won't be as noticeable."

Sojiro focused on the cups, his eyes narrowing. "I didn't even notice that..."

"Well, whoever ordered them is a genius." Makoto said, taking out more mugs. Getting an idea, she asked, "What do you do with the old mugs anyway?"

"Most of them, I donate to thrift shops since they're still in good condition, but some..." Sojiro said, grabbing some mugs from the back and showed Makoto the dates on the bottom. "I keep them for nostalgia."

"... Do you mind if I take some?" Makoto asked. "I have an idea..."

"What idea?"

"Maybe we could personalize mugs to keep here in the cafe." Makoto suggested. "Even after Ren goes back to his hometown, I know that we're all planning on sticking around here."

"They'd be going to a thrift shop anyway. Why not?" Sojiro said, looking at the cabinets above the counter. "I'll figure out how to add some hooks up there so I'll know where to find them."

Makoto smiled, getting out her phone. "I'll text Yusuke to bring his art supplies."

"... I take it you're meeting Ren here later?" Sojiro asked as he inspect some of the coffee mugs and handed the nicer ones to Makoto.

"We all are... I just got here earlier than the others."

"Are things going okay between you two? When I walked past here last week, I swear I heard you two arguing."

"We... Had a bit of a spat... But we're good now." Makoto admitted.

"If I can... Give you some advice..." Sojiro said carefully as he focused on Makoto. "When you two do get into more arguments, and trust me, there will be more knowing him... Don't be afraid to request for a breather during the fight. The worst decisions you can make are the ones that come when adrenaline is rushing."

"That was one of our suggestions for next time, trust me." Makoto promised.

"Good... That kid is a lot like me sometimes."

Makoto smirked as she asked, "So you also changed the hearts of criminals back when you were our age?"

Sojiro laughed. "Not like that... Just... The way he carries himself, I suppose. I got into a lot of trouble too when I was his age... Granted, most of it was trouble with ladies instead of the law, but still."

"It'd be horrible if he had trouble with the ladies..." Makoto joked back.

"Well... I doubt that he'd have trouble with ladies since he has you, but other troubles..."

"Don't worry, I can keep him in line... And when he's back in Inaba, I have no doubt that Nanako will be able to keep him in line as well."

"Good... Sometimes he needs someone to keep him on the straight and narrow." Sojiro said happily. "You're a good kid, Makoto."

Makoto smiled at Sojiro again. "Thanks Boss..."

The front door of Leblanc opened and Ren's voice said, "Hey... Sojiro... Where are you?"

"Makoto and I are down here." Sojiro said, tilting his head up.

Ren walked over to the counter and leaned his body to stare down at them. "Hey guys..."

"Hi." Makoto said, studying the mugs before grabbing the ones she liked.

"What are you two doing?" Ren asked carefully.

"I'm helping Boss go through his old coffee mugs and choosing the ones we get to paint." Makoto explained, setting some of the mugs onto the counter.

"I told her she didn't need to help me, but she insisted." Sojiro said quickly.

Ren looked at the mugs and asked, "What are the mugs for, exactly?"

"Boss is allowing us to paint old mugs and keep them in Leblanc for us to use whenever since he got new mugs today." Makoto explained.

Ren looked over at Sojiro. "Really?"

"They'd be going to a thrift shop anyways since I got some new mugs." Sojiro said flippantly. He looked over at Makoto and said, "I can do this by myself, honest. Go enjoy your time with your friends."

Makoto sighed as she stood up. "If you insist, Boss."

"And I do... Now go." Sojiro said, shooing Ren and Makoto off.

Makoto grabbed her things and followed Ren upstairs, setting the mugs down on the table. Ren studied Makoto as he asked, "So... How are we gonna decide what the mugs look like?"

"I thought it'd be fun if we designed someone else's mug and included their name on it somewhere."

An idea coming to mind, Ren asked, "Can I call dibs on Sumire?"

"Why? Do you have an idea for her?"

Ren nodded. "She and I got to talking after I gave her clothing advice-"

"You gave Sumire fashion advice?"

"Not exactly... It's more like she's trying to define her style since Kasumi kinda dictated that." Ren admitted, grabbing a mug and turning it in his hands. "Anyway, after she picked a dress that she liked, we got lunch, and I asked her what inspired her to have a raiper as her weapon since nobody really uses a sword except for Akechi and Morgana."

"Right."

"And she explained that her favorite movie growing up was The Princess Bride."

Makoto gave Ren a confused look. "The what?"

Ren's jaw dropped. "Have you never seen The Princess Bride!?"

"I've never even heard of it."

"Okay... Next date night we have, we're watching The Princess Bride before we watch more Sword Art Online." Ren decided. "Anyway, short summary, it's about this farm boy named Wesley trying to get back his bride, Princess Buttercup, who is currently engaged to a guy named Prince Humperdink and gets kidnapped to stop a war. There's this huge focus on fencing, specifically with Wesley and this other character named Inigo Montoya. Wesley and Inigo implicitly influenced Sumire to like fencing and raipers."

"... There are two characters in this unironically named Buttercup and Humperdink?"

"Yes, but not that important." Ren said quickly. "Sumire's favorite scene in the movie is when Buttercup pushes Wesley down this giant hill and he screams 'As you wish' on the way down solely because of how ridiculous it is. I want to put that on her mug."

"Well... If you get to call dibs on Sumire, I get to call dibs on Ryuji." Makoto said, grabbing another mug. "I want to try to make this look like ramen..."

Ren laughed. "As you wish..."

Makoto's eyes narrowed as she looked up at Ren. "Why are you quoting that movie?"

"Maybe you should look up what Wesley means when he tells Buttercup that."

"Why?"

"Humor me."

Makoto set down the coffee cup and got out her phone, quickly Googling what Ren asked her to. When she was done, she looked back over at Ren. "Wow... So smooth..."

Ren smiled back, setting the mug he was holding down. "I admit, it would've gone down better if you had known what I meant originally, but... I'd say it's pretty sneaky."

"Yes... Except there's probably only a few people here who would understand that reference and two of them don't that we're dating."

"So?" Ren asked, wrapping an arm around Makoto's waist. "We're trying to make it more obvious... Maybe 'as you wish' can be a clue in to Ann."

"You are impossible." Makoto said while laughing, loosely wrapping her arms around Ren's neck.

"Yeah, but you like that about me."

"Yeah, I do." Makoto agreed, quickly kissing Ren since she heard commotion downstairs.

Ren and Makoto quickly separated, going to set up the beanbags, as Yusuke excitedly came upstairs. "I brought the paint!"

"Awesome! We're gonna be doing some arts and crafts while we finish Until Dawn." Makoto said, quickly moving the dark blue beanbag over to Ren's bed.

"Oh?"

"Sojiro is letting us have personalized mugs to use here." Ren said, motioning to the mugs he and Makoto had brought up. "You choose a person to design for. I called dibs on Sumire and Makoto called dibs on Ryuji."

"... May I call dibs on Futaba... And start a discreet sign up sheet? Just checkmarks who whoever is already taken?" Yusuke asked.

"Go for it." Makoto said approvingly.

Ren glanced over at Futaba and shrugged. "Well... What do you think, Futaba?"

"... I'm gonna do it." Futaba decided, flipping the virtual diary.

"I'M DONE!" Sumire cheered, pumping a paintbrush into the air.

"You finished your mug?" Ann asked with an amused smile.

Sumire nodded, then leaned over and handed the mug to Akechi. "For you, Akechi-senpai! Be careful, the paint is still wet."

Akechi turned the mug in his hands, tilting her head as he stared at the cutsey design on it. It was something black and blue holding a circle on a spoke and a yellow thing on it's head. "What... What is it?"

"It's a crow holding a magnifying glass and wearing a crown... You know... Because you're the Detective Prince." Sumire said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I wrote your name on the bottom too!"

The Phantom Thieves studied Akechi in horror, thinking of every possible way Akechi could tear down Sumire's creation, but instead, he surprised everyone by saying, "Oh, I see it now. Thank you, Yoshizawa-san."

"You're welcome!" Sumire said proudly.

"I believe I shall go next..." Akechi said, holding up the mug he was painting. His eyes landed on Makoto and said, "You know... When I was working with your sister... She told me the most peculiar thing."

"Oh...?" Makoto asked. "What did she say?"

"That when you were younger... You would play a particular murder mystery game with her on her laptop." Akechi said, Makoto's eyes widening. "A particular murder mystery game with a black and white bear."

Haru nervously asked, "... Buchimaru-kun and Hanami-chan Starring In The Great Rollerskate Caper? Someone faked their death in there."

"No... Something else... Where Makoto apparently-"

"Okay, I am stopping you right there." Makoto said quickly. "Whatever you are about to say... Not true."

"So you didn't have a crush on the main character because you two shared a name?"

"NO!" Makoto argued. "I had a crush on Kyoko and I wanted to be that Makoto! And then, once Ultra Despair Girls dropped, I wanted to be Komaru!"

"... What...?" Ren asked while laughing.

"What game...?" Ryuji asked nervously.

Futaba gasped as she paused Until Dawn. "You never told me you were a fan of the Danganronpa series!"

"The what?" Ann asked while laughing.

"Oh... That's made this mug all the more funny." Akechi said, handing the mug to Makoto. "Here Makoto Niijima... Or should I say... Makoto Naegi!"

Makoto took the mug and studied it. Painted on the mug was a crudely painted picture of her dressed in the clothes of Makoto Naegi, the protagonist of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, holding hands with a crudely painted picture of Kyoko Kirigiri. Above the drawing was written Makoto with her One True Love. Makoto lowered the mug and said with complete seriousness, "I am going to kill you, Goro Akechi... And when I do, I am going to hide you where nobody will be able to find the body."

"What? You don't want Monokuma saying, 'A body has been discovered!'?" Akechi asked, laughing to himself. "Or... Or what are you going to hide my body in? Owada butter?"

Makoto tried to jump up and lunge at Akechi, but Ren wrapped his arms around her waist and dragged her back down, accidentally forcing her to sit on his lap. Ren quickly said, "MAKOTO, NO!"

"Let me hurt him a little!"

"NO!"

"A wad of butter...?" Ryuji asked. "What does that even mean?"

"NOT IMPORTANT!" Makoto said, then glared at Akechi. "Right now... I'm thinking of pulling a Leon!"

"Does that make me Sayaka?" Akechi prodded. "I mean... My blood definitely isn't pink, but-"

"Ren, LET ME HURT HIM!"

"NO!"

"WHAT IS DANGANRONPA!?" Ann shrieked over the chaos.

Makoto calmed down slightly before she said, "It's a... A video game point and click series where a bunch of extremely talented people are locked in a school and the only way to get out is by killing a classmate and getting away with murder..."

"... You liked that?" Ryuji asked while laughing.

"Sis would let me help her figure out clues and stuff after someone got murdered... And I really shipped the protagonist, Makoto Naegi, with this girl with purple hair named Kyoko Kirigiri, and I mainly just wanted to be Naegi because Kyoko is hot."

Haru got out her phone and typed something out, then nodded. "Goddamn... You had excellent taste as a kid."

Ann leaned forward to look at Haru's phone. She shrugged and said, "Eh... I mean, she's pretty, but..."

"You haven't seen her in action... I had the fattest crush on her as a kid..."

"You were down that bad?" Futaba asked. "I mean... I'm a Chiaki girl personally-"

"Oh, I had a crush on Chiaki too... But Kyoko, man... She was so calm and collected... So sure of what she wanted... So pretty and smart... She's a glutton for punishment... I adore her!"

"I could never be like that..." Ann said as she readjusted how she was sitting in the beanbag. "I mean, sure of myself, yeah, but calm and collected? That's a pipe dream!"

"Okay... Now I'm a bit jealous." Ren teased as he put an arm around Makoto.

"Oh please." Makoto said as she shrugged Ren's arm off. "You have your him and her and I have Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri. You don't see me getting jealous about her."

"What are you two talking about...?" Sumire nervously asked as she looked between Makoto and Ren.

"Nothing." Makoto said, handing Ryuji his mug. "I hope I did ramen justice, Ryuji."

Ryuji's jaw dropped as he turned the mug in his hands. "This is so cool!"

Haru pointed to own clump of noodles and asked, "Did you make the noddles spell his name?"

"I tried to... Hopefully, that's coming across." Makoto answered.

"Even if it isn't, we'd all know that cup belongs to Ryuji. He's the only one here who's obsessed with ramen." Ann said, rolling her eyes.

"Well... I decided to make a mug for Haru... My art skills are really bad, but I tried." Ryuji said, handing Haru her mug.

Haru took the mug and inspected it. It looked like Ryuji had primarily painted it a fusion of different shades of purple and pink, but the standout part of the mug was the fact that it said in big black text My name is Beauty Thief. Haru read the text a few times to actually process it, then started cackling. "Okay, that's good, Ryuji."

"I am never letting you forget that." Ryuji stated. "None of us are."

"Of course not." Haru said, holding up a light blue mug. "Okay... So... I painted this for you, Mona-chan, even though you can't drink coffee."

Haru handed the mug to Yusuke so he could hand it to Morgana. Morgana inspected the mug, rolling his eyes when he saw that it said Mona-chan's Water Mug. "Ha ha... Thanks for the thought, Haru."

"I tried." Haru said, shrugging.

"So Morgana had me paint his as well, and of course, he chose Ann." Yusuke said, handing the finished mug to Ann.

"Shocker." Ann said, taking the mug. There were different colored cat paw prints on it and black text that read Lady Ann's Property. Ann smiled and said, "Thank you both. It works... But Yusuke, I'm handing you another mug."

Yusuke stared at the mug in confusion as he studied the band on the cup. "Ann... What...?"

"I tried to make the cup look like tofu!" Ann explained as Yusuke glanced over at Futaba. "You know... Like Inari tofu!"

"Okay, so maybe I gave Ann an idea..." Futaba admitted.

Yusuke rolled his eyes, clearly amused, as he said, "I'm still painting your's, Futaba, but here's what it looks like so far."

Futaba turned her head and saw a painting of her sitting in a green triangle with her laptop while green hieroglyphics and binary floated around her. Futaba's eyes widened. "Woah..."

"You like it so far?"

"It's so cool! I'll take pictures of all of our mugs when you're done." Futaba said happily, handing Ren a mug. "Here's your mug... Sorry that the pictures look a little... Questionable."

Ren inspected the mug, trying to figure out what Futaba had painted. It took him a moment, but then he saw that one of the two figures was sitting in a wheelchair. Ren looked over at Futaba and asked, "Really?"

Futaba nodded proudly. "Oracle and Nightwing forever, baby!"

Ren laughed, setting down Futaba's mug and grabbing Sumire's. "In case you haven't guessed yet... Here you go, Sumi."

Sumire inspected the mug, a smile spreading on her face. "As you wish!"

Ann excitedly looked over at Sumire's mug, her eyes widened. "Oh my God, Sumire... Do you like The Princess Bride?"

"It's my favorite movie, and this is my favorite scene."

"The Princess Bride?" Futaba asked. "What is that?"

"Okay, that's it... Next movie night we have, we're watching The Princess Bride." Ann decided.

"That's great and all, but can we finish the game?" Akechi asked, motioning to the screen. "I don't think we're gonna be going into Mementos unless Futaba deems that we're all getting along and being civil."

"Okay... Let's see if we've actually managed to save him..." Futaba said, going back to playing the game.