Chapter Text
Ren: “Honey, we are here.”
Makoto (sleepy): “Wha…”
It was already afternoon and Makoto woke up to see through the window of the family’s car the view of the verdant farming fields and the orange sky. This was very different from the usual sights of Tokyo where everywhere you saw there were tall buildings with colorful advertisements.
Hana: “Are we there yet, Daddy?”
Ren: “Yes, we are.”
Makoto: “What time is it?”
Ren: “It’s 5PM.”
Hana: “Mommy look! A cow!”
Makoto: “That’s nice.”
The town of Inaba is a peaceful rural town far away from any of the big cities of Japan. It started as a mining town and later it expanded into the agrarian and commercial town it’s today. To some people such a place would be considered boring and to others it’s a nice place to live without so much stress. Of course, the town isn’t stuck in traditionalism and after the establishment of a Junes store years ago there have been plans to modernize part of the town with new residential areas and stores.
Hana: “Daddy, are we going to the new house now?”
Ren: “Not tonight, sweetheart. Tomorrow I will be given the keys by the landlord so tonight we are going to sleep at a hotel.”
Makoto: “And we still have to wait for the moving company to deliver all our stuff to the new house.”
Ren could feel the bitterness in the voice of his wife and he understood she was in a lot of pain.
Ren: “Hey.”
Ren touched one of Makoto’s hands with his free hand while he was still driving.
Ren: “It will be okay. We are in this together.”
Makoto felt reassured by her husband’s words even though she felt she wanted to cry.
Makoto: “I know.”
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Yukiko: “Welcome to the Amagi Inn.”
A black haired woman wearing a traditional service yukata received the Amamiya-Niijimas.
Hana: “You look so pretty.”
Yukiko: “Oh thank you. My name is Yukiko by the way.”
Ren: “I am Ren and this is my wife Makoto and our daughter Hana. We reserved a room yesterday.”
Yukiko: “Oh right, here you are registered, although it says here that your reservation is for next week.”
Makoto: “You have to be kidding me.”
Yukiko sweated nervously.
Yukiko: “This must be an error from the Maddice software we use. The technician warned me about this.”
Both Makoto and Ren felt angry about EMMA messing with them from the grave.
Yukiko: “Your room is currently in use by other people that reserved last night after you. I am really sorry for this mistake.”
Ren: “There must be a free room we can pay for tonight.”
Yukiko: “There isn’t… Unless… There’s a room I can give to you just for tonight, but it’s kind of risky.”
Makoto: “Why is it risky?”
Yukiko: “The room has already been paid for in advance by some frequent clients, but tonight they aren’t using it. I could let you in free of charge since you already paid.”
Makoto (whispering): “Are you sure there isn’t at least another hotel close by?”
Ren (whispering): “Do you want to sleep at a motel in the middle of the road?”
Makoto sighed.
Makoto: “We will take that room then.”
Yukiko: “I apologize for the inconvenience again.”
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After Hana fell asleep, both Ren and Makoto laid there on the beds of the tatami looking at the roof thoughtfully.
Makoto: “This is the end, isn’t it?”
Ren: “It isn’t.”
Makoto: “I thought I could make a difference.”
Ren: “Makoto…”
As soon as Ren saw the tears flowing over Makoto’s cheeks, he pulled her into a hug.
Makoto (crying): “I am such an idiot.”
Ren: “You aren’t.”
Ren caressed Makoto’s back and just like with his daughter when she is crying she made a whistling sound to attempt to calm down his wife from the emotional breakdown she was having.
Ren: “We have to rest now. Tomorrow we will worry about all our problems.”
Ren cleaned Makoto’s tears.
Makoto: “Right.”
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The next morning, Makoto and Ren realize some weird stuff about the room they and their daughter spent the night at.
Hana: “Mommy, Daddy, look what I found!”
A gigantic brassier being held by her 5 year old girl isn’t something Makoto wanted to see after all the emotional drama of last night, but after so many days of crying this somehow made Makoto laugh.
Makoto: “Pffft! Hahahaha!”
Hana: “Mommy, this one is more big than yours.”
Ren: “It’s ‘bigger’, Hana.”
Hana: “That’s what I said.”
Makoto: “Hahahaha!”
Ren: “I think your mom finally snapped.”
Makoto: “Hah… Let’s get out of here before we find more weird stuff.”
Fortunately for Makoto’s sanity, Yukiko had cleaned that room well after all the mess the previous clients made last time. The G sized brassier is the only thing the temporary manager of the Amagi Inn missed.
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Somewhere else, in the residential area, Chie Satonaka had just woken up. She was laying on the tatami of the living room surrounded by a few empty cans of beer and she was only wearing her underwear and a t-shirt with the logo of a rock band.
Chie: “Ugh… My head.”
Chie isn’t an alcoholic, but she has the bad habit of buying a six pack of beer, 5 instant ramen bowls and marathon movies every Saturday night, and the combination of all that chaos always leaves her weakened on the mornings of Sundays.
Chie: “Shit, I need an aspirin.”
After putting on some pants, the tomboy proceeded to clean up her mess from last night and put all the trash in a bag. Most of the trash she had accumulated for the past few days were containers of instant ramen and of take out food.
Chie: “I am really missing Yu’s cooking right now. Lucky Rise, she took away the only good chef of our group of friends.”
Like any residential area, there are public garbage cans and that’s where Chie gets rid of all her accumulated trash each weekend.
Chie: “Seriously, what I would do to eat his pasta right now with bacon and…”
Makoto: “Excuse me.”
Chie: “Huh?”
Chie got surprised by the brunette with long hair and crimson looking eyes wearing a buttoned shirt and black jeans.
Makoto: “I wanted to know if I am in the right direction.”
Chie: “We all want to know that sometimes.”
Makoto: “I mean, is this the right address?”
Makoto showed a piece of paper to the short haired woman carrying a bag of trash.
Chie: “That is a few houses from here. Hey, that means we are neighbors! Chie Satonaka, by the way!”
Chie held a greasy hand for Makoto to held and Makoto nervously grabbed it.
Makoto: “I am Mako-”
Chie: “Wait a minute! Hey you!”
Chie got angry and unheld Makoto’s hand to point at the source of her anger, a small fox standing over a garbage can.
Chie: “You won’t escape this time, you furry devil!”
Chie threw her trash bag to the side and one not so empty bowl of ramen came out flying and hitting Makoto’s white buttoned shirt. Before Makoto could shout Chie started to chase the tiny fox and until the two enemies disappeared from Makoto’s sight.
Makoto: “Great. Just great. After killing two gods my luck became shit just as Yusuke said.”
Makoto returned to the car and her husband and daughter saw how furious she looked.
Ren: “So…”
Makoto: “We are close to our new home.”
Hana: “Mommy, I saw the baby fox run away that way!”
Makoto: “Very good, Hana.”
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The new Amamiya-Niijima home is a very modest house with a traditional Japanese design. It has two floors with a living room, a kitchen, enough rooms for a small family, a backyard with a tree and a small space for gardening. Little Hana was already running around the backyard and trying to catch bugs.
Ren: “Back in Tokyo we couldn’t have afforded this kind of place.”
Makoto: “I envy Hana. She is just so innocent and finds happiness in the simple things. I hate being here.”
Ren: “We have only been here for less than 24 hours.”
Makoto: “We slept in a room that was probably used for inappropriate stuff, I was thrown instant ramen and the moving service will take an extra day to arrive here. Oh god, this was the best shirt I packed!”
Ren: “We all have bad days.”
Ren and Makoto sat on the wooden steps facing the backyard to see their daughter chasing a cricket.
Makoto: “That little girl thinks I am a superhero, but I am just a failure.”
Ren: “Just because you were sent to Smallville doesn’t mean this is your end, Superwoman. You can still be the justice seeker we all love.”
Makoto: “As if there will be much justice to do here. I checked the records and there has been no big crimes in Inaba since 2011. The last time the police had actual work to do here was when a cop became insane and started a killing spree that lasted all that year. After that this town returned to being as peaceful as Le Blanc on a quiet day.”
Ren: “Now I am missing Le Blanc already.”
Makoto: “The reason I was sent here was basically to end my career. I get to keep my job as a public servant, but by working in the most peaceful place ever I can’t advance ranks further to reach my goal of reforming the system.”
Ren: “Bastards.”
Makoto: “I agree. I guess this is the kind of stuff Zenkichi warned me about.”
Makoto looked at the clouds passing through the blue sky.
Makoto: “It just hit me how different this place sounds.”
Ren: “This is the sound of a town that doesn’t know road rage.”
Makoto: “So no Harus then.”
Ren: “Hah!”
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The next day, at the Inaba Police Department.
Ryotaro: “Let’s see. Four years at the Tokyo University and graduating with honors, completed the basic training with an award as best rookie in the force, with a record of arrests of-”
Ryotaro Dojima used to be a former detective of the police department of Inaba, but after many years of service he now works as an officer of a higher rank and manages the department as a veteran. He would have preferred to still do detective work until his retirement, but after a leg injury years ago he has to work now doing only administrative work. There’s still some fire in this old man and his subordinates know this well.
Ryotaro: “This is quite an exceptional curriculum. The only thing I find odd is that someone like you was transferred all the way from Tokyo to here.”
Makoto: “I guess the higher ups wanted to add new blood.”
Ryotaro: “Yeah, I am not buying that.”
The old man closed Makoto’s files and rested his head on his hands.
Ryotaro: “A few years ago a fellow officer was transferred from a big city to Inaba too and I didn’t question it at the time. He was a wimp to be honest and a lazy ass, but he was quite nice to everyone that met him.”
Makoto didn’t know where this was going.
Ryotaro: “If I had checked his background better I would have realized there was something fucked up about him before he… let’s just say he is finally paying for his crimes.”
Makoto: “Oh…”
Makoto realized what he was talking about.
Ryotaro: “So I checked beyond your letter of recommendation and you have a reputation as a troublemaker that disobeys orders.”
Makoto: “That’s an exaggeration.”
Ryotaro: “Whatever the case, it’s obvious you are walking on thin ice.”
The judging eyes of the veteran made Makoto feels nervous. He didn’t knew the full story and probably doesn’t care. Ryotaro’s only concern was the safety of his community.
Ryotaro: “Anyway, if you want a second chance you will have to work hard to earn it.”
Makoto: “I will do my best.”
Ryotaro: “Good, because if you don’t show your commitment I am authorized to take away your badge. Are we clear?”
Makoto wondered if this is how Ren felt when he first met Sojiro.
Makoto: “Yes.”
Ryotaro: “Good. Now, let me show you around.”
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Chie: “Doo doo doo doo doo…”
Chie was currently on her desk scribbling on a notepad doodles of her and Yukiko holding hands and with hearts around them.
Chie: “And now I declare you wife and wi-”
Ryotaro: “Satonaka.”
Chie immediately stood up.
Chie: “Yes boss!”
Ryotaro: “I want you to meet your new partner.”
Makoto: “What?”
Both Makoto and Chie looked at each other confused for a brief moment.
Chie: "Howdy neighbor!"
