Mio Shirai
On April 5, 2012, Tajiri announced the follow-up promotion to Smash, Wrestling New Classic (WNC), which would hold its first event on April 26, and named Makoto as part of the promotion's roster. Prior to WNC's first event, Makoto made her debut for Pro Wrestling Wave on April 8, appearing as former Gatokunyan training partner Moeka Haruhi's surprise opponent and defeating her in just three minutes. Later that same day, Makoto returned to Union Pro to wrestle her first match as Makoto-hime, a mixed tag team match, where she and Choun Shiryu were defeated by Kengo Ohka and Mio Shirai. On April 26 at WNC's first event, "Before the Dawn", Makoto teamed with Syuri in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Kana and Mio Shirai, with Kana pinning Makoto for the win. After the match, Kana verbally assaulted Makoto about her Smash/WNC losing streak, which led to Shirai turning on her and standing up for Makoto. During the following months, Shirai took Makoto under her wing and the two began referring to each other as sisters. Makoto also declared war on Kana, though failing to end her Smash/WNC losing streak in both tag team and singles matches against her. The streak finally ended on June 22, when Makoto scored her first direct pinfall since July 2011, by pinning Kana in a tag team match, where she and Mio Shirai faced Kana and Syuri. On June 23, Makoto wrestled her first singles match against Syuri, losing the match via referee stoppage, after legitimately injuring her left wrist. The injury, later diagnosed as an avulsion fracture, forced Makoto to take a two-month break from in-ring action and cancel her first own independent event, titled Mako Pro, scheduled to take place on July 8.