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She could have sworn she had not put so many pins in this stupid wig. Ikusaba had racked up maybe 15 pins already and she can still feel more digging into her skull. There’s no way she can sleep in this wig, she had already deducted that. And she most definitely cannot shower with it. The lengths she goes to for despair. It’s driving her nuts, which is probably a blessing in disguise.
It did come with a lot of risk. Any moment someone could knock on her door, even with the night time “rule” in affect and find her with her short black hair.
She could maybe pass it off as something Junko did beforehand, but if they found any information on Mukuro Ikusaba she’d be dead for sure, especially a photo.
“Mukuuuuuro!” She heard from behind her. A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her chest and her instincts kicked in, tensing almost every muscle in her body.
The arms around her left and her chair was spun away from the dresser to face her little sister, inches away from her face.
“J-Junko…” She stuttered. “Y-You can’t be out here, what if you’re found?”
Her sister’s face faded from her smile to a sad puppy dog and she sighed heavily.
“Awww… I would have thought you would want to see me…” She absent-mindedly began to twirl one of her twin tails and sighed again. “I get so bored all alone in that boring room, doing boring things…” Her face suddenly lit up again. “So I thought I would use the monokuma shortcuts and come see you!”
Ikusaba stared blankly at her sister.
“It’s barely been a day, you’re already bored?”
“Nothing is happening! They don’t even have hope to get out yet how am I going to make them despair without hope?!”
She always got like this. No hope? No despair. Enoshima could not have that now could she?
Her smile perked up again.
“Ooooh! Are you taking off the wig? Can I help?”
Ikusaba rolled her eyes and spun the chair back around to face the dresser. The little sister quickly ran up behind her and began searching through the heavy pile of blonde hair for any pins left. The red nails Enoshima wore snagged on the wig a few times causing her to curse under her breath.
Ikusaba sat in silence letting her sister find her way through the maze of a wig. She played with the foundation on her hand; gently scratching the make-up off. She had gotten into the habit of scratching at the foundation, though of course she could never do it in front of the other students. She had already caught herself doing it twice that day, she had gathered quite a bit of the foundation under her fake nails.
After a few minutes Enoshima announced she couldn’t find any more pins and Ikusaba assisted her in lifting the wig off her head. Then pulled the wig cap off her own head.
Enoshima stepped away and placed the wig over the foam head on the dresser to keep the wig from tangling.
“Here, let me hide it.” Ikusaba announced.
“Can’t I hide it? It’ll be more fun tomorrow! Like hide and seek!”
“No. I’m not going to waste time tomorrow looking for it. I need to put it on first thing in the morning and that’s already a process.”
“Aw… you’re no fun.”
Ikusaba ignored her sister’s pleas and took the wig, the cap and the stack of bobby pins to the bathroom where she hid them in the cabinet space under the sink. She gently pushed down on the floor of the cabinet and it made a soft click. The floor of the cupboard and the wig then spun into the wall leaving the cabinet appear empty apart from a few hair and skin products she kept to avoid the cabinet of being suspiciously empty.
She left the bathroom to find her sister sprawled out on her bed with a grim expression.
“What’s the point in hiding it anyway?” She groaned. “If someone comes in, they’ll find you with your black hair anyway.”
Ikusaba didn’t answer but instead grabbed a black beanie off the nightstand next to the bed, throwing it at her sister. Ikusaba then sat down on the edge of the bed her little sister was occupying.
“Oh… that’s meant to prevent bed hair or some bullshit like that right?” Enoshima grumbled.
“Probably. I don’t really care about bad hair.”
Enoshima shot up into a sitting position, her eyes wide.
“Why wouldn’t you? It’s always a priority to looks one’s best!”
“Why are you risking being found?” She blurted. The little sister sighs and wrapped her arms around Ikusaba’s neck.
“Why are you always so worried? I just wanted to see my sis!” As she spoke her arms slightly tightened around the soldier’s neck. “That is of course… unless you want me to leave.” Enoshima spoke flatly, tightening her grip around her sister’s neck again causing Ikusaba’s breath to catch and she reached up to try and tug Enoshima’s arms from her neck for space to breathe. Enoshima didn’t let go and started to purposely cut off her sister’s breathing.
“J-Jun-ko… L-et go…” Ikusaba choked out, scratching at the model’s arm
“Can I stay?” Enoshima asked with a bitter tone.
“Y-you can st-ay.” Ikusaba stuttered.
And with that, the little sister flung her arms away and Ikusaba reached up to massage her throat, falling off the bed and onto her knees.
Of course it wasn’t the first time she had been choked. Her little sister would often use her as a punching bag. Although Ikusaba was older she always looked up to Enoshima, she would do anything for her, anything to help her achieve her goals no matter what those goals were.
Ikusaba was more of a puppet than a sister, to go as far as an apprentice or an assistant.
She would never be on the same level as Enoshima but she was completely devoted.
Completely faithful to her…
“Great!” Enoshima exclaimed, ignoring her panting sister. “As long as I’m here, can you help me with some execution ideas? I think I’ve got plans for everyone apart from a few.”
“S-sure…” Ikusaba managed to say, standing up on shaky legs and sitting back down on the edge of the bed.
“Cool!” Enoshima threw herself over the older sister’s lap and rested her head on Ikusaba’s thighs. “I’ve been stumped on ideas for Taeko’s execution.”
“That’s Celestia right?” Ikusaba asked.
“Ugh… what a prissy name.” Enoshima scowled. “Celestia Ludenberg” She mocked. “The queen of liars deserves a particularly despair-inducing end.”
“Hmm… what about burning?” The soldier suggested, causing Enoshima’s face to light up.
“Yes! That stupid witch should burn! Like those old executions where they would burn witches at the stake!”
“I’ve always heard that being burned alive is the worst way to die.”
“Ahh just the thought of Taeko burning makes my heart sing! But… I need more…”
“More?”
Enoshima’s eyes grew wide and she smiled bitterly.
“Fire is slow, fire is anticipation, fire is almost… elegant.” Enoshima rambled. “Fire is a starter, that witch can’t simply die from something you read about in story books! She would want to die in elegance, giving her what she wants isn’t despair! It’s hope!”
Enoshima’s face contorted into a scowl as she spoke, the thought of her despair giving someone hope. Ikusaba quickly tried to think of something else. Fire wasn’t enough, it was too elegant.
“A truck.” She stated.
“A truck…” Enoshima repeated. “Oh Mukuro you’re a genius! Just as she thinks she’ll die with grace, I can ram a fucking truck at her! I can crush every bone in her dainty body!”
Her smile fades into a smirk and eyes shut.
“I can picture it now…”
Ikusaba looked down at Enoshima’s face, her thoughts deep in imagination of Celestia’s death. She started to play with a part of her sister’s hair. Gently twisting the strands between her fingers as her sister was entranced by her thoughts of despair.
A smile graced over Ikusaba’s lips as her sister’s body began to relax and she caressed her hand down her porcelain cheek.
She knew better than to interrupt Enoshima while she was deep in her mind. Ikusaba loved when her sister was like this. She had what she wanted and she was going to keep it. She was very aware her little sister was spoilt. She always was. But it kept her alive.
She was always so full of despair she would have killed herself without a second thought until she realised she could spread despair. ‘Contagious’ she would always say. ‘Despair is contagious’.
If it was contagious then Ikusaba was incredibly ill. She caught despair years ago. It seems so much more interesting than hope; and of course…
She would do anything for her little sister.