Chapter Text
Naegi Komaru totally adores Fukawa Touko, the woman she met not long after her escape from her confinement and her companion ever since, but, fuck, Touko can get on her nerves sometimes.
Tonight is no exception, because despite her exhaustion from a day of Monokuma destruction, Komaru can’t just go to bed and sleep for hours. No, she has to do the most painful thing in her life: forcing Touko to have a shower.
Yawning, Komaru wanders into their hotel room’s bathroom and picks up a bottle of cheap shampoo she got from a broken store on the other side of town. But when she goes back into the bedroom, she finds Touko with her back pressed against the wall, eyes wide.
“No!” she whines.
How the hell did she know what Komaru was doing in there?
Komaru sighs. “Touko, you need to have a shower.”
“Wh-Why, are you saying I s-smell or something?”
“Well, yeah, you do,” Komaru says, because Touko hasn’t showered since two weeks ago when Komaru literally dragged her into the shower, and she smells of dirt and greasy hair and body odour.
“Y-You bitch!” Touko says, trembling. “I-I’ve even been using those wipes you got me, and you still say I s-smell.”
“I really appreciate you using the wipes,” she says, referring to the packet of baby wipes she also got in the store a few weeks ago; Komaru isn’t a clean freak by any means, but even she won’t let Touko into her bed at night without using the wipes under her arms. “But… you still need a proper wash.”
Touko doesn’t take her eyes from the bottle in Komaru’s hand, and darts across the bedroom. She trips over her feet and ends up sprawled up on the bed, her breathing jagged. Komaru expects her to get up and run out of the room, but she just lies there, breathing too fast.
“Touko?” Komaru says. “What are you doing?”
Touko rolls onto her back, tears in her eyes as she glares at Komaru. “I-I’m sick of this. I don’t w-want to fight with y-you once a fortnight over showering. I’m n-not doing it. Fuck o-off.”
And that’s it. The anger that has built up inside Komaru all day long explodes, and she groans. I’m sick of this, Touko! I’m only trying to help and you won’t even tell me why you’re so fucking awkward! Shit… I hate you sometimes, I really do.”
Touko flinches, scrabbling to her feet. She wraps her arms around herself, the tears spilling over. “W-Well I hate you too. I d-don’t avoid showers by choice, b-but you’ve never b-bothered to n-notice I’m not just an awkward b-bitch.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m… fucking t-terrified of showers, K-Komaru. They sc-scare me, remind me of awful shit I d-don’t want to dredge up. Just… I don’t mean to be awk-awkward.”
She sniffs, and Komaru sighs.
“Touko… I’m sorry,” Komaru says.
Touko huffs tearfully, but lets Komaru give her an awkward hug.