Chapter Text
Don’t Despair Over Your Hair: 100 Hair Styles from the Ultimate Fashionista, Junko Enoshima!
Komaru took a moment to process the magazine she was holding in her hand. Staring back at her, blown up on the front cover, was Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair. Except this wasn’t quite her – this magazine was made when the world still believed Enoshima to simply be the #1 model, known to all and regarded by all as beauty incarnate; long before she would bring the world to the brink of ruin. Which, of course, meant that beauty magazines like this were created to capitalize on her popularity and fashion sense. It made sense – that was normal.
But that normalcy did not help with Komaru’s uneasiness at how… nice Enoshima looked. She was gorgeous, of course, on a whole other level – but with how she looked on the cover, giving a wide, natural smile and a hand throwing the peace sign, she just seemed like a young woman still in high school. It was almost hard to believe the Junko Enoshima Komaru was looking at, and the Junko Enoshima Komaru knew in her mind, were the same person. No wonder she had the world fooled, mused the younger Naegi.
Toko, returning from the corner of the room she was investigating, took a single glance over Komaru’s shoulder before grimacing. “Ugh, that trashy bitch? Can’t believe anything with her face on it still exists,” She glanced at the backpack Komaru now wore. She had begun wearing it after despairing over having to leave behind another volume of The Bomb Inside Her because, between the two girls, they could not hold any more of Komaru’s ever growing book collection. “Please tell me you aren’t keeping that, Komaru.”
Komaru looked back at her friend and shook her head, putting the magazine aside. “Nah, don’t worry. I’m not gonna take anything with her on it. And besides,” she flicked her hair with her hand, for emphasis, “I think I look plenty good as is.”
Toko snorted at that. “Sure, Komaru. Plenty normal, maybe. Certainly not gonna end up on any magazine covers, though.”
Komaru pouted at her friend, mocking offense. “Well forget you, Toko! I like my hair. However…” she gave Toko a once over, the Ultimate Writer leaning away in response. “It’d actually be kinda fun to style your hair. Wait!” Komaru’s eyes suddenly brightened up, a brilliant idea beginning to form within her mind.
One Toko quickly had to shoot down, before everything went haywire. “O-Oh no, you are not touching my hair! Th-There’s no way I’m letting you mess with it!”
“Come onnnnnn, Toko,” groaned Komaru. “I wanna try doing some normal friend stuff with you! Ya know, sleepovers, talk about boys, style our hair – girl stuff!”
Toko gave her friend the side eye. “What, destroying Monokumas isn’t enough ‘girl stuff’ for you?”
Komaru laughed at that, shaking her hand dismissively. “Nah, that’s something only you and me get to do. I wanna do more, I dunno, ‘generic things’, I guess. Something kinda normal. Although,” Komaru put a finger to her chin in thought, ignoring the eyeroll Toko made at the mention of the word “normal”, “Now that I think about it, I guess we have sleepovers every day. You’re still not over that ghost thing, so we’re always together at night. And, well, I don’t really have any boys to talk about, and you… uh…” Komaru looked away from her best friend, a wry smile forming on her, “You’ve made it pretty clear what boy you like.”
Toko nodded firmly, clasping her hands together, a blush already beginning to form on her face. “Y-You’re damn right! Master is the only man for me, so I don’t need to talk about any other boys! And besides,” her tone quickly turned sour, “Boy talk just brings up bitter memories, a-and I’m sure you don’t wanna hear about the failures in l-love from some loser like me.”
Komaru sighed, mumbling, “I really wish you’d stop putting yourself down like that,” before giving Toko another determined look. “Still, I want to play with your hair! You have so much of it, and it is just begging to be made into one huge braid! It’d look great! Pleasepleaseplease can I, Toki?” she begged, hands clasped and doing her best to give her friend some puppy eyes.
Grimacing at the use of her nickname – I think she’s catching on to how much leeway it gives her over me – Toko tried again to put her foot down. “N-no, Komaru. I d-don’t want you touching my hair. It’d just look like shit, because it’s me, a-and I already styled my hair before but that looked like shit too, a-and I’d just rather keep my hair as is, s-so no means no! And anyways, y-you probably stink at hair styling, so it’s just further reason not to do it, a-and also-!” Before Toko’s rant could go any further, Komaru held her hands up to get her to stop. Something had caught the younger girl’s interest.
“Time out, Toko. You styled your hair before? How was it? Why’d you stop? Do you have any pictures?!” Komaru’s interest had been piqued, and she wasn’t planning on letting go any time soon.
Toko was a little surprised her friend had latched onto that detail. Why would I have pictures? “Uh, yeah. I u-used to braid my hair in tw-twin pigtails. B-But it became a pain to keep up with a-after coming to Towa City… and… well…” Toko trailed off, shrinking into herself, and concern for her friend immediately formed in Komaru.
“Toko? What’s wrong?”
“It’s just… Master… Byakuya t-told me that they looked hideous, since I-I don’t shower much, and he said he could ‘see every disgusting ounce of grease’ when my hair was bundled up like that, s-so… I-I dunno, guess I just lost motivation. N-Not that Master was wrong, of course!” she was quick to clarify. “I am p-pretty hideous, and th-that hairstyle didn’t suit me a-at all, so it only made sense he-he’d point that out, so honestly I’m a-actually really happy he told me that, and-!”
“No, that’s wrong!”
Interrupted once again, Toko was shocked into silence. Komaru looked frustrated, nearly to tears, by her friend’s recount. She could hardly believe what Toko told her! That Byakuya would treat the poor girl so harshly! Was she a little obsessive over the man, sure, and maybe she couldn’t take a hint sometimes, yes – but to attack the girl so viciously? Hurting her best friend? Komaru would not have it!
“Toko, please stop listening to what Byakuya says! I cannot believe how mean he is to you, and yet you keep trying to impress him! Forget him, he doesn’t deserve you. And besides,” Komaru puffed herself up, placing both of her hands on her hips, “He clearly doesn’t have functioning eyes, or glasses! You are easily one of the prettiest girls I have ever met, Toko.”
Silence fell between the two as Toko took in her friend’s words. Words that, as far back as Toko could recall, she’s pretty sure she’s never heard directed at her. All her life, her appearance has been insulted, made fun of, mocked, teased, and not exclusively by outside parties. She’s never held herself in high esteem. So for Komaru to claim something as insane as her being pretty… well…
One couldn’t blame Toko for doubting her friend’s intentions, right?
But at the same time, Toko has come to know Komaru well during their time in Towa City. And much like her older brother, the younger Naegi was honest to a fault. Komaru lying about this, or even just saying kind words to placate Toko, was almost as unbelievable as Toko actually being pretty. It was paradoxical, but… Toko wanted to believe in Komaru. She really wanted to believe that Komaru meant what she said – that she really thought Toko’s appearance was pleasant. Nice. Pretty.
Komaru thinks I’m pretty…
With that thought, Toko felt a flutter in her heart that she thought was exclusive to one Byakuya Togami. And if her heart was fluttering like that over something Komaru Naegi said, then that could only mean one thing, right?
Oh dear.
While Toko was busy with her introspective episode, time moved on in the outside world. The silence between the two girls shifted from comfortable to awkward, and Komaru started to get antsy. “Uh, Toko?” she said, breaking the silence. “Um… should I not have said that?”
Immediately, Toko’s expression changed from quiet shock to unbelievable anger. And embarrassment. Her face quickly flushing, she pointed an accusatory finger at Komaru, saying, “H-H-H-How dare you say something like that so suddenly?! D-D-Do you think you can sprinkle me with fl-flattery just to have your w-way? W-Well, I’ll have you know I am not so easily manipulated!”
Startled by the sudden finger in her face, it took Komaru a moment to respond. “Wha- No, wait, hold on Toko! I’m not- I’m being serious! I think you’re pretty, Toko. I wouldn’t lie about that.”
She said it again!
“Don’t just say it again! Uggghhhh!” Shutting her eyes, fingers running through her hair, Toko tried her best to calm her rapidly fluctuating emotions. Her brain was not prepared to handle this much stimulation, and Toko was almost considering calling on Jack just to get a break. But a quick glance at Komaru stifled those desires.
Wringing her hands together and eyes darting around the room, the poor girl looked caught up in her own emotions, completely unsure how to handle Toko’s reaction towards her compliment. Komaru was afraid she had somehow insulted her dear friend; said something she should not have. Toko did not like making Komaru feel like that, and so decided to remedy the situation.
“Look, Komaru,” Toko took a deep breathe, and continued, not able to look at Komaru quite yet. “I don’t… I haven’t been called pretty, like, ever, I think. By anyone. I’m used to being ridiculed, not complimented. So you kinda freaked me out, I guess. But not in a bad way, I was just… startled.” Finally, she glanced back at the other girl, looking her in the eye. “And coming from you, I know it was genuine. So… thank you.”
Now it was Komaru’s turn to be completely silent, a small blush on her own cheeks. She wasn’t expecting a “thank you” from Toko, but appreciated it all the same. A small smile came onto her face. “Of course, Toko. Please don’t think of yourself so poorly, either – you’re wonderful, and I wouldn’t want anyone else by my side. Remember that.”
She really is Makoto’s sister, thought Toko. To say things like that so earnestly. “Dumbass,” she grumbled to herself. “First the whole ‘I like you’ thing, now this? Gonna give a girl the wrong idea…”
“Wh-what was that, Toko?”
“Nothing!” Toko yelled, anger replacing her embarrassment. “I-I said Makoto’s gonna get jealous you’re flirting with people other than him, you sultry woman with a brother-complex! L-Leave me alone!” Turning away, Toko began to march out of the room, not sure she can handle anymore of the current conversation.
“Fl-flirting?! And hey, I told you to quit it with the brother-complex thing, it’s weird! Toko!”
Already reaching the door, Toko paused before storming out. “Let’s just get back to exploring for today. And then, um,” she stole a quick glance at Komaru. “O-Once we find a place to stay, if you want, I’ll… let you p-play with my hair. For a little. Only a little!” And with that, Toko exited the room before Komaru could notice the pink dusting her own cheeks. Komaru, realizing what her friend had said, quickly changed attitudes. A large smile bursting onto her face, she jogged out of the room to catch up to Toko, already planning what she wanted to do later that night.
The Ultimate Despair’s magazine laid abandoned, the rotten woman already forgotten by the two girls.
“I know you said why you don’t like showers, but jeeze, Toki!” Komaru complained, trying to brush the older girl’s hair. She was being as gentle as possible, but some of the knots were just refusing to cooperate.
“I-I don’t need to shower just so you can have your fu- OW! Watch it, Komaru!”
“Sorry, sorry! I’m trying my best here!”
As promised, after the two had found a place to spend the night, Toko allowed Komaru to take a brush to her hair. She wasn’t sure what Komaru was planning to do beyond that, but she decided to let Komaru have her fun. But now, with how painful an experience this was turning out to be, Toko was beginning to regret her choices in life. Why did I even agree to this in the first place…?
“I think you’re pretty, Toko.”
Right. That. Shit.
The earlier conversation between the two kept replaying in Toko’s head, and she discovered that her heart’s reactions to Komaru’s words had not changed or settled down one bit. If anything, they had only intensified, and Toko was not sure how to handle that. The downtime she had whenever Jack was brought out only offered the briefest of respites, and since the two personalities shared emotions, Toko now had to stress over her other self saying anything to Komaru she didn’t want to admit quite yet. Thankfully, it seems Jack kept quiet, because Komaru never showed signs of it whenever Toko came back.
Lost in her train of thought, Toko didn’t notice that Komaru had already started to style her hair a certain way. Now nice and straightened out, Komaru took half of her friend’s hair on one side and started threading it all together, creating a braid on Toko’s left side. Then, she repeated the action on the other side.
“Alright Toko, all done! What do you think?”
Snapped out of her thoughts, Toko looked into the bathroom mirror of the apartment they were bumming in. She was surprised to see a Toko reminiscent of her time at Hope’s Peak, with two long braided pig-tails flowing down her back. She grabbed at each one, bringing them up and around her body, idly playing with them while Komaru watched. It wasn’t exactly like how Toko used to do her hair, but considering Komaru had no reference to go off of, Toko was surprised how close it was. She looked over to her friend, and admitted, “You did a good job.”
Beaming, Komaru happily started to ramble. “I’m so glad! I wanted to bring back this old style you had, cuz I thought it was unfair you stopped doing it because of mean ol’ Byakuya! But I also really really wanted to see your hair like this, because I could picture it in my head but not perfectly, and it looks even better like this than I imagined! So I’m just really happy you let me do this and, well, uh…” Komaru trailed off, noticing the way Toko was looking at herself in the mirror. She seemed, well, maybe not happy per se, but it certainly wasn’t a look of disgust. Which, Komaru thought, was some significant improvement. “Do you like it, Toko?” she asked.
Looking away from the mirror, Toko offered a small nod. “Y-Yeah, it… it looks good, Komaru. Thanks. But uh,” she looked back at the mirror, poking at the cowlick sticking out from the top of her head. “How come this is still here? Thought you brushed my hair pretty thoroughly, if my aching scalp is any indication.”
“Oh, that!” Komaru said, ignoring Toko’s complaint. “Well, you know how fussy hair can be. Sometimes it just doesn’t wanna settle certain ways – my own hair does the same thing. So I just let it be. And besides,” Komaru then moved in close to Toko, standing right behind her so she was framed perfectly in the mirror with her. Their cheeks nearly touching, Komaru pointed a finger up towards their shared antennae, smiling warmly.
“I think it’s cute that we match.”
The rest of the night, Toko reverted back to calling her dear best friend Omaru, refusing to look the other girl in the eye.