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Maki Harukawa was a monster. She knew this. Most of the school knew this. Her friends however, didn’t seem to get the memo.
Maki found herself frustrated at the fact they seemed to excuse the fact she was a killer. Ever since her talent was exposed to the class, it didn’t take long for them not to care. It perplexed Maki. The people she had been around, whether it be the other kids in the assassin training program, the victims she had no choice but to kill, or the people who turned her into this creature, called her a monster.
She thought of herself as barely human anymore. A shell of who she once was. If she could turn back time, convince herself to just allow the people who trained her to kill her, allow herself to be saved from so much pain, she would in barely a heartbeat.
She had been on the verge of death many times. Shot, stabbed, beaten, burned, and much more. Most of which was the result of training to become a monster. She knew she deserved it. She was a monster, yet she still hated that organization for it.
She didn’t deserve the compassion, the care of others. She deserved to rot and burn. She’d been taught this. She knew this. She had known this ever since she found herself standing over that body at age 10, bloody knife in hand.
An ugly, despicable, disgusting, irredeemable, monster. That is all she thought of herself from that moment one. Crimson blood would be on her hands forever, with much more to pile up. It would be there forever. No way to undo it.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, Maki had estimated she had killed. All for nothing. Sure, her original intention was to save that girl from her orphanage, but the real kicker was that Maki was the one who killed her. Not literally, but her actions snowballed.
The organization had found out she had been cutting corners, getting sloppy with her killings, almost slipping up. She was 12. When adult barely got away with murder, how they expected Maki to do it flawlessly while still being a child, she had no idea. But they didn’t seem to see the flaws in their logic. Fucking hypocrites. So they killed her. Not Maki, even though she wished they had, but her friend.
Right in front of her.
Maki had been held back, kicking and screaming as they slit the young girl's throat, subjecting her to watch the life drain from her eyes.
That was the last time Maki decided to have friends. Anyone who associated with her would suffer from her mistakes. All she did was hurt others. Just like a monster.
Exactly what she was.
Of course, her plan to die alone and not allow anyone to be infected by the sickness she seemed to spread to anyone that came close.
Like a monster.
Soon, she had been accepted into Hope’s Peak, as the Ultimate Assassin. She’d be a fool to turn it down. Being set for life. She knew she was selfish, but she felt maybe it would keep her from seeing more bodies trailing behind her.
It didn’t.
She still had to use and practice her talent, which meant killing. How Hope’s Peak wasn’t shut down for sheltering illegal talents, she had no idea. She didn’t want to go to prison, though she knew she deserved it.
Monsters belonged in prison.
No matter how hard she tried, the people in her class seemed to cling to her like velcro. The idiot astronaut, an anxious detective, and a pretty blonde pianist. There were the rest of the class that were annoying and clung to her, but she found those clung to her the most.
She knew that she didn’t deserve them. Deserve their kindness. Deserve their compassion. Deserve their love. Monsters didn’t deserve that. Monster deserved nothing but pain.
That's what she was experiencing right now.
Pain.
Maki wouldn’t call it bad. She knew she deserved it. She called it karma of sorts.
But nobody knew she would call it that, because she couldn’t find the strength to open her mouth in her current situation.
She found herself laying in an alley, in the rain, blood pooling from 3 stab wounds in her side. How despairing.
Turns out the organization had had enough of her shit, having found out from a spy she was going to a school, where she had recently been outed as the Ultimate Assassin. They didn’t want her to snitch.
Nobody liked snitches.
So while she was sent out to get groceries for the dorm kitchen, someone dragged her into an alleyway and stabbed her. The pain in her side was unbearable, but she thought of it as a fitting end.
She had been shot, stabbed, burned many times before, but not in any vitals, and the scars on her chest and torso from knives were only from weapons grazing her skin.
She wondered who would find her body. What their reaction would be. Thinking about it, Maki concluded they would most likely laugh. Be happy. Who wouldn’t be happy when an unloveable monster dies?
Maki felt life draining from her body as her vision began to blur. The raindrops plopping near her became a distant ringing noise. She felt tired. She wanted to close her eyes, rest for a while. Slowly her eyes began to shut, only being able to see a pink, blurry color coming towards her in the corner of her vision started to ebb away. She felt as if she heard someone talking, screaming. She couldn’t tell what they were saying though, and she was too tired to try.
She closed her eyes, allowing the fatigue to take over and put her into what she hoped was eternal slumber.
-
Kaede looked at her watch, then looked outside the window at the rain. “Guys, Maki’s been gone for 2 hours longer than she said she would. I’m starting to get worried.” Kaede said, concerning shining through her eyes.
They had sent her out to get groceries due to it being her turn. She had been gone for nearly 3 hours.
“Maybe we should go look for her! She could have gotten lost.” Kaito concluded, slamming his fists together.
Shuichi sighed from behind the taller man, looking at the blonde pianist. “I think it’s best if we go out looking for her. We don’t know what could be holding her up.” Shuichi said.
Kaede nodded, a feeling of worry pulsing through her as if it were her own blood. Kokichi rolled out from the cabinet, landing on his back before leaping up. “I’ll come too! I’m bored!” he groaned.
Kaito rolled his eyes. “If she sees you coming, she’ll probably wanna stay out there longer.” he growled, putting on his rain jacket.
Kaede glared at both. “Quit fighting, let’s go look around town. Kirumi gave her the exact route to the grocery store, so she is most likely around there.” Kaede said.
Shuich hummed in agreement. “It would be out of character to get lost, but she could be blowing it off, although she doesn’t really seem like the type to procrastinate.” Shuichi mumbled.
Kaede heard a loud BOOM from across the dorms, with Miu coming into the kitchen, covered in soot, oil, and smoke trailing behind her. Kaede saw Kirumi from the other side of the room calmly stroll over and began to follow Miu around the kitchen, sweeping up the soot she left behind into a pile.
“Sup virgins! You guys going out? I’m fucking coming too. I need more bolts!” she laughed, pulling her jacket on without awaiting her answer.
Kaede blinked. “We are going out to look for Maki, but sure.”
Kaito groaned. “Now we need two leashes for Miu and Kokichi…” he groaned, causing Miu to slap him.
“Shut it virgin!” she growled at the purple astronaut.
With their group of complete idiots, with addition to Shuichi, the group strolled out, on the lookout for the red assassin.
“I hope she doesn’t get a cold. I didn’t see her put a jacket on.” Kaede worried as they walked past an alleyway. Something red seemed to catch her eye, making her stop dead in her tracks. This caused Kokichi to slam right into her.
“Watch it Kaegay!” the supreme leader growled.
Kaede stared into the alley, walking towards it. She rubbed her eyes, seeing a certain body lying there, crimson blood oozing from their sides. Almost as if somebody has allowed a red ocean to emerge from them. Or more like her sides.
Her being Maki.
She wanted to vomit, she ran towards the body, the rest of the group following her in alarm, realizing who it was. “Shit! Maki!” Kaito yelped, running up to the unconscious assassin beside Kaede.
Saihara and Miu looked at the body in horror, while Kaede was wholeheartedly panicking. Lifting up Maki’s red hoodie, her gaze filled with more horror than she originally thought was possible. Three, large stab wounds, gushing so much it would make Niagara Falls jealous.
Kaede wanted to pass out, but she had to stay strong. For Maki. She pressed her ear to the girl's chest, hearing slow, uneven breaths. She was still breathing. Thank god. “Kaito and Shuichi, can you carry her?” she asked, her voice coming out more wobbly than she intended.
The two boys nodded.
Kaede took off her jacket, wrapping it around the girl’s side. It was around 8:00 PM, so nobody was roaming the streets. As Kaito and Shuichi picked her up, she heard a soft groan emerge from the brunette's throat. Kaede frowned.
“Miu. Call Kirumi and tell her to get Mikan.” Kaede instructed.
The strawberry blonde inventor nodded, pulling out her phone. Kaede pointed at Kokichi. “D.I.C.E has eyes in this area, right?” she asked.
The short purple haired boy nodded. “All the time, 24/7!” he said, his hyper positive, teasing tone obviously trying to hide the anxiety in his voice.
“Do you think they could find any information on… this?” she asked, which led to the boy nodding.
“I’ll ask em’.” he chuckled nervously.
The rain flew down hard enough that it could easily be mistaken for hail. Kaede opened the door to the dorm house, the whole class and Mikan were already standing there. Kaito and Shuichi laid her down on the nearest couch, blood dripping off Maki’s side’s and staining the couch.
Kirumi would clean it later. A stain was not their concern.
Mikan immediately lifted up her shirt to allow access to the wound. “What the hell happened to her?” Rantaro asked, concern edging his voice.
“We don’t know. We found her like that…” Kaede shuddered, eyeing the bleeding assassin.
“I n-need so-someone t-to bring her to my n-nurse office…” Mikan stammered, eyeing the wounded girl.
Kaito ran over to the bleeding assassin, picking her up with ease. “S-she n-needs to go in-into s-surgery…” Mikan stuttered, trailing behind the taller boy.
Kaede and the rest of the class watched them leave the room. The air in the room felt too thick, it felt suffocating. The normally loud, rowdy class was silent as mice.
-
Senses slowly began to come back to Maki. The numbness in her abdomen that still somehow hurt made her wince, surprised by how raspy her voice seemed to sound through the blaring ringing in her ears.
Ah yes, the blaring ringing that would stay in her ears for what felt like a lifetime whenever she fired a gun. A very familiar sound to the assassin, even if she hated the uncomfortable cacophony.
The lower half of her body felt as if it were going to fall off. Attempting to open her eyes to get at least one of her senses to work, she was blinded by an enveloping white light, making her blink a few times. Her blurred vision and the ringing in her ears could only make out that a girl was talking while looming over her right side, her blond hair the only thing able to be truly seen through the blur.
She couldn’t decipher much of what the girl was saying but her tone sounded sweet. Calming. Maki could practically hear herself purr, leaning into the gentle, warm hand caressing the side of her face that wasn’t covered by the oxygen mask.
Oxygen mask?
Why would she need one of those? Suddenly, all of the memories of before she went to sleep came flooding back. She jolted up, before yelping at the jab of pain in her lower side. The warm hand stopped her, slowly pushing her back down into the bed. With all the power Maki had, she focused her eyes to see who was there. The blonde hair and the violet eyes stuck out like a sore thumb.
Kaede?
Maki began to calm down, still clutching her side and breathing heavily. As the ringing in her ears went away, she could make out Kaede’s soft voice, shushing her and giving her positive affirmations.
“K-Kaede..?” Maki started, before wincing.
“Hey! Easy there.” Kaede frowned, helping Maki into a position to ease the pain.
“How’re you feeling?” Kaede asked.
“Like shit.” Maki groaned, leaning into the blonde’s touch.
Kaede blushed at the normal stoic and distant assassin leaning into her touch without another thought. She smiles contently, carding her fingers through Maki’s long hair, now out of its signature twin-tails.
“It will get better. What exactly happened..? If you don’t mind me asking. I- I just wanted to know. It’s not everyday you find one of your best friends bleeding out in an alleyway!” Kaede chuckled lightly.
Maki’s eyes brightened. ‘She sees me as one of her best friends..?’ she thought happily, before focusing on the question.
The small blush at the comment still lingered though.
“Oh- um… it’s kinda complicated… and a long story.” the assassin chuckled darkly.
“I mean… we really don’t have much to do at the moment do we?” Kaede asked cheekily.
Maki nodded. Well, as much as her body would allow her to nod given her current position.
“Some people from my assassin organization didn’t want me snitching. They found out people knew I was an assassin, so a group of dudes just pulled me into an alleyway and stabbed me a few times.” Maki chuckled darkly, explaining the very horrible situation nonchalantly.
This left a very disturbed Kaede, staring down at the chuckling assassin.
Yet, she found it was best to keep silent about that. She didn’t want to make this work by breaking it to Maki how disturbing this was to act like this was normal. She sighed. However, she was alarmed as she was broken out of her train of thought by Maki, scooching over, letting out soft grunts of pain.
“W-what are you doing?!” Kaede asked, alarmed and concerned.
“Makin’ room,” Maki slurred sleepily, patting the new space next to her. “You look cold.”
Kaede blinked, realizing she was shivering.
With a few more urges from Maki, she slowly got into the small hospital bed, being wary of the medical equipment hooked up the the shorter of the two. Looking over, she smiled lightly, seeing Maki asleep again.
Kaede gently pulled the girl closer, careful not to wake or hurt the girl, as well as the medical equipment.
Maki snuggled up to the pianist, positioning herself under Kaede’s chin so the blonde would spoon her. Kaede smiled softly, surprised at how soft the girl was being. Her eyes glancing at her watch, she soon understood why she felt so tired. It was 12:49 AM.
Kaede yawned, allowing herself to fall asleep, spooning the small assassin.