Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tsumugi lied to them.

It had taken them maybe an hour to find a way out of the cage they were being kept in, but once they stepped foot on solid ground, that much was apparent. They weren’t surrounded by people who wanted killing games as entertainment. They weren’t on another planet, sent to repopulate the human race. They weren’t on a deserted Earth, one that had nothing but desolate towns and no growth.

Instead, there was life. There was grass on the ground, flowers blooming in between rocks, and even though the sky was tinted a light red, the air was perfectly breathable. If Maki was anyone but herself, she would’ve cried with relief. And, to her left, she could tell that Himiko and Shuichi were about at that point.

“This is the world.” Her throat felt raw, her lungs filled with dust still from the destruction of their so-called school. She didn’t want to look back at where they had come from, instead focusing on every detail she could. For example, there were both destroyed and intact skylines on the horizon, and there was water a couple meters out, nearly surrounding them.

Before she could bring up that small detail, Shuichi was already approaching it. Maki would’ve looked around, too, but Himiko began leaning on her, seeming about five seconds away from either passing out or falling asleep. Instinctively, Maki put an arm around her shoulders, supporting her.

“We’re on a beach?” Although it was in the form of a question, Maki knew that Shuichi was fairly certain of himself. It was more likely that he couldn’t believe what he was saying, and she couldn’t blame him. With the information they’d been fed recently, it was hard to trust even their own eyes.

“That’s what it looks like.” The water, crystal blue and sparkling, lapped at the shore of grass and rocks, creating little puddles of mud between the stones. Beside her, Himiko was strangely silent. Maki shifted her gaze down, admittedly a little worried. “Himiko, are you alright?”

Himiko nodded mutedly, her eyes half-lidded. Even though they were all the same age, it seemed that the final trial took its toll on Himiko much quicker than it did on Maki or Shuichi. “I’m just tired.”

After that trial and the time they spent escaping the cage, Maki couldn’t blame her a bit. Her muscles ached a little, unused to doing so much even though that kind of activity was all she ever used to do. “We can’t rest now. We have to—” Shuichi cut himself off as he turned to face the two of them. His eyes widened slightly, likely in awe, as he looked behind them at their old world. He shook his head, as though clearing himself from his daze. “We have to find somewhere to stay. We don’t know how safe it is out here.”

Safe or not, Maki had a small plan. After all, she still had the thin blade she always kept strapped to her thigh, hidden away by her thick thigh-high socks. It only took her a fraction of a second to unsheath it when she needed it, thanks to her years of training.

Years of training that may or may not have actually happened. She tried not to think about that too hard.

“There’s nothing to do but push forward.” If they didn’t, who knew who—or what—was going to find them. Maki didn’t want to wait around and find out, especially if they were in a hostile environment.

“So long as we can sleep later.” Himiko’s statement was punctuated with a yawn, reminding Maki of some of the younger kids from the orphanage. They were always exhausted after running around for the whole day. Even though she could barely remember those times, she used to be that way, too.

Shuichi smiled fondly at the two of them, the red-lit sky casting more of a shadow on his face. “We should stick together, find somewhere to sleep. We have water, hopefully it’s clean, but we should find a food source, too.”

Himiko straightened against Maki’s side, suddenly more alert. “A boat.”

“That would be helpful, but—”

Maki cut him off, following Himiko’s gaze. “No, Shuichi, there’s a boat coming this way.” She let her hand drift down to her knife, ready to draw in case whoever was on the boat wasn’t friendly. Given what they’d had to deal with, that was a likely scenario.

The boat approached far faster than Maki would’ve thought for its size. It cut through the water like a hot knife through butter, smooth and nearly silent. She squinted, though she couldn’t see anyone on board. She could, however, hear people on board as they approached a dock she hadn’t noticed down to her right.

“Are we certain this is the right place?”

“You better not screw this up. We’re being trusted to do this!”

“Stop that! Everything’s going to be fine.”

Maki rolled her eyes as Shuichi stepped back in line with them. “Do you think they know the outer PA system is on?” If they were going for stealth and mystery, well, that failed.

Person after person appeared on the deck of the ship as it came to a stop. Most of them were talking and laughing with each other, peering over the side at the broken cage, while others appeared to be more serious. None of them paid much attention to the three on the shore. Shuichi closed the space between himself, Himiko and Maki as inconspicuously as he could. Maki’s hand twitched at her side upon noticing one of the women had a sword bag slung over her shoulder. If need be, she was ready to fight to protect the other two.

One of the adults, the only one looking their way, stared down at them in a cold, calculating manner. He wasn’t smiling like many of the others were, his expression more neutral. Maki couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about him nagged at her brain, incredibly familiar.

“This is…” Shuichi shook his head in disbelief, looking at all of the people on the boat, and finally Maki caught onto why the man looked so familiar to her.

Tsumugi’s cosplays.

Was everything she told them a lie?

“Hey!” Himiko let go of Maki, straightening her posture and cupping her hands around her mouth so she could shout at the people. “Who are you?”

A couple of them turned to face the three, sparking in Maki’s brain as she recognized them from Tsumugi’s cosplays. That lying bitch tricked them all into thinking they were fiction! Although, that meant…

A man with pink hair grinned down at them, leaning against the railing of the boat. “Officially, we’re the Remnants of Despair, formerly of Hope’s Peak Academy’s 77th class. Unofficially, we’re here to rescue you.”

Rescue. As in, the three of them were in danger. These people, regardless of who they claimed to be, knew about the game.

“Hope’s Peak Academy?” Maki could see the wheels turning in Shuichi’s head. She was certain that the school had been mentioned sometime before. Maybe even the Remnants of Despair had. At that point, she could hardly keep anything straight.

One of the women nudged the pink-haired man out of the way so she could have a better view, nearly knocking him over the side. “Explain everything later! They’re probably exhausted.” She beckoned them aboard with a kind smile. “Come on, we have room for a couple more.”

There was literally no way Maki was going to trust these people. If she had her way, she would turn around and ignore their entire existence. As it was, though, she saw that both Shuichi and Himiko wanted to go. The one man was still there when she checked, staring right at her with mismatched eyes as though trying to guess her next move.

“Fine.” Shuichi shot her a grateful look as he led them to the dock, surprisingly intact. Her hand never strayed once from her knife. Shuichi and Himiko were much more trusting than she was—than she could ever be. She wasn’t about to risk them all getting killed for a shot in the dark. What were they planning on doing if this was a trap of some sort? A boat was isolated, they’d have no way off.

Most of the people on the ship had the sense to give them some space as they walked on. A couple of them looked like they wanted to get closer, but they stayed away. Some of them were likely intimidated by the death stare Maki was sending them. The only one who didn’t back down to her stare within a few seconds was—surprise, surprise—the man who had been watching them. He still hadn’t said a word. Maki didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him.

“Explain. Now.” It took all of her willpower to not draw her knife on him. This was most certainly a hostile environment; she needed to be on her toes, and that required having as much information as she could.

The man finally showed a shred of emotion, smiling a bit and holding his hands up in front of him in a nonthreatening gesture. Totally unfitting for how he’d appeared before. “I understand,” he laughed, much friendlier. “It’s a bit of a long story.”

The attentions of the others around them slowly dissolved, transferring to their own conversations. “So what’s this long story, and what does it have to do with us?” Himiko asked, crossing her arms and hardening her stare. It wasn’t as intimidating as Maki’s, but it was good to see that she was taking it seriously.

The man ran a hand through his spiky hair. “Let’s go below deck. It’ll be easier to explain everything there, where it’s less noisy.” The last statement seemed to be directed towards a woman with multi-colored hair. It didn’t appear as though she was listening.

Maki wasn’t about to put her life in the hands of strangers anytime soon, and she could tell that even Shuichi and Himiko were a little suspicious. It was hard to be trusting, having been burned so many times in the past. Very recent past, actually.

The man sensed their hesitation and dropped his voice a bit, sounding a little more sympathetic. “I understand that you aren’t the most receptive right now—I get it. Everyone here went through the same. But you can trust me when I say that we were sent here to help you.”

Like that was going to convince her. It didn’t look like they had any other choice; he clearly wasn’t going to give them any information until they followed him. She turned to Himiko and Shuichi, making eye contact with them both and mouthing, “Your call.”

The two of them exchanged a glance. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” Shuichi eventually said, slow and uncertain. The man smiled at them, and again Maki was struck by how odd it appeared compared to his first impression.

“Follow me, and I’ll explain everything I can.” He led them to one of the doors and down a flight of metal stairs, their footsteps echoing loudly as other sound faded. On the outside the boat had looked big, but it was even larger on the inside. The man led them past room after room with closed doors, down at least three different hallways. Everything looked the same to her, nothing at all like the odd hallways and rooms of their “school.”

The man led them into what she thought was a conference room, complete with a long table and many chairs. “Go ahead and take a seat.”

Despite trying to maintain her composure, Maki all but collapsed into one of the chairs. She’d been trained to withstand so much more physical demand; it was the mental and emotional demand that was wearing her down. “Maybe you could start with telling us who you are,” she said, her tone as prickly and no-nonsense as she could manage.

“Ah, I forgot that, didn’t I?” The man laughed to himself for a split second before bowing his head in apology. “My name is Hajime Hinata. I was a Reserve Course student at Hope’s Peak.”

Shuichi and Himiko straightened again at the name of the school. It still wasn’t clear how the three of them were related to the prestigious academy, but maybe Hajime would know. Although, of course, she would be taking any information she was given with a grain—or maybe a handful—of salt.

“If I may ask, how did you know we would be here?” Shuichi asked once the moment of surprise passed. True to his nature as a detective, he was already getting down to the necessary details.

“We’ll get to that, I promise.” Maki noted that Hajime himself looked a bit exhausted, with dark bags formed under his eyes like Shuichi’s. “I assume you’re familiar with the Tragedy and Junko Enoshima?” Yet more information given to them by Tsumugi. If he knew of it, though, maybe that was the truth. They nodded, allowing him to continue. “Almost everyone on this ship became a Remnant of Despair. One of the survivors of Junko’s class’s killing game, Makoto Naegi, helped restore us to our pre-despair selves. We were put into a simulation known as the Neo World Program—” Maki stiffened, remembering the computer program Miu had toyed with and was killed within— “but the program became infected by a virus and turned it into a killing game as well. Makoto was able to get us out the way the program was intended to run, and since then we’ve been working with him undercover.”

“That doesn’t answer Shuichi’s question,” Himiko pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest.

Hajime nodded. Of course he already knew that. “Makoto and the other survivors joined an organization known as Future Foundation and are trying to end the aftermath of the Tragedy. He went against their orders to kill us, which is why we’re working with him secretly. Future Foundation is responsible for finding and shutting down any events caused by Remnants of Despair, including the killing game you three were involved in. We thought we would be able to come quick enough to save more of you.”

If that wasn’t a stab to the gut, Maki didn’t know what was. “So if you were given the information sooner, fewer of us would’ve died? Is that what you’re saying?”

His expression was grave, guilty. “That’s right. As it was, we had to jump through a lot of hoops just to get your names, let alone location. I’m glad we could save anyone at all.”

It was too much. The overload of information was giving her a headache, and Hajime clearly noticed. “I understand you’ve all been through a lot in the past few weeks. We don’t have extra rooms, but we arranged everything so you can double up with someone. You’re welcome to rest if you want.”

“Who said we’re—”

Shuichi cut Maki off with one of his looks, the one he used to have when debating evidence during class trials. He was ready to argue her about this. “Thank you, Hajime,” he said, already standing. Hajime followed suit, as did Himiko. Maki reluctantly stood as well, the three of them once more falling back as Hajime led them out.

“Are you crazy?” Maki couldn’t help but ask through clenched teeth. “How could the both of you trust these people so soon?”

Himiko shrugged, barely aware of her surroundings. “They seem genuine enough. It’s not like we have another plan.”

“I agree with Himiko. We should give them a chance,” Shuichi urged, keeping his voice down in case Hajime was listening in. “We can at least learn more from them later.”

She shook her head, picking up the pace and breaking away from them. “Unbelievable.”

Hajime led them to a set of three closed doors, lined up in a hall with many others. “Maki, you’ll be with Peko. Himiko, you’re with Sonia, and Shuichi, you can stay with me. We’ll answer any questions you have tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Himiko went into the room Hajime pointed out to her. Maki entered her own without a word or another look at the others.

In a way, the room reminded her of all the bedrooms she’d ever lived in. The bare minimum was in there, though the two beds were pushed against the wall to make enough room in the center for a larger, open space. She sat on the bed she supposed was hers, with thin sheets and a pillowcase that didn’t match, and hugged her knees to her chest. Even though she was used to sleeping in unfamiliar places, she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be so easy.

There was a window by the bed, shedding the pale red light of the sky into the room. She found herself looking up at it, finding patches of blue peeking through in some places like the sun behind clouds. It was still daylight, maybe afternoon or evening, but she found herself searching for any semblance of stars. Something ached in her chest, causing her to curl into herself even more. She fiddled with her hair, wrapping and rewrapping locks of it between her fingers. Her vision blurred around the edges, but she knew from practice that if she didn’t look down, the tears wouldn’t fall.

It was never an option for her. She never had the option to be sad or grieve. She always had to be strong, emotionally detached from everything and everyone. Even now, she felt like she had to be the strong, mature one for Himiko and Shuichi. She wasn’t afraid to admit that they’d lost more than she had during the killing game. She’d caused some of her own herself. Her own grief was invalid compared to theirs.

So she kept staring at the sky, wishing away her tears. She didn't have time for them during the game and she didn’t have the time now. Just like she didn’t have time to come to terms with her feelings. If she never did…

It took her at least an hour, despite her exhaustion, to drift into an uneasy rest. She could only hope that she didn’t dream.

Ironically, the setup was almost like the class trials everyone in the room was loathe to remember.

“We need to tell them sometime,” Hajime said, rubbing at his temples. They’d already been at it for, what, fifteen minutes? “Why hold it off longer than necessary?”

“They just finished a killing game!” Mahiru reminded him, looking at everyone in the room as if to remind them that they, too, had done that. “Don’t rush something that should be taken slow.”

Fuyuhiko nodded in agreement; it was good to see him and Mahiru getting along better than they had at first. “Yeah, no need to rush throwin’ them back into constant danger.”

“Although,” Peko mused, “wouldn’t it be wrong to allow them to get used to normality, only to put them in danger again?”

Hiyoko sat back in her seat. “Who cares? Just do whatever, but don’t go screwing it up!”

Next to her, Ibuki perked up. “Mikan-chan is being quiet! Ooh, I wonder if she has a different argument to make?”

“N-no, I was going to agree…”

“Neither situation is entirely ideal,” Sonia added, “but we must push past that and make a decision hella fast!”

“Right!” Kazuichi, naturally, agreed with her immediately. “But … maybe we should gather more information first?”

Gundham shifted his gaze onto him. “And how would you suggest we do that, mortal?”

Ryota shook his head a little. “We can’t get any more information from Future Foundation without calling attention to everything.”

“While that’s true,” Satoru, the former Ultimate Imposter, said, “perhaps there is another way?”

“I dunno if Alter Ego can help us out much on this one,” Nekomaru sighed out, crossing his arms.

Beside him, Akane pouted. “Can we talk about this later? I’m hungry.” Her statement was punctuated by her stomach growling.

“We’ll eat once everyone wakes up,” Teruteru reminded her. “Besides, good cooking takes time.”

Finally, Nagito nodded and looked to Hajime. “Why don’t we table this discussion, then? Let them have hope for just a little longer.”

With everything considered, that seemed to be the best course of action. Hajime sighed mutedly and stood, ready to call it a night. With all luck, they’d be able to come to a more conclusive decision before it was too late.

Maki could tell as soon as she woke up that she was not alone. Her cheek was cold from being pressed against the window all night and her muscles were tight from the position she slept in, but her mind was awake enough to be alert and aware of her surroundings.

It was the silver-haired woman with the sword.

Maki’s instincts took over in a split second, her knife drawn and in her hand. The woman, kneeling on the ground and not even facing her, detected her swift movement in the same time and picked up her sword, coming within a hair of slicing Maki’s neck. Her own blade was just a touch away from piercing the woman’s chest. They were at an impasse, their stares boring into each other, each cold and calculating how much of a threat the other was.

It was clear to Maki that neither of them was going to yield to the other. With a short nod, both of them lowered their blades. “Impressive reflexes first thing in the morning,” the woman said. Maki almost didn’t register it as a compliment. “Although, I would prefer it if you wouldn’t draw a blade on me next time.”

“You did the same.” She slipped her knife back into its sheath, her muscles slowly relaxing.

The woman put her sword—actually a practice one, Maki noticed—back on the ground beside her. “I have my own reflexes to thank.” She stood and bowed politely. “I’m Peko Pekoyama. Former Ultimate Swordswoman.”

And now Maki supposed she couldn’t pass off her fake talent. Then again, there was a good chance these people knew her true talent, anyway. “Maki Harukawa. Ultimate Assassin.”

Something clouded over in Peko’s eyes, but it cleared before Maki could determine what it was. “Are you hungry, Maki? I’d expect that Teruteru is almost done preparing breakfast.”

“What about Himiko and Shuichi?”

A soft smile came onto Peko’s lips, maybe at her apparent concern for her friends. Maki frowned slightly. “They’re already awake.”

Both of them? She was almost certain she would be the first to wake up, or at least she would be awake before Himiko. Then again, it had been a while since she last had a good night’s sleep; she probably needed it.

Still standing, she straightened her rumpled clothes to appear more put-together, noting a few tears in the fabric. She would have to find a way to fix them later. Peko, her sword now sheathed and slung across her back, stood and led her back to the conference room. It looked more like a small, cramped cafeteria with three extra chairs pulled up to the table and every place set. Nearly all the seats were taken already, despite it likely still being early.

Maki nodded in greeting at Shuichi, but Himiko was too engrossed in a conversation with a woman, man and some hamsters to notice her enter the room. Peko made her way to the end of the table, taking a seat next to a freckled man and gesturing for her to follow. Even back in the cage, she never stuck in the dining hall for long. Now, though, she didn’t exactly have anywhere else to go. She felt the man’s gaze on her as she slid into the seat on Peko’s other side.

It was awkward, to be honest. She supposed she was used to having someone to talk to in the dining hall before, or rather someone to talk at her, but that wasn’t the case anymore. Everyone was talking to each other, and while she didn’t mind being left out of mindless conversations, all she could do was shift her gaze around and challenge herself to memorize who was sitting where. It was then that she realized she didn’t know anyone’s names other than Hajime and Peko.

“So, Maki.” It took her all of a second to realize that the man next to Peko was addressing her. “I hear you’re an assassin, huh?”

“I am.” She kept her usual guarded edge to her tone, all too used to being questioned about what she did. It wasn’t like she wanted it in the first place, but that wasn’t his place to know that. Most people didn’t care about that, anyway, unless she was directly threatening them.

The man smirked a bit, turning more towards her so Maki could notice a nasty scar covering his right eye. “Given that you’re still alive, you never had any run-ins with the Kuzuryu Clan. That makes you alright in my book.” Peko leaned back slightly for the man to offer his hand. “Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu.”

The Kuzuryu Clan, huh. So he was a yakuza. She did remember a couple of occasions when assassins were sent after members of the clan. They rarely ever came back alive. Still, she shook his hand without breathing a word of that.

Peko smiled warmly at the two of them, though she tried to hide it by turning away. Maki had to admit that she didn’t mind learning more about these people, even though she still had her qualms about them. The more she knew about them, the easier she would be able to fight them if she needed to.

“Food is here!” a short man shouted, rolling in a cart holding trays of aromatic food. One of the women further down the table almost pounced on it before the man next to her grabbed the back of her shirt to restrain her.

Everything was passed around quickly as conversation swelled. Maki noticed for the first time that morning how hungry she was. That said, she didn’t take much. She didn’t completely trust that the food wasn’t poisoned. She waited for both Peko and Fuyuhiko to start eating before taking a bite herself. And, she had to admit, she was pretty impressed. It tasted much better than the food she used to have during training.

The short man took a seat in the empty chair to Maki’s left. “What do you think? Fitting of the former Ultimate Chef, yes?”

That certainly explained the quality of the meal. He looked at her expectantly, so she muttered, “It’s good.”

“Just ‘good?’ I know for a fact it’s better than ‘good.’” He shook his head, almost in pity, as he started eating his own portion. Laughter and conversation bubbled up the whole time Maki ate, silent. It felt different and familiar at the same time, but she felt like she was an outside observer. Himiko looked like she was fitting in nicely. Shuichi, on the other hand, seemed a little uncomfortable with a white-haired man chatting his ear off. Maki could tell that even Hajime didn’t fully know how to respond to whatever the conversation was about.

Through the lighthearted conversation, Maki could tell that a few of the people were tense, working to avoid something or other. Their eyes would shift back and forth between each other like they were having secret conversations on top of their more relaxed ones. Maki waited for everyone to finish eating before she spoke up. “Hajime, you said that you would answer our questions today.”

A bit to her surprise, Hajime nodded. She would’ve expected him to put it off for a much later time. “That’s fine. Any of us can do our best to answer your questions.”

Shuichi threw her a quick, thankful look. She wasn’t sure if it was for remembering to ask about the questions or interrupting his conversation. “One of my biggest questions is whether we were actually students at Hope’s Peak Academy. Between what we know about the Tragedy and the lies we’ve been told recently, it’s hard to tell what’s real.”

Hajime fielded the question after a minute of silence passed. “Technically speaking, the Tragedy began before your class could be formally admitted. However, we know because of Future Foundation that all of you were scouted for the next class, Class 79.”

Himiko looked like she was trying to compute something in her mind, also counting on her fingers. “So that makes us…”

“You were sixteen when the Tragedy began,” the most muscular man at the table supplied. “So you’re seventeen or eighteen now.”

Maki looked down at her lap, a bit dazed. It was definitely past winter, which would make her eighteen. She assumed initially that she was sixteen still, but that was also thanks to Tsumugi. Her fingers curled into fists in her lap. That was nearly two years of her life erased for, what, some temporary despair?

Shuichi kept the questions rolling, so she couldn’t think on it too long. “So, to be clear, who we are now is who we were before the Tragedy, correct? Our personalities weren’t changed at all?”

One of the men closest to the door answered. Maki almost hadn’t noticed him; he was much quieter than many of the other adults in the room. “As far as we can tell, yes. You all had bits of your memory erased to fit the, ah, story the mastermind wanted. None of your identity was erased.” His eyes cut to Hajime for a split second before returning to the table. Maki nodded to herself; that was another thing Tsumugi lied to them about. Did she ever tell the truth, even once?

It was around that point that Maki stopped paying as close attention. She lost two years off of her life, and she didn’t even know what she did during them. Did she still work as an assassin? Was she hiding during the Tragedy? And then there was the matter of who she was supposed to be after the killing game. She wasn’t sure what was worse: everything she’d done being real, or being someone who volunteered to be in a killing game like she’d been led to believe. Either case was a moral nightmare.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the questions were done. Anything she missed, she was sure Shuichi or Himiko would catch her up later, but there was the matter of her anger. Her fists were still clenched tight, her nails biting into her skin. She nearly jumped as Peko tapped her arm lightly, gesturing for Maki to follow her. It was wholly unlike her to be so lost in thought, but a lot had changed about her situation. Wasn’t it natural for her to change with it?

Peko brought her through a few different hallways until they reached a room stocked with reusable practice dummies and some foam mats shoved in a corner. Maki just stood there and watched as Peko effortlessly dragged two of the dummies into the center of the room and took her sword out. Within seconds she was attacking it, the bamboo against metal producing an unusual sound.

Peko carried on for a handful of moments as Maki watched before pausing and nodding at the extra dummy. “Go on. Attack it.”

Maki hesitantly drew her knife as Peko returned to her own dummy. She advanced quickly, thrusting and slashing at it. Just like it used to, her mind went blank and was completely devoid of thought. The only things she was aware of were the dummy in front of her and the metal-on-metal sound echoing in her ears.

She carried on for what must’ve been at least half an hour, not breaking a sweat. Peko was the one who signaled for them to stop, sheathing her sword and pushing her dummy back against the wall wordlessly. Maki copied her movements, putting the dummy away and following her back to the room they shared, not a word between them. It struck her as odd that they didn’t pass anyone in the hallway. She couldn’t tell if the boat was moving, but regardless, she doubted anyone would want to be cooped up below deck all day.

Taking off her sword, Peko settled into a kneeling position with her head bowed and her eyes closed. Sensing a pattern from their last activity, Maki followed suit, laying her knife by her side. She was used to staying still for hours at a time, but she supposed that it was nice to sit and not have to pay attention to her surroundings. Perhaps that was the intended effect.

Time passed by quickly without Maki noticing. Her breathing had slowed and steadied with her heart rate, in that pleasant state between awake and asleep. She opened her eyes once more as she heard Peko shifting around, standing and stretching. Maki did the same, her muscles feeling amazing. In a way, spending her time with Peko reminded her of training with Kaito and Shuichi. Maybe Shuichi would still like to train with her later, if she got around to asking.

She hit the showers before going to the conference room again. Peko had helped her find some extra clothes, much more comfortable than her dirty, partially tattered outfit. It felt nice to wear something other than that uniform. The stretch pants rather than long socks were especially comfortable, though it felt odd that her knife was strapped to the outside of them, not even hidden in the folds of a skirt. The hem of her zip-up jacket, just slightly too big, covered part of the handle at least, though it still wasn’t subtle.

Everyone was in different seats when she walked into the conference room again. It seemed they shuffled around a lot. Himiko waved her over to a seat saved between her and Shuichi. “How’s everything going?” Maki asked them as she sat, nodding at Fuyuhiko, who was further down the table with Peko.

“I wanna go back to sleep.” Maki cracked a small smile at Himiko’s prompt answer. Both Himiko and Shuichi looked a lot more well-rested than they had when they arrived yesterday, also in new clothes. She also noted, though, that there were very apparent bags under Shuichi’s eyes. He hadn’t bothered to try hiding them at all.

Speaking of, he was noticeably silent. “Something on your mind?” she asked, trying to bring him out of his thoughts.

“Ah, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about some of the information we’ve been given.” He paused for a moment, splaying his hands out on the edge of the table in front of him. “We’re eighteen. We’re adults now.”

Himiko kicked her legs under the table, her feet remaining a centimeter or two off the ground. “Doesn’t feel like it.” She gestured down the table to a woman in a pink kimono. “Sonia told me that that lady used to be shorter than me when they were in high school and sprouted in, like, a year. Maybe it’ll be my turn soon.”

No offense to Himiko, but Maki doubted it. Eighteen meant growing was done. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had known that they weren’t actually sixteen a while ago. Kaito, Gonta and Kirumi certainly looked older than sixteen, and Tsumugi and Miu acted older than that. Still, part of her didn’t believe that she was an adult. Then again, was she ever really a child?

She fell silent for most of lunch, lost in her thoughts. It was almost annoying that there was so much cheerful small talk at the same table, like the three of them weren’t there. These people didn’t seem like they had it easy, but they at least had time to overcome it. The three of them only had a day so far. It was too hard to process so much in such little time, even for her.

“Sorry I’m late!” She looked up from her still-full plate to see a clearly exhausted man rush in, taking the vacant seat she hadn’t noticed near the door. She recognized him vaguely as the quiet one from breakfast. He was slightly out of breath, but continued talking before he could lose everyone’s attention. “We just received another email.”

A small buzz went up around the table immediately, leaving Maki, Shuichi, and Himiko very confused. Finally, the pink-haired guy asked, “Well, Ryota, are you gonna tell us about it?”

“I’m getting to it.” He took in a deep breath before speaking again, making brief eye contact with Maki. “Future Foundation is coming tomorrow to pick those three up.”

Chapter Text

“Future Foundation?” Himiko remembered who they were, of course, they were all just talking about them earlier. She just didn’t know what their presence had to do with anything. “Why are they coming to get us?”

From down the table, Sonia shared a bit of a secret glance with her. Himiko had already grown attached to her and Gundham, as well as Gundham’s Devas. They were nice and were interested in her magic; it was nice to have someone ask her about it. Actually, she wouldn’t mind staying with them instead of going with Future Foundation for whatever they needed.

The white-haired guy she’d mostly avoided so far shrugged, looking around the table at everyone. “Might as well tell them. They were going to find out eventually, right?”

“Right, like you weren’t just advocating for them to have ‘hope for a better future’ yesterday,” one of the ladies argued, finishing off what must’ve been her fourth sandwich. Himiko had been keeping track, just out of curiosity.

“He’s right, though,” a more timid lady spoke up. She shrunk under Maki’s questioning eyes, which would’ve been amusing if Himiko weren’t waiting for information. “U-um, the subject was already brought up. We can’t evade the topic anymore.”

Hajime shut everything down quickly, nodding at her in acknowledgement. “You’re right, Mikan.” He took his sweet time in trying to figure out how he should explain everything. Himiko could tell just by following his glances to the other adults at the table that their conversation was still ongoing. “So—”

“Future Foundation is gonna come tomorrow and they’re gonna take you with them because they have a mission that they can’t be used for, and apparently we can’t be used for it either. They have a theory that you all will be able to help.” Everyone stared at the loud lady, who looked right back at them with a slightly challenging gaze. “What? You were being too slow. Ibuki thought she could speed this up a bit, like ripping off a bandaid.”

Something pinged in Himiko’s chest. The way that lady spoke reminded her of Gonta, if only because she referred to herself in the third person.

“What?” Maki sounded very dangerously angry, surpassing her “do you want to die” anger levels and effectively pulling Himiko back to the present. She inched a little away in her chair, closer to the red-haired woman who reminded Himiko a bit of her mom.

Hajime shook his head apologetically. “We probably should’ve told you earlier,” he admitted, and he actually sounded guilty about it, “but we didn’t want to distress you too much coming out of your situation.”

The energy coming off of Maki felt like she was going to blow her top before it all dissipated suddenly, earning a small nod from the intimidating lady down the table. Himiko wondered if that lady had some kind of calming magic, and how much mana it would take for her to use it. It would probably come in handy.

“What kind of mission is this, exactly?” Shuichi, not at all to Himiko’s surprise, already latched on to the more important details. She would’ve done the same, but she was still lagging behind a bit. She always found it kinda hard to keep up with his thought process.

Hajime then looked like he deeply regretted multiple life decisions. He seemed to look like that a lot. “That’s part of the issue. We don’t know.”

“The information is apparently too sensitive to give to us in an email,” the lady next to Himiko explained tiredly. “Admittedly, we’re out of the loop about most things.”

“They’re so secretive.” The lady in the kimono crossed her arms stubbornly. “The least they could do is keep us a little informed.”

The short angry guy next to the intimidating lady leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, because saving our fuckin’ lives wasn’t the least they could do.”

That made everyone at the table quiet down real fast. “Can’t we just ask them tomorrow?” Himiko wondered. It wasn’t the most original suggestion, but it was the best she could come up with.

Sonia, thankfully, backed her up almost instantly. “I agree. There is no use in arguing over the matter now when we’ll receive all of the information tomorrow.”

“Still be nice to know what we’re getting into,” Maki muttered in annoyance. So Maki was quite obviously pissed, Himiko was still a bit behind and Shuichi looked like he was contemplating life’s mysteries or something.

Himiko lost what remained of her appetite, so she supposed that it was good that she already finished what was on her plate. She waited for Maki and Shuichi to finish before she left, though, splitting from them to go above deck. The fresh-ish air was nice, caressing her as she leaned against the rail and stared out at the sea. They were moving, thankfully, so she didn’t see the remnants of the cage anymore no matter where she looked.

Everything moved so fast. She couldn’t help but feel like she was being left behind by it all. After Angie and Tenko died, she tried really hard to be more motivated and helpful, she really did, but she felt like it was all for nothing. It was so confusing; she wasn’t fictional, the world wasn’t a place where people wanted killing games and she and her friends weren’t left for dead. The situation could be so much worse, but by some improbable miracle, it wasn’t.

By some improbable miracle, she was one of the only three of her friends to survive.

Something behind her eyes hurt. She winced, bringing a hand up to her head. Honestly, that was the only thing that she’d come out with. Just about all the adults there had some scars of varying degrees; Sonia had some burn scars up her arms, that short guy only had one eye and that lady with the kimono walked with a pronounced limp. She, Shuichi and Maki had come out of their killing game with only emotional scars. Somehow, it didn’t seem fair that that was the only way they were touched by it.

Behind her, she heard a couple people sparring, and some others chatting. The pain in her head increased, and she leaned more heavily against the rail. As the sounds of the sparring grew louder, making the pain worse, she was fairly certain she was about to pass out.

“Hey, short stuff! Look—”

The pain exploded. She nearly fell to the side, but she grabbed the railing just in time. There was a popping sound, her feet were swept out from under her, and then, silence. She opened her eyes slowly as the pain ebbed. Her vision was tinted red for some reason, but when she looked around herself, everything was its normal color.

“What the shit?!” the muscled guy shouted, ending his sparring match altogether. Himiko winced as a small bit of the pain wormed its way back to her. There was another light popping sound then, and the red tint was gone.

“Himiko! Are you alright?” That nurse lady, Mikan, was at her side in seconds, less flustered than she normally seemed as Himiko clutched her head. The rest of the pain lifted in an instant, and she nodded.

The lady who’d been sparring with the guy looked completely bewildered. “Hey, short stuff, what was that just there?”

“What do you mean?” The lady couldn’t have known about her headache or the red vision. Did something else happen that she didn’t see? Maybe she was just asking about how Himiko fell over for no reason.

The white-haired guy with the mechanical arm—Nagito, she was pretty sure his name was now—put a hand to his chin in thought. “How to describe it… I think there’s only one way.” He looked her dead in the eye and smiled almost cheerfully. “Magic.”

A wave of dizziness hit her. She felt herself mutter something along the lines of “Freaking knew it” before her vision went dark.

Himiko spent the rest of the day and most of the night staring at the ceiling of Sonia’s room. Mikan told her to take it easy—she had passed out, after all—which wasn’t anything she wouldn’t have done anyway. She did tell Maki and Shuichi about her magic when they checked in on her, though. She still didn’t fully understand it herself, and she could tell that they were skeptical. Sonia had been excited to hear about it, and said that Gundham was, too. They were like proud parents, despite only having known her a day or so.

Suffice it to say, Himiko thought she would be exhausted. Between the questions and the magic, she thought she’d be asleep the instant she walked into the bedroom. Now, though, she kept wanting to recreate the effect of the magic. According to that lady who was sparring there, it was like a forcefield. The other guy added that it was like a defense system so the lady wouldn’t crash into her. It was possible that it was linked specifically to that, but it still left so many lingering questions.

She turned onto her side, looking out the window at the ocean. They were on the move still, only a few hours from Jabberwock Island. The bobbing of the boat was comforting, though she’d expected to be seasick. Sonia spoke highly of Jabberwock Island, though mentioned it was a second home. Himiko wondered if Jabberwock Island was like Angie’s island, though it did sound quite different. Her thoughts swirled around in her brain, building up pressure again.

She hoped Tenko and Angie were proud of her. They believed in her and her magic, right to the end. She sniffled a little, but didn't cry; she didn’t want to wake Sonia, sleeping soundly in her bed. She kept her eyes on the bobbing waves until she drifted into uneasy sleep.

Most of the next day was a blur. Mikan checked up with her again at breakfast, and after that, she just kind of wandered the boat, waiting for them to arrive. There really wasn’t much to do unless she wanted to cling to someone like a lost koala. Maki was off somewhere—she couldn’t remember where she said she was going, or if she even did—and Shuichi was busy talking to a few of the adults, anyway. She didn’t want to bother either of them, but at the same time it was kind of lonely without them.

“Ah, Himiko!” Sonia called to her once she reached the deck again, waving her over to where she and Gundham were standing. She had a book clutched tightly in her hands, a bright smile adorning her face. “We’ve been waiting to run into you again.”

“What’s up?” She looked between the two of them, and once more it struck her how proud they appeared when looking at her. It was kind of strange, but not unpleasantly so.

One of Gundham’s hamsters climbed onto his head as he laughed his eccentric laugh. It almost rivaled her own. “Small One, rejoice! The Dark Queen and I have discovered and transcribed something of great importance. It may be useful to you on any future quests to Hell.”

Maybe not there, but if this “mission” Future Foundation was apparently sending them on went anywhere… “What is it?”

Sonia held the book out for her to see, her smile wide and joyous. Himiko had the sudden thought that she could totally be royalty. Sonia hadn’t actually divulged her former talent. Strange symbols littered the worn cover. The cover itself was worn enough that she would guess that it had been around for centuries. She looked up at Sonia in confusion, and finally Sonia said, “It’s a spellbook!”

“An actual spellbook?” She didn’t even know that they existed. Spells, as she’d always thought, were supposed to be handed down from master to apprentice. That was how she’d learned before, from her master. Such a discovery clearly contradicted that.

“That’s right! It was found in the very back of a castle on Jabberwock Island, and since I was taught this language at a young age, I was able to translate it. I brought it along as something to do, and I’m glad I did.” Sonia flipped open the book, revealing page after page of incantations and special instructions. It almost seemed too good to be true, but it was actually there. She could touch it and everything. “Gundham has tried, but it appears you are the only one who can make use of this magic.”

Gundham scoffed and looked off to the side. “If I had given it a try more, the world would’ve been put to ruin,” he muttered under his breath. Himiko figured that it was one of those excuses people told themselves so they wouldn’t feel bad.

She took the book from Sonia, staring down at the pages. Above the symbols riddling the pages were lines of clear, scripted Japanese in red and blue ink. The sentences themselves were all nonsense, but each came with a description. The whole thing seemed to hum with energy. “This is legit,” she whispered in awe, running her hand across the page lightly. She closed it, hugging it tight to her chest. “Thank you!”

“It is no problem! Oh, and there is a hella amazing introduction about the spells themselves!” Sonia’s eyes were practically sparkling. Himiko imagined her own were, too. “It says that there is a nonverbal way to cast them!”

Sort of like the barrier she made yesterday. That would come in handy in just about any situation. Heh, it would’ve been nice to have earlier so she could get Kokichi and Miu back for making fun of her.

...She missed them.

“Hey, weirdos!” the kimono lady called to them. Himiko had heard her call everyone there different names, but it was all in a vaguely affectionate way that seemed almost normal for her. “We’re home!”

Gundham’s other hamsters scurried out of their hiding places, squeaking excitedly as though they were cheering. Himiko looked over the side of the boat to see a lush beach spread out before them. It was honestly gorgeous, a relaxing and not to mention relatively normal view.

There was already another ship waiting for them, docked at a second dock a little ways down the beach. The guy who looked perpetually exhausted—Ryota, she was pretty sure his name was—smiled a little when he saw it. “Future Foundation is here.”

“Are they, now.” Himiko didn’t even hear Maki approach, but all of a sudden, there she was. She had to get Maki to teach her how to do that. “Maybe now they’ll tell us about this mission.”

“Maybe.” Shuichi she heard, stepping up on her other side, already looking like he was in Detective Mode. “We won’t know unless we ask.”

They exited the boat together after all the adults, stepping onto the soft sand. It almost felt like they were on a normal beach. The sky over them was even more blue than it was elsewhere. That, at least, comforted her.

The three of them hung behind the others still, watching as they split off down the beach on their way to a cluster of buildings in the distance. All that were left after a minute were Hajime, Nagito and Ryota. It looked like Hajime was trying to get Nagito to leave, however, and the muscle guy circled back to grab onto him and carry him away. For some reason, it seemed like a regular occurrence.

It wasn’t long before two people appeared on the dock and approached them. The shorter of the two wore a smile, while the other was completely unreadable. “She looks friendly.” Sarcasm apparently was a bit of a fallback for Maki. Himiko did notice, though, that the two of them were also some of Tsumugi’s cosplays. At the very least, she hoped they were nice.

Shuichi started forward along with Hajime and Ryota, and Himiko followed close behind. She didn’t want to be left in the back, after all. Maki sighed loudly before following, but Himiko thought it was at least good that she was making the effort to join them instead of doing something else.

The purple-haired lady addressed them first after nodding to Hajime and the tired guy. “You three are the survivors of the most recent killing game?” The way she spoke, so down-to-business, made Himiko think that she already knew the answer to her own question.

“That’s right,” Shuichi answered anyway. He bowed. “I’m Shuichi Saihara.”

The lady bowed back before brushing her hair being her shoulders with a gloved hand. Kind of a strange sight for a beach. Maybe she had a thing about sand? “Kyoko Kirigiri, head of the Thirteenth Division of Future Foundation.”

It took Himiko a moment to realize that Kyoko was looking at her. “Oh, I’m Himiko Yumeno.”

“Maki Harukawa.” Maki said nothing more, instead staring at the other Future Foundation guy. He looked a bit unnerved at her stare, but for his part, he wasn’t too intimidated. That meant that either Maki wasn’t making it as scary as she usually did, or he was used to it.

The guy shook off the stare after a moment and kept smiling. Himiko had to admit that something about his smile was kinda contagious. There had to have been some kind of enchantment behind it. “It’s nice to meet you guys, though I’m sorry it’s not under better circumstances.” A small, awkward pause ensued. “Anyway, my name is Makoto Naegi. I’m also from Future Foundation’s Thirteenth Division.”

Ryota regarded the two a bit wearily, but he also looked relieved. “Byakuya didn’t come with you?”

Kyoko closed her eyes for a second like she was fending off a headache. “He stayed at headquarters, partially to cover for our leave and partially because he thought it too soon to run into Satoru again.”

Himiko felt like there was a story behind that, but she didn’t have the time or energy to hear it. “As much as I love catching up with you all, we did come on business,” Makoto reminded them, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Right. Should we go to the hotel, or…?” Hajime asked, looking past them at Future Foundation’s boat.

“We’ll take it from here. If the three of you would follow me.” Kyoko handled the situation smoothly, already turning and walking back to the boat.

Once she was out of immediate earshot, Hajime looked to Makoto. “She still doesn’t fully trust us.”

Makoto seemed extremely apologetic. “It’s complicated. She’ll get there.”

“Speaking of complicated, we shouldn’t keep her waiting.” Ryota had a point; Kyoko was already halfway to the boat, and she definitely didn’t seem like someone who liked being delayed.

“We’ll talk later.” Hajime patted Makoto on the shoulder before walking down the beach where the others had gone, leaving only the five of them. Makoto motioned for them to follow.

Out of the corner of her eye as they walked, Himiko saw Maki’s hand twitch toward her side. Himiko adjusted the bag on her shoulders and clutched her spellbook tighter, itching to start studying the spells. It would have to wait for later.

The Future Foundation boat was considerably smaller, but with more technology equipped to it. It was strangely barren with only another employee or two anywhere on it. Naturally, that only served to make her more apprehensive about being on there.

“So…” Makoto tried to break the admittedly uncomfortable silence as the six of them settled in one of the rooms on the boat. His eyes wandered over them until locking onto her book. “Ah, Himiko? What’s that you have?”

“Actually, I’ve been wondering the same,” Shuichi said. She’d forgotten that she hadn’t shown him and Maki yet.

She ran her fingertips over the worn cover. “It’s a spellbook. Sonia and Gundham gave it to me.”

That did not help the silence. Not that she really expected it to. Would’ve been nice if it did, though.

Kyoko closed the door to the room tightly behind her after speaking to one of the other employees. There was enough seating for the six of them, plus a tablet and stylus pen that Kyoko had picked up from somewhere. However, she immediately handed the tablet over to Makoto, pocketing the stylus. “Makoto, if you could take care of this for a minute or two. Ryota and I need to talk.”

“You do?” the two guys echoed in unison. Makoto still took the tablet without complaining as Kyoko exited the room again with Ryota in tow. “Ah, well, then. Sorry about that.”

“She’s not too friendly, is she?” Himiko asked, mostly to herself, but Makoto must’ve heard.

“She’s the kind that warms up to people after a while, but let’s not get into that. We’re here to talk about the three of you.” He tapped the tablet’s screen a couple times, bringing up a picture of them from the beginning of their killing game, back when they first saw the Exisals. Himiko remembered that Gonta and Tenko were already willing to protect everyone from them without knowing anyone. It was hard not to miss their energy.

She heard Maki and Shuichi’s sharp intakes of breath on either side of her. They probably weren’t expecting the picture, either. “Where did you get that?” Maki asked, nearly breathless. Himiko didn’t think she’d heard her talk that low in a while, not since Kaito died.

“Your killing game was broadcasted like the other two were. Not to the entire world, though; it was only sent to Future Foundation members.” He set the tablet down. “Sorry to bring up memories like that. I know how this goes. But I still feel the need to discuss the circumstances of the game and what led up to it.”

“Tsumugi was a Remnant, wasn’t she?” Shuichi’s analysis, while likely correct since he usually was, startled her. To be fair, she thought on it back at the final trial when she called herself “Junko Enoshima the Fifty-Third” or whatever. To think that she went so far as to try to convince them that Kokichi was the Remnant of Despair in their midst… “She set up the killing game with us just like Junko did with—”

Makoto nodded. “My class. That’s right.” His smile slipped. Himiko imagined he was thinking of his class, specifically the ones who died. “She—Junko—craved despair so much that she put our class into a killing game and watched us, made us, kill each other. She even killed her own sister, and she’s done countless more things to drive the world into despair. As a Remnant, one of few remaining, Tsumugi wanted to recreate that, only with herself in the middle of it all, with the possibility of being killed herself. Like the other Remnants, she looked up to the creator of it all.”

That made sense, and also didn’t at the same time. It seemed tricky to her. Despair was really that big of an emotion that it would drive someone to do that? Why did Tsumugi fall into despair in the first place?

“It was because of other Remnants that she was able to access the same memory-wiping technology Junko used on my class,” Makoto continued. “She didn’t erase memories of your pasts, but instead the memories of what would’ve been your high school years, had the Tragedy not taken over.”

Shuichi’s posture relaxed a bit in relief. That meant that the videos Tsumugi showed them of him, of Kaede, of Kaito, were all fake after all. That was great! “Is there any way we can get the memories back?”

The hurt that flashed over Makoto’s face for a moment told Himiko that that was a bit of a sore subject. “Not… No. We’ve been trying for a while now, so that my friends and I could get our lost memories back, but nothing’s worked so far.” He rubbed the back of his head for a second, ruffling his hair. “I’m kind of jealous of Hajime in that regard. Because he and the rest went through a virtual reality to heal from despair, they still have their school memories. ...And they still have almost all of their friends.”

Almost. Himiko noticed the slip-up, though she didn’t mention it. They still had other things that were more important to talk about. “What’s this mission we were told about?” she asked, steering the conversation onto what she knew Shuichi and Maki really wanted to talk about.

“Right.” Makoto tapped the tablet’s screen again, bringing up a picture of a mostly destroyed city. At least, she was pretty sure it was a city, it was a bit hard to tell. “This is Towa City from about six months ago. Captives that were friends or family of my classmates were set loose there and hunted by a group of kids known as the Warriors of Hope. Their goal was also to create a new despair.”

“You say that like it’s already over. What does this have to do with us?” And there was Maki, with more prickly questions. Himiko wondered the same, though she probably would’ve worded it differently. Or not at all.

Makoto frowned, his brow knitted. “We had two people inside Towa City: one of my classmates, Toko Fukawa, and my sister Komaru. Toko had, ah, gone to the city after Byakuya Togami, and Komaru was one of the captives. Around a week after we first established contact with them, all contact from Towa City cut off indefinitely. Byakuya came back and relayed intel that there were Remnants of Despair in Towa City and that it was too dangerous to go back.”

That meant his sister and friend were still in the city with the Remnants. “Is this like a search-and-rescue mission, then?” she asked, a finger to her lips in thought.

“A bit. I’ll admit that I’m really worried about Komaru and Toko. There were already riots going on when we last heard from them, and the fact that Byakuya lost contact with them—it’s really troubling.” In that moment, he looked like he hadn’t slept in ages. “If we can manage to get you into Towa City, maybe you could find out what’s going on and bring them back, or at least update Future Foundation on the situation.”

“Why us? Why not some of the adults?” Maki asked. Her stare hardened, but Makoto didn’t flinch as much as Himiko expected him to.

“Partially, for the same reason only Kyoko and I came to Jabberwock Island. I went against Future Foundation orders to kill them, and none of the higher-ups know that they’re alive and well. By putting them on this mission, it would not only put them at risk for being killed by Future Foundation, but it would also jeopardize me and my friends for helping them.

“Also, I’ll admit, I thought your talents would be more helpful in the situation. While a lot of theirs are good for combat situations, Maki, I feel that you are more adequately prepared for real combat and stealth. And Himiko, your…” He glanced at her spellbook. “...Magic can work like a hacking gun against any monokumas. Unfortunately we don’t have any that aren’t being used, otherwise we’d give you both one.”

Himiko froze, stiffening. “There are more of them?” Just one, plus those annoying cubs, was awful enough. She couldn’t imagine an entire city riddled with them. The thought made her shudder.

“These lack an AI like the original, but they’re programmed to be more destructive. The last we heard, the monokuma population in the city was extremely low thanks to Komaru and Toko’s efforts. However, we don’t know where they came from, so there could be more by now.” Himiko detected a sad look in his eyes. She hoped for his sake that they weren’t eaten by monokumas.

Maki blew out a slow breath. “So you expect us to go in blindly to a town where there are killer robo bears and riots? Are you serious?”

Himiko felt a bit bad for Makoto as he stammered his way through an attempted answer. Luckily for him, Kyoko and Ryota chose that moment to return. Kyoko took about two seconds to read the air before addressing Makoto. “Not as easy as you thought?” He shook his head. “Want me to tap in?”

“Please.” Kyoko took the seat next to him, the ghost of a smile on her lips. “We were just at the part where they were questioning the mission.”

Kyoko brushed the back of her hand under her chin, flicking back a strand of hair loose from her low ponytail. “Oh, good. Looks like we returned in time for the good part.”

Ryota groaned quietly. “Great.”

“Is this a joke to you?” Maki’s voice grew more venomous, almost seething. “Is risking our lives just one big joke to you?”

“Absolutely not.” Kyoko’s eyes widened just a touch to show any hint of surprise. “Putting anyone in harm’s way is not a laughing matter. We all know that personally. I’m sorry if I gave off that impression.”

Himiko’s grip on her book shifted, her fingertips poking between the pages. “Why us, though?” Shuichi asked. “Other than what Makoto told us, why would the three of us do any better?”

Kyoko traded a quick glance with Makoto. “Two of you, actually. I believe it would be more beneficial for Shuichi to return to Future Foundation headquarters with us instead.”

“What?” Shuichi looked stunned. Himiko’s heart felt like it stopped for a second.

“You’re going to split us up?” She instinctively shrunk back in her seat, leaning towards Shuichi. A small part of her brain told her that if she held onto Shuichi tight enough, they wouldn’t be able to take him away.

Ryota looked at them with clear sympathy. “It’s not fully our decision. The head of Future Foundation saw parts of the broadcast, and once he heard about the situation in Towa City, he thought it would be better to have another critical thinker on the outside and a couple combat-ready people on the inside. Or something like that, I didn’t fully understand him.”

That made her feel so much better. “We just got out of a killing game two days ago,” Maki reminded them, her hands balled into fists. Himiko leaned even more towards Shuichi, away from her. “We’re not going anywhere—”

“We saw the Tragedy in full swing the moment we escaped our killing game.” Kyoko returned Maki’s glare with one almost as fierce, and Makoto closed his eyes. “We were taken to Future Foundation almost immediately. We didn’t have time to mourn our friends or process what was happening in the outside world. We had to get down to work immediately and haven’t stopped to take a breath since. We didn’t have the option or the time to.” Her words were sharp, bringing forth emotion Himiko didn’t know she had. More than anything, Kyoko sounded coldly furious, like she was sending out anger she’d been bottling for who knew how long.

Beside her, Maki was stunned silent. Makoto gently laid a hand on Kyoko’s arm, almost to prevent her from saying more. She sunk back into her chair, her eyes still level with Maki. Ryota looked like he had no idea what to do, and Himiko only had one idea.

“I’ll do it.” The words slipped out before she fully decided to say them. “If you really need someone to do this, I’ll do it.”

Shuichi regarded her with a hint of pride before speaking as well. “I’m in, too. I don’t mind lending another set of eyes if you need it.”

Which only left Maki. Himiko and Shuichi sent their best pleading glances to her. “I hope you know that this is literally suicide.” And yeah, Himiko knew that, for the most part. But if a couple of girls could lower the monokuma population that much with no prior training, who knew what an assassin and a mage could do?

The three of them had a mini discussion-slash-argument through shared glances. A minute passed, and Maki relented. “If you both are on board, then I guess I have no choice. Besides.” A corner of her lips twitched up slightly. “I’m not about to let you walk into this with no help whatsoever.”

Makoto beamed at them, his smile filled with all kinds of relief. “Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to go myself, but someone always ends up stopping me. I just want to know if Komaru is okay. Toko, too.”

“We’ll bring you to the city limits tomorrow,” Kyoko told them, standing. “For the rest of today, I would recommend getting ready. If you’ll excuse me.” She left the room swiftly, followed soon by Makoto.

Ryota led them off the boat and back onto the sandy beach, the heat not as unpleasant as Himiko thought it would be. So this is actually happening. Even though she was the first to agree to the mission, Himiko could still hardly believe it. She should probably look over her spellbook for the rest of the day, maybe get some help from Sonia and Gundham if they were willing. So much preparation to do in so little time. She’d better get right on it.

“Kyoko.” The rest of the boat was silent, apart from Makoto’s speaking and Kyoko’s fingers flying across her laptop’s keyboard. Even though they weren’t physically at work, she could still cross some things off of her to-do list. That was what she always said, anyway. It was a good enough excuse for a distraction. “They’re going to be okay, right?”

“That depends.” She lowered her laptop screen, giving him her full attention. “Which ‘they’ are you referring to?”

He thought about it for a second. “All of them, I guess. It’s been so long since we lost contact with Towa City. We don’t know what state it’s in or how everyone is. We don’t know what we’re sending Maki and Himiko into. They were right about that, at least.”

“I understand how you feel about this. I’m concerned for Toko, too.” She was silent for a moment before standing and moving closer to him. Being so close to him always reassured her. It made her wonder, every time, how close they were before the Tragedy. Perhaps her feelings betrayed the memories erased, giving her some indication of the past. “We all have to keep hope, right? Just believe that everything will turn out fine in the end.”

He laughed weakly. “Right. Thanks, Kyoko.” He kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand lightly. “I’m going to sleep. Don’t stay up too late working.”

“Good night, Makoto.” She waited for him to leave the room before sitting at her laptop again, the files pertaining to Towa City still open. She’d been looking over them for what felt like hours, just as she did every day. Something told her there was something she was missing, some detail that was out of place like a loose cobblestone. No matter how many times she reread the files, she couldn’t figure it out.

She shut her laptop with a sigh. With any luck, Himiko and Maki would be able to figure out what was going on, and maybe Shuichi would be able to help her find what she was missing. Regardless, Makoto was right that she needed sleep. Rest wouldn’t come easy, but perhaps if she started soon, she would get a decent amount for once.

Chapter Text

Before she knew it, Maki was on Future Foundation’s small boat, pacing around as much as she could below deck. They’d already been on course for about an hour. Peko and Fuyuhiko’s well-wishes were still fresh in her mind, but she’d detected something in their faces that told her they weren’t getting their hopes up about seeing her again. Instead of doing something more productive, she focused on Himiko’s muttering and Shuichi flipping the pages of a book Kyoko lent him.

To tell the truth—no, actually, it was extremely apparent that she was still wholly against the mission. She was used to single-person missions where nobody cared if said person came back. In fact, she had her fair share of close calls in that department. While these Future Foundation people seemed like they cared about her and Himiko’s well-being, Maki was convinced that they were easily replaceable.

“Hey, I think I figured this one out!” Himiko muttered some nonsense under her breath, and there was a faint crackling sound after. She sighed. “Nevermind.”

At least the spells were legit. She was skeptical at first, but that was only natural. The only magic Himiko seemed to have before was the standard set of magic tricks. Himiko figured out one of the spells the day before, though. It was a moving spell that almost threw a toaster in Nagito’s face, had Peko not stopped it. The spells would probably come in handy if Himiko managed to get them down.

Maki, on the other hand, was ready to tear apart as many monokumas as she needed to. Her harbored resentment for the actual Monokuma and his annoying cubs would be just the kind of anger management she needed.

Makoto wandered into the room, stealing her attention away from her mindless pacing. “We’re almost there. I guess now would be the time for any final questions, if you have them.”

She only had one, one that had been plaguing her mind all morning. “How will you know when we finish? You said yourself that all communication from inside was cut off.”

“We’re, ah, still trying to figure that out.”

She had no idea why she thought anything different. “Wonderful.” Picking up the backpack the former Remnants helped her pack—Himiko had a similar one—she slung it over her shoulder, ready to leave as soon as they arrived.

Himiko, on the other hand, didn’t seem nearly as ready. Still muttering to herself, she stared down at her book before pointing at the small table in the room. A reddish lightning-like bolt of energy zapped it with a distinct cracking sound. Once Maki got over her momentary surprise, she saw Himiko grinning with the table in pieces. “I got one! And—” She turned the page and muttered more before pointing again. Another bolt and the table was fixed. “I got another!”

The stunned looks on Shuichi and Makoto’s faces were almost payment enough for the worthless escape plan. Almost.

“Impressive.” Maki turned to see Kyoko standing in the doorframe. “We’re here.”

The thing nobody said about parting from friends is that it was infinitely worse when it was unclear whether or not there would be a reunion. And, yes, she did consider Himiko and Shuichi as friends. Even if she didn’t, after what they’d been through, she would still want to protect them both. It had been a long time since she’d felt like that. The last she could recall was saying goodbye to her friend from the orphanage when she started her job as an assassin.

That was a bad example. She didn’t see her friend again after that.

Maki could tell by Himiko’s shaking that she was having second thoughts. She was moving as slow as she could without seeming like she was stalling. In Maki’s eyes, the faster they went in, the faster they would be able to get out.

Once Himiko was done putting her book back into her bag, she basically attached herself to Shuichi. He was surprised for a good second before returning Himiko’s embrace. “Stay safe, you two,” he said, making eye contact with Maki over Himiko’s head. Of course she would keep the two of them safe.

“We will.” It was a promise, one that she would work hard to keep. Himiko finally let go of him, and Maki stepped closer. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine.”

“Right.” He cracked a smile, and Maki did something she never could’ve imagined doing before: she gave him a quick hug. “M-Maki—”

“We should get going.” Any non-threatening physical contact was different for her, but she figured that she could make an exception. “Take care of yourself.”

She didn’t look at him again, instead leaving the room with Himiko trailing behind her. Kyoko led them off the boat to a flat area with a shrine-like fixture in the center. They watched as she pushed it aside effortlessly, revealing a stone staircase leading into the ground. “This is a tunnel leading to Towa City.” Kyoko stared down at it with an untraceable look in her eyes. “As far as we can tell, this is the only unblocked and unsupervised entrance and exit. It should be completely safe.”

Should. What a reassuring choice of words.

Kyoko regarded them both for a moment before speaking, as though sizing them up one final time. “I must thank you for agreeing to this. I know that it’s no easy task, but recently I’ve seen the stress of the situation weighing on Makoto and our other friends. They’re all worried for the people on the inside. I couldn’t tell you how many times we’ve had to stop Makoto from trying to go himself.” She shook her head. “But you don’t want to listen to all of this. I assume you want to finish this as quickly as you can.”

Spot on. Quite good for a detective, as she apparently was. “Right through here, then?”

“That’s right.” She stepped to the side, giving them a more clear view of the staircase. “We’ll have someone watching this entrance in case we’re not able to make contact. Good luck, and stay as safe as you can.”

Maki, naturally, went in first, her knife in her hand the moment she was turned away from Kyoko. She glanced back and saw Himiko behind her, looking around the tunnel. There wasn’t much to it; just a construct of stone and dirt, only one long passageway. Pretty straightforward, but she was glad the two of them were in more easy-to-move-in clothes anyway.

The only real problem with the passageway was that there was no light. She assumed that Kyoko had sealed off the entrance, and that the exit was already blocked off, which left what little sunlight there was. They were extremely lucky it was a straight path, otherwise they would’ve gotten lost many times over.

“Are we there yet?” Maki was sure that how she was feeling was exactly how mothers felt on long car trips. From the sound of her footsteps, Himiko was dragging her feet through the dirt. They’d only been walking for five minutes, max, by her estimation.

“How would I know?” Although, once she said that, she had an apprehensive feeling, like they were approaching the exit. “We might be there soon.”

No sooner had she said that than a spot of sun shone through a crack in the rocks above them. “Nyeh! That’s it!”

And it likely was. As Maki moved forward to inspect the spot, her foot caught on something, sending her sprawling into another set of stone steps. She swore as the uneven rock left scrapes all over her palms.

“There’s stairs there.” A futile attempt at being helpful on Himiko’s part.

“Yeah. I got that.” She pushed herself up, wiping her palms on her new shirt. It was bound to get dirty soon, anyway. “Here, let me go up first so I can make sure the coast is clear.”

Himiko offered no argument, so she felt around the rock to guess at where the next steps were. It was a bit of a process, but eventually her head tapped against the roof of the tunnel. She set her knife down on the top step, pushing the roof with her fingertips. The more she moved it, the wider the crack of light spread. A little shove and she could peek out of the space she’d made.

The area looked strangely similar to where they’d entered, but with no visible enemies. The sky was mostly painted the same shade of light red, though patches of blue shone through, just like everywhere else. Even so, it would be beneficial to proceed with caution. She moved the shrine-like structure the rest of the way off the exit, allowing light to flood down. “We’re here.”

Upon further investigation, the exit’s surrounding area not only was similar to where they entered scenery-wise, but also in the atmosphere. By the way Kyoko and Makoto spoke of the city, she expected there to be monokumas roaming around the place, maybe more immediate destruction and rioters running amok. This, though, felt significantly more … not peaceful, but something a little to the left of it.

“So this is Towa City,” Himiko said as Maki started to check the perimeter. There were old bloodstains off to one side, larger than she would’ve liked to see right away. Even so, they looked to be from non-lethal wounds, given a dripping pattern leading elsewhere. Other than that, there was nothing notable about the area.

“This is Towa City.” She turned her knife over and over in her hand, looking for the way out. “We should get a move on.”

Himiko trailed behind a bit slower, shuffling through her bag. “Let me grab my spellbook—” She cut herself off, pulling out a small lighter. “Oh. That would’ve been useful in the tunnel.”

No kidding.

The staircase leading to a road ahead of them was long, but barren, almost suspiciously so. She kept her guard up the entire time, though her knife slowly drifted back to her side. “Did they say this was a ghost town?” That was the only logical explanation. The streets that she could see from the stairs were completely devoid of life—or corpses, for that matter.

“No, I would’ve remembered that, I think.” So much for that lead. “Hey, Maki?”

She glanced back for a moment, not slowing much. “What?”

Himiko nodded to Maki’s hands. “Did you hurt yourself on those stairs?”

The question threw her off guard. She was never used to someone checking in on her, not even after that idiot did so often. It felt strange, to say the least. “It’s just a couple scratches. I’ll be fine, I’ve had worse.”

“Are you sure? There’s probably a healing spell in here somewhere.” Himiko flipped through her spellbook as she walked, almost tripping over herself a couple times.

“That’s alright. It’s probably not one of those spells you could use easily. Which ones are those? Tripcans?”

Himiko seemed surprised that she knew that. “Cantrips, but those are from Caves and Centaurs. How do you—”

“Some of the kids from the orphanage were into it. They had me run the story once or twice.” That was so long ago, she could barely remember it. She couldn’t have been that old, either.

Himiko started matching her strides with Maki’s. Maki could feel Himiko’s eyes on her, but didn’t stray her gaze from the slow sweep around them. “I forgot you grew up in an orphanage. I can’t imagine growing up without a family.”

She couldn’t count on both hands how many times she’d gotten comments similar to that one throughout her years in school. “I can’t imagine growing up with a family.”

They stepped onto the road, surveying both directions. Again, there was nothing on either side but old bloodstains and other discolored spots on the asphalt. While the sight didn’t bother her too much, Himiko was visibly uneasy with it. “Where should we look first?”

“That way.” While there was a large building to the right, she pointed down to an area that looked like the “after” picture of a large-scale bombing. That could’ve very well been where Toko and Komaru were; there seemed to be more shelter down that way.

“What happened to this city?” Himiko sounded incredulous as they started walking in that direction. Truly, it was hard to remember seeing anything like that.

She kicked a stone on the ground, watching as it skittered down the road. “The Tragedy, of course. And if all that talk of monokumas was true, that could account for a good amount of destruction.” In all reality, though, who knew what they would be getting into. With little information, they could be walking into a literal minefield.

It was frustrating if she thought about it too much. On every single job she’d ever been sent on, she knew everything about her target and the location. While this was, of course, a different situation, the most they knew about their “targets” were their names, the fact that Toko was the same age as Makoto and Kyoko and the assumed information that she and Komaru were together. She and Himiko were hilariously misinformed, for lack of a better term.

No sign of life was anywhere other than some plants growing out of cracks in the ground. The whole thing gave off an eerie vibe, like a haunted house made of pleasantries. Nothing she would expect, which somehow made it all worse.

“Hey, what’s this?” Maki paused as Himiko veered off course, ducking in between a couple piles of rubble. She picked up a worn piece of paper, studying it carefully. “Demon … Hunting?” Her eyes met Maki’s quizzically. “What does that mean?”

“Let me see.” She peered over Himiko’s shoulder at the paper. Any color that might’ve been there before was faded, likely from exposure to the elements. Apart from the title, there was a picture of someone with a word written in red over it: ACQUIRED. A piece of what looked like a name and description was to the right, but the ink ran so much that it was indecipherable. They could only hope to decode what was written.

“So cryptic,” Himiko muttered, trying to peer on the back. “Should I try the fixing spell on it?”

Maki considered this for a minute before shaking her head. “Even if it worked, the information is useless to us.” Still, as an afterthought, she stuffed it into her bag, just in case it came in handy sometime in the future.

Himiko shrugged, closing her spellbook and clutching it to her chest. “This is gonna take longer than expected, isn’t it?”

She didn’t have an answer to that, as much as she wanted to. Who knew how long they would be there? At least they had supplies to last them a few days, a week or so at most. They could probably find more. It wouldn’t be sunset for a good amount of time, and given the buildings in the distance, she had a feeling that shelter wouldn’t be much of an issue. There were too many buildings and too few people for it to be a problem.

“We should find somewhere to stop and think of a plan. That would probably help our efficiency in the long run.” How they would think of a strategy, though, was another question.

“That’s fine. A little rest should restore my mana anyway.”

Maki glanced at her in curiosity. She never thought of it before, but… “Is that how this whole magic thing works?”

Himiko opened her mouth, then closed it again. “Maybe? I guess we’ll find out. I’ll check the spellbook later, see if it says anything.” Not an exact science. Barely a science at all, actually.

Fifteen more minutes of walking brought them to what appeared to be one of many abandoned office buildings near an overhead train rail. While the office’s interior was littered with bloodstains—she noticed Himiko’s gaze shying away from them—there was a sort of cleanness to it that Maki never saw in previous targeted locations. That being said, she took it at face value; they didn’t venture in beyond the lobby. It wouldn’t be of any use to get themselves lost inside the building.

There wasn’t any furniture in the lobby, save for a bits and pieces of chairs and a partially destroyed counter. The counter was clearly a better option than sitting on the floor.

As soon as they hoisted themselves onto the counter, Maki started to plan. “Okay. This city is big, and obviously we’re sticking together, so divide-and-conquer is out of the question.”

“I should hope so.” Himiko swung her legs, the rubber heels of her sneakers clicking against the counter. “We could work around the perimeter?”

It wasn’t a bad plan in theory, but there was no way it was going to be that easy. “I don’t think that would work here. It’s like covering too little ground in too much time.” But did they have another choice?

“Wait,” Himiko said after a second of thought. “Didn’t Makoto say something about a group of kids living in the city?”

Maki nodded slowly, thinking back to that conversation. “That’s right. They were the ones who started the whole reign of despair.”

Himiko nodded as well, more to herself. “Wouldn’t they need somewhere to stay, too? And if they were here before, then wouldn’t they already have that place?”

“That’s … actually not that bad of a plan.” More ideas flooded her mind. “There’s limited places still standing for a long-term shelter, I’m sure. If we can find the building they were using, then we can find the kids themselves. They might know where Toko and Komaru are.” Just like that—well, it wasn’t a whole plan, but it was a good start.

Himiko smiled, obviously pleased with herself. “I think my intelligence skill was just raised!” While Maki didn’t know exactly what that meant, she had a rough idea. “How will we know which buildings are residential, though?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve been to enough to know what they look like from the outside.” Himiko didn’t need to know that it was because she’d killed so many people in them. It was probably better if she didn’t know.

Her stomach growled softly, letting her know that it was time to eat. “Might as well have lunch while we’re here.”

In between medical supplies from Mikan, an extra switchblade from Fuyuhiko and some other odds and ends from the general store was a supply of food, also from the store. The store had everything, it seemed. She needed her food to last as long as possible, in case they couldn’t find more, so it was good that everything they had was full of nutrients and would keep them going for as long as the supply lasted.

She nibbled on the end of a protein bar, counting herself lucky that it tasted worlds better than the ones she practically lived on when she was younger. Still kind of tasteless, but that was to be expected with protein bars. They didn’t need to be flavorful to be effective.

While she ate, she took a moment to mentally catalog the lobby. She didn’t notice before, but the bloodstains weren’t only on the floor. They were scattered all over the walls and most other surfaces, actually. Not only that, but there were holes in the wall near the stains. She knew, unfortunately, that it meant either someone was fired at and the projectiles missed several times before hitting their target, or a body had been suspended there. An uneasy feeling told her it might be the latter. If that were the case, though, then where were the bodies? If there was one thing that made the least amount of sense to her about the scene, it was that.

She was done with her protein bar long before Himiko, leaving her free to wander the room. She ran her fingers along the holes in the walls, trying to go through her mind to see which kind of weapon could’ve made marks like that. Some of them were longer, like the area was slashed instead of stabbed. It was a curious sight without having an obvious answer. Who or what could’ve made the marks, and spill that much blood in the first place?

She had a feeling she was going to be asking herself that a lot.

Himiko slid off the counter when she was finished, tossing the empty wrapper in the trash can in the corner despite it likely staying there for the indefinite future. “We should start searching, maybe clear a building today.”

Himiko with energy? Near unrecognizable. Maki almost asked where she got her spirit from before remembering Himiko’s promise to herself after Tenko and Angie’s deaths. “Right. Let’s get moving.”

She had put her knife away while they were eating, but she pulled it back out now in caution. No matter what they had seen so far, she had to be ready for the inevitable. In fact, the lack of people was almost like someone had heard they were coming and was pranking them.

And by the time she realized that the only entrance was locked, she was more certain that the “prank” was not a harmless one.

“There. All locked up.” The door was through being barricaded from the outside with some scrap wood that was still thick and sturdy, despite being left out in the open. Unless one of the girls that was locked in was brutishly strong, there was no way they’d be able to get out that way.

So long as they were looking for the other brats, it would be easy to follow them. She could trail them no problem, see what they were trying to do. She jumped as the doors rattled behind her, followed quickly by muffled voices. “What do you mean it’s locked!” one of the girls shouted from inside before the rattling resumed. The wood stayed strong. “Who could’ve done this? We haven’t seen anyone.”

No, they hadn’t. She’d been sure of it.

“Let’s try to find a different exit.” For sounding as calm as she did, the other girl was probably nowhere near it. She couldn’t be; she was in an unfamiliar place and someone just locked her in a building. “All else fails, we can get to the roof. There’s likely a ladder or something there we can climb down from.”

All of the other exits had been destroyed long before they got there, so that was the only place they could go. She wouldn’t follow them; well, she couldn’t anyway, since she just blocked off the easiest exit. The kids formerly known as the Warriors of Hope hadn’t been seen in the open in a while, but it was only a matter of time before those two girls found them.

She swept up her footprints, sure that she wouldn’t be able to be tracked anyway. Wondering how she was going to get out of anything, the city itself included, she trudged away. Hopefully the girls wouldn’t survive the surprise laid for them. It was better for everyone that way.

Chapter Text

The old office building was just as creepy further in as it was in the lobby. Himiko finally made use of the lighters that were in their bags, using it to light her path as the hallways grew darker and darker the farther in they went. There was no electricity in the building, which was really, really helpful.

With her free hand, she held her spellbook to her chest. Even though it was a relatively new item to her, it was already akin to a comfort item, much like the hat she still had on. She’d had that hat forever. With the spellbook, though, she would have to be extra careful. She couldn’t have it falling into the wrong hands, that would just turn everything into a cliche fantasy story, and she couldn’t have that.

Maki was completely silent as they walked through the building, taking more initiative in leading Himiko through the halls. It wasn’t like either of them had any idea where the stairs or other exits were, and there weren’t any maps lying around. Because that would just be too easy, wouldn’t it?

Almost all of the doors in the hall that likely led to smaller rooms were destroyed, nearly falling off the hinges. Just like the rest of the building, and what she’d seen of the city, there was no sign of life other than old bloodstains. The sight of them made her queasy, but there wasn’t much she could do to avoid them. They were everywhere. Hopefully there wasn’t anything useful in those blocked-off rooms.

“There are stairs in this place, right?” she asked Maki after they turned down what seemed like the seventeenth hallway. “Because I don’t think there are.”

“They’re here somewhere,” came Maki’s response through the dark. Himiko shrugged, still following as well as she could. They couldn’t have been walking for more than fifteen minutes, and while not fighting was technically restoring her mana or MP or however her magic worked, it was physically exhausting her. She never had the best stamina.

Nothing sounded in the hallways except for their footsteps, leaving her with a more eerie feeling than before. Anything could pop out at them at any moment, anything could be secretly following them, anything could be waiting to lock them somewhere else—

“Are we sure we don’t know what locked us in?” She realized quickly that she’d only been panicking so far, rather than trying to think through it. “If we haven’t seen anyone and the doors don’t lock on their own, then—”

Maki turned towards her, her eyes glimmering almost dangerously in the lighter’s flame even though she kept an even tone. “Whatever or whoever it was, if I ever find out where they are…” She trailed off, sending chills down Himiko’s spine as she remembered that Maki was, in fact, a trained assassin. It was hard to remember sometimes when she was so leader-like and cooperative like she was now. Himiko never would’ve guessed back when Maki was under the guise of the Ultimate Child Caregiver. Were those traits more up that alley?

“Here.” Maki felt along the wall before pushing open a heavy metal door. The staircase concealed behind it was still mostly intact. “We’ll have to be careful it doesn’t cave, but I don’t think it’ll come to that.”

Himiko sure hoped so. The door swung closed behind them, leaving them in the echo of their footsteps. The next floor wasn’t any different from the first, except for the view from the windows. It wasn’t too high off the ground, so she didn’t have a much better view than she did from the ground floor. She could see maybe a little beyond a couple one-story buildings, but that was about it. Not the best intel.

She didn’t understand why the stairs were separated, only going up one floor each, but at least with more windows lining the hallways, it was brighter. The sun was still out, so the hallways were more naturally lit than the blocked windows downstairs. Himiko didn’t even need her lighter anymore. “The windows don’t open, do they? If they did, we could probably climb down from here or something.”

Just for kicks, Maki tried the ones nearby that had latches. “No. Even if they did, it’s not too smart to do that. There’s nothing that could break our fall, and I don’t think we have anything in our bags that could help us be lowered safely.”

“What if there’s no way off the roof?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Not a clear answer, but she could live with it for the time being. A path wasn’t going to just magically appear in front of them. That is, unless she could learn a spell from her book that would do that. That would come in handy.

She scanned a couple of the pages as they moved, careful not to trip over anything or walk into any walls as she was apt to do on occasion. There were spells of all kinds in the book, from burning to fixing to healing and everything in between. It was really miraculous that Sonia could translate all of it. If she practiced enough, she could probably master a few of the easier spells in a couple of day’s time.

Not even a moment after thinking that, she ran into Maki’s outstretched arm. “What—”

Maki silenced her with a sharp look before returning her attention to just ahead. They were in front of another hallway with corridors stretching to both sides. There wasn’t anything strange about it, but a small mechanical whirring finally got Himiko’s attention. Since the electricity was out, there was only a handful of things it could possibly be.

Maki confirmed her suspicions. “It has to be a monokuma.” She was already ready to fight with her knife in hand, and Himiko quickly flipped to the breaking spell, which would probably do more damage than the forcefield she made the other day. Plus, she didn’t know how to recreate that yet.

The sound came from the left side of the hallway, but who knew if there were more monokumas somewhere else. She didn’t even know why there was a monokuma there to begin with, but that wasn’t important. The two of them inched forward, checking down the right side quickly and affirming that there was nothing there. The lone monokuma had its back to them, but still Himiko had to choke back a gasp. It was taller than both her and Maki, and she could tell just by looking at it that it was nothing but metal, not at all like the Monokuma they dealt with before.

It turned slowly, the familiar red eye glowing dangerously as it locked onto them. Himiko stiffened as it fully faced them, its mouth open and its arms outstretched as it ran towards them. Maki reacted first, charging to meet it. Himiko could only watch as she slashed and stabbed at it. Just as the monokuma’s claws extended, ready to slash at her, Maki stabbed at its red eye. The monokuma lurched backward and Maki jumped back, landing near Himiko. The two of them watched it collapse after a sharp sputtering sound.

“It’s broken.” Maki even approached and nudged it with her foot, its limbs splayed out over the ground. She knelt down over it as Himiko approached cautiously, picking up its paw. Its claws gleamed in the sunlight from the window. “These are what made the holes in the walls.”

“Really?” She tried picking up its other paw, but it was unexpectedly heavy, not to mention cold. It made sense, though, assuming that the city had been littered with them before. This was the first one they’d seen, and given how combat-ready it seemed, she figured that a lot of the city’s population hadn’t been able to fight them.

Maki stood again, dropping the paw to the ground with a metallic thunk. “There may be more of them higher up. We should be on guard.”

And yet, two more levels of the building revealed no more of them. Himiko continuously kept an ear out for more noises, but none came. She closed her spellbook, but kept a finger on the page with the breaking spell just in case.

The next set of stairs they found was labeled with a sticker informing them that it led to the roof. At the top was another door with a window. They paused there while Maki got as good a look outside as she could, just to make sure the coast was clear. Himiko didn’t hear any monokumas, and her observation was corroborated by Maki’s nod as she slowly pushed the door open.

The roof was the one place that was devoid of blood so far, and while Himiko was grateful for the break, she already felt that it was strange. Still, there was nobody there, so she put her spellbook back in her bag before gripping the bag’s straps tightly. The atmosphere felt like a boss battle would start any minute. That was, if they were in an RPG. Which they weren’t.

Himiko branched off from Maki, deciding to see how much more of the city she could see. That close to the edge, she was extremely careful she didn’t lose her balance. Most of the buildings around them were destroyed, which allowed her to see more of the expansive city. There was a river with a long string of bright, colorful buildings down one way. Past that was an impressive skyscraper, mostly untouched, and next to that was level ground littered with rocks. Other than that, she noticed the overhead train rail moved further into the city.

“I found a way down,” Maki called from the other end of the roof. As Himiko came over, Maki pointed down to a ladder extending down the side of the building to about a meter off the ground. “Any idea where we should go after this?”

“There’s that train rail. We could probably follow that to the inner part of the city.” She couldn’t see the station from where they were, so it was likely to be further into the city rather than on the outskirts.

Maki nodded, sheathing her knife. It crossed Himiko’s mind that it was both clever and off-putting before that she hid it under the edge of her long socks, though the effect was ruined now that they were both in stretch pants. “Perfect. Let’s go.”

Maki lowered herself over the edge of the roof with perfect precision, like she’d done it many times before. Even though Himiko knew they were only four or five stories up, she didn’t want to think about what would happen if either of them slipped or let go of the ladder. Or, even worse, if the ladder ripped away from the building. Still, she followed Maki, who was already halfway to the ground. Her hands shook the whole way, and she felt her knees absorb the impact when she landed from the last stretch. Her arms pinwheeled for a moment to keep her balance, but at least she didn’t fall over.

“Before we leave, we should see how the entrance locked,” Maki suggested, taking her knife back out. “That should clear some things up.” They circled around to the front of the building, making a beeline for the doors.

It wasn’t hard to tell how they were locked. They were barricaded using several pieces of wood, mostly scraps with a couple of sturdier pieces mixed in. The doors obviously weren’t locked naturally, which only begged one further question: “Who locked the doors?”

Maki ran a hand over the wood. “Other than the edges, it’s all smooth. No claw marks, so this wasn’t a monokuma’s doing. I don’t think they’re smart enough to do something like that, anyway.”

Himiko scanned the ground around her, searching for any clues, but apart from dirt, dust and debris she found none. There were no signs at all of anyone being there recently. No footprints, nothing.

“We need to be on guard at all times.” When Himiko looked over at Maki, she saw that her eyes were dangerously dark. She nearly took a step back. “It’s very likely that someone saw us and knew there was a monokuma in there. Locking us in with it was purely intentional.”

Himiko’s breath caught in her throat. Wouldn’t that mean they were meant to be attacked, maybe killed? Everything around her seemed to be suspicious once she realized that, like someone was hiding behind every rock, every portion of destroyed building. “What do we do, then?”

Maki counted a few things off on her fingers. “Try to avoid situations where we can be locked somewhere. Maybe work on checking back to the entrances every now and then to ensure that we’re not being followed. Other than that, we have to be mindful of where we go, what we do and what we find.”

Himiko sighed, tugging on the straps of her bag. “If Shuichi were here, we’d probably already know everything.”

Maki made a small, probably disbelieving noise. “You miss him already?”

“He’s our friend. Don’t you?”

An odd silence fell over them before Maki not-so-subtly changed the subject. “At least he’s not risking his life to find two people in an abandoned town. What do you think they’ve put him up to?”

It didn’t take a high-level mage to know that Maki was trying to get her to forget the initial topic. “Probably boring paperwork or something. Bet he wishes he came with us.”

“Wouldn’t that be entertaining.” There might’ve been the hint of a smirk in Maki’s voice, but her strides were just far enough ahead that Himiko couldn’t be sure. She didn’t know why, but Maki seemed to be more closed off than she did before their escape. Maybe it was just because she and Maki didn’t know each other too well. In fact, Himiko was almost certain that the only people who knew more than a little about Maki were Kaito and Shuichi.

Himiko didn’t know if anyone ever knew her that well, now that she thought about it.

They continued their walk into the city in silence, though Himiko kept her eyes and ears peeled for any people or monokumas. By doing so, she might’ve missed lots of small details, like random pages from torn books scattered around, or the slash marks and crumpled electric cars. No telling what happened there, but it was only ever electric cars she saw like that.

It felt like they followed the rail for forever, winding between destruction and more desolate areas. Where they couldn’t follow it as closely, they made sure to stick as close as possible.

The farther into the city they walked, the more destruction they saw. Whole buildings had collapsed; there were numerous holes in the ground itself; splintered wood was everywhere. It was like something a five-year-old would build in that one game with the blocks and diamonds, though even that would be more structurally sound than the city.

In short, it looked like a wasteland, which only grew creepier as the sun began to set. “We should find somewhere to sleep,” Himiko suggested, stretching out into a yawn. It wasn’t that late, probably, but all the walking was tiring.

Maki glanced at the buildings around them before pointing at one. “This one’s residential. We can stay there for the night.”

The interior looked like the kind of place people only stayed in if they needed a last-minute hotel for the night. That being said, it didn’t look completely awful, just a bit run-down. Maki grabbed a pair of keys from behind the counter, tossing one to Himiko. Surprisingly, she caught it.

Maki found a doorstop from behind the counter as well, wedging it into the front door. “We should take turns keeping guard so nobody can lock us in,” she said, kicking the door lightly to make sure it would stay.

Himiko nodded, setting her bag on the counter. “Until we go to sleep, we should stay out here and keep an eye on it.” She took out one of the tasteless protein bars and her already-open bottle of water. While she really was glad for the break in walking, Maki seemed restless, going through everything behind the counter, checking doors and trying to break open a vending machine, the kind with the snacks that never seemed to expire.

“Everything okay?” Himiko asked after swallowing her first bite. Maki stopped moving for just a second, tension dissipating from her shoulders.

“It’s nothing.” She crossed her arms, her eyes still darting around though she was finally standing still. “I can take the first shift watching tonight. I’ll wake you when it’s your turn.”

“Okay.” She wished they had some way of telling the time other than just the sun’s movements. Neither of them had thought to bring a watch or something, and one wasn’t packed for them. She slipped her spellbook out of her bag, flipping through the pages with one hand and holding her protein bar in the other. There were sticky notes in fluorescent colors where Sonia and Gundham added additional notes and thoughts. The stark differences in their writing made her smile.

Luckily, there was still a little electricity in the building, enough for some dim lighting. It was just enough to read the preface of the book, explaining how the magic worked in, well, incredibly hard to understand terms. There was something about needing to possess the mental capacity for it, and lots of practice being involved with harnessing the energy or something like that. It was kind of late, she wasn’t really sure, but it explained why she was only able to do really basic spells so far. It also told her about all the different spells she could cast, from detecting to healing and burning and everything in between. After about an hour of studying the spells and trying a couple more advanced ones—with limited success—she decided to call it a night.

Maki was doing some meditation thing, but in truth, it just looked like she was sleeping. “Wake me up when it’s my turn,” Himiko reminded her, garnering a nod in response. Guess she wasn’t sleeping after all. “Good night.”

The rooms Maki grabbed the keys for weren’t too far off from the lobby, which was all well and good. She’d be able to hear Maki if she called or if there was any trouble. The key ended up being a moot point, though; the doorknob had been broken off by what appeared to be more claw marks, leaving the door perpetually open. Another victim of a monokuma. The room itself was clean, with no bloodstains to be seen. That gave her a hint of comfort.

She climbed into the bed, nearly burying herself under the musty-smelling sheets in seconds. Her bag went on the bed next to her, her spellbook and hat on top of it. Even though she wasn’t too light of a sleeper, she knew she’d be able to get up the moment Maki was ready to switch, just because of adrenaline. For the time being, though, she succumbed easily to sleep under the pale moonlight pouring through the window.

Shuichi’s eyes scanned quickly over the files in front of him for what felt like the hundredth time. Kyoko was nice enough to lead him through the process earlier, and from there everything was straightforward. She’d looked over those reports of the incidents that occurred in Towa City before, but a fresh pair of eyes could find any misstatements or information hidden in them.

“Looks like we have another late worker, huh?” He glanced up and blinked, seeing Makoto standing in the doorway with a tiny, knowing smile.

Shuichi set down the paper in his hands. Accessing paper copies and being able to mark them up was easier than being assigned a tablet, as it had been explained to him. “Ah, yeah. I’m used to staying up a bit late, but this much paperwork is new to me.” He wouldn’t be doing any training if his work kept up.

Makoto nodded, entering the room fully. “Thank you again for helping with this. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help, as well as Maki and Himiko’s.”

That close, he could see that Makoto certainly looked tired. “You must be really worried about them.” He didn’t have siblings, so he could only imagine how anxious Makoto must’ve felt, having found his sister again and then losing her almost immediately.

“That’s an understatement.” Makoto was silent for a moment, rubbing one of his arms. Shuichi had been thinking about him like an adult, which he was, but of course he was scared, too. “I … don’t want to imagine what could’ve happened to them.”

Shuichi was never really the best at comforting, but he could sympathize a bit. From what he learned earlier, Makoto and Kyoko had gone through the same killing game business he did, only they had more to lose. Their motive of people on the outside wasn’t as general as his; rather, their specific people were held captive. “I’m sure they’re fine, Makoto. From what you’ve told me about them, they seem capable enough to handle anything.”

“Let’s hope so.” He let out a humorless laugh at his wording. “When did that word become so powerful?”

It was a rhetorical question, but Shuichi couldn’t help but reciprocate it. In their situation, in the school, he rejected both hope and despair. Tsumugi had made a mockery of the words for him. But in the end, and the beginning, what were they other than words and concepts?

“Sorry. I’ll stop bothering you.” Makoto glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. “It’s time for me to try to drag Kyoko away from her work. Be sure to get some sleep, okay?”

Shuichi nodded, distantly wondering how close Makoto and Kyoko were. “Sure thing. Have a good night, Makoto.”

As soon as Makoto left the room, Shuichi looked back down at Byakuya Togami’s testimony. According to the file, Toko followed him into Towa City six months ago and later ran into Komaru, who helped find where he was being held hostage by the Warriors of Hope. Byakuya reported that the conditions of his release, to his knowledge, were originally him for the controller that would break the helmets of the children in the city (a concept Shuichi was still unclear on), but he was later set free by Toko, who had gotten the key to his cell from the leader of the Warriors of Hope.

Further, he mentioned that he fled Towa City alone, as Toko didn’t want to accompany him like he originally expected. It was shortly after his escape, within minutes, that all contact to and from Towa City was cut off. He briefly mentioned that there were still riots occurring, and that there was chaos throughout the city that he didn’t stick around to further investigate.

However, Toko managed to fill him in on the gist of what happened, including a machine known as the Big Bang Monokuma. She and Komaru managed to take it down, and that was the end of Monaca Towa’s reign as leader of the Warriors of Hope. Toko had told Byakuya that everything was taken care of, but that she and Komaru were staying back to help with the recovery process.

Something Byakuya neglected to mention was the whereabouts of Komaru. According to earlier reports from the correspondence with Makoto, Komaru had been with Toko nearly the entire time Toko was in Towa City. Why, then, would she not be with Toko when Byakuya was released?

It was also strange how the communication was cut off so suddenly, right when Byakuya left. The timing was uncanny, and beside that, the files mentioned an area above the jammer where signals could get through. That was how Toko and Komaru had gotten through that one time. Without that Monaca person ruling the city, it would’ve been easy in theory to remove the jamming waves. It made no sense that nobody removed it in the past several months, or that nobody tried to exit the city using the passage Himiko and Maki entered. There was so much left up in the air in the reports, it was easy to feel skeptical of them.

Shuichi sighed and looked over another report once more. It was a timeline of sorts, detailing when the helicopter with Byakuya and Toko on it went in, when Komaru established the secure connection and when Byakuya exited the city. There seemed to be no correlation between the lost connection and any of the events in the city, especially since despair seemed to be taken down. It would stand to reason that there would be a more secure connection than ever in that case.

So why was he getting such an uneasy feeling about it?

He felt like there was something he just kept missing over and over again. He understood why Kyoko asked him to look over the files again, just to make sure everything fit into place. Of course, Makoto probably perused the reports as well, but a detective’s critical eye—even an apprentice’s—could be a bit more valuable given the circumstances.

With a glance at the clock himself—now reading a quarter to midnight—he started clearing up the files, placing them all back in the manila folder they came in. He would have to talk to Kyoko about everything tomorrow to get her opinion on his thoughts, as well as see if talking to Byakuya about his testimony was at all possible. The quicker, the better. If he and Kyoko were able to piece things together outside city limits, they might be able to find a new way to relay information to Himiko and Maki.

Whatever was going on in the city, he hoped they were safe. He wouldn’t know what to do if the only two of his friends left alive were caught up in something as dangerous as the killing game again. He didn't even want to think about it.

The thought left him restless, regardless. Before leaving the room, he shed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, pretending that he was back in the school, with Kaito on one side and Maki on the other. She would be done with her push-ups before he was even halfway through. Kaito would only complete fifteen the entire time.

So he started his hundred, keeping count and remembering the conversations they would have while completing them. And just for a moment, everything was alright. His friends were still alive, they were all together and were having a good time, together. He didn’t want it to ever end.

Chapter Text

Maki didn’t wake Himiko at all that night. She knew that she could’ve, that she needed sleep herself. However, she also knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she tried. She was restless enough where she felt the need to get some exercise while watching the door. The meditation technique Peko taught her was nice, and helped her rest, but she was used to moving during the night, like her training with Kaito and Shuichi.

With her eyes trained on the door, she extended her legs back and started counting her push-ups. The familiar twinge of her muscles was a relief that she never expected. She whipped through a hundred easily. That was usually where she stopped during the night training to talk, but she continued on to do a hundred sit-ups, her abs burning in a satisfying way. The door stayed unblocked, unbothered, and she stayed moving. Plus, she reasoned with herself, if she woke Himiko for her shift, Himiko would be exhausted in the morning and they’d be more likely to waste time.

When the sun began to rise through the broken front windows, Maki decided that they weren’t going to be locked in and went to get Himiko up. There was still a small risk in leaving the door unattended, but she was only going a couple of steps away. She could still see it from the hallway.

“Himiko, time to get up.” She rapped her knuckles gently against the door, suddenly reminded of waking up the kids in the orphanage every morning. She had far less patience for them.

The door swung open gently under Maki’s touch. “My turn?” Himiko asked groggily from her bed, rubbing at her eyes.

“It’s morning. I’ll wait in the lobby.” Might as well pick up anything that might be useful then so they wouldn’t have to stay for too long. Her muscles held that familiar ache that she enjoyed, a sign of a job well done. Night training wouldn’t be happening again like it used to, and she didn’t need it for her job anymore. Still, it felt satisfying.

Himiko dragged herself into the lobby a couple minutes after Maki discovered just about nothing helpful. “I thought we were going to trade shifts,” she said in lieu of greeting.

Maki shrugged, still sifting through some of the contents behind the counter. Where did that box of matches go? “I couldn’t sleep anyway. I thought I would let you rest.” A poor lie, but Himiko had no way of knowing that. Maki might not have been as good a liar as Kokichi, but she was nowhere near as bad as, say, Kaito or Shuichi.

Himiko didn’t speak for a moment, instead watching as Maki found the matchbox and stashed it in her bag. “You should’ve gotten some rest, too.”

“You can take the first shift tonight if you want it, but I’m plenty rested.” A peace offering, of sorts. She straightened and rolled her shoulders back. “We should keep going.”

Still silent, Himiko shouldered her bag and followed Maki out. The plan to follow the rail was still what they were going off of, but something about it bothered Maki. Essentially, it was leading them farther into the city. Who was to say that an ambush wasn’t waiting for them there?

It was hard to tell through just Himiko’s expression and demeanor whether she was mad. Her eyes darted around warily. Maki eventually decided that it was best to put it out of her mind and pay closer attention to their surroundings. If she was going to prevent an ambush or attack, that would be the way to do it.

Surprisingly, though, the farther into the city they went, the less destruction there seemed to be. She would’ve thought it would be the opposite, but destruction appeared to be minimal, at least to the outsides of buildings. Who knew what the interiors looked like.

Another thing that came along with the inner city was more places for anyone following them to hide. Maki made sure her knife was in her hand the entire time, on high alert. It was times like that she was glad her reflexes were so quick. She doubted anyone would be fast enough to sneak up on them.

About an hour of walking passed without them saying anything to each other. That was fine for her. It was a welcome break from the chaotic noise she was used to her entire life. Still, the silence was unnatural. There weren’t any birds or squirrels, little to no wind, no movement otherwise. The only sound was that of their footsteps on the asphalt—until it wasn’t.

A sharp, screeching sound made them both stop in their tracks, followed by an unsheathing metal-on-metal. “Is it a monokuma?” Himiko was already set with her spellbook, frantically looking around the debris-ridden alleys for the source of the sound.

Maki didn’t think that was the case, which left one possibility as she tensed her muscles. And, faster than she could react, that possibility flew out of one of the alleys and had a weapon pressed to Himiko’s neck. Maki froze instantly, recognizing a hostage situation when she saw one. Himiko, on the other hand, tried doing whatever she could to get out of it, her spellbook lying forgotten on the ground.

“Ah ah ah! If you keep squirming, my grip might slip and I’ll chop your pretty little neck clean off!” Himiko stopped in an instant, fear overcoming her expression. Maki noticed her opponent looked over at her, as though trying to size them both up. Maki did the same, committing every detail to memory.

Their assailant was about Maki’s height, if a little taller, with the tips of her hair just poking out under the long black cloak she was wearing. She—Maki assumed the assailant was female, based on her voice—was obviously strong and obviously dangerous, but thanks to the cloak, Maki couldn’t see any defining details. The weapon in her hand was clearly sharp, but held in a way that she couldn't tell what it was. “Who are you?” Maki asked, not budging an inch otherwise.

“Unimportant,” came the assailant’s abrupt response. She glanced at a couple buildings surrounding them, almost like she was checking for something or someone. Once she finished, she tensed up a bit, prompting Himiko to do the same. Maki was about ready to charge at her and hope nothing bad happened to Himiko, even though she knew it was risky. Before she could, the assailant let out an irritated sigh and let Himiko go, shoving her forward a bit.

Himiko immediately stumbled over to Maki, stooping to pick up her spellbook on the way. Maki looped her free arm around Himiko’s shoulders protectively, equal parts shocked and relieved. She wasn’t used to hostage situations turning out like that.

“And to think I came all this way just to talk to you two. I didn’t even get a hello!” the assailant lamented, but her tone was so nonchalant, it was hard to believe that she was actually miffed.

“You tried to kill me!” Himiko protested, still a bit pale and shaky. Maki couldn’t blame her; that was her second near-death experience in a handful of days.

The assailant shrugged like it was no big deal. “I wasn’t actually going to. I have an image to uphold, after all.” She paused for a moment, eyeing them as though wondering what she was doing there with them. “Look, I gotta be quick here when I tell you to leave.”

“Leave?” Maki was genuinely surprised with the request. Demand? Whatever.

“I shouldn’t even be here, so you better be happy that I am. Nothing good ever comes from this city, so you’d better get out while you’re still alive.”

Himiko shook her head slowly. “We can’t! We’re on a mission—”

Maki sent her a quick glare, telling Himiko to shut up. That woman obviously wasn’t to be trusted, and who knew what she would do if she knew they were with Future Foundation. “We’re not leaving.”

“Well, I tried.” The woman turned away with an air of sass and began to walk away. “Just know that I can’t be to blame for whatever happens next.”

How ominous. Feeling uncertain, especially with Himiko’s worried glance, she took a moment to ask herself what the hell she was doing before calling out after the woman. “Hold on.”

The woman turned back slightly, a hand on her hip. “Thinking back on my advice already, are we?”

“We’re still not leaving. I just have a question for you.”

She spun around fully, her tone much more pleasant. “What can I do for you?”

Himiko looked to Maki for clearance before taking over. “Do you know where Toko Fukawa and Komaru Naegi are?”

The woman’s reaction was … strange. She turned so that she was only half facing them, a hand to her chin in thought. Her expression was still completely unreadable under the hood of her cloak. “Toko Fukawa… Haven’t heard that name in a while. No idea where she could be. Komaru Naegi, though…” She turned her back to them once more. “Komaru Naegi is dead.”

Nothing could’ve stopped the silence that followed that statement. Maki was completely stunned. Of all the answers she expected, that realistically should’ve been one of them, but somehow it hadn’t been.

“If you’ll excuse me, I really should be going.” The woman’s voice was sharper, quieter, than before. Maki could only watch as she darted off down a different alley. If Maki were in her right mind, she would be sprinting after her. But how could she be in her right mind when one of their targets was MIA and the other dead?

“Oh, no.” Himiko’s whisper caught Maki’s attention. Maki looked down at her, removing her arm from around Himiko’s shoulders. “What are we going to tell Makoto?”

That was going to be a problem. She rubbed her arm in thought. “Let’s not think about that now. Chances are Toko Fukawa is still in the city somewhere, so our best bet is to at the very least find her. We didn’t come here to believe every word some sketchy woman says, did we?” No, they most certainly didn’t. Even though her words were meant for Himiko, they helped convince herself as well. She knew better than to give in so easy. “We should keep looking, see if we can find the Warriors of Hope. They’ll be able to fill us in on what’s been happening.” Himiko nodded mutely, but shifted her weight uncomfortably. Maki’s gaze softened a touch. “She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

“No, I’m fine.” She rubbed at her throat a bit before dropping her hand back to her side. “I think we’re getting closer, right?”

Maki surveyed the area around them, looking for clusters of residential buildings. If there weren’t any coming up, they’d have to double back. “I think so. We might be able to gain a lead today or tomorrow at the latest.”

They started moving slowly, more deliberate than before. Maki kept an eye on all the alleys they passed just to be sure that no more surprises would pop out and try to kill them. Her grip on her knife remained tight as she stuck close to Himiko.

It struck her as odd that the woman not only knew who they were talking about, but was also the only person they’d seen at all. She was internally kicking herself for letting the woman get away. However, she didn’t have long to dwell on that. The same mechanical sound they heard earlier returned, only this time there were four monokumas barrelling towards them. Maki ran towards two of them, and she heard Himiko shouting before there was a zap and the sound of monokumas breaking.

She cleaned up her own two fast enough, the broken bodies falling to the ground. “How did they know we were here?” Himiko asked after blasting the last one to bits, rubbing her head like she was warding off a headache.

Maki nudged one of them with her foot. “My guess? Either we were too loud earlier and attracted their attention, or that woman sold us out to them.” She sent a withering glare to the already dead monokumas before something about them caught her eye. “Hold on.”

“What is it?” Himiko stood over her as Maki carefully worked a piece of scrap paper from between its claws. “Junk mail?”

One look at it told her otherwise. Wordlessly, she handed it over to Himiko, the words and picture burned into her mind. On the paper was a picture of a woman with long purple hair and worried grey eyes. The paper said that her name was Toko Fukawa. It was like the Demon Hunting paper they found earlier, but instead of ink running from an old description, the only other word was written in red ink: ACQUIRED.

“What does this mean?” Himiko asked, but Maki could tell that she at least had an idea of the answer. Toko was effectively missing, but this insinuated that she, along with whoever that Demon Hunting person was, had been captured by someone.

Maki took off her bag and rummaged around. She'd wondered if the paper might come in handy sometime. She held it up to the new paper, comparing them. “Toko wasn’t part of whatever this Demon Hunting thing is,” she said aloud, speaking it into existence. Makoto or Kyoko would’ve mentioned that. Her eyes wandered to Himiko, the edge of her spellbook sparking an idea. “Himiko, you have the fixing spell down, don’t you? Can you fix the Demon Hunting picture?”

“Yeah, hold on.” She took out the spellbook and flipped to a dog-eared page. Screwing her eyes shut, she mumbled the nonsense on the page. While she spoke, red sparks flew out of the ruined ink and edges. If Maki didn’t believe in magic before, that changed her mind. As Himiko finished the spell, the paper finished repairing itself.

The picture on the paper was one of an elderly man with white hair and glasses. The word ACQUIRED marred some of his features, but the writing gave them more information. Beneath the picture was a little box that read “Hunting Grounds: Towa Bookstore.”

“Kiri … hitotein?” Himiko read, her forehead scrunched in confusion. “Oh, his real name is Fuhito Kirigiri.”

“Kirigiri? So he could be related to Kyoko.” According to the rest of the description, Fuhito was a detective as well. It probably ran in the family, assuming that's what they were. Either way, it confirmed her theory. Toko and the Demon Hunting participants—some, at the very least—were somewhere in the city and were likely captured by someone. That begged another question: “Who captured them?”

Himiko shrugged, closing her spellbook but keeping it by her side. “The Warriors of Hope were taken down, so not them. Um, wouldn’t that be the only group?”

“You have a point.” The wheels began turning in her mind. “Maybe there was a threat in Towa City that Toko and Komaru didn’t know about, which would mean that Future Foundation doesn’t know about it, either. So that means—”

“We’re going in blind.”

The truth of that statement gnawed at her. What could’ve possibly caught those two off guard? As she searched for an answer, a glimmer of movement in a nearby building caught her eye; someone was moving away from a window. She’d seen it too many times to not recognize it. “There are people in there!”

“Let’s go!” Himiko hitched up her bag and the two of them took off towards the door of the building. Maki pushed it open with so much force that it almost banged into the wall. Even though they were moving fast, they had to be quiet enough so they weren’t detected.

The stairs were easy to locate, thanks to the building appearing to be an old apartment building. The movement she’d seen came from a third-story window, so she didn’t bother checking the first and second floors. She had a target, and she was going to reach it.

As soon as she turned the corner onto the third floor, Maki was stunned by muffled voices coming from down the hall. “There’s more than one of them?”

“They sound young,” Himiko pointed out, her voice soft, almost sympathetic.

Great. If they were young kids, then Maki had no doubt they would be climbing all over her before the day was over. Even though it’d been a long time since that happened, she didn’t want to relive the unpleasantness.

Maybe Himiko’s magic would distract them, she thought wryly.

She still had her knife at her side as they neared the room. There seemed to be at least two people inside, as the voices she heard were arguing quite loudly. She tested the doorknob; unlocked. With a quick nod to Himiko, she opened the door and walked inside.

They went unnoticed for a good minute. She looked at a girl arguing with a red-haired boy, then another boy in the corner with a book and a third dragging a worn pencil over a sheet of crumpled paper. Frankly, she had no idea how she was supposed to react.

“Would you guys be quiet? I’m trying to read,” the boy in the corner said, definitely annoyed.

“Like you haven’t already memorized it,” the red-haired boy retorted, his hands on his hips. His voice cracked a bit, like he was just going through puberty. He looked young enough to be.

“Guys?” the drawing boy said, looking up from his paper.

The boy who was reading sighed. “And how is it my fault that there are only a handful of novels left in this entire city?”

The girl spoke up next. “Yeah, lay off, Masaru! He’s just reading up on those steamy novels for future reference.”

“Guys?”

“That’s not true!” The boy’s cheeks grew an angry red at the implication.

“Aww, that’s so it! You wanna have aaaaall the romantic moments with an adorbs lady in the future, don’t you?”

“Guys!”

All three of their heads snapped to the drawing boy. “What?”

He pointed over at Maki and Himiko with sleeves that covered his hands. “We have company.”

Maki decided in a split second that she wouldn’t be needing her knife. She sheathed it as subtly as she could with four pairs of eyes trained on her and Himiko.

“Who are you? State your business and leave,” the boy in the corner demanded, his tone icy as he set down his book. Maki pinned him immediately as the leader of the little group.

Himiko crossed her arms, trying to appear more intimidating. It probably wasn’t working given that she was about the same height as the kids. “How about no? You can answer our questions and then we’ll leave.”

The girl hummed in thought, clasping her hands together. “I mean, you’re totally adorbs, but your friend there looks like she’s gonna kill us.”

Maki was fully aware that she was glaring, but the kids all seemed relatively unphased. The red-haired boy was the only one who looked nervous. “Look, we don’t want to be here as much as you don’t want us here, so I think this’ll go a lot easier if you just answer our questions,” she sighed. The drawing boy kept looking at her strangely, making her uncomfortable. “What?”

He ignored her. “Hey, Nagisa? Aren’t these two the ones we were told about?” he asked the leader.

Something clicked in the red-haired boy's mind, because he perked up and punched the air. “Oh, that’s right! The witch and the girl with the knife!”

“We have names,” Himiko muttered, tugging on the brim of her hat, “and I’m a mage.”

The four kids held a short conversation composed of only glances. Finally, the leader rolled his eyes and addressed them. “Fine. We’ll cooperate. But first, tell us your names.”

Maki and Himiko shared a glance of their own. Himiko shrugged. “I’m Himiko Yumeno, Ultimate Mage.”

“Maki Harukawa. Ultimate Assassin.”

If they were at all phased by her title, they didn’t show it. Odd. “Cool! More Ultimates!” the red-haired boy cheered. He puffed out his chest. “I’m Masaru Daimon, Li’l Ultimate P.E! Or, former Li’l Ultimate P.E. Sometimes I forget that we’re not in elementary school anymore.”

The girl curtseyed with a sweet smile. “My name is Kotoko Utsugi, former Li’l Ultimate Drama. Pleased to meet you!”

Maki could already tell that Himiko was warming up to them, at least a little. She, on the other hand, was skeptical. First they couldn’t seem to find a single person in the city, then they were attacked by one, and now they find four kids? All within a half hour? What was really going on?

“I’m Jataro Kemuri, former Li’l Ultimate Art,” the drawing boy said. Himiko drew in a quick breath, but nobody apart from Maki noticed. That, at least, explained why he was drawing.

The leader was the only one left. “I’m Nagisa Shingetsu, former Li’l Ultimate Social Studies. And—” he glanced at the others— “we’re the Warriors of Hope.”

“Warriors of Hope?” The name made her pause for a second as she reminded herself of what they’d been told: that they were a group of kids who wanted to create a despair fit for another Junko Enoshima. Their plans were dashed by Komaru and Toko. If they were in the city in the last six months, they would know what had been happening.

“That’s right! Our first mission was to make a paradise of kids, by kids, for kids, but that didn’t really work out. So now we’re trying to spread hope!” Masaru informed them, looking proud of his position in the group.

But that couldn’t be right. “We heard you tried to create despair,” Himiko said, running her fingertips over the spine of her spellbook.

“That wasn’t us,” Kotoko said, her cheeks puffed out in anger. “That was someone whose name I’d rather forget! The bitch screwed us over!”

Okay, then. The other kids had their anger slightly more in check, though Nagisa looked pretty steamed as well. There must’ve been some backstory there they didn’t want to get into. “Anyway, we want to know what happened in the last several months,” Maki said, diverting the subject.

“We couldn’t tell you.” Nagisa was blunt, but Maki somehow had a feeling that he was telling the truth. “We don’t know what’s been happening. Any information we do get is very little. All we know is from what we’ve observed ourselves.”

“Even then, it’s not a lot. Just that de—adults have been disappearing, and the targets for Demon Hunting went along with them.” Jataro fiddled his hands, the extra fabric of his sleeves rubbing against each other.

That wasn’t helpful at all. “Who are you hiding from, then?”

All four of them seemed to close themselves off. It was then that Maki realized that she wasn’t too good at the whole interrogation thing. Maybe they would have benefited from Shuichi coming with them.

“We already told you our part,” Nagisa said, though his voice sounded a bit more forced than before. “Tell us why you’re here.”

“We’re trying to find a few people since communication to the city was cut off.” Himiko fielded the question well, but the way the kids looked at her made her sound uncertain.

“Didn’t someone get rid of the jamming signal?” Masaru sounded completely confused, only adding to Maki’s own uncertainty.

Nagisa’s eyebrows knit together in thought. “I don’t think he succeeded, but that one Demon Hunting target tried. Even so, there shouldn’t be anything jamming radio signals anymore. There’s no need for them.”

“I’ll bet that little creep did it.” Kotoko was steaming, her hands balled into fits. “Just to make sure nobody could get in or out! That bitch.”

Maki and Himiko glanced at each other. If the Warriors of Hope really didn’t know anything, there was no real chance that they were behind anything this time around. The problem they had, though, was that they didn’t know who was orchestrating everything.

“Who are you looking for?” Jataro’s impromptu question caught them off-guard. He looked at them earnestly, waiting for an answer.

“Two girls,” Maki told him. “Komaru Naegi and Toko Fukawa.”

Once more, all four fell silent. “It’s always those two, isn’t it?” Nagisa shook his head, not meeting their eyes. He sighed. “Well, you’re a bit late there. We don’t know where Toko Fukawa is and haven’t for months, and Komaru Naegi is dead.”

“So it’s true, then, what that lady told us.” Maki nodded to herself at Himiko’s point. The information they’d been given was true.

However, it also piqued the interest of the kids. Masaru was the first of them to mention it. “Hey, what lady are you talking about? There haven’t been any adults wandering around in forever!”

“We don’t know,” Maki admitted wearily. “She was wearing a cloak when she attacked Himiko. This was just an hour or two ago.”

Judging by the confused and worried glances the kids exchanged, they were just as clueless as Maki and Himiko were. Given that they were going to be their informants, even with the little information they had, that was extremely troubling. Finally, Nagisa broke the silence in a grave voice.

“It seems that the situation is worse than we could’ve imagined.”

Chapter Text

It was early afternoon at that point, but Himiko and Maki still decided to stay in the next room over in the building. The Warriors said that they could compare their information the next day, so that was the game plan.

For the rest of the day—Maki hadn’t wanted to stray very far, so they double-checked the building itself in case it was a trap—Himiko kept thinking and thinking about what could be happening, what they could have to face. It scared her, honestly, to the point where that night she laid awake for what felt like hours.

It was all just too much. She couldn’t decide if it was worse to not know than it would be to know. They would be able to prepare for the latter, but they would know. It was like finding out Tsumugi was the mastermind; before knowing, she just knew there was someone forcing them into the killing game. After, it was like everything she had been told her entire life was a lie, because who knew what everyone really thought or meant?

An hour or so of trying unsuccessfully to sleep later, Himiko pushed herself up. She needed rest, but she could rest and increase her skill power at the same time.

Her spellbook slid easily out of her bag, and she opened to the next spell page. Sonia’s neat, deliberate handwriting smiled up at her. Even though it was dark in the room, Himiko trained herself to read in the dark when she was younger so her reading after dark wouldn’t wake her parents. It was a skill that she didn’t use too often anymore, so she was grateful for the chance to use it.

She was as quiet as she could be, with the exception of the occasional popping that she was almost certain Maki would hear from the adjoining bedroom if she was awake. It was the spell labeled “knockback,” so she used her hat as her test subject and prayed that she didn’t accidentally set it on fire or smash it through the wall.

It was actually largely successful after the first couple of tries. There wasn’t too much to it apart from the words. Fifteen minutes in, she could send her hat flying across the room every time. Those fifteen minutes also gave her a growing headache, though. It wasn’t mentioned in the book, but maybe that was the cost of her magic?

“What’s going on?” Himiko looked over in surprise to see Maki standing in the doorway. It was hard to tell in the dark—and hard to tell with her anyway—but she looked like she hadn’t been sleeping.

“Couldn’t sleep.” She got up and retrieved her hat from the floor, hugging it to her chest. “Did I wake you?”

With a deep breath that sounded like a sigh, Maki pushed herself off of the door frame and walked into the room. “No. I couldn’t sleep, either.”

“Hold on, though. If you kept watch all of last night, then isn’t this your second night without sleep?” Himiko got plenty of sleep and was still normally exhausted, now with a small headache. How was Maki even functioning?

Maki shrugged, taking a seat on the edge of Himiko’s bed. “Third night, actually. And I’m used to it.” She paused for a moment, running her fingers through her long pigtails and tugging at the knots. “Do you want to talk?”

Himiko shrugged as well, sitting next to Maki. “Can I braid your hair? It won’t get tangled that way.” Her own hair wasn’t nearly long enough, but she loved braiding hair. She should’ve asked Tenko and Angie when she’d had the chance.

“I guess.” She slid her scrunchies out, laying them on the bed. Himiko separated her hair out like it’d been for the pigtails, marveling at how dry it felt, not smooth or soft like Himiko was used to.

Whenever Himiko braided hair, the sections always needed to be equal, and the braids had to be just the right amount of tight and loose. After practice, it was easy. The repetitive motions soothed her headache, and also put her in a chatty mood. “Hey, Maki. Why do you keep your hair so long?” It fell near her ankles. Himiko didn’t even know hair could grow that long.

“I guess I never cut it.” By the tone of her voice, sort of questioning and slow, Himiko could tell that she’d never been asked that question before. Kind of surprising, given how nosy some of their classmates had been. “Between the orphanage and training, I was never given the opportunity. So I just let it grow.”

Himiko paused in her braiding, examining the ends of Maki’s hair. She wasn’t the Ultimate Hairdresser or anything, but she knew the basics of hair care. Her mom liked to make sure Himiko always took good care of her hair. Sure enough, Maki had a lot of split ends, which Himiko’s mom hated. “And pigtails are your favorite style, then?”

“They’re functional. They keep hair out of my face.” She fell silent as Himiko tied off the first braid and crawled around to her other side. “One of my … friends taught me how to do my hair like that. I never grew out of it.” At her wistful tone, she gave a short, dry laugh, but stayed quiet.

The braiding was making Himiko relaxed, more than she’d felt in forever. “You can tell me more if you want.”

“There isn’t much to tell.” She scratched at one of her arms. “We’ve talked enough about me. Maybe you should talk now.”

That was fine. Anything was better than trying to sleep among nightmares. “What do you want to know?” Maki shrugged under her, so Himiko chose the first topic that came to mind. Normally she didn’t talk a lot—she didn’t even talk much to Angie—but she trusted Maki, and it was easier than not talking. “I’m glad to have you and Shuichi now. I didn’t have a lot of friends when I was younger.” She was almost surprised at the words tumbling out of her, words she’d never told anyone. It was almost refreshing. “The other kids formed friendships without me. I thought I’d be able to be their friend if I learned magic and made them smile.”

The memories flooded back to her, of her reading books about magic and wanting to become involved in magic in any way she could. She learned about witches, warlocks and all kinds of magical beings before settling on a mage. “I practiced a lot for it. I was so excited to show off my skills to everyone, but nobody was interested. They teased me for believing in magic, for thinking that I actually was magic. But nothing they said or did could phase me.”

Maki stirred again. “Did?”

Himiko’s face screwed up like she’d just eaten a lemon. “They sabotaged a few of my shows, like at talent shows. My mommy said they were just jealous. My brother said it wasn’t the worst that could happen and that worse would happen once I got to high school.”

Maki shifted under her as Himiko’s fingers kept weaving the braid down to the tip. “You have a brother?”

“Yeah. He’s four years older than me. He never really liked my magic, either.” Her sour face persisted, some comfort brought because she knew Maki wouldn’t see it. Vaguely, she wondered where he would be. Were he and her mom even still alive? “His friends teased him about his weird younger sister.”

“I had to break up fights like that all the time in the orphanage. Aren’t siblings supposed to get along?”

Himiko tied off the braid, letting it slip through her fingers. “Other siblings I knew got along pretty well.” She supposed that every pair of siblings was different.

“As much as I don’t like kids, I wished I had a sister when I was little. The best I ever got was that friend from the orphanage. Before everything happened, she and I were inseparable.” Maki tugged on one of the braids like she’d tugged on her pigtails. “After, it was short-lived.”

Himiko yawned and stretched, exhaustion finally starting to set in. “I’ll be your sister if you want. I’ve always wanted a sister.”

Maki turned her face away, likely so Himiko couldn’t read her expression. “You should try to get some sleep. There’s only a couple hours until daylight.” Without another word, she stood and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

With a yawn, Himiko allowed herself to fall back onto her bed. All that talking drained her, but she was glad she did it. She felt like sharing that little bit helped her and Maki grow closer. That would be crucial to them working together; Shuichi wouldn’t have to act as their only common tie.

She closed her eyes, allowing sleep to fall over her. She wouldn’t be having any nightmares.

“Let’s get to business.” Himiko was starting to get the distinct feeling that Nagisa was all business, all the time. The six of them—four Warriors and her and Maki—were sitting around the table in the apartment the Warriors were inhabiting. “We already went over what we know—practically nothing. To be honest, I’m not sure there are many more routes to exhaust.”

Kotoko huffed, leaning back in her chair. “I’m telling you, it’s that crazy bitch! There’s nobody else in the city who would want to spread despair.” She spat that last word like it was the worst thing she could think of.

“Um … who are we referring to, again?” Himiko asked, still shaking off sleep. They hadn’t really been given specifics on the Warriors, anyway, so it was a perfectly legitimate question in her eyes.

Mixed emotions, though mostly negative ones, came onto each of the kids’ faces. “Monaca Towa, the former leader.” Masaru made sure to put an emphasis on former. He seemed to have a lot of pride, vaguely reminding Himiko of her own brother, but easier to get along with. “She masterminded everything before.”

“Got it.” Maki obviously could tell that it wasn’t a subject they should push and changed the subject. “Is there any proof it’s her?”

Jataro shifted slightly, the same way Himiko did when she was nervous or uncomfortable. “No, but who else would it be?”

Nagisa leaned forward to look at Kotoko, two chairs to his left. “You know it can’t be her, though. You saw her yourself after Komaru and Toko defeated her, didn’t you?”

Kotoko shrunk back a little. Himiko felt left out of the loop again. “What do you mean?”

“Only that Monaca maaaaay have been trapped beneath some rubble so she couldn’t move. And then the room might’ve collapsed. And maybe none of us have seen her since.”

Himiko blinked. That was not the answer she expected. Maki seemed unphased by the implications of the statement. “And yet, you still seem to think she’s behind this.”

“It’s just a theory.” Kotoko crossed her arms and sat back, pouting.

Himiko chose to ignore her silence, pressing on. “You guys mentioned Demon Hunting yesterday. That’s the thing with the captives, right?” She vaguely remembered Makoto saying something to that effect, too.

“We’re not proud of it. Why bring it up?” Nagisa spoke for the whole group.

Maki took the paper scrap out of her bag and placed it on the table. “We found one of these in the city. Himiko fixed it up with her magic.”

Recognition flashed in their eyes, but something still felt off. Himiko couldn’t put a finger on how. Identifying specific emotions was never her strong suit. “This is one of the cards we used to identify them, but we never wrote on them.” Masaru looked at the others. “Right?” The other three shook their heads.

“That’s what we thought, because we also found this.” Maki handed them the other paper, the one with the picture of Toko on it.

“That’s not ours,” Jataro said, staring at it in apparent interest. “She wasn’t part of Demon Hunting.”

Maki nodded once. “So we figured. Maybe there’s something about the picture that could help us figure everything out.”

It took a good minute for anyone to think of anything. “Maybe we should start with the phrasing,” Nagisa suggested. Himiko didn’t mind that he and Maki were taking the lead on the conversation. They were probably the smartest people there. “‘Acquired’ likely means they were found and captured rather than killed.”

“Toko I could maybe see, but if the old guy is a detective, wouldn’t he be harder to catch?” Himiko tried reasoning. Sure, he was old, but … well, it made sense to her. Like, Shuichi wouldn’t go down easily.

“Toko wouldn’t be easy, either!” Kotoko exclaimed, suddenly passionate. “She has that identity thing, remember? The one they made that terrible movie about.”

“Dissociative identity disorder?” Maki guessed, seeming to understand instantly. Himiko still didn’t. “So she has another personality.”

Once more, Nagisa took the reins and nodded. “It’s likely you’ve heard of her alter in the news sometime before the Tragedy. Her name is Genocider Syo.”

The name resonated with Himiko immediately. She remembered countless news reports and theories surrounding each brutal murder. “Toko’s a serial killer?”

Maki made a small noise, but her expression remained unreadable. Himiko had no idea what was running through her mind, but she doubted it was anything good. Nagisa continued. “In short, yes. When Syo is fronting, she’s extremely capable and unlikely to be captured.”

“And scary.” Kotoko shuddered a bit. “Those scissors of hers are sharp.”

All of that, while mildly hard to take in since Himiko still wasn’t quite sure what was happening, only meant one thing. “Whoever captured her and the old guy must be very strong, then.”

Something unreadable flickered for a split second in Nagisa’s eyes as he nodded. “What should the next step be, then?”

“Himiko and I will keep looking around the city.” Maki responded immediately, as though she already had a plan in mind. Himiko didn’t doubt it for a second. “If we find anything else, we’ll contact the four of you. Sound good?” They found themselves in quick agreement, and Maki stood. “Let’s get started, then.”

Himiko followed her out to the hall. The minute they were out of possible earshot of the apartment, Maki turned to her. “They’re hiding something.”

“Wait, what?” They didn’t stop moving to the stairs and the exit; they didn’t have time to waste. Himiko was still stunned, though. “How do you know?”

“I’ve had to track a lot of people. I know when they have something to hide.” Before pushing the door open, she looked left and right through the glass, making sure the road was clear of threats. “Maybe Shuichi would know something, if they’ve been feeding him paperwork.”

Heh. The mental image of Shuichi eating a stack of paperwork made her smile to herself, even though she knew that wasn’t what Maki meant. “Is it okay to trust them, then?”

Maki tugged on one of her braids, which Himiko hadn’t even noticed she still had in. It was flattering in its own way. “We should be cautious, but there’s no clear reason not to.”

Fair enough. She highly doubted they were up to anything, but she trusted Maki’s instincts. She knew what she was talking about, after all, and Himiko very much didn’t.

As they walked, Himiko noted how warm the sun was on her skin. It was odd that the sky wasn’t quite blue yet, but the sun at least made everything feel marginally normal. She glanced at Maki, who was still tugging at her braids, which were still as clean as Himiko had made them. Shouldn’t they be a little messed up from lying in bed? “Did you get any sleep last night?”

Her hands dropped to her sides, like Himiko caught her doing something she wasn’t supposed to. “I got some rest.”

She used that line on her mom all the time. A rest was never synonymous with sleep, and it was just far enough from the truth for it to not fly. Another glance at her face and the eye bags beginning to form told Himiko all she needed to know. “You didn’t sleep, did you.”

“Why do you care?” Adding even more to the fact, her tone sounded too flat to be scathing, accusatory or even slightly annoyed. While she couldn’t pretend to know what was keeping Maki up, she did want to help.

“You’re my friend, that’s why. If you want, I could use my magic to make you fall asleep.”

A beat passed. “If you try any magic on me, I will kill you.”

Himiko smiled again. “There’s the Maki I know.” A strange feeling fell over her as she realized she was acting kind of like her mom. She didn’t know why, either, just that she was kind of protective of Maki.

Conversation dropped off after that. There wasn’t much for them to talk about. They poked down a couple alleys, checked out a few smaller buildings. There really wasn’t anything to see in that section of the city. The barrenness of it all was still uncomfortable, but she found herself slowly growing used to it.

Nothing they looked at seemed to come to anything of value. At the same time, it was both frustrating and relieving. She would much rather they find something, however small it was, than not find anything. On the other hand, it was good that they didn’t run into monokumas. It looked like a lot of them actually had been broken by Komaru and Toko.

“There’s a giant building past there.” Maki nodded to the area, where a cluster of buildings stood in front of a skyscraper. The skyscraper in question looked fairly intact, though the ones behind it were all but decimated. “We should ask the kids about it later.”

“I don’t think they’re kids, Maki. They’re thirteen or something, I think.” To each their own, though. “Should we check it out now?”

Maki looked up to the sky, gauging the time left in the day. They’d only been out for an hour or two, so they still had a good chunk of time left before sunset. “We could check the outside of it today. It would be a good idea to know more about it before heading in.”

That made sense. That way, they wouldn’t be ambushed by anything (hopefully) and they would know whether or not there was anything actually inside other than rubble they wouldn’t be able to walk through. “Alright, then. To the tower thing.”

Himiko found out upon their arrival that the “tower thing” actually had a name: Towa Hills. “It looks like a hotel or something,” Maki noted as they stared at the entrance. “Still structurally sound, for the most part. I think.”

“Do you think someone’s living in there?” Himiko vaguely wondered if her fixing spell was strong enough to fix a whole building. She highly doubted it, but maybe one day she would be on a high enough level to do something like that.

Maki said nothing for a moment, instead trying to peer inside the doors. “There’s a layer of dust on the handle. It’s unlikely that there’s someone in there.”

“Oh, because then they’d have to get the dust on their hands to get back in if they came out, right?” Maki nodded, confirming Himiko’s thought. She smiled to herself, happy that she figured it out on her own. It reminded her of the very first investigation; that detail was brought up in the trial, one of the details that cleared Gonta. “Just in case, though, let’s see if the Warriors know anything about it.”

“They will.” Himiko looked at Maki strangely. “It’s just this feeling. I can’t explain it.”

Himiko noticed the sky around them begin to dim, shifting their shadows. “Come on, we should get going if we want to get back before it’s dark.”

“Right.” They each took a moment to glance back up at the building, committing it to memory, before leaving.

Thankfully, the walk back was uneventful. Himiko didn’t know how she would handle something out of the ordinary happening, but one of the possibilities was quite likely one of them passing out. She sure needed a full night’s sleep later, but she needed to make sure that Maki got at least a couple hours, even if that meant secretly casting a spell on her. They both needed to be in a decent mental state, fully rested.

Maki frowned as soon as they stepped back into the building they’d stayed in. Himiko felt the nerves emanating off of her, but she didn’t know why until they reached their floor. “Do you hear that?”

Himiko listened intently, picking up on a slightly familiar voice. It was definitely coming from inside of the Warriors’ apartment room thing, and that was when she recognized it—the voice of the woman who almost killed her. “We have to get in there!” she whispered frantically, and as fast as she could think, she broke the knob and lock with magic, the use of it tugging at her mind. Maybe overkill, since she didn’t even see if it was unlocked first, but it swung open without a sound. She and Maki entered, ready for a fight, but stopped in the entryway, undetected like the very first time they’d entered.

The only thing different was the presence of a woman in a dark cloak with tangled purple hair. Apart from the unkempt state of her hair and clothes, even from behind, Himiko recognized her from the picture burned into her mind.

“Toko Fukawa?”

“Thank you for meeting with me.” Shuichi had one of Future Foundation’s tablets open in front of him, the video chat screen running. It had been kind of them to allow him to use it.

“Don’t expect this to be a regular thing,” Byakuya Togami said on the other side. He looked exactly as Tsumugi’s cosplay had him, if not a touch older. “I only agreed to this because Kyoko happens to be my boss.”

Shuichi nodded, harkening back to when Makoto and Kyoko had both warned him that Byakuya could be … difficult. “Of course. I just wanted to go over your account of what happened in Towa City firsthand. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something I’m missing.” His eyes shifted to the files resting on the desk beside the tablet before returning eye contact.

“I see.” Byakuya pushed his glasses further up his face. “I doubt you’ll learn anything that hasn’t already been recorded, but be my guest.”

Shuichi treated that as an invitation to start. He doubted he would get a clearer one. “Let’s begin with the events leading up to your capture in Towa City. I’ll stop you if I have any questions.”

Byakuya closed his eyes briefly. “Very well. Future Foundation had been given an anonymous tip that there were people being held captive in Towa City—the people closest to those involved in the Killing School Life at Hope’s Peak Academy. I went in with a few men, specifically targeting an apartment complex that we were told housed the captives. Toko Fukawa somehow snuck onto the helicopter we took in, but she was quickly separated from the rest of us.

“Once inside, we discovered an ambush of monokuma. Luckily, I had an extra Hacking Gun. I gave it to Komaru Naegi, whom I had just met, and told her to run to where the helicopter was waiting before going further into the building. I was overrun with monokuma quickly, but instead of killing me, a group of children wearing monokuma helmets knocked me out and locked me in a cell elsewhere.” He leveled his gaze at Shuichi. “Are you good on that so far?”

Shuichi nodded. There weren’t any discrepancies with that part. “Please, continue.”

“They kept me in the cell for a few days; the children brought me enough food and water to survive. Then, the next thing I knew, the door opened and Toko was standing outside with the key to the cell.” His inexpressiveness slipped into a frown. “I expected her to be her usual obnoxious self, draping herself all over me, but I could clearly tell that I was wrong. She seemed disturbed by something, but urged me to leave the city.” He went on to detail what Toko had told him in the short span of time.

That was where Shuichi began his questioning. “Toko revealed to you the terms of your release, correct? Would you mind going over them again?”

“That’s correct. Something about a controller and the helmets on those children, she always mumbled a lot. Toko got the key from the brat who captured me after she and Komaru took her down.”

“You never saw the faces of the children who captured you, though. Did Toko tell you about Monaca?”

Byakuya was silent for a moment, like he was surprised that Shuichi noticed. “Yes, she did. She told me that Monaca was no longer a threat, but to leave the city and leave the clean-up to her. She was pushy, but that’s just her personality.”

If there was no threat, then why leave? Why be so insistent on him leaving? “And Komaru wasn’t with her at that point?”

“The only time I saw Komaru was when I first arrived in the city.”

As he thought. Time to move on from that. “Communication cut off abruptly after you left the city. Do you have any idea why that might be?”

He shook his head. “None whatsoever. I was told going in that there was a jamming signal, but was told afterward by Toko that communication was allowed at certain altitudes.”

The problem with that was Shuichi had enough experience to tell when someone was lying. But how to get Byakuya to admit it…? “And where was the jammer?”

“Towa Hills.” Shuichi fell silent as Byakuya noticed his slip-up.

“The video call Makoto fielded from Komaru and Toko never mentioned the name of the location; the official report listed it as an unknown location. It stands to reason that if you weren’t aware of the nature of the jammer until after, you shouldn’t know where it was. Especially since it wasn’t in the official report.” He mentally thanked Kyoko for giving him a couple more tips on detective work, like an undercover mentor of sorts.

Byakuya didn’t react to his claims. “I see, then. I can assure you that everything in the report is true.”

And yet, that one lie brought his entire testimony into question. “Why lie? There shouldn’t be any reason to hide the truth.” Unless that small lie was part of something more he’d yet to uncover.

Byakuya’s gaze shifted to something off-screen for a moment before nodding tersely. “As much as I’m enjoying this interrogation, I have other business to attend to. If you have further questions, Makoto and Kyoko have my email.” The way he phased it made it clear that Shuichi shouldn’t bother him.

“Thank you for your time.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the call cut off. Shuichi sighed, glancing over at the files again. Byakuya was definitely hiding something, but if he wasn’t cooperative with him or Kyoko, then Shuichi didn’t know if anyone would ever be able to find out what that was.

He shut down the tablet; he needed to return it to Kyoko. She would probably be in her office, but chances were that she would be completing more paperwork. As a division head, she had a multitude of responsibilities, which was why Shuichi had spoken to Makoto more often.

The halls were bare, save for a couple Future Foundation members here and there. He didn’t know them well at all, not even their names. Everyone seemed to keep to themselves, for the most part. He knocked gently on Kyoko’s office door. Within moments, it opened. “Ah, Shuichi. Come in.”

“I’m here to return the tablet.” He entered. Maybe he could ask Kyoko about the validity of Byakuya’s statements?

“Was there anything Byakuya could add?” She seemed genuinely interested in the outcome. Of course she would be; in addition to her former classmate, she had a loved one trapped in the city, too.

Which made Shuichi a tad more hesitant to tell her. He wasn’t about to lie to her; no doubt she would be able to see through it instantly. “There were a couple points brought up that seemed to contradict the testimony.” He spoke slowly, carefully. Kyoko didn’t show much of a reaction to the information.

No. Rather, she stared at him with a calculating glare that almost reminded him of Maki’s. The only real difference was that Kyoko’s didn’t spell out instant death. “And you’re certain about this?”

“Absolutely. I only managed to find a small contradiction before he ended the call, but there could be others that could lead to an answer. He seemed to know more than he originally said.”

Another bout of silence ensued. Kyoko took the tablet from him and looked at the blank screen for a moment as though trying to decode what it held. Placing it on her desk, she sighed. “I thought so. And now I’m afraid we all may be in over our heads.”

Chapter Text

At least Maki was right. With that, though, came the shocking realization that the woman who attacked Himiko was right in front of them. And then there was the fact that said woman was Toko Fukawa.

As soon as Himiko called out, the kids turned towards them. Judging by the looks on their faces, they knew that they were caught in the middle of a lie. Toko frowned, but didn’t react much otherwise.
“Well, isn’t this grand?” she griped, crossing her arms. “Five seconds in and I’m already sidelined. I thought that was finally over and done with.”

Sidelined? Then maybe that meant… “You’re Genocider Syo.” That explained the difference in demeanor from what she’d expected.

Genocider Syo smiled at Maki, picking up the edges of her tattered skirt in a mock curtsey. “At your service! Though “Genocider” is my work name. Ya know, it’s been a while since I’ve been recognized. You a fan, girlie?”

“Ah, no.” Maybe Himiko was still processing the fact that there was a serial killer in front of her, but she sounded dazed. Her gaze shifted to Nagisa, her eyes narrowing a touch. “You told us you didn’t know where she was!”

“We did say that, yes.” He seemed troubled at their discovery, and for good reason. If Maki had allowed instinct to take over, she would’ve come in with her knife already at someone’s throat. “But there’s a good reason for that.”

Maki made sure that her glare was steadied on all four kids, who shrank under it. “There better be. Do you even know how important this mission is?”

Syo cocked her head to the side, unfazed. “A mission? What am I missing here?”

Kotoko sighed before plastering a smile on her face. “Well, cat’s out of the bag! Nothing to do but explain the whoooooole situation.”

“More note-taking? Fiiine.” Syo produced a small notebook from some pocket or other and grabbed a worn pencil off the table in the kitchen area before taking a seat. The kids followed suit, with Maki and Himiko taking the last two chairs. “Miss Morose better appreciate these later and quit her complaining that they aren’t ‘thorough.’ At least she can read mine!”

Himiko raised her hand tentatively, like she was in a classroom. “Why take notes? Don’t you already know what’s going on?”

Syo muttered something under her breath and rolled her eyes before answering. “Little Miss Gloom-n-Doom and I don’t share memories. Don’t know when little details come in handy, so she started making me take notes for her. She does the same for me, but you can barely tell, it all looks like chicken scratch.”

Maki decided to roll with it. No use wasting time trying to understand. “How about we start with how the four of you lied to our faces.”

“In our defense, we didn’t think you’d find out.” Masaru shrunk under her glare, failing to meet her eyes for more than a split-second at a time. “It’s complicated, okay?”

Maki thought she heard Himiko murmur something about needing to find a truth spell in her spellbook. She couldn’t help but agree wholeheartedly, though they didn’t have the time now. “We didn’t technically lie, though.” Jataro fiddled with another pencil nearby, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “We said that we didn’t know where Toko was. We don’t know where she goes after this. It’s not a lie.”

Just listening to that logic reminded Maki of Kokichi and his plethora of lies. She bristled. “True, true. I never tell the kids where I go, and I’m sure Miss Morose doesn’t either. It’s for their own protection,” Syo reasoned.

“Protection from what?” Himiko asked, tugging on a chunk of her short hair. Obviously there was something dangerous in the city, but if they didn’t know what it was, then they wouldn’t be able to combat it.

“Ugh, I wish I never had to say that word again.” Syo made a face, an odd cross between disgust, remorse and remembrance. “Another … despair.”

Why did that word seem to pop up everywhere? “Back up a bit. The first was Junko Enoshima, who’s dead. Then with us, there was Tsumugi—”

“And that one with Sonia and the others,” Himiko reminded her. “Um… I think she said it was Junko again? I can’t remember.”

Nagisa nodded solemnly. “And Monaca tried.”

Syo twirled the pencil between her fingers with ease and precision. “Probably more than that. Future Foundation would know, even if they wouldn’t say exactly.” She tapped the tip of the pencil against her notebook. “Now, what was that mission you spoke of?”

While Himiko filled her in, Maki couldn’t help but examine Syo’s mannerisms. There was a sharp precision to her movements, paired with a cold, unemotive stare. Even while jotting down notes, she seemed stealthy, like she was ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

“Yeah, you look like you can fight.”

The thought gave her a jolt. She nearly forgot that was one of her first interactions with Kaito. Like she thought of Syo, he had thought of her as someone who could hold her own. Like Syo, she was often told that she had a frightening glare and sharp movements.

Like Syo, a serial killer, she too had a high body count.

Interesting.

“Sent for me and Komaru, huh?” Syo’s voice snapped her back to the task at hand. Her voice sounded a bit wistful, losing its earlier teasing undertone. “Never thought they’d give a second thought to li'l ole me.”

“Is it true what you said yesterday, when you attacked Himiko?” Maki felt six pairs of eyes on her as she spoke. “Is Komaru Naegi really dead?” Syo got a strange look on her face. She didn’t speak, lost eye contact, didn’t give any indication that she even heard the question. “Hey, answer the—”

In the blink of an eye, Syo seemed slightly different. Her posture went from rigid to slouched as she blinked a couple times, glancing around quickly, suspiciously. “O-oh. Back here again.” She focused on Maki and Himiko, slight recognition flashing in her eyes. “And… Who’re you?” Before they could answer, she shook her head, as though remembering something. “Hold on, let me check the notes.” She took just a moment to skim them. “Okay. I’ve got this. Future Foundation sent you? I-I didn’t think they would even remember I was here.”

Toko hadn’t even been there for a full minute, but Maki was already annoyed with her. “Look, we’ll discuss that later. Is Komaru Naegi dead or not?”

Toko bit her thumbnail, looking nervous and meek. What a drastic change from Syo’s reckless confidence. “Yes. I-in a sense.”

“It’s a yes or no question!” She wasn’t expecting Himiko to blow up over it, but at least it meant that Maki didn’t have to. She took a small breath. “Our mission is to bring you both back safely. We need to know if we can do that or not.”

“Well, your mission is impossible. I’m not leaving without Komaru, and—” Toko cut herself off, a pained expression altering her face as she pulled hard on her hair. “This is all that brat and her piece of shit brother’s fault.”

“Yeah! They’re the worst!” Kotoko fumed as well, leading Maki to believe that the brat Toko was referring to was once again Monaca.

Beside her, Himiko seemed to be regulating her breathing, as though trying not to explode. Maki knew the feeling well. “Why won’t anyone tell us what’s happening?!”

Masaru crossed his arms in a pout. “It’s complicated. I wouldn’t expect you two weenie-less girls to get it.”

Which earned him an additional glare from Maki. “We’ve had to wrap our heads around being forced to kill our friends, deception after deception, along with something called ‘real fiction’ which, the moment we escaped, we found out was fake as hell. If we could understand that, I think we can comprehend whatever is happening here.” She didn’t like dredging that up, but she would if it would stop everyone from underestimating her and Himiko.

Toko regarded them carefully, her hands moving from her hair to balling up pieces of her cloak. “You’re Ultimates too, aren’t you. The killing games are designed to be incomprehensible. I didn’t know you two had to go through something like that, too.” She sucked in a slow breath. “I feel the need to tell you out of pity, but… No.”

Maki blinked. “No?”

“No.” The way Toko’s voice wavered, Maki could tell that she wasn’t very used to saying that word so strongly. Or at all. “I already told you your mission is not possible. I’m not explaining it past that. Just—just leave the city. It’s better for everyone that way.” In an instant, Maki was on her feet and reaching for her knife, but Toko stopped her with a weary gaze. “This isn’t your problem. It never was.”

Maki didn’t budge an inch even as Toko stood and left, closing the apartment’s door soundly behind her. The silence of the room was heavy then, still chock full of secrets and lies. Nagisa resumed leading the conversation. “If she doesn’t want to say anything, then we won’t say the little she’s told us. With that said, though, the Warriors of Hope are willing to cooperate with whatever else you decide.”

Himiko tapped her fingertips against the table a couple times. “I don’t even know what to do now. If none of you tell us anything, how are we supposed to get anything done?”

There was no way they could. “We have no reason to trust you.” All four of the kids nodded, none of them smiling. They knew the gravity of the situation, yet wouldn’t say a word about it. What was she supposed to make of that? “All we learned was that there’s another despair and you and Toko are working together. It’s not a whole lot of information, but we might be able to make the best of it.” She turned to Himiko. “Our choice now is essentially to stay here and try to figure everything out or go back empty-handed.”

“Nyeh… It’s more of a pain for sure, but I don’t want to fail.”

Now that, Maki could agree with. Off to the side, Kotoko giggled. “If you weren’t so old, we’d consider making you honorary members of the Warriors of Hope!”

She already hated the kids, but that declaration made it worse. Next to her, Himiko faked a yawn. “Could we check in again tomorrow? Sorry, but I’m tired.” Maki knew that it might be some of the truth, since Himiko seemed to tire easily, but her yawn was too exaggerated compared to back at the school.

“That’s fine. We gotta go to bed soon, too.” Masaru stretched his arms over his head, sighing in satisfaction as his joints popped.

Maki and Himiko retreated to their apartment quickly. With a false promise to get some sleep, Maki made sure the door was locked and she and Himiko kept their voices down. “Are we supposed to have no grasp on what we’re doing here?” Maki wondered aloud, pacing a little. She didn’t feel like staying still, not then.

“I don’t know.” Himiko tugged her hat lower on her head. Maki noted how worn the fabric was; Himiko must’ve toyed with it as much as she wore it. “I—I don’t know.”

She pulled hard on one of her braids, unraveling it even more than it already was. At least when her hair was in pigtails, she didn’t need to worry about ruining anything. There was so much they didn’t know. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Makoto and Kyoko sent us in here to get us killed.”

“I don’t think that’s it.” Himiko pressed her lips together gently, looking longingly at her bed. “Maybe a good night’s sleep will help?”

Maki sent her a withering look. She knew that Himiko suggested it partly to get her to actually sleep. And she would. “Fine. You might be right.”

She kept the door to her room open a touch, just in case. Just like the last couple nights, she would spend it in the clothes she was wearing. They didn’t exactly have copies of the same outfit like at the school, just an extra shirt and pants if they needed them. As long as she could refresh herself and wash up to some extent, she was fine.

She laid on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Every time her eyelids began to slide shut, she snapped them back open. Losing another night of sleep and inching closer to health issues would still leave her more rested than a night of being tortured by her own mind. At one point, she thought she heard muttering outside her door. It might’ve just been the placebo effect, but moments later she swore she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

“Damn it, Himiko. I thought I told you … no … magic…”

If Himiko actually used magic and did so with the intention of Maki being well-rested, she was sorely mistaken. Going three nights without sleep and suddenly getting a full night was messing with her more than she would care to admit. She felt her movements even while eating in the morning become sloppy, slower than usual. Before, she was never groggy when she woke up, but her head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton.

If that was what more than a couple hours of sleep felt like, no wonder everyone drank so much caffeine.

“Good morning, Maki!” Himiko, of course, was cheery; she’d been getting enough sleep since night one, or so Maki assumed. “How was your night?”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t have something to do with it. I heard you.” Even her voice sounded tired. She blinked at the sun glaring through the windows. Wasn’t she usually awake before there was any light? “What time is it?”

“Around ten, I think. I asked the Warriors about that building we saw, apparently that was where they used to live.” Himiko shrugged and took a sip of water.

So Maki had already lost a good four hours off her day. In a way, it could be Himiko’s revenge for Maki not waking her up for patrol. And, she realized as she ate, her hair was fully escaping her braids. It wouldn’t take long for them to completely unravel. She’d have to find a different way to keep her hair out of her face soon enough. For the time being, she pulled out her scrunchies and sloppily returned to her pigtails.

“We should check it out, then. Even if they won’t give us any clues, there could still be something we could find that could help.”

“It’s a plan.” It struck Maki once more how much Himiko had changed since they first met. Tenko and Angie’s deaths must’ve had quite the impact on her. It was odd, but sometimes Maki expected her to respond like her old self and was thrown for a loop when she didn’t. She should know her companion by now.

The two of them headed out once Maki was ready. The more time they could spend searching the building, the better. It was only about ten minutes away walking directly. She noted that the climate felt the exact same as it had since they’d arrived, no sign of rain or snow. She wondered if it ever did rain or snow during the Tragedy; she had no memory of it.

The giant doors out front wouldn’t budge on their own. Nobody had been in or out of the building; she checked the dust again. No difference. So why wouldn’t they open? She glanced behind her at the giant stone bell. Perhaps…

She left Himiko behind to try using her magic to force the doors open. Her hand barely brushed against the bell before it rang, opening the door. Himiko turned around with a wide, proud smile. “It worked! That’s my magic for you!”

Maki allowed the tiniest smile to slip onto her face as she decided not to say anything. She followed Himiko inside, marveling at the pristine lobby. No blood, no scratches, nothing out of the ordinary. It was the complete opposite of the office building they’d been locked in recently.

Whatever the case, Himiko appeared to gloss over it. “That bell outside… Don’t you think it’d be strange if it opened the door? Like every time the wind hit it, the door would just open.” She giggled, the sound echoing in the lobby despite her not being too loud. “Good thing we have my magic!”

It was right then that Maki could tell how disoriented she was with the lack of sleep, because that sort of made sense. Wouldn’t that be a functional nightmare, to have gusts of wind opening the doors all day? What if someone couldn’t reach the bell?

She shook it off, noticing the large staircase in front of them. At the very top, two large mechas, bigger even than the exisals, stood on either side of a door. She tensed, ready to act in case they moved, if they were somehow motion activated, but she let a few seconds pass before she decided they were in the clear. They hadn’t budged an inch since she and Himiko had entered.

Just to be sure, Maki took another look around the room. “Before we head upstairs, we should check those two rooms,” she said, nodding to the doors on either side of the stairs. They weren’t very well concealed, but she still nearly missed them. “Better to be thorough.”

“Right.” Their steps echoed loudly, borderline intimidating for such a quiet area. The doors on the ground level didn’t have bells in front of them like the door outside, and opened easily. Inside the one on the right was a blank room connecting to what appeared to be a maze, littered with scratch marks and burn marks. The burns were widespread and thin, mostly surface-level, leading her to believe that they were created by electricity rather than an explosive or fire. In addition to that were holes in the floor at random intervals, as well as large, broken machines.

Something about the room was threatening in a way that made her think of a labyrinth, though there was no minotaur waiting for them in the center. “The Warriors told me about these rooms,” Himiko said, running her hand over a section of wall. “They were like a puzzle of monokumas to protect their rooms. Apparently Toko and Komaru beat all of them, which is why there aren’t any monokumas left.”

Maki nearly forgot that Himiko had gathered more information from the kids. That would come in handy. “Hope they don’t mind us snooping around.”

They turned a corner once they reached the end of the maze, finding a longer hallway. “They said that there isn’t much left to see, but Nagisa asked if we could maybe grab a couple books from his old room.”

Of all the kids, she would’ve thought Nagisa would be the least likely to ask them to bring something back. She was going to say so, but shut up as they entered a blindingly pink room. It looked like somewhere a fashion doll would go to die. There was even a toy horse in the corner, like a lonely merry-go-round. With no doubt, it was Kotoko’s room, and she wanted to get out of it as soon as possible. It was already giving her a headache.

As a whole, Kotoko’s room was very neat, with at most a couple blank papers on the desk in the center of the room. “Hey, look at this.” Maki glanced over at Himiko, who had a metal box of some sort in her hands, with a strap of fabric hanging limply from it. Himiko turned it around, revealing a panel of buttons, levers and a gaping hole exposing severed wires.

“That probably controlled the mecha outside.” The hole looked like it only spanned about four centimeters, most of the width stretching to the sides rather than a circular hole. The wires were cut neatly as well. It didn’t seem like a standard knife or dagger could get in there or cut so cleanly. A switchblade would be able to fit, but not open the hole. A monokuma wouldn’t have that small of an entrance.

Himiko studied it for another minute before putting it back on the table. “Miu would probably be able to fix it.”

Back after Miu was murdered, Maki wasn’t kidding when she said that she wouldn’t be friends with Miu outside the killing game. She didn’t like Miu before, either, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel a speck of remorse in that moment. She could tell that Himiko felt the same way, to a certain degree.

“Maybe.” She decided not to dwell on the feeling for very long. It would only be a distraction she didn’t need, and besides, she was not the one who killed Miu. “We should move on. There’s only so much time in the day.”

“Right.” Himiko shook her head, and with that, they left. Right outside the door was a balcony with a trap door, and underneath that was a ladder. Very juvenile in a sense, but then, they were kids.

She climbed down the ladder easily, dropping the last handful of rungs to the ground. “How do you think we managed to get to the second floor? I didn’t feel a slope on the ground.”

Himiko hopped down from the ladder as well, pointing over at the mechas beside them. “Third floor, if this is the second. I dunno, maybe the room is enchanted or something.”

If she didn’t already know that Himiko’s magic was real, she would’ve called that explanation stupid. At that point, though, Maki wouldn’t doubt it. She walked over to the mechas, examining them a little closer. They were large, taller than the exisals by about a meter, but more functional. Less defensive, more offensive. “If the box we found in Kotoko’s room was the controller, then it’s safe to assume that they were the ones who originally controlled the mechas.” And then, just to be sure nobody would be able to control them again, someone went in and destroyed the controllers. It all fit together easily, apart from the missing information.

On the left of the stairs at the bottom was another door that led to a maze-like room. That one had scratches and larger, deeper burn marks, likely from an explosion or fire. Like the other room, it also had random holes in the floor. They were nothing more than annoyances to avoid; the rest of the floor seemed perfectly stable. She could clear them by jumping over them if she had to, anyway, but she didn’t think the same could be said for Himiko.

A few meters down the hallway, mirroring the hall to Kotoko’s room, she could already detect a faint stench coming from the room at the end. It made her feel nauseated and a bit lightheaded, even from so far. “Ugh, what is that?”

Himiko was oddly silent, pressing on until they were in a green and yellow room. She picked up a paint brush and chisel from the center table, turning them over in her hands. “Paint thinner. Angie’s lab smelled the same way.”

Right, Maki nearly forgot about that awful smell. It was more forgiving in Jataro’s room, based on the assumption that he hadn’t been in the room in a long time and it had been open and ventilating since. She poked around a bit, finding tools all over the floor with partially-completed projects, as well as another destroyed controller. It was generally the same format as Kotoko’s room, only personalized.

Himiko was still staring down at the tools and paintings when Maki finished going around the room. Knowing that Jataro was also technically an Ultimate Artist, it stood to reason that Himiko couldn’t stop thinking of Angie. Now would be a good time to get her out of the room and continue on.

“Hey.” Hesitantly, she put a hand on Himiko’s shoulder, feeling Himiko jump. The very act was foreign to her, but she saw that it was sometimes how people got each other to feel better. Kaito, she’d noticed, had done it a lot with Shuichi. “We should get going.”

“You’re right.” Himiko reluctantly set down the tools and tore her eyes from the table, moving away from Maki’s hand and prying open the doors to the balcony. Maki followed after a moment, and kept on.

Chapter Text

Masaru and Nagisa’s rooms were kind of a blur. Himiko just couldn’t stop thinking about Angie, and her lab, and when she thought of those things she thought of finding Angie dead, and then the seance and Tenko, no matter how many times Maki tried to get her talking about something else. She appreciated it, but it didn’t work.

By the time they reached what must’ve been the fourth floor, she was almost completely zoned out. More of the same did nothing to get that image out of her mind. She followed Maki as best as she could, her eyes trained on the ground.

Even though she knew she should at least try to handle things on her own, she found herself relying on Maki. Her magic was still weak, even the detection spell she’d just started learning, and didn’t take long to give her a headache, so if they ran into any monokumas, Maki was the one to take most of them down. Maki was the stronger one of them, physically, mentally and emotionally. It was nice to know, at least, that one of them could keep themselves together.

What finally snapped her out of her head was the sight they came across when they opened what she was pretty sure was the second guarded door. She was expecting more of the same thing they’d seen before, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

On the other side of the door was a lobby that she was pretty sure was more fit for an office space than what they’d seen in the first lobby. Rather than a pristine setting, the floor was once again littered with scratches, some deeper into the floor than others, leaving deep gouges. Closer to the stairs was uneven flooring and burns, stretching to about halfway up the staircase.

“What happened here?” Even to her own ears, she sounded less dazed as she had been and more in shock.

Maki regarded her with a blank look. Since she didn’t have anything to hide them, Himiko could see the dark bags still stubbornly under her eyes. Persistent little shadows. “Good, you’re back.” She walked around a bit, crouching in a few spots to run her fingers over scratches and burns. “If I had to guess, a horde of monokuma. There’s likely a few that can handle explosives, given all these marks.”

Explosives and monokumas would explain the burns and uneven ground, she was pretty sure. She wondered, though, how a monokuma could handle an explosive, or where they even got explosives from. Not only that, but she was getting a strange feeling, like they were being watched.

“Stay on guard,” Maki reminded her, drawing her knife while still facing forward. She obviously sensed something was off, too. Himiko nodded, watching each step she took to avoid any possible hidden traps. Who knew if there were any pressure plates mixed in there. She and Maki inspected each side of the center staircase, finding an elevator that refused to work on each side, but other than that, there wasn’t much to see.

Up the stairs was another elevator with an odd device marred with scratch marks. They were the kind that Himiko couldn’t really recognize still, maybe from a knife or a monokuma’s claws. Maki ran her hand over them quickly before continuing on. Himiko didn’t linger much longer.

Himiko noted that the way they were going was the way to the chairman’s office, as a sign on the wall said. It occurred to her as she and Maki walked that the information she’d gotten from the Warriors wasn’t exactly the best. Sure, they told her about the arcade rooms and mazes and their bedrooms, but that was about it. Mostly it was some scattered smalltalk, but she neglected to mention that to Maki. She had no idea that the office space existed, or what could be in it. Frankly, that in itself was a bit intimidating.

At the end of the hallway was a room labeled Resting Room A, not exactly an office. “Is this it?” She was pretty sure they hadn’t passed any other doors. Was the sign wrong, somehow?

Maki nudged the door open without answering, revealing another sort of maze filled with destruction. The only things able to get them from one side of the room to the other were thin sheets of metal, like scrap pieces of an old tin roof.

“This can’t be good.” Maki picked up a small stone from the rubble inside the doorway, tossing it onto the metal. The pinging of it echoed, but the metal sheets didn’t waver. Another moment of them both studying the path passed. “It might be fine, but we should be careful.”

“Are you sure about this?” With good reason, she was worried. It looked like a long way down, plus there were a few more burns along the metal, probably making it unstable. She really didn’t want to die there.

Maki sighed, stepping into the room and close to the metal. “Look, I’ll go first. I weigh more than you anyway, so if it holds for me, it’ll hold for you.” She sheathed her knife, taking a couple cautious steps onto the metal. Apart from her footsteps, the only thing Himiko could hear was her own heart beating. Even while being careful and deliberate, Maki made her way across the room pretty quickly. She turned back to Himiko. “Now you come over.”

It was at that moment that Himiko realized that she was trembling. It was a nervous habit of hers, one she could never quite shake completely, ironically. “I…”

Before she could blink, Maki was back over and at her side. “Himiko. I know you’re nervous, but if we want to continue looking for clues, you have to come over with me.”

“I know that! But…”

Maki heaved a sigh. “Here.” Almost as if second nature, Maki took Himiko’s hand and started leading her over the metal sheets. Himiko’s mind went completely blank. The only thing she could focus on was not falling, or even stumbling a little. Miraculously, the metal held well under their combined weight.

As soon as they made it to the other side, she nearly collapsed onto her knees. “Why did you do that?” Her throat felt raw, like she’d been screaming and crying for hours. Swallowing didn’t really help.

Maki dropped her hand, already opening the door. “It had to be done. That was the only way I knew how.”

Taking a shaky breath, Himiko remembered that Maki did grow up around a lot of kids. It made sense that she knew how to convince (i.e. drag) people to do things they don’t want to. “Okay. I’m okay.”

“Good. We need to keep going.” Himiko pulled herself up, her knees still shaking as she followed Maki out of the room.

Another hallway came right after, curving a bit as it went on. Thankfully, it was long enough that she was able to slow her trembling a little. She didn’t want to seem even more weak to Maki than she already felt.

A final door waited at the end of the hallway. Like the other room, it had a sign in front of it, declaring it to be the chairman’s office. “This better be worth it,” Maki grumbled, nearly throwing open the door. What was inside was enough to stop both of them in their tracks.

The floor and walls were coated almost completely with dried blood. It was almost as much, maybe more than what was in the hangar coming from the hydraulic press. Just the thought comparing the two made her queasy. A normal person would never see that much blood at once. Why couldn’t she be a normal person?

“Come on. There’s obviously nothing here.” Maki turned her back to the bloody room, and Himiko much too happily obliged.

“Hey, Maki?”

They were barely a few steps away from the room, the door closed behind them, but Himiko didn’t like the silence stretching out. “What?”

“Everything’s going to turn out okay, right?” She already had her doubts after meeting Toko, but she wanted to be able to go back to Future Foundation with good news.

Maki was silent for a few strides. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

Himiko sighed heavily, feeling a good amount of energy leave her body. “What can—”

“Shh.” Maki stopped abruptly, right in front of the door to the ruined room. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear wha—” Himiko swallowed her words quickly as a low scratching sound reached her ears. It was metallic, like the monokumas before, but there was something different about this one. It almost sounded like something was being dragged along with it. That could not be good.

Maki turned around, looking for the noise’s source as her hand drifted to her knife. Himiko didn’t know what she could do in the situation apart from readying her magic. She had the breaking spell memorized, finally, or at least memorized enough that it worked. The familiar pressure of it built up in her mind, but the noise was constant, not getting louder or softer.

If it wasn’t coming from the chairman’s office, that could only mean one thing. Himiko looked at the maze room, horrified. “It’s in there?!”

“If it’s just a monokuma, leave it to me.” Maki’s muscles appeared to tense as she lunged for the door, slamming it open.

It took Himiko a second to find the source of the noise, but there it was: some kind of mutilated, monster monokuma that looked like a failed science experiment. It didn’t see them yet, but she noticed Maki freeze for a moment when she saw that it was right in the middle of the only path across.

“How did it even get in here?” Himiko thought she was nervous about the room before, but that was apparently nothing.

Silently, Maki regarded her knife, now in her hand. “Follow me quietly.” She started inching onto the metal softly, carrying herself with the grace and stealth of a lion on the prowl. Himiko tried to follow suit, but she was certain she looked more like a newborn gazelle than anything.

As much as they tried to avoid being detected by the … thing, the metal sheets made that impossible. She flinched with each sound their steps made, worried that it would alert the thing to their presence. They wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever, but they—well, Maki—had to strike while the element of surprise was on their side.

When they were within two meters of the thing, it stopped in its idle movements and perked up, turning to face them. It was even more grotesque from the front, with bulging eyes and a million other gross things that made Himiko lightheaded to look at.

Maki started charging at it the moment it turned, wielding her knife. She attacked before it could, but her knife didn’t seem to do much to it. The thing recoiled, sure, but it didn’t take any damage.

“What is this thing made of?” Maki retreated back to Himiko’s side almost as quickly as she went in.

There was no time to discuss. The monokuma thing moved surprisingly fast. Himiko had to be pushed out of the way by Maki as it came barreling towards them. If they let it get too close, they’d essentially be trapped and as good as dead.

“New plan.” Maki turned to face it again in a defensive position. “I distract it, you run to the other side.”

“What? No!” But she didn’t exactly have another choice. The monokuma thing lunged at them. Maki pushed Himiko to the floor, sending her sliding away under the monokuma. She pushed herself up immediately, ignoring the new tears in her stretch pants, watching the monokuma land where she had been seconds before. Maki only had about a meter between herself and the monokuma. Himiko watched as Maki charged again, but instead of attacking, she launched herself up and over, using the monokuma’s head as a springboard.

She landed easily on the other side, hitting the ground running. As she passed Himiko, she grabbed her hand and pulled her into a stumbling run.

The monokuma pursued them across the metal path. Once Himiko was safely on the stable ground by the door, Maki let go of her hand, rushing towards the monokuma again. “H-hey! Maki!”

As much as she wanted to help in whatever way she could, she couldn’t. She didn’t know how to fight, and she didn’t want to misaim her magic, even just the knockback spell. She could only watch Maki stab and slash at the thing. It couldn’t recover fast enough, but it didn’t seem to be damaged too much, either.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Maki would jump to one side each time the monokuma advanced, inching dangerously close to the edge. The monokuma jumped one last time, but one kick from Maki sent it over the side. It clawed at her in desperation, its deformed paw just barely connecting with her foot before falling. Himiko was glad to see that she couldn’t see or hear it once it fell. She could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“How did that thing even get in here?” She couldn’t stop herself from talking to fill the silence. “It wasn’t here before, so—Maki?”

It took her a moment to notice that Maki was very slow and deliberate in her movements, limping heavily. Himiko could tell that she was trying hard not to show any pain—anything that could be equated to a weakness.

“I’m fine,” Maki said through gritted teeth, yet she nearly collapsed against the wall, keeping the weight off of her right foot.

“You’re obviously not!” She didn’t know any healing magic—she wasn’t skilled enough for those spells yet. She’d tried before, just on some random bruises she’d gotten from somewhere or other, and none of them had worked. “Did you break something?”

Maki shook her head, wincing slightly as she tried to move her foot. Himiko saw then that the bottom of her pants were slightly shredded. “Not broken, but that damn thing messed something up. Its claws might’ve gotten me, too.” She pushed herself off the wall, testing it out and clearly grimacing from the pain. “I’ll be fine. Let’s keep going.”

“Hold on!” Himiko slipped herself under Maki’s arm, helping to support her as best as she could. “Let’s just get to the elevator for now.”

She could tell that Maki was trying not to lean on her much. It was admittedly a bit difficult to do besides, given how much shorter she was. So close, she could tell that Maki was forcing her breaths to come regularly.

Of course, it took them a while to return. Maki moved out from Himiko’s support, using the wall beside the elevator to guide herself onto the floor, keeping her leg outstretched. Himiko sat down next to her. “Is there anything I can do?”

Maki took off her backpack, beginning to check through it. “Check to see if we have bandages in your bag.” She shifted her gaze away before adding, “Please.”

Himiko rummaged around in her bag, finding a few stray bandaids, some antiseptics and gauze squares that she passed over to Maki, but nothing like a roll of bandages. Honestly, she was surprised that for all of her thoroughness, Mikan didn’t pack them any. “That’s all I’ve got.”

“Of course there aren’t any.” With the gauze and antiseptics in hand, she shifted again so her back was up straighter against the wall, grunting as her foot moved. She rolled up the bottom of her pants a bit, revealing what thankfully didn’t look like too deep scratches. “Okay,” she said while she started patting the scratches with antiseptic. “We still need to clear the building today, so—”

“No.” Himiko nearly surprised herself by speaking up, but she was serious. There wasn’t any reason for them to finish the building, possibly getting themselves into more danger, when Maki could barely walk. “That can wait.”

A familiar shadow made its way into Maki’s eyes. “Do you want to die?”

Himiko felt a sudden burst of energy run through her that would’ve been nice to have earlier. “Do you want to make it worse? I know Shuichi wouldn’t let you do that, so neither will I.”

It was odd, seeing that shocked look on Maki’s face. But eventually she looked away again and nodded. “We shouldn’t waste the rest of the day, though.”

Himiko crossed her arms, ready to argue if she needed to. “What do you have in mind?”

Maki thought for a moment. “You ride the elevator upstairs and check everything out. I’ll stay here.”

“Wh-what? You want me to just—”

“Would you rather I go with you?” Himiko blinked and shook her head. “Didn’t think so. We have little to no reason to believe that there’s anything dangerous up there, plus you know more about this place than I do. Here, you can even take my knife.” Maki held the hilt out, waiting for her to take it. All she could do was stare at it, dumbfounded. Apart from a dinner knife and knives for her magic shows, she’d never handled one before. “Go on, take it.”

She did, reluctantly. “Won’t you need it?”

Maki stuck her hand into her bag, pulling out a decently sized switchblade. “I’ll be fine with this. Don’t worry about me.”

“It’s hard not to. I don’t want to lose any more friends, no matter what.” And she meant it. She didn’t want any more heartache, especially when she was in a situation where she couldn’t confront it.

Maki had an odd expression for a moment before a soft smile fought its way onto her lips. “Like I said, I’ll be fine. I can still take care of myself. Taking care of yourself now is your first priority.”

Himiko’s grip on the knife tightened. She was still uncertain, but if Maki insisted then she didn’t really have a choice. “If you’re sure.” She felt nauseated again, a giveaway of her nerves. At the same time, she didn’t want to let Maki down. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Take your time.”

She pressed the button on the elevator, ignoring the torn-up panel beside it. The doors opened smoothly, soundlessly, to a spotless and well-furnished elevator. She stepped in, feeling Maki’s eyes trained on her back, and pressed the “up” button.

The elevator ride was smooth, thank goodness. She wasn’t sure her stomach would be able to handle anything other than a smooth ride. The hand that was holding the knife trembled a little. The light from the elevator cast a soft glow on the blade, which was only marred with a couple of scratches. It was still sharp, probably fully functional. Too bad she didn’t know how to use it.

“Why am I doing this?” she whimpered, trying to calm her racing heart. She was already worried about leaving Maki on her own downstairs, injured and barely armed. While she knew that Maki could probably still hold her own in those conditions, she didn’t have to. Himiko could be down there helping instead of facing whatever was up there on her own.

Before she could fully pull her thoughts together, the doors slid open again. Right in front of the elevator was another staircase, something she thought to be poor design. She stepped out hesitantly, not looking back after the doors slid shut behind her. She took the stairs one at a time, as slow as she could to make sure they weren’t boobytrapped or something.

At the top, the stairs led to a hallway littered with metal bars sticking down from the ceiling, like there was a lockdown in the building or something. Some of them were broken and bent near the bottom, and some had an odd sheen that she soon realized was dried blood. Of course.

The bars blocked a good majority of the hallways, leaving her with really only one path to travel down, which led to another one of those arcade rooms. She made her way through without a second thought to the many scratches on the floor.

On the other side of the room was, wow, another hallway. Himiko remembered the Warriors telling her that somewhere was a room in a hallway as badly scratched up as this one and that she shouldn’t go into it. None of them would specify why, or what was in the room, which had initially made her curious. Now, seeing all the blood and scratches and broken tile, that curiosity died hard.

Halfway down, she saw the door they’d been referring to. It was as badly scratched as the rest of the hallway, and she could only take a guess as to what could’ve made those marks in what seemed like a stone wall. She shuddered just thinking about it. Even though she knew she should skip the room, she did tell Maki that she’d keep an eye out for clues or anything. That meant she needed to check everywhere, even the room, as apprehensive as she was.

The door creaked open eerily, and she kept her eyes on the floor right in front of her for a while. All she saw was blood and broken tile. The whole room smelled of dried blood. She thought it was kind of sad that she knew that smell so well.

When she finally looked up, she wished she didn’t. There were bloodstained machines of all kinds, ones that she felt might’ve been used as torture devices of some sort. She had to close her eyes to prevent herself from throwing up.

She was about to turn and run out of the room when something on the floor caught her eye. There was a peculiar-shaped stain, one that looked like letters. She bent down to inspect it, seeing what looked like two names inscribed in faded blood on the tile: Makoto and Komaru, one above the other.

Makoto and Komaru, like the Naegi siblings. Why would their names be here? If this was some sort of torture chamber, that only spelled out something horrible in her mind.

She didn’t want to preoccupy herself with that too much. She exited the room, breathing more freely now that the old metallic smell no longer burned her nose. Down the hall, yay, even more stairs, more intact than the others.

They led to a sort of strange area. The floor was flat and had a large, circular area with a door in the center. Around the top of that was a spiral staircase, presumably leading to the roof of the building. She couldn’t reach the spiral stairs from there, however, so she decided to check inside the door first.

Inside was a room completely different from the rest of the building’s design. She could only assume it was the Warriors’ old headquarters, thanks to the throne front and center and a shrine of some sort with Masaru’s picture on it. A magic circle was inscribed on the ground, one she recognized was for dark magic. She made sure to steer clear of that, inspecting around the throne instead.

There must’ve been an explosion or something to the right of the throne, leading to what was probably supposed to be a hidden hallway. There wasn’t too much else for her to see in the main area; either nothing was there to begin with, or everything was cleared out after. The former seemed the most likely, given that the Warriors all had rooms downstairs. Funny, though; she didn’t remember seeing a room for Monaca.

She continued on, stepping carefully over the rubble still in the doorway of the hall. Past that, the hallway was completely clean, free of blood and scratches. Her footsteps echoed in a creepy way, making her feel like she was being followed. Both of her hands found their way onto the hilt of the knife, steadying her shaking hands. Her shoulders felt like they were creeping up, her back arching like a hissing cat.

It didn’t help her nerves when she found a lone ladder in the middle of the hall. There was still more stretch of hallway down to the left, and she was certain that led to something. She gazed up at the ladder, seeing a shift in shadow near the top, indicating that the area was a loft of some sort. Maybe it was made to look inconspicuous, but she had a feeling that there was something of significance up there. With a quick glance behind her, she made the decision to climb the ladder.

She realized quickly that she couldn’t be more wrong about the significance. The whole room was clean, a single bed against the wall and a desk against another, but nothing else. Nothing on the walls but some weathered stains, like pictures had been hanging up in some spots for a long time that had recently been taken down. That was what confused her more than anything.

She padded around the room, a bit in wonderment at the lack of a lightswitch. Surely whoever had been in the room had wanted some source of light. Nothing in the room indicated that the room had been lived in recently, though. A thick layer of dust covered the desk, though there was something more off about the shift in color of the desk. What was that, a paper?

She picked it up, nearly sneezing as she kicked up dust. She could barely make out the handwriting in that light, but she eventually could decipher the few words: “I hope you’re proud, Big Sis!” The word “hope” was written strangely, with devil horns on either side of the word. The entire note had a bit of an ominous feeling to it, but she couldn’t judge if she didn’t know who “Big Sis” was or who wrote the letter.

Without a second thought, she slipped it into her bag, reminding herself to ask Maki and the Warriors about it later. A quick trip around the room told her that there wasn’t anything else of interest, so she went back down the ladder and continued down the hallway.

Oh, wow. Another ladder. It all seemed so repetitive and boring to Himiko, so she started humming under her breath. At least that way, she’d be able to give herself the allusion that everything was okay and she wasn’t carrying a knife that she might or might not need to use to save her life at any point on the walk.

Finally, there was a door that led to a spiral staircase reaching up to the ceiling. Well, not staircase so much as ramp, one that was probably made to be more accessible. The wood on it was pristine, and she heard each step she took as she climbed impossibly high.

She didn’t want to look down once she reached the top, but she couldn’t help herself. In a way, the height reminded her of the height from Kaito’s lab, though this spiral staircase was less tightly wound. Looking at the ground from up there only made her worried that she was going to stumble and fall over the side, so she hurried to open the door across from the top.

A burst of wind greeted her, letting her know that she was on the roof. She held onto her hat, making sure it was as secure as she could get it. A moment later, she was able to gather herself enough to look at her surroundings. There was a ring of water in the center with burns that she remembered Maki equating to electric burns, along with scratches, regular explosion marks and scorch marks, like there had been an actual fire.

Trailers were set up against framework, as though they used to be holding the framework steady against something. She didn’t know what that something could be, not unless she tried looking over the edge. Just thinking about that made her want to throw up again—she seemed to be feeling that way a lot. Maybe she was coming down with something.

She inched further onto the roof, closer to the edge, building up the courage with each step to peek over. When she did, she nearly had to pinwheel back to avoid accidentally slipping over in an effort to get a better look.

Obscured from the front of the building, a giant ship-like structure was collapsed on the ground. She couldn’t see a door, but it looked like it would’ve been tall enough that the top of the framework would match up with it. She wished she could see more of it, but for now she had to get back to Maki. She felt like she was gone for longer than she should’ve been.

All would be revealed in due time, she reminded herself as she exited the roof. Hopefully.

Chapter Text

Nothing was on Maki’s mind for much of the wait. She was sure that Himiko would do a good enough job looking around upstairs, just as she was sure that there wasn’t anything dangerous up there. No, nothing much was on her mind.

One thing that was, though, was the pain radiating from her ankle.

For her whole life, she was more accustomed to the sting of a knife’s cut, maybe a minor concussion or two. The worst she ever had before was a slightly sprained wrist, though that didn’t impede her job. She was trained to be ambidextrous just for that reason.

The pain she felt was nothing like that. She knew her body well enough to know that she couldn’t have broken anything, but combined with the cuts from the monokuma’s claws, every time she shifted another burst of pain shot through her. It was absolute torture, one that she knew would be better if she just had a stupid bandage.

She tried to distract herself at first. She ensured that the cuts stopped bleeding, which they did surprisingly easily, even with the swelling; she stared at the area around her; she stared at and played with the switchblade. No movement anywhere around her, and she tried to limit her own movement as much as possible so she wouldn’t jostle her foot.

Briefly, she wondered what Kaito would do in her situation. Surely he had much worse pain with the illness he’d hidden, but he still went to training with her and Shuichi and managed to hide it from them both. How had he done it? How had she not noticed?

Before she could think too much, she heard movement from the part of the hallway she and Himiko hadn’t explored. She’d just assumed that there was nothing down there but more office spaces, but maybe it was another monokuma coming. She braced herself against the wall, brandishing her switchblade. As the footsteps got louder, she realized there wasn’t any metallic sound like there was with monokumas.

“Who’s there?” she called, her voice ringing out. A shadow grew along the floor, and she struggled to stand, the pain making her dizzy. She tried to balance on one leg, putting on her best glare.

Finally, the shadow took the form of a woman, stepping into the light with her hands shoved in her pockets. “Sit down, I know you’re hurt. I heard you talking with your friend earlier.”

“Do you want to die?” It didn’t have quite the same effect through clenched teeth.

The woman’s worn gaze didn’t change as she came closer. “Look, kid, I used to be a nurse. Sit down and let me take a look at your ankle.” She took one of her hands out of her pocket, revealing a roll of bandages.

Maki glanced down at her throbbing ankle and back at the woman before lowering herself down again. She kept her guard up, but she knew she’d have to cooperate for a little while if she wanted anything that could help her out. “Who are you?”

“The name’s Hiroko Hagakure.” She knelt down next to Maki, removing her sneaker in one smooth motion, nearly painless. The woman must’ve been experienced. “You?”

“Maki Harukawa.” She sucked in a long breath as Hiroko tried rotating her ankle and checked on the cuts herself. Her ankle had swelled more than she initially thought.

Hiroko glanced at her face for a second, probably trying to gauge how much pain she was in. “Ruru, then. So tell me, Ruru, what are you and your friend doing in the city? Last I checked, nobody was wandering around. I didn’t think you were from around here, anyway, I’d recognize your face if you were.”

“We were sent in by Future Foundation.” While she was going to keep her response short and vague anyway, pain started coursing through her again, making her cut herself short.

“About time they did something. We’ve only been captive for, oh, two years.” Hiroko took the bandages and positioned Maki’s foot before wrapping, snug and precise while ensuring that it didn’t press too deeply into the cuts.

“That long?” She tried her best to focus on something other than the throbbing. Hopefully the bandages would help stabilize it so she could actually walk.

Hiroko shrugged. “Well, they did send a couple people in at first, several months ago when the Warriors of Hope started to take over. Then the adults started rioting, and…” She trailed off like she was skipping over something she didn’t want to discuss. “Koko and Fufu fell off the radar after. I took cover in here once the adults—especially the other Demon Hunting targets—started disappearing. Haven’t seen anyone since.”

Maki wasn’t sure what she had been expecting from Hiroko, but that was not it. “And you don’t know what happened to the adults?” She took another deep breath, now that the pain was levelling off.

Hiroko sighed, pinning the edge of the bandage and sitting back. “Not a clue. I feel kinda bad about it; I was one of the only adults who ever did a damn thing other than sit around and wait to be saved. And here I am now, trying to avoid capture myself.” She reached back into her pocket, revealing a crumpled Demon Hunting card. “I’m glad Koko and Fufu gave me my own card. Now whoever’s doing this won’t know where to find me. Too bad they didn’t find any others to give me, I would’ve gone out to find them.”

Maki studied the card for a moment. “You don’t know who’s doing this?” Hiroko shook her head, shoving the card back into her pocket. “Can you tell me what you know about Komaru Naegi?”

At that moment, the elevator pinged and the doors opened. Himiko seemed uneasy, but completely unharmed. She stepped out of the elevator, focusing on Maki first before noticing Hiroko. In an instant, she brandished the knife Maki gave her awkwardly. “Hey! Get away—”

“She’s fine, Himiko.” It took Himiko another second, exchanging a glance with Maki just to be certain, before she lowered the knife. “This is Hiroko. Hiroko, this is Himiko.”

As Himiko sat down with them, creating a small triangle between the three of them, Hiroko nodded at her. “Where’ve you been, Mimi?”

Even though she looked confused with the nickname—Maki still was, too—Himiko answered. “I was checking out the top floors.” Her gaze shifted over to Maki. “I couldn’t find anything useful. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” She wasn’t expecting there to be much anyway, so it wasn’t a huge disappointment.

“There wouldn’t be,” Hiroko added. “As far as I know, I’ve been the only one in here for at least a couple weeks.”

Himiko nodded once, handing Maki’s knife back to her. “Who are you again?”

Hiroko took out her Demon Hunting card again, passing it over to Himiko. “I was part of the Resistance against the kids,” she explained. “All of the adults were. Koko and Fufu exposed Haiji Towa for bein’ a creep, then before we knew it…” She trailed off again and looked away. “Nobody anticipated that.”

“But where’s everyone now?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Adults kept disappearing, so the rest of the Resistance scattered, trying to save their own asses. I think I’m one of the last ones remaining.” She took a carton of seemingly old cigarettes out of her pocket. “You wouldn’t happen to have a lighter?”

Maki reached into her bag, handing it over. All of the adults just … disappeared? And where were the kids? Vaguely, she wondered where teenagers like herself and Himiko would’ve fallen on the spectrum.

Hiroko took a drag of her cigarette, blowing the smoke away from them before Maki voiced her question. “Where are all the kids, then?”

She froze for a second before sighing. “Unless there’s an exception of some kind, they’re all dead. It’s a little complicated to explain, but every kid in the city save for those in charge were fitted with these helmets. I dunno what the helmets did, but sometime after the Big Bang Monokuma fell—” Maki had no idea what she was referring to— “the helmets all exploded. Just like that, no more kids.”

That … was the first Maki had heard about that. Himiko covered her mouth with her hands, horrified. In the back of her mind, she supposed that made sense, but still didn’t explain how the city had been cleared of all those bodies. She assumed that Towa City had a fairly high population to begin with, but with the adults disappearing and the kids apparently dead, not to mention all those who died beforehand … she should’ve seen at least one body somewhere along the way. Something wasn’t adding up.

So she changed the subject until she could figure out what the missing piece was. “What about Komaru Naegi? What do you know about her?” she asked again, recalling her earlier question.

“Koko had it pretty bad; she was a captive like me, so the kids were out to get her, and the Resistance hated her. I’d have the wristband to prove it, any of the captives would, but it fell off one day out of the blue. I figured it was out of charge or something.” Hiroko took another drag of her cigarette. “I didn’t exactly know her well, everything that happened concerning her happened in a handful of days, if I remember right. As far as I know, though, she never came down from that giant ship that used to be stationed on top of this building. Fufu returned, and brought that Future Foundation guy, but most of the rest of them assumed she died when the room collapsed, right alongside that green-haired brat.”

Once more, Maki had no clue what she was talking about. Maybe it was best to switch tracks. “If you’re so concerned about being captured or whatever, why don’t you just leave?”

“The main way out, the bridge, blew up, so there’s really no way off. Before, with the wristbands, we would’ve blown up if we left the city.” Hiroko paused. “Now, I’m not sure I want to leave before any of the others are found. If I die here, I die here.”

That was … pretty close to how Maki felt a lot of the time. “We should keep going,” she decided abruptly, grabbing her lone sneaker and standing again. She winced as her weight landed on her injured ankle. The bandage helped with stability, but it obviously wasn’t magic.

“You really shouldn’t be walking on that.” Hiroko stood and stomped out her cigarette. “Don’t want to make it worse than it is, between the sprain and the cuts.”

“Yeah.” Himiko stood in her way, her hands planted on her hips. “Let’s just go back and stay there.”

“Do you want to die?” She must’ve been losing her touch; Himiko didn’t even flinch under her glare.

Instead, she puffed out her cheeks. “I will carry you somehow. Don’t test me.”

If she weren’t in pain, Maki would’ve laughed at the image of Himiko, or anyone Himiko’s size, carrying her. “Listen to the kid, Ruru,” Hiroko advised as she began walking away, retreating to her hiding space. “Don’t be a hero.”

Nobody had ever said that, or anything resembling that to her before. She could see she wasn’t about to win that argument, though. “Fine.” She carefully slid her sneaker back on as best she could manage, and didn’t shake Himiko away when she offered support. Maki might’ve been loathe to admit it, but the support did help the pain by a good margin.

“I wish we could call Shuichi,” Himiko murmured, sounding wistful. It’d be helpful to have him, sure, for a few reasons. Maki wasn’t about to let Himiko go out on her own to get captured or mauled by monokumas, after all. Even if they could only call him, who knew if he had more information for them.

“You think he’d already know where to find the adults?” She bit the inside of her cheek, focusing on hopping down the many stairs. Thank goodness she had good balance.

Himiko hummed, hovering awkwardly like she was trying to be a spotter. “Maybe. We could try to think like him. Like, go through what we know and all that.”

That wasn’t a bad idea. It could actually help her figure out the one thing she was missing. “They have to be somewhere out of the way, otherwise we probably would’ve seen them already,” Maki reasoned. At the bottom of the stairs, she slid her arm around Himiko again. “Somewhere big enough they can all be held.”

“Maybe the Warriors would know?” Himiko wondered. Asking them would give them a start, but Maki still wasn’t sure how much they could be trusted. She had a feeling there was a lot they weren’t saying, despite their tentative allegiance. After all, they hadn’t mentioned all of the other kids in the city dying.

“You know I plan on going back out tomorrow,” Maki pointed out.

Himiko grew quiet for a moment, then that moment stretched through the rest of the walk back. No way would she be assertive or strong enough to tell Maki what to do. After all that happened with the Student Council and their assertion, there was no way. Maybe Himiko could think for herself finally, but Maki’s willpower was far stronger.

“Wait here,” Himiko told her once they returned to their temporary base. Maki refused to think of it in any sort of permanent terms. “I’ll see if the Warriors found Tylenol or something.”

They were kids, what would they need it for? Maki was going to protest, but nodded instead, sitting at one of the seats in the somehow-intact kitchen. With her good foot, she kicked at one of the other chairs until it was far enough away to rest her ankle. Even doing that felt marginally better, but left her restless. It had only been a little while, but restricted movement was very quickly becoming one of her least favorite things to deal with.

Himiko returned a handful of minutes later with a small bottle. “Nagisa said these were already in the apartment when they got there,” she said, handing it over to Maki. She read the label before taking one, dry-swallowing. They were the normal kind anyone could get at a drugstore, but she figured even that was hard to come by now. They were also expired, but only by a handful of months. Himiko just stood there, watching Maki. “We need to talk.”

Maki turned on her glare. “No we don’t.”

Himiko didn’t flinch. It was as if she hadn’t heard Maki to begin with. “I’m gonna take Kotoko to look around more tomorrow. You’re staying here like that lady said.”

Maki scowled. “Like hell I am. You can’t make me stay back with those brats.”

“They’re not brats, and I’ll use magic if I have to to get you to take care of yourself!” Himiko’s cheeks were tinted beet red; clearly she was getting pretty fed up with arguing. “You would make me or Shuichi stay behind, wouldn’t you?”

Only because protecting someone who was injured would slow her down and be a nuisance. Even if she was hurt, she would be the one to protect Himiko from danger. That wouldn’t change. “That’s not—”

“—the same? I think it is. Kotoko’s a good fighter, apparently, and I have magic, so even if it’s just for one day, we’ll be fine.” She adjusted her hat, rubbing the material between her fingers as she did so. “Okay?”

Maki tried staring her down, still nearly glaring, but Himiko had stopped meeting her gaze when she reached up to her hat. What else was she supposed to do? “...We reassess after tomorrow,” she relented. Himiko’s shoulders dropped from their rigid position. Obviously she was relieved, but Maki’s lips remained pressed into a thin line.

That settled the issue of tomorrow, but there was still a good half a day left. Maki watched as Himiko flitted around the apartment space, checking on things that didn’t need to be checked and eventually settling down to practice her spells. There was not much else for her to do. She could train a little if she was careful, but she didn’t want to get up more often than she had to. It was all utterly and painfully boring.

Even her sleep was fitful; because she hadn’t gotten in as much exercise as usual, her body wanted her to do more, and every time she tried shifting around, her ankle protested. It was a miracle she got any sleep at all, and she supposed it showed the next morning, since the kids all steered very clear of her.

She balanced on her good leg in the hallway between the kids’ room and where she and Himiko were staying, trying not to use to wall for support. She’d tested her ankle as soon as she woke up, still nearly as painful as the day before. It was practically torture being pushed to the side, especially not knowing what the threat was. Maybe she’d be able to pull something out of the boys if she tried. That way, her day wouldn’t be totally wasted.

“We’ll be fine,” Himiko assured the kids and Maki and, likely, herself. She tapped her spellbook, safe in her arms. “We’ve got my magic and we’ll come back if we find anything.”

“You better.” But Maki said it with a slightly softer expression than usual. With all luck, the two of them wouldn’t run into any trouble. Himiko’s magic would only do so much for so long, and she had no idea how much Kotoko was capable of.

Kotoko looked between the two of them before smiling at the boys. Rather than the pigtails her hair had been in before, her hair was pulled into two buns at her neck, likely to be kept from getting caught anywhere. Smart move. “We’ll be back later. Don’t die without me!”

Masaru stuck his tongue out at her, but Maki could sense his nervous energy. “Have fun!” Jataro called to their retreating backs. Maki gave him an odd look before turning to go back to her apartment. “Hey, wait.”

She sighed at being caught, pausing to look over her shoulder at the remaining three kids. “What?”

“Why don’t you come with us?” Masaru suggested, puffing out his chest a tad. For what, she had no clue. Was he trying to seem bigger or something? “So you won’t be lonely.”

“I’m used to being alone.” But the three of them didn’t budge, with Masaru and Jataro looking at her with slightly pleading eyes. They reminded her very heavily of some of the kids she used to look after. She sighed again. “Fine. For an hour.”

“That’s fine.” Nagisa, being the tallest of the three, offered her his support. She would much rather suffer for a few steps. So she did.

As she’d previously noted, the couple times she had been in there, the kids’ apartment was set up about the same as the one she and Himiko were using. The main differences were in the decorations from the previous inhabitants, including various bloodstains and gouges in the walls the kids seemed to be numb to. “You can sit there,” Jataro said, pointing with his too-long sleeves to one of the seats in the living area. “That’s where Kotoko sits. She won’t mind.”

She nodded, sitting on the edge of the seat, and started just … watching. For kids, those three sure were quiet. A bit grimy, too, like they hadn’t been able to be very clean in ages. Given the state of the city, they weren’t to blame for that. “What do you three usually do, if you don’t go anywhere?”

“Not much of anything,” Nagisa confessed, rifling through a small stack of books. She’d managed to bring one back from his old room, though it was still in her backpack. She hadn’t had the chance to give it to him yet. “We can’t go out or else we might end up like the adults.”

Masaru nodded earnestly, picking up a small rubber ball and tossing it from hand to hand. “We were so bored, we memorized like every inch of the building.”

That kind of boredom, then. Interesting. “I’m guessing Toko helps bring you supplies?” There was no way they would still be alive otherwise, though it did make her wonder how Toko had found them to begin with.

“Sometimes Syo does,” Jataro pointed out from the kitchen table, drawing like he was the first time Maki and Himiko had met them.

“That’s beside the point,” Nagisa informed him, finally selecting a book.

Masaru frowned at him before looking at Maki, already seemingly bored with the ball he’d picked up. “Hey, you’re strong, but I bet I can do more push-ups than you!”

That was the kind of challenge that was reminiscent of those from when she was a kid. He even looked incredibly excited at even the thought of it. It did seem like she was right when she initially thought these kids would be at least a little interested in bothering her. “Leave her be,” Nagisa chided, sending her a lightly apologetic glance. “She probably shouldn’t—”

“It’s okay. I can adjust.” As carefully as she could, she lowered herself to the ground, getting in the right position for push-ups. She was almost surprised at herself for not thinking of it earlier. It was probably as active as she was going to get all day; might as well take the chance while she had it.

Unsurprisingly, even lifting her ankle off the ground the whole time, she completed more than Masaru did. Also unsurprisingly, he did more push-ups than Kaito or Shuichi ever did in that amount of time during training. “Not bad,” she told him when she noticed his slight pout. The comment made him straighten, his pride returned to him. She was pretty sure he wasn’t used to being beaten in strength like that, let alone by a girl.

Once Masaru settled down again—pacing around the room, but still not bouncing off the walls with energy that couldn’t be spent—she felt Jataro’s gaze on her. He stood from the table, coming closer. He smiled—she assumed it was a smile, but it looked more like a grimace—and lifted his most recent drawing … of her.

She pressed her lips together, biting back a comment about not giving him permission to draw her. As far as she could tell, though, it was an amazing likeness, almost as though she could see the smallest details in her face. Was Angie ever that good? Apart from the effigies, she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Angie’s art. That … unsettled her.

“It’s good,” she said once she remembered to say anything. It was almost funny, she realized; since she didn’t remember what she did during the years she lost, it was possible she hadn’t interacted with many, or any, kids in years. She looked over Jataro and the other two again. Just how old were they?

Nagisa glanced up at her over his book a couple times, trying to appear inconspicuous as he did so until he noticed both her and Jataro watching him back. “I’m just a little surprised,” he said, having been caught. “I wasn’t expecting you to, well, humor us.”

“Or cooperate,” Jataro continued, adding a few more pencil strokes to his drawing. He didn’t notice the sharp gazes Nagisa and Masaru both threw him, but regardless, he wasn’t wrong.

“I’m only here right now because I wouldn’t have anything to do otherwise,” she assured them, making herself as comfortable as she could while still being on the edge of the seat, and on edge in general. “And I’m only cooperating because there’s no way to finish this mission otherwise. I would much rather be getting to the bottom of everything so Himiko and I can leave.”

Her words seemed harsh, but none of the kids seemed fazed by it. “Is there still a way out?” Masaru wondered, dropping the ball he’d still been playing with. “I thought the bridge was destroyed.”

If Maki wasn’t mistaken, and she didn’t think she was, both familiarity and guilt flashed in Nagisa’s eyes. “There should be no way in or out of the city.”

“There’s still a way.” She stopped herself from saying more, just in case it could be used against her, but watched Nagisa’s expression. He held what must’ve been a carefully practiced poker face. “This would be easier for all of us if you would tell me the bigger picture of this.”

“We understand that,” Nagisa said, his tone almost as forceful as her own, “but we really don’t know more than we’ve already told you. We want to return the city to normal as much as you do, but I think we can agree that that’s hard to do when there’s nobody left.”

All three of the boys quieted, reminding Maki of the newly-learned information from Hiroko. She pondered for a moment if she should ask further about what had happened to the other kids, but thought better of it. “Don’t you want to leave?”

“Well, yeah, kinda.” Masaru seemed almost surprised at the question, rubbing his wrist. “We don’t have much to do here other than help Toko. We can’t build our paradise here anymore.”

Nagisa shook his head, exerting the energy of a leader. “We can’t leave. We’ve been over this. We’d either be killed on sight or thrown into prison for the rest of our lives. This is the only place we can live freely.”

Maki raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She assumed he meant that Future Foundation would kill or arrest them, but they hadn’t mentioned anything regarding their plans with the kids. Then again, given they had no information on the state of the city the last several months, it could be that Future Foundation hadn’t thought of the possibility of the kids still being alive. She eyed them carefully as Nagisa and Masaru bickered, recalling that they were murderers like her. How children like them could kill countless adults…

“Hold on,” she cut in, recalling another detail from Hiroko. “You all did that Demon Hunting game, trying to kill the people held captive here.”

“Again, we’re not proud of it, but yes,” Nagisa reiterated. “It was Monaca’s idea.”

Maki nodded, but continued. “And Komaru Naegi was one of those targets. So I don’t understand, if you tried to kill her and, by association, Toko, how are you working together with Toko now?”

Jataro shrugged, having moved on to folding scraps of paper into some sort of origami. “It just kinda happened. Cuz, y’see—” He cut himself off, looking up at Nagisa in confusion. “How are we working together?”

“It’s a truce,” Nagisa reminded him with a sigh. “We don’t really like her, she doesn’t really like us, but it’s a symbiotic relationship of sorts. We tell her everything we know about the city and how it was like under despair, especially before she got here, and she helps us stay hidden.”

“If there were adults around, they’d want us dead, so we couldn’t go out then.” Masaru sat on the ground abruptly. “Then they started disappearing, so now we can’t go out in case we disappear. Toko says she doesn’t know where they went.”

So Toko might’ve been keeping information from them, it seemed. Everything was starting to come together in her mind, almost. “She did say it was her problem before, but you mentioned Kotoko was there for part of it?”

Nagisa narrowed his eyes at her, his expression darkening. “She won’t talk about the details, and you won’t ask her to.” His voice sounded eerily like her own did when she was deathly serious. She made the decision to take him seriously, filing that away for later. “Even if she knows something, it can’t be big enough to make or break anything, so it’s best to leave it alone.”

Hm. Again Maki couldn’t help but hope that Himiko would be able to get some kind, any kind, of information from Kotoko, helpful or not. “And you really don’t know where Toko goes?”

Masaru sighed, flopping dramatically onto his back and staring at the ceiling. “I tried following her once, but she noticed and looped around to bring me back here. Then she scolded me for trying.”

So that was a no. Clearly she didn’t want anyone to find out where she went. Unless Genocider Syo was fronting, there was always a chance that Maki could threaten the information out of her. Then again, as easy as that would be, that would ruin any sort of alliance they had. Not to mention, she didn’t know if that sort of danger would cause Syo to front. A serial killer or an assassin… She would rather not find out who would win.

“Do you at least have any guesses about what’s happening?” For a moment, she sounded as patient as she used to be with the kids in the orphanage. That was to say, a fake kind of patient. A thought popped into her mind; with the adults gone, and possibly even before that, these kids probably didn’t have parents anymore.

“I don’t know about the others, but I have some theories.” Nagisa put his hands on his knees, Maki noting that he was squeezing them slightly. “I don’t know how true any of them are.”

“I couldn’t care less.”

He studied her for a moment. She couldn’t guess why. “One possibility, though it’s a reach, is that Kotoko is right and Monaca somehow survived and is planning something again.”

Jataro laughed almost creepily, devoid of all humor. “Like a zombie.”

Nagisa ignored him, continuing. His voice hardened a touch with some kind of malice. “I never saw how that demon of a brother of hers ended up, so it could be him. He wanted all us kids dead, anyway.”

Hadn’t Toko mentioned something about Monaca having a brother? She couldn’t remember. “Okay, who else?”

“Maybe one of the Demon Hunting targets,” Masaru suggested, “since we never caught any of ’em. Not even the bug!”

…She wouldn’t ask. “Why would they get rid of the adults?” Nagisa looked to Maki again. “I’m not sure anyone else would have enough motive to do something like this.”

His eyes seemed to say something different, but the other two boys seemed oblivious to it. She narrowed her eyes a touch, knowing that there was something he was trying to communicate with her. “Alright. That was all I came for, so…”

She moved to get up, and so did Nagisa. So she was right. “Let me help you back.” As much as she hated to, she played along, putting some of her weight on the honestly frail boy. Once the door was shut, she took it all back. Nagisa glanced back as he closed door. “There’s more.”

“I figured. Not sure why you’d be hiding it from those two, though.” She crossed her arms and straightened to appear more intimidating, though she had to hide a wince as she tried stretching her ankle.

“To be clear, this is just my own deduction.” He shrugged, then shook his head. Maki wasn’t sure how to read that. “Toko has told me nothing, and I haven’t seen anyone else. This has about as much merit as the other theories, but... I’ve thought on it, and I think it’s safe to say that the only reason Toko is still here and involved is because this directly affects her somehow. That could mean a few different things.” Maki nodded, showing that she was following. “I don’t think we can rule out that Toko gave us incorrect information.”

It took her a moment to fully understand what he was trying to say. “You think she was lying about Komaru?”

“All I’m saying is that I’ve only heard her talk explicitly about two people: Byakuya, who’s not in the city anymore, and Komaru, who presumably had no eyewitnesses apart from Toko to her death.”

That was quite the accusation to make. There was no reason for Toko to lie about something like that—at least, Maki had been under that impression. Maybe there was. Nagisa would know better than her, since he had interacted with Toko, Syo and Komaru more than she ever had. “Do you think Toko has more to do with this than she’s letting on, then?”

“It’s a possibility.” Nagisa fell quiet for a moment. “I thought a few times that what she’s been doing seems to be protection for someone more than herself. Only one person comes to mind that she might be protecting, you know? The only question I have is whether she’s protecting that person from an outside danger, or…”

He trailed off, leaving Maki to fill in the blanks. “You would know better than me. Do you think she has it in her?”

Conflict entered his expression. Clearly he wasn’t confident in his theory’s validity. “I’m uncertain. I personally can’t confirm her death or anything related to it, and of course Toko won’t budge. That could be because she doesn’t trust us, but you have to agree that it seems like she’s protecting someone.”

Maki would have to go over everything she’d been told to be more sure, but what he said did make some sense. “I see.” Depending on what Himiko returned with, any one of Nagisa’s theories could be correct. All Maki needed was evidence and a location and she could take out whoever she needed to. “You can go back now. No need to seem suspicious if you want to keep this from them.”

“You’re right.” He made eye contact with her once more before returning to his apartment. She watched as he left before limping back into the apartment she was using.

The rest of her day was as good as wasted. She thought through Nagisa’s theories to the best of her ability, but there was little she could do without, as he’d previously mentioned, fully knowing the motives anyone could have. There were plenty of questions that needed answering, like why anyone would want to get rid of the adults in the city, and whether they were still alive. There was probably something in the paperwork Shuichi was going through that would help. Too bad there was no way to contact him.

It was … horribly boring.

Himiko returned hours later, just as night was beginning to fall. Maki wasn’t one to worry, but she had been wondering when she would get back. “You didn’t run into any trouble?” she asked in lieu of a greeting. From what she could see, Himiko appeared relatively unscathed.

“No, we didn’t see a single monokuma.” Himiko put her spellbook on the kitchen table, taking a seat across from Maki. Unscathed, yes, but she also appeared tired. “I bet my magic shooed them all away.”

Sure it did. “Did you find anything new? Any clues?”

Himiko sighed, resting her forehead on the table. “No. It’s so frustrating, ’cause there was nothing we could use and I didn’t get anything from Kotoko, either.” She grabbed her hat, crumpling the fabric in her hands. “We’re getting nowhere.”

“I got a couple leads from Nagisa. Maybe we could see what else Hiroko knows tomorrow.” In her mind, there wasn’t any other way to find out which theories held more merit.

“Maybe.” Himiko shifted so her chin was still on the table, though she could see Maki. “Only if your ankle is better, otherwise I’m going on my own.”

Maki started to argue, then thought better of it. Surely she’d be ready to go in the morning; the cuts alone looked to be healing nicely, and it wasn’t as swollen as it had been the day before. “Fine. Tomorrow morning, then.” She ran her fingers through her hair, the braids long-gone. She needed to either figure out a new way to keep it out of her face for longer or else chop it off.

The two were silent until Maki realized that there was a reason: Himiko had dozed off. She would probably wake up with a stiff neck if she stayed there all night, so Maki woke her up on her way to her own room. At least, considering everything, Maki had more or less caught up on the sleep and rest she’d been missing.

It hadn’t been hard for her, she realized as she settled on her bed, in the killing game, to aid in figuring out each murder. That hadn’t been just her; all of the heavy lifting had been done by Shuichi, especially when she had … meddled. If she could place herself in an investigation or the trial room, as much as she loathed them both, she might stand a fighting chance.

Surprisingly, she drifted off while trying to picture it.

Kotoko was sure Himiko hadn’t talked about it yet. “It” being one of what Masaru still called the “killiseums.” She thought she knew what to expect from them.

She didn’t.

Not only was it almost completely blocked off, unlike how it was left, though all the adorbs graffiti remained to lead the way, but it was full. Full of … well, bodies. Kotoko was quite good at acting alright at the sight of them, but Himiko had nearly vomited. It wasn’t like they were fresh, either; she wasn’t sure who had cleaned the buildings and streets, but it seemed to her that that was where all the bodies had gone. She would tell Nagisa, since she knew he was wondering.

And maybe she wasn’t so sure, but Nagisa was a bad actor, and she could spot bad acting like a bazillion miles away.

“...So that’s all! Nothing eventful,” she reported, taking her hair out of its buns. She had to admit, corpses aside, it was refreshing to get out of the building for the day. Masaru and Jataro had been sooooo jealous! “I’m assuming nothing remotely interesting happened here.”

“You’d be right.” Nagisa’s eyes flickered over to where the other boys sat, playing some dumb game they’d made up to pass the time. “You didn’t happen to run into Toko or Syo?”

“No.” She put on her carefully practiced smile. It was true, of course, but a little extra expression never hurt. She found that it helped to get her point across, appear more trustworthy, even to someone like Nagisa. “Whyever do you ask?”

He just barely refrained from rolling his eyes at her, she could tell. He wasn’t exactly subtle. “Just wondering.”

Mm. No, she was sure it was more than that. She would keep her eye on him for sure. “Well, then, I’m gonna turn in early. I need my beauty sleep, after all!” It was very early, all things considered, but she would rather be on her own. She curtseyed before taking her leave, only dropping her act once her door was closed. Again she was glad that she’d won her own room of the two bedrooms; she didn’t want to share with the boys.

Just … ugh, she knew there was something Nagisa was keeping to himself, but she couldn’t figure out how to get it out of him. Normally she’d have already figured it out and would be teasing him about it if it was personal, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it had something to do with the city.

Well, excuse her for wanting to get out of that hellhole! If he knew something that would help, then she’d just have to kick it out of him or something! She didn’t want to be there anymore, there was no reason to, not with all of her friends gone.

She pulled at her hair with a brush she’d picked up before going into hiding, yanking at the tangles. She’d get it out of him, find the bitch orchestrating everything and … she wasn’t sure about after, but maybe it would make everything hurt less.

Chapter Text

Himiko hadn’t waited long to declare that she was going to see Hiroko on her own. Maki had refused to talk to her after, clearly mad about it. She wasn’t the happiest herself, but she would rather do more work than Maki hurt herself further.

Wow. She never thought she would rather do more work than … well, anything.

She held her spellbook close, repeating different things again and again. How to get to Hiroko. What she was supposed to ask. Notes Sonia and Gundham had added to the sections of the spellbook she’d read that morning. With nobody to talk to until she got there, and not wanting to talk to herself so she didn’t draw any unwanted attention, it helped to pass the time. Kind of.

Her nerves were still on high alert, but she at least didn’t have to wonder about the lack of dead people. She had been appalled when she’d seen that one space with Kotoko, shaken enough that she’d forgotten to tell Maki. She would later, probably. Maki had been wanting to find out, but Himiko … didn’t want to picture it again.

She paused at the bell in front of the building of interest. With just a moment’s hesitance, she rang it. Of course she knew that was how the door opened, but it had been nice to pretend that her magic worked the way she used to delude herself into thinking it did.

Without someone else there with her, her steps echoed far louder than they had before. Being alone always amplified sound, she’d found out when she was younger. What she’d told Maki before, about her brother and the other kids, helped her find that out. She kept her ears peeled for the mechanical whirr of the monokumas, but still heard nothing but her own shaky footsteps. How could footsteps even sound shaky?

Once she made it to the elevator she had seen Hiroko at before, she took a left, towards the hallway she remembered the woman retreating to. “Hiroko?” she called out softly, so Hiroko didn’t come out expecting hostility. “It’s Hi—uh, Mimi.”

She didn’t need to travel far down the barely lit hallway before the woman emerged, almost expressionless. “Now this is unexpected. Have an update for me?”

“Well, um, not really.” Hiroko’s expression didn’t change, but Himiko couldn’t help but think that if she were in Hiroko’s shoes, that would be disappointing to hear. She was even disappointed to say it. “I just had some questions.”

“Ruru’s not with you. She doing alright?”

Himiko blinked before remembering that Ruru was the nickname Hiroko had given to Maki. “She’s mad that she had to stay back, but she’s getting better.” She slipped her hand into her spellbook, taking out the list she’d made on a spare notepad that had been hidden away in a drawer in the apartment. “Um. Yeah.”

Hiroko just kind of looked at her for a minute in silence. “...So are you going to ask your questions?”

“Oh, right.” She fumbled with the list a bit, barely able to read her own handwriting. Maki had filled her in on everything she’d learned, but still she couldn’t quite grasp all of it. Between that and not being the best fighter, she did wonder why she was the one sent with Maki instead of Shuichi. “First, I wanna know more about the captives.”

Hiroko hummed in understanding without needing a more specific topic. “Alright, that’s easy. Couldn’t tell ya how we go here, or even how many of us there are—were. But we could tell who we were, because we were the ones with the wristbands.” Himiko nodded; she’d mentioned those before, though she still wasn’t quite sure if they meant something more. “I assume we were all housed in the same place, living without any contact with anyone, before we were let out and chased down by the kids for their sick game.”

Right, the game. The pile of bodies flashed through Himiko’s mind before she banished it again. “Did you meet any of the captives other than Komaru Naegi?”

“No. I’m not even sure if the others made it.” From that statement, the mood dampened, if it even was anything but before.

“So you don’t know if they would have enough motive to, y’know…” Himiko gestured around her before adding unnecessarily, “do all this?”

Hiroko seemed to think about it for a second. At least she was taking the matter seriously. “As far as I’m aware, I don’t think anyone would have the sway or power to do that. If I didn’t see them at all, there’s a good chance they were all just hiding.” Or dead, a small voice in the back of Himiko’s mind said. She ignored it. “There wouldn’t be any reason to get rid of the adults, either, since it was the kids who caused everything.”

Himiko made a mental note of that. It did make sense, looking back, since they’d found that one captive’s card. She actually hadn’t thought about him since then. “What about, um, Haiji Towa?”

Given the face she pulled, Hiroko did not like him one bit. “Don’t know what happened to him, can’t say that I care, but I guess it’s possible. Again, though, don’t know why he’d get rid of the adults.” She muttered something under her breath, and Himiko was sure she heard multiple curses just in one statement. When she was done, she looked at Himiko. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s, it’s fine.” Swearing never phased her as much as quite a lot of people in her life apparently thought it would. Just because she didn’t swear didn’t mean she didn’t want to ever hear it. She peeked up at Hiroko again, reminding her that Hiroko was quite a bit taller when they both were standing. There was so much she didn’t know about what had happened to the city, and unless the Warriors started telling them—no, even if they did have answers, there were still two key viewpoints that Himiko wouldn’t be able to get: the adults, like Hiroko, and what happened with Toko and Komaru. And no matter what she asked Hiroko, she would be missing too much information.

Before, she knew Maki had been afraid that they were being sent on a suicide mission, and she had to agree. Now, she couldn’t even wrap her head around what she was supposed to be doing.

“You okay, Mimi?”

Himiko snapped back to attention, unaware of how long she’d been quiet. The energy she’d gained from her promises to herself and everyone else felt like it was starting to seep out of her body the longer she thought about what she could do. Before she knew it, though, something Maki had mentioned to her sparked in her mind. “Do you know if there’s anyone in the city Toko would want to protect?”

The question, more than the others, seemed to catch Hiroko by surprise. “Fufu? Why ask about her?” She shook her head before Himiko could answer. “I didn’t know her for long, and I’ve never seen her with anyone other than Koko. There was that one guy she talked about, from Future Foundation I think, but I don’t think he’s in the city.”

That was probably that Byakuya guy Makoto had mentioned before. So Toko clearly didn’t have connections with anyone else in the city. So if Maki thought that Toko was acting all suspicious if she was protecting someone from something…

“Thank you!” Himiko turned on her heel and started running back the same way she’d came. Hiroko called after her, but Himiko had more important things to do. Namely, telling Maki what she’d learned so they could come up with a game plan. She was sure she’d never run so fast in her life, her hat threatening to fly off of her head.

“Hey, you!” Himiko skidded to a halt at the almost familiar voice. Toko was standing in the road behind her; both of them were near the halfway point between Towa Hills and the apartments. Unless one of the Warriors or Hiroko had secretly tried to follow her, nobody would see them.

“What—do you—want?” Himiko panted, relaxing slightly. No, wait, she couldn’t—

Toko laughed, the kind of laugh that didn’t sound like something someone as timid as Toko would laugh. Maybe Syo was fronting again. “Methinks the lady doth know too much! That’s right, I know Shakespeare! Miss Morose isn’t the only one with fancy tastes.” She pointed that same sharp weapon at Himiko that she had before. Even from a couple meters away, Himiko could see that the weapon in question was a pair of ultra-sharp scissors. She did not want those coming near her again.

“Why, though?” Himiko asked, trying to ignore that her voice trembled as much as the rest of her. Her mind went blank; she couldn’t think of the words for her knockback spell, nor did she think she would be able to open her book in time.

Syo—she was pretty sure that was Syo fronting—seemed to pause for a second, an answer on the tip of her tongue. For a moment, Himiko thought she saw hesitation, even remorse, cross her features. Her arm dipped slightly before holding strong again, gripping the scissors with all her might. “Sorry about this, girlie. It has to be done.”

Himiko closed her eyes as Syo rushed towards her.

Throughout it all, Shuichi was beginning to understand both the frustration Kyoko felt for not being able to find an answer and the worry Makoto felt for his sister’s safety. He wasn’t sure how long Maki and Himiko were supposed to be in Towa City—it was already the sixth day they’d been there—but for the hundredth time, he wished there was some way he could get in contact with them.

Not because he knew of a way to help them; he didn’t. He just wanted to hear their voices, make sure they were safe.

“Still nothing?” he asked Makoto one morning, as had become routine. Breakfast would be eaten, work would start. Eventually the two would run into each other, and Shuichi would ask, because he knew Makoto checked daily for any kind of signal to get through.

“None.” Makoto sighed, then shook his head and tried for a reassuring smile. “But I’m sure everything’s fine, right? It can’t be much longer now.”

Clearly his hope was starting to wane; he’d likely been saying that to himself every day since he learned about his sister. It wasn’t like Shuichi could say anything about it, since he was starting to grow more and more worried. Worry was very quickly becoming one of his chief emotions.

Makoto pat Shuichi’s shoulder before continuing down the hallway. Shuichi, like always, went back to whatever work Kyoko had given him.

Some of the work was just organizational when it wasn’t focused on Towa City; filler work. And when the work did involve Towa City, most of what he could learn was about its history before the Tragedy. Other than the few details he could glean from that, he’d been told the identities of the captives. Apparently, Future Foundation had saved whatever it was that involved relaying the identities of the captives to the people involved in that killing game. Still, that didn’t tell anyone whether or not those captives were alive.

“Hey, you!”

Shuichi looked up, unaware of even where he was going at that particular moment. He hadn’t been getting the most sleep, but it was more than he’d ever gotten during his game. It was enough to keep him functional.

The man who called out to him waved him down a side hallway, his hair pulled back into a ponytail and a dark coat draped over his shoulders. Neither of his arms were in it, reminding Shuichi of how Kaito always wore his jacket. “Hello?”

“I’m right, right? You’re the one that Makoto and Kyoko grabbed to help out?” The man grinned and laughed before Shuichi could respond. “Of course you are! My predictions are always accurate thirty percent of the time, after all.”

Strangely, or maybe not, Shuichi got the feeling that he’d heard that man’s voice before. It took him a moment to recognize him as an older-looking one of Tsumugi’s many cosplays. “I am, yes. My name’s Shuichi Saihara.”

The man nodded, still keeping his grin. “I knew it! Name’s Yasuhiro Hagakure, but you can call me Hiro.” Ah, so that’s who he was. One of the other survivors, the Ultimate Clairvoyant if he remembered correctly. He hadn’t been sure what to expect of him, but any expectations he did have did not live up to the real person. Almost as soon as Hiro finished talking, he assumed a more solemn expression. “Heard you were part of a killing game, too. It’s hard stuff.”

Shuichi nodded mutedly, doing his best not to have the same images flash in his mind that did on a nightly basis. “Sorry, did you, uh, need something from me?”

“Ah! Right!” Though there was slightly more force behind his words, more energy, Hiro’s expression didn’t change. “Listen, dude, I had a prediction about those friends of yours that went to find Toko and Makoto’s sister.”

“You—huh?”

Hiro barrelled on, hardly taking a moment to hear any protests Shuichi had. Did he even have any? “You gotta know, outcome’s not lookin’ so good. It’s kinda weird, y’know, I couldn’t see anything when I tried looking for those two before, but this came almost right away when I heard about the mission!”

“What exactly did you see?” Shuichi asked once he’d gotten a moment to mentally steady himself. Hiro had said himself that he was right only a third of the time. Whatever alarming things he might say might not even turn out to be true.

Then again, Himiko’s magic was real. Why couldn’t Hiro’s clairvoyance be?

Hiro put a hand to his chin in thought. “Well, I couldn’t really see a lot of specifics, but there was definitely a riot of some kind. Couldn’t tell if your friends were part of it or against it—I dunno what they look like anyway—but there were a lot of people running around. Thought I saw Toko somewhere in the mix, but I couldn’t quite tell.”

“Was there anything else distinguishable about the scene?” He did realize that it likely wasn’t real, but he couldn’t help but become somewhat invested. Details he wouldn’t get anywhere else were valuable, real or not.

And, anyway, Hiro seemed to take kindly to Shuichi asking questions. It was likely he didn’t usually get a lot of engagement from his coworkers when it came to his talent. “Not really. For all I know, it coulda been a riot of humanoid aliens!” He shrugged and laughed before returning to a more serious stature once more. “But I thought you should know since those two that were sent were your friends. I’d wanna know if any of my buddies were thrown into a dangerous situation like that! But at the very least, it didn’t look like another killing game. Dangerous, yeah, but not like that.” An odd look passed over him for a moment before he again shrugged. Maybe he’d seen another possible future like that?

“Oh, Hiro. There you are.” Shuichi heard Kyoko’s voice and her heeled boots before he saw her. Hiro perked up, grinning over at his former classmate. As usual, she read the room fairly quickly, her expression unchanging from the neutral one Shuichi had gotten used to. “Shuichi, I hope he wasn’t bothering you.”

Shuichi began to protest, but Hiro just started laughing. “Always a kidder!” Kyoko quirked an eyebrow at him, but he thought he could see the hint of a fond smile. “I was just telling him about this prediction I had.”

…He didn’t elaborate. Wasn’t that something that someone would normally elaborate on? Even Kyoko had paused a moment, as if waiting for him to continue, before clearing her throat gently, the moment passing. “I believe Byakuya was looking for you.”

She didn’t even say about what, but Hiro stiffened like he was in trouble of some kind. How much, Shuichi couldn’t be sure, but it was one thing Hiro seemed to take seriously. “In that case, see ya later, Kyoko! And, Shuichi, don’t forget what I said!”

He took off at an amble, though somehow Shuichi would characterize it as an amble with a purpose. He and Kyoko both watched Hiro turn the corner before Kyoko turned back to Shuichi. “Prediction?”

“Nothing important,” Shuichi decided in a split second, wondering if she would be able to see tell if that was somehow a lie. Given the success rate and all, it could turn out to be either. “Do you have more work for me?”

Kyoko didn’t say anything for a moment, as though she were trying to find the right words. “That depends. How would you feel about going on a short mission with Ryota?”

He thought Ryota was already back on Jabberwock Island with Hajime and the others, though perhaps he was mistaken. …But again, she could be phrasing it that way in case anyone else was listening in. “I assume there’s a certain objective to be fulfilled?”

“Of course. I believe there’s someone you’ll meet along the way who may have some information that could help us more than anything we’ve already gone over. Honestly, I’m not sure why we didn’t think of it before.”

“I’ll do it.” He didn’t have the time to be wishy-washy about his decision making. He was stronger than that now. Still, he couldn’t help but note that there was something off about how she said that last part; she knew exactly why she hadn’t considered that option. Of course, once he recalled how Hajime had mentioned that one time that she didn’t fully trust the former Remnants, it made sense. “When am I going?”

“If all goes well, an hour. Ryota is already on site, so one of us will be riding with you to send you off.” Right, she probably had too much work to do as a division head to go on another boat ride. “You should only be there for a day or two, and then you’ll hopefully return with new information.”

It seemed easy enough, though Shuichi wondered if it would truly be that simple. And there had to be some reason that Ryota wasn’t getting the information himself, why Kyoko wanted him to go instead. “Can I ask—”

“Your friends are in the city, too. I thought you would want to be the one who was the most in-the-know.” His eyes widened a touch as Kyoko brought a stylus out of her pocket, tapping into a tablet he hadn’t noticed before. “Someone will come by to get you soon. I trust you’ll have no issues once you’re there.”

“Thank you.” The two parted then, Shuichi heading back to the small area he’d been assigned to to get everything he needed in order. It wouldn’t be much, of course, though he did pack a small bag, like the former Remnants had helped him pack before.

The most he could think about bringing, other than the obvious necessities, were the notes he’d compiled on a bright yellow legal pad. Everything was more or less organized on there, though “everything” meant about five pages of detailed theories he’d come up with using the information he had. So far, none of them seemed to be coming to fruition, but he was sure he would learn something more, maybe something that would help finally put him on the right track.

An hour passed before he knew it, stalling for time. All he had to do was wait for Makoto or whoever else—

“You’re Shuichi, right?”

Yet another new voice caught him off guard, though it was another he was sure would quickly become familiar. “I am.”

The woman smiled at him, exuding the energy of someone who actually got the recommended amount of sleep and exercise. “Great! Nice to finally meet you, my name’s Aoi Asahina! My friends call me Hina, so you can, too.” She looked around the area briefly, landing on the bag he had in his hands. “If you’re ready to go, we can head on out.”

He nodded, following her to the boat they’d be taking, under the guise of a different kind of mission, he was sure. Even though he stayed in relative silence, Hina talked easily, about her role in Future Foundation, about how he looked like he should work out more to gain more muscle mass. He didn’t respond much apart from a nod and small noise here and there, though Hina either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

If Shuichi remembered correctly, the boat ride would only be an hour or so long. He didn’t have a book like last time, but he would probably survive. Somehow.

“Your friends there, do you think they’re close to figuring everything out?” Hina wondered aloud once they were settled in on the smaller boat, completely changing the subject from what it had been before. Shuichi hadn’t been paying much attention to what that had been.

“Maybe,” he said, for lack of a better answer. He tugged on the sleeves of his light jacket, fine for the brisk weather and chill of the boat. “We don’t know what’s going on over on this end, but maybe they’re in the middle of figuring it all out. I just want them to be safe.”

Hina nodded solemnly, knowingly. There was something about her that made it easy for him to talk. “I get that. I’m worried for Toko, cuz I know Syo can handle herself and even though she’s kinda mean, she’s still one of my classmates, you know? And my brother’s trapped in the city, too.” Her gaze dropped to the floor for a moment before she again changed the subject. “But it’ll be cool to see everyone on Jabberwock again! I haven’t seen them in a long time.”

So Hina was the kind to almost deny the negatives, at least for the time being. “Do you know who I’m supposed to talk to once we get there?”

“Oh, yeah, nearly forgot about that!” She laughed almost nervously, reaching up to tighten her ponytail. “You’ve already met everyone over there, right? Apparently Nagito was in Towa City before being cured of despair, so he might know something that none of us do. Really, it’s like he’s our only connection to the city at the moment. At least until your friends can establish contact!”

Nagito… He was the one with the white hair who liked hanging around with whoever would have him, usually Hajime. He was … overbearing, in a way. Talked a lot but didn’t talk much at the same time. It intrigued him to know that that was who he was supposed to talk to, of all the former Remnants. Still, he was confident that he could get the information he needed, or at the very least all the information he could. “What will you be doing while we’re here?”

Hina shrugged, seemingly at a loss for a moment. “I dunno, probably train with Akane and Nekomaru if I have the time. Usually I just come to help distribute supplies and all that, but even that has to be under the radar so we can never stay long. I don’t even know what Future Foundation would do if they found out what we were doing.”

He could only imagine, but he suspected it wouldn’t be anything good. The five survivors at headquarters, plus Ryota and anyone else they had told about their covert operations, were apparently very good at what they were doing in regards to Jabberwock Island, though, to not have been caught yet.

Not a moment later, he caught Hina staring intently at him. When she noticed him looking back, her face grew red from embarrassment. “Sorry, I was just wondering—what do you even do in your free time? Headquarters gets boring really fast when you don’t have work to do.”

That was not a question he expected, though he probably should’ve. “I don’t have too much time on my hands but back, um, during the game, Maki and one of our other friends and I would train almost every night. Just push-ups, sit-ups, that kind of thing.”

The instant he mentioned training, she perked up. “Perfect! We’ve got the time now, and I wanna stretch out my muscles more! It’s been way too long since I’ve gotten in a proper workout, I feel like I’m gonna explode!” Without any hesitance, she dropped to the floor, already a couple sit-ups in before she realized Shuichi wasn’t doing the same yet. “C’mon, no shame in working out together! I’ve worked out with so many people, y’know? I even used to be on six sports teams at once!”

That … was impressive. Definitely not something Shuichi could live up to, but given how fast Maki always completed her part, it would give him a semblance of normal, wouldn’t it? “Alright, then.” He got down with her, shedding his light jacket first.

He couldn’t say it was just as easy to talk to Hina as it had been to talk to Kaito and Maki, far from it, but at least there wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. She didn’t pry at him, didn’t bring up the game. She came up with most of the topics of conversation, actually, flitting from one to the next so there wasn’t much room to dwell on much but the exercise and the almost-easy conversation.

Frankly, it was a much-needed mental and physical break.

By the time they arrived, Shuichi had hit his standard one hundred, with much less resistance than he’d had before. “Hey, if you ever wanna do this again, you can always join me for a more extensive workout,” Hina offered with a wave as she ran out of the room to help start bringing boxes of supplies off of the boat and onto the island.

Which left Shuichi alone to exit the boat, adjusting from sea to sand and looking around to try to find his way. He’d gone from boat to boat before; he didn’t exactly know his way around the island. So it was lucky, he supposed, to be greeted by just who he’d come to see.

“Nice to see you again, Shuichi,” Nagito greeted with a soft smile. For the life of him, Shuichi didn’t know how to read him yet. “I hear you need to talk to me?”

“That’s right.” Shuichi tried to push out of his mind the circumstances of the talk, shifting into a more analytical mode. He’d spent enough time with Kyoko to begin to emulate the techniques he’d noticed she used, as hard as it was to get a read on her.

Nagito nodded once; Shuichi couldn’t tell what was going through his mind, but he supposed that what they were about to discuss wouldn’t be entirely pleasant for either of them. “Teruteru just finished preparing lunch, we can talk at the hotel. I’ll show you the way.”

Shuichi took one more glance at Hina, still carrying some boxes and chatting with Nekomaru and Akane as she went. “Let’s get started.”

Chapter Text

Maki knew better than to—no, she was trained not to worry, and not to let worry cloud her judgment. As an assassin, she’d learned quickly the harsh reality that not everyone would come back. She had never been attached to the people who had been trained along with her. She didn’t grieve when they didn’t return, because they’d been caught or killed as a result of their own mistakes. She’d made up her mind young to never make those mistakes.

Noon came. Evening passed. Night fell. Himiko hadn’t returned.

All of the concern she felt each time she looked out the window, listened for any sign of distress outside, ramped up as the time passed until she was sure that, despite her trying to push it away, it was justified.

She’d still waited an hour after dark before exiting the apartment and going to the next to bang on the kids’ door, ignoring the burning her ankle had given her on the way there. Almost a whole minute or two passed while she waited, glaring at the wall. If those goddamn kids didn’t open the door—

“What a surprise,” Nagisa deadpanned before she could decide to break the door down herself. Kotoko stood nearby, looking over his shoulder. The other two were nowhere in sight. “What do you want? It’s late.”

“You think I don’t know that?” She suppressed a maddening sigh. She didn’t have the time to let anything like that get to her. “Did any of you go outside today?”

Kotoko practically shoved Nagisa to the side to get to the front. “None of us did, just as always!” she answered pleasantly, though her eyes spelled curiosity. “Hey, where’s your witch friend? I liked her.”

Maki chose to ignore her refusal to use their names. There were more important things to handle. “Himiko went out on her own hours ago. She’s still not back.”

Something changed in both of the kids. First, Nagisa stiffened, his eyes narrowing. Kotoko must’ve sensed that in him, curling into herself a bit. “Perhaps a monokuma…?” she suggested, watching for a reaction from Nagisa rather than Maki.

“I don’t think so. We haven’t seen any monokumas in a couple days, but even then, her … magic … takes care of them well enough.” Himiko, as much as Maki had neglected to believe before, was able to take care of herself. But if that was true, then where exactly was she? She wouldn’t try to do anything dangerous on her own, would she?

“We’ve been here all day and we don’t even know where she went,” Nagisa said abruptly. “What exactly do you want us to do about it?”

Of course. Maki had about a second to decide what she wanted to reveal. The kids probably didn’t know about Hiroko, since her very presence meant that she was good at hiding. If the kids were somehow working with the enemy…

What could she even say, then? She was blinded by distrust and suspicion. There was nobody in the city she could trust.

“Fine, then. Nevermind. I’ll do this myself.” She made to leave, but a hand caught her wrist. If she had been startled at all, she would’ve drawn her knife again.

“I’ll help you look!” Kotoko offered, just as peppy as she had been before. She let go of Maki’s wrist without prompting. “Two heads are better than one and all that.”

Maki remained still and silent for a moment, not missing the odd look Kotoko had gotten from Nagisa. Would it help or hinder her to have a kid come along?

It didn’t matter. She was already wasting time. “We’ll go now,” she said, fully turning away. The dark outside wouldn’t bother her; night vision was yet another thing she’d been trained to have. And while her ankle stubbornly wasn’t fully healed, she didn’t care. It was still better than it had been, so she could push.

Because, beyond all logic, all her training, she was worried about Himiko.

Kotoko kept pace easily as they began en route, humming softly with her hands clasped behind her back. It was annoying, but Maki was too focused on looking around to say anything about it. “Have you ever thought about going into theater?” Kotoko asked about five minutes into their journey. Maki didn’t respond. She was busy making sure they weren’t walking into an ambush. “You’re not the best at acting, but a little more practice and you could be great!”

Again, Maki said nothing. She wasn’t good at acting, that was true, but she wasn’t trying to act at all. Kotoko was likely referring to her half-truths. She was withholding information. That was not acting. And what did a kid know, anyway?

Another five minutes passed. Kotoko switched topics. “I never had a sister, but your friend seems like she’d be a good one, right?”

“Shut up.” Maki gave her a quick glare before refocusing on the road, taking in a quick breath as she stepped wrong. The scratches, she’d noted before, were at least almost closed and would likely scar. Otherwise, the pain was still annoyingly present. She couldn’t afford to do much else but ignore it. She should’ve ignored it earlier. She shouldn’t have let Himiko go alone.

It was rare that Maki felt weak. Whatever had happened to Himiko, she would’ve been able to prevent it if she had gone with her.

She hadn’t even talked to Himiko after Himiko told her to stay behind.

“It’s difficult to talk to people about your failures. I get it. But didn’t I tell you? Being able to share your burdens with others… That’s how you get stronger!”

Not for the first time, she wished Kaito would get out of her head. Like hell she was sharing whatever “burden” he would’ve thought she was carrying at the moment with a child.

“I’m just saying! Trying to make conversation with a brick wall is easier than this.” Which indicated that Kotoko had given up. She went back to humming, ignorant to Maki’s thoughts. Kotoko would never be able to understand, anyway. No matter what had happened in the city before, the two of them were too different. “Buuut if you don’t want to talk about any of that… Maybe you could tell me where we’re going? Or anything helpful like that?”

Maki almost froze in place. She didn’t want to give away Hiroko’s location still, or say why Himiko had gone there to begin with. “We’re just … following a route. She should’ve gone down this way, so we need to look for anything that could lead us to where she is now.” Even in the dark, she was sure there would be something for her to pick up on. If she looked hard enough, she would even be able to see something like a muddy footprint. Anything.

“I may look it, but I’m not a child.” Kotoko’s tone grew icy, though when Maki checked, her expression hadn’t wavered. “I’m thirteen now, I think. I don’t care why you all think you have to keep information away from me.”

While it wasn’t quite an outburst, it still took Maki by surprise, especially her wording. “You all?” She shook her head. “And I’m not. It’s more than likely that Himiko disappeared somewhere on this route, going towards Towa Hills.” She thought harder; what had Himiko brought with her? “She had her backpack and her spellbook, and was wearing her hat, so keep an eye out for any of those things.”

“Like that?” Kotoko pointed to a dark lump lying in the middle of the road that Maki didn’t remember being there a couple days ago. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw it.

From a distance, it had looked like just a lump or something. But closer, it was clearly Himiko’s witch hat. The one that she always had on, no matter what.

“What does this mean?” Kotoko wondered, rocking on her heels as Maki picked up the hat, turning it over in her hands. It was still spotless.

“I … don’t know.” Ever the frustrating sentence. She’d always known everything she needed to, even back during the trials, though she would admit that part of that was thanks to Shuichi’s investigative skills. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to channel those skills to herself.

Maki looked first on the ground where the hat had been and around it; there wasn’t any blood. She’d become used to the smell of it, as well, and there was no lingering scent. In the dark, she couldn’t tell if there were fresh scratches on the ground, but given the cracked and broken state of the road, she wasn’t sure she would even be able to tell if there was light. None of the contents of Himiko’s backpack were anywhere, nor was her spellbook.

In other words, apart from Himiko’s hat, there was nothing that indicated that she was hurt or killed, or where she could’ve gone. She wouldn’t have just left her hat somewhere, though. A million thoughts ran through her mind at once until she forcibly quieted them.

Why, she also thought to ask, was Himiko’s hat there at all? There were no remnants from the other adults. If someone was involved—which was incredibly likely—why would they choose to leave a hat behind?

“Go back to the others,” she said distractedly, looking at the hat a minute longer before casting a wider net with her gaze. Was the area being watched? Should she expect an ambush of monokumas? “If something did happen, if someone was here, it’s possible they’re still out here. Go back to the others and be careful you’re not followed.”

“No, wait!” Kotoko stood her ground more stubbornly than Maki would’ve expected from her. “There’s been nobody here other than Toko since all the adults began disappearing. What do you think happened, then? She probably just left or something.”

That didn’t sit right. And it couldn’t have been, anyway, because Maki knew that there was at least one other person still in the city. She glared down the road towards Towa Hills, already visible in the distance. “Follow me, then. Stay close, and stay quiet.” She drew her knife, holding onto the hat with her other hand. Kotoko glanced uneasily at the knife, but complied, once again matching pace.

“Why Towa Hills?” Kotoko tried asking on the way. “All that’s there is our old rooms.”

Maki ignored her. She didn’t care what Kotoko was wondering about. She only cared about finding answers. And in her mind, there were only two options.

Even with adrenaline masking her pain, storming up the stairs wasn’t an option. Instead, Maki did her best to make sure that her glare was as fierce as ever by the time she and Kotoko reached the hallway she’d seen Hiroko go down before. Kotoko stuck close, just as Maki had told her to, glancing warily around the building.

“Hiroko!” Maki called out, her voice lower than her usual speaking voice, almost akin to a growl. Despite the time, the woman appeared without much issue, her expression shifting from surprise to suspicion when she noted Kotoko and Maki’s knife.

“Ruru.” She didn’t greet Kotoko. “I thought Mimi said you were staying back?”

“So you did see her.”

Hiroko paused, her expression remaining unchanged. She wasn’t answering fast enough for Maki’s liking. “I did. She asked me some questions and then ran off in the middle of the conversation. Figured she found what she needed.” Again her gaze slid over to Kotoko. “I have some questions of my own now.”

Kotoko smiled in that fake-pleasant way of hers, though Maki could tell her muscles were tensed, ready to run or fight. “So do I.”

“Now’s not the time,” she reminded them both. Didn’t they understand the urgency of the situation? “Himiko just … ran out? Did she say anything?”

“Not much, just ‘thank you.’ Polite kid.” Hiroko paused again, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets. “I do remember, though, it was after she asked if Fufu had anyone she’d want to protect.”

Maki froze. That was the question she’d told her to ask, based on Nagisa’s assumptions. Of course. “Who’s—” Kotoko started to ask before she shook her head, apparently thinking better of it.

“What was the answer?”

Without much hesitance, Hiroko took up what she was asking. “I never saw her for a significant time with anyone but Koko.”

That was exactly what she had thought. Goddamnit, why didn’t she do anything about that the last time she’d seen Toko? And then Nagisa had practically handed her the answer and she’d done nothing, and now…

…She still couldn’t do anything.

She didn’t know enough.

“...Ruru, you don’t look so good. You should sit down.”

She didn’t know where anyone was. She didn’t know why Komaru would be a threat. She didn’t even know what Toko had meant before when she said that Komaru was “alive, in a sense.” She’d been blind to all the signs until it was already too late.

“Maki?”

She’d failed to protect her friend from the orphanage. She’d failed to protect Kaito. And now she’d failed to protect Himiko.

Looked like she wasn’t good for anything but killing.

She felt Hiroko grab her wrist gently and put an arm around her shoulders, easing her to the ground in such a way that even if she’d wanted to, she wouldn’t be able to use her knife. But she was—well, not fine, but she wasn’t going to pass out. Her ankle wasn’t going to give out on her. She wasn’t experiencing a panic attack. She wasn’t hyperventilating. She just … had to think.

What would she look for if it was a class trial?

“Where was Komaru Naegi last seen?” she asked, fighting to keep her voice level.

“The airship,” Hiroko answered, nodding to the elevator. “She and Fufu went up, but she didn’t come down again. It was up there, though if I’m not mistaken, when it collapsed, it collapsed onto the ground. Last I saw, it was completely destroyed. No way in, no way out.”

Right. Okay. “Himiko already checked up there anyway. We cleared most of the buildings in the area.” What else did she need to know? That all fit with what she’d seen. No contradictions, nothing. “What about the adults disappearing? When did that start?”

Hiroko and Kotoko were both silent for a moment, looking at each other warily. Of course, both parties likely thought the other had something to do with it. “A day or two after the airship fell,” Hiroko finally said. “After all the kids…” She cleared her throat. “The Resistance wasn’t sure who to blame, and before I knew it, everyone was gone.”

So she never saw who’d been taking them. Nobody knew who had been doing it. There had been no blood and no bodies, though; if it was the work of monokumas, still running around, there would’ve been both. What else was there? What had Makoto and Kyoko told her and Himiko before—

Wait. Maki looked up at Kotoko. “Where was the jammer?”

“Towa Hills,” she said without much resistance. She looked almost … afraid. “It was high enough, and we were there anyway, so Monaca decided to put it there, but there were some places at the top of Towa Tower it didn’t clear. I think that’s what Nagisa said before?”

Himiko hadn’t mentioned finding any sort of jamming device; maybe it had been hidden better. It would make sense to be in the same building as the jammer, but protecting the area higher made almost more sense, since they would be able to police who went above the signal. She could even remember seeing the tall building in the distance when she and Himiko had entered the city, the way they didn’t go. Would everything have been easier if they’d gone right instead of left that first day?

Maki stood up again, addressing Kotoko. “You’re definitely going back to the others.” She sheathed her knife for the time being, though she knew she would have to draw it again, maybe sooner rather than later. “I’ll drop you off on the way to Towa Tower.”

“Others?” Hiroko asked coolly before answering her own question. “The other … Warriors. That’s what you called yourselves.”

Kotoko shifted her gaze away from Hiroko, trying to keep a poker face to mask her clear guilt. “We’re not gonna do anything to you. We gave up that stupid game.”

Which Maki suspected wasn’t enough to assuage any fears Hiroko had. “The kids and adults had nothing to do with this,” she explained quickly, both of them snapping their attention to her. “In fact, I think I know who might be behind everything here.”

“Komaru,” the two of them said together in various levels of astonishment.

“So she’s … not dead,” Kotoko said aloud before muttering something under her breath. “Then Toko…”

“I don’t know what role Toko played in this, but she’s been withholding information from us all.” If Maki had known better, she would’ve gone through with her thoughts of threatening the information out of her before, regardless of whether or not Syo fronted. “She’s standing in the way of Future Foundation’s goal.” But, frustratingly, she still didn’t know why. Protecting Komaru? Why would she protect someone who’s been spreading despair? She’d seen what Junko Enoshima had done firsthand.

She paced around a couple of steps before biting back a yawn. “Don’t you think you should get some sleep before going all the way there?” Hiroko suggested, forcing Maki to remember that it was likely close to midnight. Time slipped away too easily when she couldn’t keep an eye on a clock. While the walk to Towa Hills had felt short, it was likely more akin to half an hour. From there, it would probably be another hour or two of walking to get to the tower…

Rather than yawn, Maki sighed, pulling on one of her pigtails hard enough that she could feel her hair tug at her scalp. She didn’t have time for sleep. “I don’t know if Himiko is safe or not, and I don’t want to leave her on her own for longer than possible. I don’t care if either of you decides to come, but once we’re there, I’m figuring out what’s been kept from us—all of us. And then…”

The rest of it went unsaid, but she was sure Kotoko and Hiroko understood.

One way or another, she was going to end it.

How unexpected it had been for Nagito to be told that someone would be coming to talk to him about Towa City. The majority of his classmates didn’t remember what they had done under the influence of despair; they’d been told, and had even seen for themselves the consequences.

By some stroke of luck, good or otherwise, Nagito remembered everything about back then.

It hadn’t even been very long, he supposed, since he had snuck out of the city and was quickly put into the Neo World Program. Despite that, he’d nearly forgotten about the state of the city he’d left behind.

He and Shuichi settled in at the hotel’s lobby, just apart from some of his classmates congregating above them in the restaurant. “I suspect you have a place you want to start?” he asked the detective apparent, flesh meeting metal as he folded his hands on the table.

“I do.” Shuichi, unsurprisingly, did not remind him of what he’d seen of Kyoko. Of course not; they were two different people, brought up in two different environments. The similarities likely started and ended in their detective prowess and involvement in a killing game. Rather than the confidence Kyoko exuded, any confidence Shuichi had was more of a topical thing, like he had given himself or received a pep-talk before stepping foot on the island. Nagito couldn’t help but wonder how that confidence would’ve developed had it not been for the Tragedy. After all, he would’ve been a student of Hope’s Peak. That alone would’ve fundamentally changed him, for better or worse.

He watched carefully as Shuichi brought out a yellow legal pad and a pen, ready to take notes once he started what Nagito was sure was an interrogation. Though, given all of the Neo World Program’s events, it was already shaping up to be the most pleasant interrogation Nagito had been a part of. For once, it didn’t seem like he was the one to stand accused. Though, in a way, he supposed he should be, given his involvement.

“To start,” Shuichi said after clearing his throat, “can you tell me what you know about Komaru Naegi?”

Komaru Naegi. “She was one of the Demon Hunting targets, a captive related to the killing game with Class 78.” A fine protagonist, he had thought of her, though he kept that tidbit to himself in the moment. “I know some of what she went through in the city, though I suspect it’s unimportant to your research; you want to know the end goal, don’t you.”

According to his slightly widened eyes, that was exactly what Shuichi had been thinking. “That’s right. When was the last you had seen her?”

“The last time…” Quite painful, if he remembered correctly. He still had the scars to prove that that meeting had happened. “Toko Fukawa and I had made a deal that she would deliver Komaru to the Warriors of Hope, and in return, Byakuya Togami would be released from his captivity. Komaru was about to leave the city when I exposed that deal. The two of them fought, and eventually Genocider Syo fronted. She attacked me, almost killing me until Komaru stopped her. They both decided to stay in the city and fight instead of Komaru leaving Toko in the city, and I pointed them towards Towa Hills, where everything would come to a head.”

Shuichi noted down what Nagito suspected to be everything he said. There was a lot of information there, after all, information he wasn’t sure Future Foundation had had before. Byakuya certainly hadn’t learned much from his captivity. “And you didn’t see her at all after that?”

“No. Nor was I at Towa Hills when the rest went down, so I wouldn’t be able to give a first-hand summary of what happened there. All the knowledge I have was passed to me.” He waited a moment for Shuichi to motion for him to continue. “Monaca Towa’s plan had been to create the perfect successor for Junko Enoshima. I originally assumed she was to make herself that successor, but as it turned out, she was planning for Komaru to take that role. I can’t speak to whether it succeeded, as I escaped from the city soon after Byakuya was set free, I assume by Toko. I did stay long enough to see all of the kids, save for the Warriors themselves, die.”

Shuichi’s expression was borderline unreadable, though he was likely disappointed in the lack of usable information. “Would you mind explaining the role of the other kids in the city to me? The information I have is vague at best.”

That, too, was unsurprising. “It’s simple, really. Monaca fitted helmets onto each of the children in the city in order to control them. For a while, I requested them to help Komaru along. Unfortunately…” He hadn’t literally seen it himself, but he had heard it. The explosions hadn’t bothered him when it was the sound of monokumas being taken down, but then the noises had ceased and changed. There was only one explanation, one that he’d always known was a possibility, as long as Monaca was trying to enact her plan. “That was part of Monaca’s plan, I believe. Using the controller to spread despair to Komaru.” If she had succeeded, though, he wouldn’t have heard the fall of that giant monokuma.

Shuichi didn’t push. The look of dread on his face was enough for the reality of the situation. “Do you know anything else that could help us figure out where Toko and Komaru could be, or why they haven’t been able to get in touch?”

“Well…” Did he? He didn’t see Monaca after telling her he was escaping, same with Kurokuma, and he hadn’t heard anything otherwise. He could, however, make some inferences. “Given that Byakuya was released, I don’t think Toko was in any initial danger, and clearly Genocider Syo would help protect their shared body as well as protect Komaru. That being said, if I really had to guess, I would say that either one of them could be the one who kept the jamming signal.”

Clearly Shuichi hadn’t been expecting that answer. That was another way he and Kyoko differed: she would’ve thought of that possibility before the conversation had started. “What makes you say that?”

“Call it a hunch.” He had no evidence to back up his claims, after all. Perhaps if he had stuck around longer, he would’ve. Escaping Towa City in a timely manner had allowed his and his classmates’ stay in the Neo World Program to be more prompt, though, so he couldn’t say if his leaving was a good or bad thing.

“You don’t think the Warriors of Hope had anything to do with it?” Shuichi checked, likely to be on the safe side.

“They don't. Monaca was the one who wanted to begin the Demon Hunting game. As the ringleader, she called the shots. The other four wanted to make a children’s paradise. Now, with no other children, and no control over the monokumas, well, I almost pity them. But they don’t have the authority or the want to do something like what you may be suspecting.”

Of course, Shuichi had all the ground in the world to doubt what he was saying. For all he knew, Nagito could be lying to protect someone, but Nagito didn’t think he was a very good liar. He certainly hadn’t lied much since exiting the Neo World Program, nor did he necessarily want to. “Do you know of anyone other than Monaca who could’ve wanted to harm Komaru or Toko? Anyone who could bring harm to the whole city?”

Ah, so he was grasping at straws. He must’ve really been desperate, Nagito decided. That desperation was why he was being interrogated in the first place. “Unfortunately, no.”

Shuichi nodded to himself, looking over his notes again. Nagito hadn’t noticed before, but he ended with several pages. “Well, thank you. You can go eat with the others, if you want.”

Nagito stood, waiting for Shuichi to follow. He didn’t. “You should eat something, too.”

“I will.”

Another beat passed before Nagito decided to leave him. If he were to be honest with himself, he did occasionally wonder what had become of Towa City, of Komaru and Toko, but he had never been able to get any answers. Now he almost knew why.

“How did it go?” Hajime asked as Nagito sat across from him at one of the barer tables. Some of his classmates, it appeared, had already come and gone, though Hina sat with a few of them across the room, eagerly catching up. She’d always been one of the more welcoming ones.

“Not as well as I’m sure Future Foundation had hoped. Apart from that, it wasn’t horrid.” He poked at some of the food on a plate Hajime passed him. Too bad he didn’t have much of an appetite. “He didn’t mention them, but I can tell he’s worried about his friends.”

Hajime nodded in understanding, finishing off his own food but staying seated. “I still wonder why sending in some of us wasn’t an option. Shuichi, Himiko and Maki aren’t kids, but we have more experience dealing with this kind of thing.”

Nagito couldn’t say he hadn’t wondered that himself. They all had, he was sure. “I have to wonder how it would’ve looked if Future Foundation found out that two former Remnants were sent into a despair-ridden city and came back with a Future Foundation intern and a former captive.” He shrugged when he felt Hajime’s eyes on him. “I doubt it would reflect well on the others.”

That wasn’t to say he didn’t understand how Hajime felt, of course. His classmates had already done everything they possibly could to help, all at the direction of Makoto and his classmates, but it was hard to not want to do more. Even Nagito would’ve volunteered to go back into Towa City; perhaps his luck would have helped solve everything quickly, one way or another.

For the time being, all he could do was sit and watch the cards fall where they may.

Chapter Text

When Toko regained consciousness, she was back in the building she’d become disgustingly familiar with. Still wrecked to hell and back, not like that would change in the course of hours or days, however long Syo decided to stay in front without Toko trying to kick her out.

Before much else, she checked her notebook, reading yet another incredibly vague entry in Syo’s pointy handwriting: Girl taken.

How nice.

“I swear, if she killed someone…” She trailed off, begrudgingly reminding herself of the fact that Syo, surprisingly, had held up her end of the deal for longer than Toko ever thought she would last. That deal, of course, having the one goal of getting Syo to stop killing people. In return, Syo made Toko promise to take better care of their body, since she had to use it too, and Toko had very tentatively agreed. Trepidation was the name of the game every time she and Syo interacted.

Regardless, it was unlikely that Syo killed anyone at random, and—she looked down at her already torn and dirty clothes. No blood. Not even any on the cloak she’d gotten quite attached to for her covert operations.

She glanced out one of the dust-covered windows she’d never bothered cleaning. At some point, the blood had been wiped off of them, but that didn’t mean they were clear enough to get a good look at the outside scenery. Even then, she was more than used to iron plates over windows…

The darkened red-blue sky told her that it was into the night now. Given that she felt more rested than she normally did, she had a feeling that Syo had decided to take a nap before Toko had fronted. Appreciated, she supposed, since she usually had a harder time getting to bed of the two, so fitful sleeps were more likely when she was still fronting.

Still, she wondered if Syo had checked…

Jeez, there was a never-ending list of things for her to do, wasn’t there? How annoying.

Tugging her cloak around her shoulders more, protecting her from the draft the damaged windows let in, she looked around the empty hallways. She could start with any one of the tasks on her list, as always. She knew where she wanted to start, and where she wanted stay, but if she was going to be of any use, she needed to stick loosely to her usual order.

She stretched out her back as she walked, not at all expecting the fatigue her muscles felt. It had been a long time since she’d felt that ache so strongly. What had Syo done, bodied someone?

She didn’t actually want to know.

Her footsteps echoed in the bare halls, a sound she used to despise. Footsteps were ominous, and usually meant trouble for her if she heard them outside her door or coming towards her in school, but she’d gotten used to hearing at least her own so loudly. They were even louder than they used to be, since she wasn’t shuffling as much as she used to. She sounded more like any other person.

Room after room was passed without so much as a glance inside. Being there for so long, she knew perfectly well which rooms were empty, with some even devoid of all furniture. She only did what she needed to with the rooms that were inhabited.

It was her natural attention to detail, vital to any author worth their salt, that made her notice a voice in one of the rooms that was supposed to be empty. She paused outside the room, pressing her ear to the door.

“Let me out of here!”

…Yeah, that was new. The voice was kind of young, kind of familiar, but she didn’t know it well enough to place it. Whoever it was, she probably had only spoken to them once or twice.

Wait. It was one of those annoying girls, wasn’t it? The ones Future Foundation sent?

What did Syo do?

Whatever, she didn’t really care. The girl, whichever one it was, would quiet down soon enough. If Toko didn’t hurry up, her absence would definitely be noticed. If she wanted to do anything with the girl after, she would go back when she had more time.

Everything was in the same place it always was, that was, spanning back a few months. Though the building gave her a haunted kind of feeling more recently, it was the only place in the city she could be in for long. She hated it, really, but it was better than the alternative. Or the other alternative. Or the third.

Lots of alternatives, none of them good.

Just like always, huh.

She finished her rounds quickly before looking up at the many stairs she would have to climb. The elevator was still working, but she never felt like being alone in that small space, meaning she was stuck with climbing and climbing and climbing to get to where she needed to be.

She spent a few minutes lounging around in a random room, telling herself she was standing guard as a way to justify her presence. A day more and she’d have to sneak away again to bring those kids more supplies and everything, though she would rather keep her distance. But if Nagisa ever voiced those theories she knew he had, everything she’d worked towards would be good as gone.

Well. Everything she had worked to keep in perpetual equilibrium. It was better than putting in no effort, she supposed, but still, she missed the days before.

For about an hour, she waited in there before going back to the stairs and climbing even more. If she cared, she would’ve been keeping track of how her calf muscles improved from all those stairs.
Instead, she heaved a small sigh and prepared herself for what laid ahead.

Himiko wasn’t dead. At least, she didn’t think she was. She felt a bit like she had when Tenko flipped her that one time, actually, and she was pretty sure death didn’t feel like that. Her body ached the same, though.

And it did make her wonder why Syo didn’t kill her, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She pushed herself up carefully, blinking to adjust to the dim lighting. She didn’t recognize the room she was in at all, but she noticed the window immediately. It was small enough, but according to the patchy sky, it was already dark out. So she’d been unconscious all day.

Wait. She’d been unconscious all day. And she hadn’t gone back to Maki, who was probably still mad at her for making her stay behind. And now she was probably even more mad for her not coming back.

And Himiko had no idea where she was, so Maki wouldn’t even know where to look.

…If she did.

Himiko stood up slowly, looking around the small room. It was hard to tell in the dark, but the only thing in there with her was a desk with no drawers and nothing on top of it. She patted around herself quickly. Her backpack and spellbook had both been taken, which she’d kind of expected, but even her hat was gone.

Taking cautious steps—her head was kind of pounding—she tried the door. Unsurprisingly, it was locked. She slammed her fist into it a few times, shouting. “Hey! Let me out of here!”

Nobody answered. She gave up.

Himiko sighed to herself, going back to the window, the only thing in the room worth looking at. She’d only bothered looking at the sky at first, since almost no light was coming in, but another, closer look told her she really didn’t know where she was. For one, the room she was in was only a story or two high, but that didn’t tell her much. She didn’t recognize the scenery she could see in the dark as anywhere she had been before. She and Maki hadn’t gone past Towa Hills, and she hadn’t gone far with Kotoko, either, so there was probably still a lot of the city she hadn’t seen. Wasn’t there more by where she and Maki had come from, too?

She gave up looking for any clues from the scenery after a minute of searching. It wasn’t like she’d be able to get the clues to anyone anyway.

“What now?” she asked herself, her voice small but still filling the room. She walked along the perimeter once or twice before she chose a corner to sit in. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she tried to remember what she’d done when she was alone when she was younger. A lot of nothing, really. Sometimes reading or practicing—

Magic.

She didn’t have her spellbook with her, but there were those few precious spells she’d used enough that she was pretty sure she had them memorized. If she could get that breaking spell right, it didn’t matter if she didn’t have the spellbook with her. She might just have a chance of getting out.

Assuming, her brain reminded her, that nobody was waiting on the other side of the door to kill her or something.

Thanks, brain.

Himiko watched the door carefully and waited a handful of minutes. Nobody had come by to check on her, and she was pretty sure she hadn’t heard anyone. Maybe she was in some kind of fancy abandoned building. But since nobody came by…

Channeling as much of her energy as was needed, she whispered the incantation of the breaking spell. The familiar tug on her mind coincided with the red bolt that took the door off its hinges. She yelped as it fell towards her, just barely avoiding it. That would’ve been disastrous.

But! She didn’t have to wait for anyone to find her! Barring that she’d gotten herself into this mess to begin with, she could take care of herself just fine.

Stepping carefully over the door, she poked her head out into the hall first, hoping beyond hope there weren’t any surprises waiting for her. There was nothing. Was there no one else in the building? No monokumas or anything? That seemed a little too convenient. There had to be something she wasn’t seeing. She wasn’t sure what she’d be able to find without her spellbook, though, so her first course of action was to find her backpack and spellbook. And, ideally, her hat.

Her footsteps were as silent as she could make them, trying to be inconspicuous. She never thought sneakers could be so loud; they were called “sneak”ers for a reason, right? Apparently not. Every step she took was louder than it would be if she were wearing heels and stumbling through the hall, she was sure of it. If anyone was around, they would find her immediately.

Who else would be around but Syo or Toko, right? No kids, no idea where the adults were, but…

She felt along the wall, even though there were some dim lights on, making sure she was as stealthy as possible. There was some kind of stealth spell in her spellbook, but she couldn’t even attempt it if she couldn’t find it. She knew she should’ve focused on more than just those three spells she’d memorized.

Keeping her guard up as she moved down the hall, she paused often to check inside some of the rooms. Like most of the places she’d seen, there were dried bloodstains and holes and scratches along the walls and floors, but not a body in sight. Now that she had seen that one place with Kotoko, that was half of a mystery solved, since she didn’t know how they’d gotten there. Kotoko hadn’t said anything about it, either, so she probably was in the dark.

Further down the hallway, she found an elevator, with what looked like a security pad completely scratched-up like that one in Towa Hills. The marks looked almost familiar somehow apart from that, though she couldn’t put her finger on how.

“Up or down?” she mused to herself. Down would bring her almost out of the building; that would be the safer option, the easier option.

Sighing heavily, she pressed the “up” button.

Nobody was around to pay attention to the movements of the elevator, she was pretty sure as she stepped inside, but she decided to think like Maki or Tenko would. There could still be a threat at any moment, like a monokuma or even Syo again, who could be less forgiving next time. Preparation and self defense had always been such a pain to her before, but Tenko and Angie, and she was sure Shuichi and Maki, would want her to stay safe, however possible.

She picked a random floor number, one high up, almost alarmed by how many buttons there were. The eleventh floor made her finger spark as she pushed the button with the now-familiar red of her magic; a good sign.

The floor’s layout looked the same as the one she’d been on at first glance, but something about it just felt different. Maybe more ominous; something felt foreboding. If she were in a horror movie, the space around her would be coated in a thick fog, making it impossible to see.

But she wasn’t, so she could see just fine. The feeling remained, though.

Something she used to do when her brother or classmates teased her about her magic was to block out the noise and pretend she was onstage, making people smile. She stopped in the middle of the hallway, forcing herself to straighten her posture and smile brightly, looking out on her imaginary audience. Those motions cleared her mind, making her see everything with a refreshed attitude. With whatever magic she could use without her spellbook, she could…

She could…

…What was she supposed to be doing?

She thought back to the detection spell, the same one that made her fingers spark at the elevator. Maybe if she concentrated hard enough, there would be some kind of trail leading her to where she needed to go.

For a moment, she screwed her eyes shut, reciting the words under her breath as best she remembered them. Another moment passed, and she peeked at the ground ahead of her. Nothing. Of course there wouldn’t be, right? Maybe even her magic didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing, what she was supposed to find instead of booking it out of the building. But she guessed it was a bit late for that.

So she crept through the halls, stopping every few meters to see if she could hear anyone moving around. Every time, there was no sound other than her heart beating and her own breathing. It was different, being that alone. Even in her own house, or during the game, she could always hear someone else moving or talking, even if she was her own. In the apartment, she could hear the Warriors through the thin walls, and she could sometimes hear Maki if she was tossing and turning as she tried to sleep.

Her heart ached. Himiko really, really hoped Maki wasn’t mad at her.

The further she went, the more her stomach tightened. There had to be something she wasn’t seeing, that she missed. What would Shuichi think to look at? What would Maki?

Shuichi would probably try to look for any detail that was out of place, but unlike investigations before, she didn’t know what the building usually looked like. So trying to find something out of order didn’t really seem like it would be helpful, especially not if she didn’t know what kind of out of order thing she was looking for. Scratches, maybe? But monokumas could’ve left those long before she entered the city.

Maki likely knew how to look for signs of people. She was an assassin, after all, which meant that she looked for the people she was assigned to kill. Despite knowing she could trust Maki, a chill went down her spine at that thought. It was still hard at times to know that Maki had actually killed people before, but she forced herself not to dwell on it. Besides, Maki would never hurt her.

Himiko started studying the floor carefully, combining how she thought her friends would investigate. Because, if she was looking for a person, small details like footprints or more marked-up areas would lead her to wherever she needed to be! At least, that was her theory.

One that, almost surprisingly, panned out.

The center of the hallway was more dull under the lights, which meant that it had been used. She checked in front of certain doors; the floor in front of them looked similar to the edges of the hall, slightly shinier but still dirty from perpetual use. Himiko grinned to herself. She finally had some semblance of a plan, and she made it all on her own! She could start relying on herself now, even if just a bit more.

She followed the scuffed parts, checking each doorway as she went until she found one that seemed more used than the others. The same red sparks jolted her when she put her hand on the doorknob. She was in the right place after all.

The door opened instantly, revealing what was once an office, with a desk and a good-sized window. It was still too dark for her to make out anything outside, but she didn’t spend much time on that anyway. Because, sitting on the desk was her backpack and her spellbook.

She immediately grabbed the book, holding it close to her chest and pretending like she could feel its energy course through her again, even though she knew it didn’t work like that. Still, it was like releasing a breath she’d been holding for a while, but if only she had her hat back, too.

As it was, she was so glad to have both her book and supplies back. If she’d been locked in that room forever, she didn’t know if she would’ve been given food or water. She still had enough left in her backpack for a couple days more, plus the lighter and first aid supplies. Nothing she needed just yet, thankfully, but time would only tell. It didn’t look like anything was missing, either, which was kind of strange. Why wouldn’t anything be taken?

“You’re—” Himiko froze at the sudden voice, more reserved than the last time she’d heard it. “I-I knew it. I knew that’s what the n-note meant. How c-could she be so stupid?”

Knowing what she was pretty sure she knew, Himiko slowly turned to face Toko, who wasn’t even looking at her. No, she was staring into space, muttering to herself, her hands tugging at the roots of her hair. “...all ruined … what now…” Suddenly, she snapped to attention, her hands brought close to her chest and her gaze perfectly focused. “O-okay. You have two- two choices.”

“Huh?”

Toko sighed in annoyance, shuffling her feet a little. “Just l-listen! Either let me lock you up again o-or swear you’ll leave the city and not say anything!”

Himiko gaped at her for a moment, trying to comprehend what she just said. “You’d let me go?”

“You and that other an-annoying girl have been nothing but a pain. S-she told you to leave back then, and so did I. We have e-everything under control, and- and you’re ruining it!” Although Toko’s words sounded angry, her stutter more pronounced, her expression didn’t match. She had bags under her eyes; she was still slouching. She looked like Maki a handful of days ago, and how Shuichi usually looked: tired. Definitely not under control.

Himiko made sure Toko saw her put the spellbook in her backpack, not a visible threat. Talking could help, right? “What’s under control?”

“I t-told you, it’s not your problem. It’s better for everyone if you j-just leave.”

“But why? I won’t agree if I don’t understand.”

Angry red colored Toko’s cheeks, but she took a deep breath and closed the door to the room, something she’d neglected to do before. Why was that needed, if they were the only ones in the building? “You and that annoying girl, you know the power d-despair can have.”

Himiko blinked and nodded, almost in shock that Toko was saying anything at all. But she remembered the despair she felt of being told she was in a killing game, then at the loss of her friends, one after another after another until it was just her, Shuichi, and Maki. The despair at the thought that she might not even be real.

“It’s complicated, but you better listen.” Toko bit her lip, considering her words. “We tried, really tried, you know? Staying out of despair, trying to keep others from falling in. Then t-there was this controller Monaca had, and she gave it to Komaru and said she had a choice to break it and kill all the children in the city and let Future Foundation take out the adults, or let the kids live and the adults riot. Monaca was ob-obsessed with Junko Enoshima, wanted to make Komaru into her successor. But the controller was safe, and Komaru decided she wanted to save everyone, because of course she would, and we beat this giant monokuma.” She muttered something under her breath that sounded like “stupid bear” and “told her so.”

“...That’s not the end, is it?”

Toko glared at Himiko, clearly irritated. “You’d know that i-if you didn’t interrupt! Anyway, no, that’s not all.” She opened her mouth to speak before closing it again, hesitating. When she started speaking again, her voice was a touch softer, almost wistful. “Winning for once felt … amazing. Between the city and the killing game—more like everything in my life—I never knew the feeling. And Komaru was right beside me, cheering for the both of us. We were gonna go back in to get the key to Ma—Byakuya’s cell from the brat, since she couldn’t do much under a bunch of rubble. But Haiji…

“He met us back inside, surprised us. He knocked the controller out of Komaru’s hands the moment we walked in. Before either of us could react, he crushed it under his foot.”

Himiko drew in a sharp breath. She’d heard about the kids all dying, of course, but she didn’t know how it had happened. All of those kids, gone like that. Meaningless deaths that were almost prevented.

Toko continued on, looking sick. “Komaru was- was sobbing, and Haiji was laughing like the sick maniac he is. I couldn’t stop screaming at him, but then Komaru…” She paused again. “No matter what I said to her, she wouldn’t respond to me. She just had this look on her face, blank and terrified. I’d seen it enough to know what despair looked like.”

All of what she was saying only confirmed what Himiko had thought before. Still, she said nothing herself, heeding by Toko’s earlier words. “I knew I had to do something. I wanted to take her out of the city, get her somewhere safer, but in that state, I couldn’t.” She glanced at Himiko for a moment before returning her gaze to the ground. “I-I’m a Future Foundation intern. I’m duty-bound to report any despair-ridden individuals to the division heads. If they’re as far in as Komaru, they’re considered incredibly dangerous. But I- I couldn’t report her.

“So I used the key I’d taken from that brat, let Byakuya out, and explained everything to him. It was a longshot to get him to agree, but I promised him that if he reported that there were hostages and could keep Future Foundation out, I would keep everyone else in and stop communication. A-and I would stop pursuing him. Something I’d never agree to before … but Komaru is worth it. And more.”

She was silent long enough for Himiko to decide it was safe to start speaking again. “Komaru’s the new despair you’re protecting the Warriors from, but you’re also protecting her from Future Foundation.” She shook her head in mild disbelief. “Your classmates are really worried about you and Komaru.”

Toko made a small noise of disbelief, chewing on her thumbnail. “Y-you’re right about Komaru, though. I don’t want to leave her on her own for longer than I have to. I’m basically her underling, and Syo’s her muscle. I have to play along so she doesn’t decide that it would be so despairful to get rid of me, one way or another.” Himiko detected something self-loathing in Toko’s words, especially as she continued. “O-of course this would happen to someone as vile and disgusting as me. My only f-friend becoming despair itself.

“S-so that’s why we can’t go with you. Just go back and tell everyone she’s dead, missing, anything that isn’t the truth. They can never know about this.”

…She and Maki were in over their heads. Himiko knew that much. She wanted to go back to Shuichi, go back to where she was safer. Back to where she didn’t have to worry about everything so much.

“We can’t—I can’t leave.”

Toko’s expression hardened, though not in an angry way. “I’m not going to ask again. Leave the city and leave this all to me. This is my responsibility.”

There was a lot of conviction behind her words, but in a way that Himiko knew too well from the people around her, even sometimes herself: Toko was blaming herself. She wasn’t good with words, so she didn’t know where to start with voicing what she was thinking. Channel your inner Shuichi. “It doesn’t have to be. Maki and I can help!”

The silence stretched out for too long before Toko shook her head, her scowl resolute. “If you won’t leave … I-I don’t have a choice.” From somewhere within her cloak, she produced a pair of those sharp scissors Himiko had seen too many times for her liking. “I’ll- I’ll force you to leave!”

Nagisa couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew why Himiko had suddenly gone missing, and it wasn’t the work of a monokuma. He didn’t know what Kotoko knew—she was smarter and more observant than he often gave her credit for—but Masaru and Jataro were completely in the dark. And while he did feel some remorse at keeping such important information from them…

He glanced over the top of his book at their sleeping forms. It was easier for them to not become involved. If they knew what he suspected, of course they would want to be. He was barely holding them by the scruffs of their necks as-is.

“Hey, Nagisa.” Nagisa did his best not to jump, though Masaru’s sudden voice was surprising. He was usually the one of them to have the most restful sleep, unless nightmares struck. “Is it really okay to be sleeping with Kotoko out there?”

On Nagisa’s other side, Jataro shifted to face the two of them. “Yeah, where did she even go?”

“Were you both really awake this whole time?” He sighed, closing his book and setting it on his lap. It wasn’t like he was very interested in it anyway, having read it several times in the last few weeks. “I understand your concern, but don’t you think she would’ve come back if something was wrong?”

Silence. “What if…” Masaru trailed off, though what he failed to say spoke volumes.

…Of course, Nagisa knew how dangerous the situation was. Kotoko could very well be in danger, and he had no way of knowing. The concern keeping Masaru and Jataro up was indisputable, and he did feel some concern himself. After all, despite giving her most of the information he had, Nagisa didn’t trust Maki. What reason would he ever have to trust an assassin? He hardly trusted Syo enough to not harm them.

“I’m not going to tell you that everything’s fine.” Being in their situation for so long, he refused to make any promises. They knew that.

Masaru made a small noise, curling up into a ball and taking some of the sheets with him. “D’you ever wonder,” Jataro asked, his voice almost faraway, “what would’ve happened if we hadn’t started the Demon Hunting game?”

It had crossed his mind once or twice. He always arrived at the same conclusion. “Monaca would’ve made others carry it out. The paradise was never her plan, remember.” He paused. “I don’t think much would’ve changed in the end.”

Silence stretched out again. Several minutes passed before he decided that it was because the other two had actually fallen asleep. It was late, he was tired, but Nagisa knew that if he fell asleep, everything could change. Just months ago, Towa City completely changed in two days’ time.

Just like then, he wouldn’t let it change without having anything to say about it.

Chapter Text

Time, Maki decided about halfway to Towa Tower, was annoying. Moving through the darkness to the completely opposite side of the city on foot wasted too much time.

“If there was a motorcycle or anything around here, that might help,” Hiroko mentioned, scanning the streets, a little in awe. She probably hadn’t seen the city in its cleaned-up state. “Haiji had one, but I don’t know where he left it.”

“Do you even know where he is?” Kotoko’s voice was hard; if Maki didn’t already know the girl had a grudge against him, she would surely figure it out from that.

“No.” Hiroko sighed. “This may sound bad, but I wouldn’t mind finding out a monokuma got him.”

Kotoko let out a short, humorless laugh. “I wouldn’t, either.”

The one commonality between them was better than nothing. It wasn’t like Maki had expected them to get along well, but they weren’t at each other’s throats. “Kotoko, last chance to turn back and get the others,” she broke in, though they’d already passed the apartment building. She’d told Kotoko before to just go back, but the girl had stubbornly stuck with her and Hiroko, the two walking on either side of Maki.

“Nope!” Kotoko made sure the “p” popped. “I’m sure I’ll be more of use with you.”

Vaguely, Maki wondered if that was another example of a kid being attached to her. Maybe it was a bit dramatic to declare that, given the situation. “Fine, then. Just be sure you can keep up.” Her hand drifted to her knife, her fingertips brushing against the familiar hilt. If she had to, would she be able to handle protecting both of them, herself, and Himiko?

A handful of minutes of relative silence passed. “Out of curiosity, do you have a plan?” Hiroko wondered in an odd sort of aloofness. “Or are we going to brute force our way through this?”

Of course she didn’t have a plan. But of course, she couldn’t admit that. The lack of information itched under her skin. The last several times she didn’t have the information she needed, even a key detail or two, were disastrous. She’d failed an assassination; she’d nearly killed Kaito; she’d gotten hurt herself. Things wouldn’t go right if she wasn’t given the right information.

But she couldn’t say that.

“I’ll think of something.” She ignored a quick flash of pain, shaking off the concerned glances she knew Hiroko and Kotoko both sent her. “For now, we should stick together.”

“Obviously,” Hiroko said, toying with an unlit cigarette. She didn’t bother asking Maki for the lighter. “Wouldn’t want any of us to be captured.”

Kotoko bristled at her wording, but wisely held her tongue. Though, she did keep skipping every few steps like a younger child, the most annoying way to walk.

“Can either of you tell me how capable of a fighter Komaru is?” she asked, distracting from the tension. “Anything would help.”

“She ruined all of our mechas,” Kotoko pointed out, bringing to Maki’s mind those larger robots in Towa Hills. They didn’t look particularly ruined. “She had this really weird megaphone thing with electricity or something.”

Hiroko nodded. “She used that against the monokumas, too. Really effective in taking them down, but I don’t think I’ve seen her fight without it.”

Kotoko tapped a finger to her chin. “Now that you mention it! She always fought with it, but I don’t think it does anything to people.”

Maki made a noise, trying her best to conceptualize. It was a megaphone that worked against robots; could it be the hacking gun she and Himiko had been sent without? Even if they had one, given everything they’d done, it probably wouldn’t have gone to much use. People were the bigger threat to her given the severe lack of monokumas. “Did you know the controllers for your mechas were destroyed? Himiko and I found them in your old rooms.”

“Yeah,” Kotoko said simply, not sounding too heartbroken over it. “Syo said she did it, just to make sure nobody could use them. We don’t need them anymore, anyway.” Her voice grew hollow. “I’d be okay never seeing them again.”

If Syo destroyed the controllers, the odd holes made sense. If her scissors forced the metal open, there would be enough room to cleanly cut the wires; it matched. Very forward-thinking of her. “What about Toko? Is she a physical threat if she’s the one fronting?”

“Not at all,” Hiroko said almost lazily, returning the cigarette to the beaten-up carton she kept in her pocket. “She can argue, but not fight.” Kotoko nodded in agreement.

So if Komaru wasn’t a threat to humans, and Toko just wasn’t a threat, all she had to worry about was Syo. She took her knife out, studying the scratched blade. She didn’t like to or want to admit it, even to herself, but she was at a disadvantage on a few points.

First, most obviously, she was injured. Clearly that would be a hindrance to her usual fighting style as well as any stealth or speed that would be needed.

Second, she only had one knife and a switchblade. She didn’t know how many weapons Syo had, plus she was clearly well-versed in using them. Those scissors were versatile as well, and could even be used as projectiles for long-distance fighting, whereas in the current situation Maki was only prepared for close-range.

Then there was fighting style itself. Maki wasn’t used to her targets fighting back unless she did something wrong, and she’d never seen Syo properly fight before. Her movements would be unpredictable.

That wasn’t to mention, she didn’t know if Himiko was safe. It could quickly become a hostage situation.

“Stop tensing your muscles like that.” Maki’s gaze snapped over to Hiroko, who was watching her with a quirked eyebrow. “Overthinking won’t do you any good, you know.”

“I’m not overthinking anything.” Even to her own ears, she sounded incredibly defensive. Weighing her options realistically wasn’t overthinking. Trying to be prepared wasn’t making her too tense, though she rolled her shoulders back anyway to loosen up. “Look, getting mixed up in this was not our choice.”

“It wasn’t anyone’s,” Kotoko said sternly, or as sternly as a child could sound. Her high-pitched voice did not help. “You think I wanted my friends to die? We killed for that bitch and in return this is what we get!”

Hiroko shook her head. “I can guarantee most of the adults, Koko and Fufu included, didn’t want this. They just wanted to live.”

Kotoko crossed her arms tightly as she walked, closing herself off. “If the remote wasn’t broken… What do you think would be happening now?”

“Beats me.” Hiroko sighed as she looked ahead, weary. “No use living in the past, anyway.”

Maki almost snorted at that, but held it in. When she was little, being brought up as an assassin, she promised herself she would never live in the past, because she’d hated her present back then. Since then, she’d wondered many times how she would’ve turned out if she wasn’t an assassin, or if her friend hadn’t died. Even now, knowing about the Tragedy, she mused when she didn’t have any distractions about what would’ve happened to her if the Tragedy didn’t happen. Would she have even lived long enough to attend Hope’s Peak?

In her eyes, living in the past was inevitable if she never believed she had a future.

Another twenty minutes or so passed in silence until Towa Tower began to rise in the near distance, one of the most impressive skyscrapers she’d ever seen. The scenery turned from a regular city scene to a patch of brightly colored buildings, straight from a coloring book. It gave her a headache to look at. The city’s exit was long past, but again Maki thought that she and Himiko should’ve left when they still had the chance.

“This will be a breeze,” Kotoko said in what Maki thought was supposed to be a convincing tone. For someone who was supposed to be skilled in acting, it wasn’t showing. The kid obviously didn’t have any faith in the three of them, and honestly, Maki knew that nothing would be as easy as it seemed. And if it already didn’t seem easy, that could only spell disaster.

“We have to be on our guards,” Maki reminded her, holding her knife steadily. Being ready to fight was imperative; Toko or Syo or even Komaru could greet them as soon as they walked in, or there could be some leftover monokumas. There was still the question of where the remaining adults were, but given everything else she knew, Maki wasn’t hopeful about their survival. After all, six or so months of being wherever they were with maybe not the best access to food or water, possibly injured… She would actually be surprised if there were any adults left to be found anywhere in the city.

She stopped outside the doors, turning to the other two. “Do either of you know the layout of the building?”

Kotoko raised her hand confidently, like she was in the middle of class. “Nope!”

Maki looked to Hiroko, who shrugged. “I’ve never been there, it was too risky to go somewhere like that when the kids were in charge. Before that, I was in captivity.”

“Great.” So once more going in with no way to know what to expect. She looked up at the building, her muscles tensed and ready to strike. “Let’s go, then.”

The immediate interior of the building was nothing special, if a bit ripped up from what Maki assumed to be the destruction of monokumas. Everything that could’ve been a door on the first floor was already opened, some of them blasted straight off their hinges or barely holding on for dear life. Shutters were partially opened, revealing meeting spaces or something like that, covered in scratches and peeling paint. There were so many different kinds of rooms that Maki couldn’t really tell what the main use for the building was. Maybe it was once an office building of some sort?

Right in front of them, facing the main entrance, was an elevator that somehow was less beaten up than everything else on the floor. Still, Maki glanced all around the floor and up to the floors above them, looking and listening for any signs of life or monokumas. The kind of design of the building, all futuristic, made her skin crawl.

Kotoko’s soft humming filled the empty space. Maki cut her a sharp glare. “Quiet! If there’s anyone here, they could hear and take advantage of the fact that we don’t know where they are.” That was one of the first lessons she’d learned as an assassin.

At least Kotoko stopped, but she crossed her arms and pouted. “Let’s try the elevator,” Hiroko whispered, already approaching it with seemingly no regard for the potential danger. “It’ll be easier to go to the top first and make our way down.”

Maki did her best to ignore that Hiroko looked right at her when she said those words. “Whatever.” Maki strode forward and called the elevator. It seemed to take a long time, but she stood ready in case some kind of surprise was waiting for them inside.

But… Nothing came. That was unnerving enough, especially since the inside had even more gouges in the floor. They didn’t seem fresh, but they didn’t seem like they’d been walked over much, either. The edges of them weren’t really dulled from wear.

Kotoko pushed the button for the top floor almost happily. It forced Maki to remember a couple of times the kids at the orphanage would bicker over who would get to be the one to push any button for any elevator. She would’ve poked fun internally at Kotoko for that, but it was very likely that that was some of the only joy Kotoko had received in a while.

The ride was about as long as she expected it to be, rising slowly. “You’re sure this is Koko’s doing?” Hiroko checked again, her hands shoved in her jacket’s pockets. She always seemed too casual for Maki’s liking. “I’m still not convinced.”

“Do you have any other explanation?” Hiroko remained silent. Maki was just tired of having to explain her thoughts. “There’s nothing else that makes sense at the moment. Could it be wrong? Sure. We’ll just have to be—”

The elevator jolted to a stop then, several floors away from the top. The movement shook the car, sending all three of them into the walls. “What’s happening?” Kotoko nearly shouted.

The doors slid open—they must’ve stopped on an actual floor instead of the elevator malfunctioning—and frozen in front of them like a deer in headlights was Toko. Her eyes widened, though they looked as tired as Maki had noticed days before. Without breaking eye contact Toko pressed one of the elevator’s buttons and turned to take off down the hallway.

“No!” Maki lunged forward and grabbed Toko’s wrist before she could get far. Hiroko and Kotoko followed her off the elevator, letting it close behind them. Toko tried pulling herself out of Maki’s grip, but it didn’t take long for her to stop fighting, stiffening. “What. Is. Going. On.”

Frustratingly, Toko stayed silent, her eyes fixed on the ground. “Toko, you better tell us!” Kotoko said in what Maki assumed was the most terrifying tone she could have. It wasn’t anything near the level Maki was at, of course. Kotoko pointed a finger at Toko, her cheeks puffed out. “I mean it! I didn’t fully trust you but I came close to it!”

“Fufu…” Hiroko didn’t say anything else, but she had what Maki assumed was the kind of disappointment a mother would have.

Toko lifted her eyes again with a wild grin, her muscles tensing under Maki’s grasp. “Not Toko!” Within a second, she had her wrist back and scissors in both of her hands. Maki’s eyes narrowed as she unsheathed her knife, positioning herself so the other two were behind her. Syo didn’t make any move towards them. “Jeez, all of you are so damn persistent! Miss Morose has it all under control, got it? Now scram!”

“You both keep saying that,” Maki acknowledged, “but we’re not leaving without an explanation! And where is Himiko, I know you had something to do with her disappearance!”

Syo rolled her eyes, lifting one of her pairs of scissors almost lazily. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t! Would you really believe anything I said, anyway? Hypocrite!” She quickly adjusted her stance, pointing that same pair right at Maki. “You give me those same killer vibes that I give off, but not as glamorously as myself! Can’t threaten and distrust me without taking a good look at yourself, missy.”

“Like you have?” Maki didn’t waver, though she took interest in the way Syo was standing. She wasn’t in an ideal setup for attacking at all.

“Why do you think I’m even here? Of course I have!” Syo switched her grip on the left pair of scissors; rather than holding them like normal, she held them by the blades in a fist, tight enough that her knuckles turned white. “Little Miss Gloom-and-Doom wouldn’t admit it but we both have! Everything in the world has a back and a front, a top and a bottom, and that’s what you’re not seeing!”

That didn’t make any sort of sense, but Syo didn’t stop there, getting more furious. “Back then, killing was all I had to protect someone, and sure I got a kick out of it too but I don’t need that anymore! I could’ve easily piloted this body out of Towa City the first chance I got. I could’ve left whenever I wanted to! If I hadn’t taken a good, long look in a broken mirror, I would’ve! Probably would’ve gotten myself killed in the process, but whatever!”

The scissors, though they were closed, cut into Syo’s palm just enough for a thin trail of blood to trickle down, dripping into the floor. Her eyes narrowed. “There was a reason I told you to leave. You and you friend didn’t listen, so I did what I had to. Now get out or I’ll do the same to you!”

“No you won’t.” The words didn’t come from Maki, but Hiroko, surprising her and Syo both. “Syo, is it? I don’t think we’ve officially met, but it’s clear that you’re very staunch in your beliefs.” Hiroko took a step out from behind Maki, raising her bare hands in a nonthreatening gesture. Syo didn’t move. “I think it’s admirable what you’re doing, protecting yourself, Toko and Komaru. Can’t say I’m your fan right now, but you’re doing what you think is right.”

“Because it is.” Syo’s eyes widened back to normal, her gaze still hard but more open. “Protecting myself, of course, but she was the one who saved and protected me first. What kind of person would I be to not return the favor? I may be a former killer, but I have standards!”

Maki realized then that she probably wasn’t referring to Toko in that sentence. She didn’t know what had happened before this new despair in Towa City, especially not from Syo or Toko’s perspectives, but the undertones in her voice were much different than how she talked about Toko days ago. Maki couldn’t put a finger on what exactly it was, just that it was a complicated mix.

“...Oh my god.” Kotoko spoke from Maki’s other side, also moving to stand right next to her like Hiroko had. “You love her, don’t you?”

Syo didn’t look very surprised at the accusation, but her grip on the scissors at her side loosened. Another drop of blood slid to the floor. “So what if I do?”

That … would explain a lot of what she’d done. A lot of what Toko had told them about. Why she was protecting Komaru in the first place if Komaru really was the new cause of despair.

“So why are you doing this? If Future Foundation’s been trying to rehabilitate despair, wouldn’t they also help Komaru?”

Syo laughed, not the maniacal laughter Maki had heard before, but something softer. “Future Foundation doesn’t want to do that. Komaru’s brother does. The rest of my classmates do. There’s almost no chance Future Foundation would make an exception for her.” She lowered the pair of scissors pointed at Maki and the others, though still held onto them. “Finding hope in the middle of despair is tough. She was one of my only sources of hope, so Toko and I both agreed to try to restore her hope before Future Foundation could find out. What a good idea that was.”

Slowly, Maki began to understand better. “They would kill her?” Syo didn’t confirm, but she didn’t deny it, either. “And if Himiko and I can somehow find a way to help her? If we can get her into the same program as the former Remnants of Despair?”

“Impossible! But… I’m tired of being a double agent. I wasn’t built for information work!” She sheathed the one pair of scissors, though held onto the bloody pair still. She zeroed in on Hiroko. “You, woman!”

Hiroko lifted an eyebrow. “I have a name.”

“Whatever. Go down to the fifth floor. Buncha rooms down there, and that’s where you’ll find the adults. Get them out of the building so we can do our thing.”

Maki’s jaw dropped at the sudden information. “They’re alive?”

“I’ll explain later, if I’m still around to do it. But on this, you have my word, however valuable that is to you. Take it or leave it!” She looked next to Kotoko. “...Not sure what to do with you. The adults’ll probably want to eat you alive, so best not to go there. Maybe leave, tell the other kids that we’ll meet ’em at the exit, I dunno.” Then, finally, she turned to Maki. “And you, come with me. Your weird friend is fine, I just had to barricade her better is all. The two of you get to meet Komaru face to face.”

Maki couldn’t believe how up-front Syo was being with half of the information she was throwing at them. It didn’t make any sense unless she had the time to stop and think about it, which she didn’t. She nodded at Hiroko and Kotoko, letting them know she would be alright, before they disappeared back into the elevator.

“What should I be expecting?” she asked as she matched Syo’s quick pace. There was still a chance that everything was some kind of elaborate trap, though she supposed that would all depend on how good of an actor Syo was.

Syo didn’t answer her, still holding the bloody pair of scissors, though the blood was slowly starting to dry. She led Maki down the hall, winding around a few corners before coming to a stop outside a room that had multiple chairs shoved against it. It would’ve been comical if Maki weren’t waiting for the situation to turn more dire than it already was. One by one, Syo stripped down the chairs until she could open the door.

“Come on out,” she sighed as she flung open the door, a sort of cross between annoyed, angry and exhausted. It was late in the night, after all.

Without needing to be told twice, Himiko stumbled out of the room, looking around for a moment before locking eyes with Maki. She grinned, practically crushing Maki in a hug. “I’m so so sorry for leaving without you! I promise I’ll never do it again!”

Still unused to hugs, Maki awkwardly pat her back, though she couldn’t deny the relief that overtook her. She might’ve even smiled. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Can we speed this up? I don’t wanna give up control before I have to in this case, so we should get going.” Syo tapped her foot as she waited for Himiko to detach herself from Maki. “Great. You, witch, how much did my other self tell you?”

Himiko startled briefly. “She told me about the controller that killed the kids and that Future Foundation can’t know.”

A controller killed the kids? Maki did her best to piece together everything on her own as Syo nodded a couple times, putting her free hand to her chin. “Alright, alright, that lines up with what she put in our notebook. The rest I kinda had to put together on my own, imagine being in control for the first time and not knowing what’s wrong! Even I was a little confused.” She motioned for the two of them to follow, but she kept talking. “Komaru’s not in a great state at all, but you’ll see that for yourself. Only thing is, instead of killin’ all the adults too, she had me capture them to ‘keep them safe.’ I dunno what’s going on in her mind, but she’s not herself. Not sure how far gone she is.”

That didn’t seem like something Syo would necessarily care about, or it wouldn’t have been until her borderline confession just minutes ago. Toko had stuck around that long, too; was it safe to assume she felt the same?

Wait, why did Maki even care?

Syo yanked open another door roughly, disappearing inside for a moment before thrusting Himiko’s bag and spellbook at her. Maki opened her own bag, producing Himiko’s hat and placing it snugly on her head. Nothing was said, but nothing needed to be with Himiko’s wide smile.

“Is Komaru going to want to fight?” Himiko wondered, the smile slipping off of her face. She sounded different than earlier, more sure of herself. It looked like Himiko had done some growing in the last several hours, somehow.

“If she does, she won’t do it herself. Or I don’t think so, I had to fight her once and she just ran away from me even though I wasn’t even trying!” Something flashed in Syo’s eyes at the memory before she started talking again, almost disappointed. “I dunno what to expect from this girl anymore.”

She led them back to the elevator, calling it to them. The doors opened quickly; it had only carried Hiroko down several floors before. The three of them piled inside, Maki taking care to subtly shift her weight off of her ankle. Maybe it was adrenaline that was carrying her through before, but it was starting to bother her again. She and Himiko were both focused on Syo, who stared right back at them before pulling out her notebook and scribbling down half-assed notes. Her semi-glare before that didn’t match the bags under her eyes that were likely courtesy of Toko. A lot of Syo didn’t match how Toko appeared.

What Syo said before still played over and over in her mind, about taking a good look at herself. She couldn’t imagine what kind of development or self-discovery bullshit or whatever Syo had done in the last several months, all while Maki was either doing something in her lost memories or in that stupid school. For a killer to stop killing, especially someone with a high body count… Maki had thought about their comparisons before. Syo had killed for fun, or maybe protection as she’d mentioned offhand; Maki had killed because she didn’t have a choice. Syo had stopped for someone else; Maki had started for someone else. Syo had been protecting Komaru, but Maki had tried and failed to protect a few people in her life.

Halfway through the elevator ride, Himiko tapped Maki’s arm, but in a way that she was sure not to startle her. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.” She left it at that, and Himiko knew well enough to leave it be. That was a conversation or identity crisis she could have another time, when they were in less danger. “Syo, you said Komaru had you capture the adults to keep them safe? What did you mean?”

Syo made a small noise, her shoulders hunching inward. “Let me…” She read over the notes quickly before pocketing the notebook. The change in stature, as well as the way she avoided looking at her bloody hand, told Maki that Toko had likely resumed control. “Can you repeat that, please?”

“Syo told us that the adults were captured, can you tell us why?” Maki couldn’t believe how patient she was being. It was the same patience she’d once applied with children.

Again Toko made a small noise. “We-well, you know the kids died. After that, Komaru wanted to make sure that the adults were safe from harm. The best way to do that, I guess, is to have them all in one space. Just to make sure I kept track, I collected the different Demon Hunting cards for myself, and a picture of myself in case Future Foundation came in or something. It’s a control thing for her, I think. I-I’m usually the one who checks in on them for her.”

“You really didn’t have to stick with her all this time,” Himiko murmured, hugging herself.

“Yeah, well, it’s not like I’d be wanted anywhere else.”

And Syo probably didn’t include it in her notes, either. Did Toko even realize that Syo felt that way towards Komaru? Did Toko feel the same?

She dismissed that line of thinking quickly. It was none of her business, and wasn’t anything she would usually be interested in anyway. It was just a momentary distraction.

The elevator stopped on what Maki assumed was the top floor. It was more open than the others Maki had seen, hardly any other rooms or anything except a lone computer sitting on a desk, the screen pierced through like the mecha’s controls had been in Towa Hills. Even if there was a signal, there was truly no way for anyone in Future Foundation to contact anyone in Towa City, after all.

Again Maki thought of how stupid the plan was for Future Foundation to not know what she and Himiko were doing in the city or when they were done. Even if there wasn’t some way to contact them once they were ready to leave, they’d better have their end of the promise held up to be waiting on the other side.

“Is there anything else we should know?” Himiko asked, her voice lower than it had been in the elevator. She was strangely on-topic.

Toko shuffled her feet a little, probably thinking. “I-I don’t think so. You… You really think she’d be able to be put in the Neo World Program?”

“She’s Makoto’s sister, isn’t she? He wouldn’t just leave her.” If Maki was sure of anything, it was that. Again, she’d seen many different sets of siblings in her years at the orphanage, but Makoto clearly seemed to be genuinely worried for his sister. He didn’t seem like the kind who would abandon her, even if she was classified as one of the more dangerous despair individuals or something. Though, so far, any kind of “dangerous” had yet to be seen.

“Just stay behind me for a while. Try not to be seen,” Toko muttered eventually, walking forward without waiting to see if they heard. Maki and Himiko exchanged a quick glance before they followed a few steps behind, ready to hide if they needed to. They were both small enough to be able to hide in the barren room.

It struck Maki when she saw the person who’d been standing behind the elevator that they hadn’t been told what Komaru looked like. The logical part of her told her that the girl with the short hair standing close to the windows, looking out on the darkened city, was her. Her back was to them, so Maki couldn’t see any sort of resemblance to Makoto or anything like that, but she had more scars marring her sickly pale skin, stark against her arms, legs and neck than Maki expected. They reminded her of some of the less fortunate assassins she’d worked with. Her own scars were miniscule compared to some she saw on Komaru; how had she even gotten those?

“Did you force them out?” Komaru asked in possibly the most hollow voice Maki had ever heard. There wasn’t a single shred of emotion of any kind; her voice was just empty. Beside her, Himiko inhaled sharply. Maki elbowed her, reminding her to stay quiet as they stuck close to the elevator’s wall to stay out of sight.

“Komaru.” Toko’s tone, on the other hand, was anything unlike Maki had heard her use before. It was like an attempt at being assertive. “I-I think this has gone on long enough.”

Komaru turned, revealing extremely empty eyes. Clearly sleep was not something that was abundant in Towa City. “What do you mean? Everything will be fine once those two are gone.”

Toko shook her head, moving so it looked like her hands were clasping behind her back. Instead, though, she motioned carefully to Maki and Himiko, telling them to stay on guard. “They want to help. I’m… I’m tired of this. If we get you out of here, we can get the despair out of you!”

“Despair?” Komaru shook her head, her expression still blank. “Even if there’s no hope … there’s no despair, either. The kids agree with me.”

The kids? Great, so not only was she in despair, but she was hallucinating or something. Toko didn’t have too much of a reaction, however. “There’s no such thing as ghosts, Omaru. Let them help you,” she insisted, her fingers curling into some of the weakest fists Maki had ever seen. “We can get the city back to normal after.”

“No.”

“Fine, then.” Toko turned and fully looked at the two of them then, prompting them forward. Maki had her knife drawn, of course, but didn’t attack immediately; even though she’d been told, she still hadn’t seen what Komaru was capable of for herself. Himiko, similarly, was quickly flipping through her spellbook for anything helpful.

Komaru blinked at the two of them still completely expressionless though her voice dropped a little. “Toko, you’re working with them? You led them here?”

If she weren’t in the state she was in, Maki imagined that she would sound incredibly hurt by that kind of betrayal, if it could be called that. “Just come with us,” Maki said forcefully. “Everything will be over soon.”

Komaru studied them in silence for a moment. The way she held herself felt so unnatural to Maki, contrasting the kind of person she’d expected Komaru to be, but that was what despair did to a person. “I see.” She shifted enough that Maki could see a beat-up sort of megaphone hanging from a makeshift belt; likely the hacking gun everyone had been talking about recently. She reached behind it and brought out something else that made Toko’s eyes widen. A controller of some kind?

“I thought you said the controller was broken?” Himiko asked Toko, trying for a stage whisper.

Toko didn’t look away from Komaru as she answered. “That’s not the same one. I think this is from…” She gasped at the same time Komaru hit a button on the controller.

At least a dozen monokumas entered the room within seconds from their hidden depths.

“I have no need for any of you. So it’s best to take care of you now.”

Chapter Text

Himiko knew they were screwed as soon as the monokumas showed up.

They didn’t attack right away or even look like they were going to move, but the sheer number of them alone was terrifying. Sure, it was only a dozen or so, but the most they’d had to deal with at one time was, like, four! There was no way they’d be able to take all of them, even if Toko somehow helped them.

“What do we do?” she whispered furiously to Maki, only leaning over a little bit. At that point, it didn’t matter if Komaru heard her.

“We have to fight them.” Maki’s gaze swept the room, barely sparing the monokumas a second glance before she zeroed in on Komaru. “I could always try to take her out—”

One of Toko’s hands shot out to grab Maki’s wrist. “Don’t touch her,” she said, though she sounded more defeated than angry or threatening. Something else played under her tone, something Himiko was sure she’d heard before, but couldn’t put a finger on it. “Please. I lost her once to despair, I don’t want to lose her more permanently.”

Himiko looked between the two, then between Toko and Komaru. Was there something she was missing? Still, she wasn’t really sure if there was any way for them to get out unscathed. For all she knew, Komaru had more monokumas to call on after that batch was done. If they couldn’t handle a dozen, they’d be dead with more!

“Komaru!” Toko raised her voice again, letting go of Maki’s wrist. Her voice sounded as shaky as it ever was, lacking as much conviction as it should probably have, but still stronger than Himiko usually thought it was. “I know you don’t want to do this. Y-you’re not that kind of person!”

“Don’t pretend you know me!” An empty smiled crawled onto her lips. Himiko shuddered at the sight of it. “You hardly know anything about me.”

If real life was one of the light novels Himiko used to enjoy reading, she was sure that Toko would launch into some big speech about all the little things she knew about Komaru, maybe ending in a passionate confession of love that would knock the despair right out of her. Instead, Toko scowled and balled her hands into fists. “You didn’t know anything about me and y-you still trusted and helped m-me! I’m- I’m returning the favor.”

Himiko readied the breaking spell in her mind, repeating the words over and over without speaking them yet. Her fingers twitched with the now-familiar energy. How long could they really stall before the monokumas started attacking? Were these ones motion sensing? “I was still helping you now. I didn’t kill you, did I? I had every chance to.”

Toko snorted. “Please, like s-she would ever let you do that.” Himiko frowned at her unconvinced, wavering tone. Did she believe what she was saying, really? Was she doubting herself and Syo? “Just g-give up.”

“What was it you said before?” Komaru tapped her chin, dragging out the exchange almost comically. “That’s right! If you can’t do something on your own, all I have to do is help you. And you would help me the same.” Komaru put her hands behind her back, leaning forward a little, the picture of innocence. “Is it helping to send a mage and an assassin after me?”

“Yes,” Himiko blurted out before she could help herself. “Because we can get you to Future Foundation. Your brother is waiting for you!”

Komaru’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, clear in the darkened room, each of the monokumas’ eyes glowed red. “The controller,” Maki realized, her muscles tensing. Of course; Komaru put it behind her back so they wouldn’t know when the monokumas were activated. And now they all were. All twelve at once.

Himiko didn’t usually swear, but if she did, now would be the time.

One of the monokumas closest to Toko was immediately pierced with a pair of scissors, forcing the others to back up a step. “Showtime again?” Syo’s voice came, though she sounded almost disappointed. “Jeez, you all really love me, don’t you? And where did all these killer robots come from?”

“Oh, Syo. Maybe you’ll see reason.”

Syo planted another pair of scissors directly into a monokuma’s red eye, jumping back before it collapsed. Himiko did the same, the words for the spell not reaching her ears as she said them. “Not likely! I’m not a very reasonable person, you should know that.”

Doing her best to ward off the monokumas approaching her, waddling too hilariously, Himiko was only half paying attention to the two older girls. “How are you holding up?” she asked Maki after another of her spells hit a monokuma.

“Fine,” Maki called back, her knife gouging into the red eye of another. Himiko spared herself a second to just watch. Maki’s movements were more stiff than usual. It was in everyone’s best interest to finish this up quickly, but there were still like eight left with the possibility of more coming.

Honestly, it was starting to feel a little terrifying. Not hopeless. But terrifying.

She pushed everything else out of her mind as she blasted about two or three more monokumas before she realized that the numbers really were dwindling; Komaru wasn’t calling any more of them. She wasn’t even doing anything, just standing there with crossed arms, watching with a stony expression. “Really, Dekomaru, I didn’t think you’d be this petty! Guess I’m seeing a new side of you,” Syo grunted out, collecting a pair of her scissors from a broken monokuma only to jab them into another directly after. The crackling sound of it deactivating was oddly satisfying. “What’s the deal?”

The room grew silent as the final monokuma fell, the twelve metal carcasses littering the open floor. Maki stood to her right, her expression hidden from Himiko’s view. Both of them were trying to catch their breath. Komaru tilted her head a bit. “I don’t need you anymore.”

Syo scoffed, wiping sweat and the dried blood from her hand onto her tattered skirt. “Puh-leeze, you’d be lost without me and Gloomy and you know it! The adults woulda killed you by now, or else the monokumas would’ve! And without me before, the kids had a far better chance of killing you! You would’ve given up and gotten dead, she and I are the only reason you’re not.”

“None of that matters anymore.” Komaru closed her eyes for a handful of seconds, and when she opened them, it was as though she’d made up her mind of something. Her eyes burned with determination, though the rest of her expression remained unchanged. “Maybe I should go further. I know where the exit is, after all.”

Himiko barely stopped herself from gasping. Komaru leaving the city was probably one of the worst-case scenarios, since that would definitely get the attention of Future Foundation, especially if the world was healing like they said. And, if what Toko said was true, there was a really good chance they wouldn’t be able to save Komaru from the more ruthless members. No matter what they or Makoto said or did, she would probably be killed by Future Foundation despite not actually killing anyone.

She couldn’t allow that. It wasn’t really her place to be so invested, but she wouldn’t let Toko and Syo’s friend be killed; she didn’t want to let anyone go through what she did during the killing game.

“I don’t get what you want,” Himiko found herself saying, turning to better face Komaru. Her knees felt weak, but she stood as staunchly as she could. Now was not the time to be nervous or back down. “What’s the point of keeping the adults here? What’s the point of any of this?”

“The point?” Komaru shook her head, her short hair brushing her shoulders. “Who said there was a point? There’s no point to feelings like hope or despair. There’s no point in what I’m doing, or what anyone’s doing. It’s just how it is.”

Obviously she couldn’t really believe that. Syo huffed, crossing her arms. “Yeah, right! You had me gather up those mangy adults so you could make sure they didn’t die like the kids! Don’t pretend otherwise, you’re not a good liar.”

And again Himiko was glad that Syo and Toko were on their side, or else there would be a lot still left concealed at the end of the day. No more monokumas seemed to be coming, even with the controller still in Komaru’s hand, so Himiko flipped back from the breaking spell to the knockback one. That would probably work better against a person if she needed to use it. With her growing headache, she hoped she didn’t have to, that Komaru would come with them without fighting anymore, but there was no telling yet.

“This is ridiculous,” Maki said under her breath, shifting her stance like she was ready to charge at Komaru. Himiko got ready beside her, not really knowing what the plan was, and knowing her game face wasn’t as good as Maki’s. “Hurry up and come with us.”

Komaru looked at the two of them, almost intentionally ignoring Syo, who despite not saying anything seemed a bit hurt by that. “Why would I? I don’t trust you. Apparently the only one I can trust is myself.” She brandished the controller again, but didn’t press any of the buttons. “I can keep sending monokumas at you until you either destroy all of them or they destroy you. Either way, you won’t be able to even touch me.” That was when she looked at Syo. “You wouldn’t, anyway. You would never, not even that one time.”

A low growl sounded from Syo’s throat. “That was my own mercy because I trusted you. Don’t go telling me that was a mistake. I don’t make mistakes.”

“Maybe it was.” She smiled in a way that Himiko gathered would’ve been sweet and innocent if it weren’t for the dead look in her eyes. “Or maybe it was a mistake for me to ever trust you, you know? If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t be in this situation, now, would we?”

Before she knew it, Syo darted forward and pushed Komaru against the windows, dropping her scissors as she went so she could hold Komaru’s wrists down. The controller clattered to the ground, kicked away by Syo. Something in Himiko told her she shouldn’t be watching, but she couldn’t look away. “Don’t. You. Ever. Blame this on me. It’s not my fault and it’s not yours.”

“Then whose?” Komaru didn’t seem very bothered in the position she was in. Himiko tried meeting Maki’s eyes to see what they should be doing, but Maki was looking at the ground. Himiko shrugged to herself and looked back at the other two.

“Fucking … Junko Enoshima, that’s who.” Syo let go, but pushed Komaru’s wrists away roughly, turning her back. A moment passed before she whirled back around. “That no-good bitch is the only reason we’re here right now. Not me, not you, not Miss Morose or even that piece of shit and her good-for-nothing brother. My standards aside, I would slice ’em up and pin them to the wall with my scissors, no hesitance. But I wouldn’t do that to you, because it’s not your fault.”

Komaru didn’t seem to react at all. Her brand of despair, if it could really be called that, was so different from what Tsumugi had been like, Himiko really didn’t know what to expect from her.

“Are you following this?” she whispered to Maki, though she kept her eyes on the other two.

“No.” Even just the one word told Himiko how irritated Maki was.

“Maybe they forgot we’re here.” Wishful thinking, since that meant they could sneak out or something, but then where would they be? They could leave and just let them deal with their infighting, maybe help out the adults or something. They could even leave the city itself. But then they’d be leaving the Warriors, and she’d gotten kind of attached to them. Not to mention, she didn’t want to fail Makoto and the others. Now that she could see for sure that Komaru was alive, it was better to get her to wherever the Neo World Program was than to just leave her and pretend she was dead or something.

It was really tiring, though. She didn’t have as much energy as she would’ve liked to, but it was at least more than she used to have. That was better than nothing, she supposed, and the time spent just watching Syo and Komaru was helping her headache fade, readying her to use more magic later on if she had to. For once, she hoped she didn’t.

“Look,” Syo continued, a pair of scissors suddenly appearing in her still-bloodied hand. “Even if I have to force you, you’re coming with us. The adults are already being let out! You don’t have control over this city anymore, so give it up.”

“Of course I’m still in control! I got all the wristbands off without them exploding, I have reign over the monokumas. Everyone in the city is safe!”

“Everyone in the city is miserable, and if you’re so in control, you would know where the brat, the shithead and the Warriors are,” Syo pointed out, doing what Himiko was sure was an impressive show of keeping her anger in check. Just looking at Maki bristling while not really involved in the conversation told her that not everyone would have that kind of restraint, and she was kind of surprised that Syo did. Then Syo threw the scissors she was holding into the wall to her side, so maybe she was only restraining a little bit. “Rich coming from me, but why can’t you just see reason?”

Komaru shook her head again, backing up a step. “There is no reason. The world is made of madness; nothing in it makes sense. So why should I go out into the madness when everything is fine right here?”

Maki shifted beside Himiko. “This is getting nowhere.” She advanced a few steps, her knife still in hand.

Komaru looked her over, unimpressed. “What, are you going to kill me? Funny, even though the Warriors were trying to kill me, they never did it themselves. It was always those mechas.”

“I’m not going to kill you.” Even to Himiko, she didn’t sound very convincing. “But I can force you to come with me. You’re on your own now.”

Syo didn’t move, even as Komaru looked at her like she was expecting her to. “I see. You really aren’t on my side anymore, are you.” She started laughing a hollow laugh, her hands holding her head. Her eyes widened. “You’re … you’re right. I’m all alone, aren’t I? On my own, just like … like then. In that apartment.”

Himiko really didn’t know what she was talking about, but even Maki took a step back in hesitance at whatever was happening. Was it some kind of mental break? A panic attack? She didn’t understand. “Dekomaru?” Syo asked, as surprised and surprisingly concerned as Himiko felt.

Komaru sank to her knees, her laughs stopping though she still held her head. “I can’t… I can’t…” She froze for just a moment before letting out a scream, the laughing turning to sobbing.

Wait, Hiroko had mentioned captives before, right? And she said that Komaru was one. So if Himiko was gathering everything correctly, that meant Komaru had been kept on her own in an apartment for however long, as a teenager. She shuddered at the thought of it, clearly seeing the effects it could have on someone’s mental health.

Syo hesitated before she knelt next to Komaru, wrapping her arms tightly around her. It was a much softer display of affection than Himiko ever thought Syo would be capable of. “Calm down, dummy,” she said. “Will you give up now? Everything will be fine if you come with us.”

Something didn’t feel right. Himiko’s stomach clenched as she reached for the knockback spell in her mind, wondering if she had the precision to get just Komaru. Even the sleep spell would work if she got it right!

“You’re the one who taught me to never give up.” Komaru pulled one of her hands back, a pair of Syo’s scissors in it. She shoved Syo away from her and got back to her feet. Her eyes were red, though, and she stumbled a bit as she got up; Himiko didn’t think she faked whatever that was, but she just used it to her advantage. Komaru took a moment to study the scissors as Syo swore quite loudly. “I think I’ve seen you enough times to know how to use these, if only to protect myself. So I guess I should thank you, huh?”

“You little—” Syo cut herself off, reaching for more scissors without bothering to get up.

Maki stepped in front of her. “I’ve got this one.”

“Are you crazy?” Himiko shouted, which Maki obviously was since she already had her knife out in front of her.

“All I have to do is disarm her,” she said, her eyes narrowing at Komaru.

“If you can,” Komaru pointed out with a wide, empty smile. It made Himiko sick to her stomach. She closed her eyes until she started hearing metal on metal, then moved to offer a hand to Syo. It was the only thing she could do.

Syo didn’t seem particularly hurt, at least physically. “Don’t tell Toko about this,” she muttered, taking her hand back from Himiko quickly and fixing her glasses. She produced another couple pairs of scissors from who-knows-where; Himiko thought it wise to not ask. Instead, she flipped through her spellbook again, doubting whether or not any of the spells she knew would help much.

“I don’t know what I can do,” she said, mostly to herself.

Syo rubbed the shoulder that had taken the brunt of the hit when she’d fallen. “Don’t ask me. I’m just chopped liver at this point.”

So Himiko focused on what she could do if something went wrong. The knockback spell would help the best, probably, or the sleep spell, but she also had to figure out a way to protect Maki if anything happened. She didn’t even know any defense spells! And she even still had a little bit of a headache from using magic against the monokumas already.

Syo yanked Himiko aside as Maki and Komaru came close to the two of them. “If you’re not gonna do anything else, at least pay attention to where you are! I can’t go saving your small ass every second,” she hissed, cutting a sharp yet concerned glare to the two. “No way Dekomaru learned all that just from watching me.”

“I don’t know why Maki hasn’t disarmed her yet…” Both points were equally worrying. “Would it help if we got between them?”

Syo didn’t answer her, instead getting a better grip on more of her scissors, leading Himiko to wonder if how many pairs she had on her at once was some kind of magic. There was no way they were just there the whole time, being produced one after another. No way. She must’ve held about three pairs in each hand, grasped like they would be thrown. Did she have so much precision with them that she would be able to throw them and not hurt anyone? Or maybe that was the purpose, to incapacitate Komaru? It was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Metal hit the floor moments later, the scissors knocked out of Komaru’s hand. Maki held Komaru against the back of the elevator, her knife not close enough to slice Komaru’s throat but close enough to be a threat. “So?” she prompted. Komaru didn’t do or say anything. Maki switched her grip so she could hold Komaru’s wrists behind her back in lieu of rope. “Let’s go. This is over.”

“You’re easier to read than you think.”

Maki paused. “What—”

She shouted and let go as Komaru kicked at her already-injured ankle, her leg buckling under her and sending her to the ground, her knife being dropped, too. Komaru swiftly picked up the knife, ready to come at Maki before Himiko got in between them, the splitting headache she’d felt a week ago pulling at her mind, her vision turning red again as Syo ran towards Komaru. The same barrier that had helped her before helped her again, shielding herself and Maki from the other two tussling.

“Are you okay?” she asked hurriedly, screwing her eyes shut to fight the tugging in her mind and keep the barrier up at the same time.

“No,” Maki said, her voice tight. Himiko let the shield down, turning back to do whatever she could. Before she could even do anything, Maki waved her away. “Help Syo get Komaru, I’ll be fine until then.”

She didn’t exactly have much time to think, since Syo tossed not only the monokuma controller but also the hacking gun her way. Surprising even herself, she caught them before they hit the ground and shoved them into her backpack, watching in awe as Syo once more pinned Komaru to the floor, this time with no way of Komaru getting away. Himiko turned the page in her spellbook, speaking out the sleep spell and watching as it took effect in Komaru. “Don’t happen to have a rope or anything?” Syo asked the two of them, only letting up a little in case the spell didn’t last long. Himiko shook her head, stunned silent. “Great. Okay. Cut the cords for the blinds, then, we’ll use those.”

Himiko nearly forgot that she was the one being addressed before she jolted into action, picking up a pair of Syo’s discarded scissors and cutting clean through the cords like a hot knife through butter. The scissors were probably a lot sharper than anything else she’d ever held in her life, which would’ve been terrifying if she wasn’t using them for one of the most mundane things she’d done in the past week. She tied the cord tight enough to restrict Komaru’s movement without cutting off her circulation or anything. She just did the knots like she’d taught herself to do when she was younger—or, rather, what she’d observed her brother do when he was trying to teach himself how to tie “impossible knots.” Maybe something he’d done was finally coming in handy to her.

As Syo got up, tossing the unconscious Komaru over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, Himiko went back over to Maki, helping her up. “You’re not walking on that this time,” she ordered, seeing how Maki’s ankle was already swelling again.

For once, Maki accepted the help without complaint. “I don’t want to.” She glared over at Komaru, the intensity greatly turned down. “Hopefully the sleep spell lasts a while.”

“She’s not gonna fight even if it doesn’t,” Syo decided offhand, looking almost forlornly at the scissors still scattered on the floor. Her tone was much more subdued than before. “Just gotta make sure we can get past the adults, I’m not sure how they would feel about her. Any chance you have an invisibility spell?”

“No.” Would’ve been cool, though. “Um, but how are we gonna get all the way to the exit with her tied up and Maki hurt?”

Syo froze, smacking her forehead. “Fuck, you’re right.” She was quiet for a moment. “I think there’s a motorcycle somewhere outside we can take, if you don’t mind being the one behind the wheel.”

Actually, Himiko would love that. That was the only time she and her brother got along, when he would take her on rides on his bike once he got his license. “So we just need to get to it, then. No problem.”

Well, more of a problem than no problem, but not a huge problem, at least.

It was slow going, even to get to the elevator, but the more time they took meant the more time the adults had to leave the building, which went in their favor. Once inside, Maki crossed her arms, her shoulders braced against the corner of the elevator car to keep her weight off of her ankle. Again Himiko felt a bit guilty that she didn’t have a healing spell of any kind ready, or any other spell that would help. The useless feelings began to creep back before she tamped them down, reminding herself all she’d done in the last twenty-four hours.

Syo shifted inside so she was carrying Komaru bridal-style. Even unconscious, Komaru seemed emotionless. The crushing weight of responsibility that had weighed down on her since the kids died was probably still pushing on her.

The ride was awkwardly silent; even Syo didn’t think of anything to say. She didn’t meet Himiko’s eyes at all, instead keeping her focus on Komaru. Himiko couldn’t really blame her.

Himiko poked her head outside of the elevator when they arrived at the first floor, looking down as far as she could. Nobody was there. “Let’s go.”

Again Syo took the lead, though she was respectful enough to wait for Himiko and Maki with slower strides than before. “Should be around here somewhere,” she mused, looking around outside the building before going down a darkened alley. It was still completely dark out, besides; it was probably two or three in the morning. Himiko couldn’t believe she wasn’t tired. “Ah, here it is. You two are tiny, so we should all be able to fit no problem. You know how to use this thing? Cuz I sure as hell don’t.”

“I do.” Maki threw her a surprised look before getting on carefully, right behind Himiko. Syo took up the back, with Komaru wedged between her and Maki. “What? There’s still stuff you don’t know about me. I’m an enigma.”

“Truly.” Despite the obvious pain she was in, Himiko was satisfied to hear a little bit of humor in Maki’s voice as well.

While she was used to wearing a helmet while she rode at her mom’s insistence, she did remember to stuff her hat in her backpack before it flew off and she lost it again. “Hold on tight,” she muttered before she started it, sending them down the road, doing her best to avoid the rubble in the way. It definitely wasn’t as smooth a ride as if her brother was driving, but she honestly didn’t have the time to care. There were more pressing matters, like the fact that they could finally make it out of the city. Maybe she could finally rest then…

Riding cut down so much time, she was honestly impressed. It would’ve taken them at least an hour of walking otherwise, which she was sure nobody was up for. She pulled over by the exit about ten, maybe fifteen minutes later, her heart beating fast in her ears. It must’ve been a little while since she rode, but even before that she remembered feeling the adrenaline every time.

“There you are!” Kotoko and the other Warriors ran up to them, relief on at least her face, as the four of them painstakingly climbed the few stairs that the motorcycle wouldn’t have gone over. If the Warriors were able to get there that fast, how long had they taken trying to get Komaru to give in? “We thought something bad had happened!”

Nagisa regarded Syo and Komaru’s sleeping figure with an almost knowing look. “Looks like everything is wrapped up here.”

“You didn’t have any problems with adults on the way over?” Himiko checked, just to be sure, as she helped Maki sit down. She vaguely remembered passing one or two, though she’d been a little busy trying not to crash.

“No, we didn’t see any,” Jataro said, looking almost apprehensively at Komaru from a couple meters away.

“Wouldn’t have been a problem!” Masaru said, puffing out his chest. “I would’ve protected us easily. They wouldn’t bother us at all.”

Syo waved one of her hands after laying Komaru on the ground near Maki. Maki inched to the side a little. “Yeah, yeah, let’s get on with this. Witch, you and I are going first.”

“You literally know my name.” But she didn’t argue further, instead looking at the statue that had already been moved to expose the opening. “Um, okay. What are we gonna say when we get there?”

Maki shrugged. “Make something up.”

Syo sighed exaggeratedly. “First we gotta make sure that whoever’s on the other side is, y’know, on our side. That sleep spell should hold longer, right?” Himiko nodded. She didn’t know exactly how long, but at least Komaru was tied up, too. “Okay, then. You and me, let’s go.”

Himiko looked to Maki quickly, who nodded once. “We’re almost done with this, go on and get it over with.”

“Alright.” She looked down at the darkened staircase, her heart still beating too fast. The end of a very long week was just within reach. She could just taste it. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter Text

Fatigue hit Toko when she regained control again, along with the immediate darkness that she hated with her entire being. “W-where am I?” she demanded as though the dark void would answer, stopping what she was doing, which didn’t feel like much other than walking.

“Toko?” a voice came from behind her. She nodded, but in the darkness, she wasn’t sure if it would help. “It’s Himiko. We’re leaving Towa City to see who’s waiting on the other side from Future Foundation. We need to make sure they’re on our side since we have Komaru tied up and sleeping back in the city, and the Warriors are with us, too.”

Toko bit her thumbnail, trying to register all of that information, which she was grateful for. She could assume that her muscles were sore because of whatever fighting Syo did, if she even did anything. Maybe she was just making the feeling up, since she didn’t seem to be very beaten up. Then again … ugh, yeah, she supposed she should thank Syo for that in their shared notes. She hated to admit it, but Syo was very good at making sure their shared body stayed out of as much outside harm as possible.

So Komaru was essentially taken down, then. Sleeping, Himiko had said, so probably no harm had come to her, either. That was good. Assuming that whoever was waiting for them was one of the people who knew about the plans for the Remnants, though, she would have to explain everything.

She stopped in her tracks, stumbling forward a step when Himiko ran into her from behind. “Sorry,” Himiko yelped, taking a step back. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.” She took a cautious step forward, then another. Walking through a dark tunnel while it was dark outside… What if there was something waiting further down, some kind of monster or something? “...The dark and I are not friends.”

“Oh. Um, I don’t think I have a lighter with me, but maybe…” Himiko spouted a couple lines of absolute gibberish slowly, like she was trying to remember what to say. A moment later, a line of red lit the path ahead of them. “There! The detection spell worked!”

Toko glanced back at where she thought Himiko was, then at the dimly lit ground again. “Alright.” She assumed because of everything that had happened in however long Syo had been fronting, Syo hadn’t had the time to take any notes for her, nor did Toko have the right light anywhere to check. So there would be someone with Future Foundation waiting for them, allegedly. She would believe it when she saw it; no way they cared enough to remember she was there, and they definitely didn’t care about the two people not even associated with them that they sent in to do their dirty work.

“There should be stairs somewhere ahead,” Himiko warned her as they started moving again. “I can go up first if you want?”

…Why was there something in Himiko’s voice that sounded almost pitying? Was it because of the dark, or something like that? Whatever it was, Toko hated it. “Whatever.” She stood still as she waited for Himiko to move past her, following closely but carefully until they reached the small steps. Another minute or so passed before Himiko pushed on the ceiling above them, pale moonlight finally being shed on the stone and dirt path.

Himiko poked her head up outside, looking around a little before she emerged fully. Would it be easy to just stay in the tunnel or go back? Sure. But would it help anyone or anything in the long run? Unfortunately no, so Toko followed soon after.

Of course it was still dark outside, but at least with the moonlight it was better than the complete darkness of the tunnel. The moonlight had been something that was less present in the brunt of the Tragedy, even in Towa City; seeing it slowly make its return had reminded her that there was still hope for what she was doing. Toko looked over herself and Himiko quickly with the moonlight as her guide; like she thought, neither of them were very roughed-up, just a couple small scratches and bruises here and there. Himiko even seemed to be carrying herself different than Toko remembered. Did she go through some character arc in the last day or something?

“Hm? Oh, hey!” Shit. She knew that voice. She hesitated a moment before looking through the darkness to see Hiro’s darkened figure approaching the two of them. He split into a grin when he saw her. “Toko! You’re alright! A few of us were trading off shifts, glad I can be the one to greet ya!” He looked at Himiko with that same annoying grin, like there was nothing wrong. “You’re one of Shuichi’s friends, right?”

“That’s right,” Himiko said, trying to make eye contact with Toko to defer to her.

Toko sighed, gripping her skirt. “Himiko, this is Yasuhiro. He … yeah.” She didn’t really think she needed to include more. She would just end up insulting him again if she did.

Her short introduction was punctuated by Hiro’s laughter. Because of course. “Same as always! Glad to see some things haven’t changed. And hey, you can call me Hiro,” he said, directed at Himiko. He crossed his arms casually like they had all the time in the world. “So, fill me in. What’s the situation here?”

Again Himiko looked to Toko, and again Toko felt like shrinking under her gaze even though she knew logically that Himiko meant no harm in putting her kind of on the spot. This was what Toko came for, wasn’t it? “W-well, since it’s you and I guess I can trust you…” As usual, he didn’t appear fazed by her tone, despite not having seen her in, what, six months? Maybe more? She wasn’t really too sure of the time she’d spent in that city. “All you really need to know right now is we need to get Komaru Naegi into the Neo World Program.”

“Naegi? So that’s Makoto’s sister.” He sobered up in a second, putting a hand to his chin in thought. Funny to see him thinking. “Is she good, though? Otherwise?”

“Unharmed, you mean. Yes.” Her hands unlatched from her skirt, instead twisting together. “The- the four kids are there, too. Not Monaca.”

Some kind of familiarity glinted in Hiro’s eyes, even in the darkness, but he didn’t comment on it himself. “Also, the adults are fine,” Himiko added, not quite as relaxed as Toko thought she would be. She was fidgeting with her hat like Toko tugged at her skirt and hair. “And I think the captives are, too.”

“...Not all of them.” Toko turned away a little as she felt Himiko’s eyes on her, hugging her midsection tightly. “I-it would be best if we could get Komaru out now and see what we can do about everything else later. …Please.”

Hiro again laughed the laugh she hadn’t missed hearing. Even though, she hated to admit, any laughter was music to her ears. It just wasn’t the right person’s laughter. “Got it! So all we gotta do is get her to the Neo World Program, figure out what to do with those four kids, and check in on the adults and captives! Easy!” No it wasn’t. He switched his gaze to Himiko. “Hey, there wasn’t a riot or anything, right? With you and that other girl in the middle of it?”

“Um. No?” Himiko looked about as confused as Toko felt, but that wasn’t exactly new when it came to Hiro.

“Ah, darn. Guess that prediction was part of the sixty percent.” Of course it was one of his stupid predictions. He rubbed the back of his head. “Hope I didn’t worry Shuichi with that too much, then. Anyway, let’s get on with this!” He clapped his hands together as Toko looked back to the dark tunnel. She really didn’t want to go down into it. As usual, she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

For the most part, the walk back was surprisingly silent, though Toko was sure that Hiro probably wanted to talk more, at least to fill the silence. She wasn’t very attached to him, and she was sure he held some level of animosity towards her for how she usually treated him, and though she didn’t care, it was almost weird for him to not be talking nonsense.

Himiko took up the handle instead. “You look kinda familiar, Hiro,” she said about halfway through. She didn’t use whatever magic that was again, leaving the tunnel completely dark.

“Ya think so? I don’t think we’ve met before, though.” Well, it was always possible, given their still-erased memories. Anything was possible within those lost years. But Toko knew the real reason, from some of the last notes Syo had written her.

“I-it’s because you met his mom. Hiroko.”

She ran into Hiro’s back in the next moment, almost falling over. The tunnel was too dark for her to see him stop. “Mom’s alright?” he asked in one of the most relieved voices she’d ever heard. “For serious?”

“Yeah, she is,” Himiko said, some amount of humor in her tone at his reaction. “She’s been helping me and Maki with everything. She’s really cool.”

“Of course! My mom’s the best.” Finally they started moving again, still at a slow pace. Toko would shove them all forward if she could; she just wanted to get out of there.

She curled into herself as she walked, still doing her best to ignore the stinging from those kind-of fresh cuts on her palm and the aching in the rest of her muscles, plus her overall exhaustion. Hiro wasn’t smart enough to double-cross her or anything like that, the kids weren’t really a threat at all, Himiko and Maki—or at least Himiko, the least physically threatening of the two—seemed genuine in their offers of help, but… She’d thought for months that she’d be able to fix everything on her own. That she’d be able to bring Komaru back to her usual self without anyone else. She’d done so much. Just another area of her life where she wasn’t enough, it seemed.

So lost in her thoughts, she nearly collided with Hiro again, not paying attention to where she was going when they hit the stairs. She steadied herself at the last second, brushing off her always-dirty skirt and cloak even though nobody else had noticed.

“We’re back!” Himiko announced to the others as the first to emerge. Hiro took a look around his surroundings, still dark, before he zeroed in on the kids. Kotoko straightened a bit at the sight of him and half-hid behind Jataro, guilt laced in the way she avoided his eyes. It was plain as day that Hiro wanted to say something, but he didn’t. Somehow he kept his big mouth shut, a talent Toko wished he’d had before.

She immediately went back to Komaru’s side, checking her pulse and breathing and everything just in case. It looked like the spell or whatever was still working. She wasn’t sure that the magic was actually magic, though; there had to be a trick to it or something. But she allowed herself a small breath of relief that it meant that Komaru wasn’t harming herself or anyone else. Not that she’d been explicitly hurting anyone in the prior months, something Toko had been afraid of. That was the interesting part of her despair, and why Toko occasionally wondered if it was even despair at all.

If everything Komaru felt was the responsibility for something she didn’t even do, though, Toko dreaded to imagine what would’ve happened if Komaru herself had broken the controller.

Carefully, she put the back of her constantly-trembling hand to Komaru’s forehead. Her skin was slightly feverish, as it had been for the past few months. She figured it was a byproduct of the despair she felt in her heart, which if it had been anyone else would’ve been poetic enough for her to write about. She wouldn’t want to replicate Komaru’s despair anywhere. Not even to a character who deserved it.

“Okay, so this is everyone going through now?” Hiro checked, looking like he was doing mental math of some sort. Himiko nodded, helping Maki to her feet so she didn’t put weight on her ankle, which did not look like it was faring well. “Toko, is Future Foundation going to be able to come make sure the captives and adults are safe?”

“D-don’t ask me.” Mostly because she didn’t actually know. Preventing Future Foundation from entering the city shielded Komaru, sure, but it also prevented any other Remnants from following them in and killing more people. Now that it was just the adults, even not knowing how the rest of the world was doing, she wasn’t sure it was much of a threat anymore. More than likely, Future Foundation would want to ensure the safety of everyone who had been in the city the whole time, make sure they had food and water and all that, especially the captives. She could assure most of her former classmates that their captives were alive, but she was dreading speaking to Hina. She thought it best to put the conversation off as long as she could.

“Can we just go?” Maki asked impatiently, leaning on Himiko for support. The kids seemed about ready, too; they didn’t have much to bring, or didn’t want to bring anything anyway. She wouldn’t be able to blame them if they wanted to get rid of everything tying them to the city.

Hiro nodded, coming closer to Toko and Komaru. “Should I…?” He gestured to Komaru.

Toko looked to her again. She probably wasn’t strong enough to carry her all that way in the dark. “Fine, but d-don’t try anything.” She stood nearby and watched as he picked Komaru up bridal-style. As much as she wanted to keep an eagle eye on him, though he seemed to be doing an okay job in the first handful of seconds, she approached Himiko and Maki. “Here. I’m closer to your height, I guess- I guess it won’t be as hard if you lean on me instead.”

The two seemed taken aback at her offer of help, but she broke eye contact just in case there was some kind of judgment coming from them that she didn’t want to see. A moment later, she felt the weight of Maki’s arm around her shoulders. She did her best not to flinch back from the contact, instead forcing herself to remember how she saw a couple of adults hold each other up in the underground shelter they’d once had. Neither her nor Maki were very happy with the arrangement, if Maki’s prickly silence was anything to go by, but it was the most comfortable option unless she wanted to risk hurting herself more or rely on a child.

“We ready?” Hiro asked, one of his effortless, stupid smiles in place. It struck Toko that she would’ve rather any of her other classmates show up rather than him, even Hina. “By the way, is she knocked out, or…?”

“Sleep spell,” Himiko said with a tired sort of smile.

The speed at which Hiro turned around and started marching into the tunnel made Toko smirk at his back.

Rather than focusing on the darkness, Toko focused on keeping herself and Maki upright with the little strength she had in the narrow space. And what would happen once they reached the other side. Where she would go from there. Where Komaru would go from there.

What she wanted to do.

Ugh, no, she didn’t have the time to think about all that at once. It was too much, enough that even though she tried shoving it completely out of her mind, a little still lurked in the corners, ready to strike when her defenses were low.

“We have a boat waiting,” Hiro said after a while, speaking into what Toko thought was an awkward silence. “Maki and Himiko, you’ll probably come with us for a while.”

“And us?” Nagisa piped up from somewhere in front of her.

“...I dunno. But once we’re outside, I can call someone else to find out.”

Great. Amazing, exact plan. Just what she’d expected. But, she reminded herself again, it was probably going to be better than nothing, unless something went wrong and they were found out for using the Neo World Program. She actually didn’t know how it had turned out with the Remnants of Despair, but if Maki and Himiko said it was a viable option for Komaru then it couldn’t have gone very wrong. She hoped.

She didn’t entirely focus until they were on Future Foundation’s boat, sitting on the same small couch Hiro put Komaru on, Komaru’s head resting on Toko’s lap so she might be more comfortable and wouldn’t get tossed around by the waves. Himiko and Maki sat close to each other; the kids were clustered in a circle in one of the corners of the room, opting to sit on the floor rather than on any of the chairs. “Where exactly are we going?” Toko found herself asking, her eyes tracking Hiro as he moved through the room, distributing water bottles and protein bars to everyone.

“Oh, right, I keep forgetting you don’t know. The Neo World Program is with the former Remnants on Jabberwock Island,” he said casually, but Himiko nearly spit out her water.

“We’re going back there?” She seemed excited for whatever reason. Her spellbook was open in her lap, multicolored notes in different handwritings littering the pages.

Hiro nodded, then remembered something. “Oh yeah, Shuichi’s there right now, too. Supposed to be recon or something but we don’t really need that anymore.” He shrugged, taking a seat for himself. “We’re a couple hours out, so might want to get comfortable. Maybe get some sleep. It’s really late. Early? Whatever.”

Because sleeping was really so easy. Toko tried, of course, but given that she was in a constant state of distrust and anxiety, being comfortable even in a place with people she already knew and kind of trusted on some level wasn’t the easiest task. Her hands itched for a pen and paper; it had been so long since she’d had the right mindset to write more than just notes. She’d been pretty busy with everything else, besides, and honestly she would have a lot more motivation once she knew that Komaru was safe.

And after she saw for herself that the former Remnants were really “former.” Especially that guy that she was sure the kids weren’t entirely keen on seeing, either. She hadn’t even noticed him sneak out of the city. How long had it taken Future Foundation to find him for the program?

…She still wondered if Future Foundation even cared about their lowly intern, or if they were just there for Komaru. But she could dwell on that another time, too. She could stand to rest as much as she could while she was less worried than usual.

It was around sunrise that Shuichi heard excited shouting coming from outside the cabin Hajime had offered to share with him, sounding like a combined effort between Hina and Ibuki. Hajime grumbled and turned over in bed, but Shuichi stood and slipped out as silently as he could, shrugging on his jacket over the t-shirt he’d slept in.

“What’s going on?” he asked Ryota, who stepped out of his own cabin at the same time. He looked like his sleep had been deeply disturbed, as though he’d only just fallen asleep.

“I got a call from Future Foundation,” he mumbled, pulling a hand down his face to wake himself up. “They asked if they could bring Komaru Naegi to use the Neo World Program. And Ibuki has great hearing, so obviously she heard. Then she told Hina.”

Komaru Naegi… “They found her?” Allowing himself to be a little selfish, he asked, “Did they say if Maki and Himiko were coming, too?” A week was nothing compared to six months of silence, but it felt like an eternity to know if they were okay.

Ryota nodded once with a yawn. “Toko and four kids are with them, too, according to Hiro. I think Hina and Ibuki are just excited to see everyone.” Shuichi couldn’t blame them, especially Hina.

While Ryota hung back near the cabins for a minute, Shuichi followed the path that he was pretty sure Hina and Ibuki had taken down to the dock. The boat they’d taken there had departed the day before so as to not be suspicious, so the dock was currently empty. He couldn’t see another boat in the distance yet, but Hina and Ibuki were already chatting like they’d been up for hours.

“Goooooooood morning!” Ibuki greeted him brightly when she noticed him approach. She looked like she was a moment away from giving him a hug, which he’d seen her give to just about all her classmates as well as Hina. He appreciated that she held herself back; he wasn’t a very huggy person unless it was someone he was close to. “Sleep well?”

“I did, thanks.” Even though the two of them were still in pajamas, too, he felt a bit awkward wearing the same. “Is it true that Future Foundation is coming?”

“Yup!” Hina cheered again, followed very quickly by Ibuki. The two of them seemed to share the same kind of energy. “I’m so glad Toko’s alright, and Makoto’s sister. And your friends, of course.”

Which relieved him to no end. Going from living with them, at least seeing them every day if not talking to them, to not hearing from them at all was … not the best. Especially coming out of their situation. He hadn’t bothered any of the Future Foundation agents at headquarters with the nightmares he’d woken himself from, even those who had been through a killing game themselves. It was easier to keep it to himself, even if he would drop everything to help Maki and Himiko through nightmares or the insomnia that occasionally struck him even before the game. He wasn’t sure he would want to separate from them so quickly again the next time something came up; they’d all had the right idea with their initial hesitance.

Ibuki and Hina had already started in on their conversation again without him noticing, something about the water and if it was safe to swim in for long periods of time farther out. It didn’t look very murky or dangerous, but he figured the two of them had more relevant experience with the water. He didn’t know how the Tragedy affected natural waters. Probably not well, if he had to guess.

Shuichi stood to the side, stretching and watching the horizon for the boat. The steady waves were actually pretty calming to watch, especially with the sunrise slowly brightening the water. He had never gone to the beach often, to his memory, but he remembered being fascinated with the way waves would sparkle a vibrant blue rather than white in some spots. It captured his attention again, giving him a focus point as time passed quite slowly.

A couple more people showed up as the minutes ticked on, joining in or creating other conversations amongst themselves. Among them was Hajime, clearly still waking up, but talking to everyone else all the same. Of course he would be there; he seemed to be the de facto leader of the group.

“Just to check, we’re all okay with them using the Neo World Program again?” he asked his former classmates through a yawn.

“Of course!” Sonia said quite firmly, looking very put-together for someone who’d just woken up. “There’s no risk of a virus now, and if it helped us either way, who are we to deny the use of it to help someone else?”

Gundham nodded in agreement, his hamsters chittering their affirmation as well. It made Shuichi smile. “The girl will be rid of any despair, no doubt.”

In the grand scheme of things, Shuichi really hadn’t known the group for very long at all, but they all seemed like they wouldn’t turn someone away if it meant sparing them from some kind of cruel fate. He admired that about them; they were the kind to help themselves and their former classmates grow stronger, despite their mistakes. Reminded him of someone, or a couple someones.

Hajime stayed in his leadership mode, starting to get everyone organized. “Alright. We’ll need a quick transport to the third island, probably, do you want to be in charge of that, Nekomaru?” The man nodded, accepting his responsibility as easily as Shuichi would imagine. “And we should check if Mikan is awake… I can probably start the program on my own, but it’d be a good idea to have her double-check vitals and everything.”

Ryota, who had shown up at some point with Satoru, meekly spoke up. “They mentioned that they had four kids with them, too.”

Vague recognition flashed in Hajime’s eyes. “In that case, Ibuki, make sure Nagito is kept separate from them for a while. I’m not sure if there’s still bad blood between them or not, and I’d rather not find out the hard way.”

“Roger!” The woman ran off, her multicolored hair flying behind her. Chances were that Nagito wasn’t up quite yet, but Ibuki was probably a good distraction. In a way.

“What can I do to help?” Shuichi asked once there was a slight lull.

Hajime zeroed in on him like he hadn’t realized he was there. “Maybe you could try to get an idea of what was happening?” Hina suggested. “Like, for the report or whatever. If we file one, which we probably won’t, because. Uh.” She kind of awkwardly gestured to the entire island. “Even if we report false events, though, we need to know the real ones. Make it as close to the truth as possible or something.”

A roundabout way to put it, but Shuichi was fairly confident that he could handle the task. Even if he just started with Himiko and Maki, that would give him a good foundation.

“Ah! There it is!” Sonia looked excitedly out at the sea. Shuichi was honestly impressed with her eyesight; he could barely see the boat approaching in the distance. Once he did see it, though, he didn’t take his eyes off of it until it was finally docked. Even then, he had to wait until everyone actually came to the shore.

First came Hiro, alone. He and Hajime exchanged a few words that Shuichi didn’t pay much attention to before Hajime and Nekomaru both reentered the ship while Hiro moved over to talk to Hina. Nekomaru exited a minute later, carrying an unconscious woman who didn’t look much older than Shuichi. Maybe she was even his age? He was followed closely by another woman he didn’t know, who seemed more fixated on the unconscious woman than anyone or anything else. He thought it a fair conclusion to draw that the two were Komaru Naegi and Toko Fukawa. Toko followed Nekomaru down the beach, presumably to the third island as Hajime had mentioned. To someone as muscular as Nekomaru, carrying Komaru there probably wasn’t much of a big deal.

Shuichi couldn’t help his sigh of relief when he saw Himiko and Maki come off the boat, though it was quickly replaced with worry when he noticed Maki being helped along by Hajime, four kids trailing behind them. Himiko’s eyes lit up when she saw Shuichi, racing down and nearly knocking him over with a hug. He just barely kept them from falling onto the sand, returning her hug easily but also keeping his eye on Maki. “I’m so happy to see you again,” Himiko muttered into his chest.

“So am I.” He met Maki’s eyes, hers filled with relief but also mixed with pain. “Are you alright?”

“I will be,” she said, slipping away from Hajime carefully so she could hug him, too. “It’s just a sprained ankle is all.”

He held the two of them tightly, not quite willing to let go yet. “We have a small hospital on the third island,” Hajime told them. “That’s where Nekomaru’s bringing Komaru, since it’s where the Neo World Program is. Mikan can help you out there.” He turned to look at the kids. “Are you four okay with going there, too? Just to make sure everything is well.”

The four exchanged a glance before the blue-haired boy spoke up. “That … should be fine,” he said slowly, with a little hesitance. None of the kids seemed very trusting of any of them except for maybe Himiko and Maki. The fact that they even agreed to be seen by Mikan was probably a huge step.

Maki distanced herself a bit from Shuichi, steeling herself to walk all that way. “I could carry you on my back,” he offered quickly, then thought that that sounded a bit weird. “Since you probably shouldn’t be walking on your hurt ankle.”

“Definitely shouldn’t be,” Himiko amended, nearly staring Maki down herself. Shuichi was only incredulous for a second.

“Sure you won’t drop me?” she asked, some amount of humor present in her tone. Before he could even respond, she continued. “Fine. Just this once.”

He wasn’t sure if it was because Maki was lighter than he had expected or if he had actually gotten stronger from training, but the walk to the third island wasn’t an unpleasant one. The kids whispered to each other, and occasionally to Himiko, who whispered right back as if in on a secret language. If he wasn’t mistaken, they seemed to look up to her, to a small extent at least. It was interesting to see that kind of leadership take root in her after only a week.

Once they got to the hospital, he let Maki down at one of the chairs, sitting down next to her with Himiko on her other side. The kids all gathered in one small area, looking around the space with suspicious eyes. Further into the room was that woman who he was pretty confident was Toko. She made uneasy eye contact with the kids, who nodded at her in acknowledgement, and then Maki and Himiko.

“...I guess I should thank you,” she said, not bothering to approach them. She looked away, down at the floor with her hands clasped near her chest. “I-I don’t know how much longer everything would’ve gone on for. And … I guess I was stubborn.” She grumbled a little under her breath, like she loathed admitting it. “They’re putting her in the program n-now, so I can’t go back in yet.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Himiko told her.

“I know that.” Her tone was harsh, but softened quickly enough with her expression once she realized that. “I’m ready to see it for myself, though.”

Even without knowing the full extent of what happened, Shuichi could understand that. And given the slight tint to Toko’s cheeks, he had a feeling that he could take at least a semi-educated guess as to a piece or two. Or maybe not.

While Maki didn’t say anything, Shuichi still felt a sort of shift in her energy, which while it didn’t make much sense thinking, made sense to literally feel. She’d grown quite a bit, too; there was something more to the way she carried herself that wasn’t related to the pain from her ankle.

“Not to ruin the mood,” he said into the silence, “but I do need you all to tell me what happened, especially in the last six months.”

“We’ll tell you everything we know,” the pink-haired girl decided immediately for the kids, “but it’s not much. You’ll want to talk more to Toko.”

The comment made Toko’s face burn an even brighter red, but she didn’t seem particularly irritated. “Okay. Yeah.” She took a deep breath and straightened her posture, though it still wasn’t the best. “Komaru’s going to be—she is safe now, so … I can tell you everything.”

Chapter Text

Three weeks, according to what Mikan had told her the day before, was not enough time for Maki’s sprained ankle to fully heal. She’d been thoroughly lectured the first time Mikan looked at it for walking on a sprain at all, let alone for so long and, that last day, walking so far and fighting. At least the cuts had already healed and scarred, and now she was allowed to start walking on it again if she was careful and didn’t overdo it, though she was still confined to a brace to stabilize it. Sitting around different parts of the island, not really able to do much to help in any way wasn’t her definition of a good time. Especially not when she had to “talk” to Hajime nearly every day like he was a therapist.

But, at the very least, she wasn’t alone. She had Shuichi and Himiko, so she didn’t need to worry about them; the kids were around still; the former Remnants were very welcoming of them… It was nice to know that there would be people around basically wherever she went, something she never thought she would find comforting. People used to be the biggest hassle in her life until a month ago.

Apart from her ankle, her biggest issue at the moment was that she was the one keeping tabs on the kids. At the kids’ request. Of course.

The four of them didn’t make much trouble for anyone, thankfully, and especially not for her. She was really only there to give her something more to do since she couldn’t help with much more around the island like everyone else, but they humored her and for the most part were on their best behavior. Especially at first, when they hadn’t really branched out much and stayed huddled together, though she would admit that even though they started becoming more social with the others on the island, they still went easy on her. Compared to some of the troublemakers she used to have to put up with…

She wondered how they were all doing now, if the orphanage had bothered to protect them at all through the Tragedy. Maybe one day she would find out.

Maki would say, even though she still wasn’t that fond of kids, she would much rather be watching them than still training as an assassin. The future was open for her now; she could choose to be whatever she wanted. And even though she would keep working out, keep her defensive skills sharp just in case, she could just as easily never kill again. The former Remnants did it. Syo did it. So could she.

Today, a great deviation from any of her days before the Tragedy, she sat on the beach as the kids played in the sand—or, in Nagisa’s case, sat in the shade reading on a towel he’d spread out next to hers. She’d noted his minute excitement when he talked about the library Sonia and Hajime had shown him on the second island, something that was put to good use with him around. If he wasn’t with the other three, that was usually where he could be found.

A warm breeze kicked up, brushing some sand onto her towel. It was almost strange how normal everything had become, how quiet it was.

Well, quiet when there wasn’t bickering among the adults, or the occasional prank war, or extremely loud music performances, if what Ibuki played could be called music. It seemed like only Hiyoko was a fan.

Regardless, it was more like the life Maki used to dream she’d have as a child, one where she had friends and didn’t need to fear for her life on a daily basis. Though she wondered if her younger self would be proud of her for everything it took for her to get to that point, at least she could be content that she was alive at all.

Shadows and sand brushed over her leg as Himiko set another towel next to her and flopped onto it, Shuichi following close behind but with more care than to get sand all over everything. “We brought lunch!” Himiko exclaimed, gesturing to the picnic basket Shuichi was carrying with him. The two of them seemed to be in good spirits; that was good. “We have some for the Warriors, too.”

As if they heard their group being called, even from a dozen or so meters away with Himiko talking at her regular volume, the three that were playing in the sand immediately came running. “Thank you!” they chorused, bringing their sandwiches with them to what looked like a little sand hideout. Nagisa brought his over with them, leaving his book behind and stepping into the sun for the first time in the last hour or so.

“They look like they’re having fun,” Shuichi remarked with a hint of fondness. The kids hadn’t exactly warmed up to so many adults quickly, and still weren’t the most comfortable with some of them, but they were fine with Shuichi. Probably because Maki and Himiko were so close to him.

“I guess.” She took her own sandwich when he offered it, hoping there wasn’t already sand in it. “Thanks for bringing this.”

“I’ve been wanting to have a picnic like this anyway.” Himiko took her witch hat off and put it inside the now-empty basket so it wouldn’t get sand on it. Good to know she preferred to keep that sand-free more than other human beings. “Perfect day for it.”

The weather hadn’t really changed in the last couple weeks, but she supposed that was beside the point.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Jabberwock Island or the people on it; she was actually more comfortable being there than she had been in the game, or anywhere she could remember being before that. Now that she had downtime, she was just thinking more often, which was probably why Hajime asked to talk to her so often. He was only two years older, and she could tell that it was somehow helping at least a little, but talking through things made her feel small, and she hated that feeling with her entire body.

“Another week or so and you’ll be able to train again. Are you ready?” Shuichi asked with a small smile.

“More than ever.” Being under a strict no-training-of-any-kind ban only bred her more boredom. “Himiko, you’re welcome to join us.”

Himiko froze with her sandwich halfway to her mouth, almost in fear, before shaking her head. “I’m fine just watching.”

Maki cracked a smile at that, nudging Himiko gently with her elbow. She didn’t expect anything different, but at least the offer was out there. It would’ve been nice to have their duo turn into a trio again, even if the original third member could never truly be replaced.

“Have you given any more thought to what we should do?” Shuichi asked the two of them, looking out to the waves as he spoke. Maki noticed him looking out there quite often while thinking, as though the water had answers or something in it.

Unlike the adults they’d lived with the last few weeks, they had the option to go anywhere and do whatever they wanted. They weren’t the ones who had once been tainted by despair; they’d been rescued from it’s clutches. Future Foundation—rather, Kyoko and Makoto—had even offered them positions starting as interns if they wanted.

Or, as Hajime and the others had graciously extended, they could keep living on Jabberwock Island with them.

It was her understanding that they’d all asked to be left alone on their island, with only some contact from Future Foundation to not get Makoto and the others in trouble and to avoid being caught themselves. Most of Future Foundation didn’t know she, Himiko and Shuichi were there, or even existed, and they definitely didn’t know about the kids being there or Komaru’s situation. Toko was still on the island, too, staying in the third island’s motel with the three of them and the kids so the cabins on the first island weren’t overcrowded. Plus, for Toko, it was closer to the hospital and the Neo World Program, where she spent most of her time. Even Syo generally stayed around there when she was fronting, rather than mingling with the others. Maki would do the same if it was someone she was that close to in the program.

“I think…” She trailed off before she could finish her thought, words dying on her tongue. The three of them would be able to help at Future Foundation, hopefully in different ways than they already had, but at the same time, Maki couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t their responsibility. Even if staying on the island meant she had to watch the kids every day for the indefinite future, she would rather live that more peaceful life, at least for a while longer. “I don’t know.”

“I always hated decisions,” Himiko piped up, her voice dragging a bit to indicate her true hatred of them. “Especially about the future. That hasn’t changed.” She finished her sandwich before she started tracing little doodles in the sand. “We’re only nineteen. Why do we have to decide our entire lives now?”

“We would’ve had to figure it out years ago if nothing had happened,” Shuichi pointed out, but it was definitely half-hearted. He took a deep breath of the salty air. “I think there’s merit to going, but there’s also benefits in staying. We don’t need to decide now, or even soon.”

Only nineteen, though. Weren’t Makoto and his classmates younger than that when they joined Future Foundation? Wasn’t she a child, not even in middle school, when she was forced to start training as an assassin? Age didn’t equate to what someone was capable of. She’d learned that many times over.

“I think I want to stay here.” It was only when she noticed Himiko and Shuichi both looking at her that she realized it was she who had spoken. “It’s peaceful. We can help the same kind of way everyone else here does. Shuichi, you could even do remote paperwork if you wanted.” She brought her knees up to her chest, still careful of her ankle. “I don’t know if the people who trained me are still out there. It’s easier to stay here, stay hidden, so neither of you are targeted as an ultimatum to force me to start working for them again.”

The last part was something she hadn’t thought about again until recently, since she actually had the time to think. Maybe that was another reason Hajime made her and the other two have those talks with him. She’d heard some of the other adults refer to him as many different Ultimate talents, Ultimate Therapist among them, but he’d never introduced himself as such. She never asked, just went and did what she was there to do.

“If you stay, so will I.” The confidence behind Himiko’s voice was a bit much for that kind of statement, but the fact that she was capable of that amount was a testament to her growth since Maki had met her.

“I won’t go anywhere without you both,” Shuichi added. So it was decided, at least for the near future. Having that all out in the open lifted a weight off of Maki’s chest. She glanced over at the kids again, ensuring they were fine. It looked like Kotoko and Masaru were starting to bury Jataro in the sand, something she was mostly sure Nagisa would ensure wouldn’t go too far before Maki had to step in. They were just kids being kids now. And she was being a teenager.

Himiko leaned her head against Maki’s shoulder as she watched the kids, too. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired.”

Shuichi and Maki both laughed at that, especially given that as soon as she was given the opportunity weeks ago, Himiko slept for almost a full day. “Nothing’s stopping you from taking a nap,” he reminded her, though all three of them knew she wouldn’t take the opportunity.

“I would, but I want to practice my magic more with Gundham and Sonia later. I think I’m really starting to get stronger with them!” Exactly as Maki thought. The two of them had practically become Himiko’s surrogate parents in the last few weeks. Kind of like how Peko and Fuyuhiko often checked in on her, in a way, though Maki was more apt to see their actions as those of peers. Sonia and Gundham really were like doting parents, down to Sonia even being one of the adults who made sure everyone was completing their assigned chores and upkeep tasks.

Maki stretched her legs out again, leaning back on her hands after making sure that area of the towel did not have sand on it. That was one of the other drawbacks of staying there, but she figured she would get used to it eventually. Everyone else had.

“Maki, what are your plans for later? Anything interesting?” Shuichi asked, bringing her back to the conversation.

“I don’t have any plans. Maybe I’ll check on Toko, watch Peko train for a while.” She shrugged. “I think Mikan mentioned before that the Neo World Program only lasts around three weeks, so Komaru should probably be waking up soon.”

“Oh, right!” Himiko straightened her shoulders and leaned forward a little, some of her loose hairs sticking to the sunscreen Maki had put on her shoulders. “Do you think it worked?”

How would she know? Though if it worked on everyone else, and that was with that virus she remembered Makoto mention that one time, she didn’t see why it wouldn’t work for Komaru if it was running without viruses.

“I guess we’ll find out eventually.” And then it was likely that Komaru would get used to living with everyone, since there was no chance of Future Foundation letting her live freely anywhere else if they found out. She looked over at the kids again, ensuring they didn’t bury Jataro all the way and that he could still breathe. “Alright, that’s enough. Dig him out of there.”

She didn’t need to put too much force behind her words; even though Masaru pouted for a moment, he gave her a goofy salute before he and Kotoko got started. Maki shook her head slightly before returning her attention to Himiko and Shuichi. “I’m glad you’re getting along with them. They really seem to like you,” Shuichi said, amusement laced in his voice though he struggled to keep it hidden. It wasn’t working.

“Shut it.” Which sent Himiko into full-on snickers until Maki pushed her gently, though she fell the rest of the way on her own off of her towel and onto the sand. At that, Maki didn’t hide her own smile or laugh. She felt like it’d been forever since she’d laughed so often, maybe even since she was a kid, but she was able to laugh a lot more with less to worry about.

It was probably childish to think so, but for once she had all the hope in the world for her future. Now that she had more agency over it, she was going to make sure it was a good one.

When the world stopped swirling around her, Komaru opened her eyes for what felt like the first time in a while. She registered three separate voices talking before her eyes even focused. Warm hands guided her carefully into a seated position, her heart beating steadily, clearly.

She blinked once, then again when she fully registered the only familiar face in the room. The mixture of concern and hope in Toko’s eyes felt almost foreign, but she managed a smile as the rest of the sights and sounds around her became clearer, more real.

“Hi, Toki,” she said, then swallowed because her throat felt like it was coated in sawdust. The words were practically a croak, but the relief that washed over Toko’s face was worth them both. She didn’t know where she was or how she got there, but if Toko was there with her, then it couldn’t be anything really bad, right? Maybe she just got knocked out by a monokuma or something. But she was alright; she didn’t seem hurt or anything. Neither did Toko; that was good.

“Komaru Naegi,” another one of the voices in the room said, one she didn’t recognize. She turned her head carefully, her neck a bit stiff. Her gaze landed on a man with spiky hair standing close to her. She couldn’t decide if he looked approachable or not. “My name is Hajime Hinata. Do you know where you are?”

Komaru glanced around the room quickly, beyond where Toko was sitting next to her on the ground, only just noticing the wires and different pod-looking things in the room. It wasn’t anything she remembered seeing before, not anywhere in the city. “Definitely not.” Again she swallowed, trying to negate the dryness of her throat before a shaky hand passed over a cup of water with a straw.

“Drink slowly,” the woman instructed. Her eyes were wide and nervous when Komaru met them but her movements were precise when she turned to check various monitors in the room. Komaru was almost distracted watching her work before she remembered the water in her hand, taking a few cautious sips. Water had never tasted better.

“This is Jabberwock Island,” Hajime continued once he was sure she was listening. His tone was gentle, like he was approaching the subject step by step. Gauging her reactions, maybe? “You just exited the Neo World Program.”

Was that what that was? She frowned to herself. She’d thought it was a dream, just enjoying some peaceful days and friendly people, though that place was also called Jabberwock Island. How’d she even get there from Towa City?

“Did something happen?” The last thing she remembered from her apparently-not-a-dream was defeating the Big Bang Monokuma. Celebrating that win with Toko was one of the best feelings.

“I’ll tell you later,” Toko cut in before Hajime could say anything. Komaru looked at her again, at how tired she seemed. She really needed more sleep. “E-everything’s okay now. We’re both alright.”

The way she said that, like she was reassuring herself, sounded a little off, but so long as everything was alright… She smiled at Toko and took her hand gently, waiting to see if Toko shied away from the contact before interlocking their fingers. She didn’t, much to Komaru’s surprise. “It was despair, wasn’t it. Something happened in the city.” The taken-aback look Toko had told her she was right on the mark with her guess. “You can tell me later,” she agreed. She didn’t know what had driven her to that point, or how long she had been like that, and she wasn’t sure she was in the right place just yet to find all that out. But soon. “Are we going to go back to the city?”

Toko paused like she did when she was considering her words before shaking her head. “It’s … different there now. A-and Future Foundation isn’t friendly with despair, so…”

Hajime stepped in when Toko trailed off. “Chances are you’ll be living with us for a while.” He rubbed the back of his head, moving more of his hair out of place. “My friends and I were also helped by the Neo World Program. We’re from Class 77 of Hope’s Peak Academy, formerly Remnants of Despair.”

Even that much information was a lot for her to process in such little time, but she nodded slowly, filing away the information. No more Towa City, and she wouldn’t be going to Future Foundation. Idly, she glanced at her wrist, finding it bare of the wristband that had held her back before. Who had figured out a way to get it off?

She took a deep breath, refocusing herself in the moment. The weight of Toko’s hand in hers helped. When she felt like it, she could get the answers she was looking for. But she wasn’t in danger; Toko wasn’t in danger. Everything would be alright in the end.

A warm feeling bloomed in her chest, one that she was certain she hadn’t felt in a while. Hope. “Those brats are here, too,” Toko said, probably in reference to the Warriors of Hope, though her tone was more soft towards them than Komaru had ever heard it. Even after everything they did, that must’ve been something else that had changed. “A-and a couple other people who helped me get you here.”

“Oh.” Apparently she didn’t have much to say. “Can I meet them?”

Toko looked first, almost begrudgingly, to Hajime and the other woman. “Everything looks fine here,” the woman said, her voice shakier than even Toko’s despite her professionalism with everything else. “But you should still take it easy for a while as you’re recovering. Don’t stay out too long.”

Hajime smiled at the woman. “If Mikan says it’s fine, then I agree. Just be careful, one of us will be by to check on you in a couple hours.”

Komaru nearly cheered, already moving to stand. Toko helped her up; Komaru’s legs were shakier than she expected, but she could handle herself alright after a moment. Again she noticed the pod she must’ve been inside, and that she’d been put in new, more comfortable clothes than her old school uniform. “I don’t know where I’m going,” she whispered to Toko in a conspiratorial sort of way once she and Toko had left the room, out of earshot of Hajime and Mikan.

“Just follow me.” The severe lack of edge to Toko’s words was something she still wasn’t used to. Did she do something wrong? Was it even wrong that Toko felt almost nicer? No, of course it was; that edge that was stripped away with the power of friendship was part of who Toko was! But it was almost like she was avoiding something. She’d get to the bottom of that somehow.

The sunshine illuminating a perfectly blue sky outside of the building she’d been in was incredibly bright, but was probably one of the best sights Komaru had seen in years, since before the Tragedy. Maybe the world really was healing.

“I want to get this information slowly,” she said aloud, her hand still in Toko’s as they walked slowly. It felt so natural, lighting a blush in her cheeks that she could always amount to a sunburn if anyone asked. “How long has it been since everything in Towa City?”

“We-well. The Neo World Program was three weeks—which is the usual amount of time it takes, apparently,” Toko rushed to add when she felt Komaru stiffen. Three weeks was already a lot of time lost. “Before we got you here… It’s been six months.”

It took everything she had to not stop dead in her tracks. Six, nearly seven months in despair. Komaru focused on the salty air, the warmth of the sunlight touching her skin. “Did I … kill anyone?” Without meaning to, her voice became small. She almost didn’t want to know the answer, but she needed it.

“No.” Toko’s answer was firm, no-nonsense. “No, you didn’t hurt anyone. Towa City is fine now.”

Music to her ears, even if she couldn’t see it for herself. And that was enough information to stave her off for the time being.

Toko led her down the island to a beach near what seemed like motel rooms. She recognized the Warriors instantly—all of them except for Monaca—and though she felt some kind of familiarity from two of the three teenagers on beach towels near them, she couldn’t grasp any information about them. What struck her first, though, was the Warriors’ laughter. It wasn’t the malicious, almost empty laughter she’d heard from them before, but was instead warm and full.

“Komaru!” Masaru noticed her and Toko first, prompting the other Warriors and the other three to look at her. Usually she was fine with a couple of people looking at her unless she was supposed to do public speaking, but she felt exposed all of a sudden. Before she could fully process what was happening, Masaru and Kotoko had practically latched onto her, almost knocking her over had Toko not steadied them. They all looked … happy. Like actual kids. Their affection startled her for a good few seconds before she hugged them back, marveling at how tall they’d gotten, especially once Jataro and Nagisa hugged her as well. She noted them smile at Toko, who again didn’t seem as grating as she had once been towards them.

“Are you okay now?” Jataro asked, looking up at her. She almost couldn’t recognize him without his mask.

“I am,” she said, trying not to sound unused to civil interactions with them. She looked over their heads to the three others who stood nearby. The Warriors finally broke away from her, letting her address the other three. “Um. Hi. My name’s Komaru—wait, you already know that.” She rubbed her neck, noting her hair had gotten longer, too. It took her exactly one sentence to turn everything awkward. “I don’t really have the details or anything yet, and I don’t remember what happened, but I’m really sorry for any trouble I caused and I’m really, really grateful for your help.” She bowed deeply, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn’t find out she was the cause of irreversible damage.

The shortest of the three spoke first, her red hair shining brightly in the sun. “I’m glad we could help.” A second passed before she elbowed the other girl.

“...What she said.” Not exactly a friendly greeting, but Komaru could expect that. The three of them looked around her age, though the girl looked like she was trying to decide whether or not to trust Komaru. Again, that was something she should expect.

The boy next to them smiled lightly, almost awkwardly at her. “I wasn’t in the city with them, but I’m glad everything turned out alright in the end. My name’s Shuichi, that’s Himiko and Maki.”

Komaru gave them a small, almost shy wave. “I don’t think we’ve ever really talked, like before the Tragedy or anything like that, but I’d love to get to know you all! If you want.”

Toko cleared her throat, tugging lightly on Komaru’s hand to steady her, forcing her to notice that she was a little unsteady on her feet still. “Come on, you should rest more,” Toko reminded her. “You literally just woke up. N-nobody’s going anywhere.”

“Aw, fine.” She knew Toko wasn’t wrong, though. Her muscles already felt like she’d run a marathon. She looked at the three teenagers, then at the Warriors. “I hope I can talk to you all later!”

The Warriors all waved as she let herself be led away, back to the stretch of motels. “I-I have a couple of keys,” Toko told her as they came closer. “I wasn’t sure if … if you wanted your own room or to stay with me.” Toko didn’t meet her eyes, shuffling her feet a little. “I d-didn’t want to make the decision for you.”

That was nice of her! Toko really was the best. “I’m … not sure I want to be alone yet,” she admitted, running her hand down the more-healed scars she’d gotten from the helicopter crash she now knew was six months ago. The scars didn’t hurt as much anymore, though her skin around them was almost numb. That was something she could conceptualize later. “If you’re okay with it.”

“I just said I was.” And there was some of the snark Komaru was used to! Toko took out a key, opening one of the motel room doors. Cool air greeted her inside, along with a few notebooks stacked on a desk. It reminded her of basically any motel she’d ever been in on family trips. “I don’t have much in here. If you want a-anything, we can go to the convenience store later.”

Komaru simply nodded, sitting on the one side of the admittedly large bed that was still made, fatigue strangely settling in. Mentally she was still energized, but physically she was already done for the day.

She watched Toko gather a couple things from around the room before tossing them on her side of the bed, climbing in next to Komaru. Toko’s old school uniform had been traded for a grey turtleneck and a long black skirt like her old one, but more flowy, all despite the heat. “Are you comfortable enough?” Toko checked, shifting around a little so she could write with her notebook propped against her legs.

“Plenty, thanks.” Komaru fell silent for a moment before moving a little closer to Toko. “I have a lot I want to talk about.”

“I know.”

Komaru waited for her to say something about how it could wait, but she didn’t. Interesting. “First. You didn’t have to stay with me all this time. Six months is really long. You could’ve gone back to Future Foundation if you wanted, even in the last month.”

Toko shrugged a little, adjusting her glasses. “It was either go somewhere I’m not wanted or stay when I had a chance of helping you. Clearly you’re the b-better option, Omaru.”

Komaru smiled to herself at the nickname she was pretty sure was affectionate. Strangely enough, she missed hearing it. “Thank you, Toki. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Die, probably. Syo and I have saved you enough times already. She’ll want to talk to you later, too.”

Wow, it’d been forever since she’d talked to Syo, too. Even though she couldn’t remember the last six months, she knew that there were still things she carried over from what she was going to equate as her brain’s most recent save point. “Good. I have some things I want to talk to both of you about, outside of everything that happened. But that conversation can wait, I guess.” She moved a little more under the blankets on the bed, trying not to hog them like Toko had complained about before. “I’m just going to exist for a while.”

Toko made a small noise. “One m-more thing before you do that.” She took a flip phone from the bedside table and pressed one of the buttons before handing it to Komaru. “Someone else wants to talk to you, if you’re up for it.”

She accepted the phone without a second thought, waiting for the dial tone to stop and the person on the other side to start talking. “Hello? Toko?”

It was like a switch flipped. She felt her eyes start welling up, something she was sure Toko would tease her for later. “Makoto?”

“Komaru?” The relief in his voice was unreal. She looked at Toko, making sure she wasn’t still dreaming. Toko simply nodded. “Is it really you? Are you okay?”

“I’m alright, Makoto. I’m here.”