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Ever since he could remember, Joey would follow Sid everywhere.
Sid was the one who showed him the hidey-holes around the school. They would conceal themselves in the walls or the spaces between the floors while everyone else frantically searched for them. Meanwhile, they would be eating from their snack stash and reading comics, giggling every time they heard someone shout their names.
Sid was the one who convinced him to sneak out of their room together and explore at night. Even if their parents bolted the room shut, he always had his ways of unlocking the door. Joey was forever in awe of his incredible skills. He was convinced that his twin brother had some sort of innate ability to escape from any situation.
Sid was the lead prankster, the inciting troublemaker, the charming scalawag. All Joey did was mirror him, from his looks to his personality. He was an excellent imitator, so much so that they always seemed to move in sync.
Whenever anyone said their names, he would always come first. It was always “Sid and Joey”. Never mind that they were both the same age, or the same height, or shared the same birthday. For nineteen long years, Sid had always come first.
This moment, right now, was the sole exception. Finally, he had the one thing that Sid did not.
She was beside him right now, listening as he tuned his guitar. It was early in the morning, and it was just the two of them in the music room. Sid was still sleeping in.
As he adjusted the strings, he kept a close eye on Daiya. She was sitting on the edge of the stage, her eyes closed. Her shining, black hair hung over her shoulders, waving lightly as the fan blew on the side of her face. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. Somehow, he thought it made her look more feminine than usual.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, revealing her piercing red irises. Although she would kill him if he said it, Joey could not help but see her father in them. Usually, they gave her an intense aura, filled with either determination or anger. Today, they were soft and sad.
“Hey, would you ever seriously wanna leave?” she asked.
Joey stopped playing and considered the question.
“Leave the school?”
“Yeah.”
He placed the guitar onto the stage and scooted closer to her.
“I guess. Not much to do in here, is there?”
She brought her knees to her chest.
“I’m thinkin’ of finally doing it. Might try and convince everyone else in the club to come too.”
If they leave, they would most likely die. That was the message that had been shoved into Joey’s head for as long as he could remember.
At the same time, they knew nothing about the outside world. All the measuring instruments and cameras had been destroyed years ago when Junko was banished. Maybe it was fine. Maybe they had been trapped in there for nothing.
He sat behind her and hugged her close.
“You know we’ll be with you all the way, babe.”
We. He had automatically spoken for Sid, too.
She turned and kissed him once, twice and then began unbuttoning her blouse. Joey felt his face redden and glanced around quickly. It was morning, but they were definitely not the only people awake.
“What, right here? You don’t wanna go somewhere else a little more...private?”
Daiya gave him a playful look.
“Nah, let’s fool around on the piano again. That was hot.”
She buried her face into his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Can you carry me over?” She asked, her voice light and sweet.
All Joey was aware of was his heart beating in his chest. The world around him warped into a single, endless point that he could not escape from.
He had never done anything with Daiya on the piano.
~~~~~
Sid was still asleep in his bed when Joey attacked him.
“You fucking piece of shit!”
He woke up seconds after his brother began beating him with his clenched fists. His first reaction was to sucker-punch him in the stomach. Joey collapsed onto the blankets, groaning in pain.
“Not nice to try and fuck someone up while they’re still asleep, bro.”
Sid’s voice was calm and even, but there was an underlying menace to it that took Joey aback. He quickly shook it off. Joey wasn’t going to let his brother scare him after what he had done.
“Did you pretend to be me – with Daiya?”
Sid chuckled and flopped back onto his pillows.
“Oh fuck, is that what this is about? Chill, dude.”
Overwhelmed with anger at his brother’s blasé attitude, Joey flung his arm back. Before he could land another hit, Sid tackled him backward and held his arms and legs down.
“Look man I get it. I’d be fucking pissed if you did the same thing to me, but you have to see it from my perspective. I don’t really have many options, do I? You’re the one who got the girl. Who am I left with – Twitchy? I just wanted to have a little fun.”
Joey began to twist around violently, trying to escape his brother’s grasp.
“A little – you had sex with my girlfriend!”
“Woah! Hey – we didn’t have sex, alright? It was like, mostly hand stuff, and it wasn’t even that go–”
Joey headbutted him in the face hard. Sid yelped in pain and reeled back. Blood began dripping from his lip.
“Okay…” Sid grunted, “Yeah, I deserve that.”
Joey went to slam his head again. Sid let go of him, protecting his injured face.
“Alright! Fuck – I get the point. Look – I won’t do it again, alright? It was a shitty thing to do.”
He spat frothy blood onto the floor and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
“Whatever – you win, I guess. As if that’s totally fair.”
Joey shook his head in disbelief.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Sid smirked.
“You’re not exactly subtle about it bro – I’ve caught you staring at Kaito. He may be blind, but I can see perfectly fine.”
“W-what?”
A cold sweat broke out on Joey’s face. Had he really been that obvious, or was Sid just that good at figuring him out?
“Hey, no judging here. It’s just kinda bull, right? You’ve got a bunch of guys to choose from, but you settle on the only person here I’d ever have a chance with.”
Joey had to stop himself from replying with a biting remark. He knew that Daiya would never date him because he had asked her about it before.
“I – I’m gonna tell her.”
Wincing, Sid rubbed the back of his head.
“Do you think that’s a good idea though?”
“Uh, yeah!? She has a right to know about the fucked up thing you did to her – to us.”
“I dunno… I mean, it’s gonna upset her. She’s so sure she can tell us apart, right?”
“I don’t give a shit!” Joey snapped, getting dangerously close to jumping on him again.
“Dude, calm down and really think about it – she’ll start second-guessing every single time you’re together. Sure, you have that birthmark, but I could easily fake it, couldn’t I? Like, I won’t, but she’ll constantly be thinking about it, right?”
Joey closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
“Shut up.”
Sid grabbed his shoulders and gave him a firm shake.
“No, listen to me. She’ll never be truly sure if you’re Joey or Sid. You can say goodbye to your relationship then.”
He wanted to cry. He wanted to beat the crap out of him. He didn’t want to believe it, but his brother had a point.
Joey sucked in a deep breath and hissed it out through his teeth.
“You pretended to be me. You…”
It was as if a cold wind had blown over him, chilling him to his bones. He stared at his brother with wide eyes.
“...have you done it before?”
Sid coldly returned his gaze, his smile dropping. Blood was dripping down the corner of his mouth in a thin line.
“Really think about it man.” he muttered, before standing and leaving their room.
~~~~~
“Daiya? Babe, I have to tell you something!”
She opened the door quickly, as if she had been waiting for him. Her blouse was almost fully unbuttoned, exposing more skin than he was used to seeing. Normally, this would have been a titillating sight, but today it made his stomach turn.
Daiya studied his expression, frowning.
“If you’re here to apologise, I don’t accept it, asshole.”
Joey’s stomach dropped. She already knew.
“B-babe…”
“Why did you blow me off before?”
He bit back a sigh.
“Look, I can explain. Can I come inside?”
She huffed and pulled him into her room. He was met with a waft of strong incense that barely covered the lingering scent of cigarette smoke.
“You’re gonna get hung when he finds out you smoke,” Joey told her.
“Pfft, what’s he gonna do, ground me? I’m already stuck in prison.”
She sat on her bed that, to Sid’s amusement, still had the same pink, frilly sheets they’d had since she was a child. They stood out like a sore thumb compared to her motorcycle pin-ups and band posters.
“Um, anyway, I have something I really need to tell you.”
“Yeah?”
Daiya looked up at him, tapping her feet together. Sid’s words kept circling in his mind, and he scuffed the tip of his sneaker on the ground.
“Sorry for running away before. I just…”
A little smile grew on his face.
“Last time just fucking sucked. I had no idea what I was doing. I’m kinda cringing just thinking about it.”
Blushing, Daiya fiddled with a strand of her hair.
“I wasn’t gonna say anything, but yeah. It really did fucking suck.”
He chuckled. Sid could go fuck himself.
Joey shoved a hand into his pocket and rubbed his neck.
“Can we just, like, pretend it never happened? I wanna try it again – better this time.”
“Bet,” Daiya replied softly, reclining back on the bed.
As he reached out for her bare midriff, there was a sudden, loud knocking on her door. They both froze up.
“Why is the door locked? You’re supposed to have it open before curfew!”
“Oh fuck,” Daiya hissed.
She quickly sat up and began buttoning her blouse up to the collar.
“You need to hide, now!”
Joey shot up and bolted for the door in the middle of the room. At one point, it had been modified to join the adjacent bedroom. Now, it was useless. Daiya had boarded it up on her side.
“Daiya,” Kiyotaka snipped, “open the door, now!”
“Oh my fucking – I’m getting changed, just wait!”
She guided Joey around the piles of clothes before shoving him into her closet. He watched through the slats as she unbolted the lock and opened the door.
“You’re in serious trouble.”
“Oh my God, I took five extra seconds to answer you! How many days am I gonna be stuck in here for now?”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Could you maybe be a little less cryptic and just outright tell me how I’ve pissed you off now?”
“Language.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, how I’ve peeved you off now?”
“Hagakure told me what happened the other night with your...your reprehensible behaviour.”
“Are you kidding?” She shouted, “Are you seriously going to believe anything he says over me!?”
“He wasn’t the only one who told me.” Taka replied, raising his voice, “You were attempting to blackmail him in an abhorrent manner.
“Wait, hold on -”
“Do you understand how mortifying that was to hear as your father?!”
“Holy shit, you poor thing – I mortified you! Oh, how awful!”
“What is going on with you? Your behaviour just keeps getting worse. I – I don’t know what to do with you. You can’t keep acting like this – you’re supposed to set a good example for the younger students.”
Daiya shook her head furiously.
“Students – are you hearing yourself!? You were a student here, not us. This isn’t our fucking school!”
“Language, Daiya!”
“Who fucking cares?!”
“I do! Ta – Daiya, I care about you.”
Joey could not see him from his position, but from the shakiness of his voice he could tell that Taka had begun to cry.
“One day, I’m not going to be here anymore and I –”
“Yeah, well, neither am I.”
Daiya stormed into her room and began shoving her belongings into a rucksack.
“We’re leaving – all of us. Whatever is out there can’t be worse than being stuck in here with you.”
Taka stomped in after her.
“You are not going anywhere – it’s not safe to leave Hope’s Peak Academy. How many times do I have to tell you this!?”
“Yeah, yeah – whatever. I’m leaving and you can’t stop me.”
She hauled her bag over her shoulder and made for the exit, but Taka blocked her way.
“I’m about to go into an important meeting. You need to promise me you won’t go anywhere while I’m gone.”
Daiya barked out an angry laugh.
“I don’t owe you anything, you fucking dictator!”
His expression darkened at her words.
“Don’t talk to me like that.”
“Don’t talk to me like that,” she replied in a mocking tone, “God, you sound like Ren.”
“Good – she is my most promising student.”
Daiya stiffened before letting out a furious scream.
“Fuck you! I wish you had died instead of mom!”
Taka’s hand moved like a blur and connected hard with the side of her face.
There was a moment of stunned silence as every person in the room took in what had just occurred.
Eventually, Daiya clasped her bright-red cheek and began to sob. She sounded like a little girl. This seemed to bring Taka back to his senses. His expression softening, he took a step towards her.
“T-Takara…”
“I hate you.” She whimpered.
His eyes widened.
“Let me have a look…” He said, reaching a hand out to her.
Daiya slapped it away.
“I fucking hate you!”
She ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her with her foot.
Taka stumbled back and slumped onto her bed. He covered his face with his hands as his chest began to wrack.
His watch made a sudden noise. Jolting up, he examined his face and cursed.
“Why now?” He muttered, “Of all the days…”
He stood, glanced around and made eye contact with Joey through the closet slats. Taka moved his mouth before managing to push a single question.
“Can you check on her?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Joey replied to his girlfriend’s father, “alright.”
~~~~~
He found her on the motorbike in the rec room. Her face was covered with the VR headset.
Joey sat on a nearby chair and waited for her to finish. Eventually, she turned off the system and pulled off the helmet. Her eyes were wet with tears. The side of her face was still red, and starting to bruise.
Daiya stared blankly at the poster on the wall in front of her. It showed a highway that seemed to disappear into nothingness.
“We’re getting out of here.” She said, “Tonight.”
She brought her gaze to Joey and gave him a pleading look.
“You’ll come with me, yeah?”
Joey thought of his parents, his little sister, his baby brother. He thought of the airless, hellish landscape outside of the school, the one that he had been told about for his entire life.
Then, he brought her into his arms and hugged her close.
“Of course, babe.”
A figure materialised out of the shadows in the back of the room. Joey felt a hand clasp his shoulder in a tight squeeze.
“We’ll be with you all the way,” Sid replied into his ear.