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Maki jolted awake, panic coursing through her as nothing but darkness surrounded her. Her hands made their way to her head, wrapping themselves around the headset that sat there. She ripped the thing off and squinted as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.
Once she was oriented, she studied the room around her. She had been sitting in a leather armchair, though now she was standing. Beneath her feet was a plush white carpet, and to her right was a monster of a machine. It wasn't quite as big as the one for the neo-world program, but it was connected to her headset along with some other sensors and tubes that were stuck to her head and arms.
Maki quickly ripped the things off, one of the tubes that were in her arms leaving a bloody cut behind.
Maki gasped. Her arms- she was used to seeing the scars of her past dotted all over, but now they were perfect, besides the cut from the tube. She rubbed one of her hands up and down her other arm to be sure, and felt nothing but smoothness.
"What the hell?" Her words came out raspier than she expected, like she hadn't spoken in days.
"Ah, you're already awake. Welcome back."
Maki spun around at the new voice. She didn't have any of her knives on her, so she settled on picking up the headset and using it as a blunt force weapon.
The woman in the doorway was around her thirties if Maki had to guess, and her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun. She was giving the headset in Maki's hand a disdainful look.
"Who are you?" Maki demanded, taking a step backwards.
"I'm Mari Kido, I'm in charge of preparing you for the interview."
Maki furrowed her brows. "Interview?"
Kido rolled her eyes. "Well of course, Danganronpa's fans will be waiting to hear from this season's survivors." She said survivors like they disgusted her.
"What?" Maki's heart sank, "but- we finished that."
Kido's mouth somehow formed an even thinner line, her voice dripping with its patronising tone. "You're only young, but in the real world, it takes more than a few tough words to shut down a global corporation like Danganronpa. Now come on, we're on a deadline."
"I'm not going with you!"
"Suzuki, Yakuo, let's get to work," Kido instructed, ignoring Maki's protests.
Two more people, a man and a woman, walked into the room, making a beeline for Maki. The assassin swung the headset at the man, but the woman grabbed her arms with a lot more force than she was expecting. She tried to wrench her arm free, but she didn't have the strength to.
As the pair dragged her from the room kicking and screaming, she had the terrible realisation that she wasn't in her body anymore, at least not the one she knew. This body belonged to the Maki Harukawa who signed up for the games. A, presumably, normal girl.
They brought her into another room where the two attendants, Suzuki and Yakuo, bathed her and did up her hair and make-up, before handing her a dress and ushering her into a changing cubicle. At least they let her put it on herself.
She had to admit, the thing was beautiful. It was a deep red, the same colour as her eyes, with a skirt that flowed out and towards the floor, like a princess dress. Maki figured any young girl would kill for a dress like this.
Once she put it on, she realised the fabric was like none she'd ever felt, probably expensive. At least, like none the fictional version of her had ever felt. That made her head spin.
Once she stepped out of the room, the attendants swarmed her again. They did up the back of the dress for her, and it fit her like a glove. They then (finally) decided to leave her alone for a few minutes, with Kido informing her that she'd be on in thirty.
Maki looked at herself in the mirror. She felt sick. She looked better than she ever had, and for what? Because she watched her friends die in front of her and just so happened not to die too?
She took her hair down from the complicated hairstyle it was in. She pulled out the remaining bobby pins and threw them to the floor. Fuck them and their perfect interview.
She looked closer at the reflection of the girl that chose this, like her but not. What was she thinking, signing up for something like Dangaronpa? Maki hated her for doing this to them. She hated her and everyone else who thought something so needlessly awful was entertainment.
Maki punched the mirror, and her reflection split into a dozen smaller Makis. Some of the glass pieces fell to the vanity, and blood dripped down her hand. She didn't care.
She picked up one of the shards and stared at it. She wanted to cause more destruction, but besides cutting herself up there weren't many options.
She considered cutting her hair, though the idea pained her. It was the only part of herself she had any control over after she left the orphanage, and while she'd never admit it out loud she was proud of how long it was.
Though, that was probably just more junk in her head to explain an assassin having such an impractical hair length. The damn hair probably didn't even mean anything to the real Maki other than the fact that it was pretty.
She grabbed a chunk of hair and held the piece of glass up to it. It doesn't matter, it's just hair, Maki thought, yet her hand didn't move.
She pulled the glass away. Her memories might not have happened, but they were real, no matter what anyone said. Only one Maki was standing here and it wasn't the original.
Instead she turned to her dress. Her beautiful dress that probably cost Danganronpa a fortune. With a wicked grin she began sawing away at the fabric of the skirt, making jagged cuts around her knees. The bottom ring eventually fell away, leaving the messiest bottom to a dress she'd ever seen.
It wasn't much, but it made her feel better.
Yakuo walked into the room and screamed when she saw the state of Maki.
"Is it time for me to go on?" She asked innocently.
More people rushed in at the poor girl's screams, Kido among them.
Kido stormed over to Maki, who was smiling, and slapped her across the face. Maki didn't even flinch.
"What is wrong with you, girl?" Kido demanded.
Maki kept her gaze on the ground. "I…"
She grabbed another shard of mirror from the vanity and swung at the older woman, who managed to jump back far enough to just get a shallow cut across her side.
"SECURITY!" She screamed, face turning red.
Maki smirked. If I'm lucky she'll pop a blood vessel and die, the assassin thought.
Kido looked like she wanted to hit her again, but she didn't make a move to get closer to Maki. Yakuo was at her side in a moment, fussing over her injury. Maki rolled her eyes at that.
The other attendants in the room were watching Maki with wide eyes, and the assassin bolted for the door. None of them tried to stop her.
Once outside, she planned to look for Himiko and Shuichi, but unfortunately for her security showed up and tased her, sending her crashing to the floor in a twitching mess. she was then hauled to her feet and dragged to another room.
In the five minutes until she was due for her interview, attendants were putting her hair into a somewhat nice hairstyle, bandaging her hand and fixing her make up. Suzuki was given the task of hastily trying to make the dress look presentable.
Kido watched her like a hawk, but Maki only scowled at her.
Once they were done, Maki's hair was tied into their classic twin-tails, and the dress looked somewhat presentable. Not as good as it was, but decent enough that Maki thought they should give Suzuki a raise if they didn't go bankrupt. The once floor-length dress now fell just above her knees.
They hadn't been able to get the blood out though, even if it wasn't particularly noticeable compared to the crimson dress.
She was hurried to the wings, where she could already hear a man's voice talking to the audience.
"Where have you been?" a stage hand hissed at Kido, "She's on in a minute!"
"She decided to be difficult," Kido hissed back, shooting Maki yet another dirty look.
The stage hand groaned, and the man on stage said, "next, it's your favourite contract-killer, Maki Harukawa!"
The stage hand quickly pushed her on stage, with Kido shouting after her to "smile!"
Maki stumbled a bit, the stage lights getting into her eyes. Cheering erupted from the crowd, which was way bigger than she was expecting. She supposed that they couldn't convince everyone, but this die-hard minority felt a lot bigger than Kiibo made it seem.
"Welcome home Harukawa, or can I call you Makiroll?" The presenter asked, his smile so dazzling Maki knew it must be fake in some way.
"No," Maki said stiffly, the reminder of Kaito made her feel unsteady, but also like she wanted to claw this guy's eyes out.
He raised his arms in mock surrender. "Alright, alright, I get it, please, take a seat."
Maki turned to look at the blue couch that sat opposite him, where Himiko was already sat.
The mage also wore a nice dress, though hers was black, and it had poofy long sleeves unlike Maki's.
Maki hoped her relief that she was ok wasn't visible on her face, and she took the seat next to her.
"You ok?" Himiko whispered.
Maki nodded.
Himiko reached for Maki's hand, and she went wide-eyed when she saw the bandages. "What happened?!"
"I had a small run in with the mirror, it's only a scratch," Maki assured her. Himiko didn't look so sure.
"And last but definitely not least, it's the detective of the hour, Shuichi Saihara!"
Another roar of excitement left the crowd as Shuichi walked on stage. He kept his gaze to the floor, the awkwardness of his demeanour clashing with the nice, navy suit he was wearing, though Maki did notice he was a bit ruffled.
"Welcome home! How are you feeling?" The presenter asked.
"What the fuck…?" Shuichi asked instead, his form trembling a bit. Maki couldn't tell if it was from anger or nerves.
The audience laughed, and the presenter waved them off. "Ok guys, leave him alone, he only got off the simulation-" he made a great show of checking his watch- "four hours ago, he's allowed to be a little confused."
He got up and gently guided Shuichi towards the couch, though Shuichi jerked away from the presenter's hands.
He sat down next to Maki, who offered him her hand. "You've looked better," Maki admitted.
Shuichi's gaze softened from what it was when looking at the girls. "I've felt better." Shuichi held her hand.
"Now that we're all here," the presenter continued, dragging their attention back to him, "let me introduce myself. I'm Daiki Nakama, but please, call me Daiki."
Maki simply glared at him, and she could tell the others were looking similarly hostile.
"Anyway- so tell me, how are you feeling having survived Danganronpa? Not many do, so it's a big achievement," Daiki continued.
"It doesn't feel like an achievement," Himiko told him.
"People died," Shuichi reminded him.
Maki didn't say anything and just continued glaring.
Daiki blinked, before letting out an awkward chuckle. Maki was under the impression that his guests weren't normally this hostile.
"Well, you did sign up for this," Daiki reminded them.
"No, we didn't. We have different memories,Nakama," Shuichi replied coldly.
"I told you, call me Daiki," the host said, his cheery attitude starting to strain.
"We're not friends," Shuichi told him.
Daiki simply smiled at him for a moment, before talking again. "Well, why don't we take a trip down memory lane and replay some of your most memorable moments?"
The crowd cheered, and Himiko gripped Maki's hand harder.
"No fucking way!-" Maki got to her feet and approached Daiki, drawing herself to her full height (which wasn't much, but thankfully Daiki was sitting down) in order to be intimidating- "We are not some toys for you to play with in front of the world!"
Daiki looked back up at her with a serious look in his eyes. "Well, that's what you signed up for, sweetheart." His tone was still playful, but it didn't ring true. He had the power, after all.
Maki got up in his face, placing her hands on the back of his low chair, boxing him in. "Do you want to die?"
She wasn't expecting the look of glee that appeared on his face, as if she had personally given him tickets to an expensive, sold-out concert for free.
She startled when the crowd cheered.
Daiki stood up, and Maki stumbled back. "There's the catchphrase we all know and love!" He laughed.
Maki finally noticed the screen on the back wall of the stage as it began playing various clips of her saying those very words, do you want to die? Did she really say it that much?
Once the video ended the crowd cheered again. Maki made sure to continue scowling. She would not give them the satisfaction of getting a reaction from her.
As if he could read her mind, Daiki brought his hands together. "Well, wasn't that fun? Since our guests so kindly requested we skip the recap, why don't we move on to your classmates? Harukawa, please sit down-"
"Fuck you."
"If you insist-" Daiki straightened his jacket- "so, us viewers couldn't help but notice that two of you got especially close to a certain astronaut-"
Maki's fists balled up, and she had to clench her jaw to keep herself from telling this smug asshole to keep his stupid mouth shut. He wanted a reaction.
She looked back at the others. Himiko looked uncomfortable, and Shuichi had a quiet rage about him, despite his best efforts to remain emotionless.
Maki watched him undo the bow tie around his neck and place it on the couch beside him.
"Getting comfortable there, Saihara?" Daiki asked, his gaze on the discarded accessory.
"Nope," Shuichi replied.
"Right… well, that being said, please give a warm welcome to our next guest, Kaito Momota!"
Maki felt a lump form in her throat. Did she hear that right?
There was no way, this had to be a lead up to another one of his stupid montages, Kaito was dead, but then-
"Hey, hands off me! I know how to walk in a straight line, jeez!"
Shuichi and Himiko looked like they'd seen a ghost. Maki turned around.
"…Kaito?" She'd never heard her voice this small, like it'd break at any moment.
I will not react, I will not give them what they want, Maki told herself in her head, but the idiot was standing right there, alive, and when he looked forward and saw her, a big, dumb smile spread across his face. Did she really make him look like that?
"Makiroll!"
Maki couldn't help it, she ran to him, almost knocking the two of them over when she hugged him.
She hid her face in his chest, not wanting anyone to see the tears that threatened to come out of her eyes. She felt the rise and fall of his chest, the beating of his heart. He was alive, he was alive, he was alive!
Kaito wrapped his arms around her. "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easy, did ya?" He whispered into her hair.
"You died…" Maki choked. God, why couldn't she keep it together?
"I know, I'm sorry."
"Well, isn't that sweet?" Daiki asked the audience.
Maki pulled herself away from Kaito, remembering where they were. She swiped quickly at her teary eyes, and put the glower back on her face.
Kaito also looked pissed off now, an expression she wasn't used too. Normally when he was angry, he was loud about it.
Daiki managed to get them both to sit down, though Kaito was put on a different couch that definitely wasn't there before.
He shot Shuichi and Himiko quick smiles before going back to looking unimpressed.
"He's alive…" Shuichi breathed.
Maki nodded, unable to keep her gaze away from Kaito for more than a few seconds at a time.
Daiki tried to ask Kaito some questions about the killing game but he just gave him a middle finger.
"Do you think the others are alive?" Himiko asked hopefully.
Maki didn't need to answer, as Daiki started bringing the rest of their classmates on stage, one by one.
Himiko started crying when Angie was brought out, and she ran into her arms. Tenko was brought out shortly after, and when Daiki tried to split them up Tenko shouted obscenities at him.
Eventually he got them to sit in their respective seats, but not without a lot of resistance.
He must've been running on a schedule because he rushed through the next few people. They didn't make great TV conversation, as when he tried to ask questions about the game Miu started calling him and the audience a "pack of perverts" and other demeaning nicknames, Korekiyo just stared creepily at him, Rantaro refused to say anything other than "no comment" and Gonta just started crying. The others weren't any better.
When Kaede was brought out, Shuichi didn't run to her like Maki and Himiko, but instead gave her a small wave. She returned it, and after another failed attempt from Daiki to get an interview from her, she sat down.
He wasn't disappointed by his next guest however.
"And now we have Kokichi Ouma!"
The Ultimate Supreme Leader pranced onto the stage like he hadn't a care in the world. "Hiii~"
His voice grated on Maki's ears. Her fingers itched to be around his neck. That being said, he did try to end the killing game, and he did stop Kaito dying from the poison…
She stayed seated. It wasn't hard to keep her annoyed expression now.
"Ouma! Welcome!" Daiki greeted.
"Thank you, Daiki, it means a lot," Kokichi replied, placing a hand on his chest.
"I knew I could count on you," Daiki said with a grin.
"Well, what were you expecting? These losers aren't exactly star material!" Kokichi rolled his eyes.
What is he doing? Does he think this is funny?! Maki wondered.
"-Orrr, maybe they don't appreciate being tortured and then forced to dance like monkeys! It's a real head-scratcher," Kokichi added with a shrug.
Daiki blinked. "Yeah, I wonder-" he said quickly, clearing his throat before continuing on- "so, Ouma, you got up to a lot during your time on Danganronpa, didn't you?"
"It's true, I'm a busy guy!"
"Yeah, so what was your favourite part?" Daiki asked him.
Kokichi hummed, and made a great show of considering his options. "I'd have to say when Kaito killed me!"
"Oh?" Daiki asked.
"Yep! You know, on account of the torture." He smiled.
"Well, thank god that was just a simulation, right?" Daiki laughed.
Kokichi's face darkened. "I mean, it feels pretty fucking real to me, but who cares what I think, right?" He turned his face cheery again. The audience was silent.
"You know what, why don't you take a seat with your friends?" Daiki suggested, realising Kokichi might not be on his side.
"No thanks! I like it up here, centre stage!" Kokichi struck a pose.
"Ouma, I insist-"
"What're you going to do, make me?"
Daiki stood up to guide Kokichi to the couch, but the teenager just bounded away from him. "Nyeeheehee!"
The host spent a futile minute of chasing Kokichi around the stage. Some members of the crowd laughed, though it definitely wasn't as uproarious as before.
Eventually he relented and called security.
"Aw, calling in backup? You scawed of a little kid like me?" Kokichi taunted with a baby voice.
He managed to dodge a few more attempts to restrain him, before the guards eventually gave up and tased him.
Kokichi yelled as he fell to the floor, and the audience gasped. Maki narrowed her eyes at him as he twitched.
Daiki ran a hand through his slicked back hair. "What a pest, am I right?" The audience didn't laugh.
"I'm... Harukawa!-" he approached her with his microphone- "what do you have to say about this? Your rivalry with him was a big draw of the season!"
Maki glared at him. She wasn't particularly sad watching Kokichi getting tased, however… "I thought you said you only torture us in the simulation."
Daiki's mouth fell open, and the crowd started yelling at him. "I think it's time for a break! I'll see you after the ads!"
Curtains at the front of the stage closed, cutting them off from the audience. Daiki's already crumbling facade fell, and he looked pissed.
A stagehand, or maybe a manager, rushed on stage. "What the hell was that?" She asked him.
"No way you're blaming me, they're crazy!" Daiki told her.
"They just went through a killing game," the woman reminded him.
"Normally they're more docile than this!"
"Yeah, well with budget cuts we couldn't afford to alter their minds again this time."
"Ok?? Can't we give them drugs or something?"
"Are you seriously telling me to put a bunch of anxious, murderous teenagers on drugs? Do you hear yourself?!"
"Well you need to do something!"
"We can hear you, you know," Kaito reminded them.
"Yeah, jackass!" Miu added.
Shuichi helped Kokichi to his feet. "You ok?"
Kokichi gave him a thumbs up. "I'm buzzin'!"
"Fine! You win! What do you want?" Daiki asked them in exasperation.
"To leave," Kaede told him.
"Ok, but do you want to stay and play nice for twenty minutes?" Daiki added.
"You know, theres a lot of us, we could rush him," Maki suggested.
"Like in prison," Ryoma said, stretching.
"I will call security!" Daiki threatened.
"Oh no! What are they going to do, tase us again?" Shuichi asked sarcastically.
"You got tased too?" Maki asked.
"Yup."
"Me too." Maki and Shuichi high-fived.
"Please, getting crushed to death is way worse!" Kokichi added, "Daiki, do you know what it's like to have the life slowly squeezed out of you, each of your bones slowly breaking one after another due to the pressure?"
"Um…"
"It fucking sucks!" Kokichi shouted, looking angry again.
"Wait, where's Kiibo?" Himiko asked.
Maki scanned the room, and realised he was the only member of the cast (bar Tsumugi, but she would've been jumped on sight) who wasn't with them.
"He's… adjusting," Daiki's voice climbed higher.
"Adjusting how?" Maki demanded. If they were willing to throw her onstage disoriented and having been tased, Kiibo must be in real bad shape to keep him out.
"That's one way to put it!-" Miu stormed over, getting up in Daiki's face. They were around the same height, and Daiki cowered behind the stage manager, who looked annoyed- "He can barely remember how to breathe, because you dumbasses decided to put a robot's brain into a human body!"
"Kiibo was a highschooler, just like you," the stage manager explained, "surely you should know robots of his calibre are merely a work of fiction."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Miu pounced on them. Daiki screamed, and the stage manager called for security. Security pulled her off of them and threw her to the floor.
"You know what? I've been loyal for twenty seasons and this is how I'm treated? I'm out," Daiki decided, dropping his mic on the floor.
"Nakama, you can't just quit! You have a contract!" The stage manager reminded him.
"My contract says I'm a funny TV host, not a zookeeper, have a fucking good day!" He stormed off of the stage.
"You have got to be shitting me," the stage manager muttered under her breath, "Security! Bring these guys back to the common area, we'll just play some clips or something while we get this sorted out."
Security came onto the stage and started ushering them out. Maki watched the stage manager run as she went looking for Daiki, and just felt relief that the interviews were over.
They were led into a big room that was trying to be cosier than it was. There was a cream rug in the middle of the stone floor. The walls were stark white. There were a few brown leather couches that at least seemed more comfortable than the ones on the stage. Opposite the couches there was a TV that had random ads playing. If Maki had to guess, she'd say it was currently on the channel that the interview was on. Oh, and there was a plant in the corner. Couldn't forget that.
"Thank god that's over," Rantaro said, flopping onto one of the couches.
"I'm going to check on Kiibo," Miu told no one in particular, before walking through a door on the other side of the room. Since security didn't stop her, Maki figured that was a part of the participants' area too.
Kaito approached Kokichi. "Hey, uh, Kokichi?"
Kokichi looked up. "Hmm?"
"About what you said back there… I'm- I'm sorry for uh, killing you with the hydraulic press…"
Kokichi scoffed. "Are you seriously apologising for something I told you to do? God, you really are an idiot."
"Hey!"
"Nyeeheehee!" Kokichi ran off, and Kaito chased him.
Maki looked around. Himiko was deep in conversation with Tenko and Angie, Shuichi was talking quietly to Kaede and Kaito was obviously busy chasing Kokichi. Other than them, there wasn't anyone in the class that Maki was particularly close to. The idea of sitting down next to someone random felt awkward to her.
She looked at the door Miu went through, and decided to go look for her and Kiibo.
On the other side of the door was a short hallway with a few doors. She heard voices coming from one, and followed them.
"-you should've been there, they tasered him on the stage! They were so pissed off!"
Maki poked her head in. "Hi."
Miu was sitting on one of the four beds in the room, and Kiibo sat in one across from her. Looking at Kiibo was strange- his skin wasn't the stark white it was when he was a robot, though it was pretty damn close. His hair was still white, and his eyes were still blue, but them being made from normal skin and hair rather than metal and plastic was off putting.
"Maki! Hi!" Kiibo greeted. He sounded the same at least, though he did have a far away look in his eyes.
"What's up?" Miu asked.
Maki shrugged. "I just wanted to see how Kiibo was doing."
"I've been better," he admitted, "sounds like the interviews were crazy."
Maki rolled her eyes. "Crazy is an understatement."
Kiibo chuckled. "At least it's over."
"Yeah. You wouldn't know where to get clean clothes, would you? Mine kinda have blood on them," Maki admitted.
"There should be some over there." Miu motioned towards a set of drawers at the back of the room.
"Why is there blood on your dress?!" Kiibo asked, showing a lot more concern than Miu.
Maki held up her bandaged hand as she walked over to the drawers. "I broke a mirror."
"Did it insult you or something?" Miu asked, before laughing at her own joke.
Maki gave her a confused look, which just made her laugh harder.
Maki grabbed some tracksuit bottoms, a t-shirt and a hoodie from the drawers.
"There's a bathroom down the hall if you want to change in there," Kiibo offered.
Maki nodded. "Thanks."
She made her way to the door. "Good luck with the whole being human thing," she added before leaving.
"Thanks."
"Don't worry, I'm going to teach him so many things about being human," Miu assured her in a way that made Maki think she wasn't only referring to the basics, "speaking of, don't forget to breathe."
"Thanks Miu," Kiibo responded.
Once she was in the hallway, she heard Miu gasp. "I get to introduce you to chocolate!"
Maki fondly rolled her eyes, and went to the bathroom to change.
Once she was done she made her way back to the common room.
Most people were sitting down now, and when she walked in Kaito bounded over to her. "Hey, Makiroll! There you are!"
Maki felt her heart-rate pick up. "H-hey…" Despite practically tackling him during the interview she now felt nervous. "I was checking on Kiibo."
Kaito nodded. "Cool. Uh, how's your hand?"
Maki blinked. "It's fine. Doesn't hurt or anything."
"Good to hear!" He laughed. "Do you want to sit down?"
"Sure." The pair of them took a seat on one of the couches.
"Do any of you know how long we'll be staying here for?" Shuichi asked the room.
"Well they can't keep us here forever," Kirumi reasoned.
"We're just objects to them, they might try," Kokichi countered.
"Well, if we don't give up we'll be out of here in no time! The impossible is possible, you just have to make it so!" Kaito told them.
"Yeah!" Kaede agreed.
Kokichi rolled his eyes. "Ugh, you're always so disgustingly optimistic!"
"Hey!-" Kaito started, but he was interrupted as the ads stopped, and the show started playing again.
Danganronpa V3: After Hours the screen announced, before moving on to playing the executions again, starting with Kaede's.
"Shit- where's the remote?!" Rantaro got up and frantically started looking around the room, and the others were checking behind the couch cushions.
The distorted keys of Der Flohwalzer played, and Maki couldn't help but flinch as she heard the all too familiar sound of the piano slamming shut.
Rantaro managed to find the remote and turn off the video just as Kirumi's began.
They were all quiet. It hadn't lasted nearly as long as the real thing, maybe a minute or two at most, but it had been long enough. Maki hated the deep-seeded fear left in her, she was supposed to be used to death. The executions were a different thing entirely, though. They were twisted, long and unnecessary.
Kaito put an arm around her shoulders. They're ok, Maki reminded herself, they're alive.
She looked at him. He gave her a weak smile. What was he doing, trying to comfort her when he was the one who'd gone through one of those.
"You ok?" Maki asked.
Kaito shrugged. "No worse than anyone else who'd just watched that."
The vibe in the room had completely changed. Before they had hesitant hope, but now a heavy silence enveloped the group.
Maki scooted closer to Kaito.
"Oh my god, get a room!" Kokichi said suddenly, accompanying it with a dramatic eye-roll,"no one wants to see that!"
He was looking right at Kaito and Maki.
"What's your problem?!" Kaito asked him.
"Do you want to die?" Maki threatened.
Kokichi scoffed. "Please, it's not like it wasn't obvious. What was it you said to him? 'Oh Kaito, I've never met someone as stubborn as you before! I've never fallen before!' Though, to be perfectly honest I don't know how that's attractive-"
Maki felt her face heat up, the memory of what she'd said before Kaito's execution rushing back. Oh god, she had said that in front of millions of people.
"How do you even know that?!" Kaito demanded.
"Well, obviously I had to watch and see if you could follow through with the plan, which evidently you couldn't-"
"-Hey! It's not my fault Shuichi figured it out!" Kaito snapped back, "maybe if you had given me a better script-"
"-it's called improv, genius, do they teach you nothing in space school?-"
"-I'm an astronaut, not an actor! Jackass!"
As those two argued Maki decided to go back to the bedrooms. Some of the others had the same idea, and Kirumi showed Maki which beds weren't already claimed. Maki hopped onto the bed, only realising then how tired she was. Against her better judgement, her eyelids fell shut.
***
When Maki woke up, she had no idea what time it was, or how much time had passed. The lights had dimmed, and she noticed the other beds were occupied by Kirumi and Kaede.
Maki quietly climbed out of her bed, and creeped out into the hall.
She startled when she found Kaito already on the other side of the door.
"You're awake!" Kaito exclaimed, as if this was news to her. He had changed out of his interview suit and into a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms since the last time they spoke.
"You need something?" Maki asked.
"I came to see if you wanted to do training?"
Training. Honestly, the day had been so long Maki had forgotten about it. "Sure- what time is it?"
Kaito shrugged. "Like, twelve-ish? You were asleep for a few hours."
Maki nodded. "Cool." She started walking towards the common area.
"Hey, Makiroll?" Kaito called after her.
"Hmm?" Maki turned back to face him.
His hand was on the back of his neck, and he wasn't looking at her. "About earlier-"
"-Putting the executions front and centre was a bit fucked up, wasn't it?" Maki interrupted.
Kaito blinked at her, his dumbfounded expression a little amusing. "I- yeah, but-"
"How's Kaede? That must've hit her hard especially," Maki pressed.
"Uh, she's getting by, but I really need to!-"
"So, have you asked Shuichi yet, or is he already in the common room?-"
"Maki!" Kaito shouted, "can you let me talk for a minute?"
"Depends; what do you want to say?"
"I think you know."
"Then no." Maki turned around. She did not want to deal with this right now.
"Makiroll, please," he begged, "I gotta be a man and say it."
Maki was out of excuses, and she knew Kaito wouldn't let it go easily. She supposed it'd be better to get it over with. She fidgeted with her hair. "Fine, but be quick about it."
Kaito took a deep breath. "Makiroll, I know you only said it because I was dying, but… I- I've fallen for you too."
Maki's eyes went wide, and she spun around to face him. "What?!"
Now that she was actually looking at him, he acted a lot more unsure of himself than normal.
"Oh my god, is the Luminary of the Stars nervous?" Maki asked in awe.
"I- why are you surprised?!" Kaito shot back.
"I thought you were going to say you didn't feel the same way!" Maki hated that she was almost certainly blushing right now, but at least Kaito was too.
"Why would I do that?!"
"Because you're you! And I'm me…" Maki hid her face in the hair she had been fidgeting with.
Kaito frowned. "And?"
If Maki wasn't blushing before she definitely was now. "Let's just go train…!" Maki blurted, before hurrying to the common area.
When she ran in, Himiko and Shuichi were already there. "Hey Maki, how'd you sleep?" Shuichi asked.
"Fine!" Maki replied way too quickly.
Shuichi tilted his head to the side, but before he could say anything Kaito entered. "So! Who's ready to do some training?"
"That depends, do you actually plan on doing it this time?" Shuichi teased.
"Hey! You're going to eat my dust when I'm done," Kaito shot back, "I'm fit as a fiddle now, remember?"
"You're sure you don't mind me being here? This was your thing after all," Himiko asked meekly.
"Of course! The more the merrier," Kaito beamed.
Himiko smiled.
They all started doing their situps, and Maki sat down to do the same when she paused. She remembered trying to fight back against the attendants hours before. This body wasn't as strong as hers. For all she knew, she could either be winded after one situp or thirty. The idea of struggling in front of the others made her stomach turn.
"Hey, Maki, are you going to start?" Himiko asked.
"Oh- um…" Maki couldn't think of an excuse fast enough. She felt shame pool in her gut.
"Hey, why don't we talk tonight instead?" Kaito suggested.
"What? You barely did one situp!" Shuichi protested, though his smile was just as fond as it was disbelieving.
"I know, I know, we just haven't talked in a while, you know?"
Maki wondered if he had noticed her hesitation, though he wasn't looking at her, so she couldn't be sure. It was probably just a coincidence.
"Fine, but know you're not getting away with this tomorrow," Shuichi promised him.
"I'd expect nothing less from my sidekick!" Kaito replied with a laugh.
"What do you want to talk about?" Maki asked.
Kaito considered this. "Well-"
Maki's stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten all day.
"Oh, you haven't eaten yet, have you?" Kaito asked.
Maki turned red at the fact that he heard that. She shook her head.
"Well, we need to go fix that then!" Kaito decided, standing up.
Maki and the others got up and followed him back into the hallway with the bedrooms. One of the last doors opened into a small kitchen. It didn't have a proper oven, only a microwave, though there were a few snacks left out.
"There's not many options-" Kaito explained, rooting through the cabinets- "toast?"
Maki shrugged. "Sure."
He put two pieces of bread into the toaster for her, before leaning back onto one of the counters.
After a beat of silence, Himiko said, "this doesn't feel real."
"Right? Like, I literally died, and now I'm making toast," Kaito replied.
"Did it hurt?" Maki asked.
"Huh? Nah," Kaito replied coolly.
Shuichi cocked an eyebrow up. "Really?"
Kaito shrugged.
Maki narrowed her eyes at him.
"Seriously! I hardly felt anything!" Kaito insisted, though a nervous chuckle punctuated his words, "just like your everyday cough!"
"I'm going to pretend to believe you," Shuichi informed him, pouring himself a coffee and taking a sip.
"It's the middle of the night," Himiko said in minor horror.
"My sleep schedule's fucked anyway," Shuichi admitted.
The toast popped out, and before Maki could do anything Kaito grabbed them and started putting butter on them.
"Hey, I can do that myself you know!" Maki insisted, trying to grab the knife and bread from him.
"I know! I just want to," Kaito told her.
Maki frowned, and Kaito grinned at her.
"Well, if we're not going to be training, I'm going to go to bed," Himiko decided, heading for the door, "come on Shuichi."
"Huh? Why me?" Shuichi asked.
Himiko looked at Maki and Kaito and pulled Shuichi out of the room.
Kaito handed the buttered toast to Maki. "Here ya go, Makiroll."
"Thanks…" Maki took a bite of the toast, realised how hungry she was and scarfed down the rest faster than was probably safe.
"Toast never tasted so good," she said, and Kaito chuckled.
"I can imagine."
Kaito leaned forward to brush some crumbs off her face, but Maki stumbled back.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you just had a-"
"-No, it's fine." Maki wiped the crumbs away herself. "I'm… not used to this."
"Me neither," Kaito admitted sheepishly.
"I can't believe you actually like me," Maki said. Ugh, like sounded like such a childish way to say it.
"Why wouldn't I? You're the coolest girl I know."
Maki opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. He said it so sincerely too.
"Seriously," Kaito told her.
"Don't expect anything sappy from me," Maki told him, her hair in her hands once again, "you only got that confession before because I thought you were dying!"
Kaito laughed, but not meanly. "Ok."
"I mean it," Maki insisted.
"Then I guess I'll have to be sappy for the two of us then," Kaito decided.
Maki went wide-eyed. "What?"
"Did anyone ever tell you you have the prettiest eyes?" Kaito teased.
Maki hid her furiously blushing face behind her hair. "God, you're such an idiot!"
"Hey now!"
Maki smirked, though her cheeks were still on fire.
Kaito huffed.
"It's ok, you're a cute idiot."
"Thanks," Kaito said, a bemused expression on his face.
Maki chuckled. Kaito was watching her with an expression she couldn't read. "What?"
"I'm just thinking I'm the luckiest guy in the world," he told her.
She frowned. "You were just in a death game."
"And? You like me, that's a win."
"Jeez, the compliments are endless with you, aren't they?"
Kaito shot her finger guns. "You bet they are."
Maki groaned. "I'm already having second thoughts."
"No you're not," Kaito said with a grin.
No she wasn't.
The two spent a while more just chatting to each other before finally going to bed.
They remained in the building for two more days before they were escorted to the front lobby.
I guess they couldn't get Daiki back, Maki thought smugly.
Each of them were handed a simple envelope, and the employees handing them out wore annoyed expressions.
Maki opened it up and gasped. Inside was a cheque for an exorbitant amount of money. This would be enough to last her for a while.
"Holy shit!" Miu exclaimed out loud, "we're rich!"
"I've held more," Rantaro admitted, "but for a band of high school kids it's not bad at all."
"I thought Danganronpa was going bankrupt," Kaede mumbled, quiet enough so that the employees wouldn't hear.
"We must've had a contract or something," Kirumi suggested.
The group were ushered out the front doors, and Maki took in a deep breath of fresh air for the first time in who knows how long. The cold wind nipped at her, but she didn't care. She was free.
"So, what are we meant to do now?" Kiibo asked.
"Pretend to be normal?" Shuichi suggested.
"Bo-oring!" Kokichi singsonged.
"I'm sure we'll figure something out," Maki said. It's not like it could get any worse from here.