Chapter Text
This story contains themes of suicide, murder and mental health issues. Please do not read if you struggle with these topics. Thank you.
One year ago, six students stood up to despair on national television, and earned their freedom, bringing a shred of hope to millions around the world. Just a shred, but hope nonetheless. One of these people were Komaru Naegi, the younger sister of Makoto "The Ultimate Hope" Naegi. Since then, she has been tirelessly searching Japan in hopes of reconnecting with her brother. While Komaru watched her brothers escape on live television, there was no indication to where he'd be heading after that. She'd been living in a Shrine which was being used as a shelter at the time, and left almost instantly after the students were freed.
December 11th, 2013
Komaru walked through the ruthlessly depressing streets of Tokyo, searching every building and alley for a clue to where her brother might be. She never had any specific plan to how she would find him, just pure desperation. She wore a denim bucket hat, a baggy Adidas tracksuit, and a sturdy pair of leather boots. These clothes were chosen purely based on practicality rather than style. Luckily for her, she looked pretty damn cool anyway.
That night, she stepped into a sketchy looking bar to get something to eat. She walked up to the barman. "Hello mister, do you sell any food in here?"
"Depends, how deep are your pockets?" he said, not too welcomingly.
"I have money, don't worry."
"Okay. Well, we have rice, egg and apples today." he said, handing her a whiteboard menu.
"Today?" she asked.
"We have a different menu every day, just depends what we can get our hands on." he said. Komaru nodded in understanding.
"I understand. I'll have the rice please." she said. The barman nodded and Komaru found a seat. While waiting for her food she looked around the bar. She noticed a pinboard on the wall with only one poster on it. "DETECTIVE FOR HIRE" it read. "INVESTIGATING MISSING PERSONS, THEFT, MURDER, RAPE etc." In smaller writing beneath it was "Please contact K.K, ask barman for more details." Komaru stood up and inspected the poster, and then approached the barman. "Can I ask about this poster, please?" she asked him.
"What do ya wanna know?" asked the barman.
"Who is K.K?" she asked again.
"It was a girl who looked to be in her late-teens or early 20's. Pale in the face. She never gave me her full name, must think she's some kinda celebrity or something." he laughed to himself. Komaru furrowed her eyebrows at the poor joke, but decided to ignore it.
"Do you have her address?" she asked. The barman nodded and wrote down the address on a slip of paper.
"It's a shame we don't have mobile phones anymore. Those things were great." he said. Komaru nodded.
"Thanks." After finishing her rice, Komaru stepped outside and checked the slip of paper. "That's not so far away." she said. After a brief 20-minute walk, Komaru arrived at the address. It was a barricaded home that never really stood out from the others in the street. This was intentional. She approached the front door and knocked three times. ChAp ChAp ChAp
"Who is it?" asked a monotone voice coming from the inside.
"Uh- my name's Komaru. I'm searching for my brother." Komaru said, slightly stuttering.
"Do you know what happened to him?" asked the voice.
"N-no."
"Okay." said the voice. The door opened, and on the other side was a pale-faced girl with unbelievably long, white hair. "Come in." Komaru stepped inside.
"Wait you're- Kyoko?" she said. Instantly recognising her from the TV broadcast, and remembered her from Makoto's class prior to the tragedy.
"Yes, I am." Kyoko said. "Sit down." Komaru nodded and sat down on a sofa. "Tell me more about your brother. When was the last time you saw him?"
"N-no! You know my brother! You know him!" Komaru said, getting excited, confused and happy all at once, as she finally had a lead. Kyoko furrowed her eyebrows.
"Do I?" she asked.
"M- Makoto! Makoto Naegi! My big brother." she said, speaking a bit louder. Kyoko was stunned, and the shock was evident.
"You're... Makoto's brother?" she said, voice betraying her face.
"Mhm!"
A brief silence. Kyoko debated in her mind whether Komaru was being genuine or not, but the similarities in Komaru and her brother were undeniable.
"I see. You're... Komaru Naegi. Right?"
"Yeah! Don't you remember me? We met a couple times. Before the tragedy." Said Komaru. Kyoko closed her eyes and shook her head.
"My memories were erased." she said. Komaru paused, and then remembered.
"Oh, yeah... I forgot about that. Sorry." she frowned.
"It's okay."
"So- do you know where he is?" Komaru asked, knowing Kyoko was one of the last to see him.
"Sorry, no." she sighed.
"But... you- you were together? Weren't you?" Komaru asked, the excitement leaving her body.
"We were, but I'm afraid he disappeared." she said. To say Komaru was unsatisfied with this answer was an understatement.
"Disappeared!? Wh- what do you mean he disappeared?" she asked, confusion swallowing her whole. Kyoko sighed.
"It's a long story..."
"I don't care if it's a long story, I want to know where my brother is!" Komaru yelled, unfairly taking her anger out on Kyoko. Kyoko closed her eyes and nodded.
"Okay, I'll tell you." she said. Komaru remained expressionless. "After we got out, the group split up. Byakuya went off to rebuild his family's company, and Toko followed him. Hiro decided to do some travelling and "explore his spirituality", whatever that means. Me and Makoto created this detective agency, and Hina- Hina just kind of vanished. So... Me and Makoto ran this agency for a good while. Didn't charge, didn't gain anything from it. We just wanted to restore a little hope in the world, give people some answers. We were a pretty good team, figured out every case presented to us. Then uh- one day... one day- I- I woke up... and Makoto was gone. He uh- he left me a note. It was... pathetic to say the least... It said "Kyoko, I know you won't understand right now. But I have to go. I'm sorry, I really am. But one day you'll understand. And we'll see each other again."" Kyoko sighed. She'd remembered the note word for word. "I- I've been thinking about it every day, what it could mean. But I just don't understand- I just... well, that's the story I suppose."
"Makoto... left?" Komaru asked. Kyoko nodded. "Well, he said "we'll see each other again" didn't he? I'm sure he'll be back soon and explain everything." said Komaru, trying to justify her brother in her head.
"That was four months ago." said Kyoko. The two went silent. After a moment Kyoko spoke again. "I don't resent him for it though. I know he must have had his reasons. It's just- I just can't think what they might possibly be. And... will I ever see him again?" she said, her face now a lot more expressive than before.
"Were... you two together?" Komaru asked, desperate to hear the answer to the question she'd had since the television broadcast.
"We were married."
"Married!?" Now that was unexpected.
"Yeah. Not officially, because the Government had dissolved, so there were no papers to sign. But we had a ring."
"Can I see it?" asked Komaru. Kyoko looked down at her gloved, her ring bearing finger underneath one of them.
"Sorry, no." she sighed. Komaru was confused but didn't ask any more. "Where do you live by the way?" Kyoko asked.
"Live? Oh, I don't live anywhere, I just find a new place to sleep every night." she replied nonchalantly.
"You're homeless?"
"I prefer the term "traveller", but yes." she smiled. Kyoko raised her eyebrows.
"Why don't you stay here?" she said, taking Komaru by surprise.
"Live here? Are you sure?" she asked.
"Well, we're both looking for your brother, aren't we? And maybe you could help out a little with the detective agency, only if you'd like of course." said Kyoko. Komaru thought about it for a moment and then nodded her head.
"mmm- okay." she said. "I'd like that. Thank you." This made Kyoko smile.
The two laughed and talked for hours, trading stories of Makoto, their experiences in the apocalypse and all sorts of things. It was nice, despite hardly knowing each other, they had a strong connection. Something they both craved. They were perfect for each other too, they both loved tea, enjoyed similar literature, and were both fantastic cooks. The only difference? Their taste in music. Kyoko was more of a traditional music-listener, she preferred classical composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. Komaru however had a much more modernised taste, anything with a synthesiser and soprano singer would have her dancing in a heartbeat. In her time living with Kyoko, Komaru had stumbled across a box of CD's which had belonged to her brother before he left, it was an impressive gallery to say the least. A lot of the CD's were recorded by Sayaka and her band during their days as Pop Stars, one of them was even signed. Listening to the album's somehow made Komaru feel more connected to her brother, even though a lot of it wasn't her kind of music. Just pressing play on the same stereo, the same CD that Makoto did, it was... bittersweet? Melancholic? She didn't know the word, but she felt something. And Kyoko was more than happy to let Komaru use her stereo, she never cared much for it anyway. Weeks passed and the two grew really close, like family. It was the happiest any of them had been in years.
January 18th, 2014
The festive season came and went, it didn't matter. The date was irrelevant now. But while the two girls were unaware of the holiday, it was the best Christmas they'd had in a while. Early one morning Komaru was reading through a little brown notepad she had found in a cupboard somewhere. Kyoko's black cat sitting in her lap. The notepad contained names and addresses of lots of people she'd never heard of. When Kyoko woke up she came into the living room and found Komaru reading through the book. "Morning." she said.
"Oh- morning!" Komaru said, slightly embarrassed she'd been caught looking through Kyoko's things. "Can I just ask, what are all these names and addresses in this notepad?" she asked. Kyoko smiled.
"It's the names and addresses of everyone we've ever solved a case for. Whenever someone comes in, I quickly write down their details just so I don't forget."
"Oh, cool." said Komaru, sitting the notepad on top of a chest of drawers.
"Why are you looking through my things?" Kyoko asked. Komaru began to stutter.
"Oh- I ah- I-"
"You wanted to find out a little more about your brother, didn't you?" she smiled.
"Y-yeah" Komaru sighed.
"It's okay, I understand. C'mon, I have some photos through here." Kyoko said, turning her head to the kitchen. They both went through and Kyoko lifted a box from the top of the fridge. Komaru stood there excitedly, desperate to see how Makoto had lived after escaping Hope's Peak. But she just had one question on her mind.
"How'd you know I was looking for photos of my brother?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm psychic." Kyoko smiled.
"What!?"
"Hm. No, I just have really good intuition."