#Tenko isn’t giving anyone else a second glance

[spittyfishy]

Remnant Tenko, what kind of girls are you in... you're into Junko Enoshima, aren't you?

She’s pretty much just into Junko lol

[himikiyo]

night go slow // himikiyo week day 2

Himikiyo Week Day 2: First Date + Wedding

“Himiko-chan, we all thought you’d be the next to get married. You and Kiyo have been together the longest out of any of us.”

Himiko and Korekiyo go to a wedding.

Read on AO3, DRA, or under the cut. CW for abuse in the context of Kiyo’s past.

Marriage ceremonies and other similar rites were a near universal phenomenon, occurring in wildly different societies all over the world. The precise details differed, but many different kinds of humans placed value on committed relationships, whether for the joy of love and romance or as a more practical arrangement for child rearing. It was fascinating to study.

As a great anthropologist, Korekiyo valued it from an academic point of view. Love, relationships, it was all so beautifully complex. Few things unlocked such a vast range of behavior and emotions, from gorgeous to downright ugly. Ugliness could be beautiful too, so it was a win-win. They had to believe that. If there was no value in human ugliness, then what meaning could be derived from—?

No, best not to think too much. There was beauty in it. Sister valued beauty too. She was fearsome, yes, but nothing if not concerned with appearances. She taught them well. They had no doubt that marriage was best left as a theoretical field of study for them.

She was supposed to get married once. There was a boy she went to school with, before she grew too ill to continue. Haruto stayed in touch, calling her often and visiting her in the hospital. He sent flowers and teddy bears. He pitied her, of course. Kiyo was young then, but they understood that much. Sister didn’t have long to live, and she was too fragile to follow the normal progression of going out on dates and developing a relationship with someone. That was why she—

No.

He figured it out, Haruto did. After enough times of catching glimpses of rumpled clothes and lipstick marks, or hearing roughly whispered warnings, he grew suspicious.

“Is something going on?” he asked, cornering Kiyo in the kitchen. They backed up reflexively, feeling the edge of the countertop digging into them. They didn’t like it when people got too close.

“What do you mean?”

“With Sumire-san...with your sister. I know we don’t know each other too well...” He crouched down a bit then, even though Kiyo was already tall for twelve. How annoying. “...But if there’s anything bad going on...if she’s hurting you or...you know...”

“No,” Kiyo said, feeling their heart crawling up into their throat. “Nothing’s wrong. She’d never do anything bad.”

Haruto looked uncomfortable, carding a hand through his hair. He glanced away, seeming to consider his next words carefully.

“It’s not your fault if she did. You can tell me. We’ll talk to the cops or something, okay? Someone who can help you.”

Unfortunately, that was a good day for Sister, one when she had enough strength to walk around. It was at that moment that she entered the kitchen.

“Haruto-kun? What has my brother been saying to you?” There was danger in her gaze, icy enough to turn their blood to slush. Haruto seemed to feel it too if the way he froze was any indication. “He’s such a troublemaker. You really shouldn’t pay any attention to his lies, that just encourages him.”

“He didn’t have to tell me anything. I have eyes, Sumire. And I’m not going to be keeping this to myself.”

“I’d think twice about that if I were you.”

Korekiyo fled the room, but it didn’t matter. They could still hear the two of them arguing no matter where they went. Haruto was lucky. He got to leave. It was Kiyo who took over the role of absorbing their sister’s wrath when he was gone, insisting over and over that they didn’t say anything, that they’d never do anything to hurt her.

Haruto never came back. It wasn’t until some time later that Kiyo found out about the bribe their parents offered to keep him quiet. It made sense. Their sister always got her way.

“It’s not your fault.” Those words always stuck with them, echoing again and again in their head. If it wasn’t their fault, then why were they constantly being punished? If he wanted to help them, how could he fold so easily at the promise of hush money from their parents?

Marriage — how could something so transactional veiled as love bring anything but pain? Haruto and their sister, their parents...marriage never worked out. It tainted everything it touched.

He was months away from being considered family. After enough time passed that they were able to realize their sister was wrong, the foremost thought on their mind was simple.

Why didn’t he save them?

---

For the second time in the past year and a half, Himiko found herself at a wedding reception.

“Everything looks really pretty, huh?” she murmured, nudging against Kiyo as they walked. “Shuichi’s aesthetic sense isn’t half bad. Maybe that’s part of being a detective...observational skills and all.”

“Yes, it’s quite beautiful. Kaede and Tenko’s was lovely as well, despite Tenko being her usual self. Our friends all know how to put on excellent receptions, it seems. It’s fascinating to see people we’ve spent so many years with taking this step in their lives.”

“Yeah,” Himiko echoed softly. “Fascinating.” There were plenty of other guests around, some familiar and some not. It wasn’t the right time to bring up how she truly felt about seeing Shuichi and Kiibo getting married. She was happy for her friends, of course, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t yearning for the day she’d be the one having a beautiful wedding.

She was well aware of the reasons behind Kiyo’s views on marriage, and she knew it didn’t have anything to do with how much they loved her, but it still grated on her sometimes. Was it just society’s influence telling her it mattered?

With everyone thronging around the newlyweds, it was the perfect time to slip away to their table. Neither one of them were too big on being in the middle of crowds — observation suited them better. Of course, it didn’t take long before they had company.

“The whole gang’s together as usual, huh?” Maki said, glancing up and down the length of the table, set for sixteen. “Well, I guess that’s not bad.”

“Our hosts are truly thoughtful,” Kiyo replied, the conversation gradually dragging Himiko out of her reverie. “And I suspect you’re happier with the arrangement than you choose to let on too, Maki-san.”

She scoffed, shaking her head and tugging at her hair.

“All these years and you still haven’t figured out that it’s not your place to psychoanalyze me. Not sure why I expect anything else.”

Himiko just smiled, squeezing Kiyo’s hand. At one time, Maki’s distaste for them was very much real, but there was no need to be worried anymore. It was the same stubborn sort of banter she engaged in with everyone else.

“If that’s how you wish to put it, I psychoanalyze everyone. You’re no different in that respect.”

“Weirdo,” Maki grumbled, which was essentially her version of a peace offering.

Gradually, more and more of their friends made their way over, some more quietly than others. For those who were more inclined to party, a wedding was one of the best possible reasons to let loose. Leaning a little closer to Kiyo, mumbling an excuse about being chilly just so she could snuggle up to them, Himiko’s eyes tracked Miu across the room. Predictably, she was one of the loudest people in the venue, dancing with strangers and making her typical raunchy comments.

It wasn’t until Kaede and Tenko joined them that Himiko’s attention was forcibly pulled back to the table.

“Tenko guesses even degenerate weddings can be nice,” Tenko pronounced with a heavy sigh. “She still doesn't get why anyone wouldn’t want a wife though.” At that moment, as she paused to take a sip of her drink, Himiko knew exactly what was coming. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all. She knew what would be said and yet she was powerless to stop it, just as one might watch two cars about to crash.

“Himiko-chan, we all thought you’d be the next to get married. You and Kiyo have been together the longest out of any of us.” The visibly disgusted expression she made when saying their name already wasn’t doing her any favors, but Tenko had never been one to know when to stop. “What Tenko means is... if you were having second thoughts about them, that’d be totally understandable, but if not, what’s the hold up?”

“That’s not any of your business,” she replied through gritted teeth. “Speed isn’t everything, you know.”

“What’s the big deal? Tenko’s only concerned about your happiness, and if Kiyo’s not making you happy, then maybe you should—”

“Don’t talk about them like that. Ever.” She knew it was childish to flee, but in that moment, her legs had a mind of their own. She hurried out of the reception hall, making a beeline for the outdoor gardens. At least there she could get a moment’s quiet to cool down. As she left, she could hear Kaede scolding her wife’s insensitivity, but nothing from Kiyo. How selfish was she, not bothering to check if they were okay?

Sinking down onto a bench, she closed her eyes. Telling herself to take deep breaths could only do so much, and yet she felt powerless to take any other action. All she could do was sit there, listening to the distant sounds of the party and the barely perceptible signs of someone approaching.

“Himiko...”

She opened her eyes again, immediately scanning their face in an attempt to make sense of their emotional state. They weren’t visibly distressed, but when it came to Kiyo, that didn’t always mean much. Unsure what to say, she simply moved over at first, making room for them to join her on the bench.

“It was really rude of Tenko to say all that,” she began eventually, letting her hand rest on their leg. “It’s none of her business whether we’re getting married or not.”

“That may be true, but I’m less concerned about my own feelings than I am about yours. She was attempting to give me an ultimatum, but in the process, she made you uncomfortable.”

“Well, yes, but...it’s not a burden for me to stand up for you. That’s what being in a relationship is all about, isn’t it? Supporting each other? I know your reasons, and...my love for you is way more important than a ceremony or a piece of paper.” A little embarrassed, she looked down, face reddening in the evening air.

“Is that so? You’re perfectly content with continuing on this way indefinitely, never taking what most would consider to be the logical next step in our relationship?”

“I mean...I do wish we could, but...” Even if she disagreed with their reasons — the two of them wouldn’t suddenly fall apart just because of a change in title — she never wanted to pressure them into doing something they didn’t want. Their journey toward healing from their childhood trauma had been a long one.

“But you’re concerned for my feelings,” they finished. “You don’t need to be. I’ve actually been giving the matter some thought even before today.” Kiyo grasped her hand, fingers wrapping warmly around her own. “I love you, Himiko. You’re the love of my life. Of that I have no doubt. I know you would never intentionally hurt me nor turn against me. If anything, sometimes you hurt yourself instead. If I wouldn’t take a leap of faith for you, then how could I possibly claim to be worthy of all you’ve given me?”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” The noise of the party indoors, the twinkling of the stars, even the soft rustling of the breeze, all of it was burned into her memory. She knew it was a moment she’d want to go back to again and again.

“I am. Though I believe it’s considered a bit rude to propose at someone else’s wedding, so we’ll save the official engagement for later, shall we?”

What better way to say yes than with a kiss?

[therapist-solarist]

Shots Go Bang In The Night; As We Quit Our Vices

Hello lovelies, here’s a new DR fic. (What I think most if not all my follower’s are here for at this point tbh...) Here’s the AO3 link, this Video that inspired this and below the description. Take the tags and warning's seriously please!!! 

Description:

    !!!MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF DANGANRONPA V3!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!! 

TW: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH & IMPLIED SU!C!DE, 

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.

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 “Enough! That’s enough! I’ve had enough!!”

The pause in the room is audible as he takes a shaking breath in losing his grip on the podium as he spins to Kaito’s direction.

“Kaede asked me to take care of all of you! She asked me to save all of you and get you through each trial and all you-” He nearly glares at Tsumugi and Kaito as he continues “-are doing right now is making that impossible!”

He heaves in another breath.

“All of the evidence is right here, it’s right here, it’s right here Kaito! Tsumugi! Open your eyes even if you don’t want to. I don’t want to I don’t-”

His chest rattles as he pulls his arms to his chest and tries not to let burning hot tears roll down his cheeks.

Or the time Shuichi quits being the trial leader.

                                                      x. Persuade

cause (someone) to believe something, especially after a sustained effort; convince.

This isn’t working.

“Who cares about the motive? Let’s vote for the culprit already!”

Kokichi’s voice boomed through the room, the high ceiling and rounded walls bouncing his explanation as if it were a battle cry of sorts. 

Tsumugi’s voice cracks as she follows his words, “I care about the motive!”

“Well, I don’t care. Finding the culprit is more important in this class trial.” Kokichi held up a hand and inspected his nails, seemingly bored as the room glared his way. 

“And anyways, Talking about the motive is meaningless. It’s not necessary for this specific case.”

“No matter what you say, I’ll never believe your lies!”

The sinking feeling in his gut strengthened as he watched Kaito clench a fist and hold onto the podium tuning his knuckles almost white with how strong his grip was. 

“We all agree that Gonta is the culprit right? It would be impossible for anyone but him.”

“Impossible? Why?”

“It’s pretty obvious if you-”

“Kokichi stop.” 

The room seemed to pause and all eyes turned his way. He gripped the podiums railing a bit tighter and tried not to let the anxiety he felt with everyone’s eyes on him show.

“Stop?”

“Yes, stop.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because you made your point.”

“And?” 

The podium lurched under his feet as it moved him and kokichi to the center of the circle. It seemed Monokuma wanted more entertainment. Fine then. 

“And the truth is out and the point is made. What else do you want? As long as everyone thinks about it you’ve won and made a point. What more do you want? You did just say the motive didn’t matter. You should have faith others will vote without it then right?”

He watched as Kokichi’s face goes blank again. The stare is unnerving but he doesn’t back down when he sees the boy in question tilt his head and narrow his eyes at him. It was rare but it seemed the shell had cracked for a moment.

“Fine. But will you get everyone else to understand than?”

“They already sh-”

“Why would we listen to him Shuichi??” Shuichi takes a breath in as the podium pulls him back to Kaito’s side. “I mean, what reason has he given us?”

“Yeah! why would we tr-trust him!” Tsumugi leaned over her railing a bit, staring him down with a slightly unsettled look. 

The urge to scream for one moment was a dizzying feeling. Maybe if he yelled someone would get it. Maybe they’d think about the information they had. As soon as Kokichi had shared about the murder plan and revealed Gonta as the blackened it had all snapped into place. They just had to think about it!  “What about this is hard to understand! I gave you the answers, Shumai even said so himself that I was right!”

He grit his teeth as a new way of complaints burst forth from Kaito’s and Tsumugi’s mouths. Across from him, Maki’s lips are pursed and she’s exchanging a glance with Himiko. They both look resigned but aren’t actively fighting him and the other two at this point.

 “And another thing yo-” He feels his chest tighten as the insults flow from Momota over to Kokichi. 

“Enough! That’s enough! I’ve had enough!!”

The pause in the room is audible as he takes a shaking breath in losing his grip on the podium as he spins to Kaito’s direction. 

“Kaede asked me to take care of all of you! She asked me to save all of you and get you through each trial and all you-” He nearly glares at Tsumugi and Kaito as he continues “are doing right now is making that impossible!” 

He heaves in another breath. 

“All of the evidence is right here, it’s right here, it’s right here Kaito! Tsumugi! Open your eyes even if you don’t want to. I don’t want to I don’t-”

His chest rattles as he pulls his arms to his chest and tries not to let burning hot tears roll down his cheeks.

“I can’t do this anymore! I refuse to if this is how it’s going to go!”

“Shuichi-”

“I mean you guys can’t stop arguing for-” “Shuichi-!”

“Not even five minutes! Why can’t you listen to us! The clues are here and-”

“SHUICHI!” 

A hand reaches out to grab his arm and he slaps the hand away on instinct, the touch almost burning as he does so.

“Kaito no! I refuse! I don’t want to see this anymore. I know it’s the truth and I know what’s going to happen!” He wraps himself up in his own arms again and takes a gasping breath in the tears rolling freely now. 

 “If you guys think for a moment this doesn’t make me want to give up or call it quite you are wrong. I hate this gift, I hate this talent, I hate the truth! It’s cruel.” 

 “Shuichi…” He refused to look up and meet Himiko’s eyes but he knows from across the circle her face is the same as the day they found Tenko, the day they had sat in the room and debated her friend’s blackened. He doesn’t meet her eyes for this reason. 

 “But what if he’s wrong.” 

 The reprieve he’s felt for the singular moment is shattered as he breaks out into a shuttering sob as the urge to scream and throw something again invade his chest. It’s so useless trying to do this. It’s so useless to talk sense into those who want to avoid the truth.

  “But he’s not. He’s not and I refuse to vote on it.”

The outcry that rolls through the room pass over him as he digs his nails into his arms, the scratchy fabric of his jacket rubbing against his skin, grounding him in the moment. 

 “Isn’t that against the rules?”

“You’ll die too!”

“Hey now, don’t go to that extreme I’m sure there’s another way to figure this out-”

“Saihara don’t.”

“Gonta don’t want Shuichi to do that-”

“It’s Shumai’s choice.”

He glances up and feels the hopelessness of the room around him.

“Wellll as interesting as this is, it’s time to wrap things up!” 

There’s a call of outcry from half the rooms members. Varying from “That’s not enough time!” to “we still don’t know yet!” 

The resounding cackle Monokuma let’s out is one that should chill him to the bones but he finds he can’t care that much. He won’t vote. If they can’t trust his deductions and Kokichi’s confession then he can’t in good faith keep leading them. The truth hurts, they should know this by now. It should be easy for them to see this is no longer something they can run from. 

Above him, he hears the noise of the first vote click into place. More cries of outrage ring out from around him, he ignores them and glances up to the scoreboard. One vote is highlighted for Gonta. And the noise rings out again and a second vote is cast. Two votes for Gonta. Three votes. Four votes. Five votes. One vote for Kokichi. Two votes.

He won’t vote this time. 

“Saihara are you going to vote.” Maki’s voice is nowhere near concerned but it’s also unlike her normally harsh tone. 

“I already said I won’t.” 

He glances down and meets her eyes. He feels her gaze burn him, scolding him for what he’s about to put them through, maybe forgiving him. He’s not sure if that’s a good or bad thing to wish for. He just feels tired. Burnt out to the bone in a way he’ll never be able to escape. 

“Shuichi come on, vote, please!” Kaito’s voice is wavering slightly. “Can’t lose my sidekick after all right…?”

He thinks now is a good time to scream. 

And maybe he is screaming when the timer hit’s zero and he spares a glance at Kaito, his eyes pleading with him until they aren’t anymore, they are fearful as he digs his finger’s into his arms and screams so loud he can’t hear himself and-

                                                       . . .

The screen in front of her lets out a muffled bang of a gun and then a second one as a body drops to the floor in a heap, footsteps following behind the sound, tears rolling down faces and other cries of outrage following behind it all. 

She doesn’t hide her smile as she leans on the desk and lets herself get much too close to the screen. She’d be scolded on her un-ladylike look if anyone saw her like this. Or maybe they’d be too scared to correct her. She doesn’t really care. 

Instead, the screen keeps her attention as she watches them all crowd around the dead avatar on screen. A pity really, she liked how this test season was going. She’d have to tweak his personality a bit the next time around before the actual game. 

Can’t have her favored protagonist dying now can she?

“Miss.Enoshima?”

She tilts her head away from the screen and turns back to the man standing at the door. 

“What.”

“Do you want us to restart the simulation? Chapter one? Or try again from chapter four with new tweaks?”

She pitties the loss that this older intern doesn’t flinch at her anymore. Must be over all of her fun blackmail tricks nowadays.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll send a list of tweaks over. Bye now.” She doesn’t give him anymore prompting any the door behind her closes as she watches the screen once more. Tsumugi was doing a good job but really, no one did as well as she could when she was in the simulations. A shame really because she had loved when they’d done season one together and had missed the feeling of dying. Maybe she could sneak in some time and program herself a new death while filming happened. It’d be a shame if this season started late though. 

Oh well. The show must go on, 

                                                       right?

[lunarapocolypse]

Shigaraki Week: Day 2

Teamwork?/Rivals/Defeat

I found out I’m more productive when writing songfics, so here’s another one! I made an earlier post about this song and how the character who sung most of it reminds me of Tomura. Anyways, the song is Ready As I’ll ever Be, from Tangled: The Series. Enjoy! (All the bold italics is the harmony singing and italics is the lyrics)

----------------------------------------------------------- Tomura let out a sigh. It was going to happen soon. The boss battle. The final level. But the boss wasn’t who he’d expected it to be. No, it was someone different. But even so, it was someone so painstakingly similar to whom he thought he’d face in the end. After, he was his apprentice. Just like Tomura was All For One’s. But unlike this final boss, Tomura wasn’t just like his master. No, he was better. And he’d prove it.

“Any moment now, your highness.”

He walked over to All Might. He was tied to a pillar in the room, chains so thick he’d have trouble breaking them even in his prime. It was only necessary, since they couldn’t let him escape. This plan would go down without a single glitch, he was sure of it.  

His face was exposed, with all of its wrinkles and scars. He’d stopped wearing Father a long time ago. All Might stared up at him with wide eyes.

“Any moment now, All Might. Any second and your precious prodigy will come waltzing in with the rest of those hero scum. Aren’t you excited?” He said, grinning like a maniac. He pretty much was a maniac. A mad genius.  All Might, or rather Toshinori since his hero days were over a while back, looked at him with pleading eyes. “Don’t do this, please. You’re better than this.” He begged. Tomura scoffed. 

“Better than this, you say?” He taunted, circling around the fragile man. He raised his arms, as if to show something around him.

“What can be better than this?” He said, pure insanity in his eyes. Toshinori shuddered. The blunette had clearly lost his mind. Or at least, that’s what Toshinori thought. Tomura sighed, putting his arms back down, grin disappearing.

Believe me I know

I've sunk pretty low

But whatever I've done you deserve

 “Do you think I don’t know how low I’ve stooped? I’ve murdered thousands, no millions. I’ve ruined lives, tortured so called ‘innocents’, destroyed cities, ruined economies, and so much more. Are you that stupid to think I don’t know all the destruction I’ve caused?” He hissed, glaring at the blonde man. Toshinori stared back in shock.

“I’ve done things so dirty and desperate, you can’t even imagine it. But it’s all for my purpose, my cause. It’s worth it, don’t you think?” He said, the manic look reappearing in his crimson eyes. Toshinori’s expression  morphed into one of sadness and guilt.

“Tenko, please-” “QUIET!” Tomura hissed, glaring at him. “That isn’t my name, it never will be. Don’t call me that ever again!” He sighed, glare still prominent. “I know you don’t think so, but you deserve this. Everything I”ve done to hurt you, you deserve it all. You’re not as good of a person as you believe you are, All Might.” He spat, anger in his voice. Toshinori gave him a sympathetic look. 

I'm the bad guy, that's fine

It's no fault of mine

And some justice at last will be served

“Don’t give me that look!” He shouted, growing angrier by the second. “I  know I’m the bad guy here, I know I’m the villain. I know everything I stand for is morally wrong and all of that bullshit. And that’s okay. I accept that I’m not good. Unlike you.” He ranted. Toshinori watched, eyes widening more than before. His expression didn’t change much.

“It’s not like it’s my fault anyways. That bastard, my former sensei, he broke me. Someone as broken as me, I can’t be anything other than a villain, can I? Not that I mind.” He snarled. That man, All For One had forced him to kill his family. He was so blind before to have not seen it, but now he knew the truth. He would never praise that man again for as long as he lived.

“At least now, you and those other scum will finally get what you deserve.”

Now it's time to step up

Or it's time to back down

And there's only one answer for me

“You still have a chance.” Toshinori said, not bothering to call him Tenko. He knew he’d be silenced again, if he did, 

“It’s not too late for you. You can still change, you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to challenge the heroes, we can be at peace. You have a choice, please listen to me.” He pleaded. 

“I am here for you.” He said, eyes filled with sincerity.

Tomura tapped his chin, as if to consider it. Then he laughed.

“Not too late? I can change? Do you even know what you’re saying? It’s all lies. Sure you’re here now, but where were you before? Where were you when that bastard shattered my mind? You weren’t there. You’re far too late, hero.” He taunted. The intensity of his eyes was enough to make the former number one hero shiver in fear. 

“Sorry to disappoint, but I plan on clearing this level. I’m not going to back down.” 

And I'll stand up and fight

cause I know that I'm right

“Everything I’ve done up until now was for this. I’ll fight and win, I’ll prove that I’m right!” He said, grinning maniacally. 

“One day, they’ll thank me for getting rid of the hero society.”

And I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready

Ready as I'll ever be

Tomura walked away, enjoying the expression of disbelief and fear on All Might’s face. It was perfect. He really wished he could kill him right then and there, but he needed to keep him hostage. Oh well, giving him false hope only for him to see it all fall down would be nice. Just like what his former sensei did. 

He remembered when All For One had pushed him into Kurogiri’s warp, before his last battle with All Might. Tomura had told him he wasn’t ready yet. The memory sent a wave of satisfaction through him.

After so long, he was finally ready.

Now it's time to rise up

Or it's time to stand down

And the answer is easy to see

Eraserhead gulped looking at the  assembly of pro heroes. His former class had graduated from UA a year ago, and was looking back at him with pride in their eyes. He hoped he  wouldn’t disappoint them.

 They had two objectives.

Rescue Toshinori. Destroy the League of Villains. 

And he was in charge of it all.

“I...I have the location of where they’re keeping him. Look, I know I’ve never liked him much, but I’m not going to stand by and let All Might suffer. We’ll go to war or surrender, and I’m sure you know what the answer will be.” He said, courageously. They were depending on him. He couldn’t let them down. He wouldn’t let them down.

And I swear by the sword

If you're in, get on board

Are you ready?

“We’re going to get All Might back, and finally take down the League of Villains. Anyone who wants to help, is more than welcome to. Are you all ready?” he said, but not in his usual tired voice. No, today he was brimming with courage. 

I'm ready

We're ready

We're ready

Ready as I'll ever be

“I’m ready!” Present Mic said. Not in his usual cheery tone, but a more grim one. But there was hope in his voice. And faith. Faith that this would go well, faith in Eraserhead.

“Me too!” Shouted Midnight. 

“Let’s do this!” Uravity yelled.

“Let’s kill em all!” Ground Zero screamed. Eraserhead sweatdropped. Not exactly the right motive, but he had the spirit. The rest of the crowd joined in. he heaved a sigh. Hopefully, this would turn out well.

Are you quite sure we can do this?

“Midoriya?” Todoroki whispered, noticing how scared the smaller boy looked. “Are you sure about this? All Might was like a real father to you, it must hurt for anything to happen to him. Will you be alright?” He asked, softly. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure if he’d be okay either. Touya, no, Dabi would be there. Not like Dabi cared much about him anymore.

Truthfully, Shoto hadn’t known him well. But even so, it hurt to face against him, knowing they were hurt by the same person. Knowing he could’ve saved him. His mind flashed to their last meeting. Dabi had told him that he didn’t need to be saved, in his mind he already was. He said the League had helped him more than the heroes ever could. Shoto wondered how villains could be capable of that, but he didn’t question it.

  Deku trembled slightly, but looked up with a shining smile.

Together we will guarantee

“Of course I will! All Might means a lot to me, which is why I have to be there to save him. He’s saved me so many times, now it’s finally my turn.” Izuku turned a bit to look Todoroki in the eyes. “What about you?” he asked. Todoroki grimaced.

“...I think I’ll be fine. He’s chosen where his loyalties lie, and I’ve done the same. And that’s something I must accept.” He said, losing a bit of tension.

“This will turn out alright. After all, we have each other. Right, Shoto?” he said, hopeful. Todoroki gave him a light smile.

“Of course, Izuku.”

I'll make them hear me

Tomura smiled. After so long of being ignored, of being kept in the shadows, it was finally his time to shine. He’d make them see the truth behind this corrupt society, he’d make them see things from his eyes. He hoped they could finally understand how corrupt this world was. 

He’s make them understand.

Now it's time to redeem

Or it's time to resolve

Eraserhead and Deku exchanged nervous glances on the way there. It was almost time. They could win or lose. It was now, or never again.

Prove they can trust me

“I can’t believe it’s finally happening! The final battle!” Toga squealed, practically jumping up and down. 

“Me neither! Tch, well of course it’s happening! What else would you expect?” Twice said, from right beside her. Compress chuckled fondly, taking a seat next to them. Tomura walked into the room, rolling his eyes.

“I have a plan, but it’s risky. We’ve done a lot of risky jobs, but this might be the worst. You’ll have to trust me.” He said. He hoped they could. He’d never admit out loud, but the scarred man  had grown quite fond of his comrades. He wanted them to be able to trust and confide in him. He wanted to give them the future his former Sensei could never give him. He wanted to help them the way the heroes never did to him.

“Like we don’t already do that.” Dabi snorted, smirking slightly. He and Tomura had gotten off to a rough start, but grew closer and closer as time went on. Now, they had an unbreakable bond. The entire league had an unbreakable bond, one that would often minorly crack and be repaired, but never truly broken. 

“He’s right, Shigaraki. We’d trust you with our lives.” Spinner said, softly. The rest of them nodded in agreement.

“Hell yeah we would! I’m agreeing with me on this one!” Twice shouted. Tomura blinked. Twice agreeing with himself meant that it was something he was completely sure of. 

“They’re all right, Shigaraki. Giran said, smiling lightly. Tomura smiled back, sitting down.

“Thank you all. I won’t let you down.”

And the outcome will hardly come free

Lives would be lost in this battle. Scars would grow. Wound would be reopened. This wasn’t going to be a free fight. The League had grown bigger and stronger over the years, they were the real deal. But the heroes were prepared. This wouldn’t going to go down easily. Pinky gave Red Riot a nervous smile, who responded with a thumbs up. It would be okay.

 I'll save my home and family

Tomura spoke clearly, trying to elaborate to the best of his abilities. He’d finished explaining the plan, and was answering questions to help clear everyone’s doubts. He didn’t mind it anymore, it was only natural they’d have questions. Helping them understand would be better for the plan. He was rather glad his comrades chose to ask him about the plan and try to make it as clear as possible rather than being unable to understand it. 

He liked this atmosphere. Even though they had a giant battle coming up, the league was comfortable. They weren’t overconfident, they knew how this could end. But they weren’t tense either. They had faith in Tomura’s plan, faith in each other. 

Tomura smiled faintly, when all the questions had been answered. Everyone was prepared for the worst, but he hoped it wouldn’t have to come to that. He wasn’t certain of many things regarding this fight, but he knew the League would stick together through thick and thin. The League was his home, his family. They would always be together. He’d save them, he’d make sure they were ensured a bright future. He’d win this, for them.

Now the line's in the sand

And our moment's at hand

“This is the place.” Eraserhead said, pulling into an abandoned area. The League had moved out of their old warehouse a long time ago, and had a base so concealed none of the best heroes could find it. Until now.

It was a large tower surrounded by mist, due to its placement in the mountains. Perfect for an undercover hideout. It was time. Any moment now, they’d be in battle.

And I'm ready

“Ready?” he asked, looking towards the heroes. They all nodded. They couldn’t afford to mess this up, just a single slip up could come at the cost of their lives. But they were willing to take that risk.

I'm ready

“They’re approaching.” Dabi whispered into his earpiece. As the leader of the Vanguard, he had the most authority, besides Tomura and Kurogiri. “Are you ready?”

“Ready!” Toga chirped. The rest of the league agreed, including both of Twice’s sides. Dabi smirked. They’d be victorious, he was sure of it.

I'm ready

Tomura stood from the balcony of the tower, smirking when the heroes came into view. This would be fun.

“Tomura Shigaraki.” Kurogiri said, warping beside him. They broke him out of tartarus a while back. It was the same day Tomura killed All For One, the man and the quirk.  He chuckled, relieving the memory of that day.

“This is what we’ve been preparing for since many years ago. The opportunity to take down hero society. Are you ready?” he asked. If he could show facial expressions, Kurogiri would look proud, fond, and concerned. Proud since Tomura had accomplished so much and had grown to be a fine leader, fond because he cared deeply for the man next to him, and  concerned because he wasn’t sure if he’d be okay. Tomura had already lost part of his hand, he didn’t need to lose more. (Kurogiri wished he had been there when it happened, he would’ve been able to stop it.)

Tomura turned towards his parental figure, smiling. Not his usual evil overlord smile, but a softer one.

Ready as I'll ever be

“I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life, Kurogiri. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Kurogiri nodded with a sigh.

“I can’t help but worry. You’ve always been a problem child.” he said. Tomura laughed a little. A few years back, he would’ve threatened the man for daring to say such a thing. Now, he’d accepted it. 

“Ah, I never answered your question, did I?.” he said, looking back down at the heroes. They had spotted him by now. He grinned at them.

“I’m ready as I’ll ever be.”

------------------------------------------------

I’ll let you decide how this ends ;)

@shigarakiweek

[imaginedanganronpa]

HMmM how about the V3 boys having to do a footrace against their fem crush for whatever reason, but bc of their laid-back personality, everyone expects them to lose, but they’re?? So fast?? (Bonus if they look super cute in their track clothes) thanks so much and take your time!!

Thisis such a cute prompt, thank you! I hope you like it! 

V3 Boys Having a FootraceAgainst Their Fem!Crush Who Ends Up Winning!

Saihara Shuichi

He wasn’tentirely sure how he got sucked into this situation, but nevertheless here hewas. Saihara is, clearly, not the most athletic type and sports were never really his strong-suit, so he never would have intentionally landed himself in this.

Every year, Hope’s Peak holds a ‘sports day’ which was geared towards the athletic Ultimates, like Tenko for example, but anyone could participate and everyone was expected to participate, at least a little bit. 

Saihara wondered why they always associated it with the athletic students, when it was a cross-class event, but oh well; perhaps that’s not too important.

The bright side to sports day is that he gets to see you. Now, you were fairly laid-back so no one really expected sports to be your thing, either. You didn’t normally show off since you tried avoiding that kind of attention so no one really seemed to have any standards for you.

Plus, he thought you looked completely adorable in your track outfit, it was hard to not stare…

Ouma and Kaede knew all about Saihara’s feelings for you and have been pestering him to finally do something about it, which the Detective refused. So, once they saw their opportunity, they took it.

Teamwork was a big part of sports day and everyone was expected to work together. Kaede waved you over and mentioned that Saihara had yet to find a partner and asked if you’d join him, without ever consulting him first. This caused him to melt away into a flustering, bumbling, red-faced mess. Although she only wanted to put you two together, Ouma had more mischievous plans in mind.

“Hey, I know, you guys should race against each other!” He cheers gleefully, causing Saihara to furrow his brows and ask him, “Why would we do that?”

“Oh, c’mon Shuichi~! It’s sports day, this is what you’re supposed to do! Besides, you’ll have no problem beating her.” He leaned in and muttered that last part, pretending to hide it but purposefully saying it loud enough so that you could hear it, side-eyeing you the whole time.

Oh, now he’s done it. You immediately accepted the challenge and started to line up around the track. Ouma practically shoved Saihara forward, forcing him to follow you as Ouma giggled and gathered with the rest of his class. Kaede was crossing her arms since, if Saihara did win, you might think he was a show-off and then there was no way you’d team up with him anymore! What was Ouma thinking?

You could sense that everyone agreed with Ouma and leaned towards Saihara winning - Detectives and Police Officers have to maintain top shape, after all. He likely had to do this in training, so all bets were off.

Little did they know, you’ve never shown off your athletic skills. So, once the horn sounded, you bolted past Saihara without looking back.

His eyes widened and he slowed down, startled by your sudden energy. He did his best to keep up with you, but you were just… so fast, there’s no way he could possibly keep up! You left him in the dust without a second thought, causing everyone to watch in silence as he doubles your time.

After reaching the finish line long before Saihara, you stand there and brush yourself off with a smirk on your face. He lightly jogged towards you with a baffled expression. “I had no idea you were that fast, (Y/N)!” 

With a bit of a smug attitude, you shake his hand and ask him to be your partner for the remainder of the day. He agreed, as long as you gave him some track-tips and told him your secret.

Ouma Kokichi

Ouma was over-confident and cocky, and everyone knew it. His way of flirtingwas teasing you, so when he challenged you to a footrace it wasn’t verysurprising. You could immediately tell that he just wanted to show off andimpress you but he came across as a bit condescending.

You were just trying to have a peaceful P.E. class before Ouma came along to bother you, which is something he did very well. He subconsciously placed himself above others, and you were no exception, despite being his long-time crush.

Ouma was convinced that he would be able to smoke you in a race since he’s never actually seen you run before… by now, you were used to his antics and seemed unfazed by his remarks.

“Oh~ C’mon, (Y/N)! Are you scared? You know you can’t beat me!” Heegotistically mocked you in a childlike manner, whining and tugging on yoursleeve to lead you towards the track; typically, you’re a very laid-back personand yet, something about the way he went about this made your blood boil.

You wanted to prove him wrong, and you knew that you easily could. You knew Ouma liked you and that he was simplyteasing you, but you weren’t going to let him talk to you like that.

Plus, youfigured that everyone else was betting you would lose and felt like you had something to prove.

Between Ouma’s loud and persistent boasting about how great he was and yourrelaxed personality, he seemed like the likely winner. After all, you can’ttalk a big game and then not live up to expectations.

Both his class and yours gathered around the track to watch the race unfold. It wasa bit intimidating, especially because you weren’t too familiar with his classmates and you weren’t used to being the center of attention.

You had to take a break and excuse yourself to the Ladies’ Room before the raceso you could change, stretch, and gather your courage. 

After a few minutes, you finally walk out in your cute track outfit which wasform-fitting against your figure. Even Ouma couldn’t help but to drop his jawand stare at you in a wide-eyed expression.

“A super cute outfit like that isn’t going to stop me!” He exclaims ratherdefensively, insisting that this was your method of trying to catch himoff-guard and distract him. That wasn’t entirely your plan, but if it happened, it happened. You certainly wouldn’t complain.

Your Instructor served the purpose as the Timer. You and Ouma each took yourplaces beside one another and got into a running position. The Finish Line wasin sight and all you had to do was zone out his persistent teasing andjokes. 

On the count of three, you were both off. You lightly jogged beside Ouma for amoment, just to get his hopes up. He glances over his shoulder and lets out aloud laugh as he passes you, sticking his tongue out as he waves you goodbye and then turns his head to lookforward once again.

With a smirk, that’s when you actually give it some effort and sprint past himin no time. Ouma stopped dead in his tracks as soon as you bolt in front andtake the lead, watching as you kick up the dirt and make it to the end almostas fast as lightning.

Genuinely amazed by the feat, all he can do is stop running and watch you as you cross the Finish Line long before he could. He walked towards you with a stunned expression, speechless and blushing since he’s never been put in his place before.

Of course, Ouma accused you of cheating, but did so in a lighthearted manner which made you think he wasn’t being entirely serious. “Really though, how did you manage to do that?” He asks, his eyes sparkling.

You shrug your shoulders nonchalantly, “You’re the only person who thought I was slow.”

RantaroAmami

Rantaro was always the cool, relaxed guy in your small circle. He seemed to be smooth and suave with everyone, which he swore wasn’t because he was intentionally flirting.

You tagged along with a small group of your friends, including Rantaro, Kaito, Kaede and Maki. You were lingering around outside of Hope’s Peak after-school, simply talking about anything and everything.

Somehow, the topic of sports came up in conversation. Kaito was all over it. 

“None of us are really athletic,” Rantaro says in passing, which wasn’t inherently wrong. The only person who could be considered athletic was Maki. “Speak for yourself,” Kaito says defensively, which isn’t a surprise since he spends so much time training that the comment likely hurt his pride.

Rantaro simply shrugged in return and the Astronaut leaps up, “Well, I’ve never even seen you try! At least I put in the effort.” You roll your eyes at the boys’ bickering, while you and the other two girls exchanged glances that all said the same thing… typical boys.

That’s when everything started to spiral downhill. Eventually, Kaito challenged the other man to a footrace to prove himself, which only caused you to scoff. This drew their attention and caused him to retort, “What? Do you want to try it?”

Rantaro isn’tthat big on footraces but he got sucked into it just like you did, through Kaito’s pushy orders – that, and he knewthat Rantaro had a crush on you and had been desperately trying to get you twotogether so perhaps this was his way of forming a bond between the two of you.

Graciously, the green-haired man stands and extends his hand politely as he towers above you. “May I have this race?” He asks with a bit of a snicker. He was never the overconfident or cocky type, but maybe he felt like he had something to prove.

Taking his hand, you slowly stand and accept with a nod and a fierce grin that didn’t shake his confidence.

That’s the convoluted story of how you found yourself in this mess, excusing yourself to change since you weren’t about to run around the track in your regular clothes. 

When you walked out again, Rantaro’s eyes widened and a small grin formed on his lips. Your outfit was tight around your curves and flattered your body.

“Well, don’t you look cute?” Normally, this wouldn’t be a flirty comment had it been directed towards anyone else, but he’s had feelings for you for the longest time and knew exactly how to show them.

Both of you were pretty laid-back but there seemed to be a general agreement thatRantaro would win simply because his legs were longer, and he showed a bit more enthusiasm and less reluctance to the idea of a footrace.

Your three friends gathered to watch the race unfold and Kaede gave you the countdown. After she yelled, “Go!” the two of you both took off like lightning. Granted, you and Rantaro were tied for the first half of the race, but with a little bit of determination, you powered past him and made your way towards the finish line.

Your legs were on fire, but Kaito’s stunned face made it worth it.

And Rantaro couldn’t help but to smile as you pass by, wind sweeping past him in your wake as he watched you throw your arms above your head victoriously. He slowed down his own pace since he’d never be able to catch up to you now and calmly jogged towards you at the end.

It was a short race, but Rantaro clapped for you and bowed. “Huh, I didn’t know you were that fast, (Y/N).” A wide grin spreads across his lips as he embraces you in a congratulation-hug.

You never bragged about it before since you didn’t think it was a big deal, simply shrugging and brushing off your shoulder. “It’s really nothing special,” you say with a faint blush on your cheeks. 

“Nothing special?” Rantaro repeats, surprised, “(Y/N), there are so many special things about you.”

Kiibo

Kiibo has never experienced these kinds of feelings before, buthe’s almost certain that this is what love is. You could always tell that he has acrush on you since, let’s be honest, he makes it painfully obvious. 

He’s the one who suggests a footrace after watching Kaito and Maki, closely followed by Kaede and Saihara, participate in them. Kiibo always feels left out of P.E. and some other events that Hope’s Peak hosts because he isn’t like everyone else; he can’t do the same things since his systems might shut down.

But he’s always admired you, and found beauty in watching you lightly jog around the track, even though you often were a bit standoffish and kept to yourself. He thought that footraces were just a normal thing and didn’t put much thought into it before jumping straight into proposing the idea.

Kiibo just wants to impress you, and show you how worthy he is ofhandling your heart! He’s seen couples race before so that’s why he’s so determinedto win. Kiibo doesn’t realize that he may come across as cocky by challengingyou to a footrace, but you give him the benefit of the doubt since he doesn’t seem to have malicious intentions.

Unfortunately, he still doesn’t really know how to flirt likenormal humans do, so you assume that he just doesn’t know better.

With his extra settings, including a jet-pack sensor, he’s sure hecan beat you! Again, totally not realizing that this isn’t really how youflirt. But Kiibo was the clear choice since your classmates knew what he wascapable of and figured he’d simply use one of his high-speed functions to win.

You humor Kiibo, insisting that you have to change first, and disappear into the Girls’ Locker Room. You started to wonder how you’d possibly get the upper-hand when you were racing against an actual robot, but put enough faith into your own abilities before heading back out to the track.

By now, a crowd was beginning to gather since everyone was curious as to what he would do. As soon as he saw you in your outfit, he felt himself overheating. “Wow, (Y/N), you look… great.”

Kiibo nearly shuts down when he sees you walk out in your trackoutfit, his jaw dropping and his eyes his eyes turning into static for amoment… oops.

Everyone’s obviously rooting for the robot rather than thelaid-back girl who doesn’t really stand out – there’s a vast difference inqualities here. Plus, being a robot means he’s got to have something up his sleeve,right?

You get in a starting position and wait for the proctor to give you the countdown. After a few seconds, you takeoff out of the gates and start making your way down the winding track.

He restrains himself since he doesn’t want to cheat and use his functions to win, which he easily could do. However, you start to pass Kiibo by and give him a smile over your shoulder as you take the lead.

It takes him a moment to register that he was actually losing, realizing that he harshly underestimated you and going into a full-blown panic. He couldn’t just challenge you to a traditional race and then lose! That definitely wasn’t impressive to anyone…

But by the time the thought crossed his mind, you were already crossing the Finish Line, and the reality settled in: he lost, and you were victorious.

He’s blown away, and literally blown off his feet. Kiibo isstaring up at you, sitting on the ground in disbelief. You bend over and extend a hand outtowards him to help him off of the ground.

“You are amazing, (Y/N)!” He says as you help him back onto his feet. He thought that his skills alone could get him the win since he wasn’t going to cheat and use his unique abilities in a traditional race; he felt a bit shameful. But somehow, seeing your smiling face caused him to relax.

“That was fun!” You cheer and Kiibo nods, “we should do it again some time.” He nods frantically, determined to show you what he’s made of.

He insists that next time, you’re really going to have to try since he’ll pull out every trick in his book.

KaitoMomota

As much as Kaito likes sports and working out as a whole, he isn’t the most talented. He trains and pushes himself past his own limits, trying to perfect his own image. 

With that said, he’s also not great with girls either. You knew he had a crush on you solely because of the way he carried himself around you, because let’s be honest, he makes it quite obvious. But Kaito was a sweet guy and you wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

In his mind, challenging you to a race would be a way for him to show off to you! It never really crossed his mind that this may sound a little bit cocky or self-indulgent, he just wanted to show you how fast he’s become since he’s been working so hard lately.

Kaito has toshow off how much of a ‘real’ man he is! He’s been training and he won’t letthat go to waste! Maybe if you saw how great he was, then you would return the feelings.

Yeah! If he shows you how amazing he is, you’ll be falling all over him! Or, atleast, that’s the plan. Kaito overestimates his skills with the ladies and tends to overthink his advances, overexerting himself in the process.

You decide to humor him because, what’s the worst that could happen? He was always extremely kind and caring towards you so maybe this will be fun, right?

Admittedly, having your class surround the track was rather intimidating. Naturally, Kaito’s classmates rooted for him due to his overconfidence; that’s what really sent you into a competitive mood.

Since he boasted so much and could often be seen training and working out in Hope’s Peak’s courtyard, he put on the illusion that he must be really, really good at sports so of course they’d root for the person seemed to be the obvious victor. Something about that boasting didn’t sit well with you, though, and you wanted to prove them all wrong.

It was hard to not root for him and have a bias when you’re as loud as he is. People can’t brag that much and then crumble under pressure… or maybe he was just in over his head.

You walk out in your track outfit, sizing Kaito up and watching his jaw drop. You looked… amazing. But he wouldn’t let a cute track outfit distract him, so he shakes it off and gets down to business. “Good luck, (Y/N),” he says with a smirk as he assumes his position.

You simply nod in response and stretch as you get ready. After a few seconds of breathing, the instructor sounds the alarm that signals the commencement of the race and your legs start moving without you realizing it initially.

You jog slowly for a while, just to build his confidence. If he was going to brag, you had to give him a little moment, throw him a bone. Then, you suddenly fly by Kaito and leave him coughing in the dust.

“Holy shit!” He exclaims as he watches you take the lead. He quickly snaps out of the daze and regains his confidence, pushing himself forward and trying his best to catch up with you, but to no avail. 

You were just… too fast for him. He couldn’t even wrap his head around it: you were gone in an instant, and before Kaito could recover, you were already passing the Finish Line.

“When did you get to be so fast?” He asks, clearly amazed. You grin and shrug your shoulders, brushing past him smugly. “I don’t have to brag about it,” you say smugly with a playful smile.

Kaito becomes increasingly embarrassed, apologizing for his cockiness and insisting that he just wanted to impress you. Quickly, you hush him and place a finger over your lips. “I know, I know, don’t worry about it.” 

His defeat doesn’t stop him from insisting that you become his training partner, though! Honestly, you didn’t expect anything less from the Luminary of the Stars.

KorekiyoShinguuji

Now, thisboy isn’t incredibly athletic by any means – but he’s always up forlighthearted challenges here and there. Plus, he likes to impress his crushes and gets a kick from showing off in certain situations.

You were walking towards the track during P.E. which was the only thing you really felt comfortable doing, although you bite your tongue and hold back your full abilities.

Typically, you were reserved and laid-back, so no one really expected you to be as fond of the track as you were. You didn’t want to show off or bring attention to yourself, so you calmly walk around the curved path instead.

Korekiyo has never really given off a vibe that he might be good at sports. Generally speaking, he’ll calmly pace the track while listening to music nonchalantly, or read a book on the bleachers if he can get away with it. He doesn’t really participate in P.E. and your classmates never really had a chance to gauge his skills.

“Oh, Kiyo!” Angie calls for him, waving him over. You were standing near the Artist and overheard their whole conversation, “I bet you would be good at track! You have such long legs, Atua is telling me you should give it a try!” She gleefully tried to convince him to race her but he simply wasn’t buying into it.

You tried to not eavesdrop but it seems as though you couldn’t hide from Angie, who immediately caught wind of your amusement and whipped around to face you almost instinctively.

She noticed you listening to their conversation and waved at you, “(Y/N)! Would you like to race Kiyo, instead? I bet he would be more inclined to race you~!” As soon as she mentioned your name, a blush formed on Korekiyo’s face. He had a crush on you but was able to suppress it and hide his feelings, although you had your suspicions.

Her compliments send a egotistical wave through his body, and once he gets a burst of pride it’s hard for him to turn it down.

Korekiyo would undoubtedly be good at racing based on his physique so the odds don’t seem to be in your favor. He put his hair up in a long ponytail and stands at the Starting Line, patiently waiting for you to join him. Meanwhile, Angie gathered the rest of your class to watch the strange match-up between the two of you. It was quite… unexpected.

It wasn’t hard to tell that everyone was rooting for Korekiyo, though. You were both fairly relaxed and not the type of people to get into silly competitions, but based on appearances alone, he was an obvious choice to win. Sighing, you can’t hide forever and eventually join him at the Starting Line after changing into your actual track clothes.

“Hm,” he hums, “cute outfit, (Y/N).” You can tell he’s smiling under his mask as he admires you, but you shake it off as to not let it bother you.

Suddenly, Angie yells for you to go which signals the start of the footrace. You were both a little bit caught off-guard, but you start running without really thinking about it. Although Korekiyo does take several long strides that gives him a good distance, it takes no time for you to pass him up.

You looked so beautiful as you ran as well, a smile forming on your lips. You looked so natural and in your element that he couldn’t help but to admire you, since he’s never seen you so happy before.

Passing Korekiyo by, you glance at him over your shoulder and return his smile. After you finish, and badly beat him, he jogs up to you and didn’t appear to even break a sweat.

“Wow,” he says, breathing a little bit heavier than usual, “I knew you were remarkable, but you certainly exceeded my expectations, (Y/N).” He extends his hand to shake yours, which you promptly squeeze.

He was never a sore-loser and could accept when someone outdid him. Korekiyo beams at you, telling you that you were phenomenal and that, “It was a good race.” You nod in response and thank him for the kind words.

He was the real winner though, because the beautiful image of you smiling ahead of him, gracefully looking over your shoulder, was a memory he would carry with him for as long as he lived.

Gonta Gokuhara

Gonta has had a crush on you for the longest time but he isn’t thebest at expressing himself, often coming across as a little bit loud andarrogant. This is completely unintentional since this boy only has the purest intentions and a golden heart to match.

But he really wanted to find a way to impress you and show you that he has feelings for you, even though you already had a hunch anyway. Gonta has never confessed his romantic feelings for someone before since this isn’t a feeling he gets very often, so he confided in some of his closest friends to help.

And some were more helpful than others, to say the least…

Ouma is the one who originally encouraged him to challenge you to a footrace and ‘show her what you’re made of!’ 

It didn’t help that Kaito overheard the conversation and jumped in by saying that girls love it when guys can show off for them.

Well, neither of them have the best luck with the ladies, so Gonta probably shouldn’t have taken their advice in the fist place.

“Show off… how?” Gonta asked, quizzically. Ironically, your classes were both near the exit that lead to the track outside of Hope’s Peak. Ouma’s the one who made the suggestion to race you, and it seemed like a great idea! These were his friends after all, who totally wouldn’t set him up!

He was raised by wolves, and everyone knew how strong he was – he seemed like a very obvious choice, while you were the clear underdog. But you rarely showed off your athletic side since you were known to have a very laid-back personality.

After he challenges you to a race, you decide to humor him because you knew how sweet Gonta was andhe’s always been such a gentleman towards you, so graciously accept his offer. He becomes giddy with excitement at the thought of finally proving himself to you! He was fast so this should be a walk in the park!

Your classes and some of the Hope’s Peak staff gathered around the track. You waited for a moment before coming out in your cute track outfit, causing Gonta to blush; it distracted him and caused his natural instincts to flare, but he quickly collected himself again.

He definitely wouldn’t be a pushover and he was in this to win it. He thought that by doing this, he would win you over so there was no way Gonta would give in too easily. You could feel the pressure weighing against you since this was Gonta after all, you knew what he was capable of but shook off your worries. 

The horn sounded and caught you off-guard which gave him the easy lead and caused you to fall behind, but once you started running, you soon tied him. You were neck and neck for awhile, but you eventually broke out in front of him which caused Gonta to gasp.

Once you pass him, he starts working even harder but just can’t seem to catch up to you, no matter how hard he tried. You were too fast, even for him, which shocked not only Gonta but the entire audience as well.

Everyone was stunned when you came in First Place, leaving the larger man far behind. You weren’t the Ultimate Track Star, but you might as well be! You managed to come out on top even with the odds stacked against you.

Gonta approached you with a disappointed expression, but he still offered you a warm smile. “(Y/N) is amazing!” He cheers, but soon wipes the grin off of his face, “Gonta just wanted to impress (Y/N)…”

He scratches the back of his head, as you stand on your tip-toes and lift his chin with your forefinger. “You were just as amazing, Gonta, I promise.” This caused him to smile brightly, his face lighting up and nodding in approval. 

“Thank you, (Y/N)!” He then asks for a rematch, and when you agreed and shook hands, he promised to try even harder next time.

RyomaHoshi

Despite what you may think, he isn’t the best with ladies. Although Ryoma can recognize his feelings for you, he never really knows what to do with them and expresses them in very peculiar ways.

Both of you had fairly laid-back personalities: you were both extremely reserved and kept to yourselves. Ryoma doesn’t like showing off or being the center of attention so he tends to stray away from the pack during P.E.

Today simply wouldn’t cut it, though. All of the students at Hope’s Peak had to submit physicals and timing your races around the track were a part of it, and everyone seemed to be even more competitive than normal on marathon days.

Still, Ryoma wouldn’t rush through it. He took his sweet time, walking around the track with his head in the clouds. He would speak if spoken to, trying to keep up a conversation between his peers, but he didn’t take the marathon too seriously. He didn’t see a reason to stress over this sort of thing, after all.

Tenko catches up to Ryoma, dragging Himiko behind her. Tenko was one of the people who took this physical very seriously, whilst Himiko was more like Ryoma… she couldn’t care less, and seemed annoyed by the other girl forcing her to run.

“Hey, Ryoma!” Tenko’s loud voice echos and catches his attention, “why aren’t you trying?” She had a sour tone that he could sense immediately. Shrugging his shoulders, he didn’t really have an answer. “I don’t see a point in all of this.”

She gasped, seemingly appalled and unhappy with that response. You were lingering not too far from where this was happening, overhearing the commotion and feeling impartial to siding with Ryoma in this case. “Why not? Exercise is good for the soul!”

He glances at your classmate and shakes his head, “I’ll just mind my own business, thanks.” His blunt attitude caused you to giggle, which brought a blush onto his face. He didn’t notice you walking behind him before and now regretted being to nasty towards Tenko, not wanting to disrupt his appearance in front of you.

Suddenly, she turned towards you. “What? You don’t put in effort, either, (Y/N)!” She did have a point, but that’s when a bright idea popped in her head. “I know what’ll light a fire in you two! A good, old-fashioned competition!” Judging by her tone, you weren’t interested.

And yet, somehow, Tenko roped you two into this mess. She backed you into a corner where you felt like you couldn’t say no and brought your teacher’s attention to your little group, who agreed that you and Ryoma should be putting in more effort.

So, he hesitantly agreed which caused you to fall in line as well. The general consensus was that Ryoma would win, simply because he was more vocal about his abilities and he was faster to jump onto the bandwagon, where you had to be convinced to participate. He was an athlete who extensively trained in tennis, while you were simply the quiet, laid-back girl who often faded away in the back of the room.

You lined up at the start of the track and took your positions, glancing at him in the corner of your eye. He stared at you and mouthed a, “Good luck,” before your instructor signaled for you to start.

You both take off at the same time, but you took the lead from the very beginning. Ryoma had never seen you run before, so he wasn’t expecting that! He watched as you zoomed past ahead of him, so far that he wouldn’t possibly be able to recover. Maybe he was the one who needed the good luck after all!

He was so stunned and doubled your time, even though he never slowed down. He met you at the Finish Line long after you were done, and you were fixing your hair and dusting yourself off.

“Wow, (Y/N), I didn’t know you could run.” Ryoma says, genuinely amazed. You simply brush him off and insist that it was nothing, but he wasn’t convinced. He saw something special about you when you ran and could tell that it was something you were passionate about.

“That was a good match,” he says, blushing as he shakes your hand.

- Mod Rantaro

[luxexhomines]

I love this blog! Can you do kokichi, tenko, kiibo, and kaede with an s/o who has to deal with catcalling everytime they go outside?

Thank you, lovely anon ♡ And thanks for requesting! My first time writing for four characters in imagines, heh ^^ It took me a while, so I might consider changing my rules. I’m considering just asking all requesters to specify bullet points or formal, but then I’d probably end up turning down a lot of people bc they didn’t read my rules, so…probably not. Maybe I’ll just say that it’ll be up to my discretion. If anyone has any suggestions or input, feel free to let me know!

Short announcement! I got a bunch of requests today, which is most likely due to qosic reblogging my tiny little description and while I feel a little guilty because it’s almost like I just used them, I am super thankful for their support!!! If you haven’t checked out qosic before, definitely take a look, because their art is. the definition of art, to put it plainly. They have this impressionistic style sometimes & sometimes more focused & both are so emotive and gorgeous!! Their new fanbook, Thrills, Chills & Kills is out right now for preorders, and preorders end tomorrow! I ordered a copy myself; it’s only $20 for 65+ pages!!

I’m not sure if I properly portrayed catcalling & hopefully, the reactions are all in-character. Kokichi’s is the longest because I wrote his first and for the rest, I figured I shouldn’t drag them on too long. Longer isn’t always better, after all ;;; 

Warning for minor swearing! Under the cut for the length. 

Kokichi, Tenko, Kiibo, & Kaede x S/O Who is Constantly Catcalled

Kokichi Ouma

Man, you were just out on a date with your boyfriend. Why’d this have to happen?

Kokichi was currently engaged in a competition of the knife game against one of the many guys that had catcalled you earlier, singing, “Oh, I have all my fingers. The knife goes chop chop chop–if I miss the spaces in between my fingers will come off,” and more. Yes, he had all the lyrics memorized, and yes it was real knives the two were stabbing between their fingers. You get the idea.

The two of you had just been strolling along the street and chatting when a guy on the street wolf-whistled as you passed, and when you ignored him like you do to all catcallers, he followed you two and grabbed your shoulder roughly.

“Hey, you wanna ditch this shortie and come have some fun with me?”

Kokichi was used to you being catcalled. But this man touched you with his filthy hands. He steps in between you and the man swiftly, chopping his hand off of your shoulder and giving him a horrifying smile, his purple eyes narrowing as he holds out a hand.

“You have to beat ‘this shortie’ in a game if you want her.”

The guy bellows with laughter.

“You hear that, beautiful? He thinks all you’re worth is a simple game. Okay, if that’s all it takes,” he grins wolfishly.

You sighed and put a hand to your forehead, exasperated and yet somewhat amused. That man had no idea what he was in for–a simple game, he called it? It was obvious he would never beat Kokichi. And the fact that Kokichi was doing it right here out in the streets made it clear that he was trying to make an example of this poor man.

“Okay, let’s do the knife game,” Kokichi clapped his hands together. Now his opponent was looking a little nervous, shifting his weight around slightly.

“The knife game? You mean with pencils, right? Sure–”

“No. I meant with real knives,” Kokichi laughs. “What do you think, we’re middle schoolers?”

The man shows an expression of resentment and anger.

“Well, where are you going to get those knives from, smartass?”

Kokichi simply digs into his uniform and pulls out two knives. Okay, you didn’t know he was carrying that around with him, but you weren’t exactly surprised. It was Kokichi the two of you were talking about, after all. The guy is completely taken aback, but now that he’s agreed, he doesn’t back off and instead offers a sweaty smile, perhaps wondering what exactly he’s gotten himself into.

Somehow, they manage to borrow a small table and two chairs and set up right on the street to one side, and pedestrians walk by, looking at them curiously, and Kokichi hands one knife to the man.

They begin playing, of which the choice of game is making you anxious since Kokichi could actually get hurt, but at the same time, you know Kokichi is sly and agile enough that he won’t cut himself except on purpose. The game goes on for a while, and you can see the man getting more and more worked up. The sweat is practically dripping off his beaky nose as he leans over his hand with the knife.

Then you see his eyes dart out from his hand, toward Kokichi’s figure, and sensing something terribly wrong, you run toward Kokichi and wrap yourself around him as the man’s knife comes straight toward the two of you. You close your eyes, but you don’t feel anything, and when you open them, you see Kokichi has his arm out from under your tight embrace, parrying the man. He’s giving the man a monstrous smile. One that was just more terrifying than the one that came before. And in a low voice that, despite how quiet it is, emphasizes every syllable of his words, he says,

“I was going to forgive you after this game. But then you had to go and do this. What would you have done if you had hurt s/o, huh?” The man stutters, but is unable to formulate a response–neither does Kokichi let him form one. “Looks like you’re really playing to get hurt.”

Kokichi’s eyes have a dangerous tint, and they shine darkly as he gently pushes you off of him and stalks toward the man. In less than a moment, his knife is pressed against the man’s throat, and you put a hand to your mouth. Kokichi would never kill someone. But this display isn’t looking good to anyone that would walk by. And then you notice that there are no passerby, strangely enough.

“I-I’m sorry,” the man whimpers. “Please let me go, that was an accident.”

Kokichi’s attitude takes a complete turnaround, and he puts both knives away–when’d he get the second one, anyway? He smiles innocently, putting his hand out for a handshake.

“Okay, I guess I’ll forgive you. Good game!”

The man eyes the proffered hand with the most fear you’ve ever seen someone look at a handshake with. But he slowly reaches out and shakes it, letting go less than a second later, and he walks away at an abnormally high speed.

You turn toward Kokichi, suspicion evident in your eyes.

“What did you do to him?”

He laughs.

“Nothing! What makes you think I’d do anything to him?”

You cross your arms in front of you. You weren’t budging.

“You definitely did something to him. Why else would you shake his hand like that?”

Kokichi only smiles playfully.

“Oh, are you jealous? Want to shake my hand?”

And he holds out his other hand, his purple hair bouncing slightly as he thrusts his hand forward. You’re wary, but you hum with a smile and grasp his hand.

“I don’t particularly care about shaking it, but I am rather partial to holding it,” you reply, taking it.

Even after some pestering, Kokichi won’t reveal what he’s done, so you just leave it at that, knowing that he wouldn’t do something too terrible. …Right?

The two of you walk hand in hand all the way home, idly chatting and swinging your arms in high-spirits. Upon reaching home, he pecks your nose lightly with a kiss, offering a whimsical smile.

“Those insects don’t stand a chance against me.”

Chuckling, you put a sweet kiss on his lips, mumbling against them.

“You know it.”

Tenko Chabashira

You had suggested going out for a walk with Tenko so you could stretch your legs and get some exercise–not to mention, spend some quality time with your girlfriend. But not long after you entered the park, a degenerate male called out to you and whooped.

“Hey, beautiful!”

You groaned inwardly, suddenly realizing what an awful idea it was to bring Tenko out with you to a place where a lot of men might be around. Tenko abruptly stopped with your hand still clutched in hers, and turned, throwing a glare at him.

“Don’t even throw as much as a glance at s/o, you degenerate male. Your filthy eyes don’t deserve such a pure and gorgeous sight. I don’t want you dirtying my s/o.”

The man was clearly incensed as he stood, assuming an offensive stance.

“What did you say? I’m just being appreciative.”

She lets go of your hand and gestures for you to move back further behind her.

“Don’t go too far, s/o,” she calls before bringing her attention back to the man before her, who doesn’t exactly look like a pushover.

Yes, you were worried, but you didn’t think you could stop Tenko. She was similarly incited by his words–and, well, his existence as a male, and you had faith in her. Sometimes you liked to spar with her, even if it almost always ended up in your defeat.

She engages him in a fight and soon enough is half-pummeling him into the ground. He doesn’t look so good as he struggles to stand and run away.

“You’re crazy!” he cries out. When Tenko moves to chase after him, you wrap your arms around her midriff from behind swiftly. You don’t even know how you caught her.

“Don’t, Tenko. He’s not worth it.”

You feel some of the tension sink from her shoulders, and she assumes a resting position as you slowly let go of her. You see her biting her lower lip in aggravation and lean in to place a kiss on her cheek in an attempt to calm her down.

“Thank you, Tenko,” you smile. “You’re always protecting me so chivalrously.”

Instead, your touch had the opposite effect, and her cheeks are colored with red.

“I-I didn’t do anything special,” she stutters, pushing her index fingers together anxiously. “It’s only natural to protect someone as beautiful and wonderful as you from corrupt men like him!”

You give her a quick hug. She’s made of muscle, yes, but every bit as soft and cuddly, too.

“Thanks anyway, Tenko. Not everyone would have the strength or bravery to help me like that,” you respond, a lopsided smile flitting across your features.

She concedes defeat, and hand in hand, the two of you journey through the park undisturbed. There was no one within a mile that hadn’t taken note of Tenko’s fighting prowess and her mercilessness toward behavior like catcalling you. It was nice to be able to just enjoy yourself while out and about for once without worrying about strangers catcalling you or potentially stalking you home, and you squeezed Tenko’s hand with affection, sometimes leaning your head against her shoulder as you walked.

Kiibo

The two of you are out shopping in the mall and–yes–looking for clothes for Kiibo. You had just walked out of the store, arm-in-arm with Kiibo and several bags hanging from your wrist, over the moon about getting to see Kiibo wear the new purchases and getting to spoil him for once. It was surprisingly difficult to spoil robots, after all–you couldn’t exactly buy Kiibo food or drink, after all, and sometimes he wouldn’t have any use for certain material objects or see the use in them.

Then you heard a voice call after you.

“Hey, where you going with that hunk of metal, gorgeous?”

You usually ignored the catcalling and had a general agreement with Kiibo to not pay any attention to it, especially on your dates out. But you were incensed by the hunk of metal comment. You stopped in your step and swiveled around, giving the man a death stare as you felt Kiibo looking on in surprise.

“None of your business. And he’s my handsome hunk of metal, so bugger off,” you say before turning to leave. But Kiibo’s still facing the man, and you look back at him, putting a hand to his shoulder. “Kiibo?”

He’s looking at the man pointedly and then looks back at you.

“Shall I go teach him a lesson?” he asks. Which is pretty out of character for him, considering that he was made with the strength of an old man. You give him a confused look.

“What do you mean, teach him a lesson?”

Kiibo grins.

“Oh, exactly what it sounds like.”

You only feel more bewildered, but now Kiibo has walked off, and you’re left there watching as he engages the man in conversation. Nothing like beating the man up, of course. You don’t exactly see how Kiibo is teaching the man a lesson, but the other party seems more aggravated the longer the conversation carries on and then suddenly storms off angrily. You did have to admit that it made for a pretty good show, and you laughed as you watched a triumphant Kiibo return to your side.

“What did you do to him, Kiibo? He looked furious.”

Kiibo holds up a finger as he explains.

“I was lecturing to him about the history of sexism, objectifying women and robots and how his catcalling is contributing to a toxic culture in society,” Kiibo clarifies. “He was being quite irrational, and eventually, he got frustrated and ran away with his tail between his legs.”

You chuckle, thoroughly entertained and pleased, and press a kiss to his cheek firmly.

“Thanks, Kiibo. Trust you to counteract unreasonable people without engaging in violence or underhanded methods,” you say.

He flushes all kinds of red, averting his gaze in embarrassment.

“Of course! A-And it was for you, so…” he trails off as you kiss him a second time, this time on his lips, which are not soft, but surprisingly pleasantly warm.

Kaede Akamatsu

The two of you are crammed like sardines in a crowded subway and are chatting amiably when someone calls out to you.

“Hey, sexy!”

You groan audibly, but otherwise, don’t respond. Kaede, however, actively makes an effort to move and face the offender, crossing her arms and looking highly unamused.

“Hey, creepy. Why don’t you creep off?” she snaps.

Kaede’s not tolerant of this kind of behavior in the least, although if the comment was directed at her instead of you she might just settle for giving the culprit a hard look and physically moving away from the person. However, in such a tight space, there’s no way the two of you can actually swim through all the people.

The man stares at her.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he tries to explain.

Kaede rolls her eyes and wraps an arm around your waist, pulling you in closer.

“I know, dumbass. This is my partner,” she retorts in a prickly manner. You feel the need to diffuse the situation, but simultaneously know that Kaede is more than capable of handling herself and bite back your words, only putting your arm around her back in response and throwing the man a diffident look.

You see the man grit his teeth, but there’s nothing he can do in such a crowded space. Or so you thought.

“You two bitches! I don’t even care about you two. I just called out to you because you looked easy,” he taunted. Clearly, his ego had taken a blow.

Kaede looks ready to go and take his head off as you feel her grip on your tighten, but she keeps control of herself.

“Okay, then,” she says in an even voice. “What makes you think even a prostitute would give trash like you the time of day?”

If the man wasn’t angry before, he sure is now.

“You’re playing with fire, missy! I can get any woman or man. I’m a very wealthy and influential man,” he says, adjusting his suit’s tie pretentiously.

Kaede scoffs derisively.

“Mhm, you can get almost anyone with your money. But you can’t get this one,” she glances at you, “or this one, for that matter,” she says as she points at herself.

The subway doors open, and the two of you step out as the man stares after you two in shock, frozen in his fury.

You put your shoulder against Kaede’s as the two of you settle into two seats in a new subway, this time more empty and without that man.

“Better?” she asks softly.

You nod, smiling.

“Much better. Although, it was kind of nice to see you bashing him like that. Sometimes I forget you have that side to you,” you say, kissing her neck gently.

You feel her shake slightly with laughter, and you give her a couple more soft kisses in response.

“Hey, that tickles!” she protests, but her love for you is evident as she kisses your hair affectionately.

[dabiapologist]

[My Hero Academia Fanfiction]: Fever Dream

Pairing: Dabihawks, hawksdabi, hotwings, spicywings

Characters: Dabi (My Hero Academia), Hawks (My Hero Academia), Todoroki Enji | Endeavor, Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko, Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko, Toga Himiko

Rated T

Word Count: 2.2k

Chapter 1/3

Tags: i've always wanted to write a sick fic, Don't Judge Me, Sick Fic, Fluff, bratty dabi is my favorite dabi, chock full of cliched tropes, and im not sorry, tfw you catch feelings for your annoying villain liaison

Summary: 

"Endeavor-san? Quick question." 

"What is it? I'm busy right now." 

"How do you know if you're sick?"

"...excuse me?"

"Like, how do you know if you're running a fever? Do you even get fevers?"

"Why?"

"Uh, um, just curious?"

On the other end, he hears Endeavor sigh in annoyance. "Of all the things, Hawks, Why would you be curious about that?"

"Well," Hawks chews his lip anxiously as he turns to look back over his shoulder, back at the sizzling bundle of blankets on his couch.

Sizzling.

Oh. That's probably not a good sign.

Read it on || AO3

At a glance, Dabi’s moods and expressions are damn near impossible to tell apart. In the time that they’ve been in contact, Hawks has only really seen Dabi function in three modes: Distant and Aloof, Aggravatingly Smug, and FIRE. And even then, the first and the last tend to blend together most of the time, since Dabi doesn’t think much of using his quirk on others. Hawks finds himself wondering if the novelties of murder and arson and villainy have long since worn off for his scarred cohort.

Even so, Hawks prides himself on his razor sharp skills of observation. You can’t be a hero without some semblance of awareness, let alone a top hero, but Hawks’ skills are a clear cut above the others, thanks in large part to the extraordinary precision required to use his quirk effectively.

And tonight, it is obvious that there is something very… off.

Dabi is quiet normally, usually sticking to one or two word answers. Three, if he's feeling particularly chatty. Unless it's to insult him, of course. For that, Dabi will talk all day long. But as they walk side by side down the dark alleyway, having just completed a deal with a shady fellow who leered at the two of them in a way that makes Hawks desperate for a shower, Hawks feels like Dabi is too quiet. To the point where it's uncomfortable.

Even when Hawks’ foot catches a large pothole and he stumbles and bumps into Dabi, the taller man doesn’t acknowledge it, other than a tired suck of the teeth and an outstretched arm to set Hawks upright. Not that Hawks really needed him to do that; he quickly steadies himself with his wings and manages to keep his balance, but that’s hardly the point.

Not a single word. Not even a “You fucking clumsy idiot,” Which is one of Dabi's default reactions where Hawks is concerned, and one that Hawks had an insult fully prepared for.

But nothing.

Hawks wonders if maybe it’s the weather. Rainy weather is one of the few things, besides him, hero society, and the gross dehydrated vegetables in instant ramen, that Dabi is actually quite vocal about hating. It’s been raining for the past few days, and tonight especially, it’s coming down like it’s the end of days. He’s thankful he had the foresight to wear an extra layer under his coat, though at the moment it’s not really doing much to warm him. It’s only been raining hard for maybe ten minutes at the most, but his hair is already dripping into his eyes and the rain is weighing his feathers down almost to the point of discomfort.

Dabi isn’t faring much better, Hawks notices. Being a fire user, he doesn’t necessarily need any extra layers; the bastard could probably steam himself dry in a few minutes if he wanted to. But as Hawks discreetly eyes him, watching the rain drip down his fringe, plastering his dark hair to his head and face, he thinks it might have been wiser to at least wear a hoodie or something, rather than just his usual overcoat with that thin, dingy shirt underneath.

Thankfully, the storm passes quickly. It lessens back to a light drizzle by the time they clear the alleyway, and Hawks finally has enough space (and reason) to stretch his wings out to their full wingspan. With a few mighty flaps, he shakes all of the excess water from his feathers.

“I hate it when it rains this hard,” He says casually as he folds his wings back, “Weighs my damn wings down.” It’s a relatively inane, pointless comment, one that Dabi would not hesitate to label as such; Hawks is hoping he will, if only to break some of the tension that’s been hanging in the air all night. Because truthfully, it’s a discomfiting silence. One that is slowly driving Hawks crazy. Hell, dare he say it, he would actually take the threatening but oddly playful barbs and bickering the two of them engage in (when Dabi is feeling more talkative) on occasion to this.

But all Dabi gives him in response as they continue on their way is an absent nod and a shrug of the shoulders.

Hawks almost growls at the lack of engagement, but gives up. He knows how to pick his battles, too. And by the way Dabi stares straight ahead, jaw set tight, eyes clouded and distant, this is one perhaps best left alone. He’s clearly got something on his mind tonight, and Hawks decides to let it be. It’s not like it’s his problem, anyway.

At least, that’s how Hawks feels until they turn onto another side street, down to the junction where they usually part ways.

“So, I’ll pass the news along to Shigaraki,” Dabi speaks for the first time since leaving that skeevy dealer’s place, voice even softer than normal, “And then once he gives the… the, uh…” He trails off briefly, eyes pinching shut, letting out a quiet, pained grunt.

Ah, so that’s it, Hawks realizes instantly, he’s just not feeling well.

However, he’s not above taking his jabs at Dabi when the opportunity arises. After all, if their roles were reversed, Dabi would most definitely lay into him without a second thought. They have been, and he has, so Hawks feels no shame or sympathy when he says, “You don’t look too good, Dabi. You alright?”

Finally, a genuine reaction: Dabi’s eyes narrow to slits, in what Hawks’ assumes is annoyance at both his taunt, and at himself for letting Hawks see any weakness. Dabi exhales sharply and straightens up to full his height and squares his shoulders, shaking any semblance of discomfort from his visage.

“I’m fine,” He mutters, inhaling deeply, “Just tired.”

“Mm-hmm,” Hawks nods, though he’s hardly convinced. Now, under the streetlights, he can just barely see that Dabi is a little pale in the face, and, for all of his forced bravado, his shoulders are starting to slump again.

“Tired. Right. Once Shigaraki gives the what now?”

Dabi sucks his teeth, mustering up just enough energy to give Hawks one last scathing look. “Once he gives the okay, I’ll contact you again.”

He doesn’t say another word as he turns to leave, and Hawks doesn’t say anything else either.

But he watches.

He stares at Dabi’s retreating back for a bit, head cocked to the side. When Dabi turned away, he turned just a little too quickly, a little too aggressively, and there was a very noticeable lurch and bob as he righted himself before walking away. The first real, clear sign that Dabi is under the weather he’s had tonight.

It was quick; anyone else would’ve missed it. Hawks, unfortunately, is not one of those people, though he really wishes he was. Because now, he can’t move from this spot until Dabi leaves his sight still an upright and ambulatory sentient mood swing. His conscience just won’t let him budge.

Goddammit. He curses mentally.

And, just for the record, it’s not that Hawks necessarily cares about Dabi’s well-being. If it were up to him, he’d let Dabi rot in that gross, dirty alleyway from before. It’s all the man deserves, frankly. What he does care about, however, is maintaining a (somewhat) reliable communication with the league. And for that, he needs Dabi. Dabi is his way in, --his only  way in-- so he’s obligated to care a little.

Besides, he knows for a fact that Dabi’s apartment is a long ways off from here, if only because he’s followed him home before, for surveillance purposes. And hell, it could barely be called an apartment to begin with.

And that piece of knowledge is what finally uproots him from his spot at the stoplight. Dabi rounded the corner a while ago, so Hawks figures it’ll be faster if he takes to the sky. He lands up on the rooftop of the building, and walks along the length of it to the corner.

That’s where he spots Dabi.

Well that didn’t take long, he thinks to himself. letting out a whistle. Dabi must’ve been making one hell of an effort to not let Hawks see just how poorly off he actually was.

“Boy, do I hate being right all the time,”He mutters out loud, but nonetheless he soars back down to ground level.

“Just tired, huh?” He says with a chuckle as he closes the distance between himself and Dabi, “Did you really think you could fool me, Dabi?”

Dabi, who is slumped against the side of the building, his breathing labored between wet coughs, just stares back up at him through narrowed but unfocused eyes. Even in the orange glow of the street lights overhead, the pallor of his skin, the healthy parts, stands in stark contrast to the deep purple scars. Deep down, Hawks can’t help but feel a tiny modicum of respect for the man. How he managed to keep himself together for the duration of the deal is a mystery to him because, to be frank, he looks even more like shit now than before.

Hawks doesn’t hesitate to tell him that, either.

“Fuck off,” Dabi snaps, but it’s hard to be intimidated by him when he slides to the floor, slowly curling into himself and trembling.

Hawks sighs. Damn his conscience.

“Look, I don’t know where you live,” A lie, “But based on what I’m seeing right now,” He says, gesturing to Dabi’s current position and quickly deteriorating condition, “I don’t think you’re gonna make it home, man. Come-”

“I’ll manage,” Dabi cuts him off sharply, pausing for a beat when a wave of nausea passes through him, “I just...need a minute to catch my breath.”

Hawks gives him a look. “The only thing you’ll manage in your state is to stumble into traffic and get hit by a car. That or pass out on some random sidewalk.”

Dabi growls.“I’m fine,” He reiterates, forcing himself to his feet, “I’ve dealt with worse. Just go away.”

He could go away, he should go away. But Hawks doesn’t. Instead, he walks a few paces behind Dabi’s still slouched form, face twisted into a permanent grimace as he watches the other man force himself along at a snail’s pace, using the wall to brace himself. At this rate, it’ll be sunrise before he makes it home.

Assuming he doesn’t pass out face down on the ground before then.

Hawks rolls his eyes. For fuck’s sake.

With two flaps of his wings, he lands directly in front of Dabi, forcing him to stop. “Come home with me.”

Oof, could’ve worded that better, he thinks. By the look on Dabi’s face, he clearly agrees.

“My place isn’t far from here,” Hawks continues quickly, “And I can’t, in good conscience, let you go after seeing you like this. Just crash at my place tonight.”

Despite looking and feeling like death warmed up, Dabi still gives him one of his standard sarcastic replies. “Aww, that’s so fuckin’ sweet of you, hero. Now, move. I said I’m fine.” He says caustically as he shoves his way around Hawks’ form...

...and immediately collapses on the ground.

Hawks stares down at his prone form, shaking his head. “Yep, seems about right.”

He walks over and picks Dabi up, bridal style. Despite their height difference, Hawks finds himself barely struggling to hold the other man. Dabi fits in his arms easily after just a bit of manipulation into a more comfortable position. Wow, he’s a lot lighter than he looks, Hawks thinks, eyebrows furrowing as he hefts Dabi up a bit closer to his body, preparing to take flight.

“I guess now you have no choice but to come with me,” He says, watching as Dabi’s head lulls to the side, unconsciously pressing into Hawks' chest, his face contorted with pain. “You’re definitely not going anywhere like this.”

But Dabi is nothing if not persistent. And amazingly stubborn.

“Put me down,” Dabi still manages to croak out, even on the precipice of unconsciousness, “I don’t need your fucking help.”

It would almost be impressive, if Hawks wasn’t so tired and desperate to get to his damn apartment already. Still, he can’t help but laugh out loud at Dabi’s tenacity. He doesn’t know when to give up, does he?

“Dude, you just went down like the goddamn Hindenburg, and you’re still fussing? Just give it up. You’re coming back to my place, and you can sleep this off. I need you alive.”

Dabi grips the front of his jacket weakly. “If you take off, I swear to god I will set the both of us on fire.”

Hawks blinks down at him. Alright. That’s it.

“For fuck’s sake,” Hawks snaps, “Well, if that’s how you’re gonna be, then you leave me no choice.”

“Wha-” Dabi doesn’t get another word in, as Hawks promptly headbutts him into silence.

“What a brat,” Hawks says aloud. With Dabi’s now fully unconscious form hanging in his arms like a limp rag, Hawks has to roll his eyes at the ridiculousness of this situation. He really should’ve just let him go.

“I’m sure this is gonna come back to bite me in the ass,” He mutters to himself as he takes flight.

Because after all, no good deed goes unpunished.

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 4: The Phantom in their Paradise

Daily Life

Kaede woke the next morning with little thought of Monokuma’s odd behavior the night before. It wasn’t like any motives had been put in her room as far as she could tell. He could have just been acting strange for any number of reasons with what had been going on lately, so it was nothing worth lingering on for now.

Ryoma’s odd behavior as she saw him on the way to the dining hall was harder for her to brush aside.

He refused to so much as glance her way and his face was so red he could have had an actual fever. Trying to check in with him quickly proved fruitless as he just picked up his pace, but Kaede couldn’t understand why he’d be avoiding her now. It’s not like they parted on bad terms after training or anything, right?

At least he didn’t have any issues with Kaito at breakfast, but that hardly narrowed things down. Beyond hopefully ruling out him getting sick, considering that “mutating virus” talk before. Or if he does think he’s coming down with something he might be assuming Kaito already had it, who knows.

Out of respect for his apparent desire to keep his distance she sat between Tenko and Tsumugi after getting breakfast this time, since Kokichi was too close to Gonta and by extension Kiyo for comfort.

It was actually odd to see these two here without Angie, as she was the only person missing right now. But neither of the other girls seemed worried so she may have warned them she would be late. Might as well just focus on eating and worry later, if at all.

Considering what Angie did have to show for her tardiness worrying may have still been warranted. She came in bouncing as brightly as ever with her alola’s and hello’s, but her hands and jacket still had a lot of unsettlingly bright pink paint on them that rubbed Kaede wrong for reasons she couldn’t place. (Maybe they’re just too similar to Kibo’s current colors? It’s not like I don’t like pink normally. Hmm.)

Art stuff normally went over her head, and “Atua” is hardly any better, so Kaede honestly wasn’t paying too much attention to what she, Tenko, Tsumugi, and Tenko’s pigeon were discussing. (Especially since of the three the bird’s the one least likely to lose me or tick me off. Sorry John, but you’re not worth it.)

Not until the effigies from before came back up.

“Sooo, Angie has a question for everybody: Hypothetically if Atua made a series of wax sculptures for everyone who’s died so far where might it be a good place to set them all up?”

“... Tell me you’re kidding me Angie.” Kaito blanched at the news.

“Hypothetically I could be!”

“Jesus Christ on a cracker you actually did make more of those wax things didn’t you?”

“I don’t care where you put him Ryoma, his faith has no say here," Angie replied looking rather annoyed (or as annoyed as Angie'd ever show) that any god other of her own was brought up even as a swear. "Soooo?”

“That depends. “Hypothetically” how many does “He” have to find homes for?” Ryoma asked to further humor her, resting his shaking head in his hand.

“... Everyone? So...” Angie began counting her fingers for a moment before continuing. “11? Unless bears only count as half-a-person. But only because they’re bears Kibo!” She quickly added with some frantic hand waving to avoid any accusations of “robophobia” on her part, and her attempt to keep his feelings in mind seemed to make him happy. Or as happy as anyone could be with something so morbid.

“Why on earth would you include our tormentors too? Human losses are one thing, but them?” Kaito objected, looking particularly panicked.

“Aww, but Monophanie was nice. And Atua knows Monodam tried to be good. So it felt mean to leave anyone else out!”

“Oh, oh can I have Himiko?! Or Rantaro if Kaede’s not calling him.” (WHY WOULD I KOKICHI?!)

“... Whhhhy do you want the statue of a dead person Kokichi?” Tsumugi asked with a fair amount of suspicion in her tone.

“Reasons!”

“Why on earth would we ever let you have a tribute to Himiko?!” Tenko shouted, shoving the table a bit as she stood to confront him.

“Because I’m less likely to be a creeper towards her than you are for starters.”

“And you’d be keeping them where?” Angie asked, cutting off any argument the upset Tenko wanted to make. Her eyes started shining with unshed tears with his brutal reminder of how poorly she kept coming across. But she didn’t let any fall or give as much as a sniffle as she focused on John instead, who nuzzled her.

“In my room, duh. They won’t melt honest! Not so sure about not getting dinged up, but hey it'd be better than nothin'.”

“Should I be accusing you of hoarding right now or of protesting too much when you were so quick to consider me a necrophile yesterday?” Kiyo sniped with a glare, causing the trickster to pale.

“... Oh shit, you actually heard that. Whoooooops. Y'know what, nevermind Kaede can keep them!”

“I never said I wanted either of them, why would I?!” Kaede quickly objected.

“You’re so mean Kaede, does that mean you only want the bears to finish your doll collection?!” Kokichi huffed, causing Kaito and Ryoma to snicker some while others like Gonta were left looking very confused.

“I don’t want any of these things, stop putting weird words in my mouth! Can’t we just put them in their original labs or something?!”

“Forgive me if I’m mistaken but if their realism is what makes them “creepy” wouldn’t separating them make it worse? And where would Rantaro and the cubs even go?” Kiyo pointed out.

“We can just put them in Kirumi’s lab or Tsumugi’s then. Probably Kirumi’s since it’s more out of the way and replacing the figures she’d “serve” would be easy enough right?” Ryoma suggested.

“Why even suggest my lab then?!” Tsumugi asked, just as uncomfortable as Kaede was at being dragged into this discussion.

“Space mostly, I mean no one would want these things in Kiyo’s lab right?”

“Only if you understand I would move them myself periodically just to see how you all react to them.” Kiyo teased.

Angie wasn’t amused by the idea of Kiyo messing with her artworks however and responded the most civil and mature way she knew how: by reaching into her coat’s pockets and tossing salt at his face.

“May the power of salt compel you!”

Kiyo however refused to be compelled. It did seem to make him salty in a different sense though with how his eye started twitching. “... That isn’t how this works. At all. First, I know for a fact no salt we have in this place has been purified, and I highly doubt any of your dubious “credentials” could be used to change that. They wouldn’t be able to so much as slow a spirit, much less banish one. Second I doubt any here have the impurities supposedly needed to induce a change within a person’s soul.”

“May the power of Atua compel you!”

“I am genuinely more inclined to listen to the table salt if those are my options.”

“... May the power of Tenko compel you-”

“I swear I won’t touch your statues Angie, no need to go so far.” Kiyo conceded, proving he did have a shred of self-preservation left after all.

“Can I “compel” him anyway?” (Boy we get off topic easily.)

“Tenko no.” Kaede said with a long-suffering sigh.

“Tenko yes!” Angie cheered, as if trying to start a “wave” with her arms as she beamed.

“Your vote doesn’t count Angie! And neither does Kokichi’s.” Kaito said while batting at Kokichi who was primed to throw his own two cents in too. Making both complain, though Angie's was indecipherable to them.

“Awwww but who wouldn’t want to see that?”

“I’d like to not risk executing Tenko today thanks.” Kaede deadpanned back at the brat.

“Have more faith in Kiyo’s durability than that!” Angie tried, in their language again rather than her random ramblings, swaying from side to side.

“No, that sounds like the right amount of faith to me. I’m a killer, not a fighter. I only bested Kirumi because she was surprised and blinded at the time, I’d heard the sort of “tasks” she had done before.”

“Gonta not sure that sort of thing Kiyo should be admitting to.”

“I thought your supervision was as much for my safety as it was for everyone else’s. Were you lying to me?” Kiyo asked with an exaggeratedly shocked expression at Gonta's "betrayal".

“No, but still sound bad.” Gonta said, giving Kiyo his best scowl. Or tried to, but only really managed a cute pout, since he was lacking the sort of terrifying aura he could get when he was really mad.

Tsumugi looked thoughtful again as she spoke more to the ceiling than her classmates after a thought occurred to her. “... Actually if Kiyo acts up, and he really is “possessed” like they say they are, I have one of those cleansing air fresheners that’s supposed to have holy water in it which might help.”

“ You wouldn’t DARE. ” (... Yeah, not many would "dare" when you get like this. Living is kinda nice and all. But why not do it anyway? It’d serve him right and get rid of one of the perpetrators. No! That’s too risky.)

“OHH, OHH, PICK ME! PICK ME! I WOULD! I WOULD!” (I get where you're coming from but please stop making yourself a target Kokichi! If she’s gone and his “limits” go with her, he might actually kill you.)

“H-hey come on Kokichi I’m the one she keeps singling out! If she’s offering it I should have it, not you.” Kaito argued.

“Please, there’s no need to get like this! We don’t have to fight amongst each other. Perhaps we could continue our trip to the virtual world? Or help Angie move her figures?” Kibo interrupted, hoping to stop any fighting he could.

“Or we could try getting rid of Monokuma so we don’t need to deal with this anymore,” Kaito offered. When he saw the series of blank faces look back at him he clarified what he had in mind.

“I’m serious. There’s only one Exisal now, and we know where the mastermind would need to go if they want to make more Monokumas. I mean I don’t think we have any reason to doubt Shuichi was right about the secret of that hidden room behind the bookshelf, he was the Ultimate Detective. So if we can break him when he’s outside the Exisal, and keep eyes on everyone so whoever the mastermind is can’t run off to replace him in case there was another entrance there, we’d be safe right? Either we could break the Exisal too, or maybe one of us can pilot it if we can find where they go when they’re inactive.”

Should I tell him about the grenades? The mastermind may not know I have them, and with them destroying Monokuma and the Exisal could be possible! This could make a good trap for them too.

Before Kaede could decide, Kibo objected. “And what happens if we misjudge things?! What will happen if Monokuma comes back, or if there are already two Monokumas, the one we see and one in the black Exisal? Could we even beat one normal Exisal, much less one that could be even more advanced?”

“I-I agree. I don’t want to risk losing anyone else if we can help it! With one plainly obvious exception.”

After giving Tsumugi an exasperated scowl at her obvious jab Kiyo joined in on this new scrum too. “I hate to disappoint but I’m not one of those suited to such a task. But going on the offensive could be to our benefit, as dangerous as it would be. There aren’t any motives to distract, and it could well narrow down who our mastermind could be. Provided such an attempt doesn’t get us all killed of course.”

“And that being a possible outcome at all is proof we shouldn’t do that yet! Not until we don’t have any options left, like if the kill or be killed style motive comes back so there wouldn’t be anything left to lose. Aren’t you all typically in favor of thinking the “motives” could help find an escape as well, or solve the mastermind question on it’s own? And what if the outside isn’t as safe for us as this place still is?” Angie brought up.

“But a pre-emptive strike could be enough to help us find out how to get out of here before a motive can turn us against each other again!” Tenko began, before she reconsidered her stance. “But… Even if we are immune, the world outside could be worse. I-I mean… I’m not sure I’m okay with doing something so dangerous only to find out everyone’s… gone.”

“Even if the truths we could find may be worse isn’t that worth the risk? At least then we’d know. What happened to the world, any of our friends and families, all of it. Then we could move forward.” Ryoma said, trying to sway her, but with no real success.

“And that’s assuming all that end of the world sorta stuff was true in the first place. We won’t know until we can get out, riiight?” Kokichi suggested, but it was hard to tell if he was doing more harm than good.

“But… Gonta think it safer to act like it is, right? Prepare for worst so good news is better. Gonta no want to risk leaving friends in danger if there chance fighting not be best plan.”

“So we’re basically deadlocked again? Let’s just think on it then. I mean it’s definitely not a bad idea, just a risky one. So let’s just let Kibo continue his tour for now, okay?” (And I’ll think about if now’s the time for Miu’s last gift to us to come into play. It might take two of the bombs to take out that new Exisal after all.)

Kaito wasn’t exactly pleased with the idea, probably for multiple reasons despite enjoying the virtual world for the most part, but no one complained in the end. Particularly not Kibo, who nearly ran up the stairs in his excitement to show off the rest of his hard work to everyone.

The logging in process went by more smoothly than the time before, though Kibo still entered it last to ensure no one had any problems. Well “last” if you weren’t counting Shinguji, which was easy to do.

As he promised before she did have her own avatar this time, but chest aside it wasn’t too different from her brother’s still. It was more like she just had Kibo mirror Kiyo’s sprite and take off his hat so she could use the ornament in her hair like she had supposedly done during the Ultimate talent show. The mask and bandages were also gone in her case, but Kiyo’s wraps were also changed into striped gloves that mimicked them for “safety reasons”.

Kaede hadn’t been the one to ask, so she assumed either Kiyo brought it up or Kibo realized the dangers himself when he was changing Shinguji’s avatar settings. (Or making her settings, whichever works best. Still, I need to stop being so forgetful, that could've been dangerous! Jeez, so many things to juggle.)

Still, despite how… unwholesome the siblings’ relationship was, the two chose to keep things mostly tame. Kiyo more so than his sister, who was clearly enjoying everyone’s discomfort including his own. Which was appreciated by everyone to various extents, particularly those who enjoyed this world.

Kibo still led the way to the bridge while Kaito, Angie, and Tenko trailed close behind. Kaito got quickly sidetracked when he caught sight of a sign near the river that said this place was “Mirai Hills”, and pointed out how “Future Hills” didn’t make too much sense which suited a game world’s location.

The bridge over the river was narrow and didn’t have any type of visible safety rails, so just like the doorways everyone had to go one at a time, but it felt sturdy under their feet. It made sense, with the unbreakable object rule, but was still comforting with how strong the current was under them.

But when they got to the other side there was nothing there, despite Kibo looking as proud as a peacock.

“And here we are! The looping point.”

“... Gonta no understand.”

“O-oh… Hmm, maybe it’d be best to see it for yourselves first. So just follow me, I promise it’s harmless!”

Despite his words when he crossed the point where the world seemed to end he disappeared. Kaito was the first to try to follow, but Kaede could tell he was worried that Kibo made a mistake with the program. Angie pushed Tenko through the rift next, while Kokichi went after them. Gonta insisted Tsumugi go next and that the Shinguji siblings go before he did, leaving Kaede and Ryoma alone.

“S-so, you want to go next or should I?”

“Which would be easier for you?”

“Hey, I’m not scared! … Much. And what’s your excuse Edgelord McEdgyson?”

“Just letting the lady go first Sweetheart.”

“S-sweetheart?” (What? Why is that nickname making me blush like this? It’s just a generic thing, and I teased him first so it’s not that out of line. Jeez, my heart’s still pounding, but it’s not from fear anymore.)

Whatever the reason could be Ryoma looked just as surprised he called her that, sporting a fierce blush of his own. But she didn’t see it for long, since she looked away to hide how red her face felt. And she’d completely forgotten how fast Ryoma could be when he wanted to, looking back to where he was only to see air. (Hey, no fair! So much for ladies first. Not sure I can really blame him escaping the awkward, but still!)

With no choice left Kaede made herself walk through the rift in the world, and met with the weirdest sensation when she did. She knew she’d only taken two steps to get through but it felt like she was moving more than that, despite not being able to move much less see or hear. Like she was sleep walking.

And suddenly she felt awake again, and saw her friends near the church somehow. “Huh?”

“And that’s the map loading point everyone! Only physical objects and people can pass through, which causes some sensory delay. Neat, right?!”

“Well thank you Kibo, I’m impressed.” Korekiyo claimed, making Kibo excited to go on before continuing. “Every time I think I can’t despise this place more you find a way to prove I was terribly mistaken.” (Oh come on, no need to be so mean about it! Why get Kibo's hopes up like that before crushing them you jerk?!)

As Kibo's eager expression sunk like stone Shinguji took the first chance to tease her little brother.“Only because you’re one of the few people who could manage to get cabin fever while outdoors, my dear Korekiyo. Though I think I enjoy hearing your internal screaming more than seeing it like this.”

“When it’s this artificial what’s the difference between this and being inside? It can’t be called “nature” when it’s made so unnaturally yes?”

“Hmmm, I see. Angie mostly agrees but she doesn’t mind it! Much less humid that the real outside is. Sometimes artificial stuff is better, like strawberries or cherry candies!” Angie chimed, nudging Kibo a bit in an attempt to help cheer him back up.

“Gonta not sure how we got here though… ”

Kibo looked ready to answer that, eager to salvage what confidence he could, before Kiyo interrupted with a blinking exclamation mark floating above him. “Do you have a handkerchief Gonta? Monogrammed or not, either will work.”

Gonta checked his pockets and pulled out the desired scrap of fabric, which Kiyo then made a basic loop out of.

“See where the right side now reaches the left? Think of that brief moment of disconnect as our avatars jumping over that small gap. Does this make sense to you?”

“Oh, Gonta understand! Gonta couldn’t see because Mini-Gonta closed his eyes because he got scared when he jumped to other side. Poor Mini-Gonta, Gonta no want to make him scared again.”

“... If that’s how it makes sense to you then I’m glad to be of service.” Kiyo said, giving Kibo a smug look as he did. The poor ‘bot did look rather deflated, much like Kiyo did when his avatar lesson failed before. (Sorry Kibo, It looks like Kiyo doesn’t want to lose his teaching job to anyone… Maybe because with how he is it would be better for everyone if he didn’t try teaching for real later. Unless it’d be at an all boys school?)

“Well now that we’re here we can look inside the chapel at least! Though it’s kinda messy compared to the mansion. I think it’s leftovers from a Christmas or New Year’s event, but it’s all completely safe! All the streamers are gone now, and anything else that could be used as a rope is too short to hurt anyone.”

“Well that’s a shame, ropes can be so much fun to play with.” Shinguji complained as she toyed a bit with her own long locks as she gave her brother a look.

“S-sister!” Kiyo practically hissed, not that Tenko noticed with how she brightened at the change for a far more innocent conversation starter.

“Oh you do cat’s cradle too Shinguji? Master would have me play it when I got too hyper as a kid!”

“Hmm, Hmm~ I don’t think that’s what she’s talking about.” Angie interuppted, giving the sblings quick suspicious glances before locking eyes with her friend again hoping she'd get the message.

“... Ohhhhhh. Nevermind then.”

“I’m not too sure you’d like “playing” with us anyway." Shinguji shrugged, before giving Kaede a once-over. "Miss Akamatsu on the other hand could work.”

“WHAT?!”

“Sister that’s enough, please.” Kiyo definitely didn't beg.

“Fine, fine. Still disappointing, but it’s not like I could do much sewing in here so it’s hardly a loss.”

“May Atua reach out to you both and cleanse your souls of their impurities for your redemption, Amen.”

“Unlikely, Miss Yonaga. If your God wasn't dead before I'm confident he is by now with this group of idiots.”

"Sister, that's not what Nietzsche meant by "we killed him" and you know it."

“I don’t know, maybe something holy could make you a bit less like the just plain creepy stringy haired girls you see in horror movies.” Tsumugi quietly offered.

“My sister is not an onryō! Not all spirits are malevolent ones, death just… changed her a little.” Kiyo said ever on the defensive where she was concerned.

“I’d say it was more like time and illness changed me, but indeed. My mind is still human, thank you.”

“Well of course you’d claim something like that, but what human being would ever want to kill 100 people for company?!” Tsumugi snapped with a surprising anger behind her.

“One whose ill body lead to an ill soul and mind, which my brother has been working to amend for me. What sort of cosplayer would claim to be allergic to dressing up as someone who existed?!” The specter spat back.

“What?!” (Oh god not this again. I don’t suppose we could just go inside without them?)

“How on earth is the act of dressing up in costumes for personal enjoyment as expressions of their passions made invalid simply because they choose to embody the characteristics of the deceased?”

“But that isn’t cosplay anymore-” Tsumugi tried to counter, but there was no stopping the tirade now.

“How is it NOT cosplay?! Your “anime” already HAS characters based on genuine historical figures, so what makes this so different? I had more than ample time on my hands when I was ill to see enough of that drivel to know this for an absolute fact.” Shinguji scoffed as everyone not named Tsumugi tried to put as much distance between the two girls as possible.

The fact this included an exhausted looking Kiyo brought a smug look to Kokichi's face, which the taller boy didn't hesitate to smack him for.

“Because those people did actually exist, it’s not bringing a fictional character to life like cosplay does! AND YOU TAKE THAT BACK!”

“Then tell the Fate series to give Alexander of Macedonia back first because even they knew how badly they messed him up! And apologize for what they did to Gilgamesh of Mesopotamia while they’re at it.”

“T-that’s completely different, those changes are what makes them fictional characters! And you can’t prove that other person existed at all-”

“Are you so sure about that? Because I’m fairly certain we could at least narrow down what he likely looked like, like having a beard for starters. Not to mention how they missed the point of his epic poem.”

Seeing familiar territory Kiyo did feel comfortable enough speaking up. “What exactly makes it so different anyway? These historical figures were invoked in the work itself as expressions of “love” for this subject yes? What of the cultures where dressing up as those that are gone are a key aspect of their beliefs regarding keeping their memories, histories, or stories alive?”

“Kiyo, don’t encourage them. We didn’t pass on a chance for an epic Maki vs. Tenko smackdown to watch a nerd rage debate between our fangirl and your geeky dead sister.” Kokichi said, bringing Kiyo's position more to his sister's attention which got her brother a glare for his "betrayal" of not siding with her stronger.

Shrinking into the group best he could the anthropologist made the smarter call. “Fine, as you wish. But I’m also not going to be the one to stop them should things get out of hand.”

The benefit from the interruption of the yelling match was it gave Kibo a chance to try and help diffuse thing. “Umm, Miss Shinguji? I understand if you think Tsumugi’s argument is disrespectful, but it does appear to be a genuine condition, regardless of if it may be coming from her state of mind more than anything. Could we just go inside please? I’d rather not log you out to give you time to cool off and join up with us.”

“ Fine .” Shinguji said, but the glowing red vein markings that appeared on her head told a different story.

Kibo wasn’t kidding when he said the inside was a mess. Some stacks of full boxes looked like they could easily crush a person if they fell on them, but he did try to make that unlikely by stacking them so the largest where along the wall behind several smaller stacks or placed directly on the pews.

He probably put the “lightest” of the big boxes on top too, with the heaviest on the ground like he did with the pews. I wonder if he had to do this in-game or in the programming.

“Hey wait, Kibo, aren’t those fireworks?! You said all the dangerous stuff was gone!” Tenko panicked.

“... You do realize explosives can’t work if the canister can’t break right?" Kibo asked looking rather insulted that she'd think he'd overlook something like that. "Besides, even if you lit the wick the fire wouldn’t be able to catch onto it. … Assuming fire can work here at all, I can’t remember if I allowed them to do that in the kitchen. Since food not working makes cooking unnecessary anyway.”

“Then why keep something that’s plain useless at all? They’re just teasing us like this.”

“If you think I should get rid of them just ask me about it outside, okay? I just focused on your safety.”

“Actual outside, the school’s “outside”, or the “outside” inside this machine?” Kiyo deadpanned.

“Can it Kiyo, we all know what he means.” Kaito scolded, but when he tied to give Kiyo a pat on his back Shinguji interrupted him by clinging to her brother like she was a vicious koala. Or just a normal koala, if Kaede remembered right. Either way Kaito backed off in record time and everyone tried to ignore them.

As Kaede went to get a closer look at the stained glass window she noticed a familiar looking shape to her left. “Kibo you didn’t tell me they had an organ in here! Ooooh I wonder if it works~”

“Are they that similar to pianos? If I knew that I would have said something sooner, sorry!”

“It’s fine! Is everyone okay with me playing it right now? It’s been awhile since I tried one.”

Upon hearing no real objections Kaede began to play, giving the others some background music while they looked through some of the supply boxes to see if there were any books or games of note here.

Or most of them did anyway. Angie and Kokichi were instead teasing Shinguji with alternate nicknames for her to use, ranging from trying to make her “Kiyo” and Kiyo into "Kork”, which nearly got Gonta to intervene for Kokichi’s safety, to Angie making Shinguji some variant of “Kore” which wasn’t much better.

Kiyo mostly ignored them (minus the "'cause he needs to put a cork in it" incident) and encouraged his sister to do the same, but when some were enough to get him to chuckle under his breath his sister would glare at him until he apologized. (That’s not a good sign. My sister and I tease each other all the time, and we’ve seen Shinguji do the same to him so what gives? Even... “romantic” partners are allowed to do that much, with limits, right? This feels way too one-sided.)

As if in petty revenge for her brother’s “transgression” it sounded like Shinguji started going around, flirting with the girls and what not. Sounded like only because Kaede still preferred focusing on finding simple tunes to play to pass the time. But for whatever reason Kiyo seemed more content than jealous from what Kaede wasn't able to tune out. He was probably the only one who was, as even Tenko seemed uncomfortable despite mostly enjoying her attention.

Which was all well and good until Shinguji made her way to the organ and rested against it to talk to her.

“You have a twin, don’t you, Miss Akamatsu?”

“Yeah, just a little bit younger than me. Why?”

“Have you heard of the old Japanese myth that if star crossed lovers commit suicide they are reborn as twins? I wonder if that’s meant to be a blessing or a curse, keeping them together with a new taboo.”

“If you’re still here I’m not sure if reincarnation is really possible. Wouldn’t you have lost “friends” by now if it was?” Kaede responded, trying to stay as calm as she could.

“You’re no fun. But know my earlier offer still stands, since you’re the only girl who’s shown him enough positive attention I doubt my Korekiyo would object to us “sharing” you, with or without this simulation. It’s been awhile since we played that game with anyone.” (WHAT?! HELL NO! EW. NOT. HAPPENING.)

Before Kaede could recover from her internal screaming to answer, Angie started praying for their souls again and Kibo pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and said “Sister Shinguji” into it. (Like a nun? Weird.)

And in a blink of light Shinguji was gone.

“ANGIE’S PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED, PRAISE BE TO ATUA!”

“No they haven’t, that was just me. I wanted the portable phone to be a surprise. It’s just like a landline.” Kibo explained.

Not that said explanation helped set Angie straight any. “Kibo has become a blessed divine instrument of Atua!”

“... I don’t think I am. Since I denounced Him and all.”

“ WHAT DID YOU DO ? ”

To say Korekiyo was livid was an understatement, but if Shinguji’s resemblance to the likes of Medusa was uncanny his wouldn’t be too far from it either. And all of his rage was targeted at Kibo, who was too shocked to do much of anything as Korekiyo lifted him by his collar. (I guess weights were also made equal. Should we let him vent, like Kaito often does, or stop him right now? Would it look bad if I freeze him right now? Should I let another girl do it instead?)

“We already discussed the way the two of you work Kiyo, there’s nothing for you to worried about! Please calm down!”

“How could I possibly be calm when you took my sister from me?! " He snarled. "How do you know she’ll behave the same as I do, when it’s my body out there?! I can’t afford to lose her again! Do you have any idea what I went through when I lost her the first time?!”

Korekiyo still wouldn’t put him down as he shook him, ready to lash out at anyone who tried to intervene as he ranted. But he hadn’t actually tried to hurt Kibo yet, which was a small blessing.

But with his focus bouncing wildly between Kibo and the others and his hair in such disarray he didn’t notice the small girl sneaking up behind him. Not until Angie popped up beside him and poked his nose with a little spoken “boop”. Like she was trying to imitate pressing a button, which wasn’t too far off.

She kept her finger there as Kaito and Gonta forced Korekiyo’s fingers let go, which wasn’t as hard as it initially looked. Tenko already proved that while the avatars couldn’t move others moving them was easy.

With Kibo safely tucked behind Gonta and Tsumugi comforting him, Angie finally pranced her way back to Tenko and waited to see if this calmed Korekiyo down at all.

Which it didn’t seem to at all when he regained control of himself, but as panicked as he still was he restrained himself to glaring accusingly at everyone else around them. But with the way he was on the brink of tears they didn’t have the same sort of impact as he seemed to hope they would have had.

He wasn’t settled by any of his own attempts to try to rationalize his anger either, most notably pointing out Kibo had no issue with Miu getting away with far more indecent humor than his sister did. Even if that may not be for long, as like Miu she also had problems with socializing due to a lack of proper practice.

It wasn’t until Shinguji came through the church’s doors that he became anything like his usual self again, immediately taking her into a hug with enough force to spin her in the air, before placing her behind him.

While she petted his hair in a way that could appear comforting at a glance, and he clearly took it as such with how he leaned his head into it, nothing about her came across as the least bit concerned. It was more like she was annoyed by Kibo’s stunt more than anything, despite seeing how much it terrified him.

But there was one thing that puzzled her that she needed an answer to. “Idabashi, had I misheard during our little mishap just now or did you address me as “Sister Shinguji” for your portable phone?”

“... Well no one else was giving me something to work with so I wasn’t sure what else I could call you. Without upsetting anyone I mean. Do you need me to change it again?”

“No, not at all. It’s fitting to have a parody of a nun’s title in a false place of worship in a way, no?”

“Sooo, would that make Kiyo your “priest” then?” Tsumugi asked.

“... Tell me you aren’t suggesting that you think nuns, women who have pledged their body and soul to the God they essentially have married, are ever allowed to have sex, much less that their male counterparts can in most practices? And heaven forbid either try with each other,” Korekiyo warily stated.

“Oh, so they’re not like our shrine maidens then Kiyo?” Tsumugi asked again, a bit more confused.

“... My apologies sister, I now know EXACTLY the sort of thing you were complaining about in regards to how disconnected to reality she truly is.”

“H-hey, you could just answer me directly!” (Did you really need to ask for a lesson Tsumugi?!)

“In brief: Anime and manga for any Christian or Catholic practices are often terribly mistaken for working like our own Miko and whatnot, since Japanese creators rarely have a true understanding of how they work or their significance to their believers. Even some Japanese Christians may have an entirely different method of performing their religious ceremonies, since they were separated by most “official” leaders for so long after the religion was once made taboo on our shores.”

“Also yes, some sects may allow their higher ups marriage or sex, but they often value their “virtue” of chastity too much to be particularly common. What need does a “Father” or “Mother” have for biological children when they have so many lambs they need to raise the best they can for their “God”?”

“Okay, okay~ But can you two not do shared lessons? Atua believes one of you is more than enough.” Angie said to try and shut the two up, again annoyed at another religion getting more "attention" than her own.

“In my defense I did say I intended it to be a short one. I have no say on if my sister wants to expand on anything for the sake of clarity.” Korekiyo said with a shrug as his sister quietly giggled behind her hand.

“Just because he has more knowledge of this sort of thing than I do, I also like showing off when I can.”

“Still, Angie makes a point. If you two do this outside things might get a bit too confusing and distract us from what you’re trying to tell us about. So maybe keep it to a minimum at least please?”

“Only if we can finally leave now, Kibo. There isn’t anything left to show us, yes?” Korekiyo asked.

“Right, that’s fine with me since I also showed you the cell phone item. If anyone wants to come back later, like to keep Kiyo and Shinguji in here while they’re normally being watched, just ask me okay?”

With two means of logging out the process went a lot faster than last time, and adjusting to the Shinguji problem was made simpler too. It hardly mattered who left when anymore, as long as Gonta went before those two so they wouldn’t try anything stupid, but few actually thought that either would right now.

This time Korekiyo still had control when they all got out, but for whatever reason Tenko kept looking at him funny. Like she was scanning him for weapons and confused why she kept coming up empty.

“Is there something the matter Tenko? Are you disappointed to not see my sister anymore? I’d more than understand if that’s the case.”

“W-what?! No! It’s just… something’s not right here.” She said with a mild blush. (News flash Tenko: Nothing has EVER been right. Not in school, not on the general campus, not in the killing game idea, and not even in Kibo’s program!)

“And how exactly does that involve me specifically? If it’s another attack on my sister I advise against it.”

Tenko looked disgusted, ashamed, and appalled by what she thought would answer things. “Tenko might need you to kinda sort of need you to take off your jacket again and pad you down. But only the jacket, got it?! It just looks like it’s on the thick side so it’d be harder to find anything than if it was just the shirt under it!”

“Kibo, are you sure everyone’s wires were matched correctly before we went in? Because I thought I just heard our dear Tenko ask one of her hated menaces to disrobe of her own volition. How scandalous,” Korekiyo teased.

“Well I thought I heard  the serial killer with an incister try calling someone else “scandalous” so we might need to check his wires too,” Kokichi joked back, which soured any good mood Korekiyo may have been getting back before.

“Hey, I’m being serious! This is could be important!” Tenko tried to argue despite her embarrassment, and Korekiyo relented with an eye-roll and a shrug as he stood up with his arms outstretched. It seemed like he was already very used to these procedures, which considering his appearance and time traveling he likely was. Either between rightly concerned local police, airport or border security, or a bit of all three types.

As she tried to mimic a pat down, as if from memory of how they were meant to be done, it was clear she was using more force than she needed to as he’d almost flinch with each hit. She was still red as Himiko’s hair but her embarrassment was soon replaced with resolve and some confusion as she avoided looking at his face as she worked. But for whatever reason she kept focusing on his button down’s chest and back.

“I must say, out of everything I expected to be subjected to today being groped by you wasn’t one of them.”

“H-HEY, I AM NOT! I-it’s just a pat down thing!”

“Your areas of focus say otherwise, I’m very well versed in both forms of “attention” I assure you.”

To say she retreated as if touching him would burn her would be an understatement, much to Gonta’s relief due to how “improper” this all was. Everyone else was just confused. But Tenko wasn’t done just yet as she pointed at him accusingly. “Fine, I need you to switch with Shinguji for a bit!”

“If that’ll be enough to put my jacket back on and end this charade, very well.” He replied, very tired of whatever Tenko was trying to do. But as the mask came off her previous observation was made obvious.

“I KNEW IT! Tenko knows a titty when she sees one! Er, wait-” Tenko realized her mistake too late as her friends already began to snicker. Particularly Kokichi, who just had to embarrass her even more.

“Don’t worry we’ll definitely believe you about that~”

“T-THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT! DON’T TAKE THAT OUT OF CONTEXT!”

“Is it really that much better in context?” Ryoma deadpanned with a smirk.

“Nope~ too late. I have never wished I had a recording device more than right now,” Kokichi continued.

“Well we do actually." Kibo happily informed him. "I’ve always had a recording function! I can use the playback if you like?”

“NOOOOOO-”

“YEEEEEEEEEEES!”

Kibo took a moment to prove his claim, though it was oddly old technology compared to the rest of him. Kaede really tried to ignore that and what the metal tape recording did to the sound quality while Kokichi’s grinning face lit up almost as much as Tenko’s fell and turned red.

“Nee-heehee~ Kiiiiiiiiiiibo, have I told you today how much I looooove you?~ <3”

“...No. And I will give you a copy if you agree to never say anything like that to me ever again.”

“DEAL! No lying or take backsies either, pinkie promise!” If Kokichi was any more of a dog he could have probably worked as a fan with how fast his tail would have been wagging as he held out his little finger.

“I’ll pass on that thanks.”

“And you people wonder why I hate men?! How dare you, Kibo, you traitor! You’re just another one of those miserable piles of secrets, just like him!” Tenko wailed and pointed at Kibo accusingly.

“Hey, no one would blame you for hating this guy Tenko, just stop dragging the rest of us into it!” Kaito objected, who finally managed to stop laughing.

“Where exactly am I falling with this? I am being judged based on my brother’s sex or my own? And why are you all acting like this is some sort of shock? He already told you this can happen with our condition.”

“Gaaaah, why did you need to ask Tenko these questions?! I don’t like the images that puts in my head!” (NO ONE DOES! GOD WHY MUST THEY BE LIKE THIS?!)

“Can you just… change back or something now? Because Fem!Kiyo’s weird enough to look at even without your… You. I don’t even know if this means I’ve lost as a woman or not with how weird this all is.” Tsumugi asked, but Keade couldn’t tell if she was more frustrated or depressed by everything going on.

“Kukukuku~ Oh my, does your rudeness truly know no bounds? I must say I’m quite hurt, Miss Shirogane. Honestly, I have no idea how He can still think of the rest of you so highly with how you insist on treating us both.”

“Hey, you monsters have no right to judge us! Though... I guess you aren’t technically a degenerate male. But I’m still not trusting you with anything either as you aren’t much better. And that wasn’t the point!”

Tenko got a hold of herself enough to finish explaining her odd behaviors. “The point was this means you can’t just be some delusion right?! Bodies can’t just do… this. The same thing happened at the party, Miu told me she noticed too so I wasn’t just seeing things! Kiyo’s not binding or anything so this really did just happen... Whatever that means. Beyond being physical proof the supernatural exists I guess?”

“If you wanted to know if they were real you could have just asked-”

“NO! NOT YOU, NOT YOURS.” (Wow, this might be the closest Tenko ever gets to rejecting another girl. But is it progress or just her survival instincts finally kicking in?)

“Maybe it could still be a type of delusion if we were already in some sort of virtual simulation? Wouldn’t that be a wild plot twist! Not sure if that explains the cameras though, those still definitely exist.” Kokichi offered, still doing little to explain things one way or the other.

“Why would we have access to a system like that if we’re already in one?!” Kibo was quick to shoot back.

“For the mindfuckery of it all? Pretty sure that could score it some extra meta cred or something.”

“That would explain how my dear Korekiyo’s able to eat and drink through his masks too, wouldn’t it?”

“Huh~ Are you saying you don’t know how that works either?” Angie couldn’t help but ask.

“Not at all, I’ve never needed to try it. Just like how he doesn’t need to know how to repair our clothing. But He’s always been good at little tricks like sleight of hand or knowing how to keep things out of sight.”

“Sooo how do you not smear the lipstick under there? You both have to know that one right?” Tsumugi started to inquire. Fitting with how important details like that could be to her work.

“Please, you can talk makeup with her later. Would you please just switch back for now?” Kaede sighed.

“Well as you’ve asked me so politely Miss Akamatsu, fine.” She replied, lifting the mask back across the bridge of their nose. And just like that what little of a chest Korekiyo’s body did develop under the white fabric was gone too.

“I do hope everyone’s most satisfied with this little demonstration now. I would very much like to put my jacket back on if you don’t mind.”

“For the record Kiyo: Fuck your sister and everything she represents okay?” (Kaito why are you trying to piss him off?! I know Shinguji scares you but please don’t! Korekiyo wouldn’t really kill you for this right?)

But as clear as the rage was that crossed Korekiyo’s visible features, he soon took a breath and calmed back down. He almost looked hurt before trying to make himself appear less offended and more lighthearted.

“I thought none of you approved of me doing that?” (GAAAH, can we please just forget that’s a thing?! Too gross to think about. And disturbing, on many levels. At least they can’t really do… That, anymore? RIGHT???)

“GODDAMNIT KIYO!”

“Nee-heehee~ Come on you practically walked right into that one Kaito.”

“MOVING ON. Angie you still need help with moving your sculptures right? Let’s go do that.” Kaede said.

“Oh! Yes, yes that’s a divine idea! But Kiyo can’t help. He’s done enough to Maki and Kirumi.”

“I never did anything to Maki and you know that!”

“Except keep quiet about what Kirumi was planning and helped get her killed as a result.” Ryoma coldly stated, taking Kiyo off guard. But despite looking like he wanted to object to that accusation, he didn’t.

Instead Kokichi decided to mess with him some more. “Hey Gonta, you said only good people like bugs right? So maybe showing Kiyo how great alllll your bug friends are will help make him a better person!”

“I don’t dislike bugs in the first place, within reason, due to their cultural significance to many peoples-”

“You confessed to eating them Kiyo, that counts!” Kokichi argued with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Just because you’re willing to eat something, that doesn’t mean you hate the creature killed to make it.”

“... Tell me you’ve never eaten a dog.” Kaito blanched again.

“Define “dog”, and then ask yourself if you really want me to answer that question.”

“Gonta’s forest family big brother ate dog sometimes. But he always kinda mean. Insisted on Gonta getting hands on hunting practice by starting with a bunny he caught. Kiyo remind Gonta of him a lot.”

“... I’m not sure if I should be offering you my gratitude or apologies. However, the point remains that I don’t dislike bugs so-”

“So you shouldn’t mind meeting all of the bugs in Gonta’s lab at all!” Kokichi brightly chimed in, much to the horror that spread across Kiyo’s face.

He hid it before Gonta saw him though, and was all smiles as he replied under the entomologist's watchful gaze despite the frozen venom in his tone. “ You first Kokichi. ”

“That great idea! Gonta take both friends to meet and greet insect friends!”

Gonta didn’t give them much time to react beyond the mutual look of horror found on both of their faces as he practically carried them to his lab. Or literally carried them in Kokichi’s case, who found himself nearly tucked under one arm as the other dragged Kiyo along with them.

The remaining students gave a moment of silence for the two unlucky bastards, but certainly weren’t going to do anything that could risk them sharing their fate. Even if the silence given was more of the stunned variety than a truly respectful one. At least, up until Angie put her hands together and started praying.

“May Atua have mercy on their souls, and should the worst come to pass may He take them under His protection in the great hereafter despite their lack of faith or points. Except maybe Kiyo. May He just not return Kiyo to his sister or something, like have Him give Himiko or Rantaro company instead. Amen!”

“How dare you try to curse Himiko like that, I trusted you!” Tenko wailed, only to have Angie halfheartedly waving her off in some attempt to shush and “soothe” her. Which went as well as expected.

“But they got along, he never actually hurt her, and she was such an innocent girl it may help clean his soul! Maybe. Hopefully. It felt more mean to single Rantaro out. Since blackened like Shuichi and Miu might not help him as much there, assuming he could get along with either of them in the afterlife.”

“Then why not just let him rot where he belongs?!” (Yeah, I’m with Tenko this time.)

“... Angie hopes Tenko isn’t suggesting that his sister can honestly make it to the better place.”

“Not to mention with how fucked up he is being anywhere without his sister could be “Hell” on it’s own.” Ryoma joined in. (NOPE. Get back on topic please!)

“Alright already you guys, let’s stop talking like this okay? Is anyone going to be helping Angie and I carry her memorials to Kirumi’s lab or not?”

“Tenko will!”

“I.. Think I’ll pass. I’ll be out training in the normal spot if you want to meet up later, Kaede.”

“And I’ll go with him to make sure he either actually trains or doesn’t sprain anything else. Like his head,” Ryoma snarked while following Kaito away, who began to bicker with him.

“Hmmm, Kibo, would you like me to try and make you a uniform like your avatar had? And I can throw in a matching hat or some cover up to hide your joints if you’ll keep me some company while I work!”

“Oh! Thank you, that’s very nice of you to offer, Tsumugi. Perhaps after I’m done re-calibrating the avatars to everyone’s desires before I forget anything.”

“Good idea, and I can hang out in there so you’re not as alone until you’re done!”

With all those plans set aside the rest of the bustling students made their ways out the door, aside from Kibo and Tsumugi. Kaede idly wondered why Kaito felt the need to tell her where they’d be, since everyone still preferred to have their monopads on them, but assumed he said it as some sort of comforting habit.

As hard as moving Shuichi’s statue may be for her, she was going to do this. Her friends need her to act with confidence, so she needed to face her regrets and mistakes head on in any way she thought of. Her best was what they needed, so she was going to make sure she kept giving them that however she could.

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[serahne]

And now for something different ( 1/2 )

Summary : “Who is he ?”

Maki shakes her head in annoyance.

“A walking, breathing headache if you want my opinion.”

( or : Shuichi Saihara tries to make new friends, but the only person that catches his attention is a mysterious boy with a taste for mischief. )

Rating : Teen and Up Audiences

Pairing : Shuichi Saihara/Kokichi Ouma

Characters : Shuichi Saihara, Kokichi Ouma, Kaito Momota, Maki Harukawa, Kaede Akamatsu and these rest of the ndrv3 cast.

*

“That’s it, Shuichi, I’m taking you out tonight !”

Kaito’s boisterous voice makes him raise his eyes from the oily fallafel that a grumpy-looking waitress dumped in his plate ten minutes ago. This is the last time he lets his friend pick the place for their weekly lunch.

“Taking me out ?” He repeats. “I hope you mean it in the sense that you are going to kill me. Not that you are dragging me to another nightclub. Kaito, you saw what happened last time. I’ll never be able to watch the discovery channel the same way, thanks for that.”

“Yeah, well” Kaito shrugs his trauma off. “How was I supposed to know it was a theme night ? You are really sweating the small stuff here, bro !”

“Right.”

Shuichi gives up on his food and pushes his plate toward Kaito, who only seems too happy to engulf another greasy abomination.

“By the way” Kaito keeps going between two bites “I wasn’t planning to go back there. It’s Maki Roll’s friend -”

“Maki has friends ?” Shuichi asks, half-serious.

The other points his chopsticks in his direction.

“Believe it or not, some people are able to see what a great person she is. Anyway, her friend, Kaede. We were together back in High School, remember ? Well, she invited us to her party. I promise you that no one will be dressed as an animal.” He wiggles his eyebrows a little “Except if you count human beings as animals and…”

“Okay, okay” Shuichi cuts him off. “Are you telling me that Kaede Akamatsu invited me to her party ?”

Kaito nods.

“Sure. She likes you, you know.”

“Kaito. I think the most words I exchanged with her was in second year, when her phone was discharged and she needed to borrow mine ! We don’t know each others !”

He glosses over the fact that he dragged a crush for the pretty pianist for the three year they spent in the same class. A hopeless one, of course, one that he never even dreamed of seeing reciprocated. She was just so bright and hopeful and positive and way too good for a guy who had troubles watching other people in the eyes.

“Well she doesn’t not like you” the other says triumphantly. “Come on, bro. Kaede invited Maki who invited me who is now inviting you. This is legit. Everyone does that, and Kaede won’t mind. She is a cool chick.”

Shuichi opens his mouth to say something, but he is interrupted by the waitress who is still in a terrible mood ( Shuichi can’t help but offer her a compassionate smile that she doesn’t return ) and picks up their plates as soon as possible before going back to the kitchen. Kaito gives her an appraising look.

“Do you think she likes me ?” He asks out loud. Then he lowers his voice in a conspiratorial tone. “Don’t tell Maki Roll about that. I don’t want her to get jealous.”

Yeah, right. Shuichi rolls his eyes.

“Whatever” he replies. “I’m not going anywhere tonight.”

“Shuichi ! I’m sorry to say that but my grandma has a more interesting life than you. When was the last time you did something that wasn’t working for your uncle, reading books, or eating lunch with me and Maki ?” He sighs dramatically. “How are you even going to find a nice girl for yourself ?”

Shuichi bites his tongue instead of reminding Kaito that himself doesn’t seem that interested in ‘nice’ girls either. His friend has a point. Shuichi’s social life is deader than it could ever be. He is just not that good at making friends. Or talking to people, really. Sometimes he wonders how miserable he would be if Kaito hadn’t decided one day to be his partner in a class project, praising his intelligence and dumping on him the entirety of the workload in one breath.

Then he had told Shuichi that he could do the oral presentation if that was easier for him. And they have been friends since them.

“I don’t want to be in a room full of people I don’t know” he pleads. “You are going to be busy being your usual social self and I’m just going to sit on a chair and wait for the time to pass until it’s late enough to go back home.”

Kaito puts a hand on his shoulder, a serious look on his face.

“Listen, Shuichi. I promise that I’ll make sure to introduce you to people. I’m not saying that you are going to end the day with a full list of new numbers in your phone, but if you just talk to people, you’ll see that they aren’t scary - well, most of them, anyway.”

Shuichi feels himself falters under Kaito’s gaze. What is the worst that could happen ? Skulking around for a couple of hours lost in the middle of people that don’t even notice he is here ? As if it was something new for him.

“Okay” he relents. “But I’m taking a book just in case it’s awful.”

Kaito laughs and pats his shoulder.

“That’s the spirit !”

*

That’s a terrible idea. Anxiety weighs heavier and heavier on Shuichi while he climbs up the stairs leading to Kaede’s house. He can hear music and screams coming from the inside of the house, but he can also see some people wandering around the gardens : it’s the beginning of summer, and the weather is nice enough that they can stay outside after sunset despite their short-sleeves and bare legs.

“So what do you think ?” Kaito says, all smile. “Pretty nice, uh ? And no one disguised as an animal.”

“Hmm” He replies, noncommittal.

Kaito knocks on the door, and despite Shuichi’s guess that the music instead is way too loud for them to be heard, it opens a few seconds later to reveal Kaede Akamatsu, her long blond-hair that she had in high-school now cut at chin length, and still just as stunning as she was then.

“Hey !” She greets them, and Shuichi is glad that she isn’t asking him to talk, because he needs a few seconds to realize that his teenage crush is right there in front of him. “Kaito, right ? Maki told me you might be here, I’m glad you could make it. And uh… it’s your friend ?”

“Yeah, Shuichi !” He hits him behind the head. “He was in our class in High School, too.”

Kaede smiles at him.

“That’s so nice. I hope you’ll have fun tonight, there are so many people I haven’t seen in a long time. I guess that’s what summer is all about, right ?”

She laughs, and so does Kaito, and Shuichi spends a few seconds wondering if he should laugh too, but then that would be weird to just laugh after everyone else.

“Sure thing” Kaito replies, giving her a thumb up. “See you later, Kaede !”

And then there are in, Kaito guiding him through the buzzing crowd with a hand on his back until they reach a quieter spot. Shuichi feels like he is going to throw up, and Kaito stops paying him any mind as soon as a pair of black pigtails appears in front of him.

“Hey Maki Roll !” Kaito says, moving closer to the quiet. “You are super pretty tonight !”

The blush on her cheeks is barely visible, but the fact that it’s there surprise Shuichi : maybe Kaito’s bragging about how she is totally into him isn’t as far off as he suspected. Still, she offers them an exasperated look.

“Don’t you have someone else to bother ?” She sighs, before turning toward Shuichi. “Did he force you to come here ?”

“Uh” Shuichi says.

“Figures. He is the most inconsiderate guy I’ve ever met.”

Kaito doesn’t seem very happy with where the conversation is going.

“Hey, guys, don’t insult me when I’m here, okay ?” He smiles at Maki, who frowns in return, as to balance his sudden happiness. “And I brought Shuichi here to find him a nice girl ! Do you know anyone here that our good friend could try to talk to ?”

Maki raises an eyebrow in disbelief, but then her gaze wanders through the room, and stops anytime she finds someone she knows.

“... Tenko would kill you… Miu would kill you… “ she mutters for herself. “Angie is nice but…” she throws a glance at Shuichi. “Yeah, she would kill you too.”

Shuichi shudders at how serious she sounds, but then Maki sees something ( or someone ) and freezes, eyes narrowed and angry.

“What is he doing here ?” She spats, poison in her voice.

Shuichi follows her icy glare. At the end of it, a smiling teenager, dressed all in white except for a checkered scarf, is chatting animatedly with a group of people. He observes him a few seconds, wondering what Maki is so upset for, but doesn’t find an answer.

“Who is he ?”

Maki shakes her head in annoyance.

“A walking, breathing headache if you want my opinion.” She frowns. “Anyway, not that this meeting wasn’t nice, but I’m going to see how Kaede is doing at the door, so…”

“Wait !” Kaito interjected. “What about Shuichi’s situation ? You can’t let him hanging like that.”

“I really couldn’t care less about Shuichi’s love life” she says. And then to Shuichi : “No offense.”

“None taken.” He assures her.

His answer earns him the first real smile on Maki’s lips since they found her, and he realizes that she is actually someone he wouldn’t be mind being friend with. Though, as always, he isn’t the kind of person who takes the first step. And Maki doesn’t seem to be the kind either. And that’s the problem of his life, isn’t it ? He can’t keep up with people like Kaito, and he can’t bring himself to seek the company of people like him. It’s a dead-end, no matter how you look at it.

Kaito watches Maki walk away, a thoughtful look on his face, and then seems to remember why he dragged his friend in this place for it’s almost like something switches on inside him.

“So, Shuichi” he says, back to his usual self “Let’s find you the perfect girl !”

*

Shuichi takes back whatever thought he had at the beginning of the evening : this is not just a terrible idea, this is the worst idea that Kaito ever had. He is dragged endlessly around the room, introduced to beautiful, friendly girls he has nothing to talk with and whose he forgets the name as soon as soon as his friend find another one. None of these girls are the problem. He is. Each time, this goes more or less well until Kaito leaves them to offer them a chance to have a private discussion. Then it crashes and burns and Shuichi just wants to run away.

He takes refuge near the buffet, where he can drink and eat and pretend to be busy until Kaito comes to find him for another show. That’s not what he is after, he thinks. He isn’t interested in meeting half of the people here. If there was just one person he could feel comfortable here…

“You need to taste this one, Rantaro !” an excited voice says a few feet away from him.

He turns his head to see that guy, the one Maki doesn’t like at all, busying himself with… the tasting of any food on the table ? He enthusiastically describes everything he puts in his mouth to a green-haired boy next to him, who doesn’t do much beside trying the food the other puts in front of his mouth when he finds one he really likes.

The whole scene is pretty ridiculous, since the food the teenager is tasting can just as well be plain potato chips from a common brand than homemade brownies. And yet Shuichi can’t really find the strength to make fun of him, even only in his head : these two are enjoying themselves, that’s more than it can be said for him.

Suddenly, as if he could feel Shuichi’s persistent gaze on him, he turns toward him, a curious expression on his face and an already-bitten mini-pizza in his hand. He blinks, and Shuichi can feel his cheeks burn. That was rude on his part to stare, wasn’t it ? Quickly, he focuses on the food, praying for the two guys to just ignore him and go away.

“Oh my beloved Rantaro, maybe you could go find someone you actually like spending time with ?” He hears the boy with the checkered scarf say, biting irony in his voice.

The other doesn’t fight him on his suggestion too much.

“Sure, have fun. Don’t forget that I’m leaving at 2, if I can’t find you then, you’ll walk, okay ?” He warns. “Tries to not do something stupid.”

“Nishishi, I promise I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do yourself !”

After that, there is a few seconds of silence where Shuichi hears his blood beating inside his head and he isn’t even sure if he is scared or hopeful or confused or everything at once. He almost jumps when he feels a finger stab him in his ribs. When he turns around by reflex, he is surprised by how close the other is. Close enough for Shuichi to note that the purple glints he thought he could see on his hair weren’t the result of poor lightning. It was subtle, but the boy really had purple hair.

“Hey !” He says with a smile so bright it’s eating up half of his face. “You check me out and then you ignore me like that ? Rude !”

Shuichi’s eyes widen. He takes a step back, trying to put some distance between them.

“Checking you out ?” He repeats. “No, I was just… listening to your conversation ? Which... actually seems even more rude. Sorry.”

The boy tilts his head on the side.

“Uh ? You think I care about you listening to my judgement on this party’s gastronomy ? Nu-uh, at least you were paying attention. Rantaro doesn’t get how understand this task is, unfortunately ?”

“Really ? … How is that important ?”

Suddenly, the purple-haired boy starts laughing.

“Nishishi, sorry, it was a lie ! I was just bored and I wanted to pretend I was one of these judges on TV who can treat people like vermins just because they have all the money and all the recognition. Can you blame me ?”

“Hm” Shuichi says, not sure how to replies to that. “But does that make any sense to do that with… potato chips ?”

“Wow, you were really paying attention, weren’t you ?” The other says, delighted. “Really, it doesn’t matter. You just have to say things like ‘this could use a more parsimonious seasoning’ or ‘I do think it should be dressed with some balsamic vinegar’. See ? Easy peasy as they say !”

Despite himself, Shuichi chuckles a little at how serious the other is on this question. He is also a little curious : sure, he only exchanged a few words with him, but he still can’t see why Maki would single him out and call him a ‘walking, breathing headache’. He is… weird, that much is true, but he doesn’t seem particularly mean spirited.

“Soooooo” the boy says after a few more seconds where they both fell silent again. “Who are you, suspicious stalker ?”

“I’m not suspicious and I’m not a stalker” Shuichi replies. “I’m Shuichi Saihara. I’m here with Kaito Momota.”

“Wow, two names I really don’t care about. Is that supposed to ring a bell or something ? Why do people give their name when they are asked who they are ? Isn’t that weird ? How would a name be an answer ? I’ll ask Kiyo when I see him ! “What’s a name ?””

“What’s in a name ?” Shuichi replies without thinking, as a memory comes back to him. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

The boy gives him a little round of applause for his trouble

“Eh, Shakespeare ? Are you trying to pretend you are an intellectual or did you just look up this quote on the internet before coming here, hum ?” He laughs again. “So Shuichi Saihara, now that I know your name, care to tell me what’s your smell ?”

“Ah, I…” he racks his brain, trying to find something to say. It’s troubling to have someone’s undivided attention like that. Even when he spends time with Kaito, his friend is always distracted by the first shiny object he sees. “I’m a detective.”

That answer does seem to surprise the purple-haired boy.

“Really ?” he says. “You don’t look like a detective… hum… so do you investigate people ? It’s what a detective do, riiight ?”

Shuichi nods tentatively. That’s technically what his job is about, but the malicious expression on the other’s face pushes him to be prudent. Almost more than Maki’s warning about him. And yet this is the first conversation he had that night that isn’t going immediately to Awkward Silence Land. And sure, that’s also because the other boy seems to be happy talking for the two of them.

“Great !” he says once he got his confirmation. “So let’s play a game, alright ? Investigate me !”

“What ?”

“Investigate me !” He repeats, over-excited. “Let’s see if you’re good enough at your job to figure me out, okay. Whatever info you find on me by the end of the night, it’s a proof that you are actually not a fraud. What do you think ?”

“Uh…”

“Come on, Shuichi Saihara. I’m bored to death. Entertain me, entertain me now, dammit !” He taps his foot in a commanding manner on the floor to punctuate his sentence. It’s all very dramatic.

Shuichi feels a little light-headed. He isn’t sure what the other is asking of him. Sure, he investigates people but…

“I don’t talk to people I investigate, most of the time” he replies. “I just… look at them ? When they interact with others, mostly ?”

He doesn’t really want to go on about how most of the cases he takes care of are sorrowful spouses looking for a confirmation that their husband is cheating on them. All he needs to do is to snap a few pictures and to make sure that there is nothing in the office that could be used as a weapon in a fit or rage when he announces them the truth.

The truth sucks, most of the time. He is always so surprised when people are so insistent on finding it.

The purple-haired boy taps his index against his lips, thoughtful.

“Other people ?” He smiles. “Nishishi, okay, Shuichi Saihara, we’re doing it !”

“Ah… Shuichi is fine.” He mutters.

“Sure, whatever, Shuichi” He says, and suddenly his name sounds a lot less like a joke between this guy’s lips. “You have three hours to investigate me while I’m talking to other people. Is the game on ?”

Shuichi opens his mouth, then closes it, so confused by everything that just fell on him in a few minutes. But then… he doesn’t feel crushed by anxiety again. And he can just have fun playing ‘investigation’ with this boy until Kaito decides to put him out of his misery.

He nods. The smile he receives in return makes him a little dizzy.

[v3-killing-harmony-imagines]

‘More boys being yandere? Maybe if their s/o got killed in the killing game, and/or if they confessed they had a crush on someone (like if they were a yandere Bois crush?) ‘

Ok 2 things,A: I’m not sure if I understood this correctly so I’m sorry if this isn’t how you wanted it to be like. And B: THIS IS 7444 WORDS LONG HOLY

Some boys are reacting to their s/o’s death, others are reacting to their s/o having feelings (or possible feelings for other people

Warning: Nudity, suggested sex, violence and swearing under the cut 

Saihara Shuichi:

The second he laid eyes on you he was smitten

He was breathless, blushing and stumbling over his words as he murmurs out a ‘Hi’

When you give him a warm smile and shake his hand softly he thinks his heart’s going to give out  

He’s never felt this way before, and he loves it

After that he makes it his task to learn as much as he can about you, learning what you like and dislike, making scripts on what he’ll say to you…watching you from a distance, picking up the objects you leave behind…

He has a box under his bed full of used napkins, toothpicks and half eaten pieces of food from you

They’re...memories…footprints that you’ve left behind for him to keep

It’s not strange! Every object you touch is blessed to him…

He starts taking pictures not even 7 days after meeting you

Pinning them up on the wall (Thank god the school had Polaroids) And writing messages on them

‘S/o sleeping <3’ ‘S/o changing’ ‘S/o showering’ ‘s/o sweating after a run uwu’

He drools over every single one

He loses track of the days, caring about his appearance more than food and making sure he’s collected every scrap you leave and taking every picture he can

He’s been reading in the library for the past hour, glancing across the room to you, he hasn’t flipped his page once

When Kaito and Tenko barge in, he yelps and the book tumbles to the ground

“Ah sorry about that Saihara!” Momota grins and returns the book back to the detective

He gives a plain “It’s alright.” Before dusting the cover off slightly, watching as the two dash over to you

He resumes reading, jealousy slightly flickering in his eyes

After 5 minutes he knows you three are waiting for him to leave, talking in hushed voices. Kaito keeps turning back to him before spinning back around and whispering again.

He can take hints.  

He slips out the door, making sure they hear him as he closes it

…

It doesn’t take him long to crawl in the vents and position himself above the library shafts

He holds his breath as he leans forward to hear better

‘-on! You can tell us s/o-san!” Chabashira-san.

“Yeah you can trust us!” He hears a thumping sound, Kaito pounding a fist over his heart

“….It’s Amami…”

He hears a gasp, before Tenko is yakking on about how she’d never trust a man enough to date-

Wait what

“We’ve been together before we came to this school…that’s why I trust him so much.”

You liked Amami, Amami liked you

He felt a cold numbness sweep over his mind

This couldn’t be true, he loved you

But you weren’t his?

He couldn’t think, he couldn’t move

…

Amami

Amami was why he couldn’t love you. Why you didn’t love him

If Amami wasn’t there, you would be his

He shuffled out of the vent, the sun was going down

He worked quickly….

…..

The next day, no one had seen Amami

You were obvious panicked, everyone searched but to no avail

He had helped search as well, feeling his heart curl when he saw your sad face

But when you approached him asking if he could use his talent to try and find Amami his heart swelled up again, like a thirsty plant receiving water

You wanted him to do something for you, of course he would accept

You smiled and hugged him, voice cracking as you thanked him

Needless to say, it was the best thing in his life

He grinned ear to ear as he waved you goodbye….silently worrying when he would come up empty handed, what you would think about him…

Amami wouldn’t be found for a long time

He was currently tied up, hidden between the walls of his room

He would feed Amami of course...but only giving him the necessities to live

He wouldn’t let your relationship with the green-haired boy continue (It was obvious he dyed it! Some rebel like him shouldn’t be tainting an angel like yourself!)

After sliding the hidden door closed, he sighed and flopped down on his bed, examining his wall of pictures

Smiling to himself, he fell asleep to the thoughts of your hug

Amami Rantaro:

Amami can usually hide his true feelings

Until the first day he met you

H o l y Shit he was so heated

His hands were clammy and his face was probably as flushed as fire

He kept brushing the back of his neck, silently praying that you didn’t find him strange

When you laughed at one of his jokes he felt his ego soar

He continued to bring more jokes, more puns, more of what made you laugh and smile as the days pass

You actually ruffled his hair at a point, calling him a puffy avocado

He grinned through his frizzy locks and went onto making avocado-based jokes

The need to have you within eye shot started to grow, even if you were going to the bathroom he insisted on waiting outside the door

If you had to go do other things he’d still always ‘coincidently’ meet up with you

He had to go pick up a book for Saihara! He had to get a bottle of Panta for Ouma!

He seemed to always find ways to be around you

It came to a point where you felt bothered by it, so one day you politely tell him that you need your personal space… You still enjoy having him! Just…not all the time?

You can see the gears turning in his brain before he smiles and pats your back

“Of course! I’m sorry if I seemed to cling, you just are really fun to be around!”

You thank him, telling him that Kaede is waiting for you before you leave

He waves as you walk away, leaving to go visit Iruma

.,.,.,

Many ‘favors’ later he’s got a bunch of hidden cameras and recording devices, bugs

If anyone asked Iruma, she would say he was setting them up to catch the mastermind (like they would anyways)

In reality, he was going to use them to watch you

If he couldn’t be there for you, he could at least watch over you

He’s set them up in every main room, the kitchen, dining room, library, arcade…

He’s even set a few up in your room, giving him 360 degree access

After you finished talking with him, could sit back and relax as he watches and hears your conversations with someone else

He especially loves the times when you’re in your room

He’s seen you changing, sleeping and…well you are a teenager so doing ‘that’ as well

And he’s proudly done the same while watching you

He hits his hardest high he’s ever felt watching you squirm and gasp

It’s late evening, you and Harukawa had finished taking a drip in the pool (much to Amami’s disappointment and satisfaction) and now you were cuddling up in your blankets, reading a magazine

Amami on the other hand, was eating a meat bun he grabbed from the fridge while you were changing. He had wanted something quick so that he could return to you as soon as possible

He twirled his headphones, as he chewed and filled out a crossword puzzle

When he sound of a door opening he spins around, only to find the door to be (thankfully) closed

Turning back to the screen he realizes that the sound came from your room

“Damn these mics are good.” he murmured before sweeping the puzzle to the side and turning up the volume on the headphones

Himiko had just walked in, you greeted her and gestured for her to sit beside you, she plopped down before wrapping the blanket around herself

It left you without a blanket, but you didn’t seem to care

He watched as the two of you continued to talk, before you suddenly asked if she could keep a secret

If he wasn’t concerned before, he was sure as hell concerned now

A secret? How come you haven’t told him then? Is it about him then-

His thoughts were stopped mid sentence as you whispered

“I think I like Korekiyo…”

His jaw metaphorically and psychically dropped

He continued to listen, but his worries were confirmed, Korekiyo was your crush.

He turned the monitor off, taking the headphones out of his hair before he runs his hands through it

This couldn’t be true

He cares more about you more than that creep! All that man wants is your body!

He thinks about you naked, Korekiyo licking your parts as you moa-

Before he knows it he’s out of the room, rushing over to Korekiyo’s room

The anthropologist seems less than pleased to be disturbed at the time, but he wasn’t sleeping anyways so it’s not like he really care-

“You know s/o?”

An eyebrow from Shinguji as he replies: “Of course I do.”

Amami nods, making a grave face before leaning closer to the other boy “I think they might be trying to kill you.”

Shinguji immediately tenses, Amami keeps up the act

Amami looks side to side, before flicking his eyes up “Can we talk inside? Please.”

Although he seems skeptical, Korekiyo complies

Amami fabricates his story, s/o has been talking about her life before she got stuck in the killing game, desperate to get out. He’s seen your plans, lure the anthropologist in pretending to be in love. Then when the time is right- bang.

Why Korekiyo? He’s creepy and no one would miss him that much. Someone like Ouma would be hard to take down without it somehow backfiring. Korekiyo seems to be easiest to swoon and easiest to kill, Gonta would be too strong, Kaito works out, Hoshi doesn’t let anyone get close to him, and Amami?

“She’s my cousin. We didn’t tell anyone as someone could blackmail us.”

When he does leave, Korekiyo seems at least 60% convinced and Amami is smirking as he goes to bed

The next day he repeats the same thing to you, but it’s a bit different…

“I think Korekiyo wants to kill you…”

After he’s finished. Both you and Shinguji eye each-other up suspiciously, sitting as far away as possible during meals

Amami smiles as he scoops another spoonful of cereal into his mouth

He’s won

Ouma Kokichi:

If you asked Ouma before if he would fall in love, he would have laughed at you to the point at which you would think he’d be popping a blood vessel anytime soon

Key work being before

The second you walked through that door to see him taunting the robot in the storage room it was game over

Fin, Finish, Done

His immediate thought was to run, run and hide under the covers of his bed and never come out

But he made his first mistake and let you approach him

You made a comment,  something about not bothering Kibbo or Kiiboy, whatever his name was

All he could focus on was the way your hair swirled with every breath, how your lashes batted and brows furrowed as you sternly told Ouma to leave the robot alone

He gave a little ‘Nishi shi’ before giving a whined ‘okay’

Then he made his second mistake: “Only if you keep me company! This place is full of boring people. …you better not disappoint me!”

And much to the supreme ruler’s surprise, you agreed

He learned your name, talent, what foods you like to eat, what subjects you like and dislike, and he kept falling deeper

He really should have gone out. Stayed away. But he didn’t

As he would lie, you would roll your eyes and make a witty clapback whenever possible until the two of you were slamming remark after remark at each-other

Call him crazy, but he liked it

“Ok you’re crazy.”

He laughs (And it isn’t faked?) as you continue to stare at him like he has 3 heads

“At what time did trying to sneak into the spa while the girls were in there-wearing nothing but a hot-dog bun around your cock seem like a good idea?”

“At least the bun stayed on.”

“At least the bun didn’t go up.”

He laughs again, wincing slightly as the busies remind him that they exist

He expected as much, it was a stupid idea to begin with. He had to do it

He wanted to see your body.

Of course he had no idea that the girls were in there

But he had received ‘information’ that you would have been there alone….

He’s more disappointed than angry in all honesty

When you begin to wrap his wounds, he yelps

“What are you doing?”

“Not putting a hot-dog bun on my dick and yelling ‘SAUSAGE PARTY!’             while walking into a spa that’s for sure.”

“Does that mean you have a dick?”

“I have you.”

He’s tempted to pull away, brush you off and let his wounds scab over

But he just can’t

He wants you to do it

So he lets you treat his wounds, thanking you before hurrying to his room and shutting the door

And he smiled

All throughout the week you noticed how Ouma started to cling more and more

He would wine if you wanted to leave, saying “I’ll be bored!” or “I’ll just follow you then!”

It started to annoy you

But Ouma doesn’t care if he’s being annoying

You’re the only person in this school who cares about his well-being! The person he loves, even if he won’t admit it himself

You’ve already stayed with him this long

He won’t let go, he won’t

He refuses to let anyone take you from him, no matter the cost

You’ve been playing a game of pool with Kiibo, Shirogane, Saihara, Angie and (Surprisingly) Hoshi, Ouma’s been groaning about how bored he’s been for the past hour

As kiibo gets a ball in, you slap his hand, grinning as he shyly wishes you good luck on your turn

You line up your pole, the white ball knocking a black-8ball before it rolls, Ouma gives another moan of boredom

“Ouma stop moaning like you’re in a heat and be quiet.”

“My beloved s/o is so harsh!” He creeps up behind you and wraps his arms around your torso before whispering in your ear “You better stop being buddy-buddy with Kiibo by the way.”

He pulls away, grinning as everyone else rolls their eyes

Meanwhile you’ve frozen

What did he say? Stop being buddy-buddy with Kiibo?

Oh no

You let the others re-set the balls, nervously twisting your pole as Ouma takes his spot on top of an arcade machine

A bubble of anxiety builds up in your stomach

He remains quiet for the rest of the match, hungry eyes trained on your every move

Once the match finishes, and you’ve all parted ways the anxiety in your stomach skyrockets

And then Ouma is behind you

“S/o~” a hug

“If you act like that again to Kiibo, I’ll rip that scrap of metal apart.”

A cold sweat runs down your forehead as he laughs “What the fuck Ouma.”

His laughter stops, voice low and threatening “Tell anyone and I kill you.”

With one swift movement he’s got you by the neck against the wall, hand squeezing as you gurgle and gasp for air. He’s surprisingly strong for his height and structure

When you start to see stars he releases, holding you up and biting and kissing at your bruised neck

“I love you, s/o. I won’t let anyone else take you away from me.”

Part of you wants to push him away, yell and scream for help

But one look at his shimmering plum eyes as he kisses you, and you know that you won’t do it

He’s nothing without you, broken and lost and afraid. And you can’t hide the fact that you do feel something for him. Whether it be love or lust, you still harbor feelings for the boy

He asks you to stay in his room that night, you comply

You fall asleep trying to push the image of Kiibo’s dismembered body out of your mind

The next day Ouma wakes up and you’ve left

His immediate thought is that you’ve ran away and told someone, his mind is on getting revenge until he sees the note

“I heard a scream –s/o”

He’s dressed in an instant, not worried about his hair as he zooms out the door

He runs into Gonta on the way, he tells Ouma that there was a murder

Fuck

He’s running faster than his legs should be able to go, as he runs up the stairs

1,2, 3 floors later and he’s flung open the doors to the rec-room

And then he sees your body, lifeless

He sinks down to his knees, letting the others pass him and usher him away

He doesn’t move for the entire investigation, sitting on a metal chair in the dining room, hearing the whirr of fans as they cut up the sunlight that enters the room

This isn’t fair

Life isn’t fair

He’s always been alone, always, Even now he’s alone. He gets one good thing in his life and it’s gone before he knows it

He doesn’t want people’s pity  

He wants blood

So when the trial comes, he throws people off

He lies, bends the truth

And everyone votes for the wrong person

Monokuma laughs as the look of horror spreads across their faces, the real murder, Saihara, looks like he’s just ran a marathon

And all Ouma does is laugh, laugh as he walks over to Saihara

He opens his mouth to speak, but he’s cut off with a piece of glass in his throat 

“Die bitch.”

Saihara’s eyes go wide as his hands claw at his throat, he chokes on his own blood before falling to the ground

Ouma’s jacket is stained red, splotches of blood dripping down his face

He hears the yelling and screams of everyone before they’re all lifted into the execution

A deck of cards await them, each person is forced to take one. Aces mean death by impalement, club means being beaten to death, Heart means dissection and diamond means death from cuts , King or Queen means death by ‘assassination’

Ouma laughs and watches as Tenko is beaten with her own nun chucks, Hoshi is stabbed with a metal pole and everyone else withering and yelling in agony

He doesn’t care that they’re all dying

He won. He killed them all for you

So when he picks the joker card, Ouma Kokichi makes his final mistake

And lives

Kiibo:

He surely was not programmed to feel this way. It’s impossible

Such a strong feeling that clutches at his chest and makes his system overheat with each touch and stare

The robot has not felt this way once since he was booted up for the first time

He’s a bit clueless, so it takes him a while to figure out that he’s in love

But when he does oh boy

He’s determined as fuck to win you over, playing every card he has up his non-existent sleeves to try and make you swoon

Unfortunately he only ends up making a bigger fool of himself

You pity him to the point where you play along, and boy the look on his face after you do is priceless  

He’d told you a cheesy pickup line, and when you retorted with another one he was giddy with excitement

He’s rambling faster than his mind can process about how he’s been planning to use that for days now and that he can’t believe it work-

You tell him to calm down, and he’s muted himself

Each morning he greats you at exactly 8’oclock, sitting beside you in the dining hall for breakfast at 8:30 before he spends his entire morning (And afternoon if you are free) with you

He can’t eat of course, but watching you eat gives him a sort of happiness as if he was eating

Pretty soon he’s gotten every mole, pore, texture and feature of your face memorized and stored on his long-term memory database

He begins recording each conversation with you, playing your voice back late at night while he sleeps

He actively talks with you each chance he gets, and follows you around like a lost puppy

There was a point where he nearly jumped in the pool with you

He only stopped because he realized his body couldn’t handle the amount of water, and that he may (or may not) electrocute you

Times where he would be experiencing new things were now taken up by you

Not just spending time with you, time thinking about you, researching more ways to win you over and listening back to your voice

It came to a point where he wasn’t spending time with anyone else, shrugging them off with an excuse

Yet each time you got near him he’d immediately drop what he was doing and go with you

Every time he saw you spending time with someone else, he’d join the two of you, not minding if he was intruding on a conversation

If they told him to go away, he’d get angry and call it robot-discrimination

And if then he still has to leave, oh boy

He’s pissed

He just wants to spend time with you like a normal human! He just is doing what he needs to beat everyone else! What’s so wrong with that?

So when Ouma points out that Kiibo’s been starring at you for the past ten minutes at the dining hall, he loses it

He’s screeching at Ouma to leave him alone, threatening to beat the smaller boy if he doesn’t shut up

It’s gotten to a point where he’s had to be removed and shut down by Iruma, screaming and trying with all his might to break away

Everyone seems to keep any contact with you to a minimal or in private, not wanting to upset Kiibo to the point of no return

Kiibo has started to become more possessive as the days went by, literally growling at anyone other than you that approached him, glaring at anyone who so much as said ‘Hi’ to you, He had even stopped letting Iruma do maintenance checks on him

The only person he was kind to was you at this point

Kiibo had started to say things that…made you uncomfortable

“S/o you’re so pretty…” Lust in his eyes as he ran his cold hands along your thighs

“s/o you can do anything to me you know?” “I would do anything for you.” “If anyone needs to be taken care of just let me know ok?”

He had even suggested for the two of you to ‘take things further’

He had walked you back to your dorm, offering to stay outside to guard the door for you

It doesn’t matter if he runs out of battery :)

Eventually he does leave (Only because you told him to get some rest) walking back to his room

He took his seat on the bed, humming a tune as he re-played a recording of you talking for the fourth time

It was around midnight before he heard noises from outside

“shhh, quiet Ouma.”

“Nishishi~ Don’t worry s/o I’m always quiet~”

Kiibo’s at the door, pressed up against it and listening intently

“Let’s talk in my room.” Your voice

He heard the sound of footsteps grow farther and farther away , the rage slowly building up inside of him

How.Dare.Ouma.

Teasing him constantly and now this!

He quietly creped after you two, pressing one side of his head to your door, hearing multiple voices

“-think this is a good idea.”

“He won’t leave me alone? What else can we do?”

“What if he gets pissed and attacks one of us?”

Oh

Oh

He knew what this was about

They want to take you away from him. They don’t think a robot should be able to be human and love. They’re all his rivals

They need to be taken care of

He heads over to Iruma’s workplace, there was no lock to begin with

Pretty soon he has everything he needs

He waits back in his room, until everyone has dispersed back from your room

Then he strikes.

……

….

When you wake you’re nervous…today’s the day the plan is supposed to be put into effect

You sit in the dining hall, waiting for the others to trickle in

….

You wait half an hour, and hour and then half an hour more, by the time 2 hours have passed you’re outright panicking

You make your way to Ouma’s room, knocking on it

Nothing

You try the doorknob, its open

When the door swings open you see his body, flung on the bed, blood seeped into the mattress

You go to Shirogane’s room, and it’s the same thing

Tenko, Kaede, Saihara, Gonta, Hoshi, Iruma, everyone

Dead.

You can’t believe what you’re seeing, your friends are all gone with the turn of a clock

“Or the flip of a switch.”

It’s him

Kiibo smiles at you, eyes red and voice shaky as he walks forward

He’s got a red splotch on his chest plate

“There there, it’s fine!”

Dead, killed, white sprayed red

“I got rid of the rivals… I have won in this battle of love…”

This isn’t love, this can’t be. This is fucked up-

It’s love sick

He doesn’t take no for an answer.

Korekiyo Shinguji:

When he sees you for the first time he’s intrigued

The way you seem to effortlessly walk, combing tangled strands of hair with your fingers as you sigh

He’s charming you with every word as you charm him with each move

You ask about his talent and he’s more than happy to go explain about his studies in anthropology

He’s met many people from many cultures, and studied thousands more

But this one person is different

You don’t look at him ‘that’ way when you see his mask, or when he greedily talks about his studies

He won’t consider it love at first sight, but he’s definitely thinking about it

As he gets to know more about you, he finds himself drawing deeper and deeper into the feeling of love

He knows things need to be taken slow naturally, considering the situation you two are in as well…

But sometimes he can’t help being a little bit greedy

He caught you doing the laundry one day, you called him over and the clothes had not only dried but cooled by the time you and him were finished talking

You seemed to interested in hearing his stories, you make him laugh with stories of your own

He’s enjoying life more and more

His feelings only seem to deepen as time passes, he’s slipped a few times and has called you ‘darling’ or ‘beauty’ but you don’t seem to mind, if anything, you seem to like it

And then when the first trial happens he knows that he’s fallen

The way you argued, how you shot down statements and proved your points with evidence and led everyone to the blackened

After the trial he can see that you’re on the verge of breaking down, holding back tears and sniffling

He embraces you in his arms as you sniffle, holding you tight as a new found emotion flows through him

Dominance

Korekiyo knows that he’s always had a thing for this trait but this time he really feels it

The need to keep you his. The need to claim you for his own. The need to make sure no one takes you. The need to see you below him.

It starts to build

He begins to be more firm with his touches, his gaze more piercing as he sits almost flush to you during meals

He’s begun to say creepier things, talking about ropes and chains and controlling and master and slaves….

It’s making you concerned

But each time you bring it up he simply smiles (You can tell by the way his cheek bones go up) and apologizes for making you uncomfortable before he continues to talk about different topics

You do like it when he talks but…some things you don’t like…making you tied between emotions

And you slowly feel new emotions for someone else sprouting…

One day he takes things too far, you’ve been showering in your room only to walk out and find him sitting on your bed

He knows you like Angie

That religion loving little cunt

You tell him to get out, and his expression darkens

“But what if I don’t want to, s/o?”he takes a step forward

And another

Pretty soon your back is against the wall, dressed in nothing but a towel with a masked sadist approaching you

One slap across the face, and you know that he’s angry

In one swift motion he’s got you on the floor, ripping the damp towel off as he lands his own slap to your face

You scream, clinging desperately to the towel as he growls and pulls your now naked body onto the bed

Now it’s a punch

And  a stomp

He’s outright abusing you by the time you beg him to stop

He pulls at your hair, and hisses into your ear “You are mine. Got it? You don’t have a say in this, all you need to do is listen and let me take care of it…”

The room is ringing, your nose is burning as your eyes swell and the sharp burning of pain spreads throught your arms and legs

It only takes one more punch before you fall unconscious

…

When you wake up you’re chained by the wrist and ankle in a metal cage, the floor lightly padded

“Good morning darling~”

He unlocks the cage, you shake as he offers a hand, he glowers until you fearfully take his hand

He smiles as he sets you down in a chair, feeding you with a spoon and humming a children’s song

“Oh, don’t worry about seeing anyone from now on my love; I’ll make sure that no one can hurt you again.”

You shiver, he removes his mask and forcefully kisses you

Gonta Gokuhara:

He seemed so pure, so kind and caring when you met him

You had taken a liking to his bugs, and he was overjoyed to teach you about the different kinds of moth and arachnid

He felt this warm gooey feeling in his stomach whenever you talked to him, and he always felt slightly jealous whenever anyone else talked to you

As the days went by in the prison academy, Gonta grew slightly more hostile and agitated to the people talking to you, the difference wasn’t much but it was still noticeable

Especially for the SHSL detective

Saihara had came and quietly told you about what he’s been noticing, he advised you to stay away from Gonta

But Gonta was such a nice person! He would never

Saihara simply sighed, warning you again

You rolled your eyes, but still planted a small peck on his cheek, thanking him

He walked away with a red face and

…unknown to him, a certain someone was watching the conversation, and he wasn’t pleased in the slightest

Saihara Shuichi locked the door to his room, sighing as he removed his cap and laid down after another stressful day trapped in the school

“Saihara-kun, locking your door before you leave the room is what someone smart like you should have done.”

Saihara yelped, calling out to whoever was there

Gonta poked his head out of the bathroom, a light smile on his face “Gonta wouldn’t want anyone sneaking in here now would I?”

Saihara rose from his position, having read enough mystery novels to figure out where this was headed

And if the detective was right, he was in a lot of shit

“Gonta has heard the you’ve tried to tarnish Gonta’s good name….” he was getting closer with each step, Saihara took a step back

“Well Gonta can’t have his little bug s/o getting the wrong idea now…” he was within arm’s reach

Saihara was about to run for it, before he could he felt a heavy force slamming him across the room

He brought his arms up to protect his head, a second later hearing the crunch of plaster and paint as splinters of wood exploded beside his head

Gonta had punched the wall beside his head, eyes boring into Saihara’s smaller body

“Don’t’ ever do something like that again. Don’t’ you dare kiss her, or you’ll answer to me. ” Was all he said before he left the detective shaking “Tell anyone and you’re done for.”

The next day you couldn’t figure out why Saihara seemed so nervous around you, or why anyone for that matter seemed a bit too cautious with their words and actions around you

Oh well, at least Gonta was there for you

Kaito Momota:

His loud attitude stopped the second he saw you

His usually loud and confidant self grew quiet and flustered as he introduced himself  

When you left him to introduce yourself to other people he slapped himself for being such a wuss

When monokuma announced the situation everyone was in he felt a determination to protect you at all costs

He grew closer to you, despite him being slightly awkward, you still enjoyed having him around

Eventually he grew more comfortable around you, loving every day he spent with you

He gave his best at making jokes and goofing off to keep your minds off of things, each time you laughed it made it all worth it

One time his slippers had gotten water in them, making his toes squeak and squish with each step

He’s never seen you laugh harder

He grew so in love with hearing you laugh that he started doing insane things

Falling off a bookshelf, spilling hot tea on maki, all just to get a smile out of you

It made him hated by others, but he didn’t care!

He made you worry about his health, but he took it as a compliment!

As the days go by you start to notice that Kaito was being overpowering…

He’d sit between you and Amami during meals,  shoved Angie out of the way to get to you, clapped Saihara a bit too hard on the back whenever he talked to you

And that was just the beginning

You brought it up to him, he just laughed

“I have to make sure no one steals my star.”

His star? You’re not his star. You aren’t his.

He doesn’t seem to understand

I mean…

Why wouldn’t you be his huh?

Does he have to prove it to you?

He places his hands on your hips and you slap him

He rubs his face, having a dear-in-headlights look

“That was a bad idea.”

Fuck b y e

You were out of there faster than you can say ‘cheese’

The next few days were you hiding and trying to get away from Kaito

He’d be banging on your door, telling you in a sing-song manner that he knows you’re in there (Meant to be yours starts playing)

There’s nothing to be afraid of…he just wants to make sure that his star is safe!

He gets looks from the others, he ignores them

…but maybe he should’ve because next thing he knows Tenko and Gonta are both holding him down as Kaede is yelling about how scared he’s made you and how frightened you are

“It’s not menacing when I can see your panties at this angle.”

She’s about to retaliate but she’s cut off by a few screams, whipping her head around

Turing his head as best he could, he saw what she was looking at

You, more specifically, hanging from the ceiling  (wow much heather’s parallels) 

And he goes berserk

Yelling screaming, Kicking and punching

The shock from the new body had loosened the grip on him, he managed to wiggle out of Tenko and Gonta’s grasp

And now he’s punching and kicking everyone he can see, slamming Kaede into the wall

It takes multiple people to tie him down

He won’t stop screaming during the investigation, yelling curse words and how everyone should die

He has to be handcuffed during the class trial, glaring and refusing to help anyone

After the killer is found, he has to be tied up again, He’ll either hurt himself or someone else

Hoshi Ryoma:

Fuck oh god not this feeling

Love, fuck fuck fuckty hell

He hates it

Then again, he’s never really felt it before….

But that doesn’t change the fact that when you nervously approach him and great yourself he feels his heart strings playing a song

He grumbles an introduction, informing you of his not so wonderful past and suggests that you stay well away from him

Done done and dinner, that should have been the end

So when you appear at his door the next morning, asking him to teach you tennis he’s more that frustrated

Why can’t have nice things?

Because you push nice things away to protect them, he tells himself

… fair enough

He still complies, as to not disappoint you

The match went well, he taught you a few pointers and you seem to be better at playing it, regardless of how

And then you ask to do this again the next morning

He gulps, wanting to say no

“Yeah, sounds cool.”

Fucking Hell-

He tries to distance himself at first, not wanting you (or himself) to be closer…….

But as the practices go on he can’t help but love it, and love you

You didn’t think of him as horrible, you worried over him when he got hurt ( he slipped and scraped his knee), and you were just nice person for him to be around

He’s new to this whole ‘love’ thing, but he’s more than used to the feeling of jealousy

And as you talk with Korekiyo he feels it brewing inside him

You were so nice to him. Why don’t you pay attention to him

He’d start to make practices longer, he’d try and include himself in your other hobbies more

Art? He’d paint a picture (can’t guarantee if gonna be a Picasso) language? He’d read a book

Pretty soon he had the things you liked to do and your everyday routine off by heart

He would go to wherever you would go and set himself up before you came, so that it wouldn’t look suspicious

He feels the days fly by, observing you and your hobbies

But it wasn’t enough

He craved more

First it was a sweaty towel, next it was a scrap of paper, a lock of hair, a used fork, he even felt brave enough to go for your toothbrush

This…was normal…right? Lovers….give eachother gifts…but you aren’t his lover so…he has to just have little comforts of what could be a future

His feeling of wanting to be a part of your world only intensifies

Collecting things and objects hastily and getting more psychical with his practices

One day Angie was goofing off, the end result was you entangled in it

In that moment, he realizes what he wants

A bird

Birds are kept in cages, sure they can fly around your house but they are within arms distance, safe, you can pet them and feed them and they feel closer at home

He wants a bird

He thinks it over for a good week, before getting to work and calling you over to his room

He told you that there was a strange sound coming from the vent above his bed, he wanted to check it out but….his height and all…

He feels so bad when he lies to you but…in the end it’s for your own good

He watches as you stand on the stool, arms reaching out to fiddle with the grate of the vent

As you fiddle around with the vent, he’s gotten ready

You hear a click, and look down

What-

Why are your legs cuffed-

He pushes you to the side, arms flailing as you yelp and flop onto the bed

“Hoshi what are you-”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Another click and your hands are cuffed

Oh fuck

Ohfuckohfuckohfuck

You yell, thinking he’s going to kill you or something

The walls are soundproof, so he doesn’t need to worry about anyone hearing…

He drags your body onto the corner of a room, sitting you down on a plush pillow and re-tying your restraints so that you have arm and leg movement, but not too much

“I-I’ve gotten anything and everything you’ll need for the rest of your life. Pillows, food, water, entertainment of all kinds…”

True to his words, everything you could possible think of doing, puzzles, games, books, drawing, their all there

He feels his chest tighten as you gaze up at him with starry eyes “I-I’m sorry, I just can’t afford to lose you….I can’t afford for you to love someone other than me, I don’t want to think about what might happen if someone gets too close to you. I’d kill myself, I’d kill them, I-I don’t know…”

He cries as he hugs you

He can make you happy, he know he can…

You’ll be his, forever, he’ll be yours forever

This is love, right?

[oumakokichi]

I've been wondering if angie actually cares about yumeno? From her actions it seems like she only befriend her so she could use her later on...

I think it’s one of those things that’s intentionally left open-ended to read into. Angie is certainly someone motivated by self-interest, primarily interested in making sure she saves her own skin and that she has plenty of people willing to do things for her. But at the same time, these aren’t necessarily the worst traits and they don’t make her irredeemable per se, nor do they mean that it’s impossible for her to care about anyone else. It’s just that she’s… going to put herself first. Which is, to some degree, understandable, given that it’s a killing game.

Plenty of DR characters are self-interested, especially given that the scenarios they’re in are literally a matter of life and death. Celes, Togami, Ruruka, and many others come to mind. In a game where blindly trusting others or only wanting to make friends can literally get you killed, it makes sense to always have a handful of characters who are primarily interested in getting themselves out alive first and foremost, with everyone else coming second. That’s not horrible on its own–just human.

It is true that I think Angie is manipulative, and I think she is, to some degree, aware of it. it’s just that her manipulative prowess is a bit different from other DR characters, who often are fairly up front about not putting their own skin first. Rather, she hides behind her god and uses them as a shield to justify everything she says, in order to not have to take accountability for her own beliefs or feelings. She does enjoy having power over others who are willing to do what she says without question, and she often exerts that power in unnecessary ways (she’s the one who suggested Himiko use the piranhas for her magic show for seemingly no reason, for example).

But I think there’s another layer to her actions that’s more subconscious than anything else, the result of her talent helping her to get her way and having it go seemingly unquestioned by the people on her home island. Angie is used to getting people to do whatever she wants because it’s been a thing for pretty much all her life, and she’s not accustomed to hearing the word “no.” She seems to want to surround herself with people who will do what she say not because she bears them any particular malice or wants to get them hurt, but mostly because she’s used to having this kind of safety net in her usual surroundings.

I think that there’s no denying that Angie befriends Himiko in order to use her, to some degree. Himiko’s desire to escape reality by clinging to Angie’s religious beliefs and her urge for a meaningful friendship of some kind with someone who won’t force her to face her own emotions makes her the perfect target; out of all the ndrv3 cast, Himiko was arguably the most manipulable one to Angie’s cause. And we know from Chapter 2 that it’s very, very likely Angie did use her artistic talent to “brainwash” her, as the word comes up directly and Angie avoids the subject when questioned.

However, it’s impossible to determine whether Angie “didn’t care about her at all.” In fact, the game itself rather lampshades this, because wanting to believe that Angie cared about her and that their friendship meant something is the entire reason Himiko wanted to talk to her spirit during the kagonoko ritual.

It’s also something that Tenko herself realized, I think; for most of Chapters 2 and 3 Tenko insisted quite emphatically that Angie was a bad friend and that she was just using Himiko, but at the end of Chapter 3, she was willing to give up her own life in order to let “Angie’s spirit possess her,” so that Himiko could have a chance to say goodbye to her. I think she realized just how important their friendship was to Himiko at that point, even if it was just a perceived friendship. In other words, regardless of whether Angie did care about her or not, the idea of her caring was something no one could deny to Himiko. A “gentle lie” in other words, regardless of the truth.

I’m inclined to think too that while Angie is certainly interested in saving her own skin first, it’s not that she doesn’t care about others entirely. For all her faults, she never actually attempts murder, after all; even her Religious Student Council seemed aimed specifically at enforcing a “peaceful school life” even if it was by very one-sided means.

While I don’t doubt that Himiko probably valued their friendship more than Angie herself did, Angie may have cared about her in her own way–it’s just that she wasn’t about to prioritize liking or being friends with someone over saving herself.

The Chapter 2 trial is a perfect example of this; she’s quick to throw Himiko under the bus initially as the most suspicious person, but she doesn’t do it out of malice. She does it because all the evidence does seem to point to Himiko, and because, as she tells Tenko, she’s not up for dying along with everyone else in the trial even if it’s for the sake of “believing in someone else” or anything like that. Tenko, on the other hand, insists that she absolutely wants to believe in the person she cares about the most, and that she’d rather die with everyone in the trial than have to stop believing just because someone told her to.

In any case, it’s hard to say whether Angie cared or how much she cared definitively, since we get quite a lot of Himiko’s thoughts on her, but very little about how Angie genuinely felt about her. But even without knowing those things for sure, I would say that Angie was… manipulative and self-interested, but not the worst. She still treats Himiko considerably better than other self-interested characters in the DR franchise–like Ruruka with Seiko, for instance.

To put it simply, Angie isn’t as sweet and innocent as she seems at a first glance. She’s extremely calculating and much smarter than she lets on, in some ways; she’s quick to influence and manipulate others, and even if she doesn’t always consciously realize that she’s doing it, that’s still not an excuse for her actions. But she’s not the worst person either, definitely not evil. Just… kind of creepy sometimes, as Saihara himself remarks internally.

I hope this answers your question, anon! I wouldn’t exactly say Angie and Himiko is a ship I’m really comfortable with as there is a power imabalance there and Angie is definitely aware that she’s using Himiko for her own purposes, but as a friendship I don’t think it’s entirely irredeemable. Angie clearly still meant a lot as a friend to Himiko, and I think Angie does care about other people to some degree, but simply wants to put herself first.

[my-current-obsession]

I’m a Survivor (8/??)

MAJOR NDRV3 SPOILERS AHEAD!

Beginning l Previous Word Count (for this part): ~2,800 Relationships: implied Saihara/Akamatsu, minor Momota/Akamatsu Major Characters (for this part): Saihara, Kiibo, Ouma, Angie Summary:  Whether he remembers it or not, Amami Rantarou is still the Super High School Level Survivor. He’s not dying that easily. (Or, an exploration of what happens if Amami survives both murder attempts and, consequently, Akamatsu doesn’t get executed for killing him)

///

Saihara, Ouma, Angie, Yumeno, and Chabashira make their way to their temporary living quarters. Once inside, they stop briefly.

“Should we open one at a time, or both at once?” Saihara asks.

The odds are pretty high that at least one of the missing two is in their room, but he can’t help but dread the possibility that both are dead – and if that’s the case, would it be better to try and soften the blow by opening just one first and getting the initial shock and horror out of the way before revealing a second body, or should they just open both at once and get it all over with quicker, like ripping off a Band-Aid?

“Stop stalling. We might as well open them both, right? We’ve got enough people for it,” Ouma says.

Angie nods enthusiastically. “Angie totally agrees with Kokichi. Let’s just, like, do it already.”

Yumeno and Chabashira voice their consent. The decision is made.

Angie goes to stand in front of Iruma’s door, so Saihara takes a place in front of Kiibo’s. The other three stand in the middle, glancing between the two doors with interest. Saihara steels himself. “We’ll open them together on the count of three. One… two…”

“Three!” Angie shouts, and flings Iruma’s door open. Saihara fumbles with the handle, and opens Kiibo’s door a split second behind her.

A moment passes, and Yumeno drawls, “Doesn’t look like there’s anything in there…”

“Yeah, God says Miu’s room is completely empty,” Angie responds.

Saihara dearly wishes he could say the same, but—

The Super High School Level Robot, Kiibo, lies slumped against the wall, not moving.

He doesn’t look dead in the human sense – not really. There’s no blood, his body isn’t twisted at some unnatural angle; there’s nothing about him or his room that indicates a struggle. Still, there’s no denying this isn’t the same, well, lively person they’d come to know.

He’s just… so still. So silent.

“Oh? Is Kii-baby dead, after all?” Despite the harshness of his voice, Ouma’s voice has a strange tenor to it – the boy clearly hadn’t expected this.

Hearing this, the girls take notice and turn to look. Surprisingly, no one screams.

The moment passes, and… nothing happens. Monokuma doesn’t pop up again out of nowhere to congratulate them like Saihara had half expected him to.

It’s so unusual that Saihara actually manages to pull himself back together enough to wonder—

“Is he… actually dead?”

Chabashira is appalled. “Tenko doesn’t believe this! Are you actually buying into Ouma-san’s words, Saihara-san? It’s true that Kiibo-san was a robot, but he was also undeniably a person! That means… it’s also undeniably true that he’s dead now…”

He shakes his head, eyes focusing on Kiibo’s body with renewed vigor. “No, that’s not what I meant. What if he only looks dead? I mean, maybe he’s in sleep mode, or something.”

Angie waltzes into Kiibo’s room and plops down beside the robot for a closer look. “Hmm, yeah, now that Shuuichi mentions it, there’s something totes strange about all this. God tells me that we shouldn’t give up on Kiibo just yet.”

After a moment of hesitation, Yumeno follows her lead, going to sit on the robot’s other side. The two girls start poking and prodding the prone figure.

“Um, what are you doing?” Saihara asks.

“Well, if Kiibo is just sleeping, then, like, one of these buttons should wake him up, right?” Angie responds. “But literally none of them are doing anything.” She jabs repeatedly at a couple different buttons to illustrate her point.

Yumeno gives her verdict: “If he had magic power, I’d say he was completely out of mana.”

There’s a pause before Chabashira says, “Oh, Tenko understands! Yumeno-san is saying Kiibo-san is out of power! That was a truly wonderful analogy, Yumeno-san!”

The magician – sorry, mage – mumbles her thanks, and Ouma, skeptical, chimes in, “Don’t we usually refer to electronics with no power as dead?”

“Yeah, but mana can be restored,” Yumeno says. Her face is, for lack of a better word, pouty.

Saihara glances at Chabashira, who thankfully translates once more. “If Kiibo-san is out of power, we just need to recharge him somehow!”

Angie claps her hands together and closes her eyes, as if she’s about to pray. “God has spoken. He’s saying that we can totally save Kiibo.”

“Yeah, but how are we supposed to recharge him?” Saihara asks, finally wandering closer to lean over Kiibo’s body and search him. “The buttons are one thing, but do you see some way to connect him to a power source?”

On a whim, he reaches out to tilt the robot’s head forward. It’s a wild guess, but maybe on the back of his neck…

Unfortunately, there’s no plug-in or USB port or anything similar. There is, however, another button. Between Kiibo’s hair and his collar, Saihara would’ve never noticed it under normal circumstances.

“Ooh, nice find, Shuuichi!” Angie crows, already reaching a finger out with the intent of pressing it.

He covers it with his hand. “Just stop, please. We’ve already established the buttons don’t do anything while he’s like this.”

Angie retracts her hand, sulking.

“You know, your pessimism sure is doing a lot of damage tonight, Saihara-chan!” Ouma’s voice cuts through the room, sharp and pointed, digging into him like an actual knife. “I mean, first you don’t bother trying to open the doors, plus you were more worried about being late to the cafeteria than checking out the boiler room, and now this? For all you know, this could be the button that actually does something!”

Saihara takes a few deep, steadying breaths. It’s been a long night, and it’s nowhere near over. He’s not going to snap at Ouma – especially when the boy is right, why does he keep falling into the same pit every time? – and give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten to him.

Even if it seems useless or pointless, I have to stop thinking that way, or I’ll never accomplish anything.

“Alright, I got it,” Saihara says, voice deliberately bland. “I’ll try it.” He resists the urge to add, will that satisfy you? He can already imagine Ouma’s smug response.

Still leaning over Kiibo’s body, Saihara tentatively presses the well-hidden button. Even as he’s doing it, part of him is saying nothing will happen, but another part is answering, you never know. And indeed—

Kiibo’s awake in an instant, shooting up with a shout – and he promptly crashes heads with Saihara, who falls to the floor from the force of the unexpected blow.

There’s a lot of movement and talking at once but, dizzy as he is, Saihara can’t concentrate enough to piece it together. Kiibo had been saying something literally the moment he woke up, the detective thinks. What was it…?

It sounded like… “Stop”?

He’s not sure how much time passes before he snaps out of the daze and regains focus – probably at least a minute or two, judging by the different positions of the people around him.

Kiibo looks antsy; as if he’s a moment away from running out the door, if only Ouma and Chabashira weren’t blocking it. His mouth is moving – fast. He’s talking a mile a minute, panicked about something. Saihara struggles to concentrate, tuning into the robot’s words midway.

“…wasted too much time already! Please, I have to find Iruma-san immediately! I need to stop her!”

Eh?

“Kiibo-kun, you know what happened to Iruma-san?” The words slip out of his mouth unbidden. Unfocused as he is, he speaks without thinking, only to realize belatedly—

Oh, right. If Kiibo-kun is alive and well, then that means the dead person must be…

Kiibo turns to him, frantic. “What do you mean, Saihara-kun? What’s happened? Where is Iruma-san? Why—” he stops abruptly, expression verging on hysterical as he comes to a realization. If he were a flesh-and-blood person, Saihara imagines he would’ve gone pale.

After a long moment, Kiibo continues, voice suddenly shaky. “Why has the music stopped? What time is it?”

Before Saihara can even begin to form a response, a sound rings out.

Bing bum bum bummmm!

All the monitors in the vicinity blink to life, projecting Monokuma’s face. “A body has been discovered! Everyone, please hurry to the scene of the crime, the boiler room!”

---

A few minutes earlier…

“Should we be worried about that?”

“About what?”

“That.” The first speaker gestures pointedly at the screen showing Akamatsu and Momota awkwardly embracing. “Those two are getting awfully chummy.”

“Relax,” another voice chimes in. “Saihara and Akamatsu’s instant bond is a huge part of Shirogane’s story; they’re practically hardwired to be drawn to each other over anyone else. And being overly friendly is part of Momota’s character. It’s fine.”

The first person argues, “Yeah, but Shirogane’s plan also involved Akamatsu dying after the first trial – things are already going way off the rails, and it’s not like the mastermind’s plans are always carried out, anyway. Since we stick to planting subtle suggestions and influence rather than full-out control, people have deviated from the script from time to time.”

“Shirogane has been impressively cool under pressure so far,” another person says. “Not perfect, but she’s at least managed to come up with reasonable explanations for her actions and not incriminate herself any further. Let’s give her a chance to change the story in light of the circumstances and try to get things back on track before we get too worked up over a simple hug, shall we?”

A sigh. The first voice mutters, “I’m just saying this is the kind of scene that would mislead the audience, is all.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing the audience won’t see it,” comes the snide reply.

Kiibo getting powered down –and so close to the end of the time limit, too – had been a big problem, but not one the team wasn’t prepared to deal with. It wasn’t the first time the chosen focus character was incapacitated, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Hey, at least this time was temporary – better essentially unconscious than dead.

That didn’t stop the audience from complaining when they could no longer see things through the eyes of their “hero”, but that was the nature of television; you can’t satisfy everyone.

The staff had kicked the viewers off Kiibo’s – now inactive – live feed and started picking and choosing what to show them from their own cameras, a few minutes behind what was happening in real time. The first ten minutes had been the worst, as for lack of better options, they’d shown the audience the camera in Kiibo’s room – a small eternity of watching a prone, unmoving form as time ticked down.

They couldn’t show them the scene in the library; as compelling as it would’ve been, it was agreed the audience was better off not knowing about it at all rather than being thrust into it halfway through and left confused. They couldn’t show the murder happening – it was company policy not to unless the event actually involved the “protagonist.” Trials were much more entertaining when the audience was guessing and figuring out the mystery alongside the cast.

They had no reason to show any of the other students scattered about, as none of them were doing anything interesting – and showing them but not others would leave the audience suspicious of those left out.

Once Monokuma announced someone had been killed, they had more freedom, and the cameras switched between the various people searching the school and its surroundings – taking care not to focus too long on anyone who’d been part of what went down in the library as a precaution.

Once the cast reconvened in the cafeteria, the camera could be focused on all of them. Unfortunately, some hints and references to the events in the library were dropped during the conversation – and the staff had already received some intrigued and confused calls about it. If the matter didn’t get brought up and talked about during the trial, they’d have no choice but to run a recap of it all after the students went to bed.

It was an easy choice to stay with Saihara’s group once a split had been made. They would be the ones to find Kiibo, the star of the show (at least to the audience), and hopefully turn him back on. The team skipped the trek over to the dorm and the conversation preceding opening the doors to get the audience back into what was happening live in anticipation of that.

Thankfully, Saihara found the button, and the staff had the audience switched back over to Kiibo’s view the moment he powered up.

On the monitors, Momota finally notices the body that is virtually under his nose. Miraculously, he doesn’t scream. He does, however, tense up and let out a strangled squeak.

Akamatsu pulls away from him to ask, “What’s wrong?”

He points a shaking finger at the manhole. “I-Is that what I think it is?”

She follows his gazes and gasps.

“Oh, thank Christ, they finally found it,” someone complains. “This won’t take long, my ass. Tell me we can play the body discovery announcement now.”

“Not yet,” another replies. “Not counting the killer, that’s only two people to see it. We need three.”

“Goddammit.”

Momota and Akamatsu stare down the manhole in horror for a long moment. The girl recovers first, and tells him to run and get the others, which after a moment of hesitation, he does.

“Shinguuji and Amami are nearby; we’ll be able to continue soon.”

Once Momota runs out the door, Akamatsu puts on a determined face and climbs down the ladder for a closer look at the body.

Iruma Miu’s body.

“You know, I just realized our fanservice character is dead,” someone says.

“What’s your point?” another responds. “They almost always die.”

“Well, yeah, but not until like the third or fourth case. You know, once they’ve actually done their job?”

Another voice chimes in, “To be fair, she may not have had long, but she still gave the audience one hell of a sendoff.”

“And you think that’ll be enough to satisfy them for the duration of the game? They're insatiable, you know that,” the first voice says.

“Eh, if it comes down to it, we could always force Shirogane into a more fanservice-y role as punishment for her screw-ups,” replies the second person. “Or hey, Akamatsu is pretty good looking, too. Since she’s not dying anymore, why not flaunt her?”

“Speaking of Shirogane, what is she doing?”

The voice draws everyone’s attention to a certain screen. On it, Shirogane can be seen entering the library from one of the doors in the basement. She looks nervous, and she has a shot put ball on prominent display in her hands.

The girl takes a few steps inside – and then promptly turns around and leaves with a smile on her face, shooting a pointed glance at Saihara’s hidden cameras on her way out.

“She had the perfect opportunity to steal them, or at least destroy them. What is she thinking?”

“Clever girl,” someone says. “There’s no need to get rid of evidence and look suspicious in the process when she can give Saihara the evidence she needs to prove her claims.”

“But the photos will develop and come out in the order they were taken,” another voice says. “Won’t it be obvious this was taken after the fact?”

“Not if, say, the Monokuma Cubs were the ones to helpfully develop the photos for Saihara, and there was a little accident. Pictures scattered across the floor, and gathered back up out of order…”

“Sir? Are you suggesting…”

“I’m saying that her failures thus far haven’t necessarily been her fault, and she’s been performing admirably. We can throw her a bone, just this once. After all, she can’t be blamed for underestimating Amami; we all did.” The man’s eyes move across screens to rest on Amami and Shinguuji hurrying to the boiler room as Momota continues towards the dorm. “He’s a bigger threat than any of us realized, and once this case is over our priority is getting rid of him.”

The two boys burst inside the room, and stop to look around in confusion.

“Where is Akamatsu-san?” Shinguuji wonders. “According to Momota-kun, she should be in here.”

Amami calls out, “Akamatsu-san! Are you here?”

Her voice echoes up from below. “I’m down here! I thought… it’s not that big a fall, so maybe—but it’s no good. She’s dead.”

Amami and Shinguuji wander over to the manhole and peer down. Akamatsu moves back from where she’d been leaning over something to look up at them, revealing the limp and lifeless body of their classmate.

“Iruma-san is dead.”

“Annnnnd, cue the body discovery announcement!”

///

My writing keeps getting away from me. I had REALLY intended to get to finding the body and starting the investigation by now - hell, my goal for chapter three as a whole was to end with the lead-up to the trial, but that’s... probably not gonna happen now. This has one more part before it’s the right length, but I’m guessing I can’t get ALL of the investigating out of the way in only ~2,000 words or so - so either I’ve got another long part coming or I’ll split the investigation between chapters. Not sure which I dislike least.

But hey, now it’s been confirmed that Iruma is the first victim, and Kiibo is alive and well - and seems to know something. So... progress? Next part should hopefully be out soon.

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 6: The Masked Grave’s Ritual

Deadly Life

Kaede still didn’t want to believe it. She thought she was finally regaining some control of their situation. That things were going to get better. How could this have happened?

Maki was no stranger to bloodshed so who could have possibly killed her? (Was she killed trying to defend herself or did this happen because she attacked someone else? Would Maki really do that?)

The fact this was Kiyo’s lab was a smaller area of concern. Unlike Angie’s lab, his didn’t have any locks so anyone could have done this if they weren’t complying with the student council’s nighttime curfew.

While Kirumi told her and Maki that Kiyo wasn’t Kaede didn’t think this was his doing. Something about how the artifacts were being treated didn’t line up. He was too protective of them before. (Not unless that was an act. Make you think he cared about others damaging them so him abusing them is unlikely.)

His surprise at seeing Maki’s body looked genuine enough when Kaito brought him for questioning. At least Kaito was suspecting him less now than when he first rushed down to see if this was connected to Maki wanting to pay him a visit last night. Not that it was saying much, Kaito’s still quite clearly a wreck.

Ryoma was trying to help ease Kaito’s nerves but he was also too shaken to be of much help. No one objected when the two excused themselves to see if there was anything else around that could be connected. She figured too many felt ashamed of how they treated her and Ryoma before to complain.

“For the sake of our investigation does anyone have any complaints if I go over Maki’s body? Unless Gonta would rather try, as he might be more used to corpses than I am. Not human ones of course.” Kirumi calmly asked. Kaede couldn’t help but notice Kiyo kept glancing at her like he had an objection, but he must have thought better of it as he resumed looking into what else in his lab might be involved here instead.

“Gonta can’t! Gonta not… Not smart enough to be useful like Kirumi. Kirumi smart so she do good. Besides, it not proper for gentlemen to touch a lady without her permission.” Gonta was trying to hide a light blush that came with his explanation, an odd contrast to the tear tracks that still stained his face.

“It is a bit late to ask her about that sort of thing I’m afraid. Particularly if we think we should check her for injuries that may be unrelated to the fall. I doubt anything else could be the cause of death, however. You can see where the banister underneath her broke off from even from where we’re standing.”

Kaede had to crane her head up to see what Kiyo was talking about but he was right, on the highest level there was a break in the rails. With little prompting Tenko made her way up the stairs as quickly as she could to see if there were signs of a struggle or any other clues as Angie followed, hopping all the way. (I’m impressed they have the stamina for that, since that’s on the fifth floor. Why is this so damn tall?!)

While the two were up there, Kirumi informed everyone that she kept finding some sort of ashes on Maki’s body she couldn’t explain. Kaede thought better of bringing up the candles she sent Ryoma and Maki to collect, as she didn’t want Angie to be made aware of her attempt at sabotage, and as neither he nor Angie were here no comment was made about it possibly being the Necronomicon.

This might get messy if it needs to come up in the trial though. Was Maki’s death an accident her killer tried to undo? I don’t know if someone other than Angie and I knew how this motive worked.

Nothing else seemed out of place though, no weapons or injuries on her that didn’t make any sense. Except for that weird stone mask that was laid over Maki’s face, modern looking in all but its medium.

“Why would someone want to drag poor Sun Witch ♪ Esper Ito into this anyway?!" Tsumugi bemoaned, looking torn between whether or not to pick up the mask before Kirumi waved her off to spare her the dilemma. After a depressed sigh, she got a curious expression as she looked around the lad. "Actually why is her mask even in here? It can’t really be culturally relevant right? Beyond like normal festival masks I mean.” (Leave it to Tsumugi to know what the heck that thing was or where it was from. It really is out of place.)

“You aren’t wrong about what it is, but what it represents is a fair bit different." Kiyo began, despite Tsumugi's brief attempts to assure him that he didn't have to. But there was no retracting an excuse for him to lecture. "This is the mask most associated with the serial killer Kirakira Seigi or “Sparkling Justice” who supposedly came from Spain. Naturally given the title and style of their trademark mask I am inclined to doubt that theory, as it’s too distinctly Japanese to think they would consider Spain to be their only point of origin, but they do make for an interesting modern connection to both cultures as a result. Being a serial killer who exclusively kills others of their ilk in poetic gruesome recreations of the targeted serial killer’s preferred methods also taps into various other figures and notions regarding popular concepts of “Justice” and “Karma”.” (Right, that thing again. He talked at me about it before too. It has no right to look this cute with what he says.)

For all her early objections the lesson stirred Tsumugi's geeky interest enough that she was simply bubbling with questions, as if they weren't still talking in the middle of a murder scene. “Is a stone mask really their trademark? What do you mean “they”, is there more than one person who uses this name? Do you think it’s related to that other Kira-”

“No. For all of those things." Kiyo sternly cut her off, but he obviously enjoyed having peaked her interest as he lead her off to a side of the room to continue without bothering anyone's work. "First off, the person known as Sparkling Justice is elusive so their gender is a point of debate, though I do lean in favor of that person being male myself, so I tried being as neutral as I could. Second, typically the mask they use is of the common cheap plastic affairs so I can’t really explain why this is was made to be so much more permanent and without any of its common colors either I’m afraid." And with his more basic deductions done his tone soured. "Third, I just told you they were thought to be Spanish so any similarities this has to a certain older manga are likely coincidence.”

Kaede tried to give Tsumugi a sympathetic smile at seeing her flinch at Kiyo’s surprisingly harsh response before asking a question of her own. “So do you think this mask was used to accuse Maki of something? Or mock her because of her talent? I mean an assassin and a serial killer would be kinda different right?”

“The irony is highly possible if the Kirakira connection to this design is known, and they are distinct enough that all of Kirakira ’s confirmed kills did what they did out of passion rather than a paycheck.”

“Should we be concerned by how our biggest suspect knows so much about niche serial killers?” Kokichi piped up from the second floor, staring down at them with his chin resting on his folded arms. Something felt off about him though. He was smiling like a cat toying with a mouse but there was a new cruelty to it.

“If you want to be that’s your own prerogative I’m sure. I merely felt it best to be aware given how often I travel and get considered to be either highly suspicious or a person of interest in dangerous situations.” Kiyo called back up to him, looking annoyed by how loud Kokichi was to make sure he was heard.

Kaede felt a tugging at her skirt before she looked down to find Monodam looking up at her at a loss. But much like his siblings, he’s also had a slight change in appearance. While he still hardly had any shoulders to speak of unlike the others he had somehow managed to attach Monokid’s shoulder pads to his chassis. (What? If he hates others being afraid of him why is he wearing the clothing of his victim like a trophy?!)

“Why-Did-This-Happen-Again-Miss-Kaede? Did-We-Do-Something-Wrong?” He retracted his arm as he turned to look at Maki, visibly depressed over what he was seeing. “Did-Miss-Maki-Deserve-This?”

“No. I’m not sure your motive even had anything to do with this. I mean all we found are some ashes, and that could have been anything. But don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”

“Kaede, stop being buddy-buddy with a member of the beer-stain bears! Unless you think the ashes matter for something?” Kokichi paused for a moment to look up and theatrically held his hands to his mouth before calling up to the highest floor. “HEY ANGIE YOU STILL GOT THAT WEIRDO BOOK ON YOU?!”

Angie’s head poked over the broken railing looking for Kokichi before she replied, both ignoring Kiyo's seething down below. “Nooope, It went missing sometime yesterday! Why?”

“Any reason why someone might have wanted to burn it beyond it being obviously evil and stupid?”

“Oh? Did someone find an effigy of Maki with ashes on it?”

“Depends, does her fucking corpse count as an “effigy”? ‘Cause this is one duuusty cun-”

And that last bit of vulgarity proved to be Kiyo's last straw. “Can you both please stop yelling?! You’ll find the room carries sound very well on its own.”

“Hey we’re being helpful Kiyo, stop complaining!" Kokichi yelled back down, making everything worse as per the usual. "This isn’t even a real library, Jeez.”

Kiyo's eye actually twitched as he struggled to restrain himself. “Allow me to rephrase then: If you don’t settle down I will come up there and tear out your tongues. ”

“Kaaeeeeeeeeeeeede Kiyo’s threatening meeeeeeeee~” (Oh for the love of-! Isn’t Kirumi your mom?!)

With a hand to her face, Kaede muttered some curses as she shook her head before trying to settle Kokichi's latest mess. “I’m sorry Kiyo, just bear with it for now. Trust me I know how bad loud noises can be. Or maybe you can check out one of the other rooms? Like if the book went missing maybe Angie’s lab has something.”

“Oh yes, because leaving these relics unattended with Kokichi and Angie around is a simply  marvelous idea.” He replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“They are far from unattended." Kirumi was quick to assure him to help de-escalate the situation. "I will do my best to keep them from causing harm to any of your other pieces Kiyo. Feel free to help Ryoma and Kaito if you think it may be of more benefit to us.”

The look she gave him a look that was hard to tell if it was understanding or pity as Kirumi returned the mask to its proper place in the glass case. Kiyo looked reluctant, almost angry, to follow her suggestion but he hardly had any reason not to do so with how much stress seeing his room so crowded caused him.

With Kiyo out of the way, Angie continued to confirm it was probably the Necronomicon that was burned, though she didn’t think a body would count as an effigy in this case. That would explain why Maki was still obviously dead at any rate. Unless the ritual never had a chance at succeeding.

Kaede also felt a bit more at ease going around the room now, and quickly found another distressing detail. The golden katana was gone. The sheath wasn’t, which was why she didn’t notice at first, but the blade was nowhere to be found. When she asked Kirumi confirmed she didn’t see anything that looked like it had been hit by a rusty sword, which only made its absence all the more suspicious.

Seeing nothing else of note Kaede left to see if anyone else had made any progress. Aside from Monophanie’s efforts at repainting parts of the floor with her own puke, which she only just caught before she was going to step in the mess. (EWWWWWW, as if this floor wasn’t bad enough already!?)

Trying to be a bit more pragmatic she phrased things a bit differently. “Are you alright Monophanie? Can’t you just leave this to the others? Who would have the Monokuma file in this case anyway?”

“No! No, nothing's alright! This floor is gross, the body is gross, we can’t stop daddy’s game even if we try, and we still can’t agree on anything! It’s all just making me sick. In more ways than one. Monosuke’s the only one who really likes daddy’s game so he’d have it, but why bother? Nothing here is changing!”

It was odd to see one of her captors driven to such a manic state, even Monotaro’s scarf seemed to be acting in accordance to Monophanie’s frustrations. Things being as they were she was probably also assuming that like the two times prior either she or one of her brothers was going to die soon too.

She wasn’t really paying attention to Kaede though, so she just left the bear to her own devices. With a real horrifying situation on her hands going to Angie’s lab didn’t seem nearly as stressful as before, but she didn’t even have the chance as she saw the three boys were heading back already.

“Did you guys find anything?”

“You mean aside from the wax museum thing she had going on? Not much, Kiyo saw some gold leaf might be missing from her art supplies and Angie’s probably a bit loopier than we already thought.”

“Now now Ryoma, making mementos to honor those that are gone is a common response to grief, and I find her attention to detail to be rather touching. Obviously, they lack the particular beauty that comes with bearing the human soul but she matched their likenesses to an otherwise astounding degree yes?”

“You mean she made things that look like they crawled right out of the uncanny valley of robotics man!” Kaito argued, which given Ryoma's sigh wasn't the first time he made his discomfort over the figures known.

As Kiyo shook his head with a shrug he paused as a thought came to mind. “... I do hope you won’t use such a phrase within earshot of Kibo, that could be considered most rude.” (Actually where is Kibo anyway? Or Tsumugi? Did they go to find Monosuke for the file since it’s late? There’s a better question to be asking here though. We’ll see both of them soon enough I’m sure.)

“Why would gold leaf be missing?" Kaede asked to help address the more relevant evidence. "It’s not like money matters in here or anything. Do you think it could be related to the anthropology lab’s katana? I couldn’t find the blade and it’s the only gold thing here.”

“Huh? You sure Kaede? Kiyo, you didn’t say anything about that!” Kaito said.

“Didn’t I? Must have slipped my mind, my apologies. Besides, it struck me as a more personal issue, given how Kirumi hadn’t mentioned finding rust in any of her injuries. The blade hasn’t been taken care of well at all, so I can’t see how something that rusted could be used here, and had someone recently held the handle or sheath we’d find gold on their hands from where the leaf coating tends to peel off.”

“So Angie’s missing supply could just be someone trying to replace the older gold leaf that came off when they messed with the sword without permission?” Ryoma suggested. (Or a sign someone was setting something up.)

“I could believe that, the sword has been missing since at least last night and I suspect it was taken when I spoke with Kaede yesterday. As its uses as a weapon are limited I didn’t feel a need to worry anyone, given how Maki’s lab allows for equally easy access to a wider array of much more effective tools to use”

“Seriously man? You still shoulda said something so we could help you find it!” Kaito said though Kiyo seemed to just brush him off.

As Ryoma and Kaito continued to ask about the missing antique, Kaede saw Tsumugi and Kibo come out of one of the classrooms Maki and Ryoma took candles from before. It wasn’t clear how long they tried investigating in there, but without the candles Kaede assumed they’d be pitch black so she was confused.

“Hey, aren’t those rooms a bit too dark to be checking? Or are the candles back now? Kirumi did say something about finding ashes on Maki’s body so I’m not sure where else a fire could be from.” Kaede asked them, trying to hide her involvement in the candles being moved to avoid concerning Angie later.

“Not to worry, my new flashlight function was more than sufficient enough to be most thorough in our investigations!" Kibo happily informed her. "Kirumi had said she saw Maki remove a set of candles from this area before, and they are indeed still missing. Aside from that, we didn’t see anything unusual though, so this is unlikely to matter.”

“Even if it is kinda pink for a flashlight…” Tsumugi softly muttered behind him, looking kinda embarrassed for how improvised this "function" was.

“Would you have rathered I used a different color? I should have a more traditional yellow too.”

Before she could get dragged into a debate over Kibo's abilities Kaede quickly tried to excuse herself. “I don’t think that’s the issue, but that’s still good to hear! Now if we could just get the Mono-”

And speak of the devil, there he was. Monosuke’s pacifier was still absent, but he at least had the file in hand that should narrow down when Maki was attacked last night. Or it was a file at any rate. The pad in his paws did look a bit different, like some yellow stripes were doodled on the black half of it last minute.

“No need to get your panties in a twist toots, the Monosuke file’s right here! Just had to get some kinks for it worked out. Nice to see even without using a motive you bastards are still more than bloodthirsty enough on your own to keep this game going! Even when we got some brats insisting on playing house.”

Monophanie was near enough to still overhear him and was none too pleased about his snipe from the look of things. As if to complete the set Monodam came out from Kiyo’s lab too, trying to see what the noise was about which just led to the three bears bickering again. Seeing Monodam wearing Monokid’s shoulder pads did seem to intimidate Monosuke some, though if she noticed Monophanie didn’t care.

As it quickly proved to be just another petty power struggle, and one that didn’t concern the case at hand, Kaede and the others returned to Kiyo’s lab so everyone would have access to the file’s contents.

At the very least it did confirm the fall was what killed her, so the missing katana could be unrelated. She was also killed at midnight which with the council’s curfew further narrowed down their list of suspects.

Being shoved through the railing could also make this look like her killer acted in self-defense. But Maki doesn’t like swords and if she had it then it’d still be here. There’d be no reason for anyone to have hid it, it’s not like we can test blood or anything. Unless they just didn’t want us to know there was a fight?

“See? Atua was right after all! Had Maki heeded His warning like the rest of us she wouldn’t have died-”

Angie barely had time to blink before Kaito’s fist was only inches away from her face, as Gonta stopped him mid-swing. Kaito’s face was more distressed than angry though. Like he couldn’t believe he just tried to hit a girl, but he also wasn’t regretting the attempt if it was enough to make her stop talking like that.

“Bull-fucking-shit! You can’t go blaming the victim for this! It’s not like the killer was following your rules either. Cut the crap with your “divine protection” shit already, you know we’re all in danger right now!”

Despite his words she didn’t seem phased at all. Only a bit of surprise and disappointment showed on her softly smiling face. Kaede could swear she caught a flicker of fear in her eyes, but only for a moment.

“But it’s the truth, isn’t it? Atua said the next victim would die after nighttime again and here we are.”

Ryoma’s eyes were dark and cold but there was no doubt he was nearly as angry about her accusations as Kaito was. Angry enough something about him made him seem larger than he actually was. Tenko was responding badly to it at any rate, but she was posed to try striking at him if he acted against Angie first.

“That doesn’t prove anything. Murders happening when the least people would be out is just common sense on the killer’s part, to limit witnesses, and your rule only made it easier for this to be the case. Don’t go trying to make this sound like this was somehow Maki’s fault. Not without some proof for it.”

That gave her some idea as Angie put a finger to her chin in thought, before turning to Kiyo with a broad grin. “Hey-hey~ that’s an idea! Kiyo said something about wanting to perform a seance before right? Sooo why don’t we just try asking Maki herself?”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were under the impression no one was ever actually killed in this game yes?” Kiyo pointed out, looking suspicious at her suggestion.

“Exactly! So either we can reach Maki, so she is dead and we can just ask her about what happened, or we can’t reach her because she isn’t dead and you and the others will have proof that Atua was right!”

“Or we can’t reach her because Kiyo’s seances are also full of-” Kokichi wisely shut his mouth at seeing the glare Kiyo started sending his way, but Angie’s grin just got larger at the prospect of Kiyo failing too. (Am I seriously watching some sort of occult pissing contest right now? Do we really have time for this?)

“I assure you if all the steps are followed it will work. And we do have all the supplies needed for the Caged Child seance already, we merely need to pick a darkened room to have it performed in first-”

“Why not use a seance you’ve done before huh? Experience would make it easier to work right?”

Kaede was pretty sure Kiyo was pouting as he gave Angie a look. Even his zipper seemed to be frowning. “Well, where’s the fun in that? And besides, I don’t have the supplies for any other seance that would be this… Non-invasive, I suppose you could say. Unless whoever we pick as the medium wouldn’t mind risking some… “Physical changes” while Maki speaks through them.”

“... What sort of changes are we talking about?” Tsumugi looked really nervous over the notion before getting lost in her head again with a finger to her lips. When she came back it was soon replaced with an aura of excitement as a different question occurred to her. “Are you telling me the way Maya and Pearl would change when Mia possessed them wasn’t just a silly excuse to give them her big boobs?!”

“I would say it’d be best for a girl to act as the host to minimize any such risks, but it’s not out of the question no. Though given Maki’s build I’m fairly certain it would have the… Opposite effect on you. However things like the changing of one’s eyes or hair color are typically the more common reactions.” (“Minimize” the risk? Does this happen to guys too? How the fuck is that even supposed to work?! WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS?!?)

“Awww, never mind then. I’m not really sure a plain girl like me would work anyway. Even if red eyes and black hair are the best combination, if I don’t have my blue hair anymore I’ll be even harder to notice...”

“Unless she would have a personal reason to take issue with you I doubt Maki would mind. Any other volunteers? In addition to the host and myself, we need three other people to perform it correctly.”

“What exactly would everyone else be doing?” Tenko asked, looking a bit nervous and guilty as she twiddled her fingers. “‘Cause even if Maki and I kinda look alike I don’t think I’m up for something like being a host either. L-like just in case she’s kinda mad when she comes back.” (Makes sense that if Angie was onboard for this plan the rest of the student council would be too. So I should probably offer to help.)

“Even if she was in a volatile state the medium would be under the iron cage and the dog statue so there no danger of her lashing out at anyone aside from potentially the host herself. Unintended suicides may be something of a... “side effect” in a worst case scenario, but I don’t think Maki was that sort of person. Everyone else would merely be there for the summoning ritual itself, like placing those two objects.” (SIDE EFFECT ?! KIYO STOP BEING SO CALM ABOUT HORRIFYING THINGS. Ugh, I don’t want to do this...)

“Wow~ Kiyo you’re really bad at convincing people aren’t you? But I’ll help you guys out, it sounds fun.”

“Would you rather I lie about the dangers that may be present Kokichi? This was Angie’s idea, not mine.”

As if the terrified look on her face wasn’t answer enough Tenko gave him her most honest of replies. “ YES. TENKO WOULD HAVE GREATLY PREFERRED THAT THANKS. This was creepy enough already...”

“... Ah.” He obviously wasn’t expecting an answer that blunt. “So should I start doing that now then?”

“I’m sure it’s fine. As long as the spirit we get is Maki everything should be okay. She wouldn’t hurt us. Would the medium have to do anything other than just sit there? I could do that I think, but not help.” (Even if Tenko could lift those things by herself I’m not sure I could manage anything else this spooky.)

Kiyo really brightened up at Kaede’s unexpected suggestion, which was nice to see at least. “Yes, I do believe you’d work quite well. Being one of those she was closer to should also make the process go more smoothly. Not to worry, some forms of possession do come with memory loss surrounding the act so if the situation’s setting proves distressing for you it would only be but a... momentary discomfort.”

It almost looked settled, before a solemn but determined looking Kirumi chose to interject.

“No, I think I’d be better suited to this Kaede. Kaito’s still in a rather delicate state and I’m not sure you being involved with this too would help put him more at ease at all. I’d be happy to act as the medium.”

Kiyo was conflicted for a moment as he considered her offer, but even though his eyes indicate he’s still smiling under his mask Kaede couldn’t shake the feeling there’s something crueler about them now.

Maybe he’s disappointed I won’t be a part of this now despite knowing how much I hate this stuff? I mean I am on better terms with him than… basically everyone else, so he might just miss having a friend. Ugh, now I feel kinda bad. This wouldn’t be a problem if Himiko was still here, she’d be up for this.

“On second thought this may be for the best, thank you Kirumi.”

“Are you sure Kiyo? I could try to help with something else if you need me to.”

“No, I think this’ll be just fine. Unless you were exaggerating before about how you thought Kagome, Kagome was “terrifying”, given the Caged Child does have an associated song which it is similar to-”

“Hahaha no, we’re good! You all have fun with that, call me if Maki needs me or something!” (NOOOPE. NOT A CHANCE IN HELL. At least he remembered this now instead of later. Thank you sooo much Kirumi.)

Kaede did her best to ignore the sound of his chuckling and the feeling of Kirumi’s confused stare as she beelined her way out the door to find Kaito and Ryoma. Because she was definitely not running away. She was just trying to help investigate whatever else she could. Absolutely anywhere else.

Besides, finding Ryoma was a good idea anyway. He should know where the candles that belonged in those rooms were which would probably be helpful to have back now. Even if he doesn’t know where Maki left the candles she took, if they split them evenly Ryoma should have at least one for each room.

She found Kaito and Ryoma at the end of the hall, past the three empty classrooms Kiyo wanted to use, into the area that looked more mechanical. Kaito probably took off the second Angie said “seance” as he was clearly having some sort of panic attack again, while Ryoma was comforting him where he could.

At least that’s all she thought Ryoma was helping with before Kaito turned to look at her.

“K-Kaito, are you okay?! You’re bleeding!”

“I know, nothing to worry about. Just bit my tongue wrong earlier, it’s nothing I promise.” Kaito assured her, but Ryoma obviously didn’t buy it which made it hard for her to believe his words. But if he doesn’t want to talk about it there’s probably nothing she could say to convince him otherwise right now.

“Are they seriously going to waste their time on that ghost stuff Kaede?”

“That’s the plan, but I don’t want to call it a waste. I mean I can understand if Angie and Kiyo think it’s the only way they can really help investigate right now. It’s not like we have a whole lot of evidence yet, or any ideas where else to look for some. Speaking of, they probably need those candles back now.”

“Humpf. Likely right about that. Maki and I just put those things in our rooms so I’ll get them. If her’s is locked they’ll still be enough to put one in each room for now anyway. I’ll be right back.” Despite his attempt at an aloof attitude Ryoma was gone in the blink of an eye. It was still a shock to see how fast he could be when he took something seriously, especially up close unlike when he avoided Tenko before.

And this is him being “rusty”, not in his prime or anything! The world of tennis must be super impressive. Maybe I should try asking him more about it some time. He’s mostly just hung out with Kaito, Maki, and Kiyo as far as I know so branching out a bit more might be nice for him. Especially with Maki gone now.

“What are you two talking about?” Kaito asked, but not with suspicion despite their situation. That didn’t make Kaede any less nervous as she decided to answer him honestly, since Angie wasn’t in earshot.

“When I joined the council I was able to look at the motive the bears gave us. It couldn’t be used if Angie couldn’t burn it, so to be on the safe side I asked Maki and Ryoma to hide any sources of fire we could. Since they were the closest to her the candles were the first things to go. Just to buy us a bit more time.”

“Hmm, good thinking then. Ya coulda tried telling me earlier though, I wasn’t going to talk to her.”

“I know, I just didn’t want to risk being overheard or overloading you or anything. Are you really alright? I mean your health wasn’t the best before and now Maki’s…”

“I told you, I don’t need you worrying over me! I’m fine. Guys are tough ya’ know, just focus on yourself.” Kaito tried offering her a cheesy large grin and a thumbs up as if to prove his words, but she knew better. She could see he was pushing himself, but returned his grin with a weak smile and nodded back anyway.

He’s too stubborn to accept anything else from me right now. He’ll just need some more time. Then when he’s ready I can only hope he’ll seek me or Ryoma out. I’m not ready to try fighting with him about this.

Kaede helped Kaito take refuge in the computer lab when she saw Angie, Kirumi, and Kiyo come out of his lab, heading towards the three classrooms. Given what they were saying it sounded like they were just checking to see which of the three should be used for their ritual, to see if any of them “felt” right.

When Kaito insisted he’d be fine there alone Kaede went back to wait for Ryoma and the candles, but she couldn’t tell who went into each room. But Ryoma was true to his word as it was only a matter of minutes before he got back with five candles in hand. Not six. So one room would be short a candle.

She tried asking him about the missing one but he only said he couldn’t find it in Maki’s room. He assumed she may had it with her when she died and then someone else took it, as with the warehouse locked there wouldn’t be that many other sources of fire to burn whatever made the ashes on her body.

Angie’s timing couldn’t be better as she walked out of the middle room at that moment, so Kaede was able to give her the fifth candle to return it to that. Luckily she was too grateful to them for “finding” it to ask how they managed it in the first place, but Kaede couldn’t help but notice her hands had some gold flecks on them that wasn’t there before. At least she thought it was gold, with how they caught the light.

Rather than comment on it, given how messy making art could be and how she just may have missed them before in the lab’s lighting, Kaede took her two candles and headed towards the one on her left as she faced them while Ryoma took the remaining two to the side room farthest right.

She had no idea what a mistake that would turn out to be.

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