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#post-vr drv3 au
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Click for quality. Part 2 of the polygraph arc! (Read part 1 here) (Part 3!)
[AU Masterpost]
Everyone's still in shambles after the simulation. No exceptions.
So Miu's polygraph is kind of a black box (you know what goes in and comes out but the rest is a mystery) but there is at least a basis in reading electrical and chemical signals in the body to discern things like mood and, with enough pattern training, attempt to predict intent. Granted, something like that would be incredibly specific to the patterns (people) it's trained on, so why not have the most unpredictable, unflappable ultimate in the school play guinea pig?
He just happens to be incredibly flappable, today. It's a jacket day, after all, and even if Miu heard in passing what that means, actually seeing it in practice is something else. But the program is mostly to decipher him in particular anyway; two birds one stone, making it less likely the class will overlook genuine distress and helping K1-B0 curb a major source of frustration when he comes back.
(Well. When he comes back, of course. Kiiboy's current deal in this AU is kind of its own story.)
They did, in fact, discharge Kokichi with a cane and orders to do physical therapy, a fact he has told nobody that spread through the class like a lighter to a gas line since someone, Kaito, can't just not tell his sidekicks secrets. Being Kokichi, he has elected to completely ignore both as often as he can get away with (which makes the bad days worse, naturally. Consequences? For my in/actions?) to What Did You Expect, Dumbass results.
It's just about time for an overdue conversation.
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honeybuddahchips · 5 months
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DRV3 centric Fanfic Recs
here's some of the fanfics i'm currently reading and i think are really good! all of these are on ao3.
oh, please drop me home
post drv3 au where danganronpa is a reality tv show in vr, and the participants in the first games help out the latest contestants.
run from your demons (until you are exhausted)
another fanfic by the author of 'oh please don't drop me home' that follows maki in a post-drv3 reality tv vr au.
Amalgamate
a fairly popular one. a drv3 chapter 5-6 rewrite where kokichi isn't killed chapter 5, and thehy work together far beyond that chapter.
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yukiwhitetm · 2 years
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Purple Hair Dye
by Yuki_White
The videos started up with a hiss! as the first of many, of fourteen recordings of their unknown – and terrifying, exciting, yes, but terrifying - pasts, began to play. Its blue light lit up their waxen faces as the nurse fiddled with the television’s picture and volume controls. One by one the videos played, and the truth – the truth which Shuichi feared and yet searched so desperately for, which Kokichi bled for and ran from, which Kaede sacrificed everything for – of their long forgotten and long lost selves came to light. They were all normal High School students. There was nothing special about them – except that there was. “Hey there!” said the Kaito in the video with a grin. “I am Kaito Momota, sixteen years old, and I have three loves in my life – physics, football and my little brother. Don’t you blush, bro, if you are there – if we are both there! It’s a fact and you know it!” Gasps were heard throughout the room as they all wondered what he was talking about. How would his brother be in the room with them?
If you like this, even if you aren’t @six-stars-brainrot​, then please like and reblog! Thank you!
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V3 VR Au Korekiyo’s mental health
I have so much unneeded motivation for this au compared to my school work. 
I love this au, but there are so many different interpretation so i was like,,,, whelp, I’ll make my own. This is how I interpret Korekiyo (His mental health, really) I try to depict DID realistically and not badly, so please tell me if i did something wrong, I’ll immediately change it D: I did a bunch of research for this :)
Also i say he a lot, that refers to Kork (Host and original personality) but I should say they, because they are a collective system , sorry!
I use the name Miyadera, because I need a name for his sister and many headcanon that to be her name.
and again, these are all headcanon homies, you don’t have to agree
I love him, don’t let this flop lmao, I'm sorry if it’s really messy, I'm excited :) 
Korekiyo's DID
Cause: 
Korekiyo was groomed and coerced into an incestuous relationship with his sister, by her. She convinced him that he needed to change everything about himself, including his hair, clothes, and personal likes. Everything about him is a fabrication made by his sister to fit her standards. He even says, "I could be her little brother, her lover, but couldn't be her friend." She didn't love him truly as a sister would. She manipulated him for her sexual pleasure, using his sympathy towards her ailments against him.
(I bring up proof that he is the victim because many seem to think of him so negatively and act as if he is the abuser, when it is clear, to me at least, that he was a victim of abuse)
Furthermore, proving that he is the victim is that anytime he talks about their "love", he refers to what his sister has said, showing that he is not capable of free-thinking, but was told to believe these things. 
He might also have BPD; he has frequent mood swings when it comes to things he likes and is very attached to his sister, basing everything about himself on her. Though, I’m more unsure of this than his DID (Which is semi-canon)
The Korekiyo you know isn't his real personality; all of it is a manifestation of his guilt. 
His DID was fully triggered by his near-death experience.  When it happened, it reminded him of his sister and all of those traumatic memories, and in turn, it awoke the alter (who was dormant) he had had this alter for a while (childhood), without knowledge of it. He only had memory loss, that he though was normal. From that point on, he could better communicate with his alter (Only slightly being able to talk to her). He didn't know what this was so he assumed that he was being possessed by the ghost of his sister. 
In turn, he is severely hurt and needs help, a friend, and to lastly, find himself. 
After the killing game: 
After the killing game, he was even worse off, having more trauma and feeling the betrayal of his sister. This caused an alter to be formed, which you might know as, Shuichi Saihara. This alter was based on his FTE and seeing Shuichi be the hero to their group. He found it brave of Shuichi to seek help (Therapy, medication) right when Shuichi left VR. Shuichi (The alter) protects him and usually is triggered out. Korekiyo doesn't know about him because Shuichi (The alter) doesn't/can't communicate with him. For Korekiyo, knowing that the game/his life was all fake made him feel terrible and caused mass confusion for him.
He also now has a genuine fear of boiling water; he has the others cook things that require it. It is more specifically called Encavmaphobia, the fear of getting burned. 
He has also formed a new alter which is a little. Not much is known about the alter because they aren't known to anyone, not even Miyadera. One fact about them is that they are playful and enjoy snuggles. They typically speak higher and more grammatically incorrect since they are here to protect his mind and be happy. 
His alters: Korekiyo (Host), Miyadera (Introject, persecutor), Shuichi 2 (introject, protector), ??? (Child alter)
What can trigger them out: 
For Miyadera (F): Red lipstick, his hair, pictures of her, his pre-game family, the sister in that family, too much stress, hospitals.
For Shuichi 2 (M): Shuichi (Non-alter), foods they know Shuichi enjoys, sometimes detective stuff, talk about killing games. 
??? (?) (Child): Candy, specifically black licorice, stress, any high emotion, more specifically happiness and intense passion (which may lead to crying). 
(welp, im done, my fingers hurt homie, but i hope you guys like it :P)
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balkanbitch · 4 years
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Kokichi while eating pancakes: I guess you are what you eat
Kaito: *internal screaming*
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pregame!Kaito goes for his interview. There’s more than was shown on the tape.
warnings for mentions of abuse, homophobia, and depression/caregiver fatigue
[Read on AO3]
Kaito's breath came out in short, heavy huffs, heart pounding as if he'd just run a marathon. Across from him, the head interviewer's only response was to quirk an eyebrow.
"That was quite the passionate display. But you can stop lying now."
Panic flickered in his chest, and Kaito's immediate response was to double down. "Wha--No! I meant what I said!"
She was unfazed. "Now now, don't get so defensive. I understand, you're just saying what you think we want to hear. You must really want to participate in the next season of Danganronpa, huh?" She gave him a warm smile, no trace of mockery in the curl of her lips. "So that's why I want to hear your real reason. I want to find real fans, not just those who are looking to feed their bloodlust."
She leaned forward, chin on her palms. "So, tell me about your life. What drew you to Danganronpa?"
Kaito hesitated. A torrent of conflicted emotions rushed through his body, filling every crevice with the desire to run away. He didn't have to answer. He could leave, return to his daily life as if he'd never even applied in the first place.
... The idea seized his heart with the icy grip of despair.
He averted his eyes and swallowed. It took another few minutes to get any words out, but she was patient, saying nothing as the room was consumed in an awkward silence.
"Have you ever regretted meeting someone?"
She didn't answer his question, and that was probably for the best--it was rhetorical anyway. He continued. "Dad worked in one of those office jobs where he regularly put in twelve hour days. He'd come home and take his stress out on everything in our two-bedroom apartment. At first, it was just the furniture, but then... Well, it escalated.
"Apparently he caught Mom with another man one day. He came home in a rage, breaking anything she owned or used regularly. Wasn't much, since she'd given up on replacing stuff he broke in earlier fits." He paused, taking a deep breath to prepare himself. "When he ran out of stuff, he turned on me. It... It was the first time he'd beaten me. Probably 'cause Mom was always protecting me."
He clenched his fists. "... She never came back. Last I heard, she filed for divorce then married the other guy. Never came to rescue me--guess it was too much trouble." It still hurt, and talking about it was like sticking his hand into a pile of smoldering ashes.
"Managed to live with him for a few years. Middle school was hell though. I spent as much time out of the house as I could to stay out of his way--of course, without being out so long that he got mad about that too. Studied a lot, got into a good high school. Thought the business school I chose would make him happy." He shook his head. "Always seemed like nothing would make him happy though."
As he poured his heart out into the open, she nodded along. He was glad that despite her having a notepad in front of her, she didn't write anything about what he was saying.
He pushed onward. "Got curious in high school. About... About other guys. You know?" He sighed, scratching the back of his head. "I, uh, looked up some stuff on the internet, and didn't clear my search history. Never been that good with computers, didn't even think about it.
"So he found out, and reacted by beating the shit outta me. As if that would fix whatever was wrong with my head or something. He ended up breaking my nose." He paused, tracing the crooked cartilage. "I was cowering on the floor--hoping he would stop kicking me, blood dripping everywhere--and I just... had this sudden realization that I was done."
He inhaled, then slowly exhaled. "I left that night and never went back. Should've done that long before, but... He was my dad, you know? I knew he just had a lot goin' on. It's still hard to blame him, even though I know it wasn't right."
At some point, a bottle of water was placed in front of him. He finally took it into his hand, cracking the lid off with a sharp twist and downing a third of it. He still had more to say, so his throat was thankful for the cool, refreshing sensation it brought.
Honestly, he hadn't expected to spend so much time talking about his dad. Perhaps it was because he never really had the opportunity to get all those emotions out properly.
"Anyway, so I ended up taking myself to the hospital after throwing some essentials in a bag. I was sittin' in the waiting room, plugging my nose with a tissue, and that's... That's when I met him. Ouma Kokichi."
If he hadn't started to zone out, lost in his memories, he might've noticed how her hand twitched towards her pen--ultimately, she didn't pick it up, but her eyes shone with interest as the conversation shifted.
"He was havin' this panic attack or something, and so I started talkin' to him to help him calm down while we waited. And, well, I thought he was kinda cute, so... When we both got released at the same time too, it kinda felt like fate, you know? One thing led to another, and we decided to rent this crappy one-bedroom apartment together."
He sighed. "I dunno, things just got so intense so fast. Like don't get me wrong, I care about him a lot, like, a lot a lot. But... It's hard. I ended up dropping out of school so that I could work and pay for our apartment."
"What about him?" she asked, her first question finally breaking the flow of his monologue.
Kaito frowned. "He... He can't really go outside all that much. It stresses him out, so he stays inside unless he really has to leave. But he's doing some online school stuff, so..."
She hummed. "Sounds unfair. You have to do all the heavy lifting while he gets to complete his coursework at his leisure. Say, how many hours are you working?"
"Uhh..." He hadn't quite thought about it. "I have a few different part time jobs. They don't really like hiring high school aged teens full time. Labor laws and all that. But... it's probably more than 40 hours a week, if I had to guess."
She nodded. "So after the stress started to build up, you turned to escapism?"
The accuracy of her statement nerved him out. "... I guess you could put it like that. There was a used copy of that spin-off game, uh, Ultra Despair Girls. Never really played Danganronpa, but the back said something about destroying those weird bears, Monokumas or whatever, and... It was kinda appealing, for the action aspect." He scratched the back of his neck. "Didn't expect it to be so... relatable. Ended up bawling like a baby on my couch at four in the morning because of that first boss battle.
"So, uh, I decided to give the series a chance. Haven't seen a lot, just the games really. Watching other people play them is free, after all. Usually just listened while I worked--that was really the only time I could find for it." He couldn't watch it at home, after all; Kokichi hated anything to do with Danganronpa, and the thought of being told off for consuming it made Kaito's heart feel like it was going to rip itself in two.
"It was like... Even though I wasn't personally playing it, I could tell why it was so popular. It really does bring hope to people, makes 'em see that even they can make a difference. Got me thinking the same thing after a while."
He gave her a wry smile. "But I guess you've sorta guess that it didn't work out like I wanted it to." She didn't respond, but that was fine. "I thought if I worked hard enough, maybe I could help Kokichi. I tried to ease all his worries and take care of him so he could focus on getting better. But..."
He shook his head. "It just... never happened. Again, nothing I did was good enough. I just... I just wanna be able to help people, to be good enough for once in my life. So when I saw that you guys did these live action DR games, well... I just started thinking about how nice it would be if I was able to fix everything like one of those protags in the games. Befriend others, watch them grow in a positive way instead of staying stagnant... Sounded a whole lot better than the daily grind."
He let out a shallow laugh. "Horrible, isn't it? Running away from my responsibilities for such a selfish reason. It'll break my grandma's heart if I end up dying, after all. But..." He trailed off, biting back the truth that death sounded better than returning to his fatigued life just outside the room.
She once again hummed, and finally moved to pick up her pen. She clicked it, but didn't write anything when she brought it to the paper. "So, what you would want is to help others achieve their true potential? To make them feel like they can do anything? A cool, mentor type... Hm... I could definitely see a place for you."
Despite himself, when she wrote HERO on the paper, his heart swelled with genuine hope.
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kaitobromota · 5 years
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post-game tenko design, for this au specifically!
appearances aren’t really relevant given the fics current format, i just wanted to draw my girl. she usually keeps her hair up, so it’s quite the pretty sight to see down
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Asks are open!
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I hope this is working..
If it is, go ahead and ask me anything! can't promise I'll answer with the truth, though~
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dragonymango · 3 years
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self-indulgent drv3 post-game vr au
where kaito, shuichi and maki live together and ouma is also there for some reason
does he officially live with them? no? yes? maybe? he is just there and everyone has to deal with that
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ryouverua · 5 years
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DRV3 Reading List
Okay, this is the compiled list of all the drv3 fics I had recommended to me! * The fact that I’m collecting them all now doesn’t mean I’m not still open to new reccs - it’s just supposed to act as a starting point and I’m going to go to them first.
* I know there was some back and forth and a few private messages about certain fics/authors. This is going to be an entirely neutral list of everything sent in to me. I’ll take other considerations into account later.
** I’m categorizing them as best as I can with the info I got if anyone else wants to use this as a list for themselves. With that said, there may be pairings in the fics that aren’t in the pairing categories. In fact, I’m sure there are, especially for more canon-compliant ones - but I’m placing them by whether the pairing takes backseat to the plot or vice versa. If I’ve got any wrong (which I probably do since I haven’t read them yet), let me know and I’ll fix their placement.
Fix-its:
ITMLFY (I’d Trade My Life For Yours), 3PS (3 Point Shot), Alt. V  An Encore from my Crying Heart (in ch 3), To The Future Days, Back Route
Ch1-centric
Dear Melodies, When The Moon Turns Its Back
Ch5-centric:
Dude, Who the Fuck is Junko Enoshima, The Roles We (Are Meant To) Play, How to Stay Behind the Doors of Life, Star Crossed, Oh, Glory, Unbecoming, Background World
General canon-compliant AU:
Last Remaining Purpose, Rocket to Xibalba, If It’s Real To You
VR-verse:
orbital resonance, Standing in the Other’s Clothes, where ends meet, Invisible Future Stream, Numb, My Empire of Dirt, We Live, When I Close My Eyes, The World’s Still There, Glittering Darkness, endure this tragedy that we like to call a home
Talent-swap:
Oratorio, 「Grey Area」, Ultimate Shuffle
Pre-Game AU:
you are coming down with something (you cannot be contained by mortal confines), Wandering Stars
Traitor AU:
Engineering Destiny
Post-Game:
16x3, June
Crossover AU (no pairing):
Under the Moonlight, Debunking Kokichi Ouma, Of Liars and the Dead, The Luminary’s Shadow, Reversed Sun
Non-Despair AU (no/multi-pairing)
Getting Along Like a Killer Harmony, Skinsuits, Name of the Game, Confidants, But Never Friends, Another Man’s Trash, 15 Mo(u)rnings
Complete Setting AU:
both dream and reality, one and the same
Saimota:
And the Stars Sing Hallelujah, La Lune, La Terre, et un Peu du Soliel, Last Hundred, Trust in Me, Before You Start Your Day, Waste
Oumota:
Getting Along / From Beyond the Grave, Comparison Kills, Corvus Oculum Corvi Non Eruit, On The Other Side of the Press, this one’s the worst part, Help Unwanted But Sorely Needed, Saddle in Your Soul, Free Time, At the Very End
for myself - anything from Oumota weekend
Platonic relationship (brothers/otherwise): Purple, You’d lose your mind trying to understand mine
Oumasai:
Sending Post Cards from a Plane Crash, All My Secrets, Irreplaceable You, Ready Aim Fire, Meta
Angie-centric:
Send Them Off!
Himiko-centric:
From Broken To Repaired, Going Through The Motions
Kaito-centric:
Fifteen Stars, Infinity Times Infinity Times Infinity
Shuichi-centric:
Overwhelmed (sequel to June)
Kokichi-centric:
Reaching
Rantaro-centric:
The Truth We Pursue, Junkball
Ryoma-centric:
I’ll Come Right On The Other Side (also Ouma-centric)
Tsumugi-centric:
Eighteen Hundred and Ninety Six Pieces of Glass, Commitment
OC AU:
We’re a Two-For-One Special (Kurochi), Can you really call this a Hotel, there weren’t even Mints on the Pillows (Kurochi)
Author reccs: 
corgasbord, @idaate, fatiguedfern, @grayimperia, devicing, @rev-eeriee , elisye, wingless, dillaswrites, lenasaurous, @aroseandapen,  @tricky-leader / rychuu / @starlightwritesalie, @golden-redhead, @kirastrations, @evil-muffins, the_sez, @trans-shuichisaihara, grand_mephy, devicing
Blogs:
@thestarshiphope, @panta-and-liars, @hopes-peak-monsters, @tokilos (art), PIXIV artist
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[AU Masterpost]
Little late this year, but joining the festivities: Ides of March is an awkward day to be SHSL supreme leader probably.
I am 95% certain its canon maki pulls on her hair as a nervous tick and we should draw it more. Also, don't worry about the parallels to Kokichi taking one for the team to keep blame off Maki for something again or the spread of Uncomprehending why someone would do something nice for you to their own detriment (but this time in lighthearted context) its a gag comic its fine
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ao3feed-danganronpa · 3 years
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外の世界 [Post-Game AU]
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/30nFIpT
by Zafty
!!SAIOUMA!! This Au is much different then the real world, it contains fantasy places, the first chapter will be explaining what things look like and what people look like. Thank you!
Warning this story might contain swears, smut, abuse, etc
Summary: all of the DRV3 Cast wake up, confused why they are not dead。It turns out the killing game they thought they were forced to participate in was only a VR game. They get their memories back and find out what the real world is like.
Japanese translation:
このAuは現実の世界とは大きく異なり、ファンタジーの場所が含まれています。最初の章では、物事がどのように見えるか、人々がどのように見えるかを説明します。ありがとうございました! このストーリーには、誓い、スマット、虐待などが含まれている可能性があることを警告します 概要:DRV3キャスト全員が目を覚まし、なぜ死んでいないのか混乱しました。彼らが参加を余儀なくされたと思っていた殺人ゲームは、VRゲームにすぎなかったことがわかりました。彼らは思い出を取り戻し、現実の世界がどのようなものかを知ります。
Words: 1296, Chapters: 2/2, Language: English
Fandoms: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other
Characters: Amami Rantaro, Akamatsu Kaede, Hoshi Ryoma, Tojo Kirumi, Yonaga Angie, Chabashira Tenko, Shinguji Korekiyo, Iruma Miu, Gokuhara Gonta, Oma Kokichi, Momota Kaito, Shirogane Tsumugi, K1-B0 (Dangan Ronpa), Saihara Shuichi, Yumeno Himiko, Harukawa Maki
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Additional Tags: Oral Sex, Gay, Zine: Growth: a Danganronpa Post-Game Zine
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/30nFIpT
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[TAPP AU Masterpost]
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Errant pieces of code on an old hard-drive are kinda the closest thing an AI entity has to baby pictures, right? How embarrassing...
Finally I get around to explaining some of K1B0's deal in this AU!
Alter Ego had some influence in digital space and showed K1B0 some of their (and by extension Chihiro's) favorite things about quasi/living, which in more literal terms sped up the development of his AI into something trained to have greater complexity and pattern recognition on a level closer to AE's own. They were delighted to finally have a friend in their same state of existence, someone they could relate to on a fundamental level the same way their human friends can relate to one another, a true companion in cyberspace.
Then, of course, Team Danganronpa started scraping for "the Ultimate Programmer's AI" to put in their killing simulation to fill out the roster and act as their eyes and ears into the program. They certainly did grab An AI, and one that needed heavy "repairs" in the transferring process. Plus some... creative liberties, about his powers and backstory (but he was always going to look like a nerd).
That still doesn't explain how K1B0 became Kiibo, though. Somehow, through the chaos, Kiibo developed what can only really be called a Soul; the imprint of which is still on one of the drives from the TAPP disaster. He might not be exactly the same, but it's the best chance they've got to bring their friend back among the living.
He does belong among the living now, doesn't he? What with all the friends he's made and experiences he's had, he's a full-fledged Human now, right?
And Human means you belong in the physical world. Most of the gang would agree.
One among them, however, just misses how things used to be....
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I've been meaning to ask, is Kokichi's black ring meant to be an ace ring? I only ask because it's black and on the finger one would typically wear an ace ring.
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This is probably funnier if Kaito doesn't know about Alter Ego yet
TL;DR: yes!! Very happy you noticed~
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I waited for you... and you never showed up.
[TAPP AU Masterpost]
After all, what fun is a game you're forced to play?
There was always at least one kid leaning way too far back at their desk in high school, did you guys have that too?
Had this nightmare sequence stuck in my head for Quite Some Time Now, and I'm so glad to finally show you! I did have 'Snowy' on the Undertale soundtrack looping, because I love that ambiance that you get in like, the garden section of a hardware store after midnight; where you logically know this sprawling place has to be finite but you can't see its limits. The overhead lights were placed there by someone, whether they're long gone or, maybe, they can see you right now. Everything is unnaturally bright in this approximation of a familiar scene, it's too manicured, too clean, are the same few trees repeating? There's snow, but no clouds. Rustling leaves without wind. There's no outright threat but your skin crawls nonetheless with sheer anticipation.
Eerie.
There's also a few little things sprinkled in, like the press having a masking-tape label like a boxed specimen, or Miu as a pinned and labelled butterfly in the frame under it. "K. Ouma tergiversator" and "M. Iruma sterterous " sound kind of like scientific names, I guess. I was going to make a bunch of green butterflies, but kind of changed what they meant in my mind (it's up for interpretation) partway-through. I think I like it better this way.
That fuzzy text isn't vital it's a little back-and0forth between Shuichi and Kaito respectively: "Should we call someone?" and "Give him a minute, man, this isn't even the first time."
Also, the String of Fate is pink, not red, because their blood is pink. In the simulation, at least. Let's not find out if it still applies!
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So this doesn't answer your question in its totality, but maybe there's a little more insight into that first half? "It's Complicated", but most of it on one-side. So much happened during TAPP that I'm not positive Shuichi actually remembers saying all that to Kokichi, and Kichi has not stopped thinking about it ever since. He wants to trust Shuichi, really, but... doesn't. Man will pursue the truth no matter who it hurts, and even if he won Kokichi doesn't quite forgive him for solving his 'unsolvable' murder. He gave up everything to orchestrate it, after all, the thought that he and Kaito both died and the game continued....
So still on a surname basis, but wanting to nickname him a little more than standard anyway. Half-and-half, almost. Trustworthy with a question mark.
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“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The paper has it spelled out like sunrise over a lake; she can’t help but look at it until she has to make herself look away. Her first ‘client’, the fellow student she’s meant to be shadowing for the week, the person she is tasked with protecting if she wants to pass this class after transferring in partway through the semester is none other than–
“Ooh, bad luck.”
(Part of the TAPP AU, also on Ao3)
Ouma’s voice squeaks out from beside her upper arm so suddenly she flinches.
“Oh please, Harukawa, don’t tell me I caught you off guard. That’s like, your entire thing, now!” he sounds so jovial, without a care in the world, but his chest heaves as though he also just shuddered down to the core.
“You did this.” She states it without room for uncertainty.
“Why the hell would I do that?” he flicks his hand toward the sheet of printer paper pinned to the corkboard, the one that has condemned them for the next one-hundred-sixty-eight hours. It’s up there for the whole school to see. “It’s not even my MO to hack this school’s ancient copy machine, or whatever, I’m out for a good time. Besides, I’d like to live, thanks much.”
Maki is entirely unimpressed. “It is precisely your MO to stomp on my nerves in every way you can,” she enunciates with each step forward.
His grip tightens around the handle of his cane, still smiling. His knuckles threaten to rip themselves to shreds.
“Actually,” a voice chimes in, stern but not unkind. “It makes perfect sense, does it not? You are both in Class 79, which ought to alleviate some of the initial awkwardness.”
Silver hair catching the artificial overhead light, teaching assistant and upperclassman Peko Pekoyama overshadows the pair from behind. “Besides, as the Ultimate…” her eyes narrow, incredulous. “... Supreme Leader, Ouma is going to need a security detail someday.”
Maki glares up at her for all of a split second before dutifully lowering her gaze. It's less that the Ultimate Swordsman is intimidating than that she's so... coldly supportive. The kind of person whose praise is lined with mist and whose fury is a downpour. It'd be a shame to disappoint her, especially over Kokichi, of all people.
"Oh, but Peko-peko-chan, don't you know? Maki and I have been sworn enemies since we were kids! You'd really let that mean ol' teacher pair me up with my nemesis?! That's so cruel!" Kokichi leans in on his cane for leverage, arms crossed in front of him as he acts out the phrase in big, encompassing gestures. That's a lie. But...
Unfortunately for both of them, it only seems to reassure Peko that the path forward is clear. "It'll be a fine challenge for the both of you, then. You’ll be able to focus on two objectives at once: gaining experience staying alert, and equal experience working with difficult clients.”
Kokichi scoffs in the background, of course, but it's hardly worth arguing. He tries to get in your head and stay there, after all. If anything, being ‘difficult’ is a point of pride for him. His eye still seems to twitch a little at the admission. It’s probably just the dry autumn air.
Maki, inventing new curses in her head and keeping them there, nods sagely. "Of course, Ms. Pekoyama. I won't let you down."
She looks over to her current mark.
It's going to be a long week.
------------------
The week starts off innocuous enough. The worst of it comes at the beginning of each day as Kokichi pulls his books out of his locker. Literature, World History, ... Calculus II? Each slams into the floor with a resounding thud, one after another.  Some of them won't even see use until near the end of the school day, but he insists she carry them now. Spiteful little shit.
Many of their general education classes are shared to begin with, fortunately, meaning the two of them simply have to walk between classes together for a while. It isn’t quite embarrassing as much as it is frustrating for Maki. Does he even really need a cane, or is it just a ploy to get the teacher’s sympathy? They saunter down the hallway in either case, uncaring of the actual time they arrive. Five minutes late, ten minutes, even; neither incurs a penalty, a bit of an affront to her own persistent punctuality. ‘This school is his’ indeed.
No. The real trouble starts brewing during their free periods.
"The autumn leaves are home to a variety of bug species," lectures Gonta, sitting cross-legged in the courtyard. Kokichi sits beside him, dredging through a pile of leaves; pick up, flip, sort, over and over. Maki remains stock-still and focused on defense. Peko could be hiding around any given corner, assisting a teacher lying in wait for an ambush just to make a point about vigilance. 
But it’s a bit hard to stay on edge when things are so… unremarkable. So normal. 
"As an example, early-emerging populations of Actias luna in North America lay eggs on the undersides of leaves to keep larvae and pupas safe during winter until the adults appear in March." Despite Gonta’s better efforts choosing a more palatable bug for discussion, neither Kokichi nor Maki seems to be paying actual attention. 
"Which has to be why the leaf piles make such a good crunch when you jump in'em, riiiiight?" Kokichi teases, crushing the pile of leaves he's sorted beneath the base of his palm. He throws his back into the motion with a sadistic smile. It breaks into the same mischievous laugh as usual soon after, nishishi~! 
Gonta, however, seems unalarmed; perhaps he sees the un-smashed pile, the ones with even just the potential to have 'stuff on'em'. Instead, he smiles. "That might be the beetles, they love hiding in leaves."
"Ewwww!" Kokichi wipes his hand on his pants, despite the distinct lack of bug entrails on them. "Great! Gonta, you can't just ruin fall like that! Now I'm gonna be thinking about nasty beetles when I just wanted to have some fun..." he makes a point to frown, but seeing no real reaction the expression disappears as quickly as it came. 
"I not– I'm not ruining fall, it's too hot out to be real fall. It's messing with the bugs’ hibernation cycles...."
Maki finds she's won a fourth consecutive mental game of tic-tac-toe with herself before she finally sighs. Would it be out of line to suggest going inside? Perhaps a more enclosed space will help her readjust to the objective. 
Before she can suggest such a thing, Kokichi beats her to it.
“Yeah, it’s waaaay too hot out for September, I’m beat. Harukawa-chan, can we go back inside now?” he doesn’t bother to pout, eyes going from half-lidded to three-quarters wide seeing the barely-contained irritation on Maki’s face. 
“Gladly.” She stands without hesitation, turning to Gonta. “Thank you for having us.”
“Of course, is only polite thing to do,” smiles Gonta. Kokichi is a touch intrigued.
“What are you thanking him for, I bet you weren’t even listening! You haven’t taken that scowl off your face all day.” He leans a bit to his left, accentuating the roll of his eyes.
“I knew that you wouldn’t.” Maki says simply, opening the cold glass door.
Kokichi is shocked, appalled he’d tell you, with a loud gasp! Then he shrugs a little. “Eh. I wasn’t bored, anyway.”
Gonta waves, cheerful as ever, as the door swings shut.
The foot of his cane practically skids across the terrazzo tile as Kokichi takes off down the hall.
“What’s got you in such a hurry?” Maki asks before she can think better of it; Ouma is still faster than she’d given him credit for.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, Ultimate Assassin.” The reply comes quick and sharp, bitterness rising in his voice that hasn’t seen the light of day since well before the game ended.
Before she can ask ‘why now?’ or some such thing, as though there’s any logic behind what Ouma does in the first place, he’s looking at her expectantly from his perch just at the threshold of the main library doorway.
“Dunno about you, but I, for one, have homework. I’m looking for a book, silly, don’t you guys use those?” he shakes his head lightly, keeping the door open by leaning on it and waiting for her to go through. It takes a moment of the two staring at one another to determine who is going to relent; Maki walks a step inside as Kokichi beelines for the reading chairs.
Ah, the reading chairs. Only marginally more acceptable than the stiff, borderline crunchy upholstery of most of the furniture on campus. At least there’s no punishment for sitting on these. Surrounded by deep forest green carpets and a dim, subdued atmosphere one risks sinking into should they stay still for too long, the library is quiet. Starkly quiet. The sound of breathing itself seems to echo, not at all damped by the depth of archways and sub-sections of books and books upon books.
Kokichi looks idly up at the rafters, looking for something he must not find.
“What’s wrong?” Maki reluctantly asks, curiosity overpowering her better sense.
“It’s hot in here,” Ouma replies, his voice… uncharacteristically soft. It’s impossible to tell what emotion comes attached, if there is one at all.
“The air conditioning has been broken in this building all day, I hear.”
There is an awkward silence between them, an absolute vacuum of small-talk.
He takes a deep breath, only to look back over at Maki. “Welp. This place is huge, so. Might as well get crackin’, book’s not gonna find itself!” He smiles a little too wide for his face as he launches upright, looking over his shoulder and taking off into the canopy of books. “Be back in a bit!”
“Alright,” says Maki, striding over to meet him. “Where are we going first?”
Kokichi shakes his head. He’s sorely mistaken if he thinks it’ll be that easy to get rid of you. “Hmm, iunno. I’ll know it when I see it,” he chirps as he changes directions, taking a few dizzying turns before coming to a brief pause.
What is his problem? What does he get out of making this difficult for the both of you? Surely boredom can’t overtake the selfish want to do less work… yet, sure enough, he’s speed-walking away again.
Maki doesn’t need to look up to explain the sudden chill down her spine.
“Kiyo-chan! Fancy meetin’ you here,” Ouma laughs, stepping to the shelf opposite Korekiyo as Maki walks up to the two of them.
“Not exactly, Ouma, you know quite well I’ve been tasked with the maintenance of some of the anthropology department’s rarer books,” Kiyo shakes his head, adjusting his mask. “... No, I won’t be taking you to them. I was actually looking for a project on Minoan mythos in relation to pre-Hellenic…” he cuts himself off. 
Really, Maki thinks to herself, it’s hard to believe this awkward kid could have been the monster he once was. That’s the thing about monsters, though, isn’t it? In real life they don’t have horns or tails like the minotaur…. 
“Say. What are you visiting the library for? Your field is not precisely predicated on a large literary basis, is it?” 
“Kiyo-chaaaaan! No fair! Are you telling me I don’t look like I read? ‘Cuz I can read plenty, as long as it’s not BORING me to death!!” Kokichi leans on his cane, slightly swaying. “I like libraries. They’re like obstacle courses, and half the time nobody is even in them to get in the way!” he smiles. “But that’s a lie.”
“He’s looking for a book,” Maki chimes in, startling both Korekiyo and Kokichi back a few steps. 
“Oh, is that all? What kind of book are you looking for, Ouma? Certainly I could be of assistance.” Kiyo nods, possibly(?) smiling, and at the very least visibly trying to maintain a less standoffish posture.
“That won’t be–”
“Binary star formation,” the two phrases come in at the same time. Kokichi continues, “and the history of their discovery.” 
Kiyo stares at Kokichi for a moment, in (confusion? Disbelief? It’s difficult to tell, with so much of his face obscured and those piercing eyes ready to strike at any time…) before nodding. “Of course. I believe I recall where that one is, it was returned quite recently.”
Ouma stares idly into the distance for a split-second, an automaton re-calibrating on the fly. “Right. Duh, but I need it now, so.” 
Sure enough, Korekiyo is only away for a matter of minutes before returning with a single large tome. The book seems more focused on general astronomical phenomena, but must have a chapter or two dedicated to binary stars. Should have picked something more obscure, Maki huffs at the thought, if you really just wanted to cause trouble. Let me guess, that isn’t–
“That’s exactly it!” says Kokichi, who excitedly starts flipping through the pages. Korekiyo looks like he wants to scold him, be more careful, but restrains himself from doing so. Nonetheless, the two share a look; Kokichi suddenly feels like maybe he should slow down, lest unsavory things happen to his nerves. 
Just a feeling.
Things look, for once, to be going well again. Ouma is reading (or, at least, glaring at a page), freeing up Maki’s attention to better scope out the area.
… At least, until “Kiyo-chan? The text is so small, I can barely read a thing!”
Don’t get involved, don’t worry about it, Maki, you have a mission!
“Then why don’t you take it back to one of the reading areas? It’s certain to be brighter there.”  Korekiyo shrugs, back to looking at the shelf ahead.
“Can’t you read it to me, Kiyo-chan? Pleeeease, you have such a nice reading voice!”
Korekiyo stops, for a moment, glaring at Kokichi. “And that’s a lie, certainly.”
“What! You’re calling me a liar! Kiyo-chan, that’s so, s-so,,” the tears start to well up, if only slightly. Is he losing his touch with the waterworks? “Accurate, yeah, but not this time! If I didn’t tell the truth some of the time, it’d make the lies too obvious! And that’s no fun at all.”
“... Ah,” says Kiyo, uncertain of how to take a compliment.
“So?”
“Oh yes, right. Hmm. It can’t be that large of a diversion, surely…”
Such is how Korekiyo winds up over by the reading chairs, telling a dubiously-interested Kokichi about disk and turbulent fragmentations. “Where the instability and arbitrary motion cause a core to split off into multiple masses of gas and dust that collapse into independent protostars,” so the reading goes, “that are close enough to one another they become entangled in mutual orbit.” 
Maki can hardly say she’s particularly invested, even if it would be nice to have a better idea of what Kaito’s blathering on about half the time now that classes are in full swing. Still, something in her can’t help but hang on to this itch of unease, as though at any moment something will go wrong. She’s supposed to be watching Kokichi, but finds herself looking more at Kiyo than the surroundings. There is no danger there, anymore, though you’d have been more likely to get hurt than Ouma. But this feeling you can’t… no. That you refuse to name, this resentment, it takes residence in your bones and won’t let go. Is it because he’s been programmed as having been a killer? Aren’t you the very same? And when it really mattered, didn’t both of you decide to k–
The slightest sound makes Maki jump into action, fists at the ready to block an incoming blow, only. Huh. It seems it was just the weight of the book closing.
Kokichi sits up a little straighter, speaking a little louder (before, begrudgingly, quieting down, because this is a library). “Thank you, Kiyo-chan~ That would’ve been soooo boring to get through alone, you know? Nishishi, I’ll still be expecting your application for DICE one of these days! Best not disappoint,” he leans back in the chair, only to swing up to standing.
Korekiyo simply rolls his eyes, but there’s something undoubtedly fond in the gesture. If there weren’t, the fact would make itself known near-immediately; instead, Kiyo simply picks up the book to put it back on the shelf. “Is that all you needed, then?” 
Kokichi exaggerates a sigh. “Not by a longshot, but I think I left the rest in Miu’s lab,” he rolls his head back, momentarily looking at the spot where Maki has planted herself, arms crossed. “So I gotta run. Laters!”
As Kokichi is picking his cane back up (and staring at the foot for a moment, making sure he’s placed it on the correct side for now. Working on making the ruse more realistic, perhaps, Maki posits, though she dares not say such a thing aloud), Maki nods in acknowledgement of Kiyo. 
After an awkward pause, Kiyo nods back. “Miss Harukawa.”  
But the pair are off again, out of the library and en-route to Miu’s lab.
The silence between the two of them is thick. Neither is perturbed by the light traffic traveling in either direction down the hall, staying steps apart but not quite identifiable as a ‘group’. Much remains unsaid between the two. Neither dares disrupt the precarious balance maintaining a stoic facade, and the awkward silence stays.
At least, while only in the company of one another.
“Hey!” Kokichi yells, swinging open the door to Miu’s lab with reckless abandon, startling a very focused Chihiro and Kazuichi sitting at the far end of a long table. “Where’s that boisterous blonde–”
“That is the best most bodacious boisterous blonde bitch to you, ‘ya shitstain.” Miu looks up from her workbench, approaching the opposite side of the long table with a haughty laugh. 
“Mm, nope. Too wordy. Might mistake you for a nerd,” he teases, pointing up and down at a Miu dressed in her lab coat and covered from goggles to toe in smears of motor oil.
“Oh please, haven’t you figured out yet that I’m beauty and a brain?”
“And a nerd, yeah, I got that.”
The pair bicker like old friends, though it’s only recently they’ve had a chance to talk over their time in the killing game. Perhaps it’s easier for them to act like it never happened; it’d be hypocritical of Maki to judge.
Although…
“So you’ll concede she’s beautiful?” Maki tugs on her hair, wrapping it around her finger with a smirk. One sentence sparks a good five minutes of playful arguing, nuh-uh yuh-uh, and mild shoulder-punching. In terms of the assignment, it’s permissible, but on thin ice.
The perimeter seems clear in here, anyway, only the five of them. Chihiro and Kazuichi seem too engrossed in whatever project they’re working on to bat an eye at the two’s banter, and there’s no good angle for an ambush. Besides, it’d be irresponsible to initiate a confrontation with so many metal scraps and machines around. Still, she has to remain on alert.
… Though she can’t help but listen when she hears Miu launch into a small tirade: “What I’m always working on, dumbass, and a couple things besides. Picture this: you’re me, and you’re ‘getting a regular checkup’ because you’re ‘recovering from a traumatic experience’ and all that junk. And I’m sitting there, wasting valuable workable time between classes, just for them to call me up to do, like, the same three tests they always do? And I think to myself, man, wouldn’t it be genius if you could just step into a booth, or a pod, or something like that when you get there, and it does all of that preliminary stuff on you at once so you can just be done with it already? And this was like, two? Days ago? So you know I have a prototype.”
Kokichi looks nonplussed, to say the least.
“Haven’t you been working on anything less… totally mundane, than that? Maybe like a shrink ray, or a portal device or a body-swapper, or something exciting?”
“Well, you know I’m building an android, but we all know how you feel about that.”
“I do not need the list of features you’re giving that thing. Nobody, needs the list of features you’re giving that thing.”
“W-W, h-hey! I’m not gonna be weird about it,” Miu pouts, voice getting soft for a moment. “That’s like, totally crossing a line…” only to pick back up. “Nah, I’m not gonna load in any kinky shit until I can ask him about it!”
“Is that finally an answer to the question I’ve been asking for like three months now? We’re going with ‘robots only have dicks upon request?’”
Maybe it’s better to stop listening, actually. Not that Maki is given the choice.
“Point is, I still need a test subject! Why not you, while you’re right here? Every experiment we’ve run so far has been demonstrably fine, quit your worry-warting already ‘ya buzzkill.” Miu scoffs, rolling out a wardrobe-sized booth on a dolly.
“But Iruma-channnn,”  Kokichi whines. His eye twitches, scanning the new device up and down, only more resolute that “there’s no way I’m gonna go in there unless it’s got AC!”
“That can be arranged,” says Miu, writing at the bottom of a spare paper. “Now, get over here so we can get this show on the road!” 
“Nnnnn can’t make me.”
“Come on.”
“Nah.”
“It’ll be fine!”
“For you, maybe.”
“You know what? Fine. Hey Maki!” Miu calls, waving to where Maki is stationed around the corner. “C’mon, this’ll only take, like, two minutes, you in?”
Great. You’ve been Acknowledged.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Maki starts to stammer, but Kokichi has suddenly lit up.
“Ooh! Do it, do it Maki!”
“I really don’t think I should distract from–”
Suddenly, both Miu and Kokichi are peering over the table, all but pounding their fists against the wood as they chant “Do it, do it!”
If anything, their exuberance makes her want to give in less, but the coast is clear, for now… Chihiro gives Maki a withering look. Doesn’t seem like they’ll run out of steam any time soon. 
“... Fine.”
Kokichi and Miu turn to one another and high-five, cheering in unison. 
“Great,” Miu breezes by, opening an entrance to the box. “Come on in.”
Maki is immediately enveloped in what at first looks like a photo booth but, upon examination, has too many blinking lights and moving parts to be one. In lieu of a screen, a plexiglass barrier shows off the dim reflections of the moving mechanics, leaving the subject to back up into position. A thermometer pops out of the front panel at the same time as a blood pressure cuff restrains her left arm, a bar descending to the top of her head to record her height. Every metric is recorded on a tiny screen on the outside of the chamber.
Experiment: success. The device certainly does its job. Whether it’s been done well is questionable, but it certainly has been done.
Meanwhile, Kokichi has been lounging in quite possibly the single Good Chair in the entirety of Hope’s Peak, talking to Miu about something indistinct. By the time Maki walks out of the machine a matter of minutes has passed.
It feels like it’s been hours. 
And Maki is not happy.
“Ouma? I need to talk to you.”
“Can’t it wait? I sorta–”
“Now. Ouma.”
Kokichi keeps his head down, but follows Maki’s footsteps.
“We’re leaving. Goodbye, Miu. Hope you got your data.” Maki states, perfectly deadpan. She turns, practically dragging Ouma by the wrist.
“Harukawa, I’m sorry i–”
“That’s a lie,” Maki helpfully completes the thought, marching out into the hallway. “You’ve been lying all day, making up any excuse you can to be as distracting as possible just waiting for me to screw up. But it isn’t going to work. We are going, to your room, and you will stay there, and it will be quiet. Do you understand?”
Kokichi stops walking. He does not pull away from her hand any further than the natural distance that comes as he stops, glaring up at her with an oddly-canted eye. 
“You think you can ground me, Child-Caregiver? All I want is to hang out with my friends, and get to do it at a decent goddamn hour, and that’s SO bad? Aww, am I inconveniencing you? What would you rather be out doing. Huh? Would you rather be hunting me down for sport–”
Maki snaps out of her shock, shaking her head. “UGH! Not everything is always about YOU, you know!” She storms a few steps ahead.
“Well excuse me if you aren’t exactly open about your hobbies,” Kokichi scoffs, jogging up a few more stumbling steps to meet her. “If you insist on making our little forced-bonding-time absolutely miserable, I guess, be my fucking guest.”
“It’s not about fun, it’s about salvaging the entirety of this semester! Out of all of us, you should understand that!”
“Oh, so there is an ‘us’! I thought it a mere myth on the breeze, oh please, Harukawa, regale me with tales of how our miserable myriad of troubled teens that calls itself a class constitutes any kind of Unit,” he coughs on the end, running out of breath. A bit of spit drips from the corner of his mouth, hastily wiped away by a hand before he makes a big swinging gesture with his cane. 
This, it turns out, is a mistake.
First, his cane clatters to the floor. In and of itself, this isn’t surprising; at least it didn’t go through a window or otherwise launch across the hall, instead dropping down at Kokichi’s side.
Then Kokichi falls down with it.
He nearly faceplants, the only buffer coming in the form of outstretched arms in front of him that immediately buckle. 
Maki stifles half of a laugh. That’s what your overly-theatrical-ass gets when you try to act larger than life itself. She holds out a hand to help him back up. Frustrated as she may be, she isn’t cruel.
… But he doesn’t take it.
In fact, Kokichi doesn’t seem to be moving much at all.
Thinking fast, she immediately turns him onto his side in a recovery position. Still breathing– heavily, at that, as it’s taking up the majority of his focus just to do that much. It’s a full minute before he starts trying to talk. 
“Mmaki’alls sumiki,” is about all he can say, saliva rolling down his face, eyes glassy. One eye moves slower than the other as he tries to look up at her in that disturbingly blank way of his.
He says it again.
She doesn’t know what to do.
In for four, hold for four, out for four.
You can’t react this way to a little surprise. Cool heads prevail, Maki, you know this.
She feels a hand on her shoulder.
“Maki? Thank goodness I was following you. Listen, both of you, I’ve called my classmate Mikan. She is a nurse. What I need you to do, Maki, is help me pick him up. Ouma, just keep breathing…” Peko Pekoyama commands, picking up the cane to carry with her bag as she prepares to pick up Kokichi.
There’s an upset indignant note from him, an ‘uh, no shit,’ that pierces through the existential terror. That’s a good sign. That means not every scrap of consciousness needs to be dedicated just to staying alive. “I ‘ust, ‘eed’an ninit,” he tries to speak again, getting steadily more exasperated with himself. Even so, he does not cry.
No matter how he may want to, he does not cry.
------------------
Kokichi Ouma finds himself in a hospital room yet again. Maki Harukawa, however, finally finds herself at liberty to have him out of sight as she leans against the closed door.
Now you can panic.
“Maki?” Peko asks, tilting Maki’s chin up to meet her gaze.
Nevermind.
“You did the right thing, initially. Okay? You put him in a position where he could breathe, which is probably the most important thing you could have done.”
Maki stammers, tugging on her hair with an iron grip. “I did not do the right thing, initially. That’s the problem,” she admits, shaking her head. It’s difficult to stifle the ghost of tears blocking out her vision.
“Hm? What do you mean?” Peko asks, guiding Maki over to sit in a pair of chairs beside one of the many windows on this floor. 
No matter how hard she tries to stop them, once they start the words won’t stop flowing. “I mean that it’s my fault he’s like this!”
“... Maki, I saw it, it was an accide–”
“In the game, I shot him. Twice. With laced bolts, he. He just took Kaito, and was planning, s-something, and we were all so scared and I thought he was going to kill him so I covered them in strike-nine, and I shot him. Twice! And I went for a third…”
Peko is taken aback for a moment. Class 79 tends not to talk about their experiences in the simulation, so to hear things like shot and kill only confirm every terrible rumor she’s heard about the entire debacle. She blinks, once, then twice.
“Maki, I. I had no idea.”
Maki pulls on her hair, looping it around her whole hand and it still isn’t enough. “I know, I know, I’m an assassin, Ms. Pekoyama, and he’s the only mark I’ve ever actually killed myself.”
Peko is loath to let the silence spread between the two of them, yet she isn’t sure of what to say. Still, she says anyway: “I am. So sorry, that happened between you two. I assure you, I did not have an understanding of this. History, before I suggested you be paired together.”
“A-and now, now it’s my fault he collapsed, because whatever is wrong with him started because I poisoned him, because I’m a heartless, murder machine a-and,,” Maki hiccups, a hand over her face. She hasn’t even gotten this far into the story with her therapist, yet she sees enough of herself in Peko to entrust her with this secret.
“... I know what it is like to live with regret.” Peko offers. “It is never easy to choose one life over another. I don’t think that it should be, either. You should never have had to make that choice, but you did, and you made it as well as anyone could. You wanted to defend your friends, Maki, and you did. You cannot agonize about how things might have been after the fact if you want to move forward.”
Maki just stares at her hands, and cannot scrub away the illusion they are bright, bold magenta.
“... Maki?”
But Maki is far down the hall, watching Kaito close the door to that damn hospital room, because he’s betrayed me, again. 
“... I hated him.” She takes a deep breath, and lets the words swish around in her mouth for a moment before spitting them back out: “I hated him. I wanted him to suffer. He was irritating, and a threat, and I didn’t– I don’t understand him, and I wanted him to get away from me and everyone I care about.” Deep breath in. “So I shot him, with a crossbow, and I laced the bolts with the slowest-acting poison I could find, so he wouldn’t know peace the same way the rest of us hadn’t.”
“Ah,” says Peko, surprised but without any tone of judgment. After all, it is Peko’s turn to think, wouldn’t that be hypocritical? “Multiple things can be true at once, you know. Just because some part of you wanted vengeance does not overwrite your intentions to defend. I’ve only ever known you to want to protect the innocent, Maki, and even if you haven’t always been that person, that is the kind of person you are becoming. Every last one of you was in significant distress at that time, and that includes you. You shouldn’t let self-hatred cloud your perception.”
Maki nods ever-so-slightly. 
“What you did was. Excessive, yes, and you should not have done it. But it is in the past now, Maki. The fact that you feel remorse for it proves you aren’t ‘heartless’. You made a poor decision, with a high price. All that can be done for it now is to atone in ways you can. Sometimes, remembrance is all you can offer. But you,” Peko points at the flower on Maki’s uniform, “have a unique gift in all of this. Ouma is still alive now. In this life, you can still make amends.”
Maki sniffs, then holds her breath. In for three, hold for five, hold for four, hold forever… the tears just won’t slow. “It was cruel. I, was cruel, I don’t. I don’t want to be that way, not even to him. I-I want to. Amends, I want to,”
Peko smiles. She takes both of Maki’s hands into her own. “Then you will. You’ve already started, after all.”
The more Maki thinks of it, this whole shadowing experience has shown off facets of Ouma’s personality she hadn’t seen before. He does not like bugs, but still tolerates them out of care for his friendship with Gonta. He could have been cruel and smashed all the leaves, but he picked out any that even may have had eggs on them. Kokichi could have been legitimately cruel, yet he wasn’t. Kiyo, quiet as he is these days, is willing to accept him because Kokichi has accepted him in return. Even Miu, after she tried to bash in his skull with a hammer, has come around to not just tolerating his presence, but coming to enjoy it. Enough to make a machine for the medical wing since he, her friend, is in and out of the hospital so often… so he’s claimed.
Maki can only reconcile now that at least some, possibly all of those claims of chronic pain and complications are very real. Part of her knew this all along, but didn’t want to believe it; it’s easier, after all, to lie to yourself. Hadn’t Kokichi said something to that effect, so long ago?
Despite how irritating he is, despite his best attempts to get under her skin, despite being Kokichi Ouma, he’s… admittedly, a decent friend when it counts. And, perhaps, someday they can be friends as well.
“I still. It. It’s so stupid,” she shakes her head. “I-I better not…”
“But you want to say it, right?” Peko nods.
“I still feel. Jealous? Kaito can do what he wants, of course, but ever since the simulation it’s felt like our trio with Shuichi is… different. Like he’s choosing Kokichi over us.” Over me, she does not say. Peko can see it in her watery eyes.
“That, I’ve certainly understood,” Peko laughs. “Sometimes the person you admire can be… short-sighted, maybe. But your admiration is your own, you know. You have to own it, and, if they don’t ultimately feel the same way…” She looks off into the distance. Imagining someone, no doubt.
“... Right. Right, thank you Ms. Pekoyama.”
“Just Peko is fine, Maki.”
“Thank you, Peko.”
“Of course.”
“... But maybe they do feel the same way. You. Never know until you ask, right?”
Peko snaps back to attention. “I… suppose.” 
“It’s just a matter of gathering the inner strength to ask, whether you like the answer or not. … I think you should,” Maki shrugs, drying her tears. “And maybe I should too.”
“Perhaps,” says Peko, unshaken as ever, until… she smiles, conspiratorially. “I will if you will.”
“Alright,” laughs Maki. “Deal. But I have someone I have to address first.”
------------------
Meanwhile, Kaito slowly closes the door to the hospital room. The cool air hits him almost immediately upon entering; the air conditioning must be turned up significantly higher than in the rest of the building. It’s a different room, this time; the slightly different decor is disorienting for a moment, while he allows it to be. There’s something far more important than misplaced flowers and chairs and abstract paintings at its center, though.
“Kokichi?”
There’s a disgruntled sigh from the hospital bed, and an equally disgruntled Kokichi hooked up to not-even-a-fourth-of the equipment he was last time, to Kaito’s knowledge, he actually had to stay here.
“‘eah. Yeah, ‘s me.” He even sounds tired, still slurring words together a touch at this point.
Kaito takes his left hand, the dominant side. The uninjured one.
Kokichi can barely curl his fingers around Kaito’s, for now.
“Like the worst case’a TMJ you ever had,” he tries to smile, but finds the effort fruitless to try. Out of everyone, Kaito won’t mind if you don’t pretend for him. He already knows what you are. “‘Cept it’s everywhere. Mostly.” 
“Maybe you shouldn’t be talking so much–”
“Tsumiki-chan said, as long as I focus on breathing, I can do what I want. Mostly wanna not-do-things, though. Boring. What’d you do today?”
“You’re asking me?” Kaito laughs, but humors the thought. “Class, mostly. Went out to train with Shuichi, he’s actually coming along pretty well. Still has trouble keeping up with me in the real world, though, lung capacity and all. Been missing Maki, though. She’s really trying her hardest for this class, you know, she’s even talking to that Peko girl right now.”
Kokichi looks away, both eyes now in-sync as he tries to look to the tile floor. “Yeah. She’s still Harukawa, alright.”
Probably not a great time to talk about it, it dawns on Kaito just a little too late.
“What even happened, man, can I ask that? Figure I may as well instead’a dancing around it,” Kaito says, just to banish the thought. To get it out of the way.
Kokichi laughs a little under his breath. It hurts, but there’s a degree to which he can’t help it. “Ask’er yourself.”
Kaito is confused for all of a moment before looking around the–
“Ah! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you! I-I just thought I could answer any q-questions, so Ouma doesn’t have to-o…” Mikan Tsumiki, Ultimate Nervous Wreck, holds her clipboard to her chest.
Kaito is beside himself, unsure of how to get her to calm back down. Kokichi’s hand squeezes his a little tighter. Give her a moment.
“R-Right, sorry, you were wondering about his condition, right? Ouma’s, I mean. T-There’s good news! And. Bad news, which we’ve already talked about before you arrived, or. I did most of the talking because he’s having a hard time at the moment, but you knew that– Bad news we’ve already talked about, and good news.” Mikan looks up at Kaito expectantly, straining a smile. 
“... Do you want me to pick one? Because I’m sure whatever the bad news is won’t look so bad compared to the good,” Kaito nods, resolute.
“Oh yeah, s-s. Sorry. Yeah. SO the good news is this is just a flare-up, probably caused by a mix of stress and the heat outside. He’s been doing a lot better in this building since we have a backup generator for our climate control,” she continues. “But the bad news is that if he doesn’t take care of his condition, he could end up in a full-blown crisis, mister,” a darkness casts over her eyes “and if you do you won’t be able to breathe on your own, then it’s back on a ventilator for up to weeks at a time, and I know how much you hate that.” She picks her head up. “But, hopefully it won’t come to that!”
… It’s a lot to take in at once.
“What. Exactly, is his condition? How could he deteriorate so suddenly?” Kaito asks despite Kokichi’s half-hearted protest.
“It wasn’t sudden. I’ve been feeling it all day… it just got too bad to deal with. That’s all.” Mikan looks over to Kokichi before he relents and nods. “Someone else should know.”
“It seems to be an autoimmune disorder caused by the program. Not one that we’ve seen before, but one that’s kind of unique because of how it happened. The device ‘taught’ his immune system to attack danger that wasn’t physically there, so it started attacking what was there instead. It seems to include some of the signals sent between muscle groups to get them to move, leading to muscle weakness that varies in severity. This would be a moderate exacerbation, I think, so it really could be much worse!”
Mikan is still working on her bedside manner. Kokichi huffs a little, amused, while Kaito is still processing.
“Is. Is it ever going to stop?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” Mikan sighs, a little shake of her head. The same thing Kaito had been told about his lungs. “It’s impossible for us to know, but don’t count on it.”
“So… So what can we do? There has to be some kind of training we can do to make it a little less severe, right?” The impossible is always possible, is it not?
“Well. Physical therapy might help as part of the treatment, but it’s most important he’s taking his meds regularly and getting enough sleep,” she says. “But it’s pretty near impossible to enforce.”
Kaito looks over at Kokichi for a moment, then back to Mikan. 
“Maybe, on his own. What if he had a roommate? Then we’d share responsibility.”
“You’re kidding me,” Ouma says, doing his best to sit up a little. It’s more effort than it’s worth, but that does not stop him from trying.
“It’s that, or have you check in even more regularly than you already do. Even if I have to fish you out of the dorms,” Mikan shakes her head, tsk-tsk-tsk. “It’s not a bad idea. I’ll take it up with Administration. Unless you’d rather have an aide following you around…?”
“NO. ‘m good. It’s good. Could be way worse…”
“And I’ll see if I can get you an air conditioner in your room? It is very literally medically necessary.”
“Yessss,” Ouma seems happy enough, and settles down. It’s distinctly possible he’s too tired to put up much more protest, and takes the opportunity to start to nod off.
Kaito smiles fondly, and shakes his head.
------------------
Several hours later, Kokichi wakes up to the creaking of his door. He tenses, finding that he can, even if it’d be too much to disengage himself from ensnaring wires and monitors. He doesn’t bother. A moment later, it’s clear enough who it is.
“... Hello, Ouma.”
“Harukawa.”
Kokichi stares upward, idly counting holes in the ceiling tile.
The silence is deafening.
“I’m sorry,” Maki starts, a meandering sentence unto itself that unravels slowly from her tongue. 
Too slowly, for Kokichi. “Yeah, alright. For what?”
“Take your pick.” The courage she’s built up is thrown to the wind as she strives to just say it,  or at least say something.
“Sure. Forgiven. Whatever. Now, what’s it you want?”
“... That’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one.”
“Ooh, she catches on! Maki Harukawa, how do you do it,” he laughs. It’s a strangled sound. 
“Cut it out, Kokichi, I’m sorry. I’m sorry about what happened today. I’m sorry about pushing you too far–”
“You didn’t push me too far.” he says, but it sounds… hollow. Sincere, insincere, it doesn’t seem to matter; there’s no substance to it, but it’s also packed with double-triple meanings and spite.
“I’m sorry anyway,” Maki says. 
This appears to appease him, if just for a minute.
“I’m sorry about pushing you around, and for blaming you for my own inability to properly focus.” she sighs. “… In my defense, you don’t make it easy, but. That’s not the point. The point is, I should not have done that. I got angry, and when I get angry sometimes I act rashly. So I’m sorry.”
There’s something bigger to that statement, of course. Something he cannot help but respond to with a brutal truth:
“I don’t know if I can forgive you. I want to stop being scared of you, but it’s not. Suddenly okay again.” He turns his head, half-muttering. “I’m not sure I’ll ever really be ‘okay’ again….”
The silence returns.
“... That’s. That’s okay. I mean, if you don’t. You don’t, have to. Respect is earned, and so… so is forgiveness, I think. I hope I can earn that in your eyes.”
“... Alright,” says Kokichi. “Fair enough.”
“See you around,” Maki shrugs, halfway to closing the door.
“And Maki?”
“Yeah?” she pauses.
“Thanks.”
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