Summary:
[New Danganronpa V3 spoilers] She shouts like a supernova, cries the stars, and loves like Venus. Cover drawn by me.
Author's Idea: 4/4 of my birthday gifts to you guys.
I AM EMO FOR HARUKAWA/MOMOTA
Every time, Danganronpa. Why do you do this to me. Every time I think everything's going to be okay, it's not. I just… urgh. I could strangle someone right now. But I'll resort to writing and drawing, because the cover for this was actually drawn by me! What a concept! Anyways.
It's gooey and fluffy but still angsty. I-I really don't know?
Disclaimer: I don't own Danganronpa or else this ship would've acTUALLY WORKED OUT.
Spacegirl
"...Harukawa-san is still not here," Saihara says softly, fret threading through his voice.
"Mm… maybe she was caught," Yumeno wonders aloud.
"Harukawa-san? Caught?" The detective gives the magician an incredulous look. "She couldn't be. She was the first one out, remember?"
"Still…"
"Don't worry too much. I'm sure she's fine," Saihara reassures. His hands twitch, and his fingers tap against the tiled counter of his small kitchen. Yumeno, standing beside him, casts constant glances at the door down the hallway, her eyes willing it to open, for Harukawa to step out and be fine.
The gentle pitter-patter of footsteps sounds just before the door bursts open. Saihara jumps in front of Yumeno, glaring at the door. "They might have found us out," he whispers.
"Saihara-kun, look!" The redhead hisses, pointing at the figure that falls out of the door.
It's Harukawa, gasping for breath as she uses the wall as a stand. She turns to look at them, a grim look on her face that melts away as she sees her companions.
"Harukawa-san!" Yumeno rushes forward.
"I have it," the assassin responds, showing her a gray tablet, tucked under her arm. "Kiibo's data… it's all downloaded here, on this tablet, as an AI."
"You're alive… you're alive!" Yumeno cries, throwing her arms around the other teenager. Harukawa grunts, a small smile on her face.
"Did you really think I was caught? I just kept them occupied enough, that's all. I lost them a while ago, taking a detour, but I had to go the long way to get back here."
"See, Yumeno-san?" Saihara points out, a tired smile on his face. "I told you, Harukawa-san would be fine."
Harukawa looks up from the magician hugging her, and Saihara manages to look through the darkness of the hallway at the dirt and scratches streaking her face. She catches his glance and shakes her head.
"These are nothing. Just little flesh wounds, that's all."
"If you say so…" Saihara murmurs, casting a dubious look at her.
Yumeno whips around, a look of realization over her face. "We have to go, don't we, Saihara-kun?"
He nods, gesturing to his two companions. "Come-"
"Wait," Harukawa interrupts.
"What is it?" Saihara frowns. "We have to get going - we have to leave now."
"I know, but…" she steps back into the room she had emerged from, tugging something with her.
"A child?"
"An orphan… I found him in the slums while running."
Saihara raises an eyebrow at her, but she bluntly ignores the strange look he gives her, choosing instead to scoop the child up and let the orphan shift around in her arms.
"What's his name?" Yumeno asks softly.
She lifts her head proudly, meeting the detective and magician's eyes. "Kaito. Harukawa Kaito."
~ / . / . / ~
She sits under the canopy of lavender flowers, her hands blistered and lips swollen.
"Did the bounty hunters come again?" Kiibo's voice echoes through the space, and she sighs, holding the tablet closer to her.
"Can't they just leave us alone? They know better than anyone that I can and will protect myself."
"Unfortunately, I don't think Team Danganronpa will leave you alone until you're all dead," Kiibo murmurs.
Harukawa sighs, reaching out to pluck a lavender flower from the canopy above her.
"Where are you?" Kiibo asks. "I thought you were on the run."
"We settle down every now and then. The park nearby has a canopy and a bench, so I can sit here and watch Kaito play around."
"Kaito?" Kiibo frowns, looking at her.
"Oh," Harukawa murmurs. "He's… an orphan. I adopted him… sort of."
"What do you mean, sort of?"
"I found him in the slums and took him in."
"Isn't that-"
"Abduction, yes."
Kiibo frowns, but doesn't say anything, simply looking up at Harukawa, who stares up ahead blankly, her eyelids heavy. She blinks a few times, a great sigh falling from her lips.
"Are you alright, Harukawa-san?" Kiibo questions, tilting his head.
"Mm." Her only response is a gentle hum.
"...Do you miss him?" Kiibo's voice sounds sympathetic, and she curls her lip.
"Are you trying to pity me?" She snarls.
"I can't, remember?" The robot's AI chuckles bitterly.
"Oh…"
"Will you tell me? I may not be able to understand well, but it would be worse to bring it up to Saihara and Yumeno."
Harukawa shudders at the thought. She'd brought it up once, a few weeks after they'd escaped the television set, to Saihara, thinking that he'd understand. The glare and cold tone of voice she'd received in return warned her to never speak of it again.
"I… yes, I'll talk." Harukawa draws in a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. "I… may shut down some part through."
"Of course. Don't feel obligated to keep going if you don't want to, Harukawa-san."
"Thank you, Kiibo-kun."
The small version of Kiibo inhabiting the tablet nods, a smile on his face.
"It's hard to accept he's gone," she mutters. "He was such a loud and obnoxious idiot… Always going on about believing people. He never told us any of his troubles, but we unloaded onto him…"
"That's the person Momota-kun was," Kiibo starts, and then pauses, a guilty look flitting across the robot's face. "Er…"
"It's fine," Harukawa whispers, curling into herself, "I've come to accept the truth… that I fell in love with a fictional man. But I loved him… and that's all there is to it."
"Papa was fictional?" The soft whimper comes from behind her, and Harukawa turns abruptly. Her son stands behind her, his hands clenched together and his eyes wide, trembling slightly.
"Kaito… how long were you there?" Harukawa asks with a dull look in her eyes, lifting her son from behind her into her lap. She sets the tablet with Kiibo's AI to the side and nods to the robot, who smiles back and shuts himself down.
"Who was that?" The child inquires.
"An old friend," the young woman whispers, stroking her son's hair.
"Were you talking about Papa? Where is he?"
Harukawa stops herself from instinctively freezing up, continuing to move her hand gently through her son's hair. "Papa is… he's in the stars, now."
"Will I ever see him?"
"...Maybe, Kaito. Maybe, one day, you will."
"Really? Really, Mama?"
"I think so," she smiles, a bitter wave of hurt swamping her behind her mask of happiness.
"Yay!" The child giggles happily. "I'll get to see Papa!" Then he pauses, a world of worry in his eyes. "But… you said Papa was fictional."
"He's…" Harukawa clears her throat, trying to find a way to answer her son's painfully real question. "He's real, but- you'll understand one day."
She turns her head away from her son, taking in a deep breath. There's a familiar stinging in her eyes, and she screws them shut, trying not to let the hot tears fall down her cheeks, tries not to let it drip from her chin and fall in ugly splotches on the bench she's sitting on.
"Mama, you're crying!" Kaito cries.
"I'm fine, Kaito," she smiles, wincing a bit at the pain that shoots through her from the bruises on her lips.
"Really?" He glances at her with worried eyes, and she lets out a gentle and rare laugh at the intense expression in her son's eyes.
"Yes, really. You don't need to worry about me, okay?"
"Okay…" Her son looks away, and Harukawa sets the child down onto the bench beside her. Kaito clings onto her arm with small hands as the assassin raises a hand, plucking another lavender flower from the growing mass of tangled leaves and vines over the canopy.
Kaito follows, stretching a hand up and straining to reach a nearby flower branch. She gives her son the lavender in her hands, and he giggles happily. Carefully, she watches him from the corner of her eye.
A thorn of realization stops her thinking with a thug, and jolts, staring up at the sky. With a pang of infinite emotions, she murmurs under her breath, "Saihara-kun's not here, but… We haven't stopped training, have we?"
Kaito blinks in confusion. "Mama? Did you say something?"
"It's nothing. I was just thinking about something your dad and I used to do all the time a few years ago, alongside Saihara-kun."
Her son's eyes sparkle at the mention of his father. "Papa? And Uncle Saihara?"
She nods. "Every night, we'd gather at something just like this." Harukawa gestures to the canopy around her. "And we'd train. Whether it was exercising or training… I always thought it helped."
"Exercise?" Kaito asks, tilting his head. The assassin stands, smiling.
"I do them all the time. I'll show you one."
At that, she drops to her feet and hands, beginning to move at a rapid pace.
"57, 58, 59…"
"Wow! Mama's so fast!" The child cries in excitement.
Harukawa pauses, glancing at Kaito. "You'll be better than me someday."
"Really!?"
"Of course. Your father was never able to beat me, but I'm sure you will."
"Mama beat Papa, and I'm gonna beat Mama!" He giggles, and a wave of regret drowns Harukawa. She stands, dusting off her skirt. Her son drops the ground, attempting to mimic his mother's movements. Harukawa just stares up at the sky.
It glitters brightly, with stars that dot the dark blue and black sky. They shine and glimmer all at once, and for a while, she keeps her eyes focused on the stretching space before her, like she's staring at a painting or a picture of something she's never seen before.
"...Thank you."
The words slip from her lips before she can stop herself, and her vision blurs. She wipes her eyes before extending a hand to Kaito.
"Come on, Kaito. Let's go home."
The child scurries to the bench where the tablet with Kiibo's AI is, holding it against his chest with one arm and clinging onto Harukawa's outstretched fingers with the other hand.
She musses his hair tenderly. "Thank you."
She's not sure who she's thanking, but she thanks them anyways for the tears that spill down her face as she stares at the star-filled night.
~ / . / . / ~
Blood splatters against her cheek, and she stares coldly at the corpse that falls before her. The other two men dash at her, but she moves quickly, kicking one in the chest before whipping around, bringing the other one down with a fierce punch in the face. His nose is broken, and his eyes roll to the back of his head. He's barely breathing, and his companion scrambles up from his winded position against the wall.
Quickly, she dashes for him, and slices through his torso in one clean movement. He falls to his knees and crumples into a twisted heap, crimson blood pooling beneath him. Glancing down at the broken-nosed man, she stabs her knife through the back of his neck, hearing his shriek pierce the silence of the old house.
She leaves the weapon in his body, and draws the two daggers resting in the dagger sheaths that are hanging onto her upper thigh. She kicks the two corpses down the old wooden staircase, hearing them thud to a stop at the bottom, where a pile of bodies lay in a bloody and matted mess.
Her keen hearing catches gentle footsteps, dashing down from the broken glass window in her room. The pitter-patter of them sound familiar, and she realizes why a split-second before he appears.
"Harukawa-san!" It's Saihara, dashing down the hallway.
"Saihara-kun! Why are you here?" She asks, but he takes aim with the pistol in his hand and fires down the stairs. There's a sickly thud, telling her that Saihara has killed an assailant.
"To help you, of course. I heard received word that you were trouble, and rushed over as quickly as I could."
"Received word?" She asks. The dark look on his face tells her a different story, and he nods slowly.
"I infiltrated the company," he murmurs.
"Only I'm supposed to do that," she hisses, "I was professionally trained for that. Not you, Saihara-kun!"
"Well, what was I supposed to do, then!? I can't do anything as a detective, can't I at least try to help you!?"
A multitude of footsteps peak her hearing, and she shoves Saihara behind her, grasping her daggers tightly in her hands. He hears the noise as well, and loads the pistol in his hands, a defiant look in his eyes as he trains the gun on the source of the sound.
Five men jump forward from the shadows, each armed with daggers and knives. One has a gun, but Saihara rushes forward, takes aim, and shoots him down quickly, multiple gun wounds appearing in the enemy's chest. Harukawa jumps at them then, driving her weapons through the remaining four at lightning speed.
One of the enemies retaliates at her, and they parry each other's blows. He thrusts aside one of her daggers and makes a dash for Saihara. Caught off guard, the detective manages a shot at their shoulder, but gets a nasty wound on his arm. Harukawa leaps over the enemy, twisting in the air and shoving her remaining dagger into their neck.
"Mama…?"
She gasps, spinning around, forgetting about the dagger buried in the man's neck. There, in the doorway of the room she had been protecting, stands a trembling child, barely illuminated by the moonlight.
"Kaito!" She whispers, rushing forward. "I told you to stay in your room!"
"I-I…" Kaito sniffs, "I just wanted to protect you, Mama!"
"Shh, it's okay," Harukawa hushes gently, hugging the brown-haired child. "I know you're worried about me. But you have to trust me sometimes."
"Okay, Mama…" he wipes his tears. "I'll try."
"You're safe now," Harukawa murmurs, "I promise."
"Are you hurt, Mama?" He asks worriedly, spotting the blood dripping from her cheek and streaked in her hair.
"No, I'm fine," she shakes her head. "Are you okay, Kaito?"
"Of course! Those scary men are no match for Mama, so I'm okay!"
"Good." She pauses, listening for any signs of movement. Saihara gestures for her to hurry, heading to her bedroom, where their only route of covert escape lays in the broken window of her bedroom.
Kaito clings to her fingers as she leads him out of his room. Harukawa follows Saihara, but all three of them freeze at the sound of loud footsteps, crunching against the wooden floorboards.
"Harukawa-san, hurry!" Saihara yells, already out of the broken glass window.
"I'm coming!" She calls back, scooping up Kaito in her arms. She dashes through the hallway, kicking away the oncoming men and running away at a seemingly impossible speed. Saihara tosses her a spare gun from a nearby corpse lying beside the window, and she catches it before turning, squeezing off a couple of shots before handing Kaito off to the detective.
"We don't have time to make sure they're all gone!" Saihara growls, pulling at her arm. He winces at the sudden movement of his wound, but pays it no heed. She nods, leaping through the window after him.
"Over here!" The detective waves her over to a lower part of the roof, jumping down onto the concrete below. He grunts as the jolt sends another wave of pain through him but hangs on until Harukawa follows, and takes Kaito from him.
"Is Yumeno-san here?" She asks.
He nods. "She should be coming soon."
As if it were part of some drama-filled movie, a black car pulls up to the side of the road, and the duo dash forward to meet Yumeno, who unlocks the car and lets Saihara into the passenger seat. Harukawa crawls into the back seat with Kaito, and barely manages to close the door before they're off, Yumeno's hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel.
"We'll have to get away. As far as we can," Saihara murmurs. Yumeno nods. Harukawa casts a glance behind her at the old house perched atop the edge of a mountain, a sympathetic look in her eyes. Her brown gaze hardens, and she turns her head away abruptly, reaching under the seat in front of her. She pulls out a jar of anti-infection ointment and a strip of gauze, grabbing a paper towel as well.
"Saihara-kun," she gestures to the detective. He hisses as he lifts his arm towards her, turning so that she can see the wound on his bicep clearly.
Harukawa snatches a water bottle from beneath her feet and dips the edge of the paper towel into the water before cleaning away the detective's wound, seeing the raw flesh begin to show beneath the dried and crusty blood. She brushes a glob of ointment onto the other edge of the paper towel, and spreads it across the slash. Saihara flinches and bites his lip, grunting as the car hits a bump in the road and jostles his arm. She wraps the gauze around his arm, and he flexes his arm, moving it around to test it.
"Good?" She asks.
He gives her a wordless nod, staring out to the mountain road in front of them. The trees around them begin to thin and part, giving them a view at the night sky.
"Mama! Look!" The young boy points up to the stars. "The stars are so pretty!"
Something in her breaks, then. A tear falls gently from her eye, and she doesn't move to wipe it away. Instead, she turns the child around to face her.
"Promise me you'll get to space," Harukawa says, extending her pinky to her son.
"Of course, Mama!" He smiles brightly, hooking his pinky onto hers.
She gives him a gentle smile back. "Thank you… Kaito."