Growing up, Maki's life was usually filled with pain. Taken from her orphanage to train as an assassin, she was thrust into a harsh life of intense physical labor and punishment. Whenever she made any sort of misstep, she was beaten within an inch of her life. She couldn't afford mistakes. She would get wounded consistently during these training sessions as well.

She was no stranger to pain.

She was a stranger to kindness and love.

She knew about soulmates; everyone knew that there was someone out there for everyone. Everyone knew that there was someone out there with the ability to take their pain away.

Maki didn't know when she would know she had a soulmate; but she didn't think they would take her pain away for her. She hoped they wouldn't.

She'd been training for years the first time it happened. She was only eleven years old and her body was wracked with pain, plastered with bruises and cuts that she would feel for the next several mornings.

As she laid there, clutching her stomach and trying not to vomit, the intense pain suddenly dwindled. As if just the smallest amount was eased from her body. The gesture was small but the physical relief was immense. As was the mental panic that was going on inside her, churning with worry.

How long have they known?

Why did they take any of the pain?

Are they going to keep doing this?

She didn't want to hurt whoever was attached to her. She'd had the emotions beaten out of her for a long while, but she didn't want the person who was destined for her to be harmed or to share in her pain; to share in her misdoings.

Maki tried harder in training; made sure she wouldn't screw up and get beaten bloody. Her caretakers didn't think twice about inflicting harsh wounds on her, not seemingly concerned with harming her soulmate as well. She would try and protect whoever they were as best she could.

And, whoever they were, apparently felt the same.

Following the first incident, Maki found more of her soreness and pain being lifted from her. It started small; her arm would stop hurting and the rest of her body ached somewhat, but the small amount lifted was enough to soothe her. Her headaches would lessen, seemingly shared with someone who wanted to protect her too.

Then, she began to not feel the pain at all.

Not when she was simply training; her soulmate must have understood that the minor aches and bruising from each and every day just came normally and that she could deal with them by herself. Her soulmate didn't take away the small pains that didn't electrify her system.

No, they began taking large brunts of her beatings for her. Maki would be lying down, clutching herself and, all of a sudden, the agony that coursed through her would just vanish.

Never had it occurred to her that her bonded had been taking on the small pains, the tiny aches, in order to begin preparing themselves to take larger brunts of her agony, sharing in it.

Maki had no idea - no way of knowing - how this affected her bonded. Maki could only guess what they thought of her; and yet they continued taking her agonizing pain for her.

This other person was all she had; so she devoted herself to them. Almost worshipped them, in a way. They acted as her protector… she'd never had anyone protect her before. She began to think of them as her own guardian angel.

She tried to return the favor when she could; her bonded seemed cautious. A small sting here, a tiny pinprick there. The absolute lack of what she could do to make it up to her soulmate was infuriatingly frustrating. Not that she wanted her bonded to be hurt more by any means; she was just struggling with the fact that she couldn't do as much for her soulmate as they did for her.

There were small instances. Gripping, rough sensations on the wrist. Stinging sensations on cheeks, sudden and sharp. Aches in the jaw, dull and thudding.

These certain pains were odd. Very specific and unfortunately growing more and more common for them. Maki couldn't come to any other conclusions than abuse. The concern she felt almost overrode any of the swirling anger in her veins, blood chilled as ice yet raging with the fury of flames.

Years had gone by like this.

Maki would unwillingly have her pain transferred to this other person, and vice versa. She noticed their pain growing worse as the time ticked by. Then, by the time Maki had turned fourteen, something atrocious happened.

Resting on her cot, one night, she suddenly felt a rough grip on her body as she often experienced. Growling, Maki took the pain for her soulmate, infuriated at what was happening without being able to do a single thing to stop it.

Then, she felt the pains on her thighs. It had happened before, but never often and never with as much force. It almost felt like fingernails digging into her flesh as she took that pain from her bonded as well.

She felt teeth on her neck and tugs at her body. Rough, ragged, painful.

And, Maki felt fear.

As an assassin, she'd killed many people. Trained hard to kill people. Trained intensely to never feel strong emotions, nonetheless fear.

As quickly as it came, the fraction of terror that coursed through her was overridden by fury. Someone was causing this to the one good thing she had. Maki didn't know if whatever she and her soulmate shared was love; but, for her, it was a strong comfort. It was the one speck of light in her gray, monotonous world. And someone was abusing that light. And she couldn't do a thing about it but take the pain away.

Suddenly, and sharply, she felt a pain more intense than anything she'd ever felt. Her eyes snapped open as she realized what was happening. She felt the pain inside and out. Her lower body felt like it was being stabbed repeatedly; she could say for certain, as she'd been stabbed before.

Tears gathered in her eyes, making her vision swim as she tried to focus on taking this hellish sensation away from this person. She could take it; she had to take it. She sobbed in frustration and hatred as she took whatever physical pain she could, knowing fully that she wasn't able to take away the other pain and the terror they were certainly feeling.

She took it all until she passed out.

This began to happen often.

Maki never felt much desire to kill people.

Harukawa Maki had killed plenty of people in her life. Had done it so many times that it was practically second nature to her by this point.
Lacking any sort of bloodlust and rarely enjoying the act of murdering her victims, she was more used to radiating an intense killing intent instead. Making people fear her and feel their final moments grow closer. She never got any enthrallment or joy from her missions. Each death was simply a task to be performed.
She never wanted to kill any one.

Until now.

One day, she felt an immense pain wrack her entire body and tried to take some of it; tried to take most of it. Tried to take all of it. But she worried as months went by with no new pains; she must have failed.

Hope sparked in her that this person was taken away from whoever was causing her so much pain. Panic made her worry that her guardian angel was no longer with her. It was quiet for some time.

She tried to go on without her angel. Without her light. Tried to adapt back to how she was before she had someone to share her pain with.

Somehow, word had gotten to the higher ups and recruitment of Hope's Peak about her "talents" with taking lives. She was ordered to transfer there under the guise of being some sort of caretaker or day care nanny. She was informed Hope's Peak had some of the best funded, well run training facilities in all of Japan. It was vital that she spend the rest of her youth training with the best of the best.

The "orphanage" allowed her to throw out her tattered clothes and exchange them for clothing more acceptable of a teenage girl. Let her have skirts and stockings and cute tops. She was never allowed to be cute.

"You have to fit in, Harukawa. You have to be unassuming and you need to not stand out. Don't mess this up."

She was even made to get ear piercings to help with the transition.

After some time passed, Maki began feeling the pain again, and she never felt more blessed. Her angel was still there, after everything.

Her head hurt though. Just like when the pain first started disappearing.

Maki took it. She took it all.

Not used to socializing and other people, Maki had a tough time getting adjusted to public schooling and interacting with classes at such a frequency. None of her classmates were particularly interesting to her. One was into robotics, one was a hopeful detective, one played piano. There was even an Ultimate Prankster. Nothing crazy; nothing of substance.

The inventor girl caught her interest somewhat. Apparently she had been in an accident, inheriting the ability to create all sorts of devices and tools. She was a genius with an astounding imagination and the practicality to put something together from her ideas. Despite all this…

Iruma Miu had an atrocious personality. Maki wanted nothing to do with her, despite her intrigue. As genius as the girl proved herself to be on a regular basis, she detracted from it with the plethora of rancid language that poured from her constantly open mouth. Made herself look like a complete fool with her buttons undone and her own constant hypersexualization.

Maki remembered the painful grip at her thighs every time she looked at this girl. Couldn't stand how Iruma flaunted her body around all over the place when her own soulmate had been wrecked and ruined by the same things. Felt an unspeakable anger clench her heart every time Iruma acted like her body was all she had to offer.

"Ah, Maki Roll, I don't think she means it like that…" Kaito tried to defend the girl, one day. Maki had taken a rare initiative and had gone to her new "friends" during lunch one day, ranting about what was causing her to scowl so much. Well, more than usual. "I don't know what's wrong with Iruma; trust me. There's a lot wrong there. That's not normal behavior."

"He's right, Harukawa…" Shuuichi murmured, contemplating their classmate, chopsticks in midair. "I don't think Iruma knows how to act with people. Honestly, you're still getting used to it aren't you?"

"Well yeah…" she grumbled. "That doesn't mean she… has to act like that."

Both boys shared a look and turned back to her.

"Why're you so focused on Iruma anyway?" Kaito asked. "She's definitely not someone you'd seem like you'd wanna spend much time around. I get she bugs you a bit, but still. You seem to be mad at her a good amount on the regular."

Maki stole a swift look in the blonde inventor's direction. She was laughing at Akamatsu, the pianist seemingly flustered and smiling nervously. Maki had no idea how anyone could be friends with that girl, bless Akamatsu's soul.

"She's… she just reminds me of a lot of bad stuff."

Shuuichi nodded his head. "Ok. That's ok. Have… have you brought this up to her? Maybe you guys can work something out and she can be more mindful of how her behavior affects you? We can help you out if you want."

Kaito clapped her back. "Yeah Maki Roll! Say the word and we'll help you guys out!"

She smiled. A rare occurrence, but she allowed it. Maki was glad to have support outside just her soulmate, after all this time.

Doing her best to ignore Iruma… she found she couldn't. The girl was constantly there, always doing her damndest to make sure everyone was aware of that fact. Always trying so desperately to make her presence known.

Ouma went up to her and brought his knuckle down on her forehead with an exclamation of "Shut it Miu! No one wants to listen to garbage all the time!" over her yelp of surprise.

Maki felt a small pain in her forehead and took it, not thinking about it. They must have another headache...

Small instances like this began to happen; Iruma would get hurt just a tiny bit and she would feel pain. Just a tiny bit. And, knowing it was for her angel, she took it all for them. She didn't want them to feel even a bit of it. Since it was always so small she never even noticed. Maki never thought anything of it.

Physical ed classes were a cinch for her. She and Chabashira overtook the entire class by leaps and bounds. Hurdles meant nothing and running times were a breeze. She could do a hundred pushups in a little over a minute.

Some of the others had much harder times. Ouma was tiny and physically weak, only able to rely on swiftness as a saving grace. Akamatsu tried… and managed to do rather well, using positivity and optimism as a crutch. Shuuichi was… a goner most of the time. Kiibo was surprisingly lithe but still spent most of his time working on robotics.

And then there was Iruma. She had such a nice body and yet… none of that came from exercise, it would seem.

Maki watched the girl fall entirely behind the class as they ran, having finished her laps ages ago. She and Yumeno were tied for last. Chabashira sat near her, cheering her girlfriend and soulmate on as she ran.

Suddenly, Iruma tripped on something - loose gravel perhaps - and fell to her knees, barely catching herself. Maki suddenly felt an immense sensation rip into her own knees. Akamatsu ran to Iruma, consoling her. Iruma looked like she was hurting a lot.

Maki felt dread creep into her gut as she took the pain from her soulmate. She almost panicked as she noticed Iruma's face lighten with relief. There's no way.

"Ah, Miu," Akamatsu noticed the inventor's scrunched features lighten somewhat, "did your soulmate take the pain away?"

"Yeah…" the other girl murmured as Akamatsu helped her settle next to the others. "I think so…"

"Ok, well wait right here with Harukawa and Chabashira. I'm gonna go and get some supplies from the nurse's office. Mikan will probably know where to grab disinfectants so I hope she's there."

"Nah, Bakamatsu it's fine. There's not any pain anymore so I'm fine."

Maki scowled at her. "Just because your soulmate took your pain for you doesn't mean you can't still get infected. That's still a wound."

Iruma looked at her in surprise. Maki had never said more than two words to her before. And, to Maki's own surprise, Iruma had the decency to look guilty.

"Yeah… you're right… Thanks Kaede, I owe you."

Akamatsu took off, a bright smile on her face, leaving all of them in silence.

Maki began trying to limit the coincidences. Any small scratches Iruma got that Maki felt seconds later, she tried writing the blonde's relief off as her soulmate taking the pain. Rather than Maki being the one taking it away. Any headaches Iruma had, she felt at the same time. She tried to write this off as her soulmate having had a huge head trauma of sorts.

Iruma had a major head trauma.

Apparently, after getting information from Shuuichi, she was in a car accident some months ago. Around the same time her own angel had gone quiet.

Maki didn't know what to do with this information. There was almost no way of knowing whether or not Iruma was her soulmate without outright asking her to help her confirm it.

She didn't like Iruma Miu. She didn't like her one bit. She was loud, obnoxious, and disgusting. She thought the world of her soulmate. After being there for her consistently most of her life, Maki could admit she'd developed some sort of ideal vision of her bonded. Iruma Miu did not fit her expectations. She found a strong part of her desperately hoping she was wrong.

"Kaito." She prowled right up to him. "I need help."

"Maki Roll?" he looked at her with such concern. "What's the matter?"

She took him and found Shuuichi, sitting them at one of the school's more secluded areas. Nervously, she regarded both boys. They were each soulmates, and Maki figured they could offer good advice because of that. And because they were her friends.

"I…" she took a deep breath. "I think Iruma is my soulmate."

"WHAT!?" Kaito exclaimed, his face almost comically contorted with shock. "YOU WHAT!?"

"Kaito, calm down!" Shuuichi was trying to keep his own surprise to a limit, failing pretty badly. "There's no need to be that surprised!"

"Of course there is!" Kaito screeched. "Maki Roll and Iruma freaking Miu? Are you out of your mind!?"

Maki sighed. "I have no actual proof. Just… a guess."

Shuuichi nodded, more to himself than anything. "And that's okay. That's where most things start, after all. Hunches become clues that become evidence. It's completely practical to follow a lead once you have it."

"Saihara," Maki groaned. "Please don't compare my soulmate search to a crime case."

Kaito still looked perturbed. "Why do you think Iruma's your soulmate? Where's all this even coming from, Maki Roll?"

"She… She doesn't get hurt much. If she's the same person as my soulmate, then she's never gotten hurt a lot. Or… used to," she corrected herself quietly and pressed on, seeing the boys looking at her confused. "Anyway, whenever she gets hurt I feel similar pain. And then I take it and I see her relax and tell Akamatsu that she's not hurting anymore. And… just, between the skinning her knees thing and… the accident."

"Her car crash?" Shuuichi clarified.

"Yeah… When you told me about it, and when it happened, it matched really well with my soulmate. Unrealistically so."

"Your soulmate was in a car crash?"

"If it's Iruma, then yeah," Kaito mumbled. "How would you know?"

Maki was hesitant to delve into her experiences with sharing her bonded's pain, so she only went over the accident.

"She just… suddenly stopped being hurt is all. There was this awful, crushing feeling. Some of the worst pain I've felt. I couldn't feel anything from her for months afterwards. I… I honestly figured something huge happened and she passed."

"You're already sure it's Iruma."

"Huh?"

"No doubt about it," Shuuichi confirmed. "Well, you could always test it out. Though, I can't say how willing to go along with it Iruma would be."

"You… could always just pinch her or something."

"Kaito," Maki growled, not showing her amusement.

Shuuichi giggled. "Yeah, so many coincidences stop being coincidences after some time, you have to admit."

Kaito began chuckling. "Just go right up to her and slap her ass; hard."

"Kaito!" Shuuichi reprimanded him. "She can't just do that!"

Maki's expression darkened. "I'm not going to do that."

"I was just joking around, Maki Roll! Honest!" He cowered somewhat at her angered expression. "We'll just set it up so you can talk."

And that's how she found herself in a small cafe off of the school's campus waiting for Iruma Miu to show up. She showed up way too early and sat nervously in her seat. Iruma showed up exactly on time, in casual clothes. Maki was surprised to see her not wearing chokers and straps but instead wore a cute off shoulder top with high waisted shorts. She even had her hair up…

"Sorry, Tiny Tits, I didn't keep you waiting did I?"

"... no. You're right on time."

She was stiff. She was nervous. She was embarrassed. This is the worst.

Maki waited until Iruma ordered a coffee before clearing her throat.

"Um…"

"So Mo-hoe-ta told me you wanted to talk? What's up? Want advice on what push ups work best or something?" And there she went, already being incomprehensible. Though… Maki could see some sort of amusement in the other girl's eyes. As if she wasn't being serious.

"No. Nothing like that. I…" This was the hard part. "Iruma? Do… you know who your soulmate is? Have you met them?"

Iruma looked surprised. And just a tiny bit flustered.

"Ah… uh, no. I…" She looked downright ashamed. "No. And I hope I never do."

"Huh?" Maki blinked slowly. "Why… why is that?"

Had I hurt her too much? Could I not take enough of her pain from her? Did I let her feel too many bad things? Did she take too much of mine away?

Her mind began racing a mile a minute as Iruma shifted in her seat anxiously.

"I… they… look, Harukawa. I've had some not great shit happen to me. And… I don't really care that it happened to me but… whoever the fuck my soulmate is went and took all of the shit that happened to me. They took it all away and fuck… I haven't ever even told anyone this before," Iruma rambled quietly, her expression rueful. "They used to get the shit beat out of them. I would take all of their hurt away and I was so glad I could. I have no idea how the fuck they got hurt so often, but… I was glad to help."

"Iruma…" Maki's heart skipped a beat.

"I was glad to be there for them. Just so happy there was something I could do to ease their pain, if just a little bit. And then… my mom passed away."

Maki listened quietly, respectfully, not prepared in the slightest for things to get as deep as they were.

"My… my old man kind of went off the deep end. I mean he'd… always been a bit handsy with me but… Anyway, my soulmate knows all of that about me. Not the specifics, but they should know I'm dirty. They took that for me… I didn't deserve it."

"You don't get to say that," Maki snapped before she could stop herself. "I was glad to take that pain for you; don't you dare call yourself dirty."

"I… huh?"

"You stopped living with him after the accident, right? You started inventing and came here, right?"

"Wait a second-"

"Damn it, Iruma-"

"Hold it, Harukawa!" Iruma whisper yelled, cutting her off. "What the actual fuck do you mean you're my soulmate? What the fuck?"

"There's no way you're not. Here," Maki pinched her own thigh, hard. Iruma whimpered slightly as Maki felt her pain fade immediately. Iruma stared at her in wonder.

"I didn't… even… It just happens instinctually-"

"Your first thought is to just take it away from me, right?"

"Yeah…"

Iruma pinched her own cheek, and Maki felt the sting as she took the pain, rubbing her own cheek as she stared Iruma down.

"See?"

"Holy shit, Harukawa… fuck…"

"Ok, it's ok. We… we'll work this out…" Maki suddenly felt very aware that they were in public. People were beginning to stare. "Maybe… we should go back to one of our rooms."

"Well…" Maki could tell Iruma wanted to make some sort of joke or comment. She was surprised she didn't hear some iteration of "Damn Harukawa, I know you've got a bombshell for a soulmate but you sure move fast," but Iruma just shuffled her feet nervously. "If… that's okay with you. We… need to talk."

"We do."

Maki found herself seated in Iruma's dorm room that she shared with Akamatsu. The room was pink and light. She expected more of Iruma's clutter to be around but it appeared she saved her major tinkering for the labs. Akamatsu had sheet music and posters about and Iruma sat on a bed with many plush animals on top of it.

Picking up a large blue bunny and placing it in her lap, Iruma gestured for her to sit down. Maki sat across from her on Akamatsu's bed, silent.

"Kaede won't be back until later…" Iruma murmured. "She's off with fuckin' Ouma somewhere." She smiled fondly. "Can't believe she ended up with that abortion as her soulmate but whatevs."

"Speaking of which…"

"Right," Iruma's face grew somber. "You… know what happened."

"Your dad did that to you?"

She flinched. "Yes."

"Always your dad?"

"...No."

"Fucking hell Iruma!" she growled and dragged her hands down her face.

"I'm sorry!" Iruma squeaked and clenched the rabbit closer to her. "I didn't mean it! I didn't want you to take that pain! That was to punish me! I'm sorry-"

Maki's heart clenched and her mind went blank. Iruma thought she was mad at her.

"Iruma, I'm going to say this once, so listen."

The blonde stopped rambling, but shivered slightly where she sat, listening and waiting.

"Those nights terrified me. I felt such fear every time I felt those hands touch you. I was angry that I couldn't take more of your pain. The emotional kind; I had to live on not knowing how you were. If you had support. If you had anyone there for you."

"Harukawa…"

"I… I thought you were my guardian angel," she admitted, cheeks bright and red, pouting. "I saw you as this amazing angel who was sent to protect me and make me feel safe and strong."

Iruma blushed with her, stuttering out, "B-but… I…"

"I'll be honest with you. I used to get beat because I was forced into intensive training as an assassin."

"FUCKIN' WHAT!?"

"I was an orphan," she continued. "And the orphanage I was taken to was a cover for an assassination recruitment agency. They trained us from young ages to kill. Iruma, you helped me get through that."

She looked positively conflicted. "That is a lot of information, Harukawa."

"Maki."

"Huh?"

"You… should probably call me Maki. If that's okay."

Iruma squeaked and brought her trembling hands to her pink cheeks. "M-m-maki…?"

Maki felt the smile curl at her lips and couldn't stop it; didn't bother stopping it. She didn't want to. "Yeah, Miu?"

She delighted in her soulmate's embarrassed whimper.

"... why are you telling me all of this?"

Maki tilted her head. "Because. You're my angel. I trust you."

"Gah!" Miu covered her face and curled in against her rabbit. "What the fuck? Why are you bein' so fuckin' embarrassing? Cut it out!"

"But I do trust you. You hold my deepest secrets and pain. I hold yours. It's fair."

"Yeah… Fuck, Maki… this is a lot…"

"It is…" Maki stood and went to sit next to her. Grasping the other girl's hand, she sighed. "But… we can do it. We always have…"

"Yeah," Iruma hummed. "Damn, Maki, we're a little fucked up."

"A little?" She smiled. "I'd say a lot."

"Well I wanna give us some benefit of the doubt. No need to be so grumpy," Iruma grabbed her cheeks, squishing them.

"Miu!?"

"You have the squishiest cheeks, you know that? I've always wanted to do this but you're such a prickly motherfucker. I get special treatment, okay?"

Swatting the taller girl's hands away, Maki growled. "Special how?"

"Well… you'll smile for me right?"

"Why is that considered special?"

"Cause your smile is the best thing ever? You're like a little ball of sunshine."

Maki pulled her twin tails over her face. "Could you not be brain dead for two seconds, Miu? I'm trying to have an actual conversation here."

"So am I!"

The two eased into each other over time. Miu still had a bad habit of forcing confidence, and Maki tried desperately to help her settle into feeling comfortable in her own skin. And Miu helped her in turn. Neither of them had many friends, she found out.

In fact, Miu never had any friends. Maki had some of the people in the orphanage; Miu was alone. They really were all the other had growing up.

Miu was fairly clingy, and Maki found herself not minding. Though, she had strict guidelines and boundaries set for any sort of PDA. She didn't want all sorts of people knowing about the two of them. She wasn't ashamed of Miu per say. The blonde inventor certainly wasn't who she'd set up her soulmate to be in her mind. But that wasn't a problem; Miu still didn't know how to act around people. Neither did she, so she had no real room to judge.

She liked to think she was helping. Kaito, Shuuichi, and Akamatsu definitely were. They had formed a nice friend group, the five of them. Though, Ouma frequently came around to goof off, despite how often he said he hated them and wasn't friends with any of them. He was a well known liar, after all.

Maki… felt good. Her friend group increased and she and her angel finally got to meet. Things were looking up, she felt.

She noticed Miu opening up a lot more too. She was absolutely relieved her girlfriend didn't feel the need to flaunt anymore. She was beginning to understand that she didn't need to convince anyone and everyone that her worth was in her tits; though, Maki certainly found some worth in them. Not that she'd let Miu know.

Maki was trying to help her with confidence issues, as much as someone like her could, but they had a lot of help. With people like Kaito and Akamatsu in their group? The two of them had enough self confidence for all of them.

She opened up to Miu more and more, letting her know more about her past. She never told her about how she killed people; that she could leave alone. No, she told her about growing up in the orphanage and the other kids there. How she took care of all the younger ones. How the funding would stop if her compliance stopped.

"I'm sorry, what?" Miu growled. "You're telling me these cucks won't fund a fucking orphanage if you don't kill people? Like all the time? Fuck that."

Next thing she knew, Miu was on her cell phone telling someone that she needed "a motherfucking meeting right the fuck away motherfucker!" before taking off out the door.

Maki didn't really ask for an explanation; though she couldn't help but feel nervous as the days went on with no answers to her internal questions. Until a week or two later, Miu approached her, smirking victoriously.

"Baby! Guess who's actually the Ultimate Baby Bitch!"

"... don't call it that. And what are you talking about?"

"Fucking called up my sponsors! Tipped off Shithara and his agency to the fuckers too. The assassins' guild is done-zo and so is your involvement in it."

"Miu!" Maki shouted in alarm. "What the hell did you do!? Those kids won't have funding now-"

"Um? What the hell do you think I called that huge dick meeting for? I've got all my bitches working on something for me. The kids'll be fucking fine. You do realize my inventions don't just sit on shelves, looking just as pretty as their creator right? I've got some cash stowed away. We've already got charity fundraisers and all that bullshit working for the kids at your place. Don't worry about it, baby."

Maki was blown away. "Miu…"

Her soulmate looked a little put off. "I'm sorry for interfering without telling you… I just don't want them to control you anymore. You won't have to do that awful shit ever again. The kids are gonna be fine and so are you."

Maki swept Miu up in her arms, lifting her like she weighed nothing, causing Miu to squawk in surprise and embarrassment. Maki engulfed her in a deep kiss, trying her best to express every ounce of her gratitude through action since she didn't think she could with words.

Miu relaxed as Maki spun her around and brought her own hands to Maki's cheeks, pecking back and giggling, light and free.

"Thank you, Miu… thank you."

They continued through high school, easily one of the school's sweetest yet most curious couples. Their classmates were thrilled with their relationship, they were surprised to find.

After graduation, Miu continued inventing, patenting all sorts of different devices, programs, and systems. A lot of her merchandise was meant to help people in comas and medical use. She and Kiibo had plenty of things in store, Maki figured. Miu was swiftly becoming a renowned inventor, taking the field by storm.

Maki herself adapted to the title of Ultimate Caretaker rather well, finding her niche with kids, surprisingly enough. She opened her own daycare, which turned out very popular. Japan was a place where daycares were scarce, after all. She enlisted some help, and even ended up continuing her schooling to get teaching credentials.

The two of them, along with their classmates from Hope's Peak, frequently held charity fundraisers for the orphanage Maki grew up in, and often held "adoption meetings" where the kids would get to meet and mingle with all sorts of possible families. Shuuichi and Momota even adopted their kid from the place. Maki had been discussing possibilities with Tenko and Himiko as well.

Miu and Maki had been together for some time, never drifting into anything too physical. Both of them wanted to take the relationship seriously, slowly. A comfortable pace. Shuuichi and Kaito had already gotten married, almost right after graduation, and Ouma and Kaede were apparently on their way to being a married couple as well.

Maki found that she was desperately in love with Iruma Miu. She found a new favorite pastime in whispering sweet nothings into Miu's ears. Playing with long, soft locks of strawberry blonde as her lovely girlfriend laid in her lap. Found stars in her swirling blue eyes, prettier than any night sky.

Harukawa Maki was quickly turning into a sap. Miu insisted she'd been one for a long time already.

What was new for her, however, was how much she enjoyed lavishing her girlfriend, conveying to her physically how much she was in love with her.

Which is how she felt in her current situation, as she pinned Miu to her couch. The two had made a "movie night sleepover" date out of the evening, and Maki was finding it a little harder to keep her hands to herself than she thought.

She felt bliss as she pressed open mouthed kisses down Miu's collar bone. Hitched whimpers and whines met her ears, making her smirk. Her fingers, feather light, rubbed at supple thighs, moving to knead into the flesh.

Miu gasped and let out a low, quiet moan and Maki felt her breath pitch. Beautiful...

Miu splayed out before her, an ocean of peach blonde swirling around her, singing such pretty song... she really was her angel. A goddess.

She pulled Miu to her, lips meeting softly in a kiss. She felt curled lips smile against her and she lost a hand in waterfalls of that strawberry blond hair, nails gently raking across the girl's scalp.

She almost whimpered as Miu moaned softly at her mouth, opting to part her own lips slightly to deepen the kiss.

Miu made a small noise of surprise and embarrassment as Maki began using her tongue, hand in her hair and the other playing with the hem of her skirt.

Maki released the kiss, looking down at her bonded.

"How are you doing?" she asked as she panted, catching her breath. Not that she wanted to; each and every last of her breaths were Miu's and Miu's alone. All of her oxygen and all of her soul belonged to the girl under her.

Miu could only let out a a bashful whine in response, fighting her own struggle to regain composure. Her blue eyes were half lidded, glazed over, and she glanced nervously up at Maki from under thick, pretty lashes.

Maki cupped her bonded through lacy underwear and listened to Miu's absolutely delicious gasp of pleasure.

"You're just too much, Miu," she said as she rubbed her through the fabric. "Making me this hot and needy."

Maki was… still working on the "dirty talk" aspect of this new physical part of their relationship, but she was delighted when Miu let out a moan, regardless. One that left Maki's belly churning with desire.

She wanted to kiss her again. But she noticed a small hesitancy in Miu's eyes that made her pause her administrations.

"What's the matter, love?" she asked, removing her hands from her soulmate's body.

"Why'd you stop?" she whined.

"Because you... looked like you wanted to. Do you want to stop?"

Miu looked confused. "... do you?"

"God no," Maki admitted. "I want to ravage you. Claim you here and now and show you just how much I adore you. But that's not what this is about. You look uncomfortable."

"I... I'm just used to this... hurting."

"Miu..."

"I'm sorry... you're... so nice. And it feels good!" Miu put her hands up, hoping to reassure her. "I'm just... I don't think I'm ready for this, baby... I'm sorry, we can keep going if you-"

Maki put her finger to Miu's lips.

"You just said you're not ready. Of course we're not going to continue."

Miu almost looked disappointed. "But... you-"

"Not about me, Angel. You're uncomfortable and I will respect you. We can just cuddle and watch a movie. It's a blessing to kiss you and if you don't want more than that, that's okay."

"Maki..." Miu cupped her cheeks and kissed her forehead. "You're such a sweetie pie..."

Maki shifted her legs and grimaced. "I might need a cold shower though, after all of that."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for."

She returned from the shower, in a baggy tee and sweats. Miu just wore an oversized shirt and undergarments as she looked through Netflix for some goofy kids show no doubt. She smelt hot chocolate working on the stove and moved to get mugs.

It was almost as if they were already married, with the way Maki knew her way around Miu's place. The way she spent all of her time there anyway.

"Miu..." She figured now was as good a time to breach the subject as any. "Do you want to move in together?"

"Wha-!?" Miu went bright bubblegum pink.

Allowing her girlfriend to stutter for a few minutes, Maki smiled.

"I... I would love to.."

"Great. I adore you."

"Gah! You can't just keep saying that goopy, sweet shit all the time! Don't you get embarrassed?"

"Well... you get embarrassed enough for the two of us, really."

"You're so damn unfair! Being all cute and shit! What the fuck, Maki!"

"Well then," Maki leaned against her taller lover, "I guess that means you're even more unfair."

Maki felt loved. She no longer needed to be watched over or protected - though she knew Miu would still try to enthusiastically. She had love, and so much light and joy in this new life of hers. She knew this was going to be the girl she married. They were certain to adopt kids from the orphanage. She was excited to begin packing soon.

"I love you, Miu."

"... I love you too, Maki."