The Battle-lines
Kuzuryu never found what they were looking for. He stormed back into the room where Naegi and Kamukura were, red-faced. Kuzuryu pulled at his eyepatch a little; it was almost the same motion he used when tipping his fedora. When Soda and Pekoyama also entered, Kuzuryu huffed and crossed his arms.
"Do we keep looking?" Soda asked nervously.
"Fuck if I know." A muscle in Kuzuryu's neck pulsed. "I have no fucking clue how you lose something like that. I mean we could go for a substitute part, but the good stuff's already been claimed and . . ."
Pekoyama spoke up. "Young Master, please allow me to inspect the remains for a suitable replacement."
"Yeah, sure. Go do that." Distracted, Kuzuryu waved Pekoyama off.
As the Swordswoman left the room, Naegi raised his hand. "Uh, sorry, but what did you guys lose?"
Everyone stared at him.
"It was kinda supposed to be a surprise," Soda said.
"A surprise. . .? You mean, for me?"
"Yeah."
He shouldn't ask. He should let it drop right now. (Komaeda always called them surprises). Why did it matter, what they had been planning to give him . . .?
Against the warning siren in his head, he asked anyways.
Kuzuryu walked over. He looked Naegi over from head to toe, as if appraising him. Then, a single hand snapped up, making Naegi wince. Kuzuryu smirked, and one of his fingers wiggled its way under his eyepatch. That one finger tugged, straining the eyepatch against the band holding it in place, rotating it upwards. Curious, Naegi leaned in to take a closer look –
What was that?
What the hell was that?
Blue looked at him from underneath the eyepatch. Blue with a sclera cloudy with red blotches; it was like looking at exposed flesh. And as if that hadn't been enough for its host, a small trail of blood ran downwards from the tear duct, ending abruptly where the edge of the eyepatch laid. Yet it was the clear blue iris that was the scariest part, for it was in such stark contrast with the other eye on Kuzuryu's face.
"Kuzuryu-kun, you. . ."
And Kuzuryu smiled. He smiled a terrible, terrible smile.
"I'll see the world as she does now," he said in a whisper. "Enoshima-san is part of me. Forever."
Naegi backed away. He was staring at the – the evidence lay right before him – but he couldn't, wouldn't accept this. It had to be a prank. Kuzuryu wouldn't do that! He wouldn't . . . gouge out his eye . . . stuff Enoshima's back in in place of his. That was insane. It had to be a misunderstanding.
He tripped, landing on his back. He continued moving backwards until there was nowhere to run.
Kuzuryu advanced slowly. He waited until he had Naegi cornered and then dropped down to one knee. Naegi didn't like the smile Kuzuryu gave him; calm, curious, like a cat toying with its prey before devouring it. A finger snaked out and pressed down on Naegi's half-closed eyelid like a red-hot poker and itched, but Naegi couldn't bring himself to move away.
Hollowly, Kuzuryu said, "This shouldn't be here."
The wall pushed back against his back. "I-it's my eye. It's mine. It belongs there –"
"This shouldn't be here," Kuzuryu said again.
There was no more denying what Kuzuryu had done to himself. Nor could he deny what Kuzuryu would have done – still wanted to do – to him. His sob was a prolonged, piercing whine. All over again, he wanted to tug at his hair until it hurt. Only Kuzuryu's finger, paralysing with its touch, stopped him from rocking back and forth.
"We'll find it," Kuzuryu vowed. "Then, you'll understand. You'll understand what Enoshima-san taught us. Don't worry, Naegi. It'll be amazing."
Something beeped in Kuzuryu's pocket. The Yakuza stood and walked away, leaving Naegi against the wall. Naegi wanted to run, (hide under the bed) but he couldn't bring himself to stand. He brought his knees up to his chest, and buried his face in them (hid his eyes). Every time he shifted enough so that he could see light again, the world spun and he felt dizzy.
Someone cleared their throat.
"Uh, hey Naegi-kun," Soda said. The Mechanic who was on one knee before him. "It's like . . . it's not that bad, you know. It looks bad, but Kuzuryu-kun didn't scream or anything when it was happening. He was laughing the entire time, so it couldn't have been too awful. And, uh, it was quick. It only took a couple of minutes in total, tops! Everyone else was laughing while they were getting their parts, too."
Everyone else . . .?
His back ached from how tense he was. "Did you . . .?"
He couldn't finish. Couldn't dare let his imagination run wild –
"Me? Nah. I didn't do anything like that. I . . ." Soda looked over his shoulder at Kuzuryu, who was talking on his phone. Then, he dropped his voice. "I'm not sure why I didn't. It just. . . it just felt kinda weird."
"You didn't do anything to yourself?" Naegi whimpered.
"No, I didn't."
It was almost enough. It was almost what he needed to hear. But then Kuzuryu shifted, and drew Naegi's attention. And he remembered. Soda had been here. Soda had heard Kuzuryu's plans, and he hadn't protested. He was okay with it. He wanted Naegi to get Enoshima's eye.
The walls began to close in. This was what they wanted. This was what Ultimate Despair wanted of him. How could he . . .? They were going to find it. They were going to implant her eye into him. And nobody was going to say anything . . .
Nobody. . . nobody but Komaeda . . . and Kamukura, who had brought him back out here (Why? Why would you do that -?)
Pekoyama burst into the room.
"Master, the body!"
"What about it?" Kuzuryu said carefully. It already clear that whatever Pekoyama's news was, it wasn't good –
"It's on fire!"
Naegi didn't follow the three back to the chapel. Nidai ended up tracking him down instead, and carrying him there. When they arrived, Owari was furiously beating the last of the flames out with the doll that looked like Ikusaba. (Naegi looked away; he didn't dare look at any of them to see what awaited him) It was obvious though, that it was too late. What remained of Enoshima's body was a blackened husk.
"Fuck!" Kuzuryu stomped around the altar, waving a gun over his head. "Why the fuck did you come get me? Why didn't you put it out yourself first?"
"Young Master, please!" Pekoyama said, "The fire was already established when I made that decision. I thought it more prudent to seek help–"
"And you were fucking wrong! As always. You're a fucking idiot, Peko! And you. . . you . . ."
Kuzuryu clicked the safety off.
He pointed the gun straight at Pekoyama's chest.
"You . . . you bitch . . . " His swirling eyes blazed red as the gun shook in his grip. Naegi, from where he watched, could almost picture a dark haze of despair surrounding him. "Thanks to you, it's all ruined. Enoshima-san is . . ."
Is this really happening? It didn't feel like it. It felt like a dream. It felt if he tried, if he simply willed this to stop happening, it would and he would wake.
But it wasn't a dream, and he was reminded of that when Kuzuryu made some kind of breathy, shrill laugh (like Komaeda on a bad day). This was real, that gun in his hand was real. And the threat closing in around Pekoyama was also real.
He stepped forward, keeping his eyes trained on Kuzuryu so he saw nobody else.
"We should burn you, too," Kuzuryu said. "You know, in the old days, they had it all figured out. They stacked the wood so you didn't die straight away. You burned inch by inch instead, and felt every second."
He was strung so tight inside. His left eye, the eye they wanted to replace, was throbbing. It was like Enoshima's eye was already a part of him, leaking poison with every heartbeat, staining his vision a crimson red. He could almost feel it crushing him, telling him to bow, to let this be because Pekoyama wouldn't have helped him –
(No . . . it doesn't matter)
He felt like a volcano ready to explode. There was so much pressure inside. Looking at Kuzuryu, at that golden eyepatch only made it worse . . .
(That's not who I am!)
He laughed.
It felt so, so good. Each giggle released some of the pressure inside, until his organs felt like the right size again and he could breathe. Ultimate Despair stared at him in shock.
"Sorry, but it's . . . it's funny, isn't it?" (His eyes were wide and nearly bloodshot as he smiled, but nobody seemed to notice). "You guys had this really nice tribute planned, but then it was ruined by a freak accident. I bet Enoshima-san would think that was amazing! I bet her ghost was the one who sabotaged her own funeral, for the despair!"
"D-despair?" Hanamura said slowly. Without meaning to, Naegi looked in his direction. However, all he saw was that Hanamura had a black eye.
"Of course!" Naegi said. "Isn't it super despairful that everything was ruined? It's perfect! It's exactly what she would have wanted!"
"But her body was desecrated-!"
"She turned one of her friends into butter," Naegi said. (His smile cracked around the edges).
"But your eye –"
His face twitched. "We came so close to making everything run perfectly, and then it was ruined! And of all the people to not get a piece of her, it was me! Her family! Isn't that horrible? It's exactly what she would have wanted. Enoshima-san wouldn't have want me to take her eye. There's more despair this way. It's perfect! I don't need anything from her!"
His voice became more and more hysteric, and by the time he finished, he could feel the strange look the Imposter and Nevermind gave him –
"The fire was probably set by the Future Foundation," Pekoyama said.
A hiss went around the room.
Owari shouted, "Those bastards!"
"I was afraid something like this may happen," Nevermind said.
And finally, Kuzuryu lowered his gun. "You sure about that?"
Pekoyama said, "Yes."
The room exploded into a frenzy.
"Look, we're not beat yet!" Kuzuryu said. "We got spare coffins. We pretend she's in there, jump to the cremation, burn it, and pretend the Future Foundation torched a decoy. But we got to do it now, before those bastards get the word out, so everyone thinks they're lying."
"Got it! I'll go set up," Koizumi said before she ran off.
Nidai asked, "Err, guys? What about Komaeda?"
Silence.
"We're going to have to get him, aren't we?" Soda said. "Guy's nuts, but even I'm not cruel enough to make him miss the cremation."
"Thanks for volunteering!" Owari said.
"Huh? W-wait!"
Soda was shoved outside by a seemingly intact Gymnast. As he was, Naegi could only think of one thing: Kamukura wasn't here, and Soda was going to fetch Komaeda one of the only ones he could trust.
Naegi stumbled after the Mechanic. The last thing he heard from the others was someone shouting to call Tsumiki.
"You're coming along?" Soda said as Naegi caught up.
Naegi blinked. "They locked Komaeda-kun in a cell."
"Yeah, we didn't really have a choice." Soda grimaced. "Komaeda's like an alley cat when he gets mad. He nailed Hanamura-kun in the face before Nidai grabbed him."
Naegi asked, "Were you really going to let him take my eye?"
"What? Hey, it's not like that. It's like . . . it's like fixing up an old vehicle so that it runs better! You woulda been able to see things like she did! Or something. I'm not too sure what Kuzuryu and Nevermind said."
Naegi reached up and touched his eye. He. . . he almost lost it. He'd come that close to losing it, and getting that shoved in instead –
It was too much. Ignoring Soda's shout, he ripped away from the Mechanic and took off. He heard Soda running after him, and that only made him push that much harder, move that much faster. The route to his destination burned behind his eyes in lines of fire. He ran and ran, and the door came into view and he reached –
He burst into the prison, and fell to the floor in front of Komaeda's cell. Komaeda instantly snapped to attention, and crawled up to the cell door, eyes wide with fear and concern . . .
Then, the door opened again.
Panting, Soda leaned against the entryway. "Since when do you run so fast?"
Somehow, the Mechanic completely missed the mood. He strode forward, pulling a ring of keys out of his pocket and stuck one into the lock of Komaeda's cell. Komaeda, for his part, had gone very still; like a cat watching a mouse hole. With a twist of Soda's wrist, the cell door opened –
Komaeda sprung
He slammed Soda into a wall and before Soda could do more than yelp, those pale hands were aiming for the Mechanic's throat. But Soda's arm was there, preventing the choke, though that didn't stop Komaeda from scratching and clawing, from trying to literally burrow through Soda's arm to the jugular below. Naegi was frozen, watching as the two crashed to the ground, as Komaeda scrambled on top and Soda managed to get a hand on his chin. Then, the positions reversed, and Soda was slamming Komaeda into the ground, wringing out painful-sounding coughs.
"What the hell?" Soda demanded. He was rubbing an oozing gash on his cheek.
Eyes burning with a fevered light, Komaeda snarled. "Stay away from Naegi-kun!"
Soda's eyes widened as he figured out the trigger. "Is this about the eye? He called it off. We lost the frigging eye, so Kuzuryu-kun called it off."
The storm behind those eyes didn't vanish. It merely plateaued. "Where's your proof?"
". . . Uh, we can't find it? Look, we're about to start the cremation. I'm not going to drag you there, but . . . Naegi-kun has to go! I'll call the entire Monokuma army on you if you try to get in the way."
For a tense, few seconds, neither side gave way.
Naegi quietly said, "Komaeda-kun, I think he's telling the truth."
That seemed enough to disarm him. Naegi could see the aggressiveness seep out of Komaeda's body, although the look he gave Soda was still hostile. He shuffled over to Naegi's side, placing himself firmly between Naegi and Soda.
". . . So, are you coming?" Soda asked.
Teeth clenched, Komaeda nodded.
Tsumiki stumbled inside. She knew this place, knew this walls . . . yet at the same time, she didn't. It was like visiting a place you only knew from a dream. The colours were less vibrant than she remembered, the lighting darker, and every so often, her head would ache and the world would narrow and zoom crazily like she was viewing the world through a telescope. She was using the wall for support, her body too weak for her to stand normally.
She saw movement.
She gasped without meaning to. A tremor wracked her body and she didn't understand why. She looked all around but she couldn't see anything. It must have been her imagination.
No, wait. There it was. It was a long figure with long hair that was steadily approaching –
Kamukura stood in front of her, frowning. There was a crease on his brow.
"K-Kamu . . . Kamukura-kun!" It wasn't just nerves making her stutter; her vocal chords didn't seem to be working right . . .
Kamukura suddenly grabbed her chin. He yanked it up sharply and studied her face closely. His grip was tight, not allowing her to look away, and he just stared and stared . . .
His eyes widened.
He released her suddenly, and she fell back against the wall. She panted as if he had just forced her to run on a treadmill.
". . . You'll need these."
He pressed a small box into her hands and walked off. Fingers trembling, Tsumiki opened it.
It was a pair of red contacts.
"He had a rough day, didn't he?" Komaeda murmured.
"Yes. He was very troubled by Kuzuryu-kun's plans."
"If they had actually gone through with that . . ." Komaeda's hand curled into a fist over his heart. "They still can't see it. He's Hope. He's the brightest light that exists on this planet. To even think about injecting him with that kind of poison . . . I can't. I'll throw up if I think about it anymore."
"Y-you shouldn't talk about her like that," Tsumiki mumbled.
"But I'm right!" Komaeda cried. "To try and combine the greatest hope and despair, it's like trying to mix fire and ice! And do you know what happens when you do that?"
"Umm. . ."
"They destroy each other," Komaeda said flatly. He spun around, seeming to need to reassure himself that Naegi was still there and unharmed. "To try and graft a part of Enoshima onto him. . . to let their blood mix like that. . . it'd kill him."
Something hard wedged in her throat. Words bubbled up; she almost told him right then and there what she had done to the eye. But in the nick of time, she remembered what she had been told and managed to change those words to, "I'm glad you told him to hide before it happened."
". . . Right."
"I would have liked Pekoyama-san to stay one more night. I'm worried about him."
"Yes, that's right," Komaeda said tonelessly. "She's gone back to Kuzuryu-kun, and Naegi-kun moves into his new room tomorrow. He's not going to be restricted to a bed anymore."
She smiled slightly. "Oh, I hope he's looking forward to that."
Komaeda grunted. He stood at the end of Naegi's bed, staring down at the sleeping teen. As if he could sense he was the center of attention, Naegi whimpered. His leg kicked; his back arched a little as if he was in pain.
". . . He really is perfect."
Tsumiki said, "H-huh? Sorry?"
Komaeda blinked, and the motion seemed to send a shockwave through his body. For a moment, he didn't seem to know where he was. He laughed, but it was a high, nervous sound.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to. . . It's nothing important."
Komaeda smiled at her. His stance was strong and steady, but a nurse was nothing if not observant, and Tsumiki could tell that he was both breathing too deeply, and too quickly.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Fine. Just. . . a bit of a headache." Komaeda tried to laugh, but choked instead. A bead of sweat ran down his temple.
"There's medicine for that in the back," Tsumiki said.
She waited, but Komaeda never answered. His eyes were distant, staring at something only he could see.
Tsumiki said, "Umm, I'll go get some!"
She was only gone for a couple of minutes, but that had been enough time for Komaeda to move. Before he had been at the foot of the bed; now, he had moved up to where Naegi's head laid. There was a chair not far behind him, but Komaeda was standing anyways. He really shouldn't have been though, because his eyes were tightly closed and he was using the bedrail to support himself. She thrust the medicine bottle into his chest, but he waved her off.
She was about to say something, but there was a popping sound.
Kuma popped again. The bear had been hanging out in the back before, but at some point, he had drawn closer. He was approaching them now, ears flat against his head. Before either of them could move, Kuma lunged – for the length of once pounce – and slapped his paws against the ground. That was enough for Tsumiki to leap back and trip over Komaeda's feet.
"K-Kuma?"
Kuma backed off. Only to charge and slap the ground again. Tsumiki squeaked and hid behind Komaeda. But Komaeda? Komaeda didn't even seem to notice.
"I don't think he'll hurt you," Komaeda said dully. "Tanaka-kun wouldn't have forgot to teach him something that obvious."
Oh, yes. That was probably true. Oh, if Tanaka knew what she had been thinking, he'd be so mad at her! Though she trembled all over, she approached the bear. Kuma popped again, but he did back up when she got too close.
"Kuma? Is something wrong?"
She wished he could speak. Kuma was clearly agitated, but she didn't understand why. Tanaka would probably know, but he couldn't speak either . . . oh, but he could communicate in other ways! But she didn't want to leave when Kuma was acting so strangely and Naegi was fast asleep. She stepped away from the bear, turned sideways so she could still see him, and was about to ask Komaeda for his opinion –
His swirling, red eyes focused on her. "He moves into his own room tomorrow. It's obvious why, isn't it?"
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"Haven't you figured it out?" Komaeda asked, head tilting to one side. "It's a trap. When he was here, it was easy for me to keep an eye on him. You couldn't spirit him away so easily. But now. . . now it's too easy. If a certain body part were to suddenly be found, it would be so easy to get him alone . . ."
"I . . . they wouldn't do that."
Komaeda sneered. "Of course, you would say that. You're one of them. You're probably the one they consulted."
"I'm n-not . . ."
The red in his eyes only burned brighter. "And when they find it, you'll be the one to –"
"N-no, it's gone! They can't!"
It was only five words, but Tsumiki knew she had given herself away. Komaeda's mouth dropped open. He mouthed those last two words to himself. Tsumiki took a step back, holding herself, not knowing how Komaeda would react.
"You did that for him?" he said softly. Slowly, he began to smile.
The tiniest bit reassured, she nodded.
Komaeda smiled fully.
"Tsumiki-san . . . do we have a quarantine room?"
Huh?
"We d-don't have a room for that in particular," she said. "But, umm, if we have to, we could probably make one. . ."
"Do you think. . . do you think you could make something up? Just to give us a little more time?"
"You mean pretend he's sick?" she said. "But that's not –"
"Just for a little while," Komaeda said. "A few weeks, maybe. That's it. Just say he has a little bug. . . and that I caught it from him, and you can take care of us. It'll be him and me, and you when you come around. No Pekoyama-san this time. It'll be perfect."
"That doesn't. . . It's not right." It wasn't right. She knew that for certain. "We shouldn't restrict him to a bed, o-or a room even longer. . ."
"We have to!" Komaeda insisted. "You see it, don't you? Even if the eye is gone, that doesn't change what almost happened. They can't be trusted. We can't trust them with him! We need . . . we need . . . I need to make sure Naegi-kun knows who he can really trust."
"K-Komaeda-kun –!"
"We won't have to share him anymore." Komaeda stepped towards her. "And we'll make sure he –"
Tsumiki was not a strong person. Komaeda wasn't strong either, but at least the Luckster was willing to use what strength he had when it counted. Thus, it was more shock that made Komaeda step back, and not the push on his chest.
Tsumiki quickly drew her arms back. "You sh-should go."
". . . Sorry?"
"I think you should leave." Nervous, she turned around and began smoothing out Naegi's covers, just for something to occupy her hands with.
"I don't understand," Komaeda said.
"It's. . . it's not right. It's cruel. It's . . . bullying!"
Komaeda was silent.
"I'm offering you a chance to get in on this," Komaeda said. "I don't need you, you know."
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "It's not right!"
". . . Don't stand in my way, Tsumiki."
She opened her eyes.
Komaeda's swirling red eyes glowed like hellfire.
"K-Komaeda-kun!"
"It's fine if you don't want to help, but don't get in my way."
He stepped forward –
"No!" She scrambled backwards until she was flush against the bedrail, and threw her arms out as wide as she could. "No –!"
Two things happened, then. Kuma slammed his paws down in the little bit of space between her and Komaeda, making the Luckster jump back.
And the infirmary's door opened and someone walked inside.
Being trained in the art that she was, Pekoyama immediately detected something wasn't right. Hand on her sword, she strode over briskly. "Is something wrong?"
". . . N-no," Tsumiki said.
Pekoyama didn't looked convinced. Her hand remained on her sword. But Komaeda was blinking rapidly and for the first time that day, he seemed unsure.
"M-Makoto just went to bed!" Tsumiki said. "We were getting ready, too."
"I see. Then, I take it Komaeda is leaving?" Pekoyama said.
Komaeda didn't answer. His grey eyes stared straight ahead with a vague, dazed look.
"Komaeda-kun?"
"Yes . . . Yes. I think I should leave," he said softly.
The door opened and closed. Komaeda was gone. Kuma side-eyed Pekoyama and then pointedly looked away from her.
"Umm, Pekoyama-san, sorry for asking, but why are you here?"
The Swordswoman took some time before answering. "I thought it would be wise to check on you. It is the first day that Naegi-kun is without a human bodyguard. If . . . someone had been waiting for an opportunity, I thought it was likely they would attempt something tonight."
". . . Oh."
As one, it seemed, the two women and one bear looked at the door Komaeda had exited through.
"Tsumiki-san. . ."
"Yes."
". . . Be careful."
With those last words, Pekoyama began to follow Komaeda out the door. She was stopped though, by the soft utterance of her name. She turned. Tsumiki was hugging herself, face shadowed and forlorn.
"Can. . . can I ask you something?" Tsumiki said.
Pekoyama inclined her chin. "What is it?"
". . . Do you promise you'll answer honestly."
"If you want me to."
"Enoshima-san. . . did she ever love me?"
Review Responses:
Eieker: It was an arc climax. They tend to be gamechangers XD
Guest(s): Thank you!
Harjas: Naegi's part was creepy, but Mikan's part wasn't too creepy!
Hola: I think that's going a little too far XD
Kuzuryu wanted to put Enoshima's eye in his head. Mikan is no longer attracted to despair. Komaru is being Komaru somewhere, and Kirigiri is hiding out with Hagakure!
