Walk a thin line between hope and despair.
Running from the truth but it's already here.
Told so many lies, I dunno if they can find me.
Only one life to live, so choose wisely.
Heads or tails? Do you even know what side you're on?
Does it really matter if it's on the same coin?
If you wanna achieve, you gotta believe.
The time: right now. There's the door, here's the keys.
The search is so very long, we let it fade away.
There's a ray of hope beyond despair.
Move on, look for the truth in this world.

Part 5; Betrayal; August 31st-September 7th, 1994

Leon 4: Wedding Plans

####

Hiroshima; August 31st, 1994

On the last day of August, Leon and Nagisa sat outside the front of their house, both drinking warm sodas. One could have anything they wanted to drink ever, as long as they didn't mind it being warm and also as long as it came in a can. Luckily, most drinks did so they didn't have much to worry about there. Kaede was trying to figure out how to quietly mow the lawn so nobody else would be disturbed. She was upset earlier and told Leon Mukuro had come over the other day, seemingly wanting to check on Nagisa, still referring to him as Taro.

"Well?" Leon had asked.

"I turned her away, but...I still felt bad about it. Against my better judgement, I...invited her to our wedding," She blushed.

"You did what?!"

"Invited her to our wedding to be a bridesmaid!" Kaede repeated. "Yes, Mukuro-chan is...off-it, just a bit, but I can't help but think it's because this community has been so weary for her. She's not a bad person, but she's...different,"

Leon nodded, having to agree with that. When she begged him on her knees to sleep with her, she seemed possessed by something else, something evil. Not like her usual self at all.

After that piece of information, Kaede had walked out into the yard to try and work the mower, leaving Leon alone with Nagisa.

"You know, the doctors all say we can eat fish again when the waters clear up. When we don't have to boil the water to use it anymore," Nagisa said randomly, bouncing a colourful rubber bouncy ball on the sidewalk. "I like the doctors here, even if they are grown-ups. Big Sister Miaya acts like a child and Big Brother Yasuke secretly sews stuffed animals for her. He made that stuffed pink rabbit she pretends to talk through,"

Leon continued to listen, staring straight ahead.

"He wants to do it with her, but is afraid her body can't handle it because of her disability. But I think they can. She's not paralyzed, as long as she is watched all of the time I think they can," He took a swig from his soda.

He almost wanted to ask Nagisa why Yasuke was discussing such a personal subject with a twelve-year-old boy, only to stop himself. Yasuke wouldn't have been, of course, Nagisa just seemed to know things. His eyes seemed duller in the sun and Leon found himself wondering if Nagisa was about to enter another 'trance' as he dubbed them.

"How's your Mukuro-mama? I was told she came to visit the other day to see you," Leon tried. The ball was still bouncing hard on the pavement.

"She still likes to call me Taro-chan," Nagisa said. "I don't know. She's off. Bad. Something about about both her and Big Brother Hifumi."

"Are they not happy together?" Leon questioned.

"They think she wants them, that they'll be welcomed back to her with open arms. They don't realizes they're adults, so they have to be stupid. She doesn't want them, she's just using them,"

"She?"

Nagisa just nodded.

"They want to try and go west," He continued after a time. "And Mukuro-mama wants you to think it's your fault for driving her away, but in reality, she did that on purpose. She did exactly what she was told to do, because she is trying to rub away her self-identity. Her self-worth. Take everything away from her until she is just a literal slave for her. Mukuro-mama purposefully waited until you loved Kaede-mama too much so you'd turn her away,"

"Nagisa-chan-" Leon tried.

"She still calls me Taro-chan,"

"Should I call you that then?"

"No," Nagisa suddenly stared at Leon, trembling. "Please don't ever call me that,"

"Do you miss your Mukuro-mama?" Leon asked instead.

"She's dead." Nagisa said. "I have you and Kaede-mama so I'm not lonely," He shrugged. "But...probably not for long. You two will die and so will my friends, we'll all die and it'll all because of her!" He suddenly cried.

"Hold on, who's going to die? The council-"

"The council is stupid. She laughs at your council, you know. She thinks it's stupid and archaic. She wants nothing more than to watch it fall, and she'll do anything to achieve that goal," He threw the ball up too high and it sailed past his head and merrily rolled down the street. "I dropped my ball," He stood up and ran after it, leaving Leon to sit there in mute terror.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Mukuro called out as she walked into the large house shared by Kaito, Maki, Chihiro, and Aoi. Due to the large amount of space in the living room, Kaede told her the reception would be held there. Well, Mukuro wasn't going to be attending the reception, but it was still useful information. There weren't any bicycles or motorcycles parked in front of the house, but that didn't mean anything. What if that deaf-dumb man was still there? Then you could scream at the top of your lungs until you choked and he still wouldn't know you were there.

She stepped inside more, carefully slipping her shoes off and balancing her bag of groceries carefully. She didn't hear anything. Fujisaki likely made all kinds of noise unknowingly. She checked the blue twin bedroom; then the pink, then the master's. All empty. She went back into the blue bedroom, finding the childish decorations all still left behind untouched. A giant computer system was set up at the desk and Mukuro wandered over curiously, knowing it worked because of their generator. Colourful floppy discs were spread around and so were several sheets of paper that must've been his end of certain conversations. She found the idea of someone who could only talk solely by paper fascinating and skimmed through a few.

Making a community is a two-way street. Many good things but also quite a few bad.

Money is still seen as being worthless, but we need some sort of way to measure worth of goods and services just like before. Would it be too archaic to return to a trading system at least temporarily? Well, maybe nobody would object so long as we're not paying our rent with buckets of urine.

With Makoto-san as Minister of Justice, how much longer until people start asking for him to sentence people to death? Just thinking about it makes me ill. I wouldn't even wish that on the guys who attacked me and berated me and threw their food at me. I still have nightmares over that...but it's likely a question on somebody's mind. They might even ask me; O Prime Minister in all of your wisdom, do you see fit to hang these people in the square today?

Mukuro then left, not seeing anything else of interest and headed back downstairs to scope out the rest of the residence.

The living room was easily the largest room in the house, with a massive floor-space that even featured a fireplace tucked into one corner. A large window took up one wall near the door, offering no privacy. A big bookshelf made from wood was near the television set and three couches and four chairs were neatly arranged around the room. A nicely-knit rug was thrown onto the floor and peaceful paintings littered the walls. It was almost like a painting itself.

She quickly thought of an excuse in case she was caught; her groceries were part of the excuse. I just came here to see if Harukawa-san was home. Since we're both going to be bridesmaids I thought we'd look at some dresses in town,

Harukawa might not believe it, but the other three were extremely trusting so they likely would.

Still, the ideal plan was to not get caught, and thus she began to work quickly. Underneath her lining of groceries that were mainly pairs of tights, bracelets, and frosting cans was the deadly shoebox. The best place to put it would be somewhere that would remain undisturbed throughout the reception, but where?

Mukuro glanced around and found a small closet across from the window and opened it up, sifting through the winter-gear. None of it belonged to any of the residents in the house, which meant it would likely never be touched. The perfect place.

"Would it still work in a closet? Wouldn't the door muffle the blast?" Hifumi had asked her nervously earlier.

"I used to work with explosive devices just like this one. This one is potent enough that when it explodes, it will take out their entire house and most of the surrounding countryside. If I can't find a closet, don't worry. There are plenty of other places," She had reassured him.

"Right, I keep forgetting you were a soldier..." He looked away before glancing back with that same darkness in his eyes. "The blast will take out that whole house, hm? That means all seven of those goody-goody Ministers will be killed too, and their friends as well...! Seven and possibly even more all in one blast! Like the political pieces of scum that they are!"

Mukuro hid the box gently underneath a few scarves and other pairs of shoes, slipping out away from the house. She balanced her grocery bag on her arm and started pedaling away on her bike, trying to ignore her shivers. This was what she wanted, was it not? To bring the community to their knees, to make them fall into despair, to destroy their happiness, all for the sake of her glorious sister?

Then why did she want to rush right back into the house and rip the dynamite out of the Walkie-Talkie? In a world where so many had already died...to take the lives of seven more...seven brilliant minds. No, more than that, as they had invited a few non-council members to attend and of course Kaede wasn't a Minister at all.

As she pedaled, she suddenly gasped and gripped the handles, forcing herself into a skidded stop that nearly threw herself off the bike. There was sudden, blinding white that was cold and slimy and horrid. She couldn't see or hear or feel or talk; she was nothing. Then the whiteness turned to blackness and then into green. She bit her lip as she suddenly felt that same coldness envelop her, then insert itself into her, making her shiver. She then nearly fell off her bike again, gripping the handlebars so hard her knuckles turned white.

When she finally regained control of her senses, she found herself outside of a drive-in movie theater, blinking a bit. She was several miles away from where she was originally, nearly on the edge of town. The posters had faded and she curiously walked around her surroundings, keeping her guard up. Something felt strange.

"Hello?" She called out, walking under the large screen and speakers. She heard the cracking of their sturdy wires fail them and in a flash, she had jumped out of the way and crouched on the hood of a broken-down car, watching the speakers heavily clunk to the ground. Almost like a dead body. "Still trying to kill me?"

"Big Sister! Big Sister!" Her voice poured out from the speakers, making Mukuro look over at them. "Big Sister, my dear older sister, the one of whom I am so fond of...won't you give me the great pleasure of seeing your dead corpse at least once?"

"Not yet," Mukuro smiled. Was this a personality change of hers? Her inflections felt...different. Maybe there was nobody even there at all and she had finally gone as crazy as Junko. Wouldn't that be something?

"I'm not very happy with you! You're being stupid! You did nothing but play their games! I thought a tough and gross guerrilla fighter like you would be faster on her feet!" The voice sighed dramatically. "But there's still hope for you yet. You may be stupid and ugly, but your skills came in use here. Tell Hifumi-kun to go to the amphitheater and stay there until tomorrow night. Like, until the reception I guess. After that, you two can join me. I promise there'll be great presents for you both!"

"The reception...what about the ceremony? I'm a bridesmaid," Mukuro questioned.

The voice groaned. "Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, huh? Good thing that's going to change very soon!~ I guess you can go attend the ceremony. But then you gotta leave! Say you have to wash your greasy hair or something. Just say something and bolt!"

Mukuro nodded, thinking of her own dark wedding. She had sudden fantasies of wedding dresses in black and red and purple and blue...blood and bruises and corpses and death. She was stupid, but she was done playing their hopeful games. She'd kill them all and then Junko would reward her gratefully. Junko always took care of her.

She waited for the speakers to say more, and waited for a great long time until she figured they were at last silent. Trembling from simultaneous terror and arousal, she crawled back onto her bike and started to pedal off. She had to meet up with Hifumi again and tell her of Junko's plan for them.

As she left, she heard the voice speak out to her once again: "Like, I totally know that you can do this! You may be my gross older sister, but every so often you can be useful!"

Mukuro didn't stop heavily pedaling until she reached Hifumi's house, only a bit out of breath. Her cheeks felt warm as she stared up at him.

"What happened?" He asked, seeing the look in her eyes.

"The amphitheater. We both have to go there tomorrow," She responded blankly as she got off her bike.

"Aren't you a bridesmaid?"

"She'll let me attend the ceremony. She is a very generous person," She put her hand on his shoulder. "But we need to prepare to leave. I think they suspect us and might try to put us on trial or something. So we need to pack up now,"

"And go to her?" Hifumi's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Not until after the wedding. Until then we will hide,"

"Maybe I don't want to do this anymore. Maybe I just want everything to be normal again," Hifumi all but whimpered, and Mukuro tightened her grip on his shoulder.

"It's far too late for that," She matched his tone.

In the candlelit parlor of Makoto and Sayaka's place, all seven Hope's Peak Ministers were accounted for, alongside Kaede, and all of them were poring over old magazines in the dim light while Kaito passed them all sake glasses.

"Can you believe it? I can't. It's rare enough to have just one wedding in your life, but two?! On the same day?! For your best friends?! That's the best kind of luck there is!" He exclaimed. "And the Prime Minister gets to speak at the wedding as well!"

Chihiro blushed and looked away, feeling red-faced already from the alcohol.

"Oh, stop, you're embarrassing him," Sayaka teased.

"Hey, did you guys decide on where you wanted the actual ceremony to be?" Aoi asked curiously.

"The temple in town we hold town meetings at. Makoto-kun and I want to have more of a traditional wedding and we even found a Shinto priest in town who can wed us!" She blushed.

"We're getting married in the same temple, but ours is going to be a Western-style wedding. No more stuffy kimono for me!" Leon declared, making Kaede laugh. "And I asked Yasuhiro-san to marry us off!"

"I'm just worried the marriage won't be official as none of us got our records from the hospital before we left our cities. We won't be able to officially register ourselves as being married," Makoto's shoulders slumped.

"I can get really good copies made!" Yasuhiro announced.

"Do things like that really matter as much anymore? I mean, nobody's really around to keep official track of things like that," Kaede said. "I'm more excited over what song I'll walk down the aisle to,"

"And then of course, the reception will be at my place!" Kaito laughed.

"It's the only house big enough!" Aoi added before she suddenly stood up. "Please excuse me,"

"I would love to walk down the aisle to Clair de Lune. It was one of the first things I learned to play on the piano. I'll play a bit at the reception if you'd guys like!" Kaede continued.

"Sorry, we don't have a piano. But maybe we could get one," Kaito thought about it.

"Any other songs?" Leon asked, and Kaede thought about it.

"I don't know...I've never really thought much about it. My first wedding was a very stiff affair. I think the songs I walked down the aisle to were just traditional Western wedding songs. My dress wasn't even white,"

"Has the guest list been finalized?" Yasuhiro asked, and Sayaka nodded.

"Just the council and the bridesmaids...but...I kinda wanted to invite those little kids who call themselves Warriors of Hope. Some of them grew very close to their leaders during their travels and I think it's a sweet idea,"

"No wedding is complete without little kids!" Kaede nodded in agreement.

Hopefully they're old enough now that they'll know to remain quiet during the reception, Chihiro wrote before glancing around. Aoi was still missing; where was she? He managed to excuse himself as well and went looking for her.

He found her sitting with her back against the hallway wall, staring into the toilet room. Chihiro paused and just looked at her.

Are you feeling sick? He jotted down and showed to her.

"No..." Aoi sighed. "Can you keep a secret?"

He nodded and moved over closer to her. Tears rimmed her eyes.

"I...I've been feeling sick lately, yeah. But not because I'm actually sick. I think that I'm...expecting," She sighed and looked away from him. Chihiro gently pulled on her arm to make her look over. "The child is yours, I just know it is..."

His jaw dropped and he took his hands off her.

Do the others know? He wrote shakily, trembling. She shook her head.

"I'm afraid of telling even Sayaka-san...because...what if the baby is born disabled? I know that's a mean thought but you're having it too! I would feel like I let the community down..." She looked down at the ground. "But I can't just get rid of it. Babies are important and we both survived the crazies, so surely our child has a chance!"

Chihiro just winced. This was his fault, it was obvious. He was irresponsible and now they both had to deal with the fact their child might have disabilities in a world that couldn't help them. He didn't want any part of this and he felt Aoi didn't either.

After they sat there in silence for a while, Aoi stood up and helped Chihiro up gently. "I'll tell them all myself. After the wedding. Like, the next day or something. No sense in taking the spotlight off their big day, you know?" She smiled. "And...surely the girls would understand, at least,"

Chihiro just nodded slowly and followed her back to the living room and took their seats again, where everyone were still miraculously on the subject of aisle songs.

"Hey, I've got a great one! Why don't you walk down the aisle to this, Kaede-chan?" Leon teased and then begun to sing:

"I see you in the corner of the room there,

Sitting there with that glitter in your hair,

Crying big tears into your food 'cuz he hit ya again

Lemme tell ya some advice my dear

If you know what's good for ya, you'd dump that no-good

And find yourself a real man like myself

Honey, all I'm saying is;

Break up with your man and get with me, girl

Cuz that man of yours just ain't good for ya!

He ain't no good for you, he ain't no good for you,

He just ain't no good for ya!" He finished and everyone laughed.

"They used to play that on the radio everywhere!" Sayaka sighed happily.

"Seems like an odd choice for a wedding though," Makoto said.

"Why did you invite that Ikusaba woman anyway? I don't like to judge people but she gives me the creeps, man!" Yasuhiro questioned Kaede.

"She's still my friend and we traveled together. I just feel more sorry for her than anything else. The community isolated her even before all of this. Maybe attending such an event will help get her out of her shell," Kaede suggested.

"Yeah, and what about Hifumi-san? Are we inviting him too?" Aoi demanded, subconsciously putting a hand on her stomach. The two couples shook their heads.

"Hifumi-san...is a special case," Makoto said. "She might try to bring him but our wedding rules are very strict about those sorts of things...we won't invite him but maybe we can still make a favor bag for him or something. Get him a nice console perhaps,"

Sayaka nodded. "I don't think it was ever meant to be this way..."

On that happy note, the group started to disassemble and get ready for the big day they had tomorrow. Sayaka started to put away the magazines.

"Marriage...can you believe it? Me?" She asked Makoto dreamily. "And I'm getting married to the man that I love,"

"As opposed to what?" Makoto questioned, but she shook her head. She had a sudden memory crop up of Shuichi informing her over the phone he had already picked out two rings. He had felt responsible, perhaps, and anyone their age knew marriages after a discovered pregnancy were quite fashionable and common those days.

Still, it wasn't what Sayaka found herself wanting.

"All in the past. What matters now is the present and the future...and us," She gently kissed him. "Tomorrow will be unforgettable,"

"Yeah...it really will be," He kissed her back with a smile.