Sayaka 3: Blessed Wedding Day

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Hiroshima; September 2nd, 1994

Early that morning, before the sun had risen, Hifumi stood outside of their tent and looked over the shadowy town from the amphitheater. They were all down there, weren't they, eagerly bustling about to finish up the last minute preparations for their weddings. Completely unaware, they were, of what was to happen to them. They had stolen everything from him; Sayaka-sama, his journal, his job, his life, his hope...but soon none of that would matter anymore.

He glanced back over at the tent as Mukuro tossed and moaned in her sleep. She never sounded like she was having happy dreams. Soon he'd have to wake her up anyway and send her on her way, all dolled-up in that lavender cocktail dress with pearls on every limb. Junko would likely give her even finer clothes though. Yes, made from golden silk with real jewels at her throat. Wouldn't that be something?

The wind suddenly blew around harder as he sighed. "No going back, huh? Looks like Hifumi-san is going on an adventure today. However, for once, he cannot see the outcome of it,"

That afternoon, the temple was quietly buzzing as the very first wedding in Hope's Peak since the world ended that summer was about to take place. Actual residents of the community were not allowed inside at the ceremony, but if they were lucky enough they could catch glimpses of the happily-married Ministers walking past on their way to the reception. That was more than enough for them as they all crowded the grounds beside the temple building.

Inside, it was a relatively quiet affair. The bridesmaids stood on one side while the groomsmen stood on the other side, all looking identical in their dress. The bridesmaids all wore identical lavender cocktail gowns with white cardigans and ribbons around their waists with kitten heels and pearl necklaces, earrings, and hair clips; Aoi even wore her hair down. Kaito and Chihiro wore simple grey and blue kimono with their title written on the back in large white characters. Makoto stood at the front beside the Shinto priest, while Leon did the same for Yasuhiro.

The wedding march began to chime loudly from a recording somewhere and the two brides walked in together, radiant and glowing. Kaito gently took Kaede's arm while Chihiro took Sayaka's and they walked the women the remainder of the way down the aisle. Sayaka smiled at Makoto, her hands folded in front of her.

"Wow...you look...beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.." Makoto blushed heavily. He wore an extremely formal black kimono with a matching haori draped over everything and gold trimming on everything.

"I'm just so happy..." She bit her lip, not wishing to cry until Makoto ran his hand down her cheek.

"It's a happy occasion. You can cry if you need to," He smiled.

Her hair was done up formally in gold and white kanzashi with a bridal hat on and the lacy veil falling down from it. Her kimono was a pure, unblemished white with a matching white robe over it that fell in waves on the ground.

They turned to look at the priest, and Sayaka really did cry tears of joy as Makoto burned the bark incense for the gods and promised their marriage would last forever. They each sipped from the three bowls of sake; for eternity, for fertility, for unity.

"Damn, you look great in that wedding gown," Leon whistled at Kaede as she took his hand. She blushed a bit.

"It took me a while to find one in the right size," She admitted, wearing a traditional white wedding dress with long lacy sleeves and a giant billowing hoop-skirt. Hers had tiny red flowers embroidered at the bottom and she wore a matching red robe draped over her shoulders. Her hair was up in a loose but fancy bun with a short veil and red blossoms in her hair. Leon looked just as dapper in his formal black tuxedo.

Kaede didn't cry, but smiled happily as they exchanged their vows and kissed; then exchanged their rings. Yasuhiro brought out temporary registration papers for the new couples; they eagerly rewrote their signatures as Sayaka Naegi and Kaede Kuwata.

They then kissed again and started to head over to Chihiro's place for the reception, everyone talking happily. Pictures flashed around them as they left the temple and Chihiro shielded his good eye from how bright everything had suddenly gotten.

Mukuro walked off in the other direction when they got off the temple grounds, making Kaede stop and stare at her. "Mukuro-chan? Their house is the other way,"

"Yeah. I'm not going to the reception. I feel extremely sick," She clutched her stomach and feigned gagging. "Just send me the party bag or whatever," She then shrugged and walked away indifferently, making Kaede sigh.

"Even today she's distant...I thought this day would make her happier,"

Leon took her hands and kissed her again. "Just ignore her. This day is about you and me, not anyone else. Don't forget that,"

Kaede nodded and perked up again. "Alright!"

It was around five in the evening when the reception finally started and the living room had been transformed into a makeshift dining hall. A podium was stood in the front of the room and long tables had been brought out for the couples, decorated in purple cloth. Those were set out near the podium while the remainder of the guests were to sit on the couches. A big table was set out near the dining room and contained all of their food and of course a four-tiered wedding cake with four dolls on top in each bride's and groom's likeness.

By the front door stood a small end-table with expensive party favours for each guest to take home at the end as well as a pile of envelopes from each guest filled with money for the married couples. Money was still worthless, but it was a formality so everyone pitched in with what they had all found at the bank. Ishimaru also stood by the door in a blue suit, keeping a general eye on the festivities and to make sure nobody would disrupt the reception. Both Kaede and Leon had wanted to invite him and he accepted.

The couples sat at their own table then; Sayaka having changed into a pale pink kimono with a deep red robe over it with cranes patterned onto the back and matching earrings. She wore her hair into a small ponytail with a small arrangement of pink and peach flowers in it. Aoi, Maki, and Kaito all sat on one couch by the roaring fireplace, the latter eagerly cheering everyone on, while Yasuhiro stood near the bookcase and watched the self-dubbed Warriors of Hope trying to figure out how to work a cassette player on their own. Chihiro leaned against the closet door that Mukuro had planted the bomb in. Everyone looked around eagerly for who would officially kick off the reception by delivering the first speech.

"Um...I suppose it could be me," Makoto shyly raised his hand and walked over the podium. "I would like to thank everyone for attending my wedding today, and Leon-san's wedding as well. I've never felt so happy in my life, and that's saying a lot," Laughter from everyone. "Surrounded by friends...that's all anyone could ever ask for out of life, I suspect. I feel bad I don't have much of a speech prepared despite being expected to give one...but who's around to tell us what length these speeches have to be, am I right? I hope everyone has a good time tonight," He bowed formally to polite applause. Aoi finished cutting the cake and served it to everyone who wanted some, eagerly eating her own piece. She tried to catch Chihiro's eye, but he was anxiously flipping through the notes of his own speech.

Sayaka smiled to herself, thinking over how much more confident Makoto had seemed in comparison to when her and Hifumi had first met him all those months ago. He still had that calming effect and way with words, but now he could stand in a large group of friends at a formal event-a life-changing event, and not even flinch despite not being as prepared.

As he sat back down beside her, she rested her head on his shoulder and felt her thoughts turning to Hifumi and Mukuro.

I feel sorry for you, but also afraid. I'm glad both you and her are gone forever...it wasn't meant to be this way. At least now we can all finally be at peace, She thought to herself just as Kaito stood up and set his speech down on the podium.

"Fellow Ministers of Hope's Peak, my friends, ladies and gentlemen...I am truly honored to be invited to such a festive affair and take part in such a happy occasion. I'm not going to stand up here and talk about how I never thought I'd be in such a position several months ago, but that's a moot point. We all feel that. Instead, I'm going to talk about why this makes me feel so happy. It's not just the wedding or the fact you all are my dearest friends or the fact that this fills me with hope.

I was an orphan taken in by my grandparents at a very early age, and they truly wanted to see me achieve great things. But I hadn't found the thing that spoke to me yet..."

As he talked, the children finally slipped a tape into the cassette player and pushed the button; old-timey romance songs began to pour out from the speakers, sounding staticy at first.

"Huzzah! We finally have music!" Masaru cheered. He wore a plain blue suit.

"If only it had microphones. Then we could sing along," Monaca stated, standing up anyway and running her hands down her embroidered red velvet dress.

"I want to get some more cake!" Kotoko giggled. She was wearing a frilly pink gown and matching white sweater with pink butterfly wings on her back. "Nobody else is eating it!" She jumped up and spun around over to the table, spotting Chihiro leaning against the closet. "Big Brother Chihiro!" She gasped. "Look, I'm a butterfly!"

He smiled and nodded at her, clapping his hands nicely.

Ishimaru finally walked over and steered her in the direction of the table. "Settle down! You are disrupting Minister Momota's speech!"

"Awww!" She pouted. The fire crackled warmly. Aoi was already on her third piece of cake. Maki anxiously played with her hair was she listened to the speech, a faint blush appearing on her face as Kaito got to the part about meeting her and Chihiro and Gonta and forming the rest of their little group. Chihiro adjusted his position and stretched, bumping his back up against the closet door. Kaede fed Leon some bites of her cake off her fork.

Hifumi was sitting quietly at a picnic table, watching the last colours of the sunset fade off into the mountains. In his hands was the Walkie-Talkie that matched the one in the shoebox. His expression was unreadable. Mukuro took a sudden chill and shivered in her tiny bridesmaid dress, trying to pull the cardigan closer to her before she felt foolish. It was just an accessory, not an actual garment. She shivered again, this time from a need to pee.

"When are we going to do it?" She looked down at the town below them. "I don't want to be here on a stake-out all night,"

"Soon," Hifumi promised. She shivered a third time, this one from the pleasure of thinking of the rewards Junko would give her once she arrived in the west.

Kaito had finished his own speech a few minutes ago and cleared his throat. "Can you believe how lucky we are tonight? Our own Prime Minister gets to give a speech!"

Chihiro blushed crimson and looked away as everyone chuckled.

"Stop it, you're embarrassing him!" Sayaka laughingly teased.

Chihiro handed his own speech to Kaito, who nodded and began again.

"I'm probably not the best at speech-giving, as you can tell by my introduction. Let me be the second or third to say how truly proud I am of this community and this council and how much we've all achieved together..."

Sayaka glanced out the window curiously, feeling the warm orange rays on her back. The sun had nearly set and it filled her with a sense of extreme homesickness and longing that came out of nowhere. She placed a careful hand on her stomach as she and the other three rose a final time; Makoto and Leon in simple grey and black suits, Kaede in a pastel green mermaid gown, and herself in a sunny yellow party dress with a white sweater and matching pearls.

"That's how you looked when we first met," Makoto reminded her, and she gave a smile.

It was five minutes to eight.

Mukuro finally sighed and pushed herself off the bench, squirming. She had to go to the bathroom so badly at that point she felt close to wetting herself. While ruining such a priceless party outfit did have its merits, she wanted to actually look presentable when she arrived at Junko's place.

She stepped a bit further and found the cover of some bushes, concealing her front half in them and pulling the dress up, slipping her underwear down, and letting go just like that. Her stream lasted for a minute and sputtered and soaked the dirt.

When she returned to Hifumi, he was still sitting at the picnic table, staring at the Walkie-Talkie. The antenna was pulled up. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"It's late. It's nearly eight-twenty. Do it now," She commanded.

"I'll do it soon! Don't worry. These things can go on for hours at a time. Did you know the bride is expected to go through at least three different costume changes?" Hifumi smirked.

"Hifumi!" She glared at him. "When?"

"Just as soon as it's dark," He promised. "Just as soon as it's dark,"

Sayaka finished up her cake and stifled a yawn as Aoi was still in the middle of making her own speech. She wasn't tired nor bored, the reception was just starting to run a little long and she had an immense feeling of wanting to just scream at everyone and tell them to get out. Her pregnancy was still doing a number on her, it seemed. She rested her head on Makoto's shoulder. One of the kids had turned the cassette player on again and the music was slowly blaring from it. It was almost like being in a old movie.

"The best part of weddings are always the mints, I'll tell you," Kaito laughed as he chewed on some. "Makes me want to crash a bunch of weddings,"

"They're not just for weddings. Baby showers use them too I think," Maki blushed more. "Don't distract me. I'm up next after her to deliver my speech,"

"Yours will be the best, Harumaki," He winked.

Sayaka tightened her grip on Makoto, feeling queasy. Why did she suddenly feel such a strong feeling of dread? She tried to ignore it as she shifted in her seat. But what of the other people who just knew things in their trance? Damn it, was she an esper or not?!

Get them all out. You have to get everyone out, now! A voice in her head cried, and she suddenly stood up.

"Sayaka-chan?" Makoto asked in concern as he saw her trembling.

"...Leave...a-all of us. We all have to get out of here, right now! Listen to me!" Tears spilled from her eyes. "Something awful is about to happen and we have to get out of here!"

It was eight-forty. The last of the light had vanished from the sky a few minutes ago. Hifumi placed a shaky hand on the Walkie-Talkie button. Mukuro watched him levelly. This was it. No turning back once he pressed that button, not like he had any other choice at the moment.

With a deep breath, he smashed the button.

"No hard feelings,"

It would always be in her heart that they didn't move fast enough.

Everyone had instantly jumped up at her tone, moving things aside and trying to leave. As they were, Kiriko burst through the door anxiously, wild-eyed and in tears.

"My God, someone please come with me now and hurry!" She sobbed.

"What's going on?" Yasuhiro walked over to her and she yanked on his arm.

"Lady Nanami has come back! She's back but she's in a horrible condition! Oh good God, just come!" She pulled Yasuhiro out of the house while everyone froze for just a second before they started trying to leave again. A terrible feeling of darkness and doom surrounded Makoto as he grabbed Sayaka's hand and tried to lead her out the door.

"Wait! Not all of us are out yet! Fujisaki-san is still in there!" She broke away from his grip and rushed back into the house, finding Chihiro standing in the middle of the room. "Come on!" She cried, trying to pull him away.

He shrugged her off and raced for the closet. He couldn't explain how he knew it, but somehow he just knew-something awful was about to happen. He felt her hand grip his shoulder again but shrugged her off. He threw open the closet door and hurriedly threw out scarves and boots and whatever else, hoping and praying that he wasn't too late.

Sayaka ran off after that, throwing herself into Makoto's arms and crying at him hysterically.

"What, what, what is it?" He worried, grabbing her arms.

"Something awful, something awful! Oh no, something horrible is about to happen, it's death, death is coming for us all and Fujisaki-san is still in there!" She screamed.

"What about him?!" Makoto demanded. "You're not making sense,"

"Please, we have to get him out of there! Get him out of there before the awful thing happens!" She sobbed.

Chihiro clutched the shoebox tightly in his hands, ripping the lid off.

"What's going on? What's going to happen?" Makoto tried to ask.

"Get him out, please! Please!" Sayaka sobbed.

And then the house exploded behind them.

Everything somehow seemed warm and peaceful. Sayaka was suddenly grateful she had no shoes on, otherwise the blast might've knocked her right out of them.

Huh?

There was the sound of shattering glass and people screaming. She had landed on her side and felt a sharp pain in her foot. The side of her gown was ripped.

Huh?

Bricks and stones and pieces of wood ran down around her, and a chair landed close behind her. She blinked her eyes a few times to adjust and realized with sick horror everything was too bright, much too bright; like the afternoon sun but it had set a while ago, didn't it?

Oh no...Makoto-kun? Makoto-kun?! Leon-san? Fujisaki-san?! What's happening?! Oh God...

A wooden plank fell down next to her and she wildly thought Kaito had a bookshelf in the living room made from that same material. The screams became more clear to her and she shut her eyes in some feeble attempt to make them less audible. Something about the fireplace...

Hifumi-san did this, I know he did this, he did all of this! She cried out in her mind. And then: Is my baby still alright?

Then she opened her eyes again and nearly let out a shriek as a giant dark coffin-like shadow struck her back and neck and head hard. It covered her up like a black coffin and she felt herself slipping away.

My baby my baby my baby my baby oh my God my baby! She screamed inside her head before everything went dark; she went into a place that not even the girl with the bear in her hair could follow her into.

Hifumi let the Walkie-Talkie fall from his hands and hit the picnic table with a large electric clatter, shaking and trembling all over.

He blew the house up, didn't he? Destroyed every last inch of hope that they had. Nothing could've lived through that blast, he was sure. And yet a deep aching filled his insides at the thought of his former friends all dying on what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.

Good God, what have I done?!

He felt strong hands grip his shoulder and managed to shrug them off, still staring ahead at the bright burning fire. The hands tried once more and he finally looked over to see a look of sheer ecstasy on Mukuro's face as she hugged herself.

"Ikusaba-san...?" He asked slowly, and she responded by choking and then hurling on the ground in front of them. He just stared at her, disturbed. Her legs had a shininess to them he decided he didn't like.

Once she finished retching; a raw and heavy sound, she wiped her mouth off and started to pack up their tent. Hifumi stared at her.

"W-We're leaving now? What happened to tomorrow night-!" She whirled on him and he shrieked.

"It has to be now, Hifumi. Otherwise they'll come after us and execute us for murder. Do you want to be put on a murder trial?" She stared at him, and he finally shook his head. "We're heading west now. To Junko. And we're no longer an item or whatever you called it. We did what she wanted us to do and destroyed the Ministers of Hope's Peak. No matter what they do now, they'll never get that simple fact back," She threw the tent into one of their bags. "But it's not all bad. Junko will reward you grandly. You'll get a woman who is ten times prettier than my plain self. A princess, a nurse, a gambler, a cosplayer, anything you want! And I get to have my own groom. Happy days for us all," Despite her monotone her eyes still shone with arousal as she thought about it.

Hifumi took a few steps back. "B-But...we killed people. We killed a lot of people. Murdered them, in fact...don't you know that murder and kill are two different words?!" He cried. Mukuro almost felt pity for him; he was young and now his mind would be stained forever with the thought of murder. It was in her mind too; he wasn't special. He made the choice who he wished to serve, and he would be all the better for it.

"I don't care. Nobody cares, Hifumi. You do what you have to do to survive. Now help me pack this stuff up. I want to be a fourth of the way there by sunup," She ordered, and Hifumi nodded meekly and helped her roll their things up into sleeping bags and shove them into their bags.

They stole some motorcycles and fifteen minutes later were driving off in the cold night, heading west.

She could hear birds. Yes, birds, so it must've been a Saturday morning when the good shows she liked to watch on TV would be on and that afternoon her beloved idol shows would be on that she'd watch while she drank her plum juice and Sachiko would be beside her eating some ramen from her Minky Momo bowl and chopsticks because her name is Sayaka Maizono and she is seven years old and through their window she can smell part of the ocean because she lives in Nagoya-

Except she's not in Nagoya anymore, is she? She's in Hiroshima at Hope's Peak. She could still hear birds outside. There was an explosion-

"Makoto-kun?!" She cried out in shock, opening her eyes, and within a second Makoto was by her side with a nasty bandaged cut on his forehead and a broken arm in a sling, but he was still him and he had survived.

"Oh thank goodness, you're awake," He smiled weakly at her.

"D-Did I lose the baby...?" She asked slowly, her mouth feeling like sandpaper. "Did I..?"

"What? No! The baby wasn't lost, you still have it, everything is fine," He reassured her and she burst into tears again and held him tightly.

She cried for several minutes until her throat felt ready to burst and Makoto had to go and get her some water. Once she recovered, she sighed a bit.

"How bad was it?"

"I really don't think this is the best time-" He looked away from her.

"I asked, I want to know. How many, Makoto-kun? What about Fujisaki-san? Did anyone die?" She stared at him levelly.

"...Fujisaki-san is...he's one of the ones dead. He was holding the actual shoebox, you know, but I think what sealed his fate was the shattered glass from the window," Makoto closed his eyes. "He was the only one we couldn't find any remains of so we figured when he was the only one left unaccounted for..."

Sayaka bit her lip. "Who else?" Her voice sounded shaky.

"Asahina-san. She was trying to shield herself using the podium but the blast got her too. They did an autopsy on her because she still had a body and...they discovered she was with child,"

She covered her mouth to stifle her gasp. "Oh God, no...! Even a pregnant woman?!"

"It would've been two if not for you," He reminded her gently. "Ishimaru-san...and Kotoko-chan...those were the only four. Kaito-san said that we were extremely lucky," He didn't mention that Kotoko had been killed when the cassette player exploded into pieces and one struck her neck and sliced it, nearly beheading her. Or that both Monaca and Jotaro had been disfigured in the resulting blast; Jotaro had part of his face burned off and Monaca was paralyzed from the waist down after a bookshelf fell on her. Ishimaru had died after the door splintered into pieces and fell on him.

Kaito himself lost two fingers from the blast, while Maki was thrown through the window and suffered cuts and scratches. Kaede and Leon had gotten separated in the chaos and he wasn't sure of their overall condition other than they were physically fine.

Sayaka nodded. "What about me..?" She asked slowly. She tried to sit up and cried out at a stabbing pain in her back.

"The explosion threw you halfway across the yard...your back is sprained and your foot is broken and you have shell-shock, so says Miaya-san," Makoto responded shakily. "You got the first two from when that couch landed on you,"

"A couch?!" Sayaka asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it was one of Kaito-san's. I managed to pull it off you before a flying stone from the fireplace knocked me out," He tried to offer her a smile. "I'm just so glad you aren't dead. I was so afraid for a while that you were..."

They pulled each other in and kissed deeply.

"Some honeymoon this is," He tried to tease.

"Hifumi-san did this to us," She said suddenly. "Him and Ikusaba-san both."

"They got us bad too...I tried to have people search for them earlier but I wouldn't let them leave the town perimeter, and knowing Ikusaba-san she was probably smart enough to get them further away from that faster. They left practically no trace, though we did learn they did it from a Walkie-Talkie attached to a few sticks of dynamite," He sighed.

"We searched his house...we should've done more. If we had Fujisaki-san and Aoi-san would've still been alive!" She cried. "But instead all we found were knives and a gun that nobody even used!"

Makoto gently held her close. "Calm down...we searched that house thoroughly and you know that we did. If we had found anything else suspicious we would've shown it to him,"

Sayaka sniffled, thinking about how Chiaki came back just in time to save them before she gasped.

"Lady Nanami! Where is she?! She came back and saved our lives! She's not dead, is she?" She asked frantically.

"She wandered back into town a few minutes before your premonition, supposedly. Nagisa-chan was one of the first ones out of the house alongside Yasuhiro-san and actually took her by the hand. He was trying to take her to the hospital but she just collapsed on his front door so he took her in there instead. Once Leon-san and Kaede-san returned from the clinic they started to take care of her," He looked away. "I've always had the most ordinary things happen to me ever since I was a little boy in Yokohama, but now I'll firmly say that she is truly someone who's been touched by the gods,"

Sayaka looked away. "She's dead, isn't she? She came back here just to die,"

"What?! She's not dead!" Makoto gasped. "All of the doctors here say she might as well be dead though, given the condition that she's in. She might even go tonight, or in a few days,"

Sayaka sat there numbly.

"Everyone is talking about her now though. They know it was her that told Hifumi-san to blow up our wedding and also likely the reason Lady Nanami came back to us in the condition that she's in. They all know that she's out there, and for once in my life...I'm really scared. I can't feel any shred of hope left in me. Bad things are going to keep happening,"

Sayaka reached out for his hand when she saw him look away. "But it's not all bad, right? You still have me and the baby,"

"Yes," He finally answered after a long time, still refusing to look at her. "But for how long?"