(CONTENT WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT HOMOPHOBIA, SUICIDE ATTEMPTS, AND BULLYING/EMOTIONAL ABUSE.)

After Tall Mom got home from work, Himiko went up to them and told them to sit down, because she had something Very Important to talk to them about. Short Mom happily went into the living room and sat on the couch, looking at Himiko standing in front of them without any sign she knew why this family meeting had been called. Tall Mom, on the other hand, looked nervous.

"Today," Himiko started, bringing out the file she got from the government ladies, "they gave me identification papers and things like that, now that I'm officially real." Himiko didn't really understand why she needed papers that said that, but it had seemed important.

As she had expected, Tall Mom's eyes lit up, and she reached out a hand to see them. Himiko handed them over, and watched as her usually more stoic parent excitedly looked through the papers. "Himiko...with this, you could start school again! Not where I teach, obviously, but I have several colleagues who teach high school, and I am sure they would be happy to tell me-"

Something dark twisted in Himiko's stomach, and it must have shown on her face. Tall Mom stopping what she was saying mid-sentence, and they were both clearly worried about her.

Taking a deep breath, Himiko decided to just rip off the bandaid and get it over with. Like Tenko told her, she had to express her feelings. "I don't want to go to school!" The words made Tall Mom go pale, but Himiko just kept talking. "That's why I wanted to talk to you! I just want to stay home, I don't want to go to school again! Because..." Himiko's breath hitched unexpectedly in her throat, but she pushed past it as tears started to appear in her eyes. "...because it makes me think of there!"

Himiko didn't have to clarify where she was talking about. They all knew.

"..." The two adults looked at each other, and Himiko felt like she'd crossed some weird line she hadn't even realized existed. She didn't like talking about that place, or letting her moms know how much it scared her. How she still had nightmares of the laughing bear mascot, of finding Shuichi or Maki dead, of being executed herself in one of the school's Punishments.

Deciding to take the lead, Short Mom asked Himiko, "We understand, sweetheart. Do you think...your mom and I can discuss this, just the two of us? We just want to be on the same page." That made sense to Himiko, and she was ready to head back to her room when Short Mom blocked her way, looking like she might cry. "Himiko, do you want a hug?"

The teenage girl didn't even have to think of her reply. "Yes please, Momma." One mother wrapped her soft arms around Himiko, and then the other joined her. Himiko tried to enjoy the affection, to let herself ride on a way of love, but it didn't do much to help with the undercurrent of bad feelings that what she said had kicked up.

The hug ended, and Himiko went to her room. Normally, she'd just nap until her moms were done talking...but she had some weird energetic feeling moving inside her, and it didn't feel good. It was like her stomach wouldn't settle down, or she'd cast Animate Object on her organs.

Napping wouldn't work...and then Himiko's eyes drifted towards the laptop sitting on the desk. Himiko had used it before, Aini taped the password to login next to the keyboard. Computers weren't something Himiko had a big interest in, then or when she'd been staying at the hotel. But she had to do something, and that was the only thing her mind would latch onto.

After logging into the computer, and being greeted once again by Aini's stupid wallpaper, which didn't even have any mages or spells, Himiko brought up the internet browser, and started trying to think about what to do.

Ideally, she still wanted to try and find out more about Aini. But she'd looked on the laptop before, and there was nothing there.

The talk with Tall Mom about Aini hadn't led to anything yet, despite the fact she had promised to discuss it with Short Mom later. Himiko wondered if maybe they were talking about that in the living room, but she doubted it. For whatever reason, it seemed like Tall Mom didn't want to bring up the issue.

But then, Himiko had an idea. The therapist lady had said they could go on social media, and while Himiko didn't really care about having one for herself, she realized that Aini probably had an account somewhere, and she could look at that.

First though, Himiko had to find out what site to look at. She searched for the most popular Japanese social media places, made a boring dummy account on the top result, and searched it for 'Aini Tono'. There was a profile that looked like it belonged to her, but she didn't use it much. She had almost no friends, and only one picture, for her profile.

That didn't stop Himiko, though. She tried again, and again, and again, hoping each time she'd find out anything. Finally, on the fourth try, she found what she was looking for on a website that was mostly used by teenagers. Aini had a more robust profile there, quite a few friends...and there were a lot of comments on her profile too. Each one had a little thing so people could give it pluses for being good or minuses for being bad.

Himiko wasn't ready for what she saw.

-Kyoniki Miya - Hey bitch, so you're on the new season of Danganronpa. Good! I hope you get killed and burn in hell after what you did to my brother. Did you know he actually was sad to hear you got in? Manipulative cunt. +126/-3

-Iya Mizukaze - They could make you the serial killer for this season and it would be an improvement on who you are now. +109/-3

-Asahiro Minariya - aini tono outed me to my entire school and did everything she could to make sure i dropped out. i told her i almost killed myself and she said it sucked that i couldnt even do that right +99/-3

-Iya Mizukaze - Asahiro, that is so awful, you didn't deserve any of that. But it's just the kind of person Aini was. I'm not gay, but she still acted like I was throughout all of middle school, and she told a teacher I raped her. +95/-3

-Asahiro Minariya - i am so so so so sorry :( +99/-3

-Iya Mizukaze - Oh honey, you don't have to be sorry. It sounds like you got it from her way worse than I did. DM me, we should meet up sometime. +95/-3

-Bakashiro Aosu - Oh, are we doing this? Let's do this. My boyfriend cried in front of her once, and she would NOT stop calling him gay, and told everyone I was his beard. We broke up because of her. +89/-3

-Iya Mizukaze - I wonder how many relationships ended because of her pulling stuff like that? +92/-3

-Shimura Sasahara - I am sorry to see how many other lives she ruined. Aini and her friends are easily the worst people I have ever met, even if they never did anything directly to me. I've heard a lot of secondhand stories. I don't wish being on that godawful show on anyone, but Aini makes me reconsider. Maybe Danganronpa would work if we just sent everyone like her onto it. +82/-3

-Iya Mizukaze - You're not a Dangranronpa fan? Eh, I know it's not for everyone. Glad we both agree that if anyone deserves to be on there, it's Aini +95/-3

They didn't stop. On and on and on, even just on that one thread. So many people, all of them glad that Aini Tono had gone onto Danganronpa. At least it meant she was out of their lives. And every comment about how terrible she was had three dissenters.

No one even wondered what it would be like for Himiko Yumeno.

Aini...she was clearly a bad person. Himiko knew why her moms didn't talk about her now. But...Aini hadn't been the one in the Killing Game. Himiko was.

The last comment she read was buried under negative replies and downvotes. One with only two people trying to push it up.

-Toko Hinoyara - You're all a bunch of fricking liars. You're all sick. Aini's probably gonna die on that show, and you're happy. As one of her closest friends, I know for a FACT that most of these comments are just baloney. A bunch of attention seekers trying to make themselves feel good by tearing down someone wonderful. +2/-125

If that was supposed to make anyone feel like Aini was being vilified, it didn't work, especially not for Himiko. She didn't have to think too hard to realize she must have been one of Aini's friends, another bully.

The weirdest thing was, Himiko wasn't crying. She was sad. She felt...unclean. But she wasn't crying.

"Himiko?" The voice was muffled through the door, but she could tell it was Short Mom. In a sudden panic, Himiko quickly closed the webpage, shut the laptop, and bolted over into the bed.

She could only hope Short Mom wouldn't notice how she was huffing and puffing from sprinting those couple of feet. "C-come on in, Momma," Himiko struggled to say.

The door opened, and both her moms came into her room. Neither looked at the computer, so Himiko could at least be happy they wouldn't know about that. But instead, they were looking at her, and Short Mom looked like she was ready to cry. "Sweetheart, are you okay? Did the school thing make you that upset?"

At first, Himiko didn't know what they were talking about, but then it hit her: she was probably red in the face, breathing heavily, eyes unfocused. They must have thought she'd been sobbing or had some kind of attack. "I'm fine..." Himiko muttered, feeling bad for making her moms feel bad.

Tall Mom sat next to her in bed, and reached out a hand to rub Himiko's back. It felt nice. It helped her forget what she'd just seen. "Himiko...your mother and I talked about it, and we think it would be okay for you to try doing homeschool. There are many different programs for that online, and we trust you to do it even if we're at work."

That did make Himiko happy. Especially since she knew it meant a lot, coming from Tall Mom. She was always talking about how important education is, and how students needed to be together to properly grow. "Thank you." If she felt like she could, Himiko would have hugged her mom, but instead she had to settle for just leaning into her.

"That said," Tall Mom added, already taking the time to set the boundaries. "We will be keeping an eye on how you're doing, and if we see any issues, we'll get you a tutor." That didn't sound too bad to Himiko. "It's also become...very clear that giving you space hasn't really helped after what you went through. So you have to start seeing a therapist."

"Nyeh," Himiko replied, but there was no heart in it. Shuichi was seeing a therapist, and while Himiko didn't really feel like she needed one, she wouldn't fight her moms on that.

They knew her well enough by then to realize her 'Nyeh' was, in this case, her accepting what they'd told her. "Did you want to come out to the living room or do you need more time in here?" Short Mom asked, her voice as gentle as possible.

Usually, Himiko loved being with her moms. But for some reason, that weird bad antsy feeling came back, and she knew she had to tell her, "...I think I want to be in here some more." Her parents accepted that, each of them kissed her forehead, and then they left her as she'd wanted.

Himiko didn't open the laptop again.

Himiko didn't understand why she felt this way.

It was like she was...unclean, somehow.

Reading about what Aini had done, it made Himiko feel guilty, even if she wasn't Aini.

And...Himiko felt like she had to try and make up for the things Aini had done.

"Hey Nonoko?" Maki asked the little girl.

Her older brother was staying at a friend's house, and the family's mother and father were busy. Which meant it was Maki's job to watch her.

It wasn't as bad as Maki expected. Nonoko was playing with her magical girl dolls, and she seemed happy to just have her 'big sister' watch. There were a lot more explosions and marriages between them than Maki would have guessed. "Mmm?" Nonoko asked, still focused on her toys.

After everything that had happened in the diner meeting, Maki had decided to finish what she'd started, one member of this stupid, weirdly happy family at a time. "My name isn't Marika. It's Maki."

That got the kid's attention. She looked over at Maki and stared. "Mommy and Daddy said you're Marika." Oh, Maki realized, this would be a debate. With a six-year old. At least she had experience in that department.

(No I don't, I just think I do.)

"Your mom and dad are wrong. My name is actually Maki Harukawa." Maki couldn't help but sound tired saying it. How many more time would she have to-

"Okay!" Nonoko chirped, grinning. "Maki, can you read me a bedtime story?"

A quick look at a cutesy wall clock made Maki realize it was later than she thought. "Sure thing." Nonoko didn't seem to mind that Maki was stoic as she helped the little girl change into her pajamas, tucked her into bed, and read her a bedtime story.

Well, actually the last one wasn't true. It seemed she didn't like Maki's monotonous way of reading. "Do voices!" the girl commanded.

There was definitely an impulse to just walk out of the room at that, but Maki didn't follow it. Instead, she...actually tried doing voices. Maki knew she wasn't doing a good job, but judging by the fact Nonoko was giggling now whenever the monster bad guy said something, it had worked. In no time at all, she'd fallen asleep, and Maki was able to return the book to its spot, turn off the light, and leave the room.

(There's that feeling again...)

Maki knew what it was, she'd probably always known. She just hadn't wanted to admit it. But just because she knew that being with these people made her...happy...that didn't mean she felt like she could accept it, not yet. It was still tainted by the lie.

Before heading to bed herself, Maki went to the kitchen to grab something to eat, a last snack, but Maki hadn't missed the fact that she wasn't alone. (A good assassin can check a room for targets in an instant.) There was no reason to stop what she was doing, though, it was only Takashi sitting at the table, partially hidden in the poor lighting, eating some ice cream.

"Marika," he said, and Maki didn't pretend to be surprised to hear him, and didn't turn around. "How are you..." His voice trailed off, unsure how to finish the question.

There were a million lies Maki could tell him, and a million terrible truths as well. But she wasn't Kokichi. She'd be honest, she'd be blunt, and she'd be serious. (That's how they wrote me to be, after all.)

"I've got a lot on my mind," she told him, picking out an apple from the fridge as a suitable fruit. As she closed the fridge's door, she told him, "Nonoko's dead asleep."

The man didn't know the irony of the statement, and Maki wasn't going to explain it to him. It had felt good, how easily Nonoko accepted what she was told, but she didn't think Takashi would be the same way, and Maki wasn't ready for that fight. "Sit down," he offered, and Maki took it. The father looked at her apple, confused. "You didn't want any ice cream? It's your favorite, strawberry."

(It's not my favorite. It's Marika's favorite. I don't even like ice cream. It's a waste of calories, and it's too sweet.)

Was that true, though? Or was it just what she'd been made to think? Maki couldn't tell. She wasn't sure if it was possible to know. "I'm fine with this."

He nodded his head, before seeming to think of something. "Watching your weight, got it." (Do you want to die?) Maki didn't say it out loud. "I was thinking...I know that Danfanponga was tough, kiddo, but you should probably start going to school again. Wouldn't want you to miss college, right?"

"..." Maki didn't know why, but hearing him mispronounce the show's name...it got a rare smile out of her. As for his proposal, Maki took a bite of the apple and thought about it. "Okay." Why not? (Because I'm a monster. Because I'm a killer. Because I'm not real.) Maybe those things were true, but Maki was starting to feel like going to school might be a good idea anyway. Living with this family had brought out parts of her she'd forgotten existed. Maybe more normality would do the same. "I'll take care of it, okay?" she told him, throwing away the apple's core once she was done with it.

As she started to head to her room, Takashi called out one last thing to her. "Marika." With a huff, she turned to look at him over one shoulder. "You haven't called me 'Dad' in a while. I hope you don't feel too old for that." Maki nodded, an acknowledgement not an agreement, and left the man sitting there in the dark, missing his dead daughter.

"Come on, kid. We're going out." Still a bit bleary from not getting enough sleep, those were the first words Shuichi heard from Ran after stumbling out of his room.

It took him a few seconds to understand what she meant, looking at Ran as she grabbed her purse and keys. Once the words were able to properly sink in, he looked down at himself and noted he was still in the same clothes he'd worn the day before, when he'd gone to the meating with Ms. Masa. "Can...I change first?" Shuichi said, sounding as exhausted as he felt.

Ran just nodded her head at that, telling him, "Sure thing, I'll be here."

It didn't take long for Shuichi to change, he didn't actually have that many sets of clothes just yet. He emerged out of the room wearing a long-sleeved black button-up shirt and matching slacks, feeling just a bit more awake than he had before.

They went down to Ran's car, a reliable old thing that was made around the same year Shuichi thought he'd been born, and she took off without letting him know where they were going.

The thing was, Shuichi didn't ask. He still felt bad about what he'd said a few days prior. Another event you can replay over and over in your head to make you feel even worse about yourself! He also...hadn't told his therapist about the voice, the critical one who always knew the worst thing to say. Whose voice wasn't his own, but someone too familiar by half.

It was probably just anxiety. Or stress. Or the lack of sleep. Or all three!

He hated how gleeful it sounded as it tortured him.

"...you can get out of the car now?" Ran's voice knocked him out of the dissociative state he'd been in. The car was parked in front of a Chinese restaurant. Not going to complain, or to complain ever, Shuichi followed her inside, where the server seemed to recognize them both, and showed them to a corner booth. Before she left, Ran told her, "I'll take the pork fried rice and he'll have the gyoza and an oolong tea."

Those sounded great, but Shuichi was confused. "How did you know I'd want that?" he asked.

Looking out the window, Ran replied, "They may have taken out my son's mind, but you're still using his taste buds." That...was something Shuichi had never thought about before. Finally turning to study him a little, she added, "Don't worry, I just got paid, it's my treat."

Money was the least of Shuichi's worries. "Actually, if you don't mind, I'll pay for us." Frankly the amount he'd been given in the settlement was more than he knew what to do with. Don't forget: it's blood money you got for outliving all your friends!

His answer just seemed to irritate her. "You can buy us dinner another time, I'm paying right now." Ran let out a puff of irritated air, and moved a loose bang behind her ear. "It's an apology."

At first, Shuichi wasn't sure if he'd heard her correctly. "An apology?" Even saying those words felt wrong. "But...I'm the one who should be apologizing to you! Ran, you had every right to be upset after what I said to you." Hell, he was lucky she hadn't thrown him out of the house.

For a second, Ran reminded Shuichi a lot of Ms. Masa. She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes as she struggled to find a way to reply to what Shuichi had just said. "No, that's not how this works. You're not my son, but you are living in my house. I'm taking care of you. You're a minor, and I'm an adult. That means I need to act like it." When she moved her hand away, Ran was giving Shuichi an exhausted smile. "It's been overdue, kid. We need to talk."

"About what?" It wasn't that Shuichi didn't want to talk about her. He just...didn't know what to start talking about, exactly.

Ran pointed a finger at him. "How about you tell me what's been on your mind? I know you're doing therapy, and that's great, but honestly..." She ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know the first thing about what's going on in that head of yours. Nobody does but you, until you tell them."

What would be the point? You wanna tell her about how it's all your fault Kaede died? Or how you stay up all night wondering why you survived when no one else did? Maybe let her know that when you thought you were going to die in the final trial, you were actually kind of happy about it? Ooh! Oooooh! You should just lie to her, and tell her you're fine! Of course, you've never been a good liar, but it might shut her up.

"I don't know if I'm ever going to recover from the Killing Game."

"That's...understandable. I don't know if anyone can really recover from that." Ran's voice was sober, but Shuichi could see in her eyes it hurt her to hear him say that.

Aww, widdle Shuichi is sad bec- "When the game first started, I made a friend. She took charge of us all so quickly, and did everything she could to get us out of there alive." Somehow, he managed to smile even as he talked about Kaede. "She was such a threat, Team Danganronpa framed her for the first murder. I wasn't able to figure that out until the end, though, and because of that, she was executed.

"At first, I didn't know how I was going to keep going without her. But she believed in me, and I made a new friend, someone who knew how to push me into doing what I wanted to avoid." Wah, wah, my girlfriend and boyfriend are dead! I'm so sad! Pity me, fake mom, I want validation! "There was also..." Shuichi's voice struggled to get the next words out. "...I don't know if he ever really thought of me as a friend. He was always lying, and a plan of his killed someone else. But...he also helped me. We might not have found the truth without him. I'm...honestly sad that he's dead."

Oh Shuichi, I didn't know you cared!

He wasn't done there. Shuichi told Ran about them all. Rantaro, and how little they got to know him before he was killed. Kirumi, and how much she had cared for them all. Ryoma, and how hard he tried to find a reason to keep living. Korekiyo, and how the strange twisted affection he'd developed for his victims was also the reason he killed them. Angie, and how she'd tried to stop the killings. Tenko, and how hard she fought to protect men despite claiming to hate them. Gonta, and how the most gentle person Shuichi had ever known had killed to save them all from a disaster that never existed. Miu, and how the abrasive girl had always helped when they needed it most. Tsumugi, and how the plainest girl hid the darkest secrets. Kibo, and how the boy without a choice made the hardest choice of all.

Most importantly, he talked about the other survivors. Maki Harukawa, the stoic girl who wanted everyone to believe she was a dangerous monster, but had done too good a job at fooling herself. Himiko Yumeno, the magician who found any level of effort too exhausting to consider, but learned too late to open her heart and try her best.

Ran was a good listener. She took all of it in, and even when their food came, she let him continue, accepting his pauses as he ate bits and pieces of the food. She'd been right, this was the best gyoza he'd ever had. When he was done, Shuichi was able to dig into his food in earnest, just as she was pushing away a half-eaten bowl of fried rice. "Damn, kid. It sounds like you made some great friends."

It was weird, that word sat strangely in Shuichi's head. "I don't...know if I'd call all of them my friends." Korekiyo at least had the excuse that he'd been made to think he was a serial killer, but Tsumugi...she'd chosen to be a part of it in a different way from the rest of them. Unless that was a lie too! Did you ever read the cast list online to be sure?

"Anything else going on?"

There were all the things he'd learned about the day before, but that was more private. Instead, Shuichi did let her know, "I just finished testing out of high school yesterday. I've been applying to online universities, and a few have already accepted me. I'm just trying to decide which one I want to attend." Still, Shuichi felt bad for hogging the conversation. "What about you? I still want to know more."

"I'll try to avoid talking about Hayashi too much," Ran told him, and Shuichi appreciated that. It was obvious he was still a sore spot for them both. "What I will say is that we used to be close, but then he started...drifting away. You and I have been speaking more lately than he and I did in the last few years." That was...incredibly sad. Shuichi could have sympathy for her, at least, even if he had none to spare for Hayashi. "When he brought the permission slip to me, so he could apply to be on the show, I signed it." Shuichi...didn't even realize there had been a permission slip that Ran would have had to agree to. "I'd hoped...it would make him happy."

From there, the conversation continued in other directions. Why she'd chosen to become a nurse, what had happened with Hayashi's father, and what she actually liked to do in her spare time.

When they left, carrying leftovers, Shuichi felt better than he had in a while.

Ran wasn't really his mother, and he wasn't really her son.

But they filled the void for the other, and it made them feel something like kinship.