(CONTENT WARNING: This chapter contains a depiction of a dissociative episode and violent assault.)
Despite several persistent offers from Takashi, Maki walked to the nearby public school, the same one Marika had attended before leaving to be on the show.
It had a boring uniform, dark blue blazer with a black skirt. Still, it was better than something more cheery, like a yellow or pink color scheme. There were a few other students from the school walking in the same direction, but none of them approached Maki. (Did they dislike Marika? Or can they sense I just want to be alone?)
Of course, that was kind of the question, wasn't it? Did Maki want to be alone? She was of two minds. After all, she found herself missing Shuichi and Himiko far more than she would have expected. Now that she'd let people in, past her defenses...she realized she kind of liked having them there. Maybe letting a few more people in wouldn't kill her. (Unless they're assassins sent to kill me. Then they might.)
On the other hand, newfound discoveries aside, Maki was still Maki. She wasn't someone that was exactly overjoyed when people she didn't know tried to talk to her.
That dilemma on her mind, she finally reached the school. It was as dull as the dress code, completely unremarkable. No Hope's Peak, that was to be sure. Though, wouldn't that be a good thing? It seemed like nothing good ever happened to the Hope's Peak students in those games.
As she'd told Takashi, Maki had handled registering herself for the school on her own. She was going to be in class 2-D, and Maki got to the class before most of the other students, or even the teacher. Desks were assigned, but apparently she'd need to wait for class to start to be told where she'd be sitting by the teacher.
So Maki stood near the front of the class, in a corner of the room, her posture straight and her gaze intense. As the time for class to begin got closer and closer, the class filled with students, most of them in small groups, talking to each other. None of them approached Maki.
Finally, a few seconds before the bell rang, the teacher arrived. He looked young, probably just out of university, with a lean build and a bored expression. He was taking attendance, and then paused before asking the room, "Sakame, Marika?" When no one spoke up, he looked around, only to give a start when he saw Maki, apparently for the first time. "Oh! There you are." Clearing his throat, he told the class, "Everyone Marika has come back to school, so please-"
"Maki." There was no need to use Maki's full killing aura. Instead, she just made her hostility obvious to him in her tone and body language.
The teacher started sweating bullets. "Yes, well...I do see that's what it says here, but I assumed it was a computer error. Don't you remember me? I'm Mr. Hasoteru."
It seemed she had made a mistake in going easy on him. When Maki spoke again, every other person in the classroom tensed up. "My name is Maki Harukawa."
For a second, she thought the idiot might choke on his own tongue. But he did regain the ability to speak, coughing and sputtering, "Oh, well, yes, Harukawa, you can sit there." There were several open seats she could have taken, but he pointed to one in the back corner, the farthest away from him.
Without another word, Maki went and sat at her assigned seat. Roll continued, and not a single teenager dared to look back at her.
Class was boring.
Maki wasn't exactly as knowledgeable as Shuichi, but in every class they were either covering material she already knew or things she could pick up in half the time the teacher expected.
Before she knew it, lunch had started. Maki had made her own lunch, as well as some for her si...for Nonoko and Noboru. Since she wasn't getting anything at school, it would be a waste of time to go to the cafeteria, so Maki just ate at her desk.
She was almost done with the onigiri she'd made for herself when someone called out, "Marika! There you are!"
A gaggle of girls came into the classroom, and they were all looking at Maki. The girls were all fairly nondescript. One was a bit tall, another had dyed her hair blonde, and the last looked like she was probably an athlete. They each grabbed an empty chair and pulled them up to Maki's desk, so Maki decided to just accept this was happening and deal with it. "Yes?"
"I can't believe you actually went on Danganronpa! That took guts, girl! I'm proud," the blonde girl told Maki, slapping her back jovially. Maki was too startled to threaten her for that.
The athletic girl told her, "It's been so long since we last saw you." It sounded like she was trying to be sympathetic, though she added less than a second later, "Did you get me a souvenir like I asked you?"
"Girls, girls," the tallest one said, gesturing with her hands to bring the energy level down. "Marika went through a lot, let's give her a second to be happy to see us."
This wasn't an ignorant family that Maki couldn't help feeling sorry for. "I have no idea who any of you are." These were a bunch of teenage girls who were getting on Maki's nerves.
The three looked at each other, and it became clear to Maki from where the looks were directed that the tall girl was their leader. "Marika, c'mon, we know you're not an honor student but you're not that dumb. It hasn't been more than four months, you can't seriously think we'd believe you forgot us. Oh, are you trying to be funny?" The way she said the last sentence made it sound like Maki trying to be funny was a joke in and of itself.
Starting to look worried, the sports girl asked, "Do you need to go to the nurse? I can take you."
"C'mon, let's play along," the blonde girl said, rolling her eyes. "This is Ruhi, she's Tonagi, and I'm Kuru." As she said the names, she gestured from the athlete, to the tall girl, to herself.
It felt strangely vidicating, to really have someone challenging her on this. It meant Maki could take out her frustrations as a demonstration.
She took out a backup pair of disposable chopsticks she'd brought with her for lunch, tested their weight in her hand, then with effortless ease threw them like a throwing knife. The wooden implement spun through the air faster than most people would be able to see, and stuck into the wall, buried into the plasted more than an inch.
It had been a precise strike, moving close enough to Tonagi's cheek for her to feel it, without actually touching her. One by one, the girls looked at the chopsticks, then back at Maki. They were stunned. (Good. That always makes intimidation easier.) "My name is Maki Harukawa. I have never met you before in my life. When your 'friend' went onto that show, they replaced her with me, the Ultimate Assassin."
The shock only lasted a few seconds more, and Tonagi quickly tried to regain control. "Marika, I know that's the character they had you play, but-"
"Do you want to die?"
All three girls went deadly pale. Maki had said the words before out of a habit, an easy way to get people to leave her alone. But for the first time in ages, they came out as a genuine threat. Either these girls were going to learn that Maki wasn't Marika through words, or Maki was going to have to make her talent more clear.
No deaths, of course. But Maki knew how to do so much more than just kill.
Rubbing a hand through her blonde hair, Kuru looked like she was starting to understand first. "Really? You're not Marika, like, at all?" Maki didn't say anything, didn't nod, just looked at her. Without breaking eye contact, Kuru whispered, "Girls, she's not joking, there is no way that is Marika."
The realization spread like a virus. Looking more than a little unsettled, Tonagi said, "I...didn't realize that the procedure to get on the show was that drastic...or irreversible."
"Maki, I am so sorry!" Ruhi exclaimed, bowing her head and putting her hands together in a sign of prayer. "We had no idea that would happen! Heck, we didn't even know you'd go on the show, we were just teasing you about applying because we knew you were too much of a scaredy-cat to do it."
Now Maki was genuinely starting to get angry. "You were the ones who convinced Marika to go on the show?" She didn't raise her voice, but something in her tone terrified the teenagers regardless.
"Like Ruhi said, we didn't know you would actually do it." Tonagi took up the banner of talking to Maki once more, and she had to be at least a little impressed. It was obvious from the slight tremor in her hands that she was terrified, but she was still facing Maki, still speaking to her. "It's hard to believe we'll never see our friend again..."
That was rich. Maki didn't laugh, but when she spoke again, the words took on a cruel edge. "Friends? I've been talking to you for a few minutes, but even I know you weren't Marika's friends. All of that manipulative shit you were saying before, when you thought I was her. That's not friendship." Maki just...knew that was true. Shuichi would never talk down to her like that, even if he was afraid of her.
"What do you think you're saying, of course you...of course Marika was our friend! If you don't have her memories, how would you know?" Ruhi exclaimed, looking offended by Maki's words.
Everything was starting to fit into place. (What a sad story.) "Because unlike Marika, I have a working brain. You three must have loved having her around. So eager to please, so desperate for your affection." A teenage girl who did whatever her parents told her. A teenage girl crying behind locked doors. "You know she'd do anything to have you around, so you used her. It wouldn't even take someone like Kokichi to do it. You just had to throw out a compliment every so often, to keep her going." Their faces started to turn red. Embarrassment? Good. "Well newsflash: you killed her. She would have done anything you wanted, and that included marching to her death. Leave now, or I'll start trying to even the scales."
The threat hung in the air, and with a huff Tonagi turned away, saying, "Let's go. Turns out we don't have a friend in this class after all." They filed out, though Ruhi turned around and mouthed 'I'm sorry' when she thought Tonagi wouldn't notice.
Soon class was back in session, but Maki couldn't focus on studies.
So, it seemed she knew who Marika really was. A weak-willed girl, so eager for people to like her, she'd do anything.
Maki couldn't help feeling at least some pity for her. But not much. Not only had Marika's decisions landed Maki in the Ultimate Academy, but Maki couldn't fathom how such a thing could happen.
Marika had a mother, a father, two siblings...they all loved her. That was obvious. So why wasn't that enough? Why was she so desperate for affection that she let those harpies run her life?
It didn't make any sense.
It never would.
Things had been better since they'd gone to dinner.
It felt like the wall that had stood between Ran and Shuichi was gone now.
That didn't exactly mean they were suddenly talking together for hours every day, they were both still fairly anti-social by nature. It just meant they shared the apartment with more comfort, and when they did step on each other's toes, they tried to fix it a lot quicker.
She was at work already, leaving Shuichi in his room, the only light shining in the darkness coming from his computer screen.
He'd made an account on social media the night after they'd had Chinese food, and at first it didn't seem to mean anything.
After all, Shuichi didn't have any friends to add. Maki and Himiko, from what he could tell, had no interest in that sort of thing. When he wanted to talk to them, he did it over text.
The day before, he'd gotten some messages from seemingly random people. They didn't believe he was really Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective from the 53rd season of Danganronpa. Not until he'd taken a selfie with his cell phone and showed it to them.
He blocked them soon afterwards.
Talking to fans of that show...wasn't really good for Shuichi's mental health. Please, what is? I mean, look at you! Bags under your eyes, the lights are off for no reason, and you're still wearing black! Maybe we should have called you the Ultimate Emo!
Now, Shuichi kept the website open in one tab while he did research with his other fifteen. Someone's going to be a hoarder if he isn't careful. The tabs were actually getting so small, Shuichi almost missed it when a notification appeared.
He'd gotten a message.
Clicking over, he saw it was from someone he didn't know, but this one actually lived in the same city. Kashi Tetsuzashi. "Sorry to bother you, but just in case you're the real Shuichi...do you know someone by the name of Hayashi?"
Shuichi's heartbeat got quicker just reading that name. "Yes, I'm the real Shuichi. I'm aware that Hayashi Gima's body is the one they wrote me into." Before sending it, Shuichi hesitated. Did that sound harsh? He edited it to sound nicer, then edited it back and sent it.
There was a reply pretty quickly. "Holy shit! You're really him! That's crazy!" The sanest part of Shuichi's brain was telling him to just block this person now. He didn't care about Hayashi, after all. He didn't want to learn about him. But curiosity was his greatest weakness. Guess you're not a cat, because it hasn't killed you yet! "Hayashi and I actually went to middle school together. You were amazing! Easily one of the best protagonists so far, up there with some of the original ones, like Hajime."
Something strange was going on with Shuichi's stomach. Why was he nauseous all of a sudden? Why couldn't he just close the tab? Why...why didn't he feel like he was in his body anymore? Why did it feel like he was an outside observer, forced to watch as his body continued the conversation? "I appreciate that, thank you." "You're not upset about the way the season ended?"
"No way!" "It was amazing!" "Screw those edgelords complaining online, I love it when the heroes actually get a win!" Shuichi was starting to feel numb emotionally. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't get back in control. He'd just have to wait this out. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what was your favorite execution in your season? I know a lot of people liked Kirumi's, but Kaede-"
Shuichi didn't finish reading the message. Finally, feeling returning to his hands, he blocked the person and closed the window, all the other tabs included.
Then, as fast as his legs could take him, Shuichi ran into the bathroom and threw up into the toilet, completely emptying his stomach of everything it had in it. But it didn't stop there. He just kept puking, nothing but bile left, and he tried to mentally shut out all thoughts.
He didn't want to think about what just happened.
He didn't.
He didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't he didn't.
It was a while before he felt good enough to go back to his room, still pale and dripping with sweat. This...was something he was going to have to talk about during his next therapy session.
Oh please, you can't handle a little dissociative episode? Call me when you've planned your own murder and had yourself crushed in a hydrolic press, then we can talk about trauma.
For a while, Himiko wasn't sure if anyone would actually show up.
She'd arrived at the park right around when they'd agreed to, but it was empty.
Her parents didn't know she was there. They were at work, and Himiko didn't want them to know about this plan of hers. After all, they didn't want to talk about Aini.
But there were people who did.
The girls didn't come one by one, but all in a group. Most of them looked really shy, but the one in front looked like a popular girl. "We all came, even though we had to skip school. What did you want?" She sounded kind of...brave. Like Tenko sounded when she was sticking up for Himiko.
The little mage took a deep breath, then bowed as low as she could. "Hi, I'm Himiko Yumeno. Like I said in the message, I'm not Aini but...I'm still really sorry about what happened to all of you!" She started off sounding a little bored and tired, like usual, but the more Himiko talked about it, the more emotional she started to get. "If you'll never forgive me for what she did, I understand, but I still had to apologize to you!" Tears were starting to fall.
Himiko couldn't bring herself to look up. There was just silence.
Then, out of nowhere, Himiko felt herself being pulled up to stand straight, and enveloped in a hug. It was a big girl, and she was very soft. "Oh, you don't have to cry..." Soon, more sets of arms joined her, and Himiko was surrounded by girls hugging her. It was giving her a weird feeling, but she was too frazzled to deal with that in the moment. "Aini was Aini, and Himiko is Himiko."
"...thank you, though." A very quiet voice spoke up next, and as they started to pull back a little and give Himiko more space, she saw this girl was wearing a choker around her neck. "I forgive you, even if you didn't do anything wrong..."
"Let's give her some space!" It was the girl who talked first, who'd stood out in front. They all backed away more, and then the girl smirked at Himiko. "What they said. But we should do introductions! I'm Iya Mizukaze, and this is..." From there, Iya, who Himiko had reached out to online to set this meeting up, told her the names of the other six girls there.
They went over to a park table, and started really talking. Himiko learned more about all of them. Iya was a big fan of the show, but hated Aini, and had befriended the rest after they'd shared their stories. It sounded like she enjoyed being in charge. Asahiro was the girl with the choker, and she told Himiko privately, while the other girls went to a nearby convenience store to get snacks, that she was something called 'transgender'. Himiko didn't really know what that was, but Asahiro was really nice, and Himiko told her she was very pretty. She made a brain note to ask Shuichi about what 'transgender' was next time she saw him.
Bakashiro was kind of rough, and she wore a leather jacket. Shimura was the girl who hugged Himiko first, she was really beautiful and always smiling. Miyake was close to Himiko's height but also really loud, but not in a bad way. Yuzuki reminded Himiko of Maki, really serious and frowny all the time, but she also bought Himiko candy which made her the best.
They ended up hanging out for a few hours, never bringing up Aini again, and when Himiko left to get home before her moms did, she was feeling really good.
Then, a block or two from home, she heard someone call out from behind her, "Oh, hey, Himiko! One last thing!" She turned around to see it was Iya running up, waving a hand.
"Nyeh?" Himiko murmured.
"Sorry, I just remembered there was something I wanted to ask you about," Iya started, looking around before pointing at a nearby alley between two buildings. "Can we talk about it over there? It's kind of private, and I wouldn't want someone to overhear." Himiko didn't have a problem with that, and nodded.
Himiko went into the alley, and blinked her eyes. It was so sunny outside, but it was dark enough in the alley that it almost like night had come early.
Those were the only thoughts Himiko had before she suddenly felt a shock from behind her. It was like trying to cast a spell using too much mana, some kind of power flowed through her body, and her legs came out from under her. Himiko fell on the alley pavement, hard. She couldn't even cry out, though, none of her muscles would listen to her.
The pain was gone in a few seconds, and instead Himiko was feeling numb. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." No more numb. A sharp pain flared up in Himiko's chest as someone kicked it, hard. Her limp body was flung a few feet away, crashing into a wall. "Aini Tono, the bitch who ruined my life, gets chosen to be on my favorite show?" Another kick, in the same area, but it hurt worse. Himiko is pushed against the wall, there was nowhere to move.
Feeling starting to come back to her arms, she weakly tried to grab Iya's shoe. "Iya, 'm sorry..." Himiko barely managed to say.
Iya laughed and kicked her again, while ignoring what Himiko had said. "Fine. Sure, I'd been applying for years and SHE. DIDN'T. EVEN. LIKE. DANGAN. RONPA." With each shouted word, she kicked. They weren't all going to Himiko's stomach anymore. Her arms, her legs, even one shot at her face which hurt so bad and made it hard for Himiko to hear what she was saying, or see anything in the darkness through the pain. "But hey! At least she was going to die!"
"I'm..." Himiko started to say, but another kick to her face shut her up.
"I had dreams of her execution! When it happened, I knew I was going to save the video so I could watch it on my phone whenever I needed to laugh!" She stopped kicking, and started stomping. Not on Himiko's torso, luckily, but instead on her hands, which were still trying to protect her, and on her legs. It hurt worse than anything that happened in the Killing Game. "But you wouldn't die! An airheaded lazy half-pint who wouldn't shut up about magic, and you somehow made it to the end!" Himiko started trying to stand.
To her surprise, Iya let it happen, but once Himiko was up, before she could try running, Iya grabbed her and pinned her to the wall, using her height and strength advantages to make sure she couldn't move. "I didn't think I could get more disappointed, but you just love fucking with me, don't you?!" Himiko realized that Iya was crying. "You made the whole school hate me, you made my parents think I'm some lesbo rapist, but that wasn't good enough?! No, you have to ruin my favorite show, too. You had to take everything I wanted away from me, and now you're acting like you're sorry?"
Her hands started to move to Himiko's throat, and with the only breath she could gather, she struggled to say, "But I'm not Aini..."
For a second, it looked like what Himiko had said just made Iya more angry. But then she looked at her hands, and Himiko saw that somehow, some of Himiko's bright pink blood had gotten onto them. "Ha...it's just like in the show..." Iya didn't sound confident anymore. She dropped Himiko who collapsed, unable to stand up again. The other girl was looking down at her, something in her eyes like she was seeing Himiko for the first time. "Fuck. Holy fuck, why did I do that?" Iya sounded scared.
Himiko tried to tell her it was okay, that she'd be okay, but the words wouldn't come out. Why did her chest hurt so much? Why did...everything hurt so much?
"I can't...I didn't..." The assailant was stammering, looking around in fear before turning her attention back to Himiko. "You made me do it! I didn't...if you hadn't asked to meet up, I never would have...you deserved..." Himiko was confused. Why was she doing any of this? Himiko had just wanted to say she was sorry. "Don't tell anyone! Tell a single person I did this, and I'll..."
There was no ending to that threat, because Iya ran down the alley to the opposite side, coming out on another street.
It took a few minutes for Himiko to really place what was going on.
She'd been attacked.
She was alive.
She was hurt.
She...had to get home. Momma would take care of her, and so would Mom.
Reaching out with hands that didn't look right in her blurred vision, Himiko pulled herself towards the nearby alley exit. She wasn't that far from home.
It was too slow, so Himiko tried standing again. Her right leg hurt really bad whenever she put weight on it, but she still managed to get upright, and start limping.
The entire way home, Himiko didn't think. She couldn't. It took everything she had to keep going.
Getting into the gate was hard, her fingers weren't doing what she told them to do. But she got it eventually, and was soon climbing the steps to the front door. Out of energy, Himiko slumped against the entrance, barely finding the ability to press the doorbell.
For a second, Himiko thought she was going to fall asleep. That sounded nice...
But then the door opened, just as Himiko heard Short Mom ask, "Who is it?" Himiko fell forward, drooping into her Momma's body, who was soon holding her, at first upright, and then carrying her in her arms. "Himiko?! What happened, you're-"
"Touko, put her on the couch! I'll call an ambulance."
Himiko was being carried somewhere, and she could hear her Short Mom crying, while Tall Mom was on the phone. But her eyelids were too heavy, they wouldn't open anymore.
As her mind started to drift into unconsciousness, Himiko realized that she shouldn't be surprised this happened.
After all, the Killing Game had taught her well.
Trying to find the truth led to pain.