Epilogue Part I: Our Alma Mater

Miura's POV

I stood before the gates of Talent High School once again, mere days after the end of the killing game. Sae, Inoue-kun and Tezuka-kun accompanied me, all clad in the uniforms of the Future Foundation. They looked like the classic "men in black" suits- white button-down shirts with black jackets, ties and trousers or skirts- but I personally felt as though we were attending a funeral.

After Naegi-kun rescued us and brought us back to the headquarters, the Future Foundation restored our memories of our time in high school, and asked us to join them. We accepted, and were soon issued uniforms and our first orders- investigate Talent High School. Kirigiri-san said that whenever the four of us worked together, I would be in charge of the other three. The others agreed I was probably the best choice, but while I didn't think they were wrong, I still felt a little awkward about it.

"Is something the matter, Miura-san?" Sae said, reminding me why I felt that way.

"Nothing really," I said. "It's just that it's been a long time since you called me that."

After speaking, I realized that "a long time" not only depended on how you measured time, but also, whether we were talking about our time at school or the killing game. When we were at school, Sae and I had gotten onto a first-name basis after the meet-and-greet, which had been nearly two years ago, but after having our memories erased, Sae had called me "Miura-san" until a little less than two weeks ago.

"I know," Sae said "I don't think it'd be appropriate to be too familiar with my boss at work, and I'm sure some of our colleagues feel the same way."

"Fair enough, Edogawa-san," I said. "I do appreciate that you're willing to show that our relationship won't get in the way of doing our job."

I didn't feel half as strange about calling Sae by her surname as I did about hearing her call me by mine. Maybe it was because my parents had drilled the value of good manners into me, or maybe it was because I was starting to accept this arrangement, even if I didn't really like it. If our positions were reversed, I'd probably act like Sae was now.

"Sheesh, you two should just relax," Tezuka-kun said. "It's not like Shinichi or I are gonna report you for using first names."

I couldn't help but chuckle. Tezuka-kun was as blunt as always, and that hadn't changed now that I outranked him. Of course, Sae wasn't the type to emulate him.

"I appreciate it, Tezuka-kun," Sae said. "To me, it's just a matter of principle, and I'm glad Miura-san agrees. All I need to do is respect and obey her, like I do with any other authority figure, while she has to treat me impartially, so I have the easier job."

"Edogawa-san has a point," I said. "We have a job to do, so let's get to it."

Our first big job for the Future Foundation was to investigate our alma mater, and we had several objective. The first and most important was to find evidence that might indicate who, if anyone, in the school had ties to Ultimate Despair. Other objectives included securing the remains of the dead students so they could be returned to their families, returning students' belongings and other tasks.

The school seemed almost as we'd left it, but with one notable exception. We saw Monokuma's robotic body laying near the entrance, the circuitry scooped out of his head.

"Looks like someone got to Monokuma first," Tezuka-kun said. "Serves the bastard right."

"I'm with you there, Yusuke," Inoue-kun said, "but I'm not sure that he was attacked out of hatred. It seems as though the person who punched a hole in his head did so to salvage his parts."

"This sounds important," I said. "We've got our first find."

I whipped out my digital camera and took a few pictures of Monokuma's body as a record of the scene. Once I was finished, a Future Foundation agent bent over Monokuma to dissect him, for lack of a better word. After a few seconds of examining, he froze.

"Holy shit..." the agent said.

"What's wrong?" I said.

"You kids better stay back," the agent said. "I just found an explosive device inside Monokuma's body, along with several other hidden weapons."

We gasped and froze in our spot, even knowing that this wasn't exactly the safest place to be.

"Judging from its size, the bomb inside him is about as powerful as a hand grenade," the agent said, "but none of you want to be anywhere near it. I'll see to it that it's disabled and disposed of safely, so just get out of the blast radius."

I stood at attention and did an impromptu salute. The Future Foundation didn't have official ranks, apart from the division heads and a few other middle-management types, so there was no way to know whether my interlocutor outranked me, but it was obvious that he knew what he was talking about.

"Yes, sir," I said. "Let's head inside."

The other three quickly followed me inside. The power was off, but there was enough daylight for us to get at last a good look at our surroundings. We turned on the flashlights we had with us, knowing we'd need them once we got inside.

"Well, here we are," I said. "Let's get to work."

I got an "Understood," from Inoue-kun, a "Sure" from Tezuka-kun, and a "Yes, ma'am" from Sae, and noticed that only the latter was treating me any differently from before. Maybe it was because she and I were the most familiar with each other, or maybe due to her being most sensitive to how others might view our closeness, but it didn't feel natural.


The search of Talent High School began, and I found that apart from the unknown individual who had destroyed Monokuma, no one had come by. The power had apparently failed, so we had to use flashlights to navigate the darkened halls, and used lanterns to illuminate the rooms we were investigating.

It was strange being in the school once again, as the memories of the killing game mixed with our ones of our time at school. The dining hall hadn't just been the site of our morning meetings, but also where we'd eaten together while at the school. The first floor classroom was not just the place where I'd woken up, but where I'd sat while attending class at the school. I'd eaten together with my classmates in the dining hall, both as people struggling to survive the killing game and as ordinary classmates.

Inside the dorms, I retrieved my room key from my pocket and opened the door. My room was as I'd left it, and with the help of another agent, I began packing my belongings into bags. Once the investigation was complete, all personal belongings would be returned to the respective survivors, or to the families of the deceased. There wasn't all that much to retrieve- just a few changes of clothes and other personal effects- but it was nice to be able to have my belongings back.

"I'm surprised the looters didn't break into here," I said. "They seemed eager enough to get inside by the time we sealed the school."

"There's a few reasons for that," the agent said. "First, the authorities deal with looters rather harshly, often shooting them on sight, so not many are willing to take the risk unless they're desperate. Second, there isn't much in the way of money, edible food or items that could easily be sold. Third, the school's defense system kept people away for a long time, and news travels slowly these days, so I doubt that many people are aware that it's now open."

"Ah, yes, the broadcast cut off before the doors opened," I said. "I'm glad that no one disturbed the school in the short time between when we left and when we returned."

"Since this building is mostly intact, it should serve the Future Foundation well," the agent said. "Perhaps someday, it will be reopened as a school. I'm hoping that it will be, since the Tragedy happened just after my first year of college and brought my studies to a halt."

I hoped so, too. Perhaps someday, students like myself and this woman who was my sister's age would be able to go to school, graduate and live relatively ordinary lives once again.

Elsewhere, other agents were gathering up and sorting the dead students' belongings, while on the second floor, others were doing the same for the missing senior class. I had little reason to believe that the final graduating class of Talent High School was still alive, but hoped I could eventually see my friends again.


On the fifth floor, a special recovery team in biohazard suits headed to the bio lab.

"What's going on here?" I said.

"Sorry, Miura-san, this place is off limits," one female agent in a biohazard suit said. "We're retrieving the dead bodies of the students who died. Not only did the refrigeration fail, but some of those bodies were in a rather awful condition."

"I know," I said. "What are you planning on doing with the bodies?"

"Once we get back, we'll cremate them," the agent said, "and then return the ashes to their families."

I winced, not entirely sure which was worse- the idea of families grieving their loved ones' deaths, or entire families being wiped out, leaving no one to mourn them. Either way, I made a mental note to attend every funeral I could.

"That's good," I said, "but one of the students, Momo Iwasawa, would most likely want a Christian funeral. Unfortunately, I believe her family was wiped out in the Tragedy."

"I'm sorry to hear about her," the agent said, "but she may not be the only one to suffer that fate. Most of the students' families are dead or missing, so finding their loved ones won't be an easy task. Even so, we owe it to all the dead to get it done properly."

I nodded grimly, then paid silent tribute to the dead. Wherever my family was, I was grateful that they did not have to suffer the same heartache so many others did.


I supervised the effort to remove documents from the headmistress's office. Sae, who'd investigated the office with me, helped me out, and we briefly said hello before we got to work.

Sae was a diligent and efficient worker. She stayed on-task, followed all my instructions and never made any major mistakes, so I was glad to have her around. Before long, it was easy to temporarily forget she was my girlfriend, and give her orders like everyone else, especially since she was willing to oblige me.

But then troubling thoughts occurred to me. Sae was serious about our job, but largely out of a sense of obligation. If she had criticisms of my leadership, advice or something she disagreed with me about, was it possible that she'd keep them to herself because she thought it would be rude to speak her mind?

Obviously, I trusted Sae, and I knew the feeling was mutual, but it was because we saw each other as equals, and we were now in a superior-subordinate relationship with mutual obligations that would dictate how we interacted with each other. I understood why Dad always hated the idea that Mom had to be subservient to him as his wife, and decided he'd refuse any promotion that would make him Mom's immediate superior at work(an unlikely event, as they worked in separate departments). I wanted to ask my parents their opinion about this, even if it meant coming out of the closet and divulging my relationship with Sae, but they were still missing, so Sae and I would have to work out things by ourselves.


Eventually, we retrieved everything we came for, and the Future Foundation agreed to post guards to secure the school. Once this was done the four of us reconvened at the entrance and saw that Monokuma's body was missing. I looked around for any signs of an explosion, then let out a sigh of relief when I saw none.

"Ah, there you are," the agent who'd examined Monokuma said. "I have some good news- we safely disposed of the bomb inside Monokuma. His remains are now in the capable hands of our tech guys, who are examining him closely"

"That's a relief," I said.

"I'll say," the agent said. "It turns out that whoever or whatever scooped out Monokuma's innards removed the wires that would have been used to detonate the bomb. That sort of thing is a lot trickier than it looks in the movies, so whoever did this had to be really lucky, skilled or both."

"Or maybe they knew how Monokuma was made," Sae said.

The agent shrugged.

"Could be," the agent said. "Unfortunately, Monokuma's CPU or whatever appears to be missing, which will limit how much we can learn about him."

"Is it possible this mystery person removed it to prevent it from falling into our hands?" Sae said. "Maybe they couldn't take the rest of his body with him for some rason."

"Who knows?" the agent said. "Still, this is cutting-edge technology, so the person responsible must have had an entire corporation backing them. It's the only way they'd have the resources, manpower and expertise to make something like that."

The agent then excused himself and saved the rest of the speculation for back at headquarters. As we prepared for extraction, Inoue-kun turned around and looked at Talent High School.

"What's going to happen to this place?" Inoue-kun said.

"According to one of our colleagues, the Future Foundation is planning to repurpose it," I said, "whether as a school or for some other role. In any case, this is probably the last time we'll come here."

"Yeah, good riddance," Tezuka-kun said. "We've spent long enough cooped up in that hellhole."

I shook my head.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely glad to be out of there," I said, "and I do have a lifetime worth of painful memories from the killing game. But I also have fond memories, too- of meeting you and everyone else, of attending school there, and of falling in love- and I wouldn't give those up for the world."

"Neither would I, Miura-san," Sae said.

The four of us posed side-by-side outside the front door, and had one of our colleagues snap the picture. As long as the picture remained, it would serve as a reminder of this day, even if our memories faded or were erased.


By the time we returned to the division headquarters and finished the debriefing, it was evening, so we were dismissed for the day. As soon as we stepped out of the office, Sae's, "Let's go home, Kaori," was like music to my ears.

Sae and I retired to the apartment we shared together in the Future Foundation employee housing complex, a relatively small and spartan apartment that didn't quite feel like home yet. Our belongings had been dropped off at our apartment, but I didn't feel like sorting through them at the moment. Instead, I took another look at the photo album.

Sae, who was in the bathroom, came out to see me looking at it.

"I see you have the photo album out again," Sae said.

"That's right," I said. "I've been looking through it ever since I got my memories back. Want to join me?"

"Certainly," Sae said. "I'd like to see Talent High School as it was when it was still a school, rather than the setting for the killing game."

We flipped through the pages together, and each of us could recall at least one memory related to each photo we were in, as well as the ones we'd taken ourselves. We hadn't included too many photos of our more romantic outings, but anyone who glanced at it could see that we were close.

The photo album ended with the photos the surviving students had received before the final trial, save for Kagami-kun's photo. As much as I wanted to cut his face out of every single photo, or draw over him with a permanent marker after what he'd done, that didn't change the fact that he had been one of us.

"This brings back memories, I said. "It's honestly surprising, and a little scary, that we forgot such an important period of our lives."

"I know," Sae said. "To think that a few weeks ago, you were just a stranger to me, but before that, we were in a relationship. With one blinding flash of light, I forgot that you were my girlfriend, or that I called you by your first name."

"So did I," I said. "It was great that we could fall in love a second time, but I'd rather not have to go through that again."

We shared a quick laugh about that. As traumatic as the killing game had been, it was certainly more than a little amusing that we'd managed to rebuild the same bond with each other despite having lost our memories.

"In all seriousness, though, Sae," I said, "while I appreciate that you're trying to show me respect at work, calling me 'Miura-san' did make me feel as though we'd gone back to being strangers, like we did when the killing game started."

"Fair enough, Kaori," Sae said, "but I was happy when you started to call me 'Edogawa-san' rather than 'Sensei,' since by doing so, you were treating me as an equal. Of course, I was even happier when you decided to use my first name."

"I'm glad to hear that," I said. "It's unfortunate that we aren't considered equals here."

"It can't be helped," Sae said. "I'm always willing to follow your orders, and I don't mind treating you with respect if it makes your job easier. But if it makes you unhappy..."

Sae trailed off. She wasn't wrong about people judging how we acted around each other while on the job, but it didn't mean she necessarily enjoyed it, either.

"How about a compromise?" I said. "I'm pretty flexible about what honorific you use, even if I'd rather you call me by my first name, so how about calling me 'Kaori-san'?"

"I'd be happy to call you that if you'd like," Sae said, "but some people might still think I'm being too familiar with you, so let's try this instead. We can call each other 'Miura-san' and 'Edogawa-san' in front of people we don't know, but 'Kaori' and 'Sae' in front of our friends. Deal?"

I smiled and said "Deal." Not only was Sae's proposal more practical than mine, but the fact that she'd vetoed my plan and come up with a counteroffer was significant in and of itself. Perhaps there were times when she would have be more polite and deferential than usual, but she still was her own person with her own ideas and desires, and could say no to me if she felt it was necessary.

"Oh, and before I forget," Sae said, "I got the picture of us printed out. I thought I'd add it to the album."

"Go right ahead," I said. "Let's fill this book with our photos of our time together from here on out."

Sae slid inserted photo of us into the next available slot in the album. While it was the last Talent High School-related photo we'd take, there were still many other empty pages, which we could fill with additional photos and new memories.


Author's Notes

The epilogue will be in three parts, each focusing on a period that is months or years apart from the previous ones. Incidentally, it's been about two years since I first published the first installment on FF dot net.

Part of this chapter focuses on the shifting power dynamics in Kaori and Sae's relationship. Despite having looked up to Sae for much of her life, and gradually come to see her as an equal, Kaori's now thrust into the position of being Sae's superior.

The next part will focus on Class 32 after their killing game ends, and show the lingering effects it has on them. Both it and the third and final part are mostly written up, so they'll be posted soon.

The omake shows what might have happened if Kaori and Sae had never switched to first names.


Omake

When Edogawa-san was assigned as my subordinate during our work for the Future Foundation, that naturally meant we'd need to make some adjustments. She was expected to show me respect and follow my orders, I was expected to treat her fairly and put the mission first. Balancing our personal and professional relationship was a difficult affair, but one thing was easy- what to call each other. Since I had no official title, it was perfectly appropriate to call me "Miura-san," and while I had a bit more latitude on how I addressed my subordinates, last names and appropriate honorifics seemed to be the most polite option.

"Good work today, Edogawa-san," I said as we retired to our apartment together.

"Thank you very much, Miura-san," Edogawa-san said. "Working under you is easier than I thought."

"I agree," I said. "Apart from refraining from public displays of affection, we don't even have to treat each other differently."

Edogawa-san nervously chuckled.

"Is something wrong, Edogawa-san?" I said.

"It's nothing," Edogawa-san said. "It's just that after all this time, neither of us thought to ask whether we should call each other by our first names... even after starting a relationship."

"I guess that's at least half my fault," I said. "When you asked me to call you 'Edogawa-san' rather than 'Sensei,' I complied, but was a bit too nervous to get around to asking to use your first name."

I'd actually heard of a time when, in some Western countries, my parents would call each other "Mr. Miura" and "Mrs. Miura" even after they were married. My mom, who'd only gotten around to using Dad's first name after getting engaged to him, would've been happy to call him "Mr. Miura," and I'd have done the same with Edogawa-san. The only question was whether she'd be "Mrs. Edogawa" or "Mrs. Miura."

"Fair enough," Edogawa-san said, "but there's no time like the present to start asking, is there... K-Kaori-san?"

"You're right," I said. "Let's give first names a shot, Edo- Sae-san."

My face must have been as red as a tomato, because Edogawa-san chuckled and shook her head.

"Maybe it's a bit too much for us to use first names right now, Miura-san," Edogawa-san said, "but I'm glad you're on board with it."

"Me too, Edogawa-san," I said. "Let's take our time, then take the step when we're ready."

It took us a while to fully adjust to using first names, since we could only "practice" in private, but we eventually managed to get the hang of it, even if we never got around to dropping honorifics. Still, as awkward as Sae-san and I could be, we were on the same page, so there was no doubt in our hearts that we loved each other.