Mukuro tore through the hallways and down the stairs, faster than she'd ever moved before, carrying Hina in her arms. The Ultimate Swimmer's head bobbed up and down against her shoulder, but the rest of the body was limp and cool. Her friend's flesh was light as a feather, and dangerously white, and Mukuro could have lifted a hundred of her – but the guilt and pain weighed infinitely more. It was all the Ultimate Soldier could do just to stand, much less run. She didn't even have the presence of mind to remove the dart from Hina's arm.
Gotta save her, gotta save her!
The world blurred around Mukuro, either due to tears or panic. She'd never be sure which.
She reached the stairwell down to the first floor, jumped down twenty steps at once, and kicked off the side wall. Not even two seconds passed, and she was on ground level. A black crater marred where she'd struck the wall, and dusty white plaster covered half her foot, but she didn't notice, even subconsciously. Besides Hina, the only thing she was aware of was her own mounting panic. It took everything in Mukuro's power to retain this modicum of calmness, and only because of the definite knowledge that Hina had seconds left to live.
Gotta save her, gotta save her!
In the great distance of the hallways, she caught sight of a cowering girl with brown hair and glasses, and a tall young man with dreadlocks and tanned skin. Mukuro dismissed them instantly and barreled into the nurse's office headlong. For some strange reason, the first thing that struck her was the clean, sterile scent all such places shared.
She slammed the light switch with her elbow, rushed to the nearest bed, and jerked back when she reached it. She'd almost thrown Hina to the bed with the same force she'd spent running around. Instead, she laid her friend on the bed as gently as she possibly could. The green dart was still in her chest. The veins around it had were engorged and hideously blue.
They smelled of flowers… Lilac, specifically. The dissonance between the obvious poison coursing through Hina's body and the actually quite pleasant scent only contributed to Mukuro's confusion and hysteria.
… Now what?
Mukuro pressed a hand over Hina's breast, feeling for a heartbeat.
Nothing.
Hina was dead.
Mukuro's legs gave out. Her knees connected with the hard floor, but she didn't even notice the pain. The world smeared together, and this time, it definitely was the tears. Her cheeks were on fire. All the powers of the Ultimate Soldier, and she couldn't save anyone.
"There you are."
It was all she could do just to crane her neck up. Byakuya, Kyoko, Toko, and Hiro were in the doorway, though the latter two stood in confused silence. Kyoko rushed inside and made for the medicine cabinet.
"I wasn't sure you were smart enough to come here," the Ultimate Affluent Progeny continued. "I'm glad to see I was wrong. Leon!"
He stepped aside, and the redheaded teen entered. Celeste hung limply around his shoulders in a fireman's carry, and by the way he sweated and grit his teeth, he clearly had more difficulty than Mukuro had had. Vaguely, she noticed that the dart was no longer in the gothic girl's arm.
He dumped her roughly on the next bed over from Hina. The thin metal legs screeched when she made contact with it. Afterwards, he groaned and stretched his arm.
"Dammit, Byakuya!"
"Quiet," came the instant response. "Kyoko?"
"… It's here." she said. She was calmer than the others, but an edge of something still tinged her voice.
She plucked a glass bottle from the cabinet, one that looked like every other bottle, except that it had a label ten-thousand letters long. The green, disgusting liquid inside sloshed around a little too slowly, and it seemed almost more like sludge or pudding.
Kyoko pulled a spoon from somewhere, Mukuro wasn't sure how, and poured some of the liquid into it. Carefully, she kneeled by Celeste, held up the gothic girl's head, and slid the medicine into her mouth. When she removed it, bits of saliva clung from lip to metal.
Mukuro saw the fire raging behind those cool violet eyes.
Seconds passed. Nothing happened.
And then—
Celeste's cheek puffed out. The slightest, weakest rasp escaped her lips. Her eyes stayed closed.
By the time Mukuro registered that the girl's chest was rising and falling, however slightly, Kyoko was already next to the second bed, pouring more medicine for Hina. Mukuro turned just in time to see her remove the dart and set it on the side of the bed. Then the spoon entered the Ultimate Swimmer's lips…
And Hina's brow furrowed. She didn't wake, but she did breathe in. In a few seconds, she was covered in a sheen of gross sweat.
"Oh!"
Mukuro had never been so relieved. She heaved and sobbed again, this time happily, and grabbed at Hina's hand. She could feel the warmth and life return.
She'd never had a second chance with Makoto or Sakura… but now she could have one with Hina and Celeste. It was almost too much to bear, and she buried her face in her sleeping friend's shoulder, crying and thanking Kyoko again and again.
"God, Kyoko, thank you!" she gasped. "But… How did you know what kind of medicine to use?"
Kyoko didn't respond, except by picking up Hina's dart, which was covered in blood. She stood, removed five more darts from her jacket, and set all six on the metal counter next to the bottle of antidote. Two of them were bloody, but the other four were covered only in a shiny blue poison. All of them combined amplified the flowery smell tenfold. If Mukuro had had any memories of the outdoors, these darts would have triggered them.
Kyoko studied them all for a bit, carefully running a gloved finger across their feathery backsides, saying nothing.
"Toko, Hiro," Byakuya said. Mukuro didn't look back at him. "Go find Sayaka and Taka and bring them here."
"Why didn't they just come with you guys?" Hiro asked.
"Mukuro broke one of Taka's ribs, although I suppose that probably saved his life. We told him to stay on the fourth floor until we fixed this problem."
Mukuro winced at that description of events. She hadn't meant to hurt him, of course, but looking back, she had kicked him with enough force to send him flying over a desk. Just one broken rib would probably be a blessing.
"As for Sayaka, I don't know where she is. We lost her at some point. Find her."
"Y—yes, Master B—Byakuya…"
They were gone a few seconds later.
"Leon," he said. "Stand outside and keep a lookout."
"What? What am I watching out for?"
"Just do it."
The Ultimate Baseball Star grumbled and rubbed his shoulder dramatically, as if to remind Byakuya who it was who did all of the physical labor, but at length, he obeyed. Soon, the only conscious people left in the room were Mukuro, Kyoko, and Byakuya himself. He crossed his arms and radiated suspicion.
It was an alien feeling when Mukuro realized that he wasn't suspicious of her.
He's keeping me in the room when he confronts Kyoko? … Am *I* his Toko right now?
She rubbed Hina's knuckles until they turned red. Faraway, the Ultimate Swimming Pro mumbled something in her sleep.
"Mukuro," he said, dryly. "After you ran out with Hina, Kyoko took one of the darts, examined the poison on it, and instantly said 'we can cure this.'"
"… Did she?"
Mukuro turned to Kyoko. She bit her lip. This was the literal last person on Earth she wanted to suspect of being a spy. Not just because she liked and trusted her, but because she was probably the most dangerous opponent possible after Junko.
"Do you know a lot about poisons, Kyoko?" she offered. "You know, because you're a detective? That would make tons of sense."
"I can identify when someone's died of poison, yes," the lavender-haired girl admitted. She didn't turn away from the darts. "But if you're asking about poisons in a medical context, then no. I don't know anything useful."
"And yet, you knew the type of poison on the darts in a second," Byakuya snapped. "You called it 'actonultrotoxide,' if I recall. And that antidote…" He squinted and read the label from afar. "Does that say… 'Botolintcysteinate?'"
"… Yes."
"You just happened to know the correct antidote for the poison Junko was using?"
A long time passed before Kyoko responded.
"… After we found that drawer with the 'real' Mukuro's writing on it, and 'our' Mukuro fell unconscious for so long, I thought I'd go to the library to look up medical textbooks for how to help."
"Celeste mentioned you did that…" Mukuro said.
"It looked like you were having a heart attack or a seizure," the elegant girl said. "In lieu of the Ultimate Nurse, we had to just hope you'd get better on your own." She laid further back on her bed, then stretched her legs. "Mmm… Although, if it helps, you should know that Kyoko spent quite some time in the library, searching for medical books to help you. I think she might actually care about you."
"Did she?" A flicker of surprise flashed behind Kyoko's eyes. "I didn't realize she'd known what I was doing, although I suppose that makes some sense."
"Get to the point," Byakuya demanded. "How did you learn how to cure a specific, obscure kind of poison you'd never heard of before?"
"You may not believe this, but I just happened to see it in a book." Kyoko closed her eyes, as if to summon up a memory. "I'd spent a few hours in the library trying to help Mukuro, and the desk was overflowing with piles of books. My fault for not putting them back properly. Celeste came in to tell me that Hiro was cooking dinner that night, and that it was almost ready. She accidentally knocked over one of the piles, so she and I cleaned it all up. One of the books I grabbed, Deadly Poisons, Toxins, and Venoms, just happened to be open to a page about a blue poison that smells of lilacs. I noticed it because the page got torn a little when it fell."
"That's absurd for two reasons," Byakuya said instantly. "First, that it would fall open to the most convenient page possible, and second, that you'd even think to read it and remember the antidote."
Mukuro bit the inside of her cheek, hard. She didn't notice, but her hand was squeezing Hina's hard enough to block off circulation.
He's right, that is suspicious…
Kyoko's eyes remained closed.
"I—I don't know…" Mukuro tried, very weakly. "Kyoko's smart, and she always notices things no one else sees. It's possible that she would remember something weird like that."
"… I have nothing else to say," Kyoko finished, tapping her hand against her chin. "That's my only defense."
Mukuro's eyes flit over to Byakuya, who was clearly dissatisfied and angry. It was easy to see that he was on the verge of taking action against her, easy to see that he didn't believe such a convenient explanation of events.
"We'll ask Celeste to corroborate your story when she wakes up," he said at last. "If she wakes up. And if she doesn't—"
The door to the nurse's office flew open. Through it, Hiro and Leon stood on either side of Taka, supporting him by the shoulders, while the boy himself cradled his stomach and groaned.
"Oh, God, Taka!" Mukuro ran to him and took over for Hiro. "I forgot about kicking you, I'm so sorry!"
"Don't worry!" he grunted through his teeth. "We can report it to the school authorities later."
No one said a word. Byakuya, Leon, and Kyoko glared at him.
"… That was a joke." he said, but Mukuro genuinely couldn't tell if that was true. "You saved my life from that poison dart. A broken rib or two… will just build character!"
He flexed one of his arms and tried to pump a fist, but then he spat up pink blood, cringed into a ball, and had to be carried onto the last empty bed.
"Uh, just so you know," Hiro added. "Toko stayed with Sayaka. The two of them are still poking around the data center. I think she didn't want to leave."
"I should get back there, myself," Byakuya nodded. "I don't want one of them to ruin useful evidence… Taka can probably be moved back to his dorm once his wound is treated."
"That would acceptable," the boy grunted, still trying and failing to sound strong. "I wouldn't want to just lay about all day, uselessly."
"We'll need someone to keep an eye on Toko and Hina until they wake up, though. How about—"
"I'll do it!" Mukuro volunteered, a little too forcefully. "I mean… Please, Byakuya, let me do it. If I don't, I'll just worry myself and think about them all day until they're up again."
His eyes narrowed. She could imagine the arguments he could use to instantly dismiss her request:
We still don't trust you.
You failed to inspect the room properly for traps.
Putting two helpless people in your care, when you could be turned by Junko at any minute, would be insane…
We never said you could stay out of the wheelchair permanently.
But instead, he nodded.
"Fine. Hiro, Leon, come with me."
Then they were all gone. Mukuro almost couldn't believe it.
Does he have other, more important things to worry about? There's the data center, and Kyoko acting strangely, and now Taka's out of commission, too. He asked the boys to follow him, but not Kyoko… Then again, maybe me saving Taka's and Sayaka's lives proved my good intentions?
Beads of sweat pooled in the corners of Mukuro's eyes. She hadn't realized how nervous she was. Carefully, she eased herself down onto a chair between Hina and Celeste, and watched Kyoko remove Taka's shirt and bandage his bare chest. Her hands moved more deftly and with greater care than Mukuro expected.
"Mmm… I would have preferred the aid of another boy…" Taka grunted.
Kyoko responded only by wrapping more of the white bandages around his skin. She hadn't even asked if he needed the help.
"Why?" Mukuro asked, realizing she would never otherwise have an answer. She settled back down with Hina, and unconsciously stroked her friend's pointy ponytail.
"Hahaha!" Taka bellowed, then doubled over. "Ergh… See a man naked, and you'll know in an instant whether he's worthy of your trust! That's why I know the spy can't be any of the boys; we all went into the sauna together that one time."
"… That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, Taka."
In the corner of her eye, Mukuro thought she might've seen Kyoko smile.
"Of course you wouldn't understand!" he said, dismissively. "All men instinctively know what I'm talking about. Only I have the poor luck to be trapped half-naked in a room full of girls."
He buffed one of his pecs with his fingers. In complete fairness to Taka's stupid philosophy, Mukuro could tell a few things about his character now that his shirt was off. His lean, well-defined muscles were visible underneath his skin, and his abs were absolutely flawless. Just by glancing at him, you could tell that he was a meticulous, perfectionist sort of person, and that he definitely abstained from junk food and wasteful activities.
I'd just kind of assumed that Leon was the most in-shape boy left, but looking at this, it probably has to be Taka. Hm…
He looked over to Mukuro as she examined his body. One of his big red eyes narrowed.
"Er… I should say immediately that I'm not at the moment interested in any romantic engagements…"
Mukuro flushed red.
"Wh—what?! No! That's not why I was looking at you!"
"I can think of literally zero other reasons why a girl would look at a man's body!" he proclaimed, either ignoring or forgetting Kyoko healing him.
"Ew! You… I was just trying to do that thing you mentioned, where you size up someone's trustworthiness by looking at their body!"
He forced out another laugh. It caused him extremely obvious pain to do that, but he powered through it and pretended otherwise.
"Hahahaha! As I said, you're not a man."
Kyoko tightened one of the bandages enough to make him wince. Mukuro wasn't sure if she did that on purpose or not.
"This is the most I can do," said the detective. "Taka, please go lie down in your room. I'll help you there."
Taka pulled on his uniform. Despite the pain, he spent almost a full minute buttoning it up and brushing off the dark smudge from where he'd been kicked.
"It is no problem! I can make it on my ow—""
"It's very irresponsible to reject assistance when you're wounded," she said, bluntly.
Trapped by his morals, and possibly helped along by the pain he pretended not to be in, Taka relented. Kyoko gathered up the dangerous poison darts and stored them in a plastic container, which she then hid inside of her jacket.
"I… Very well," he said. "But I demand to stop by the warehouse and pick up a crutch!"
"Fine."
Kyoko wrapped a hand around his shoulder and hefted him to his feet. When they reached the doors to exit, she turned back to Mukuro.
"Mukuro," she said. "Keep an eye out."
"… For what?"
Her cool purple eyes said it all:
Everything.
(Scene)
Someone screamed. His voice didn't carry far, not over the roar of gunfire, and a rainstorm that had lasted three days now, but it went far enough for a lithe girl with black hair to hear it. She let herself out from behind the downed tree, set her rifle against the bark, and stretched.
Another dead… 30-40 hostiles confirmed down.
The battlefield was a dark, damp forest. On a moonless night like this, you couldn't see more than an arm's distance away. Not even the girl with dark hair was landing every shot.
Normally, these conditions wouldn't have been an issue, but there'd been some stupid village nearby. She'd been told to liquidate the locals, so she did. Their own fault for thinking she wasn't an enemy just because she was a twelve-year-old girl with freckles and ruddy cheeks.
But whoever gave the order hadn't considered the dark clouds overhead, and now the water and their blood had washed into the dirt. No one could run over the slushy mud, and even walking proved a challenge. Days had passed, and the Fenrir force was cold and almost out of food and ammunition.
My fault, thought the girl. I should've considered the rain…
She looked down, and saw the pink of the villagers' blood mix with the dirt. Even now, the area smelled more of death than anything else.
She surveyed the men left. Only six, besides herself. All of them were miserable and covered in scars. One of them, a tan boy about twice her age, had a bloody stump instead of a left hand. If he survived, he'd work a desk for the rest of his life.
She guessed there were around three-hundred insurgents surrounding them. Seven Fenrir soldiers was more than a match for such a small army, but the enemy wasn't stupid enough to try attacking directly. The girl knew, had known for days, that they were going to wait for the soldiers to run out of supplies before making a move.
Good plan.
She had a better one: kill them all. Even she had never taken three-hundred men by herself before. It would be… a mild challenge.
She pushed aside one of her friends, a behemoth of a man with a bright blond mohawk, and grabbed the one remaining pack of food.
"What're you—"
Without a word, she dug her hand deep into it and pulled out a slab of meat. It was enough to feed them all for a day. She ate it all in five seconds, then tossed the white bone on the ground. It disappeared into the mud.
Her hunger abated, she ignored the cries and complaints of the others. The mohawk soldier had the best combat knife. It was an expensive French thing with a serrated edge. She'd always fancied it. She'd planned to buy her own, but he'd owe her his life after tonight, anyway.
His life's worth less than that blade.
She kicked him in the ankle, sending him splashing into the mud, and stole it from him. Then she jumped away, nimbly hopping from tree trunk to tree trunk, until she found an unlucky man dressed in brown rags. His stance was poor, and he held his finger directly over the trigger of a rusty gun.
No trigger discipline, she thought, emotionlessly. Local farmer pressganged into service.
The knife flashed.
Mukuro blocked it, Junko tried again, and Mukuro laughed and effortlessly swatted her sister's wrist away.
They were riding in a limousine, the fancy kind the Ultimate Fashionista was used to. Were they on the freeway? It didn't matter. Junko was talking. Blood rushed to Mukuro's face. Her heart was beating almost too fast to believe. She could kill a thousand men without thinking about it, and she had, but her own sister's beautiful face put butterflies in her stomach. Was it narcissism to be in love with your twin? If so, Mukuro was definitely getting cursed to look at her own reflection forever, or however that myth went.
Looking into Junko's eyes forever? That's not a curse at all…
Her sister licked her lips, tried to shank her again, and smiled when Mukuro's lightest touch deflected the blade harmlessly into the air.
"Hahaha!" Junko laughed despairfully, and made one final attempt by throwing it at Mukuro's gut. Mukuro caught in in two fingers, lifted it up to her cool tropical drink, and stirred. She loved the idea of Junko's flesh mixing with the girly orange liquid. And of course, she was keeping this knife. "You're ugly, but at least you're useful for something."
"Thank you, sister."
"Not fighting, of course. How easy is it to hire a bunch of assassins? Any idiot can kill in the right circumstances."
You could even make a game about killing, if you really wanted to.
"Then what am I good for?" she asked, quizzically.
"You're a momentary diversion A fun little waste of time to break the constant boredom."
Mukuro smiled warmly. At that second, Junko's own smile faltered.
"Oh, my, Mukuro," she said, flatly. Her fake bright mood was suddenly gone. "Your lips aren't pulled into an ironically despairful grin at all, are they?"
"What?" Mukuro blinked. "Of course they are."
"No. You're enjoying this for real, aren't you? You really do enjoy this game with me, really do enjoy spending time with me, don't you?"
Mukuro froze. The truth was was 'yes,' of course, but what was the correct response?
"Hey, idiot!" Junko pounded on the glass wall that separated her from the driver. "Pull over!"
He obeyed instantly, pulling over to the center divider of what was indeed the freeway. Junko kicked open the door and pointed outside. Behind them, a green car screeched to a halt. The driver honked his horn three times, furious and cussing at them over the din of the traffic.
"You're not an Ultimate Despair at all, Mukuro."
"Yes, I am!"
"No," Junko sneered. "You're not like me at all. I already knew how stupid and ugly and flat you are, but you can still feel things for real, can't you? I don't need anyone in my life who feels things besides boredom and despair."
"No!" Mukuro's hand gripped the drink a little too forcefully, and the glass shattered. The panic was obvious in her voice. "I am like you, Junko! I'm… I'm the only person who understands you!"
"Understands me?!" Junko sounded like she'd never been more offended in her life. "Get out."
Mukuro threw herself to the floor and buried her face in Junko's designer heels. The smell! That beautiful scent filled her nostrils. The idea of never having it in her life again was almost enough to give her a heart attack.
"I feel despair, Junko!" she begged. "That was… a mistake. Everything in my life is despair, and when it's not despair, it's boredom. I look at other people and think they're useless and boring, only good for testing out a new weapon. I came back to Japan because I want to spread despair just like you do! Please, little sister, please, please!"
It was all she could do not scream the words "I love you," and only because of the certain knowledge how Junko would take that.
At length, the superior sister closed the door. She kicked Mukuro in the stomach (who deserved it), knocked her onto her back on the floor, and choked her for a while with her heel. The expression on her face said everything: that the Ultimate Soldier was on the thinnest of ice, and a single mistake from this point on would mean being thrown out for real.
Mukuro's face turned blue from lack of oxygen. She didn't dare try to move her sister's foot, and just because she enjoyed this.
After what felt like hours, Junko finally released her throat. Mukuro gasped for breath, sweet, sweet Junko-scented breath, and saw that her sister was looking out to the side.
"That guy honking at us bugs me."
In one second, Mukuro was on her feet, armed with two handguns, and firing directly out the back window. Blood and glass exploded out of the other car. Glass shattered everywhere, and Mukuro saw herself and Junko in the reflection. Junko leaned forward, grabbed her sister by the shoulders, and forced her to stand in front of the closet mirror.
It was the day after Jin Kirigiri's death. There was definitely no going back now. Everyone else, the players in the great killing game-to-be, was asleep. Their memories were already prepared, as were the cameras and the broadcast equipment. Mukuro would be in charge of actually moving their unconscious bodies to the classrooms, of course.
Junko stood on her tiptoes, loomed over her useless excuse for an older sister, and slammed a blond wig over her stupid, ugly black hair.
Mukuro gasped.
"What's this?" she asked, stupidly.
"It's your disguise, you disappointment! Jeez, who else do you think it's for? Toko? Kyoko? Celeste?"
Mukuro reached a hand up to the wig and pressed some of the soft hair between her fingers. Her eyes weren't filled with despair. She couldn't help it anymore. Junko had given a gift, and she couldn't help feeling wonderment and awe.
Suddenly, Junko ripped Mukuro's shirt off her body.
"Ah!" Mukuro moved to cover herself, childishly whimpering in a way totally unbecoming of neither the Ultimate Soldier nor the Ultimate Despair. Junko's arms moved almost too quickly to see, and in seconds, the stupid sister was in one of her spare outfits.
Mukuro's jaw dropped. She blushed red. She hoped Junko couldn't see it, but she knew that was useless. Junko saw everything.
She raised a hand to the mirror. She truly did look almost exactly like Junko. Her thinner eyes aside, a few freckles here and there…
I'm beautiful.
Was she crying?
Oh no, I AM crying!
Junko leaned over her shoulder and pressed her cheek to her sister's. They looked nothing alike. They were nothing alike.
"I wish you weren't so useless," she whispered. "I kind of want to be in the game, myself. Can you imagine the despair of being killed by someone like Byakuya or Hifumi? But you're too stupid to operate the Monokuma control room. And if I let you just play with the others as the Ultimate Soldier, they'll all be too intimidated to ever try anything. So… the only option is to debase myself and let a shitty flatchested doppelganger like you pretend."
"Junko…"
Mukuro fell to her knees, weeping. Junko pushed the tip of her high heel into the back of her neck, adding physical pain to the emotional. Her heart hurt like nothing else, and she forced herself to look again into the mirror and see her sister's disgust and disappointment.
She couldn't believe how much Junko loved her.
"Ah!"
Junko woke up.
No…
Mukuro shook her head.
Mukuro woke up.
She grabbed her temples. Her palms were soaked in a cold sweat. Her head was throbbing.
Those were just nightmares, she told herself. They didn't happen!
But she knew the truth, of course. She grabbed her chest and shook her head from side to side. Monokuma never lied, and he'd told them directly what Mukuro's secret was.
Mukuro Ikusaba has an incestuous gay crush on her own sister.
She made a fist and pounded her pillow, angry and hot and—
I'm in my dorm.
She sat up, confused and terrified. She was definitely on her bed, naked but for her underwear. The room was almost completely dark.
I never went to sleep! I was in the nurse's office!
She shook her head, reached for her e-Handbook, and used its light to check the clock.
2:01 AM
"What?!" she screeched.
She jumped out of bed, made for the closet, and threw on the nearest pants and track jacket. She didn't even bother with an undershirt or shoes. She was still zipping up her chest when she leapt into the hallway. She didn't bother closing the door behind her.
Empty.
She ran for the school.
When the hell did I fall asleep? Did someone carry me to my room?
She tried to conjure up the last thing she remembered, besides that dream. It was just the conversation with Taka and Kyoko, and then sitting with Hina and Celeste, whispering about how they'd get better, how they'd all eat together and play together and be okay after this…
She moved as fast as a rocket. The nurse's office was in plain sight. The doors were closed, and she kicked them open—
No one was inside.
She ran over to the beds. They were empty.
She rushed her hands over the sheets. One of Hina's hairs had gotten caught on a sheet. Mukuro clung to it like shelter in a storm, like it was the only evidence in the world that she wasn't insane.
"Help!" she screamed. "Something's wrong, something's wrong!"
Her face was hot, her body was on fire.
Calm down, calm down! It's nighttime. Everyone is asleep.
She ran back to the dorms even more quickly, twisting the brown hair around her finger as she did.
Did they get better already? Did I just forget, somehow?
Panic was mounting inside of her. She was shaking almost too much to keep standing.
The first dorm doors she found were Taka's and Kyoko's. Mukuro pounded on them for a few seconds, then composed herself and slammed her open palm into their doorbells.
After no one responded for a whole one second, she ran to the next nearest doors: Byakuya's, Sayaka's, and Toko's. She pressed their doorbells, too, and pounded on them for a moment each. She almost could have sworn that Toko's door even budged a bit, but she was too panicky to check further.
She ran over and slammed her palm into Celeste's and Hina's doors (Stupid!), and then Leon's, and finally Hiro's. She barely even had the presence of mind to skip the dead students' rooms.
By this point, Kyoko had finally opened her door. She'd just exited and was wiping away the sleep from her eyes when Mukuro launched herself inside and grabbed the half-dressed, confused girl by the shoulders.
"Kyokohaveyouseenhinaorceleste?!"
Kyoko blinked a few times.
"… Weren't you watching them?"
Mukuro sucked in her lips. She heard another door open in the hallway, released Kyoko, and jumped out to find a very puzzled-looking Leon.
"What's going on?" he yawned.
"Leon! Celeste and Hina aren't in the nurse's office!"
"… Well, where are they then?"
"I don't know!"
By this point, other doors were opening. Byakuya, Jack, and Hiro came out at about the same time. Taka barely made it to his feet, only to grunt and lean himself up against a wall. Sayaka's door narrowly creaked open, and the white-faced idol poked her head outside.
"Guys!" Mukuro said, her voice squeaking. "I don't know what happened, but Hina and Celeste are gone!"
Byakuya crossed his arms.
"Are they?"
(Scene)
Soon enough, everyone was in the nurse's office, save Sayaka, the still-injured Taka, and Jack, the last of whom had stayed behind without being told to.
She has some secret deal with Byakuya, Mukuro knew. They had some arrangement, some plan…
But as long as that plan didn't involve hurting Hina or Celeste, Mukuro didn't care.
Kyoko kneeled over each of the empty beds, inspecting them in turn.
"They aren't here." she said.
"Good thing we have the Ultimate Detective," Byakuya sighed. "Mukuro! Did you do something to them?"
"No! I swear!"
"Ugh… I was stupid to let you watch them."
"What's the last thing you remember?" Kyoko asked her.
"It was that conversation we had! You were helping Taka, I was talking to him, and you told me to keep an eye out. I sat down to watch Hina and Celeste… And then I just kind of woke up in my bed."
"The trap and the conversation happened at about 11 AM." Byakuya said. "Hm… Hiro, I told you to go check on the nurse's office just before nightfall, at 10 PM, didn't I?"
"Yeah! I totally went there, and Mukuro was there, watching them."
"What?" Mukuro blinked. "I… was?"
"Yeah. Don't you remember? We even had a whole conversation."
"I don't—"
"Describe this conversation." Kyoko interrupted.
"Uh…" Hiro rubbed his head. "Well, first I said hello to Leon, since he was outside. Then I went inside, and Mukuro was at the medicine cabinet. I asked if she was sleepy and wanted someone else to take over, and she said 'no thanks.' I said I wanted to check to make sure Hina and Celeste were still okay, and she said sure. I totally did that, I made absolutely certain they were still alive and breathing normally, just like Byakuya told me to."
"How were they?" Kyoko asked.
"Hina looked normal, I guess. I thought she was doing okay. Only thing is that she was sweating a little, and it made her jacket look kinda gross. Celeste had turned onto her belly, and I remember that 'cause I figured it meant she might be doing better if she could sorta move around a bit. It was hard to tell if she was sweating like Hina, though, because her clothes are already dark and frilly and stuff. Then Mukuro turned toward the medicine cabinet… She said something like 'Don't worry about me,' and I left."
I don't remember anything, I fall asleep suspiciously, and Hiro says he had a whole conversation with me… And although he's kind of dumb, he's one of the more reliable people here…
She shivered. There was one explanation she could think of that made sense:
I already know that my sister can look almost exactly like me if she wants, because one of us in the bedroom *is* her. What if she snuck into the nurse's office, knocked me unconscious and put me in my room, and then pretended to be me so she'd have access to the helpless students? If he wasn't paying close enough attention, Hiro could easily mistake one of us for the other… I'm not even sure we can tell the difference if we *are* paying attention.
That seemed like something she had to tell the others, to warn them of something Junko might be plotting. But the last thing on Earth Mukuro wanted to plant in everyone's heads was the idea that Junko and she might be switching places right in front of their eyes, not while they were already this paranoid of her. Hiding it made Mukuro feel like a criminal, but she said only:
"I don't remember any of that. I'm not saying you're lying, but… I don't have any memory of that."
Technically, that's all true.
Kyoko stared at the cabinet for a moment, but said nothing. Byakuya tapped his foot on the floor.
"Fine," he said. "This won't go anywhere, anyway. We'll have to split up into pairs and check the entire school."
"Oh, there's no need."
A chill ran down everyone's spines. Even Byakuya looked disturbed. No one had heard that screeching, horrible voice for days.
One by one, they turned to the doorway. A single figure stood in its center.
"Pufufufufu! You all look like you've seen a—"
Mukuro was on Monokuma in a flash. She grabbed him by the neck (or what passed for one) and raised him into the air.
"What did you do to them?!"
"Hm… I'm not sure if this counts as attacking the headmaster…" Monokuma tapped a paw on his chin. "Well, I'll let it slide. I can count it as training for lifting me up to reach things on the top shelf."
He squirmed out of her grasp with surprising grace for a metal robot, landed on the ground, and made a show of dusting himself off.
"Anyway! No need to worry, kiddos! I'm sorry to say that Aoi Asahina and Celestia Lud… Ludenb… Ludenb… Celeste are still alive." He sighed. "You're all really disappointing me, lately."
Mukuro's pulse slowed ever-so-slightly. Vaguely, she noticed how terrified Leon and Hiro were of his presence.
I guess we all thought something had happened to Junko… We should be so lucky.
But she had to force herself to think that. Tatters of those happy memories with her sister in the limo and the school were still fresh in her mind.
"Then… where are they?" she demanded, less forcefully. "Because they were here!"
"Hmph! Unfortunately, I had to save them." Monokuma raised his paws to the ceiling and feigned groaning. "Miss Ikusaba broke the door, and therefore a school rule, and was supposed to pay the price."
"You set up that trap on purpose," Kyoko said. "You pretended to be gone to trick us into breaking the rules, and wanted the darts to be triggered."
"Whaaaaaat? Me?" Monokuma laughed. "You must be thinking of some other dashingly handsome bear. Those were legitimate 'breaking-the-rules' darts. I never said that punishment would come in robot form, after all! … Buuuuuuuut, I'll admit, I didn't account for the possibility that someone else who didn't break the door would get hit by a dart. So, I kinda needed those two to not die, since none of you could be held responsible."
"That still doesn't explain where they are!" Leon cried.
"Hmph! Hmph! Hmph! Kids these days." Monokuma shook his head. "I took them to recover on a floor that none of you can reach yet. Until they're hale and healthy again, I'm afraid that Miss Asahina and Miss Lu… that the both of them are off-limits."
"That's completely unlike your previous behavior," Byakuya pressed a finger to his glasses. "You were always talking about how you wanted to make it easy for us to kill each other."
"Yes, but not because I screwed up!" Monokuma moaned. "How many times do you want me to say I made a mistake?! Because I'll only do it twice, and this is the second. I need to make sure that neither of them die, and the correct medicine to do that is upstairs."
"… What?" Byakuya's eyes narrowed into slits. "Wouldn't it be in the nurse's office, or the chem lab, if it was anywhere at all?"
"Besides, I thought they were recovering just fine here…" Hiro mumbled.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Doctor Hagakure!" Monokuma laughed. "What do you know about that kind of medical stuff? I'm not letting them die because of a mistake I made, and I'm not letting one of you get an easy kill just because I overlooked how stupid you can all be. If you want to kill them later, that's fine, you'll just have to wait an extra day or two. Take the time to come up with a really killer plan. And now, I'm off—"
"Wait." Kyoko said. Her voice was ice. "What happened to Mukuro? She doesn't remember meeting Hiro here. And she should have seen you take the others away."
"Pufufufufu! I, the great Monokuma, had absolutely nothing to do with whatever may or may not have happened to your foolish little friend there. If you want to know more, that's on you to figure it out."
'I, the great Monokuma, had absolutely nothing to do with whatever may or may not have happened?'
Mukuro's body tensed up. The phrasing of that denial was almost an admission that Junko had done something outside of her headmaster guise. Kyoko and Byakuya probably caught that loophole, too.
"Wait a second!" Leon barked, finally working up a little bit of nerve. "Where the hell were you those couple of days where we thought you were dead?"
"Oh, you know…" Monokuma kicked the floor. "Around. Anyway, bye!"
He disappeared into a corner of the ceiling, leaving the group utterly dumbfounded. Byakuya was the first to speak.
"He avoided all of our questions, except about where Hina and Celeste are."
Kyoko nodded.
"Also," she said. "I don't believe Monokuma would have ever removed a student from the game before, even for something like this."
"Yes," he agreed. "His behavior has definitely changed."
"Is that bad?" Mukuro asked, shifting her weight from side to side. She would have felt infinitely more comfortable with Hina around, even in an unconscious form.
Byakuya looked down at her, and Mukuro knew that even now, he enjoyed the challenge this presented.
"No," he grinned. "It means she's on the defensive."
(Scene)
Mukuro sat alone at one of end of the table. The remnants of a waffle-based breakfast were scattered over its surface. It was almost 10 AM. She snatched the last offering from a plate of muffins, smelled it, and raised it to her lips. Actually feeding herself felt a bit strange now.
She didn't like it.
Everyone else, except Kyoko, Sayaka, Taka, and a lounging Genocide Jack, took seats on the other end. The last of them played with one of her scissors, idly watching—
Jack was subtler about it than Mukuro would have guessed, but she was definitely spying on Sayaka, and not Mukuro, making sure that the idol didn't do anything. For her part, the girl with unwashed clothes and wild blue hair just sat in her chair, hands folded in her lap, and hummed.
No one seemed actively scared any longer, but there was still clearly tension in the air, except from Taka.
At least he appreciates me saving his life.
"I guess I'll say it, if no one else will," Leon started. "Are we just gonna let Mukuro walk around free again? 'Cause we've been kinda inconsistent about it…"
"Hmph." Byakuya shook his head. "What else can we do? Hina's not around to take care of her anymore, and the rest of us are… busy."
Another vague word…
"Are you saying that we'd keep her locked up, if we still had everyone?" Hiro asked.
Byakuya didn't respond. Taka seized the opportunity to join the conversation.
"I think Mukuro has proven her good intentions," he offered, pressing a hand to his side and grunting. "That is to say, I think it's highly unlikely that she'll kill anyone or knowingly work with Junko."
"You're just saying that because she saved you from the trap."
Everyone quieted. It was the first time this morning Sayaka had spoken. She faced Taka, and that plastic smile never disappeared.
"That's… not quite correct," he stammered. "I mean, yes, that is technically true, but the act of saving anyone proves that—"
"Liar," Her voice was quiet, yet it rose far above the bellowing Taka's. "She stopped me from killing Leon, and Leon from killing me. Her intentions should have never been in doubt!" She giggled suddenly, and the high-pitched squeak echoed across the cafeteria. "The question was just if she was a dangerous crazy person!"
"I can think of someone who fits that description a lot better than her…" Leon murmured, tracing a thumb over his scar.
Sayaka's head twisted to the side so quickly that he jumped out of his chair, tripped, and landed on his back. Her eyes were on fire.
"I know!" she said, her happy, playful tone completely at odds with the hateful expression on her face. "Genocide Jack is just the worst!"
"Hey, girl," Jack yawned. "At least I own it."
Sayaka covered her lips with the back of her hand and giggled again. This time, there was even less mirth.
"If you need someone to watch Mukuro while she's tied up," she said. "Then I volunteer!"
A vote was held. Mukuro felt it best to abstain.
To her surprise, it was almost universal – only Sayaka was in favor of the wheelchair, and Byakuya and Jack were the only other abstains. Yet, the idol didn't seem upset at her defeat. She only reached over to the table, stole an untouched biscuit, and chowed down.
Mukuro stood up, faced the others, and bowed, half to hide her face. She was flushing with relief.
"Um! I don't know what to say. I'm glad you guys trust me enough to let me go free. But right now, the thing I'm most concerned about is Hina and Celeste."
"No need for that!"
A certain monochromatic bear flew in from the ceiling and landed right in the center of a plate of waffles. One of them slipped under his foot, and went flying into Hiro's jacket, staining it horribly.
"Aw, man!" he groaned. "This is my special clairvoyance jacket!"
"… Really?" Leon asked.
"No…" Hiro admitted. "I just bought it on sale. But I was wearing it when I predicted the correct winner of a soccer game!"
The room went quiet, this time due to awkwardness. No one had the heart to tell him that a 50:50 guess was actually easier than his vaunted-30%.
"Well, folks!" Monokuma laughed. "I'm glad you all got that conversation out of your system, and some food into it, 'cause I can bearly keep the good news in!" He hopped from one foot to the other, clearly itching to tell them something.
"I've never wished I was poisoned and unconscious more than this moment," Byakuya rolled his eyes. "Why are you here?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Monokuma laughed. "Man, Byakuya, maybe you need some bigger glasses, or else you'll keep missing the obvious!"
"Just get to the point already, man!" Leon moaned. "No one wants you around, anyway."
"Tough crowd," Monokuma shrugged. "If you insist! I hereby invite you all to the school gymnasium!"
"What?" Alarm flashed across Kyoko's face. "Why there?"
"To present the next motive, of course!"
Monokuma pressed his paws to his belly, and laughed like a madman.
(Scene)
Mukuro felt like she was standing in a great void. A freezing, effervescent nothingness pressed in on her from all directions, and it was empty of everything except a promise: that soon one of her friends would be dead.
Or maybe the gym was just really drafty.
Everyone gathered together in the center of the enormous room. At some point along the way, Jack had turned back into Toko.
The excitable students were worried, the composed ones were serious, and Mukuro stood in the back, licking her lips again and again and again and again. In the center of the stage was a small folding table, probably pulled directly from the warehouse. On it were two silver platters, each of them covered by a shiny, beautiful cloche.
Mukuro shuddered. She didn't know what exactly the third motive would be, but she remembered well enough that conversation she'd had with Mukuro—Junko—her sister the other night.
"How about… You keep giving out more information about the outside world?" Mukuro offered. "As people learn more about it, they'll fall into more despair…"
"Oh?" Fakuro pursed out her lips. "I… I guess that's true, but that doesn't seem like it'll make them want to kill each other more."
"It will!" Mukuro lied. She tried to keep her face as composed as possible, but she knew anyone sane could read through her in a second. "Because… Because they'll be so despairing, that they'll lose any hope that things will ever get better, right? That'll leave them with nothing to do except murder each other."
"I… I suppose I can do that, Junko, if you think it's best. I'm not completely stupid… I know you're trying to come up with something that won't get anyone killed, aren't you? But… I actually think you might be right. There is a way to get more people, or least someone in particular, to kill again…" Fakuro stood up, brushed off her skirt, and nodded. "Yes. Yes! Even when you're trying to sabotage despair, you still breathe it."
In the present, Mukuro tried to swallow. She was shivering, and not from the draft.
If someone really does die because of my suggestion…
She would be the most awful person in the world. Those schoolchildren Mukuro butchered, that village she remembered nothing about, that innocent man on the freeway… Who could guess how many others she'd murdered over the years? And now, her attempt to save her friends might even be turned against them.
It would almost be easier to be Junko, reveling in my evil…
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Monokuma dropped from the ceiling and landed in the center of the stage. "I, Headmaster Monokuma, am proud to present… the Memory Motive!"
The room was dead silent. Mukuro gulped.
If Hina was here, she'd shout that no one is going to kill anyone, no matter what he does.
She took a tepid step forward, opened her mouth, and tried to say the words—
But they wouldn't come. She just looked down at her feet in shame.
Please, please, please, please, please…
She didn't even know what she was praying for.
Monokuma jumped onto the table, flourished, and removed both cloches at once. He tossed them into the air, and they disappeared in a cartoonish flash.
One the left platter was a single green grape, and on the right, a single red strawberry. The first of them was moist and appetizing, but the second was a little dry and dark, almost as if it was slightly old and hadn't been refrigerated properly. In fact, it was—
The exact same strawberry Mukuro's sister had tried to feed her that night.
The blood rushed out of her face. She covered her mouth reflexively, but luckily, no one was looking at her.
"All of you keep complaining," Monokuma droned on. "'Oh, my memories! Oh, I want to know what's happening outside! My family, my friends, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!' Has it occurred to you that brains are pliable for a reason? Has it occurred to you that you're not supposed to remember things perfectly? You're not computers! … as evidenced by the fact that not even I would execute a laptop or something. My point is that forgetting things is a natural, beneficial process! And yet, all you do is say things like 'We know how good friends we really are, we know about our memories being stolen.' You wanna know? You really wanna know?"
He launched himself off the table and onto the gym's floor.
"Okay!" he laughed. "Eat the strawberry, and it will restore all of your memories. Eat the grape, and it will steal all of the memories you've made since waking up in the academy. That's all. You can choose who gets what, or if you wanna throw them out, that's fine, too."
"Wait," Kyoko said. "How does this work?"
"Ugh! Little Miss Asks-Questions! I coated each of the fruit in a different chemical, that's all you really need to know."
"W—will eating one k—kill us or something?" Toko asked, hiding behind Byakuya's back.
"Nope! I promise that the chemicals only affect your brain."
"I dunno…" Hiro mumbled. "Don't you need your brain to live?"
"… Maybe not you, but everyone else definitely does," Monokuma nodded. "Neither the grape nor the strawberry will kill anyone, at least not by eating them. They won't stop your heart, they won't plug up your lungs, they won't cause an aneurism, nothing like that. You can eat the strawberry, remember things, and tell everyone else whatever you want… Or lie about it! Up to you. Ta-ta!"
With that, he disappeared.
Mukuro watched the table from afar for a long while. Nothing in the universe terrified her half as much as that inanimate, slightly dehydrated piece of fruit. She would have rather faced an army than seen that thing ever again.
Junko…
She clenched her jaw. Imagine if she ate it, and realized she really was Junko after all, and felt the ultimate (lower-case) despair? Or if she was Mukuro for real, turned back into her sister's mindless, incestuous slave? She had to avoid the fruit at all costs, but she just knew that Byakuya would take the opposite opinion and try to force it on her, he always wanted whatever she didn't.
"Mukuro is going nowhere near that strawberry." Byakuya said.
"I agree!" she nodded vigorously, thrilled and amazed. "Take it! Do anything with it except give it to me!"
"Alright." he said. "One of us needs to—"
A flash of blue.
Sayaka smashed into him, crawled up the stage, and grabbed the grape. Her mouth was watering. Drool splashed out of her open jaw.
All her pain came from Makoto's death, and the role in it which she played. And now, finally, there was a ticket to escape.
She pushed her trembling hands over her lips, gnashed her teeth, and swallowed the goopy, disgusting mess in one motion. Her hands were covered in thick saliva.
For a while, everyone simply watched her. She breathed heavily in and out, shaking, crying.
"Mukuro…" she whispered.
Mukuro hesitated, because she was still near the strawberry. But at last, she carefully stepped to the stage, making sure to keep one hand hovering to protect her mouth, and looked up to the terrified little girl begging for her help.
"Are you okay, Sayaka?"
"Mukuro… Monokuma was… my…" She tried to keep speaking, but her mouth went slack, and her eyes glazed fully over. Her last few words were very slurred. "I don't want to… desp…"
She fell forward like a ton of bricks. Mukuro caught her, but she was already unconscious.
Tears dripped off from the black-haired girl's cheeks and onto Sayaka's. Holding her like this, Mukuro realized how fragile she was, how very much she was like a beautiful porcelain doll.
No wonder Makoto fell for her.
She brought her over to one of the bleachers, laid her down, and brushed the blue hair out of her eyes. The little kitten hairclip somehow stayed exactly where it was, over her ear, shining and untarnished.
No one deserved what Junko did to us… But Sayaka might have deserved it least of all…
Could innocence really be restored by losing your memories?
Mukuro's breath caught in her throat.
I have to hope so, if only for my own sake…
"Tch!" Byakuya shook his head. "She's lucky that I was going to suggest we force her to take the grape anyway. Mukuro! Is she still breathing normally?"
She held a hand over Sayaka's lips. The breathing seemed normal.
"I think so."
"Good. As for the strawberry…"
"Hold it!" Leon shouted. "We're not really gonna just trust something Monokuma gave us, right? He's fulla shit!"
"I agree." Taka nodded. "Trusting him would be the height of stupidity."
"I dunno about that," Hiro shook his head. "We were talking about how Junko's getting desperate, right? This could be her last, stupid idea to make us kill each other."
"It doesn't matter," Kyoko said. "This is too good a chance not to take. We need more information on the outside world, and I'm sure this the only option that Monokuma will allow us for that."
Mukuro flinched. She couldn't help but think of Kyoko's strange knowledge of poisons and antidotes from yesterday, and all the other suspicions she'd had…
Now she's advocating for Junko's plan… But Junko could've expected her to because she knows us so well!
She groaned, wishing she'd been the Ultimate Counterintelligence Officer instead of the Ultimate Soldier.
"I agree." Byakuya said. "If for no other reason than that we can finally confirm 'our' Mukuro's true identity. Someone needs to eat this strawberry."
"Well, if you're so into the idea, then you can have it!" Leon huffed.
"It might be poisoned," he said, completely devoid of sympathy. "We need to test it on someone expendable, who's definitely not working for Junko. I volunteer Hiro."
"Wh—what?!" The older boy flushed red. "I'll have you know that I'm the world's best clairvoyant! I'm not expendable!"
Byakuya grinned.
"Hiro," he said. "As I recall, you owe some dangerous people some money, don't you?"
"Well…"
"What if I told you that I can make all of that go away with about two minutes of phone calls, once we're out of here?"
Hiro looked to the side. His eyes shone with naked greed.
Oh, Hiro…
Before he could respond, Kyoko dashed forward, jumped onto the stage, and grabbed the strawberry.
"Wh—Kyoko!" Byakuya shouted. "How—"
"Sorry," she said, genuinely. "But this either needs to be destroyed, or it needs to go to whomever is most likely to have the most useful memories, other than Mukuro. And in my calculation, that's me."
She popped it into her mouth and swallowed it whole.
Mukuro stood up and bolted over to the stage, afraid that she, too, would collapse. But Kyoko stayed steady on her feet, and even eased herself down onto the floor.
Everyone waited on her with bated breath.
Her eyes darted between each of her classmates.
She raised two trembling hands over her mouth, and a hideous disbelieving noise, not quite a sob, forced its way out of her lips. In that moment, she was even frailer than Sayaka.
Her legs buckled, and she fell onto her knees. Mukuro wrapped a shoulder around her, but Kyoko didn't look over. Even in this position, she could feel this girl's heart beating a thousand times a second.
"No…" Kyoko breathed. "It can't…"
"Kyoko!" she whispered. "Are you okay? Do you… remember anything?"
The Ultimate Detective tried to speak, but nothing came out.
"Kyoko!"
The lavender-haired girl's head twitched just slightly. For some reason, she seemed to be looking at Mukuro's forehead.
"M… Mukuro," she whimpered. She grasped at her chest, wheezing in pain. Actual tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and much of her face was red. "Is… Is that you?"
"Yes!" Mukuro said. Despair ate at the edge of her consciousness.
Why else would Kyoko not recognize me, except that I'm not me?
But she had to stay strong, if only for her friends.
"Yes, it's me!" she repeated. She squeezed Kyoko's shoulders as hard as she could without meaning to, but the other girl barely noticed. "It's me! Are you okay?!"
Kyoko's entire body heaved. Her hair fell in all directions. She looked almost nothing like the composed, powerful girl she always was.
Is she in shock? She always keeps her emotions so hidden… Maybe she was the worst person to have let remember things!
"I can't… I can't…"
Kyoko breathed in and out for a long time, trying to piece herself back together. Mukuro hugged her for what had to be minutes, patting her on the back and trying desperately to provide whatever warmth and comfort she could.
Nothing in this school had ever felt more wrong than Mukuro trying to soothe Kyoko.
At last, after an eternity, the Ultimate Detective looked back up. Her cheeks were red, as were her eyes. For some reason, she stared at an empty wall past Mukuro's shoulders.
It was easy to see that she was trying hard to return to her calm, emotionless persona. She'd regained a little bit of herself, and she didn't seem to be panicking any longer, but Mukuro could feel how much she was still shaking.
She wanted that cold, calculating detective back, the one who always knew what to do, who was lying, and how to fight the game.
Kyoko's hand grasped at Mukuro's side, pulling at her clothes and her skin. Her voice was barely stable, but she finally managed to get out four weak, unsteady words:
"I think I'm blind."