It was the evening after the meeting they'd had with the government ladies, and Himiko was sitting on the couch with her Moms, snuggled between them, her broken leg resting on an ottoman.

Himiko wasn't really paying attention to the show on the television. Or was it a movie? Either way, it had a lot of kissing, and Himiko couldn't really bring herself to follow it.

Her moms liked it though, and that was good.

The problem was, all Himiko could think about was the test.

After getting home, Himiko had done her best to explain to her moms about the whole thing. It took them a while to understand, especially because Himiko herself didn't, but eventually Tall Mom had just called the government lady, and that helped them get it.

But she hadn't told them the big thing. Who one of the people coming back was, and that they wanted to know if she could stay there.

Part of the problem was, Himiko hadn't really talked to her moms about Tenko. Which kinda meant she should...right?

"Can we talk about something?" Himiko asked, out of nowhere. Her moms looked at each other, like they were somehow talking without words. Did they secretly know magic?

Tall Mom paused their romantic thingy. "Is it about the meeting, Himiko? I think our discussion with Ms. Masa gave us the general picture."

Himiko blushed. "Um, nyeh...I might have not told you everything..." That really got her moms to look at her more seriously. "O-one of the people coming back first is Tenko."

That got them to raise their eyebrows. So, they did know who she was, Himiko thought.

It wasn't too surprising. She'd thought for a while that they'd watched at least a little of the show. Curious to see what happened to Aini? Or was that when they first started to care more about Himiko?

That whole thought topic felt wrong. Himiko dropped it.

"Oh really?" Short Mom asked, looking a little embarrassed. Tall Mom was hiding that she knew a lot better. "So, um, Himiko...who is Tenko?"

Himiko looked like she was zoning out, but she wasn't entirely able to keep the blush from returning to her cheeks. "She was the Ultimate Aikido Master," she started. "She was really nice, kind of annoying...But when she died, it was really..."

Himiko was really starting to struggle. All the words she'd been preparing in her head fell away. As her moms watched, Himiko started to tear up. "She liked me a lot, but I was mean to her. Right before she died, I was really, really mean to her. But she died doing something for me. If she can come back, really come back, I want to apologize."

Doing her best to suck her tears back in, Himiko wished she had an illusion spell prepared to hide how she looked.

For some reason, Tall Mom smiled. "I'm sure she'll forgive you, Himiko. From what you say, she was a kind person." Then, she reached for the remote.

But they weren't done yet. "Um," Himiko said, biting her lip nervously. "There's another thing." She took in a deep breath as her parents watched. "TenkowillneedaplacetostaysoIwaswonderingifshecouldstaywithus!" The words came out in a clump, but judging by the shocked looks on the moms' faces, they still understood it all anyway.

"Of course she can!" Short Mom exclaimed, gingerly leaning over to hug Himiko as tight as she could without making her injuries worse. "This is so cute! We'd love to have her over, for as long as she needs!"

Tall Mom made that face she made sometimes when Short Mom said something without asking her first, but nodded along with what she said anyway. After clearing her throat, she added, "Of course, there will be rules. We can't have you two sharing a bedroom, she'll be expected to help out around the house, and..." with more menace than Himiko had ever heard from either mom, she finished, "...she will need to prove herself worthy of being with our baby girl."

Himiko tried to pretend she didn't know what that meant.

"So, Maki, how is school going?"

They were all around the dinner table, as was to be expected. Maki had been attending meals more often. They weren't...terrible.

In-between slurps of the rather plain ramen that Matsuko had made for them all, Maki thought of her answer. "Fine."

It was impressive that Matsuko could hear that, delivered rather flatly, and smile like she'd just been told Maki was accepted into a top school. "That's wonderful!" Maki wondered if she was losing her touch at stoicism. "Anything in particular that you're enjoying?"

Maki suddenly realized that maybe, the fact that she usually answered that question with silence was what gave away something had improved. (It just shows I'm letting my guard down too much around them.) "...pretty much everyone's learned to leave me alone." That first day hadn't been enough for some of Marika's so-called friends.

What she didn't mention was the exception to that rule. Some girl, a transfer student who didn't seem to spend time with anyone, had been sitting with Maki at lunch. Stares and silence refused to get her to leave. So Maki decided to just wait it out. But this Ayumu girl kept coming back.

Even stranger...they'd started talking. Not a lot. Just a few sentences a day.

Still, Maki didn't hate it. Or her.

"What about that thing you were telling us earlier?" Takashi said. He was almost comfortable talking to Maki again, which was progress, she supposed. "Something about people from the show you were on, uh, coming back? What are they like?" Maybe it was because of the kids at the table, but he was talking around the part where these kids were currently dead.

Maki waited until she finished her bowl to reply. "Tenko's a martial arts expert. Kaede's a piano player." Both parents looked a little down at that. (What, were you expecting me to wax about their personalities for half an hour?) But that did leave..."Kaito wanted to be an astronaut." The problem was, Maki couldn't leave it there. Not for him. "We were close, and Kaito actually needs a place to stay, at least for a little while. I was hoping that could be here?"

Matsuko and Takashi looked at each other, and Maki could tell they were reluctant to agree.

So, Maki cheated. She bit her cheek, looked down at the table, and thought about the saddest things she could.

(I'm the one responsible for Kaito's death. He died for me. I couldn't stop Team Danganronpa from executing him. Even if I had, he would have died of the sickness they forced on his body.)

It was enough. Tears welled up in her eyes, and ran down her face.

There were gasps from the others at the table.

Takashi sighed. "Your friend can stay in the guest room."

Victorious, Maki wiped her tears away. "Can I be excused?" she asked, to which Takashi gave a nod. Maki got up, taking her bowl with her, and after dropping it in the sink she had just a few more words before she left. "Oh, by the way, Kaito is a guy."

She could hear Takashi sputtering every step down the hallway. It was almost enough to make Maki smile.

Shuichi was having a very, very bad evening.

Oh, come on! What's got you so down, huh? Huh? Huhhuhhuhhuhhuhhuh? Are you really that pissed off I might be coming back for real?

Somehow, Kokichi's disembodied taunting wasn't actually what was making it so terrible.

Weirdly, Kokichi possibly coming back to life wasn't a big deal. Outside of the confines of a murder game, Shuichi felt oddly sure that Kokichi wouldn't be nearly as big of a problem.

No...what had them so on edge was the person who wouldn't leave their thoughts.

Kaede Akamatsu.

Aside from Rantaro, she was the person they'd spent the least time with during the killing game, the second to die.

For a long time, Shuichi would have given anything to see her again, and this entire proposal would have been a dream come true for them.

That was before they'd learned the truth.

How...how could they face her?

Shuichi had failed her. They'd failed them all. It was the undeniable reality of the situation.

If they had been a better detective, then the mastermind would have been caught from the start. Kaede wouldn't have been executed for a crime she didn't commit.

How could Shuichi face her, and tell her everything that she had missed? How could they admit it was all their fault?

Shuichi blinked, and struggled to focus their eyes on the screen.

Remember what Ms. Kokaki said, they thought to themself. Breathe in. And out. In. And out. Don't focus on the anxious thoughts. Don't let the anxiety guide their mind.

Starting to regain control, Shuichi continued their research. Ever since they'd gotten home, after briefly going over what happened with Ran, Shuichi had been researching this mind technology more.

It seemed like a sound idea. From what they could see, Danganronpa had the most robust backstories and personality installations in the industry.

The technology worked like this: They could replace any information in the human brain with similar information that had been forged. Memory for memory, skill for skill, preference for preference. Thus, in order to make sure their characters were completely fictional, Danganronpa spent ages compiling as many fake details as a human brain could hold real ones. Complete overwriting.

Simply taking what they had for them, and adding on for what had been observed by the Minikumas, it would be possible to recreate the dead as perfectly as could be imagined.

The bodies were really the only sticking point.

In Japan alone, there were tens of thousands of 'actors' who had been used in one program or another, only to be put into cryogenic sleep, frozen as they were, until they were needed again. Most of the teenagers and young adults available were actually decades older, their biology halted to keep them young between 'casting choices'.

It made Shuichi want to throw up, reading about all of it. But they kept reading anyway.

Even with that large a catalogue, it would be impossible to find people that matched the dead to a T. Even if they used plastic surgery to try and make up for the difference, they would still be different bodies.

But Shuichi didn't care what Kaede looked like, if it was really Kaede.

There hadn't been a great amount of research done on the effects of using the same mental template on various different brains, but from what Shuichi could find, there didn't seem to be any differences.

The body would be different, but everything they could look up suggested the mind would be the same.

Or close enough to the same to be indistinguishable.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" Ran asked from outside, knocking on their door.

Turning from the bright computer screen to the rest of the dark room left an afterimage on Shuichi's eyes for a second, and they had to blink it away before replying, "Y-you can come in, Mom."

Calling her that got easier every time they did it. The door opened, and Ran looked at them, clearly concerned. "You look like crap," she told Shuichi, frankly. "Listen, I get this whole resurrection thing is freaking you out. It would do the same to me. But if you want to talk, I'm here to listen."

Shuichi appreciated the idea, but wasn't really sure if they would take her up on it. What they did realize, however, was that they'd forgotten something before. "I'd actually wanted to know, if it was okay with you, could Kaede stay with us?" Despite the hesitinence obvious in their voice, Shuichi somehow made it through the words without stumbling.

They'd been afraid that Ran would throw the idea out, but instead she immediately smiled. "Absolutely. Maybe having her around could help you." Shuichi wasn't sure about that, but they were happy she agreed anyway. But she didn't leave. Instead, Ran walked over and sat on their bed, looking at them. "Want to tell me more about her? So I know what to expect."

Turning away from the computer, Shuichi told Ran even more about Kaede, trying to focus on what they liked about her, rather than what they were scared of.

By the time Shuichi ended up deciding to take a nap, once Ran went out to her room, they were starting to feel just a tiny bit of hope.

Which will make the despair all the more perfect, mwa-hahahahahaha!

Shuichi wished they had taken Ms. Kokaki up on her offer of a pharmaceutical solution to Kokichi's voice. But for the moment, he was still just a voice, nothing more.