Tenko Chabashira was working out.

"...one-fifty-seven, one-fifty-eight, one-fifty-nine..." She counted out as she completed each push-up, just one part of her exhaustive regiment.

Himiko's moms were both at work, and Himiko herself was in her room either doing homeschool stuff or napping. Which left Tenko in the living room, trying to do something about the body she'd been saddled with.

She flinched at the thought, without losing count. It was still strange to think about...that this really wasn't the same body she was used to having. As much as she'd tried to deny it at first, it made sense. After all, there was no way she'd ever let her body get this weak.

There was no way she'd be able to practice Neo-Aikido with those bony arms and skinny legs. So, she'd been trying to build as much muscle onto her new limbs as she could.

Tenko had hoped the exercise would also help with keeping her thoughts away from dangerous places. But that hadn't really worked, after a while Tenko's mind would wander anyway.

The problem was, she really liked living with Himiko. Not just for the obvious reason, her moms were wonderful. They seemed to really like Tenko, especially Touko, and it was really great having them as role models.

In her life before the Ultimate Academy, Tenko had never met another lesbian. It made her feel self-conscious, like there was something inherently wrong with her. Fictional backstory, sure, but it still shaped how she saw herself. But here were two women who were married, who had a life together and a child together. It was starting to give Tenko hope that maybe she could be happy someday too.

The only actual issue was, well, Himiko herself. Tenko was still in love with her. Full-on having a heart-attack when she was nearby, butterflies when she thought about her, sexy dreams every night kind of love.

Before Tenko, ugh, died, she'd realized how much her constant attempts to spend time with Himiko had backfired, made even worse when she'd betrayed the Student Council. It seemed as though the Ultimate Mage hated Tenko, and Tenko had resolved to accept that was the case and try to move on with her life.

Death kind of got in the way of that.

Now that she was back, things were different. Himiko...seemed to like her? Or at least, more than she did before. In fact, Himiko acted differently in a lot of ways. She was less reserved, more willing to speak her mind, and she...smiled at Tenko. (Which, of course, made Tenko's legs threaten to give out every time it happened.)

Was that...because of what Tenko had said? Right before the séance?

Had she started to miss Tenko once she was gone?

Or was...was it just pity? (That's probably it, Tenko. There's no point in reading more into it.)

Still, Tenko couldn't stop thinking about it, even though the answer was so obvious. Did she...really have any chance at all with Himiko? (No. Tenko has no chance with her.)

That evening, after they'd had dinner, Himiko had gone to bed early because she was sleepy, while Yuu had left to go to the office and work on her lesson plans.

Which just left Tenko with Touko. Himiko called her Short Mom, though Tenko didn't think she was too short, really. In fact, Tenko thought Touko was where Himiko had gotten a lot of her looks, especially in terms of weapons-grade adorability.

The accountant was about to head to bed, telling her, "Goodnight, Tenko," but the martial artist stopped her.

"Wait!" The woman turned around and looked at Tenko expectantly. Now that her attention was on Tenko, though, what she had to say became much harder. Blushing like crazy, Tenko finally managed to squeak out, "Um...I wanted to ask you for some advice..." Then, lowering her volume, she added, "...romantic advice."

She certainly hadn't expected Touko to let out a high-pitched squeeing sound, jumping up and down a little, before gesturing at the couch, where they sat down. "Please do! I want to help you however I can." That made Tenko pretty sure that Touko didn't know who this advice was for. But before Tenko could ask anything, Touko added, a wistful smile on her plump face, "I'm really happy you asked me, Tenko. When I was your age...I never had anyone I could turn to."

Her questions momentarily forgotten, Tenko suddenly wanted to know more of her story. "I didn't either, until I met you and your wife." She didn't really want to get into the weeds about if that really counted, since she was originally fictional, and luckily Touko didn't steer the conversation there either.

"When I was a teenager, I felt so alone. I grew up in a small town, and no one was openly gay." Tenko nodded along, that sounded pretty similar to her own story. "Until I found Yuu, I was always afraid there was just something...wrong with me." From what she'd seen of Touko, it wasn't normal for her to get this glum, but Tenko could understand why.

"I...still kind of feel like that," Tenko admitted.

The older lesbian put a hand on her shoulder, and told her, "There's nothing wrong with you, Tenko. You're perfect, just the way you are." Then, she let out a sigh. "Of course, sexuality wasn't the only problem Yuu and I had to deal with, but..." Tenko didn't really know what she meant, but she didn't ask. It felt like...something it wouldn't be right to intrude on.

"How did...how did the two of you meet?" They were such an oddly matched pair. Tenko tried not to think about how true that was of Himiko and herself as well.

And so, Touko told the story. One girl, uncomfortable in the body she'd been born in and treated like trash for trying to be herself. The other girl, scared of what others might think if they knew who she was and scared to love. They shared a class, then a dorm room, then a bed. There were fights, and obstacles, and failures. But there was always love, and through it all they had each other.

It was impossible for Tenko not to cry, hearing that story. "I hope I have a story like that, someday."

At some point, Touko had also started crying. "You will." It was a promise Tenko wanted to believe in. "I think Himiko likes you too, you know." Oh! That was...what this had been about, at the start. Tenko had almost forgotten to actually ask for advice. "From what I can tell, you were too pushy before. You need to let Himiko know you like her, while giving her space to think about what she wants."

It sounded like good advice. (It also sounds hard.) Tenko...just wanted to be around Himiko, all the time. And when she was around Himiko, Tenko just wanted the mage's attention for herself.

But she took a deep breath, and nodded. "Thank you," she told Touko, before going to change into the pajamas Yuu had reluctantly lent her.

Let Himiko know Tenko liked her. Give Himiko space. She...she could do that.

And if Himiko rejected her, Tenko could handle that.

If she kept telling herself that, it would feel true.

Things were very, very different for Kaito Momota.

He had a lot to adjust to.

There was no Killing Game any more, no trials either.

It turned out he'd been a fictional character the whole time, on some reality show.

He wasn't dying of some stupid illness that made him all weak and coughy anymore.

Mostly good stuff! In fact, unlike some other people, Kaito wasn't too bothered by the whole 'fictional' thing. It made a lot of sense! Kaito was so incredible, it wasn't really possible for him to occur naturally.

The new body wasn't too bad, though he did wish it was better at growing facial hair. Still, it was way better than constantly choking on his own blood.

Seeing Maki Roll when he came back had been good. She'd been so happy to see him, and considering how things with her ended after the trial...

Yeah, there was no way Kaito could ignore it any more. She definitely liked him.

Which was good! Because he liked her back. Kinda.

That was one of those things Kaito didn't like thinking about, it was too complicated. He definitely liked Maki, he knew that. But...he just didn't have those kinda thoughts about her. Or about anyone.

Everyone else Kaito's age was always talking about sex, and Kaito just...didn't really get it. He was far more interested in space, in being manly, and in helping his friends.

How could he tell Maki that though? It wasn't manly to let a girl down, and she was probably expecting usual teenage boy things from him.

It wasn't like he was having that conversation anytime soon, though.

When they first reunited, Maki had been way closer than before, but the second they got back to her house, Kaito had been completely frozen out. They were never in a room alone together, and they'd shared maybe ten words in the last three days.

Which was why, after she'd come home from school, Kaito went up to her room and opened the door, ready for what could come his head held high. "Maki, we've gotta talk."

"..." Getting a death glare for just barging in was something Kaito was expecting from her. It was usual Maki Roll behavior. Her sitting on the floor of her room, legs criss-crossed underneath her, while her kid sister filled an empty teacup with imaginary tea, a bunch of stuffed animals in a circle around them, was not.

Still, Kaito was nothing if not adaptable. "There room for one more at the tea party, Nonoko?"

The little girl giggled and nodded, moving aside a few toys so Kaito had a place to sit down too. "What kind of tea did you want?" the kid asked him.

"Black!" Kaito said, confidently. That was the manliest type of tea, after all. She poured him some imaginary tea, and he made sure to drink it out of the plastic cup, taking a long swig before grinning at her. "Thanks!"

That made Nonoko giggle, but Maki was still looking, well, Maki-ish. "You said we 'have to talk'?" she asked, while Nonoko served some tea to her stuffed animals.

It sounded like Maki was skeptical. That didn't bother Kaito, he was used to proving skeptics wrong. "Sure we do! We haven't hung out since I came back!"

"Did you ever wonder," Maki asked, her voice icy cold, "if the only reason I spent any time with you in the first place was because we were stuck in a death game together?"

If she thought was going to actually bother him, Maki would be disappointed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you'd never have given me the time of day otherwise." Kaito said it with a grin, and for a second he swore he saw Maki almost smile back.

"Mister Kaito!" Nonoko called out, getting his attention again. "Maki told me you're an astronaut!"

He laughed. "Yep! Still haven't been to space yet, but I'm Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! Nothing can stop me from getting on a spaceship!"

That was only the kid's first question.

It felt like she didn't have an off button, and Kaito did what he could to answer them all. Eventually, though, it was time for Nonoko to go to bed, and Maki was the one to take her there.

But as they were leaving the room, she stopped for a second and looked at Kaito. "If you ever want to help me watch the kids, you're welcome to. You're not as bad at it as you were at investigating."

Kaito took that as a compliment, and was grinning as he left Maki's room to head back to his own. Even seeing the family's dad giving him the stink eye as they passed in the hall couldn't knock his spirits.

They still needed to talk things out, but Kaito was more confident than ever in his chances of having a real talk with Maki.

Things were going pretty well.

From the first day Kaede had come through the apartment doors, Ran had been accommodating, welcoming her into the home. Well, she had seemed a bit tired, but Shuichi said that was normal for her.

The place was small enough that there wasn't a living room, so Kaede ended up sleeping in Ran's bedroom, and that worked out pretty well. Unlike her or Shuichi, Kaede was never going to adjust to a nocturnal sleep schedule, so she could be up and about while they slept, and go to bed while Ran was at work.

That still left a good chunk of time, in the late afternoon, for her and Shuichi to spend time together, most often in his room.

"I wish I had a piano," Kaede admitted one day, flopping onto his bed while he was doing his usual Shuichi Laptop Things. She felt selfish admitting it, but she felt comfortable saying it to him at least.

She hadn't been expecting Shuichi to smile in response. Swiveling to face her, he gestured to the laptop screen. "I thought that might be the case, so I found this for you." Kaede got up and came closer, and saw he'd pulled up some kind of program. "It's a piece of software that lets you compose piano melodies and hear how they'd sound on a real piano."

It was thoughtful. Like, really thoughtful. Kaede had to wipe away a few tears. "Thanks, Shuichi." Then, to her surprise, he got up from the computer chair and gestured at it. "Right now? Weren't you...?" Kaede wasn't 100% sure what Shuichi was actually doing on the computer all night, but still, she'd feel bad taking it away from him.

"I can research from over here," Shuichi explained, pulling out his smartphone. "Plus, I'll have all night to use my laptop once you go to bed. And..." He let out a breath, and took a moment to think before finishing the sentence. "...I still want you to show me the songs you'd always wanted to, when we finally got out."

Okay, Kaede thought, he is too sweet sometimes. Not that she really minded, but still...it just served to remind her how selfish and terrible she could be in comparison. But that wasn't what this was about! Shuichi is doing something nice for me, and I should enjoy it!

It wasn't the same thing as having a real piano on hand, obviously. As much as the music itself was still there, Kaede loved the tactile sensation of her hands on the keys, the reverberations from inside the case as the sounds vibrated, that feeling of being where she really belonged.

But compared to not having a piano at all, the program was great. She started learning exactly how it worked, through trial and error rather than some guide or tutorial, while Shuichi sat on the bed behind her. "What do you think?"

He didn't have to clarify what he meant. It was the topic that was never far from either of their minds, after all.

It seemed like the resurrection trial had worked, as far as they could tell. Kaede, well, she felt like herself, even if this body was a little different. I don't mind the smaller breasts, it's better for my back. Shuichi seemed to agree that it had worked, he hadn't noticed any major not-Kaede stuff to worry about.

Which just raised the question: what were they going to do with the other dead students?

"We should bring them all back." Nothing in Kaede's tone brooked argument. She'd heard, secondhand, what Maki's objections were, but she quite frankly disagreed. "We were all being used by Team Danganronpa. And..." She couldn't come out and say it. My hands aren't clean either. How can I say they're irredeemable, after what I tried to do?

Shuichi didn't immediately agree or disagree. "But what do we do about Korekiyo? Kokichi? Kirumi?" The serial killer, the chessmaster, and the manipulator.

It wasn't a bad question, but Kaede had a simple answer. "They should get therapy. Like any juvenile criminal, we shouldn't be trying to punish them, we should try to help them. And if that doesn't work, we'll face it, we'll handle it. But we have to give them the chance." It wasn't something felt she could compromise on. If I'm getting another opportunity, they should too. "If I'm being honest...we should all be getting therapy."

Myself included. Asking for it would be hard, but Kaede couldn't deny it was a good idea. They'd all been through trauma, and more than that, the very nature of their existence was something for them to face. Kaede had mostly been ignoring it, but that wouldn't work forever.

"Um," Shuichi stammered, while Kaede started using the program to put together the first song she wanted to show him. "I'm already talking to a therapist. For more than a month, now. She's helped with...a lot of things." He didn't go into specifics, but Kaede wouldn't ask him to. That was up to him to share, if he felt like it.

Kaede beamed at him. "That's amazing! Shuichi, I'm happy for you." Later, she'd have to see if that therapist would accept her as well.

But it looked like Shuichi had more to tell her about. "I also kind of...graduated high school early. And I'll be attending an online university soon."

He sounded proud of himself. And he should be. He's...doing so much better than I thought he would be. That's my problem. I never really believe in Shuichi, did I? "I'm not surprised," Kaede lied. "I knew from the first day we met that you were a genius." He blushed at the compliment, and before he could deny it, she told him, "I think I've got a pretty good handle on this program. Listen to this."

It didn't sound as good over laptop speakers as it would on a professional set of headphones, but the beautiful melody of Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie was heart-wrenching no matter how one listened to it. Kaede had managed to replicate it, note for note, out of her memory, and she watched as Shuichi listened, his eyes moistening with tears.

Moving to join him on the bed as the song looped, Kaede asked, "You like it?" Shuichi nodded, and she was happy to see how deeply it had affected him. "I remember you mentioned listening to Clair de Lune after...my trial. So I thought this would be a good thing to show you next, in my little tour of the classical world. What do you think of it?"

She let him think his answer over for a minute or so before he finally gave it. "It's...sad. Or maybe melancholy? But also a peaceful feeling, if that makes any sense..." It looked like he was feeling out of his element, talking about music, but she appreciated his attempt.

"Definitely!" Kaede confirmed. "It always makes me think of dealing with loss. The piece was marked by the composer as 'Lent et douloureux', which is French for 'slowly with grief'." She was happy to continue talking about it, Kaede could talk about composers for hours if people let her.

But Shuichi's face was coming closer to hers, and she realized only as their lips met what he was doing.

Their first kiss didn't last very long. It was obvious to her that Shuichi was hesitant, scared, to make that first move, but he was trying anyway. She'd barely started to kiss back when he was pulling away, looking terrified.

This is happening? This is actually happening?

Kaede wanted nothing more than to get back to kissing, but there was something she had to ask him first. "Shuichi, I...are you really interested in me? Like that?"

The question made him blink, clearly not having expected it. "Yes?" Shuichi said, as if it was obvious. "Um, are you interested in me?" That was clearly what he was afraid of, her telling him that she wasn't.

"Yes!" Kaede clarified, voice rising, wanting to make it clear to him that she really liked him. She was still a little unsure, though. Was she manipulating him into this somehow? There was no way he was happy with her, after all she'd done...

Pushing those thoughts out of her head, Kaede paid attention. Shuichi was still scared himself. He'd taken a leap, kissing her, and he hadn't gotten the response he'd expected.

Setting aside her doubts for another day, it was time to do something Kaede had wanted for a while. Reaching with one arm, Kaede grabbed Shuichi's back and pulled him in for another kiss, this time with her in the lead. She tried to put all her affection, all her trust, and all her burgeoning love into that kiss.

She wasn't entirely sure how long this kiss lasted, aside from 'much longer than the first one'. When they did come up for air, Shuichi was blushing like crazy, which just made her want to kiss him more. He was so cute when he was shy!

As Kaede pinned him to the bed for more face-to-face action, she filed away something she noticed. It felt like...Shuichi was also hiding something from her.

That was for another day, though. There and then, they lost themself in adolescent enjoyment, as the beautiful piano chords played in the background.