After Kaito had entered the apartment building, he hadn't been totally sure it was the right place.

Compared to where Maki Roll was living, this area was...kinda sketchy. But sure enough, when he reached the seventh floor and knocked hard on the seventh door, it was his best bud who answered.

"Shuichi!" Kaito shouted, wrapping an arm around the detective's neck and pulling Shuichi in closer. "Long time, no see!"

It amazed Kaito, seeing Shuichi take the physical affection in stride. He was so used to them being more...nervous. Anxious. Worried. There was still a little there, in their eyes, but not nearly to the same extent. "I missed you too, Kaito."

"Course you did! What was my sidekick gonna do all by hi-" Kaito froze, catching himself, and even lightly punched himself in the head hoping it would help him remember. "-themself?!"

Shuichi frowned. "Kaito...you don't need to do that. I'd rather you didn't hurt yourself on my account."

The Ultimate Astronaut laughed. "You think that would hurt me? I'm Kaito Momota!"

"You're too loud."

The voice came from inside the apartment, and Kaito looked around his friend to see their mom looking at Kaito, an eyebrow raised.

"Sorry about that!" Kaito strode into the apartment and extended a hand towards Shuichi's mom. "It's great to meet you!"

The woman put a hand to her forehead, like Kaito was giving her a headache. It was crazy how much Shuichi looked like her, their body's apple really didn't fall far from the tree. She even looked as stressed and haggard as Shuichi usually did.

She shook Kaito's hand, lightly, before looking at her kid. "How did you survive being around this guy for so long?"

Shuichi did one of their weird chuckling half-laugh things, which was as close as they usually got to a real one. "Actually, he's the one who kept me alive."

Kaito wasn't really sure that was true, but he wouldn't say that Shuichi was wrong either.

"In that case, I guess I should thank you." Shuichi's mom looked at Kaito a little closer, like she was inspecting him or something. "How are you handling the whole 'new body' thing?"

With a large grin, Kaito flexed his bicep a little. "I'm doin' pretty damn good! Still weird, but I'll get used to it!"

"Get used to it?" His answer definitely looked like it confused her.

"Sure thing! I can get over anything!"

"...they broke the mold with you, didn't they?"

"I'll take that as a compliment!"

Shuichi ushered Kaito into their room after that, though Kaito wouldn't have minded getting to talk to their mom further. She seemed grumpy, sure, but Maki Roll was grumpy, and she was great.

Speaking of her, Shuichi asked, "How is Maki doing?"

"Awesome!" Kaito was grinning, because of course he was. He was dating the girl he loved, how could he not be happy to talk about her? "She's been doing this streaming thing, and...oh! Yeah, she wanted me to tell you that if you ever wanted to join her for like a mystery game or something, she'd love that!"

Those, in fact, were not Maki's exact words, but they got the point across fine, and Shuichi seemed to understand them. They nodded and said, "As long as it's not a Danganronpa game, sure."

The smile dropped from Kaito's face as he nodded. Shuichi definitely seemed to want to avoid thinking or talking about that whole thing, as much as they could anyway. Kaito learned that pretty early into messaging with them once he'd been brought back.

Kaito, meanwhile, didn't really get the fuss. He's actually played one of them a little with Maki, and he'd laughed seeing where whoever wrote him must have taken some inspiration from some of the other characters. They seemed like cool games, even if they weren't really the kind of thing Kaito enjoyed to play in his spare time.

"Oh yeah!" Kaito exclaimed, his thoughts connecting a topic to him. "I've been streaming with her a lot now, kind of like a couple's thing! I was gettin' kind of bored watching her play those gun games, but she started this space one that's kickass!" The science in it was pretty ridiculous, and some of the plotlines made Kaito's head hurt, but who cared?! Space!

That actually made Shuichi smile, like a real, full, honest smile. That was always a win in Kaito's book.

"What about you, sidekick? You and Kaede are together, right? What have you two been doing?"

For some reason, the question made Shuichi blush. Like, really hard. "Oh, uh...mostly just hanging out?"

That's pretty much what he and Maki did, Kaito thought.

"She make you happy?"

The smile came back. "Yes."

"Hell yeah!" He looked Shuichi over, as if doing so would give him more insight into what he was going to ask next. "Are you doing good, though?"

There was an unspoken addendum that he knew Shuichi could still hear. 'I'm worried about you.'

The question made Shuichi take a deep breath, and Kaito could see there was no way for Shuichi to honestly say 'Yes' to that.

Kaito was the kind of guy who could take everything they'd gone through and come out fine. Shuichi was the type of g...the type of person who would have been an anxious wreck just going to a normal high school. The Killing Game had left scars that'd probably never heal.

"I'm not good." At least Shuichi could be honest about that. "But I'm better." They went into telling Kaito a little about some techniques their therapist had taught them, and about the medications they were trying out, and while Kaito didn't really understand it all, he was happy to listen anyway.

Shuichi was a one in a million kind of friend. They'd never believe him, but Kaito knew, deep in his heart, that they were worth ten times what Kaito was, plain and simple. Which as why Kaito would always be there for Shuichi, come what may.

Since Kaito was going over to Shuichi's, Kaede had decided to see a friend too.

In her case, she'd chosen Himiko. She was curious to see what the mage, who she'd barely gotten to know before dying, was up to.

Sure, she knew that the girl and Tenko had gotten together, but...that was pretty much it?

Kaede's information about Himiko was basically just: 1) she's a magician; 2) she pretends to have real magic; 3) she's low energy; 4) she likes girls. Oh, and 5) she probably still hates me for trying to kill Rantaro.

Not a lot.

But nonetheless, Kaede wanted to know more!

Hence the bus ride to her house. Himiko's moms greeted Kaede at the door, and they were so nice! It was really obvious to Kaede just how much they loved each other, and how much they loved Himiko. It was honestly...kind of jealousy-inducing. It would be great to have any family at all.

Kaede wasn't going to focus on that, though! No amount of worrying was going to make loving parents materialize out of nowhere!

"Oh, hey Kaede."

Like usual, Himiko sounded pretty bored as Kaede came into her bedroom.

"Hi, Himiko!" She looked around, confused. "Is Tenko not here?"

The shrug that Himiko gave in response was so minute and so hard to see that it might as well have not happened. "She went to Maki's. They're playing games."

That...did not really make sense? Since when did Maki play games? And what kind?

Sure, Kaede didn't know the girl super well, or anything, but... "Okay, well, that's cool!"

"..."

It was right around there that Kaede realized she had no idea what to talk about Himiko with.

Something standard? "How have you been doing, Himiko?"

"Nyeh," she started, "pretty okay...especially now that the casts are off."

Kaede remembered, and yeah, she had been wearing casts right after Kaede had come back, hadn't she? "How did you get those?"

"I got beat up in an alleyway and had to crawl home."

The answer was given with no energy behind it, like a lot of the things Himiko said, but Kaede felt like she could sense a tension behind the attempt to sound nonchalant.

Especially, y'know, considering the subject matter. "Wait, seriously?!" How could anyone...why... "Why would someone do that?!" Kaede was getting upset now at whatever monster had attacked her friend. "That's horrible!"

Himiko wasn't looking at her anymore. "...she apologized."

That made Kaede blink. "She...she apologized?" Normally, Kaede was a pretty sunshine and rainbows type of person. She was positive and upbeat and all that jazz. But this? This wasn't okay. "Himiko...do you know who attacked you?"

"..."

Even if she wouldn't say a word, Kaede had heard an answer anyway.

"Please don't tell anyone...especially Tenko."

Okay, so, what do I know? One, Himiko has been assaulted, badly enough to require casts. Two, Himiko knows who did it. Three, Himiko doesn't want anyone, including her girlfriend, to know.

Taking a deep breath, Kaede gave Himiko a calm smile and told her, "It's okay. I won't tell anyone you don't want me to, even Shuichi."

"...promise?"

"Promise." Kaede meant it. Even if I want to do anything but follow along with that agreement. Still, she couldn't leave it there, so Kaede asked, "Since I know that much, why don't you tell me everything?"

That question unleashed the floodgates.

Apparently, it was a lot for Himiko to have kept bottled up this whole time, and she was pretty eager to share it all with someone.

It started with the girl who had Himiko's body before Himiko, Aini Tono. Himiko had to do a lot of digging to find out anything about her, since her moms didn't want to discuss the topic. It turned out, that was because she was a horrible person, one who abused and tormented many before signing up for the show.

Kaede heard about the social media page full of people being happy that Aini was dead, about her meeting with the girls who would come to be Himiko's new friends, and about being tazed by the leader of the group.

The more Himiko talked about it, the less 'bored' she sounded. In fact...maybe Himiko wasn't bored at all. Maybe it was more like she'd become numb.

Numb to the deaths inflicted on her by the Killing Game. Numb to the terrible truth of who and what she really was. Numb to being attacked because of what someone else did.

With a heavy sigh, Kaede thought she knew the best tactic. "First off...I'm not a professional at this, Himiko. I really think you should talk to Ms. Kokaki. She's been great for Shuichi and I both." She paused. "...though really, any good therapist would work."

Himiko bit her lip, and for a second Kaede worried she was doing so hard enough that she'd draw blood. "But...if I tell her...she'd have to tell the prosecutor lady, wouldn't she?"

"..." There was that. Kaede didn't exactly know the logistics of that kind of thing, but it was entirely possible that knowledge of a crime like that would be reported. Maybe it wouldn't end up going to Ms. Moriko exactly, but she still saw Himiko's point. "She might have to. So, secondly, I do think you should talk to other people about this, Tenko included."

The smaller girl started to draw into herself a little. "I don't want Iya to get in trouble." Her voice was coming out in almost a whimper.

Moving slowly and clearly, Kaede came closer, sitting on the bed next to Himiko, and putting an arm around her shoulders. "Hey. I'm here. You're okay." Himiko wasn't crying, but she did lean into Kaede's side a little, her body language guarded. "I don't...really get why you want to protect her so badly? But I respect it anyway." Taking a deep breath, Kaede had a final comment for her. "Third thing, Himiko? You don't need to blame yourself."

In a childish tone, Himiko asked, "Who said I'm doing that?"

Rather than actually trying to respond directly to the question, Kaede just moved on with her point. "It's not your fault that Aini hurt those people. It's not your fault that Iya attacked you. If you told the authorities, it wouldn't be your fault that she got in trouble for it." Kaede knew that just saying those things wouldn't make Himiko's feelings go away. But they had to be said anyway.

The redheaded mage suddenly clutched Kaede tightly, and choked sobs came from Himiko's face, which was buried into Kaede's sleeve. "They're...I'm...Iya would be so mad if I told on her and she's probably better now and I don't want to make her mad at me I don't want to be like Aini..."

The rambling continued for a while after that, and Kaede did what she could to comfort Himiko through the whole thing.

In the end, Himiko agreed to, at the very least, tell Tenko.

It sounded like a good idea to Kaede. But it also made her feel just a little bit of fear for what would happen to Iya if Tenko got her hands on her.

"CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER"

Sitting in Maki's room, on a dining room chair because there wasn't a second computer one, Tenko looked at the screen, unphased by the online crowd watching them but unsure exactly of what she was really supposed to do.

"Um...Maki? What does this mean?"

It might have been the tenth time that Tenko had asked that, and like all the other times, it made Maki sigh.

But apparently, at least judging by some of the comments Tenko could see from the audience, they liked it? So...that was good?

"We each pick a character, and that will be who we control for the fight."

"Okay..." Tenko had never played a video game before, and the hour and a half of watching Maki play earlier didn't really improve her comprehension. "...but how...do they fight? Are any of them good at Aikido?"

After sucking in a breath of air, Maki just told her, "Pick whoever you think looks interesting, and I'll throw you into a tutorial first."

Some of those words were gibberish to Tenko, but she quickly picked a character.

Of course, it was a badass woman with thighs so meaty they could probably kill someone. (The dream.)

The other character in the game, who Maki said was controlled by the computer itself, just kinda stood there and let Tenko hit him. Apparently that was supposed to make it easy for her to learn the controls?

Well, maybe that was working, because she was starting to get it all, kind of. One button made her jump, some did kicks, and others punches. She experimented with it all, just as the bedroom door opened.

Turning her head to see who it was, Tenko saw Maki's mom. It was nuts how much like Maki she looked, only older and softer and nicer. Like...if somehow Maki grew up into a suburban housewife.

The idea made Tenko kind of want to hurl. She preferred Maki being angsty and stoic.

Maki's mom was carrying a plate of snacks, though they were definitely something heated up, premade, from a freezer or something. "You girls having fun?"

"Yes, Matsuko. Just set them over here."

Maki called her mom that, which...wasn't too weird? Tenko knew some people did that. The mom did just that, setting the food on a free place on the desk before looking at Maki with a big smile. "I'm glad you're being more social, honey."

Tenko wasn't expecting Maki to say anything back. But she was wrong.

"...thanks. I'm glad too. And I appreciate the snacks." Her cheeks were even blushing as she said it! So cute!

(Whoa, calm down, Tenko! You aren't on the market anymore, no matter how cute and sexy Maki is, and no matter how much you want her to kick your ass before kissing you!)

Yep, definitely stuffing all of those thoughts somewhere for a rainy day.

But with those thoughts gone, others showed up, and Tenko made the mistake of saying them out loud, just after Maki's mom left the room. "I'm jealous."

That made Maki raise an eyebrow. "Of what?"

On the spot now, with not just Maki but an entire crowd watching her, Tenko felt like she had to say it. "Well...of your family? It's really great that you're close with them. Himiko's like that with her moms, too."

The sigh in her voice was impossible to miss, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. (It would just be nice if Tenko had a family.)

"You're not alone."

Pausing the game, Tenko looked at Maki, confused, and saw the assassin was clearly nervous.

"You might not have...what some of us do. But you have us. Me and Kaito, Shuichi and Kaede, Himiko...we're your family."

The statement was delivered as flatly as Maki could do it, but Tenko still felt the love behind it. She couldn't help herself, and hugged her friend, crying. "Maki, you're the beeeeeest! I'm so glad you think of me that way!"

"Ugh," Maki grunted. "It's...don't be weird. I'm just telling you the truth." Tenko withdrew, and Maki pointed at the computer screen. "Get back to the game, and don't look at the comments."

Tenko did anyway.

There were a lot of people posting crying faces? Why were they sad? Tenko didn't get it, just as much as she didn't get what some people were talking about with 'acting' and 'cosplaying'. Wasn't the whole point of Maki doing this that she was the real deal?

Clearly, comments like those were from degenerate ma-(No, bad Tenko!)

She played the game for a while before giving up in frustration, and just watched Maki play as a soldier in a war game instead. She was really good at it.

It felt...nice. It was an afternoon of fun and friendship and silly stuff.

The kind of day Tenko hoped would never end.