They heard the explosion before they saw the smoke. Masaru turned from their doused campfire to see train car after train car get pulled off the sky tram and into a building at the heart of the city. Those few minutes felt like an eternity as the building moaned and collapsed around the train like a gaping maw. The last few cars whipped up like a snake to drag the water tower toward the wreckage and smother half the flames. As the streetlights along main street popped in a shower of electric light, Masaru felt Jataro stumble past him in a blind panic. He followed behind mutely, the same dreadful question burst through the shock with each step.
Was Kotoko on the train?
It took them three hours before they made it to the wreckage. The trashed electrical wires lay limp in the water, having burned everything it could reach long before they arrived. There was no smell of burning flesh or a Monokuma kid in sight. It was a good sign Masaru supposed, and an eerie silence followed them up the steps of the building.
"Jataro…" Masaru began, hoping the run was what left the other out of breath, "we might be able to get in through the cars, but we need to be really careful. If we step in the wrong spot, it could make things worse. Just follow my lead." Jataro nodded weakly and matched Masaru's step at each pace. The interior of the train was a gaudy pink that reeked of petrol, peach and vanilla. Crystal chandeliers lay shattered on the marble floor, a hazard that helped him tell which direction the train car tilted. "What did she make you do to the train?" He wrinkled his nose at the wallpaper that covered the old subway ads he remembered from his morning commutes to school. Even the seats had been ripped out to make room for velvet fainting couches and lush carpet.
"Princess carriage." Jataro corrected, quietly mourning the weeks of work that lay buried in the building. "Monaka wouldn't get her one, so I made it."
"You never made me or Nagisa anything cool." Masaru grumbled. Not that he wanted a gaudy train, but a hero should get the best stuff. At the very least he should have known what Jataro was doing to their base.
"I would have made you stuff if you asked. You didn't need me." As they proceeded the carpet bore more gashes, dentures were lodged in the walls, and a glimmer of silver lay in a pile of grey cloth. "...no…" Before Jataro could be stopped he ran ahead. Kotoko's jacket was in shreds on the floor. A few steps further was her skirt.
The trained groaned and both boys froze in place. Masaru eyed the walls and their footing, his brain scrambled to assess the safest way to proceed. His friend ahead of him was trembling. One wrong step and the cars would completely uncouple.
"It's going to be okay." Masaru let out a staggered sigh. "We just need to walk back and find a different way-" Instinct took over logic when he saw Jataro double over on the floor. In two strides he was at the boy's side just in time to see him vomit. "J-jataro? Are you-"
The hallway behind them buckled as concrete pummeled the walkway. He felt the front of the car lurch forward and braced them both for impact. End over end the train pulled free from the wall and down to the fighting arena below. The roof of the car crumpled against the pavement and with a final moan, listed onto its side. Water slowly seeped in through the shattered glass and collected around their knees.
"Jataro!" Masaru shouted out, relieved to hear a sputtering cough in reply. "I'm going to climb out through the window, give me your backpack so I can pull you up!" With the last of his strength, he pulled the two out of the collapsed car and fell backwards into the water. He lavished in the ice cold that lapped around his shoulders and ears, arms open wide as he fought the spasm of pain that shot through his arm. His relief was short-lived when he heard his friend pawing through the rubble. "Seriously? Now is not the time-"
He grunted and pushed himself up to a seated position, his hand lying on something plastic and hard. Kotoko's headband was trapped between the rocks mere inches below the water. He looked back up at Jataro as the boy pulled at a large piece of sheet metal to no avail. Had Monaka really tried to get rid of her too? They had seemed so close, and yet…
"Not again." Jataro wheezed, barely above a whisper. "Say something, please!" Had she been near the car when they fell? Masaru felt his blood run cold looking around the arena, smashed beyond recognition. The demon's bracelet lay in the water not too far away. There had to be another way out of here they weren't seeing, there just had to be.
"Hey, come on, we don't know if she stayed here." But Jataro didn't listen. He attacked the wreckage with a single mindedness Masaru had never seen. The mantra that spewed from his lips became more coherent with each breath.
"I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. I'll never leave again, I swear- just don't be dead! You promised." The shrapnel tore up his sleeves and left his hands raw. Masaru limped to his side. He tried to pull the boy off, but each time he broke free, desperate to find even a strand of hair.
"This isn't like the junkyard!" Masaru pulled Jataro by his middle into a bear hug. "If she's in there, she's not- You can't fix her." He felt Jataro's fingernails bite into his arms as he tried to break free.
"You don't know what I can do." His tears splashed against Masaru's bruises. "I can make her pretty. Even with parts missing, I made Big Sis look like her pictures. I can do that much for her if she's really-" He shuddered and his hands slowly dropped to his sides. Masaru held onto him tighter, afraid he might lunge for the train again. "Every time I like someone, they leave me."
"We can still find Nagisa, maybe she's with him?" Jataro felt like dead weight in his arms. "We'll get Nagisa's help and take back our robots. Then we can come back and deal with the train. But first we gotta find a way out of here, just like those demons did." Slowly he lowered Jataro to his knees and released him one arm at a time. He waited as patiently as he could, but Jataro refused to move. "I'm not leaving without you."
Still no reaction.
Masaru stretched his sore muscles with a sigh. As much as he knew Jataro needed time, it was a luxury Monaka was not willing to give them. He hauled Jataro onto his back with no resistance, using the backpack straps to help keep him secure. Progress would be much slower this way, but it was better than staying still.
Survival mode.
It was a phrase Nagisa had often heard used to explain away mistakes and but never understood. Well, that used to be the case. Seeing Kotoko almost get captured by Monokuma kids and saved by the demons she was hunting set off a visceral panic attack. He went against Monaka's instructions and freed one of their targets. It felt like an out-of-body experience, like there was no time to process everything around him and what he had to do. It went against all logic, yet some how he knew, if Komaru and her escourt made it back to the sky palace something bad would happen. There was no clear danger or explanation he could blame for the feeling either. Just... something wasn't right.
In order to ensure they made it out of the city, he had to escort them to the escape route hidden in the city's temple grounds. It should have been easy. He was the leader of the Warriors of Hope now after all, he should be able to enforce such executive decisions with ease. However, the Monokuma attacked him on sight. At every turn the fearsome robots would turn their attention to Nagisa instead of the demons they were supposed to be hunting down. Having to be protected from his own weapons by demons, it was humiliating, and the long haired demon kept badgering him about why he thought the destruction of the city was okay.
He could rationalize, he could excuse, he could say anything he needed to make it through another conversation with an adult. The problem was, what was going on around them, that had never been part of the plan. The Monokuma were only supposed to attack adults, not children. It was a robot, it could only do as it was told, so why were they trying to attack him? If it wasn't targeting people with the demon wrist bands, how was it screening it's victims. Was it just targeting humans that weren't wearing Monokuma helmets? If so, then, what happened to the children that refused to wear them. Where were they? It was another uncomfortable piece of the puzzle.
"Maybe we should take a break." The long haired demon stuttered. "You both look terrible." He could see the other girl tremble, though he had chalked it up to the night air.
"No, we need to keep going." Nagisa straightened his jacket. "You're not going to be safe until your out of the city." He could feel the woman glare at him.
"No place is 'safe' outside of Towa City." She chewed on a torn cuticle. "This place was the only place the riots hadn't reached yet. If you keep burning up your energy running away, you will get us killed." The girl next to her started crying and he could see the bespectacled woman falter. She sighed and rubbed her temples. "We're all tired. One hour of rest will help." She wasn't going to budge, he could tell, but still...
"I-I can't do nothing, I can't-" He was starting to rambled. "Every moment I spend out here is another second wasted. I need to get back as soon as possible."
"...You're not going with her?" He looked up at the woman in shock. They thought he was going to leave the city? What was he supposed to do with a cry baby demon and no support? He couldn't just up and leave his friends. Even if Masaru and Jataro were missing, he still had to get Kotoko and Monaka through this. They were counting on him. They needed him to come back... didn't they? What was worse, was this woman seemed almost worried about him.
"O-of course not. I am the leader of the Warriors of Hope." He did his best to sound proud, but lately his faith was waning
"If you're not going, then we don't know it's safe." She shook her head. "Every time we've found a way out of the city it's exploded in our faces. It's pretty clear no one can leave the city while they're in charge."
No one can leave the city.
He can't leave the city.
"You're not going to come with me Touko?" The girl asked with dawning horror.
"I'm not leaving without Master Byakuya, you know that. It's the only reason I came to this hell hole." Her bitter words did little to comfort the teenage girl. "There's only so much I can do to keep you safe." Byakuya, that was that blond demon Kotoko helped capture. For some reason Monaka insisted keeping him alive in the bowels of the sky place. That thing was the reason this psychopath with scissors was targeting them? Having a future foundation member hostage was supposed to keep them from launching a full scale attack, not attract more enemies.
"I don't know where he is." He said. A lie, and obvious one. "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
"I already know where he is." The woman hissed. "It's just a matter of getting there." A chill ran down his spine. "You're supposed to be a bright kid; if you don't plan on helping me you should stay out of my way. And If he changes locations, I'll know who to blame."
"Touko, that's enough, he's trying to make this right." Komaru frowned with tears in her eyes.
"No he's not." She shook her head. "He's got his own problems he's dealing with." They were the problem he was trying to deal with. How was he supposed to get out of this? The answer was just within reach, but so many of his options were off limits, because of Monaka. Monaka already would be angry he let Komaru go, he knew that, he'd have to find a way to make her understand. Things in this town were not playing out like Junko told them it would. They'd been tricked by another adult. The others were just too trusting, too naïve; but he was smart. He would find away to get all of them through this. "If you need help getting back to the palace kid-"
"I'm fine."
He couldn't make the same mistake again.
Kotoko walked through the halls of the sky palace, eager to get back to her room. After Nagisa had ditched her to shoo the demons out of the city, she had to maneuver her way up to the sky palace on her own. Granted, he'd lent his robot to her, so she wasn't completely defenseless, but it was such an ugly thing to sit in. The cabin was claustrophobic and it reeked of sweaty socks. If only that had been the worst thing that had happened today. She rubbed her right cheek, briefly wondering if she should let Monaka know she was back.
"GET OFF ME!" She heard Nagisa scream. She ran toward the sound, and hesitated at the main doors. Through the crack, she could see their servant balled up on the floor in chains. Kurokuma was a useless heap on the back wall. The only people who could move about were him and Monaka. "I said don't come near me!" She couldn't hear what Monaka was saying to him as she backed him into a corner. He raised his hand against her, and she used it to pull him close and- Kotoko's heart plummeted into her stomach, a chill clawing at her cheeks as Nagisa weakly fought to keep Monaka's lips off of him.
"If you want Monaca to have high expectations of you… you gotta listen to Monaka's requests." Kotoko pulled away from the door and used the hallway wall to ease her to the ground. She had to think to breathe, counting the space between, as each encounter she had with the girl played through her head. There hadn't been any signs, had there? That Monaka turned into a demon? After all, she'd always been so kind to them, she was their friend. She'd never say or do anything to…
Monaka knew things only adults should know; stuff about robots and businesses and cities. It was something Kotoko had pitied, as between the two of them they shared an understanding of the world no child their age had. They were supposed to remain kids together. She never thought a girl her age could be a groomer.
The door next to her clicked as Nagisa stepped out into the hall with a vacant look on his face. Kotoko hesitated and tried to mask her emotions as she slowly stood up. She wanted to hug him, but knew better than to touch him without permission. He paused, focused on nothing in particular, but aware she was in the room.
"You don't have to say anything." Kotoko whispered. "I'll stay hidden. I-" A million questions clamored for attention in her mind, but he still couldn't look at her. "Masaru's room has a lock. You should sleep there tonight." He nodded, and she hoped he'd remember her instructions. "Don't worry about me. You've saved me once already, I know you can do it again." There was a faint spark in his eyes when he nodded again, this time to say goodbye. A pair of Monokuma were coming to do their rounds any minute, and she'd be foolish to linger around any longer.
With dawning clarity, Kotoko realized why Monaka was so insistent they participated in the hunting game instead of the using the Monokuma to kill demons. It had nothing to do with points or levels or making Komaru suffer. It was to put distance between them and prevent them from working together; so Monaka could be the center of attention like always. If they tried to leave her out, she'd make them feel guilty, and when that didn't work…
It was the weekend before they met Big Sis Junko. Kotoko's list of gigs seemed to grow longer by the day and her agent was pressuring her to quit her after school club to make more room in her schedule. They'd even brought up magic papers that would turn her into an adult so she could miss school for work. At the time she thought it was going to be the last time she'd get to play with them after school.
"You should come to my house." Jataro said, instead of goodbye.
"This again-" She shook her head. "I work. I work today, I work tomorrow. I always have work." They were huddled at the roundabout muttering their goodbyes. Masaru was talking eagerly to Monaka about how fun the train would be since it was his turn to escort her home. Nagisa was at his post, waiting patiently for everyone to leave for home before returning to the school for another overnight session with his father.
"Don't go." Jataro insisted. "Come to my house instead. No one's ever home, you can hide there for as long as you want."
"But my mom-"
"Don't tell her where you're going." He twisted his sleeves in his hands. "You can use gran's old room until Nagisa can figure out how those papers work. You don't even have to talk to me when you're there-"
"Oh that's adorable." Monaka cooed as she rolled toward him. "The little dragon wants to add Kotoko to his pile of pretty things, just like a princess in a tower." Jataro was a quivering mess as the other boys laughed at them. Before Kotoko could think of a response, Monaka grinned at him. "Careful, monsters like you break things on accident all the time when they're not gentle."
"I-I'd be gentle. I promise!" He hadn't meant anything when he said that, she should have known, but Monaka gave her this worried look. She always said they were surrounded by ticking time bombs. It was only a matter of time before they wanted something Kotoko didn't want to give.
"You boys just can't be trusted." Monaka giggled and tilted her head towards the pink mustang that was pulling up alongside the curb with a wink. "You should go to work before the monster eats you." Kotoko bolted to the car without saying goodbye, her body shaking. If Monaka hadn't said anything, she would have gone with him.