A/n: I'm cheating for uploading this, but it's not from Mukuro's pov and this is technically still sorta in the original canon so this is just to tide y'all over until the real update comes. TW for more suicide mention


"Well, anyway, like I was saying… This is a pretty good spot… Yeah, a really good spot!" Monokuma gestured to the chair he sat in, indicating also to the impressive and expansive wall of monitors—capturing footage of the entire school.

He tutted, his tone disapproving. "That was a very interesting trial, but I didn't think we'd play our cards so soon." He sighed. "I'm disappointed in you."

He twisted his hands, playing with a red band and making yarn patterns with his paw as he grinned mischievously. "Anyway, isn't it amazing how that girl went and killed someone before things even had a chance to get boring? Once things really get moving, it'll be like a rollercoaster. There won't be any stopping it! Fear and despair charge forward at a speed nothing can hope to match." He sighed, but it was unclear whether it was genuine or an act. "But I must admit, I'm disappointed…"

The traitor stood still before him, waiting for him to continue.

"I went to all the pain and effort of making you part of the group, and you couldn't play your part. You do remember you were supposed to make the first move, right?" He waved his hand. "Well, no biggie. Nothing we can do about it now. So just do your best to make things more exciting from now on, okay? After all, that's what everyone wants to see..."

The dark figure spoke. "There's one thing I'd like to ask you."

"As long as you don't want to know my measurements, fire away!" said Monokuma.

"I know it is futile to ask, but the mastermind. Who is it? Who are you?"

"Guhaah! My my, you really took me by surprise there. I know I said you could ask anything, but… Super denied! Ultra denied! Demonic denied! Because you see… that's my ace in the hole. And nobody'd be dumb enough to reveal that, right? No matter how close they were to their 'friends'... Puhuhu… Puhuhuhu!"

At the sound of footsteps, Hina stopped nibbling on her malasada and glanced up to see who was entering the cafeteria.

"Leon?" she asked, eyes wide with surprise.

He looked wary. "Yeah?"

"What... are you doing up?" asked Hina, voice cautious.

Her eyes were darting, nervous, perhaps anxious for him. Or not wanting to set him off. He did not look in great shape. Granted, she couldn't say much. They were both dressed in nightwear—a strange sight for the both of them, but at least she'd managed to throw on a jacket over her tank.

Posture slumped, eyes red and puffy, and hair a mess; she was not used to this side of him.

He frowned, shooting her a questioning look. "I could ask you the same thing." When she didn't say anything, he added, looking down at the floor. "I felt like shit, so I decided to come here. Don't ask me why, I don't know."

"It's past Night Time," said Hina. "We're not supposed to be out."

"Yeah, and?"

The look he gave her told her not to push it further.

"And…" She considered her answer before continuing. "I won't tell Celeste if you won't," said Hina. "Deal?"

At this, he managed the smallest of smiles. "Deal."

Hina sighed. "I was feeling pretty bummed, and eating tends to make me feel better, so…" She shrugged, holding up the malasada in her hand and nudging the box with her other.

"Donuts?"

"Mhm."

"Well, I hope you brought enough to share," said Leon, not bothering to ask before pulling up a chair beside her and sitting down, reaching for the box.

She did not protest. Given the state he was in, she figured it was the least she could do.

He pulled out a malasada, tearing at it with his fingers as he began to shove the sugary contents into his mouth. "What are these?" he asked.

"Malasadas. Have you ever had them before."

He shook his head, mouth too full to answer.

Hina continued. "They're better fresh, but…" The words died mid-sentence. He was too engrossed in his food to listen anyways.

Hina watched him a moment before speaking again. "What do you think?" she asked. "Donuts are my favorite."

Maybe it was silly, but after all this time, donuts had never done her wrong.

He laughed—the sound hoarse and harsh. "Yeah, I know." He popped another piece in his mouth. "They're fuckin' great. A1. These are really bad for you, by the way," he added, not catching the irony as he practically shoved another piece into his mouth, whole.

Hina raised an eyebrow at him. "What, are you my doctor or something?"

She was used to comments about her diet, or her weight. They didn't bother her, except when people tried to frame it as a "health concern". Particularly boys who seemed to only care about whether all that extra food made her less attractive in their eyes.

Leon shook his head. "I didn't mean it as a bad thing." He continued to stuff his face. "I'm a hedonist. Do what you want. Besides," he adds, lips smacking together, "the sooner my body falls apart the better."

Hina continued to watch him shovel food in his mouth, suddenly not hungry. Or, well… decidedly less hungry, deciding this was much more interesting.

"Careful," she said, trying to suppress an amused smile. Now was not the time for amused smiles. "Make sure you breathe."

"Fuck off," he said, even though his voice was muffled—mouth still full as he flipped her off. He swallowed, exhaling like it's the first time he could finally breathe, then licked the sugar off his fingers, clearly not caring about how it looked. He shrugged. "Maybe I'll choke. Who knows."

Hina reached a hand out to take another malasada, but Leon reached and arm out, walling the box off with his hand and shying it closer to him. "No way, man. Get your own."

"They are my own," muttered Hina to herself.

They sat together in silence before she decided to try again.

"You know," she said, "I used to say there wasn't a problem donuts can't fix."

"Do you really still believe that?" said Leon, shooting her a dubious expression.

She sighed. "I'm not so sure anymore. But it's the best thing we've got."

Leon grimaced. "Can donuts solve this?"

"I don't think so," said Hina. "But it's at least something to look forward to every day."

"Hmm… I do like donuts," he said. "But I'd hardly call them a reason to live."

She folded her arms, glancing down at the box. It was nearly empty—not the state it had been in before Leon had sat down.

"Do you want to talk about something?" she asked, trying to put on an air of concern.

The attempt was half-hearted at best.

It's not that she wasn't worried. She was. But she was bad at this. Especially when she wasn't in particularly great shape herself. She wasn't sure if she was emotionally in the right place to handle it if he were about to break down right there. Especially when she herself had shed some tears not long before, while alone in her room.

But she figured she should at least ask.

He paused just long enough to frown, scowling down at the donut in his hand. "What's there to talk about?" he said. "It's over. I mean…" His remaining hand clenched into a fist on the table, knuckles white. "Yeah. It's over. She's gone, and I'm stuffing my face, unable to do a goddamn thing about it."

He frowned, still looking at the donut he was holding. "I'm not really hungry anymore."

Leon made a face, throwing the piece in his hand, the last piece, to the ground with surprising force.

"Fuck!" he said. "How the hell am I supposed to go on with my life? After that? After all this?"

"It's not easy," admitted Hina, voice low. It certainly hadn't been easy for her.

"I don't get it. How am I supposed to just go about my day?" he demanded. "Tell me. How does it get better? I hate this, I hate this so much. You got any more of this stuff?" asked Leon, his question catching her off-guard.

"I thought you weren't hungry," said Hina.

"I'm not," said Leon. He wiped at this mouth with the back of his hand. He stood up with a stretch. "Well, look at the time. Anyway, thanks for that, Hina. Been nice talking to you, but I'm heading off."

She was surprised by his abruptness. Just a moment before, he seemed on the edge of a breakdown. He began to head for the door when Hina called to him.

"Leon!"

He turned around. "Sup?"

"Are you—Are you sure you're feeling alright?" she asked. "Are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh, hell no," he said. "Hah. Yeah, I'm not ok."

"I—I dunno if you should be alone right now."

"What's it matter?" he said, eyeing her with suspicion. "I mean, what's it to you? Are you offering to spend the night? Yeah, that's what I thought. Do we have any ice cream?"

He started heading for the kitchen, throwing Hina for a loop. He was all over the place.

By the time she'd caught up enough to follow him into the kitchen, he was already raiding the fridge.

"You know, I wish you'd quit saying stuff like that," said Hina sternly.

"Like what?" He closed the fridge, cradling a pint of chocolate in one arm, holding a soda in the other.

"Like that. What you just said," said Hina. "I can't stand crude talk."

"Aw, you know I didn't mean anything by it. I—Fuck!"

"What's wrong?"

He looked around. "Where are the damn spoons?" he asked.

She frowned, rolling her eyes. "Top drawer, on the right."

"Dope." He went rummaging through the silverware.

"Still, I don't like it,' said Hina, trying to ignore the loud clinking of the silverware knocking together.

"You're still on that?" he asked, picking up a spoon and looking back at her. "Alright, I'll knock if off. And I was thinking about it anyway, so, uh… Sorry about earlier. The dumb shit I said. Besides, you can do better than Toko."

Hina bit back a laugh, eyes going wide. "Don't say that!" she said, both amused and astonished, trying to keep her voice hush despite the fact that nobody else was in the room.

"Ok, then scratch that, too," said Leon. The boy was on a roll. "But it's true." At seeing her expression, he added, "Relax, I'm not hitting on you. I wouldn't do that." He cracked open the lid to the carton. "Besides, what with everything that's happened, ya know, with Sakura, I thought you might be…"

"What?" she asked, suddenly on edge.

What about Sakura?

"Nothing. Forget it."

Now she was curious, but she didn't push it.

"Leon."

"What?" He scowled crossly, but it looked comical with a tiny spoon still in his mouth.

"Are you sure that you're feeling ok?"

"For fuck's sake! Quit asking me that!" said Leon. "No, I don't feel ok. I feel like death. It's like everywhere I look… I see her. And I don't know if I'm going crazy or if I already was! I'm tired, Hina. I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep. I spent hours crying in my room until there was nothing left. Don't tell anyone I said that. The only reason I came out is because I was hungry… and don't know how I'm gonna face everyone tomorrow." His voice was small. "Today. In the morning. Whatever." A pause. "I—Why are you looking at me like that?"

Hina eyed him thoughtfully. "You're very unusual for a boy. It's refreshing."

Leon snorted. "That's what you took away from all that?" he asked, like he couldn't believe it. He laughed weakly, sounding a little hysterical… but it was something.

He stopped. "How did you get over it?" he asked.

She was honest. "You don't."

Leon looked grimly at the carton of ice cream. "Well, that's just fan-fucking-tastic," he muttered.

"Oh, what do you want me to say?" snapped Hina, getting irritable. "'It gets better'? Because it doesn't. It's hard all the time, but I'm not supposed to say that, right, because I don't want you to do anything stupid!"

She regretted the words as soon as she said them.

"I'm sorry," said Hina. "I mean it though. Please don't do anything… drastic. I swear, there are still good things, things to look forward to. Like… Like…"

Yet, for some reason, when pressed to come up with reasons to live, they seemed to escape her like water between her fingertips.

"Donuts?" he offered.

"Yeah," she said, relieved he'd given her an out—even if she was pretty sure he was being sarcastic. "Like donuts. And morning walks. And breakfast at night. And swi—I mean sports. And music. And cats, and… I don't know. And besides…" she admitted, voice small. "I've already lost too many friends."

For a moment, he said nothing. "I…" He looked like he was about to say something, expression softening. Then it was gone. He smiled wryly. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill myself if that's what you're worried about. I'm starting to really like malasadas."

"I'm glad," she said lamely, but there was a note of relief in her voice. She couldn't think of anything else to say. A thought struck her. "You should join me for my morning jogs! I think that would help you a lot."

He was wary. "I don't think that's such a good idea," he said.

"Come on, you'll like it!" she said.

He ignored this. "Ya know, you kinda remind me of her a bit," he said.

Hina wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. She could tell he was struggling for words.

"Like... you're both pretty and stuff, but besides that. There was this… quality."

"Quality?"

"Yeah, there's this quality about you. You're both… I don't know… Annoyingly chipper about everything. Always trying to look on the bright side of things. But the difference was she was always trying to fix problems instead of feeling them. I… I dunno what I mean by that. It was… She was…" He shook his head. "Ya know, not that long after that first trial, we got into this huge fight. I'd never seen her that pissed before, it was… awesome."

She didn't say anything, not sure where exactly he was going with this story. Still, she waited, and sure enough, he continued.

"It was actually about you," he said.

"Me?"

"Yeah," he said. "Because she felt that we should all be putting in an effort to make you feel better. Ya know, making sure you were still a part of the group. Stuff like that. And, I, uh—well, after that whole stunt at the trial, I didn't really trust like that."

Hina hung her head, avoiding his gaze. "I don't blame you." She felt her ears grow hot, a feeling of shame making her sick to her stomach.

"Anyway," he said. "We made up, sorta, because she's Sayaka, and she's wonderful." He made a face as he said it. For some reason he sounded bitter. "And also I think she didn't want anyone to know, that we were fighting?" It came out like a question. "I don't know. Maybe she didn't want to cause any trouble. Or tip anyone off that something was wrong. But it wasn't really the same after that. I mean, we spent time together, but I could tell she wasn't really… happy with me."

Hina didn't say anything.

Leon was looking away at the floor. He sniffed, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand, still holding his spoon. "And, uh… the worst part... The worst part is that I never got the chance to apologize to her."

"Well. I'm sure she knew," said Hina, but it came out much more uncertain than intended. It was an empty platitude.

"Did she?" said Leon. He frowned. "I… I should've been there for her."

"It's not your fault. You can't change the past," said Hina. She was just repeating the words others had told her—what she continued to tell herself.

He eyed her with suspicion. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because I'm worried—"

"No, no, cut the bullshit," said Leon. "Really, why are you being so nice to me?"

"I already told you. Because I don't want to lose another friend. And because… I think Junko was wrong about you," said Hina.

"In what way? If it's about my style, then, she might have a point. I mean, fine, I'll own that it's kinda tacky, but it's a look."

Hina snorted. "No, not that." He really was an interesting guy. Much more serious, she added, "You really did care about her, didn't you?"

He stopped, frozen where he stood, hesitant. "Well, what do you think?" And something about his manner told her that he really was anxious about her judgement.

"I think..." said Hina. "That boys don't waste time getting into fights about values with the girls they just want to sleep with."

Leon scoffed. "Have you met men? They'll 'well, actually' anyone and anything as long as they win at all costs."

"You think so? I guess I wouldn't know much about that, would I? Hmm… You're weird."

Leon did a pretend hair-flip. "I'm not like other girls." He took another spoonful of chocolate fudge, waving the tiny spoon around. "And I know I'm right. Hm. Maybe I need more male friends. Maybe that's the problem."

"I think you're fine the way you are," said Hina.

"That's very sweet of you, but in this state? No, I am not fine the way I am." He sighed. "I miss her. She hasn't even been gone a day, and I already miss her. And don't think I don't miss Makoto, too. I do! I can see why she liked him so much, he's… Anyways, it sucks that he's gone. Just… I miss her. Like crazy."

She nodded. "I get it."

"It's complicated."

"Very complicated," said Hina. "'You may have lost one friend. But you have us'."

"What was that?"

"Something Taka said to me," said Hina. "I thought it might make some sense."

"He said that to you?"

"Mhm."

"So he has emotions."

"Of course he does!" she said. "Taka has emotions! I know he seems stern, but he has them. They're just very intense ones!"

"I'm kidding. It makes sense, by the way. Thanks. It was helpful." He yawned, stretching his free arm. "Well, I'm about to pass out."

Hina nodded. Still worried, she accompanied him out of the kitchen, out of the cafeteria, and into the hall.

"I really wish you'd quit looking at me like that," he said through another spoonful of ice cream. He'd taken the tub with him.

"Ugh! I'm not looking at you any way!" said Hina.

"Relax," he said. "I mean like I'm some sort of pity case."

"Oh," said Hina. Now that they were in the hallway, another dilemma had occurred to her. "I think we have a problem."

"What's that?"

"I… still don't know how I feel about leaving you alone tonight, but I also think it would be inappropriate to stay in the same room together."

He rolled his eyes. "I—"

But he never got the chance to finish because he was interrupted by the faint sound of static.

"What was that?" asked Hina, on high alert.

They heard the noise again. In the silence, it seemed infinitely louder.

"What the…" Leon muttered to himself.

The noise came one more time.

Grn… Grrrrrnn… Grrrn...

Hina frowned, brow furrowed in concentration. "It sounds like its coming from the bathhouse."

Leon's gaze was fixed intent on the entrance to the bathhouse. "Behind me," he said to her, voice more commanding than she was used to hearing, waving an arm as if to motion to her to, well, get behind him.

She scowled. "I can take care of myself." But the noises did kind of freak her out. "I mean… I'm super scared right now," she muttered, much more quietly, "but I still can take care of myself."

"I know," he said, eyes still fixed on the bathhouse. "But if it attacks me first then what the hell."

She didn't like the sound of that, but, still, she stood behind him as he slowly edged toward the bathhouse.

Grnnn… Grn… Grrrrnnn…

"Hello?" he asked as they crept inside. They both knew that asking 'hello' to the dark and scary noises in the night was never a good idea, but Hina was fresh out of ideas. "Hello? Is anybody in there?"

The noise came once more, this time from the row of lockers behind them. The pair whirled around and to their amazement, saw a glowing green light and what looked to be a small figure, hovering in the air. Ghostly green lights did not belong in school bathrooms, even in schools as weird as this.

And maybe it was the sleep deprivation, or sickly glow of the light, or the fact that it was dark and late and they were already on edge, but when they saw that figure, glowing green in the dark, they screamed and ran from the bathhouse as fast as they could, all previous arguments or discussion of rooming situations completely forgotten.


A/N: also don't worry this is NOT meant to be shippy, Hina is still super gay and Leon is in a mourning period. Anyway, hope you enjoyed some depressed wlw/mlm solidarity

The reason for all the malasada talk is b/c Hina mentions them in her love of donuts during this chapter, like ONCE, and I really like malasadas so anyone who hasn't tried them you're missing out. I doubt the school would have any, but a girl can dream, right?

I try not to deviate from Mukuro's pov, but if i enjoy doing these, I might make intermissions more frequent