A/N: My apologies for the wait, but my hard drive died and took with it my updated copy of this story, meaning that I had to rewrite part of this chapter. In any case, review if you have any questions and comments!
"Brave soldier of KDA Kyouko Kirigiri, we salute you for your service. Tragically, we also feel compelled to make sure that you know the cost of serving hope. If you do not renounce your crusade, then your loved one shall suffer."
Kirigiri finished reading the note aloud to her assembled audience: Makoto Naegi, her fiancé; Hajime Hinata, a fellow graduate of Hope's Peak; Reiko Honda, a former police detective ten years older than Kirigiri; and Nibashi Hayao, a recent graduate of an American school who'd come back to Japan clutching a Forensics degree.
"What do we do?" Naegi said, looking up to her for answers like he'd had for the past four years. "Are we going to hold off on the wedding?"
Hayao, Honda, and Hinata also looked over at Kirigiri. They were all sitting in surplus office chairs in the first floor of an old warehouse, their desks shoved along the wall and covered with papers, and posters covering the walls with information about their various targets.
"What do you want, Makoto?" Kirigiri said.
Naegi glanced down at his engagement ring, then back at her. "Let's hold the wedding."
"You sure, Naegi-sama?" Honda said. "They're going to go after you-"
"We're holding it indoors and there can be heavy police protection," Naegi countered. "Besides, I'm not going to put some terrorists ahead of our special day."
"There won't be a special day if you get killed, Naegi-san," Hinata pointed out.
"Would you break your marriage off to Nanami-san if someone went after her?" Hayao said, and he swiveled in his chair to face Hinata.
"I'd delay, but not cancel- it's not like the ceremony's the important part," Hinata replied, firmly. "But that's neither here nor there. Naegi-san's in danger, and if these terrorists were to find out their wedding plans-"
"I agree with Hinata-san," Honda said. "I left the force for a reason. If we let the wedding continue as planned, then you can bet that damn hoodie of yours that they're going to strike."
Naegi tugged self-consciously on his hoodie as Hayao stepped up to defend him. "Honda-san, it's a special day! Surely you know that-"
"My husband and I would've put off our marriage if he were in danger," Honda said. She snorted and jerked her head back to facing Kirigiri, sending her long black hair flying through the air. "What d'you think, Kirigiri-sama?"
"I think that Makoto should be allowed to decide this," she said, as evenly as possible. She could feel fear coursing through her body, but Naegi was right- it would be a closed event with heavy police protection. She got up, walked around her desk, and, in a rare display of affection, smiled and put a hand on Honda and Hinata's shoulder. "Don't worry, Honda-san, Hinata-san. Things will turn out well."
A week passed, then two. Hinata and Nanami's conversations consisted of simple hellos and goodbyes, along with little conversations about their work, but otherwise they said nothing. They ate together only twice, since usually Hinata arrived well after Nanami had finished dinner; in the evenings, Hinata would retreat into his room to review the case and watch the news, while the sound of video games from Nanami's room trickled into his.
As for work, Hinata had visited KDL only once to review the pictures of Athens and Sparta, which meant that he'd spent an hour reviewing documents with Sayako Maizono, the secretary, and Makoto Kirigiri. Athens, real name Motzu Mo, was once called the "Ultimate Electrician" and had graduated in 1989 from Hope's Peak. Sparta, real name Vincent Hakabe, meanwhile, was called the "Ultimate Fisherman" and had graduated from Hope's Peak in 1994. His grandmother had married an American after the war, apparently.
But Masaru was the strangest one of all. He constantly hinted that he knew who Hinata was, and yet, he never acted on it. More than once, Athens and Sparta had been slinking around and even threatened Hinata in his janitor act, only for Masaru to order them away. When Hinata had asked why, all Masaru would do was wink and say, "You're the hope that'll power through despair."
And thus, Hinata returned to the apartment, this time only a minute late. "Good evening, Hajime-kun," Nanami said as soon as he entered; she had changed to jeans and a Sony t-shirt and was standing in the entrance to the kitchen. "Want to help cook?"
Hinata pulled his shoes off and followed her. "How was your day, Nanami-san?" he said, ever so politely, as he once again took out the frying pan.
"I got a note," she said, "left in my purse at work." She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Hinata.
"Brave Soldier, warring against despair, we salute you. It has come to our attentions that you have been informed of us. We hope that you have a pleasant rest of the day, but the time must come that you be silenced," it read.
"What happened?" Hinata yelped, looking up very quickly at Nanami.
"I gave it to KDL, they sent a detective out to escort me home, and they found that someone tampered with my car," Nanami said casually. "I thought about calling you, but I knew you were busy playing janitor and watching that man on the 19th floor."
She took the note and burnt it in the stove. "That was a copy, by the way," she added before turning back to cooking.
"Sorry 'bout putting you in danger," Hinata replied.
"Hajime-kun, I'm glad that you're being honest with me," Nanami said. "Too little too late, but it's a start."
They finished cooking in silence and then sat down to eat. "Nanami-san, do we really need to bring that up?" Hinata said, waving his utensils vaguely in her direction.
"It's going to come up if we're living in close proximity, Hajime-kun," Nanami replied.
"Yeah, yeah, but still..." Hinata trailed off and pointedly averted his gaze.
"You were the one who ran away. Not me. And it looks like you're repeating that performance," Nanami replied, very steadily, although her breathing sounded… uneven. Hinata glanced up to see that she was looking at him with what looked like a defiant glint in her eye.
"Sorry." Hinata returned to his work.
They ate in silence once again, and then a phone broke the silence- Hinata's. "Hajime Hinata speaking," Hinata said.
"Hello, Hajime," came the overly-cheerful voice of Komaeda. "I understand you tried to rat me out. Don't worry! I've granted you an exception."
"Because your plan was foiled?" Hinata hissed, and he tried to ignore his memories of his school days with Komaeda.
"Yep. Togami's going to find out and beef up security. Ah, well, it's not like you could've done anything anyway. Kirigiri-san's known for a while yet the police still won't come for me. Shows what I can do, right?" Komaeda replied. He giggled. "Forgive my villainy, but could we meet tomorrow for another meeting? Just you, Nanami-san, Sonia, and I. We can discuss how to make sure this never happens again. Oh, and, I'll pick you up. Be there or I'll actually strike. Bye."
The call terminated. "Who was it?" Nanami said.
"A friend," Hinata replied. He put the phone away and looked into her eyes. "We have a lunch date with Komaeda tomorrow." Her eyes widened slightly.
Komaeda and Sonia picked them up in the morning just as he promised, and Nanami and Hinata had to ride in the back of his car as he drove them through Tokyo's traffic at a snail's pace. This, of course, resulted in Hinata and Nanami saying nothing while Komaeda and Sonia discussed wedding invitation lists.
"So, how about the 78th class?" Sonia said. The car, a nondescript coupe, turned around a corner.
"Well," Komaeda said, and he briefly glanced at Sonia, "let's see..."
"I think you should invite my boss and an army of police officers," Hinata offered. Komaeda turned his attention back to the road and Sonia turned around in her seat and glared at Hinata.
"We're already inviting the Kirigiris," she said. She turned back to the front. "And we're inviting you two too. That's two cops, one lawyer, and one roboticist, okay?"
"I already told you that Kirigiri-san knows, Hajime," Komaeda added. "I really don't know why you think she'd interrupt our wedding anyways. I didn't have anything to do with her husband's near-assassination. That was long before we joined Despair."
Hinata and Nanami said nothing. To be frank, Hinata thought that Komaeda's brutal honesty was surprising considering the two witnesses with him. Then again, both himself and Nanami already knew about him- perhaps Komaeda was more discreet around other people.
They arrived at the same restaurant as last time. To be technical, it was on the top floor of a skyscraper owned by Masaru Investment Inc., and happened to be a shiny, bustling restaurant run by Chef Teruteru Hanamura. The waitresses (and they were all waitresses) served food in half-black, half-white bear masks too, bizarrely enough. "This place is the stepchild of the Hanamura restaurant empire," Komaeda explained as a waitress lead Komaeda and company through the crowded, dimly-lit place. They weaved between tables and were eventually lead into a side booth against a window that looked down on the city.
"Most people don't know why, but the atmosphere here is very different from his other restaurants," Sonia said, another smile on her face. "But I like it here. It has that nice... horror-movie feel to it. Like it's going to turn out to only serve human flesh or something."
Hinata and Nanami both glanced down at their menus. "Don't worry," Komaeda said, "Hanamura-kun doesn't serve anything like that." Lunch proceeded awkwardly from that point forward. Despite Komaeda's assurances, Hinata pointedly only ordered a nice, meatless entrée, and Nanami copied him. Then Hinata listened as Komaeda, Sonia, and Nanami enthusiastically discussed survival horror games, one of those genres that Hinata had never been able to get into.
The food arrived, and the subject switched to a more stomach-churning topic. "So, Hinata-kun, tell me, how was your love life in America?" Sonia said, glancing up at Hinata and smiling at him.
Hinata winced and tried to back into his seat. "I don't want to talk about this," Hinata said hastily.
"C'mon, Hajime," Komaeda said, and he leaned across the table and waved a fork in Hinata's direction, "I'm not going to record it and blackmail you!"
"No! I'm not going to talk!" Hinata snapped back.
Komaeda sighed and glanced at Nanami. "A little help?" he said.
"It's none of your business," Nanami replied.
"How about you, then?" Sonia said, and she, too, stared at Nanami. "How've the last couple of years been?"
"That's also none of your business," Nanami growled. She began eating her salad aggressively.
Komaeda and Sonia sighed dramatically. "Oh well," Komaeda said, "it's not like it'd be news to us anyways. Maybe we should tell Hajime...?"
Hinata shook his head rapidly. "Well, then tell us!" Sonia said.
"That's blackmail," Nanami said.
"We're part of a terrorist organization, did you forget that?" Komaeda said. He began smirking. "Now, Hajime, tell us, what were you up to in America?"
"...I set up a KDL office in California. How many dating opportunities do you think I had?" Hinata said.
"You're young, fit, handsome, and smart," Komaeda commented. Sonia shot a disproving glance at Komaeda, who quickly said, "not better than Sonia, of course, but still!" Apparently she knew about Komaeda's long-lasting crush on Hinata throughout all five years at Hope's Peak.
"Yes, there were people interested in me," Hinata replied. "I always ignored them. I didn't ask anyone out. I just focused on my work, shuffling papers and handling bureaucrats. Why do you think I was so rusty when I came back?"
"Why you're so rusty now?" Nanami said. She put her fork down and crossed her arms. "I remember how you used to come hom- to the apartment and you looked unrecognizable. Now, you dress up like a janitor and call it a day?"
"If it's any consolation," Sonia said, "Athens and Sparta have maybe two braincells between them, ever since their accident."
"Did something bad happen to everyone in Despair?" Hinata said. Komaeda and Sonia nodded. "Of course."
"Are you going to respond to me, Hajime-kun?" Nanami said, interrupting Hinata's complaint. Hinata shook his head. "Of course..."
"Well, now we can tell you about Nanami-san's love life!" Komaeda said. Nanami glared at him, but he ignored her. "You know, tit-for-tat, right?"
"Shut up, Komaeda," Hinata growled. "I don't want to hear it."
"C'mon Hajime, you shouldn't tell me to shut up," Komaeda replied. His infuriating smirk didn't leave, while his eyes darkened considerably, to the point of looking almost entirely black. "You shouldn't tell your best friend that when there are larger things afoot. The death game failed, but it will be revived..."
"Sorry," Sonia said, and she grabbed Komaeda's arm. "He's ranting again." She pulled Komaeda out of the booth and lead him towards the bathroom.
"For the record," Nanami said, glancing at Hinata, "after... what happened, I dated three guys. First one we just kinda fell apart, second one left when he found out I wasn't a virgin, third was a wannabe abuser in front of Nidai-kun and Owari-san." Hinata winced. "Yeah, I think he was in the hospital for a month."
Komaeda and Sonia returned to the table. "Sorry about that," Komaeda said, "now, shall we return to our previous topic?"
"No," both Hinata and Nanami said.
"Fine," Komaeda replied, "so, I guess we can just talk about the wedding again then..."
When Hinata and Nanami arrived at her apartment, the sun had already set and the nightlife had already begun. Following the dinner-date, Komaeda and Sonia had dragged their two unwilling guests to Sonia's tidy and expansive apartment, where they watched some American horror movie that Hinata did not want to recall; Komaeda dropped them off silently.
Hinata and Nanami entered their respective rooms, but unlike most nights Hinata did not hear the usual sound of video games coming through the wall. What he did hear was the sound of someone shuffling around on the balcony outside, but all it turned out to be was Nakejawa pacing around, deep in conversation on his phone while a cigarette dangled from his fingers.
Hinata watched Nakejawa through the blinds for a second or two before retiring for the night.
It was a beautiful church, a Christian one that Makoto's family had attended in the past, on the very outskirts of Tokyo. It had been chosen by the couple for two reasons: one, because the death threats necessitated a change from the original outdoor setting, and two, Kyouko had no desire to let her father help plan, leaving Makoto's parents as the sole parental authorities for planning.
As for the actual ceremony, Makoto's sister Nozomi had taken over directing the set-up for the wedding, with the help of police organizers so as to ensure that the police protection would be unimpeded. The list of guests consisted of Makoto and Kyouko's family, fellow Hope's Peak graduates, the remaining members of KDA, and the two's other, non-Hope's-Peak friends; the only exceptions were the police and Nanami, who were all busy with the security procedures.
"Are Makoto-oniisan and Kyouko-san really this important?" had been Nozomi's complaint when she found out about all of the extra security and precautions.
"Well, you know that your soon-to-be sister-in-law has a lot of government secrets," Hinata had replied, "they need to make sure that Kirigiri-san's safe, and by extension, Naegi-kun as well."
"Ah." And thus the wedding preparations were completed, and the ceremony nearly went off without a hitch. It was your typical western-style wedding (chosen for its comparative cheapness) up until after the wedding vows and ring exchange. Because that was when the first bomb went off.
It had gone off after the minister announced, "You may now kiss the bride". The explosion was massive and extremely loud, and shattered the glass in the chapel; one of the guests, Mukuro Ikusaba, had called out that there could be more bombs and the police ordered an evacuation. And just in time, too, as another bomb went off just as the newlyweds escaped from the building and the ceiling began collapsing.
"Let's go, let's go!" Sakura Oogami had roared, leading everyone away from the building and out into the surrounding land as with a massive crash the outer wall began crumbling. And then, a loud crack rang out and Makoto had collapsed, blood staining his suit, while his wife desperately tried to tend to him. Police paramedics rushed forwards while a group of officers set off in the direction of the assassin, and before long the wail of sirens filled the air. Byakuya Togami, the best man, and Oogami had to drag Kyouko away from Makoto while the paramedics tended to him and loaded him into the ambulance; soon, she was sitting in the sole police cruiser, her face blank and her dress stained red, while the police, Reiko Honda, and Mondo Oowada argued about the next course of action.
Eventually, Kiyotaka Ishimaru drove off with Kyouko to go to the hospital, followed by Jin Kirigiri and the Naegis. The rest of the police returned, their search fruitless, and they began initiating their usual procedure; considering the massive illegality of not only possessing a rifle in Japan, but also using it to attempt to kill someone privy to the secrets of the state (and missing, apparently) they would have to go all-out to apprehend the culprit. This meant, of course, that the remaining three members of KDA and a skeleton force of officers were left to tend to the remaining guests.
And so it was at the end of a very busy day that Hinata returned to his and Nanami's apartment in Tokyo to await tomorrow morning and more police questions. "Horrible, isn't it?" Nanami had commented as soon as she shut the door behind her into their little entry hall.
"Yeah," Hinata said, and he imagined being in his boss's position for a moment. "Chiaki," he said, turning to her, "do you think that Kirigiri-san will be alright?"
Nanami frowned. "I-I have no doubt that they'll save Nae-Kirigiri-kun," she replied, though she sounded shaken. She put her hand on Hinata's right shoulder and for a moment her engagement ring shone in the light. "But in the end, the truth will always win."
Hinata closed his eyes and considered her words. "C'mon, Hajime, let's go to bed," Nanami added, "I'm tired, and so are you."
But Hinata remained rooted to the spot. He could feel his stamina ebbing away and he was beginning to feel light-headed as Makoto Kirigiri's near-assassination played out in his head over and over; he only opened his eyes when, for the briefest of moments, he saw instead of the newlyweds, he saw himself and Nanami.
"Hajime." Hinata returned to reality as Nanami took his hand. "We'll be fine." Hinata stared at her, dressed up in a dark blue formal dress, and imagined her in a wedding dress- a dress darkened with blood. "Hajime, snap out of it." Hinata blinked and she was back in her formal dress. Nanami moved in front of him and stared into his eyes. "Hajime Hinata, come to bed this instant," she ordered, "you need sleep."
Hinata followed behind her into their room and before long the two of them were changed into their bedclothes and beneath the covers. Their room wasn't terribly large, and its only features were its stuffed closet, the light pink window drapes, the two cheap wooden chairs that Hinata's black suit and Nanami's blue dress were currently draped over, and the large bed and its accompanying end-tables that a radio clock and two lamps were sitting on, and the pink bunny in the corner. It might've been low-class, but it was home.
Hinata glanced slightly to his left and saw that Nanami was still awake and staring at the ceiling. Underneath the covers, her right hand took Hinata's left. "Chiaki," Hinata said, "do you think we'll find the man who shot Kirigiri-kun?"
"I hope we do," she replied, and her grip tightened. "But you know that-"
"-that truth will always win? Yeah, I know." Hinata smiled at her, and she returned the smile. Then Nanami sat up and switched her bedside lamp off, plunging the couple into darkness. Thanks to the overcast sky, there wasn't even any moonlight. "When do you think he'll be out of the hospital?"
"I don't know, Hajime. Just go to sleep." She laid down again and closed her eyes, her mouth slightly open as usual, her head facing Hinata's. Hinata sighed.
"Chiaki?" he said a moment later.
One of Nanami's eyes opened lazily. "What, Hajime?"
"What would we do if they try to kill you like they tried to kill Kirigiri-kun?" Hinata said.
"We get married anyway. The ceremony's just for show, we can put it off until the killers are caught," she replied. "Good night, Hajime. I love you."
"Yeah... I love you too." She drifted off to sleep as the usual bit of warmth flooded Hinata's heart, and before long he, too, fell asleep.
He was shaken awake by Nanami. "Hajime," she said, "Hajime, stop whimpering-"
"S-sorry, Chiaki," he replied, and he sat up. "What time is it?"
"Five in the morning. You woke me up. My hand's still sore." As if to prove it, she held up her right hand, though it really didn't look any different in Hinata's opinion.
"S-sorry, Chiaki," he said, feeling sheepish, and he laid back down. "When do you need to get to work?"
"A couple hours. You know that," Nanami replied, and she also laid back down and pressed herself against him. "Hajime, what was your dream about?"
Hinata told her about his dream- about watching her get shot and watching her die in the hospital. "It was so real, Chiaki, that's the worst part-" he said.
Nanami wrapped her arms around him. "Hajime, don't worry," she said.
"That's what Kirigiri-kun said!"
"Hajime, we'll be okay. The good guys win, remember? And we're part of the good guys," Nanami said. She appeared to go back to sleep, leaving Hinata to stew in his own thoughts again- considering how he would react. Would he really let her get shot? Would he let her take the blow for his choice of career, for being a "good guy"? Then Nanami sighed. "Hajime, just go to sleep. You're talking even less than usual," she griped.
"How can I just go to sleep-" she responded by kissing him, shutting him up.
"Go. To. Sleep." Hinata sighed again and followed his fiancée's bidding. Once again, he drifted off to sleep. And once again, his nightmare repeated itself.