I got super-excited and basically got myself carried away, hence you being treated to an earlier than expected update :) Do enjoy!

Azami

Somewhat unsurprisingly, I woke up early.

5:03, the clock read. Not too bad, considering we were to wake at six in order to leave for Towa City. But still, I yawned heavily as I got up and started to get myself ready. Unusually, Jiji didn't come to mewl at me for attention, and when, about 15 minutes later, I was dressed and went to see if Eizo was awake, I discovered why.

"Meoooow." Jiji greeted me from his vantage point on Eizo's chest.

"And good morning to you to. You won't seem so pleased once we put you in the carrier." I told Jiji.

Naturally, Jiji didn't seem perturbed, and continued to watch me…well, watch Eizo.

Never in a million years would I have thought that something like this would happen. Yet, here I was, about to go to a city that I thought I'd never step foot in again, with a person I thought I would never see again. Supporting a school that I never thought would open again.

I still don't understand, you know. I thought silently towards him. Somehow, I could understand the choice of tattoo, but the job, I couldn't understand. I couldn't understand how casual he was about Hope's Peak. After all, no matter what extent it was to, if it wasn't for Hope's Peak, Akari and Fumiaki and all the others would never have died. How could it 'just be another job'?

Yet, I couldn't help but recall how emotional Eizo had been when he'd first set eyes on me, and the warmth of his hands when they wrapped around mine. All the happy memories he'd described to me, knowing that I could barely remember them and trying to give them back to me, because of that.

He'd described his job, too. Running his own security company, offering everything from alarm systems to better locks to bodyguards for events. But on top of that, the company apparently had a specialism in school safe-guarding procedures. Things that had been painfully absent for us. He was so sincere in how he had described it to me over our woefully inadequate ready-meal dinners (which he had praised lavishly, nonetheless), I couldn't help but have some faith.

But I'm scared…

"Mmm?"

I jumped back as Eizo stirred. He rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up on the sofa, making Jiji jump off and meow furiously, looking very betrayed. I blushed furiously, realising that I had just indeed been standing here a good few minutes.

"It's okay, you don't need to be scared." He said sleepily.

"I-what? " I blinked, confused. "Wait, I said that aloud?"

"Probably." Eizo shrugged, and despite the fact he'd just woken up, his eyes twinkled. "Also, good morning."

"Um…yeah, good morning."

Eizo smiled, but then his expression settled into something more serious, though still kind.

"You're still thinking about what we were talking about, right?" he asked.

"I..yeah."

And, now that I was thinking of it, all the things that we hadn't talked about. Such as the situation that had led us to this point in the first place. I studied Eizo's face, the scar under his right eye and the other near his mouth. Those, I knew, had to have been acquired back then. But how? And, perhaps, most importantly, who? Did I even want to know?

"Who was it, that did that to you?"

Apparently, I did. Even as I pointed, the revelation surprised me, and my eyes widened pretty much the same way Eizo's did at the question. He studied me for a moment, then sighed, rubbing his head, not saying anything for a moment, but then:

"Lao."

"La-" even as I hated myself for this forgetting, it took me a moment. "Lilian-chan?"

Eizo simply nodded at that.

"Oh."

So, it had been Lilian, huh? She had no doubt died too, but how? And when? I was pretty sure she had been around immediately after Akari had died, but beyond that…that was the trouble with this. One question would lead to another, and yet another, and yet another. Eventually, it would lead to the question whose answer I both needed and dreaded the most:

Who killed Akari?

"Hey, Azami," Eizo got up, stepped in front of me, took my hands once again. "I can't promise that it will all be okay, 100%. But I can promise that I will do everything in my power to help things be as alright as possible. And that's why I've taken the job at New Hope's Peak. As for everything else…well, I guess we'll have to see what happens when we meet everyone again. But …the promise doesn't matter anymore. You're not alone anymore. So…yeah. You know."

My lips wobbled, and I clamped them together tightly. I didn't know why-it was not as if it mattered if I cried. After all, Eizo had cried in front of me yesterday morning. But still, I held it in while I nodded. Eizo studied me for a moment, then let go of my hands, and unexpectedly, ruffled my hair before stepping back.

"Well, I'd better get myself ready."

"Mmm," I murmured, with some effort. "I'll throw some breakfast together. "

Eizo gave me a thumbs-up, then headed to the bathroom. I stayed there for a moment, dazed, so much whirling through my head. Slowly, I smoothed my hair back down, and then, with Jiji insistently pestering me, I went to the kitchen.

…

As we approached Towa City, Eizo began to point places out to me.

"That karaoke bar, some of the upperclassmen really liked. As in, really liked. Hata-chii wanted to go there for his birthday the first year we were all in there, but they, well, drove us out. But luckily, there was another cool place a few streets away-Moeka told us about it. I can't believe it's still here-I wonder if the other will be."

"Hata-chii…he died before Akari, didn't he?" I asked, hating that was what I remembered.

Desperately, I tried to build a picture of him in my mind. Blond, though darker than Eizo's (or rather, Fumiaki's, since back then Eizo didn't have his natural colour on show), sleepy blue eyes, choker necklace, pierced ears and a surprisingly smart dress sense for someone who seemed really dopey most of the time. I think I had earmarked him as 'weird'. There'd been a fair few 'weird' types in our class.

"Awwww, come on, chill out. This is probably some weird prank or summat, innit?" Rin said, stretching out, long limbs seeming to sprawl out everywhere. "Let's not get all het up 'bout it, okay?"

"Yeah." Eizo said, softly.

His smile faded for a moment.

"He was…it was Fumi, who….you know."

"Yeah."

He could not say it, so I would not make it worse by being the one to say it myself. Besides, I wasn't sure that even I could outrightly say it. Hell, it was hard enough to think it. Perhaps in some way, it had been a mercy that Akari had died how she had, though even that was hard enough to think about.

"This was Moeka's old elementary school, or rather, where it used to be. It's still a school, as you can see, but it's run by a different principal, and it has a facility for deaf kiddos too. She gave a bunch of us tours around the town, because she lived here. Ohh, and that's the place. The funeral home she used to work at."

I stared at the grey building, at the two vases of flowers that flanked the door. Lilies, appropriately funereal. I wondered if they'd been the type that Moeka had liked. I knew that she liked flowers a lot, and yellow chrysanthemums had been a particular favourite-I'd given her a photograph of some when she'd gushed over it-but that, I couldn't remember. I should remember, shouldn't I? We had been friends, after all.

Eizo continued, and I let him. Sometimes, a glimmer of things came back to me, and I was able to add something to the monologue, but mostly it was just that, a monologue. One that made it exceedingly clear that I'd lost so much more than just Akari. But with Eizo, perhaps there was a way of getting something back.

Perhaps, if the truth was found out this time, that would be a way of getting things back too.

It went on for a little moment-different places, some still the same as what they had been in the memories that Eizo described to me, and others utterly changed beyond recognition. But all the same, a picture started to compose itself in my mind. Hazy, but there all the same. Enough for me to ask:

"Hold on, isn't this the way to…."

The words caught in my throat, and Eizo glanced over at me. I could see the worry in his eyes and I could not help but feel guilty. I tried to say something, but the words caught in my throat.

Say something, say something. Breathe…Azami, breathe.

I sensed the car slow down and then gradually grind to a halt. I felt Eizo's hand cover mine, and I looked down at it as he gripped it tightly.

"They demolished the place in the January after everything happened, and they've built over it. " Eizo said. "Can…is it okay if I show you?"

"I…just…." I couldn't look up, could barely speak. "Describe."

It was silly of me, all things considered. It was not as if any of it had happened in Hope's Peak itself. But still, it all linked back, didn't it? If they had taken better care of us, Akari wouldn't be dead. If we hadn't been allowed on that road trip, Akari wouldn't be dead. If we had never received those letters in the firs-

I gulped down another breath, forced myself to listen to Eizo's voice, concentrating on the light tone of it, focusing on the warm weight of his hand alongside it.

"Okay, well….most of it is given over to a mall. There's an ice-cream parlour next to it, and a couple blocks of flats, with a shared garden between them. And there's a park, it doubles as a bird reserve. All sorts of birds, all different colours. Even hummingbirds."

Eizo paused, giving me the space to respond. But I was too busy concentrating on my breathing-even though it was starting to even out again, I could not accept the space. But Eizo's hand never left mine. And the warm weight, the light tone, gradually, they seemed to be doing something.

"Maybe, when this is all over, before we go back to our lives and all that, I could take you? I think you'd like it. It looks beautiful there, from the pictures I've seen."

But I haven't touched a camera since we escaped.

Instead of saying that thought-how could I?-I gulped and finally made myself look at Eizo, who had simply been looking at me patiently. He smiled when my eyes met his, as if I hadn't just been having a minor breakdown. Or maybe it was because he had sensed it. Either way, he was being kind, and even though I was a mess, I couldn't not acknowledge that in some way.

"Maybe."

"Awesome!" Eizo said, pleased. "But for now, shall I drive a different way? It's alright, I'll be able to figure it out! I've had to come down here a few times, so I've gotten used to the new roads and things."

"Please." I said.

"Cool!"

Eizo's hand left mine-something which, oddly, disappointed me-and he turned the car around, before setting off back past some of the things we'd driven past, before taking a turn and then continuing on. He continued to share more memories with me, but eventually trailed off, allowing me to just look out of the window, and watch everything go by as I let the new information settle, let it paint in more details in the blurry picture. But even as those details were painted in, it was still blurry, and I realised that all of a sudden, more than anything, I wanted it to be clear.

Yet, I still didn't want this to be happening.

Eventually, Eizo drove into a carpark, and found an empty space, and then parked.

"That's the rental place," he said, gesturing to the building next to us. "We're in 6. I'll just get a permit sticker."

"Should I start to take our bags up then?" I asked as I got out of my side.

"Yeah, sure." Eizo got out, and then handed me a keyfob over the top of the car. "Here's the key to the boot."

I nodded as I accepted it, and as Eizo went to the ticket machine, I stared at it for a little while. It was just a little key, just a little errand, but….breathe, I reminded myself yet again, before I went around to the boot, and unlocked it. Almost as soon as I did that, I realised it would've made more sense to take the ones in the back seat first, but it was a bit late now. I hauled the two suitcases out, then locked the boot and started to drag them around the side of the building…only to realise that I couldn't get in.

I stared at the gate, and at the little buzzers for each apartment-10, this building ran up to. What do I do now? Logically, the answer was: wait for Eizo, but I felt unmoored, confused. This felt like something that I could have dealt with if I wasn't so broken and fractured. Normal adults didn't suddenly feel like they were freewheeling in a void at minor setbacks.

"Excuse me."

I started at the gruff voice, and realised that the gate had opened. I stepped aside and let the owner of the voice through. He gave me a suspicious look from underneath bushy eyebrows, but then his dark brown eyes drifted to the bags, and I assumed he must have realised that I was also someone coming to stay in an apartment. He coughed, gruffly, and made as if to continue down the street when suddenly he turned around, and looked at me searingly, frown deepening. I blinked and stepped back slightly, taken aback, but even as I did, realisation dawned that there was something that seemed familiar about him. More than that, but there was something about me that seemed familiar to me. But no matter how I studied his wrinkled, surly face, I simply could not figure it out.

It occurred to me that I should say something, anything, but before I could think of anything, the man shook his head, muttered something under his breath, and turned back around and set off, limping slightly as he did so. And at that moment, Eizo appeared, with the rest of our bags.

"Everything okay?"

"Um…I can't get in." I managed to say after a moment of gormless blinking.

"Oh." Eizo stared at me, then the gate, and laughed. "Ohhhh. I should've thought of that, I am so sorry!"

Eizo laughed and laughed, and after a moment, I couldn't help but chuckle too. Only a little bit, and nervously. But still, a laugh was a laugh.

And unexpectedly, it felt good.

…

Any good feelings that I had started to feel over the course of the morning so far had started to dissipate by the time we had arrived at the café where we were supposed to be meeting Ayuna and a couple of others, it seemed, though Eizo hadn't been clear on who else was here by now. All of them? Just Ayuna? Ayuna and one other person?

Breathe, Azami, breathe, I told myself as I followed Eizo through the door of the nautically-decorated establishment (a place that had opened about 10 years ago, apparently, so not a place associated with memories, something that I was both relieved and disappointed to find out).

"She'll be in a booth, looks like it's those over there." Eizo said, indicating.

I nodded, and followed him, weaving in and out of tables, muttering apologies to people I bumped into, all while feeling more and more like I was spinning and spinning and…

"Eizo-kun? Azami-chan?"

That voice, it tugged at me in the same way the old man's appearance from earlier tugged at me. I looked up to see a woman about to get into a booth, wearing a pretty pale green sundress, her pale brown hair shoulder length. I stared, details from the picture in my mind seeming to sharpen just a little, slotting her appearance and the sound of her voice.

"Sadie-chan?"

It appeared that Eizo had caught up, for when he uttered this, all I could think was, of course. So much was obviously different, but now it was clear that this person could be nobody else but Sadie.

How? How could I have forgotten?

The three of us stared at each other for a moment. Sneaking a glance at Eizo, I wondered if he would cry again, like had after seeing me. But no, for all he was as wide-eyed and wondrous as he had been before, he was completely dry eyed. As for me…well, I was no closer to knowing how I felt now, than I was before. Just that everything seemed that it was both still and in perpetual motion at the same time, and that it was beyond my control.

Another moment passed. I tried to concentrate on the sensations in the surroundings, to try and ground me a little. But then, eventually, Sadie shook her head, and the moment ended:

"I…I go by Mai now. But yes, um…Ayuna-chan is here too…come, come on."

…

Ayuna

I hardly dared believe that this was happening until I saw for myself the two people following Mai into the booth. I recognised Eizo well, since we'd actually been talking for a while before this had all come to be-though of course, this was the first time in person and actually seeing him with neater, blond hair and the injuries turned to scars was enough to have me double take. But seeing Azami, that was a different story.

"Hey there. You look well, both of you." I said, fiddling with my black leather jacket.

"Ayuna! Wow, you look pretty cool yourself! I like that top!" Eizo said. "And of course, Sadi-ah, sorry, Mai! You look lovely too!"

Azami simply tilted her head slightly, and regarded me sceptically. I smiled at her, hoping to convey that I did mean it. Because alright, she did look somewhat tired and plain, nothing like the sparky person she had once been. But she was looking around her, alert. She was neat, and she was here. She was here.

"Thanks, Eizo-kun." Mai said into the silence.

But straight after that, silence was what it was. The four of us stared at each other, all of us waiting for another to say something. It occurred to me that for the most part, we had become strangers. Once we'd been part of a close-knit group, sharing so much together. Then, we'd had to depend on each other in ways beyond imagination.

And now, we were strangers. And that was at least partially our own fault.

I can rail about that later. And, I knew I was sure to, particularly with Eikichi and Takaaki, who, best I recalled, had been the strongest proponents of it. But now…now the thing to do was to bridge the gap. Get them all used to the possibility that maybe it would be alright to speak up at last.

"It's nice to see you all again, it really is. I wish we could have done it under better circumstances, though."

"Would we have though?" Azami asked. "I thought, because of the promise."

I blinked at that. So, she knew about it? I wanted to ask, but at the same time, it seemed amiss. I did not quite want to admit that even though she hadn't been able to consent to it-even if unwillingly-we had made the promise anyway. It didn't matter that I had tried and failed to reach out once anyway. In a way, we had tricked her. Which made it all the more important that we were meeting up.

"Yes, I knew." Azami said softly, as if she heard the question anyway.

"I asked the same thing as well," Eizo piped up, sheepish expression on his face. "I guess it means that at least you weren't wondering what had happened, right?"

"Well, truth be told, I had…a lot to deal with."

I could only imagine. The state Azami had been in, it must have taken a lot for her to get to the point where she was today. Even now, her posture was hunched, and she watched us all guardedly, only softening a little when Eizo threw her a smile. I pushed a cake slice (I'd thought to order a few, trying to remember the tastes we'd had back then) towards her, and though she accepted it with a nod, she mostly picked at it.

"But even so, Azami-chan, I'm so sorry, for my part." Mai said, profusely. "It wasn't right for me to leave you like that. I should have…I don't know."

Mai's voice hitched, and she stopped, taking a breath. Azami looked at her, then shook her head.

"It's alright. I should have thanked you, really. I'm sure you were the one who helped me the most, after…you know."

She looked around at the busy café. I could understand her reticence.

"We're not going to talk about everything here," I said, quickly. "Just, I figured we needed a place to properly regroup, and then we could talk logistics."

"Where are the others, anyway?" Mai asked. "I know that Free is coming down later today-we messaged each other about it."

I startled a little at Friede's old nickname. Back then, pretty much all of us had called her by her Japanese name, Heiwa, but right from the start Mai had gone for this shortening of Friede. Free. Like free will, free choice, freedom. When we had been trapped, it had seemed a cruel irony that one of us could be called that when we were all trapped. Had I been annoyed at her for that? I suspected I might have been, especially after Seiko's death, and I remembered that Takaaki had questioned it a couple of times, in that particular way that he had.

"Oh, that's something-do you know when she'd get here?"

"I think she said tonight…" Mai said, cautiously.

"…have you all been breaking the promise, then?" Azami asked, not looking up from where she was very closely examining the cake she was still picking at.

"W-what? No!" Mai exclaimed, startled.

Eizo-who had actually been eating cake-had to swallow abruptly so that he didn't choke, but once he did, he looked at me with wide eyes, no doubt asking if it was okay to mention our prior contact. I nodded. I didn't want there to be any more secrets though.

Or, at least, for there to be as few as possible.

"Well, Ayuna and I, we kinda bumped into each other by chance a while back and when we both realised that we missed you all, and that we both thought the promise was bullshit, we just decided to keep in touch from time to time, figured that nobody'd ever really know. We never met in person or anything, though. And as you know, I gave you my business card and you only used it now." Eizo said.

"I started tracking you all down once I found out-after Eizo, Mai was one of the first I managed to find, so I asked her to help me. Because she and Heiwa-chan were close, because of them being fellow hāfus and all that, she offered to help with that. I managed to find Hanamura and Takaaki-Hanamura will be here this evening or thereabouts, Takaaki tomorrow morning by the way. But anyway, we managed all that though social media and things, right?"

"Mhm." Mai added. "And Free, it turned out her son used to attend ballet classes at the school I work at, so that helped."

Azami had been listening to this intently, and finally she looked up. I couldn't work out what it was that she was thinking. A moment went by, and eventually she nodded.

"I see."

"Quite the detective trio we made, huh?" Eizo laughed.

Detective trio, huh? I thought of the detectives who had been on the case before. In some ways, I felt I could understand them. Certainly, I had more insight into 'detectiving' as I remembered Yuki putting it once, when he'd still thought our situation was all just a weird joke, than any detective could have ever imagined. But still, back then, even with that understanding, I could never had told back then. There had been no way.

"What is it, Seiko?"

"I…well." Seiko looked down at the bundle of papers in her lap. "Do you remember how it was implied that selected members of the class received the 'your fault' motivation? The one that managed to get under Amai-kun's skin?"

"Under his skin? That's a bit of an understat-but yeah, how could I forget? But what about it?"

"I was one of those other people."

"You-well, it's ridiculous, you know that, right? How could it be your fault?!" I steamed, instantly incensed. "It's just that bear-well, whatever psycho is operating the bear-trying to mess with us…."

And it's working, isn't it, a little voice asked. I growled slightly, only to see Seiko's eyes widen in surprise.

"Sorry, that wasn't-"

"It's fine, Osamu. It's just that I've been thinking about everything I was doing over the past couple of months, and then I extended that over into the past year or so, and I've started to realise that actually, there is a very good chance that under certain interpretations, us being here could very well be seen as 'my fault'."

"Seiko, what the ever-loving hell are you on about?"

Seiko sighed, sadly, and then she held up the pile of papers so that I could see the front of them more clearly. I stared at the typing on the sheet, and though I realised what it was she was holding, I didn't understand what she meant.

Luckily for me, Seiko seemed to sense my confusion, for she put it back down on her lap, and patted the space next to her on the bed.

"Sit down, Osamu. I need to explain properly."

Perhaps if I did now, I would apologise to them for that.

"But anyway, since we're waiting for them, why don't we sorta, I dunno, catch each other up on our lives?" Eizo suggested quickly, just as another silence threatened. "Sorta get to know each other again."

"Yes," I agreed quickly, letting out a sigh of relief. "Yes, that would be best."

…

Kenichi

I needed this moment.

This one, single moment where I just sat here, gazing upon all that was physically left of my daughter. A set of bones. There had been fibres, a fastening or two, things like that, found in her coffin and these had all been taken for the standard tests. All that was left here was her skeleton, some strands of her blond hair still attached to her skull.

Because I could not be the one to do this examination, just as I could not have been with her first autopsy (even though with the fact there had been twelve other corpses to try and get answers from back then, they could have used the extra hands-but still, I understood), I did not touch her. It was already technically irregular that I was having this moment. Superintendent Onoe hadn't been too happy about the request, stickler for rules that she was. I wore gloves, just to be on the safe side, but I did not touch her. Not even to stroke her forehead like I did when she was sick, or to hold her hand as I would have had when she was little and still needed an adult to help her cross the road.

But that didn't mean I couldn't analyse her carefully with my eyes. So that was what I did.

From the phalanges of her foot, to her pelvis , from her radius to her ulna, and all the way up to her skull, the facial features that she had once informed me were similar to mine in bone structure-we both tended towards 'sharp' in that sense, apparently. She'd been so pleased when she had told me that, I remembered.

I bent my head close to hers, near to where her ear would have been, wanting to whisper something to her. But then, I noticed something. It looked a little like a piercing, or a hole for one, but not in the conventional place a girl's piercing would go. Unless the girl in question was particularly punk or something, but even though Kimiko hadn't been that-and indeed, when I'd had to identify her I had spotted no such piercing. It didn't seem like an injury, either….

Aware of someone coming in, I straightened. Casting one more gaze over Kimiko's skeleton, I got up, and looked at Harada, who looked at me with pity in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but we nee-"

"It's fine," I said with a tired wave. "I know how it goes. Besides, I have things to do, myself. Just…take care of her, alright?"

"Of course." Harada said with a respectful nod.

I sighed, and reluctantly got up.

"Oh," I said. "There was something strange about her ear-well, not her ear as such, but I'm sure you'll notice what I mean. Could you check that, too? It might have some relevance."

"Of course." Harada said again.

This time, he was neutral. Of course, that was all he could be. And I understood that, despite everything. So I just nodded in return, and trudged back to my work.

Characters introduced:

Victims

Rin Hatakawayama, former SHSL Music Critic (my OC)

I also apologise for the somewhat lackluster chapter title-coming up with them is hard -.-'