'You have to keep going.'

'I... can't... it's... too hard!'

'I said twenty. That means you do twenty. You've only done seventeen.' Mukuro sighed. Helping Chihiro was going to be harder than she'd expected. 'Only seventeen push-ups, and he's already about to collapse!' With a loud groan, he slowly pushed his sweat-drenched body up off the ground again. 'Good. Now, remember to control yourself on the way down, don't just let gravity do the work for you.' He gave a grunt of acknowledgment, and began slowly lowering himself. 'Good', she nodded impassively as he finished. 'Only two more now.' Chihiro simply moaned quietly in response. 'I'm not letting you stop until you finish it', Mukuro replied firmly. Reluctantly, and with great effort, Chihiro slowly forced his body up once again.

His room's door suddenly opened. Mukuro spun around to find Kyoko looking back at her. Their eyes met for an instant, then the detective switched her gaze to Chihiro as he finished lowering himself once again. 'Are you alright?' 'H- she's fine. She's only got one more push-up to go.' Mukuro stepped in front of Kyoko, but her cold eyes ignored the mercenary completely. 'Are you alright, Chihiro?' 'Yeah', he panted. 'I just... need to do... one more... push-up.' She raised an eyebrow, but simply said 'I see'. With that, she turned around and left the mercenary and the programmer alone once again.

With one last colossal effort, Chihiro raised himself up once again on shaking arms before lowering himself for the last time. His strength spent, he collapsed face-down on the ground. Mukuro quickly picked up a hydration pack and stride over to him. 'Good work', she nodded, handing him the drinking tube. He slowly took it with feeble hands. 'Thanks.' He swallowed a mouthful before resting his head on the floor again, causing Mukuro to sigh once more. 'Lying on the floor like that is just stupid.' 'Get u-'

Before she could finish speaking, memories of the past two days flooded into her head. Chihiro vomiting and crying, his terrified eyes staring up at her. The kindness and comfort he'd shown her when she was at her most vulnerable. His screams of despair and the loss in his eyes when she told him what she'd done to him.

Before she knew it, she'd rolled him onto his back and picked him up off the ground. He looked up at her, still dazed from his exhaustion. 'What are you...?' 'You... worked hard', she answered, trying not to meet his eyes as she carried him over to his bed. 'You need... some proper rest.' She quickly lowered him onto the bed. 'I'll, uh... you come and see me when you're ready for more, okay?' Feeling more and more embarrassed, she turned to the doorway and strode over to it. 'Mukuro?' Chihiro's tiny voice made her stop immediately. She nervously glanced back, not knowing what to expect.

'Thanks.'

It suddenly felt as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders as butterflies swarmed into her stomach. 'I... you're welcome', she stuttered. 'That's what I'm meant to say, isn't it?' Chihiro made no reply, so she quickly turned back around and retreated. After a few steps down the hallway, she stopped. 'I'm smiling', she realised. 'I'm... he thanked me... does this mean that -'

'Things are going well with Chihiro, then?' Makoto smiled as he slowly walked out of his bedroom's doorway towards her. 'He said you were going to help him get strong. How'd he go?' Mukuro blinked. 'Why are you out of bed?!' Ignoring his words immediately rushed over to him and swept him off his feet. 'Wait, Mukuro, what are you -' Ignoring his protests, she carried him back to his bed as fast as she could. 'I need to protect him, no matter what!' 'You need to stay in bed', she ordered, gently putting him down onto the mattress. 'You need more time to recover!' 'And how many fucking times am I going to have to carry people into bed today?!' Makoto let out a sigh of defeat. 'Fine... but you didn't have to pick me up like that...'

With those words - as if by magic - Mukuro suddenly became painfully aware of what she'd just done. 'I'm... uh... I'm sorry, Makoto', she mumbled, staring at the floor as she took a steps backwards. 'I just... didn't want your wound to re-open.' He responded with a comforting smile. 'It's okay, Mukuro. I... I understand why. But I'm fine, honestly. I think the rest I got yesterday really helped.' 'He said it's okay, so... it's okay, right? But...' '... I just want to be sure that you're alright.' 'You do that a lot, now that I think about it', Makoto chuckled. Mukuro felt her heartbeat quicken. 'What... do you mean?' 'Well, you've been looking out for me here, and you saved me at Hope's Peak...' He absentmindedly scratched his head as he thought. 'You pushed me out of Sakura's way that one time at PE... you knocked Jill out a few times when she was starting to find me cute... you jumped on top of me when the Ultimate Bombmaker's demonstration went too well... and... there was something you helped me with... something to do with a big guy with long black hair?' Mukuro frowned. 'You don't remember Madarai?' He shook his head, staring off into the distance. 'Was that his name? No. I think most of my memories came back, but some of them... they're hazy.' He suddenly focused back on Mukuro with a smile. 'Well, they'll probably come back sometime, won't they?' 'Y-yeah', she nodded, trying not to show the sudden influx of shame she was feeling. 'She was there when that happened... how could I forget her? Wait... oh God... if I'd just -'

'Hey, Mukuro?' Makoto's words broke her out of her thoughts. 'Y-yeah?' She saw that he wasn't smiling anymore. Instead, his face was an image of nervousness mixed with determination. 'I... I really do appreciate how you're looking out for me, but honestly... I think I'm ready to walk around again. Honestly, I'm just sick of this bed. I just want to go outside again.' There was something in his eyes that Mukuro just couldn't say no to. 'But he still needs rest... but...' She crossed her arms. '... fine. But not until tonight, and I'm coming out with you to keep an eye on you.' Makoto grinned. 'Thanks, Mukuro.' 'Don't worry about it', she mumbled, feeling her face getting hot. 'I'm... I'm going to check on Chihiro and see how he's going. I'll, uh, see you tonight?' He nodded. 'See you then!'

As soon as she was out of sight in the hallway, Mukuro sighed happily as a grin spread across her face. 'I'm going to be alone with Makoto tonight!' However, her happiness suddenly gave way to nearly crippling anxiety. 'I'm going to be alone with Makoto tonight!' Before it became too much, she remembered the comfort she'd felt in Chihiro's hand. Feeling a little better already, she rushed down the hall to his door and gave it a quick knock before opening it. Inside, she found him almost exactly as she'd left him; on his bed, exhausted. 'Mukuro? What's going on?' 'Nothing', she lied with a faint smile. 'Are you feeling better now?' Chihiro managed a smile of his own. 'Yes... I think I'll be back to normal soon', he said quietly. 'Thanks again...' Mukuro glanced away. 'Don't mention it', she mumbled. 'So, uh... how did you find the exercise?' 'I... it was hard, but... I did it', he beamed. 'I actually... did it! I didn't think I could, but I did!' He started to blush. 'I feel like... like it's a... an achievement... you probably do hundreds of push-ups a day, so it's not much for you, but for me...' His smile suddenly disappeared as he quickly looked down at the bed. 'S-sorry... that's probably kinda lame... sorry...'

But Mukuro was grinning. 'I... I'm really glad to hear that, Chihiro.' She sat down on the end of the bed. 'You pushed yourself today.' 'Like... like how I need to push myself tonight, no matter how nervous I am about being alone with Makoto again...' Oblivious to her thoughts, Chihiro scratched his head. 'Yeah, I guess', he mumbled, 'but I only did twenty push-ups... you can do way more, can't you?' Mukuro shrugged. 'Yeah, but when I was a kid, I... I wasn't that strong.' A memory flashed before her eyes of playing soldier with a reluctant Junko. She'd struggled to drag her sister across the ground as she pretended to be wounded, but she'd still had fun with her. She'd always had fun playing with her... '... but... did she have fun playing with me?' 'Uh... Mukuro? Are you okay?' Chihiro's concerned voice snapped her back to the present. 'Uh... yeah, I'm f-fine', she stammered, embarrassed, before collecting herself. 'Anyway... I wasn't that strong as a kid. But I trained, and kept training, until I got to where I am now. It's the same for you; you just have to keep training, and you'll get stronger.' 'I guess', Chihiro sighed. 'It's just... I don't know if I can keep going.' Mukuro shrugged. 'You have to, or you'll die.' His mouth dropped open. 'Huh?!' He was looking at her with a look of fear and confusion, and she didn't understand why. 'Did I say something wrong?! I'm just being truthful... shit, was it too much? What do I say to fix this?' Her eyes darted from side to side as she desperately thought. 'Uh... and th-that's why I'm going to make sure you do keep going!' She gulped nervously as he took in her words. 'Okay, I... thank you...'

'Anyway', she said a bit too suddenly as she tried to change the topic, 'you, um, must want to get back to programming, huh?' Chihiro nodded, but a subtle sadness fell over his face. 'Yeah. I just want to get back to work on... on this program I was writing. And maybe I'd be more helpful if I had a computer...' He looked away from Mukuro as his voice began to crack. 'P-programming is basically all I'm g-good for, after all.' 'No, it's not.' She shook her head, the corners of her mouth hinting at a smile. 'You helped me, remember?' But he simply shrugged dejectedly. 'Yeah, but I wasn't much help with anything else... I-I'm sorry...' Mukuro sighed. 'No... no, you weren't,' she mumbled. Chihiro's eyes began to water as his breathing quickened. 'But', Mukuro continued, 'you're still trying. You know what the right thing to do is, and you keep trying to do it.' Her words had calmed him down a bit, and he glanced up to look at her as she finished, her voice thick with shame. 'I... I think that knowing what the right thing is matters more than being strong enough to do it... if all you have is strength, then...' She trailed off, unable to finish her sentence, but she'd made her point.

'Thank you', Chihiro said, managing a slight smile. Mukuro simply nodded at him. There were too many memories swirling around her mind for her to speak properly. 'Oh yeah, sis', Junko laughed, remember the looks on those kids' faces when you started slicing them up? Most people would have just known that was wrong, but not you. Chihiro's nothing special for knowing right from wrong, you're just really fucking stupid and mental.' 'Hey...' Chihiro's words snapped Mukuro back to reality, and she turned to see him, still smiling, looking up at her. 'I think... since Hope's Peak... you've known what the right thing is... m-most of the time...' She stared at him for a moment. 'You... you really think that?' The programmer gave a single nod. 'Most of the time...' She frowned. 'Why is he saying it like that? Was there something I did wr- wait, could it be that?' An image of his shocked face flashed before her eyes. 'I... I'm sorry I slapped you', she mumbled, awkwardly scratching the back of her head. 'I just don't really know how to talk to people... especially not when they're like that... sorry...' Chihiro's smile grew a little wider. 'Thank you.' But it quickly faded again. 'I don't really know how to talk to people either... programming is so much easier', he sighed. 'Everything makes sense. But with people...' '... it's like walking into a minefield', Mukuro murmured. 'Nobody tells you where the mines are, and when you step on one... it hurts.' Chihiro nodded slowly. 'Nobody tells you that you have to be able to throw a ball far if you want to fit in... or that children will... b-beat you u-up for no reason just because you're... weak.' Mukuro turned to him, a small smile on her face. 'Well... you won't have to worry about that when I'm done with you.' He exhaled through his nose making a sound that was almost a laugh. 'Thanks. I... I'm glad you're here.'