A shorter part this time. I'm sorry I'm too damn slow. I've been dealing with a lot lately. I do plan on speeding things up soon

Chapter 1: Part 10

"Wh-what did you say?" Mikan asked.

Junko rolled her eyes. "I'm your beloved," she said. "You know, your betrothed, girlfriend, lover, all that stuff."

Mikan took a step away from Junko. She didn't know what to do with this information. If Junko was really her beloved, she might have been the only girl that ever viewed her as anything other than the weird girl that trips all the time. Yet, there was the other problem.

"Y-y-you made me kill someone," Mikan whimpered.

"Wow, wow, wow, pump the breaks, Speed Racer!" Junko hopped up to her feet. "I didn't make you kill anyone, ok? Total miscommunication on that part."

Mikan grabbed her hair and tugged on it in frustration. "Why can't I remember you then?"

Junko frowned and crossed her arms. "It's probably that whole memory wipe thing Peko and them talked about. We hung out all the time before we went to Hope's Peak...You really don't remember?"

Mikan shook her head. "I-I'm sorry."

Junko sighed and shrugged. "Eh, we can still make it work."

Junko walked towards Mikan, but Mikan was intimidated by the model. She began to back away only to eventually hit a wall. Junko cornered her and slammed her hand right next to her.

"Are you really scared of me?" Junko asked with a smirk.

"I-I don't know…"

"Hmm, how about we meet halfway? I always looooved it when you took initiative." Junko said before puckering her lips.

Mikan couldn't help but blush. She was stuck between a wall and an incredibly attractive model flirting with her, asking her for a kiss. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't remember anything about their relationship, or why she would feel the need to ever kill for her. Yet, the idea of having a girlfriend, having someone that actually loved her made her forget her concerns. She outright forgot about her conversation with Rantaro only a few minutes ago. She wanted to be loved. Mikan closed her eyes and leaned forward. The two girls kissed each other lightly.

Mikan didn't know how long it lasted. She just felt…right. Like everything that ever worried her or made her sad just went away. It also felt familiar to her. She couldn't remember the specifics, but all those old feelings seemed to come back. She felt the love.

After some time, the two broke away from each other. Mikan opened her eyes to see Junko's confident smirk. "I-I don't know why…b-b-but that felt like I needed to do that," Mkian mumbled out.

"See?" Junko ran her hand through Mikan's purple locks of hair. "Nothing to be afraid of."

Mikan giggled a bit while Junko put her arm around her.

"So, now that we got all of the reconnecting out of that way, we got some planning to do."

Mikan's eyes widened and her skin went pale. "Y-you want me to kill someone?!"

Junko groaned. "No, of course not, sweetie. I told you, all of that was just a misunderstanding. Although don't think I don't love you doing literally anything for me, BUT we aren't killing anyone. We just need to be on guard."

"On guard?"

"Yeah, I mean think of it like this. We are surrounded by liars and killers, right? They can talk about this second chance and redemption all they want but we know better, right?"

Mikan nodded as she listened to Junko's words.

"Right," Junko smirked and patted Mikan's back. "So, we need to keep an eye on any suspicious behavior."

"L-like what?"

"Take note of how everyone interacts with each other. Are killers interacting with their victims, and if they are what are they doing? We need to make sure no one gets hurt again, right?"

"R-right."

"Good girl," Junko said before kissing the nurse on the cheek. "We got to look out for each other."

Mikan nodded. "And what about Kaede and Rantaro? W-we still don't really know what happened with them."

"Especially look out for them. We want to give them closure. We can't let their killer get away."

"D-do you think their killer is here?"

"I don't think, I know they're here."

"R-really?! Wh-who is it?"

"Well, I can't say for sure, but there are some suspicious people."

"L-like Mukuro?"

God, Junko just wanted to burst into laughter. The idea of pinning everything on poor little Mukuro would have been perfect. One final ounce of despair to coat Mukuro in, turning everyone against her, Mukuro really having no way to deflect the blame on someone they all saw die, it would've been perfect. Yet, it would throw of her investigation. As much as she hated it, she kept calm.

"Maybe Mukuro, maybe not. Let's not rush that." Junko patted Mikan on the back one more time before stepping away. "In the meantime, just keep an eye on everyone. Come to me if you find out anything odd, ok?"

Mikan reached out to grab Junko's hand, but she was already too far out of reach. Mikan retracted her hands and fidgeted with them. "O-okay…"

Junko stopped at the doorway and looked back at Mikan with a smile. "Don't be so down, Mikan. I'll see you again and again. And hey! If you do find something important, I'll give you something way better than a kiss." Junko winked.

Mikan's face went red again. "Wh-what?!"

Junko giggled a bit before blowing a kiss and stepping out of the room. Mikan felt a wide variety of emotions, embarrassment, confusion, warmth, and longing. She tried to hold herself together, but there was one thing that really stuck to her; she felt loved. Not simply friendship like Hajime, Chiaki, or Rantaro offered, actual love. Someone that would actually look after her, someone that could comfort her, and hold her. She smiled to herself.

'I have a friend and a beloved,' she thought to herself. 'I have Junko.'

As Mikan giggled to herself, Junko walked back to her room with a sinister grin across her face.

Kaede had been stuck at her piano for hours. She couldn't bring herself to play any of her favorite songs. Every time she would press a key, her throat would become tight again. She was compelled to unbutton the top button of she shirt and tug at the collar in the hope that the feeling would go away. She took deep breaths, trying to get a taste of the air around her.

A knock at the door gained her attention. She rebuttoned her shirt and regained her composure. She then opened the door to come face to face with Sayaka.

"Oh, Sayaka," Kaede smiled. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. Did you manage to break away from Tenko?"

Sayaka giggled a bit. "We stopped by Chihrio's room for a moment, and Tenko chose to stay behind. Honestly, I'm a little worried Tenko might be too much for Chihiro to handle."

"Yeah, Tenko really likes girls," Kaede scratched the back of her head. "I mean, she means well, but I can tell she's been smothering you."

Sayaka shook her head. "No, no, no. Actually, she's been very helpful and sweet to me." Sayaka smiled. "She's really helped me get through this situation. Still, I've been needing to talk to you."

"Yeah! Same here! Do you want to come in?"

"Sure thing."

Kaede smiled and stepped aside for Sayaka to enter. The two girls moved towards Kaede's lab. Sayaka took note all the CDs Kaede had on her shelf. All of it was classical music with iconic piano pieces. She recognized most of it. Afterall, artists like Beethoven and Mozart have become legendary. However, there were some that she didn't recognize. She was a singer and only wrote song lyrics. She didn't ever give much thought to other song writers. She skimmed through the CDs before picking up one that caught her attention.

"Clair de Lune?" Sayaka said with confusion in her voice. "I feel like I've heard of that. It's French, right?"

Kaede walked to Sayaka's side. "Yeah, Clair de Lune was written by Claude Debussy. It's one of my favorite pieces. It's just has so much emotion and sorrow in it. It makes you feel like you're looking back on a long journey and…"

Kaede stopped when she noticed how Sayaka had an eyebrow raised. Kaede blushed a bit.

"Uh…sorry for nerding out."

Sayaka laughed. "Don't be. I was actually hoping to get to talk to you about music. I actually admire your passion for classical music. I can't help but be a little envious."

Kaede walked along side Sayaka as they made their way over to the piano. "What do you have to be jealous about?" Kaede asked. "You're a world-famous pop idol."

"Apparently not famous enough for all of you guys to know me."

Kaede frowned a bit. "I mean, that's probably Monokuma messing with our minds or something, right?"

"Maybe," Sayaka crossed her arms. "Still, it's actually kind of nice."

Kaede raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"Well, not being treated like a celebrity is actually pretty fun. It's even more fun now that I don't need a disguise."

"Wait, you wore disguises?"

"Oh, all the time I wanted to go out on my own. I had a brown wig with hazel color contact lenses that I my make-up artist gave me. I'd put those on with thick clothing and I blend right in with a crowd. But now…I'm just me."

Kaede nodded. "Yeah. I kinda forgot how much of a pain being a celebrity has got to be."

"Oh, it's still fun, don't get me wrong. But now, I'm just another girl that's into music." Sayaka smiled before waving the CD. "So, can you play this?"

Kaede smirked as she tilted her head to the side. "I'm almost insulted you even had to ask, Sayaka."

"Sorry," Sayaka laughed. "Maybe I still am a snobby celebrity."

Kaede laughed before sitting down in front of her piano. She stretched her fingers a bit before playing her piano. Sayaka couldn't help but be impressed by the sound of the song. It was just as sorrowful as Kaede said. In fact, everything Kaede said about the song seemed to match up. Sayaka didn't feel like she was looking back on a long journey, but she did get a feeling of nostalgia. She remembered her friends, her father, Makoto…then the sorrowful sound really impacted her. She felt the guilt of her actions pour in her mind. She easily

Could have fallen into another pit of despair if she didn't notice something odd.

Kaede would sometimes play an incorrect key that obviously went against the flow of a song. So sometimes, when the music flowed smoothly and gracefully, there would be a snap to an unnatural sound. Sayaka would have chocked it up to Kaede being rusty from her time in the killing game, but she noticed that Kaede's arms would stiffen when she got to that part of the song.

"Um, Kaede?" Sayaka spoke up.

Kaede stopped playing and turned to face the idol. "Yes?"

"Are you feeling ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Sayaka sat down next to Kaede. "I don't know a lot about playing the piano or any instrument, but I have talked to some of the musicians that do the instrumentals for my songs and one thing I took away from them is that you need to be running on instinct. You have to understand what you're playing and learn to play it without thinking."

"Yeah, that's right. But what are you getting at?"

"Well, you aren't going of instinct. You're thinking about what note your playing and you stiffen up around certain notes…Is something wrong?"

Kaede looked down at the piano. "It's not certain notes. It's just one." Kaede pressed down on the g note a few times. "None of us actually talked about how we were executed, right?"

Sayaka shook her head. "Were they bad?"

"Mine was." Kaede could feel her neck grow itchy and tighten. She unbuttoned the top button of her shirt and took deep breaths before continuing. "Monokuma put a collar around my neck and hung me, but…I didn't die immediately. He strung me up on top of a giant piano and used me as a puppet to play notes on it, all while I was being choked."

Kaede wiped away a few tears before they could travel down her cheeks. "And I can't…I can't forget that feeling. Every time I play that note I…I can feel it again. And it makes me not even want to play."

Sayaka placed her hand on Kaede's. "Kaede, we've all been through horrible pain…But we can't let him take away the things we love. You, Ryoma, we all can't just give up, right?"

Kaede nodded. "I know, but…jumping back in didn't really make things better."

Sayaka looked over at the clock. "Look, it's almost time for dinner. Why don't we go to the cafeteria and relax for a while?"

Kaede pulled her hand away from Sayaka and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. I could go for some food."

Sayaka smiled as the two musicians stood up and exited the room.