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It had been a year since the final killing game, a year since the future foundation's brass had been gutted, and a year since the remnants of despair disappeared seemingly off of the face of the Earth. Despair had long way to go before it was countered and balanced out by the world's hope, and namely Makoto Naegi who managed to get through the idea of reopening the high school of despair, Hope's Peak Academy. Much like stopping despair, the renovation process would still take a while, the blood stained walls, unaccessible electronic systems, and unused 'Monokuma distribution pipes' had proven to be a bigger nuisance than first imagined.
Alongside Makoto during this stressful process was Kyoko Kirigiri, the former Ultimate Detective, and the woman who 'died' for him. The past year for Kyoko had been one of the toughest of her life, the scars from the poison of her forbidden action had burned deep, her usually lilac eye had darkened to a deep purple as well as her tinted skin of her left side, something that wasn't permanent but it was something that pained her, looks had never been a priority for Kyoko but it had become one ever since she met Makoto, always trying her best to never appear tired, pained or ugly to him despite knowing the fact he never cared, he saw her as beautiful in every way at every time.
The pair had confessed their feelings shortly after Kyokos initial recovery from her 'death', both of them eager to make new memories to replace those destroyed by the mastermind Junko Enoshima. Living together had provided its mishaps and mayhem when they initially proposed living together, only to be quashed by the surviving future foundation senior members, and so in a moment of rehearsed and controlled emotions, Makoto quit the future foundation, his friends standing in solidarity and leaving with him along with several other divisions committed to the rebuilding of Hope's Peak, aside from Byakuya who stayed behind as Makotos mediator between the New Hope's Peak and the Future Foundation.
Kyoko loved the man and his resolve, committing every second of her recovery to assisting him even from a hospital bed in spite of Naegi's pleas for her to rest and that he could handle it with their compatriots, though she would never have it and he knew that but it wouldn't stop him from trying.
However, after Kyoko's recovery all seemed well and the road to a new healed world looked paved, Makoto's aspirations grew and grew as the population figures ticked up and societies began to form again, he didn't know though about the problem arising from the other side of his bed, a problem that was kept secret from him.
Kyoko stumbled into the bathroom of her and Makoto's comfy detached home that was kindly constructed from them with help from their fellow future foundation defectors and friends. She opened up the bathroom cabinet that doubled as a mirror, her bare scarred hands reaching for her prescribed medicine that had been imported in from Jabberwock Island, the former Ultimate Nurse Mikan Tsumiki giving Kyoko a final 2 months of medicine, predicting her full recovery just in time for her own birthday.
Kyoko brought the medicine out, popped the lid and took 2 small yellow tablets out, swirling them in her hand before swinging her head back and gulping them down, licking her lips after the dry sensation went down her throat. Closing the lid, she placed the medicine back and closed the cabinet, a soft sigh escaping her mouth in anticipation for when the medicine would finally heal her for good, the content feeling however was flipped upside down when the brought her head up to meet the mirror, and instead of her lilac and purple eyes staring back it was instead the bright blue eyes of...
Junko Enoshima, the twice defeated Ultimate Despair. The former Detectives eyebrows knitted in frustration as she stared back at the ghost who stole her memories, friends, and father. Although Kyoko survived the final killing game, it had come at a heavy personal cost, her sanity and mind.
"You're still keeping secrets Kyoko." The voice came from the smirking reflection of despair incarnate, the voice dripping with deceit and terror.
"Shut up." Kyoko simply responded back, not ready to go through another episode with her own mind, though her feet seemed stuck and unwilling to move, chaining her to conversation.
"You love me really." Junko spat back with a happy go lucky smile, and cutesy voice, the sound like a dagger to Kyokos ears. "Just think about how boring your life would be without me, a murder case, another murder case, and again and again, oh look there's Makoto, with Sayaka." Junko continued, sowing her seeds of despair.
"If this is your idea of what gets to me, you obviously didn't pay enough attention during the years you stole from my memories." Kyoko said with her cold stoic voice, something that had started to feel foreign for the newly reformed Detective.
"Oh I've seen whats in your mind, I know what gets to you, it's not a boring life alone that bothers you. It's a life where you don't have Makoto, a life in which you don't even have the option of speaking to him. How lucky you are I worked my magic." Junko couldn't help herself, she saw vulnerability in the impenetrable iron mask of Kyoko Kirigiri.
"I could live any life, it wouldn't bother me." Kyoko lied, she knew it was a lie and so did Junko, the two were locked in a stalemate.
"You used to be such a good liar." Junko said finally before her likeness disappeared and in her place came the reflection of Kyoko, her mismatched eyes, silver hair, and discoloured skin had never been such a welcome sight in her past year of living.
She brought her left hand to her face, letting the rough texture of her finger tips touch the slightly darker complexion of her face, keeping only her right eye open as she looked back at herself, and towards her burnt hand, her scars hiding scars.
Kyoko had thought of having an eyepatch, and using heaps of makeup to cover up this new set of scars but she couldn't bring her to do it, not when she heard the sweetest words on the daily about them. Makoto would never let her fall into her isolated self again, knowing how much pain she would be going through to conceal herself from the world, again.
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Kyoko walked through her shared house slowly, enjoying the cool early morning, her bare feet meeting the laminated wood of the kitchen as she brushed her scarred hands across the countertop, she had known one day that she would own a lavish house thanks to her Detective business she was sure to inherit before the tragedy, but she didn't know that she would be sharing that house with her soulmate, and the one she saw as her Ultimate hope, who she knew right now was face planted into a soft duvet, without a thought in his mind. The sight of her boyfriend drooling in his sleep put her at ease after her fiasco in the bathroom, she knew they had each other and that was all she wanted.
She left the kitchen and headed into the living room, through the fading darkness she looked upon the walls, pictures of her and Makoto donning them, him pulling his goofy smile in almost all of them, and then her with a small grin, although the small smile could never tell the full story of how happy she was in each moment. Kyoko smiled at the pictures, despite knowing in each one she is scarred, she knew Makoto didn't mind it and so she didn't mind it either, at least when he was around to soothe her.
Whilst Kyoko took in the pictures they had of themselves as well as several of their friends, she felt a warm embrace come from behind her as two arms wrapped around her waist and a face pressed into her spine, the feeling of her boyfriends tired hug sent shockwaves through her, he wasn't the type to be awake at the crack of dawn but he was most certainly the type to realise Kyoko was not next to him whilst he slept.
"Makoto." She whispered as she placed her rough hands on his smooth one's, massaging them gently as she leant back slightly against him.
"Shhh." Makoto said back, his eyes closed as the couple shared their warmth in the middle of the living room at 5AM. "Sleep." He said after, pleading with his girlfriend to come back to bed, Kyoko was both a night owl and an early bird, and so he knew all too well about the hours she would get sleeping, it was not much.
Overwhelmed by his sweet sleepy voice, and his cute need for physical contact she couldn't deny his request, with a nod he couldn't see, she turned around and wrapped her arms around him briefly.
"Okay." She said, her mind too full of thoughts both positive and negative to attempt to ignore his pleas and to instead stay up. Breaking the hug, they both interlocked their hands and with a short look at each other, both noting the dark bags under their eyes they shared an empathetic look before they slowly trudged back to bed, their bodies as close as they could manage.
Kyoko could slowly feel sleep taking her again, something she thought must've rubbed off from Naegi. As her eyes began to droop and her brain began to switch off, the tricks came back, as they passed the portraits on the wall to their room, they shifted, their usual colours manipulating into the horrible monochrome black and white, a red spot forming on each one as her head rang with pain, though she kept it hidden as she closed her eyes and allowed Makoto's hand to guide her.
'He doesn't deserve to have this on his conscious right now.' She reassured herself, reinforcing keeping her problem a secret, he didn't deserve the stress, not now, not ever.
Makoto walked Kyoko through the open door, his hand leaving hers as they sat down on the bed, Kyoko quickly pressing her lips to the young man's, washing away all of her troubles temporarily as he kissed back. Impulsive kisses from Kyoko had been a rarity, but when they came Makoto cherished them and as he smiled in the kiss his mind was clear, his heart pounded as it always did when his lips were in contact with hers.
"See you in a bit Makoto." She whispered after breaking the kiss, slowly lowering herself back into their warm and soft bed, her eyes taking a glance at her gloves stationed on her bedside table, their usual black had transformed into the split Monokuma signature, her mind was out of control.
She closed her eyes, her mind shutting off completely, not even accepting Makotos soft words of affection and love as he too lost himself to sleep.
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"Holy poo, you love him soooo much! You really ought to thank me soon Kyo." The agitating voice returned within Kirigiri's head, infiltrating her dreams as she looked around her head space, a tall mirror in the abyss broadcasted the deadly figure of Junko Enoshima again.
Standing up in her dream state, Kyoko held a steel gaze towards the imaginative Junko, the wall of glass projecting the evil woman felt so imposing on the former Detective, taunting her almost, and so she did something about it, striding with motivation she flew her fist into the mirror, shattering it and along with it the image of Junko's sadistic smile, and a silence befell upon Kyoko's dream world.
"I don't mean to be unkind, but you really don't understand your mind do you?" Once again came the voice of despair, silence not lasting long as the shattered mirror infront of Kyoko had multiplied into a cage of glass, each one reflecting the sight of Kyoko back towards herself. "I'm not just a bad dream my dear, I'm apart of you!"
Kyoko blocked out the awful voice as it continued on and on, babbling on about how they were similar, and how her life required Junko but she didn't listen to any of it, she had managed to drown out the despair with a sinple phrase, in a simple voice from a simple man.
"I love you." The words of Makoto filled Kyoko's ears, as her eyes closed and she willed herself as best she could to wake up, to feel the warmth from her boyfriend in living colour.
And so she woke up, her eyes bolting open to be met with the unconscious face of Makoto Naegi, his mouth slightly open as he breathed in and out, the quiet sound music to Kyoko's ears as she smiled and wrapped her arms around the young man, burying her head into the crook of his neck, unwilling to sleep but to instead just enjoy the feeling of their love.
Their eternal, hopeful love.