New World And New Hope

|Memories Made| |Juzo and Chisa|

Munakata was busy with a mountain of paperwork and finalizing the overseas projects. Because of his and Sakakura's efforts, as well as the efforts to bring an end to the risk of the tragedy occuring, the project was sucessful. Munakata was very proud of himself and even more proud of his partner. Though there was a lot of work on his end that he had to handle given it was his project to begin with.

So that left Sakakura to visit Yukizome alone while Nagisa was at school. Yukizome's condition was improving with each passing day but she still had a long way to go. Given that she had been given a lobotomy, her progress was much slower than her brainwashed student. Still, it seemed there was hope for her even considering that fact. Both of the men were grateful that the hope restoration program had an effect on her, even if it was minimal and gradual progress.

The long winding hallways of the mental health facility were eerie but Sakakura had grown used to seeing them at this point. Both he and Munakata made a point to regularly check on their old friend once they had time after the aftermath of everything.

Sakakura heard an inhuman scream as his boots thumped against the gray tile. The first few times he heard those screams, it scared him a bit, though he'd never admit it. Like everything else about this creepy place though, he'd grown used to the strange sounds and the dull surroundings.

Normally one of the nurses would go with people visiting patients but either out of laziness or compassion, they simply just handed Sakakura and Munakata her room key, let them go to her room by themselves and return the key to her room later. Or perhaps it was that Tengan had pulled some strings. Neither Sakakura nor Munakata could really be certain that it wasn't the case. Munakata knew damn well that the old man was a god at pulling strings if he so desired and Munakata respected the hell out of Tengan for it.

Unknown to either one, in another universe Munakata had lost respect for Tengan during the Tragedy, an event that had narrowly been avoided in this timeline. Though they had differing opinions at times, even in this timeline, Munakata viewed Tengan as a father figure and as such, had a lot of respect for him. Also unknown to Munakata was that in the same alternate universe, he had betrayed Sakakura out of paranoia.

If you had told this universe's Munakata that in an alternate reality he had intentionally injured his partner and he had nothing to do with Nagisa, Munakata would've told you to stop speaking madness. Though Munakata struggled to wrap his brain around what actually would've happened if the tragedy occured, he did often wonder what would've happened if it struck. Thinking about that only made him more protective over Sakakura, Nagisa, and Yukizome.

While silently wondering to himself what would've happened if he had lied to Munakata instead of telling the truth, Sakakura unlocked Yukizome's room door and entered the room. Yukizome looked up at him and smiled.

"And here I was wondering when one of you would pay me a visit again," she said to him.

"Has it really been all that long?" He asked.

She laughed, "No, not really. I just get excited to see you and Munakata."

Sakakura sighed, "I wish we could hang out like we used to."

Yukizome smiled, "Me too. Those were good times. We made good memories. I know something's wrong with me but I really hope we can work through it."

Sakakura remembered then that Yukizome was detached from the despair living inside her. That fact had given Munakata hope. But still, because a lobotomy had been done, progress was slow and there was a risk that Yukizome would never truly be the same ever again. "I hope so, you're important to us. Even if something is wrong with you, I don't want to give up on you. Neither does Kyosuke."

"So I guess you won then, huh?"

"Won?"

"You won over Munakata. Both of us loved him."

"Sorry- didn't mean to steal him. I never thought he'd like somebody like me."

"You must've felt this way for a while, huh? I mean, I'm happy for you both but also jealous if I'm being honest. Still, I don't want to tear you two apart. You both deserve each other. I still love Munakata but I also love you platonically. You felt the same things for a while too, right? Because both of us expected Munakata and I to be together in the end," Yukizome responded.

"I did feel that way. I'm sorry though. I never wanted to hurt you. Still don't but I don't know if I can give him up. I'm sorry," Sakakura apologized.

"What are you apologizing for, silly? I'll get over it eventually. It just won't be easy. I feel bad for being so harsh on you about your feelings before. Having the situation flipped on me changed my perspective," Yukizome replied.

"Yeah. I thought there was no way he'd like men and it was really hard on me. I feel like I can breathe now."

"Even if I'm jealous, you better still invite me to your wedding! I still want to be there for you two during the most important time of your life!"

"We're gay, Yukizome. Kyosuke and I can't get married."

"That's lame!"

"I didn't make the law!"

"Of course not, silly. I still think a homophobic law is stupid."

"Though, maybe he and I could get married in another country someday. If he wants it of course."

"Oh you already found a work around," Yukizome sounded disappointed.

"You sound disappointed," Sakakura noted.

"Well... like I said, I'm still jealous that you ended up with Kyosuke but I'll allow it because it's you."

"Yeah, I guess it makes sense that you're jealous. I can't fault you for that."

"Anyway you two adopted a kid, right? How's that going?" Yukizome asked.

"Nagisa is a good kid, surprisingly. He has a lot of issues, understandably but he's very wellbehaved. Kyosuke is closer with him. Really Kyosuke is the one who wants to keep him around and who am I to disagree with what he wants. I don't really know what to do around him other than provide for him but I'll protect him with my life, same with Kyosuke," Sakakura answered.

"Aw sounds like you've got a nice little family. I want that someday," Yukizome smiled.

"Yeah? I want that for you too. I'll do anything to make sure that happens," Sakakura replied.

"You're really sweet."

"Only because I'm soft for you, Kyosuke, and the kid."

"Oh c'mon don't be like that. You're not really scary, just misunderstood. We both know you're a softie deep down."

"...if you say so."