Our Hope

Chapter 30

When Komaru announced their arrival, the house flooded with the sound of excitement and laughter. Within minutes, Kazuichi and Mioda were attending to the sound system, Teru was turning every ingredient into five-course dishes, and Gundham and Sonia were pestering Hiro with their occult talk. With all the bustle, the large house was overflowing with warmth. Spotting Hajime and Nagito by the staircase, I waved and started to approach; however, Nagito left Hajime to talk to me alone. "What is going on with him?" I asked, watching Komaeda walk away.

Hajime waved it off, "We'll talk about that later. Follow me," he said, starting to ascend the staircase. On the second-floor landing, Hajime started tapping the side of his glass. The roaring chatter began to mellow out. "On behalf of the 77th class, I want to thank Makoto Naegi for seeing the hope inside of us. I also want to thank you," he nudged my side, "for bringing us home". Hajime gestured for me to close the toast.

I raised my glass, "Tonight, we will think of those we have lost. This celebration will signal a new era of hope, shining brighter than ever before," I beamed. "We stand not only as survivors and friends but as a family". We all raised our glasses; several bottles of champagne popping were accompanied by cheering.

Overflowing with delicious food and wine, the group sat around the living room, passing around pictures of times before the Tragedy. Hajime and I shared one thing in common; we weren't in any of these pictures. "Karen, you didn't attend Hope's Peak?" Hajime asked, confused. "How did you meet Nagito and...her?"

The room fell silent quickly, some staring at me and others staring at Hinata. Nagito elbowed him, slightly shaking his head. "It's fine, Nagito. Um...She noticed me at a fashion show and started asking a ton of questions". I shrugged the memory off, moving onto how I met Nagito. "He walked into me and made me spill soda down my pants and onto my shoes," I smirked. A few laughs circled me; Nagito was not one of them. "Alright," I leaned forward, in Nagito's full view, "What is wrong? What have I done to offend you?"

He clicked his tongue, sighing. "When I look at you..." Nagito paused, drumming his fingers. "All I see is her".

My mouth hung open in shock. I crossed my arms and began to laugh, glancing at Toko. "I've heard something like that before," I bit my lip, contemplating the seemingly never-ending cycle. "Nothing I say will make what she did less awful. We are all victims because of her, but we are equally survivors".

"That's true, but you still left me to deal with her," Nagito glanced at his mechanical appendage. I could see the brimming of tears as he glanced at Hajime, "I hate to say this, but it wasn't fair how she chased you away from me".

I thought about what our lives would've been like if I had never left Japan that year. "If I had never left Japan, we would have never been free from despair. We would've killed each other, Nagito," I ached. The sluggish effect of the wine had momentarily disappeared, consumed by the heaviness in the room. "Enough about that damn woman," I turned to Makoto and Kyoko, "No one from the 78th class has spoken about their time at Hope's Peak".

Many faces crossed my view; eyes void of light with distorted smiles. "You let her kill us" voices of the 78th class echoed in unison. Blood pooled around me, immersing my feet to my ankles. "You let her corrupt us" Hajime and Chiaki stood on either side of me. The shadows of everyone I watched die emerged from the blood; Nagito standing directly in front of me. "You abandoned us". I covered my ears, silently screaming 'you're wrong!' with eyes closed. Hands gently pushed my hands away, hands I recognized. I wrapped my arms around Byakuya. A sharp pain erupted in my stomach, "You destroyed everything", Byakuya's voice was muffled by the sound of me choking on blood. As my vision blurred, the last thing I saw was my boyfriend's dejected, betrayed eyes turning away from me.

I bolted up in bed, violently shaking and covered in cold sweat. Byakuya was still asleep next to me and I clearly wasn't bleeding to death by his hand. I ran a hand over my eyes, rubbing what remaining sleep clogged them, and glanced at the clock. I had only been asleep for a few hours, although it was nearly five in the morning. Knowing there was no chance of going back to sleep, I gently slipped out of bed and wrapped my robe around me as I left the room. I could hear whispering from the kitchen as I descended the stairs.

Nagito and Hajime were sitting at the dining table, giving me a knowing glance. "You too?" Hajime gave a grim smile.

"I think we all have bad wake-up calls," I said, walking past them to make coffee. We sipped coffee in silence, watching light spread across the horizon until the pair began to describe the awful nightmares. Reliving being a Remnant of Despair, the death of Nanami, and having to hear Junko's obnoxiously, wicked laughter; I recognized the unsettled exhaustion. I debated whether to tell them about mine but was interrupted by a rough whisper of my name.