The Things We Keep

**Kyoko Kirigiri has always been good at noticing things.**

The nervous twitch of someone's hands.
The pause before an answer.
The lie hidden inside an otherwise truthful sentence.

So when Kyoko meets Tsubame Kuroyanagi, the Ultimate Taxidermist, she notices immediately that something doesn't quite fit.

Tsubame is quiet, strangely old-fashioned, and unnervingly comfortable around death. She carries a jar of glass eyes, speaks about dead things as though they're old friends, and seems determined to remain unnoticed.

Kyoko doesn't intend to become close to her.

Tsubame doesn't intend to let anyone close at all.

But somewhere between investigations, late-night conversations, shared silences, and the growing number of secrets inside Hope's Peak Academy, the two begin to realize that some things are harder to keep at a safe distance than others.

Because Kyoko is searching for the truth.

And Tsubame has been built around keeping it.

**A slow-burn Kyoko Kirigiri × OC romance set during the Killing School Semester of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.**

Content Warning: This story contains canon-typical Danganronpa themes, including murder, death, grief, psychological distress, manipulation, and discussions of mortality. Individual chapters may contain additional warnings where appropriate.