#hagakanon

It had now been around a week since they’d almost parted ways – a week of small arguments, laughing and crying about sweet nothings; a week of making fun of each other while having each other’s backs whenever danger seemed to draw near. Things had definitely been quite intense, no matter how Kanon looked at it. But somehow, it had eased part of the pain and anger that she’d been holding onto since she’d been made captive.

It didn’t matter that Yasu was part of the Future Foundation anymore, as he clearly was different from most of them. First of all, he wasn’t a skilled fighter – she was the main reason why they’d survived this long in the city. Second, he wasn’t smart or manipulative the way she’d always assumed most of their agents were. He had tried to manipulate her, making her believe that he’d lead her out of the city and be able to protect her, but she’d seen right through him. Besides, it hadn’t taken a long time for her to understand that he was sticking around her because she had money – money he desperately needed to pay his debt to the Kuzuruyu clan.

At that moment, the sun was about to rise. This meant that they wouldn’t be able to stay here much longer if they wanted to stay safe and not have to hurt anyone. Sure, the Warriors of Hope weren’t running the city anymore, but this didn’t mean that it’d stopped being dangerous. Towa City was still filled with its fair share of criminals, and news sources were going on about how the Future Foundation was still looking for the Remnants of Despair, whoever these people were. Regardless of that, the fact that people associated to the Ultimate Despair were still running free implied that constantly hanging around a Future Foundation member was putting her in danger. Kanon didn’t mind, though. She knew they’d manage to save themselves. Besides, Yasu’s talents as a fortune-teller had been useful to them in the past. There was no way he wouldn’t be able to predict it if their lives were on the line, right?

Kanon rolled to her side, facing the sleeping man in the bed that was next to hers. Of course, he was still asleep. He always slept in. No matter how much she told him they he needed to stay alert and get out of bed as soon as the first rays of sun began peeking through the window of whatever place they’d chosen as shelter for the night, she still had to wake him up herself. It was almost as though she had to do everything for him. Still, as much as she complained about it, she didn’t mind it too much. It may have been weird, but something about his company and the way they interacted with each other made his flaws tolerable.

So, as per usual, Kanon sat up in bed and quickly fixed her hair before shaking him awake. She’d tried nicer approaches before but had quickly learned that the only way to get Yasu out of his slumber was to be rough.

“Ugh, you could be gentler when you do this, Kanon-cchi!” was what Yasu greeted her with, just like he did every morning.

“Well, how many times did I tell you to wake up before the sun even rises, idiot? Don’t you realize that if you could simply do as you’re told, I wouldn’t have to touch you like this,” she replied, making a face as if to show her disgust towards him.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry!”

“Yeah, just pick your stuff so we can go, already,” Kanon shrugged, picking up her bag. “You wouldn’t want one of these mysterious Remnants of Despair to find us now, would you?”

“They’re not going to find us!”

“Huh?” She turned to him, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I had a vision before falling asleep last night,” he started, wrapping a loose hair tie around his dreadlocks. “I’m going to see my mom and go home today.”

Kanon shivered, blinking to make sure she’d understood what Yasu had just told her. Were they really going to go home today? She knew the things he’d predicted about their futures had been quite accurate since they met, but what if he was wrong? And if he weren’t, what would happen to her? He’d mentioned that he would see his mother and go home, but he hadn’t said anything about her, had he?

“Now, now, Kanon-cchi, what’s the long face for? Think you’re gonna miss me?”

“No, thank God, you won’t be holding me back anymore,” she laughed, heading towards the exit of the building. “It’ll be much easier to just look after myself, you know?”

“There, there,” Yasu chuckled, patting her shoulder. “You don’t have to pretend to hate me now that you know I’m not gonna be around anymore. We did have some good times together, didn’t we? No point in pretending they never existed.”

“Like, when I saved your ass from all these Monokumas?”

“I mean, that’s one of the examples, but that’s not the only thing we’ve been through!”

Kanon rolled her eyes, stepping outside. The sun was beginning to shine its blinding, crimson light on Towa City. She hadn’t cared about how different the outside world looked when she had first gone out after spending a year in captivity. She’d understood that things were now a lot more dangerous than she remembered them right away, but at least she was free. And with that hacking gun she’d stolen from that dead Future Foundation member, she felt invincible. Today was different though – she wished the sun could have stayed shining on the other side of the world instead of hers. Did that mean that she’d already grown tired of her freedom?

No, that couldn’t be it – if it were, it would mean she was falling into despair again, which couldn’t happen until she’d get the chance to find out if she truly did want to avenge Leon Onii-chan by killing some Future Foundation members.

She wasn’t falling into despair, and it had nothing to do with Yasu and I probably having to part ways soon. She probably was just tired from all the things that had been happening to her recently. Regardless, she sure as hell was not going to give up.

-

“It’s gotta be around here! At least, it looks hell of a lot like what I saw in my vision!”

Yasuhiro was excited. After weeks spent in Towa City in a failed attempt to gather the money he needed to pay his debt and return to his peaceful existence with his mother, things were finally about to come to an end. At this point, he wasn’t thinking about ways to borrow Kanon-cchi’s credit cards anymore. He was only eager to go home and have things be normal, at least for a short while.

He understood very well that the Tragedy, and everything it’d changed in the world, meant that nothing would ever be the exact same again. But a few days of normalcy in the apartment he shared with his mom was everything he wanted – well, that and maybe a little bit more time with Kanon-cchi.

It was true that, at first, he’d stuck around her because she’d saved him. Once he’d realized she was the daughter of one of the richest families in the country, he’d told himself that he was after her money, nothing more. But the uneasiness he’d felt after he’d found out about her feelings towards her cousin and the Future Foundation, as well as how easy it’d been for him to forgive her – after she had damn near killed him! – and decide to stay in Towa City with her even though he could have very well escaped, made him feel as though there was a little bit more than purely practical reasons as to why he’d spent these weeks with her. He blamed it on his physical attraction towards the young woman. Just how long had it been since he’d had a girlfriend, anyway?

No, I don’t want her to be my girlfriend, he thought. It’s just that she’s kinda cute! Yeah, she’d be a terrible girlfriend – she’s always nagging about this and that and she’s so impulsive sometimes. Still, I enjoy being around a pretty girl! It’s normal for a guy my age.

“Is that… Her?” Kanon-cchi asked, pointing towards what probably used to be an important office for the Towa Corporation.

“Yeah! That’s right!”

It didn’t take more than two seconds for Yasuhiro to entirely give up his train of thought about his relationship with Kanon-cchi. His mother was there, standing around smoking a cigarette, just like he remembered her. He hadn’t seen her in years. Nothing mattered more to him than reuniting with her.

“Mooooooooooooom,” he called out, sprinting towards her.

-

Angry. That was how Kanon had been feeling since Yasu had run towards his mother without paying any attention whatsoever to her. After everything she’d done for him since he’d almost died at the hands of that Monokuma, was that how he was thanking her?

Paying no mind to how she felt, she had followed him, dragging her feet at every step. It didn’t help that the wind that was blowing was super cold and messing her hair up. It was just all so wack. Still, she waited for the mother and her son to finish reuniting and talking about how much they’d missed each other and how happy they were to be together after all this time. She didn’t even say a word no matter how much the entire scene annoyed her, which was out of character for her.

She was just silent, as though something inside of her was breaking – as though she were falling into despair again, except she seemingly had no reason to do so this time. Everything would be fine, right? Yasu would leave and she’d be able to gather all the answers to her questions, without him holding her back by being an idiot and putting himself in danger. She didn’t need to be feeling so negative about what was going to happen. It was good for her. She’d be one step closer to her goal.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

Kanon glanced at Yasu and his mom, confused. Had she just asked to be introduced to her? Why did she care, anyway? It wasn’t like she was anyone important in her son’s life now, was she?

“Ah yes, mom, this is Kanon-cchi! She saved my life a few times after we arrived here, and I lost the Future Foundation squad I came with. We’ve been best buds since!”

Best buds, huh? That’s one way to put while completely disregarding the fact that I tried to kill you, weirdo.

“Thank you, Kanon-chan. My boy can be so clumsy sometimes, I’m relieved to hear he had someone as bright as you to rely on.”

“Huh? I… Uh, you’re welcome, I guess.”

Suddenly, Kanon felt overwhelmed with guilt. Why was she being praised after everything she’d done? Why wasn’t Yasu telling his mother the truth? It’s not like she’d even been happy about them finally reuniting. She didn’t deserve any of what was happening.

“Pretty girl, too. Good choice, Hiro,” the pink-haired woman added, making Kanon embarrassed. “Anyway, I’m Hiroko.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Future Foundation should be here with a helicopter in about fifteen minutes,” Yasu said. “Ahhh, I knew today would only be good fortune!”

“You’re still in debt,” Kanon spat, surprising herself by how rude and angry she sounded. “So, I don’t know about good fortune. What if one of the members of the Kuzuruyu clan is waiting where you used to live, knowing damn well you’ll have to go back there at some point?”

“Wh-what do you mean? Why d’you have to be so negative, Kanon-cchi?”

“Well, at least you won’t be able to say I didn’t warn you,” she shrugged, turning her back to them and starting to walk away.

“W-wait!” He called, making her turn towards him again. “Where are you going? What are you gonna do now?”

“You know what my plans are. They haven’t changed just because we spent some extra time together. I still hate them, y’know? They killed him.”

“But it’s dangerous out there. And what about your parents?”

Kanon froze, unable to understand why Yasu suddenly seemed so worried about her and what would happen to her. He’d had no problem ditching her to run towards his mom ten minutes ago, so what changed? What had gotten into him that made him want to know what she’d be doing?

“They’re probably dead, aren’t they?” She coldly replied, staring at him. “So, what if it’s dangerous here? At least I’ll have done what I had to do.”

Yasu frowned, making her even more confused than she already was. His reaction to the current situation made little to no sense to her. He’d been so eager to go home when he’d woken up and told her about that vision, so why was he holding onto her like this? Why wasn’t he letting her go and do what she had to do?

“I have an idea,” Hiroko finally said. “Why don’t you come live with us if you have nowhere to go?”

The question hung in the air for five long minutes, during which neither she nor Yasu spoke.  And at that moment, her heart felt like it was split into two different parts which wanted completely opposite things. Going with Yasu and his mother, although she wasn’t quite sure why, seemed quite appealing to her. She had never thought about it until Hiroko mentioned it, but now that she’d planted that seed in her brain, it was growing into quite a reasonable and safe-sounding plan.

On the other hand, that other part of her kept screaming at her that if she did this – if she gave up on attempting to kill at least one Future Foundation member without even trying to find out if she still felt like doing so – she’d be betraying her cousin. And that thought was unbearable. She’d put herself through a lot of hardships just to make him acknowledge her as a woman, and now that someone else was coming along and offering her some sort of comfort she was forgetting all of this?

He was dead, and she was thinking about giving up on him as if he’d never even existed. That wasn’t fair. Yasu had told her she was his captive because she was important to him. This meant that in his last moments, he probably thought about her, didn’t he? He probably even tried to survive that dreadful class trial for her. So how could she abandon his memory like this? How was it right for her to just leave Towa City without putting her plan into execution? What was wrong with her?

“Um, if I may,” Yasu spoke, breaking the silence that had lasted far too long for it to be considered comfortable, “I think it’d be a good idea for you to come with us. I know you have all this unfinished business, but uh—No, no, please, don’t cry!”

“I… I’m sorry, okay? It’s just that you come into my life out of nowhere and think you can just replace Leon Onii-chan like this? Do you really think your stupid demeanour and kindness are going to make me forget about how much I loved him? About how much it hurt when I found out he was dead? I’d trade you for him if I could, do you understand that?”

“I know all of that, but you still didn’t kill me when you had plenty of opportunities to do it. So, the time we spent together must have meant something to you! I’m not pretending like I can replace him or whatever weird relationship you had, but don’t pretend like you’re even happy to see me leave. You’ve been sulking all day, Kanon-cchi. Even the most stupid person on Earth could have noticed it!”

“Don’t you understand that me coming with you is betraying him?”

“It isn’t,” Hiroko spoke up, chewing on the cigarette she’d brought to her lips a few seconds prior. “I have no clue what you two are talking about, but if someone you loved and who loved you died, then I’m sure they’d want you to be safe.” She paused, lighting her cigarette, and taking a drag. “I don’t care about this hope versus despair thing they all have going on these days, but I’m pretty sure you choosing to stay here instead of moving forward in your life would be picking despair. In a way, you’d be giving whoever took that person away from you exactly what they want. You don’t seem stupid enough to do something so desperately idiotic.”

“C’mon, Kanon-cchi, it’ll be fun.”

Kanon blinked, wiping her tears away. As much as she hated to admit it, Hiroko made a fair point there. If she stayed here, she’d most likely despair – either she would realize that killing a Future Foundation member wouldn’t be enough to make her forget her cousin, or she would die at the hands of one of these Remnants of Despair. Deep down, she knew this.

“Fine,” she yielded. “I’ll leave Towa City with you guys. But don’t assume that it means you have free access to my money!” Kanon pouted, making Yasu let out an amused laugh.

Maybe leaving Towa City with the Hagakures wasn’t mistake.

-

With Kanon-cchi’s head resting on his shoulder as she was peacefully asleep, Yasuhiro realized that his life would truly never be the same again. Because the short, cute, wannabe-gyaru would be sticking with him for what seemed to be the foreseeable future. He did not mind, though. His fortune-telling abilities did not seem to be giving signs of anything bad happening starting from now, after all.