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Kyoko glanced at her watch, writing down the time it had taken her to finish the problems in the exercise book. It wasn’t the best time, but considering her lack of a… traditional education during the past few weeks, and the fact that she couldn’t actually remember learning how to solve any of the problems, it was certainly better than she would have expected. She blinked a few times as she looked up from the small table she was sitting at, almost expecting to be back in a classroom like the one she’d woken up in when she’d “arrived” at Hope’s Peak. Instead, she – along with the rest of the survivors of the school – were crammed into a tiny apartment littered with Hina’s belongings.
Even though they really hadn’t been in their killing school life for that long, the habits they’d formed while there wouldn’t be broken anytime soon. While the Future Foundation had provided them all with apartments in a livable building – which ordinarily would have been suitable for the newly-turned young adults that she supposed they were – the six of them (or, seven, depending on how you counted Toko and Syo) still kept to many of the same rules that they’d lived by at Hope’s Peak, with a few unofficial additions.
There was one thing that bothered Kyoko since they’d left the school. Well, that wasn’t quite true – there were definitely many things about the situation that bothered her (including Hiro’s snoring, since he’d apparently fallen asleep while attempting meditation), but there was one thing that bothered her more than all the others: their missing memories.
As long as their memories remained unrecoverable, the actions of Junko Enoshima would always stay with them. But if they could figure out how to make those memories come back… then maybe, just maybe, they could let even more hope fill their hearts and stop living like they were still in the middle of their killing school life.
Which brought Kyoko back to the exercise book in front of her. Checking her answers against the key that came with it, she came to the exact outcome she’d suspected: that she’d gotten every answer right, meaning that even though she had no memories of their missing two years, she’d apparently retained all the knowledge they’d been taught.
She’d come up with the theory late one night when she couldn’t sleep and was thinking of the last trial. Every memory alteration that Junko had made was for a single purpose: giving the students of Class 78 a motive to kill each other. The most obvious of these alterations was that none of them (besides Makoto and Sayaka) recognized each other at the start of the killing game. If they’d recognized each other, if they knew that they’d been friends before, they may have simply refused to murder each other. And that simply wouldn’t do for the audience. But the whole thing wasn’t as simple as Junko had made it seem. After all, Syo had still been able to recall The Tragedy at the final trial, and Kyoko had been unable to remember her ultimate ability – and therefore the majority of her childhood – for most of the game. That made Kyoko wonder… had anyone else’s memories been altered like that, with certain memories left alone in order to sow distrust in the group, or certain memories taken away if they would have left the students with too much of an advantage over the mastermind?
A surprised yelp from Hina, followed by a pan clattering to the floor, broke Kyoko out of her thoughts. Everyone turned toward the source of the noise, though Toko made an annoyed growl at Byakuya’s attention being taken up by Hina, even if it was only a moment before he went back to reading through a stack of legal papers.
“I’m awake!” Hiro yelled, even though his delayed reaction made it obvious that he had been asleep only moments before.
“Do you need any help?” Makoto asked Hina. “I don’t know much about cooking, but…”
“No thanks,” Hina said. “Just forgot to use a potholder!”
She’d been using that excuse since the first crash had drawn the others into her apartment and she’d explained that she was attempting to make donuts. Kyoko could only speak for herself, but it just felt safer to be in the room than to be elsewhere and not have Hina turn up to their next communal meal.
“Kyoko?” Makoto asked after everyone had returned to their usual activities.
“Hm?”
“Can I ask you a question? Just one.”
She nodded even though she was unsure of what his question would be – the anticipation of the whole thing, however, was always thrilling. There was just something about Makoto that made her want to chase that thrill, to chase after him.
“I know you said that it happened while you were young and just starting your detective work, but… what happened?” he asked, nodding toward her bare hands. She’d taken to leaving the gloves off when she was around the other survivors, especially since they spent enough time in each other’s apartments that she’d call them all equally “hers”.
“I…” She paused. She knew when it had happened, she knew that she’d only worn the gloves after that case, but… for some reason, she remembered herself wearing the gloves even in the lead-up to the event that had caused her to wear them in the first place.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. We can just pretend I never asked.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I just… realized something odd.” She tried to think back to an earlier time, before her mother’s death and her father’s extended absence. “In all of my memories, no matter when they took place… I still remember wearing the gloves, even though it makes no sense since I didn’t have them before that investigation.”
Makoto bit his lip, the way he always did when he was thinking hard about something. Then he shook his head. “That’s weird. Why would you remember it that way?”
“I have no idea,” she said, before turning back to the exercise book. Her eyes widened. “Unless…” She glanced at Toko, whose alter seemed to be unaffected by the memory alteration. She thought back on how she’d been unable to remember her own past as a detective – at least, until she found things in her father’s office that had helped her recall the memories. “The way our memories were altered wasn’t as simple as forgetting our two years at Hope’s Peak Academy.”
“Wait, you’re saying there might be more things we don’t remember?!” Hiro asked.
“Possibly. But amnesia isn’t the only way that a memory could be altered.”
“So you’re saying that you could remember something incorrectly, or have kept a memory that was taken from everyone else?” Makoto asked, seeming to have gotten what she’d been hinting at.
“Precisely, as long as it would have made for better entertainment,” Byakuya said, having apparently taken interest in their conversation.
“But anyways, you wanted to hear about the case, correct?” Kyoko asked, filing the question of her altered memories away for later.
Makoto nodded. “If you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. I already told you that.” Still, she appreciated how Makoto was always so considerate. “It was back when I was in middle school…”
The apartment building where the six survivors were living was near a university, and Byakuya had suddenly decided that he needed something from one of the libraries there – assuming that the item was still intact. Just about everyone had come up with something they’d like to look for in the library, and while Makoto wasn’t a big fan of reading, he still decided to tag along. It just wouldn’t feel right to stay in his apartment by himself when he could be with his friends, and he figured he’d be able to find something there to occupy himself with.
Soon after arriving, Makoto found himself wandering alone through the rows upon rows of shelves. As he walked, he stubbed his toe on something on the floor. “Ow!” he cried out. “What –“ Looking down at the item, he realized it was a large sign that must have been hanging from the ceiling before The Tragedy. Taking a closer look, he noticed that it read “Periodicals”, and glancing at the shelf next to him, that seemed about right. I wonder if any of these have information about Hope’s Peak? They probably wouldn’t have anything about The Tragedy, but it would be nice to know something about what my school life might’ve been like, since I can’t remember it…
He scoured the shelves until he found something quite pertinent: an entire journal published by the Hope’s Peak students and faculty. Taking the most recent volume off the shelf, he flipped to the table of contents and began looking to see if there was anything interesting. “The effect of luck on soulmates, page thirty-seven,” he read. Soulmates… he hadn’t thought about those in a long time. Many people dreamed of having one, while others had some concerns about the idea. Ultimately, Makoto had never concerned himself too much with the subject, considering that he didn’t have one. He flipped to page thirty-seven anyways, figuring that it was at least something to do.
“We collected data from the Ultimate Lucky Student of each of Hope’s Peak’s 78 classes on their soulmates and soulmate-related experiences, and ran the quantitative data through several statistical analyses,” he read, noting that he would have been included in the study. “While the sample size presents some limitations, these preliminary findings indicate that Ultimate Lucky Students likely do have higher chances of having a soulmate, as every one of them (as of this publication) had at least one.”
Huh?! That can’t be right. People who have a soulmate show some sort of sign, and I’ve never had any of them!
“Ooh, soulmates? I know all about those.”
Makoto practically jumped at Syo’s voice. Apparently he’d been so caught up in what he was reading that he hadn’t noticed when the rest of the group approached him. “You… have a soulmate?” he asked, surprised.
Syo just laughed. “Me, have a soulmate?! Not a chance. But once, she was working on a novel about some poor, hopeless girl who didn’t think she had a soulmate but actually did – don’t ask why, it got boring in the middle so I stopped reading. I made a few improvements to make it more interesting, but the next time I saw the notebook, all the pages were torn out. Such a waste!”
“Let’s go,” Byakuya said, not even giving Makoto the chance to think of a response.
Makoto glanced between the journal volume still open in his hands and the shelf he’d found it on. If I want to read any more, I’ll have to take it with me. “Wait, I just need to check this out first.”
Byakuya scoffed. “Makoto, have you been paying any attention? There’s no one working here. We can take whatever we want. Let’s go.”
When they got back to the apartment building, Makoto immediately parted ways with the others, locking himself into his apartment. This felt… personal, in a way – more personal than anything ever had been in his entire life. Flipping the journal volume open to that study again, he began to read...
And read…
And read…
He had to squint to make out the final few paragraphs, as it had grown dark in the time he’d been reading. The red-tinted sunlight had been enough for him to see by earlier, so he hadn’t bothered to turn on a light.
The study hadn’t mentioned many specifics, so he wasn’t able to glean much from it outside what he already knew. Mainly, it said that all the Ultimate Lucky Students had a soulmate, that they had an easier time finding their soulmates than other people with soulmates did, and that some of the students even had multiple soulmates – something Makoto had never heard of before.
The study also gave a few examples of how students knew who their soulmate was. Most of them involved some sort of marking on the student’s body – markings that Makoto had never found – but there were others that were entirely psychological, such as people who had some level of telepathy with their soulmate or experienced dreams involving them.
Makoto sighed, knowing that he needed some time to just think about this development. I should go take a shower… I need to get it done before the water turns off, anyway. Almost immediately, he caught the error in his thinking. Still, I should do it now – then I can get to bed at a decent time.
As he undressed, Makoto’s mind wandered to who his soulmate could be. They’d have to have some kind of mark, too, right? But wait, the study also mentioned psychological ways of knowing. So they wouldn’t necessarily have a mark. And then it hit him. Telepathy.
“How did you --?”
“I’m psychic.”
His body was on autopilot, focused solely on replaying his conversations with Sayaka – until his hand touched the cool metal of the bathroom door’s handle.
Her body, lying there, limp. The blood – everywhere. And him, frozen in place, not being able to move or think or breathe –
Then there was nothing.
Breathe.
“Breathe,” someone said. It sounded like him – but was it really him? Or was it some sort of memory… or dream… or…
“Breathe.” That time, he actually felt like he was in his own body, like it was his own lips that spoke the word. He curled his toes, feeling the hard floor beneath his bare feet.
The closed bathroom door stood in his face like a taunt, the handle a cold bite that made him quickly withdraw his hand.
“This is silly, Makoto,” he said to himself, the sound of his own voice bringing him that final centimeter back to the present. “You’re not going to find a dead body in the shower. No one’s been in here.” Even then, he had trouble convincing himself. Damn Kyoko and her locked room mysteries.
Knowing he wasn’t going to get anywhere near a shower tonight, he grabbed a spare set of clothes issued by the Future Foundation that he’d been using as pajamas and quickly changed. He reached for the bed covers, only to be met with cold once again. I traded rooms with her and went to bed alone. I was probably right in doing that – I can’t imagine the extent of Monokuma’s – no, Junko’s – teasing, and Taka would’ve chewed us out for it. That was definitely the right choice. But I could’ve – I don’t know – just stayed outside her room, guarding it or something, and tried hard not to fall asleep… As soon as the thought occurred to him, he shook his head, knowing that the solution he’d come up with was the only correct one. Nonetheless, he couldn’t stand the thought of being alone.
Who should I go to? Hiro’s gotta be asleep, and Syo would probably laugh in my face or something. I just wanna go to bed and not deal with any advice or questions, so Hina and Kyoko are both out. Which leaves…
“Makoto," Byakuya said as he answered his door, masking his surprise.
“I just need to be with someone else right now,” Makoto said. “I won’t talk to you or disturb you or anything, if you’re ready to sleep – I’ll just sit in your room quietly and stay out of your way.”
He stepped back, opening the door wider so Makoto could enter before closing and locking the door behind him. Turning around, he had no idea where Makoto had gone – until he spotted the other boy huddled up in a corner of the room. What is he doing? He didn’t even sit on the bed or somewhere that would actually be comfortable. Then he realized – Makoto’s corner was the farthest point in the room from the bathroom door. Oh.
Byakuya sat back down on the bed and picked up the book he’d been in the middle of reading. After a few minutes, he glanced over at Makoto again.
The boy hadn’t moved a muscle.
This is ridiculous. Our Ultimate Hope, just sitting there and giving into despair? I have to do something. “What did you find at the library?”
Makoto jerked his head up, as if startled out of his thoughts. “What?”
“You had something you brought back with you from the library. Clearly you found it interesting.”
Makoto sighed. “Oh, that. Well – it was an article about – about soulmates.”
“Soulmates?” Byakuya asked, keeping his voice steady even though the mere mention of the concept made his stomach churn. There’s no possible way he could know, so there’s nothing to be worried about.
“Yes.” Makoto took a breath, as if steadying himself. “It was in a publication from Hope’s Peak, and it – it said that every Ultimate Lucky Student in classes one through seventy-eight has had at least one soulmate.”
He froze. “At least one?”
Makoto gave a little laugh that sounded so perfect. “Yeah, I never knew it was possible to have multiple soulmates."
Byakuya carefully marked the page of his book before closing it and setting it on the table next to the bed. “So you only have one soulmate, then?” he asked.
“Well, that’s the reason I was interested in the study – I don’t remember having any signs of a soulmate.”
“And you’ve checked your whole body for words, markings, anything odd?”
“Everyone knows how to check for soulmate marks,” Makoto said defensively.
They sat in silence for a while more, neither knowing what to say next. “I’m ready to sleep,” Byakuya said, though his mind was racing with the implications of what Makoto had found. “Are you staying?”
“I – am I allowed to?”
He rolled his eyes. “I would have told you to leave if you weren’t.”
“Then… yes, I’m staying.”
He pulled down the covers on his bed, moving to one side in order to make room for Makoto, giving the boy a pointed look that apparently wasn’t pointed enough. “Well? Are you coming?”
Makoto stared at him. “You want me to sleep with you?”
“You’re going to be too uncomfortable to fall asleep on the floor, and you are going to sleep tonight.”
He just stared some more.
“I’m not going to act like some mother hen and drag you in here.”
That did it. Makoto immediately got up and slipped into bed next to him, pulling the covers up over them both.
Byakuya turned off the lamp he’d been using to read, plunging the room into darkness. He tried to lay as still as possible, not wanting to disturb Makoto, though he really shouldn’t have worried. Makoto moved around for quite a while, trying to find some position that would be comfortable when he only had half of a tiny bed, before eventually falling into a still, deep sleep.
Byakuya didn’t. By the time Makoto got done moving around, the bed felt like an oven, but he didn’t want to adjust the covers and risk waking up his guest. If he was anyone else, he would’ve taken off his shirt in order to cool off, but he was Byakuya Togami. He did not take off his shirt in front of anyone. And in hindsight, that made his picture, his “hint” for the final trial with all of Junko’s big reveals, make complete sense.
“Byakuya?” Makoto asked groggily.
“Hm?” He rolled over to face him.
“It’s so hot…”
“Too hot to sleep?”
Makoto nodded. “Is it okay if I take my shirt off? I noticed that you didn’t."
“You can do whatever you’d like.”
Makoto slipped off his shirt.
Byakuya tried not to stare, even under the cloak of darkness, but he still felt the pull of a relentless attraction – an attraction that confirmed his suspicions. “Makoto,” he said, “I think we need to have a class trial in the morning.”
Makoto froze. “What? Why?”
“I believe I know who your soulmate is, but… other people in our class also have evidence that is necessary to explain my conclusion.”
“And you’re sure that we can reach a conclusion in the trial?”
“I’m positive.” He thought of how Makoto had been so avoidant of the bathroom door. “I’m sure you’re wondering about who it might’ve been… if you could have done things differently… and while it’s entirely possible that I could be proved wrong tomorrow, we both know that the only way to put those fears to rest is to face the truth head-on.”
Makoto nodded. “Then we should make sure to get a good amount of sleep tonight, so we’ll be well-rested for the trial tomorrow.”
Kyoko raised an eyebrow at Makoto and Byakuya’s announcement of the trial at breakfast. She hadn’t noticed any signs of Makoto having a soulmate – which she found a bit odd, considering that she was the one who had spent the most time with him since the start of their killing school life – but if they were having a trial, then they were having a trial, and that was that.
Not everyone was as willing of a participant.
“You mean someone’s dead?!” Hiro shouted.
“No one’s dead, Hiro,” Hina said, rolling her eyes. “But I’m not participating. Not after what happened in those last few trials…”
“That’s why you’ll be officiating,” Byakuya said. “You’ll make sure that the trial is fair and stays on the correct subject – Makoto’s soulmate.”
“Can’t you have someone else do it?”
“I’ll need Hiro in order to help me present a piece of my evidence, and I believe Kyoko will want Toko and Syo for hers. That really only leaves one option.”
Hina sighed. “Fine -- but I’m not happy about it! I was planning on perfecting my donuts today…”
Byakuya smirked. “If everyone’s ready, then I believe it’s time for you to start the proceedings.”
Hina stood up from her seat. “All rise for the start of our first non-deadly class trial, presided over by Aoi Asahina. The subject is the identity of Makoto Naegi’s soulmate. The non-stop debate begins… now!”
“So… wait,” Hiro began. “Makoto has a soulmate? I mean, that’s great for him! But I thought that was kinda rare…”
“I-It is,” Toko confirmed, “Unless you’re in the realm of fiction. M-Maybe he got a little turned around in the l-library yesterday and ended up in the r-romance section.”
“I disagree!” Makoto called out. “In the library yesterday, I was walking and nearly tripped over a sign lying on the floor. It was a large sign meant to be hanging from the ceiling that said “Periodicals”. And on a nearby shelf, I found this.” He pulled out a journal and passed it around for everyone to see.
Kyoko hadn’t known that Hope’s Peak published a journal. Checking it’s authenticity, she flipped it open and traced her finger down the list of contributions, until she found a listing that read Jin Kirigiri – Headmaster. “This seems like a legitimate publication,” she said, passing it on.
“Inside,” Makoto continued, “There’s a particular study that drew my attention. It claims that every Ultimate Lucky Student in the seventy-eight classes of Hope’s Peak has had at least one soulmate.”
“So that would mean that Makoto must have a soulmate,” Kyoko affirmed, attempting to push her nerves aside and keep her voice firm and steady. She had a feeling that this trial would be the most difficult one in her entire career when it came to staying composed – after all, most trials didn’t involve elucidating the identity of your crush’s soulmate.
With that, the non-stop debate continued.
“So which type of m-marking do you have?” Toko asked. “Signatures… first words… a t-timer…”
“I don’t think I’ve seen any sort of marking in all the time I’ve spent with him,” Kyoko added.
Byakuya gave a little scoff. “It wouldn’t necessarily have to be in a visible place… or he could have been hiding it from us…”
“Actually,” Makoto said, “It seems like you’ve been hiding something.”
The debate came to a halt.
“Oh really?” Byakuya asked, crossing his arms. “What makes you say that?”
“It’s…” Makoto paused for a second. “It’s the fact that you’ve never taken your shirt off around anyone!”
“I mean… I hope he wouldn’t take his sh-shirt off in front of j-j-just anyone…” Toko said, clearly insinuating something that made Kyoko’s face heat up. Toko certainly wasn’t her favorite person, but the other girl clearly had good taste in men.
“No, I mean look at the pictures that Junko gave us. The one she gave to Byakuya – meaning, the one that included everyone but him – was the one that took place in the pool. None of the boys’ swimsuits include shirts, so it’s reasonable to conclude that he may have avoided swimming since he wouldn’t be allowed to wear a shirt.”
“You certainly have a good eye,” Byakuya said, “But what are you suggesting that I’m hiding?”
“You’re hiding a soulmark.”
A series of gasps, including one from Kyoko, filled the room. It wasn’t something she had considered before, but the evidence did line up.
“Well, I suppose I’d better show you, then…”
“Hey! Wait a minute!” Hina shouted, interrupting Byakuya. “You can’t just take your shirt off in the middle of a trial!”
“Then him and Hiro can go into another room,” Kyoko suggested, “And Byakuya can take his shirt off there. Then, when they come back, Hiro can tell us what he saw.”
The two left the room, returning a few minutes later.
“I couldn’t believe it at first,” Hiro said, “But Byakuya actually has two soulmarks, one on each shoulder blade.”
Makoto looked stunned by that. “I guess that means there’s double the chances that he could be my soulmate, then?” he asked nervously.
Kyoko flashed an encouraging smile in his direction, knowing that his comfort was more important than her stoic persona in this moment.
“You c-can’t just tell us that he had s-soulmarks – w-what were they?” Toko asked in annoyance.
“Right!” Hiro said, scratching his head. “Uh, they were both numbers – the same number, actually. I don’t remember it exactly, but it was in the five thousands.”
“Every day since I was born,” Byakuya explained, “Those numbers have gone up by one – until they both suddenly stopped, on the same day. That day was when I arrived at Hope’s Peak.”
Kyoko did the math in her head. "That would be the first time we arrived at Hope's Peak, then -- the arrival we can't remember."
“A reverse t-timer…” Toko muttered under her breath, “…that increases until you meet y-y-your soulmate.”
“So that means that you met both your soulmates on the same day, and that they’re both people you met at Hope’s Peak,” Kyoko said confidently, her heart racing.
“Th-That still doesn’t narrow it down,” Toko said. “I mean… th-there were obviously other people at Hope’s Peak, besides our class… and the fact that we can’t remember them probably d-doesn’t h-help.”
“And even if either of us was soulmates with someone in our class, they could still be dead,” Makoto said with a sad look on his face.
Kyoko wished that she could kiss everything better, but that wasn't how life worked. She knew that better than anyone.
“Okay, time out!” Hina called. “Makoto, we’re not doing this whole moping thing in the middle of a trial – especially in a trial about soulmates. After all, isn’t the idea of having a soulmate meant to be hopeful?”
Makoto looked at her, wide-eyed. “I-I guess it is.”
“That being said, I think you guys need to look harder into who has a soulmate, since Byakuya has two markings."
“I’d like to bring in another piece of evidence,” Byakuya said. “It might help us narrow down who might be my soulmate.” He pulled out a book. “This is The Soulmate Almanac – a detailed record of patterns in how soulmates are revealed.”
Kyoko happened to glance over at Makoto then, and noticed that he seemed to recognize it.
“Not all of these recorded patterns are pertinent to everyone who has a soulmate, due to the amount of variation that’s possible, but there’s one pattern in particular that might help us.” He flipped to a bookmarked page, then passed the book around.
Kyoko glanced over the page until she found the relevant section. If a person bears a marking on their body that symbolizes their soulmate connection, and their soulmate dies, the marking will typically change color. “Hiro, were Byakuya’s soulmarks both the same color?” she asked.
“Yeah, they were both a light purple.”
“And Byakuya, have they always been that color?”
“They have.”
“How do we know that for sure, though?” Makoto asked. “After all, Kyoko remembers wearing gloves before she actually had her gloves – how do we know that this isn’t something similar?”
“The fact that Byakuya’s soulmarks aren’t in any photos doesn’t help,” Hiro added.
“Since we know that his soulmarks are both the same color now, we do know that his soulmates are either both alive or are both dead,” Kyoko pointed out. It really felt like this trial was going nowhere fast, though she wasn’t sure what to bring up in order to push it forward more.
“Wait, Byakuya,” Makoto said. “Can I see that book again?”
He nodded and passed it over. After that, the room was silent except for the turning of pages.
“I didn’t know I had a soulmate until I found the study,” Makoto began, “Because I don’t have any marks on my body, and I haven’t experienced any psychological effects that would indicate me having a soulmate. But because of the memory alteration, it’s possible that I’ve had psychological effects in the past and the memories of it were taken away.”
Kyoko nodded.
“This book says that psychological effects tend to stop occurring after meeting a soulmate – which means that I must have met them for the first time before the killing game began.”
“The only reason for your soulmate-related memories to be taken away is if they would have interfered with Junko’s plans – meaning they probably would have made you more reluctant to kill,” Byakuya pointed out. "That suggests that your soulmate is someone who was involved in the killing game."
“If it was someone outside of the killing game, you probably would still have them, because they would’ve been useful for the first motive,” Kyoko added.
“That seems right, since my family was my first motive..." Makoto said, looking forlorn again.
“What if this is all a c-c-coincidence?” Toko asked. “I mean… it would be really rare… but it could be possible that you weren't s-soulmates with each other?"
“That would be exceedingly rare,” Kyoko said, “Especially considering that we know Byakuya has two soulmates. I don’t think any documentation of that phenomenon exists outside of this study, and it specifically references Ultimate Lucky Students.”
“Ugh, you guys are just going to get in a fight,” Hina said. “Finding proof that one of Byakuya's soulmates is definitely alive or definitely dead might help."
“Can’t we, like, brute force it somehow?” Hiro asked. “I mean, right now we're considering that Makoto and Byakuya are soulmates, with someone else involved who we don't know about... and since Makoto is alive, the other person would have to be alive, too -- so they'd have to be one of us." He took the Soulmate Almanac and started flipping through it.
“We can take a quick break while Hiro looks through that,” Hina said.
Kyoko looked around the circle, studying everyone’s expressions carefully. Byakuya seemed on-edge, which… seemed reasonable, especially if he’d have to do whatever “brute force” method Hiro found with both Toko and Syo. She was about to ask whether that would be necessary when she realized something. If Syo remembers the Tragedy… does Syo remember anything else from those two years? It’s possible that Byakuya might have kept his soulmates’ identities a secret, but Makoto probably would’ve been open about it.
Asking Syo was the most obvious route to the truth, but even so, something stopped her from proposing the idea immediately. If Syo knows the truth… it might not be a truth I’d like. It might not be a truth that anyone would like. She could imagine so many possibilities – something that she’d always been told was an asset, but now all of the possibilities were simply weighing her down. Byakuya has two soulmates – what if we were wrong, and it’s actually Toko and Syo? As much as he likes to pretend that he doesn’t have emotions, he’d hate that! Or what if him and Makoto were soulmates, and neither had me as a soulmate – that sounds like a very special kind of hell, and for what? For putting my detective work, my ultimate ability, my family name above so many other things? That’s not something so deserving of such a punishment! She looked down at her scarred-over hands – God, they’d never looked so ugly and repulsive. And these people in front of me are the only people, besides my own family, who have seen them and learned to accept them. She felt tears beginning to form, and hoped that no one else noticed.
"Okay, I found it!" Hiro said. "In order to determine if two people are soulmates..." He suddenly grew quiet and his face reddened. "Nope, we are not doing that!" He slammed the book shut before anyone else could take a look at the page, though Byakuya's smirk suggested that he knew exactly what it said.
With that option gone, everyone grew quiet, wondering what to do. I have to ask Syo. Finding the truth – that’s my one obligation. My pursuit of it is the thing that got me into this situation – as opposed to having been outside of Hope’s Peak when the Tragedy happened, and probably being dead right now. “I just realized,” she said aloud, as if she hadn’t been debating whether or not to say anything, “That Syo might remember something – at least about who Makoto’s soulmate is.”
“You’d b-better have some good evidence for why that would be,” Toko said.
Makoto thought for a moment, then seemed to perk up. “Oh! It’s because Syo can remember the Tragedy, right? So that would mean that Syo might remember other things that occurred during that period of time.”
Toko pulled out a packet of pepper. “You’re l-lucky I have this on me,” she said before ripping it open and holding it up to her nose. “Aah-choo!”
After a minute of blinking and confusion, Syo looked around at the other people in the room – and the open pepper packet – and spoke. “You called?”
“We’re in the middle of a class trial right now,” Hina explained. “No one’s dead, but we recently found out that Makoto and Byakuya both have soulmates, and we’re trying to figure out who they are.”
“Oooh, so that’s why you were reading that study in the library yesterday,” Syo teased, causing Makoto to bite his lip and look away.
“Since you remembered the Tragedy, we were wondering if you might remember anything about who their soulmates are,” Kyoko said, hoping that they could focus on the truth now and the emotions later.
“You mean you three don’t know?!” she exclaimed, eyes widening.
Kyoko froze. You three? Who is she referring to?
“Just tell us already,” Byakuya said through gritted teeth.
“Okay, okay,” Syo said, giggling.
Makoto’s heart raced. Here, he was about to find out who his soulmate was, and Syo was giggling over it like the whole thing was a TV drama... which wasn't anything new for them.
“So? Who is it?” Kyoko said, clearly also disappointed at Syo’s antics.
“The first thing you need to know is that Makoto was able to feel his soulmates’ emotions, but only when they were incredibly strong – and only until he actually met them. And based on who they were – well, he definitely wasn’t feeling their emotions too often! Naturally, he was a bit confused about whether or not he actually had a soulmate!”
Well, that sounds like me…
“So he came to me for help in figuring it out! Just like you all are now!” A very pleased smile crossed Syo’s face.
…but that sure doesn’t!
“He asked if me and my bitter half could feel each other’s emotions sometimes, because he didn’t think that he’d experienced the extra emotions enough times for them to belong to a soulmate. But it quickly became apparent that those emotions did belong to his soulmates – who were just incredibly emotionally repressed!” She started cackling hysterically.
There's only two people I can think of who are like that...
“Kyoko must have been doing some detective work on her own, because Makoto and Byakuya certainly wouldn’t have been able to!
Kyoko? How would she have been able to figure it out?
“She’d apparently invited the two of them to her room one night, and shown them some old pictures of her – pictures where her soulmarks were visible.”
Kyoko looked startled at that, as if she had no idea that she had soulmarks.
“I don’t know what her soulmarks were, but they were on the backs of her hands – you know, where she has those scars now. And that’s how Kyoko Kirigiri, Makoto Naegi, and Byakuya Togami learned that they were soulmates – at least, the first time around!”
So, they’re… my soulmates? Kyoko and Byakuya? His hands started shaking, and he almost felt a bit light-headed. I can’t tell if I’m more scared or excited.
“I think it’s time for the closing argument, unless someone else has evidence they’d like to present,” Hina said.
Everyone was silent.
“Let’s go over what happened one more time,” Makoto said, willing his hands to stop shaking. “Kyoko and Byakuya were both born with soulmarks – Kyoko’s were on her hands, and Byakuya’s were on his shoulders. Meanwhile, I had the ability to feel their strongest emotions – but because neither of them are very emotional, there were very few times I actually felt them, leading me to doubt whether I had a soulmate, or if something else was going on.” He glanced at Kyoko, who gave him a curt nod, as if telling him to get on with the next part. “When Kyoko was on one of her early detective cases, she ended up badly burning her hands, leading to scars that obscured her soulmarks. Then we all arrived at Hope’s Peak.” He looked over at Syo, who seemed very excited about the next part. “When I found out about the situation with Toko and Syo, I went to them for help, due to the fact that I doubted I had a soulmate. Meanwhile, Kyoko used her memories of what her soulmarks looked like in order to conclude that Byakuya and I were her soulmates, which would have been corroborated by the fact that Byakuya’s reverse timers stopped counting up on the day we first met at Hope’s Peak.” He sighed. “Then Junko happened. She knew that if we trusted each other, we would be less likely to kill – so she took away all our memories from our two years at Hope’s Peak, as well as Kyoko’s memories of her soulmarks and my memories of feeling my soulmates’ emotions. However, there were several key things that her memory manipulation didn’t affect. She couldn’t get rid of Byakuya’s soulmarks because they were still physically present on his body, Toko’s dissociative identity disorder meant that the memory manipulation didn’t work on Syo, and Junko couldn’t destroy copies of the Hope’s Peak Journal that existed outside the school, since we were barricaded in. That left us with all the clues we needed to rediscover that Byakuya, Kyoko, and I are soulmates!”
“Then this session of court is adjourned,” Hina said, “With the verdict being that Makoto’s soulmates are Kyoko and Byakuya.”
As everyone went their separate ways, Makoto felt a light touch on his wrist. “We need to talk,” Kyoko said, nodding towards both him and Byakuya.
Makoto let her drag him along, not really thinking about where they were going. His mind was occupied by other things, like the fact that the three of them were soulmates. There were so many situations where he’d had confusing feelings towards one or both of them, and them being soulmates… it just made everything make a lot more sense.
“… Makoto, are you listening?” Kyoko asked.
“What? I-I’m sorry, it’s just… this is a lot,” he said.
“Does it have to do with why you came to my room last night?” Byakuya asked.
Makoto nodded.
“I don’t know what happened, so… why don’t you tell me about it? It might help,” Kyoko suggested.
“When I read that study, I knew that I had to have some sort of psychological sign of having a soulmate. The first thing my mind went to was Sayaka, because she always joked about being psychic… and then I suddenly felt like I couldn’t open a door without finding a dead body. I knew that was irrational, but I still needed someone else’s presence to really convince me, so… I went to Byakuya. We slept together, and that’s when I realized that I’d never seen him without his shirt.”
Kyoko’s pink-flushed face and Byakuya’s averted eyes made him realize what he’d said.
“Wait, I didn’t mean ‘slept together’ like that! I meant it literally!”
Kyoko giggled, bringing a smile to Makoto’s face. That sound… it’s just so pretty, like I could listen to it forever and never feel despair again. “We know, Makoto,” she said. “It’s just that… we can do those things now… if the two of you want to…”
“I wouldn’t be opposed,” Byakuya said.
Kyoko shot him a look. “I’m going to need a better answer than that.”
Byakuya seemed stunned. “I… I would… like it.” His uptight posture became more slouched, his hair falling into his eyes. “I’m just not used to putting my own desires… not limited to that kind… above my duty as my family’s heir.”
She reached towards him, her hand freezing in midair near his head. After an almost imperceptible nod, she brushed his hair out of his eyes. “I wasn’t used to it at first, either, but it gets better with time.”
He leaned forward, pressing his mouth to hers in a kiss that gave Makoto that lightheaded feeling again, but in a distinctly happy way.
Kyoko turned to Makoto. “You don’t need to be a part of this yet, if you’re not –“
“No!” His outburst brought stunned looks to his soulmates’ faces. “I want – no, I need – to be with you two. Knowing that I have the two of you as my soulmates – that’s my hope that we can all recover from the past and continue our futures. I need both of you just as much as I need my heart beating inside my chest.”
“As long as it doesn’t end up beating outside your chest,” Byakuya said with the kindest smile Makoto had ever seen from him.
Kyoko looked like she was about to say something, but Makoto started laughing before any words could leave her mouth. Within seconds, his soulmates joined in, and then – then – Makoto Naegi felt like the Ultimate Hope.