Epilogue: Goodbye Despair
There was a stillness, with sunlight shafts sneaking through, in the teenage girl’s room in the hospital near Hope’s Peak.
The girl was curled up in blankets. She was facing outward, staring idly towards the window, or possibly asleep. She had eschewed pillows - they were tossed awkwardly off the other side of her bed - and was resting her head on the mattress’s surface directly.
At some point, during the faded, ageless morning, there came a quiet voice at the door.
“...Knock knock.”
There was a pause, before Makoto finally heard Touko mumble, “Come in.”
He softly opened the door, stepped inside, closed it, and then stood awkwardly in the doorway. It had been a few days, but he still didn’t think he had the words for everything that had happened.
He took a breath and sat down in the visitor’s chair, facing Touko’s back.
“How are you doing?” he asked gingerly.
There was another long pause. He saw her hunched body in the blankets slowly breathe. Then she spoke, abruptly.
“I -”
Her voice was rough, and stuck, and she shuddered briefly as she swallowed.
“M... M... Makoto. I...” Croaking, she got a burst of frustration and flurried in the covers for a moment before pulling herself up and sitting against the backboard, her head falling back tiredly with a bit of a clonk. Her dark, deathly eyes slid over to meet Makoto’s. Her untied, limp hair hung strangely around her pale face.
Makoto listened, staring with an anxiety he wished was helpful.
Touko gulped her dryness again and narrowed her eyes with frustration.
“She...”
She sighed and breathed out again, actually seeming to loosen some of her taught-cord energy.
“I...” she started, “I w-want to h...h... hurt myself p-pretty r... r... regularly. B-But - I -” She swallowed. “I-I realized - I could never - be as fucking cruel t-to myself a...as sh-she was to me.”
Makoto felt as though something was sticking in his throat.
There was a horrible, silent moment, where he wished he was saying anything.
Then Touko had a coughing fit, and Makoto, springing up, asked “Do you want a glass of water??” Touko nodded painfully.
He hurried out and came back with an icy water bottle and handed it to her; Touko grabbed it from him with a clawlike hand and tipped it into her mouth mechanically, gulping down a good quarter of it before putting it down heavily on the side table beside the coaster. She breathed out heavily, her eyes blazing.
“Th-thank you,” Touko said shortly.
Energy spent, she slumped back against the bed frame, taking a few steady breaths.
“Are you okay?” Makoto began saying just as Touko spoke again.
“S-So...”
For a moment, her breathing slowed, and even softened, somehow.
“So now I know...” She smiled sardonically. “Th-That... th-there are w-worse things than b-being me. W...What she is... I will never, e-ever be. I... I g-guess... I l...l... love myself th...that... much.” Her expression twisted at the idea. She looked tearful, then ill, and then she took a moment, and let the feelings go. “So...” Touko sighed, staring flatly up at the ceiling. “That’s good. Th-That’s... good to know.”
Makoto let out the breath he’d been holding, and carefully sat back down in the chair. “That is good,” he said earnestly, finding himself close to tears. “God, Touko. I’m glad.”
In all the time since coming to Hope’s Peak, he’d never understood so strongly that he was just a kid.
Time passed, heavy time, as the ceiling fan whirred, until finally Touko said:
“W-What, uh... what... sh-shows h-have you s-seen lately?”
...startling Makoto nearly to tears.
Oh. A normal question.
Like... making conversation.
The day wore on, the hospital quieted down for the night, and they talked about whatever.
Junko blinked blearily awake from her nap.
She’d been dozing and drooling on her desk - it wouldn’t be the first time - only it looked like she’d somehow slept past the end of class, and everyone had left.
What... god... what class had it been?
She didn’t remember being in school at all. It was summer break, wasn’t it? She was... no... the last thing she could remember, she was pretty sure, was stepping through the archway at Hope’s Peak. That’s right! It was the start of a brand new school year!
Hope’s Peak... she had had big plans. But what were they? She remembered being incredibly excited. She and Mukuro were going to have so much fun... this year...
...Doing what?
Huh. Just going to the most amazing school on Earth, she guessed!
And getting to use their Ultimate talent... Their... Well, their two different Ultimate talents - fashion and combat.
Junko giggled. She and her sister had always made an odd pair. It was too bad they had never had more in common.
She wondered if Mukuro was here yet. She wanted to meet the other kids, and her sister would definitely need her help being social. She got up and went to the door -
Only it was locked.
Junko pulled at it, a little petulantly. Nope, really locked. She tried to turn the handle harder. Locked.
That’s when she noticed the bars on the windows.
Credits song: “Evelyn” by Kim Tillman & Silent Films