Author's Note: Welcome to yet another new project of mine that I've been working on for the past few weeks! These two chapters are mainly just to see if there's interest in this idea or not; a Danganronpa retelling of Stephen King's novel The Stand!

This will also be on AO3, so head over there if you'd prefer to give it some love there too! A little birdie told me there might even be fanart...

Also, this fanfic will contain violence, major character death, rape/non-con, disabled main characters, explicit language, outdated language(as in terms to refer to disabled people), Japanese culture, aged-up/aged-down characters, and mid-1990's references. Only the first two chapters are super long like this; the rest are quite short.

Ships will be MakotoxSayaka(main one), one-sided HifumixSayaka, LeonxKaede, platonic Leon and Mukuro, platonic Chihiro and Gonta, ChihiroxHiyoko for one scene only, NagitoxMondo for one scene only, Junko and Hajime in...a 'platonic' way I suppose, annnnd two other ships I cannot reveal here as they are spoilers.

But if you know the source material, I think you'll be in for quite a treat~ No spoilers if you know it~

#####

And So it Begins...

Another Tale of Good VS Evil...

Hope VS Despair...

"Young lady, you really need to leave," Jin anxiously waved his hands at a teen girl with strawberry-blonde hair, contently resting her back against a lamp post and eating sugar stars. "You really do,"

"Hm? But I live here!" She gasped in cute but feigned offense. "My house is over there," She pointed off in a random direction to the faded townhouses just beyond the gate.

"Then hurry home. Your parents must be worried,"

"Okay, okay, fine," The girl waved her hand in annoyance and walked off, tossing her half-empty bag right onto the street. She wasn't even that menacing of a sight; her hair braided and tied with a clip that had Kuma-chan the black bear mascot on it. She wore a giant leather jacket over a pale yellow slip dress and high-heeled red boots. One of those delinquent girls he had heard a bit about, perhaps. It was nearing midnight anyway, what was she doing out?

Almost as soon as the girl turned the corner, Jin lost his composure and took off running for his own house, startling his wife as he threw open the door.

"Get dressed, get packed, get everything ready now. We have to leave," He annunciated, watching his ghostly slip of a wife stare back at him in concern.

"Why? What's happened? What can you tell me?" She asked instead, slowly inching over to their room. Jin sighed and yanked her arm hard, running with her to their bedroom.

"Just hurry, please! We have to go as soon as possible. Our daughter is still up north and we need to get her too," Jin quickly looked out the window as his wife, Megumi, started throwing clothes into a large green suitcase, her wide red eyes silently demanding an explanation. "Everything was normal, Megumi. Then I looked over at the screen and the other two guards..they were dead, Megumi. Dead as doornails. Everyone in the building is dead,"

Megumi paled and froze for just a second before she continued to pack. She threw a violet sweater on over her tank top, pulling it down so it'd cover her jeans better.

"Come on, come on," He slipped on a black jacket of his own that went with his hair; despite being in his forties he still looked and dressed quite young.

Silver-haired Megumi nodded again and grabbed the suitcase, rushing right into her husband's car and throwing the suitcase in the back. Jin buckled up and sped out of the driveway, crinkling the candy bag as he ran over it in his rush.

"Everything will be fine...they managed to contain it, I'm sure of it," Jin started to relax a bit, sighing. "I'm sure they had lots of precautions set up for this very scenario,"

Megumi nodded, leaning against the window of the passenger seat and watching the lights go by. The roads were strangely empty that time of night. "We'll be perfectly fine,"

In the early hours of the morning, they had approached Tokyo and Megumi had been asleep for the better part of two hours, speaking of a headache and a slight fever.

####

Part 1; Commencement; June 16th-June 27th, 1994

Yokohama; June 16th, 1994

The early morning was usually met with scorn in most families, but the Naegis had always been a little unusual in the way they approached things, so they greeted each and every morning extremely early. Makoto, their oldest son at eighteen, was a prime example of that as he dug through the extra fridge kept in the garage, trying to find some more eggs.

"You making some fried eggs and rice again?" His younger sister Komaru teased as she wandered into the garage. "Talk about a hearty breakfast!"

"Actually, I was thinking of making bacon and eggs," Makoto laughed a bit, finally finding the light green carton and pulling it out. "Why don't you help me? With more hands, it'll get done faster!"

"Sure!" Komaru beamed and followed her brother into the kitchen, helping him get out various bowls and spoons. They looked identical in their ragged bleached jeans and dark checkered shirts; except hers was dark red and his was black.

"Mom and Dad are still asleep, but I bet they'll wake up once they smell this!" Komaru continued to smile, cracking several eggs into the bowl. Makoto turned the stove on and greased up the frying pan with a stick of butter, carefully laying the bacon strips out onto it. They sizzled and hissed loudly upon making contact, starting to brown. Makoto hurriedly got out a spatula and watched them while Komaru beat at the eggs with a whisk.

As Makoto flipped the bacon over on the other side, the loud screech of tires got their attention and in a flash, they pressed themselves against the wall as the back end of a car slammed into their front porch, the Veranda on the top falling off and breaking the car's windshield.

"Oh my gosh!" Komaru cried out, running outside. "Get Mom and Dad, quickly!"

Makoto nodded at her words and made to run for their room, only to stop in his tracks when his parents nearly collided with him.

"What was that noise?" Mrs. Naegi asked worriedly.

"Someone crashed their car into our front porch,"

"Anyone hurt?" She asked as Makoto led them outside.

"I hate to say this, but it's a possibility they might be drunk," Mr. Naegi said.

"Drunk or not, they might need our help!" Makoto threw open the car doors, everyone gasping and balking in horror at the sight.

A silver-haired woman sat slumped over in her seat, wrinkly and sunken from dehydration. Her eyes were rolled back into her head, while dried blood caked her mouth and nose. Her sweater was stained.

The car reeked of blood and vomit, and the smell only grew as the driver fell out onto the pavement, breathing heavily.

"Call an ambulance!" Komaru cried, and Mrs. Naegi ran back inside the house to do so. Komaru was at the man's side in an instant, trying to help him up.

"M...My daughter...she's still up north...I just hope that...she's alright..." The man took a shuddering breath.

Makoto stared at the man in concern.

"My wife...she got sick first. It was just a little fever..she's always been sick, been born sick...and then.." He sighed. "Look out for...the blonde-haired girl with the bear in her hair. She was following us..."

"What do you think he's sick with?" Makoto asked his father as Komaru checked for a temperature.

"Maybe food poisoning? That stuff can usually cause a nasty fever depending on what you ate. Even worse ones cause you to vomit your internal organs," Mr. Naegi answered, prompting Komaru to finally turn her head as far away from the sickly man as possible and throw up herself.

Mrs. Naegi ran back outside. "The ambulance is on the way," She relayed.

"My wife is still fine though, right? Oh, Megumi-chan...lovely little Megumi-chan...she is a splitting image of our darling daughter but for the hair and eyes..." The man coughed, a few specks of blood coming out.

"Um...Mister...your...your wife is dead..." Makoto answered, trying to remove the image of the corpse from his mind already.

"N-No...Megumi-chan...oh, our daughter will surely scold me for this."

He was loaded into the ambulance the moment it arrived, Mr. Naegi voting to go with him while Mrs. Naegi stayed behind and helped finish cooking breakfast. The bacon had burnt, so they ended up having fried eggs and rice instead.

Makoto scooped the egg up in his chopsticks no less than four times before he finally decided he had no appetite that morning.

####

Nagoya; June 16th, 1994

The lake around Sayaka Maizono's house was a beautiful one in the mornings, when the right sunrise painted it a cheerful array of yellow and pink. She sat on her porch that particular morning and sipped tea daintily, just wanting to enjoy the moment and relax before it was time for her to head to school. As she sat there, she bore witness to her current boyfriend of the hour, a shy and awkward young man who always wore black and hid his face underneath a cap named Shuichi.

"Morning," He greeted her, not coming up to the porch.

"Morning yourself," She walked over to him and gave him a reassuring smile, finishing up her tea and then taking his hand. "I have to go to school soon,"

"I know...I just wanted to take you out...for...um...ice-cream," Shuichi suggested lamely. "Unless you dislike eating sugar in the mornings,"

"Ice-cream sounds lovely!" She squeezed his hand and they walked along the length of the lake together. It was a lovely sight, she mused; her with her perfect idol body and dark blue hair with a red bow in the back, recently cropped so it framed her face nicely. The bow matched the red one on her sailor uniform; a crisp white blouse with blue trim and matching ankle-long skirt, white stockings, petticoat, grey shorts, and black shoes underneath. Him with his dark hair and eyes and clothes, looking younger than his true age.

They arrived at the parlor and Sayaka got a simple strawberry cone for herself while Shuichi got a banana-split. They chose to eat outside, the slightly-warm weather being perfect.

"I'm pregnant," Sayaka announced the moment he started eating, making him sputter and stare at her in alarm.

"W-What...?"

"I'm pregnant,"

"And...?"

"And, I'm positive it's yours. I know we used a condom, but it must've broke," Sayaka finished, licking her ice-cream. Shuichi remained sitting there, stunned into silence. "So, I have a few options in mind-"

Shuichi was already at his feet, throwing the half of the sundae that remained in the trash before heading back to the house. Sayaka jumped up and ran after him, cone still in hand, as she frowned at him.

"Are you suggesting we get married?" He asked as she finally caught up, licking at the remainder of her cone.

"No. If I ever got married, I'd want it to be with someone I love, and not just because I have to," She stared ahead at nothing. "Something romantic like that, like a childhood friend or something."

Shuichi just sighed. "I came all of this way from Sapporo," He leaned forward."Can't I at least spend my last few days here with you?"

Sayaka continued to stare at him.

"I can't ride my bike all the way back!" Shuichi suddenly gasped in offense.

"Ride it, like you enjoy riding me," She managed to dodge when he threw his hat at her, walking on ahead he hurried to retrieve it. She noticed the faint blush on his cheeks. Pervert. Figured he'd get off on being insulted like that.

"I have to go to school," She commented. She was suddenly thankful it was the last week, but less thankful that that meant she'd have to potentially see more of Shuichi. He unnerved her in a way she didn't really understand.

The lake had lost its colour by the time she returned home.

####

Osaka; June 16th, 1994

The night had gotten darker later than usual, and he felt as though it'd be chilly if he wasn't already bundled up quite well in a baggy green turtleneck and checkered yellow-green ankle-length pleated skirt. A small brown satchel was by his side which he gripped tightly; it having his livelihood in it.

Chihiro took a deep breath and suddenly stopped for a few seconds, waiting for his foggy brain to catch up with the thoughts of his legs before he continued walking again. Three sodas and two beers was a bad idea at the time and it was still a bad idea now. But he was thirsty and bored and off of work. What else was he expected to do?

"Hey young lady, where are you off to this late?" A tall guy in a white sweatshirt suddenly stepped in front of Chihiro, making him pause and look up. "You're a cute thing. Why don't you tell me? I'll walk you home safe and sound,"

He talked slow enough for Chihiro to keep track, and even though he couldn't understand the tone of the voice, he perfectly understood the intent as he looked away. He shook his head.

"Oh? Saying no to me? But if you walk home alone, you'll regret it," He roughly grabbed Chihiro's wrist, making his eyes widen in pain as he was pulled closer. "Say something!" He shook Chihiro roughly.

"She won't talk, she won't say anything to you. Haven't you heard? That's Fujisaki-san, she's a mute," A boy not much taller than Chihiro himself wandered out of the dark, a few other boys by his side. They were all dressed the same.

"She's dumb? Fuck her then," The boy threw Chihiro onto the ground hard, making him wince as he felt the impact. His skirt rode up around his knees. "What'cha got in that bag, girl?"

Chihiro tightened his grip on the bag protectively, already trying to crawl down the street away from them. Their leader walked over and stepped harshly on his skirt, making him tumble. There was a ripping sound.

"Are you lying about her being dumb?" Another boy questioned, his hands on his hips as he looked Chihiro over.

"Nope! For once I'm not! She's not just a mute, but deaf too. I don't think she understands a single word we're saying," He leaned down in front of Chihiro. "I'm Kokichi. I hope you'll remember me!" And with a smirk, he cocked his fist and punched Chihiro square in the face.

The others happily joined in, punching and kicking at him in anyplace they could find. One of them managed to wrestle the bag out of his grip and made off with it, running away.

"I wish she wasn't dumb, I want her to cry out! I want her to scream! I love it when girls scream!" One of the boys sighed before he delivered a final kick to Chihiro's stomach. "I think she's learned. Let's go,"

"I hope you won't forget about me," Kokichi placed a finger to his lips, then pressed that same finger to Chihiro's own before him and the rest of the group ran off. Chihiro simply closed his eyes and slowly curled himself up into a ball, feeling his stomach roil and blood dripping from his nose steadily into a puddle on the ground.

He had to get up, he somehow knew that, and very slowly pulled himself off the ground and begun to limp away, holding onto one of his arms. His nose was likely broken, that he could tell almost instantly, but he wasn't sure about the rest of his body. He glanced up and saw the oncoming white lights of a car and felt his legs suddenly give way, forcing him to collapse again.

I have to get out of the road,

He rolled himself onto the grass and saw the lights coming closer and closer before the car itself came into view, stopping.

Chihiro wondered if the car was a good thing or a bad thing. He tried to pull himself up into a sitting position before he just simply passed out.

When Chihiro finally woke up, his first thought was how bright the room he was in currently was. It was night before...how long had he been out? He very slowly pulled himself up in bed, wincing at how sore and broken his body still felt. He was laying on a steel bed with a wool blanket in a tiny barred cell with a closed door and tiny toilet at the foot of the bed.

Why was he in prison?! What did he do?! He was just trying to run away from those would-be thugs who stole his bag and attacked him. Who went to the scene of a crime and arrested the injured person trying to escape?

Chihiro managed to sit up further, pushing the blanket away as a wave of nausea washed over him and he desperately clutched at his stomach. He ran his hand over his face and found several bandages covering his cheeks and nose, with another on his first finger on the right hand. The room spun momentarily before the nausea passed and Chihiro hanged his head gratefully.

The thing he was most grateful for, however, was the fact that whoever had arrested him hadn't bothered with changing his clothes. He still wore that same turtleneck; bloodied a bit now, the same skirt; ripped unevenly near the bottom, white leg warmers, and black saddle shoes. He quickly touched his head and felt his normally fluffy yellowish-brown hair was matted with dirt and his green headband was missing.

Thank goodness they hadn't changed him though. He wasn't in the mood for any questions like that today.

After the nausea had passed and Chihiro was more aware of both himself and his surroundings, he very slowly stood up and limped his way over to the tiny metal toilet. As he stood in front of it, he slowly glanced around him both ways to make sure nobody was watching, then unzipped the skirt and yanked it down to his ankles and slipped out his member, peeing almost instantly.

It was loud as it hit the empty metal, and there'd had been so much in him that he soon felt like he had been standing there for hours, just peeing.

He was in such bad shape that he was honestly surprised his pee had no blood in it; it was a light yellow. He smiled in relief and flushed the toilet, zipping his skirt back up and getting himself presentable again.

Afterwards, Chihiro walked over to the barred door and leaned up against it on his tip-toes, trying to look around and see if anyone was in the building. He'd have to get this cleared up, he just had to! There was no way he was supposed to be in prison, he had done nothing wrong!

A man with large muscles walked out of a brightly-lit office room just a few minutes later, wearing a dark uniform with a specialized insignia on the chest alongside his badge. Chihiro's eyes widened a bit when he recognized the badge; this man clearly was of a higher authority here. He had shaggy black hair stylized with hair gel and an unfriendly face, as if he was always on the lookout for a fight. He stared at Chihiro for a minute or two before sighing.

"You ain't from 'round here, are ya, girlie? Be thankful you were found when you were by the road last night. Some unlucky shmuck might've found ya first and had his way with ya before dumping ya body in the ditch," He sighed again. "Just the way things work, as I'm sure ya know. Ya got a name there, girlie?"

His accent was typical in this part of the country, but Chihiro still took a moment to process what he had said before he pointed to his mouth and made a slashing motion, shaking his head.

"You can't talk? Well, you're very lucky you were found then," The man grumbled.

Chihiro mimed writing with a pencil in the air, blushing.

"Want something to write with? I expected someone like you to be better prepared. I always assumed mute people carried paper around with them at all times,"

He motioned to the invisible satchel, pretending to run off with it and then miming being attacked. He ran his hand along his clothes to indicate he had no more pockets and stared up at the man carefully.

"Robbed, huh? Geezh, you did have a rough night last night, huh, girlie?" He left and returned with a large notebook in blue one normally used for school and a sharp pencil. When Chihiro opened it, he stared at the name written there before flipping the page.

"Yes, my name is Oowada Daiya. Don't pay much attention to that though," He waved a hand dismissively. "Tell me yours,"

Fujisaki Chihiro.

He happily held out his hand to be polite, sticking it through the bars easily, but Daiya shook his head at him and Chihiro awkwardly let it flop back to his side.

"Are you deaf too, girlie?"

Chihiro nodded and kept his focus trained on the notebook, not knowing Daiya had whistled lowly. He had met a few deaf people in his life, but none had been as quick-minded as she was. It was a feat to teach them to read and write, he had always assumed, but Chihiro didn't even seem to notice her disability.

"So you said you got robbed. Where? What were you doing?" He asked.

Chihiro write rapidly, his pencil flying across the paper.

Just hanging out after work at a karaoke bar. I didn't sing-could never sing, but I wanted to get something to drink. Some beer and soda. When I was walking home, I got attacked by a group of people. I think it was Aichi Ann Karaoke just north of here.

Daiya squinted a bit at the tiny and frail girl before him. "You seem awfully young to be drinking,"

I'm twenty-two! I just look young, Chihiro pouted. I can't help that...

"Alright, alright, I was mainly teasing ya girlie. Are you from around here? I reckon not. Why are you here in Osaka?" He placed his hands on his hips.

Chihiro stared down at the paper again, pouting further because he had run out of space. In one quick motion, he tore the paper off and crumbled it up, looking around uncertainly.

"Throw that in your can. I'm a nice guy normally, especially to people like you, but I won't be very happy if you litter in here. My girlfriend cleans up here, ya know," He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Chihiro took an uneasy step back and slowly let go of the paper, watching as it dropped into the toilet. With a slow sigh, he flushed it and turned back around to face Daiya.

I do freelance work. You know how computers are super big now? A lot of people don't know to properly install their systems and...things. So it's my job to help them. I mainly just wander around, looking for any positions like that. I also take library jobs and restaurant jobs. Earlier today, or maybe yesterday, I was working for a man named Fukugachi Ayame. I helped him hook up his phone and watched his niece.

He then handed the notebook to Daiya, clasping his hands together.

"Fukugachi Ayame. I'll look into this," He tore that piece off and slipped it into his pocket, handing the notebook back to Chihiro. "You make a lot?"

Enough to get by. Those who mugged me earlier took my week's pay.

"Did you see Fukugachi-san's dog?"

Chihiro nodded eagerly.

It's one of those big Russian dogs! It looks means but it's very friendly. I got to feed it a biscuit when I arrived because it ran up to me eagerly. I flinched a bit at the thought of being jumped on, but it just wanted to lick me, He smiled more as he thought about how fluffy and soft the dog's white coat was.

Daiya nodded again and walked off, coming back with a set of silver keys. He stuck one of the smaller ones into the lock, motioning to Chihiro to stand back. Once he did so, the door swung open and he quickly hurried out.

"It really did hurt my heart to see a girlie as pretty as you locked up in there. You don't deserve to be," He led Chihiro into his office, which was decorated in biker memorabilia. He stared at it in fascination. "I truly don't mind spendin' the remainder of the day with ya. Not in that way. My job makes me stay awake for hours on end, and I ain't that kind of person. My brother is, we all know how early he likes to wake up, but not me. I can't function without a certain amount of sleep. I mean, look at me now, I'm stuck here at the office at the crack of dawn, eating greasy breakfast food when I should be asleep at home with my girlfriend," He was still talking, but his back was to Chihiro, so when he turned back around, Chihiro just gave him a confused glance. "Never mind. Ya want breakfast?"

Chihiro nodded, pinching two of his fingers together.

"Gotcha. Coffee?"

Another nod.

"Anything in it? Heck, I'll let ya do that yaself, girlie." He handed Chihiro a small plate that had a breakfast sandwich on it and a bag of chips, as well as handed him a mug of coffee. "Hope ya don't mind a more Western-style breakfast,"

Chihiro smiled happily, not really one for labels like that. He took out some sugar and cream and carefully sprinkled in just a little bit, taking a sip.

"Figured ya would like sweeter things. All chicks are like that, ya know?"

He winced a bit at that, continuing to sip. He mimed rubbing his stomach with a smile on his face, making Daiya grin.

"My girlfriend makes it fresh every morning. She'll be thrilled to know she's still got it," He then shook his head. "Anyway, let's get back to the topic at hand. If there's one thing that I dislike, it's chicks like ya getting treated like trash. Part of the reason I became sheriff is to catch guys like that. Can you tell me anything about the guys who attacked you last night?"

Chihiro took another sip of his coffee, thinking about it. He then started to write again.

Three or four, I think. It was dark, so I couldn't make out very much, but I do remember their leader was fairly short, probably about the same height as me. The rest of his group were all taller. He had distinct purple hair, I do remember that. He punched me hard in the face before they bolted. And another one stole my satchel.

He showed it to Daiya, who nodded.

"Yup, that sounds like Ouma Kokichi and his group alright. They call themselves DICE or something like that. Pretty obnoxious group too, they usually go around pickpocketing people. Fancies himself as some kind of evil leader. If ya ask me, that kid is just crazy and spends far too much time reading comics,"

Chihiro clutched the notebook close to his chest.

"Tell ya what. If you're plannin' on stayin' in this town for a while, you could help me locate these goons of his. They're pretty spineless when they're on their own, one works at a jewelry store for cryin' out loud!" He caught Chihiro's strained smile and cleared his throat. "He just don't seem like the type, is all."

He finished drinking the coffee and moved onto the food, taking big bites and letting some of the juice from the sausage run down his chin. Daiya laughed a bit.

"Hearty eater, ain't ya? That's good. More people should just appreciate the luxury of being able to eat," He suddenly sighed a bit and rubbed at his head with both hands, prompting Chihiro to look at him in concern. "Huh? Oh, nothin'. Just a killer headache. Nothin' to worry about. Likely just some kind of head cold. It's that time of year, after all,"

Chihiro nodded and continued to eat, Daiya keeping an eye on him. He really did enjoy a girl who had a hearty appetite, unlike his girlfriend; Karen, a quiet and unconcerned girl who spent her days busy as the secretary of her school's Student Council. Everytime he served her dinner, she'd take a few bites and leave the table. Chihiro, though, that girl knew how to eat. He felt another stabbing pain in his forehead and subtly groaned again, continuing to rub his temples out of Chihiro's sight. If it truly was an oncoming head-cold, he'd be annoyed. Now really wasn't the time to get sick, and he didn't want go home and accidentally get Karen sick too, as he knew he'd never hear the end of that.

####

Undisclosed Location; June 17th, 1994

The man had died in his soup. How ghastly. One moment, he was eating it, and then the next, he had collapsed dead, the soup spilling out over the edges where his head had hit it. Toranosuke found himself wondering what kind of a soup it was. Miso or pork? Something more foreign, like chicken noodle or goulash? What were his final thoughts before he died; if he even had them, if he even realized at the time that he was dying? Toranosuke had been pondering those thoughts for the better half of an hour and still had no good answers. As if they'd even get answers at that point.

"Mr. Ishimaru," One of his associates walked in and he briefly looked up from the monitors he was staring at. "How are you feeling?"

"Not good," Was all Toranosuke said before he returned to the files on his desk; all official reports of the disease. "Not good at all,"

"Do you require my assistance?"

"No."

"You know, I last heard they managed to quarantine it in a small community in Yokohama. Surely our worries are over now. Surely,"

"Yes, surely," Toranosuke nodded beside himself, kicking himself mentally for not bringing his pills. His grandson nagged him over it earlier and in a hurry, he agreed, but now he found himself wishing he hadn't. "How many?"

"We aren't sure of the exact numbers yet, but all we know is that everyone is infected aside from a young man named Naegi Makoto. For the past few hours, he has tested negative, but Kirigiri Jin was negative for a few days at least before he suddenly succumbed,"

Toranosuke nodded again.

Once the other man left, Toranosuke started to read the files more carefully, committing the information presented to memory.

Code Green; AKA, Despair Disease. An isolated virus created purely for study to see if creating a viral hemorrhage fever, or VHF, was possible in a laboratory environment. It was, as it mutated and grew quite fast in just a matter of a few weeks. However, a laboratory breech resulted in Code Green being exposed to the facility members of the laboratory, killing them almost instantly.

The disease is believed to have a 95% or 96% communicability rate as well as mortality rate. It is highly contagious, but easy-to-contain in the right circumstances. It can easily mutate and present different symptoms depending on the host, but the main ones are the same. Host normally experiences a slight fever and/or headache at first, as well as body aches. As the disease travels further in the bloodstream, host may experience violent tendencies or thoughts; it is widely believed that many hosts end up committing suicide on themselves from being delirious rather than letting the actual virus kill them. The fever grows alongside the violent tendencies; however, a few hosts may not experience the violent tendencies but all will experience some sort of personality change. Internal bleeding results within a few days; host will cough up and vomit blood. Nausea, stomach pain, and bloody diarrhea occurs in a few cases, but not all.

It is possible to survive the disease, it is believed, but no cases have been discovered yet, and even if the host did manage to recover normally, they would just contract the disease again at a later date due to how contagious it is, and they would also have to deal with permanent mental and physiological damage.

Spread through bodily fluids, many people who contract it originally got it from being a caregiver of another ill person.

Vaccines cannot be developed due to the nature of the disease and how quickly it takes control of the host and rewrites their personality. Studies would need to be done on every single host's brain. However, medical experts do think that normal antibodies should ward off many symptoms of the disease, as well as staying hydrated.

Toranosuke returned to staring at the man who had died in his soup.

#####

Shinjuku; June 17th, 1994

Shinjuku was his hometown and the place his obtained his unique zest of love for. Yes, he had spent the last year or so just traveling aimlessly around the other nearby districts, including Tokyo itself, but he had nearly run out of money due to his partying attitude and hurried back home, knowing just the person to help him out. Besides, even he knew he couldn't stay away from Shinjuku forever. It was in his blood. It served as the inspiration for what he had hoped would be his break-out hit, Your Man Just Ain't Good for Ya. So far, even though he had heard it on the radio everywhere from Tokyo to Shibuya, one of his friends told him it was only seventy-eight most popular in the nation at the moment.

He carefully stepped up the steps to his mother's house, trying not to sway noticeably. After a disastrously-expensive party, he was forced to run out on one of his friends and hurried back home, promising he was good for the money.

His mother had opened the door before he had even begun to knock, taking in his baggy sportswear and newly-pierced face. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You weren't due back for at least another week," Lisa Kuwata scolded, staring down at her son.

"Yeah, well, I got homesick and headed back here," He walked inside the house, noticing it still looked the same as it did when he left it. "I would've written but...you should know by now that I'm not that sort of guy,"

"Hm-um," Lisa continued to stare at Leon. "Well, you're home now, nothing for that. You hungry? I ordered a pizza," She had the same flaming hair and deep blue eyes as her son, her hair cut fashionably short. She was wearing her usual black slip dress with a long grey tenchcoat over it, spiky earrings in her ears.

"Pizza sounds great," He feigned the most enthusiastic smile he possibly could; pizza was one of the only things he had been eating for the past year.

Lisa led him into the dining room and made him sit, getting out a grey plastic plate and tossing it in front of him, two slices of mushroom-and-sausage on top. Leon dug in after a few seconds, trying to not look his mother in the face.

"Your aunt and uncle are coming over later," She commented.

"Oh, really? They haven't visited in a while,"

"You haven't been home for a while."

Leon said nothing.

"Kanon-chan might come with them." When Leon ignored her again, she placed her hands on her hips. "I heard your new song on the radio, you know. It's one of the only things they play on certain stations,"

That got his attention, and he looked up in surprise. "Really? They usually only reserve that sort of thing for chart-toppers,"

"Yeah, but you could very well be on your way to being one," She said. "That American-sounding style is very popular right now. Maybe in a few years, you could think about traveling to America and performing there. They might get an even bigger kick out of you,"

Leon nodded along to what his mother was saying.

"Certainly more popular than here. I swear, all of the new music sounds exactly the same. It's all yelling and guitars,"

"I think it's to disguise the fact that some of them aren't very good. But in my opinion, if you can play an instrument really well, who cares how your singing is!" He laughed.

"At least you're actually trying to make a name for yourself," She ran a hand through her hair. "Unlike your father, but we don't need to get into that today," Lisa eventually left the room, leaving Leon to finish eating.

Once she was gone, he allowed himself to get visibly surprised by the image of his mother with the array of spiky earrings. Just next to the kitchen island was a photo of them when Leon was around sixteen or seventeen, and her hair was longer and fluffy, with not a single pierced ear in sight. Even her dress was more conservative; buttoned-up and bright pink with widened shoulders.

He shook his head and made himself continue eating. He shouldn't think too hard about it. Maybe it was Kanon who completely took over his life while he was gone and somehow convinced her aunt to give herself a complete makeover. Knowing how pushy his cousin could be at times, it certainly wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

His two slices were gone as he finished up that thought. Too tired to even think of putting the dish in the sink, he stumbled over to the couch and threw himself down onto it, falling asleep within seconds. He slept for an entire day and a half.

Get with me, girl, get with me

'Cuz that man of yours just ain't no good

Saw him under the bleachers of the school

Bangin' your best friend

So just get with me

And forget that man of yours

'Cuz he ain't no good, 'cuz he ain't no good

He just ain't no good for you girl

####

Yokohama Disease Research Facility; June 20th, 1994

"How are the subjects doing?" Kyosuke asked as he walked in that morning, seeing his fellow doctors and nurses keeping an eye on the sickened Naegis, as well as their fellow townspeople.

"We believe Miss Naegi will be the next to go," A nurse nodded at him, and Kyosuke walked over to the monitor and stared inside, watching a teenage girl with brownish-green hair lying stiffly in her hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. She breathed in shallow breaths, a dizzy appearance in her eyes and her skin completely flushed.

"How about the other one?"

"Still fit as a fiddle,"

"Really?" Kyosuke widened his eyes in disbelief. He turned his attention over to the monitor next to Komaru's and indeed caught an image of Makoto in a simple pair of pajamas, reading a manga while tucked in bed. His IV was placed on the other side of the room, and there was an empty food tray by his side.

"We do tests on him almost every day and the most of a reaction we've been able to detect are antibodies. His body formed the antibodies, but it didn't sicken him. The antibodies passed harmlessly from his bloodstream after several hours. It is mystifying, we can't explain it," A nurse explained carefully. She had dark brown hair pulled into a frizzy ponytail.

"Hm."

The nurse quickly strapped herself into a bright orange hazmat suit with the help of Kyosuke and another nurse; once she was fully suited-up, she got a tray full of medicine and other medical equipment and pushed it into Makoto's room, giving him a nice smile.

"Good morning, Mr. Naegi! How are you feeling today?"

"Good," Makoto gave the nurse the same nice smile, gently setting down his manga.

"Have a lot of an appetite, huh?" She nodded towards the empty tray, and Makoto offered it to her.

"Yeah...I actually ate it so fast today I got hiccups!" He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Just some more tests. Can you please hold out your arm? We'll need to take more blood samples," She took out a syringe and gently held it out in front of Makoto so he could see.

"Um, how's my family doing?" He asked instead, making no move to hold out his arm. "I mean, I've been here for a while and I haven't seen them at all. How are they?"

"They're perfectly fine. Mr. Naegi, your arm, please." She continued to smile, gesturing for his arm. Makoto very slowly surrendered it, keeping an eye on her.

"May I please see them? Even if I can only talk to them on the phone or something?"

He recalled when the quarantine arrived in his small community of Yokohama. The government was not there, but several members of the self-defense force had arrived to help the community members onto ambulances to take them to the disease-control center. He remembered the resistance and fear; of people trying to run away or argue with the soldiers and struggle as they were all but dragged onto the ambulances.

His mother looked worried, her hands over her mouth, while his father was just quietly trying to reassure them both, that whatever was going to happen would be over soon enough. They'd be tested negative and released after a few days once the concern had passed. Komaru was in tears, crying as she tightly hugged Makoto. He still felt those tears soaking into his shirt as she cried.

"We can't go with them, Big Brother. If we go with them, we'll get that food poisoning too! I don't want to throw my organs up out through my mouth!" She had gripped him tightly, making him gasp a bit.

"We'll be fine, Komaru-chan. I promise. What kind of a big brother would I be if I didn't keep my word?" He had smiled down at her, but it did very little to soothe her. They were rounded up into the ambulance and Komaru and Makoto were made to sit on benches across from each other while a nurse decked out in a neon haz-mat suit offered them both orange juice. Makoto politely declined, but Komaru took it and drank it all down in one breath. She then collapsed on the bench, falling asleep for the rest of the ride.

Once they arrived, they were herded up into different rooms, and Makoto was able to see for a brief second his sister vomit from the nerves all over her clothes; it was stringy like vines. That was all he could make out before the nurses took him into his own room and shoved a pair of pajamas into his face, telling him he would be monitored closely for any developing signs of illness.

And that was how he ended up in the current situation.

"No, you may not," The nurse shook her head and carefully pricked his arm with the needle. His eyes widened involuntarily as Kyosuke wandered in, dressed in the same suit the nurse was.

"You're the head doctor around here, right? May I please go see my family? Even my sister? I'm really worried about her," Makoto tried to give the best least-threatening smile that he could.

"I hope you understand why we can't honor that request, Mr. Naegi. We need to keep everyone here under constant lockdown. If anyone tries to leave, it might compromise all of our research, as well as releasing more pathogens into the environment," He explained calmly. "Do not ask us again,"

Makoto clenched his fists in annoyance. "My sister threw up from being afraid when we first arrived here. She cried the whole time we were rounded up, and cried when we first saw Mr. Kirigiri tumble out of his car. She needs someone to make her feel better,"

"Then one of the nurses here would be happy to help her with that," Kyosuke turned around and left the room, and the nurse left with him, having finished up her test. Makoto sighed and slumped back into bed, staring up at the stark white ceiling above him.

He briefly tried to close his eyes, only to see a flash of that dehydrated, bloody, silver-haired woman in the passenger's seat, and he quickly jumped back up in fright, feeling his heart quicken. When would that happen to him? It wasn't like he was actually begging to be sick or anything, but he had been laying in the research facility for what seemed like several months without a single measly symptom popping up. He knew what they were; Kyosuke explained them all the moment he had changed into his pajamas. He hadn't had a single trace of a headache nor nausea, no fatigue or muscle pains or even a slight fever.

When would it happen? When would he get sick? Or, barring that he had developed some sort of immunity, when would he finally be allowed out? When could he see his family again?

Trying to close his eyes again and just being met with visions of that dead Mrs. Kirigiri again, he finally gave up on trying to sleep and turned the TV in his room on, aimlessly watching some tech show.

Komaru was still lying in her bed, briefly blinking a few times. She felt a bit better now...she did! Sure, her head hurt like crazy and she could barely lift it, as well as how hot she was...but she felt perfectly fine!

You're just a stupid, worthless girl.

Worthless.

There's nothing special about you at all.

...Huh...?

You don't even attend a real school! You just go to some missionary religious school because they were the only ones who'd accept such a talentless girl like you!

Komaru clenched her fists and suddenly developed a coughing fit, managing to quickly sit up in bed as she coughed deeply, finally vomiting up blood into a small tray placed at her head to catch any.

Worthless. Worthless. Worthless.

"I-I'm not worthless...I'm useful for something! I just know that I am!" She found herself crying out, but her voice sounded a million miles away. A sudden flash of pain forced her back down onto the bed with a groan. Was she delirious? Was she dying?

Even your own brother has more talent than you,

She groaned in pain again, spitting up another sliver of blood. If she just ignored the voices, they'd go away. They'd just go away if she ignored them...

Komaru-chan...Komaru-chan...

Someone was shaking her. Their voice sounded kind, and their aura warm and pleasant. Komaru slowly opened her eyes and smiled, seeing the vision of her family at the other end of her room. They were alright! They had recovered! They wouldn't die from that awful food poisoning thing!

Come with us, Komaru-chan...!

She found herself nodding and eagerly sat up in bed, reaching out her hand. "I'm coming...I'm here!"

In that moment, anyone who saw her would say she looked perfectly healthy and fit, without the flush of a fever on her skin. The only noticeable difference were the swirling patterns in her eyes.

At the last second, she suddenly seized up and collapsed onto the bed, her eyes open still and her arm stretched out towards the sky. Blood dripped from her mouth. Her heart monitor flat-lined loudly.

Makoto was the only one of the Naegis still left alive.

###

Please report any headaches, fatigue, fevers, or muscle pains to your local medical center! Do so immediately if you experience any strange personality changes! It is not just the flu! It may be a sign of something more serious!

###

Nagoya; June 20th; 1994

Right next to the entryway where they placed their shoes and umbrellas was a large shrine that was always opened up to reveal several offerings of incense, a bouquet of fresh flowers, and two faded photographs. Sayaka stared at the shrine as she sat on the flowery couch, wishing for once she could just close the curtains on it. It had remained open for the past nine years, and she somehow knew it would remain open for the next nine as well.

"Father." She said firmly when she spotted the blue-haired man about to make a leave for work, already dressed in his suit with a briefcase. "I know you're in a hurry, but I have something important to tell you,"

"I really don't have the time for it. Why can't you discuss it with one of your friends? Or that boyfriend of yours?" He didn't even look at her; instead, his focus was trained entirely on the shrine.

"It's not really something they can help me with," Sayaka finally turned the TV off and turned around to face her father. "I'm pregnant. It's Shuichi-kun's. He offered to marry me, but I turned him down-"

Her father suddenly rushed at her, making Sayaka suddenly flinch and hold her hands up in front of her face. He raised his hand as if to strike her, only to lower it a few seconds later. Her hands remained in front of her face.

"And? Just give it up for adoption. Actually, you want to be a famous singer, right? Abort it then. You always go on about how those idol girls have to look a certain way, right? Just do that," There was no amusement in his tone as he stared her down.

"Father!" She gasped. "I would never abort this baby. It's just as much a part of me as it is him, probably even more so. This baby stays,"

"Your mother wouldn't have liked that. Not at all. Not one bit," Mr. Maizono looked over at the picture again.

"But Sachiko-chan would've," She added softly.

He did strike her that time, hard enough to make her fall off the couch. She tried to grab something as she fell, only grabbing air and she landed hard on her back. Her hair covered part of her face.

"You don't know what your sister would've wanted,"

"And you don't know what Mother would've wanted," She snapped back as she noticed him leaving. "I'm keeping this baby, Father. And there's nothing you can do about it,"

"Fine. Serves me right. I lose the only good daughter, and then I wake up to the fact that my other daughter has been sleeping around. Any other guys you'd like to tell me about?"

"It's just him," Sayaka very slowly started to pull herself off the floor.

Her father was silent as he stared her down for a few minutes, then left the house, not even slamming the door. Sayaka found herself wishing he had. If he had, it might've disturbed the neighbors and then they'd have to come out and see what was wrong, and then Sayaka would have to explain that her father is a jerk and always had been for nearly the past decade. But no, he shut it quietly.

She finally pulled herself off the floor and took another look at the shrine. The first picture was of a woman who resembled an older Sayaka in a mod-print dress and crazy earrings. The one next to it was of a girl in a neon tracksuit and short cropped hair, smiling and waving happily to the camera.

Her father just hadn't been the same ever since her mother and younger sister, Sachiko, had died in some boating accident even Sayaka had trouble recollecting despite being present. She shook her head.

There was no school that day; she was free to do whatever she wanted. She walked over to the telephone and pulled out the huge yellow phone-book, sighing a bit when she loudly slammed it onto the coffee-table. She opened it up and went straight to the residential section, ignoring the huge amount of business numbers they always shoved into the front. She reached the 'sa' section and paused, running her finger along the names listed and tracing the small little dots next to them to find the appropriate number. Once she found it, she slowly punched the numbers in and held the phone up to her ear, listening to it ring.

"Hello, this is the Saihara residence, may I help you?" The weak voice filled her head up.

"Hey, Shuichi-kun...I just wanted to have a talk with you," She twirled a strand of her blue hair around on her finger.

####

Yokohama Disease Research Facility; June 21st, 1994

Makoto managed to have a good dream for once that night. Was it a good dream? At the time, it felt pleasant and filled him with good, nostalgic feelings, nostalgic for a place and time he had never even experienced. He heard singing; a pretty and clear voice, and was instantly drawn to it.

Fog surrounded most of his vision, and he made out long fields of rice in front of him that stretched for miles and miles. The shadow of a large temple was in the far distance.

What was the girl singing? It sounded like some sort of traditional song one would dance to, like those ones they often played for New Year's. The girl had the wrong voice for it; she sounded sweet and young instead of syrupy and mature. Makoto stepped closer to the voice, finding a small old-fashioned house reach his vision. A small wooden porch with a sliding door and low roof that were all obscured by the fog. He smiled peacefully and reached out toward the house.

Somehow, he knew he had to get there, to see who was singing, where that house even was. He could just barely make out the faint shadow of someone twirling around on the porch; he couldn't make out any specific details about them though. He couldn't even tell if it was a girl or a boy.

Suddenly, the warm air turned chilly and Makoto shivered beside himself. The fog grew thicker and the singing stopped entirely, the shadow on the porch gone. He had an overwhelming desire to run; he felt choked, like he was drowning.

And so run he did, feeling his bare feet squish into the soaked rice paddies. A laugh followed him, and he slowed down his run just enough to catch sight of a female shadow this time with glowing red eyes, just staring at him. He couldn't make out any other features about her aside from her wide grin that she covered with a hand.

Makoto shivered as her eyes suddenly flashed red and he clutched at his head, feeling a wave of pain wash over him.

When he awoke, he was still in his hospital bed, with no rice fields in sight. He had a sudden urge to visit Hiroshima despite never having been.

###

Shinjuku; June 21st; 1994

"You're telling me some girl hit you in the face with a spatula," Lisa sighed as she looked over her son's appearance. "Serves you right for ditching me in the middle of the night like that," She ran her hand along the cut on his forehead, making him roll his eyes. "Kanon-chan is going to nag you over this,"

"She shouldn't, it's not like it's life-threatening or anything," Leon sighed again. "If she keeps putting up such a fuss, I'll just take her out to see a movie. What's playing? Some giant monster flick?"

"Take her to see a sports movie, or a romance," Lisa suggested as she headed back into the kitchen. "I need to make sure those eggs I cooked are cooked all the way through,"

"Nobody will care if they're a little runny. I actually think Uncle Seishiro loves runny eggs," Leon looked over at the knock of a door and hurried over, his eyes widening when Kanon suddenly pounced on him, giving him a large hug.

"Big Brother! Oh, I haven't seen you in forever! Oh, why didn't you take me with you on your grand tour?" She demanded, throwing her shoes off next to her parents'.

"It wouldn't really be your thing, Kanon-chan," Leon shrugged, gently pushing her off. "Besides, I got a popular song on the radio now! With any stroke of luck, I'll get asked on world tours almost weekly! You can come with me then, I promise,"

"You promise?"

"I don't just promise it, I swear it," Leon nodded, and Kanon gave him a smile.

"I'm holding you to that," Kanon was a pretty blonde girl with short hair tied back with a purple scrunchie to match her tiny slip dress and matching flats with spiky jewelry pretty much anywhere she could fit it. "Look, look," She motioned to her lip, and Leon whistled.

"Did piercing your lip hurt?"

"Nah, but now everywhere I go, people give me the stink eye as if they've never seen a punk girl before. It's so annoying! Like, who cares?"

Leon had to nod in agreement at that. If there was one thing he knew about Kanon, it was that when she wanted something, she got it, no matter what. And if she wanted to develop a more punkish style to match his, then nobody would be able to stand in her way.

"Oh, Lisa-san, did you make those eggs? They smell delicious," Mrs. Nakajima complimented nicely, already taking a seat at the table. Lisa smiled happily.

"I sure did! I hope you don't mind that they're a little runny though," She started to serve everyone.

"Are you kidding me? I love runny eggs!" Mr. Nakajima exclaimed, making his family laugh. Leon and Kanon sat next to each other, across from her parents, while Lisa sat at the head.

"Where did that cut come from?" Mrs. Nakajima continued, motioning to the small scrape just above Leon's eyebrow. Kanon stared at it for the first time and gasped in concern.

"It wasn't from anything bad, some chick I hung out with last night threw a spatula at me when I left," Leon grumbled.

"You slept with another chick?" Kanon gave Leon an extremely dirty look.

"Not like it matters, I'm never going to see her again. She started complaining about how I'm a womanizer and how all rockers are the same," He sipped his tea. "Whatever. Only good thing about her was her accent. I haven't heard an accent from Nagoya in what seems like forever,"

"Oh yeah, that really drawl-sounding one?" Lisa asked.

"No, it's more like...I don't know, she added inflictions where there didn't need to be and shortened a lot of her words. Oh, whatever. Like I said, we'll never meet again," He cut up some of his eggs with the side of his fork.

"Hmph," Kanon stared angrily at Leon.

"I didn't know people from Nagoya came all the way down here to Shinjuku," Mr. Nakajima commented.

"I can't see why they wouldn't. It's a lot more fun here. Shopping and music and fashion," Mrs. Nakajima said.

"Speaking of which, how about you two go to a movie later? Bound to be some good things playing," Mr. Nakajima addressed his nephew, making him jump as Kanon eagerly clasped her hands together.

"Perfect! We could go see that new baseball movie!" She smiled, then looked over at Leon.

"Sounds like it'll be a fun time," Lisa mirrored her niece's smile and the family continued to eat their breakfast, talking of other non-consequential things.

Once everyone had finished eating, Leon put on a more presentable shirt and both young adults put on their shoes before waving goodbye and heading out into the city, deciding to take a cab.

"Oh, there's no line for the games!" Kanon exclaimed in surprise, motioning over to them. "Not even the dancing game,"

"Well, we've got some time before the movie starts. Want to try it out?" Leon suggested, reaching for his wallet. He inwardly winced at the thought of spending even more money, but he knew it'd be worth it if it made Kanon happy and got his mom off his back.

She was already five steps ahead of him though, pulling out the amount of yen needed and shoving it into the machine, bouncing eagerly at the thought of playing something athletic. Leon shook his head and remained at the side, watching her dance and jump around on all of the colourful arrows, even managing to get in a well-timed spin or flip in there. She had multiple combos and the blaring music and announcements had attracted quite a few children and teenagers to their location to gawk in amazement.

"Whoa, she's so good!" A boy gasped.

"Yeah, not to mention pretty!" Another blushed.

"You think she's a professional dancer?" A girl asked curiously.

"Maybe she's an idol in disguise!" Her friend whispered back.

Once Kanon was finished, she stepped off after taking note of her high-score and pulled out her sweaty ponytail, running a hand through her hair and pulling it back up. She spotted Leon over at the concession area and waved to him, going inside the theater. She picked a seat near the middle and sat down, adjusting her dress slightly so that her bra wouldn't hang out.

Leon arrived a few minutes later with two trays of nachos and two Slushees and handed each to Kanon, keeping his own as he sat next to her. She gave him a happy smile and started to slurp at her Slushee, not even noticing that it wasn't her favourite flavour. She stared at Leon as he continued to get himself situated for the movie.

"Big Brother, when you go on another tour, and go to America, can you please take me with you?" She asked carefully, eyeing him. The lights started to dim.

"Sure, but why the sudden interest?"

"I've read a lot of American fashion magazines and seen some of their movies. I can't understand a lot, 'cept for some of the slang. Well, I'm trying to say that I think I'd be more appreciated over there than here. A lot of the girls look like me and dress like me. I just want to be in a place my aesthetic is more appreciated, you know?" She slurped more of her drink and Leon nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense, and I get that. I promise you and I swear that my next tour to America, I'll take you," He wrapped his arm around her, and Kanon smiled widely up at him and rested her head on his shoulder.

After they finished watching their movie, Kanon stared strangely at a man asking one of his friends to cover his shift so he could leave early and nurse his raging headache.

"Why are you so worried, Kanon-chan? He's just got a headache," Leon tugged on her arm to make her move.

She found herself nodding in agreement with him. "Just a headache,"

####

Somewhere Near Shibuya; June 22nd, 1994

Out of all the dangerous people Hajime Hinata had to get himself involved with, it had to have been the yakuza. It had all happened so fast; one minute, he was asking their scorned heiress out on a date, the next, he was finding himself preparing to rob a convenience store with her cousin's friend. Well, he reasoned to himself, it could be worse. He didn't really know how it could be worse, but he just had to keep convincing himself that it could be.

"Got your own knife?" The guy asked him; a blond, just as almost everyone in that family was. Hajime would've questioned it at a better time that never ended up coming. Instead, he nodded, placing a hand on the satchel he wore. The guy nodded. "Great. You'll hopefully not need to use it, but just in case I get overwhelmed, pull yours out, grab something close to you, and run,"

Once they pulled up into the parking lot of their chosen store; just some random red-painted one, as the man said the location didn't matter, they turned the tape-player off and made themselves look as normal as possible before they walked inside.

"What are we getting?" Hajime whispered, taking notice of the small amount of shoppers in the store. A typical middle-aged business man was buying ramen at the counter, while a group of gyarus whispered excitedly to each other as they looked over the candy selection, charms all hanging from their backpacks.

"Whatever looks good. Honestly, you can get whatever you want. Just wait for my signal so you know when to go after the register," The blond nodded and walked ahead, while Hajime awkwardly shuffled past the group of gyarus and looked at the selection of pre-packaged mochi snacks. He noticed some kusa-flavoured ones and picked those off the rack, holding them close to his chest. He said he could have whatever he wanted, after all.

He walked further, just looking at all of the other things available. He noticed a foreign girl staring at him intently, with dark hair and vibrant green eyes. She had to have been a foreigner; wearing washed-out tiny shorts with hippy patterns, a butterfly hair-clip pinning back her bob, and a tight black crop top with matching boots and a choker. Hajime nodded at her, wondering what she wanted. She just nodded back and turned away, Hajime nearly jumped when he realized the wings on the butterfly clip moved in motion with her head.

"There's nothing good here!" Yakuza-guy shouted, and Hajime quickly braced himself and felt his hands fly to his satchel, recognizing the signal. "How dare they, not entertain someone of my status?"

The business-man was long gone by that point, and Hajime took his place near the front of the counter, placing his hands on it.

"Hey, want to give us some of the money in that register as compensation?" He tried his best to grin evilly, feeling like he was failing at it. The cashier briefly glanced behind him before shaking his head.

"Wrong answer," Yakuza-guy slipped the knife out of his sleeve and showed it off to the cashier, looking around the store for a potential victim. He saw the girl in the hippy shorts trying to run, so in a flash, he pinned her to the wall and held her close, holding the knife up to her throat. "Give us the money, or we will slit the throat of every person here!"

Hajime nodded, remaining silent. His time for talking was over. He kept a tight grip on his satchel. The gyarus screamed, suddenly realizing that something major was happening as they tried to run from the store.

"Don't let anyone escape!" Yakuza-guy shouted at Hajime, who nodded and rushed after the girls, yanking their leader by her long ponytail and shoving her down onto the floor. She looked at him with tears in her eyes as he whipped out his own pocketknife, making sure she got a good look at the blade. Her friends remained there, terrified. "Now, do you understand us? Give us the money in the register, and nobody has to get hurt,"

"No, I called the authorities, they're already on their way," The cashier spilled out in a nervous rush. "You can't kill anyone like that,"

"Oh?" He pressed the blade closer to the girl's neck. Hajime could see she was sweating intensely, her eyes wide. Every part of her was trembling. "Even if you did, we can still escape. We got friends. We wore plain clothing. We can get away,"

Hajime nodded along, though he found himself doubting his partner's words. Could they really? They didn't have the forethought to wear masks, and even though he was fairly plain-looking, people talk. He was the friend of a cousin from the yakuza. He wouldn't remain hidden for long. Hajime, though, he could easily slip away if need be.

"I'm not giving you the money in the register!" The cashier suddenly shouted, pulling out a small shotgun from behind the counter. "I got this from overseas. Slit that girl's throat, and I'll make sure far worse is done to you,"

Blond guy simply smiled and made a fast but clear incision in the girl's neck, throwing her down onto the ground. Blood trickled from the cut as he threw the bloody knife aside.

The gyaru Hajime had pinned down started to cry and her friends screamed. The cashier cocked the gun and aimed it right at the yakuza-guy, firing multiple rounds as he kept dodging. Junk food and soda of various types fell from the shelves loudly, breaking and shattering and spilling their contents everywhere. Hajime felt his eyes widen as the member was finally shot in the chest, collapsing into a shelf of magazines.

He had to get out of here. Otherwise, he'd be shot next.

Not paying much attention to his surroundings, he threw the knife down to the ground and ran off, leaving the terrified gyaru alone. She slowly pulled herself up to her knees and stared after him in slight confusion, but Hajime was already long-gone by that point.

Where was their car? If he found it, he could very easily drive off in it-

"Hinata-san, eh? Looks like we got here in just the nick of time," One of the officers nodded, and soon another one had grabbed Hajime and pinned his hands behind his back.

"Hey, you have the wrong idea! I didn't actually kill any of the people in there, I was just trying to get a snack when this guy with a knife went wild!" He explained in desperation, motioning to his bag. "The snack is still in there if you don't believe me!"

"A thief too, huh?" The officer shook his head as they threw Hajime into the police car. "Well, we'll get you all sorted-out, don't you worry about a thing. Tokyo's main prison is always looking for more people to fill the empty spots,"

Hajime grumbled to himself as the car door was slammed and he was left in the back of the police car. He leaned against the seat. Tokyo, huh? Well, he had always wanted to see the main part of the city.

Just not in chains.

####

Osaka; June 23rd, 1994

Chihiro found himself developing a bit of an admiration for Daiya. Not only was the man the sort of strength that Chihiro hoped to one day radiate from himself, but he had also kept true to his word and helped him lock away the goons who had beat him and robbed him a few days ago, all just because he thought he was a girl. True, Daiya might've still done it if he had known Chihiro's secret, but he liked to think otherwise. He had even managed to find Chihiro a job helping him keep an eye on the prisoners to help him recover the pay he had lost when he was jumped.

Are you sure your girlfriend won't mind me coming over for dinner? Chihiro wrote that night, holding the notebook in front of his face.

"No, she won't mind it at all. Might even appreciate the company. She doesn't get out much so I think she'll enjoy havin' another chick 'round," Daiya clutched at his throat. "Hopefully she can do all of the talkin' tonight. This sore throat is...well, I don't swear in front of ladies, but you can probably figure it out,"

Chihiro nodded. He had a feeling.

Karen turned out to be a small and shy girl with square glasses and greenish-black hair cut into a bob with hime-style bangs. Much to Chihiro's surprise, she wore a knee-long skirt and laced-up uniform blouse all in a shade of brown. A baseball jacket was worn around her shoulders.

"She's a bit of a softie, but people take one look at her clothes and they go runnin'. They think she's a thug,"

Chihiro stifled a smile with his hand and gently bowed to her. She looked at him in surprise before bowing back in greeting.

"Um, hello. I hope you don't mind that...I made some dumplings and pork soup with some bubble tea. Is that enough for you? Do you like that? Can you eat that?" She spoke slowly and clearly.

It sounds delicious! Chihiro offered her a smile, and she visibly relaxed and started serving the food.

"As I was sayin', I just feel so sorry for her. Osaka can be rough on outsiders and I just feel bad that such a nice girl had to be attacked here on one of her first days," Daiya explained to Karen, who nodded. She stirred the broth around in her bowl, having taken only two bites out of one of her dumplings. "But I'm glad she's here now. She's been a big help around the place, you know. We don't get too much traffic aside from a few lost folk, but that's alright. She'll need to stick around for the trial, and I just thought she deserved to do more than just sit around,"

"Oh, the ghastly trial. I hope she'll be alright," Karen took another bite of her dumplings, stifled a cough, and set it down. Chihiro had already eaten through all of his food. "Oh, do you want dessert, Chihiro-chan? I have a platter of sweet potatoes,"

He nodded happily, placing a hand on his stomach. Karen got up and cleared away everyone's dishes, staring at Daiya's.

"Hm. You barely touched your food," She then stared at her boyfriend, who rolled his eyes slightly.

"I'm not tryin' to start something with ya, but so? You barely eat every single day and I can't complain,"

"Still have a fever?"

"Yes, but it's gettin' better!"

"I...I just think that maybe you should take a break from the job. Here, why don't you have Chihiro-chan take over for a day? She doesn't have to do much but keep an eye on the prisoners and help out anyone who goes to her for advice,"

"She's not an actual citizen of Osaka though. I can't officially make her a worker,"

"Make her a citizen then!" Karen returned to the table with the sweet potatoes. "Oh, just don't eat too many of these, Chihiro-chan. You know what they say,"

"A girl as cute as her can't possibly get an upset stomach!" Daiya teased as Chihiro dug in. "Fine, fine, I'll take a day off. But only a day,"

"Good." Karen smiled at him.

Chihiro looked from Daiya to Karen and thought that she had a lot of control over her boyfriend, despite the obvious size and temperament differences. He wondered how they managed to make it work. It wasn't any of his business anyway.

After they ate, Karen cleaned up after dinner and Daiya filled Chihiro in on everything he needed to do, shrugging out of his leather jacket.

"Just keep an eye on the prisoners and make sure they're doing good. If one of them tries to tell ya that he's sick, ignore him. If he truly is sick, the doctor can come in the morning. Karen-chan usually sends some TV dinners their way every night. You have a cot in the corner for tonight as well," He coughed into his sleeve. "Oh, I feel terrible leaving such a small girl like ya to do this. But she's right, I can't keep up like this forever,"

Chihiro nodded again. Thank you for entrusting me with this in the first place. I promise I won't let you down!

"I really wanna know, though, girlie. How'd you even end up in a city like this? Don't ya got any concerned folks? How'd you learn to do all that computer work you speak of anyway?"

It's a long story.

"How about ya tell me? Not right now, 'course. Down at the station. You can write down that whole thing there. Maybe it'll get published," He teased, patting Chihiro's head.

Like my life story?

"Yeah, call it that," He coughed again. "Karen-chan! My fever's just not going away,"

"I'll get you some medicine," She stated before seeing Chihiro out the door. She gave him a careful bow and he returned it. "See you later. I hope you stay safe,"

After she shut the door, Chihiro set off, blinking as he remembered seeing just a tinge of reddish-pink on Daiya's elbow after he coughed.

The TV dinners arrived a few minutes after Chihiro did, and the man explained he was told by Karen to just walk inside and ask for the payment.

It's right here. Chihiro motioned to the pile he left out on the desk. The delivery boy took it and stared him down.

"Can you talk, chick?"

I'm afraid not.

"Life must be a bitch for you then. Well, gotta go,"

He nodded in response and picked the trays up, heating them up in the microwave and then carrying each one to each cell. Kokichi's three goons managed to be caught, but Kokichi had fled and could be anywhere in the east by that point. Chihiro just counted his blessings that at least three of the guys who attacked him were found.

He pushed each tray through a slot in the door carefully, his small statue making it quite easy. He made sure not to accidentally spill anything as he went to each one. He quickly glanced up into one of the cells to catch an insult on one of the goon's lips, smirking at him. "Dumb bitch in every sense of the word,"

Chihiro gave a shy smile back and simply shoved the food into the cell, ignoring him. He then stood up and turned away. He dusted his hands off on his skirt and shot a final look back at the cells before he took a seat at the desk in Daiya's office.

He wanted to write the story of his life for Daiya, but where did he even start? What did he even call it? He tapped his pencil against the paper for a bit before eventually just writing the title at the top and going from there.

The Story of My Life by Chihiro Fujisaki.

I was born in Nagasaki in a small village in 1972. Both Mama and Papa were one of the first people who had access to computers because they worked in factories that built them and helped them run. Papa was always better at that job than Mama was, but Mama was better at coding than he was. They made enough money to get by, but since computers weren't as popular yet they often had trouble selling what they had made. My earliest memories are of being surrounded by those computers in Papa's old, empty study. Nothing but computers stretched for as far as my little eyes could see.

Papa died from a disease. Of all the things to die from, it had to be that. Well he did, a few months before I was born actually. Mama ended up taking two jobs to help support me because she just knew I was destined for greatness. She said it all of the time. It must've been rough on her; having lost her husband and then having a son a few months later who was deaf and later on was found to not be able to speak either. Oh, but Mama never complained. At least, I can't recall her ever complaining. She was the one who taught me how to read, code, and bake. She took up a job at a local bakery around '75 or '76. In 1978, she got killed too, by another disease. To this day, I'm still not sure if it was the same one that killed Papa or not.

After she died, due to how popular she was in the community; she was always far more social than I was for obvious reasons, a lot of people paid for her funeral and took care of her will, and I myself was placed in an orphanage run by some Catholic missionaries. St. Elbandia's Orphanage. It was there that I not only learned how to write but also take better care of myself, as well as strengthen my reading skills.

Chihiro stopped there, thinking about what to say next. It looked simple on paper, but nothing was ever that simple in life, was it? That was what his mama always told him when she was teaching him how to code. So many simple-looking characters and numbers and symbols that all mean something bigger, something more. They all came together to make something that worked.

He hadn't really understood it at the time, even when she wrote his name out on the blinking computer screen in the word processor.

That's your name, Chihiro-chan. Can you read it?

Life at the orphanage was no better. He was constantly picked on and beat up by the other boys, for being deaf, for being mute, for being too weak and kind to fight back. The girls shunned him, not wanting him in their groups. During playtime, he'd often just sit alone on the swings, swinging, watching everyone else play and laugh and live. At one point, he had even started to dress as a girl, thinking it'd make the bullying stop. He couldn't even remember his thought process or when it happened or where he even got the clothes, he just recalled the image of a tiny seven-year-old, fluffing out a big brown skirt held out by a crinoline.

Things got a little bit better for him with the arrival of a new worker to the orphanage when Chihiro himself was around eleven. The man scared a lot of the others off unintentionally with his dark aura, so they never knew about the little hamsters that hid in his pockets and only showed themselves to those they deemed worthy.

In the rec room of that very same orphanage, Mr. Tanaka firmly placed a piece of blank paper down and a pencil, then gestured to both that and Chihiro. Chihiro, confused, started to write on the paper, only to earn a slap on the wrist. Mr. Tanaka shook his head and did the motions again.

Finally, Chihiro understood and pointed to himself, realizing what he meant. He was the paper. Mr. Tanaka nodded and took Chihiro's hand, reaching it into his pocket. His eyes widened when he felt something soft and warm and fluffy. Tears streamed from his eyes.

Chihiro returned to the paper he was writing, rubbing his eyes a bit and stretching out his wrist.

Mr. Tanaka taught me how to write better. Looking back, he couldn't have been a few years older than me and just a volunteer, yet he decided to spend all of his free-time on teaching me, this stupid, deaf-mute child who dressed like a girl.

In 1986, the orphanage finally had run out of money and sent a lot of the children to homes. They never found one for me. They never said it out-loud, but I knew it was because of my various issues. People probably thought I'd be too hard to take care of. I originally asked to go live with Mr. Tanaka, but he was off in Australia researching new breeding techniques. I was fully on my own. Afraid of what would happen next, I just ran away. I was fourteen at the time and terrified of being caught and put in some other orphanage. Strangely, it was easier being out on my own looking the way I did. Everyone was willing to spare a few bites or coins for a lovely, lonely young lady. There was a recession at some point, but I didn't really notice.

I took a few high-school classes when I could and worked the rest of the time, traveling from city to city. I almost have enough to graduate. I want to attend some high-tech university because I want to become a programmer like my parents were. With computers really popular right now, it just seems right. I also want to get a bunny as a pet. Mr. Tanaka loved animals and now I love them too. A cute little rabbit for my very own. Is that strange? Anyway, that's my story.

The next morning, Daiya arrived to watch Chihiro in the middle of sweeping up, and gently poked his back to get his attention.

"How are things going around here?"

Good. But how are you? You seemed pretty sick last night, He winced at the sudden image of the red-pink splatter on Daiya's sleeve.

"I'm doin' a lot better. My fever spiked pretty bad last night, and Karen-chan hysterically tried to call the doctor. But then it broke just as fast. My sore throat is gone too. Oh, it was probably some random summer flu. I heard it's going 'round,"

Chihiro smiled gratefully. I'm so glad to hear that! I'm happy you made a full recovery.

"Ya write down that life-story of yours like I suggested?"

He nodded and handed those sheets over, blushing and staring down at his feet. Daiya read them for a maddening long time before he finally sighed and looked Chihiro over carefully.

"So, ya ain't actually a chick?"

A shake of the head.

"Well, ya ain't doin' it for kicks at least. Hopefully here you'll reconsider," He then read some more. "And all out on your own for the past decade, huh? Must've been rough,"

He nodded.

"You really take all those classes? Which ones ya take?"

It took a while to get used to everything because of how long it took me to learn how to write, but I soon got the hang of it. I take the usual requirements for high-school students. I also take typing classes and both Modern and Traditional Japanese. I also take English as it's a requirement too,

"Taking a foreign language?"

Chihiro smiled awkwardly. I still need physics, math, another year of typing, and an extracurricular class in order to be considered ready to graduate.

"Well, I'm glad you ran into us here. I'd like to see someone like ya workin' honestly at one of the places here. I hope those goons didn't scare ya too badly,"

He shook his head, smiling a bit.

"I called the doctor before I left. Not for me, but for ya. You're still lookin' pretty bad for the wear and we need to make sure you didn't get anything important knocked out of place," He coughed really heavily again, ignoring Chihiro's concerned stare. "Just a flu, sonnie."

Evidently the doctor was the person who almost hit Chihiro with her car after he got mugged. She also wore a mask around her face and had hair styled strangely and wore a long black Victorian gown with matching gloves.

Chihiro gestured curiously to her mask, but she shook her head. He waited for further explanation, but none came. Daiya cleared his throat.

"Ma'am, I don't mean to get into personal business, but this kid here is deaf. He can read ya lips, but only if he can see 'em,"

Seiko raised an eyebrow at the gendering, but shook her head and stared strangely at Chihiro. She finally pulled her mask down slightly.

"Only for my job...do I do this...anyway...come with me.." She had a strange way of speaking and motioned him over to a closed-off bathroom, shutting the door. She motioned for him to take his shirt off, and he did so, pulling the brown turtleneck off with ease. Seiko nodded and looked carefully at him, sliding her hands down his face. He shivered at the feeling of cold leather touching him. "Lower region is fine. Your face...banged-up pretty bad. You might even...lose a tooth or two..."

Figured. Well, it could always be worse, right?

"You deaf, he said...can you talk?"

He shook his head.

"Oh...defect?"

A nod.

"Oh...a shame...oh well...it's as I always say...things could be worse...be happy that you have what you have and never stop trying to make things better for others,"

Chihiro smiled at that. It reminded him of Mr. Tanaka in a way, for he always told him that the Fates always smiled kindly onto those who made their own way by treating others with respect.

You're going to be a priestess! The best priestess the kingdom has ever seen! And the prettiest woman they've ever seen! Yes, you're going to be called The Priestess of Love!

Seiko walked back outside with Chihiro and gave a nod to Daiya before she slipped her mask back on, motioning to the medical kit she brought.

"Hold on, did Karen-chan send you? I told her this morning and I'll tell her again, it's just the flu, nothing more. I don't need a doctor, pardon me for that, ma'am," He declined.

"You sent...besides...something is going around. Can't be too careful," She motioned over to the office chair, and with a sigh, Daiya sat.

"Looks like I'll be tucked up here for the long run, kid. Hey, why don't ya go visit Karen-chan? Take her that story ya gave me, she's taken a fancy to ya. She'd love to know more, I reckon,"

Chihiro nodded and started gathering up his things, giving a bow to both people present before he left for Daiya's house.

Seiko got right down to work, gently tugging Daiya's uniform shirt off and checking his heart-beat and temperature. "High fever,"

"Same as last night. I'll just take more medicine for it,"

"I know you...rescued me from poverty years ago, so don't think this is me being difficult. Please...home and rest...an order...you need to get better...something is going around and...I don't like the look of it," She stared him down.

"How many sick folks?" Daiya started to put his shirt back on.

"I think...at least twenty-four," She suddenly widened her eyes and shuffled over to a trash-can, crouching in front of it and ripping her mask off just in time to start throwing up blood into it. She breathed heavily.

"Ma'am, I think you should start gettin' home too. Maybe some of these folks are gettin' sick 'cuz ya treatin' them,"

Seiko stood there, trembling, looking at him. "I've always been...like this...but you...? A man of your size shouldn't be this tuckered-out after a cold..." She felt suddenly dizzy and hot. "If you do not go home...I will tell your girlfriend on you,"

"Fine, fine, I'm going. Just let me get things in order around here, and I'll go,"

Seiko nodded happily and took the payment she was due, heading back home.

"My, you've been through a lot," Karen blushed, looking away from Chihiro once she finished reading through his notes. He simply nodded. She was still wearing the uniform, but Chihiro had managed to change into a brown turtleneck, pleated blue miniskirt, and a matching blue scarf with black boots and white tights. "I'm sorry that...I thought you were a girl,"

Don't apologize. Everyone thinks I'm a girl at first. I feel like, even if I did dress like a boy, people might still make that mistake.

"Want something to eat?"

He shook his head. How is Daiya-san doing?

"Oh, fine, fine enough, I suppose. He has a really bad fever still, vomiting and coughing blood up everywhere. Weirdest thing is...he nearly tried to end his own life with the medicine pills I left by his bedside. I walked inside to check on him earlier and he had five or six of those in his palm,"

Chihiro felt his eyes widen in shock.

"Luckily, I still feel fine, just a tad sore, but it must be from all this running around...I'll bring dinner by the station later, alright?" She randomly walked into the kitchen and started to make it. She briefly glanced back at Chihro to say: "I feel bad for him. He's been working himself so hard these past few days because everyone on the force seems to be sick with it. Whatever it is...tomorrow I'm going to have to head up north to check on Mom. She's sick too. They all have fevers and headaches; a few are coughing up blood,"

He paled at the thought of it. It doesn't seem like a regular flu. Tuberculous maybe? Or pneumonia? Does that make you cough up blood?

Karen just shrugged unhelpfully. "Dinner," She handed him a simple sandwich with celery sticks and milk. "Sorry it's so simple, I haven't been able to go to the store yet..."

That's fine. I'm going to go back. Please give your boyfriend my condolences. And your mother. And stay safe yourself. It sounds super nasty!

Karen nodded and saw Chihiro out the door, coughing up a bunch of blood once he left. She fell to the floor and caught sight of the dirty knife she had used to make the sandwiches earlier. A swirly pattern appeared in her eyes and she smiled sadistically to herself. Almost rhythmically, she got the knife out of the sink and started to slowly trek up the stairs.

"Daiya-san...? Are you feeling any better...?" She flashed him that slasher smile as she opened the door to his bedroom.

Chihiro woke up early that morning, recalling a strange dream he had of being lost in a field of soaked rice paddies. In front of him was a pleasant, almost nostalgic feeling, and behind him was a feeling of immense dread and terror.

He cleaned up a bit around the station and looked at the prisoners; two were asleep and the third was awake, breathing heavily with a flushed face. Chihiro opened his mouth in shock and hurried off, making a mental note to call the doctor later. Or tell Daiya to call the doctor in; even better, he seemed far more familiar with her than Chihiro. He sat down at the desk again and started to flip through a magazine, just trying to pass the time.

After a few hours, Chihiro had read the whole thing front to back twice and pouted, feeling his stomach rumble in protest. Breakfast hadn't shown up for anyone, and Daiya hadn't arrived either. And he was pretty sure one of the prisoners had truly fallen ill. He glanced over at the phone, an anxious expression on his face.

The world was truly cruel to deaf-mutes. If only those sci-fi novels he loved passionately would predict the future more accurately. He'd be laughing in ten or twenty years when he could take care of all the calls he needed with just the tap of a button on one of those small flat-screens they promised to fit in your pocket. Kinda like the modern cell-phones, but far smaller and sleeker. Chihiro remembered someone at that karaoke bar had one and she had to carry it awkwardly alongside her purse.

Unable to wait any longer, he quickly wrote out a note explaining to whoever showed up that he was out to get both food and the doctor for one of the sick prisoners and that he should be back soon. Retying his scarf around his neck, he hurried outside, taking note of how it felt particularly warm and muggy already that day.

Osaka was usually a busy city, given its location it was to be expected, but everything today seemed as if someone had pressed 'stop' on everything. Barely any vehicles were on the road, and nobody was out for a walk. As Chihiro walked around more, he noticed several stores weren't even open, and he held his stomach nervously. What was going on? There wasn't any holiday going on that he had known about...

He noticed the familiar silver shine of Miss Seiko's car and anxiously waved at it, silently beckoning for her to stop. Stop she did, nearly hitting Chihiro again until he carefully took several stops back. She got out of the small car and leaned against it; Chihiro noticed the flushed skin and the tangled hair on her figure. After a few seconds of coughing, she pulled her mask down slightly, revealing a trail of blood going down.

"I know, I know, Daiya-san is dead. ...Did you...call me for that...?"

Chihiro couldn't stop his eyes from widening and a small gasp from escaping his lips. He quickly wrote down: Seriously? He seemed just fine yesterday, nowhere near death at all,

"...His girlfriend...sick too...I have a small doubt that he died from the illness...but she did...found her this morning, passed-out in a pool of blood from her mouth..."

He sickly swallowed, thinking of that.

"Almost everyone seems to be sickening...twelve more people died this morning...you know? You know?" She coughed again before gasping, throwing up a large amount of blood onto the street. "I just don't know...what it is...what it could be. It starts out like the flu, but gets so much worse...it gets so much worse..."

Chihiro pressed the notebook to his chest, feeling tears well up in his eyes.

"Why are you out, if not to say Daiya-san died?" She looked at him.

I have to get breakfast. It never came for any of us. And I was trying to find you because one of the prisoners is sick. He showed her the paper.

"If so...I'll come by later. Normally they'd be...low on my list, but Daiya-san is...a friend...so I owe him..." She shivered a bit and placed her hand on Chihiro's head. "How do you feel...? No fever, but...anything else? Sore throat? Muscle pains? Headache?"

He shook his head to all of those questions. Aside from being attacked, he had felt perfectly fine in the physical department.

"Good...that's good...listen, I have to go. But...I'll come by later. I promise," She slipped her mask back on and drove away, leaving Chihiro standing there alone. He hurried to a nearby diner and ordered a basic breakfast platter to go; four waitresses and two chefs were sick that day so his food took longer.

"Hope you didn't try to place an order. Turns out all of the phones are down," The waiter apologized nervously. Chihiro's eyes were as wide as saucers and they continued to be as he served the prisoners their breakfast.

One of them was dead by that evening. The doctor never came by.

###

Random acts of violence and suicide have been plaguing the nation! All of the incidents are being done by people who were already sick with these flu-like symptoms. As a result, many have taken to calling it 'the crazies' for the seemingly-random behavior people afflicted with it develop. Once again, we must absolutely stress the importance of going to a medical expert if you experience any of these signs! It is likely not just the flu! You wouldn't want to be the result of your loved one's demise, would you?

####

Shinjuku; June 26th, 1994

"She's been like this for the past few hours," Kanon whispered urgently to Leon when he arrived back at the house to check on his mother. Lisa had come down with the flu and both him and Kanon had been caring for her consistently, though Kanon often had to take long breaks to keep an eye on her own sick parents.

She pointed over at her aunt curled up on the couch, wearing a long T-shirt with her features flushed and some flecks of blood on it. "Leon, Leon! Where has your father gone off to this time? Do you know? Do you even care?" She berated.

"You mean spouting nonsense?" Leon was already hurrying over to her.

"It's the fever," Kanon remained a few steps away as he carefully lifted Lisa up-when had she been so light?-and tucked her back into her bed.

"Why was she out in the first place?"

"The phone rang and I let her get it because my parents' fevers spiked. She seemed perfectly fine, but had collapsed on the floor before even reaching it," She played with the black ring on her lip. "I've heard people talk, Big Brother. Not much, but they talk. Of how this disease thing was released by the government or something. Oh, are we going to die too? We're going to get sick and die too, aren't we?"

"No, we're not. If we survived this long being healthy, I think that's a good sign that we won't," He looked over at Lisa. "Go tend to your parents, I can handle her,"

Kanon nodded and very slowly left the room. He remained at his mother's side, quickly wetting a washcloth with cold water and placing it on her forehead and adjusting the blankets when she thrashed around in them.

How long is she going to be sick like this? And how much is this going to ruin his day? He winced at that last thought; it was bad but he still had it.

Should he call the hospital? An ambulance? Oh, what did Kanon do for her parents earlier? He didn't really want to talk to her at the moment, but had no other choice.

"I'll be right back," He reassured his mother before heading into the guest-room. "Kanon-chan, what did-"

Kanon was coughing quietly into her hand, hunched over so he couldn't get a good view of her. When she took a deep breath and pulled away, however, that was when he saw it.

Reddish-pink flecks of blood right on her palm.

#####

Nagoya; June 27th; 1994

A stormy afternoon greeted Sayaka when she checked the answering machine of the phone and saw she had received three calls. The first one was from one of her best friends offering her a place to move in, saying she didn't even mind children. Sayaka couldn't fight the small smile that came to her face at her friend's tone.

The second was from Shuichi, wanting to call her back. They had already spoken at length a few days ago, and he even mentioned several times he had already saved up the money for two rings-two rings! As if it mattered!-and was ready whenever she was.

The third was from the doctor, explaining her father had collapsed at work with a high fever and sore throat and was taken to the hospital for research. Something was going around, he had explained. Some people thought it came south from Tokyo, others say from the west from Yokohama. Nobody could decide. Sayaka clutched the phone at that. Did she even want to see her father? Did he even deserve her presence? Maybe she would just get sick too and have something else on her mind for once.

A loud clap of thunder startled her and she picked her umbrella up, writing down the address for the hospital and buttoning up her raincoat. She climbed onto her bicycle and started to pedal.

The doctor said it was just a bad flu. Just the flu, that was all.

####

Yokohama Disease Research Facility; June 27th, 1994

Makoto had to get out of there. He just had to. How long had it been since then? He had a feeling most of the staff who monitored him had gotten sick and died too; he didn't want to be negative like that, but what other answer was there? Everytime he turned the news on, it spoke of new outbreaks somewhere in Japan. Not just Japan anymore either, but China and Russia and the United States too. Likely some places in Europe as well. It was spreading fast and Makoto had no idea what to make of it. They still emphasized that it was the flu, just a particularly bad strain of it, and that everyone would be fine if they stayed inside and drank fluids.

How hard could it be to break out of a disease research facility?

####

Undisclosed Location; June 27th, 1994

Toranosuke had to meet with the Prime Minister that day. Somehow it was the thing that concerned him the least.

###

Undisclosed Location; June 27th, 1994

Where to go next? She had already seen a vast majority of everything Japan had to offer, and thensome. She loved to travel, it was in her blood. She studied the fashions of the gyarus from Shibuya, hooked up with some guys in Nagoya, helped the coders in Akihabara, and worshiped at the shrines in Hiroshima. And she would do it all over again.

However, she hadn't traveled much in the past week or so. No, she mainly stayed put in Tokyo, only really traveling around its special wards.

Something was coming, she knew. She didn't just know, she could feel it. Anarchy and chaos and violence and despair spread just as easily as any disease did. And with her luck, this disease would encompass all that and more.

It was her luck, after all, that resulted in that stupid Kirigiri man escaping in the nick of time to spread that glorious Despair Disease to the remainder of Japan, and eventually the world. All she had to do now was wait, sit back, and wait. Those who were worthy enough to join her would reveal themselves in time.

Some already spoke of her. The girl with the bear in her hair, they called her. She wore her strawberry-blonde waves in a ponytail today, with a small Kuma-chan hair-clip to tie it back and add a bit of flair. She wore a black choker and matching crop top patterned with purple geometric shapes. She opted for a more Western style today, shown by her jean hot pants and black ballet flats with a violet garter around her thigh.

The girl with the bear in her hair.

They didn't know her, but they felt her. Everytime she walked past, people would be filled with an endless amount of sheer despair. She loved that. She reveled in it. Despair had been around since the dawn of time, and she had been too, just taking different forms. This time, she just happened to take this one. And when she died, she'd just be reborn as something new again and start the whole cycle of despair over again.

After all, despair could only exist with hope, and hope could only exist with despair.

Only a little while longer. Then, she would finally be able to rebuild a new world from the ashes of the old one with her loyal subjects by her side. And then, she wouldn't just rule the world.

She would own it.