Fanfiction Archive

The night they broke free from the school, they were collected by ‘The Future Foundation’.

Asahina was surprised at how much of an argument that Kirigiri and Byakuya put up with them before they agreed to let everyone go with them, but Hina was sure that Makoto knew what to do, and Makoto was following their lead.

Hina let it happen. She was tired.

When they got to the foundation’s hideout, everyone paired off to watch each other’s backs. It wasn’t surprising– it was only natural– that she’d end up paired with Yasuhiro. The two of them had been spending a lot of time together since…

The two of them had been spending a lot of time together.

Hina flopped down on her stomach on the bed, its old springs crunching and groaning under her.

Yasuhiro had locked the door behind him as soon as they settled inside. Force of habit. Everyone learned the importance of a locked door after.–well– as early as Sayaka’s scheme.

He leaned on the wall, his smile as easy as ever– even if it was often forced. What happens, happens, right? That’s something he’d repeated again and again to himself in Hope’s Peak. Sure, he got nervous when he saw the state of the grounds outside Hope’s Peak. That unsettling sky…those damaged buildings where they remembered lively and thriving streets…

But Makoto had calmed them down, and promised the world like he always did. And now they were here.

He glanced at Hina with a roll of his shoulders. “Ain’t exactly the Ritz, huh? Fine with me, places like this always were more my speed.”

Hina looked up from the bed, the bottom of her face covered by her crossed arms, only her warm, dark eyes visible, tired and bloodshot as they were. “Me too,” she mumbled. “Do you think….”

Hiro tilted his head at her. The exhaustion was clear on his face, even as he smiled it off.

“Me, think? Never.”

The joke didn’t land. Not even with him. Instead he walked over to sit on the edge of the bed. “…I’m listenin’.”

She lifted her chin enough to give him a wan smile anyway, but then sighed, looking tense, and nervous. “Do you think we’re really safe?”

He grimaced “…”

The disheveled young man leaned back on his hands for a long moment, closing his eyes. “I see it now, in a vision.”

He nudged her with his elbow. “We’re absolutely safe. I predict that from here on out, nothin’ is going to go wrong.”

She cocked her head, her small smile growing just a little. “So, about a 30% chance, huh? That’s not too bad….”

“Pretty good odds, right?” He flashed her a wide grin “Ain’t anything bad ever came of taking a gamble on my visions. Probably. ‘cept my gambling debts.”

“Probably don’t have to worry about those now.” She looked up at him. “You can get comfy on the bed you know….”

Neither of them was sure if the others knew that Hina had been spending nights in his room before now.

Hiro grinned. “Maybe I wanted to let you stretch out. I’m a big bastard, you know?”

Despite his joking protest, he let himself flop on his side beside her, and rested on his hand.

“It’s one of your good points.” She rolled over to be even closer to him, soaking up the heat from his large body. Often when they were together, Hina just wanted to be close.

And closeness was just what he provided. He never admitted it, not out loud…but the worse the killing game got, the more he wanted something as simple as being close to someone you were starting to trust.

His arm draped over her shoulder, as he rested his head on the back of his other hand.

“Don’t say that too loud, Togami’ll crash through the wall to try an’ refute that I even _have_ any good points”

She laughed softly, headbutting his shoulder. “If he has the energy to do that I guess he deserves to. I feel like dried octopus.”

“Better than a dried shrimp.” He placed his hand atop her head, fingers slightly wound in her hair. “If they don’t kick us outta this dump tomorrow, I might sleep for a week.”

She nuzzled his hand. “Me too. You think they’ll kick us out?”

“Hell if I know.” He shook his head. “…I never heard of this ‘Future Foundation’ thing…I’m guessin’ they’re some post-Junko shit.”

She was quiet for a moment, and then rubbed against him again. “We missed years….”

His fingers brushed through her hair as he sucked in a soft hiss of breath. “…Yeah, we did. Way more time than I’d have thought. My ma must be losin’ her mind.”

Hina was quiet for a moment, forcing down a thought from coming out of her mouth. Finally she said, “yeah, she must be. We’ll have to track her down.”

“Careful.” Hiro nudged her with his shoulder ,”she’ll love ya. Which means she’ll be annoying as hell.” He knew what she was thinking without her having to say it. If his mom was alive.

She smiled, nudging him back. “Well, is she a good cook? I won’t mind if so.”

“Aw. Damn.” He laughed “she’s onna the best cooks I know. You two are gonna get on way too well.”

She bumped her head against him. “I’m looking forward to meeting her, then. If you don’t mind.”

He took that as his cue to pet her hair a little more, grinning over at her. “You know what…me too. She’s an embarrassing ol’ biddy , but…that sounds fun.” He glanced at her “anything to take our minds off this shit, huh?”

“Yeah,” Hina leaned against him as he petted her hair. If she were a cat, she’d definitely be purring. “Not much to do here for a distraction….”

It was a contrast to the killing game, where they’d had plenty of ways to try to take their mind off what was happening, even if it so rarely worked.

He grinned fondly over at her, his eyes half closed. “Yeah. They coulda at least given us some cards, the tightwads.” He shook his head. “I left all my cool mono machine crap back in my room.”

“Me too. I didn’t expect— it didn’t seem important. I guess it’s not…”

Hiro hissed gently through his teeth. “…Yeah. It was just a bunch of crap the fuzzy bastard stocked there to mock us anyway.”

He hoped Hina didn’t feel the way his body tensed “and anyway. Naegi did good getting us outta that dump once and for all. Away from…”

The bad memories. Constant reminders. Things he couldn’t let himself think on too long.

“Yeah.” She agreed quickly. “What do you think they’ll have for breakfast?”

It was a complete dodge into normal talk. They did that a lot, too.

“MRE eggs and bacon.” He decided with a smirk. “With a side of canned coffee…Or hell, maybe they’ll give us the works. Throw in some rice.”

“I’ve never had MRE eggs,” she mused. “Are they like the instant ones?”

“….” Hiro thought for a long moment “….I got no idea. I don’t think I’ve ever had an MRE. Least that I remember.”

He tugged gently at her hair. “they’re probably like…a brick of what used to be eggs at some point. You gotta crunch ’em.”

“Crunchy eggs,” she nodded thoughtfully, leaning into his little tugs. “Like eating ramen without boiling it.”

“Exactly.” He laughed “Only with little bits of bacon stuck in there instead of dehydrated chicken.”

“That could make a fun snack…..”

“It could. Hell, it actually sounds kinda awesome. We should ask that stuck up lookin’ guy if he’s got any we can try.”

Hina nodded. “It’s a plan. And we’ll try crunchy eggs.”

“….hey Hina.” He asked, after a moment. “…What are ya most looking forward to eating now that we’re back in reality?”

She laughed softly and looked at the ceiling. “Oh that’s easy. Fresh donuts. First thing in the morning, while they’re still warm…”

“…Shit that’s gonna be hard to top.” Hiro said with a grin. “Mind if I tag along with ya?” He looked up at the ceiling with her, hand twirling a lock of her hair around his finger. “…I wanna get fresh ramen. From one of those shitty roadside carts.”

“Of course you can tag along,” Her face was warm, as his fingers brushed it with her hair around them. “Can I tag along for ramen, that sounds amazing…” she nuzzled into his hand as he twirled the little loops through her hair. They both knew the future was uncertain, but it helped to pretend.

“Absolutely.” Hiro nodded. “Didja know that ramen don’t taste the same if you’re eating it alone? Company changes the taste.”

She rolled onto her back, careful of her hair, so that she was looking up at him. “Is that true?”

“Oh yeah, 100%.” Hiro grinned at her. “somethin’ about the atmosphere or something. Psychic energy changes the broth or something like that. You’ve gotta try it.”

She nodded, looking up at him with her big dark eyes. “I wonder if it works on donuts too….”

“Shit, we almost sound like scientists now.” He said as he looked deep into her eyes ,”why don’t we test our hypotenuse?”

She laughed and scooped her arms up around his wide torso. “I’m not sure that’s quite right, but sure.”

He grinned down at her as he gave her a firm squeeze with his arms. “Hippopotamus?”

She laughed again and buried her face against his chest, holding him tight. “Yeah… hippopotamus for sure.”

Hiro felt a lot more relaxed when she started laughing again.

“So tomorrow morning we’ll make these Future fellas take us to get fresh donuts and see how they taste. I got a prediction.”

“Yeff?” She asked, face buried in his shirt.

“Oh yeah.” He nodded seriously with his eyes closing “I think they’re gonna be the best damn donuts we’ve ever had in our lives.”

He pulled her tight against his chest. The warmth of someone he trusted right beside him…it gave him hope. Hope enough he wasn’t afraid to say; “I give it a 90% chance of comin’ true.”

“90% huh? Well then I’m sure of it.” She squeezed him tight. “That means we just have to get to sleep, so it’ll be morning sooner….”

Hiro chuckled, his voice a low and warm rumble in his chest “Make yourself cozy then, Hina. Let’s count the UFO’s. y’know. Like sheep.”

She giggled into his chest, but there was a sniffle at the end of it. This was typical for Hina, the closer it got to bedtime, the harder it was for her to hold her cheerful persona together. “Yeah….”

Hiro rubbed her back. He couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have the same problem keeping it together late at night. Nights spent staring at the ceiling, wishing he could drink enough to black out and not worry about the dreams.

He knew how important it was to try and relax, remind yourself that you ain’t alone. “But before that, it’s been a hell of a day.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “wanna blow off some steam?”

Hina blushed and pressed her face against his chest again. “Yeah… could we? It keeps my mind off…. stuff.”

They’d done it a few times now, mostly on especially difficult days. Hina had been the one to broach it first, and had eventually confided in him that she and Sakura had been comforting each other that way.

Neither of them were sure exactly what it meant about their relationship to each other, aside from that they were close, physical people, who needed some comfort.

Friends, Benefits, comfort. It didn’t need an exact name, at least not to Hiro.

He was always happy to extend comfort to her. Always happy to put a buffer between them and the bad memories, and the metaphorical ghosts of friends.

He rustled her hair. “You and me both, Hina.” he grinned “the springs on this bead are awfully squeaky. Think we can ruin Togami’s night?”

Hina stared up at him with a blank look on her puffy eyed face for a moment, and then broke into a slightly choked laugh, covering her mouth.

“Oh my god, Hiro!!” she huffed quietly. She grabbed the pillow and hit him gently across the face with it.

She grinned, and wiped her eyes. “Yeah I bet we can.”