Knock, knock

"W-what?" Tsumiki asked upon cracking open the door, only one of her blood-shot eyes visible through the gap, surveying Komaeda's cheerful expression.

"Special delivery!" Komaeda sing-songed, hefting up the small girl he carried on his back, a task which would have been slightly easier had he still two working hands.

The door slammed shut.

"Tsumiki-san, she's hurt! Please at least take a look at her."

There came no response.

"It's what Enoshima-san would have wanted," he encouraged, though the name tasted like rotten fruit in his mouth.

The door opened once more, wider this time, allowing the two to pass inside.

"Excuse us," Komaeda said, taking off his shoes, walking past Tsumiki into her living room. Despite the near-nonexistent lighting in the room, the dark pink stains on the couch and carpet were still concerning.

He settled the small girl down on the opposite end of the sofa, fluffing the throw pillow a bit before sliding it under her head.

"It's a little dark in here, isn't it?" He asked conversationally, turning toward Tsumiki.

He caught a glimpse of her staring hungrily at his mitten before looking down toward the floor instead.

"It…it's fine like this," she muttered.

Komaeda stepped closer to the nurse, causing her to shudder, though she stood her ground.

"If you treat her, I'll let you see it, the hand. If you can make her well- in body, at least- I'll let you do what you like with it."

Tsumiki walked past him, stealing another glance, before making toward the couch. She crouched beside the unconscious girl, placing the back of her hand against her forehead.

"No fever," she informed Komaeda as she brushed a lock of green hair out of the small girl's face, an unexpectedly tender gesture, considering what Monaca had been to Tsumiki's idol.

"She…she's so young. Why her? Enoshima-san knew me for longer than her…I would have done anything she had asked… I-I was closest to her. So why not me!?" Tsumiki hissed, glaring at Komaeda with needles in her eyes, her fingers clenching around Monaca's hair. The smaller girl frowned in her sleep.

"You're already a year older than Enoshima-san was, Tsumiki-san," Komaeda said plainly. "You're already you, the Super Highschool Level Nurse. Monaca-chan is young. The younger people are, the more they want to become the person they idolise. She would have been able to mold her more easily. That's all."

Tsumiki grimaced, looking Monaca up and down as she slipped into her more confident nurse persona, the one that always left Komaeda feeling more than a little impressed. "She hurt her legs, didn't she?"

Komaeda nodded, expression even, as he though they were talking about a cheap doll that had been crushed. "Some of the rubble from their hideout fell on her."

"Judging from the bruising alone, I'm fairly sure the left one is broken. She won't be walking again for quite a while."

Tsumiki had always instinctively known that Monaca had been faking her paralysis they few times they had crossed paths. She hadn't been able to fault the girl for it; it was a sound tactic when it came to attention-getting. Tsumiki herself had considered a similar strategy a time or two, late at night after school, when the bruises and burns didn't hurt quite enough to quell her imagination.

Once finishing her examination, Tsumiki stood. "I'll do what I can. I'm not a doctor, though… Really, I'm not…"

"I'd appreciate whatever you can do," Komaeda said.

Tsumiki left the room to gather supplies, leaving Komaeda alone with the dust.

Junko had picked out new homes for her favorite followers- once the original residents had met their demise, of course. She had showed each of them around their new place, all the while playing at a hellish mix of realtor and newly-wed first time home-buyer, her hair pulled back into that single ponytail, clipboard firmly in hand, as she sang the praises of each of the rooms. Out of her maddening parade of personas, Komaeda had always found that that one pushed his particular buttons the most.

Tsumiki's apartment had probably been very nice at one time, roomy as it was, though now a worrying odor filled the air, dark pink stains splashed here and about, interspersed with odd bits of trash, medical and otherwise, that made him glad of the poor lighting.

Komaeda idly toed at a pair of forceps left on the floor, immediately wishing he didn't. The room made the inside of his skull itch.

"Tsumiki-san?" He called down the hall, "Would you mind bringing an extra pair of rubber gloves?"

As the nurse tended to Monaca's legs, splinting and wrapping, Komaeda scurried around the room, tidying up as best he could. He paused, however, when he came to a photo on the book case. Picking it up, he traced the crack in the glass cover with his fingers as he studied the face of the blonde girl in the picture, fingers raised in a peace sign as she kissed Tsumiki's cheek.

The picture quickly found a new home in the trash bag he totted along.

"…Junko-neesan?" Came a small voice.

Monaca's brilliant green eyes blinked up the ceiling.

Komaeda set down the trash bag, coming over to crouch beside the girl, as Tsumiki continued wrapping her leg. "Tsumiki-neesan is here instead. Isn't that great?"

Monaca blinked again, turning her attention to the other girl. "…Oh, you. …You're the funny one who used to fall down all the time. Hey, how about you do it right now? Monaca thinks it might make her feel better."

If Monaca remembered her grand machinations failing before being brought to the apartment, she gave no indication. Not it that meant anything, of course. She was a more gifted actress than even Kotoko.

Tsumiki's nurse persona quickly fizzled. "Oh, erm, well, Komaeda-san is going to take you home now, so it…it was nice meeting you again Monaca-chan."

Komaeda laughed like a rusty gate. "No, no, Tsumiki-san. I'm afraid that Monaca-chan is going to be staying here tonight."

Tsumiki made an expression akin to that of a dying fish.

Komaeda continued, "I know that it's horrible of me to impose like this, but I have no where to take her back to- the kids ransacked my place when they 'captured' me. The place she was staying in blew up, and I'm afraid I've lost contact with the rest of our former classmates for the time being. I mean, don't worry about me, I'll just sleep outside in the alley with the trash where I belong, but thankfully, I knew that I could count on the Super Highschool Level Nurse to not turn down a patient in need!"

He certainly wasn't wrong. He may be lying about not knowing the whereabouts of the others- after all, he tracked her down easily enough- but he was correct in her finding it very difficult to turn down someone who needed her.

She looked toward the door to her room as she spoke, rather than meeting the expectant eyes of her gathered company. "Monaca-chan can have my room…and Komaeda-san can have the couch… I-I'll sleep on the floor and you…you can use me as rug if you'd like… I'm…I'm sorry I don't have more to offer…"

Komaeda held up his hands in protest. "I'll have to insist that I take the floor."

After a good ten minutes of back and forth- only interrupted by Monaca laughing at them- two sets of blankets and pillows were spread out upon the living room floor. Komaeda found himself very glad to have thoroughly cleaned it.

As they finished with laying out the bedding, a little yawn sounded from the couch.

"Monaca is getting sleepy…" the girl whined.

"Well, then," Komaeda said, sliding his arms behind her shoulders and knees, careful of her injury, "allow your humble servant to whisk you off to dreamland."

The young girl giggled innocently.

Komaeda wasn't entirely sure why she was still bothering to play the part of the innocent child after she had already revealed her true self before him; perhaps it was a coping mechanism, perhaps she just wanted to get back on his good side now that she was truly enfeebled. Either way, he found it favorable. If she truly was to become the next Enoshima Junko, having a multitude of personas would benefit her.

Tsumiki followed the two toward her room, trotting after with uncertainty as if she were the guest.

Monaca drifted off quickly after being tucked in, likely still exhausted from her injuries.

"It's good that she's so young," Komaeda mused aloud, as he stood over her. Though his eyes were focused on her face, they seemed not to be studying her, but something else, far away, that Tsumiki wasn't able to see.

Tsumiki nodded in agreement. "Y-yes…she'll be able to heal faster…"

"What I mean is, people don't take kids seriously. It's their greatest strength." He turned to face Tsumiki then, though the look in his eyes still remained.

"Komaeda-san…" Tsumiki's own eyes widened in a sudden understanding, nearly eliminating the dark circles for a moment. "Have…have you ever met someone who was an adult, yet they were still very tiny, and very cute? I always thought that…l-life must be easier for them, because people would probably underestimate them…With lower expectations, it's probably easier to impress people… people expect less of someone who looks like a child…"

A small sound came from the bed, as Monaca began to frown in her sleep, if she truly were asleep.

The two adults crept out of the room, though Komaeda continued the discussion once they were out into the hall.

"If you're talking about yourself, Tsumiki-san, I am very impressed by you, though. Even after you lost Enoshima-san, you continued her work. Even after Kimura-senpai tried to stop you, you still continued to spread Despair. Because of you, one day, Hope will shine greater than ever before. All I managed to do was get myself held captive by a gang of gradeschoolers… I mean, I'm sure you'd rather be hearing this from someone less disgusting, but…"

"You're wrong!" Tsumiki began to shout, regardless of the sleeping girl down the hall. "I tried to do what she wanted…I tried so hard to please her! Even…even if she wasn't here anymore, I wanted to make her happy, but I couldn't… I locked myself up in here like a pig in a pen! She's not even here to forgive me!"

By the time she was finished her tirade, her hands were firmly entangled in her long, matted hair.

Komaeda wondered how long it been since she'd washed. Even so, he placed a hand on her shoulder. Although she flinched initially, her wild expression began to fade.

"Tsumiki-san, I know that I can never replace whatever it was that Enoshima-san was to you, but I am here if you need me to help you out with something, or even if you just need a sounding board or a punching bag. I know I'm not good for much, but I'll do what I can for you while I'm staying here…and I'll keep Monaca-chan out of your way, if you'd like. I know having her around brings up some stuff for you."

"Thank you…"

Komaeda had expected further protest- during their schooldays together, their verbal competitions over who was the more useless of the two had at times lasted for upwards of an hour- however Tsumiki made off toward the living room, kneeling down on her side of the blanket nest to begin fluffing up a pillow, seemingly too out of steam for anymore fussing. She likely hadn't had any normal human interaction for quite sometime, or any that didn't end in a lethal injection, that is.

"You're going to sleep like that?" Komaeda asked, referring to the tattered white nurse's uniform and single black stocking she still wore.

"I-I thought that you were going to sleep in your clothes too…" She pointed out.

"Well," Komaeda said, slipping his jacket off, and laying it neatly folded on the arm of the couch, "I am, but only because I didn't want to impose and ask you for anything different. Besides, I've been stuck like this ever since those kids got to me, so what more will another night hurt?"

Tsumiki began to eye him up and down from her place on the blankets. She had been too preoccupied by Monaca to truly take him in until now. Her brows began to furrow.

"How long have you had those wounds on your thighs?" Her 'Nurse-Mode' made its second round of the night. How could someone like this ever not see herself as impressive, he continued to wonder.

"A few days, give or take." He shrugged. It wasn't as if he had more than a few months time left to live anyway.

Tsumiki's frown deepened. "Why are there bandages over top of your pants? I'm sure you know that's not how they work… You're smarter than I am, after all…."

She began sidling up toward from her place on the floor, to get a better look at the horrendously botched patch-up. Even a toddler with 100-yen store play doctor kit had a greater degree of medical skill.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, Tsumiki-san," he replied, smiling pleasantly, "I didn't think it was appropriate to take my pants in front of a bunch children."

"Would you take them off for me?" Tsumiki asked, still kneeling in front of him, hand on his thigh just above the wound.

Komaeda blinked down at her, at a sudden and rare loss for words.

"I-I mean, so I can examine you! I have a gown in the linen closet…" She stood, bustling by him to retrieve it.

So there were some things in the apartment that didn't have troubling stains, Komaeda thought as Tsumiki handed him the pale blue hospital gown.

"You can, um, leave your underwear on underneath," she informed him.

He raised a brow, before heading for the bathroom. "Did you think I wasn't going to?"

He felt briefly guilty leaving the soiled bandages in her trashcan, until he remembered the state of the rest of her living quarters. He didn't even want to entertain whatever may have gone on in her bathtub. The spread of despair was one thing, but there was something to be said for keeping what was supposed to belong on the inside of a person, outside of one's home, preferably somewhere in the entirety of Towa Hospital that Junko had secured just for her.

"It doesn't seem to be infected yet," Tsumiki informed him as he joined her on the living room bedding, allowing her to look over the gashes on his legs.

Komaeda hissed as she swabbed the area on his right leg with alcohol. Somehow it stung more than the scissors.

"It's a nice smell… isn't it?" Tsumiki asked with a pleased smile, gently waving the bottle of rubbing alcohol under his nose, as if she were working the floor in a high-end perfume store.

He turned his head as far to the side as he could without offending her feelings. The bottle smelled like the last hospital he had been admitted to for his condition, back before the world had ended. "Sure…"

Komaeda watched as the nurse deftly wrapped fresh, white bandages around each of his thighs, first one then the other, round and round, like ribbons on a maypole.

"Thank you, Tsumiki-san." Komaeda smiled. "I feel better already."

He began to lift up the covers, preparing to turn into bed, however Tsumiki grabbed onto his left wrist, eyeing the attached hand with the same hungry look as when he had first arrived earlier that evening.

"Y-you promised…" She was practically drooling.

Wordlessly, he acquiesced, pulling off the striped mitten to reveal the apple-red claws that had once belonged to Enoshima Junko. Still kneeling on the floor, he held the hand out for her, a sinister prince in a hospital gown.

The hand soon found a place within hers, fingers intertwining until morning.

End part one