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Akane Owari wasn't stupid. Not really, at least.
Well, okay, she wasn't good at like, math and shit. Every time Kazuichi mentioned something about cars, it felt like it was in one ear and out the other. And Hajime was way better at putting puzzle pieces together. That stuff she was pretty ass at.
But that didn't really matter to her. Her priorities were food, water, shelter, all to provide for her family.
So no, she wasn't stupid. Not about the important stuff.
~
It didn't take Akane too long to figure out why her mom asked her to unbutton the top of her shirt when she started working. Pervs all across town would ogle her when she did something as innocuous as walk to the restaurant.
She knew it was something she'd have to keep doing when the tips customers left started multiplying. It was incredible, really. In one night, she made enough just in tips to buy groceries for the week, easy.
She didn't appreciate how handsy some customers got, though. Their palms were sweaty, rough. Wandering. Just when she thought she had gotten used to the probing eyes.
But it didn't matter. Food, water, shelter, family. That's what mattered. She could grit her teeth and stomach the discomfort.
Aside from that, she noticed no other 12 year-olds were working at the restaurant. That was weird.
Whatever. Wasn't important.
Food, water, shelter. Family.
She wasn't stupid about the things that mattered
~
Akane didn't have to be a genius to figure out how much more she could be making as a professional gymnast. She hated the stuff, but hey, it beats greasy businessmen trying to motorboat her. It wasn't even hard to do it! Reporters kept saying she was breaking records left and right. Normally if she was moving that much she'd be breaking laws instead, evading cops while nicking things from the nearby gas station.
She wasn't happy about how she got involved in it; a particularly handsy customer at her last job kept offering to be her coach and that she'd look great in a leotard. Creep.
But she couldn't argue with the results it got her. Everyone's eyes were still on her, sure, but most of them were hemming and hawing and jotting stuff down in comically small notepads. Seriously, she could just get paid to move around like this?
She was making bank. Her parents took that as a sign they didn't have to work as much, but for now, it didn't matter. Everyone had enough to eat, and the damn roof didn't leak every night during rainy season.
Pretty soon, her paycheck became the only one in the house.
She supposed it made sense. She was making so much that the checks coming in from her supposed guardians didn't amount to much. But it meant everyone relied on her.
That was… a lot.
Akane freaked out when she thought she had broken her leg during a particularly challenging tumble. The doctor had assured her it was just a sprain, and she'd be okay after a week, but it sent her into a spiral.
What if something happens to me?
If she couldn't work, then she wouldn't eat. Her family wouldn't eat. They wouldn't be able to make rent. Back to the seedy part of town. Back to…
She grit her teeth and stomached it. The sprain was a minor setback and a wakeup call. She had to be strong. No one else was going to.
Food. Water. Shelter. Family.
She wasn't stupid about the things that mattered.
~
Admittedly, Akane couldn't tell why everyone looked at her like that when she talked about her childhood.
Hajime would occasionally find her on Jabberwock and ask to hang out. No biggie. He put up with her antics, and he was decent enough company. But she couldn't crack that horrified expression he gave when she discussed her restaurant job.
"That's horrible!" Hajime would say. As would Coach, and Sonia, and Mahiru, and basically everyone else. Even Nagito gave her a weird look when she said it, which was kind of embarrassing.
She always just tilted her head and shrugged. "Part of the job," she'd say. "Just how things were."
No explanation she gave was enough for them. They all looked at her with - what the fuck, was that pity? That's dumb. That was a while ago anyway. Who cared?
Actually, most of her experience on Jabberwock Island was pretty unpleasant.
Okay they all had a bad time in a killing game. But something about the trials… Akane knew she was in a life or death situation. Several times over, even. But she just couldn't think about these murders like the rest of them could. She couldn't put together evidence and point to a culprit.
Nekomaru died because of her recklessness. She wasn't thinking clearly when she fought Monokuma. She just wanted to get off that island. She needed to get back to her family.
It wasn't enough. Coach took a killing blow for her.
Then he died again, somehow.
She really put her all into figuring that one out, too. But it didn't matter. She got hung up on some pillar while Hajime was figuring out how the elevator worked. All that effort she put into avenging Coach, but it didn't matter. She didn't matter.
Life or death before all this was easy.
Food. Water. Shelter. Family.
She wasn't stupid about the things that mattered.
She wasn't…
~
It happens when she's messing around with Sonia.
The five of them - the few who had initially made it out of the rehabilitation program - are hanging on the beach that evening. A few jokes between Akane and Sonia turns into flirty banter, turns into a few kisses, turns into Sonia leading the gymnast back to her cabin.
Sonia flops down on the bed, giggling as Akane kisses her neck and makes her way down.
Truth be told, Akane doesn't really know how sex works. She's working off the scripts Sonia would rattle off when talking about all those romance books she read. But hey, Sonia is enjoying it! And Akane can't deny she's having fun herself.
"Rip my shirt off," Sonia whispers into her ear.
Akane at this point is going a bit into mental overload. When a cute girl tells you to rip her shirt off, there isn't much to do.
God, this is so much better than that restaurant.
She reaches her hand under Sonia's shirt and peels it off. She drinks in Sonia's form, goosebumps forming as her skin is exposed to the cool air. Sonia's smile never wavers.
She's beautiful.
Akane reaches her hands up and gropes one of Sonia's breasts. Not too hard, she knows that much. Sonia squeaks, but the smile remains. So far, so good.
Akane looks at her arm. She's sweating from the heat earlier.
She's also… greasy?
Was her arm always that pale? That hairy?
Does she look like…?
The next thing Akane remembers was groaning from a headache. She is on Sonia's floor. Well, wood is softer than stone, at least. She's been there before.
"Akane?" Sonia peers over the end of the bed. "You look like you've seen a ghost. You just jumped back and-"
"Ghost?" Akane blurts. "No, I'm - it's fine. I'm fine."
Worry washes over the princess' face. "Forgive me, Akane, but you seem rather frightened. Would you prefer we-?"
Frightened. Scared.
Coward.
IDIOT!
Akane scrambles to her feet and bolts.
She barely remembers the walk to her cabin. It's bare, just a few cans littering the floor in front of her and a mattress on the floor.
She goes to the bathroom and stares at herself.
It's Akane Owari. A little gaunt from the simulation, but still.
The light shifts, just slightly. For a split second, Akane sees in the mirror every old customer, that awful manager, that uncle who got too handsy when he was drunk.
She does not want to see that again. She punches the mirror, hard. It shatters into a million pieces that can't scare her ever again.
Ah shit, she's bleeding.
Knuckles are fucked up, that's for sure. Hand hurts like a bitch. Won't be moving that one for a while.
And in the reflections of the shattered mirror, Akane Owari sees herself, a dozen times over.
Coward.
Idiot.
Failure.
Not enough.
Never enough.
In one shard, she faintly notices Fuyuhiko coming through her door. "I heard something break, is-?" He spots the bloodied mirror. "Hajime! Grab a first aid kit!"
Footsteps. Akane barely hears it. She's on her knees, staring at her own mangled hand.
Her thoughts are hazy as Kazuichi slowly guides her back to Sonia's cabin. Hajime sits her up straight and takes a look at her hand. In a moment, he's applying some ointment and wrapping her in gauze. Sonia has a comforting hand on her. Not anywhere bad, just her shoulder. Fuyuhiko is looking at her bathroom, saying he knows how to clean up bloodstains.
She faintly hears Sonia telling her that they will be staying with her tonight. She says that Akane is safe.
Akane doesn't get it. She's the strong one. She protects other people. Does Sonia think she's weak?
…is she weak?
It's all too much. For the first time in what feels like forever, Akane Owari really lets herself cry. Cry about the restaurant. Cry about being the breadwinner. About Nekomaru's death. The killing game.
For the first time, Akane allows herself to feel like she doesn't know what she's doing.
Akane Owari is afraid.
~
Akane wakes in the middle of the night with both Sonia and Hajime in bed with her She would be startled were she not so exhausted.
Fuyuhiko is sitting backwards in a desk chair, snoring. While she can't see him, Kazuichi is passed out at the foot of the bed.
Her skin is irritated from where the tears fell across her cheeks. She doesn't think she could cry anymore after that.
She would, in time.
She doesn't know what's going to happen to them. Technically enemies of the state or something. Living on this island, where no one knows they're still alive and ostensibly better.
She looks to Sonia, who has her arms wrapped around her midsection.
She looks to Hajime. He looks like he was trying to sit up straight and stay alert but fell asleep partway through. Kinda cute.
Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi stayed with her too, after all that. They're here for her. They're putting the work in. She wouldn't be doing this alone.
Akane realizes she's shaking a bit. She may have still been crying. This is… this is terrifying. Accepting that isn't easy, but she does it. That is its own kind of strength.
Breathe, Akane.
Food: check. Their reserves would not run out anytime soon, and there are plenty of fish in the surrounding waters.
Water: check. Some of the streams have drinkable water. They gather enough for the five of them and for everyone else in the stasis chambers.
Shelter: check. Currently she is in a building with no holes in it.
Family:
…
Check.
She isn't stupid about the things that matter.