"Hmm…" she said aloud to no one in particular. At the moment, she was currently alone in her dorm room at the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy. She began mindlessly twirling her blonde hair as she thought about what she was going to do. She was formulating a plan. While she paced around the room, she giggled to herself as the ideas came to her, and giggled even more when she realized that they weren't going to work. She had been thinking about this for a while. Days had turned to weeks and weeks had turned to months, but she still was unsure about how to create what she desired. She had known what she wanted to do, but was still clueless about how to implement it exactly. Her goal, her mission, her purpose: despair. She wanted to spread despair. She needed to spread despair. It was as if the entire nature of her being cried out to be surrounded and immersed in despair. She had been thinking about this for so long that she began to feel that an idea was not going to come to her. And this excited her. The thought that she would not be able to fill the world with the delicious despair she craved filled her with a despair of her own. And she relished it. In some way, the hopelessness she felt spurred her on, drove her to keep going. In order to spread despair, she would do whatever it took.

"You're still at this?" A voice interrupted her thoughts. "I'm surprised you haven't thought of something yet. You're normally very prompt when thinking of ways to bring despair."

"Please, sister," she replied. "None of the stuff we've done before will even compare to what we're gonna do! Of course I'm gonna think long and hard about this!" Her was response was bridled, irritated that her sister did not seem to grasp the scale of the task before them.

"You have been awake for the past eighty-six hours."

"Well I'm having to think for the both of us, aren't I? I know you certainly aren't going to help in that regard."

"You are going to collapse from exhaustion."

"Good. Maybe I'll think of the perfect idea that way." Her sister simply shook her head.

"Our classes begin in six hours. At least get enough rest so you don't accidentally ruin everything you've worked for."

"But how great would that be?" She practically yelled. Drool began to leak from her mouth as she started to sweat. "Everything I've worked for, everything I've devoted my life to, crumbling before me because I tried to come up with the perfect plan, that I accidentally out everything I've done…" Her imagination running wild on this point, she gave a sensual sigh.

"...You look like you've got a fever. You really should rest." And without another word, her sister left.

"What a disappointment my sister is…" she mused with a sigh. "She just cannot see the bigger picture." Regardless of her thoughts on the matter, her sister's words had reminded her of just how tired she currently was. Dejectedly, she lay down on her bed. "Another weekend passed without a despairingly perfect idea," she mumbled, trying to stave off her sleep deprivation. She was not happy that she was progressingly this slowly. Coming up with the perfect way to spread the Ultimate Despair was not as easy as spreading despair to a handful of people at a time. This Despair that she wanted to give, wanted to permeate the world with, needed to be the greatest despair that anyone alive had felt in their entire lives. Still lost in thought, she didn't notice her eyes forcing themselves closed. She wanted this Despair to be so perfect, so complete, that all vestiges of hope would be erased from the world, never to return. She continued to think, trying to come up with the way to spread this Ultimate Despair, her consciousness quickly drifting away from her. No matter how long it took, she would come up with a way to make the world feel the despair she wished for them to feel. That same despair that she desired to feel. Absolute, Soul-Crushing, Endless, Hopeless, Bleak, Despair.

She quickly got up. It didn't matter to her what her sister said. She had a mission, a duty to spread this wonderful despair to everyone, and she wasn't going to let a little tiredness get in the way. As she brought herself to her feet, it only took a second for her to notice that the entire world around her had been completely drained of color.

"...I fall asleep and my sister decides to paint our room? She really could not be any more disappointing than she is."

"Actually, that was me." She looked around. The voice that spoke was not familiar to her at all. Unlike the usually jovial voices of her classmates or the cold voice of her sister, this voice had a sinister tone, yet simultaneously like it treated everything as a joke. She scanned her room, yet failed to find the source of voice. "Hey, up here," she felt something solid tapping against her head. Tilting her head up, what she saw only confused her. Directly above her, was a floating golden triangle with a single, giant eyeball and arms and legs that were more akin to sticks than actual appendages. He also wore what appeared to be a top hat and a bow tie, and held a black cane. "The name's Bill Cipher, and you, little missy, are in luck today!" Whenever the triangle 'spoke' it glowed to the rhythm of its speech.

"Bill Cipher?" She repeated.

"That's my name, don't wear it out! Just kidding, you don't have nearly enough mouths for that!" It chuckled. "Anyway, I'm here because it seems you've got a little problem. You just can't seem to figure out how to give that delicious despair to literally all of mankind! See, I can help you with that!"

"Oh?" This got her attention. "Is that right?"

"Totally! See, I know all of the things that people fear the most and can definitely get any one of them to give in to despair."

"Really?"

"Sure! You know that Toko chick down the hall? Ha, totally a serial killer!"

"That's what you were going to say? That's not useful if I already know it…"

"But that's not it," it said with a wag of a finger. Let's take a quick look, shall we?" With a spin of his cane, the ceiling of her room began showing a video of Toko Fukawa, the girl in question, sleeping rather unrestfully. "Little do the rest of you know, she actually keeps a detailed account of all the murders she committed. Here, take a look!" The triangle extended its arm onto the ceiling. Instead of touching what should have been a solid surface, it reached into the Toko's room and retrieved a thick, leather bound book from inside of her pajamas. It opened the book to a random page and tossed it to her. "She even scrapbooks the guys' testicles! That chick is a riot!" Sure enough, the pages of the book listed a detailed events of the murder of a student named Junpei Iori from a first person perspective. Just as Bill said, there was a picture of him, with a pocket that presumably contained his testicles. "It would be a real shame if someone were to… accidentally stumble upon this, and just happen to show it to everyone, having irrefutable proof of a first class murderer. I'm sure that person would get totally crushed by despair!" Her imagination was running wild. She could almost taste the despair this would bring Toko. It gave her a sick feeling of delight. But, as delicious as this prospect of despair was, one question still nagged at her mind.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Hey, come on! We both want the same thing here! You want to bring Ultimate Despair to everyone, and I want to bring Ultimate Despair to a couple of people who've been a thorn in my side! It's a win win! I'll give you everything you need to bring about your Despair and give you all you need to spread it whenever you want, and all you gotta do is make sure that some kids I know experience the full brunt of that Despair, so that they'll never even think about anything else again! So what do you say, Junko?" His hand became engulfed in a blue fire. "Deal?"

Everything she would need to bring about the Ultimate Despair she desired to the entire world, offered to her only by making sure that it spread to a few, specific people. The mere thought of it caused her heart to race with excitement.

"...No deal."

"Great! Just shake my hand and… WHAT?" the triangle's color shifted to a demonic red as it screamed in denial. "What do you mean 'no deal!' I just offered you everything you wanted!"

"That'd be too easy," she replied. "How can I experience my own despair if everything is just going to go according to plan? That wouldn't be the true Ultimate Despair." The triangle returned to its original golden hue.

"...You're a weird kid. I like you," it said with a chuckle. "Tell you what, I'll give you the perfect idea, and you can implement it to bring your Ultimate Despair however you want and whenever you want. I only ask that you be open to doing me a little… favor… sometime in the future. Deal?" His hand was covered by the same blue fire as before.

"Deal," she replied. She shook his flaming hand, and the same fire painlessly engulfed her body.

"Good luck to ya, toots. And remember, I'll be watching you…"

Junko awoke to the sound of an alarm next to her. She turned it off. She couldn't afford to skip classes today. She had finally come up with her plan to spread the Ultimate Despair. And it would start right in Hope's Peak Academy.


What is this.