Danganronpa – The Moment

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A/N: Oh shit, a new portal XD Hello new friends! I'm known for Persona stuff but I thought I'd spread my oats over here for once, so yeah :) So I've been wanting to do a Danganronpa thing since forever but couldn't. Just didn't get inspired for some reason. It's *soo* hard to write romance in this place when you work in a Non-Despair setting for so long XD I thought this would be bittersweet, however. So this is a thing that I wrote XD I know it's not that long, but for a first attempt into this portal, I'm happy with it :D Apologies for any OOCness. My first time writing these nerds (Espeically Mukuro, who's character isn't really explored :P) For the record, because I know some people get antsy about it, I go by how the English Translation does things (First name/Last Name) with occasional honorifics. Why? Dunno. I prefer dubs but that's just me :) For the record, I don't normally ship Makoto/Kyoko but for the purposes of this story, I do. My actual ship with Makoto wouldn't work here XD Regardless, enjoy :)

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Junko Enoshima's plan was on.

Everything was in place. The necessary people were dead, the rooms were set, the motives were secure and Monokuma was working perfectly. All that remained was to wipe the memories of her classmates. Save one of course.

Her sister, Mukuro Ikusaba would be spared that particular injustice. Planted as a sleeper agent among her "friends", with the instruction to kill somebody if none of them would. At least that's what she told her raven-haired sister. Her actual plan for Mukuro was much more insidious… But she didn't need to know any of that.

For now, the two of them were in the Science Lab. Mukuro's friends (For lack of a better term) were all strapped into the machine, device's strapped on their heads. Junko was sat at a console, sifting through their memories. Her expression and level of excitement kept changing, but Mukuro was used to that by this point. She just sat, watching the people she'd been around for two years. Honestly, most of them she didn't really give a damn about. She kept her eyes on Sakura, just in case she had to take her down, but outside of that, almost none of the students had been worth paying any attention to.

All save the chestnut haired, lucky student, obviously.

Mukuro had been drawn to Makoto Naegi since the first day of classes. She remembered their first encounter with such clarity that she ran it through her head like it were a video. He had just finished introducing himself to the class. She was looking out of the window disinterestedly. Just by chance however, she turned her head as he passed her to sit back down. As they locked eyes, she did something nobody had ever done to her before.

He smiled.

Well, that wasn't strictly true. People had smiled at her before. Junko, leaders of Fenrir and so on. However, they were always doing it because of something that Mukuro had done or to get her to do something. Makoto however just smiled at her, for no reason whatsoever. A simple gesture, to almost everyone else but to the battle hardened Ultimate Soldier it resonated with her to her very core… No, to her heart.

Perhaps that's when the teeniest, tiniest light of hope flickered to life in Mukuro's despair filled heart.

"God, it just makes me so fuckin' sick!" Junko shouted from her seat in front of the large console, snapping her older sister out of her nostalgia.

"What does?" Mukuro asked, taking a position behind her sister, peering over her shoulder towards the console.

"These memories…" Junk said, her tone shifting to a disinterested one. "They're so full of hope…"

"Just a bit longer, Junko" Mukuro narrowed her eyes at what she saw on the console. Clearly, Junko had been looking through all of the Idiot Swimmer girl's memories. So much time spent in the pool… "How many more"

"Two!" Junko exclaimed, her voice becoming more adorable. "The detective girl and that boy you like"

If Mukuro were the blushing type, no doubt her face would be tinged red right now. Nobody knew of Mukuro's attraction to Makoto. Except Junko, obviously. Nothing got past Mukuro's sister.

Speaking of the Ultimate Fashionista, something was burning in her eyes, unbeknownst to her sister. Something wicked. Something cruel.

Something Despair-Inducing.

Junko always had a knack for this sort of thing. Junko basically was despair. She could whip it up right on the spot with comparatively little effort.

"Hey, Mukuro?" Junko asked, her tone returning to the disinterested one.

"Hmm?"

"I'm tired…" Junko sounded downright miserable now. Mukuro could have sworn that she saw mushrooms growing out of the top of her sister's head as well… "Can you take over?"

"Of course" Mukuro nodded. Junko simply grinned wickedly as they traded places. She could always rely on her sister. The perfect soldier, always willing to take orders. This conveniently worked in Junko's favour. Being so good at taking orders made her the perfect puppet, so easy to manipulate.

"Just go ahead and start throwing away her memories! Boop, Boop, Boop! And they're gone just like that!" Junko enthused, swiping away video files (For lack of a better word) into the mouth of a large digital Monokuma in the top right of the screen.

Mukuro did as she was asked, removing some of The Ultimate Detective's memories. Most of them seemed to be fairly benign things. Some writing in a pocketbook, some talking in class to "friends" (Mukuro knew well that Kyoko was just as much of an outsider as her, just in a different vein). However, one stood out to her. The still showed an image of Makoto. Her Makoto… And he was laughing at something…

Out of morbid curiosity, instead of casting the memory aside, Mukuro tapped on it to open it… What displayed was something she really didn't want to see…

The image was a place she was familiar with. Hope's Peak academy. Specifically, the rooftop where she often ate, alone. There were several reasons for this. One of which was that it was a strategic strong point. If the school were ever invaded, she could use it as a sniper's perch. The main reason, however was that it was quiet, away from the students of the school. She could simply be alone inside her own head, just the way she liked.

However, Makoto and Kyoko were sitting there (on the small bench that Mukuro herself always sat on) laughing. Makoto was letting out roars of raucous laughter in the way he so often did (Mukuro very almost cracked a smile at that. She loved the way he laughed. It was like he was saying "Damn you" to the entire world…). Kyoko, however was only giggling slightly. It was odd, all Mukuro saw was the "camera" bobbing up and down and heard the Ultimate Detective's tittering. It made sense considering the "camera" in this instance was Kyoko's eyes but even so, it took some getting used to.

"Hey, Kyoko…" Makoto said after his laughter died down, his voice coming out of the tinny speakers on the monitor.

"Hmm?" Kyoko responded.

"Um… I kind of want to tell you something…" he said. His face was red, his pupils were dilated and he was looking away from the camera (Which in this case would be Kyoko's eyes).

"What could he possibly want to tell me?" Kyoko asked, seemingly bewildered.

Mukuro shared this bewilderment. Why was she now referring to Makoto like he wasn't even there?

"The machine probes the memory of the subject" said Junko, behind Mukuro, now wearing a pair of slim-framed glasses. "What you are hearing now is Kyoko's inner thoughts. Hopefully you should be able to differentiate between that and her external monologue"

"What is it, Makoto?" Kyoko asked, the camera subtly bobbing as she did so.

"Um… It's kind of embarrassing but…"

Oh god.

Mukuro knew what he was about to say. Of course she did, look at him. That was not the face of a boy about to tell his friend another hilarious joke or something.

It was the face of a boy about to confess his love…

"Since we get locked in tomorrow and everything, I kind of want to tell you now since we might never see the outside again…"

"Say it, Makoto" Kyoko said. That time, Mukuro had no idea if that were an internal thought or an external vocalisation. One was essentially telling him to spit it out. The other was an active hope that he would say what she was longing to hear.

"I kind of…" he started.

'Don't say it' Mukuro urged, in her mind. 'Please, Makoto… don't say it. Please..."

"Like you and stuff…" He said, looking at the camera, rubbing his the back of his neck and plastering his face with that trademark goofy smile.

Mukuro felt something in the pit of her stomach as she heard the words she'd always dreamed of hearing come out of the mouth of the man she'd always dreamed she'd hear those words from but to a girl that wasn't her.

It was a feeling that she'd known her entire life, a feeling that was almost welcome in her heart, even though she hated it.

Mukuro was feeling despair. No two ways about it.

"You say that like I don't already know" Kyoko giggled on the screen

"Huh?!" Makoto exclaimed, his face bulging in shock.

"I am the Ultimate Detective after all…" Kyoko said, trailing off.

Kyoko brought her hand to Makoto's face and rubbed his cheek with her thumb. "You're very sweet Makoto…" she said.

The camera began zooming in… or was Makoto's face moving closer to it? Either way, soon the image faded out… No, it was more like a black curtain was falling on it.

Mukuro didn't know what to think. A fit of rage was building inside of her. She quickly exited from the video clip and back to the nexus of files that was Kyoko's memory. Normally she'd be careful with something so precious, even if it belonged to someone she didn't really care for.

Mukuro, however, was not thinking clearly. Not after seeing that.

She started wantonly and quickly dragging files into the Monokuma on screen as it devoured them. As many as she could get her hands on. All the memories of Kyoko and Makoto together, gone and scrapped. Even the ones that took place before the event on the roof, gone. Mukuro started tearing at any mental thread she could touch. On the surface, she was like Ice, not showing a single emotion. Underneath, however, she was burning with rage. That is until she felt her sister's hand on her shoulder.

"Stop, Mukuro" Junko said, disinterestedly.

And Mukuro did as she was told. Her hands fell to her sides.

"Looks like you did more damage than you were supposed to… I don't think she even knows what her Ultimate Ability is anymore!" The adorable Junko said.

"That is so fuckin' metal, Mukuro! You just saved me a fuckin' mountain of trouble later on!"

"Thank you…" Mukuro said. Somehow, her sister's approval of her little outburst was enough. She felt justified doing what she had just done. Now she knew it was in the name of despair.

"Just one more student left…" Junko said… "Puhuhuhuhuhu!" She exclaimed, suddenly, now holding a Monokuma plushie up to her face. "You should do this one too, Mukuro!"

Mukuro simply froze at her sister's suggestion. She wanted her to wipe Makoto's memory? She couldn't, she loved Makoto! The only person to ever show her compassion or kindness and Junko wanted to rip all that away? Worse, she wanted Mukuro to do it?

"Mukuro…" Junko said one more time "We order you to destroy the memories of Makoto Naegi!" Junko yelled, in a mock British accent.

Mukuro flinched… Her training was screaming at her now from the back of her head. 'You were just given an order. Do as you are told, soldier. This is a war on Hope and that was an order from your commander. Do it'. At the same time, though, a teeny, tiny voice inside her heart said "Don't Mukuro. Save him. Get him out of here at the very least. Save Hope…"

Mukuro Ikusaba, however, was part of Ultimate Despair, she was Despair incarnate, just like her sister. So she knew what she had to do.

She snuffed out the light of hope inside her. Makoto never loved her as she loved him. That spark of hope would never flourish. It existed only to breed even more despair inside the Ultimate Soldier.

And then she did as she was commanded.

One by one, she poured through Makoto's memories and dragged them away, burning them forever. Not a single one from his time in Hope's Peak, or with her, was left standing. It was as good as killing him. She couldn't believe she was doing this to a man she loved. As she did this, tears streamed from her eyes… yet a smile was contorted across her face.

Once the task was done, she felt her sister embrace her from behind, pulling her in close.

"Mukuro… tell me how it feels. Tell me about the despair you feel in this moment. The despair of a lover scorned… Tell me…" Junko said. She was no longer putting on airs. She simply spoke in a normal voice, brushing her sister's hair with her free hand and whispering into her ear.

"It's... beautiful, Junko…" Mukuro said, still smiling and crying… "Thank you for letting me feel this level of pure despair…"

The two sisters simply sat there for a moment, in what was (to them) a loving embrace. One feeling despair, the other feeling it vicariously.

Neither Junko nor Mukuro would ever have it any other way.