UNEXPECTED INTRUSION IN THE PREVIOUS SCHOOL BUILDING OF HOPE'S PEAK ACADEMY, "THE SCHOOL OF HOPE.'
希望の学校の前身である「希望の学校」の予期せぬ侵入。
As she watched the events of the student council killing game through her monitors, Mukuro right by her side, Junko couldn't help but hug Monokuma gleefully as she watched the proceedings. All the despair, horror, and betrayal the Hope's Peak student council emitted as they brutally and desperately killed each other was so intoxicating! Her eyes were glued to the screen and she could feel her mouth salivating. It was just so unpredictable and enticing to watch.
However, what had to have been the greatest part for Junko was when the normally unflappable Izuru Kamakura displayed something resembling surprise. It all happened when the artificial Ultimate Hope was attacked by one of the last surviving members of the student council. From what she could see, the guy who attacked him and Shosun Murasame were the only ones that managed to live through the initial bout of carnage. Needless to say, Izuru was more than capable of sending his attacker flying and in a brutal display of irony, ended up getting messily decapitated by his own chainsaw. However, Izuru's surprise didn't come from this ghastly display. Rather, it came from when that same decapitated teenager somehow managed to shakily raise the pistol he had and fire a single bullet at the Ultimate Hope's head.
The bullet merely grazed Izuru's cheek, but Junko saw the way his eyes widened as clear as day. He was taken by surprise, and was subsequently intrigued by the idea of despair.
"I told you, Kamakura-senpai~, despair is Hope's complete opposite. It's messy and unpredictable, and it's the only thing that can save you." Junko said, her voice dripping with complete and utter glee.
"Tsk tsk tsk. So much potential, and yet here you are, squandering it on these trivial, miniscule games." A smooth, masculine voice said, sounding as though it was coming from right next to Junko. At the prospect of both her and her sister being snuck up on without either of them noticing, the Ultimate Analyst's eyes widened ever so slightly, a rare feeling of surprise welling up within her.
"What!?" Mukuro gasped, both her and Junko whipping their heads towards the source of the dangerously close voice, and what they saw was what could only be described as a very surreal human being.
The person in question was a man that looked to be in his mid thirties and was leaning against the wall next to the monitors. He had slicked back black hair that showed off a clear widows peak and possessed a face that could only be described as impish. However, what was far more eye-catching was his unnaturally pale skin, the exact same shade one would find on a piece of paper, and his ruby-red eyes. They were strikingly similar to Izuru's, however, a clear difference between the Ultimate Hope and this man's eyes was that while Izuru's indicated a clear apathy to the world and those around him, this strange man's red eyes indicated an unearthly malice.
With the man's strange and stand-out physical appearance in mind, it was only fitting that his suit complimented his otherworldy features. The man was wearing what could only be described as a seafoam green suit that had both the jacket collar and shirt collar popped up. In all honesty, Junko could say that she'd never seen a man with such a strange appearance before in her life, even within a school like Hope's Peak.
Altogether, the man's strange appearance, coupled with his red gaze gave him an otherworldly sense of danger that would strike fear and unease into the hearts of most people.
However, if there was one thing Junko Enoshima was feeling right now, it was anything but fear. It was something she hadn't felt in a long time. Intrigue.
"And just who are you to question my actions or my reasons behind them, you feeble mortal?" Junko demanded, slipping into an imperious tone as she addressed the seafoam green stranger. "And for that matter, just how did you manage to sneak into my throne room undetected by myself and my woeful sister?"
However, the man didn't answer her demands, instead, looking straight at her, his bright red eyes meeting her dull blue ones. Instead of answering, a small smirk began to grow on the man's face.
"If my sister asks you a question, then you would do well to answer them. Who are you? And how did you get in here without either of us noticing?" Mukuro stated coldly, leveling her pistol's sights at the strange intruder. Once again, the man didn't say anything, even with the threat of a gun being pointed straight at his head. Instead, the green-clad man's gaze slowly drifted towards the screens that had previously displayed the first killing game ever orchestrated, his small smirk still clear on his face.
"So, are you the one who orchestrated this little… recreational activity?" The man asked. However, judging by the nonchalance in his tone and how his Ruby eyes drifted across the various screens without the slightest hint of emotion towards all the carnage displayed on them, it was clear to see that he already knew the answer.
"Of course I did, freak show! Why do you think I was in here watching all that gory shit go down!? You think I work the security here or some dumb shit!?" Junko insulted happily. "And it was soooooo worth it! All the despair I just witnessed, seeing all those young lives and close-knit friends brutally murdering each other, the overwhelming despair on each screen! Ahhhhh~! It's a good thing I'm sitting because I'm sure I'd collapse from the sheer thought of it all! Life gets so boring when you can just analyse everything like I can, and despair is the only thing that never stops boring me~!"
"I'll admit, I can certainly relate. When you live as long as I have, life gets very boring very easily. Some chess games I play with an old friend of mine are really the only things that break up the monotony." The man stated after a moment, his gaze slowly drifting back towards Junko.
"Oh really~? You're saying you know how I feel?" Junko asked coyly, an overly cutesy smile on her face. "Y'know, it's not really polite to keep a girl guessing. Aren't you gonna tell me who you are? Maybe what you want with lil' ol' me?"
"I'm just a man that has his nation's best interests at heart." The main claimed smoothly. "I've come to you hoping that you'd be interested in assisting me. This country is a woeful caricature of what it once was, and I'm hoping to change that."
And like that, the playfulness in Junko's body faded away instantly, now being replaced with a dull, annoying sense of disappointment. Her cutesy smile left her in an instant, now replaced with a dull, annoyed expression.
"You're kidding me… All that buildup and mystery about who you are and what you want, the possibility that you actually know what I'm talking about… and it turns out you're some old fuckhead that gets his dick hard at the thought of Japanese prosperity? I can't even feel despair at such a letdown, just… disappointment." The disappointment was clear to hear in Junko's tone, and her face dropped almost instantly once the possibility of politics was brought up. Spinning her chair out of the man's direction, the blonde model looked through the screens once more, hoping to salvage some feeling of despair from this night after experiencing such disappointment.
"I can't even be bothered to look at you now with how much you've disappointed me. Muku, do me a favor and blow his brains out for me will ya? If I look at this green shitstain for another minute." Junko ordered dully, causing Mukuro to level her pistol's sights at the man once more, who's expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
"Of course, Junko." And as she looked towards the screens, a loud, ear-popping explosion filled the room. As Junko listened to the bullet casing fall to the floor, she assumed that the man was dead.
"I'm beginning to think Akiba was right. This generation really does lack patience." However, for the second time this night, this strange man once again surprised Junko.
"Huh?" Whipping her head back, Junko was honestly shocked to see the green-clad man completely unharmed, the look on his face resembling that of a parent scolding a child.
"Wha… H...how?" Was all Mukuro could manage to say, far less composed than her sister as she looked at the man's head, where the bullet should've gone straight through his brain. Instead, this surreal man somehow managed to defy the basic laws of reality itself by somehow grabbing the bullet out of midair. Indeed, just as Mukuro pulled the trigger, the man's right hand whipped upward at an inhuman speed and literally caught the bullet before it could connect with his head. What was even more bewildering was how his right hand began to emit a light once he stopped the bullet.
Letting the bullet drop to the floor with a *Clink,* the man once again set his gaze on Junko, smirk still clear on his face.
"Perhaps a small demonstration of what I have in mind could stop that impulsiveness of yours." The man offered before looking towards Mukuro and once again defying the laws of reality. Once second, the man was across the room from Mukuro, and the next, she found him only a foot away from her. Mukuro didn't even have any time to convey her shock before the man suddenly slammed his shining palm straight into the soldier's face, fingers wrapping around her head tightly.
"MFH!?" Came Mukuro's muffled gasp, releasing her pistol as a strange sensation invaded her body for a split second, rendering her stunned. Once she regained control of her body, however, she immediately locked both her hands around the man's deathly white wrists, trying to pry his hand off her face. However, the man's grip was surprisingly iron-clad, and it took everything in Mukuro's power to just pry the man's shining hand away from her face. And even then, as Mukuro forced his grip off her and backed away, gasping for breath, the calm, collected smirk on the man's face indicated that the only reason she got away from him was because he let her. Infuriated by the calm smirk, Mukuro drew her combat knife and pointed it and the enigmatic intruder.
"Enough of this! Just who are you!? How are you doing this!? And what…! what do you… heh…" Before Mukuro could finish her demands, however, her body began to start tingling. Running her free hand down her face, she attempted to focus.
"What do you… hehe… what do you want with hehehaha…!" However, despite trying her damndest to remain focused, giggles kept pouring out of her mouth. To make matters worse, the tingling radiating throughout her body was starting to feel really good. No, good wasn't the right word for it. It was causing her body to feel completely euphoric. Like a steady stream of ecstasy was flowing into her bloodstream.
"Oh… oh godhehehe! I can't stop hehe-! I can't stop laughiheheheh!" As this disturbing display continued, Junko once again hugged Monokuma as she intently watched her sister fall to her knees, continuing to convulse with laughter.
Soon enough, Mukuro fell on her back, her giggling turning into full-blown laughter that was growing more and more hysteric by the minute. "Something… hahaha! Something's happenihihihiha! Happening to my bodEHEHEHE! Make it stophahaha! MAKE IT STOP PLEASEHAhAhaHAhaAHAahAHaHA!"
As the Ultimate Soldier screamed out that last part, her eyes shot open and stared wide-eyed at the ceiling before desperately looking around the room for Junko. When she finally saw her watching sister, the Ultimate Analyst saw something truly disturbing in Mukuro's eyes. They had changed completely. Her sclera was now dark red and her irises were now a shade of white shining amid the darkness of her sclera. However, despite the unnatural change that occurred to her eyes and the horrific insanity they now harbored, for a split second, Junko saw sanity return to her sister's eyes, and for that split second of lucidity, she saw that fear had completely overtaken her sister. Her eyes conveyed, terror, confusion, and complete and utter fear that she had never seen on her normally stoic sister before. However, what she saw most prominently was the silent, desperate plead in her eyes that Junko help her beloved big sister, that she save her from whatever horrific process her mind and body was undergoing. It all contrasted so much with that disturbing, unnatural smile that had been slowly growing on her face since she started laughing.
However, Junko did nothing. Instead, watching with lit up, curious eyes as she abandoned her sister to whatever horrific fate this man somehow bestowed upon her. Upon seeing her sister do nothing to help her, tears ran down Mukuro's face before the madness returned to her eyes and her laughter grew even more hysterical.
Mukuro's insane laughter continued for what felt like an eternity as Junko and her unprecedented guest watched her convulse on the ground, her laughter not fading in the slightest despite how her throat should've just dried out by now. However, it all soon came to an abrupt end as Mukuro suddenly stopped laughing and convulsing and simply collapsed
"...what did you do to her?" Junko was the one to finally break the silence, her body trembling and her voice dripping with emotion. However, if one were to yank Monokuma away from her mouth, then they would not see a horrified expression on the blonde model's face, but rather an ear-splitting smile rivaling the one that was now etched onto her catatonic sister's face.
"I have been chosen..." Her answer came from Mukuro, who was still lying on the floor with that ear-splitting smile on her face.
*CRK! CRACK!* Suddenly, Mukuro rose back to her feet before she began to twist her limbs in ways that caused her joints and bones to crack sickeningly, seemingly to test them out. When she was done with that nauseating process, Mukuro's gaze drifted to the green-clad man, who she gave a look of utter reverence.
"Go. You know what you must do." The man stated simply, looking towards a security monitor that featured Izuru walking down one of the school building's hallways on the 2nd floor. Judging by the direction he was going in, he was apparently going to go see Junko.
*CRACK!* "Hihihihi….!" In response to this order, Mukuro suddenly leaped up and latched herself onto the ceiling of the room on all fours, giggling maniacally all the while. As soon as she was stuck to the ceiling, Mukuro promptly crawled towards the room's exist, still giggling the entire time. Junko could only watch the proceedings with bated breath, absolutely delighted by the feeling of having no idea as to what was going on.
"You said you enjoyed the sight of unpredictability and chaos, correct?" "If that's truly what you desire, then please, keep your eyes on the monitors and enjoy the show."
With no reason to object, Junko's eyes drifted towards the monitor once more.
Izuru Kamakura was currently walking through the quiet hallways of the old school building's 2nd floor, slowly making his way up each floor with the intention of meeting with Enoshima in the security room. After experiencing the first mutual killing game in history and experiencing surprise for the first time in his life (Which was not admittedly very long), he had to admit, he was slightly intrigued by the insane girl's constant rambling about despair and how it was his 'salvation.' She had Izuru's attention now, he'd give her that much.
"H****a**e…*
However, Izuru paused when he heard something within the distance . Even with his enhanced hearing, it was difficult to make out, but what he heard sounded faintly like… laughter.
'It must be another one of Enoshima's tricks…'
After a moment of contemplating whether he should just continue towards the security room or track down the source of the noise, he decided to perform the latter. After what he just experienced, Izuru couldn't deny that his interest was… piqued at the concept of Enoshima having another 'surprise' in store for him, and so, without any hesitation, Izuru began to follow the sounds of laughter coming from this hall, listening as the noises got slowly got louder and louder as he continued.
"..." Eventually, Izuru found himself in standing another eerily lit hallway, his neutral expression haven't changed in the slightest since his brief bout of surprise when that bullet managed to graze him.
"...The laughter was just coming from within this hallway, and it sounded distinctly like a woman's…" Izuru thought aloud as his ruby-red eyes scanned the hallway. Unlike the other areas within the school building, this one was left utterly unscathed from the chaos Enoshima caused this night. Because of this, it made the fact that this laughter came from here all the more eerie.
"Hihihaha!" And for the second time this night, Izuru was once again taken by surprise when he heard shrill feminine giggling from across the hallway and from the ceiling. Eyes widening once more, the artificial Ultimate Hope's eyes looked towards the source of the laughter, and what he saw was utterly perplexing.
Hanging from the ceiling on all fours, her limbs contorting in ways no normal human's should, was Mukuro Ikusaba, Enoshima's sister.
"Hehe!" Eyes still slightly wide in surprise, Izuru watched as the Ultimate Soldier suddenly plopped down from the ceiling with another giggle, falling to the floor with a lack of grace that just didn't seem natural coming from the Ultimate Soldier. Izuru could only stare, stock still, as Ikusaba laid on the floor for a brief moment, her splayed out body resembling a fallen marionette.
*Crk! CRAAAACK!* It was short lived however, for Ikusaba's limbs began to move once more, bending in ways that caused her joints and bones to crack sickeningly, until she found herself on all fours and began to start crawling towards Izuru.
"Something… something's wrong with you…" As Izuru made this observation, his attention was drawn to the smile on Ikusaba's face… No, calling it a smile would be underselling it. It was too unnatural, too forced and disturbing to be considered a genuine smile. The ear-splitting, toothy expression on the now-compromised Ultimate Soldier's face could only be classified as a rictus grin.
"AGEANEWORDERTOTHISCHILDRENGENERATIONWILLORDERNEWTOTHISCHILDRENAGE-" Mukuro, however, paid Izuru's words no mind, continuing to crawl towards him while muttering jumbled together words that sounded like complete gibberish to the naked ear. As he watched this disturbing display, Izuru unconsciously took a step back from the advancing girl, a foreign sense of unease beginning to churn up in his gut.
"...Enoshima must have done… something to your body." As his enhanced mind began to rake through possibilities as to what might've happened to Mukuro Ikusaba since the last several minutes since they saw each other. Everything about the black-haired soldier radiated a disturbing sense of danger and unease.
As the Ultimate Hope engineered by Hope's Peak, that of course meant he had every talent imaginable, even talents that could be considered… outlandish by the general public. These talents included that of the Ultimate Clairvoyant, Ultimate Psychic, Ultimate Telepath and so forth.
With this in mind, the idea that something supernatural happened to Ikusaba crossed Izuru's mind. It was an outlandish idea that many people would consider insane, but when you have the talents of multiple eccentrics that were the best in their field imbedded into your mind, your suspension of disbelief is was quite open.
With that in mind, continuing to back away from the crawling soldier, the ultimate Hope used his third eye to see through whatever supernatural illusion surrounded Ikusaba's body. However, what Izuru saw was something that brought forth emotions he didn't realize he still had, such as disgust, horror, and above all else, surprise. As the illusion around her was cleared, Izuru found himself frozen in shock.
Hehahahahah!Hehehehe!hahahaahaa!" The being that was crawling in front of him, now getting dangerously close to his feet was not Mukuro Ikusaba, at least not anymore. Now that he could see through the illusion placed around it, Izuru could see this abomination for what it really was. Crawling towards him was a misshapen, oddly colored humanoid creature that was peering into his soul with bright-white pincushion eyes and featured a literally ear splitting grin that showed off it's many, shark-like teeth. Everything about this giggling, misshapen monster crawling towards him indicated nothing but a lack of humanity and invoked a primal sense of fear in most human beings.
"Wha… What is this-!?" Unfortunately, Izuru's rare bout of emotions upon seeing this horrific creature left him frozen in shock, giving it ample time to act. Flopping up, the misshapen humanoid wrapped it's arms around Izuru's body before it engulfed him in an explosion of fire and pain.
"BA-HaHAhAHAhaHAHhHAHhHAhA!"*BOOOOM!*
And just like that, the being that was once Mukuro Ikusaba blew itself to smithereens. Upon finally wrapping itself around Izuru's body, the creature literally blew itself up through use of the bomb organ inside it's body. Despite this, the young man that was once Hajime Hinata was still standing, although he wasn't in very good shape. The explosion left his entire body covered in deep lacerations, causing his neon pink blood to start oozing out of his body. His suit was also left in tatters. The jacket being left incinerated in the explosion and his dress suit having been singed and torn up in various parts.
"H… How...? What-!?" Was all Izuru could groan out before he collapsed face-first to the floor. He wasn't dead, of course, it would take more than a mere explosion to kill him after everything Hope's Peak did to his body. But that explosion still injured him. Badly.
Thanks to his enhanced body, he would regain consciousness sooner rather than later and escape the building before the Hope's Peak officials would come to investigate, but until then, he was left unconscious and injured in that school building filled with blood and death.
Back within the security room, Junko's eyes had been glued to the monitor as she watched what was once her sister attempt to apparently suicide bomb Izuru, her red-eyed guest looming behind her the entire time, smirking all the while.
"She… she's dead! You killed my sister…!" Was all Junko could manage to say, her mouth beginning to salivate and her eyes now swirling in on themselves, resembling a cartoon character that had been hypnotized.
"Ahhhhhhh~! My sister's dead… she's dead and the despair I'm feeling is so overwhelming! I didn't even get to kill her myself like I planned to! Auuuwww! This cocktail of despair, confusion, and fear I'm feeling is so wonderfully intoxicating~!" Junko gushed out, shaking with utter ecstasy before she looked towards the man once more, her formerly dull eyes now alight with curiosity and delight.
"So is that what you're gonna do to me? Turn me into some laughing freak and blow someone up? Oooooh! Maybe you want me to finish off Kamakura-senpai!? How despair-inducing! Killed in such a strange fashion without being able to enact my plans or understand just what you are!"
"Not at all. I have something far more grandiose in mind for you. All I'm going to do is snuff out that little obsession of yours and replace it with clarity of purpose." Junko's manic smile remained on her for another moment before the implications of what this man just said just sank in for her. Somehow, he was going to use that shining hand of his to get rid of her reverence of causing and feeling despair, something that completely terrified Junko. As the man's hand began to shine once more, his smirk growing more sinister, a look of terror began to grow on Junko's face
"STOP-!" But it was too late, before Junko could protest, run, or try to stab the man with her knife, the man clamped his right hand around the back of her neck. The blonde analyst could only let out a few muted gasp before her eyes widened and her vision began to blur.
And just as soon as it began, it ended. After another brief moment, the man relinquished his grip on Junko and his hand stopped shining. The look of terror that had been on Junko's face had completely vanished, now replaced with a completely calm expression that fit Izuru more than her.
"There. Now, you understand." Junko didn't say anything in response. Her face was now so eerily calm that it was strange to think that this was the same girl that displayed so much bombastic behavior in the past.
"Now go. And just remember, no matter what happens now, we will always be together." And without a single word, Junko removed the hard-drive from the terminal that contained the recordings of everything that took place within the old school building and left. As the enlightened analyst walked out of the room, the deity that shined his light on her vanished, no evidence that he had ever been there to begin with.
Forget hope and despair. Throw back your head and laugh. Laugh and smile.
HEAVEN SMILES KILLED: 0001
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Now then, to anyone who came here from my JoJo/RWBY story, rest assured I'm still working on it and the chapter is currently 46 pages long. I'm almost done too.