Nagito Komaeda let out an involuntary grunt as someone collided with him from behind causing him to stumble forward into the vending machine he'd previously failed to get a soda from.
"Aw, man! Where the hell did you come from?!" A familiar voice screeched. "Why did I have to be the one to find you?!
Ah, well I did say I wanted a soda. Komaeda thought. He pushed himself off the vending machine and turned to face his classmate with a self-deprecating laugh and a small smile whilst rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Kazuichi. Although, it's understandable that you didn't see me...especially if you weren't looking for me..."
The pink-haired boy scowled even deeper than he already was. "Argh, just be quiet and come with me!" Kazuichi, albeit reluctantly, gripped Komaeda's wrist tightly and began to drag the other boy away from the vending machine. "We've got a new teacher and she wants the entire class together on her first day!" He said in way of explanation.
Kazuichi didn't need to be facing his classmate to know that his expression had become faintly crazed. He gulped as a shiver ran down his spine. He quickly released the white-haired boy's wrist, trusting him to follow. And he did...at first.
"Ah, a new symbol of hopes arrives! Seeing you put aside your disdain for me to work with the other Ultimates fills me with a shining hope brighter than a thousand suns!" Suddenly, the footsteps behind Kazuichi stopped for a moment, only to start again; going in the direction they just came from.
Fear and revulsion quickly surrendered under newborn irritation. Kazuichi turned around and stormed after his retreating classmate. "Hey, hey, hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Kazuichi demanded.
Komaeda chuckled in a way that said his intentions should be obvious. "I feel so bad making all of you Ultimates look for me, so I'm going to get the entire class something to drink!"
Kazuichi shuddered at the thought of spending more time with Komaeda than he absolutely had to, especially since the other boy's luck was always negatively effecting him. "We don't have time for that! Wouldn't it be worse if you kept everyone waiting?" he growled.
Komaeda stopped in front of the vending machine before he turned to face his classmate. "Perhaps. But at least I'll be able to make up for it, this time." With a shrug, the white-haired teen focused his attention on the vending machine.
Kazuichi balled his hands into fists and grit his sharp teeth, glaring none to subtly at his least favorite classmate. (Well, least favorite classmate if you discounted a certain occult-obsessed animal trainer...) "Fine!" Kazuichi all but growled at the other teen, "Do what you want! I'll find someone else and get them to deal with you!"
Komaeda smiled softly, an expression completely out of place on his face and one that would surely have terrified the other Hopes Peak student with it surprising genuineness had the two been facing one another, and chuckled. "I know you'll find success in your endeavors, for the hope that you bestow upon the world cannot be matched even by the other Ultimates!" Komaeda sneakily complimented the other Hopes Peak student, knowing full well the other teen was to frustrated to actually be paying attention to him anymore.
Truthfully, although Komaeda would be the first to admit how worthless he was and would (could and had) publicly lament how unworthy he was to be in the presence of the other Ultimates (if one such as himself could truly ever qualify as an actual Ultimate), he secretly felt the most unworthy when in the Mechanic's presence. The reason for this being that whilst any luck Komaeda experienced around the other Hopes Peak student was greatly beneficial to himself, the shark-toothed teen was unfairly burdened with the resulting bad luck and always looked like a fool because of Komaeda's so-called "talent". Unfortunately, for some reason Komaeda would likely never understand, the entirety of the Ultimates (maybe with the exception of the Ultimate Gamer) distrusted him and even the most friendly and sociable Ultimates went out of their way to avoid him. It wasn't as if he didn't deserve such treatment; Komaeda simply couldn't figure out the basis for their obvious disdain for him. Kazuichi already seemed to have preexisting trust issues on top of everything else, so giving compliments that single him out in a way that the shark-toothed boy would be blatantly aware of would probably induce an aneurism.
Shaking off his momentary despair, Komaeda mentally berated himself for becoming so easily distracted, especially when he current task would benefit the Future Hopes of the World. Once again, the Ultimate Lucky Student attempted to obtain the object(s) of his desire but his luck once more conspired against him. "I should've expected this..." Komaeda sighed. He was about to launch into a rant about how worthless and undeserving he was, even though he didn't know if Kazuichi was even still around and/or paying attention, when several things happened all at once.
Firstly, he heard the screeching of tires and a loud honking. Then he heard what was unmistakably the sound of Kazuichi screaming in terror and frustration. Abruptly, he was overwhelmed with the sudden urge to move away from the vending machine, so he obeyed his instincts. He had barely moved out of the way when his classmate flew past him and hit the vending machine with enough force to create a humanoid dent in it. Before he had time to do anything more than stare wide-eyed at the scene before him, his desired drinks fell out of the semi-broken machine and onto the sidewalk pavement, luckily not bursting open with the force they hit the ground with. "I really should've expected something like this." Komaeda said solemnly. "I'm so sorry-" As he spoke, he had reached out to grab his classmate and possibly help him out (if one were to assume that someone like him was capable of helping a shining star like Kazuichi), but the other boy flinched and his face formed into an enraged scowl.
"Don't touch me! It's your fault I'm like this to begin with, you weirdo-creep!" Kazuichi snapped. Despite the obvious pain in his voice, he managed to yell quite loudly, signaling that while Komaeda's luck had once again humiliated the other, there wasn't any permanent damage...most likely.
Komaeda instinctively flinched, withdrawing his extended hand faster than any motion he'd ever carried out in his entire pathetic existence. Strangely enough, he felt as if someone had just sawed his arm off and left him to bleed out. And even though his luck unfortunately never prevented him from feeling despair, he had never experienced despair in such magnitude before. What is wrong with me today? the Lucky Student woefully pondered. Just as he felt the beginnings of actual tears welling up in his eyes, his luck saved him.
"Hey, Teach! I found our target!" Rang out the unmistakable voice of Ibuki Mioda. She followed this up with loud, but not (intentionally or not) cruel, laughter; laughter loud enough to easily be heard by her male classmates even though the Ultimate Musician stood atop a hill a few yards away from them. "But it looks like Kazoo found him first!"
Kazuichi groaned, but if it was from pain or exasperation at Ibuki's exuberance Komaeda surely wasn't qualified to judge.
"Uh-oh; it looks like Kazoo might be hurt! We must save him before it's too late!"
"W-wait, Ibuki-" came the loud (Ibuki's personality truly was contagious) but still hesitant and insecure objection of Ibuki's best friend, Tsumiki. Instead of continued objections, Komaeda heard the rapid pounding of footsteps heading towards them, so he had no trouble imagining the exuberant Musician dragging the poor Nurse behind her. Not wanting to get in the way, especially after Kazuichi snapped at him, Komaeda busied himself with collecting the drinks that had tumbled out onto the ground. As it turned out, not all of them were actual sodas, which was lucky for him because he vaguely remembered that some of his classmates didn't like sweet things. (Komaeda himself would've usually preferred something salty over anything sweet but as luck would have it he had been hit with the unbearable urge for something sweet as he was walking by the vending machine.)
As he busied himself with his task, Komaeda vaguely registered another pair of rushed footsteps heading in his direction but he dared not look away from his current task out of fear he might accidentally cause another truck to have an accident, this time killing everyone. (His luck killed his parents; how long until it gravely harms the Ultimates?)
So absorbed in his task he only vaguely realized the newcomer on the scene was bossing the others around. Just as Komaeda began to count the cans in his arms to see if he had enough for everyone, a feminine hand appeared before his face holding a can of soda Komaeda half-remembered as being Kazuichi's favorite brand. "You missed this one." The voice was unfamiliar but clearly belonged to an adult.
Komaeda nodded and accepted the can. As he stood up he observed the redheaded newcomer. The woman smiled cheerfully at him, not at all bothered by the weight of the now semiconscious Mechanic slung across her back. "Hello! I'm your new Teacher, Miss Yukizome! I hope we get along well in the coming school year!"
The cheerful gaze never faltered even as the Ultimate Lucky Student's face became twisted with awe and slight insanity...
(*) (*) (*) (*) (*) (*) + + + + + + (*) (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
Present Day
Nagito sighed in boredom as he returned to reality...or at least as "real" as things could get in a virtual reality based on the user's subconscious.
Currently, he was tied up and left lying awkwardly on the uncomfortable floor of the old lodge. As much as he despised his current position, he knew it was for the best. Even though the abrupt Apocalypse and betrayal of his classmates largely changed his personality over the last two or three years, he had agreed with the Ultimate Hope (and even though he was no longer as obsessed with talent as he was before this whole mess started, it was still humbling and awe-inspiring to be in the presence of Makoto Naegi) that he would avoid getting to close to his former fellow Hopes Peak students, so he pretended to be that narrow-minded, crazy (well, crazier) bastard he was before...everything.
And this was before Monokuma abruptly popped out of nowhere to rain death and despair down on them all. Since his arrival, Komaeda's communications with Makoto, Kirigiri and Togami had been limited and abrupt to avoid any suspicion from whomever was controlling Monokuma; assuming they didn't already know who the mole was.
Komaeda was nearly completely sure Izuru Kamakura had something to do with the sudden influx of despair, mainly due to the fact that the Super-Talented...Experiment had luck stronger than his...but he couldn't come up with a decent motive for the eternally bored and uninterested former Ultimate Hope to wish despair upon those he never attempted to care about. Perhaps, in addition to adding Monokuma to the program he had the virtual reality rewrite some of the former Lucky Student's memories; the program was made for such things already...
But as he closed his eyes to try and focus more on his despairful past instead of the carpet that did nothing to mask the hardness of the floor underneath even though Nagito knew it to be all fake, muffled footsteps interrupted his concentration. The awkward but well meant yelling from his supposed "partner in crime" didn't help things either.
The doors opened to reveal a slightly more unnerved than usual Tsumiki Mikan carrying a tray of food and awkwardly trying to shake Usami, or Monomi as her "new big brother" dubbed her, off of her leg in the most non-offensive way possible.
"I brought you breakfast..." Tsumiki announced hesitantly.
Equal parts warmth and exasperation flooded Nagito's heart, but he didn't let anything other than the warmth show on his face, smiling brightly, if somewhat crazily. Inwardly sighing, he began his usual tirade of hope and inequality.
A/N: I hope I got everyone in character so far. Honestly I've seen so many Mastermind AU's by this point I'm surprised that's the only major plot point people tend to change. I've also seen one too many fanarts with Komaeda's jacket styled after Monomi, right down to the bunny ears.
You could probably make anyone the Future Foundation Mole but I chose Komaeda because I wanted whomever took Chiaki's place to survive and Komaeda has the most likely chance of that.