Author's Notes: Super High School Level Despair. A group of students from the illustrious Hope's Peak Academy who had fallen under the sway of the ultimate despair, Junko Enoshima. How did these students become the terror that was unleashed upon a world on the brink of destruction? It did not happen all at once but it did not happen by accident. It is said that some who joined her ranks had even started out opposing her.
Some of these mini stories will be "full" stories, some will just be more like summaries and some parts will seem somewhat skipped because they imply things that one would already know after SDR2… or I stopped being creative. CAUTION: This fanfic thingy contains adult content including sexual themes, violence and mature language. It gets dark. If you don't like it, don't read it.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own and content relating to the Dangan Ronpa franchise. This is a fanfiction. It is not canon and I am not profiting from it.
Mikan Tsumiki.
Mikan Tsumiki sat at her desk crying. Bruises lined her arms and the cuts under one of her bandages were beginning to reopen. It had been another rough day at the hospital the volunteered at. Something in the local water had infected and killed four people in a gruesomely painful way, and she was unable to do anything but stand there. Local detectives had traces the infection to a water facility close to the school but the trail was lost there. With nothing left to do, Tsumiki decided to head home for the day. Big mistake.
"MIKAN!" The girl's father yelled when she got home. Yelping in surprise, Mikan hurried into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the uncleaned, rotten smelling kitchen and delivered it quickly to her father.
"Yes father, I got you your drink!" She said, teary eyed. The sweaty unshowered drunk of a man took the beer in his hand, had one sip and splashed the rest in her face.
"Did I fucking say anything about a beer?" he said, scowling at his daughter.
"No, you didn't. How foolish of me to make such an assumption without your consent!" Mikan began to cry.
Mikan's father slapped her. "Damn straight. I heard what went on at the hospital. Three dead huh?"
"Four, actually…"
"Four? Hah, that's even worse! I told you that you were good for nothing…" He eyed Mikan. "Well, except for these." He grabbed her breasts in his hands and felt them and his breathing got heavy. Mikan did not resist. She never did. She knew she couldn't. She had never thought it was an option. The rest of the night was a slow decline from there and so was the next morning.
At school the next day Tsumiki sulked the school's halls with a few more bruises than before, and a pair of blue eyes fell upon her. "Hey, you!" A girl's voice rang out at her. "Are you alright? You look like someone hit you with a truck." A freshman girl with pink hair and fashionable clothes stepped out.
"AAAAAHHH, I'm so sorry!" Tsumiki cried. "I should have thought better than to come to school today and show everyone my ugly face!" She started to run away but the girl put her hand on her shoulder.
"Relax. Damn, you, like, need to work on your confidence! My name's Junko Enoshima. I'm the SHSL Supermodel…"
Two months later Mikan stood over her father, who was bound by rope, with Enoshima by her side. The man's eyes were wide with fear. No, there were pried open with terror. Mikan looked at Junko and said "That's all I have to do? I just do this and we can be friends forever?"
"You bet! And nobody will ever hurt you again… besides, doesn't he deserve it? Don't they all?" Enoshima responded, giggling.
"Hehe… hehehehe….!" Mikan also began to giggle creating an inhuman chorus of laughter throughout the house. She injected the syringe into her father's neck and soon the chemicals inside began to take effect. "Do you think it will work? I used the best stuff I could, I promise!" She said. And it seemed to be working.
Mikan's father began to twitch. Then shake. Then he howled in pain, so Enoshima gagged him. Within a minute he was writing in agony with bloodshot eyes and swollen veins. A minute later he was dead.
"How'd that feel?" Asked Junko.
"It felt… good…" Mikan responded, gazing upon the corpse of her life's antagonist.
"That's good, because you'll be able to do it again. Don't worry about him, I'll send someone to pick him up." Enoshima turned and walked away. Tsumiki eagerly followed, ready to take her next orders from her new best friend for life.
Mahiru Koizumi.
What started the despair for Mahiru Koizumi started in the class on photography she taught. Time and time again, she was mocked by one of her students. She was called a talentless bitch and was told to jump out the window (the class was held on the fourth floor). Koizumi however was powerless over her harasser, because the girl was a member of the Kuzuryuu family, one of the most powerful Yakuza families in Japan. At least she had a friend in the class who would throw her a sympathetic glance whenever the vicious girl wasn't looking. That friend was Satuo, a generally plain girl with the forgettable talent of SHSL Secretary. However to Koizumi, Satuo was more. The two, you see, had a secret relationship of the romantic variety. As a secretary Satuo had a habit of taking on other's problems as her own, which would prove to be a problem for her.
After class one day Satuo was retrieving books from her locker when she overheard a conversation between a girl with long pink pigtails and a girl with a black bob cut. "I, like, can't stand how some people harass others while others just watch!" One said.
"Yeah, people who just watch are as much part of the problem as the one who starts it" The other replied.
"If I saw someone being a bitch I'd just tell her off, no matter what she'd do!"
"That's right. Any other choice would be cowardly"
This conversation stuck with Satuo for the day. Anger welled inside her that the girl in her class could be so relentlessly cruel to the girl she cared so much about. A class period later, the blond bratty antagonist by the name of Kuzuryuu was also retrieving books from her locker when she heard a conversation from the same two girls.
One said "I can't stand how some people just, like, can't take it when someone gives their honest opinion even if it's rough."
The other with the black hair replied "I know! And isn't it the worst when their so called "friends" swarm around to help them, when all they want is attention and to look like big heroes?"
"Totally! They just need to get what's coming to them!"
"Yeah, they should be told off"
This conversation also stuck with Kuzuryuu, who received a letter that same day from Satuo asking to meet her after school in the music room. The two girls who had never clashed before met in the music room, and as the story goes, they discussed. Then they argued. Then they fought. Then one of them killed. When Koizumi solved the case she realized what must have happened, and so she hid the evidence to protect Satuo. Still, a conversation between the two was heard by Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, the girl's older brother.
Fuyuhiko killed Satuo with a metal bat and Koizumi was filled with grief. She cried for days and her camera was empty of pictures. Her voice which normally was loud and strong with opinion fell silent. On top of all that, she was filled with fear that she would be sought out next. This fear rotted within her, and soon festered into despair which was ripe for the picking when Junko came along to harvest.
Enoshima herself was surprised that the drama she had started had escalated so quickly, but pleased. She told Koizumi that she knew what had been done, but not to worry about it. The dead Kuzuryuu's life was worthless and Satuo's was too most likely Koizumi looked up and only saw the despair her life had become, ridden with guilt. She joined Enoshima, praying that a reason to fight would sustain her, when in the end it enthralled and unraveled her.
? (Twogami).
Although not much is known about the SHSL Imposter or how this individual fell into despair, it is said that Enoshima, through her contacts, learned of other individuals throughout Japan who had fit his/her qualities and vanished one day. It was not hard for her to realize that they were all one in the same. "SHSL Imposter my ass" she thought as she wrote down all her notes on notepad, a rectangle of paper to lavishly pink that Deloris Umbridge herself would have been proud to own it. Within a week the school's students were not only aware of the student's existence, they openly sought him/her out like a sick scavenger hunt. This surge of attention broke the Imposter, who had lost everything many times before. Only this time, he/she had lost the one with they had always help on to, a way to escape and start anew. Trapped in a reality and truly without identity, the former Imposter quickly fell into despair.
Ibuki Mioda.
As the wave of despair became more prominent in the various corners of society it got its grips in the music of the time. Music that was deemed popular began to shift from songs inspiring hope and fighting on to songs about heartbreak, poor life choices and most of all, despair. One of the few remaining artists who still sang about hope, in a strange, heavily metaphorical way, was Ibuki Mioda.
This style could not sustain Mioda, sadly. She soon saw the number of fans dwindling away and what was left of them started to demand music that was about the suffering that is life. Mioda tried to stay with what she felt was "Ibuki" but after not very long her attendance at Hope's Peak Academy was on the line. Reluctantly, the principal told her that should her popularity keep decreasing she would lose her "Super High School Level" status and have to leave the school.
One thing about Mioda is that she, like many other musical artists, forms a bond with her work. So when she began to write songs about despair, she began to truly listen to the lyrics of her songs. Those songs about the inevitability of violence and death became what she thought of, and society praised her for it. This is what drove Ibuki Mioda to revel in despair, which drew the attention of Junko Enoshima.
Gundam Tanaka.
Spreading despair among the human race was something that Junko loved, but at the same time she saw it as selfish. Why should it stop there? Why keep the rest of the planet's inhabitants from all the fun? So, she figured, it would be generous and godly of her to extend this despair to the animal kingdom, and what better way to do that than to target the introverted SHSL Animal Breeder, Gundam Tanaka.
The first step was easy: cut off all his remaining human connections. Junko and the other members of SHSL Despair created accounts on his blog about animals and left comments that raised his ego, praising him as their dark lord. In the night agents left snuck into the school and left archaic runes around his locker. Small bits of trickery built up over time, and soon even those closest to Tanaka were hesitant to speak to him lest they be bombarded with rants about how they were infidels who should bow before him and his Dark Gods of Destruction (his four hamsters).
As Tanaka's outward ego rose his self-esteem plummeted because the world had begun to hate him. The more insecure he felt, the more wild and outlandish his rants became until there was no trace left of a boy whose life was given to helping animals. Seeing this phase of corrupting Tanaka complete, Junko called for the next part to be executed.
Tanaka came home one day to his earthly dwelling and could immediately tell something was off. The house was normally buzzing with animal activity, but today it was silent. There were no sign of any cats roaming about the house and no flutter of wings. Tanaka hurried up to his room and found them. An altar had been constructed and upon it lay several bloody animals of various sizes and colors. Their blood seeped into the crevasses creating swirling patterns of death. The animals themselves seem to have been tortured, missing limbs and tails and carved open.
Tears streaming down his face, Tanaka raced to the farm behind his house where most of his animals were kept. There he found something that shook even he to the bone. A bonfire was lit in the central field and around it lay the corpses of each animal he possessed other, than his Dark Gods. Around the fiery ring of blood cloaked acolytes of darkness chanted dark words, praising the darkness of despair. One took off her hood and kneeled before him. "My dark lord," she began, her pink hair and blue eyes glowing in the firelight. "It is time for your ascension. The darkness requires only four more sacrifices…"
Tanaka looked ahead and saw the destiny he had always told himself was meant for him. He was meant to ascend and be one with the darkness, was he not? That is what he had always told himself and there was no way to go back now. Not anymore. With a blank expression he paced ahead to a stone tablet upon which we laid down Sun-D, Jum-P, Maga-G and Cham-P, pinning them down. He picked up a stone knife from the tablet and one by one, stabbed them.
The girl returned to him. "My dark lord, how do you feel?"
His expression was hollow. "I feel… nothing… was there even a point?"
"There never is, and that is the chaos of despair. Come, together we shall spread this darkness so that the world will know to fear the name Gundam Tanaka!" And having nothing left, Tanaka joined her.
Kazuichi Souda.
The story of how Kazuichi Souda fell into despair is not unlike how Mikan Tsumiki fell. Growing up, Souda was constantly beaten by his father and he thought this to be normal. Some days he would walk into school with bruises on his arms and face. There were more under his yellow jumpsuit but he wasn't one to take it off.
Enoshima was in need of someone to build machines of despair, and a mechanic would work do well for her needs. She found him one day fawning over the SHSL Princess and started a conversation. "So that's your type, huh? The pure, fair maiden? Trust me, she's not all that," Souda looked over at her, ready to scold her for saying such things about a princess but was met by a busty beauty looking at him with a smile that spoke of desire. "It's a shame she doesn't see what she's got. I mean, she, like, denied you how many times this week alone?"
Souda look away bashfully. "Five… But hey, where'd ya hear 'bout this anyways?"
"I know things. Especially involving guys like you. Guys with… potential…" The girl said, tracing down his chest with a red painted nail. "My name's Junko Enoshima. I'm the SHSL Supermodel. We should… hang out some time."
A week later Souda laid in a bed with the most wild and strong willed woman he had ever met. Still, there was something wrong about what he just did. Normally he'd be bragging about how totally epic what they just did together was, but all he felt was a lack of clarity. Sure it had felt good at the time but in his heart it felt… he wasn't sure and that was the problem. Still, he had an image to keep. "Yeah, that was pretty damn awesome, huh babe?" He said, putting an arm around her.
"Don't call me that. And yeah, it was decent I guess. I hadn't expected so much from a softie like you." Enoshima responded with a bored expression.
"Softie? I don't know who YOU just fucked but I'm fuckin' hardcore!" He bared his sharpened teeth to further his point.
Enoshima laughed. "PLEASE! Are you expecting me to believe that you aren't just some poser who tries to act tough? Because, like, that's what you are and everybody knows it."
"E-everybody?"
"Yes. The whole school. Faculty, students, hell, even the reserves!"
"B-but I'm c-cool… I could kick some serious ass!"
"Tell that to daddy dearest. So long as he's around you're, like, just trash meant to be kicked around or pitied. What, did you really think I wanted you because you're a tough guy?" She put her clothes back on and walked out. "Call me when you're a real man!"
Later that week Souda was tinkering on a car in the repair shop. This was a rare occurrence because his family's shop was always short on customers. Souda was in the middle of tightening a bold with his trusty wrench when he was pulled out from under the car and kicked. "Get up you lazy fuck," His father said to him. His father was a tall man with black hair, the same color as Kazuichi's before he died it. "You're still not done with that thing? Christ, I thought you were supposed to be a Special High School Rank Mechanic or something, not a pussy bitch who can't get shit done."
"It's Super High School Level Mechanic…" the boy corrected him and his father kicked him in the jaw.
"There aint nothin' super about you, Kazuichi and you know it. It's a damn good thing you're a pussy, because you aint getting any!"
Anger welled inside Souda and without thinking he sprang up and bashed his father over the head with his wrench. When his senses returned, he found that he had murdered his father. Several bloody seeping spots dotted his head and the wrench in Souda's hand was bloody. Panicking, Souda covered the body with gasoline and threw a match onto it. He fled the shop and behind him heard an explosion as the fire spread to the rest of the gasoline tanks. The accident was never connected to Souda and his father's body was never recovered.
The next day he sat alone at lunch. Nobody wanted to confront the volatile boy after such an event. Then Enoshima sat beside him. Souda looked up grinning. "I know what you did, and I'm, like, actually impressed!"
"Alright!" Souda chuckled and placed his hand on Enoshima's thigh. She brushed him away.
"I didn't say I wanted you. You've got a lot more to do before you prove yourself to me."
"Alright, then you might as well let me know what to do. Someday, babe you'll be beggin' for me! It's not like I've got anything else going on for me now…"
Enoshima was pleased. That was another tool under her influence, and like the others the more he worked the more he was trapped by despair.
Hiyoko Saionji:
Hiyoko Saionji sat in her dorm, swinging her legs back and forth and reading old letters from home. She was not one to be easily troubled by people but lately those around her had been acting strange. Her friend Satuo had been murdered a few months ago and the world was becoming a scarier place by the day. Her closest friends were becoming cynical and cruel. Mioda was suddenly serious, Koizumi became apathetic and even Tsumiki was becoming resistant to being picked on. Saionji had written home a few times but had received no response, which was unusual. Saionji heard a knock on the door.
Without being asked to enter, Koizumi entered the room. "Koizumi! Good to see you!" Saionji said cheerily, masking her discomfort.
"Shut it, Saionji. We both know that Lolita act isn't working since you hit puberty" Koizumi sighed. "It's really about time you start thinking about what really matters in this world."
"And what's that, taking photographs? And shut up, lots of boys want me! And so do some girls…" Saionji said teasingly, knowing very well that Koizumi liked girls.
"Nothing. That's what matters. I mean, think about it. What good will dancing do in fifty years? And even if some photographs change the way people think society will go back eventually. Do you know what it goes back into?"
"Koizumi…" Saionji was beginning to really be unnerved by what her friend was saying.
"Despair." Koizumi said plainly. She tossed some photographs onto the bed Saionji sat on. Saionji looked at them and screamed. Each picture was of the estate her family resided and trained at and the place was in ruins. Blood splattered the walls. One picture was of her grandmother, who raised her, mutilated in a chair. Her parents, who she barely ever saw, were impaled upon the front gate. In the last picture the mansion was on fire.
"Wh-WHAT IS THIS?!" Saionji cowered away and threw the pictures back at a softly smiling Koizumi. "THEY CAN'T BE REAL!"
"They're real. I took them." Koizumi said emotionlessly.
"You… you couldn't have… WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP IT?!" Saionji was sobbing and trying desperately to hold on to the belief that this could still be false but somehow she knew Koizumi wasn't lying.
"There was no point. Even if I cared, I couldn't stop a mob."
"A mob?"
"Yeah, a whole bunch of regular people decided they didn't like your family because they were richer and more talented than them. So they killed them. The estate's in ashes now."
"You… YOU'RE LYING. KOIZUMI, PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE LYING!" Koizumi simply handed Saionji one last picture. This picture was another of her grandmother, gasping for life as her throat was being slit by a knife held by Mikan Tsumiki. In the background Mioda was enthusiastically playing an electric guitar while various people cheered on and threw family heirlooms into a fire.
Saionji could no longer speak. Her throat was clogged with tears. Koizumi had done her part and excused herself, leaving her friend to look upon the pictures scattered about the room. Saionji eventually ran out of tears and dwelled upon Koizumi's words. "Nothing matters…" she told herself to shut out the pain. "Nothing matters… nothing matters… they're all just dirty pig bitches anyways… nothing matters…" And she knew despair.
Nekomaru Nidai.
Nekomaru Nidai, as a project to help train his SHSL skill, was the coach for the reserve students' soccer team. One day he received a letter from Junko challenging his team to play against a team of her own. Nidai was confident in his players. Each of them had improved greatly and were closer than most to SHSL status in their own right. He always coached them to go onto the field with hope in their hearts and believed in them.
In the locker room the boys prepared for the game of their lives, but they all knew something their coach did not. When they charged onto the field they knew what was about to happen and had faithfully accepted its embrace. Nidai watched his team enter the field with pride and then waited for the other team. Enoshima sat beside him.
"So, you are the one who has been behind all the destruction that infects society today?" He asked her.
Enoshima gave him a cute face. "You bet! And today you'll, like, totally get to see it! Aren't you lucky?"
"I will tell you how fortunate I am after your team loses, but it seems they are not here."
Enoshima's face became more serious. "Oh, they're almost here… my mechanic's just making sure they're ready."
"You're mechanic…?" Nidai looked down from the stands and saw robots dressed in soccer uniforms enter the field. "This cannot be right! These aren't players."
Enoshima put on her cute persona again. "Silly, I never said they'd be human! Don't worry, I've made sure they have everything they need to win a soccer game!"
A robotic referee entered the field, deposited a soccer ball in the center and raised an arm and made a sound like a whistle blowing before wheeling away off the field. The robot playing center forward blasted its leg at the ball, knocking it into the head of the captain of Nidai's team making a resounding crack. The boy fell lifeless on the field yet the game continued. Nidai's team stood there, eyes closed as the robots came over them using the ball in various ways to dispatch them one by one.
Nidai immediately rushed towards the field but was held in place by two more robots with iron grip. "STOP THIS! THIS CANNOT BE RIGHT!"
Enoshima paced towards him, now having only one pig tail in her hair and sporting some glasses. "It is a shame, isn't it, when the referee does not call penalties fairly? But still, it would be unprofessional of their coach to enter the field in the middle of a game"
CRACK. One of the defender's legs ripped off, spouting blood all over.
"Why… why are they just standing there?!" Nidai cried out to his team, struggling to run out to save them.
"Would you believe me if I told you they agreed to this?" Enoshima said, watching the game with a hint of enthusiasm. "It sounds rather unusual, I know, but they saw the truth."
"What truth could be behind meaningless slaughter…?"
"The only truth. That life is suffering and that the only constant is despair."
THUD. Another defender hit the ground. Nidai stared at him. That defender had always been the kindest on the team… how could any of them… have agreed to this?
"That… can't be true…"
"Then tell me, what is the point of soccer? It is merely a substitute for war. Two sides opposing each other. All of man's desires end in the spilling of blood. These boys were smart enough to realize that. Would you not agree?"
DING! The ball entered Nidai's goal, as did the goalie's head.
Enoshima continued. "You can't beat a side that doesn't play by rules and you can't win when all your players belong to the other team."
The referee sounded off again. The game was over. Junko Enoshima had won.
Akane Owari.
The same day Nidai fell into despair was the day he met up with Akane Owari to train. Owari entered Nidai's office. "Yo, Nidai! You ready for today? I already did my warm up stretches." Nidai sat at his desk, silent and facing away. Owari saw this is an opportunity to keep talking. "Not that I really need it, I mean that's what being a SHSL Gymnast is about!" Nidai got up and stared at her with cold empty eyes.
"You should not be so arrogant…" Nidai said sternly. "Give it enough time and nobody will remember your name."
"Hey, when'd you get a pole rammed up your ass?" Owari said teasingly. "Say, you got anything around I can snack on?"
"Is that all you care for? Food and your talent? Fool…"
"Damn, since when are you so judgemental?"
Nidai scowled. "It does not matter. None of it does. And you…" He stood up and faced her "…you need to learn your place."
Owari chuckled nervously. "You sure you're alright? You're not usually like this." Owari had always trusted Nidai. He was one of the only men in her life who valued her for more than her breasts.
"There is darkness within all of us, Owari. Even you." Nidai smirked. He grabbed her.
"N-Nidai! Stop!" Owari yelled, but it was no use. The coach fell upon her, tearing open her blouse and pulling down her skirt. "N-NO! NIDAI!" Still he did not relent. By the time he had finished with her, all that was left of Owari's strong will was a shard of hatred.
Nagito Komaeda.
Nagito Komaeda suffered from lymphoma and dementia. Even with his occasional streaks of good luck, Komaeda was yet to encounter a way to save his doomed life. All that changed when he entered Hope's Peak Academy. The school had the most advanced technology and most innovative upcoming scientists at its disposal and together they used new, experiments with medicine to slow down the progression of Komaeda's ailments. After half way through his freshman year his lymphoma was almost purged from his body and there was little sign of his dementia worsening. Doctors had high hopes for him and Komaeda was proud to have been a tool used to forward the great hope of the world!
It was time for Komaeda's weekly checkup, so he headed to the nurses' office and was greeted by nurse Tsumiki. "Hello, Komaeda! Have you been feeling well lately?" She said cheerily.
"Better every week, thanks to your treatment!" Komaeda said. He took the pills that Tsumiki handed to him and filled out a survey on how his week went. He thanked Tsumiki and went on his merry way. As he exited the room, another person entered.
Junko walked up to a giggling Tsumiki. "Did you give him the fake pills?"
"Yes! They should do the trick!"
"Good… good…"
Three weeks later Komaeda came in for a checkup. "How have you been feeling, Komaeda?" Tsumiki asked.
"I've been feeling fantastic! Your treatment truly shows your level of skill, Tsumiki!"
"Thank you, Komaeda! That's what being SHSL means!"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. My skill is entirely useless. How could it help further the hope of society?" Komaeda said this and Tsumiki was a tad surprised. This kind of talk was unlike Komaeda and had been since his recovery. As he walked away she giggled. Her best friend's plan was working!
In three months Komaeda was confined to a bed, constantly under the care of nurse Tsumiki. With his medication no longer working doctors were losing hope for him and he was slowly slipping into a deep madness. As despair ravaged the outside world he would rant maniacally about hope and how the despair only makes it stronger.
"If despair really makes hope stronger, then why do you hate despair so much?" Tsumiki asked him one day.
"I do not hate despair, I pity those who believe in it."
"Then perhaps the best way to spread hope would be…"
"…to spread despair that hope can conquer?" Komaeda finished her sentence. "That sounds like a fantastic idea, Tsumiki! I mean, in any video game a character would not be able to defeat the final boss unless it grew stronger from defeating it's underlings first!"
"If you want to talk about spreading despair, I know someone you could talk to!" Tsumiki smiled softly at him. "Her name is Junko Enoshima."
Sonia Nevermind.
Princess Sonia Nevermind of Novoselic was, for a while, a shining beacon of hope. For some time her country resisted the wave of despair because their monarchy was so good to them, but of course that did not last long. When the riots hit the streets of Novoselic's cities Sonia sent messages to her home country to quell the citizens. Enoshima's agents had prepared for this, and sent propaganda out criticizing Sonia for not being present. They called her weak for not being afraid of her own people and accused her of not caring for them and the people of Novoselic drank up these rumors like it was their lifeblood.
When word got back to Sonia that she had only made matters worse, she ran crying back to her dorm where her boyfriend waited for her with open arms. "Oh, Tanaka, it's terrible. The riots, they keep getting worse!" Tanaka embraced her.
"Do not fear. Tonight we shall pray to the darkness that the vile ones be put to an end." He said.
Sonia agreed. Although she did not personally believe that there was any dark deity watching over them, perhaps someone would listen. Also, she was quite intrigued by the boy's tendencies for the occult, hence the attraction that brought them together. That night Tanaka prepared a circle of runes and candles. They dimmed the lights and sat together as Tanaka chanted lines in a language even Sonia was not familiar with.
Tanaka lit the candle in the center of the elaborate circle, queuing a watchful Koizumi on a nearby rooftop. As Sonia and Tanaka prayed around the demonic runes Koizumi took several pictures. Within a week these pictures were all over the internet, sparking outrage amongst the citizens of Novoselic, who found it hypocritical that their princess who spouted words of hope so easily would practice a ritual that likely links to the despair they had all heard of, but were blind to.
From there mobs grew greater and coupes started in the army until a militia was besieging the castle. The royal family was dragged out and beaten, then tried for treason against the kingdom. After being found guilty, they were hung from the highest tower of the castle. The entire event was broadcast online, and Tanaka insisted Sonia watch every second. The moment her parents' necks were wrung by the rope, Sonia's hope for the world shattered. She looked into Tanaka's eyes and began to weep.
"Let it trouble you not." Tanaka told her. "Now is not the time for tears. It is the time for action, and the darkness whispers to me that it has plans for you…"
Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu and Peko Pekoyama.
For some time the Kuzuryuu family had been aware of the presence of the group known as SHSL Despair. However, they did not see them as more than a fad that would die out, and hopefully leave a power vacuum they could fill. However once Hope's Peak Academy was closed Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu had decided that enough was enough. He called upon his bodyguard and assassin, Peko Pekoyama. Kuzuryuu's orders were simple. Pekoyama was to hunt down and kill their leader, who was rumored among the Yakuza to be Junko Enoshima.
Upon finding Enoshima working in a local warehouse, Pekoyama hid in the shadows. When she found an opportune moment, Pekoyama jumped behind one of Enoshima's guards promptly cutting off his head. In only a few swipes with the skill of a SHSL Swordswoman all of Enoshima's guards fell and suddenly Pekoyama's sword was at Enoshima's neck. Enoshima gave Pekoyama an unnerving smile, as if the series of events was pleasing to her.
"Are you Junko Enoshima?" Peko asked in a clam tone.
"You bet!" She responded cutely.
"Then you must die."
"I wouldn't do that…" Enoshima pointed to a computer screen showing live footage of a girl with a black bob cut holding a sniper rifle aimed towards the Kuzuryuu mansion. "If you kill me, little Kuzu is toast!"
Peko, seeing no choice, lowered her sword. "Now, if you want your young master to live, you'll do what I say." Enoshima told her.
Later, Kuzuryuu was pacing the floor or the parking garage they were supposed to meet back up at. He heard footsteps and turned around smiling, but his face fell when he saw Pekoyama, hands bound behind her back and held at gunpoint by Enoshima.
"Kuzu! It's good to see you again!" Enoshima said in her cute persona.
"A-again? What the fuck is happening? Peko, how'd this happen!" Kuzuryuu said in shock.
"I'm sorry master… I had no choice…" Pekoyama said, holding back tears.
"Of course I've been watching the whole time. There are so many things to watch and so many ways to bring you despair." Junko responded to Kuzuryuu, tracing down her face with her hand.
"You fucking cunt! Let her go now or you'll wake up in hell filled up with lead!" Kuzuryuu said, furious.
"Silence, Infidel!" Junko placed a crown on her head. "You shall listen to me, for I grant you the key to salvation!"
"What… what the fuck ARE YOU?"
"You shall serve me, or you shall lose this girl and soon after your own life!"
"I… I…"
Pekoyama reached out for him. "Master, do not listen to her." She gave him a smile. "I've served my purpose."
"…"
"…"
"…I accept." Kuzuryuu said.
Junko lifted the gun from Pekoyama's head and skipped away. Before leaving she turned around and said "Just remember, I can still kill you! Byeeeeeee!" Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama were left in silence.
"Master…"
"Enough, Peko. I know what I'm doing."
"But young master,"
"Peko, do you think I'm dumb?" He looked her in the eye. "I'm not going to give in to her. I just need to be close enough to bring her down. And I don't want to lose the best… tool… at my disposal for the job." These words comforted Peko, although she was still unnerved at the thought of her master serving anyone. Still, she would follow her master to the grave, and when her master fell into despair she followed faithfully.
Teruteru Hanamura.
Hanamura woke up in a slur. His vision came back to him in a blur and his other senses soon followed. He could hear the humming of a cooling system, smell various meats and felt cold. Very cold. Finally his vision came into focus and he knew he was in the freezer of his family's restaurant. Hanamura struggled to his feet and headed for the door, but felt a tug before he could reach it. Looking back Hanamura saw that he was chained to a corner.
The door opened and a man he had never seen before came in. He looked to be in his twenties and more scars across his face, as if acid had been dripped on it. "Teruteru Hanamura," He addressed the chubby boy, "You have been selected as part of a program to experiment on new ways to inflict despair." Hanamura shivered with fear and cold. Despair. It was the word that described the movement that had taken over the world.
The man threw a knife to Hanamura. "If you would like to escape, then you must kill this woman. If not, you will freeze. Good day." The freezer door shut and Hanamura's gaze shifted for the first time to the woman bound and gagged in the adjacent corner of the room. Her hair was matted with blood and she wore a greasy white apron. She looked up and him whimpering.
"M-mommy?" Hanamura could have sworn his heart stopped. "Mommy!" He ran to her, dropping the knife and embraced her. He ungagged her but could not undo the handcuffs around her wrists.
"Oh, Teruteru…" The mother moaned in pain.
"Mommy, I can't hurt yoooouuu!" Hanamura broke down into gasps and tears.
"Teruteru, please. Listen to me. You know who these men are working with, don't you?"
"Please tell me it's not…"
"It is. I think they're with SHSL Despair. When they say they will let you die they mean it."
"Mommy, I won't hurt you. I won't!"
Hanamura's mother lifted her son's chin. "Teru dearie, it's alright. Your mother is a strong woman. She can handle this."
"M-mother… what are you saying?!" Hanamura's eyes grew wide.
"I'm saying I want my baby to make it out of this… someone has to run the restaurant!" She cuckled. "Teruteru, please. Let your mother go."
"N-NO! I CAN'T!" Hanamura screamed at her. "PLEASE, DON'T MAKE ME!"
"Teruteru… please… I'm not going to make it out of this… but you have to…"
After what seemed like an eternity of sobbing, Teruteru Hanamura picked up the knife and returned to his mother. She let sleep and the cold overtake her, and Hanamura held the knife to her with a shaking hand.
"…Mommy…"
The knife ran across the throat of the woman and blood splattered across their clothes. The door to the freezer unlocked and the man stepped back inside without a word. He unlocked the chain and Hanamura left the freezer, dragging behind him the corpse of all that was left for him in a world overrun with despair.