November Syndrome

by AlexanderSpeedwagon

SPOILERS FOR DR1, DR2, AND ULTRA DESPAIR GIRLS After defeating Junko Eoshima's plans, Makoto Naegi awakens at the place where he began his harrowing journey with his memories intact. Join him as he attempts to unravel the mystery behind why he is stuck in an endless cycle of killing games! (Eventual NaegixJunko cause I'm a ship whore)

My head shot up, I became really dizzy from the sudden movement, and after getting my bearings I quickly realized where I was. I was currently sitting in a desk at Hope's Peak Academy.

"I hope all that wasn't a dream." I said as I picked myself up and made my way over to the entrance hall. If I can remember the layout of the school so well, it couldn't have been. Everybody was waiting there, just like last time there were 15 of us, all chatting amongst ourselves wondering how we had gotten here. I know. Or at least I think I do. There's really two ways to find out, I guess. One would be to talk to Kyoko, the platinum-haired detective girl, and the other would be to talk to Mukuro, the girl currently dressed up like and acting like her twin sister Junko. I wanted a familiar face, and I suppose a person who I end up developing a history with, Kyoko.

"Hey, Kyoko, can I talk to you alone for a sec?" She's probably got no idea why I'm asking her this.

"What for? Why not talk here? Who are you?" She asks. They're all reasonable questions.

"Oh yeah... uh... Makoto Naegi, Ultimate Luckster, anyways, I've got information about why we're here, and I'm sure you'll want to hear it." I told her.

"And I assume you won't say what in front of everyone else?" I nodded my head. "Hopefully this is worth my time."

As soon as we were out of earshot, I said "Listen, and listen well. I've been in this situation before, I know what's about to happen. We're going to be forced into a sick and twisted game where we all kill each other for the amusement of the whole world. I know a lot about you, me and you are two of the six people who will end up surviving this thing."

"An interesting theory, but do you have any proof of this?" She asked. It's understandable that she'd be cautious about all this.

"Your hands." I said.

"What about them?"

"You burned them pretty badly in an accident, and that's why you wear the gloves. You're also kinda sensitive about it, so you don't really tell anyone."

"How did you...?"

"I told you, it's because I've done all this before. The last thing I remember is the six of us about to go outside. We opened the entrance which was locked beforehand, and then I woke up exactly where I was when all this started." I explained.

"So you want me to help you figure out what's going on?" She asked.

"Precisely." I agreed.

"Well then, if you're telling the truth, what happens next?"

"Well, we get called to the gym where we learn about the killing game. The only way for any of us to get out of here is to get away with murder. Each of us will be given a motive. Yours will be a picture of your dead father."

She gasped. I was taken aback by this.

"You didn't know? I'm so sorry..." I muttered.

"What the hell do you mean dead father?" She almost yelled. "I don't see him often but he's definitely alive!"

"All I can say is wait and see, I guess." I told her.

She had a pissed off look on her face. "This is stupid." She said before walking away with her fists clenched.

"I'm not crazy! I'm right, you'll see!"

Just like clockwork, we were all told to go to the gym, where Monokuma told us about the killing game. If I hadn't been through all this already, I would have been more worried. I did manage to dodge Mondo's punch, but only because I knew it was coming.

We also had a CD we were given to watch in the AV room at our leisure. Kyoko of course went there immediately, most likely to verify what I had said. Fortunately for me, everything I had told Kyoko was right so far, or was it unfortunately? I really don't want to see any of these people die again. I'm sure there's something I could do about it, but if I stop Leon from killing Sayaka in two days, who knows what will happen? For me to survive, I think I have to make sure that everything goes the same it did in my dream.

I turned the corner on the hallway leading to the AV room and I saw Kyoko closing the door. She looked at me with what I can only assume was a mix between determination and anger.

"Who dies first?" She asked as I walked up.

"Y-You can't do anything with that information. I don't know what will happen if you stop her from dying." I said, not realizing my mistake.

"So it's a girl that dies first... That narrows it down considerably. Just tell me who it is and who kills her. If you're right about both, I'll believe everything you say." I thought about it for a second before giving an answer.

"Alright... Sayaka is killed by Leon. Stabbed in the stomach in my bathroom."

"Why your bathroom?" Kyoko asked. It's a fair question.

"Because my bathroom door is stuck, its an easier place to hide than hers... Well, that, and I think she was going to kill Leon and frame me for it, but she ended up getting killed instead. The specifics of that i'm sure you'll figure out after it happens. But please, don't say anything to anybody about it. I want to run through this again until the end. I really want to see what happens if we get to the exit. I don't know if i'll get sent back to the beginning again, and I don't rightly know why. If my hunch is right and it does keep repeating, then I'll start meddling with things next time." I took a deep breath after that long-winded explanation.

"I see... I'll play along for now. We'll talk more later." Kyoko said as she walked back towards the dorms. She was the only reason I was headed over here in the first place.

So I waited for a few minutes before walking back there myself. Almost as soon as I started moving Sayaka came into view directly in front of me.

"Oh, Makoto, what a coincidence." She said. I'm not too eager to talk to her at the moment.

"Hey, Sayaka. I was just on my way back to the dorm area. I'm gonna go see what's up there." A total lie, but I wanted to get away quickly.

"I see. You're hungry aren't you?"

"Huh? How did you know?" I asked.

"Because you're planning on going to the kitchen and finding food." She told me. Is she really psychic? Or was that a lucky guess?

"How did you know that?"

"I'm a psychic. Anyway, enjoy your meal, Makoto, I'm going see what this is about." She flashed her CD at me and walked into the AV room.

In any event, I made my way to the kitchen and started fixing myself a meal. As I sat down to eat, Junko walked into the room. At least, the girl looked like Junko, but I knew better.

"Junko!" I called out. I'm still not willing to change the course of the events, but at least I might be able to get some information from Mukuro before she gets murdered.

"Hiya Makoto! Whatcha up to?" She asked, as bubbly as a model sensation should sound.

"Nothing much, just lunch. I want your take on what's going on, do you have any idea what we're doing here? And do you think we'll really have to kill each other to have a shot at getting out of here?"

"I-I-I... I don't know, it's really weird isn't it? A robotic bear just shows up and tells a buncha high schoolers to kill each other? Totally whack, dontcha think?" She said nervously.

"Well, it's not like there's a way out, now is there?" Or was there? I can't deny the possibility of Junko making a way out for herself. On the other hand, if she had one she probably would have used it during the sixth trial...

"It doesn't look like it. We can't even get to the second floor right now." She told me. She wasn't wrong, but it's going to be tough to get something useful out of her before tomorrow.

"Not at the moment. Wonder what unlocks it." I pondered out loud. She gave a half-hearted agreement while scratching her cheek. "You don't think someone has to die before that'll open, do you?"

"What? No! That's crazy! How much sense would that make?" She stood up and slammed her palms into the table. I looked up expecting to see an angry expression, but I saw a beet red look of terror.

"Well, wouldn't it make sense? I mean if that's why we got put here..." I trailed off. I may have revealed something on accident, but hopefully she didn't pick up on it.

"Yeah. Haha, is that really why we're here?" She asked. "Anyways, I'll see ya later Makoto, toodles."

She waved at me as she stood up and began walking away.

"Hey Junko!" I yelled at her. She turned around. "Be careful, alright?"

"Of course! I'm not gonna do anything to get myself killed, that would just be like, so lame, ya know?" She walked off. I knew that she wouldn't heed my advice: Sakura later told me she said something similar to her just before entering the gym.

I suppose there's not much that I can do other than wait around. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with various people, pretty much only those who had died early on in this dreadful experience.

The next day, everybody met in the gym again, under reasons that were unknown to everybody else except for Junko, who would use it to rile up Mukuro to have an excuse to kill her.

Despite both mine and Sakura's warnings, she still pinned down Monokuma with her boot, and was stabbed multiple times with spears coming from the ceiling. I was the only one not surprised. Kyoko shot me a look immediately after it happened.

"I'll explain later, it's a really, really long story." I whispered at her. She nodded her head towards the door and began to walk quietly. I followed after her.

"How do you explain that?" She asked as soon as we left the gym.

"Well, that's not actually Junko Enoshima. The real Junko is running the Monokuma bots, that was her twin sister, Mukuro. She dressed up like Junko so that nobody would expect it was her running the machines. Mukuro didn't know she was about to be killed. Junko thought she wasn't capable of playing a model for too much longer, so she offed her."

"Her own sister?" She asked.

"Don't question the depths she's willing to go to to ensure this goes off without a hitch." I told her. "Sorry I forgot to mention this... Her body is going to be used to frame me later on, you'll be able to figure out when."

"There's no helping it now. We'll see what happens tomorrow. If Sayaka doesn't die tomorrow I have absolutely no reason to believe anything you've told me."

"I understand. Trust me, it'll happen."

"How can I trust that you won't kill her and are only doing this to get away with murder?"

"Because I told you the murder game setup before Monokuma did."

"That's fair, but I want you in my sight at all times tomorrow, just to be safe."

And sure enough, the whole next day, Kyoko barely left my side. We were hanging out in the laundry room waiting for my clothes from the last two days to wash when the screen in the top far corner of the room came on.

"A body has been discovered!" Monokuma appeared, sitting on a regal looking chair with a martini in his hand. "After a certain amount of time, we will have a class trial. If the blackened is found out, that student will be punished. If that student is not, everyone else will be punished and the blackened will graduate!"

I just looked at her before bolting out of my room. This wasn't right, I was the first one to find Sayaka last time around. We got to my room to find Mondo, Sakura, and Yamada walking out of the door.

"Makoto, in your bathroom... There's..." Yamada started.

"Maizono is dead in your bathroom, Naegi. Explain this." Sakura finished.

"Well... I don't know why she's in my bathroom... But I didn't do it, Kyoko was with me all day." I told them.

"Izzat true, lady?" Mondo said.

"Yes, it is. I was afraid something like this would happen soon. You have my word that Makoto Naegi did not kill this girl." She looked at me seriously. It seems like she believes me, but we'll have to have a conversation alone to ensure that.

"I need to see what happened." I said. "I want to know why this happened in my room."

That was a total lie, but the only one who could possibly know that is standing behind me, not blocking the door.

"Very well. We shall allow you to investigate." Sakura said. She moved aside and allowed the two of us to pass through.

Sure enough, Sayaka was propped up in my shower stall covered in blood with a kitchen knife through her stomach. I walked over to her and looked where her right hand fell. Sure enough, the familiar 11037 was barely visible behind her arm.

"Look at this. Tell me it wasn't Leon after seeing this." I showed Kyoko Sayaka's message. She let out a barely audible gasp, but it was enough for me to know for sure. She believed me 100 percent.

"How could you have known this?" She asked, turning around from her crouched position.

"I told you already, I've lived through this before." I told her.

"Who else survives?" She asked. I've never seen anyone else look more serious than she does right now.

"Hagakure, Asahina, Togami, Fukawa, you, and me."

"Six of us? Out of fifteen?"

"Junko is one hell of a drug." I said. "That kind of despair can make anyone do anything. You know what her talent was? Sure she came here as the Ultimate Fashionista, but by the time we locked ourselves up in here? She was known as the Ultimate Despair."

"And that kind of despair made us turn on each other?" She asked. I nodded. "Well if she managed to set all this up so perfectly, how did she get found out?"

"Because of you. She played out her hand too early and you saw through it. It's because of you that I'm alive."

"Don't thank me just yet, I haven't actually done anything for you." Kyoko told me.

We had moved our conversation to the bedroom, where one by one the surviving students came in and did their own investigation. Depending on who was present, we went from a normal tone to a tiny whisper. I convinced her that we needed everything to go identical to how it did last time so that I could get into the second floor dorms to look around more. The only way to ensure that we could do more searching was to act like we didn't know what was going to happen. I had to promise to fill her in on what we found out during my next go-round, if I had one.

The class trial announcement came on before we finished our conversation and we made our way to the elevator, arriving before most everyone else.

"Y-you two seemed to spend a lot of time together today. Any reason why?" We were asked by Touko after we got there.

"Just teaming up for the investigation, that's all." Kyoko said.

"Not just then, before the announcement came on saying Maizono died. I c-can't help b-but think something's up."

"It's nothing, Touko, really." I told her, holding my hands up and smiling. Nonetheless, she took out a pen and pad of paper and began scribbling away furiously. Dammit, she's shipping us already... oh well, there's not much I can really do about it.

The class trial came and went, we found Leon guilty flawlessly, and I had to watch him die all over again. I realized something while standing in that batting cage. If I'm stuck in a repeating time loop, then as the self-proclaimed Ultimate Hope I should try to save everybody. Nobody should have to die like this. Not Sayaka. Not Leon. Hell, not even Mukuro. I have to do something.

The next morning came, and everybody met in the dining hall for breakfast, as was the norm. Nobody said a word all throughout the meal. Nobody could. How could you, after all? After what had happened yesterday it was a miserable experience to merely exist for the next day or so. It didn't affect me so much this time. Last time stung for a lot longer than I thought it would. Sayaka was my only connection to the outside world in here, after all. To have her plan something like that so soon after seeing her motive was completely unexpected. It's probably better for my sanity that she dies early on in this mess. We weren't friends, exactly, but even being able to reminisce about middle school with someone would have made me more desperate to get out of here.

"The second floor is open." Someone said, breaking the deafening silence. I looked up from my omelet to find Togami standing in the entryway. "And I suggest you all take a look."

Everyone around me scarfed down what was left of their food and bolted towards where the stairs.

"Anything worth checking out?" Kyoko asked me. She was sitting next to me, waiting for an opportunity to ask what happens next.

"Well, there's the archive and the pool... You didn't really care about the pool but there's some info in the archive. It's kinda like a library bu-" I was interrupted.

"I know what an archive is, thanks. And I think I will look around, there has to be something useful there."

She left as soon as she was finished talking, having barely touched her food. After she left it was only me and Touko left in the room. The girl in question grabbed her tray and moved from the corner table she was sitting at to the spot across from me.

"There's no w-w-way there's n-nothing going on th-there." She said, poking her index fingers together.

"Seriously, there's not." I told her.

"Do you like her? Does she like you? If there's no spark w-why are you two spending all y-your time together?" Touko asked.

"It's... it's complicated..." My mind quickly flew to me and Kyoko on the second floor, where she found her father's skeleton.

"Do you like her?" Touko asked, much more forcefully than I had ever heard her speak, at least... Not in Genocide Jack mode.

"I don't know... I mean..." I trailed off.

"You do, don't you!" She almost yelled. She looked excited as she stood up and slammed her hands onto the table.

"That wouldn't be wrong, but i'm not entirely sure it's right either..." I said. I mean, after everything we've been through, not that she remembers anything about what we did together or anything, it's kinda hard to not develop that kind of attachment to someone, but it seemed like Togami managed that one just fine. "Just... don't tell anyone, ok?"

"Don't worry, I'll keep it to myself. Don't expect me to not write about you two, though." Touko said, blushing and looking up into space.

"Don't let anybody see it... Actually, let me see it once you get some done, I'm kinda interested in what you write." I told her. Almost as an afterthought, I added "Isn't Togami your type?"

She blushed redder than I've ever seen anybody blush. "Am I that obvious?"

It's not that, Touko, I'm just from the future. "Sort of..."

It wasn't a total lie, but I needed some cover. I made an excuse to go up to the archive. Even though I understand what's going on here, I still want more information. I don't know much about Junko except that she somehow caused the world to basically end. I'm not sure if she killed those 13 students in the 5th floor classroom, but it's a decent guess. There just has to be some notes taken by a Hope's Peak administrator left in there. But depending on how thorough both we and Junko were, there might not be.

I ran into Yamada on my way into the archive. He said there wasn't anything in there except for a bunch of useless books. I shrugged it off, mostly because that's exactly what i'm looking for. As expected, the only two people present when I walked into the spacious room were Togami and Kyoko. Both of them were scanning the shelves, I quickly followed suit. I knew somewhat what was here, but I was looking for something a little more specific.

"Togami, looking for anything in particular?" I asked.

"Nothing that would concern you." He told me. No telling what that means, coming from him.

While I was searching, Kyoko walked up next to me.

"Who's next?" She whispered in my ear. She's the kind of person who would have no problem talking in a room like this if we were the only two in it, but Togami's presence required her to remain silent.

"Chihiro, pool changing room, with a dumbbell. Mondo does it." I whispered back.

"I see..."

"Oh, and Chihiro is actually a guy, that becomes relevant during the trial."

"Really? That little thing, a boy?" She asked. It was hard for me to believe, too. I nodded my head and walked over to the next shelf. She quickly followed me and started to ask something, but was interrupted by a much louder voice.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds be, there's nothing here, anyway." Togami said quite loudly before walking out.

"What does he mean- whatever. What I was saying was why dress like that if she's actually a boy?"

"Too much pressure from the world to perform, so he kind of retreated into himself. That's what came out. That's my interpretation at least."

"But there's got to be a better way of dealing with it than crossdressing, right?"

I just shrugged my shoulders and kept searching. It didn't take me much longer to find something worth looking at.

It was a book of student profiles, so thick that I could barely get it off the shelf. I lugged it over to the table and all but slammed it down.

"Kyoko, come look at this!" I said as I sat down and opened the cover.

"What is it?" She appeared behind my chair almost instantly. I could feel her thumb gripping the chair as I leaned back.

"It's a record of every student at the academy." I said.

The first page, oddly enough, had my entry. However, all it had was a quick rundown of everything that was already on my Electro-ID. Nothing new, nothing from the time in which our memories are erased.

"That's disappointing." I muttered as I flipped the page. The next two were blank. So were the vast majority of the pages in the book. "What the hell is going on here?"

Finally I found another entry. Hifumi Yamada. Again, nothing new. I picked up the back cover so that just the spine was on the table and flipped through it. The only people in the volume were those of us living in the Academy. Junko's was present as well, however Mukuro's entry was not.

"What a giant dud." I said. I walked back over to the shelf that it was on.

"Makoto, did you notice something weird about this?" Kyoko asked me.

"No, why?" I mumbled as I resumed my search.

"Sayaka's and Leon's entries aren't in here." She said.

"Really?" I was curious, but not enough to go back and look.

"I'm taking this back to my room, I want to keep it around for future reference." She said as she too struggled to pick up the monstrosity.

"Good luck carrying that back..." I mumbled as I continued searching. Unfortunately, the mountain of a book was the only hint out of every room in the archive.

While I was searching, I couldn't help but think about what Touko said. She's got me convinced that I have some sort of feelings for Kyoko, but I'm not sure if that's just because of the situation we're in. Even if I did anything more about it, it wouldn't matter in a weeks time because I might just come back here to the start of things.

I made my way back to the dorm with quite a bit on my mind, I barely even noticed that I had bumped into Asahina. I wasn't expecting that sort of contact, so I overly adjusted and fell over backwards.

"Aoi, sorry, didn't see you there." I said picking myself off the ground.

"It's no big deal, I was just..." She started.

"Lost in thought." We finished simultaneously.

"Yeah, that was it. Anyway, see ya round man!" Asahina said as she kept walking in the direction of the archive.

"Hey, Aoi, wait up a sec!" I yelled after her.

She turned around and walked the five paces back to me. "What's up?"

"Did anything seem... you know... weird, about Sakaya's death? Like something wasn't quite right?" I asked. I hadn't even an inkling if this would work out, but it was worth a shot.

"I mean... It was pretty messed up, but other than that no. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." I said. I thought maybe there was a chance somebody else had the same memory of events that I did. If anybody does, it's not her or Kyoko.

"Oh ok. Well if you have any more weird questions don't be afraid to ask." She walked off again.

I had nothing else to do but wait for Togami to string up Chihiro's body tomorrow night. I ended up hanging out in the dining hall for the rest of the day. Kyoko ate her meals with me, quietly interrogating me about what happens in the upcoming trial.

"You know, people are starting to talk about us." I whispered to her after I was done filling her in on tomorrow's events.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, the Ultimate Romance Novelist is already writing about us." I took another bite of my stew.

"Oh, in that sense you mean. There's not much we can do about it I guess. Maintaining at least this level of communication is important for what's going on." Kyoko told me.

"I just thought that you should know. Togami's comment is part of that rumor mill." I said a little louder, since we weren't talking about future events any more.

"Togami's comment?"

"You didn't hear him call us lovebirds in the archive?" I was almost done with my stew, waiting to bite into the cupcake I had on the side.

"I did not. Good thing too, I'm not good in those situations."

"Yeah, I know..." I whispered.

"What was that?" She said much louder.

"It's nothing, it's nothing." I tried to laugh it off, but she was still suspicious of me. "Well, anyway, I'm gonna go sit over there, feel free to join me. I've got things I need to ask some people."

I pointed to where Hagakure, Ishimaru, and Touko were sitting. I took my cupcake and walked over.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I said, nearly slamming myself into the chair.

"Yo, Makoto, how's it going, my dude?" Hagakure asked.

"It's going, it's going. I have something I want to ask you three. Did anything seem weird about Sayaka's death? There's still a thing or two that bother me about all that." Knocking out two survivors in one conversation works out rather well.

"Not really, man. I wasn't expecting anyone to die at all. Someone dying so fast was weird, I guess." Hagakure replied.

"Any potential discrepancies in Ms. Maizono's murder have already been ironed out, have they not?" Ishimaru asked.

"Wh-why do you ask, Makoto?" Touko asked.

"He's being a little too paranoid, is all. Just humor him." Kyoko's voice came from behind me. I could just feel her standing there with her eyes closed and arms crossed, I didn't even have to turn around to see it.

"W-well... The time of death was weird, wasn't it?" Touko said. "Why would she have tried that in broad daylight?"

Dammit, I thought I had finally gotten somewhere with her first comment. Her second question basically destroyed any chance of her remembering. It had to be during the daytime for her to use my room for it, but that wasn't the issue I was having.

"Yeah man, that's the only thing I can think of. Everything else is alright in my book."

"I concur with Yasuhiro. I do not believe that there should be any question about the events of Ms. Maizono's murder."

"Alright, thanks guys." I said, throwing the rest of my dessert into my mouth and waving goodbye.

I started walking back to my room with Kyoko in tow. As soon as we left the dining hall, she asked me

"What's the point of doing that?"

"Well, I wanted to try to see if anybody else remembered the last go-round like I do. I already asked Asahina, and so far nobody remembers. The only one left who would is Togami, and given that he hasn't done anything about it yet I'd wager he doesn't. I'm going to check though."

"Given the fact that he had the perfect opportunity to mention it in the archive probably means that he doesn't. It is of no concern. At least one of us does, and that will be an immense help."

I went to bed knowing that tomorrow night another classmate and friend would be slaughtered needlessly.

The thought entered my mind that this is my only other chance to fix things. What if i'm wrong about being stuck in a time loop and that once we find Junko out that's it? If I don't get another chance to fix things, how much blood will be on my hands? If the world really is in as bad a shape as Junko says, then we would need all the help we could get out there. Fifteen of us stand a much better chance than six.

As much as I hate to say it, that's just a chance i'm going to have to take. With a heavy heart, I finally fell asleep.

The next morning, I made my way to the dining hall still mostly asleep. Luckily, due to the nature of the Academy, we never had to cook anything ourselves, it was all ready for us. Today there was banana bread with various spreads. I started eating, barely recognizing what was going on. When I was about halfway through my meal, Monokuma came on the TV screens.

"Good morning, students. I have a special announcement to make, so if everyone could please make their way to the gym for 8:00 AM."

The motive. I had almost forgotten about that.

"What is it?" Kyoko said. I don't even know when she showed up sitting next to me, but there she was.

"It's the next motive. If nobody dies in three days he tells everybody our hardest kept secret. And when did you get here?"

"Just now. It happens so soon after getting this? What does he have to hide?" She asked, referring to Mondo.

"He... he sort of killed his brother."

"Makes sense he'd want to keep that under wraps."

I threw the last of my meal into my mouth and got up to go to the gym. It was only 7:30, but I've spent enough time here in the last two weeks, and despite all the Academy's funding before the world ended, the chairs are not too comfortable. I went into the gym and leaned against the wall. Ishimaru was already there. As expected of him, I suppose.

"Good morning, Makoto!" He said in his typical overly-energetic voice.

"Mornin'." I mumbled back. I didn't really have much to say right now, I had tossed and turned all night thinking about what I'm doing by not doing anything.

I was lost in thought until I heard Monokuma's high pitched voice.

"Good morning, everybody! I've grown bored of this daily life, I want some excitement! Do you know what nobody likes to have happen? When their secrets are revealed! So i'm handing everybody an envelope with their deepest, darkest secret. If you don't want it revealed, then you have to kill somebody! If enough time passes and nobody dies, I'll read them all over the intercom system."

We were given an envelope with our names on it. I could see the shock on everybody's faces as they opened them up. I only read mine to keep up appearances. Nobody was willing to say a word. Everyone looked around nervously, some plotting already, others hoping they won't be targeted, still more wishing someone else would die so that their secret is kept.

"This tension isn't doing anybody any good. I'm going for a swim." I said. Jumping into the water would also be a good way to wake up.

Asahina quickly said she would join me. I managed to get half of the remaining students to come with me unintentionally. I only wanted to say something to kill the atmosphere in the room. I managed to do a little too good of a job with that.

The water felt nice. Almost numbingly cold at first, which was definitely something I needed to wake up. Last time around, I had never actually gotten into the pool. Now that I think about it, I have no clue why. I loved going to the community pool as a kid.

Out of the twelve students left, seven of us were in or around the pool. Me, Asahina, Hagakure, Yamada, Celes, and Ishimaru were present.

"Makoto, where's Kyoko?" Yamada asked.

"How should I know? She didn't want to come, that's all I know." I told him. Jeez, that sounded harsh. I tried to fix it with "Well, she probably wasn't feeling up to it."

As soon as I said that, she just had to prove me wrong, walking in wearing her gloves with a one-piece school swimsuit.

"Kyoko, hey!" I waved at her. "I didn't think you'd be coming out!"

"I'm not planning on swimming, I just thought i'd come get my feet wet." She said, lowering herself to do just that. She sat down next to the lifeguard tower, kicking her feet in the water. She didn't seem to mind the astoundingly low temperature of the pool.

I swam over to Asahina and whispered something in her ear. She giggled, approving of the idea before swimming over to the edge of the pool and climbing out.

"Kyoko, you sure you don't want to get in?" I asked, making my way back to where she sat.

"Yes, i'm sure. This is enough." She said.

"Well forgive me if I don't believe you, but it sure does look like you want to." That was the signal. Asahina pushed the pale-haired girl into the pool from behind. She shrieked as she fell into the four-foot deep water.

"MAKOTO!" She yelled. It was the loudest noise I had ever heard her make. She raised a fist, which I quickly grabbed by the wrist. I couldn't contain it anymore, I laughed. I laughed a lot. Soon after, Asahina and Hagakure soon joined in.

Kyoko blushed a deep shade of red and turned her back on the three of us.

"This was a waste of time." She said, dragging herself out of the icy water and walked quickly out of the room.

"Look at what she did! I had no idea she would have that reaction." Asahina said. She pointed a finger at me. "If i'd've known she would do that I wouldn't have agreed to it..."

"It's ok, I'll go talk to her." I said.

"Yeah, you go get 'er, loverboy!" Hagakure shouted after me as I crawled out myself. I heard more laughs as I went into the changing room.

I grabbed a towel and quickly dried myself off so that I could intercept the girl in the other room.

Ten minutes later, Kyoko came out of the changing room, wearing her normal clothes.

"What's your problem?" She asked.

"I don't have a problem, I was just having fun is all." I tried to explain myself.

"At my expense?"

"Oh come on, you enjoyed it."

"Did any of that look like I enjoyed it?" She asked, but I had proof that.

"You blushed. I'm not sure what that means but it's not a normal reaction to that."

"I-I... Well... You know me a lot better than I know you, so of course you would know i'd enjoy it a little. I just got so embarrassed, I ran..."

"Embarrassed? Why?"

"What happened between us? The first time around?" She asked. Her face was quite red.

"We... well... we, uh..." I had no idea how I wanted to say it.

"You two kissed and made up yet?" Hagakure came out of the changing room still sopping wet.

"We did that." I whispered to her after we recovered from the shock of the surprise.

"We did what?" Kyoko whispered back, she started blushing again. "Yasuhiro, get out." She said forcefully, pointing at the changing room door.

"Okay, okay, I'll leave you to it."

After he left, I said "You're so much more sensitive about this than last time, what's up?"

A solid 30 seconds passed before I got an answer. "Well... It's that apparently I was involved in a romance I don't even remember, and I've never really done anything like this before... It's not that I don't like you, Makoto, I just have nothing to base this on... And apparently we kissed at some point in your past."

"We don't have to do any of that again if you don't want. I just wanted a familiar face around."

"We'll see what happens, Makoto. We'll see." She smiled at me and walked out of the room. "However, this doesn't mean I won't be asking for your help with the rest of our time here."

"Why would it?" I asked. I went back into the changing room and she walked out of the pool area altogether.

The group still in the pool had a fair share of gossiping to do with me once I got back, but I just shrugged it off.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. I hung out with both Chihiro and Mondo in the afternoon. I hate doing this to both of you, but I need to have everything happen the same way it did before to ensure that I can get to the second floor dorm again. The locker room is probably a treasure trove of information about before our memories got wiped, I only had enough time to find Hagakure's locker. I desparately need to get back in there. I can't imagine that there's not more information there.

I awoke to the body discovery announcement.

"Here we go again..." I mumbled to myself. I crawled out of bed and made my way to the pool area. "You've got to be kidding me..."

Yet another discrepancy from last time around. Chihiro had scissors going through his hands as well as being tied up with the extension cord.

"This isn't right..." I whispered to myself. Everybody was crammed into the tiny changing room to look at what happened. I pulled Kyoko out and told her what was up.

"So Togami tried to emulate Touko's killing style as much as possible..." She said, thinking to herself.

"Yeah, i'm not sure what happened this time so that he knows where he can find scissors, but last time something else was different, too. This is really bad, i'm not sure what could happen if it keeps changing at this rate."

"Between your knowledge and my skill, we don't have a thing to worry about. Come on, let's go see if anything else is wrong." She said, taking my hand and leading me back into the room.

The scissors ended up being the only discrepancy to my memory. The trial itself revealed that Togami got them from the kitchen, a place that he hadn't thought to look before. He had known about Touko's alter ego since two days ago, the day after Leon's trial. Apparently, Asahina's absence from the kitchen area when Togami was looking for them meant that he was able to grab them without being seen. If I hadn't gone to the pool yesterday morning, Togami would not have been able to grab them.

I'm getting sick of this. I don't know if I can watch another killing, especially not Celes' incident. I want to do something. I want to change the course of this madness, but I can't. I can't risk losing access to the second floor dorms. Am I really valuing that over the lives of eight people? I've already let it go on this long, so I already have my answer. If I stop Celes now, that means that I've sacrificed four people for nothing, and I can't let that happen. With a heavy heart, I lay on my bed thinking about what it is exactly I'm in the middle of.

I awoke to a knock on my door. Since traveling back in time I knew I was never in any danger, so I kept the door unlocked.

"Door's open." I managed to say loud enough while struggling to get up.

Kyoko walked into the room, looking completely awake.

"Makoto, I didn't think you'd still be asleep at this hour."

"What time's it?" I asked, rolling onto my side facing away from the door.

"10:30, late enough that you should be awake. Come on, Monokuma just made the motive announcement."

"It's a shit ton of money, let me sleep."

"But nobody else can know that you know that." She whispered. In a louder tone, she added "Come on, get dressed. I'll be waiting outside."

She walked out of the room soon after. I had no idea she could be so clingy. This was a side of her that I didn't know about from last time. All the intimate interactions we had were so late in our time here that there wouldn't have been enough time for something like this to develop.

In any event, I had to make my way to the gym to keep up appearances. I probably won't have time for breakfast, which really sucks. I don't function well without breakfast.

"I need food, do we have time?" I said as I opened the door again. I didn't even register where she was before I heard her speak.

"Not really, we're supposed to be there for 10:45, that's in 5 minutes." I heard that familiar voice say.

"Well, I'm going to grab an apple on our way there. Don't wait up for me."

"Fine, just don't be late." She said before walking off.

I staggered into the dining hall, where I saw Yamada doing something similar to what I was, except he seemed much more awake. I muttered a "Good morning" at him as we passed. I ended up grabbing a few other things while I was there, I'm not entirely sure why.

In the gym, Monokuma was patiently waiting for me, as I was the last one to arrive. Once I was there, he started his usual speech about people needing to die.

"...And so, if a blackened succeeds in getting away with it, I've got a special reward for you!" As he finished saying that, bundles of cash came raining from the ceiling. "This could be yours for the low, low price of one murder!"

The astonished looks on everybody's faces and Monokuma's exit was Kyoko's cue. Just like clockwork, she pulled me into the entrance room and asked what would happen next.

"Celes convinces Yamada to kill Ishimaru, and while he's moving the body Celes kills him."

"Because the Ultimate Gambler might have some debts out there, and ten million bucks would probably do the trick..."

"Yeah... something like that." I said. "You and Yasuhiro go missing during the time of the murder, so you two become prime suspects. I don't remember where you went to, but Hagakure was trapped in some weird robot costume."

"You didn't suspect me, did you?" Kyoko asked.

"What? No, of course not!" I told her. It was the truth to, even before we really got to know each other, I didn't think she was capable of something like that.

"That's good to hear." She folded her arms across her chest. "I just have to not disappear for the next... how long is it until this happens?"

"Uhh... tomorrow... I think. Sorry, my memory's kinda fuzzy on this one."

"No worries, it's not like it would be so bad, forcing myself to have an alibi." She smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, you get to hang out with me all day!" I said playfully. She blushed far more than I would have expected.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound so bad." Kyoko said in reply. I really do like this girl, but for her to have this much nerve about us has to mean something was up that I wasn't aware of last go-round.

"Oh, and the third floor is open up. There's a game room, art room, and physics lab, along with a few classrooms. Do you know how to play pool?" I asked on a whim. I remember there being a pool table in the game room.

"Sort of... I'm not that good at it though, why do you ask?"

"There's a pool table on the third floor, want to play?" I asked, offering her my hand.

"Sure." She took it and we left just as I heard the gym door open. Somebody had to see the two of us walking hand-in-hand, but that doesn't matter much now.

We're only going to be in this school for about another five days or so. Why not enjoy the time I have left?

We ended up playing until 3:30 or so that afternoon. Neither of us looked anywhere else on the third floor. Throughout our time playing, we were visited by everyone left alive exploring the area. We snacked on the fruit I grabbed out of the kitchen this morning until we were hungry enough to stop playing. I was a lot better at it than I expected. Kyoko isn't the type of person to be playful, but she tried her best at teasing me about beating a girl mercilessly.

"I haven't played in years, so I don't want to hear it. I could beat almost anybody in here with another day or so of practice."

"Who couldn't you beat now?" She asked as we walked down the stairs.

"Celes. She's good, like really good. You've got to be if you're a high stakes gambler like that. I only ever played one game against her, though."

"I see... How badly did she beat you?"

"I'd rather not say..." I almost mumbled.

"Duly noted." She told me.

"Oh yeah, at some point today somebody's going to find a laptop with an AI Chihiro designed on it."

"Interesting. This becomes important, I assume?" She asked.

"Well, yeah... It saves my life at one point." I told her just before entering the dining hall.

"More about that later." She whispered. Everybody was crowded around one of the tables looking at what appeared to be a computer screen. "Is that..."

I nodded and gently pushed on her back. She walked forward to see Chihiro's head on a green laptop screen.

"What's this?" She asked. She only had the faintest idea what was going on here, but she had to pretend not to know.

"Hello, Kirigiri, I am Alter Ego. I am a-" The laptop started to say

"She's a super smart robot!" Yamada finished.

"Well, putting it lightly, yes. I am an Artificial Intelligence program designed by and made to emulate my creator, Chihiro Fujisaki."

"Fascinating..." Kyoko said. She stood at the head of the table and put her thumb on her chin, looking down at the machine. "How was your creator able to make something so amazing in such short a time?"

"Well, he had actually started coding before entering Hope's Peak Academy. He finished in the days after being here."

"Hey, buddy. How's it going?" I said, walking up to the table.

"Buddy? I've never been called such a fond name! I am overjoyed!" It said. "This place is fascinating, I wasn't expecting to be able to access the wireless here, but the connection is behind a firewall that prohibits me from talking about the things I access."

"That's unfortunate. Let me know if you see anything interesting you can talk about! I'm starving, so I'm gonna get some food."

"Of course, can I call you friend?" The laptop asked.

"Sure!" I yelled back as I entered the kitchen.

"Was there a reason for that?" Kyoko asked. I wasn't expecting her to be behind me.

"Jeez, woman, how do you always do that?" I asked after recovering.

"Do what?"

"Manage to scare me like that. Every time I think i'm alone I hear your voice behind me." I turned around. "Not like that's a bad thing, or anything. It's just that being here has made me overly sensitive to jump scares. Especially my first run through."

"Sorry..." She folded her arms and looked down.

"No, it's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'm making a burger, you want one?"

"Sure."

I remember there being ground meat in here somewhere. I found the necessary components after searching for a bit longer than I would have expected. Kyoko ended up leaving while I was cooking to talk with Alter Ego. It's nice to have a little time to myself every now and then. Normally, I hate being alone, but cooking in an otherwise empty room was therapeutic.

Of course, I could have just eaten the casserole that was made for the class, but I wanted something a little different. Twenty minutes later, I walked out of the kitchen with two cheeseburgers to find that the only people left in the room were Kyoko, Yamada, and Ishimaru. All three were still conversing with Alter Ego. I silently placed Kyoko's meal in front of her and started eating.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. I haven't actually cooked anything in a while, so hopefully it's good."

"I have no worries." She said before picking up the sandwich.

"Find out anything interesting?" I was sitting on the opposite end of the table where the laptop was sitting.

"Nothing that I didn't already know, unfortunately." She was eating that greasy thing with her gloves still on. I have to imagine that she has another pair in her room somewhere. It has to be such a pain to get grease off of leather.

"Oh. Oh well, worth a shot I guess." As I took another bite I realized that I was with two of the three people who would die tomorrow. I should treasure this moment. Even though I don't know either of them very well, Both of them are hanging on to the last remnants of their dead friends. Ishimaru was talking with Alter Ego even though Mondo was the one who killed Chihiro. Yamada and Chihiro were decent friends, from what I remember, one of the very few he was able to make during his time here. That got me thinking about the people I was friendly with here... Kyoko, Hagakure, Asahina, Touko and Togami to a lesser extent, hell even Sakura... All of them were people that survived for most or all of our time here. I didn't get much time with anybody else, and now that I think about it, I'd really like to. Leon and Sayaka, Mondo and Chihiro... I want to know about them. I want to know everybody here. The only person I was really acquainted with was Kyoko, although not in the way I would have expected.

Eventually, Yamada and Ishimaru left. Yamada put the laptop back where it was found in Chihiro's locker. It was just me and Kyoko in the room, and it was almost 5PM.

"We've got another 24 hours, give or take, before we have to do that all over again. I'm sick of it, Kyoko, I really am." I said. All of a sudden, I felt tears coming on. I've never cried in front of anybody before. Not like this, at least.

"It sickens me, too. I would do something with the information you're giving me, but I have faith that we're going to start all over again."

"At least one of us does." I said. I had my head down on the table, hiding in my arms. I felt a hand on my back.

"Why would time reset only once for you? In circumstances like this, there are two possibilities: one, it resets indefinitely. Two, until some other requirements are met for time to continue." Kyoko said, trying to reassure me.

"You know..." I let out a chuckle. "For the Ultimate Detective that's a surprising insight."

"Well... Let's just say I had to be sure that none of it existed. What kind of detective would I be if I got stumped by an unknown supernatural element?"

"Fair enough. But you were wrong about none of it existing. I'm caught in it right now."

She slid closer to me. "I'll be here. Even if I don't remember anything, I'll always be there for you. Just ask."

"You think you'll be willing to help no matter what?"

"You're the Ultimate Luckster, how could I not be interested in that?"

"So you were going to get acquainted with me no matter who I was?" I asked. "Then does all this mean nothing to you?"

"No, that's not what I meant, Makoto. You should know that." She could not be sitting any closer to me if she tried, and that's a possibility. "From the first time you called me out in the entrance hall, I knew there was something about you. And you told me we already had something between us. There's two big reasons right there."

"What if I was lying about everything and I'm just relying on my luck?" I asked her.

"Come on, I'm the Ultimate Detective. I know when you're lying. You've never lied to me. Not even once."

"What if we're wrong, Kyoko? What if we're wrong? What if time doesn't reset and we sacrificed eight people for nothing?"

"Then we have each other. That'll have to be good enough."

I picked my head up and looked at her with my bloodshot eyes. "Yeah, that'll be good enough."

I smiled at her. It was almost time for supper to be served, but given the fact that we had eaten recently, we decided it was best to vacate the area for now.

"I'm gonna go lie down for now." I told her, I've done enough worrying about this, so I'm gonna get some sleep and not think about it.

"Ok. Get some sleep, it really looks like you need it." We were in front of my door.

"I will, thanks." I opened the door and started to go in.

"Hey, Makoto?" I heard, I started to turn around when I felt something wet on my cheek. I blushed, i'm sure. "Good night."

I watched her quickly walk to her room and all but knock the door down to get in. I smiled. If more than that hadn't already happened between us I wouldn't have been able to sleep.

I awoke from a dreamless sleep. Since the windows are bolted shut I always had no idea what time it was waking up. I had to grab my watch from the other side of the room to see.

"5:15... I slept for 12 hours?!" I almost shouted. "Well, there's no point in going back to bed."

I got dressed and got some food. Today was the day, this afternoon three more people would die undeserved deaths.

Asahina walked into the dining hall as I was finishing my meal. I waved at her and received a "Hey Mak" in return.

"What are you doing up?" I asked her.

"Couldn't sleep, you?"

"Too much sleep."

"Gotcha. We the only two up?"

"As far as I know." I took a bite out of my slice of watermelon.

"Cool, I need to talk to Alter Ego a bit. See ya later." She walked out of the room with a box of donuts.

And just as fast as I had gotten company, I lost it. This sucks. Three people are dying today and I'm sitting here alone. I've got no clue why I keep doing this to myself. So much for being the Ultimate Hope when all I do when I have down time is wallow in despair. I'm starting to think that I really don't deserve that title. The only thing I've done after getting it was watch four people die. And I'm gonna do it again today.

It was about 6:45 when Celes walked into the room with much less grace than she normally possessed.

"Oh, Naegi, I wasn't expecting to see you here." She said, walking past my table. I grabbed her wrist. I might regret this later, but I'm sick of doing nothing.

"Why are you here right now? You always wake up at 7:15 am. You pride yourself on that fact. You should be in bed."

"A well oiled machine can't run forever." She jerked her arm, loosening my grip.

"I have 2 words for you." I said, mustering up the courage to say them.

"Well, go ahead."

Finally, I let them past my lips. "Ishimaru. Yamada."

A gasp came from the girl. I turned around and saw her hand covering her mouth.

"You're the Ultimate Gambler, right? Let's make a wager. Sit down." I waved my arm in the direction of the seat across from me.

"What do you have to bet against me?" She asked, taking the seat.

"I know you killed them. Don't ask how, but I do. I wager that you can't convince everyone else otherwise. Don't say anything about this."

"And in return I'll be asking for your silence as well."

"When the trial begins, in going all out. No holds barred." I offered her my hand. "I'll limit my investigation time of the bodies to 2 minutes. If you win I'll tell you how I knew. The loser of course dies. Do we have a deal?"

"I am very curious how you were aware of this so soon." I nooded my head. She shook my hand. "You'll regret this. Celestia von Ludenburg never loses."

The funny thing is, she thinks this is stacked in her favor. I have three tools she doesn't: my prior knowledge, my 2 minutes of investigation, and Kyoko. This is going to be interesting. I'm sure Celes is going to want to make sure I only stay in the Art Room for 2 minutes, which means I'm going to have to explain that to Kyoko. It's not like I really need more than a minute or two to check for any potential changes. I'm also going to be unsure of whether or not she tricked Yamada into helping her, but it's unlikely that she didn't. My main question is going to be why Ishimaru was awake at such an ungodly hour.

Celes walked off, presumably to return to her room to keep up appearances. Alter Ego. I could probably ask the AI if it knows why he was out of bed. Hopefully Asahina isn't in the room anymore. I went over to where we were keeping it and booted up the laptop.

"Hey, buddy. I need a favor." I asked, I was the only one in the room, luckily enough.

"Oh, Makoto! Anything you need, what is it?"

It was still a little weird talking to a laptop like this, but I'll get over that eventually. "Do you have access to the security cameras? I need some footage from Kiyotaka's bedroom."

"Well, since you're asking you must know that he's dead. I'm not allowed to say who or what killed him..."

"Yeah, that's fine, I just want to know what time he left his room." I don't need the answer to the mystery, it wasn't really one to me at this point.

"Umm... let's see... He left his bedroom at 4:47 AM."

"Can you check every other day? Is that normal?" I asked. I honestly didn't know what time he normally got up.

"He's left his bedroom between 4:23 and 4:56 AM every day since coming here."

"OK, thanks. That helps a lot. Can you give me some footage from the dining hall at 5 AM?"

"Here ya go!" Alter Ego said cheerfully. The monitor transitioned to a screen of an empty room.

"So in the 13 minutes after he left his room those two lured him into the Art Room... This will be a big help. I appreciate it!"

"No problem friend, any time you need me, I'll be there!" Alter Ego spouted as I got up to return it to its place.

"I sure hope so." I told it. As soon as I went to leave the Monokuma morning announcement came on. People were sure to go to the dining hall soon. Merely being awake at this hour means that I'll be a prime suspect, and going back into my room would only look more suspicious. So I just walked back to the dining hall. Celes, of course, was nowhere to be found. The only person present was Sakura. I gave a curt greeting and plopped down and pulled out my mp3 player.

One by one, the surviving students trickled into the dining hall. Kyoko, of course, wasn't here, Hagakure was missing as well. It's very possible that Hagakure still managed to trap himself in the Robo Justice costume. As for Kyoko, well... I have no idea where she went to last time around, so that's no help. Hopefully she's still sleeping.

I went over to her room and knocked on the door. No reply. I tried the handle, it was unlocked. I walked in sheepishly to find the girl still asleep.

"Oh, good." I muttered to myself. She was sprawled out on the bed, sheets scattered around it on the ground. She wore a silk pajama set that matched her hair. I walked over to the girl in question and shook her awake.

"Huh... Whazzat... What's going on? MAKOTO?" She yelled, realizing who I was.

"Hey, hey, shhh. You need to get up, we've got a bit of a situation."

"I'm up, i'm up, what is it?" Kyoko asked, gathering as many sheets to cover herself as she could. She wasn't wearing her gloves. I suppose that makes sense, but seeing her without them on was a sight i'd only seen twice before. She did her best to hide her hands while trying to cover up the rest of her.

"They're dead. Ishimaru, Yamada. Both of them are already dead. 12 hours ahead of schedule."

"Ok, get out and let me get dressed. I'll be right out."

"Nobody else knows, so play it cool." I said, closing the door behind me.

"So now you're paying visits to each others rooms? I wish master would do that to me every now and then." I heard a familiar maniac's voice from behind me.

"Touko? Jack? I don't know what to call you in this form..."

"Whatever's fine. What'cha doin' here? Up to an early morning rendezvous with your lover? Oh how I wish Master would to that to me..."

"No, that's not why I'm here, Touko. She just overslept and I went to wake her up."

"Wake her up? Is that what they're calling it these days?"

"TOUKO!" I almost yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have fun, loverboy! Just be happy you've got your girl. My man won't even so much as look at me fondly. What a miserable existence." She said, cackling as she walked away.

Just then, Kyoko walked out of the room. "Touko?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, let's go." Kyoko said, grabbing my hand as she started to walk away. She met with resistance when I wouldn't walk with her.

"Wait, there's a couple problems."

"Go ahead."

"Well, they're already dead. Yamada and Ishimaru. I think i'm going to be a prime suspect."

"It is of no consequence."

"I also made a deal with Celes. I only get 2 minutes in the Art Room."

"Fine. But why?"

"I have no idea why I did it. I needed to do something different, I was going crazy, I guess." I scratched the back of my head.

"It's ok, I'll figure it out for you."

"I've already got it figured out." I jabbed my temple with my index finger as we started walking.

"Sure, but any discrepancies from your memory i've got covered."

"Well thanks." I said. We walked into the dining hall, hearing Touko weave a tale that would make an escort blush. "TOUKO!"

"What? Is any of that wrong?"

"Yeah, all of it! We've never done any of that stuff!"

"What a shame. You should try at least some of that." Jack said. From the seat next to her, Togami waved a feather underneath her nose, causing her to sneeze. "W-what happened?"

Touko was once again in control of her body.

"How annoying." Togami said, putting a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"W-w-whatever I d-did I'm s-sorry... Eep!" Touko realized where she was sitting and slid over as quickly as she could.

"Do you keep that on you?" Sakura asked.

"Naturally." Togami said in between bites of his meal.

"What do you say we pop this announcement?" I whispered to Kyoko. We were still standing in the entryway to the dining hall. She nodded her head and we made off towards the third floor. I'm not sure what I was expecting it to look like, but the crime scene was identical to how it was in my memory. I scanned the room as best I could while the body discovery announcement played. I went back to the dining hall while Kyoko got to work, where I found Sakura and Asahina.

"Yamada... Ishimaru... Art Room storage..." I said, trying my best to sound out of breath and shocked. They bolted out of the room, presumably to find everybody else.

The trial went in almost exactly the way I expected it to, given all the differences between this reality and my memory. Celes went after me almost immediately, since I had admitted to being awake at 5:30 AM, a few minutes before the time of death.

"Celestia von Ludenburg has been found GUILTY and will be punished accordingly!" Monokuma shouted after we made out votes.

"Wait! Monokuma! Hang on a second!" I yelled as I made my way to where Celes was standing.

"What is it?"

"I want to say something. We talked a bit this morning, I want to tell her something else about that."

"Is it that important? She's about to die."

"Just... hold it, ok?" I said, dismissing him. To Celes, I whispered "You wanna know how I knew? I've experienced this before. I know how everything goes down ahead of time. Every time you've tried this I've stopped you. Always Yamada and Ishimaru. Always for money. No matter how hard you try to get away with it, no matter what you do, I know it's you. You can't win this, Celes."

"H-h-how is that possible?" She asked, shuddering.

"Alright Monokuma, I'm good. You can commence with the punishing."

"With pleasure, Naegi!"

"And you're going to die wondering what you could have done. I want you to feel that despair. I want it to touch every last bit of your soul." I whispered to her as she walked of. She was a jumbled, hysterical mess. Good. She deserved every last bit of that. Not that I enjoyed watching the execution, or anything, but after letting these seven Ultimates die I felt a little vindictive.

After we left the trial room, it was around 3 PM. Lunch was ready for us when we arrived at the dining hall. I was the only one who was really in the mood to eat.

"What did you tell her?" Kyoko asked me.

"I explained how I knew everything. I don't know why, but I wanted her to despair in that fact."

"Quite vindictive, don't you think?"

"My thoughts exactly, but this was the ninth class trial I'd been to, it kind of wears on you."

"I know what you mean." She said. We ate the rest of our meal in silence. The afternoon passed uneventfully, with the exploration of the fourth floor being the only thing worth noting. Kyoko insisted I go with her for that.

"You do know that once we expose Junko I just go back to the start. There's nothing after that for us." I said, climbing up the steps to the fourth floor.

"I know that. Why do you think I'm spending all this time with you? We only get these 12 days together. Ever since you told me we had been close in the past, I became more and more willing to fall for you, Makoto."

"What sucks about this is that I have all the time I could ever want with you, but you have to restart every 12 days."

"Just tell me about my hands, I'll believe anything you say."

"But you didn't believe me until after the first trial..." I said incredulously.

"I was lying. Between what I know about the supernatural and how well I keep this secret, I believed you instantly. I only led you to think otherwise was to determine what I was going to do about you."

"And you decided that fast?" I asked. We had stopped walking. Kyoko was leaning against the wall and I was standing in front of her, resting my hand on the plaster just above her shoulder.

"Yeah... You're different, you know. There's something about you that I can't explain."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far." I took a step back.

"Well, I would. Come on, let's keep looking around." She wrapped herself around my arm and pulled me forward. I smiled and walked along with her.

The fourth floor housed the headmasters office, music room, and chemistry lab. There was also the Monokuma control room, but that was currently locked.

Tomorrow, Sakura would commit suicide by ingesting poison from the chemistry lab. At least it was the last death that I would have to deal with until time reset. Me and Kyoko stood in front of the cabinet that held the poison.

"What a way to go, isn't it?" She asked me.

"It's a better method than anything else easily accessible." I asserted. "The alternative would be either hanging or self-inflicted cut or stab wounds, neither of which sound more pleasant than poison."

"There's always drowning." Kyoko replied.

"I hate the thought of drowning... You're so helpless..."

We wandered around until we reached the music room, where we heard a wonderful sound emanating out of the room. We walked in to see something I didn't know was possible. Togami was hammering away at piano keys in a way I hadn't even considered to be possible. We stood there in awe as a crescendo signaled the end of the performance. We clapped as soon as the last notes faded away.

"Oh, you two. I was not aware I was putting on a show." He said upon turning around.

"I didn't know you could play so well." I told him. It wasn't a lie, even last time around I hadn't heard the brilliant scion make such beautiful music.

"Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. A favorite of mine." Togami said, sitting back down on the bench. "Chopin's Nocturnes, Opus 13."

He started playing again, a slow, almost depressing sound. Kyoko asked "Did you know about this?"

I could only shake my head. After last time I thought the music room would just be a waste of space, but if someone could wield the piano so wonderfully, having him around might not be so bad after all.

"Opus 25." Togami said simply as the song ended. After a moment's delay he began again. As he played, the two of us sank down to sit against a wall. I put my arm around her tentatively, wondering how she would react. She didn't resist, but moved a little closer to me to accommodate it. The music came to a stop once more. "And now something the two of you might recognize. Richard Wagner, Flight of the Valkyries. A rendition of my own composure"

And so we sat there for the next two hours or so, listening to Togami play every classical piece I had ever heard of and then some. Touko would have gladly killed to be in our position. If I had to ascribe a sound to hope, it would sound like Togami playing the piano. Sitting here listening to the melodic tones of Byakuya Togami's fingers running up and down the keys is alone a reason to keep going. If there's a light at the end of this tunnel, this experience and any like it will give me hope. Amidst all the killing, all this despair, there are a few things to make it seem like it won't last forever. I've got Kyoko, I've got Togami's music, I've got Hagakure's crazy conspiracy theories, even Asahina and Touko's shenanigans can serve to distract me from my reality. In the end, I suppose that's what I really need.

"Kyoko?" I asked, only just now realizing how dim the lighting in the room is.

"Yes?"

"If there's no way out of this, I need you as my distraction. If I can't escape this hell, I need someone to be there to take my mind off of it. I want that to be you."

"Just say the word, Makoto. I'll be there for you."

"Hopefully every time it works as well as it did this time."

"I'm sure it will." She sounded less confident in that, but at least her heart was in it.

A low note rang out, I'm not sure what it was Togami was playing, I had long since paid attention to what songs he was calling out. "I think that will do for today. Whatever you do, do not tell that bookworm what you saw here."

He made us promise not to tell Touko, his concern is legitimate, as the girl in question would only serve to further annoy him because of it.

"Well, that was rather nice, wasn't it?" I asked.

"But not unexpected from someone of his social status." Kyoko asserted.

"Yeah, I guess so, huh?" I said, standing up. I offered her my hand. "Come on, let's go get some food."

She took my hand. "It's only... oh, never mind, it's 7:00 already... Yeah let's."

We started walking back to the dining hall, by the time we got there, I had finished explaining what would happen in the next trial.

"So she tried to get us all killed because she felt like it was our fault she died?"

"Yeah. A really messed up situation, but I can kind of understand where she's coming from." I told her. "Granted, throwing your life away because of a misguided sense of vengeance is despicable no matter how you look at it, but in a situation as desperate as this, I get it."

"Hm... I wonder if anyone else would do something like that if someone else committed suicide..." Kyoko pondered.

"I think Touko would just kill everyone if Togami offed himself." I said jokingly. Kyoko laughed a bit before I added "No, no, what would happen is Genocide Jack would kill Togami, then after Touko saw what she did she would kill herself."

It takes a special kind of crazy to find humor in a situation like that. We've been locked in here long enough to develop that, I guess.

"Ha, I guess you're right, huh?"

"Oh no... what the everliving hell is this?" I groaned. Sakura was bent over a table in her chair, the all-too familiar bottle of poison lay on the ground. "This isn't right! This isn't right at all!"

"A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, we will hold a class trial to determine the killer!" Monokuma's voice came through the TV set. I barely registered it. Sakura had already offed herself? What's going on here? Why is everything speeding up?

"Asahina already saw this..." I muttered. If the two of us triggered the announcement, then at least one other person was here. There's no way it wasn't the dark-skinned girl.

"I'm gonna take a look." Kyoko said.

"Be my guest." I said. I sat down in a corner table and buried my head in my arms. Why was all this happening so differently? What did I do to make things go this way? Hagakure and Touko walked into the room. I could hear footsteps, but I wasn't sure who it was until they started talking.

"Not cool, man! Again?!"

"Tch. Why does it always have to happen like this? We didn't even get a motive yet..."

"Now's not the time for worrying. We have maybe an hour before the trial starts, so I suggest you two have a look around. I'm going to the chem lab." Kyoko took off alone, leaving me to wallow alone. I've been doing a lot of this recently, but at least I won't have to go through this again, not until Sayaka dies once more. I've let all these people die for another shot at having the entire school unlocked.

"Time's up! Please meet at the elevator to begin the class trial! Remember attendance is mandatory!" I hadn't realized I spent that much time just sitting there, I hadn't done anything to help myself. I've been relying on my prior knowledge since I woke up in the classroom, i've kinda gotten a bit lazy about all this. I stood up groggily and mindlessly made my way over to the elevator. I couldn't help but give Asahina a nasty look, which I quickly apologized for.

"And the blackened is none other than Sakura Ogami! Unfortunately, the blackened is already dead, so there is nobody to punish. Luckily, I found a substitute!" Monokuma said. On a malicious impulse, I walked over to Asahina and slapped her across the face as hard as I could.

"Makoto!" Everybody screamed in unison.

"How could you!"

"She didn't deserve that!"

"C'mon bruh!"

"Everybody shut up!" I yelled. The stress of the class trials was always too much for me, I guess I was better at handling it last time around. "You deliberately sabotaged the crime scene, made a mess of the class trial, you tried to get us all killed!"

"What else was I going to do? You all pushed her into it!" She yelled, getting back up on her feet. I had used so much force, and the blow was so unexpected I knocked her over.

"And so you try to off yourself along with us? What kind of boneheaded move is that?" I shouted back.

"The only option I had for justice!"

"Justice? We've let eight people die and you want JUSTICE? Where's the justice in that? We should never have been placed in this hellhole in the first place! Look for justice from the one who did this to us!"

"Umm... I hate to interrupt, but like I said earlier, I found a replacement to be punished in Sakura's stead. Let the punishment commence!" Monokuma yelled.

Me and Asahina looked over at his seat, both still pointing at each other and leaning forward as if we both stopped mid sentance accusing each other. It wasn't far off from the truth, but if I wasn't so infuriated I would have found it funny.

I had completely forgotten that Monokuma crushed Alter Ego's laptop into little bits, but here I was watching it again.

Kyoko walked over to me and whispered into my ear "So how exactly does he save your life now?"

"Um... Honestly I have no idea, but a copy of the program still exists in the building somewhere." I whispered back.

"And that concludes our class trial, thank you for coming out, everybody!" Monokuma said as the door to the elevator opened. It had to be at least 9:30, and I was starving. Unfortunately for my stomach, the second floor dorm was most likely accessible, and I would want to go look there before I got anything to eat.

I was wrong. There was still a gate blocking the flight of stairs leading to the end goal. I muttered to myself "Dammit."

There was nothing else to do except get some food and sleep. So I did just that. Monokuma had chicken-fried steaks prepared for us when we arrived in the dining hall. I took two of them and some brown gravy and stuffed my face as quickly as I could. Nobody was in the mood to talk, especially after me and Asahina's interaction. I didn't even talk to Kyoko at all, who had taken a seat across from me. I got up to leave, and I felt someone follow me. I didn't think anything of it, it was probably Kyoko. I opened the door to my room to get some rest, but I heard a soft

"Hey, Mak?" It was Asahina who followed me, after all.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning around. After coming to my senses I did feel really bad about what happened down there. My actions were unacceptable, but I still attest that my words were spot-on.

"I... uh... I want to apologize for earlier..." She said. Both of us were looking at the ground, unwilling to look the other in the eye. "Trying to frame myself as the killer was really wrong of me. I didn't know what else to do, she was my only friend here..."

"No, she wasn't." I said. I lifted up her chin up to look at me. "I'm your friend, Yashuhiro's your friend. Kyoko and Touko are your friends. Even the esteemed Byakuya Togami is your friend, even if he may not admit it. You're not alone here. You're never alone, Aoi. You've got all of us."

I dropped my hand. She kept her head held high.

"You think so?" I nodded. "That makes me happy."

"And... uh... I'm sorry for slapping you earlier." I told her. "I don't do well under stress."

"I deserved it. Actually I deserve a lot more than that." She almost laughed, holding back tears. I grabbed onto her shoulders.

"We'll get through this. All of us. Nobody else is going to die, I promise you." I pulled her into a hug.

"You promise?"

"I promise." I rested my chin on top of her head. "We'll all be alright."

She sniffled and pushed herself off of me. "Okay."

"Feeling alright?" I laughed.

"I'll be fine. I needed this, I think. Good night, Mak." She bowed and started walking in the direction of the dining hall. I shut the door and flopped onto my bed.

The next morning I woke up to a knock on my door. This is happening all too often. I let out an "It's open." as loud as I could. The door allowed one Byakuya Togami into the room.

"You and Asahina had a talk last night, what about?" He demanded to know, standing there and folding his arms like he does.

"We just cheered each other up, what's it to you?" I muttered, struggling to sit upright.

"She put me in a very compromising position when she returned to the dining hall. I thought your conversation was the root of that. Seems like I was right." He walked off.

I got out of bed and glanced at my watch.

"Dammit, Togami! It's 6:15!" I yelled. The walls were soundproof, so I could curse his name as much as I wanted. I laid back down and almost instantly fell asleep. When I awoke I saw 9:10 on my wrist watch. "That's more like it."

I went into the dining hall and sat down to waffles, feeling significantly more awake than I normally do.

"Gooooood mooooooorrrrniiing, Makoootooooo!" Asahina ran at me as soon as she saw me and nearly tackled me out of my chair.

"Asahina, hey, what-" I gasped. "Chocking... not... breathing..."

"Call me Aoi, please." She said, finally relinquishing my neck from her arms.

"One hell of a greeting. You trying to choke me with that hug?"

"Sorry..." She said.

"It's no big deal, i'm just not used to that kind of greeting." I started eating and soon, everybody had gathered around me at my table.

"Togami, I think I understand what you meant earlier."

"Do you now?"

"I was almost crushed by Aoi here, she probably did that to everybody last night." He nodded his head.

"Touko went ballistic on her, quite embarrassing for me." Togami said.

"Hey! That was not ballistic! I was calm!" She asserted.

"Calm for a homicidal maniac, maybe." Togami sneered.

"Hey, has anybody checked out the fifth floor yet?"

"I did, the garden is sick, man!" Hagakure said.

"Sakura would have loved the dojo..." Aoi said, hanging her head low.

"And the lab is hella cold, what are they keeping in there?" Hagakure asked.

"Dead bodies..." I muttered. Crap. I forgot, I don't want to mention that.

"Dead bodies?" Touko asked. The cat's out of the bag now, I guess.

"Yeah, I went up there earlier." I told them. Total lie, and not a very good one, but hopefully they buy it.

"Really? I seem to recall waking you up, Naegi." Togami said.

"And I was up there just before coming down here." Touko added.

"I was there with him..." Kyoko said. Words cannot express how much I appreciate you right now.

"And what, pray tell, were you doing?" Togami's words pressed on me like a ton of bricks.

"...I'd rather not say." She put her head down. I got looks from everyone and I could feel blood rushing to my cheeks even though nothing of the sort happened. I put my hands up.

"Just... leave it be, ok? I kinda opened a casket on accident, don't ask how. I saw Chihiro's body come out of the wall on a coroner's table."

"Man, what kind of freaky stuff were you two doing in that freezer to do something like that?" Hagakure asked.

"It's best you don't ask." I said, staring at my food mustering the strength to take a bite.

"Well whatever it was had to be hella distracting to not notice a dead body protruding from the wall."

"How have you two j-just started doing that? In my book a-about you, you're already married!" Touko added.

I raised my head to find Kyoko staring at me. I shot her a smirk. Her face turned beet red and she all but turned around on the bench to avoid looking at me. Hagakure and Aoi laughed uproariously. I let out a small chuckle. I took the last bit of my food and said

"Well, I'm gonna go take another look at the garden, I was only in there for a second earlier." I stood up to leave.

"Take your girlfriend with you, Naegi, she's making a cloud of tension around her so thick it would take a broadsword to cut." Togami said, probably only wanting to vacate the seat next to him however possible.

"Excuse me." Kyoko said, running out of the room faster than I had ever seen her move before. I caught up to her at the landing to the third floor.

"Hey, wait up!" I grabbed her wrist. She still looked embarrassed. "It's okay, there's nobody around. Thanks for covering for me."

"You should be grateful, I've never been so humiliated in my life. No telling what they think we were up to." She sat down in the corner of the landing.

"Who cares? It's not like-"

"I care, a lot, actually. I am a girl, you know."

"Yeah, I'm well aware. I'm sure implying that something happened between us was hard for you to do."

"That was an accident, I'm a really bad liar..." Kyoko told me. Out of all the time i'd known her, I never would have guessed that.

"Oh, I see. So you couldn't come up with anything and just left it at that?" I was struggling to hold back a laugh.

"Mmhmm..."

"I'm so sorry, really." I sat down next to her and put my arm around her.

"Time better reset, I don't know what I can do to recover from this..."

"It'll be okay, trust me." We eventually got up and made our way to the garden.

"You know, I have no real reason to be here. I just wanted an excuse to get you out of there. We could have gone anywhere, really." I told her as we opened the door that led out to the plant infested area.

"Since we're here, do you wanna-" Kyoko started saying.

"Absolutely." I said.

"I didn't even ask yet."

"I already know what you're gonna ask. You want to know how I get framed using Mukuro's body, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"The upper body gets charred in an explosion from a bomb placed on her chest, she was lying about here..." I stood where I was indicating. "I should probably say now that I wasn't exactly framed, it's just that Monokuma suddenly tells us that there was a sixteenth student that died. I was the only one that 'saw her' so the trial points at me for long enough for Monokuma to execute me. Or try to, anyway. Alter Ego saves me. Then you find your way to the trash dump to rescue me, didn't I already cover this part?"

"Most of it." The girl tells me. "It's ok, just start over from you seeing her in your room."

And so I did.

The next morning came around and I found myself dreading getting out of bed. Today's the day, well, tonight, anyway. The beginning of the end starts now. At least, for this go round. Since things were happening earlier than I was expecting, I kinda thought Junko would show up in my room last night, but considering the fact that I slept soundly means that the events that led to us leaving the academy have not quite been set in motion yet. I made my way to the fifth floor to check out the garden before breakfast. I wanted to know if Mukuro's body would be there. It wasn't.

"Why the long face, Mak?" Aoi asked as I sat down at the table. Since yesterday everybody started eating at the same table.

"No reason... Just sick of this situation I guess." I told her. Having to live through this once was bad enough.

"Yeah, me too. I think it's almost over, though..." She mumbled, loud enough for me to hear.

"You think?" I asked. Does she know something, after all?

"Mmhmm! Nobody else is gonna die, you said so yourself!" She said, suddenly full of energy. "We'll find a way to get out of this place!"

"Very optimistic, I guess that's the attitude we need to get out alive, huh?"

The rest of the day was uneventful, me and Kyoko hung out, both in Togami's impromptu concert and otherwise. I chatted with Aoi and Hagakure a good deal, who had gotten closer than I remember. I was basically doing anything I could to keep my mind off the fact that I only had two more days with this Kyoko.

I went to sleep with a heavy mind, knowing that I'd have to wake up at the right time or die. Given my luck previously, it's basically a guarantee that I'll survive. With how long it takes me to wake up, there's no way I'd be able to do anything about it once I'm awake. I basically have to just make sure she knows i'm up and nothing will happen.

I did just that. I awoke in the middle of the night to see a figure in a white coat and a luchador mask brandishing a knife over me. I screamed, naturally. Even though I was completely expecting it, it's still a creepy sight to wake up to. She ran. Bolted out the door faster than I'd ever seen anyone run before. Since getting rid of me this way wouldn't work, she'd have to resort to plan B, which was executing me in a sham trial.

I woke up much later, having immediately fallen back asleep. Nobody was in the dining hall, weird for 7:30.

"The garden..." I muttered. Kyoko probably knew something would be up with how I remembered things, so she probably went to check on it. If she brought everybody else with her, that must mean that the body discovery announcement played before the morning announcement, which is the only thing I remember hearing after waking up again. Sure enough, when I got to the garden, I saw everybody crowding around an area close to the Monokuma Plant. I walked up and rested my chin on Kyoko's shoulder. She didn't react. "When was the announcement?"

"About 6:30 or so." She replied, cocking her head slightly so that it rested on mine.

"What are you guys looking at?" We heard a high pitched voice from behind us.

"Who is this?" Togami asked.

"I came for two reasons." Monokuma said, walking closer to us. "The Monokuma File has been added to your Electro ID, and two... Would you mind stepping out of the way for a moment?"

Togami and Aoi made some space so that the robot bear could move closer.

"EVERYBODY BACK!" I yelled. I knew what he was going to do. I don't think Junko expected us to find Mukuro's body so quickly. She probably thought she had more time to set everything up. This isn't quite right, but then again Kyoko was here five hours before we were supposed to find this. I grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back as much as I could. Luckily, everybody listened to me just in time. I think they all spotted his red eye blinking quickly enough to move out of the blast range.

Nobody was hurt, but the top half of Mukuro's body became singed. The ensuing fire was quickly put out by the sprinkler system, but the smell of burning flesh remained. Everybody had been knocked on the ground by the force of Monokuma's kamikaze. Before we could get up, another one was present.

"I see that you've found the body of Mukuro Ikusaba, the sixteenth student. Like I said before, the Monokuma file has everything you'll need to know to solve this murder." He walked off.

"What the-" Togami said.

"W-w-w-what was that?"

"Hey, Monokuma, wait up! We weren't done yet!"

A cacophony of voices erupted in protest. The animatronic wasn't having any of it.

"Well, crap." I muttered. Things are becoming more and more weird, but at least the basic premise is identical.

"Yeah, that's definitely off..." Kyoko muttered. Two days ago I had told her exactly how it would all go down. This is most definitely not right.

"Guys, listen up!" I said, standing up. "I saw Mukuro last night in my room, she was standing over me with a knife, I have no idea what stopped her from killing me last night, but it looked like she was going to until I screamed."

"This knife?" Aoi crawled over to where a nasty looking hunting knife lay on the ground.

"Yeah, that's the one actually." I looked at Kyoko, who had just gotten up, she gave me a serious 'What the hell' stare. I whispered to her "Just go with it."

"So then why was she lying dead here?" Togami asked.

"That's what I don't know..." I said, scratching the back of my head.

"What are you doing?" Kyoko whispered to me.

"Getting myself killed." I whispered back.

"Are you insane?"

"Just... it'll be ok, ok?"

"Crazy bastard." She sneered before walking back over to the body.

"If she was going to kill you, Naegi, she had the perfect opportunity. I saw how you are right after waking up. There's no reason for her to not have just slit your throat."

"I know, I know. I can't explain why I'm alive. And I never saw her face, she was wearing that mask." I said, pointing to the char that was Mukuro's upper body. "Well... the mask that would've been on her face."

We looked around for another hour or so. It wasn't like I wanted to make it look like I was the killer, but ensuring Togami would make the accusation during the trial was a big part of my plan succeeding. I didn't want the trial to take too long, I've come so far I can almost taste the stale air of the second floor dorm. The trial announcement came on, so we all made our way to the first floor, taking the elevator deep underground into the trial room. Kyoko was biting her thumb all the way down. As it landed and everybody walked out one by one, I held her back for a minute.

"You gonna be alright?"

"No, of course not. You might die. I can't help but worry about that."

"Trust me, everything will work out."

"You better be right. I'll kill you if you die today."

"Haha, well I better not then, huh?" I laughed, letting her walk to her designated podium. I walked out of the elevator, hands in my jacket pockets, all eyes on me. "Let's get this show on the road!"

"And the killer is... Makoto Naegi!" Monokuma announced. We hadn't even voted yet.

"Heh, it appears things have come to an end here." I said smiling.

"Makoto!" Kyoko ran over to me and nearly tackled me in an effort to throw her arms around me. "Tell me right now, did you kill her?"

"Is this for show?" I whispered.

"Of course, idiot. I know you did nothing of the sort." She whispered back.

"No, I did not." I said louder. "Monokuma, give me a minute?"

I heard him start to say something, but I didn't pay it any mind. I picked Kyoko's chin up and captured her lips with mine. She made some noise like she was trying to say something, but it was no use. I closed my eyes and pulled her close to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck. The feeling is incredible. It always was, even last time around, I could never get tired of this. The feeling on my lips, the raw emotion, the desparation with which my mouth was being attacked. Like all good things, it had to end eventually. I pulled away and looked at her, smiling. I saw a tear running down the side of her face.

"Is this for show?" I asked, wiping it away with my thumb.

"I'm scared. Confident you'll be alright, but scared. I can't help it." She told me.

"I'll be fine. I'm the Ultimate Luckster, after all." I gave her a peck on the lips before hearing a screeching voice.

"How DARE YOU interrupt my punishment with such a display! SHAMEFUL! I'll enjoy watching you die!" Monokuma yelled. I felt a sudden pull on my neck, and before I could register what was going on I had been pulled by a chain into a desk chair. I was strapped into it, going backwards on a conveyor belt. I could still see everybody from where I was sitting, they all looked shocked. Kyoko was failing to hold back more tears. I tried my best to wave at them, but my hands were too tightly secured to move them. I could hear the crusher pounding on the end of the belt behind me. I got closer. Alter Ego hadn't showed up yet. I laughed nervously. Another deafening blow to the belt. I started getting legitimately worried. It should have been here by now... I was probably four or five pounds away from getting splattered across the room. I could see it now, purple goo painted across every available surface, the smell of decaying flesh, the unimaginable pain we've all felt before. I laughed even harder now, almost scaring myself.

"IS THIS THE BEST YOU'VE GOT, BITCH?" I yelled. I started cackling. I looked up, I could see the metal block that would spell my death directly above me. "BRING IT ON!"

Just then, the conveyor belt stopped, the hammer didn't fall. I saw Alter Ego's face appear on the hammer's underside.

"Hey there, buddy. Nice of you to show up." I said, coming to my senses. I tipped my chair back and fell down the garbage chute I knew to be there. Unfortunately, I was still chained to the chair, so landing could be quite painful. It was, but luckily I landed on my back after all the tumbling was over. All that was left to do was wait for my knight in shining armor to come rescue me.

That took about a day and a half, by my estimate. I heard something come through the same chute I did. The grunts I heard could only belong to one person.

"Kyoko! Over here!" I yelled into the air. "This way! What took you so long! Last time I was sitting here for three or four hours! I'm starving!"

"Sorry, it took longer than I thought it would have to get this." She flashed me a key before standing my chair up and unlocking the chains. "Also..."

She slapped me across the face much like I did to Aoi. If I wasn't locked to it, I would have fallen out of my chair from the shock.

"HOW COULD YOU? YOU SCARED ME TO DEATH, YOU KNOW!" She yelled at me.

"I had to! If I didn't I couldn't get into the second floor dorms!" I said.

"You looked like you were losing your mind up there!" She undid my hands.

"I kinda was, in all honesty..."

"I've never been on such a roller coaster of emotion, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!" She finished undoing my ankles. "First, you tell me you're trying to get yourself killed, then you succeed, then you kiss me. YOU KISSED ME! Then I have to watch you lose your mind and almost die! Do you know what I had to go through to track down a skeleton key?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." I said, standing up.

"You should be." She turned around and folded her arms. I wrapped my arms around her stomach.

"It's ok, I'm alright. Nobody is going to die. Not anymore." I let a single tear fall onto her shoulder. I wasn't expecting that. I guess all this was too much, even when I'd done it all before. Kyoko makes a mountain of a difference in my emotional well being. We're a lot closer now than we ever were last time, I think. She broke out of my embrace.

"Good. Now, let's find a way out of here." She said, regaining her composure.

"There's a ladder over there. Only problem is it takes forever and a day to climb up."

"Well, let's get started." She said. We made our way over to the ladder. Before I grabbed on I turned around.

"Thanks for coming to get me." I said, leaning in closer to her. "I needed your help this time, can't climb a ladder chained to a chair."

"I suppose not." She chucked softly. She moved herself ever so slightly closer to me. It was all the permission I needed. I captured her lips in mine. Much less passionate than last time, but much more meaningful. It was only one kiss, soft and short, but it had the weight of all the hope in the world behind it.

"Let's go." I turned back around and started climbing. We must have climbed for half an hour before reaching the top, finding ourselves in the trash room on the first floor. Kyoko brandished her key and lifted up the gate long enough for us to walk through. She locked it behind us. Making our way to the dining hall, we found Togami conversing with Monokuma.

"I know he's not dead, this execution was not like the rest. With a setup like that there should have been blood." The scion insisted.

"Well, he should have been, but there was a minor glitch in the system. He'll starve to death in a few days anyway."

"Not if i'm up here." I said loudly, making my presense known. Togami probably could smell me from outside, but said nothing.

"NAEGI! YOU MADE IT OUT?" Monokuma yelled.

"Yeah, and listen. I don't know what's up, but I want to find out. I demand a retrial for Mukuro's murder!"

"Fine."

"Just that easy, huh? I also want the entire school unlocked for a proper investigation."

"Fine."

"And I need a steak, medium rare. I'm starving."

"Fine."

"And you're ok with all of this?" I asked.

"Just peachy. Me against the six of you, huh? I like a challenge." Monokuma said. He walked out of the dining hall into the common area just as another one brought out my meal.

"That was quick. Way simpler than I expected it to be." I grabbed the plate from the replacement Monokuma and sat down.

"Naegi, explain this. And that smell, you reek." Togami said, keeping his distance from my table.

"Alter Ego hacked the execution some kinda way, I'm not sure how, but I got thrown into a dump below the trash room. Kyoko went down there and unshackled me."

"And how, pray tell, did you know to check there?"

"I didn't. I went into the execution room and went down the same way he did."

"With no concern for your well-being?" Togami asked accusingly.

"I knew he would live. Monokuma just proved he was innocent, did he not?" Kyoko asked.

"Fair enough. What wasn't unlocked that will be now?"

"The room on the fourth floor with the Monokuma head design on the door." I said. "That's always been locked, as far as I know."

"I see. I'm going take a look then. I suggest you bathe before I see you again." He walked off.

Me and Kyoko were alone in the dining hall. "Holy crap, I think it worked. Let me finish eating and take a shower then we need to get up there."

"The second floor dorm?"

"Precisely. There's gotta be something else there. I just know it."

An hour later, we found ourselves in the locker room where I saw Hagakure's locker mostly intact. The two of us searched every nook and cranny available. There was nothing worth looking at so far. I was about to give up hope when I moved some rubble out from in front of one of the lockers.

"It's... it's got my name on it..." I said in a barely audible tone. I opened it up easily, even though the lock was still intact. Even though I don't remember setting it, I tried the code I used in middle school. That worked like a charm. In the locker was a bunch of school books and notebooks with them. School supplies, my old game boy, a book full of stickers, and one notebook that caught my eye. "Ultimate Despair?"

It was a composition notebook, completely full of names I barely recognized. Hajime Hinata? Izuru Kamukura? Nagito Komaeda? Who were these people?

"Found something?" Kyoko asked.

"Yeah... it's... uh... I think it's exactly what I needed."

"Oh?"

"It talks about the Ultimate Despair. Not just Junko, apparently. There's a whole group of people with the moniker. Almost like it's an organization name, or something. It's all in my handwriting, too. Listen to this, it says August 13th, 2010, Izuru Kamukura, formerly known as Hajime Hinata, killed 13 Hope's Peak Academy Students. The school is trying to cover it up, so keeping this notebook may be dangerous, but enough has happened to where I can't ignore it anymore. After they started calling it "The Most Awful, the Most Horrible, the Most Tragic Event in Human History" I couldn't help but notice it. Izuru's massacre was the even that kicked it off, but soon it spread to high schools around the world, through means unknown. It will be my goal to track down the cause of this, and if possible, catalog it here. If things keep going downhill humanity will need this notebook."

"That's ominous. None of this triggers any memories?"

"Nothing." I told her. "I'm taking this back to my room. I need to read as much of this as I can. But first, there's something you need to see."

I brought her to the room where the headmaster's skull lie.

"Oh, look..." She said, smiling at the photo on the desk, completely ignoring the present box. "...What's this?"

"Open it." I said.

"What?" She was reading the note that came with it. "Makoto... can I have a minute?"

"Of course." I said. She asked me this last time, but her compusure was way better. After a few minutes, she emerged from the room and kissed me. Much faster, much harder, with much more desire than we'd ever done before.

"That was... wow. You okay?" I asked after recovering.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said. I pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry. I have no idea what that's like."

"Do you have any family?"

"Yeah, my parents, my sister Komaru. I've got a dog, Kyoya. No telling what they're up to now."

"Hopefully they're ok. I'd like to meet them someday." She told me.

"That'd be great. They'd love you."

"I'm not that great at first impressions. I wouldn't be so sure of that."

"Yeah I know." I jokingly said, I was promptly punched lightly on the arm.

"You're not supposed to agree with that, you jerk."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" After that, we made our way back to the first floor, where we met up with Aoi.

"Huh? Makoto? You're alive? How?" She said as best she could with a mouth full of donut.

"It's a really long story, i'll explain later. Anyways, we were on the second floor. I found this." I flashed the notebook.

"Wazzat?" The swimmer asked with a mouthful of donut.

"A notebook full of notes about when our memories were stolen. It's got a crap-ton of stuff in it. It should tell us exactly why we're in here."

"Cool, I'm going to the third floor. Gotta get my mind off this for a minute. There's a Pac-Man machine there."

"Have fun!" I called after her. "I'm actually gonna go into my room to look at this, I'd feel more comfortable there." I told her. "Not that you can't come with me, it's just that..."

"You want me to come with you?" Kyoko asked.

"Yeah..." I was kind of embarrassed by that fact. Even last time around, she was never in my room for more than a minute or so at a time.

So we walked past the dining hall and into the dorm area. I opened the perpetually unlocked red door and kept it open for long enough for Kyoko to walk through. I plopped myself onto the bed and opened the book back up. I felt Kyoko sit down and put her hand on my lower thigh.

"Check this out, the next few pages are called "Ultimate Despair Profiles." Let's see, Hajime Hinata/Izuru Kamukura, heard of him already, Kazuichi Soda, Nekomaru Nidai, Fukuhiko Kuzuryu, never heard of them... Mahiru Koizumi, Mikan Tsumiki, The Ultimate Mimic, the hell is this? Anyway, Hiyoko Saionji, I think I went to middle school with her... I wish I would have attached mugshots of these guys, but whatever. Each page starts with a quick bio, how I knew them, how they got involved with Junko. Jeez, there's a lot of people, what the hell?"

"Why... Why is there a entry for you?" Kyoko asked.

"Beats me..." I barely whispered. Why would I have to write about myself? "Let me read it. Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Luckster. How you know him: lol"

"You actually put that?" Kyoko started chuckling.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

"Oh come on, that's funny! Oh no... There's no way."

"Sure, sure." I said. I ended up laughing a bit. "Wait what? What do you mean 'no way'?"

"Keep reading..." Kyoko stood up with her mouth over her hand, having just let out a gasp.

So I continued. "Involvement with Ultimate Despair: Involved in a brief romantic relationship with Junko Enoshimaaaa huh? What the actual fuck? How?"

I threw the notebook across the room and stood up, facing Kyoko.

"I don't remember any of that." I told her.

"I know, trust me. But how is that possible?"

"I've talked with Junko before and she didn't mention anything about it." I said. Kyoko pushed me as hard as she could. I tumbled onto the bed. She launched herself onto me.

"There's. No. Way. You. Could. Ever. Do that." She said in between kisses.

"Shut up already." I said. She was straddling me while supporting herself with her hands on either side of my head. She smirked.

"Understood." She lowered herself back onto me. I thought when she kissed me in the second floor dorms she was passionate. That had nothing on this. I was being attacked, there was no other way to put it. I responded to it with much gusto. Not even last time did something like this happen. Last time we had only shared one kiss. Right after Junko was executed. In the trial room while the others were walking back towards the elevator. That was something worth remembering. This Kyoko was almost a different beast. That one kiss was soft, with a world of hope to back it. This was nothing but pure desparation. We only had today until time reset. Kyoko knew that, which is probably why I'm lying here underneath her. She got back up on her knees and grabbed at the hem of my jacket. I pulled it off easily, leaving her to go for my shirt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... Don't you think that's a bit much?" I asked, sitting up.

"Honestly? No. My memories are getting wiped tomorrow. I want to enjoy the time I have left with you." She said.

"I... I just can't i'm sorry. Tomorrow, I go back to the start of this mess with my memory intact. You, however, won't remember a thing. If we do this, I'll be left with tonight burned into my brain for potentially the rest of eternity. I'll go insane if we go there and tomorrow you don't remember any of it. That would be torture." I slid off the bed and retrieved my jacket, which had landed on the circular table across the room. Kyoko sat up and held her chin with one hand, staring at the ground. I put it back on and asked "Hey, you alright?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

"I'm fine, you're right. That was incredibly selfish of me." She said.

"I'm so sorry, really."

"No, it's, it's fine. I'll be fine. I need some air." She stood up and walked out of the room.

"Dammit." I had no choice, though. I really would go crazy. Imagine sharing something like that with someone and the next day, they don't remember. That kind of pain is enough to make anyone despair. That's what she wanted to do to me...

There was nothing else to do but grab that composition notebook. I continued reading from where I stopped.

Involved in a brief romantic relationship with Junko Enoshima. Four months into the relationship, she revealed to me her true nature: Ultimate Despair. I freaked out. What kind of mess had I gotten myself into? Naturally I thought about it for a day before breaking up with her. I'm not entirely sure what started it, but while we were together she had not changed significantly. I have to believe that she was in that state before arriving at Hope's Peak Academy. Not long after our breakup, her multiple personalities began to surface. At first, it would change once per week or so, but after a few months she could do it at will, and often did. She started gathering a new set of friends around her, the ones I mentioned in the rest of the book. As time went on, they became more and more unruly and disruptive. The last to join their little band was Kamukura. It only took him a month of being in Junko's presence before he snapped, killing an entire class. The day after it happened she talked to me and said i'd regret breaking up with her, i'd be on the wrong side of things. As of this writing, Junko is a prisoner in classroom 3-B, the precious few Ultimates who managed to barricade ourselves in the school are keeping an eye on her. One of them is Mukuro Ikusaba, Junko's twin sister. I still don't trust her, even after three months of living with her.

"This is so messed up..." I muttered. I had to walk around, get some air. I opened the door to see Kyoko standing there, staring at the ground with her arms crossed. "Hey, you been there long?"

"I never actually went anywhere, just been thinking." She said.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not particularly, but would you be ok with it being left unspoken?"

"Possibly... Maybe not, actually. I need to talk this through. I can't just bottle it up, I'm not good at that."

"Honestly, I just wasn't thinking. I was letting my body decide what to do. I'm always so reserved and careful, but with you my inhibitions seem to fade away. I'm less careful, more impulsive, and I don't know why."

"I know that I could just tell you about your hands every time, but the starting over and waiting for you to fall for me would be miserable. I'd almost rather not have anything between us than to live that life. At least this way I can look back fondly at what we did. No desperation to get it back, no despair for what could have been." Kyoko was crying. We were stood against the wall next to each other. I pulled her to in front of me and hugged her tight. "I'm so sorry. This is really selfish of me too. I'm protecting myself at your expense, I know that. I don't expect your forgiveness."

"The thing is, Makoto, you already have it. It's just so frustrating knowing you're right. I get where you're coming from, knowing that I'm going to forget you in a day is horrible."

We just stood there, comforting each other. There was nothing else to do. Our situation was not something that can be ironed out. We just had to let it ride. And so we did.

"Hey, Kyoko? Wanna sleep in here tonight? I just want to hold you." She nodded her head, her face a deep red.

"Just let me get a change of clothes, I'll be right back."

The next morning the Monokuma announcement came on, saying the class trial was at 12 sharp. I awoke with my platinum haired sweetheart laying across me, blankets spread wildly. I lay there for a while, enjoying the feel of her hair in my hands.

"Morning babe." I said as she stirred.

"Mornin'. What time is it?"

"7:30, the trial will be at noon."

"Not worried about that right now." She said as she began tracing veins on my arm.

"This is nice." I said after a while of laying there.

"Yeah."

We lay there talking about various things, what our childhood was like, our favorite foods, small talk like that. She didn't wear her gloves again, so I traced her scars as much as she would let me.

"It is now 11:30, the class trial will begin in 30 minutes." Monokuma's voice came through the intercom.

"Guess we should get up." I said.

"Not now." Kyoko said. "Soon."

"Soon." I confirmed. I propped myself up, hovering over Kyoko. I took one of her hands and kissed her fingertips. "I'm going to miss this, you know?"

"Of course. I don't regret what happened, I'm only upset that I won't be able to spend any more time with you."

I kissed her on the lips. I was still hovering over her, supporting myself with one arm. As we kissed, I moved my free hand to underneath the girl and placed it on her back underneath her nightshirt. She moaned softly. I loved the sound. She ran her hands up and down my back in a similar manner. I lowered myself onto the bed and ran my other hand through her hair.

"Makoto, oh that feels nice." Kyoko told me in between kisses. I didn't reply, I just bit her neck again, which ilicited another gasp. I got up quickly. "Noooo... I was enjoying that too much, come back."

"We've gotta go. I have an ex-girlfriend to kill and my current one is going to help me."

"Dammit. Can't argue with that."

"Any of it?" I asked.

"Did I misspeak?" She replied with her trademark smirk. I started getting dressed while Kyoko got out of the bed. "No peeking."

She started getting dressed with no other warning. I turned around to look for my blue jeans to find her with her arms over her head, removing her night shirt.

"Red and white polka dots, huh?"

"MAKOTO!" She yelled, turning her back on me as she fully removed the garment.

"Sorry, I was looking for my jeans."

"I said 'no peeking' like five seconds ago. Whatever, it's too late now."

"Damn, and here I was hoping you had another bra to change into."

"MAKOTO YOU FUCKING JERK!"

"Hahahaha, sorry, I couldn't resist." I walked over to her and kissed her. She moved my hand to her upper back. A very tempting offer. "I'd love to, but we've been over this before, plus it's 11:50, we've gotta go. Also, nice change of mind, that was pretty quick."

"It was my last chance, had to go for it." The detective laughed, pulling her other shirt on. "Besides, I knew you wouldn't."

"Did you though?" I asked, she just winked at me.

"Let's get this show on the road." Kyoko said after we were both ready. I retrieved my composition notebook before we opened the door to leave.

"Oooooooh... what's this? Lovers spending the morning in a soundproof bedroom? Did something happen that I'd want to know about? Any stories of a night in ecstasy? You two look like the kind of couple who would take sexy showers together."

"No, Jack, only in your dreams." I said, pulling Kyoko along.

"Come on, you two are the only proper couple in here, at least give me something!" She said, following us.

"Fine, Jack, you want to see a little something? Here." Kyoko said. She stopped me and pushed me into the corner near the dining hall entryway. She whispered to me "This'll likely be the last time we can do this."

"Might as well give her a show?" I asked. She nodded. I lowered my head so that our lips could connect. It was passionate. It always was, but this time felt a little different. Half the reason we were doing this was for show. Touko wants a show? I'll give her one. I moved my left hand from where it rested on the small of her back a little lower and squeezed. Kyoko squealed and Touko laughed. Two completely expected reactions.

"Makoto, what was that?"

"We're putting on a show, aren't we?" I asked. "And don't act like you didn't like it."

"Whatever. Come on, let's get going. We're probably late. Lead the way, Jack."

"With pleasure. Oh man, you two really went at each other." She walked towards the elevator. I tried to grab Kyoko's hand, but she moved it away, instead reaching for my butt and grabbing hold for a moment.

"Just returning the favor." She said, smiling and fishing for my hand. We made our way to the elevator where a sneering Togami met my gaze.

"It took you two long enough. I am quickly growing impatient with your antics. I know the mystery of this school, and I intend to reveal it. However, if you two aren't here, that isn't possible, is it?" The blond said right before the elevator door opened. Neither of us said anything. I nodded in the direction of the small room and Kyoko just held onto my hand tighter. The six of us got into the now spacious area and waited for it to go down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sixth Class Trial! Today we examine the mystery of Mukuro Ikusaba's murder." Monokuma said just as we took our places.

"Monokuma, if I may?" I asked, raising my hand.

"What is it, Naegi?"

"May I begin the trial with an accusation?"

"Throwing shade already? How unlike you. I'll allow it."

"The killer is you, Monokuma. Or should I say, Junko Enoshima!"

"What?" Hagakure exclaimed

"There's no way!" Aoi agreed.

"Junko's dead, you all think, right? Look at the Monokuma file, if you please. Her upper body was riddled with pierce marks too big and too round for a knife to make. Who was killed by large, stabbing objects?"

"J-j-junko Enoshima..." Touko said. She had reverted to novelist form at some point.

"Precisely. I claim that Mukuro was disguised as Junko when we first arrived here at the academy. Junko killed her to hide the fact that she was running the school, isn't that right, old flame of mine?"

More gasps. "How... how do you know... Whatever."

There was a large rumbling in, and a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, it revealed Junko sitting on Monokuma's chair, hands gripping the end of the arms, one leg hiked over the other which was firmly planted on the ground.

"It is I, Junko Enoshima. You've found me out. I don't know how you know we're ex-lovers, but here I am in the flesh." She laughed.

"I would say it's been a while, but for me it hasn't been." I said. "I've lived through this killing school life before. Everything happened almost exactly how it did before, with only one glaring omission."

I smiled at Kyoko. She smiled back as I continued. "I knew everything from day 1, Junko. I knew who would kill who and why, I knew you would kill your own sister for the sake of this game, I even knew that you would try to kill me even though it meant breaking your own rules. The only thing I didn't know was that we were close at any point. Thanks to this thing I found in my locker, I know a lot about you and what you did here." I held up my notebook. If it was possible, Junko's skin paled when she saw that.

"How did you find that? I made sure to cover that in-"

"In rubble, right? I moved enough around to be able to open the door to my locker." She clearly wasn't counting on that.

"Yeah..." She uncrossed her leg, folded her arms, and looked at the ground. "I knew that as soon as Izuru put my plan in motion there would be opposition. I should have predicted that my ex-boyfriend would have been at the front of that force."

"I don't know how you managed to corrupt all these people, but I'm glad I wasn't a part of it." I told her.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Mak." Junko said. That nickname... That's what Aoi calls me, Junko shouldn't be using such an affectionate name unless... My thoughts were interrupted "You broke up with me because you could feel the despair creeping into your being. It scared you, so you ran. Why do you think you guys willingly wiped your memory? You couldn't have one of your higher-ups turning into a part of Ultimate Despair, so you sealed that information away."

"So then how did you escape captivity? It says in here that you were imprisoned in the school."

"Oh, it was simple. Mukuro broke me out while you were erasing your memory. I disappeared into the Monokuma control room and my dear sister took up my name. Simple really. By the time you guys came to, I had the killing school life ready to go."

"But why do it in the first place?" I asked. I didn't really want to know the answer. I kind of already did, this was for everyone else's benefit.

"You of all people should know why. Despair is infectious. If the world saw the embodiments of hope murder one another, what kind of despair would they feel then?"

"What if I died then, Junko? Were you reserving that particular despair for yourself?"

"What do you mean by this, Naegi?" Togami asked.

"Junko still has feelings for me." I asserted. "The last clue I needed was her calling me by a pet name. She was infuriated when I kissed Kyoko here during the last trial, and she agreed to my demand for a retrial without question."

"Is this true, Enoshima?"

"It... might be... yeah, it is." Junko looked depressed, grabbing one elbow with her hand. "So you see why I had to kill you, Mak. I still love you, even two years after you broke my heart. Seeing you with her..."

I had never heard such venom uttered in one word before as when Junko referred to Kyoko.

"Made matters worse. Can you just imagine the despair, seeing the love of your life frolicking around with some other girl, even spending the night in the same bed, while he doesn't even remember your face? Can you imagine the despair I would have felt, sending you to your death, cursing your name for ever loving me? Just thinking about it now is getting me all hot and bothered." She had cheered up almost instantly.

"There's something wrong with you, girl." I said, scratching my cheek nervously.

"Despair comes easy, hope is hard to find. You could say I took the easy way out." Junko said boastfully.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Junko. You didn't have to throw the world into disarray because of some crazy internal conflict. Come down from there, there's always hope!" I told her. She only laughed at me.

"You think there's HOPE for me yet? How naïve are you, Mak? In the three years I've known you I never once saw you this infantile. I'm too far gone, too much has happened... I killed my own sister... I tried to kill the love of my life... How can you come back from that?" She was almost whispering by the time she was done that little speech. She paused for a few second before yelling. "With her around that wouldn't be possible, anyway!"

"You're throwing the world into the shitter over a lover's quarrel? How petty are you?" Kyoko asked her while our captor's finger was pointed accusingly at her.

"This only happened AFTER I threw the world into despair! This is just a little bonus." Junko smirked. "It's not like I wanted you and Mak to sleep together, it's just that I was powerless to stop it short of killing you... Killing you, huh?" Junko pondered.

"Junko, stop, don't do that, you know you can't." Aoi told her.

"I can't huh? Try and stop me!" She cackled. I instantly jumped my podium and ran across to get to the insane girl's chair as quickly as possible. I grabbed her hand just as it was about to press an ominous red button that appeared from near her feet.

"Now what?" I asked. My face was within six inches of hers. She did something that I never expected her to do. She kissed me. Just once. Our lips barely brushed, it was so soft. She smiled and giggled at me.

"Oh how many things that does for me at once. It's times like this I wouldn't mind casting despair aside. But then again, inflicting others with despair is oh so fun." I let go of her hand and knocked the button onto the ground.

"No matter what happens here, I go back to day 1 of this mess. If anyone dies here it won't matter. You can kill anyone you want but nothing will happen."

"So then it doesn't matter if I do this?" Junko asked. I was about to reply when her hands grabbed my cheeks and pulled my head onto hers. Kissing Junko was completely different from kissing Kyoko. She was more gentle, seemingly more experienced. She knew just what I liked. Kyoko was always so rough, so aggressive. Junko was relaxed, careful. I started to enjoy it.

This is wrong. I can't be doing this. "Touch me, Mak."

Junko spread her legs apart. I ran my hand up one leg. I shouldn't be doing this. I massaged the girl's inner thigh. She let out a small moan. I really shouldn't be doing this. I can't. I was about to listen to her request when I moved my hands up to my face and forcibly removed Junko's hands. I stood up. At some point, I had positioned myself inbetween Junko's legs. I stood up, shocked at how long I let that go on for.

"How far did we go?" I asked her.

"All the way, loads of times." She told me.

"You're lying. You have to be." I said with as much venom as I could muster. I took the button I knocked away earlier back to my podium. I kept my head down, I was so ashamed of what I just did I couldn't look anybody in the eye. I could feel Kyoko glaring at me from across the room. There's no way she wasn't. "I... I motion to move to voting."

"I second." Togami said solemnly. I looked up at Junko, who had a beaming smile on her face. She flash me a peace sign with her right hand. I gave her another look of disgust. I looked over at Kyoko. As expected, she had her arms folded and was staring at me intently. I couldn't tell if it was anger or concern, but I couldn't keep eye contact for more than a moment.

There was something about Junko that attracted me to her. Not in a romantic sense, God no. Apparently I had gone through that phase and exited out the other side worse for wear. It was almost lust. In a matter of seconds she had me from hating her guts to about to undress her. I don't know what kind of power that was, but it was something only an Ultimate could achieve. I wanted more. That intoxicating feel, it wasn't despair, it was desire, plain and simple. There's no way she had that level of control over the rest of Ultimate Despair, but it was certainly possible. The voting panel on our podiums appeared. As usual, the 8-bit renditions of all the students displayed on a flashing blue background. I stared at Junko's portrait. I couldn't just click it. I tried to move my hand up to touch the screen. I couldn't move it high up enough.

"Waiting on you, Naegi." Togami said. I yelled, forcing my finger above the podium and onto Junko's face.

"I'm sorry..." I muttered. Junko got up from her podium and walked over to me. She was my height with high heels on. I repeated what I had just said.

"This is the power of Ultimate Despair, Mak. You resisted it before, but it looks like it's got a hold of you now. If what you say is true and you wake up right after your memories are wiped, find Monokuma. Tell him February 3rd." She wrapped her arms around my waist, linking her fingers together. I didn't resist.

"What's so special about that?"

"It's the day you asked me out." She replied. "You tell me that when you wake up, I'll know it means you want me back."

"But I don't... I... you put us here, Junko. You're responsible for those nine people dying. How could I want you in any capacity knowing that?" I told her. I felt desire for her, yes, but in a physical way. Emotionally I couldn't handle being with her.

"Eh, you'll come around. Long after i'm dead you'll see I was right."

"I hope not." I said, breaking her grasp on me.

"Not even a goodbye kiss?" She asked, making a sweet face at me. I indulged her for some reason. One long kiss. Nothing more. The familiar chain caught her by the neck while we were still connected, dragging her away. I opened my eyes and reached for her for a moment before I realized what was happening.

I sunk to my knees. I had no idea what to do, what to think. I understand now why I got involved with her, but no idea why she could infect me so deeply so quickly. I heard five pairs of footsteps going to the elevator, Junko's execution still in progress.

"What about Makoto?" Hagakure asked.

"Leave him." Kyoko's voice rang out. That hit me like a freight train.

"He's a traitor. Let him be." Togami said.

I sat there on my knees until I heard the elevator begin to rise. I started crying. Just this morning I had it all. I held the secret to my life in my hands, a beautiful girlfriend, a solid circle of friends. Now, what did I have? In a few moments all I'll have is my memory of what happened. Not even the notebook to refer to. I don't even know what to do with these memories. I love Kyoko, I think. But after understanding how much Junko and I knew each other I almost want that back. I hid that time away from myself for what? It only took a month for me to find out about it and to want it back.

I heard a splatter that signaled the end of Junko's execution.

Almost instantly I passed out.

And awoke with my head down on a classroom desk.

/AN: So I wrote this in my free time only expecting to publish it once it was done, but here it is now. I've got almost four trials written, I plan on it being six total. I will publish those as soon as I get them edited. (Although I admit I rushed the editing on this one a bit cause A) im on my phone doing it and B) I was so excited for other people to read it! Hopefully y'all enjoyed this, let me know what you think!

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