a/n: And so I finally decided to write my first DR fanfiction. Of course, it would end up being like this. I love him too much for my own good.

falter

Kirigiri Kyouko does not falter as her feet lead her to the entrance of Hope's Peak Academy. She has only one mission in this school, and she won't take failure as an option. She wants to settle the score with the headmaster, her father. She wants him out of her life so that she doesn't have to live as 'the girl who was abandoned by her father'. She hated that more than anything, and that is why she has no time for hesitation. She takes the first step.

Break.

Kirigiri Kyouko does not falter as she introduces herself to the 13 other students she's stuck with. She doesn't remember what her SHSL title was but she figures that she'll remember it when the time comes. Right now, she and the others are trying to figure out a way to get out from the school's locked exits. Her attention is ruptured as the doors of the entrance hall are opened to reveal the last member of their group. What an ordinary looking boy, she thinks to herself. He introduces himself as Naegi Makoto, and he explains that he too had fainted in front of the school building. Everyone starts introducing themselves to him as well, and then he turns to her. There is a bit of silence, and then he politely asks her who she is. She nods at him, giving him a curt introduction, not bothering to tell him that she doesn't remember her own talent. He mutters something like, "It's nice to meet you," and she just nods again. She can sense that he's feeling awkward around her, and so it doesn't take long until he leaves her side and continue on with the introductions.

Break.

Kirigiri Kyouko does not falter when she runs to where she heard Naegi's scream. She knows that the others are following her and she doesn't have time to look back, because she sees Maizono Sayaka's room, and she opens the door to chaos. Naegi is on the floor in front of the shower room, he fainted, and she notices how pale he looks, almost as white as the dead. She looks inside the shower room, her eyes widening for a second, and sees Maizono inside, brutally murdered.

Break.

Kirigiri Kyouko does not falter when she and Naegi start the investigation. Feeling assured that, no, it wasn't Naegi-kun who committed the murder, she continued on with her work and tried to answer some of Naegi's questions, before he left, again. He probably went looking for clues of his own.

Break.

Kirigiri Kyouko does not falter, as she continues to live in this school life of mutual killing. After the case of Maizono Sayaka, she's told herself countless times that not everyone in this school is as innocent as they seem, except maybe Naegi-kun. He was as readable as an open book, and he literally believed that not everything or everyone was bad. A part of her wanted to protect that innocence, and so it didn't bother her when Naegi-kun started tagging along with her during the school investigations. They were like a team.

Break.

Kirigiri Kyouko did not falter when she chased after that masked person, whoever it was underneath that mask looked suspicious. She followed him into Naegi-kun's room, and in time too, because he held a knife above Naegi-kun's head. She slammed Naegi's door open, loud enough to interrupt the masked person, he dropped his weapon and pushed past her, running to the outside. She didn't have time to chase whoever it was as she went to check if he was alright. He seemed to have a slight fever, and he heard his muffled, "K-Kirigiri… san", before he fell asleep once more.

Break.

Kirigiri Kyouko did not falter when the trial of Mukuro Ikusaba began. She knew Mukuro Ikusaba was the 16th member in their class. She was 'Super High School Level Soldier', a member of Fenrir as well. She also had a feeling that Mukuro Ikusaba was part of 'Super High School Level Despair', the group that started "The Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident of Mankind". And now, here she was, on another trial of life and death. She looked at her classmates, and they all had worrisome looks on their faces. They didn't have enough clues at all. She looked at Naegi-kun, the person she has come to trust in this school more than anyone else. He was silent, and for the first time, it made her uncomfortable. There was an unreadable look on his face, but she ignored it for now. The trial was starting.

Break.

"They switched places," Kirigiri answered, "There is no other way around this case but to think that Mukuro Ikusaba disguised as Junko Enoshima, from the very beginning." A series of gasps followed her statement. She looked at everyone's shocked faces. Asahina-san was going on about how she talked to Ikusaba-san like it was nothing. They all didn't know that they had a traitor in their midst. She was a good actress.

"And so, the Mastermind behind all this, is none other than the person that Ikusaba Mukuro disguised as," Togami stated, getting a nod from Kirigiri. "It's Junko Enoshima."

Then the switches in front of them appeared, and they all chose Junko Enoshima.

Break.

Laughter.

Their classmate, the one with good luck, started laughing. His body was shaking slightly, no one could see the look on his face. Then, a chill ran down everyone's spine, as their friend started laughing like that damned bear.

They hadn't even noticed that Monokuma wasn't in this trial. There was no annoying bear that told them, before they started, all the rules regarding the school trial. There wasn't a Monokuma at all.

"Hagakure-kun," It was Naegi's voice it was too soft now.

"What's wrong, Naegi-chi?"

"What did you say, again? That there weren't any murders that were going to take place anymore?"

"Yeah. I remember saying that, why?"

A chuckle. "How utterly fucking wrong you were."

It was cold. His voice, which was always filled with warmth, sounded cruel.

"Do you really think someone as useless as Junko Enoshima could contrive a superb plan such as this?! She didn't even know how to act on it! Sure, she wanted in on my plan. But, she was useless, and such a shame! She was such a drag! It was embarrassing on my part to see her acting like such a fool! It was such a sad performance! I was glad when Mukuro killed her off… don't you guys think Gungnir did such a good job getting rid of her? Yes, Enoshima Junko was the real deal back then. Ugly girl, don't you all agree? Ah, for you to think that someone like Junko would make such a plan like this? You insult me. You really do." A mocking tone, he never talked like that before.

"Naegi-kun… what are you… talking about?" Asahina asked.

Naegi clicked his tongue in irritation, "You're all quite dumb, huh. I knew it." He turned to face every single one of them. Staring everyone in the eye, including Kirigiri, who stood there in shock. He shrugged, and left his seat, and walked straight to Monokuma's throne, sitting down, crossing his legs.

"What?!"

"Oh, so you finally figured it out? Congratulations!" The warm smile came back to his face, as he clapped his hands. As if this was something worth celebrating. "You must have guessed it right this time, correct? Good job!" He was talking to them like how a teacher would talk to preschool kids.

"Naegi-chi is the… mastermind?!"

"Ah, Mastermind. How wonderful that sounds, don't you think, Kirigiri-san?" He turns to face her, that smile still on his face.

"Naegi-kun… why?"

"Why? Why what? You know I won't be able to answer your vague question, Kirigiri-san! Speak up!"

"So, Naegi Makoto was the traitor all along," Togami muttered.

"Ah~? Traitor? Please, Togami-kun, spare me the bullshit." Naegi waved his hand, as if brushing off the comment.

"Naegi-kun, why are you doing this?" Kirigiri asked. She couldn't look him in the eye, so she settled to looking at her gloved hands. She didn't want to look at him. This Naegi-kun. So different from the one she trusted.

"This isn't you, Naegi-kun." She whispered.

"This isn't me?!" Naegi asked, honestly very shocked with the statement, "If this isn't me, then who am I, Kirigiri-san? It seems that you know me more than I know myself, so would you mind telling me who I really am?"

It was Asahina that spoke up, "You're Naegi-kun! You're the kind friend we had, who never let go of being optimistic even when things were getting hard for all of us! I can't believe that someone as nice and sweet as you would—"

"Stop! Stop!" Naegi shouted, covering his ears, "That's disgusting! I think I want to throw up!" Naegi sneered at everyone, "That was all acting, mon amis. Did you seriously think I would openly interact with people like you? You're the kind of people that make me sick."

"You Super High School Level Freaks think you can do anything, can you? You all piss me off! Before I first entered this school I thought, 'This is my chance! I can prove to everyone that even I can do something great! I'll graduate from this school and be one of the greatest people on Earth, too!' Man, what a load of crap. When I entered this school, I was surrounded with assholes everywhere that competed against each other because they were all Super High School Levels. It was a game to you all, were you all fought over whoever was more amazing than the other. To be honest, you were all amazing! Amazing pains in the ass, that is." He stretched his arms and his legs, "The only people that I ever considered my friends were those in the Reserve Course. They knew how unfair this school was as well. And so, I thought, why not destroy this school from the inside? The world does not need to cultivate all these bastards in one place. And then what, when they graduate, they turn into even bigger assholes than they already were before? No thank you."

"But then the headmaster, your father, Kirigiri-san, wanted the 78th class stay here, in this school. Because he thought that even with a few symbols of hope within this place, after everything was over, maybe the 'seeds of hope would grow and rid the world of the despair that set foot upon it'! Don't you think that was a stupid plan? He didn't even know he had three members of 'Super High School Level Despair' within his own school grounds! And so I devised this clever plan. After we got rid of him, I thought, why not have this all on National TV? So that the world can watch you kill each other like a bunch of wild animals. Be the hunter, or be the prey. Then I thought, 'Why not pretend to be the nice boy that loves and helps everyone and becomes the symbol of hope for them all?' It was brilliant. It was sure to lead you all to despair once I revealed myself. And lo! Look at you all right now! What wonderful looks you have on your faces!"

Kirigiri Kyouko does not falter. Not even when Naegi announced that it was high-time to finish what he started.

"Goodbye, my good friends! I hope you have a nice ride!" He pressed the button that started the executions.

Kirigiri Kyouko did not falter.

She didn't.

fal•ter: verb. To be unsteady in purpose or action, as from loss of courage or confidence; waver.
Synonyms: halt, hesitate, quaver, stammer, fail, stumble, tremble