Seventy two
The large circular door had opened, causing a large gust of cool, autumn wind to fly into the entranceway that had been sealed far too long ago. The six people who had opened the door covered their eyes as they were bathed in the light of the sunset for the first time in over a year. As the six all sighed at finally being outside of the building, they began coughing as their lungs began to take in the excess pollution that was brought with the wind.
"Whoa," Naegi breathed, who was the first to recover from the coughing.
Nobody else said anything as the coughing subsided and their eyes adjusted to the light of the outside. The six of them had spent nearly a year locked inside of Hope's peak academy, and over the past few weeks they had been forced into a 'School life of mutual killing 'as their number had gone from fifteen to six. The entire game was organized by one of the students who was the mastermind the game, Junko Enoshima, who was the leader and original super high school despair, a group that had allegedly started the end of the world.
"Humph, I guess she was telling the truth after all," Togami muttered.
The other five former students nodded. All around them there were obvious signs of vandalism and graffiti of the mascot of the super high school despair group, Monokuma. There were the occasional splatters of something, most likely dried blood, haphazardly across the ground and on some of the school walls. They also noticed a ruined, secondary school like building not far from Hope's Peak. They cautiously began to walk towards it and stopped at what they assumed was the entrance, which had caved in due to an unknown cause.
"What building is this?" Asahina asked, "It's a school, right?"
Nobody had an answer to that. Nowhere in the information they had gathered for the final trial mentioned a second building.
"Y-you don't t-think anyone is t-trapped in there t-too, right?" Fukawa asked uncertainly.
Kirigiri shook her head, "It's unlikely. If anyone had been trapped in here, they would have escaped by now."
Still, another school that close to Hope's Peak left currently unanswerable question in their minds, before Hagakure changed the subject.
"So, uh, what do we do now?" Hagakure asked, taking their minds away from the mysterious building.
Naegi frowned, up until now they had been trying to get out of the school and now that they had achieved that goal, well, he had been hoping that Enoshima had been lying about the 'world of despair' she had told them about moments before she had willingly executed herself. He looked around again. There were no signs of life of any kind. Everything around them was bathed in a pale brown colour due to the sunset.
Unbeknownst to the six students, a lone figure was crouched down inside one of the surrounding buildings, watching the six students conversing about what their next course of action should be.
The figure removed a walkie talkie from their belt and spoke into it in a quiet rasp like whisper.
"I'm at the location. Hoodie, Sherlock, Four Eyes, Afro, Gloom, and Diver have successfully exited the building, over."
There was a brief silence before the voice on the other end spoke.
"Copy that, Hunter," the figure rolled their eyes at the codename they had been assigned, "Recover them and bring them to the safe house for the night. Toyota will be at the recovery spot tomorrow morning, over."
The shadowy figure paused for a moment, before speaking into the walkie talkie again, "Have you heard any word from Mute? Over."
A burst of static erupted from the walkie talkie.
"Could you repeat that, over."
"Has Mute responded yet? Over."
There was a brief silence, "Negative, Hunter. Mute has not responded in over three hours, over."
The figure cursed under their breath. The plan was supposed to have both of them have met the survivors once they left the building, not just one of them.
After a brief internal debate on their course of action, the figure slowly stood up and silently creped out of their hiding spot. To an untrained eye it would seem like nothing had happened, but to one with unusually good eyesight it looked like shadows had started to move on their own. As they made their silent, unseen approach, they heard the students speaking; the figure paused in the shadows.
"All I'm saying is that we should find other people," Asahina said, "There has to be someone out here who can help us."
"But what if they're all aliens?!" said Hagakure, who's words were ignored, "The mothership could have landed while we were inside! They could be disguising as anyone!"
"Sometimes I'm amazed at your stupidity," muttered Asahina.
"In any case, we should seek shelter for the night at least," said Kirigiri.
Fukawa frowned, more so than usual and said, "B-but what if there are k-killers out there?"
"I'm not sure if you remember, but we just escaped madwoman's lair that was broadcasted worldwide mere hours ago," Togami said, rolling his eyes, "If anyone wanted to kill us, they would be here by now."
"Even if there are some bad people out there, I agree with Asahina," Naegi said, "We should find someone to help us. If not, then find somewhere to stay until the morning."
The figure in the shadows slowly began approaching the six again. Being extra cautious to remain unseen until the most opportune moment as they still continued squabbling about if there were murderers or not in the ruined city, the figure walked into the fading sunlight, casting a long shadow on the students. Naegi turned his head to the side, having noticed how the light from the sunset had mysteriously vanished and saw what had to be easily one of the strangest looking people he had ever seen in his life.
It was a man, tall and intimidating. He was wearing a dark grey coat, which was torn in various spots. The man was wearing a mid-sized knapsack on his back with similar tears as his coat. In between the tears, Naegi noticed at least three gun holsters, two on his right leg and one on his left and what looked to be multiple knives along the inside of his coat. Despite the obvious weaponry he had on him, what could be seen of his face was by far the most noticeable thing about him. It was gaunt and covered in scars, which ranged from thin slices to deep slashes, with the deepest going along the left side of his mouth making half of a Glasgow grin. Atop his head was a hood, which, from what Naegi could tell, might have once had a crest of some sort emblazoned on the top of it, which had faded away over time. The man had an expression devoid of emotion, even less so than Kirigiri's. The only thing that could have broken the emotionlessness of his expression would have been his eyes, which were a pale grey and looked like they'd have more life on a corpse than a living person, but somehow managed to be as intimidating as the rest of him. For a brief instant, Naegi felt a chill go down his spine as the man's eyes flickered to his.
For a moment the man said nothing, as if waiting for one of them to speak first, until Togami, unimpressed of the man's sudden appearance.
"And who, exactly, are you supposed to be?"
A quiet rasp came from the man, which all is soon realised was the sound of a quiet, hollow, chuckle, before the man spoke in a raspy, but deep, voice with a slight hint of a European accent.
"Me? Are you sure you don't know who I am, Mister Byakuya Togami?"
Togami's eyes narrowed. He did notice that the man did look vaguely like one of the people in a book in Hope's Peak that held records of top secret things only the elite would know about. The person he resembled, however, did not have the same eyes or as many scars as the one before him. The man chuckled again as Togami began to speak again, but the man cut him off.
"My name is A.J., and I am here to bring you to my current employers," A.J. said.
Kirigiri frowned, "And who, exactly, are your employers, and what do they want with us?" she asked.
A.J. shifted his weight from his left side to his right and answered, "My current employers are a group that calls themselves the Future Foundation. They are trying to restore order in the world after your friends' little high school terrorist group decided that their leader's bizarre obsession with despair was worth more to them than their own lives." A.J. cracked his neck, "As for what they want with all of you, I cannot say for sure, but whatever it is, they told me to try and bring all of you back unharmed. Does that answer your question, Miss Kirigiri?"
Naegi frowned. The man was certainly suspicious. Although him knowing their names would have also added to the suspicion, he reminded himself that Monokuma had informed them that their time in the school was being broadcasted globally. Taking that into account, it made sense that he knew their names without them knowing A.J.'s prior to him telling them. That also was the most likely reason he was here to begin with. But, despite everything else making him look untrustworthy, A.J. seemed to have no intention of harming them. At least, not at the moment. Suddenly, Fukawa spoke up.
"H-how do we know you're n-not lying and are going to r-rape and k-kill us?"
A.J.'s expression darkened as he walked closer to the students and stopped in front of Fukawa. He stared at her dead in the eyes as he towered over her and spoke in a spine chilling tone,
"If I wanted to kill you, what makes you think I wouldn't have done so already?" he growled.
As Fukawa shook in fear as her eyes flicked towards the three gun holsters on his legs and everyone else, sans Togami, who was unfazed, was stunned silent at the threat. A.J. stepped back to where he was standing before, as if the threat never happened at all.
"As is said, I need all of you to come with me to the Foundation's location. Although I cannot guarantee that you will be permanently safe there, it's far better there than out here," he said.
Hagakure stared at him with a shocked expression and said, "Dude, you said you could kill us, and now you want us to follow you?!"
"Yeah, why should we go with you?" said Asahina, agreeing with Hagakure.
The man glared at them, then laughed quietly. Somehow, it was more chilling that the threat to their lives he gave a moment ago.
"I was ordered to try and bring you all to the Foundation, whether you want to or not. Resistance will only bring you needless pain," said A.J.. Suddenly, he looked as if he had an idea before saying, "Although, if you do resist, I suppose I only really need one of you."
Kirigiri frowned, "First you claimed you needed all of us, but why only one of us now?" she asked.
"The only one they really want alive is Mister Makoto Naegi," A.J. said, "The rest of you are really just insurance to get him to come along. But, that would leave a rather nasty mark on my performance record; so I advise you all act like good students and come along."
Naegi frowned, the man was even more suspicious now that he told them he only really needed one of them, 'But why do they need me?' he thought.
The sun had set and the last traces of light were quickly fading, leading into the darkness of night. A.J. turned around and looked towards the sunset, then turned back to them.
"I'm sorry to inform you but we're on a bit of a tight schedule right now," said A.J., "So if we don't hurry up they'll cut you open and throw parade through the streets with your entrails."
"Who do you mean by 'they'?" Togami asked with an irritated expression.
As if on cue, a scream was blown with the wind past them, causing the students to shiver from the sound and the cold.
A.J. grimaced, the first real change in expression he had since meeting them and spoke in a more hurried tone, "Your friends' little terrorist group, which you may know as the Super High School Despair. They caught word of the chance their leader's chance of being executed and decided to pay her a little visit. So, I suggest we hurry and if we're lucky, we will avoid them entirely."
All six students frowned and glanced at each other. Everything A.J. had said sounded less than trustworthy, but if he was saying was true and the Super High School Despair was on their way here… Naegi shivered again at the thought. Junko Enoshima was frightening enough but an entire group dedicated to her despair inducing ways? Suddenly A.J.'s offer sounded much more inviting. With one final glance at each other, although he was internally disagreeing with this, Naegi spoke hesitantly to A.J.
"Alright, we'll go with you to the Future Foundation."
A.J. looked turned his head behind him, then looked back to Naegi and the other students before saying,
"Follow me, and quickly."
Night truly had fallen on the ruined city as A.J. led the students down the empty streets. He had assured them that nobody was in the immediate area and if anyone was, he would deal with them swiftly. Along the way, Naegi had noticed murals painted along the walls of some of the damaged building depicting what looked like him and the other students from the 78th batch at Hope's Peak Academy. Most of them were abstract looking, only bearing slight resemblance to who they were supposed to represent. He hadn't even noticed they were supposed to be them until he saw one depicting an blue haired figure lying against a wall with a bloody knife sticking out of her chest with an orange haired figure not far from it with a horrified expression on its face.
Hagakure stopped to gawk at it.
"Dude, is that supposed to be what I think it is?"
When he saw It Naegi knew, without a doubt, that it was a painting of Sayaka Maizono just after being stabbed in the chest by Leon Kuwata. He shivered at the sight of it as it brought back memories of the morning just days ago when he found her lying dead in his bathroom shower. The other four students also stopped to look at it.
"I know that people paint weird stuff, but who'd want to paint that?" Asahina asked, unnerved.
"People who want that moment to last," A.J. informed them, "People who refuse to believe in anything other than despair. Miss Enoshima was quite… persuasive in that regard."
"Oh? And how would you know about that?" Togami asked.
A.J. chuckled, "When the devil himself sends his spawn upon the masses, you'd expect her to inherit his way with words. She sent her underlings to spread her cause through multiple forms of media. First everyone overlooked it as minor rebellions that some teenagers go through. Unfortunately, more and more fell into her web of shadows. Before anyone knew what was really happening, week long riots began, then suicides, then murders before finally leading into entire towns being decimated overnight."
None of the students knew how to respond. Yes, Junko Enoshima had told them something similar to what A.J. had told them not long before her execution, but something about hearing another person confirming it added another level of horror at just who they were locked in a building with.
"We've wasted enough time as it is," A.J. said abruptly, and began to move down the street again.
Naegi noticed that the closer they got to where A.J. was taking them, the more murals they saw. He shuttered slightly when he saw the final one: Junko Enoshima, sitting on a chair with Monokuma in her arms with a look of pure bliss as the crushed crashed down on her skull.
Suddenly, A.J. had stopped in front of a manhole leading into the city's sewers. Just as Togami was about to demand an answer to why he had stopped in the middle of the street, A.J. knelt down and, with his left hand, lifted up the manhole and gestured him to enter the sewers. Naegi's eyes widened at the feat of strength as Togami glared at A.J. with an irritated face.
"What are you waiting for, an invitation?" A.J. said to him, "It's far safer through here."
"We're not seriously going through the sewers, are we?" Asahina groaned.
"It's safer taking this route," A.J. said as he began climbing down the ladder, "The stragglers don't like the smell."
Fukawa began grumbling to herself about how A.J. was nothing more than a filthy sewer rat for making them go down into there as Naegi glanced at Kirigiri, who was looking around the street for other signs of life. When she saw none, she then followed A.J.'s lead into the sewer. When everyone had begrudgingly made their way into the sewer, the first thing that hit them was the smell.
"Ugh, I can smell why," Asahhina gagged.
"This is, by far, the worst thing I've ever smelt in my life dude," Hagakure told Naegi, "How is this better than staying on the streets?"
Naegi nearly threw up in response as he took in the foul odors.
"This way," A.J. said, seemingly unaffected by the smell as he walked down one of the walkways, "Only step exactly where I have already stepped. Although I doubt it, you never know who else might have been down here before us."
The seven of them persevered through the sewer, with Naegi half gaging on the smell the entire time, before A.J. halted them again as they were about to turn a corner. Naegi accidentally stepped on one of his shoe laces and it became undone. He then crouched down to re-tie it was A.J. spoke again.
"Those of you with weak stomachs, I highly advise you cover your eyes," A.J. informed them, "That goes double for you, Miss Fukawa. I don't want to introduce myself again."
With that, A.J. turned the corner. Nobody followed after him for a moment, before Togami rolled his eyes moved on with Fukawa clinging onto his arm with her eyes shut. Asahina, Hagakure and Kirigiri then followed after them. Suddenly, Hagakure and Asahina screamed in horror at what they had seen. Naegi had finished tying his shoe again and rushed after them to see what was wrong. When he looked at what they had screamed at, it took every bit of his will power to keep himself from doing the same.
It was the body of an orange haired man. But unlike the dead bodies of those who had died in the school life of mutual killing, this body had huge cuts all over it with the intestines and left arm were hanging from a strange metal contraption connected to the ceiling. There was blood everywhere. Naegi looked at Kirigiri in horror as he saw her eyes wide at the site. Only A.J. was unfazed by it as he walked towards it and began talking things off of the corpse.
"Dude, what the heck are you doing?!" Hagakure asked as he stopped screaming, but still had horror on his face.
A.J. didn't reply as he took a satchel that was loosely hanging from the non-severed right arm and reached for something on the neck of the body. Naegi noticed A.J. quickly bring his hand up to the body's head as A.J. stood up and started walking away from the body.
"Come along, we're almost there," he muttered as he began walking down the sewer path again.
Togami huffed irritably and followed him with a shivering, shut eyed Fukawa still clinging to him. Hagakure and Asahina quickly ran after them leaving Naegi and Kirigiri still looking at the body. Just as Naegi began to follow after them, Kirigiri stopped him.
"You noticed it too?" she asked him.
"Noticed what?"
"He closed his eyes," Kirigiri said, "The eyes on the body were opened when we found it, but they were closed when we left.
"Yeah, but why would he do that?" Naegi asked.
For that, Kirigiri had no answer.
The rest of the walk through the sewers was uneventful until A.J. began climbing up a ladder to the surface.
"Don't follow me until I tell you to," he said as he climbed.
"We're finally getting out of here?" Asahina asked tiredly, finally used to the sewer smell.
Her question fell on deaf ears as A.J. lifted another manhole cover, causing a brief, but noisy, scraping of metal on pavement. After a moment, A.J. said it was clear. After they all had gotten back on the streets, A.J. silently moved the manhole cover back into place before walking towards an alleyway.
"This way," he said.
As they walked down the alleyway, Fukawa became more and more on edge.
"T-this is where you r-rape and k-kill us isn't it!?"
A.J. ignored her and walked down towards a dumpster alongside a tall building and moved it to the right. A small staircase was hidden behind it. A.J. walked down them and he opened a door before gestured them to get inside.
"We rest here for the night," he said.
All of the students sans Fukawa were too tired to complain and entered the room. After they entered, A.J. moved the dumpster to its original spot and entered himself, closing the door behind him.
It was a rather small, barren room considering the amount of people who were going to stay the night there. On the floor there were two large futons with some blankets on them and a small couch. On the left wall a strange looking contraption leaned against it. Naegi didn't know much about firearms or weaponry in general, but to him it looked like a cross between a sniper rifle from action movies and a crossbow. Finally, there was a door in the back Naegi assumed led to a bathroom. The rest of the room was empty. A.J. took off his back pack and lied down on the couch.
"I highly recommend you get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a long day," he said as he shut his eyes.
Togami frowned, "What about this 'Future Foundation' you claimed you were taking us to?" he demanded.
A.J. sighed, "Our ride won't be here until the morning. So shut up and get some sleep. I don't take kindly to those who wake me up."
And with that, A.J. fell silent for the night and Naegi and the others decided that the boys would get the futon on the left and the girls on the right. After Naegi had lied down he sighed, it had been one hell of a day, 'first we find out that the mastermind was one of our classmates, then we lost our memories of our school lives and now we're sleeping in a room with someone we just met a few hours ago,' he thought, 'how am I supposed to fall asleep?'
Despite him and the other five students thinking similar thoughts, all of them were sound asleep within fifteen minutes.
Naegi groggily woke up the smell of boiling noodles and the sight of a barren pale blue wall.
"What..?" he mumbled, "Where am I..?"
"About time you woke up," Kirigiri said from somewhere to Naegi's left, "A.J. said we're going to get meet somebody else from the Future Foundation in about an hour."
"Future Foundation?"
Suddenly the Naegi sat up and remembered the previous day. He looked at Kirigiri worriedly and asked where everyone went.
"They're outside eating breakfast," Kirigiri told him, "You're the last to wake up."
Naegi's stomach grumbled. He didn't have time to even think about eating last night.
"Is there any left?" he asked.
Kirigiri shrugged and Naegi stood up and walked over to the door and went out into the alleyway. He then saw everyone else out there with cans and small bowls filled with instant noodles sitting around a small pot on top of a small, portable battery powered stove. To his surprise, it was still dark outside.
"It's still dark out?" he wondered aloud.
"It's the middle of fall," he heard A.J. say, "And we'll be less likely to be spotted this early."
Naegi nodded. He was unsure on how long they were trapped inside of the school because the mastermind of the killing game tampered with all of the student's memories prior to it beginning. One thing he did know however was that he and his fellow students were in class for at least one full year.
Naegi then walked over to the stove. Thankfully, there were still some noodles left. Asahina handed him a bowl and he immediately scooped the remaining noodles into it and ravenously started eating them.
As he was eating, A.J. took out the batteries to the stove and put it back into his backpack. He then collected all of the plates and put them on the sole table inside of the room.
"Alright," he said as he stepped back outside with the strange looking rifle slung across one shoulder and the satchel he grabbed off of the body the previous night over the other, "About a mile away from where we're standing they'll be a truck waiting to pick us up. We only have an hour to get there or else the driver will go back to the foundation, which is about a six hour drive. Everyone understand?"
They all nodded. A.J. then moved the dumpster back into position he silently walked out of the alleyway. After making sure nobody was in sight, he motioned them to follow him.
As they walked farther and farther away from the hidden room, Naegi began to get a strange feeling that somebody was watching them, and it wasn't because of the large amount of murals of Monokuma across nearly every inch of every wall either. The deeper they traveled into the core of the city, the more the feeling began to eat at him. When it finally reached its peak, A.J. halted them.
"Wait here," he muttered just loudly enough for them to hear. Then he walked towards the dark end of the street and vanished.
Hagakure watched this with his eyes bulging out.
"Did he just leave us out in the open like this?!"
Asahina shook her head worriedly, "No way, he wouldn't bring us this far just to abandon us, right?"
"Don't be so sure," answered Kirigiri, "He probably noticed that somebody is following us."
Togami rolled his eyes, "He's obviously led us into a trap,"
Just after Togami had said that, a laugh rang out through the street.
"Well look what we have here. Six lost little kiddies, all scared and alone."
They all turned around to see a man wearing a Monokuma mask walking towards them from the way they had been walking. Although he was far shorter that A.J., the mask made him look just as frightening.
"Let old Uncle Minako take care of you," he said menacingly as he pulled out a large knife. He then called out through the street, "Right boys?"
There was dead silence.
"Boys?" he called out again, this time with more worry in his voice than he wanted. This time however, he got the response of the nearly silent sound of a chain wrapping itself around his throat.
"Ghlk!" he managed choke out as he dropped his knife, fell back and slid away into a dark alley to his right.
There was the quiet whistling of metal as the students noticed A.J., who was walking out of the alleyway the man had been dragged into. There was no question on what had happened to the man, as Naegi noticed A.J. wiping a knife on one of the pant legs.
"We should see no further interruptions," A.J. said coldly as he strode past the students, who remained standing where they were.
"Y-you k-killed him," Fukawa whispered.
A.J. stopped, but remained facing forwards. "I need you at the foundation alive. Nobody is going to prevent that."
The students were stunned at the remark. A man lie dead in that alleyway and A.J. was completely unfazed by the fact that he murdered him. Sure, the students had been forced to deal with the murders of their friends and put those who killed them on trial, but they had been manipulated by Monokuma and usually they had felt some sort of regret for their actions. But A.J. was different; he killed the man in cold blood with no remorse. And, from what the man had said seconds before his death, all those who were traveling with him.
"And what if one of us prevents you from taking all of us there?" Kirigiri asked him coldly.
"You won't. Simple as that," A.J. said, "Now hurry up. We've wasted enough time as it is."
With that, A.J. continued down the street. Naegi looked at the others, unsure if it was wise to follow him.
"He just straight out killed him, but he still wants us to go with him?!" Asahina asked in disbelief.
"Clearly he doesn't care what we think of him as long as we go with him," responded Togami, "And frankly, I'm not going to die at the hands of some madman in the streets."
With that, Togami walked in the direction A.J. went with Fukawa chasing after him, trying futilely to change his mind. Naegi looked at everyone else worriedly, before Kirigiri started to walk after him.
"I can't believe this," Asahina muttered as she too began walking again.
Naegi glanced at Hagakure, who glanced at him back before they ran after their friends.
When they caught up with A.J., who was waiting for them on the next block, they made their way through the city in silence. Naegi looked as the murals that had filled the interior of the city slowly disappear until there was maybe one per street. Finally they reached the outskirts of the suburbs and saw a dark grey moving truck parked in front of an old family mechanic shop. Standing beside said truck was a man with indigo hair waving to them.
"About damn time you showed up," he said as he walked towards A.J., "I was worried something might have happened."
He then looked at Naegi and the other students and smiled warmly, "Hello there, I see all of you are accounted for…" he trailed off and looked back at A.J.
"Where's Oka?" he asked A.J.
"Complications arose," A.J. responded coolly, "Unfortunately, he won't be coming back."
The indigo haired man stared at A.J. in surprise and disbelief, "Oh god, I'd heard from Sakai that he hadn't responded in a while…" he trailed off, then spoke again with uncertainty, "What's Ikeda going to do?" he asked him.
"All that she can do," A.J. said, "Grieve and get over it."
The indigo haired man shook his head once more and turned back towards Naegi and the other five students as A.J. began to walk towards the truck.
"Sorry about you having to spend last night and the morning with just him," he said, "Someone else was supposed to be accompanying him. Anyways, I'm Kazu Ota, the Ultimate Race car driver of two thousand four to two thousand seven and official driver of the seventy second Future foundation outpost. It's nice to see some new faces that aren't all fucked up from the despair."
"The Ultimate Race car driver?" Naegi asked Ota, "You Graduated from Hope's Peak Academy?"
Ota nodded, "Yep, three of the best years of my life. Met A.J. there and a whole bunch of other people," he nodded to himself again, "Whole bunch of people," he muttered quietly.
Naegi was surprised, only the graduates from the school were officially given the title of 'Ultimate'. They were truly the best of the best. And from the sounds of it, A.J. was also an Ultimate.
"You met A.J. there? He's an ultimate too?" Kirigiri asked inquisitively.
Ota nodded, "Yep, although it's not really my place to tell you what he is an Ultimate of," he told her, "He's not really keen about the title. He thinks that it puts a big target on his back, which I can sort of understand."
After telling them that, Ota gestured towards the moving truck, where A.J. was sitting with his eyes closed in the passenger seat.
"You folks will be sitting in the back. Don't worry about it though; there are some couches back there that I personally bolted into the floor, so you don't need to worry about sliding all over the place when we turn."
Ota then walked with them towards the truck, where Naegi then noticed it was covered in large steel plates around the windows and doors.
"The plates are just so nobody'll kill us while we're driving," Ota explained, "Plus, it makes this piece of junk look cooler."
Ota gestured them towards the back of the truck, "Be my guests"
As Naegi entered the truck with four of the other students following him, Togami glared at Ota. "You cannot expect me to get in the back of there," he said irritably.
Ota chuckled, "Well then, I guess you'll want to say your goodbyes. We've only got two seats up front and I'm driving and A.J.'s sleeping in the passenger side."
Togami glared venomously at Ota as he begrudgingly entered the truck with everybody else. After he made sure that the six were safely away from the door, Ota closed it down on them. After he entered the driver's seat, Ota started the truck.
Before he started moving however, Ota turned towards A.J.
"I know what you can be like, but you didn't scare 'em to bad, right?"
A.J. opened his eyes, "I did what was necessary."
Ota sighed and put the truck into drive, "I'm sure you did."
Nearly seven hours of uneventful driving and two bathroom stops later, the truck finally arrived at its destination. There was a series of bangs on the large, metal door. After a second, they heard Ota speaking.
"Alright, we're here. I suggest you cover your eyes for a second, it's pretty bright in here."
Naegi and the other students squinted when the door lifted and they were greeted with Oka looking in on them and a brownish room behind him. They slowly walked out of the truck and began stretching they're stiff limbs. Naegi noticed A.J. to the truck's left and another two other people working on a rather beat up car to the right of the truck. Although they were facing away from him, he noticed that whenever none of the students were directly looking in the direction they were standing in, the two people snuck a few glances at them.
"We're in the garage right now," Ota said before pointing to a door to his left, "Right through there is the main building."
Ota walked to the door and opened it, "Be my guests."
It, to Naegi's internal disappointment at the ironic location, was a normal, abet rather small from what he could tell, university, meant for regular students in Japan.
Asahina however, voiced her disbelief, "We just came all this way from a school we nearly died in, just to go to a different one?!"
Ota shrugged as he opened the doors, "Hey, I don't pick the place; I just drive to 'em."
As the eight of them stood in the university's atrium, A.J. slid away and climbed up into a rather low open vent that was supported by various tables and chairs.
"W-where's he going?" Fukawa asked.
"To get Sakai, probably," Ota said, "He can get around the place faster than anyone through those."
"Does he just go through them for speed?" Hagakure asked.
Ota shrugged as a woman walked through the atrium towards them.
"Ah, I see you've all arrived," she said.
Ota froze, then turned around, "Err, hello Ikeda," he said hesitantly.
Ikeda nodded at him. She was rather short compared to Ota, but she clearly didn't let that bother her. She had silver hair and was wearing a purple long sleeve shirt and jeans. She idly played with a tooth pick in her teeth with her tongue.
As she looked at all of the students, she frowned.
"Where's Satoshi?" she asked Ota.
"Uh, you know how he hadn't responded last night? Well…"
"He got caught in one of the sewer traps," said A.J., who was walking back into the atrium with a black haired man with who was wearing what looked like a lab coat.
Ikeda stared at him blankly. "Oh," she whispered.
A.J. walked over to her and handed her the satchel he was carrying and gave her a strange looking key from out of his pocket.
"This is all he had on him at the time. I was too far away to help him when it happened."
Ikeda nodded slowly, "There's nothing you would have been able to do anyways," she said quietly, "I've seen what kind of traps he makes." She stared at the key A.J. had given her, and then spoke again, "Sakai? I need a minute alone if you don't mind."
The man who had entered with A.J. nodded, "Take as long as you need."
Ikeda nodded and slowly walked out of the atrium, leaving it the room with an awkward silence. As she did so, A.J. vanished back into the ventilation system to some other unknown location.
The man in the lab coat sighed and turned towards Naegi and the other students, "Sorry about that. That was Aya Ikeda, a school friend of ours. My name is Daisuke Sakai, Ultimate Surgeon. Welcome to the Future Foundation, outpost seventy two."
Note: I didn't like the first version of this so I decided to change and expand a little more some things, I'm temporarily going to take down the next chapter and do the same.