"Wow! Great speech, Mukuro-san! Really awe-inspiring!"

Kokichi began clapping obnoxiously after Mukuro was finished speaking, clearly faking tears. Mukuro waved her hand at him.

"Kokichi, please. I was only explaining the situation to our new recruits."

Kokichi displayed his classic grin, "Nee-hee-hee! I understand! But what I don't understand is why Kazuichi is a Despair Killer. He never Despair Killed anyone!"

Kazuichi stared blankly at Kokichi, unsure if he should take him seriously or not.

"Mukuro-san, you despair killed Junko, I was the one who took out Kaito, and my lovely Monohara-chan here executed Sonia. We all deserve that title!"

Monohara's face grew red at Kokichi's statement, shying away from the group. His hologram shined, projected from the small, metallic sphere on the ground, about the size of a baseball.

Kazuichi barked at Kokichi in response, "But I despair killed those monopads. Shouldn't that count for something?"

"Hey, quit it, you two. You're setting a bad first impression for our guests. By the way, would you mind introducing them?"

Kokichi threw his hands behind his head, "Oh, almost forgot! Nee-hee-hee!."

He proceeded to extend his arms out to the side, revealing three students standing behind him, "This is the greatest band of misfits around! Um, let me see..."

Kokichi pulled out a notepad and rummaged through the pages until he hit one with two names on it.

"Nagito Komaeda, Byakuya Togami, and Fuyuhiko Kuzuyruu! They're top members of my super-secret organization, D.I.C.E!"

The one with pale yellow-white hair, Nagito Komaeda, struck a thinking pose, "Hm... I don't remember ever joining a super-secret organization... I guess I'm just that lucky..."

Fuyuhiko threw up a fist on response, "I've got my own organization, so shut the hell up, ya bastard! I'm only here for my own, personal reasons!"

Byakuya joined in as well, "I, too, am not a member of that child's play group. He only told me I was after he saw me reject that disgusting, brown-haired girl. I am the heir to Togami Corporation. And the stock in my company will surely rise once they realize that I, Byakuya Togami, was the one to destroy Despair."

Mukuro's eyes squinted towards Kokichi in disdain, "Kokichi, they better not be random people you picked up off the street."

"Of course they're not, Mukuro-san! They're pranksters I hand-picked from school! I'd trust them with my life!"

"That's a lie, right?"

"No! Of course not!"

For once, Mukuro couldn't read through Kokichi's elated enthusiasm. So she simply shrugged and moved on to the next topic, "Well, I'm glad you all joined. I'll appreciate everything you do for the cause."

Nagito chuckled, "Someone as worthless as me, to be appreciated by the Despair Killer, Mukuro... This must be the luckiest day of my life..."

Mukuro smirked a bit, but was still unfazed, "Um, thank you... Now, Kazuichi? Your recruits?"

Kazuichi scratched the back of his head, feeling embarrassed, "Oh, uh, I only brought two people..."

Mukuro turned to face Kazuichi's friends, "Don't feel bad, two's better than nothing. So who do we have here?"

The robot-like boy stood up straight, saluting at Mukuro, "My name is Kiibo! I'm the Ultimate Robot! I hope I can be of service to you."

"And I'm Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Star. I can't do too much, but I truly do want to help."

Fuyuhiko butted in, "Really? A pop star? What's she gonna do, sing Despair to death?"

Mukuro responded in a serious tone, "Quiet down, Fuyuhiko. We'll happily take anyone to our cause."

Even though Mukuro said something, Sayaka still felt like she had to have the last word, "I can do more than that! Singing isn't my only talent!"

Kokichi smiled, throwing his hands behind his head, "Oh reeeeally? Well, could you list them for me? I can only think of one..."

Sayaka was about to start listing talents, but then she realized what Kokichi implied. Her face grew red and she pointed a finger at him, "You... You..."

Mukuro facepalmed as the entire room devolved into useless jabber and name-calling. She walked in between the two groups, and thrust her hands to the side.

"Enough. We don't have time for this. You guys can bicker all you want after we're finished. But now, we need to discuss the plan. Everyone, come with me."


Mukuro began walking somewhere, and most of the group followed her, except for Kiibo.

The boy approached Monohara, "Um, hello, hologram, what's your name?"

Monohara smiled sheepishly, scratching his head, "Oh, I'm Monohara. It's a pleasure to be working with you all."

Kokichi stopped following the others once he noticed Monohara talking to someone that wasn't him, and naturally, Kazuichi stopped as well to keep his eye on Kokichi.

Kiibo gave the hologram a stiff wave, "Yes, nice to meet you too. I was going to ask... Your AI... Is it contained in that metal ball at your feet?"

"Ah, yes. It's how I can move around. Unfortunately, I can't do much else..."

"Well, Monohara, have you heard of humanoids?"

Monohara gave the boy a puzzled look, "No, I haven't had much time in the outside world..."

Kokichi and Kazuichi continued to watch Kiibo as he explained himself to Monohara.

"Humanoids are human-like vessels that you can implant AIs into. They behave just like normal humans would. It's high-end, complicated technology."

Monohara nodded, "I see. Being the Ultimate Robot, you'd naturally be exposed to such vessels."

Kiibo smirked shyly at that, "Um, you see, I'm not actually a robot. I'm an AI inside one of these humanoids. That's how I know about them. I only look like a robot because my humanoid was specifically designed that way. My father made it for me. He also has a backup humanoid, for emergencies. He'd probably let me use it if I requested it."

Monohara's eyes widened at Kiibo's statement.

"Backup humanoid... So you're saying... That I could be a human... Just like everybody else..."

Kokichi instantly butted in, "What're we waiting for? Let's go get that humanoid!"

He leaned down and, in one motion, scooped up Monohara's projector and began walking towards the exit, Kiibo close behind. Kazuichi naturally objected.

"Uh... Kokichi... Mukuro's talking about the plan... We really should listen..."

Kokichi didn't pay any attention to him, so Kazuichi sighed loudly and followed the three. It wasn't long before they reached Kiibo's residence. After they entered, Kiibo showed them a large computer, attached to a human-sized tubular compartment.

"This is the Transfer Machine. It takes data from that computer, and transfers it into a humanoid inside that tube. All we have to do is build a device that can upload Monohara's data from his projector to this computer, and then we can transfer him over to the humanoid. Kazuichi, would you mind helping Father build it?"

Kazuichi was caught a bit off guard. He shrugged, "Oh, uh, sure, no problem."

Kiibo nodded with a grin, and began walking deeper into the house, "Ok, great! Fatherrr! I require your assistance! And can you bring the backup humanoid?"

Monohara and Kokichi stood there, awaiting their return. The hologram began examining his hand, flexing his fingers every so often.

"So I'm gonna be a human... I wonder how it'll feel..."

Kokichi walked up to the boy and began playfully disrupting his hologram, like a cat.

"Um, Kokichi?"

"You're only gonna be a hologram for another five minutes! I can't resist, Monohara-chan!"

Monohara sighed lightly and kept a glazed look on his face until Kazuichi and Kiibo returned. They wired up the device and inserted the black-clothed humanoid into the tube.

Kiibo addressed Monohara, "Those clothes are all I could find, I hope they're okay."

Monohara nodded, "Ah, they're fine, thanks."

"Of course. And one last thing, just to make sure. These humanoids behave like real humans do. That means inside one, you can die just like a real human would. You both experience the same pain. If you get shot in the heart or fall off a cliff or something like that, you'll surely die. I need to make sure you're okay with that before you leave the safety of your projector."

Monohara thought about it for a few seconds, but then steadied his resolve, "I want to help, just like everyone else. And I can't do that if I'm a hologram."

Kiibo nodded and grabbed his projector, hooking it up to Kazuichi's device. The boy mashed the computer keys for a few seconds, and then pressed 'enter'.

Instantly, Monohara's hologram vanished from the projector, and his face appeared on the computer screen.

"Ready?" Kiibo asked.

Monohara nodded, "Yeah."

Kiibo pressed another button, and the tube containing the humanoid began shaking. Monohara faded away from the computer screen, and a green light lit up above the tube.

The tube compartment opened, and the hiss of steam filled the room. Soon afterward, the humanoid opened his eyes and took his first steps into the room.

Kokichi's eyes sparkled, and he ran up and gave Monohara a hug.

"Monohara-chan!"

"Ah, Kokichi!"

Kiibo couldn't help but smile at the two of them. Kazuichi, however, was still restless at disobeying Mukuro's orders.

"Not to ruin your moment, but we reeeally should get back now..."

"Ok, fine... Let's go, Monohara-chan."

Kokichi grabbed Monohara's hand and led him out, followed by Kiibo and Kazuichi.


"So that's what we need to do. Any questions?"

Mukuro was basically finished with her monologue when Kokichi and the others showed up.

"We're back! What did we miss?"

It looked as if one of Mukuro's veins had popped. She gripped her pointer stick hard, grimacing in anger.

"So... You're saying... You missed... My entire plan... This had better be good..."

Her anger instantly dissipated when she saw Monohara walk in. She stared at the boy in disbelief.

"Monohara?"

He gave Mukuro a smile, "I'm a person now. Not Monokuma's old hologram. My new name is Shuichi. Shuichi Saihara. I can finally help you guys..."

Mukuro nodded, grinning like a proud teacher. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"Shuichi... You're truly one of us, now..."

Mukuro took the moment of silence to whack Kokichi in the back of the head with her pointer stick.

"Oww, what was that for?"

Mukuro stood up stiffly and walked towards a map of the city, laid out on the wall, large enough to be wallpaper.

"You know... Anyways, for those of you who decided to play hooky, here's the condensed version of our mission."

Mukuro slammed her pointer to a location in the middle of a city, surrounded by tall buildings.

"This is where Kaito Momota was last confirmed to be seen before he left for Despairea. We've received numerous reports that he's been frequenting this area in the past couple months. So there's a very high chance that his lab is hidden at this location. All we have to do is get in, destroy all information about the Despair Controller, and get out. That's it."

She stood up and watched over her students like a hawk.

"Any questions?"