A/N: To distinguish from past and present, whenever Komaeda is called his family name, it's in the past. When he is called by his given name, it's the present. If I'm being honest in not entirely satisfied with Chiaki in this chapter. As for pairings, I'm not going to deviate away from canon for now, but I'll let you guys know if that changes. Luckily for me KamuKoma is technically canon...just kidding! Or am I?


Komaeda grumbled as he shifted restlessly for the nth since his group's capture. Currently, he was leaning against the wall of what he could only assume was one of the rooms in the Warrior's of Hope's hideout. On the bed next to him were two of the many captives he, Byakuya, Hiro plus a handful of other Future Foundation agents had been sent to rescue. Unconscious and taking up most of the space on the small bed was the younger sister of Class 78's savior, Komaru Naegi. Next to her, with his knees pulled close to his chest in order to give the unconscious girl as much room as she needed was Yuta Asahina.

Not for the first time he glanced across the room at his former classmate, Chiaki Nanami (the Ultimate Gamer). She wasn't the only one who was in Towa City; before Yuta had awoken, Mikan had come in to check his broken arm. She had given him a makeshift sling, scrutinizing his broken arm in a way that seemed despairfully worshipful. She merely nodded to Chiaki as she left, conveying a message that obviously wasn't meant to be heard by him.

After that, Chiaki hadn't spoken a word; producing a handheld video game console and a set of headphones. She seemed immersed in the world of her game...

Komaru groaned sleepily, blinking groggily as she regained consciousness. Chiaki's eyes instantly locked onto the now awake younger girl as if the console in her hands had never held her interest in the first place. His former classmate put away the game but left the headphones around her neck as Komaru realized she didn't know where she was. Komaeda didn't even bother hiding his cringe; Makoto Naegi might've unintentionally made him realize the worth of talentless people but he could tell from his sister's whining she was the type of talentless that he'd despised for so many years. Babysitting her, granted they were able to stick together, would be a pain.

Yuta had been trying to calm the girl down with no success since she started panicking but Chiaki had yet to intervene or do anything at all. She merely observed the three of them, her head tilted in such an achingly familiar way.

"Is there something you need to do or are you merely here to stand guard?" Komaeda asked her. On her own, Chiaki obviously wouldn't be able to take all three of them, no matter how inexperienced some of them were. Actually, it was doubtful she could've gone toe toe with Komaeda himself while Yuta and Komaru were still unconscious and won. The only reason he'd refrained from such actions so far was because her had no idea what lay beyond the door or what their captures intentions were, not to mention dragging around two unconscious bodies would be no easy task with a broken arm.

Both females in the room reacted to his words in surprise, though Komaru seemed to be realizing the was someone who was (sort of) in charge whereas Chiaki merely looked as if she'd been brought out of a daze.

"Sorry, buffering." came the gamer's reply. Komaeda repressed a shudder at the sound of her dull, nearly robotic sounding voice. "My Master's wish to speak with you all but you must first prove your worthiness of being participants in their game."

As she spoke she turned away from them and opened the door. From the angle she was at it was impossible to tell where she produced it from but suddenly a Hacking Gun went flying over the former Class Rep's shoulder - very clearly the one Byakuya had given Komaru because Yuta lost his back at the resteraunt and Komaeda's Hacking Gun broke along with his arm when he had to protect the suddenly weaponless younger boy from an ambushing Monokuma - and Yuta stumbled forward and caught it before Komaeda could even move.

"Unfortunately, I had to downgrade such a lovely weapon for game balancing purposes..." Chiaki sighed, her shoulders sagging, "But at this stage you won't really need that much fire power, anyway..." Abruptly the girl seemed to perk up. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in seeing any of you die without a fighting chance so I'll send you upgrades whenever it's absolutely necessary."

(In hindsight, what she said next was clearly meant to be a hint towards the fate she and the other Ultimate Despairs had in mind for him, but at the time he merely assumed she was taunting him.)

The former Ultimate Gamer, now a member of the Ultimate Despair, turned her head towards the group. She wore a grin that was sickeningly familiar to Komaeda and her once kind and gentle eyes now shone red and swirled with insanity and despair. "Let's see whose hope truly shines the brightest, Mr. Lucky Student!"


It was almost unnerving how intently Tsumiki watched him, given how timid she was. Luckily, a few "accidentally" (reluctantly) suggestive remarks about her talent and horny teenaged boys had managed to convince the girl to unchain him (or maybe she simply hated seeing suffering of any sort) so he could pretend to be oblivious to her gaze by seeming absorbed in the healthy breakfast she had brought him. Every now and then, though, her gaze slowly traveled away from the boy next to her over to the AI rabbit doing a poor job of concealing herself as she watched the two of them from the doorway. But every time the Ultimate Nurse made eye contact with his Partner in Crime she let out a small whimper and returned her focus to Nagito.

Nagito wondered what was going on in Tsumiki's head; after Izuru Kamukura, she was his next suspect. Although he would be the first to admit that he was biased in regard to Tsumiki. Her being both the person who saved his life (assisted by someone he was to out of it at the time to recognize but now knew was Chisa Yukizome and, oddly enough, Izuru Kamukura himself) to bring despair upon her Love and the other Ultimate Despairs when they realized Nagito was still alive and give herself the despair of betraying her Love and the person who used a rusty saw to remove his broken arm and replace it with Junko's (Mukuro's?) corresponding arm in hopes (HahAHahAhaHa) that her Love's despairful influence (and the torment the other Ultimate Despairs had inflicted upon him since they realized his arrival in Towa City) would be enough to draw him give in to Despair and become the reincarnation of her One True Love had given Nagito more than enough justifiable reason to suspect her involvement in recent events.

But then, there was also TeruTeru...it would come as a surprise to no one that even at the height of his obsession with the talent and hope he wasn't all that fond of the perverted little cook (I'm sorry; Chef) as a person...actually, that was true of nearly all of his former classmates, save maybe Chiaki, and he had even less of reason to care for them now (and as much as he'd like to care less about their fates the part of him that believed in Makoto refused to let him ignore them). But he hadn't believed he had given TeruTeru any reason to believe that he was anything other than the slightly unlucky Lucky Student with self-esteem issues that he'd been portraying the entire time they'd been on the Island. It was true he had sent the Ultimate Imposter a note threatening the lives of all the students on the Island and it was also true that he hid a knife under a table with glow in the dark tape and an easy to follow path to find it (you never know) but that was in case the need for self-defense arouse if anyone actually tried something at the party. Unfortunately, it was all he was capable of since he was registered in the NWP as a moderator like Alter Ego and Usami/Monomi...and now Monokuma. When he did get caught by the perverted teen he did his best to explain that, leaving out the unnecessary bits, and the dazed TeruTeru had merely nodded and walked away. He had not expected that dazed look to turn out to be the only outward sign that TeruTeru was hallucinating Nagito going on a Hope Rant (which was definitely suspicious). When confronted about it during the first (and hopefully only) Class Trial, Nagito almost immediately went along with it without even realizing what he'd just done. No one outside of himself was supposed to have any memories of the past but the little pervert's hallucination was far to accurate to his past behavior to not be worth suspicion. However, with TeruTeru seemingly dead it would be hard to prove any connection between the Ultimate Cook and Monkuma's sudden despairful arrival.

"U-umm, Nagito..." Tsumiki suddenly spoke up, bringing the Future Foundation Agent out of his thoughts. He shifted his body in her direction as well as looked her in the eye so she would know she had his full attention. The Ultimate Nurse gulped but courageously head his gaze. He almost smirked, almost. "Why did you let Kazuichi and Nekomaru imprison you?" Tsumiki asked cautiously.

Nagito pasted on his best self-deprecating smile and raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting I should've denied them the hope they so desperately need right now?" He replied. Truthfully, even though the NWP granted him the ability to fight back if attacked he would never be a match for the Ultimate Team Manager even if he ingested some of Kimura's green pills. Not to mention Kazuichi swung a wrench at the back of his head strongly enough to temporarily disorient him but not enough to seriously or fatally wound him.

Tsumiki squeaked and blushed, shaking her head furiously. "N-no, I didn't mean -!"

He allowed himself to chuckle softly. He tilted his head and poured a bit more self-deprecation into his smile. "Don't look like that! I'd hate to think I'm bullying you! Although trash like me doesn't deserve to look upon your hopefulness..."

"Y-you're not bullying me! ...Although I'd deserve it if you were..." Tsumiki replied urgently with the same amount of genuine self a deprecation Nagito was pretending to experience.

"Beacons of Hope such as yourself and the other Ultimates do not deserve despair to be brought upon you!" And truthfully they hadn't deserved Junko's brainwashing no matter the type of people they'd been before falling into despair.

Tsumiki did not reply. The Ultimate Nurse shifted uncomfortably in the silence when she realized Nagito was waiting for her reply. Before she could even open her mouth, Monomai appeared seemingly out of no where (one of the perks of being an AI, Nagito supposed) and twirled. "Love~Love! Nagito is right! Darn that Monokuma! I'll make sure he pays for harming my students!"

"Could you just shut up?" Nagito asked callously, but not without some internal reluctance. He had a role to play, after all.

"Uwahh~! You too, Nagito?!" (Inwardly, Nagito cringed. He hoped Monomi wasn't taking him seriously.) "What does a teacher have to do to earn some respect around here?" (He inwardly cringed again; Ms. Yukizome was probably having a fit over the way everyone was treating Monomi.)

"I-I-I should leave..." Tsumiki stammered, reminding the Partners in Crime of her presence. As quickly as she could she gathered Nagito's empty food tray (he hadn't even realized she'd purposely waited until he was done eating to attempt conversation) and stood up.

Before she could leave, Nagito spoke up. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

When Tsumiki gave him a confused look he gestured to the chains Kazuichi and Nekomaru had originally bound him in. Both females gave him disturbed, shocked looks.

"Uwahh~! You're free now! Why would you want to be imprisoned again?!" Even if Monomi had the inclination to help chain him again the NWP wouldn't allow it as it would be considered a rogue act. He gave her a narrow-eyed glance. She shivered and let out "Uwahh~!" but it was obvious she understood his insistence on being chained again was more than making sure Tsumiki wouldn't take a fall if it was found out she "let him free".

"I agree with Monomi! Nagito, even if you are as dangerous as everyone else says you are, they don't have the right to decide your fate!" Tsumiki exclaimed. A few moments passed and then Tsumiki squeaked and blushed as she realized what she'd just said.

Nagito was surprised and be was sure just a little bit of it showed on his face. He was sure that no one cared for him after what TeruTeru did and had assumed Tsumiki was merely following through with her talent's description or that the others had perhaps forced her to take the task of feeding him because she was the Ultimate Nurse...or maybe she took the job because she was the one controlling Monokuma and wanted to see the state the Class Trial had left him in? Who knows?

Still, he smiled again, with less self-deprecation this time so she'd assume her words had a positive effect on him. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." Anyone from his class, anyway. Back then Tsumiki had been too concerned with fitting in and not losing the first real friends she had despite how Chiaki always made a point to be kind to the Lucky Student. "But, it would be best for us not to upset the others." And by the look of realization in her eyes, he could tell that trait still existed, if ever so slightly. He let the self-deprecation slip completely from his smile, injecting as much brightness as he could into it without overwhelming her. "As long as you're willing to put up with trash like me, I don't see why me being chained up of free to move around matters. If it were up to the others, I'd probably only get breakfast anyway..."

Cue Tsumiki's horrified gasp. To Monomi's obvious confusion, the girl quickly placed the empty tray down and proceeded to restrain the Former Lucky Student. Afterwards, she gave Nagito a smile just as bright as his own, if not more bright considering his smile was completely fake. "If you need anything just send Monomi, okay?" The hope and cheer radiating off of the girl caused Nagito's smile to become more genuine. He nodded in response. Tsumiki giggled and gathered the empty tray, and moments later she was gone.

Nagito waited a few extra moments before letting the smile vanish from his face. His cheeks hurt more than he ever remembered.

"Can you please explain what that was about?!" Monomi worriedly demanded. "How does the dreadful possibility of you not getting all three of your required meals a say mean you deserve to be chained up again?!"

Nagito groaned in annoyance. He liked Usami...Monomi...whatever you want to call her; but how was an AI this dense? "The whole reason Tsumiki realized her talent to begin with was because she liked the idea of someone being weaker than her and relying on her after being bullied and...otherwise tormented her whole life. We don't know for sure if Izuru Kamakura is responsible for Monokuma's reappearance and the only other likely suspect is supposedly dead. Plus, since it was designed to repress and replace bad memories the Program might accidentally be working against us by disguising anyone's despairful behavior. The only other time in my life I've failed to immediately uncover Despair was when I was drugged up after almost dying and no one would believe a mentally unstable, drugged person recovering from torture that his former teacher and "savior" was plotting against them. By appealing to Tsumiki's fantasies I can get close enough to tell whether or not she's Despair. And even if she's not, someone needs to keep an eye on her. She was once Junko's most devoted minion, after all. Who knows if Monokuma can get to her?" Nagito explained.

Monomi shivered and sagged sadly. "I suppose you're right...but I just want to see you all get along."

Nagito felt a small smile tug at his lips, one more genuine than all the smiles he'd been giving Tsumiki. "I hope you get your wish, Monomi."


A/N: If you don't understand what was being implied, basically Izuru, Chisa and Tsumiki all "saved" Nagito (for different reasons) but Chisa took him to Future Foundation and claimed the Reserve Course students had killed all her students but Nagito. He was in too bad of a condition to be shut away in Hope's Peak with Class 78 but wanted to become Future Foundation so he could fight his classmates. (He was also too traumatized by the his whole "execution" and his classmate's "betrayal" to remember Junko was the Mastermind until partway through the first killing game.) I checked Wikipedia and it is an actual canon fact that Nagito has some form of Talent/Despair detector ability, so obviously after a while he'd pick up on Yukizome's despairful nature. After a bit of fighting between him, Munakata and Sakakura his luck revealed the truth and Yukizome was placed in the NWP. And after the success with Yukizome, Future Foundation was forced to agree to let the Ultimate Despair's have a chance at redemption (so no trial for Naegi) but are currently wishing they hadn't due to obvious reasons.

Also, although it wasn't mentioned in the chapter, Nagito's appearance while working as a Future Foundation agent is that of his beta design: what Kirigiri and Togami's kid would obviously look like if they had one.

If you have any criticism or advice please leave a comment or if you just want say "Good Job!" That's okay, too. Trust me, I know how hard it can be to write a decent review sometimes. But if you're going to troll me or be purposely hurtful, don't even bother.

Have a nice day!