Hey, hopefully you enjoyed the prologue, because now we're getting into the thick of things. At the rate this is going, I'm not sure how long this story will be, but I doubt it'll be nearly as long Another Hope was.

Also, you may have noticed I'm now giving the chapters titles. No real reason for it. I just decided it would be a nice little extra detail to have. It doesn't cost too much extra brainpower to think of a title, anyway. I mean, look at the title of this story. It's just the name of the first story, but with "Another Episode" thrown in.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.


Chapter 1

Three's a Crowd

"The Right Not to Kill." I read. "One early morning in August, station staff Tado, who's almost made it to retirement age, is shot through the heart. Around the same time, Shuichi Tadokoro, a train nerd, falls in love. He must solve the mystery of the Tado killing... The 3rd entry in the Hankawagoe Series! Only those with the right not to kill have the will to not be killed." I rolled my eyes and tossed the book to Komaru. "The author's probably some anime nerd or something."

"Hm? What makes you say that?" She asked.

"Because I'm some anime nerd." I answered. "I can just tell, any story with high school girls and guns is just begging for an anime adaptation."

She considered this. "I'm a high school girl, and I have this hacking gun... Is this some anime nerd fantasy?"

"Yes." I said, completely deadpan and serious.

After a brief pause, she continued. "But, seriously... I don't know much about guns. I barely know how to work this thing."

"Oh, well, it sends programming codes in the form of radio waves to hack machines wirelessly." I explained.

"Yeah, I don't get that at all but... It sounds really cool!" She said.

"Huh. And I thought I was bad with software..."

"But this doesn't work on every machine, right? I wonder why not..."

"It's still a work-in-progress." I explained. "Obviously, it wouldn't work on machines without any computerized parts, but the, uh..." I scratched my head. "Ah, fuck it, I'm not smart enough to explain this. If my friend Chihiro were here, he'd be halfway through an in-depth explanation by now. Next time I see him, I'll ask him for the details."

"Oh... But, I have learned one thing!"

"Oh yeah?"

"This gun works as well on humans as the ray guns do against Crystal Bowie!"

I stared at her in utter confusion for a good few seconds. Then, I shook my head. "What the fuck have I gotten myself into...?"


We stood in front of a giant, bright-yellow storage crate. It blocked the way forward.

Komaru turned toward me. "Looks like we can climb this if we work together."

I considered our options. "Well, I could probably get you up there. Do you think you could pull me up, though?" I gestured to myself.

"Well, we should at least try. Besides, I'm stronger than I look!"

"I doubt that..." I said, kneeling in front of the crate. A second later, I felt her shoes press against my shoulders.

"D-Don't look up, okay?"

"Yeah, I got it." I stared at the ground as I slowly and steadily rose. When I stood tall enough, she leapt from my shoulders and pulled herself up on the crate. She turned and reached a hand down to me. "Alright, now comes the hard part..." I grabbed her hand with both of mine, and jumped as she yanked me upward. I pressed my feet against the crate itself, to help give Komaru some leverage as we both struggled to gain height.

Eventually, she managed to pull me high enough that I could scramble onto the flat surface. We both collapsed on the cold metal. I was breathing heavily. "Okay. Hopefully, we won't have to do that too many more times."

"Maybe... if we have to do that again... we could trade places?" She suggested in between breaths.

"Something tells me we'd run into a similar problem." I slowly got up, and hopped off the storage crate onto the ground on the other side. Komaru followed me.

Before we could do anything, a small metallic object landed on the ground a few feet away. Komaru and I seemed to realize what it was at the same time, and we both jumped back before the bomb exploded.

When the dust settled, we were faced with a pair of Monokumas, both wearing green bullet-proof vests and helmets, and carrying boxes of hand grenades on their back.

I groaned. "Jeez, these things just keep crawling out of the woodwork. Now there's different versions of him?"

"Should the hacking gun destroy them just like the others?" Komaru asked.

"Yeah, but let's be careful. That bomb didn't seem to have a big blast radius, but don't underestimate them." I switched on my high-frequency baton, and charged forward.


I glanced up and down the street we found ourselves on. One end was completely blocked with storage crates, and the other was completely torn up, leaving a giant whole in the street.

I shook my head. "God, it's so hard to get around. How could they cause so much destruction in such a short amount of time?"

Komaru looked around. "Based on where we are, the bridge should be on the opposite side of this hotel..." She faced the building in front of us. "What should we do? It looks like we can get through right here."

I sighed. "The route I took to the hospital wasn't this bad. But since we're this far, I guess we should press on. Let's go."

We entered the hotel, which was just as battered on the inside as it was on the outside, and worked together to scale the more torn areas. When we got to the second floor, Komaru stopped in front of a pair of payphones.

"What?" I asked.

"I think I've got an idea!" She said. "Look, if we use this telephone to call the police, won't they come save us?"

"Are you dense?" I asked as politely as possible. "If there are any police left in this city, they're probably doing everything they can already. Besides, I don't think communication like this is possible right now. My police scanner stopped working, and Future Foundation hasn't been able to contact anyone in here for some time. Telephones, internet, nothing."

"Huh!? Nothing works?"

"If they did, we'd have a lot less to worry about right now." I said. "Now come on, we're wasting time."


"Unstoppable Man." Komaru read from the cover of yet another book. I guess people didn't have time to grab their favourite novels when they were running for their lives. I read the back cover over her shoulder.

"Triathlon, boxing, rock climbing... Saburo Karin tackles them all nonstop. What is his newest (challenge)? What is the reason (why) he doesn't stop? And what is the single (scene) that will finally make him stop? If you start reading, you won't stop either! Saburo Karin's Autobiography: Unabridged (Masterpiece) Edition!

"Unstoppable..." Komaru sighed. "There's no way I'll be able to do it. I'm getting pretty tired."

"Yeah." I nodded. "I know I'm pretty exhausted. I don't think I've slept in... sixteen hours? Fifteen? Eh, it doesn't matter, anyway..."

"You're tired? You don't really look like it, Al." She said.

"A little over half a year ago, I found out that I'm pretty good at lying to people." I explained shortly. "But, anyway, c'mon. Where's that youthful energy?"

"My age doesn't effect how tired I am..." She whined. Then she thought for a moment. "Oh, hey... how old are you?"

"I'm 18- No." I shook my head. "I'm 20 years old."

"You... don't even know how old you are?" She asked.

"Look, I've had a very confusing couple of years, so you'll excuse me for missing a couple birthdays."

"Um... okay?"


"The Bomb Inside Her?" I asked. Komaru had just picked up yet another book, and she seemed pretty excited about it.

"This manga... Oh it's been ages since I read this! I love it!" She proclaimed.

Against my better judgement, I read the synopsis. "I, Yumi Kayakuda (16), am a normal high school girl in every way. At least, I wish that were the case. My womb is filled with bombs," I blinked, reread the statement, and looked up. "Uh, okay, the escalated quickly. "so if I ever fell in love, they'd explode. That's why ever since I was born, I've been pure and innocent, but then... He appeared. Shota Honen, the boy who says he loves me... Keeping my distance, less than lovers, more than friends, pushes me to my limit. "Sorry, but if this goes on, I'm going to fall for you. So do something horrible to me!" Lighting up a fire in your heart!? A risque, thrilling love story." Okay, so, many questions, but... first of all, this just sounds like an allegory for the female orgasm."

"How dare you?" She asked, legitimately offended. "It's a masterpiece! The Bomb Inside Her is like, required reading for high school girls!"

"Well, good thing I was never a high school girl." I said. "And what do you mean, "high school girls"? Did you ever even go to high school?"

"Well age-wise, I should be..."

"You've been imprisoned since middle school?" I asked. "That uniform seems to still fit fine."

"No, this is a high-school uniform." She said. "While I was imprisoned, it was delivered one day along with the food. Until then I had been wearing my middle-school uniform... The culprit probably felt sorry for me."

"Huh. Compared to the criminals I've seen, that's pretty generous."

"But... I'm really glad they gave me one." She admitted. "This is the St. Koa Girls Academy uniform. It's a famous rich-girl school!"

"Koa, huh? Can't say I've heard of it, but then, I am a foreigner."

"Koa Academy has a 300-year history of culture, activities, and sports!" She said proudly. "The club uniforms are also super cute. There are tons of girls who want a chance to wear one! The school cafeteria is buffet-style, and you hear about it on television all the time..." She paused, and stared at the ground. "...Ugh."

"What?"

"I'm feeling... It's just silly of me to fantasize about all those details now, isn't it?"

"Did you... make all that up?" I asked. It sounded pretty obvious, but with the existence of Hope's Peak, such a school didn't sound too far-fetched.

"I wanted a high-school life like that!" She said sadly.

"Well, even if the world hadn't gone to shit, I wouldn't hold my breath."

"Y-You don't have to be so blunt about it!"


"What is this...?" Komaru asked, handing me a decorated piece of paper. ""Hit List"...? That doesn't sound good."

I read the name, and almost had a heart attack. Takaaki Ishimaru. Ishimaru!? It could be a coincidence, but... they did have some resemblance. First Makoto's sister, and now Taka's... father? Were all of the captives in this one city? If so... I've got a lot of work on my hands...

"Al?" Komaru asked. I had been silent this whole time.

"Oh, it's... Th-This is probably something the kids made. From the looks of things, it's probably something to help them hunt and kill more efficiently."

"B-But that's... Why would they do that!?" She asked.

"That's what I intend to find out. It's right under "rescue Byakuya" in order of priority."

"But does that mean... there's other people who are being hunted by the children?"

"Well, every adult is technically in danger, but, yes, it seems like you're not alone."

"But why would something like this...?"

"They probably just dropped it." I tucked the Hit List away into my lab coat. "I doubt this kind of thing is supposed to be available to the adults."

"If that's the case, we have to hurry and tell this person!" She insisted. "The children know where he is!"

"I understand how you feel, but right now, that's simply not the best move." I said. "Right now, I need to work on getting you to safety. If we run into him, I'll do whatever I can to help, but we need to focus on one thing at a time right now. It's like the whole Byakuya deal. The quicker I can get you outta here, the faster I can help someone else."

"I-Is that really okay...?"

"No, but it doesn't matter right now." I said. "In situations like this, sometimes you have to do what you have to to survive. That's life..."

"I-I see... That's life..." She repeated.


After another stupid arcade room, a challenge set by a kid, and Komaru making a stupid pun, we finally made our way out of the hospital, and I recognized the area we were in. The bridge was just down the road. Which means...

My van was up the street, still tipped on it's side. We quickly dashed over. I noticed something off right away. All of the weapons I left scattered all over the streets were gone. I assume the kids took them, which isn't an encouraging thought. Hopefully, the police scanner is still intact.

"Hang on. Keep me covered." I told Komaru, as I crawled into the van. Luckily enough, the radio was in good condition. I switched it on, and it made static noises. Okay, that's good. I fiddled with the knobs for a minute, but there was nothing but static on every channel. I removed it, put it in my pocket, and crawled back out. "Good news, it'll turn on. Bad news, it's not picking up anything. I'm not an expert on radios, but if it can't get a signal, I don't think it can send one to anyone, either."

"So, what are we gonna do?" She asked.

"I... If I could get it to higher ground, it might be able to get a signal better." Was that how police radios worked? Fuck, I'm out of my element here...

"Heeey! You two over there!" A voice suddenly rang out from down the road. I instinctively drew my weapon, but it didn't seem to be an enemy. Running toward us was a boy with an athletic build and tan skin. He stopped a few feet from the van. "You guys don't look like you're with those kids... That means... you're on my side, right? Right?"

"Huh? Uh... yeah." Komaru said.

Suddenly, he grabbed her hand, shaking it happily. "I knew it! Yes! Oh, this is fantastic! Man, it's been forever since I've seen a normal person! I'm so happy!"

"Well, looks like you got lucky, then." I said. "Though I'm not sure if I'd necessarily classify anyone here as normal..."

"Ah... I think this handshake is over now..." Komaru said. At the same time, he stopped shaking it, but was still holding her hand.

"Okay, buddy, you're going to go from distressed survivor to weird creeper if that lasts much longer." I decided to warn him.

"No! It's not that... It's just, this wristband..." He said. He looked up at Komaru. "Could it be...? Were you also captured by those kids who call themselves the Warriors of Hope?"

"...Huh?" Komaru asked.

"And then you got thrown out here, and told it was part of some game, right?" He continued. "Well, look! Me too!" He held up his wrist, which had a bracelet identical to the one she was wearing.

"Ah, that wristband!" She yelped.

"Oh, this is great!" The boy said. "Well, not... completely great. I'm already at my wit's end trying to figure out what to do... I guess I was just so relieved to see someone in the same spot I'm in. Still... could be better."

"I sorta understand." Komaru agreed. "I'm also a little glad to know that I'm not alone in this situation."

"Right!? Right!? Oh, that reminds me, I never told you my name! I'm Yuta Asahina!"

"Ah!" I only barely managed to stifle my surprise. That's why this kid looks so familiar. He's Hina's brother. Well, great, now I have two of my friend's relatives to look after. Oh no, my gamer instincts are telling me we're going to find everyone along the way. I can't look after fourteen other people at once. The last time I tried that, nine of them ended up dead.

"I'm Komaru Naegi. Nice to meet you, Yuta."

Yuta started writing on the palm of his hand. "Okay... Komaru... Naegi..."

"...What're you doing?" She asked.

"Oh, this? If you really wanna remember a name, write it down on your palm three times." I almost laughed.

"Oh, I see. I've never heard of that."

"Ah, but seriously, it is so reassuring to finally have a friend to work together with!" He said.

I extended my hand for a handshake. "Likewise. I'm Albert Wright. If that's too complicated, you can just call me Al. And, ah, if you don't mind, could you and Komaru explain to me those wristbands? I was so caught up in all the chaos, I hadn't had a chance to really ask."

"Oh, well, I'm not really sure, myself." He said. "They just put it on me before dumping me into the city."

"For all we know, those could be tracking devices." I knelt down and picked up a jagged chunk of rubble. "Let me see if I can break them."

Komaru jumped slightly. "W-Wait...! I... I think those kids said the wristbands will explode if we mess with them..."

"Oh, yeah! I remember that, too." Yuta confirmed.

I tossed the rock on the ground. "Okay... Plan B is out the window. And Plan C, since my idea for that was to get together a makeshift raft and try to get across the river."

"Huh? Why wouldn't that work?" Yuta asked. "Heck, I was actually planning on swimming across before I found you guys."

"I don't doubt you could do that, except for the fact that you have a bomb strapped to you." I pointed out. "If they designed it to explode when you tamper with it, what's stopping it from exploding if you try to leave the city limits? At best, you'll be left with a bloody stump that'll instantly get infected by all that dirty water. At worst, there'll be nothing left of you."

He paled. "O-Oh... I didn't think of that..."

I scratched my head. "Okay, well, tracking device or not, hiding out somewhere is probably better than standing out in the open like sitting ducks. We'll have to search the city for a tall enough building to get this signal out. Until then... I think it would actually be best if we stayed underground. There should be a subway system in this city, right?"

"Huh? A subway?" Komaru asked.

"Yeah. If I recall, there was a subway that was used to take people from the mainland to the city. The trains shouldn't be operational, but if worse comes to worst, I could leave you guys with some protection while I go to get help. I don't have a wristband, so I'm not bound by the rules of this game. But that'll be Plan D. Plan A is this radio."

"Sounds like a plan." Yuta decided. "So, where's the subway?"

"Yeah, we didn't see it on our way over here." Komaru said.

"I'm not sure." I said, scratching my head. "I guess we'll have to look for it."


After escaping from a new type of Monokuma, this one with an alarm built into it, we stepped into another arcade room, but this one actually had something new in it. Well, not that new, since we already found a kid with a gift for us before, but never in an arcade room.

"Whoa!" Komaru jumped back. "Another one!"

"Looks like he's got a gift." I pointed out.

"Is it safe?" Yuta asked as Komaru stepped forward. Opening the box, she found another thumb-drive. When she plugged it into her gun, however, it added a new kind of ammo, DANCE. The kid laughed and ran off.

"Those kids are our enemies, right?" Komaru asked. "Why are they helping us?"

"I already explained, it's just a damn game to them." I said.

"So... what does DANCE do?"

"From what Chihiro told me, the idea was to force a machine to remain stationary, while moving any of its appendages in a non-threatening manner. During tests, they noted that it makes it look like the machine is dancing, hence the name. It wastes a negligible amount of fuel for the machine, but the main use is leaving the machine helpless while you wail on it with other codes."

"I see... that's useful."


"Tornado Sentai Spin Ranger." I read. "Dawn, Container, Salable, Mellow, Food. These 5 friends run a small, unassuming soup shop. However, the chosen warriors cannot stay soup salesmen forever. With the mighty STORM power, they transform into Tornado Sentai Spin Ranger, and battle tirelessly day and night against the evil phantoms. This is the eye of the tornado entertainment! Spin the world with Spin Ranger!" I read that last part with my best movie trailer voice. I coughed. "So, it's basically Power Rangers plus Beyblade."

"Oh, hey, I remember reading that when I was a kid." Yuta mentioned.

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." I handed it to him. "My question is, why do we keep finding books in the middle of the street. The hotel, it made sense, but who dropped their book out here?"

"I'm sure the person who dropped this was just a kid." Komaru said. "All boys have a superhero phase, after all."

"Eh, I was always more of a fantasy kid, myself." I said. "Though, now that you said that, I can't stop thinking of Byakuya reading a comic." It was a funny thought, honestly.

"Hm, don't you think Byakuya is kinda like a superhero, in a way?" She asked.

"No, in fact, I never thought that. What do you mean?"

"Like when he rescued me, his timing was so perfect, just like a hero's."

"Actually..." I started thinking. Dangerous, I know. "Now that you mention it, a lot of strange coincidences happened lately. The Monokumas attacked the same time Future Foundation showed up to save you, for example."

"Byakuya said the reason they came here was because they received an anonymous rescue plea..." Komaru recalled. "Do you think... the children did it?"

"One-hundred percent."

"Then... the children were targeting Future Foundation from the beginning? Why?"

"That's the question, isn't it? I can't imagine why they'd have a grudge against us."

"That sounds like a pretty complicated plan for a bunch of kids." Yuta said. "Whoever's leading them must be smarter than we think. Also, uh, who's Future Foundation?"

I blinked. Right, these kids were imprisoned for a year and a half. Komaru only knows about us because of Byakuya. "It's the organization I work for. Our ultimate goal is to get mankind back to where it was, back before all this bad apocalypse shit went down. Byakuya's one of my fellow members, and he was captured by the kids. And... yeah, I think you're all caught up now."

"Hm... I hope there aren't anymore unpleasant surprises..." Komaru hoped.


After exploring for a while, we finally found a subway entrance. However, there was just one problem.

"The shutter's... closed?" Komaru noticed. She ran down the stairs, getting a closer look. She turned toward us. "It's locked... We can't get through it like this!"

"Could we break it down?" Yuta asked.

I shook my head. "It'd take too long. Those things are built to be sturdy. Let's look around, I have a hunch the key isn't too far."

"You mean like, over there?" Yuta asked hesitantly, pointing to the body of a station attendant a few feet away.

"Was he killed by those Monokumas too?" Komaru asked when she saw him.

I knelt down. "I'd be surprised if he wasn't." I studied his blank face before removing a key from his hands. I passed it to Komaru.

"Could this key be...?" Before she could finish her thought, a kid ran out from nowhere and tackled her before running away once again.

"The hell...?" I watched the kid run off.

Yuta scoffed. "Doing a hit-and-run... Those kids aren't so tough without their Monokumas."

Komaru seemed to realize something, and started freaking out. "You guys! This is bad!"

"What is it now?" I groaned.

"The key! The kid stole it!"

"Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me."

"We gotta go after that kid! If we don't have the key, we can't get into the subway!"

"Don't worry!" Yuta assured us. "He might have the lead, but I'll catch him!" With that, he bolted off after the kid, and... holy shit, he was fast.

"Yuta! Don't go running off on your own!" I called after him. Reluctantly, Komaru and I ran after him.


After a few minutes of solid running, we arrived back at the hospital where we started. Yuta was waiting for us in the lobby.

I was wheezing. "Jesus... Christ... You kids are gonna be... the death of me..."

"Sorry about that." He apologized. "I was lagging a bit so you guys could keep up, but I guess that wasn't enough. Still, I almost caught the kid a couple of times, but Monokumas kept getting in my way. But he's in here, I know it!"

"Okay, okay... Let's hurry." And hurry we did. We ran through a couple of doors until we found ourselves in a hallway. At the end, the kid stood waiting.

Komaru called out "There you are! You won't get away this time!" As if scared by her yelling, the kid suddenly continued down the hall. I groaned.

We followed him through the corridors, the area getting... bloodier as we went along. Eventually, we reached a door at the end of the hall.

"Okay, assuming there's no fire escape in there, we have him trapped." I said. We walked in, and were greeted by a dimly lit room with bloody tools scattered on the floor. And no kid.

"This room is creepy..." Komaru said. "Like something might pop out at any second."

A shiver went down my spine. "D-Don't say stupid shit like-" Before I could finish my thought, one of the cabinets started shaking violently.

"Uh, when you say "pop out"..." Yuta started. Suddenly, the cabinet burst open, and a mangled, twisted Monokuma crawled out of it, turning its loose eye to us.

"Ah! It popped out!" Komaru jumped. She turned and started hammering on the door we entered from.

"I am completely convinced that this is your fault." I told her. "If you hadn't said anything..."

She turned to us. "The door's locked shut."

Of course it is. "...Alright then. I guess we're fighting." I turned to Yuta. "I hope you're cool with sitting back, since I don't have enough weapons for everyone."

"No, that's fine." He said. "I think I've had enough of these things for a lifetime."

"Cool." I turned to Komaru. "Keep me covered." As I said that, the Monokuma charged at us. We all dived out of the way, and I immediately retaliated.

It became clear this was no normal Monokuma. Well, I mean, you could tell just by looking at it, but that's not my point. Normal Monokumas caved in after a couple hits of my baton. I hit this one about three times before I realized it wasn't even denting it. Then it swiped at my chest, cutting through my uniform and into my flesh underneath.

I backed up so I was next to Yuta. I clutched my chest, and when I pulled my hand away, it was bloody. Still, just a flesh wound. "Ugh, that's probably gonna get infected. What happened to keeping me covered?" I called at Komaru, who was across the room.

She pointed her gun at the bear as it turned to her. With a pull of the trigger, it suddenly stopped in its tracks and started waving its arms in the air. I ran up and took aim to strike it in the red eye, which I noticed seemed to be the weak point on all the other machines. I'd like to be able to say I took it out in one fell swoop, but the reality is that it took me about two or three swings to break the glass over its eye, and yet another to smash through it and into the "brain" behind it. After that, the machine went limp, I backed up, and it exploded.

God. You'd think something as twisted as that would be easy to break. Was it... purposely designed like that? Not gonna lie, that's a little fucked up.

A loud click sound came from the door. Komaru jumped happily. "Ah, look! It's open now!"

Yuta sighed in relief. "I think I'm gonna have nightmares from that..."

I pulled my first-aid kit out of my lab coat and opened it. As I rolled up my shirt and suit jacket, I told him "Better than being dead. You guys go on ahead. I gotta stick a band-aid on this, or something. Just don't go far."


By the time I caught up with them, they were standing in a sick room, holding another novel.

"Hey, Al, look what we found." Yuta said, passing it to me.

I sighed and took a look at it.

"Pure Family Companion"

"Dad's cheating with my classmate, Mom's beating up Grandpa and Grandma, my brother's chased around town by delinquents, and day and night I'm making this bomb to blow up the school... But this is normal for us. This is what a normal family looks like. I do have some complaints and worries, but any household would be the same, right? One day, a "stained boy" claiming to be a "Representative of the World" showed up at our house unexpectedly and said, "I'm going to reform you and your family..." It's none of your business! Will I be able to protect my family from being forced into "normalcy"?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, pushing my glasses up my face. "Okay... Where do I start? I feel ill."

"Doesn't look like it's gonna have a happy ending..." Komaru remarked.

"I can already guess. The main character wins in the end, and says something dumb like: We might be crazy, but at least we're happy!"

"Yeah, that sounds pretty plausible."

"The only people who think that's a proper Aesop are ignorant." I said simply. "It's not their happiness that's the issue, it's how their craziness is going to affect other people's happiness! Like, seriously, blowing up the school? Abusing the grandparents? There's a difference between being not normal and being a menace to society." I sighed, and tossed the book to Yuta. "I'm letting my anger get the better of me. Just take that thing away from me before I burst a blood vessel."

"Uh, yeah, okay." He tossed it back onto the bed they found it on.

"Speaking of predictions, Komaru, I'm guessing your family was pretty "normal," too, huh?" I guessed, though I already knew the answer.

"Well, actually... we weren't really that normal at all." She said. "We're a family of four. My parents, my brother, and me, but..."

"But...?"

"For example, Mom always watches the same variety show at lunchtime. Dad never shaves on weekends if he doesn't have any plans, and my brother goes to an amazing school. When we're eating dinner and it's just the four of us, we basically just watch TV and small talk."

I waited for her to continue. She didn't. "None of the things you said prove anything other than the fact that you're a boring, normal, suburban family."

"But if that's normal, isn't it kinda... not normal, because it's too normal?"

Yuta considered it. "Uh... Yeah, that makes sense. If you think about it."

"Hmph." I scratched my head. "Anyway, you said you have a brother? What's your relationship with him like?"

"Oh, we actually don't get along well at all." She admitted. "The only time we really talk is when we're snacking together, or talking about manga we like..."

"That basically describes my relationship with me and my siblings." I stated.

"Yeah, you two get along just as well as my sister and I do." Yuta agreed.

"Really? I figured other siblings would be much closer than we are..."

"Any closer and it'd be illegal." I said with a smirk.

Komaru suddenly turned to the ground. "But now that... you mention my family... I'm starting to get worried... I hope Mom, Dad, and Makoto are all safe..."

"Yeah... I hope Hina's okay..." Yuta said, his expression just as pained.

"I'm sure they're all just fine..." I said sincerely.


When we entered the director room, we were greeted by the kid, who had finally stopped running, standing next to a safe. He handed Komaru a cryptic serial-killer message telling her to solve a puzzle in order to open the safe, which has the key.

I glared at the kid. "We aren't here to play with you. Just give me the key."

Komaru scoffed. "A child challenging us to a battle of wits... He really doesn't think much of us, does he?"

"...Wut?"

"Al, we can't lose against him!" Komaru said, putting on a game face.

"You... You're going to play along with him? After this whole chase he put us through?"

Ignoring me, she went over and picked up a gift box laying a few feet away. Inside was yet another thumb-drive. When she plugged it into her gun, it gave her the use of DETECT.

When her and Yuta turned to me, I decided to provide a brief explanation. "Detect lets you use a black light function built into the gun. Black lights let you reveal things that are invisible to the naked eye, like invisible ink. Detectives like to use them to reveal stains that were wiped away, like blood, saliva, urine, semen..."

"Uh, TMI." Yuta said.

"Yeah, hopefully we don't have to use it for that..." Komaru agreed.

I kicked a bucket of paint that was on the floor. "Nah, these kids seem to be using it for invisible ink, exclusively. I doubt their wiping away any of the blood they spill, anyway."

"That wasn't the part we were... never mind." Yuta said, as Komaru stepped forward to solve the puzzle.

A few minutes later, Komaru had inputted a four-digit password into the laptop hooked up to the safe, and it swung open, revealing our prize.

"Yes! How about that!? We won, we won!" Komaru mocked.

"Congratulations, you beat a little kid." I snarked.

"Boo Hoo!" Came out of the kids helmet as he ran out of the room.

Komaru reached into the safe and picked up the key from before. "And with this, we can get into the subway!"

"Cool. Now, let's get out of here. I'm tired of this hospital already."


So, uh, Albert kind of saved Yuta's life just by going through the same thought process I went through during that moment in the game. I don't know about the rest of you, but the minute Yuta said he was going to swim across, I was just like "Oh no, they're going to kill off Yuta." Now, I don't want to spoil my own story, because who does that, but Yuta isn't going to be a permanent member of this group. At least, not for the whole time. Hence why I didn't put his name in the Characters listings.

In the next chapter, we'll make our way to the subways, and our heroes will be met with an unexpected encounter.