Disclaimer: I don't own Mirai Nikki or Dangan Ronpa.
Chapter 3: Hera
Murmur soon found herself far back into an alternate past. Warping to the Middle East, she knew where her first target would be. Soon enough, she spotted an eleven-year-old Minene and her parents. They were about to drive to a nearby city where a battle between two rival religious groups was about to break out. Murmur knew that Minene's parents would get caught in the crossfire and wind up dead, leading Minene to despise religion in all its forms. "Let's head them off at the pass," Murmur said, and cast a bit of magic to make one of the car's tires go flat several miles away from the battle.
When Minene's father saw the tire of their rental car was busted, he sighed. "We'll have to postpone the drive until we can get it fixed." Then Minene saw the news of the battle at the city they were going to visit. "Look Daddy, there's people fighting on the TV." Minene's father looked at the news report. "Wow, we could have been caught up in all that." Minene watched for a while before asking, "Who are the good guys in this battle?" Her father was stunned for a second. He thought for a while before saying, "I'm not sure if either side can really be considered the good guys. I guess the Israeli can technically be called the better side, but to say they're the good guys may be pushing it."
"It'd be nice if every battle had a good guy," Minene said, "And that they always win. Just like in the fairy tales." Her father chuckled. "Well, if you ever find the chance, maybe you can help make that happen." Minene giggled as she and her father hugged. Murmur, meanwhile, checked the future scope she had brought with her. "My plan worked. Now not only will Minene grow up with a happy family, she won't become an atheist and will even become a heroic mercenary. Phase one complete." And with that, Murmur headed further into the future.
"You sure it's okay to be walking around the city?," Yuno asked Yuki. The two of them were at Festival Square in Kibougamine City. Yuki thought it would be a great place for a date while they wait for Izuru's next move, and while waiting for word that Minene had escaped. "I realize the 32 Hopes know our names," Yuki said, "But they don't know our faces. I'm pretty sure we were silhouetted when we announced ourselves to Mukuro and Junko." He pointed to the overhead monitors. They showed Minene and Keigo's faces, but not Yuki or Yuno's. "So as long as we don't give our real names in public, we can enjoy the city."
Minene was still on the run trying to get back to Izuru's hideout, when she suddenly heard an odd-sounding siren go off. She looked behind her to see what looked like a pick-up truck painted pink with an anime character shown on the side. "Run in fear vile woman!," came a nasally sounding voice, "For you are pursued by me, Hifumi Yamada!" "Oh crap," Minene said, "He's the Hope of the Ultimate Otaku." "And he's not alone," came another voice from the back of the truck. Stepping onto the cabin of the truck was a girl in a black lolita outfit. It was Celestia Ludenberg, the Hope of the Ultimate Gambler. "Mukuro was right," Celeste said, "You are a pale imitation of me."
"Big deal!," Minene called back, "You still can't move fast enough to catch me!" Hifumi chuckled before tossing a piece of paper with a drawing Minene could not see out the window. Celeste caught it as it started to glow, transforming into a massive rocket launcher. Minene stared in disbelief. "We're going up against fucking superheroes," she muttered. She quickly rounded the corner of the street as Celeste started to take aim. "She's heading towards Fuyuhiko's territory," Celeste said to Hifumi, "Take the side road up ahead." Both of them deduced that Minene was able to predict the best routes to escape from danger, so they simply relied on Celeste's gift for defying probability as part of her Hope of the Ultimate Gambler to counter it.
As Yuki and Yuno enjoyed a drink together, Yuno asked, "Yuki, do you remember the day we first met?" Yuki smiled. "How could I forget? It must have almost two years ago. And what a way for us to meet. Learning that your mother had gone bipolar and developed a persecution complex. Worse still, forcing it upon you. I don't know what led me to your house that night, but I think whatever did, it did it just in time for your mother to realize how wrong she was." Yuno closed her eyes. "I still remember the next day. You had actually fallen asleep next to my hospital bed, still worried about me."
Yuki chuckled softly. "Yeah. I guess your father must have had a feeling about us, because he actually convinced the hospital staff to let me stay there. It also led to my parents staying together as well, when they saw how happy the two of us were just being near each other." Yuno playfully smirked. "Oh? Are you saying we're not happy now?" Yuki laughed out loud. "You know what I mean by that. And now here we are, caught up in this little game." "Yeah," Yuno said, "It's a shame only one of us can win, but at least when it's over we can still be together."
"Well," Yuki said, "We still have our promise to keep." Yuno blushed at the thought. One year ago, the two of them had promise to get married. Granted they were still in junior high at the time, but they still intended to keep that promise when they grew old enough. "We made that promise," Yuno said, "On the night your parents took us out stargazing. We saw a shooting star reflected in the nearby lake, and took it as a sign that we're meant to be together." Yuki and leaned in to kiss Yuno. Before they could meet, however, they suddenly spotted Minene zoom past, followed shortly by Hifumi and Celeste.
'Just how is that tub of lard doing all this?,' Minene thought as Hifumi used another drawing to make the truck rocket-propelled. "Time to turn her into our trap," Hifumi said to Celeste. "Then let's light this candle!," Celeste replied as she pulled the trigger on her rocket launcher. Minene quickly turned down the alleyway only to find a wall of Yakuza waiting for her, with Fuyuhiko at the head of the pack. "Dead end, Minerva!," he said as he and his thugs pulled out several sub-machine guns. Thinking quickly, Minene quickly leapt onto the nearby fire escape and headed up.
When she got to the top, she was confronted by a Fenrir helicopter piloted by Mukuro. "Round 2, Bitch!," Mukuro called out before launching a few rockets at Minene. She quickly leaped to rooftop behind her and kept running. 'I'm not too far from the others. If I can just make it to the next block, I'll be fine.' She grinned when she spotted a black van just below her. Sliding down a drainpipe, she entered the van where Masumi and Keigo were waiting inside. As they drove off, Masumi started bandaging Minene's eye where Mukuro had stabbed her.
Fuyuhiko scowled as the van drove off. "Call Mikan and have her check any patients coming in with eye complications," he said to his cronies. Hifumi and Celeste soon drove up next to him. "They try to provoke us into fighting them, but run when the battle gets too hectic," Celeste noted, "I'm starting to think Izuru may have picked a bad hand this time. This group isn't as gung ho as his other hired help. They're more careful, as if they actually want to live." Fuyuhiko shrugged. "Maybe Izuru finally got smart about who he hired. Then again, I've heard about Dii Consentes before, and they're usually a lot more flashy about their actions. This just seems... I dunno, off somehow."
Izuru answered his phone and spoke into it. "She's back safely. Good. I'd recommend staying away from the hospitals. They're all owned by Mikan Tsumiki, and she's a lot more attentive than her personality would suggest. I know a few private doctors that are good at patch jobs, I'll send you one of their addresses." He hung up and started texting the address in question. He then turned to one of the other figures in the room. "I'm glad some of you are proving more competent than Takao." The figure smiled. "Then I trust you're ready for your next plan then?" Izuru grinned. "I trust you know what to do."
Diary Owners Revealed: 5
Diary Owners Remaining: 12
To be continued...
Yeah, not much change from the last chapter, but definitely more story elements added. But, how do these people feel "off"? We'll find out soon enough. Read and review.