Chapter 4 is finally out for your reading pleasure! I actually had this chapter done last week, but my internet connection went down during a storm and was only recently reconnected. I've been playing Dark Souls II in the meantime. Anyways, in this chapter there is a lot of talking and a few revelations, including who has been following Naegi and pals since Chapter 1. Hmm? Can't wait? Okay, here's a hint: their initials are K and N, and they are related to luck. Any names swirling around in your heads? Good. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy Chapter 4!
Friendship is a wonderful, terrible thing.
Besides your family and/or your beloved, the most intimate relationships you will have will be with your friends. These bonds help us grow and develop into the people we are. A friendship born from mutual trust and respect can be a wonderful thing. You are able to support each other in tough times, overcome obstacles you couldn't alone, and generally just enjoy life in the company of those who accept you.
But friendship can also be devastating.
Careless words spoken by one you consider a friend can crush you. Sudden betrayals of friendship can leave scars deeper than any physical wound. And belittling another's insecurities and fears can make that person feel worthless. By letting someone get that close to us, we give them the power to hurt us. We just trust them not to.
Friendship is a wonderful, terrible thing.
-[When Hope Crumbles]-
{Thirty Minutes Ago}
"Can anyone tell me where we think we're going?", Leon Kuwata asked, shoving his hands in his jeans as he continued walking down the desolate street.
"Obviously we are trying to find Naegi and Ikusaba-san!", Aoi Asahina said, a pout on her face as she looked back at Leon.
"Yeah I get that.", Leon said with a sigh. "But do we have any idea of where they are? Nope. Not one fucking clue."
"If Ikusaba and Naegi really were fleeing from the despairing mob, they likely would have headed this way to flee the city.", Sakura Oogami said. "Which is why we are headed in this direction."
"Tch!", Leon said. "That's just a theory! There's no fucking proof!"
"I-I agree with Kuwata. And i-if you ask me I think its too l-l-late! T-That Ikusaba bitch has probably already k-killed Naegi!", Touko Fukawa stuttered out.
"W-We can't think like that!", Chihiro Fujisaki timidly exclaimed. "If we do, then we've already given up hope!"
"I'm not being pessimistic. I'm just being realistic.", Kuwata said, turning to address Fujisaki. "I don't want the little guy to get hurt just as much as you guys' do, but what if he left of his own free will? Then it's not our fault he hightailed it out of here, and we don't owe the guy anything."
"What are you talking about!", Asahina interrupted, face red. "Naegi saved us from a mutual killing of each other! Along with Ikusaba-san! We owe them our lives!"
"What do you propose we do, Kuwata-kun?", interjected Kyouko Kirigiri. Her calm voice breaking the growing tension that was building up between the Super High School Level kids.
"We need to get out of here, before we die like we almost did back there.", Leon said, fear entering his voice as he looked back at the way they had come from. "If anyone got left behind during that, could you honestly say you would go back for them?"
Silence answered his question.
"Naegi-kun would.", Sayaka Maizono finally whispered, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
Leon looked at the ground. "...Regardless. If Ikusaba hasn't murdered Naegi, then I am sure that they will be fine."
A deafening crashing sound to their right caught everyone's attention. They turned in time to see a MegaMonokuma robot tear a skyscraper out of the ground and throw it into a group of buildings just a few blocks in front of them. Said buildings promptly crumbled under its weight, sending a cloud of dirt and debris barreling towards the highschool students, which quickly engulfed them. As the dust settled, the coughing and choking but otherwise unharmed students looked back to find the MegaMonokuma stomping off into the distance. Was that something in one of its paws? It was too far away to tell.
"What *cough* the hell?", said Mondo Oowada.
"That was rather unpleasant. *cough*", said Celestia Ludenburg.
"What...was that?", Yauhiro Hagakure asked.
"Somehow I don't think that Ikusaba-san and Naegi-kun are fine anymore.", Kirigiri said.
"Come on! We have to go see if Naegi and Ikusaba-san are over there!", Asahina exclaimed.
As soon as she finished her sentence, she proceeded to sprint through the streets to where they last saw the MegaMonokuma, dragging Oogami and Fujisaki behind her. Kirigiri, Maizono, Oowada and Ishimaru followed soon after, the last of whom was yelling something about not running during school hours. The others, unwilling to be far apart from the security of their group's strongest members, also began walking.
"Does it bother anyone else that we are walking towards the place where we last saw the giant robot?", Leon asked, shoving his hands back in his jeans with another sigh as he began walking.
-[When Hope Crumbles]-
Ikusaba slowly pulled the fireaxe out of the back of the last Monokuma-masked mobster, placing her foot in the small of his back and pushing the body to the ground. It came out with a squelch.
Ikusaba surveyed the scene around her with cold, emotionless eyes. Over a hundred bodies (Ikusaba had stopped counting after that) lay on the ground before her, all dead in a variety of ways.
The beginning had been the trickiest part, when all the mobsters who had thought to bring guns decided to begin shooting randomly, mowing down some of their own in the process. Ikusaba was forced to constantly be on the move, using live mobsters and dead bodies as cover, until they ran out of ammunition. One or two broken necks later she was in possession of a weapon, albeit one out of ammo. Still, iron and steel make an effective impromptu club.
Surely, those chainsaw-wielding mobsters didn't think that they could ever touch her? They were so damn slow and unwieldy that they never hit even the slowest mobsters in front of them when they aimed for Ikusaba. After cracking their skulls with the improvised clubs, Ikusaba ignored the chainsaws laying on the street, as did the rest of the mobsters, perhaps having learned their lesson.
And the few "martial artists" that were among the mobsters were jokes. Ikusaba had sparred with the likes of Sakura Oogami, and these mobsters were but a pale shadow of her power. She easily broke the bones in their arms and legs and left them were they fell, broken and slowly going into shock.
From there it was just a matter of dodging the various bladed and blunt weapon aimed at her as she danced across the battlefield, killing the mobsters with their own weapons. A few mobsters had thrown Molotov cocktails and some had tried to use nets, but it was a simple matter for Ikusaba to catch the offending items in midair and throw them back at their owners, who either burned horribly or were immobilized long enough for her to come over and finish them off.
She hadn't been touched.
Okay. Ikusaba thought, walking through the bodies. Now to find the others. Then find Naegi-kun. Then we can rescue Naegi-kun.
She began to repeat it like a mantra in her head.
Find the others. Find Naegi-kun. Rescue Naegi-kun.
Find the others. Find Naegi-kun. Rescue Naegi-kun.
Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by her now superhuman senses picking up the sound of feet heading her way.
Reinforcements?, Ikusaba thought hazily. I'll make this quick. She hefted the fireaxe.
As soon as the first figure turned the corner, Ikusaba dashed at them so fast she seemingly teleported in front of them. Her eyes glinted, the axe rose up for the killing strike-
"Ikusaba-san?"
Ikusaba froze as soon as she head the voice, the axe stopping inches from Asahina's face.
Find the others.
"Ahh...Asahina-san.", Ikusaba said, removing the bloody axe from in front of Asahina's face, oblivious to the various expressions of fear and terror that were flying across it. "How are you? Where are the others at? We need to find them."
"...Ikusaba-san? Where is Naegi? Why do you have an axe...?", Asahina said, apprehension creeping into her voice as her eyes flickered from Ikusaba, to the bodies on the ground, then back to Ikusaba.
"That's...not important right now. We need to..." Find the others. "Find the others."
"Yeah...sure...I'll go get them...Be right back!", Asahina said, before turning and running away from Ikusaba as fast as she could.
"...I wonder what was wrong with her.", Ikusaba muttered to herself, letting the fireaxe trail across the ground in a circle.
Ikusaba did not have to wait long. The rest of the students soon arrived, led by Asahina, who was guiding them, and Oogami, who was in a defensive fighting stance. The other students expression's when they arrived ranged from horror to revulsion except for Fukawa, who was desperately trying to not look at the bloody scene.
"Good. You're here. Let's go. Follow me." Ikusaba spoke quickly, eager to get going and finally begin tying to rescue Naegi.
The other students didn't move.
"...What's wrong? We need to go! Now!", Ikusaba said, her voice rising as she rounded on them.
"Ikusaba-san?", Kirigiri spoke cautiously. "Ikusaba-san, are you...feeling alright?"
"I'm fine! Why do you ask?!", Ikusaba said, panic and confusion evident in her voice.
"It might have something to do with the fact that you are surrounded by corpses and are holding a bloody axe.", Byakuya Togami bluntly said, pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger.
"And you almost chopped me in half!", Asahina added, still a little pale.
"What is your explanation for all of this, Ikusaba?", Oogami said, readying her fists, the air visibly warping behind her.
Ikusaba took a second to try and calm down and organize her thoughts. "Naegi-kun was...kidnapped by a giant Monokuma robot. He asked me to find you all. These...people tried to stop me."
"And so you decided the most prudent course of action was to murder them all? Oh my.", Celestia said with a smile, hand over her mouth. "I would not want to be between you and something you want."
"It's not like that! After me and Naegi-kun left the hotel we were attacked, and then...", Ikusaba trailed off. She had never been very good at explaining things.
"See! I was fucking right!", Leon said. "He left the hotel of his own damn free will! We don't need to chase after him!"
Ikusaba visibly stiffened at this. "What do you mean, 'we don't need to chase after him'?", she asked quietly.
Leon continued speaking. "I mean that he just got up and walked away with you, right?! He must've been getting bored of us, or somethin'. Whatever happens to him, it's not our responsibility!"
"Not your responsibility?...", Ikusaba whispered.
"Kuwata-kun...", Kirigiri warned.
"Yeah! That's what I've been saying! Naegi leaving has nothing to do with us!"
"...You've got that wrong..."
"Huh?"
"I said you've got that wrong!", Ikusaba shouted, advancing on Leon. "Nothing to do with you?! You are the ones responsible for driving him away! "
Leon took a step back. Then another. Still Ikusaba approached him.
"Naegi-kun was carrying everyone's troubles on his shoulders and doing his best to give you all hope. But he also had fears and worries when he stepped out into this ruined world, and you all dismissed them like they were nothing!"
To his dismay, Leon found that he could not retreat any further. His back was against the wall. Literally. Ikusaba was still walking towards him.
"I've seen it before, you know. The moment when someone gives up hope completely and gives in to despair. I've seen the monsters that they become. To see him almost driven to that point...it's all YOUR FAULT!"
"Ikusaba-san...put down the axe...", Kirigiri said slowly, carefully.
Ikusaba blinked. Shaking her head, Ikusaba looked at her right hand, and saw the fireaxe raised over her head. She let her hand go limp, and the axe slipped out of her fingers, hitting the concrete with a *Clink!*
Leon collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily and shaking.
"...Ikusaba-san, is everything you said true?", Fujisaki nervously asked.
Ikusaba took a deep breath, steadying herself. "...Yes."
"Then we need to find Naegi and cheer him up! We owe him that much!", Asahina said, a determined look on her face.
"Yeah! We can't let Naegi-chi fall into despair! He would never use my services ever again!", Hagakure added.
"I never thought what I said would have messed him up that bad..." Oowada said, scratching the back of his head. "Shit man, I guess I gotta go save his ass."
"I suppose I can admit that my comments were a little...harsh.", Togami said, looking off into the distance. "I can't bear having a commoner like him holding a grudge against me."
"W-Well it looks like he is our responsibility after all...", Leon said, shakily standing up and running a hand through his hair. He looked embarrassed. "My bad.", he said, looking at the ground.
Ikusaba looked at them all in disbelief. Even before the Malefaction, her classmates had never been fully united on anything, always bickering and breaking into fights, often with Naegi acing as the arbitrator. To see these Super High School Level students now was a little...awe-inspiring.
"It looks like we are ready to go, Ikusaba-san.", Kirigiri said, turning to Ikusaba with a small smile. "Would you like to lead us there?"
"..."
"Ikusaba-san?"
"...You all go ahead. Just follow the MegaMonokuma's footprints. I will catch up with you soon.", Ikusaba said, looking off into the distance. "I need to think about a few things..."
Most of the other students nodded and began walking, but a few lingered behind.
"Will you be alright, Ikusaba?", Oogami asked, concern evident on her face.
"Yeah..."
"Okay...But catch up soon, or Naegi will already be saved!", Asahina said, giggling, before turning and running after the others. Oogami nodded to Ikusaba before she followed Asahina after their friends.
Kirigiri gave Ikusaba one last look before she too, left.
Ikusaba watched them go until she couldn't see them any more and then collapsed onto the the ground, burying her face in her hands.
This is not good, she thought. I lost control not once, but twice. I could hurt or even kill Naegi-kun or the others at this rate. What's going on?...
"Geez, you're so slow!"
Ikusaba didn't flinch when she heard the sound of high heels striding purposefully across pavement. She knew who she would find when she looked behind her.
"It's fucking called love, my disappointing sister, and it drives people straight into despair!"
Ikusaba finally turned around to get a clear view of the person who had interrupted her thoughts.
"Hello, Junko-chan", she said.
-[When Hope Crumbles]-
Naegi slowly opened his eyes.
As he moved his head to the left and right, he discovered that he had woken up in an unfamiliar location, a situation he was strangely getting used to. As he fought down panic, Naegi forced himself to think. Alright Makoto, he thought, The first thing that you do when you find yourself in a strange place is investigate your surroundings. Ikusaba-san and Kirigiri-san taught you that.
Naegi's eyes scanned over the environment. He appeared to be lying on a rough wooden surface made out of several long boards nailed together. From where he was lying, he could see that the wooden surface dropped off abruptly about ten feet in front of him. As he turned his head, he also saw that the boards extended to the left and right about thirty feet in each direction before ending.
I'm on a platform, Naegi realized.
As Naegi continued to look around, he noticed a figure sitting on the edge of the platform, their legs swinging back and forth. From their silhouette he could tell that the figure was a girl, even in the dim light that Naegi assumed was from the first rays of the morning sun; the outline of her more than modest chest and the rest of her body's curves were a dead giveaway. Beside her on the platform was an object that was shaped like a gun.
When Naegi attempted to move his arms underneath him to push himself into a sitting position, he discovered that his hands were tied together. Looking further down, he saw that the same was true for his legs. Thankfully, Naegi found that his mouth had not been gagged, as he feared it would be.
Looks like trying to get that person's attention is my only option, Naegi thought, swallowing. Here goes nothing.
"Hello?" Naegi whispered hoarsely in the direction of the girl.
Her legs stopped swinging as her head turned in his direction.
"Oh, good.", she said. The voice that came out of her mouth was bright and cheerful. "You're awake."
She pushed herself onto her feet and began walking towards Naegi, who was still lying in the same position on the platform, unable to move. As she got closer, Naegi was able to make out more and more of her appearance.
She had short brown hair; more than a bob cut, but not by much. Her hair framed the outline of her head; her bangs were swept to one side. One piece of her hair stuck straight out of the top of her head before it bent over. She had grayish-green eyes, piercing and clear. She was wearing a white and blue school uniform with a red necktie. And she looked strangely familiar...
Naegi's eyes went wide as realization dawned upon him.
"Ko...maru?", Naegi whispered.
"Hey onii-chan, it's been a while.", Komaru Naegi said, breaking into a smile as she stopped in front of her brother.
She crouched down, still grinning, to look Makoto in the eyes. As she did, he saw something twisting and coiling around inside of them before it plummeted into a dark, endless abyss.
"We need to have a talk."
Part 4: Hope's Revelation-End
Author's Note: Hmm? Were you expecting someone different? I actually just noticed that parallel recently myself. I tried to drop hints in previous chapters on who the identity of the mystery figure was, not sure if they actually were any good at their job though.
Self-reflection time! I don't know why, but I feel...meh about this chapter. Maybe its the fact that I've had it sitting for so long and I've done so much editing to it that I'm not satisfied. Maybe its the fact that its my largest chapter to date and I feel that I put in too much?I dunno, tell me what you guys think. Is there something off about this chapter or is it just me?
Update time! As an apology for being late, I might have a double release out soon? Maybe triple with the first chapter of Recollections? Spring Break is coming up, so I should have ample time to write. Anyways, When Hope Crumbles is now entering its climax. And as such, the next chapter will be full of dialogue. Like almost entirely. Dialogue. Still brainstorming on the next chapter of A Supermodel's Luck, but I am glad you all enjoy it so much! Also I have decided to take your guys' advice and not get overloaded on story prompts. Gotta focus on one thing at a time.
That's all for now. As always readers, thanks for your continued support! Until next time. Happy reading!
-Griselbrand