Realized that I forgot to put the title on chapter 10… Yeah, I fixed that haha.

Makoto confidently marched through the halls, a determined grin on his face. He was on a quest! For a certain man by the name of Kamukura Izuru.

Maybe he should try sound less optimistic about it all, considering how was really starting to feel freaked out.

Maybe he had suddenly turned schizophrenic or something, but he felt like he was being haunted.

Laughter constantly in the back of his mind, that damned voice always making comments… He could always see someone out the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look-!

"Dammit brat!"

Makoto winced as he fell straight on his ass. Looking up, he saw an angry looking Kuzuryuu standing over him.

The man crossed his arms, looking rather miffed at having run into a not-paying-attention Makoto. Though, he was still on his feet, so Makoto felt like if anyone here should be mad, it was him, whose ass was currently kissing the floor.

The teen just grinned sheepishly, "Uh, hey Kuzuryuu, didn't think I would bump into you."

The yakuza did not look amused.

"Why the hell are you out here alone? I specifically ordered that you are to be with either two monokuma guards or a member of Ultimate Despair at all times!"

Makoto blinked. Damn, he had already broken that rule more than once. Maybe the monokuma needed an AI upgrade?

Thinking fast, Makoto sputtered an excuse, "I was in my room, y'know, where I can be alone. Then I, um… Left to get a snack?" let it be known that Naegi Makoto was not good at lying.

Both Kuzuryuu and Peko, who had been standing stock-still the entire exchange, easily caught onto his lie. The former grabbed Makoto by the arm with a heavy sigh, hauling him to his feet and dragging him down the hall.

"Whoa, what?!" Makoto question, attempting, and failing, to free his arm.

"I said you need to be supervised, and so I'm going to supervise you." he deadpanned, "And don't say shit, I don't want to do this either, but everyone else seems to be too fucking incompetent to do it."

Uh… Okay… That sounded a little suspicious.

Was he telling the truth, or making up an excuse or hang out with him?

Now that he was thinking about it, it was probably the former. Kuzuryuu isn't a friendship kinda guy.

Thus, the Ultimate Hope ended up trailing behind the two yakuza members through the hallways of the base. He honestly felt like a lost puppy but didn't want to question Kuzuryuu's choices, lest he gets even angrier.

The three of them walked through the hallways for while, doing some undisclosed task. The blond man had some cell-phone-esque machine in his hand that would occasionally beep or light up. Depending on the sound the machine made, Kuzuryuu would either give a content nod or get angry and write something down.

Makoto wondered if they were testing a security system or something… But he wasn't good enough with technology (or creating hypotheses) to really know.

Peko even started checking the windows at certain points, tapping on, or inspecting the edges of the glass.

After a while, the group trailed towards the staircase leading upwards towards the fourth floor.

"Ugh, shit," Kuzuryuu mumbled, "I have some business to take care of upstairs in the security room. Peko, I trust that even a dumbshit like you will be able to keep this brat in check, right?"

The white-haired woman gave a silent, stern nod.

"Naegi, stay here and don't fucking try anything," the man scoffed, pointing a ringed finger intimidatingly towards his junior, then he turned to his right-hand woman, "Peko, you have permission to cut him up if he does anything suspicious."

Another nod.

Wow, love you too.

Makoto sighed. This was going to be a boring hower-long-he-was-going-to-wait. Especially if Peko was under orders to hurt him for doing anything fun.

He… Really was starting to feel like he was being babysat. Is this Ultimate Despair plan to make him fall into despair? By treating him like an incompetent kid?

Crossing his arms, he leaned against the wall, watching silently as Fuyuhiko pulled out a similar looking key-card to the one Nevermind had used a few days previously, before opening the staircase door and going up to the third floor.

Makoto wondered what he could be doing up there. He knew that there was both a security room and what probably was a conference room up there… But other than that he had no clue. In fact, he didn't know much about a majority of the building he was in, despite having lived been trapped here for two weeks.

Sliding his green eyes over to Peko, Makoto decided she was probably a less dangerous person to ask questions than Kuzuryuu… Wait, questions wouldn't count as suspicious activity, would they?

Well, he would have to take risks at some point… Might as well start now.

Humming, he tried to look innocent and bored, "So, Peko was it?" he asked.

She gave him a glare. He took it as a yes, even if he already knew it was true.

Damn, he wasn't especially good at small talk.

"... What do you think Kuzuryuu is doing upstairs?"

This time, the glare that was aimed at him nearly stung. Like, physically stung.

If he still had his notebook, he would write a word of caution beside her name.

He groaned, giving up on his venture to get more information. Clearly, Peko wasn't interested in falling to his manipulations.

"Giving up can be a good thing, kid. Especially when you're talking to a rock."

He ignored the voice. Listening to its cynical ramblings wouldn't do him any good.

"Oh? And you know that how?"

"You're really loyal to him, huh?" Makoto said instead of replying to the girl in his head.

This seemed to catch the swordswoman off guard. She didn't glare at him and instead gave a slightly befuddling look. Not that he would tell her that unless he wanted to get his throat slashed.

"I can tell," he answered for her, "Since you take his abuse so well."

Slam.

Makoto choked, feeling lightheaded as the wind was knocked out of him and the back of his skull clinked against the concrete wall.

Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to say… But at least he gained an actual reaction out of the stoic swordswoman.

"Do not speak of my master that way." she hissed, squinting down at him.

Makoto paused.

He was expecting despair swirls.

Instead, he got pride.

If she didn't have red eyes… Then Makoto would have doubted that she had even fallen to despair at all. This wasn't usual behaviour for those who had.

Then again, could you really call anything usual when talking about a group of lunatics who toppled society?

"Nop-"

Actually, yes…

He could count on their ability to change.

Once you hit rock bottom, you can only move upwards.

"He… Doesn't seem like a bad person…" Makoto said, cautiously, "I can see the good in him."

The hand's skull-crushing force on his chest weakened, and Makoto could feel the tips of his toes finally touch the floor once more.

Peko didn't speak, she just stared heavily into his eyes. Makoto, for once, didn't look away.

If he really was going to reform these people, then he couldn't just extend his effort to the few of them that he actually found pleasant.

He had to extend that hope towards everyone.

Including Peko. Including Kuzuryuu…

Even including Nevermind.

Resolve to harden, Makoto continued. Caution and fear for his life thrown to the wind.

"He… He hesitates, y'know?"

Peko gave him a stern look, only slightly muddled with confusion.

"When I told him he kidnapped me… He acted like he couldn't believe it. Like he never thought of it that way. And the way he treats you… If it brings him despair to treat you badly, then doesn't that mean he cares about you?"

The girl could no longer look him in the eyes.

"I… I don't think he, or anyone here, is truly at fault."

With a sigh, Peko released Naegi.

"It's all her fault," she muttered, "She corrupted my master's mind."

Makoto nodded, understanding completely. "You're talking about Enoshima, right?"

Peko's blood-red eyes flickered towards the ground with uncertainty, and for just a split second, she had a look of pain on her face. She nodded.

"Well…" Makoto paused, what was the best way to say this? Well, bluntness never failed him before, right? "She's dead. She can't corrupt them anymore!"

He felt… Strangely confident. Like he, too, was deriving comfort from the words.

That's how hope worked, right?

Believing that things can, will, get better; that's hope.

Makoto smiled, "Besides, I'm here now. And… And I promise that I'll fix them!"

Peko's head shot up like a lightning bolt. Her eyes were wide, and her face showed true emotion. It was like looking at a completely different person.

Was that… Hope?

This wasn't the Peko that was trapped by despair. This wasn't the Peko who was chained to her master's side… This was the girl who stayed by her master out of devotion and respect. Out of love.

She wasn't a bad person… None of them were.

With that, Makoto finally found the strength that he had been looking for. The true motivation to reform everyone here. Not just out of obligation, not out of a way to escape. Not because that's what his title forced him to do.

But because they were good people who were hurting.

"I swear, Peko, that I will save them. All of them."

Suddenly, there was a clicking beside them. The door to the stairs swung open and an… Embarrassed, if Makoto dare even say that, Kuzuryuu stepped out.

"Y'know…" he started, looking sheepishly out of character as he fixed his gaze somewhere far away, "Those cameras have microphones…" he trailed off.

Makoto blinked.

Was he saying that he just heard everything they had said..?

He felt his cheeks go warm and his heart rate pick up. Truly, the boy couldn't decide what emotion was more powerful - fear, or embarrassment.

Finally, he decided on embarrassment. Makoto pushed back his fear and finally asked a question he had been meaning to for a while now.

"Uh, I know it's not your thing and all… But do you wanna come eat supper with me?"

He received only a stubborn nod in return.

Sweat rolled down her neck. She ignored it. Her gloved fingers were too busy typing into the computer, the soft white glow of the screen illuminating the otherwise dark room.

They were withholding information from here. They had to be. With this, she could actually be getting real evidence.

She stuffed a small, black USB drive into the computer, effectively bringing it to life and bypassing the passcodes. She smiled at the computer, nodding her head in thanks. After removing the USB, she got to work.

The enter key pressed down with a slight click.

Kirigiri Kyoko smirked.

This was exactly what she wanted.

Naegi Makoto.

Ultimate Hope. Survivor of the Killing school life.

Enoshima Junko's successor.

Her eyebrows knitted together. Enoshima's successor? What was this all about?

Taking a quick look at the door to the office, Kyoko eyed Fukawa, who was currently guarding the door to the off-limits office of Munakata Kyosuke. He was, by unofficial account, the leader of the Future Foundation.

If anyone was getting the off-limits information on Naegi, it would be him.

Although Kyoko didn't particularly like gathering information through illegal-ish means (since technically they didn't have law anymore, with the collapse of society and all) she had no qualms if it meant saving her friend from despair.

So, she continued to read the file without a single feeling of guilt. Her eyes quickly scanned the page, getting wider and wider every second.

According to the will of the late Enoshima Junko, Naegi Makoto had been named as her successor and is now the current leader of Ultimate Despair.

Wait… She hadn't heard about this announcement! Did that mean that it was unofficially made, perhaps suppressed from the public, or did they simply keep the news from reaching her and the other survivors of the killing school life?

Not to mention how this contradicts the raw information she had gotten from the fifth division member just a few days ago. From that account, it looked like Naegi had been resisting Ultimate Despair, and was being kept with Ultimate Despair against his will. Which meant that… He definitely hadn't accepted his role as their leader.

But that contradicts what this file was saying. If he truly was the current leader of Ultimate Despair then that meant he was actively and willingly working as their leader. Which obviously wasn't the case...

Kyoko held her chin in though.

Was this information false? Or…

She added Naegi's Profile to her notebook.

With a few more clicks, Kyoko determined that there wasn't much else of relevance in the computer…

Until she opened a mystery file titled The Will of Enoshima Junko.

She gasped, her eyes taking in every word of the will. Her blood running cold as she quickly began to copy the will down into her notebook, word for word.

She added the Will of Enoshima Junko to her notebook.

Hastily closing the document and removing her presence from the computer before shutting down, Kyoko fled from the room. Fukawa wasn't far behind her, nervously looking every which way as the two traversed through hallways they didn't have particular access to at night.

Togami was waiting for them in Kyoko's quarters, his eyebrows pinched together and arms crossed. His entire body was rigid and riddled with anxiety.

Togami immediately thrusted a document into her hands. She opened it, to find a copy of an email between Munakata and Sakakura, the heads of the second and sixth divisions respectively.

Now, she understood the meaning behind Togami's anxiety.

She added Leader's Email to her notebook.

Naegi… They were going to…

They knew you've been resisting all along, but they still want to...

"I did my end of the bargain. What about you?" Togami spoke up, his icy blue eyes piercing her.

Kyoko shook her head, "Things aren't looking good."

The heir simply raised his eyebrow, silently prompting her to continue.

"I would much rather speak with everyone present." she replied, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

The door swung open just as she finished saying that. Asahina and Yasuhiro appeared, both looking a tad bit nervous.

"Did you get it?"

Hina nodded, holding out a tape recorder. "Before you play that… I need to warn you that it isn't pleasant."

Well, that would explain why the two of them looked as white as a sheet. Though, Kyoko already had a guess as to what the recorder would tell them.

She pressed the play button, and the small device started shooting out voices. The sound was crackly and faded, sounding far off. Well, she couldn't expect good quality when they were scraping around for evidence, could she? In fact, Kyoko was rather surprised that Hina was able to get such a well-off recording in the first place.

There was a jolt from the recorder .

"This is insane!" a female voice, sounding quite like Yukizome, who was one of the higher-brass members, shouted out.

"The only thing that's insane is the fact that you're against this! Ultimate Despair must be destroyed at all costs!"

Wham!

There was a loud sound as the speaker, presumably Munakata, slammed what sounded like his fist upon the conference room table.

"Even if we must sacrifice the Ultimate Hope?!" Yukizome shot back, ice in her words.

It was usual for her to speak in such a way to Munakata, but Kyoko could understand. Even if Naegi wasn't her friend, she would still be against this terrible decision.

"Killing Naegi Makoto is the same as throwing the world into despair. His very existence holds up the hope of the world." this voice was older, wiser.

Kyoko assumed that it belonged to Tengan, the figurehead leader of the Future Foundation. He was a kind, gentle man, with a heart full of hope. She smiled, even if it was only slight. If anyone were to resist to murdering Naegi, it was him.

She looked around the room, seeing a vague look of horror on everyone's faces.

"It is a sacrifice that must be made! It's a rare event for every member to be in the same base! Bombing it now when they're all inside is our best chance at wiping out despair." Munakata snapped.

From a logical point of view, it indeed made sense. From every other point of view, it was insane and inhumane.

There was a vague rumble of agreement in the recorder, and an ill looking Asahina stopped the recording from there.

"They… They agreed," she muttered, looking downwards. "At least most of them did."

"Wait!" Yasuhiro yelped, "Are they really planning on killing Naegi along with the Despair people?!"

The Ultimate Swimmer gave a sheepish nod, frowning, "This recording proves it..."

Kyoko held up the file containing the email, "This email between Munakata and Tengan shows the two arguing over this very same topic. It looks like they've been considering this since Naegi's capture."

"But… Why?" Yasuhiro asked, biting his nails.

Kyoko paused. Was it really the best decision to tell them? Yes, they were both hers and Naegi's allies (friends, Naegi would call them,) but that was subject to change. If they suddenly believed that their friend had gone to the despair side… Would they still support him?

Her heart instincts… Said yes.

These people would go to hell and back if it meant saving a friend.

With a sigh, she decided to drop the bomb, "He was named Enoshima's successor. Ultimate Despair made a claim about him becoming their leader shortly after his capture, using Enoshima's will as evidence."

She held out her copy of the will, letting everyone's eyes sink into the paper.

Everyone in the room froze. The tension bore down heavily on Kyoko, and she wondered if maybe she had made the wrong choice.

That was confirmed when Togami silently walked towards the door, swinging it open and pausing just on his way out.

"M-master?" Fukawa asked.

"Are you coming to talk some sense into the higher ups or what?"

Kyoko froze. "Togami..?"

The heir huffed, "If you're thinking that he fell into despair than you're wrong. That brat would never do such a thing. In fact," he turned, eyeing everyone in the room before smirking, "He's probably sitting around uselessly preaching about hope right now. Wondering when we'll show up to rescue him."

With a flick of his head, he stepped into the hallway.

"Who are we to make him wait?"

So I've been a little conflicted about how to order the chapters that I have planned out and partially written. But I think I've decided on what chapter is coming u next.

Sorry to a couple of people in the comments I told that the next few chapters were going to be fully Ultimate Despair stuff because the next chapter is going to be Future Foundation and THEN we can move onto more Ultimate Despair friendship stuff. :)

~ Just because my pacing is already awful, and I don't want to make it worse ~

Next time:

Can you hold a class trial without being in a class? Maybe.