Y'know guys, I don't appreciate bugging me about when the next chapter is going to come out. I'm still human, and need regular breaks now and then. These will come out at my own pace, but they will come out, so don't worry. Anyway, let's get into the next Monster of the Week. Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider, Danganronpa, or Super Sentai.

Chapter 14: Research, Gaming, and a Girlfriend

While Hajime continued his work on perfecting the Purple Medals, the other Riders were meeting in the security office at the academy. "So that girl we saw," Fuyuhiko said, "Her name is Junko Enoshima. She's a big name in the fashion industry, always able to stay on top of the latest trends. Every magazine cover, every centerfold, she's graced it at least once. But that doesn't explain why she caught the Steering Committee's attention rather than Kohichi's." "What makes Kohichi such a good scout for the academy," Kyosuke noted, "Is his skill at reading people. Not just their Ultimate talent, but also their personality."

"Plus he shows absolute loyalty to Headmaster Kirigiri," Juzo said, "Guy's a lazy bastard but he's hyper-intelligent. Perhaps something about Junko rubbed him the wrong way. He always selects students who not only have useful skills, but also the right mindset to use them for humanity's benefit. The Steering Committee, on the other hand, they only care about their little experiments. Talent is all they truly care about." "Here's what I wanna know," Ryota chimed in, "Why on Earth was Junko so interested in the student roster? Sure there could be a number of reasons, but it'd be nice to rule out at least a few."

"I spoke with Kohichi," Juzo replied, "Junko seemed most interested in the 77th class. She seemed particularly interested in the fact that a Reserve Course student was able to get promoted to Ultimate." "Here's something else," Akane noted, "Crazy as it sounds, all the attacks somehow managed to coincide with sightings of Junko around the area. Public appearances, photo shoots, that sort of thing. Usually the sightings of Despair monsters would coincide with Junko ending one of the sessions. Kinda makes you wonder, don't it?" It did get the Riders wondering, and considering just how little they knew about Junko.

Sure enough, Junko was sitting in her apartment, a familiar set of Medals on her desk as she went over photos of the 77th class. 'I thought as much. The pictures for Kazuichi, Fuyuhiko, Akane, and Ryota are useless for making Despairs. Too bad, judging from their files I thought they would make great resources, but perhaps the files need to be updated.' She then looked at a picture of Hajime. "And you are the most interesting of them all, Mr. Hinata. It's not everyday that a student from the depressing Reserve Course gets to earn a cushy job among the Ultimates."

She pondered over Hajime's title. 'Ultimate Kamen Rider. I know he's OOO, but the fact that he's considered the Ultimate among all the others implies his range of skill and overall combat ability makes him elite.' She smiled. 'It's possible that his presence may wind up causing a mishap or two with my plans. That should truly make things interesting. But I still have my Ultimate Tragedy to complete, so let's see who can win this tug of war.' She took one the Black Medals and looked through the remaining pictures, finally smiling as she saw Chiaki's picture. "Ah, the class representative. Perfect!"

Chiaki and Mikan were talking with each other while using two handheld consoles to trade items across the same game played on both handhelds. The fact that the entire class was bonding through a medium Chiaki loved above all else gave her hope that her talent could be useful, instead of the niche she originally thought it was. "So," Chiaki asked, "Are you interested in anyone right now?" Mikan sighed. "I thought I was. When Hajime reassured me during our first game night I thought I felt something then. But now I find myself more and more attracted to Ryota for no reason other than we spend so much time together."

"I think I understand your main problem," Chiaki noted, "You're so used to people bullying you, that even the smallest shred of kindness and you fall in love, never giving a thought to the context of that kindness. And when people act indifferent, you think they're simply ignoring you. It's a bad habit you need help with. Good thing Miaya recovered, I bet she could help." Mikan thought about. "When you put it like that, I do sound messed up. So, what about you? Are you interested in anyone?" "Well...," Chiaki started. But before she could finish, she felt a sudden shock. Mikan looked in shock at the familiar sight of Medals as Chiaki uttered, "Get... Hajime..."

Hajime finally rejoined the group and heard about their theory. "It's an interesting one, in lieu of any other suspects," Hajime noted, "But we would have to forcefully cancel Dark's transformation to confirm it. But even if that's the case, if Foundation X is backing her, they can cover for her in front of the Steering Committee." That's when a call came on Hajime's cell. 'Hajime!,' came Mikan's frantic voice, 'Chiaki got hit with one of those Despair monsters! It's rampaging in the academy courtyard!' Hajime grimaced. "We'll be right there! Team, a new Despair has shown up! Time to ride!"

The newly created Gamer's Despair was sending out constructs made from electro-magnetic energy, sending them across the school. As one game character neared a student, it was suddenly shut down by what looked like an eel made from short cylinders. Gamer's Despair got confused until it was blasted by Skull's Skull Magnum. "Hope you like the new Unagi Candroids," he said, "Fresh off the assembly line." OOO and Kivala came in right after him, knocking the Despair to the ground. Nearby, Dark prepared to intervene, only to get stopped by Battalion and Kuuga.

"Sorry," Battalion said, "But OOO has a personal stake in this." He got out an orange lion head. "Mode: Schneider!" "Dragon Form!" Battalion now had orange armor pieces with several blades sheathed in key points on his body within arms' reach. He got two of these from his waist while Kuuga manifested his Dragon Rod. Unflinching, Dark manifested her Kani claws and proceeded to clash with the two heroic Riders. Meanwhile, Gamer's Despair had conjured a giant spaceship and began flying off. "Oh no you don't," OOO said as he swapped out Medals to keep up while Skull activated a second memory. "Taka! Tora! Cheetah!" "Skull-Gyro!"

"Decade," OOO said into a Batta Candroid, "Gamer's Despair is on the move in a Gradius-style spaceship. Move in and target the central core. Should be big and obvious." On a nearby roof, Decade got the message. "Sweet, I always did enjoy Gradius." "Sentai Ride! Magiranger!" "Attack Ride! Sky Hokie!" His Ridevendor magically changed into a futuristic flying broom, Decade got on and flew near Skull. "Gonna need some firepower!" "On it," Skull said as he hopped on the back of the Sky Hokie and swapped Memories. "Skull-Laser!" He took aim with his Skull Magnum and started blasting the shields in front of the core.

With the final shield removed, Decade hopped off returning to his base form. "Attack Ride! Blast!" He and Skull both aimed at the core of the ship as they landed, destroying the construct and leaving Gamer's Despair vulnerable. OOO, who had manged to keep pace thanks to the Cheetah Medal, now slotted three Cell Medals into the Medajalibur. "Triple Scanning Charge!" "OOO Bash!" Completely caught off-guard, the Despair was unable to defend against the attack and exploded into Medals. Back at the Academy, Dark's picture of Chiaki spit out the Black Medal, which shattered. "Damn. I'm not done by a long shot." She quickly made a spray of mist to escape.

In the medical wing, Chiaki stirred as she saw Hajime sitting next to her. "Hey. Somehow I knew you'd get me out of that," Chiaki said, smiling. Hajime smiled. "Well, I couldn't let you fall to despair before I let my feelings be known." Chiaki blushed. "Does that mean what I think it means?" "Well," Hajime noted, "You are an amazing person. Your desire to see others come together is truly admirable, as well as your desire to see your talent put to good use. You just seem to bring out the best in everyone. Plus," he grinned, "You're very gorgeous."

Chiaki elbowed him, but smiled. "To be honest, I've been feeling the same way about you." The two of them intertwined their fingers. After staring at each smiling, they finally gave each other a chaste kiss. Shortly after after, Goto came in wheeling a large dessert tray with a covered cake on it. "What's this about?," Hajime asked. "To be honest," Goto smirked, "Kogami saw this coming a mile away." He removed the cover to see the cake had the writing, "Happy Birthday, Hajime x Chiaki". The new couple looked at each other and giggled. "Man, Kogami just sees everything, doesn't he?"

"Not everything," Goto admitted, "He left it up to fate as to who would become OOO. For all he knew, he would wind up becoming OOO himself. Though to be honest, you've done the best job so far. I can't imagine anyone else would make it as far as you have." At that moment, the nearby radio announced another new hit single from Eiji Hono called "Sun Goes Up". After listening for a few quick seconds, Hajime raised. "Okay, once is an accident, twice is coincidence, but three times... Is this Eiji guy spying on me?" "That or he happens to be around every time you use a new combo," Chiaki guessed. That got the three of them laughing.

Thanks to her newfound hope, Chiaki was able to avoid death twice over in the time of The Tragedy. First, when OOO saved her from a death trap in the depths of the academy. And then again during the Island Killing Game. When Nagito was going through with his plot to single out the "traitor" in group, Hajime happened to be in Tatoba form and his super-senses picked up the poison in the fire-extinguisher. This made him warn the others about it, including Chiaki. As a result, Nagito was "killed" by his hand slipping and letting the spear impale him. As a result, the subsequent class trial ruled his "death" suicide.

Though of course Chiaki knew it was only a virtual death. And like in a video game, if you died in a virtual world, it wasn't permanent in the real world. It just took a bit more effort to bring their friends back. Chiaki was now standing with her fiance Hajime looking over the newly recreated Hope's Peak Academy. "So," Chiaki said, "That makes three times you've saved my life." Hajime smiled. "Well, saving people is what heroes do. But there's no denying that without you, I'd be the one plunging into despair." Chiaki smiled. "Well then, let's just keep being each others hope." They embraced, both each other and the future.

To be continued...

Now, to all my readers, don't go hanging onto my every word. I'm still human, so don't take extended periods of no chapters as a "break". Sometimes I get writer' block and don't know how to continue the story. Sometimes I get distracted and forget to write. I can't crank these out every day. So please, LET ME LIVE MY LIFE ON MY TERMS! Read and review.