"Hope!" Normal Speech

'Despair!' People's thoughts

"Truth!" Flashbacks

Disclaimer: I have as much ownership of the Danganronpa series as you do dear reader.

AN: Thanks to both RWBYJNPR and Zephyrius29 for beta-reading this chapter.

AN2: Other tags for this story (since the site only gives you 2): Mystery/Friendship/Drama.

Chapter 0

Those Left Behind

It was that time of the year already.

The only day out of the 365 that had her standing at such a place.

It was a ritual to her by now, for that was the only way she could describe it.

She knew it wasn't a particularly healthy one though, or at least she doubted that it was.

But even so, every year she found herself here, in the same spot of this abandoned room, her purple eyes looking at the strange piece of machinery in front of her with what could only be described as a faraway look.

For exactly this day, and in this same spot five years ago, had been the last time she had seen the Ultimate Lucky Student she had known for years by then.

Naegi Makoto…

Just thinking of his name was already enough to make her release a quiet sigh, her eyes closing right before she took a deep breath, with one of her gloved hands twitching without her even noticing.

Five years and yet just thinking about him still got such a reaction out of her…

She wasn't supposed to be this emotional; she wasn't even supposed to be here. How was it, that from all of her former classmates, she ended up being the weakest one of them all when it came to this matter?

They had all taking his complete absence in their own different ways, and even though they tried their best to hide it she was very well aware of their pain.

Asahina's smiles had lost a part of their cheerfulness once more.

Hagakure had just outright disappeared, saying that there wasn't really any reason for him to stay.

Fukawa had focused her all to take care of the last Naegi around, and she could only be glad of such a fact. His younger sister had been the one that took it the hardest, after all.

And even Togami, who liked to act as if he had been unaffected by it all, had decided to throw himself at his own work. Just a way to distract himself, that much she knew, but it wasn't something that she would call him out on.

For she was guilty of doing the same in the first place.

But even then, none of them were here on this day, acting as if he had died and this place was his grave.

'He's fine.' Is something that she kept repeating herself in her mind from time to time.

'He's in a better place now.' She knew that it was a reality, but even so, she still had to assure herself of such a thing.

Not that coming here ever gave her the answer she was looking for. Was he happy? Was he safe? She didn't know, but she hoped that he was.

She had been, after all, the one that convinced him of going along with this…project.

She walked slowly into the room, her body tense just as she reached the strange-looking machine.

She trailed her glove-covered fingers alongside the rather large tube that stood proudly at the middle of it, right before another shaky breath left her lips.

It had not been fair, that much she knew.

If she had told him to stay, she knew he would have done so in a heartbeat.

And even to this day, when the pain became too much to bear and she was at her weakest, she imagined how the past years would have been if he had never left…

But she was aware that such a thing could only remain as such: An illusion that she kept hidden on the darkest corner of her mind for her and her alone.

It was her punishment, she supposed, but she would gladly take it over the alternative.

Because for as much as they had all ended up depending on the Luckster, it was only her who saw how everything had changed him.

The pain that showed in his gaze whenever he thought no one was looking, the lies about the terrors that plagued him whenever he slept, the guilt that had been slowly eating him away.

He always smiled it off, but she had known better.

And it had been her own fears what had made her convince him of accepting his offer.

For Kirigiri Kyoko could have dealt with a lot of things, even death itself if she had to…

But seeing Naegi Makoto fall slowly into despair was not one of them.

She would never give Enoshima Junko such satisfaction, even if it caused herself such pain.

But she had been unable to help him, no one had been and god knows they had tried.

Their uselessness when it came to such matters probably had to do with the reason everyone had agreed with her plan, even if for one of them it had meant losing her last family member.

Naegi Komaru was the strongest one of them all, she had decided that day.

"If you keep doing this every year someone is bound to find out about it, Kirigiri."

The lost gaze that she had disappeared in less than a second as soon as the sound of his voice reached her ears, and instead, it was nothing but aloofness what showed in her gaze, with a rather sharp look from her part being aimed at the newcomer.

"…How long did you know?" She asked just as she walked away from the machine, with her cold visage being matched easily by a pair of mismatched eyes.

"For a while now." The man standing now in front of her answered with a shrug. "I haven't told anyone if that worries you, just so you know."

She nodded slowly at his words before another sigh left her lips, with her arms crossing below her chest just as she raised an eyebrow at the older man.

"And what, pray tell, brings you here…" She asked slowly, and in response, the man only seemed to adjust the tie of his suit. "Hinata-san."

"We all have our ways of coping, Kirigiri." Hinata Hajime answered just as he sighed himself. "I simply found myself with nothing else to do, so I just wanted to make sure you weren't trying anything…strange."

She almost snorted at his words, knowing very well what he meant by now.

"You're still overprotective of that thing as always, even though you're the only one that knows how it even works." How could someone build a time-traveling machine was still something that went beyond her understanding of how the world worked, but she supposed that if someone could make it work, then it had to be this man.

The fact that the former Ultimate Hope was nothing short of secretive about the inside details of how he had built a time-machine of all things only added to the weirdness of it all.

"I haven't destroyed it out of sheer consideration." He explained while giving her a narrowed gaze. "Messing with time is not something that should be taken lightly."

"And yet, you let Naegi-kun use it…"

"I trust him." The former Ultimate Hope answered without missing a beat. "If I hadn't I would have never made this thing in the first place."

Nothing but silence followed such declaration, and once more the former Ultimate Detective found herself wondering how deep said trust even went. Of course, she understood how the Luckster had a knack for befriending even the toughest people around, but even so…

"Have you ever considered it?" She asked after turning around to look once more at the machine while standing by the man's side. "Using it yourself?"

Once more it was nothing but silence what came as an answer, one that was only broken by him grunting a bit before turning around on his spot, and she could see that his hands had been clenched tightly into fists already.

"All the time." He answered truthfully and with nothing but pain dripping from his tone. "But right now, as I am…I can't, not when we-I haven't atoned for what I did…" His voice became progressively softer with each word he spoke until they turned into nothing but whispers. "I would never be able to face her until I do so…"

She wasn't sure if she was meant to hear that last part, so she could only give more silence back in response.

It was the sound of his footsteps as the former Despair moved back to the entrance the only thing that resounded on the forgotten room.

"We both know what it means to live with regrets." But even as he was about to leave, it seemed he still had some last words for her. "But even so, the only thing we can do is to move forward… after all, that's what they would have wanted….don't you think so, Headmaster?"

He was correct, and she knew that, but she still kept to herself just as he left, with a half-lidded stare crossing her eyes soon after.

She always had to wonder, what would he think if he could see her right now? Would he be proud? Disappointed? Probably worried that she was working herself to the bone, all things considered, but even so…

"I miss you…" She whispered softly, allowing herself to be weak for just a second right before she took another deep breath.

She knew it was unbecoming of her.

She was the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, and right now as the world still struggled to build itself back, the last thing she could show was her being weak.

She was being selfish right now, at least in her mind she was.

Then again, her Luckster always did manage to bring out the rarest of feelings in her…

And even without him here, he seemed to still have an effect on her.

Was it her own fault then? A punishment for getting too close to someone like Naegi Makoto?

…no, for that would mean she regretted it.

And while she had many of those, meeting him, knowing him, trusting him would never be one of them.

Not being honest with him when she had the opportunity though, she decided just as she turned around, ended up becoming her greatest regret of them all.

But just as the sound of each one of her steps filled the room, nothing but a mask of coldness appeared on her face.

This was the only day of the year in which she allowed herself to act in such a way.

But the next day she was back at being Hope's Peak Headmaster and one of the heads of Future Foundation.

She had a legacy to uphold.

Cold.

There was nothing but coldness.

It was always like this, no matter what they did.

They always found themselves here, in the same prison.

They hated it.

They felt so weak, so useless here.

Trapped, without a way to escape…

No, that wasn't completely true.

They still went to school, they still lived their lives, and they still saw their friends each day that passed…

But that wasn't freedom.

They were nothing but a puppet, shown around to keep up appearances.

They couldn't even trust their own memories by now…

They were tired...

So tired...

When would this end?

When the world got consumed by destruction, death, chaos, and despair? Were those nightmares inevitable by now?

They had tried to warn someone, anyone already…specially him.

But it never worked. They were never able to do so.

They never remembered this hell.

They just wanted for this to end.

This nightmare.

This torture…

Please, make it end.

"What is…this?" She asked with a small frown, her gaze locked onto the object now resting on top of her new bed.

That…had not been there last time she had checked.

She walked towards it slowly, her gaze never leaving its form just as she reached her bed, closing the distance until she could have easily picked the thing right from the mattress.

She looked around her room in a vain attempt to find any clue as to who had left this here, or why for that matter.

Was this going to be the new normal for her? First a letter from that prestigious school for the so-called 'Ultimates', and now this?

At least said letter didn't just appear in her room one day though, unlike this…

After biting her lower lip softly, she ended up moving her hands towards the object, her fingers grasping around it carefully.

She raised it slowly, leaving it at eye level.

Turning it around to try and find any details that might help gave her no new answers, however, to the point she was simply left looking right at what she could only assume was its eyes.

That was a strange way of designing an eye, but she supposed it fit the black side of the thing.

And with that face…it was almost as if it was actually smiling towards her…

A sudden movement from it though was enough to make her drop the thing, with a gasp leaving her lips just as she gave a doubtful step back, her frown becoming more pronounced while she looked down at the fallen object.

It…it was looking up at her now, there was no denying that.

And the more that red stripe on its face shinned at her, the more her body trembled for reasons beyond her.

She only realized she had been moving backward once her back had met the door behind her.

And once she saw the thing actually standing up in an almost painfully slow fashion, while never once breaking eye contact with her, her body reacted almost in instinct.

She turned around as fast as she could, her shaking hand going instantly towards the doorknob, for something inside of her told her that staying even one more second here would be nothing short of a mistake.

However…

"Upupupupu~"

It was already too late.

I thought a while about what kind of chapter to make. Original idea was to make a non-canon joke fest and leave it at that, however since the previous chapters ended up being lighthearted ones I decided to try something different here.

With this being a time-travel fic and all, what better theme than the future, present, and past (in that order)? I have wanted to show a glimpse of the future that Makoto left for a long while now, so here's that bit. The other two sections, well, like I said they are the current present and past of this story

The title is the other point of this chapter, to show those that Makoto simply can't help right now, either because he's just unable, because he's unaware of their suffering of because it's simply too late already.

Take that 'too late' as you will. Before I wanted to make sure that I showed that Despair wasn't just sitting on their thumbs doing nothing, but with this, I really want to hammer that point in.

This chapter is sponsored by my neighbor's internet which I had to…borrow, yes, while next one is most definitely going to be a fluff fest featuring my favorite characters from original Danganronpa.

A whole year has passed since I started this fic, and I'm truly thankful for Danganronpa V3 which rekindled my love for the series (and made me replay the previous two games again). Of course, my gratitude also goes to Putain de Plagieur, Veos G17, and Jibster, since their stories directly inspired this one, to RWBYJNPR and Zephyrius29 for helping me up the quality of this story, and to the readers who have followed up this fic thus far.

I can only hope everyone reading this has enjoyed this far, and that you will continue enjoying it until next year where I will write about Nagito Komaeda writing fanfiction about Makoto or something.

Next Chapter: Despair shall be your wingman tonight.