Last time around, it was 2 weeks before Junko took action. She only took action because no one even tried to kill Makoto though. Now that everyone thinks badly of Makoto... Junko might not even need to take action.
Junko had Makoto's reaction to her motive on tape - she had played it over and over and over and over and over again to herself. This was the closest thing Junko had seen to Makoto falling into Despair. She needed to treasure this moment!
Makoto's face falling flat as he realizes that his classmates don't trust him...
His weak attempts at defending himself...
It wasn't true Despair but it was pretty damn close. And that was good enough for Junko - for now, at least.
At any rate, Makoto's reaction would be more then enough to keep her satisfied for way longer then 2 weeks.
Obviously, this was bad for Makoto.
Day 8
Makoto Naegi was fast asleep in his dorm. It was currently midnight - 2 hours past the midnight announcement. For the first couple of days, Makoto locked his door. But eventually, he started to forget to do so. Part of it had to do with the fact that no one tried to attack him so far. Another part of it had to do with the fact that he almost never locked his room anyway.
At any rate, Makoto was completely asleep in his room, alone. His door wasn't even locked.
*creee...*
Makoto's dorm room creaks open.
...
*pat pat pat...*
Soft footsteps emanate from the entrance. They get louder as the intruder approaches the asleep Makoto.
"This is for being a spy... This is for being a traitor... Makoto Naegi." The intruder whispers to themselves.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"Hm?" Makoto lazily rubs his eyes as he jolts awake.
...
...
...
"AHHHHH-"
...
The 6th Killing School Game.
Pain.
Once more, this is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. This headache was so bad that Makoto thought that his head was surely being split into two.
Makoto swings his head up and looks around in a panic.
Did I just... Was I...
Makoto's eyes widened as he realizes that he was attacked. He was killed. By one of his classmates.
No...
He was killed by that person? Out of all of his classmates, they were the one that decided Makoto should die? Makoto couldn't believe it.
In the last moments of his life, Makoto looked into their eyes. There was some remorse - some regret. But another emotion had completely overshadowed it.
It was satisfaction.
They were satisfied that he was going to die.
They were satisfied with sacrificing him to get out of there.
Makoto clutches his head as tears come out. It was too much. This was too much. He would be forced to sit through the Killing Game again. He would have to save his classmates again. This time though, he would...
He would fake his emotions?
Makoto stumbles towards the main hall in a daze.
In order to survive... In order to prevent himself from being murdered...
He would have to fake everything. His emotions, his reactions...
He would need to lie over and over again to his classmates.
But if that would let all of them escape this place alive... He would do it. If that's what was needed to bring Junko out of her locked room, he would do it.
He will escape this time loop. Then, he will escape this school with all of his friends.
Again. Yet again. Makoto goes through the act o
"The definition of
f saving everyone. Sayaka, Mondo, Celeste... He stops them from murd
insanity is doing the same
ering. He saves his friends again.
thing over and over
He reaches the end game once again. This time though,
again, but expecting
Makoto was backed up by his friends. Junko's motive failed.
different results."
And now...
Makoto shakes his head. "What I think is the right thing to do, is to keep Junko alive. Then, we bring her out from despair. Together, we will rebuild the world. We will bring forth Hope from this world of Despair!"
"Oh, come ON!" Junko glares at the students surrounding her. "Will you let this dumb ahoge kid boss you around?! I KILLED YOUR FAMILIES! I KILLED YOUR FRIENDS!"
"..."
"You! Byakuya! You know your precious butler that was in the motive video? I personally tortured him. I saw his life leave his eyes. Don't you want to take revenge?" Junko sneers evilly at the affluent prodigy.
"..."
"Sayaka! I killed off your entire pop group!"
"..."
Spinning 180 degrees, Junko turns to look at Celeste. "I strangled the FUCK out of your dumb cat!"
"..."
"Dude, this chick is seriously fucked up." Mondo glares at Junko, clenching his fists.
"But we can't kill her! Through the whole game, not a single one of us let her win. No murders happened. What would be the point if we killed her? That would just mean that the Killing Game really worked."
"Shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Junko lunges at Makoto, screeching.
"Not so fast." Sakura grabs her out of the air and tosses her back onto the ground.
"Ugh..."
"Let's put it to a vote, then." Mukuro, who had been staying silent ever since Junko woke up, suddenly speaks up.
"Wait!" Makoto raises his hand.
"Hm?" Mukuro, who was controlling Monokuma, looks at Makoto quizzically.
"Before we vote... May I request some time alone with Junko? I need to ask her something."
"..." Junko stares at Makoto intensely.
"You want to... ask her something?" Sayaka asks.
"Yes. It won't take long, I promise. Please, it's important."
"..."
"Very well. I have no issues with this." Sakura is the first to leave the gym.
Then, Hagakure leaves. "Not sure what you want with her, but good luck man."
"Y-You better not do anything perverted, Mr. Naegi!"
"Hmph. I suppose I can give you some time."
"M-Master, wait for me!"
"Ask her whatever you want."
One by one, his classmates leave the gym.
"Ok, Makoto. Do what you need to do."
"..."
"Good luck, Makoto."
"I-I wonder what you plan to ask her...?
"I'll give you as much time as you need Makoto!"
"Just hurry it up, huh?"
"You got this bro!"
"Do as you will."
...
The only people in the gym were Makoto and Junko.
"Oh, Makoto. Are you gonna have your way with me before deciding my faith? Naughty boy!"
Rolling his eyes, Makoto sits down on the floor next to her. "How are you doing this?"
"Hm?"
"How are you making me time travel over and over?"
"..."
"Please... Tell me."
"Hahaha... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Junko laughs wildly, kicking her feet up. "That's great! That's WONDERFUL!"
"Huh?!"
"You think that I would tell you? That would defeat the whole purpose!"
"..."
"You will Despair, Makoto Naegi! I don't care how bright your Hope is! It's NOTHING compared to the experience that comes with Eternal Despair!"
"Junko... Why are you obsessed with Despair? Can you at least explain it to me?"
Junko's eyes widen as she writhes in pleasure. "Despair is an unknown. Because of my super analytic ability, I was thoroughly bored with this world. The "hope" you long for is just a preexisting harmony. But despair was the one thing that was different. The heart-racing excitement of messy despair has a taste like you've never known!"
By this point, Junko had started drooling so much that a bunch of it spilled onto the floor.
"Hope is harmony. A just heart, moving toward the light. That is all. Despair is hope's polar opposite. It is messy and confusing. Despair shallows up love, hatred, and everything else. Because not knowing where you will end up is despair. Despair is both pain and pleasure to me!"
"You wanna know why I specifically targeted you for this time loop? It's because you're the most hopeful one out there! I would just LOVE to crush your spirits! Revel, Makoto. You will face Despair soon enough!"
"Makoto Naegi... Is in a time loop?"
Both Makoto and Junko turn to look at the source of the third voice.
Mukuro Ikusaba was standing near the entrance, arms crossed.
"M-Mukuro?!" Makoto asks in shock. "You were eavesdropping?"
"I needed to hear what you had to say." Mukuro shrugs. "Sorry."
"Well now, if it isn't my dumb ugly sister! That's right Mukuro. He's in a permanent time loop! Isn't that amazing?!"
"Mukuro, do you know how to get me out of this?"
"Oh, she doesn't. But even if she did know, why would she tell you? The amount of Despair that would come from seeing your beloved descend into insanity... It would be soul-crushing!"
"Seeing my beloved descend into insanity..." Mukuro's gaze darkens as she repeats Junko's words.
...
"Wait a minute... Are you talking about me?!" Makoto gasps and looks at Mukuro.
"..."
"Wow. Makoto, you know that my ugly sister here has a thing for you, right? There's no way that you're this dense." Junko stares at the luckster, dumbfounded.
"Junko..." Mukuro says hesitantly. "When you saw Matsuda die... Can you describe that?"
"Oooh! You wanna hear, huh?" Junko's eyes glaze over in recollection.
"Seeing Matsuda die... Stomping on his face... Oh, it was so despairful that I could have killed myself right then and there!" Junko squeals.
"The depressingly pathetic look of his body left me crying for hours, Mukuro! It felt like my heart and soul were being ripped apart! It was pure bliss!"
Mukuro tries to picture doing that to Makoto. She imagines strangling him with her bare hands and then unloading a full clip of bullets into his body. She imagines watching him get torn into pieces by guard dogs.
His red blood, staining every spot in her vision. His limp body, once so full of hope, completely lifeless.
"This... is Despair...?" Mukuro's body shakes violently as sadness crashes into her mind.
"Yes Mukuro! Do you feel it?! Imagine that feeling, multiplied by 10! That's how watching Makoto turn into Despair would feel for you!"
Tears slowly slide down Mukuro's face as she gasps for air. "M-Makoto..."
"Mukuro! Are you okay?!" Makoto was completely caught off guard by Mukuro crying. In all the two years Makoto had gone to school with her, not once has she cried.
"Hey, since it would make him time travel back to the past again, why not kill him right now? It will all reset anyway." Junko says, eyes swirling.
"Don't you want to feel the Despair?"
"..."
"N-No."
"Huh?" Makoto is caught off guard once again. Wasn't she supposed to be Ultimate Despair? Why would she refuse a chance to feel Despair?
"... What?" Junko reacts in a similar manner.
"Junko... I've always tried my hardest to feel the same Despair you do. But... whenever I Despair, it feels... horrible. Not the horrible you describe - the one where you feel both pain and pleasure. It's just... painful." Mukuro says, avoiding eye contact with her sister.
"..."
"I went along with your plans for your sake, Junko. It always made me happy to see you happy. I lived for you. Junko, I love you. But I don't love Despair. Not in the same way you do."
"Mukuro..." So this whole time, Mukuro hadn't been a true Ultimate Despair? She was just doing all of this for her sister...
"Puhuhuhu... Oh, Mukuro..." Junko gives her a simple smile.
"Junko?"
"I don't love you."
Mukuro flinches, as if she had just been slapped.
"In fact, I hate you. You have always been a disappointment to me, Mukuro." Junko continues to deadpan at her sister. "Not once in my life have I ever thought of you as a real sister. You might as well have been a stranger."
"No, Junko... That's not true!" Mukuro cries out, grabbing her shoulders. "You love me too, don't you Junko?! All of the time we spent together..."
"How many times do I have to say it, you fucking bitch?! I HATE YOU!" Junko screams.
"NOO!"
"YES! WHY DON'T YOU GET IT MUKURO?!" Junk was screaming so loud now that even the other students could probably hear them. "I DON'T LOVE YOU! IN FACT, NO ONE LOVES YOU! NOT ME, NOT MAKOTO, NOT ANY OF YOUR CLASSMATES! YOU'RE JUST A TOOL!"
"YOU'RE NOT WANTED!"
Mukuro was hyperventilating now. She looked like she could collapse at any second.
"That's enough, Junko! STOP IT!" Makoto roars, clutching his fists. This was possibly the angriest Makoto had ever been. How could Junko say this stuff to her sister, her own flesh and blood?! It was wrong. There was no excuse for this.
Stomping over to Mukuro, Makoto grasps her hand so tightly that his fists turn white.
"Mukuro. Are you listening to me? Can you hear me?"
Weakly, Mukuro nods.
"Then hear this. It's the absolute, honest truth."
Mukuro nods once more.
"Mukuro Ikusaba, you are wanted in this world. All of our classmates, including me - hrk!"
Makoto is interrupted as someone grabs his neck from behind.
Junko
She's been out of her binds for a while now. She was completely free to move however she wants. Yet Makoto turned his back on her?
"Mukuro..." Junko whispers softly. "You may be a dissapointment and a waste of space, but you're still my sister."
Junko starts to squeeze.
"Ack!" Makoto gasps as his oxygen supply gets cut off.
"Despite everything, you're family. You say you wanted to feel the same Despair as me? I can help you do that."
Junko squeezes even harder.
"You just need to fall into Despair. Seeing this should do the trick, I think."
"Makoto..." Mukuro could only stare at Makoto, helpless as his life drains away. Mukuro had mever felt so weak - so vulnerable.
If she wanted, she could knock her sister away and free Makoto. But for some reason, it felt like that would be an impossible task. She couldn't do anything but watch.
"..." Makoto's face turns purple.
Junko's face breaks into a face splitting grin as she digs her nails into his Adam's Apple. Blood drips out from his neck as darkness overtakes his vision.
"MAKOTO!" That wasn't the voice of Mukuro. Had someone else gone into the gym?
"You know, I thought you already were in Despair sis. I guess I was wrong." Junko says tonelessly.
Mukuro, still grasping Makoto's hand while he slowly dies, shakes her head.
"S-Stop..."
In response, Junko tightens her grip even harder.
"Don't worry Mukuro." Junk purrs, eyes rolling up to the back of her head. "You will feel the Despair you've always wanted to feel."
*A/N* Junko and Mukuro are so hard to write...