A/N: I know I said I would double post this but I just had to get this chapter up today, it's so dramatic. You'll see what I mean.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.

Chapter 1, Part 5: A bond that reaches farther than the stars

I almost couldn't believe it. It was finally over. Hajime Hinata's murder had been solved and the killer had been caught and punished for their crimes. All of our hard work had paid off and our prize for winning the class trial was that we got to live another day. But this was only the beginning. We all already knew what came next, now it was our turn to play the deadly mutual killing game that had claimed so many other victims before us. The Killing Despairadise, apparently planned to be THE mutual killing game. The game to end all games. Even if the Ultimate Despair herself was dead now, another person just took her place and resumed things like normal. Only the new Mastermind said their self that this was in no way a normal game. While Junko Enoshima's mutual killing games were used to bring the viewers at home into despair this mutual killing game just used that as a means to an end to accomplish the new Mastermind's goal. Revenge. The new Mastermind apparently had a strong grudge against Junko for causing them to become like her in the first place using her brainwashing, but as they said it didn't end there. Junko Enoshima was just one of many people who were on the new Mastermind's list of guilty parties. The Killing Despairadise, I could only assume, was how the new Mastermind planned to punish the other people on their list. The only questions were, what had been done to the new Mastermind besides turning them into an Ultimate Despair? Who else did the new Mastermind deem responsible? And finally and most importantly, how did the twenty of us figure into all of this?

We were all still so scared and confused. How could we not be? After all, just a few short hours ago we thought we were just normal kids, with slightly obscure personalities and talents, well save for me of course. I wouldn't have gotten even half this far if it weren't for those amazing people. There was Micho Auruka, the Ultimate Defense Attorney. A really sweet, smart, and courageous girl who vowed to one day clean up the criminal justice system and make sure that no one was denied proper justice. Yasuke Matsuda, the Ultimate Neurologist. A brilliant all be it slightly rude and irritable boy who was one of the premier experts in the study of the brain. He apparently found out a way to erase a person's memories before being taken like the rest of us, and Ultimate Despair ended up stealing his notes and using his research for their nefarious purposes. I can only imagine how much he blames himself for what has happened because of it.

Then there was Beigoma Kiyoshi, the Ultimate Quote Keeper. An innocent down to Earth girl who was considered a genius in her own right due to her eidetic memory when it came to remembering everything she's ever read, written, or seen. For some reason she had really taken to me and declared me to be her older brother, but now after everything we've been through together I was actually starting to think of her as my little sister. Then there was Jonathan Junmaru, the Ultimate Procrastinator. He was a complicated individual to say the least. He was obsessive, rude, snarky, and very sarcastic. But he was still a nice guy if you got to know him, and his talent actually came in handy when it came to noticing miniscule and nitpicky details. And then there was Soshun Murasame, the Ultimate Student Council President. Apparently, he was some sort of top secret student who was in charge of making decisions on behalf of the student body of Hope's Peak Academy…back when the school was still operational of course. Now usually you would know who's on the student council but according to Soshun the members of the student council was kept top secret for some reason unknown to him, but then again Soshun didn't even understand why he got chosen to come to Hope's Peak Academy in the first place. His alter ego on the other hand knew a lot more. The Ultimate Deva Aka Deva, Soshun's inner self was apparently the real brains behind the Ultimate Student Council President and according to him Soshun didn't know certain things concerning his talent because Soshun was unaware of Deva's existence. The two of them were definitely an odd pair, but they had proven themselves to be very reliable when complications arose. Heck, if it wasn't for Deva the rest of us might not even be here right now.

Next, there was Azami Jagaimo, the Ultimate Oculist. Azami was a very peculiar girl to say the least, her talent apparently involves eyes both as a doctor and as a hypnotist. Not that I believed in hypnotism or anything, a friend tried to hypnotize me once in middle school and I faked it just to mess with him, but the funny thing was he actually believed it. That guy ended up trying to hypnotize a girl into doing perverted things, and he got his ass kicked. A cautionary tale to those who wonder about messing with those kinds of things. But anyway, Azami had a very strange air about her, who knows if I get on her bad side she might actually hypnotize me, and considering her character it would probably work. But other than that she's a nice all be it odd girl, and I know that she would look out for the rest of us. Then there was Keiko Akasaka, the Ultimate Croupier. Apparently she used to be a card dealer back in the city of Las Vegas in America, and there she learned the fine arts of poker, black jack and other games of chance. She can be very arrogant when it comes to her dream of being the world's best card player, and actually very arrogant when it comes to most things. But she's someone you can count on because she always tries to get to the heart of the matter and won't stop until she finds out the truth.

Then there was Connie Takemi, the Ultimate Horologist. She came from a long line of prestigious clock craftsmen and watch makers, the Takemi Time Keepers. She was a foreign exchange student who transferred here from France to help rebuild her family's great legacy, I know she might not make a whole lot of sense at times but she was dedicated and hardworking to a fault and that was enough. Although I would like to know what was her obsession with Alice in Wonderland though? I get her being the Mad Hatter because like Jonathan said she's a steam punk, and Azami is definitely the Cheshire Cat, and all her other nicknames seem spot on as well, but why am I Alice? I'd really like to know the answer to that question. Another person who didn't make a lot of sense was Jose Historia, the Ultimate Historian. As a boy who loves history he feels it's his job to record history as he sees it so we can preserve it for future generations, and that's why he's always seen writing in a journal. He's recording history as he sees it. In addition to that, he loves books, and especially mystery novels; you can tell since he's always dressed up like Sherlock Holmes. But what I didn't get was the fact that he seemed to have a split personality, there was kind and shy Jose who stuttered sometimes when talked to others, and then there was take charge Jose who could be a real pain in the ass when push came to shove. I don't know, maybe he just got that way when he was trying to solve a mystery. Still he's very bright, and a good person to have around to solve problems.

Then of course there was Jose's classmate, Cam Yano, the Ultimate AV Technician. Cam was a self-declared genius basically. He was very humble most of the time, except when it came to anything electronic or tech related then he wouldn't shut up out about his greatness. But it's not like he was lying or anything, he was really good with that kind of stuff. Heck, if it wasn't for him we would've never gotten Mahiru Koizumi's camera to work again. Still, there's something about him I can't quite put my finger on, and that name, Yano, it all seemed very familiar but I couldn't place it. Anyways, Cam was apparently in love with one of my other friends, Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer. I don't know if Cam's being honest or not, but he seems authentic in the way he acts around her. But Chihiro can't really handle that kind of stuff considering she's so shy. I could understand why Cam liked her so much, not only is Chihiro in the same field of study he is but she's also extremely smart, funny, and majorly cute! She is seriously one of the cutest girls in existence. I know she's a friend, and more importantly one of my other friends already likes her but seriously, that girl had to have a bunch of fan clubs back at her old school.

Ahem, sorry about that, back to the introductions. Next came Aya Kisaragi, the Ultimate Marine Biologist, who was the complete opposite of Chihiro. Saying that Aya was over energetic would be the understatement of the year. Not only was she one of those short, plucky, can-do spirit girls but I think she might've had a bad coffee addiction or even a severe case of ADD. Not that I was complaining or anything, we all found her antics amusing at times, except for Yasuke that is. But she's got a really cheerful attitude and in a game like this that's a great thing to have, I actually hope she could spare a little cheer for the rest of us. But my one pet peeve about Aya is that once you get her started she never stops talking! And after her was another reserved person, Shiro Shirobane Aka Yocchan, the Ultimate Set Designer. He was part of the Hope's Peak Academy theater club back in the day, and was in charge of creating every set for each play that the drama club produced. And according to Nagito, his artistic vision was amazing, each set he created made each play seem highly realistic. As a matter of fact, his work was apparently so good that it drove away attention from the actors during each performance. One thing that's odd about him though is that…well I can't seem to figure him out. Besides his kind nature and his tendency to use the "-chan" honorific with everyone he was a bit of a mystery to me. I couldn't help but wonder if there was another side to him besides the marshmallow persona as Nodaka liked to call it.

Speaking of which, Nodaka Hoshi, the Ultimate Maid was a very troublesome person to say the least. Not only was se very self-absorbed and downright rude, she had a nasty temper, was prone to violence when provoked, and always seemed to let her aggression out on me. Up until about an hour ago she kept calling me cockroach boy, but now she suddenly just started calling me Akira. And now I always feel her eyes on me, but when I turn to look she turns away. She's said some strange things, asking me if I can remember certain names and events, even when I keep telling her that I can't remember anything about my life before I came here. I can't help but wonder, does she know me? Maybe even possibly know who I really am? But every time I asked myself that another question would pop into my head. Can I trust her? Because some evidence has come to light that she might not be who she really says she is. But I can't obsess over that forever. Moving onto Sawa Nanase, the Ultimate Triathlete. Though she may not look like much in the athletic department she apparently has speed and endurance that rival that of even Aoi Asahina, the Ultimate Swimming Pro and Sawa's senpai. I can tell she's smart and that she really cares about people through her actions. I can also say because of her tendency to walk around barefoot all the time that she's a very outdoorsy girl. But like Shiro, I can't help but feel that there's another side to her. I've noticed that every time she smiles there's this look of sadness in her eyes. I wonder what happened to her, I'd like to help her deal with it if I could.

Anyway, then there's Nate Baron, the Ultimate Assassin. Now I know what it sounds like but before you ask? No, he's not an actual assassin. Is he trained as one? Yes. Does he use knives and weapons? Again, yes he's told us as much. Can he do cool moves like scaling walls and keep his balance at high altitudes? He's said he can but I haven't seen it with my own eyes so I couldn't say. But despite all those assassin like qualities there's one thing that separates him from the assassins you hear about in manga and games. Namely, that he hasn't killed anyone yet. You see, despite his talent Nate believes that killing is wrong and goes out of his way not to use his talent for nefarious purposes. And he's made a solemn vow to himself that he will never use his assassin skills to kill. It's kind of ridiculous to hear about an assassin who refuses to kill but hey that's Nate. He's a real cool guy, and he'll always have your back when you're in a tight spot. Next, there's Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student. Nagito is one of many students who got picked to come to Hope's Peak Academy because their name was drawn from a lottery, and Nagito thinks of himself as worthless compared to the others because he doesn't have a true talent like they do. However, Nagito's luck is real as he insists, I haven't seen it in action but according to Nagito his whole life has been an endless cycle of good and bad luck since the day he was born. And if that's the case then in my book his luck is an actual talent, even if he doesn't see it that way. He's also one of the few students that I know who allied themselves with Ultimate Despair, but despite being brainwashed Nagito claimed that he joined with Junko even before that in the hopes to see hope conquer the despair she would create. Along with being an off guy he's sort of like a male Junko, but I don't think he as psychotic as her…yet. Hopefully, I can find some way to convince him to change his idea of hope.

Then there was Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier. In addition to being the so-called Child Prodigy of Modern Warfare she was also one of the few known ex-members of the elite and reclusive mercenary group, the Fenrir Mercenary Corps. Mukuro was also Junko's twin sister, fraternal of course. She was also originally one of the ring leaders of Ultimate Despair along with her sister, and together they were known throughout the world as the Despair Sisters. But since then Mukuro has changed a lot, she used to say that she was just a soldier programmed to follow orders and even if she didn't believe in some things she couldn't defy those orders given to her. Some may call her the perfect soldier, but when she said that it was almost like she thought of herself as a robot. Loyal to whoever gives a command. But that's not what I think of Mukuro. The Mukuro Ikusaba who was a cold-blooded killer, who was a ringleader of Ultimate Despair, that's the Mukuro Ikusaba I know. The Mukuro I know is simply a shy, sad-looking, cute freckled girl who wants to make up for all her past sins. And that's why she's helping us fight to stop Ultimate Despair and end the mutual killing games once and for all. And I believe in her, she's a strong ally after all, and I thought that she most of all needed a friend.

Lastly, there was Izuru Kamukura, the Ultimate Hope. As Izuru described himself, he's the product of an illegal scientific study conducted by the scientists that ran Hope's Peak Academy called the Hope Cultivation Project which was more accurately named the Izuru Kamukura Project. The scientists wanted to prove that the key to unlocking a person's talent lied in dormant parts of their brain, and using the years of research that they gathered with the Ultimate students they believed that they had finally found a way to give talent to a talentless person by artificially activating the dormant parts of the brain in a normal person and in turn giving them artificial talent. But the human experiment they needed to conduct was considered by definition a crime against humanity so they opted to do it secretly off the books, and chose a guinea pig that they thought no one would miss or even bother to look for if he suddenly disappeared. Izuru, before he became Izuru, was once from the Reserve Department like me, and Hope's Peak Academy tricked him into coming to them so they could experiment on him. They hijacked his brain, erased his memory, and buried his old personality deep within his subconscious so they could rewrite him from scratch. And the final result of these horrible acts was Izuru, who proved to be a failure because his creators found him to be even smarter than they were, due to his odd ability to read human behavior and patterns and predict the outcome of things. The only reason the poor guy's stayed alive this time is because he blackmailed the scientists into not killing him off by saying he would expose them for the monster they truly were, and then by being protected by Junko and Ultimate Despair when Hope's Peak Academy lost all of its power seven years ago. He might seem off sometimes due to the fact that he considers a lot of things boring but he's a nice enough guy if you have a ton of patience. Like Nagito and Mukuro, I also want to help him change.

And me, well you guys already know me. I'm just Akira Maita, your normal, average, everyday high school student. And one day out of the blue I was just given the title of Ultimate Wannabe and wound up in this nightmare. But after all that we had been through that day I figure that as long as the twenty of us stuck together we would be alright.

Little did I know at that time that someone in our group was already planning to betray us. And their betrayal would forever change the way we looked at each other. It was only a matter of time before one of us would be killed by a friend.

CHAPTER 1: LOVE HURTS

Peaceful Life

For the next few minutes' no one said anything. We just stood there in silence, thinking about what Monokuma had told us not ten minutes ago, right after Junko's execution.

Flashback:

"Wow that was awesome!" Monokuma cheered. "I bet you all the folks at home got a real treat out of that super fun, super despairful punishment! I can just see their perverted looks now! I guarantee at least half of them were jerking it!"

We on the other hand weren't so happy about seeing that. I glanced around at the others faces', each and every last one of them were shocked and appalled. Even the ones who were used to everything despairful, Izuru and Nagito. It was too much even for them to handle. And Mukuro, God poor Mukuro. Having to see such horrible things happen to her own flesh and blood sister right before her eyes. She was still crying into my shirt, trying her best to be strong and muffle her tears. I pulled her closer to me and let her cry her eyes out.

"Sheesh, is she gonna be alright? It's gonna be bad for ratings if the favorite to win gives into despair now," said Monokuma. Then he cocked his head to the side. "Hey Akira-kun, you're not trying to cop a feel are you? If you are then I give you have my respect, if not then I have nothing but shame for you."

"Would you just shut up for five fucking minutes and give her a moment?" I replied as I glared at Monokuma.

Monokuma chuckled. "Ooh, Akira-kun is so scary," he said in a mocking tone. "Fine I'll just ignore her. I've got you and eighteen other young pupils to mess with."

"Just be quiet already dude," Nate replied. He looked distraught. "We're all a little screwed up after watching that."

"So cruel," said Beigoma. "I know she was a horrible person, I know that she killed many people without remorse and was responsible for everything's that happened to us but still, no one should have to go through that."

"I didn't think it was going to be like that," said Jonathan as he shook his head in disbelief. "I thought it was going to be really quick like the electric chair or something. But that, that was too much."

"Even she deserved better than that," said Micho.

"What are you guys going on about?" Monokuma asked. "Did you not see any of that? Each time she tried to be killed! She was a psycho who got off on the thought of dying!"

"Not in the end, definitely not in the end," said Sawa.

"She looked really scared," Yasuke added.

"And she was definitely crying. The Ultimate Despair was crying," said Shiro. "Hell must be freezing over."

"Geez, you guys are such downers. What happened to being happy that you're alive? You win, remember? You get to leave now," Monokuma replied.

"Yeah it's all over, but what now?" Aya asked.

"Now you guys get to play the Killing Despairadise. Have you already forgotten?" Monokuma asked.

"Oh right, this was just a test, wasn't it?" Jose asked.

"Geez just being in the same room with you people is bring me down in the dumps. I'm gonna go ahead, when you feel like joining me I'd suggest looking at the altar. Just do me a favor when you come outside, and don't look like this. I know I said I want to drag you into the depths of despair but this isn't any fun at all. Sayonara, bitches." And then Monokuma suddenly disappeared.

Mukuro had stopped crying now. She was just sitting down on the floor and leaning up against the wall. She looked completely broken. Despite everything Mukuro said to Junko, and everything Junko had done to her and her friends, Mukuro still loved her. Who am I kidding? Of course she did. They were sisters, not only that but twins. They had a bond that was uniquely their own, and now that bond was severed forever. If Junko was in her position she wouldn't have bat an eye over Mukuro's demise, but this just proved that Mukuro was better than her sister. She had a heart, even if she didn't think she did. She noticed me staring at her and she simply said, "I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me." I glanced around the court room for a second.

Everybody appeared to have split off into groups to wallow in pity, or overcome it. Beigoma and Aya looked really depressed, and Micho and Keiko were busy trying to cheer them up. Connie and Azami were off in another corner talking about something. Yasuke, Deva, and Nate were just sitting down at their seats and mindlessly staring at the floor. Shiro and Jose were off by themselves, Shiro just mindlessly slumping against a wall in the back, and Jose writing in his journal as always. Izuru and Nagito were busy discussing something, and oddly enough Jonathan and Sawa were sitting together apart from everyone else talking. Jonathan looked like he was trying to cheer Sawa up, and I could see a slight smile starting to appear on her face. Cam and Chihiro were also apart from everyone else; Chihiro looked like she was on the verge of tears and Cam was holding her hand and doing his best to comfort her. And lastly Nodaka was standing near the elevator by herself. She looked really lonely. But when she noticed I was looking at her she just frowned and turned her back to me.

I wasn't being fair to her. I knew that. But I just didn't know what to say to her. Nodaka apparently knew me before all this happened, and the way she speaks like she knows me we must've been really close. But try as might I just couldn't imagine ever meeting her. She's a frightening individual, someone you wouldn't easily forget, and yet I had. Nodaka remembered me, but I couldn't remember her. I couldn't imagine how alone she felt. I might've been her friend for all I know, and now I couldn't even comfort her because I didn't feel any attachment to her. I didn't know how I could possibly make it up to her. But I had to do something.

"You should go to her," I heard Mukuro say to me.

I looked down at her in confusion.

"You can feel it even if you don't remember, right?" Mukuro asked. "You know that she was someone very special to you and you want to be with her right now, but you don't what to say to make it up to her?"

"Whoever she is to me, I forgot her. How am I ever even supposed to forgive myself for that? Much less her forgive me? You saw how she responded when I answered her questions. When I said that I didn't remember she was crushed. What do I say that could possibly ever make things okay again?" I asked.

"Maybe you shouldn't say anything?" Mukuro replied. "Maybe you should be there for her? I think she'd like that. I know she saw us holding hands, and then you comforting me." Mukuro giggled a little. "I could sense her killing intent directed at me. Whoever she was to you, she really loves you. She loves you so much it's probably unbearable for her right now hearing you say that you don't remember."

I chuckled. "Yeah, whoever she is she gets jealous really easily. Do you think she's my girlfriend or something?"

Mukuro shrugged her shoulders. "Only she knows the answer to that."

I looked down at the floor and frowned. "But still, remember what Fuyuhikokuma said?"

Flashback:

"What?! Who the hell's Hitomi?! You mean Natsumi, right?! Jesus, how fucked up are your heads?!" Fuyuhikokuma shouted.

Flashback:

"Would you drop the act already? You are not young master Fuyuhiko so just stop pretending already," said Nodaka. "Just…just go away already."

"Young master?" Fuyuhikokuma repeated her words in confusion.

"The only person who ever really called me that was Peko. Well her and the other people who worked for the clan. But you…I don't recognize. Who…? Who are you?! W-What do y-you kn-know?!" Then Fuyuhikokuma began to glitch out again. And when he finally stopped glitching he began to morph into his true form. Then Fuyuhikokuma chuckled, "You're not going to tell me you missed that, right?"

We all turned to look at Nodaka. But it appeared that she herself didn't even know what to make of Fuyuhikokuma's strange utterance. 'He didn't recognize her? How?' I asked myself.

"He didn't recognize her. And he said his sister's name was Natsumi, not Hitomi. I don't know, it just seems like everything she said was a lie."

Mukuro shook her head. "Don't do that, don't trust Monokuma or Junko more than you trust your friends. The Mastermind probably made him say those things on purpose to deflect suspicion on her. He's getting us riled up into making us think there is a traitor amongst us. After what we just did, and what we have to do next, the others might become paranoid and start to think that it's true too. She's going to be in grave danger, and she'll need support. She loves you, whoever you are to her she loves you so deeply, don't belittle her by questioning her. If she is who she says she is, fine, if not then that doesn't mean she's with Ultimate Despair."

"That's not it," I replied. "Everybody else can remember what life was like before today, but I can't. Everything is just blurry. I can't make out a single thing clearly." I chuckled in fear. "I'm afraid I might be the traitor."

"…" Mukuro was surprised that I thought that far ahead. But the truth was I was already starting to have suspicions. As soon as I realized I couldn't remember anything that didn't have to do with this school I immediately sensed impending dread. A knot formed in my stomach and with each passing moment the knot was growing with paranoia. I was afraid that I was the traitor, afraid of what I might do if I got to close to the others. At any moment I might activate like a sleeper agent and then just kill them all in one fell swoop. And I couldn't live with that. I couldn't live with myself if I let anything bad happen to them.

Then Mukuro got up off the floor and did something that surprised the shit out of me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and then leaned in and kissed me. My eyes widened to colossal size as I felt her lips against mine. I was too shocked to move, Mukuro was in complete control of my body. She held me close for ten full seconds and then let me go.

I whispered in a shocked gasp, "What the hell was that?!"

Mukuro motioned for me to look behind me. And that's when I saw Nodaka a few meters away from us. She looked shocked, stunned even. Her mouth was agape slightly and her eyes were widened to an unbelievable size. I didn't even notice her come over this way. She must've realized how awkward things were between us and came over to talk to me, and instead she got a front row seat for that. I noticed that no one else had noticed, Nodaka saw it all. Then after a few moments in silence her features softened. She looked even more crushed than she did before, if that was even possible.

"Hoshi-san I…! Um…this isn't what it looks like! Ikusaba-san she…!" I tried to explain but I couldn't find the words.

"Save it," she simply said. "I don't want to hear it." She looked me in the eyes, and I could see her chartreuse eyes up close for the first time, they were beautiful I didn't know how I possibly couldn't have noticed before. But that when I saw teardrops suddenly begin to form in her eyes. "You don't remember. Even after all that time we spent together you don't remember one thing. Not even when you gave me that beautiful present for my birthday and you said that when you grew up you wanted me to be your bride. You're not him. You're not that head in the cloud doofus that I fell in love with all those years ago." Tears were streaming down her cheeks at that point. "You look like him. You talk like him. You pick fight with bullies and get your ass handed to you every time, just like he used to do. But you're not him. I don't know what I was expecting. For things to just go back to normal, like they were before you moved away? I'm so stupid."

"Hoshi-san…?" I didn't know what to say.

"Stop calling me that!" Nodaka shouted at me, getting the others' attention. They all looked over here to see what was going on.

"Call me that stupid nickname you used to use when we were little! Call me that and I'll forgive you!" Nodaka shouted me.

"…" I was at a loss.

Nodaka shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "But you can't can you? Because you're not that same doofus." Then Nodaka reached into her shirt collar and pulled off a necklace that was hidden from view and threw it on the floor. "You're an even bigger doofus!" Then she ran away crying back to the elevator. And then she went so far as to call the elevator back and hop on just to escape me. After a few moments the chains stopped rattling and we could hear the sound of someone up above us getting out of it.

"Looks like you'll have to talk to her now. Don't worry I'll say I came on to you. Knowing what a hothead she is she'll buy it," Mukuro whispered into my ear. "And don't stay stupid crap like you being the traitor. You would never betray anyone, at least not willingly."

I didn't pay attention though. I was too preoccupied staring at what Nodaka threw on the floor. It was a sterling silver necklace that had a pendant made up of two stars that were linked together. I picked the necklace up and stared at it confusion. Then I turned it over and saw that the two stars had something engraved in the back of them.

Akira M. + Nodaka N.

together forever

our bond reaches farther than the stars

'Nodaka?' That's when it finally donned on me.

Flashback:

"My friend, my best friend…no actually I guess you could say my childhood crush, moved away before I started middle school and I never saw him again. Then a year later my parents were killed in a car accident, leaving me all alone." She hugged herself and rubbed her shoulders. "I thought that the world hated me and it took away the people closest to me on purpose. I started to think I was nothing too, and for a while that's how I felt. Empty, like there was no meaning to my life at all. But when the Kuzuryuu clan took me in I learned that my way of thinking was just a coward's way of thinking."

I was the childhood friend from her story. I made her a promise so heartfelt and deep, and I didn't even bother to remember it. I pulled the necklace close to my chest and then began to tightly clench my fists and grit my teeth. "Goddammit!" I shouted.

A/N: Amnesia's a bitch, ain't it? Just ask Akira and he'll tell you it's true.