I see trees of green, red roses too,
I see them bloom for me and you.
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue and clouds of white.
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night.
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Part 6; Despair; September 7th, 1994-January 9th, 1995
Kyoko 1: Smile in the Name of Despair

#####

Saga; September 7th, 1994

Byakuya sat in front of a tidy convenience store, wearing a white suit finely tailored for his larger frame, playing cards with a Yakuza princess wearing a heavy red coat and tight jeans, a cigarette in her mouth. The two had been placed out on a watch service to keep an eye on a man Junko said was sent by the other side to spy on them. Her orders were very clear; do whatever you must to subdue him, but leave his head untouched. She planned to send both his head and the head of the other spy back to the community in the east as a warning.

"Besides, we could let him think he's fooled us by welcoming him in here with open arms...but where would the fun in that be?" She had asked, laughing in that insane way of hers.

A month or so ago, Byakuya would've found himself shivering at that laugh, but not anymore. He threw down some more cards.

"Maybe we shoulda been playin' for money," Natsumi groaned. "'Cuz that's something I'd be good at!"

"Nobles like myself have had intensive training in this very sort of thing practically since birth. Sorry, Natsumi-chan, but you don't stand a chance against me," Byakuya stated, drawing a card.

A shiny blue car slowly drove past them on the road, nearly stopping before it sped up and drove off again. He stared at it for some time, trying to place its familiarity when Natsumi suddenly gasped and threw down her cards.

"That's the car he was supposed to be driving! That big shiny blue one! I'm pretty sure that's our guy!" She called eagerly, taking a large drag of her cigarette. Byakuya was beside her in a moment, moving quite fast despite his big size. "Let's get him," She smirked suddenly, sliding a gun out of her coat pocket.

Kizakura had been driving for three rainy days in a row and was starting to feel just as grey and miserable as the weather. It wasn't storming or anything, thank goodness, but regular rain could be hard enough on its own to navigate through sometimes.

At first he had just stuck to the main roads, weaving his way in and out of stalled traffic to the best of his ability. Eventually, though, the traffic became so bad he stuck to lesser-traveled country roads after three more days. The atmosphere had changed into something more eerie and unsettling as he passed through long stretches of empty countryside where telephone wires were knocked down. The skies never fully turned black at night; instead, they remained a mystic shade of very dark purple around the edges.

The further he drove out, the more he couldn't soothe the feeling in his heart that he'd never see Hope's Peak again and its inhabitants, like Sayaka, Kaede, that Yamada boy, and Chihiro. He felt like Izanagi descending into the depths of Yami to reclaim his dead wife, except he wasn't trying to find such a thing. He stopped briefly for a light lunch before continuing on, knowing he was getting closer when he saw the half-picked-apart corpse of a hanging man. He winced a bit.

Once he reached the end of Honshu, he took one of the smaller boats and rowed himself over onto the next island, making sure to end up at a shore further away from Nagasaki. After all, it'd do no good to just wander right in first thing, right?

Two days before he was spotted, he was resting up in a run-down hotel that had a battery-powered heater in it, and marveled at the thought of finally being warm for the first time in a week. He turned it on and placed it by the foot of his bed, changing into something looser and beginning to read while tucked into bed.

After a while, he looked up and tensed at the sound of something eagerly tapping on his window, making him glance around the room from fear he had been found out. He found a large black crow pecking impatiently at his window instead and just smiled.

"Just a crow...as long as I don't catch its glance, I'll be alright," He mused to himself. "Maybe I really did cross over into Yami somehow..."

The crow continued to peck at the window, and Kizakura stared at it for a while, noticing the outer rims of its eyes were dark red. Why? Was it just from the reflection, or was it...something else?

Fighting back a shiver, he finally managed to break his stare away and noticed his gun laying beside his bag. In a wild surge, he grabbed it and aimed it right at the window. "Take this!" The crow cawed out in sudden fear and took off, and Kizakura lowered the gun, panting.

It was just a crow, why was he getting so worked up over it? He shook his head and tried to go back to sleep, pushing the thought of the crow from his head. It was a bad omen, he just knew it. Something was off about that crow. Something was off about this whole town.

The car had been gone for only a few minutes when Byakuya and Natsumi finally got themselves composed and chased after Kizakura.

"Remember, just the head. Everything else can be ruined but the head," Byakuya reminded Natsumi, who just nodded.

"Yeah, sure, whatever,"

"I mean it, Natsumi-chan. First, though, we gotta show ourselves as not being threatening. You walk over to him. Put a bit of sass into your walk or something, then knock him out when he's distracted," Byakuya continued, adjusting his glasses.

Natsumi nodded again, running her hand down the front of her coat where her gun was hidden. She jogged over to where Kizakura had stopped his car and started to slowly walk, offering him a smirk when he got out of the car.

"Well, am I lucky or what? Didn't think someone like you would come greet me," He teased. She twirled a strand of her hair around on her finger.

"Ya ain't going to shoot me with that gun of yours, right?" She asked, motioning to it at his hip. He shook his head.

"Not as long as we remain friendly with each other," He bowed. "Kizakura Koichi, a pleasure," He tipped his hat.

"Kuzuryuu Natsumi," She felt her smile grow wider as she slipped the gun out of her coat and aimed it at him.

"Damn it!" Kizakura reached for his own gun right as Natsumi shot him in the stomach, making him fall back into the mud. The rain had picked up slightly.

"Come on now. Don't give us any trouble," Byakuya emerged from the shadows, holding out his own gun. "Just come with us, nice and easy now,"

"Luckily for you, I'd never shoot a girl," Kizakura fired several rounds at Byakuya before dashing back into his car. He heard the sound of a heavy body dropping into the mud but didn't stop to investigate; instead, he ran back to his car and tried to lock the door.

"That was your mistake," Natsumi shot after him, giving chase and keeping her footing on the slick ground. Kizakura managed to lock his door and aimed his gun out the window, firing at Natsumi. She jumped onto her hands and dodged his bullets athletically before she gracefully jumped back onto her feet and shot the back window of his car. "Come on! Just die already!"

Kizakura sighed a bit and placed his hand on his stomach, looking at the amount of blood slowly blooming outward. "They knew, somehow. They knew I was a spy sent out...I fear for the others they chose," He whispered to himself as Natsumi elbowed her way into his car hard, shooting her gun straight into his face. The result was a messy explosion that covered Natsumi in some of the resulting blood.

She gasped heavily and heard the rain loudly patter around her as she dropped her gun in the soft mud.

"Byakuya?" She asked, slowly stepping back over to him. Her eyes widened when she realized he had been killed, then she laughed. "Useless dude anyway. I did it! I did my job! I killed him!" She laughed more before her bloodlust finally died down and she peeked back into the car, realizing in horror she had blown Kizakura's head clean off.

"Oh no..." She gasped, hearing the low cawing of a crow from somewhere near her. Her coat was starting to soak through with rain and her hair stuck to her face. The crow eyed her strangely, and Natsumi picked up her gun and aimed it at the bird. "I didn't mean to! My instincts took over! She'll understand that, right? All instinct!" The bird continued to silently judge her. "Stop looking at me like that! Dumb bird!" She cried and shot at it several times; the crow took off in fear.

"Serves you right," She forced a smirk onto her face and hugged herself tightly, trying to tread back away from the crime scene. All witnesses were dead, so it was like she was never there at all, right?

I want his head unharmed so I can send it back lookin' all pretty!

Natsumi shuddered and quickened her pace, slipping on the mud slightly. Her sneakers had no traction, she realized then. She heard another sound over the pouring rain, a sadistic laugh that made her blood run cold.

"Upupupupupu!" She felt long, manicured hands wrapping themselves around her neck, silently choking her and depraving her of air. She struggled heavily, gasping out.

"N-No...! Gah...f-fuck you!" She managed before her eyes started to roll back into her head.

"Upupupu...you messed it up big time, didn't ya, Natsumi-chan?! Ah well, we all make mistakes from time to time!" The girl with the bear in her hair let Natsumi's limp body collapse unceremoniously into the mud; three bodies were burned later that day. Nobody questioned where they came from or who they used to be.

####

Nagasaki; September 8th, 1994

Kyoko Kirigiri lay in bed naked, listening to the shower run loudly in the next room and staring at her reflection in the giant mirror just across from the bed. Laying flat on her back like that reminded her of the autopsies she often witnessed her family performing; the body laying flat on the table, sometimes naked, sometimes covered with a sheet, but always being poked and prodded at.

Kizakura had been dead less than eighteen hours, and she wondered how on Earth Junko could've figured it out. Sending a middle-aged alcoholic? Even Kyoko herself would have trouble trying to figure that one out. She figured it out somehow though, because a group of people were all sent to different nearby cities to scope out the scene and try to capture him.

But something had gone horribly, horribly wrong. Everyone seemed quiet and pale-faced for the past day. How had she known, though? Kyoko's first assumption was a spy over in Hope's Peak; it wasn't just an idea for them, after all. But Aoi had told her sending spies had been solely the council's idea, and she didn't think any of them were secretly on Junko's side. Miss Chiaki would've known if any of them had secretly been harboring feelings of despair. So that meant the obvious answer was the more unsettling one-Junko had just known.

She herself had been in Nagasaki for a total of eight days and was seen as a respected member of the community already, having gathered enough information about their operations to scare everyone back at home. All she had to do was tell them about how they managed to get airplanes working again and Kazuichi Souda and Miu Iruma were thinking of teaching people how to fly them. What personally scared her, though, was how Junko's name was almost a 'don't take it in vain' type of deal. Everytime someone mentioned it during the day, the room would grow quiet and people would try to cross themselves or awkwardly look away.

At night, everyone sat around the lobby of the hotel and drank beer and spoke in hushed tones about Junko's true identity. Kyoko had heard it all and had trouble telling fact from fiction. They never referred to her as 'Junko' or even simply 'Enoshima' in those discussions though, she was always 'the girl with the bear in her hair'. 'The fashionista'. 'The true face of despair'. 'High-heeled hoe'. On and on it went, like she was a genie to be summoned from a bottle.

If she had known about Kizakura, surely she knew about her as well?

The shower finally turned itself off and Kyoko found herself wondering what kind of environment Hajime had come from prior to make him so obsessed with cleanliness. He walked out then, clad in his towel, carrying a fancy box.

"Oh? What's in there? A present?" She asked sweetly, running her hand through her hair.

"Yeah, it's from her. She said you might like to open it,"

Kyoko very slowly took the box from Hajime and unwrapped it, her eyes widening when she saw what was inside-an extremely fancy set of cream lingerie.

"She said you should wear that tonight," Hajime continued, and Kyoko gave him a smirk.

"My, it's even modeled after that darling dress Shirogane-chan made for me too! She's really so thoughtful," She pulled the lingerie out of the box and slipped it on right with Hajime watching her, trying to make it into a show. In reality, she was silently cringing inside her head. How much longer until her fake perkiness act got found out?

The set was cream-coloured and lacy, with a large silk bow tied around her waist. It was sheer and see-through, revealing the tiny panties underneath.

"We have time for a quickie, it's still early," He said, and gently took Kyoko's gloved hand and laid her back down in the bed. She could feel his member starting to harden through the towel.

"Take that off first. I don't like it," She said suddenly, glancing away from his necklace.

Hajime nodded and pulled it off, placing it on the nightstand next to them. "How's that?"

"A million times better," Kyoko nodded, reaching her arms behind his back and pulling him closer as they started to kiss. Hajime left the top half of her lingerie alone and instead slowly ran his hands down her sides, pressing the sheer, silky material close to her body. In one quick motion, he pulled her thin panties down and lined himself up with her, inserting himself into her roughly.

Kyoko remained silent at first, placing another kiss on his lips when he started thrusting into her. He was muscular and Kyoko was thankful she had learned his rhythms on her fourth day there so she could easily keep up.

"How does this feel?" He asked, still thrusting into her. Kyoko blushed heavily and gave him a sweet look.

"It feels good...I love it..!"

"Huh?"

"I said I love it!"

"Louder,"

"I said that I fucking love it! Fuck me harder, Hajime-kun!" She yelled out, thinking about how she wanted to throw him out the window.

"I bet she likes it when you yell that too," Hajime offered before he cummed into her. Kyoko had been expecting that and thrust her hips out, crying out and faking her own orgasm.

"I know she does..." She breathed heavily. "She was probably watching us too," She glanced over at the skull necklace left on the nightstand and widened her eyes slightly. The empty eye sockets seemed to be fixated on her in particular, and she gave an intense stare back.

It sees me. It sees through me, She suddenly thought.

Afterwards, since Hajime still had some time left before he had to head downstairs, he began to talk and get dressed while Kyoko remained in bed, still dressed in her lingerie. She always preferred the talking aspect of their time together, as it was when she learned all of the inner-workings of Junko's own group. Every time, it was the same; dressing while he spoke to her.

"I'm glad I wasn't with them today. Kuzuryuu-san isn't going to be very happy when he learns his sister was killed. She kinda deserved it though, I heard her bloodlust got the best of her." Hajime finished pulling his pants up with a belt.

"How did she know?" Kyoko asked slowly.

"She just did. She just knows everything," Was Hajime's answer, and she suppressed a shiver.

"How's the military project going?" She asked instead.

"Great! As great as it can, anyway. Iruma-san found out a great way to subtlety hide missiles at the top of certain models, and of course Komaeda-san supplies a never-ending chain for her to experiment with," He explained. "He may not be great for much, but at least he does what he's told. He always is out traveling into the countryside these days with that Go-Kart of his Souda-san got all souped up for him,"

Kyoko nodded again. She had only met Nagito twice, briefly, and both times filled her with a sense of horror and awe. He took to wearing black leather around the group with one mitten covering up part of his hand. The others had no idea whether to be scared or fascinated by him. "What's he doing out there?"

"Don't know and don't care. I think he's out looking for things we can use like weapons and things of that nature," His shirt had been slipped on. "Anyway, I gotta get going. And you have to go to work too, right?"

"I do," Kyoko affirmed, starting to dress when he was out of the room. Even to work, she wore a tiny dress Tsumugi had made for her; a black velvet blouse with a cross attached, a small green miniskirt puffed out by a hoop, brown gloves, sturdy black boots, and her usual yellow hard hat and matching vest. She tied her hair back into a braid with a green ribbon and slipped the knife out of her sleeve. Hajime never saw her dress or undress for that very reason. A girl always had her secrets.

Half the time, Kyoko worked alongside two women named Mikan Tsumiki and Tsumugi Shirogane as nurses, and the other half of the time, her and Mikan did utility work while Tsumugi repaired cars and organized tools down at the military base. Today would be a utility day where she was set to repair or replace any broken or burnt-out bulbs around the main part of the city, so she got to it, catching up with Mikan.

"Hi!" She greeted cheerfully. Mikan was a soft but plain girl who wore a see-through white T-shirt, cut-off jean shorts, sensible sneakers, and her own yellow hard hat and vest. She was quiet and subtly kind and Kyoko often wondered what such a sweet girl like her was doing on Junko's side. The possible answer bewildered her so much she didn't consider asking Mikan.

Actually, if Kyoko were being honest with herself, the vast majority of everyone in New Nagasaki were very kind and pleasant people. Sure, there were a few here and there who were suspicious or creepy or mean, but most were the sort you'd see walking down the street of your neighborhood in the pre-pandemic world.

Not only that, but they were super hard workers. In Hope's Peak, people had a tendency to mainly idle around and take long lunch breaks even if they were certain of what they needed to be doing. Here, though, everyone worked from nine to five, and the children even went to school.

Kyoko finished climbing up the ladder and opened up her toolkit, finding the streetlight bulb to be burnt out. With a nod, she untwisted the broken one and looked down to reach for her new one-

She froze.

A group of people had just come back from their own workshift and they were all taking glances up at her because she was poised up in the air. One of the faces, though, she recognized. A sweet, innocent, naive face...

Is that Gokuhara Gonta-san? She questioned herself, and immediately knew it to be true. But why? Who would send him as a spy? It was absolutely-

Brilliant.

She looked down again and saw the people dispersing on their way back to their own houses, thinking to herself she might've been seeing things.

"Kirigiri-chan? Are you alright? Um, did you fall asleep?" Mikan asked shyly, looking up at her. Kyoko snapped out of it and shook her head.

After she changed the bulb, she climbed back down the ladder and headed back to the hotel on the bus, sitting inbetween Tsumugi and Mikan; the latter of whom stared at her curiously.

"Are you okay? You seem...far away," She tried, and Kyoko nodded again.

"Just tired from a long day of work," She reassured her.

"Aren't we all?" Tsumugi added.

It wasn't Gokuhara-san at all, right? Was it?

"Wake up! Wake up! Get up, goddamnit!" A voice angrily yelled out at her in the middle of the night, and she was suddenly aware of being thrown out of her bed onto the cold, hard floor. She was still naked. "Get up!"

Kyoko forced herself alert and glanced around the dark room to see the angered faces of Kuzuryuu, Teruteru, Tsumugi, and Mikan. Hajime was standing in front, his arms crossed over his chest and a look of betrayal on his face. What hurt Kyoko the most though was the overly hostile stare Mikan was giving her.

"Tsumiki-" She tried as she slowly stood up.

"You were spying on us the whole time? I should've known. Why would she give me a wife as a present for no reason?!" Hajime carried on. "Get dressed, you're getting brought to her,"

She knew about Kizakura-san. It was only a matter of time before she learned about me too, Kyoko thought to herself, standing there.

"Um, didn't you hear him? He said to get dressed...and then it's time for you to go!" Tsumugi demanded.

"I don't dress in front of men," Kyoko looked away.

Hajime tried to lunge at her, being held back by Kuzuryuu and Teruteru. Kyoko just stood there, staring at them.

"Come on, the girls can watch her or something," Kuzuryuu glanced back at her. "You're in a lot of trouble," She thought she saw compassion in his eyes briefly.

"What if she tries to jump out the window?" Tsumugi cried.

"I won't let her," Mikan promised, wearing a gun on her hip.

"I hope you get an STD and it falls off," Kyoko waved after the three men who left along with Tsumugi, leaving her alone with Mikan.

"Get dressed," Mikan commanded.

Kyoko slowly started to slip on her panties.

"It's not very nice to come over here and secretly spy, you know. You could really hurt someone's feelings. You deserve everything my beloved is going to do to you," Mikan continued, a dark expression on her face. "She's not going to forgive you for this at all, and neither will I,"

"She gave me to Hinata-san as a literal wife. I found out he was a good source of information and took it," She shrugged. "I had a reason to be here,"

"Be quiet!" Mikan glared at her.

"What do you think all of those jets and weapons and whatnot are actually for? She's planning to use those to attack Hiroshima and wipe out everyone who lives there," She laced up her skirt.

"I hope she does! All she ever says is that it's either us or you guys. I don't think it'd be that great a loss..." She trailed off.

"You're just afraid of her," Kyoko paused in her dressing to smirk.

"Get dressed!" Mikan grabbed the gun and Kyoko covered her mouth.

"I'm going to be sick!" She dashed into the bathroom and hurriedly locked herself in there, making loud retching noises as she searched through the medicine cabinet.

"You're not sick!" Mikan accused, trying to jiggle the knob. "Open up!"

Kyoko fake-retched again and slipped the knife back onto her wrist, pulling her blouse on hurriedly over it. She heard other voices in the bathroom and someone trying to kick the door down.

"I'm sick," She flushed the toilet and ran some water in the sink before the door finally burst down and Mikan was standing there with the others, glaring angrily.

"Time to go," Kuzuryuu said simply, grabbing her.

"I was sick and had to vomit. I'm sure everyone is sad they couldn't have seen, hm?" She mocked and Hajime roughly jostled her.

The group held her arms tightly as they walked down the stairs to the front desk, Kyoko staring at how nicely-decorated everything was. Hajime leaned over that very desk and pushed an intercom button.

"Enoshima-chan, we have her," He commented, and Junko gasped cutely.

"Ohmigosh, I'm so happy! Send her right on up! Alone, if you please!" She turned her side off.

"Time for you to go," Hajime stared at Kyoko levelly, who crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Say I disagree,"

"Then we drag you in there,"

She smirked. "None of you could drag a puppy in there. Look at poor Tsumiki-chan, she looks as if she wants to faint. Or wet herself. Not a good look for you,"

"Shut up!" Mikan whimpered.

"I was never afraid over there. I always felt good about who I was and what I was doing. Maybe you should have a talk like that among yourselves one day and then you'll realize. She's only manipulating you. She makes you afraid because she has nothing else to make you feel," And with that, she stepped away and turned the knob to enter Junko's domain.

She found herself thinking: I am Kirigiri Kyoko; daughter of famous detectives, daughter of Patient Zero. I have been afraid, I have made mistakes, but she cannot take away anything vital to me that I wasn't already going to lose. I will not falter in my composure. I won't die foolishly. I will defy her until my very last breath.

And then she walked in.

The office was coated in glittery pink and flouncy materials for as far as the eye could see. Antique flowery dishes hung on the walls and the large window overlooking the balcony was decorated in pink Magic Marker. The moon was nearly full. Standing in front of the window was the shape of a woman, and Kyoko must've announced her presence in some way, as the woman begun to turn around slowly, making Kyoko tense up.

She expected to see someone faceless, or wearing the face of a hideous creature, but instead her first thought upon seeing her was that they looked the same age.

Her strawberry locks were curled and crimped into thick pigtails and she wore a pair of hoop earrings and a sleek black business suit with a pencil skirt and green trim; matching polish and lipstick. Two bear-shaped hair clips were on the side of her head, designed to look like Kuma-chan. Her shoulders were heavily padded. She gave Kyoko a grand smile and flashed her a peace sign.

"Hiya girl!~"

"Hello," Kyoko remained where she was, uneasy. She was literally dragged out of bed on her orders...but what were they, exactly?

"You seem so startled! Why? I even tried my hardest to put on my cutest and most adorable outfit for you!" Junko rubbed at her dry eyes. Kyoko thought she looked more like a housewife than anything. "Did my mean old servants scare you?"

"They seem more scared of you than anything," Kyoko mused.

"I think that's just Hajime-kun. I rescued him from a terrible circumstance and now he literally owes his life to me! But I think he also sees me as..like, one of those people who did that to him. Like I'm the same or something." She waved her hands dismissively. Kyoko wondered if that was why he had such issues with cleanliness and found herself feeling pity for him. "Sit, sit! We have lots to talk about!"

Kyoko glanced around the room, noticing the one thing missing from the frou-frou design of the place.

"Only liars sit in chairs. And you aren't a liar, are you?" Her eyes glittered dangerously, and Kyoko shook her head and gingerly sat down, adjusting her skirt and shoes. Junko sat down across from her gracefully. "You were sent here to spy on us."

"Yes." Why deny it?

"And you know what happens to captured spies during times of war?"

"Yes."

"Then, like, it's a totes good thing we're not at war then!" She laughed.

"...What?" Kyoko stared in confusion.

"Like, have we ever attacked your group?

"No,"

"And have you attacked us?"

"No!"

"Then we're not at war!" She laughed in a cutesy way. "I'm honestly just a teensy-bit jealous of your community. You're kinda like a hive mind! While my people are all spread around. I can't even think about attacking anyone yet! Oh, poor me!"

Kyoko frowned at how submissive her language suddenly became. "You had Kizakura-san killed. You killed him and now you're going to kill me too,"

Junko rolled her eyes. "He, like, wasn't supposed to die! That was on Natsumi-chan for fuckin' up the way that she did! I just wanted him captured and brought here so we could have a nice talk. Like the one you and me are having right now. Doesn't that sound fine?"

She said nothing for a time. "If you want peace, why all of the jets and weapons here?"

"Those are all totes for defense!~ I'm sure you guys are all doing the same thing!" She cooed.

"When I left, they were still trying to get the power back on," She tugged at her sleeve subtly, feeling the familiar weight and comfort of the knife.

"And they, like, totally got it working again! All thanks to that gorgeous Yasuke-san, I bet!" She laughed. "You guys have your tech people and I have mine,"

"How did you know that?"

"I have my ways. Did you know that Lady Nanami came back too? Adorable child," Junko tapped her nail against her earring.

"She did?" Kyoko asked in shock.

"Yup, but she's dead now. A pity. I wish I could've met her in person..." Her eyes looked to be far-away. "Are you shocked that she is?"

"I'm more shocked that she came back at all," She admitted.

"Yeah, I heard she died from shittin' her fuckin' brains out!" She laughed. "Ain't that great for a fuckin' leader?!"

"Did she say anything?" Kyoko pressed.

"I heard she was delirious from fever or some junk like that. So I don't think she did," She grinned. "But you seem lonely and homesick, Kyoko-chan. So here," She reached into her briefcase and pulled out several maps of the south island with population growth marked in red. "I know where their people are, so Imma be kind and show them where mine are. Tell them I'm not going to hurt them, and to also tell them to stop sending spies. If they gotta, then be open about it,"

Kyoko took the maps and looked them over with a nod, feeling numb.

Junko rose then, her thick black pumps clicking away loudly on the floor. "I'll even give you a going-away present! A nice motorcycle! Ya like? Ya always struck me as a biker kind of chick. I'll have Hajime-kun wrap it up and set it out on your boat for you," She tapped the intercom button to do just that.

Kyoko stood as well, her eyes wide. "You're letting me go?"

"Of course! We're all friends here. I've been wanting a girl my age to have some girl talk with and we had fun, did we not?" Junko grinned. "You are absolutely free to go! As long as you do one final thing for me,"

"What?" Kyoko asked slowly, suddenly afraid.

"There's one more person of yours on this side. Now, who could it possibly be?" She asked with a pout, resting her fist on her chin.

"I don't know!" She answered easily. "And besides, how are you sure it's just one more? The council was very careful on who to send and what to tell us, just in case something were you happen,"

"Like torture?" Junko stared her down.

"I was approached by Asahina Aoi-san...I'm guessing Kuwata-san sent Kizakura-san...and who knows about the rest. All of them could've sent someone," She shrugged.

"They could've, but they didn't. There's one left," Junko smiled a terrible, unnatural grin. "And you know who it is,"

"I don't," Kyoko stepped back towards the door.

"Hajime-kun? Couldja wait just a teensy-tiny bit on that motorcycle? Kyoko-chan and I still got some stuff to figure out," She pressed the intercom.

"Okay," Hajime responded.

"You never intended to let me leave, did you?" Kyoko was a few steps away from the door.

"Awww, does someone have trust issues from being consistently ass-raped by those mean men in that gross harem over the summer?" Junko mocked. "Can't you trust me? We're all girls here,"

Kyoko paused in her moments, and Junko finally stood and made her way over to her, staring her down.

"I know you know who the third spy is. And you're going to tell me, one way or another," She reached her hand out for her.

"I can't tell you because I don't know!" Kyoko shot back in annoyance. "Why don't you know yourself? You knew about me and Kizakura-san, why don't you know about-!"

"Who?" Junko gently ran her hand along Kyoko's face, scratching her cheek with her manicured nails. "Tell me,"

"Why don't you know?" Kyoko shot back.

"Because I can't see it!" Junko cried and pushed Kyoko across the room, slamming her into the window of the balcony. She hit it with her back and collapsed on the floor on her seat. She glanced up and saw the enraged face of the fashionista and drew back, her bladder releasing in that moment from her fright. It puddled up underneath her skirt.

"You'll tell me. You'll tell me what I want to know," Junko seethed, pointing her finger at her and stepping closer. "Or else you won't like the consequences,"

Kyoko very slowly stood up on shaky legs, feeling the knife still tucked away. She gave Junko an off-it smirk. "You're right. I do know who it is,"

"You do? Tell me!" Junko brightened.

"Okay, but we're both girls here, right? So I want to whisper it to you,"

Junko nodded and stepped closer, closer, closer, until she was eagerly leaning forward in front of her.

"Here!" Kyoko yelled, yanking the knife out of her sleeve and rushing at Junko with it, stabbing it directly into her heart. She tried to pierce the flesh, her eyes widening when the knife bent back at just her clothes. "What...?" She took it off and ran her hand down the blade; it was plastic. "How...?"

Junko just laughed. "I guess you're all outta tricks! Sucks for you! Guess you gotta tell me what I wanna know!"

Kyoko threw the plastic knife down onto the floor and wildly looked around, knowing she was right. Her parents had died keeping information they oughtn't have, and now she was about to do the same. In the name of protecting someone else.

Her eyes caught the balcony window the same time Junko's did, and she ran over to it in a flash, feeling Junko trying to grab at her but only grabbing some loose strings off her skirt.

She threw herself through the window and heard a dull cracking sound as pieces of glass clattered down below into the parking lot. For a second, she laid there, bleeding, until she felt Junko grab her shoulder and start to yank her back inside. How long would she last being tortured? Not very long at all in the state she was currently in. She wouldn't let herself be killed by Junko herself.

Kyoko knew she was already dying and saw a large shard of glass jutting out.

The last spy is Gokuhara-san, but you'll never know because you can't see it, because he's different from us-

She whipped her head around and a giant cut of glass slit at her throat; the second gouged at her eye. She tensed for a second before she went entirely limp, and the thing Junko dragged back in was nothing more but a bloody corpse.

She screamed in rage, yanking out her pigtails and letting the tangled curls fall down. "Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you!" She screamed out as she dropped Kyoko's body limply on the floor. "How dare you defy me like this!" She took her heel and stomped down hard on Kyoko's body, then she did it again and again and again until her body had a dented bump in the side and she was laughing crazily.

Outside the room, the others listened on in pale-faced horror, and soon they all slowly drifted away aside from Hajime, who reminded simply because he knew he'd soon be required.

And a few minutes later, he was.

Junko was sitting at her flouncy pink desk calmly, her hair a ragged mess and her mascara running. Hajime never thought he'd seen her look so ragged. He glanced over at the indented corpse curiously.

"Get rid of that," Junko shook her hand at it in a dismissive way. "It's just garbage now,"

"Yeah. Do I keep the head, or...?" He asked.

Junko slammed her fist down on the desk. "No, because it's just fucking trash, ya fucking hear me?! Trash! I want it gone out of my sight this instant! Drag it out into the wilderness and burn it!"

"Of course," Hajime kept his tone level and carefully scooped up the body, feeling the sticky blood and imprints from Junko's heels. He didn't look back at her once as he left, but she was giving him a sweet smile.

First Kizakura, then Kyoko. Both had died without giving up what Junko had wanted. How or why, nobody really knew. Perhaps Junko's power and influence were finally starting to fade.

That night, her and Hajime stole away for the coastline, not to be seen for the next few days.

It was time.

On a bright and sunny afternoon on the tenth; two teenage girls were sitting together on a park bench, having arrived together several weeks ago and having been practically inseparable since then. They both cleaned cars and did electrical work. One of them wore an exaggerated version of formal court kimono; a deep red but with her cleavage spilling out and long slits cut up the sides for her legs; dangerously high.

Ibuki was happily watching one of the younger kids running around in the park and playing as she fiddled with the strap of her guitar case. As she watched, a man with long green hair and a mechanic outfit strode past and the little boy gasped.

"Big Brother Gonta! Play with me? I wanna be an airplane!" He giggled.

"That guy looks like he's drunk," The blonde girl snickered, making Ibuki look over at her.

"Hm? You mean Gonta-chan? He's not drunk, he's-" She was cut off by the sound of the boy cheering happily as Gonta spun him around.

After three spins, Gonta set the boy down gently. "Again, again! Please again?"

"But you might get sick if Gonta spun more! Besides, Gonta have to go back to his own house now!" He waved at the boy, who happily waved back and went to playing again.

Ibuki laughed. "Satoshi-chan loves Gonta-chan the most out of anyone else in this town, I reckon! Even more than he loves Ibuki-chan! And that makes her very sad," She pouted playfully. "He's simple-minded, but-" She looked over at the blonde girl and found a thoughtful expression on her face. "Huh? What's up?"

The girl watched Gonta carefully before finally asking: "Did he come here with another guy?"

"Huh? Gonta-chan? Ibuki has no idea! But she's not good at those sorts of things. So you should ask Hajime-chan or Korekiyo-chan. They keep track of stuff like that here!" Ibuki exclaimed. "All I know is that he came here a week ago. And Ibuki also heard that he used to be at the other community, but they drove him out! Oh well. Their loss is our gain, am I right?"

"And are you sure he wasn't with anyone else? Like a deaf-dumb? Whatever they're called? Deaf-and-dummy?"

"A deaf-mute? Nope, pretty sure he came here alone. All the kids just love him!"

The girl continued to watch Gonta until he walked off out of her sight. She thought of green tea in a bottle. Of a scrawled note that said 'I'm sorry. I don't think you'll be useful to us anymore'. That was on Honshu, back in what seemed to be forever ago. She threw her shoes at them and then shot at them. She wished she had killed them, particularly that deaf-mute.

"Hiyoko-chan? Yoo-hoo? Earth to Hiyoko-chan?" Ibuki gently shook her.

Hiyoko Saionji just ignored her and watched Gonta walk off even further into the distance. She then started to smile a mean, mischievous smile.