Mukuro Ikusaba relaxed in the hot springs. Her little sister's plan was coming along, but her mind wasn't fully invested. True, she had helped her convince Hajime to do the surgery by threatening Mikan, but she wished she could be more helpful. Maybe she would check in with her big brother soon. Just then she heard two voices. She sighed with annoyance and watched as Kyoko Kirigiri and Sayaka Maizono also entered the hot spring area.

"I really don't have time to relax, Maizono," Kyoko said. "I should be investigating more."

"Saihara will contact you if he needs help or finds something important. Besides, you need to rest your mind too and some girl bonding is never a bad thing." Sayaka said with a giggle.

Just then, the two of them saw Mukuro in the hot spring as well. Mukuro stood up, "I will leave so you two can have some privacy."

However, Sayaka stopped her. "You can stay too! We can all talk about the boys in our class we like." Mukuro and Kyoko just looked at each other while Sayaka smiled.

Ryota asked, "An Anime that can brainwash people?"

"Saionji and I both were shown a sad video, but there was more to it, like something in the back of our minds was telling us to enjoy it," Mahiru admitted.

"It was very creepy." Hiyoko groaned.

"We were wondering if you knew about any technology like that or any way to counteract it?" Chiaki asked.

Ryota sighed and looked down at the ground, "I don't, but Mitarai might."

"Why are you talking in the third person?" Mahiru asked.

Hiyoko smirked, "Maybe too much anime rotted his brain."

Ryota looked up suddenly, overcome with a stern decision. "I'm...not the real Ultimate Animator." He looked up at Chisa, who seemed to be the only one not shocked.

"What?"

"How's that even possible?"

After countless questions, the three girls looked to their teacher, who asked, "Are you sure?"

"You are all my classmates and friends. I need to help any way I can." He pulled off his mask, and someone they didn't recognize stood in front of them. "I came to this school as the Ultimate Imposter. My talent is I can look like anyone."

Chiaki, Hiyoko, and Mahiru were speechless for a bit. But Chisa managed to get over her shock quickly enough. She smiled warmly at her student, "I'm glad you trust your classmates this much. It's nice to meet the real you after all this time."

"The same for you, but we shouldn't wait too long. We'll save the other introductions for later."

"Yes, of course...What is there more to know?" Chisa asked.

The Imposter said, "I can't seem to get a hold of the Real Mitarai. Tsumiki and I have been helping him stay healthy cause he gets tunnel-visioned about his project and doesn't eat."

"What was his project?" Chiaki asked.

"An anime to make people happy..."

"That sounds like the opposite of what happened here-oh." Chiaki's mind went blank, and she suddenly remembered.

Hiyoko seemed to get her drift. "Unless a blonde bitch got a hold of it and twisted it to her own liking..."

Peko Pekoyama paced back and forth in the classroom while Fuyuhiko and Natsumi watched. She was making the both of them nervous.

"Stop going back and forth like that," Fuyuhiko ordered. "You're making me dizzy."

"I'm sorry, but everything that has been going on has me on edge," Peko replied.

Natsumi held her arms as if that could comfort herself "I know what she means. The bitch that tried to kill me offed herself on video just so she could brainwash Koizumi. It's..."

"It's fucked up," Fuyuhiko said.

"Whoever hooked up the monitors and camera at the museum to broadcast that video have to have powerful connections." Peko thought about her answer.

"The only people that have that kind of connection that I know of besides our family is the Togami Family. Well, them and some other clans probably…" Natsumi offered.

"Wait for just a second," Fuyuhiko stopped her, "The heir to the Togami family has just started in the class below us. Maybe we could…"

Peko asked, "Should I investigate him?"

With worry in his eyes, Fuyuhiko looked over to his vassal. He knew that she would be taking a risk either way, but he nodded his head. "Yeah, just...just be careful."

Back in the hot spring, the three girls were trying to relax but Kyoko and Mukuro were trying to ignore each other. Oblivious to the tension Sayaka asked with a cheeky smile, "So is there a boy you both have an eye on?"

"I don't have time for romance," Mukuro paused, "However, I have talked to a male student. It wasn't anything like what you're thinking, though."

Sayaka smiled more, directly ignoring her statement. "He must be special to catch your eye." She turned to Kyoko "What about you, Kirigiri?"

"I don't like to form connections. I did once, and I paid the price." Kyoko looked at the glove on her hand. "Besides if I ever have to investigate someone I have connections to, they might try to influence me."

"So then there is no one you like then?" Sayaka asked.

Kyoko remembered her time in the garbage. She had literally fallen into Makoto's arms, an embarrassing position for someone like her to be in, but she couldn't say she hated it completely. There was something about Makoto she felt she could trust. In fact, that's what worried her the most. He was almost too trusting, and she was worried about him. She knew how cruel this world could be when you were as naive as he seemed to be, and part of her didn't want him to get hurt. She remembered the conversation they had.

FLASHBACK

Makoto and Kyoko sat side by side next to the ladder, and Kyoko pulled out a granola bar and handed it to Makoto. "Here, if we want to keep our energy up, we need some food."

"Oh, thank you!" Makoto took the bar and started eating some. "So how long have you wanted to be a detective?"

"I've always been a detective."

"So you have always wanted to be a detective?"

"It's not about what I want. I just always have been one."

"But didn't you have any other dreams growing up?" Makoto asked.

Kyoko sighed, "My family doesn't follow silly things like dreams. We just focus on the truth."

Though he was disappointed, Makoto continued. "When I was younger, I wanted to be a trapeze artist. Flying through the circus tent sounded like fun."

"So why didn't you pursue that?"

Makoto blushed, "I was a little scared of heights, so I always froze up when climbing the ladders."

"...Are you going to have trouble climbing this ladder?"

"I'm not going to lie. I am nervous, but as long as I don't look down, I should be ok. Besides, if I don't, I won't get out of here." Makoto set his head on his palm.

Kyoko took a bite out of her bar and said, "Fine. When I was younger, I thought about being a magical girl like Sailor Moon once."

Makoto glanced over towards her, "Woah, that's crazy!"

Kyoko glanced away, "See? It's pointless."

"No, no-" Makoto laughed, "I don't think that at all! In fact, I think it's actually pretty great."

"...You think so?"

"Yeah, I do." Though she didn't want to admit it, Makoto was so sincere that it hurt.

After resting and eating, the two stood up and prepared to climb the ladder.

Ladies first!" Makoto pipped.

Kyoko shook her head and said, "I don't think so."

"But why?"

Kyoko looked down. "Because I'm wearing a skirt, that's why."

"Oh...Right...Sorry…" Makoto replied, turning bright red.

They started climbing the ladder up out of the trash area.

Makoto said, "Thank you by the way, for coming down after me. I, uh, saw that you grabbed the edge of the trash chute. You could have pulled yourself out, but you chose to follow me down here."

Kyoko said, "Like you said when we first met. We are classmates after all. We have to help each other out."

END OF FLASHBACK

Kyoko had never told anyone about her childhood fantasies before, but for some reason she felt she could trust him. Finally she admitted the truth, "There is someone here who seems trustworthy...if I was into dating."

Mahiru asked, "So what do we call you?"

The Ultimate Imposter said, "I don't know the name I was given at birth. I've always just gone by the name of the person I was impersonating."

"Well since we have always known you as Mitari, how about we call you Mitarai 2.0?" Chiaki pondered out loud.

Hiyoko rolled her eyes and replied, "Leave it to the gamer geek to come up with a lame name."

Mahuri smiled and replied, "If you are insulting people again, you must be back to normal."

Chiaki hugged Hiyoko and said, "I never thought I'd be happy to hear your foul mouth again."

Hiyoko enjoyed the hug, but she still had an image to uphold. "Ew, don't get your gamer cooties on me!"

Chisa told The Ultimate Imposter, "Maybe you should put your mask back on, since the school knows you by that face for now."

"You are probably right, Miss Yukizome," he replied, putting the Ryota mask back on.

"Well, what is our first objective?" Mahiru asked.

"Well, we need to find the real Mitarai to figure out if there is a way to counteract the brainwashing…" Chiaki thought about her next words, "We also need to rescue Tsumuki before she is corrupted, too."

"Oh, I should inform Kirigiri that Saionji has been found, since she was on the job…" Chisa said.

"We should call Hinata too. The three of us split up to find Hiyoko when she was missing." Chiaki nodded.

Hyoko asked, "The three of you?"

"Komaeda is back, didn't you know?"

Makoto was eating his lunch and minding his own business, when someone accidentally bumped into him. "Oh, sorry!" Makoto looked up to see a boy with white hair and a calm smile looking down at him.

The white-haired boy said, "It's totally my fault! I'm not worthy standing in the presence of a talented student like yourself."

"I don't have talent, not really." Makoto laughed it off.

"Then why are you wearing the uniform of a main course student and not one of the uniforms of the talentless losers in the reserve course?"

Makoto was put back by this, "That's kind of rude, but It's because I am in the main course. I don't have talent or anything, I just got an invite by lottery."

The boy was immediately disappointed, "Oh, you are just like me then."

"You got in the school via lottery, too?"

"Yup, I was lucky enough to be here with the truly great, even though I'm almost as lowly as the talentless masses."

Makoto frowned, "That isn't nice... Everyone deserves to be treated with respect."

Nagito responded with a sad smile, "Oh, but you are wrong. The talentless are but stepping stones for the hope of the talented to shine. You remind me of my class rep Nanami. She too has misplaced hope for the talentless, but that's what makes her a beacon of hope that shines to light our class. Her beliefs that everyone matters, even trash like me, will move the world forward toward hope."

Makoto nodded while smiling innocuously, secretly thinking, "Man, and I thought I was hard on myself."

Yasuke Matsuda finished up the surgery and stitched back up Hajime's head. Mikan took the surgical equipment from him and took it to be cleaned. She looked over at Hajime lying there, praying that he would be alright. It was incredibly stressful. She felt relieved it was over, but terrified of what would happen next.

Yasuke took off his scrubs and left the room. Once he did, Mikan ran back over to Hajime's side to see if there was any sign of him waking up.

As Yasuke went to leave the changing area, a voice responded, "Matsuda-Kun, you looked so hot poking around in that boy's brain."

Yasuke sighed, "Enoshima, I thought you might be lurking near here."

Junko came out of the shadows and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Well, of course I would want to watch my sweet Matsuda in action!"

"Oh, and you weren't planning on replacing me with Kamakura over there?"

Junko acted innocent, "Whatever do you mean?"

He replied, "Your ditzy act may work with everyone else but I've known you since we were kids. You wanted him to have the surgery so he could be on your analytical prowess level."

She told him with a small smile, "Hey I'm just using him for his brains. You still have my heart."

Matsuda's eyes grew dark, "Why does it scare me to think you actually do love me?"

Meanwhile, Mikan was still sitting by Hajime's bed when he opened his eyes. She noticed they weren't his normal beautiful color, but now a dark red. "A-Are you okay, Hinata? I was so worried about you!" She went to embrace him tightly, tears in her eyes, when he stopped her.

Hajime sat up and took a small glance around the room, and then back at her. His eyes were almost lifeless. It scared her. With almost no effort he opened his mouth to ask her, "Who are you?"