"Hey… please be careful". Sonia grabbed Hajime's arm before he and Nagito could run off towards the hotel, the three of them made their way to the hotel grounds since the hotel and cottages were close to each other. Peko, Fuyuhiko, Mikan and TeruTeru went to the airfield together as well since the warehouse was there too. Ibuki and Hiyoko decided to check the beach first, they thought it would be quicker than the marina, so they wanted to get it out of the way.

"If you can… please don't hurt Gundham and don't get yourself killed, we'd all be very sad. Especially Akane. If you find them… please be careful".

"Don't worry Sonia, I'll be fine".

"You too Nagito, be careful".

"You're sweet to worry, but it's okay. We'll be careful". There was reassurance in his voice, Mikan's antidote must be working perfectly. After those words were said, Hajime and Nagito left Sonia by the cottages.

They headed into the lobby and saw that nobody was there, that just left the restaurant. Hajime and Nagito headed up the stairs and saw that the restaurant was a complete mess. Many tables were broken in half, cutlery was spread across the floor and some knives looked up they were thrown into the wall, even the windows were cracked. The two boys feared the worst until they saw Akane on the floor, knocked out and covered in bruises. It looked like she took one hell of a beating. Mahiru was nowhere to be seen.

"AKANE!" Hajime couldn't help but be worried, he ran straight to her to see if she was breathing, thankfully she was. Nagito looked around and found Mahiru in the kitchen, all curled up in the corner.

"Mahiru, what happened? Are you okay?" instead of saying anything, Mahiru pointed to something behind him. When he turned around, Nekomaru was standing there. Before Nagito could react, Nekomaru hit him with a backhand hard enough to make him go flying across the room, slamming into the wall. Knocking him out instantly.

"NAGITO!" Hajime was shocked at what he just witnessed, Nekomaru showed up out of nowhere, without anyone noticing. He must have been hiding somewhere. Hajime was all alone, with a Despair filled Nekomaru. Mahiru is so scared that she couldn't move and Nagito and Akane were out of commission. It's one on one, Hajime had to take on Nekomaru until someone else could arrive. He knew he was going to get hurt, but he refused to run, he wasn't training all this time with Akane for nothing.

The warehouse was massive, so finding specifics things are bound to be difficult. Luckily, this wasn't their first time exploring the building, so they knew where everything they needed would be located. Rope was the only thing TeruTeru was looking for, Mikan thought it would be a good idea to make more of the antidote so she can use it on Nekomaru and Gundham when they're found. Five minutes later, TeruTeru found the rope, but that's not all he found. He saw a briefcase made out of duralumin, somehow it looked familiar to him. When he opened it, he was two jars. One was filled with a green liquid and the other was filled with a pink liquid. He immediately remembered what the pink jar did back at Hope's Peak Academy, it was an aphrodisiac. Then he turned his attention to the green jar, a smile formed on his face.

"This might be useful; I better finish up here and get this rope to Hajime. I better tell Mikan and then I'll head to the hotel". He said as he put the jar in his uniform as well as throwing the rope over his shoulder. "Mikan! When you're done, go to the hotel and find Hajime!"

"Okay, I guess I'll meet you there".

Kazuichi barricaded the door to make sure nobody could get in or out, afraid of Gundham or Nekomaru possibly coming back to the control room. Hopefully. It never comes to that. Suddenly, a box attached to the wall on the opposite side of the pods caught his attention. "What is that?"

He noticed a handle and pulled it out of curiosity, opening the box and revealing a switch and a small remote. Kazuichi hesitated at first but couldn't help but pull the switch. The wall next to the box started to split in half and open up until it came to a complete stop, revealing the outside. Kazuichi didn't know what to think, was this here the whole time? That would mean they broke down the door after Nagito's escape and it wasn't necessary. He felt like am idiot. He was just about to slap himself when he heard a squeaking noise, coming from one of the pods. Gundham's pod to be specific.

"Holy shit, Gundham's hamsters". All four of them were there. San-D, Jum-P, Maga-Z and Cham-P. he had no idea what to do, until an idea crossed his mind. "Maybe you guys could help Gundham snap out of it, I better take you guys to Miss Sonia, Gundham should listen to her. Before I go, I should take that remote with me. It must be another way to open and close that door." He made sure to test the remote while he was on his way to the cottages, thankfully it worked. The giant door that almost resembled a hangar closed and he was ready to leave. The cottages were pretty close so getting to Sonia shouldn't be a problem unless he ran into Gundham or Nekomaru. If that were to happen, then Kazuichi would be screwed. It's not like he could fight, he's not Akane, Hajime or Nekomaru. Even without a sword, Peko can still defend herself and Fuyuhiko at the same time, he just had to hope that he could get to Sonia before Gundham or Nekomaru could.

Nekomaru wasn't pulling his punches, he was trying to severely hurt Hajime. luckily for him, Nekomaru hadn't been able to land a single punch. But he can't get cocky, one mistake and he'll be in big trouble. Fighting a man who's hellbent on killing you… you can't afford to make a mistake. A lot of blocking and evading, but he didn't see an opening. He had no choice, he had to throw a punch eventually, might as well do it now. It landed and was strong enough to push Nekomaru a few steps back, Hajime was in control now. Punch after punch, Nekomaru couldn't evade or block them. Until Hajime was able to knock Nekomaru to the floor.

"… Hajime?" Akane seemed to be awake, but barely able to move. Her voice was so soft, but Hajime was still able to hear her. The moment he did, he turned his attention to her. Not the smartest thing to do while in the middle of a fight, but he was concerned. But he turned back towards Nekomaru pretty quickly so he wouldn't get jumped from behind.

Before Hajime could make a move, he felt a slightly dizziness hit him out of nowhere. He felt like he was about to pass out, the syringe Nagito used on him earlier is already taking effect. He could barely stand up straight. Akane saw how he was acting and didn't know what was going on. She used a nearby table in order to get back on her feet. But she fell to her knees cause of how much pain she was in. her expression went from annoyed to terrified once she saw someone standing behind Hajime.

Hajime felt something go around his neck but wasn't fast enough to react when someone started to pull on the fabric around his neck. That fabric was a scarf and he immediately recognised it, not only does Hajime have to deal with Nekomaru and the effects of the syringe that was injected into him earlier, but now he has to deal with Gundham too. Nekomaru was getting up and he was carrying something in his right hand. A kitchen knife, if things weren't bad before, they're terrible now. He can feel himself getting weaker and weaker, Hajime tried to escape but Gundham was pulling the scarf, trying to choke him. He couldn't do anything except pull the scarf in order to loosen the grip around his neck. He almost succeeded, until he felt a massive amount of pain coming from his stomach. He looked down and saw a knife protruding out of his body. Nekomaru stabbed him while he was distracted.

"HAJIME!" Akane felt tears running down her face, she needed to do something, now. But she could hardly get up.

Nekomaru pulled the knife out of Hajime and stabbed him again in the same place, causing him to bleed A LOT. But the pain wasn't as bad as before because he used one hand to grab the knife as it was being stabbed into him, trying to lesson the impact. Meanwhile, his other hand was pulling on the scarf in order to prevent passing out by strangulation. Hajime kicked Nekomaru in the gut in order to push him back, it gave him enough time to pull the knife out and cut through the scarf. He was free. Once he caught his breath and threw the knife across the room, he turned around and saw that Gundham disappeared. Once Hajime turned his attention back to Nekomaru, he got punched right in his stab wound, causing him to start coughing up blood. Nekomaru then held him by his tie and punched him right in the face. He let go and just watched Hajime fall to the ground.

It looked like Nekomaru was about to continue the beat down, until he heard Akane's voice. "HEY… LEAVE HIM ALONE!" That definitely caught his attention. But something else caught his attention.

"Akane!... catch!" TeruTeru was at the top of the stairs, signalling to Akane. She saw him throw something and even though she was hardly able to stand, she was able to catch it, it was a jar filled with a green liquid and Akane immediately realized what it was. She smiled as she opened it and chugged it like her life depended on it, technically it did. Akane felt the effects right away and in no time flat, she started to grow intense muscles that matched Nekomaru. Suddenly all the pain she felt before was just gone, she felt nothing but complete power.

"This is it… it's going to end here… I'm FINALLY going to beat you!"

"Miss Sonia! I need to show you something!" Kazuichi had just arrived at the cottages, hoping to find Sonia. If anyone would know what to do with Gundham's hamsters, it would have to be Sonia.

"Kazuichi? Aren't you supposed to be in the control room?" She seemed already annoyed by him just being there, but if it's something important then she had no choice but to hear him out.

"Look".

"A-Are those… Gundham's hamsters!?"

"Yeah. They were sleeping in Gundham's pod alongside him, I figured he might listen to you if he sees you with his… Four Dark Devas of Destruction, jeez… that's annoying to say".

"…Thank you Kazuichi, we might be able to help Gundham now".

Kazuichi felt really good after making Sonia smile, but that was cut short when he saw the lobby doors open. A familiar face walked through and locked eyes with the two of them, it was Gundham. His scarf was much shorter than it usually was, but that was thanks to Hajime. apparently he jumped over the railing to get down the stairs faster, he must have been hiding in the lobby after his scarf was basically cut in half. He hid so well that TeruTeru didn't see him while making his way up the stairs, only leaving his hiding spot when TeruTeru was in the restaurant. Sonia slowly approached him with the Four Dark Devas of Destruction in hand, he definitely noticed and started to stare at her hands.

"Gundham… please stop this… we're here to help you, please… let me help you". Gundham's eyes were full of Despair and Kazuichi couldn't help but keep his distance, Sonia was the exact opposite. She wanted to help him, even if it meant putting herself in danger.

Everything was going well, until the lobby doors opened once again. This time two people left the building. TeruTeru and Mahiru, he was helping her out of the kitchen while Akane was keeping Nekomaru busy. Going across the room wasn't possible, so he couldn't help Nagito or Hajime. Gundham turned around and stared daggers at TeruTeru. Before Gundham could do anything, Peko and Fuyuhiko tackled him out of nowhere, surprising everyone there. They pinned him down while Mikan leaned down and injected a syringe into Gundham's arm. A few seconds later, Gundham passed out. He was no longer a threat.

"Where'd you guys come from?"

"While we were searching the airfield, we ran into Mikan. She was carrying a bunch of needles and said they would help get Nekomaru and Gundham under control, so the three of s came here hoping to find one or the other. Glad we got here before he could do anything".

"Mahiru… are you okay? W-What happened?" Mikan ran to her side, helping TeruTeru hold her up.

"Akane needs help… Nagito's been knocked out, Hajime's badly hurt… please help her. She's on her own. If we don't help… Nekomaru will kill her. TeruTeru and I will take Gundham to his cottage so he can rest. The rest of you go and help Akane".

Nothing but anger can be heard in Akane's voice as she continuously threw punches at Nekomaru. He dodged a lot of those punches, but she was able to land most of them. For every two punches Nekomaru lands, Akane lands five in retaliation. But something felt different as she felt that either she has gotten stronger or he has gotten weaker. It seems all that training paid off, he was still a challenge but if this was back in the virtual world, Nekomaru would have won by now, since Akane wasn't as strong as she is now.

Every punch she landed got harder and harder, she was actually trying to hurt him. This went on for awhile until she decided to attack his legs, which caused him to fall to his knees. Akane took advantage of the situation and kneed him in his chin, making him fall back onto the ground. She then reached down and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling nothing but his upper body off the floor. Without a word, she clenched her fist and started punching Nekomaru with all her might. The look in her eyes, it's almost as if… she wanted to kill him. Anger and frustration, that's all she felt. When she stopped the assault, Nekomaru was unconscious but for Akane in her state of mind… it wasn't enough.

Akane stood up and went over to the knife and returned to the unconscious Team Manager, holding the knife in both hands as she thought about what the right thing to do was. Unfortunately, she was too angry to think. Her eyes resembled Nagito's from the first trial. She took the knife, closed her eyes and plunged the knife into Nekomaru's chest. At least that's what she thought.

At this point in time, the green liquid Akane drank earlier had run it's course and she didn't have muscles like Nekomaru anymore, so not much strength went into the stabbing. When Akane heard a grunting noise that didn't match Nekomaru's tone, she opened her eyes, only to be horrified with what she saw. It was Hajime, he grabbed the blade before it could touch a hair on Nekomaru's body. It looks like he saw the whole thing go down and tried to drag himself over to her the moment he saw her with the knife in her hands. His left hand was holding his stomach as it continued to bleed while his right hand was holding the blade of the knife, causing his hand to bleed since it cut him the moment he grabbed it.

"W-WHAT ARE YOU!?"

"It's okay… *cough*… you did it, you… won". After saying that, Hajime collapsed.

"H-HAJIME!?... HAJIME!" Akane threw the knife away and held him in her arms. "PLEASE… WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

Fuyuhiko, Peko, Sonia, Mikan and Kazuichi made it to the restaurant, they couldn't believe what they saw. Sonia was shocked and started to cry, Peko felt guilty that she couldn't get here sooner, Mikan also started to cry, Fuyuhiko was trying to fight off the tears and Kazuichi couldn't help but shiver. They couldn't do anything, they felt useless.

"HAAJJIIMMEE!"