Another Episode 11: Kojiro's Sin

"Son of a bitch…" Kojiro stared weakly at the posters on the wall. The poster was a crudely-drawn portrait of Honoka with 'Murder Bitch' written underneath. Glancing down the hallway, Kojiro could hardly count the posters.

Reaching for his briefcase, Kojiro nodded that it was time.

Shiori approached silently from behind, taking long strides like a cartoon villain. "I know you're following me."

"Hey! I was trying my hardest!" Shiori stomped her foot. "Where do you get off calling me out!?"

"Do you see what Michi has done?" Kojiro shook his head. "I seriously can't deal with these children. She cares more for her career than people."

Michi stepped into the hallway. "Really? You let someone slay your boss for what? Personal disagreements?"

Kojiro's eyebrow twitched excessively as he reared on her. "If someone covers for a ring of sex criminals, I'd want them killed. Next time…" Running a hand where his holster would normally be, Kojiro glared Michi down. "I'll do the job myself. Make it easier on small-minded fools like you."

"You can't defend justice and call out corrupt people while also skirting the law yourself. You're a hypocrite not ready to wear a badge." Michi fought back. "I'm not proud… I researched for years to catch you and all for what!? I was wrong!"

Shiori sadly stood by Michi. "Kojiro… No, Keigo-san. Why did you hide her from the public eye? You saw how cruelly she killed."

Kojiro rolled his eyes. "This is a broken record at this point. Once I reveal my own demons, no one will ever concern themselves with Honoka again."

"What does that mean?" Michi asked with a suspicious stare.

"Someone in our class is a happy-go-lucky mass murderer." Kojiro turned away. "I don't even mean Kotoko. Oh… Let me add that even Akira has a body count. So step out of my way."

Shiori asked as Kojiro began to walk away. "Did you kill?" Kojiro paused and about-faced. "Did you ever… murder someone?"

Kojiro counted the tiles on the hallway floor between them as he thought to himself. "I never stained my hands."

"That's almost worse. You put it all on that poor girl. You forced your justice on her!" Michi was disgusted with him. "Sho and you both go off about how moral what you do is… but you're not. Make excuses for criminals all you want. It makes you no better than them. Pave that road to hell and screw the both of you!"

Michi turned and ran. Kojiro sighed in defeat and began heading for the main classroom. As he did so, Shiori didn't follow.

For some reason that seemed to hurt him most of all judging by his slumped shoulders.

The door to the main classroom slammed open as Maria walked in confidently.

Across the room, Naoya, Kotoko, and Ryuu had cornered Ryoji and Aya. "You had one job."

"What do you want me to do!? Die somewhere!?" Ryoji dramatically acted out his own death.

Narutoya spoke up from the front. "I'd be in a better position if you had. This class wouldn't be here if some of us didn't make it."

"That's fucked up…" Hiro sat next to his friends. "Ryoji, man… You didn't invite me?"

"You know who you are." Ryoji said bluntly. "You have a bit of an anger problem."

Hiro looked over at Maria and Naoya. "Look at all this hitting people less than them."

"Maybe off the field…" Aya rubbed her arm as she sat across from them. "You were really mean out there yesterday!"

"How do you think I feel being left out!?" Hiro's veins bulged. "I'm the trustiest person here!" No one said a word and Hiro brought hands to his head and shouted. "Not cool, dudes!"

Maria quickly made her way to the front of the classroom, sitting in the teacher's chair and setting her legs across the top of the desk. "Aren't I good getting the news out? The school's getting boycotted as we speak. That teacher-parent meeting ain't going so well."

"Not like we had to invite our parents." Naoya responded despondently, earning a sad look from Aya and even Maria herself felt the pain in his words.

"That being said…" Maria lowered her eyes on Kotoko. "You killed people too, huh?"

Kotoko twiddled her thumbs. "I was a monster, yes. Demonic in a way. That was years ago and… and I've repented for so long."

Maria jumped up. "Once this Kojiro-Honoka business is sorted, you're next."

"Why are you like this?" Ryuu asked, more than annoyed. "You can't let anyone grow from their mistakes."

"My mistakes aren't letting girls get violated and tortured by my business partner, ya bitch. Shameful to think Honoka didn't slit your throat and save me the time." For once Maria's aggressive behavior was muted in an aura of seriousness. "I say I hate you more than the killers here."

Taka and Kicho entered the room and took their usual seats. Silence overtook the room as Maria headed back to her own seat.

Instead of the teacher opening the door when the bell rang, Kojiro stepped in. With little effort Kojiro approached the desk and knocked Maria's feet off so quickly she fell back into the chair and knocked it onto its back.

Opening up his briefcase, he pulled out several documents and began addressing the class. "I'm not going to stand by and allow a bunch of criminals act the way they do. So with my jurisdiction I forced Sho to hand over the documents or face prosecution under the law. Now I know all of your dirty secrets."

Akira sat up. "Dirty cop. Watch what you're doing."

"Step out of line and maybe you'll find yourself losing custody of the kid whose father you killed." As Akira's eyes widened and all eyes turned to her, Kojiro threw the document to Ryuu who quickly noticed the details on her list. "Akira slew Genji, the man who fathered her young child, with her own hands in a self-defense case. One I covered up from people like her." Kojiro pointed to Michi as she and Shiori entered the room from the leftmost door.

The rightmost door opened and Honoka stepped inside. "Kojiro. What are you trying to do? If they know what I am and hate me, that's fine. I deserve it for my sins."

Kojiro grinned for the first time in a long time. "If people want to act like how they've been, I'm going to even the playing field. Hiro killed Sho's brother in a skirmish on a street side and wasn't charged due to his status."

Hiro's eyes widened. "What… You can't mean…"

Aya gave him a look of betrayal. "You…you've killed…" She placed her hands over her mouth as her entire body drained of blood.

Sho nodded in confirmation. "I think Shinji chose Narutoya because he was the only person who knew of our ties. Hiro killed my homeless brother because he got harassed… I was angry but… but I put that behind me. Killing Hiro isn't something I want. I won't sacrifice him for my own petty grudges."

"Yes, he didn't kill an entire school with poison gas like Taka." Kojiro held out a newspaper detailing the deaths of an entire school body in a Sakhalin school. "Ryoji might back this one up…"

Taka's face whitened as he ripped the paper from Kojiro's hands. "Why!? Why would you throw this back in my face!? I wanted to move on!"

Kojiro gripped him by the shirt collar and lifted him up. "You don't get to walk away from mass killings. I won't report you to the police but so help me if you get any ideas I'll hang you myself!"

"Kojiro!" Honoka gripped his arm and pulled him off of Taka. "Enough."

"If you think I'll censor myself, you're wrong." Turning around, he was unable to stop Taka from throwing the briefcase out of the open window. "Hey! You can't do that! It's police property!"

Taka sprinted past him in tears and left through the door he had come in.

Maria sat up. "The more I learn, the more I curse the damn fools that invited us here. Like we all got skeletons in the closet waiting to come out."

Kotoko looked over at Naoya with a worried expression. "Naoya…"

"Yeah?" Naoya responded quickly, sensing her unease.

"Later… We need to discuss something. We need to discuss… us."

Kojiro looked at the damage he had done and bowed his head. "What I did may not be right… but for once I'm sticking to my guns." Without another word he left the room in a hurry, leaving Sho speechless and Shiori and Michi torn on whether pushing Kojiro as they had done had ended up hurting things more.

Michi turned to Honoka and bowed her head. "I'm sorry… This all started because of me. I… I've made a terrible mistake…" Falling into tears herself, she sprinted out and Shiori stood alone in the room.

Naoya stepped over and placed a gentle hand on Shiori's head, ruffling her hair. "Hey. It's okay. You need someone to talk to; my friends and I are always there." Aya and Ryuu nodded and when she realized he wasn't paying attention, Aya nudged Ryoji in the ribs and forced him to nod in confusion at what had just happened.

With tears forming, she hugged Naoya tight and hoped she could just feel safe like he had just made her one more time.

Shinji slammed his fist into the wall of the boardroom. "Damn it, Naegi! Why would I ever put my faith in an idiot!?"

"That's not wholly unfair." Togami adjusted his glasses. "This was really questionable to organize them like this. I have to ask your intentions."

Makoto turned the chair he was in around and folded his arms in front of him on the desk. "The point of reopening the school was to make up for the past and move beyond previous troubles. Any Ultimates we would have chosen, especially during Junko's tenure, would have been… problematic."

Kirigiri added as she stood by Makoto's side. "We did quite a bit of investigative work to ensure the mental health and stability of all applicants. None came up as that bad; especially compared to letting yakuza and criminals like Owada in. Most of the crimes they committed were either in self-defense or were pardoned by the new Japan National Rebuilding Party."

"The JNRP is funding this travesty so of course they want to settle it quietly instead of dealing with the fallout." Shinji shook his head. "As co-founder of the New Future Foundation, I thankfully am not limited by your constraints. If I find the party or any single group here working against the betterment of the world we've saved… I will root them out without hesitation."

"Don't go sounding like me now." Kyosuke Munakata, sporting his scars of the Tengan incident, stepped into the room. "I understand your concerns but so long as the student body is focusing on peaceful protests and not violence, we have little recourse but to stay our hand."

Cursing to himself, Shinji headed for the door. "You were right, Munakata. Talking sense into him is useless."

Munakata raised an eyebrow. "If what you said was true, you never had to come to blows with him."

"If I thought you were like the Munakata I met, I'd be standing here alone or not at all." Shinji left the room with one final warning. "I'll say this only once, Naegi. If any of my classmates suffer from your recklessness, your blood will be the first I'll spill. You and any who dare defend your hopeful idiocy."

Makoto stood up from the desk. "You know that won't solve anyone's problems."

"The old world was destroyed because people in power like us weren't held to their own standards, to their own failures. If we allow another collapse, both of us will end in the pyre. I swear on my life I'll see to that myself." Shinji stormed out of the room and Munakata and Togami shared a look meaning something lost on the others in the room.

"So who wants coffee?" Hagakure and Asahina stepped into the room oblivious to the nature of the conversation that had just ended, both smiling brightly and without any trepidation.

*Memo*

Kojiro's desire to protect only those close to him is a sentiment many care. Watch then with horror as that sentiment causes untold damage and destruction, collateral and with purpose, for what some would consider a moral way to live. Screw the world if it causes harm to me and my brood, right?

Judging others is human but it's also something outside of our ability to do without staining our hands. Perhaps I myself indulge in this sin as we sit and watch these wonderful videos together. Every time I close my eyes, the things we all did come to mind and the end result… It led me and you here.

Don't forget that. Many of you have repeated these sins already and died for it. For those who yet breathe, reckoning will come.

But it will come on my terms and my terms only.