Guess in the end updating didn't take that long after all =P Anyway, enjoy!


Kaneda was so pleased to see everyone back together again, all gathered and ready to continue doing what they were doing. He'd missed the others who'd gone home for the winter break-they were all better together, after all.

"So," Mizuki reasoned, standing at the murder board. "The first step is to get the class to our location since we're all pretty much done with that."

"We'll need to keep an eye on the warehouse as well, make sure it is not accidentally exposed before we manage to get things started," Mokomichi added.

"Ah, I'm sure we can figure something out between all of us, right?" Shino said, relaxedly. "I mean, I'm always skipping and none of you lot need to be in class anyway."

"I wouldn't be able to get away with that…." Riku pointed out. "My school's normal, and in any case my parents might start to notice. To say nothing of others I know…"

He paused, meeting the eyes of each of them cautiously. Kaneda winked at him, and he blinked before continuing on.

"I mean, the Artificial Beach isn't that out of the way from the theatre I frequent, so I can probably wrangle something on the way to and from there whenever I'm doing something with the troupe…"

Mizuki nodded to acknowledge this and then made an arrow from the first point before writing keeping an eye to prevent exposure, and then another couple of arrows to add the points Hisakawa-san bunking, Matsushita-san on the way to and from theatre. Kaneda cleared his throat and stuck his hand up, waving it madly so he would be noticed.

"I too have parents, but they're of course working late, but as long as I've not got to take care of Kagami then I'm relatively flexible in the evenings."

"And I suppose it's easy enough for me, isn't it?" Azuki sighed. "During the day, that is?"

"Those are starts, yes." Mizuki agreed as she added them to the board.

"How, exactly, are we getting them there?" Mihoko asked almost as soon as she'd finished writing. "I know we've been talking about taking advantage of the…current situation, but I'm not sure how. Are we going to be staging kidnappings and passing it off as whoever it is?"

She raised a meaningful eyebrow at this, and Kaneda studied her, before dismissing the thought. There was no way that she could know for sure, even if she suspected. Of course sooner or later they'd all know anyway but for now, there was something about them being left in the dark that he liked despite the fact that he adored them all, would continue adoring them right until his last breath. It was what it was, no sense in contemplating it too much.

"I actually liked Usui-san's idea," Mizuki answered after a pause in which she'd tapped her pen against the board. "To lure them to a place that's purported to be safe, except of course it isn't."

"Aaaand, how're we gonna do that?" Azuki asked. "I don't think people are just going to go off somewhere without the right kind of reassurances."

"But people do strange things when they are desperate, do they not?" Mokomichi asked. "If we push it right, make them feel that they have not got any choice, then of course they'll bite."

"But if the murders and disappearances drop off, then that fear factor ain't gonna be there, is it?" Shino asked.

Kaneda looked over at them, nodding cautiously even as he gave them a smile.

"Ah, things are pretty scary to the unknowing anyway-how many of us had difficulties getting into school today, after all?"

The only people who didn't nod in agreement to this were Hatsumi and Riku, for extremely obvious reasons. The former, however, was clearly bursting with a point to make:

"But it doesn't matter if anything has stopped or not. The point is if the tensions are rising, and the uncertainty is still there, then we need to make sure that they'd decide they'd rather not risking being the first in a new surge of cases or whatever."

"I have to agree," Sosuke said. "I do not think that whether the murders keep happening or not is a problem in itself, however the main issue is a more pragmatic one."

"Which is….?" Kumori asked curiously.

"Getting the message across to all the Main Course students quickly and effectively."

"An email or text, of course! Perhaps a series of them!" Hatsumi exclaimed.

This was pondered for a moment, and then Mizuki nodded as she began to write it.

"Yes, that could be a good idea, particularly if it is to the personal emails that they attached to their school accounts upon enrolment rather than the school email directly like we've been doing with Despair's Descent content. That way, it is less likely to get picked up by a teacher or technician, who would be likely to delete it as spam or report it to the authorities."

They continued to talk it through until they had a rough system of how they were going to use the messages to lure the class over, including what to do if people from other classes decided to take advantage of it. There was also the small issue of what to do with the two Class 99-A members who had siblings in the school, and it was decided that while Teruya could be taken alongside his sister to make up for the missing spot caused by Yuna's accidental death, that they would not take on Sumi. Silently, Kaneda decided that she would be amongst their future targets, once the time came. Then, it was decided that Mihoko, Azuki and Hatsumi would be responsible for managing the account they would set up from the so called 'Friend'.

"The only thing is, are people really going to be stupid enough to click on a link from a suspicious email?" Mihoko asked.

"Girl, people still fall for dating site scams on a regular basis, and that's when everything in their life is supposedly so great," Hatsumi said bitingly. "I think this will be a cinch in comparison."

"We'll adjust our plans if it turns out too many members of 99-A are sceptical," Mizuki said. "And Kang-san, you'll be able to tell us about that, won't you?"

Minah simply nodded at that, looking resolutely at the board. Kaneda resolved to remind her, every so often, and perhaps see if he could glean anything whenever he was still doing TEP sessions with her. Though of course with the other students there he'd need to be careful.

"The next step, then, is actually coordinating the abductions. I think most of us will need to be all hands on deck for those, depending on what meeting times and locations we give to whoever 'accepts'." Mizuki decided. "Does that sound fair to you?"

"There's the same issue with those of us living at home, though," Riku pointed out. "That one will be more difficult."

Shino narrowed their eyes at Riku, but Kaneda had to hand it to him. It was a pretty smart move, a good way of removing suspicion from them. Shino noticed Kaneda looking and raised an eyebrow at him too.

"But apart from you two, nobody else here lives with family members, right?" Shino asked.

"I believe that's right, yes, kouhais?"

"Yes, but some of us live in the dorms." Azuki pointed out. "That's not exactly the same as just being free to go wherever. It might be difficult to get away easily to manage eighteen different abductions."

"And yet, they still have not implemented a curfew." Sosuke remarked.

Azuki turned his head very slowly and fixed Sosuke with one of the most contemptuous looks that Kaneda had ever seen. If he wasn't still so unwilling, he'd be ruthless, Kaneda mused, but still he is loyal and that's the main thing really.

"I know that? And?"

Sosuke adjusted his glasses, still as cool as a cucumber.

"Being in the dorms is not such a problem, in itself." He said. "Whatever reasoning you use to be out at an hour considered abnormal, you can use that here, too."

Azuki just snorted, but didn't say anything else.

"Kang-kouhai, of course, will need to be one of the last, won't she, since she'll most likely be accompanying her friends," Kaneda breezily continued. Right?"

Minah lifted her head to look at Kaneda and then nodded, whispering:

"I imagine that if any of them go, they'll want to go in groups. So it won't be as many sessions as that…"

"But we'll also need more of us to be there to overpower them," Mokomichi pointed out. "Unless we can get sedatives of some sort."

"We'll need them, anyway, while keeping them the early arrivals there, won't we?" Shino remarked. "If one of them managed to get their wits about them while they were waiting that could be bad. Then again, I suppose, Usui, you could come up with something suitable, couldn't you?"

"I imagine certain children's medicines might suffice, but I can, sure."

And so they went on for a little while longer, until they had their next steps as locked in as they could make them at this stage.

"So, what about us, then?" Kumori asked quietly on the phone later.

"For now, we slow, but not stop. The number we have is quite enough, but one or two more should do it to incite the appropriate mood."

Kaneda was also quiet as he talked in the small group call, mindful of Kagami asleep in her bedroom nearby. But the extra hush was not enough to dampen his excitement.

"And Sumi Kishitani?" Shino asked.

"Oh, she can be an…additional bonus, just in case, when that time comes. In any case, for our next target…"

And as they continued to carefully whisper into the night, the excitement just grew.

Once in the safety of his apartment, Kumori finally let the breath that he'd been holding in, all the way home. He unwound the scarf he'd been wearing and lazily threw it over a coat hook before carefully unbuttoning his coat, hands now fully free to shake. When his fingertips brushed against his shirt, they came away red. He held up his hands to his face for a moment, looking at the red and then shrugged. This is justified, this is justified. Biting his lip, sucking in that breath once again, he continued with his coat until he could shrug it off, and then he studied it carefully. When he was satisfied there were no blood stains to see then he hung it up before remembering his scarf and taking it off the hooks to inspect. Relieved to see that this, too, was clean, he hung it up again, more neatly this time and then he kicked off his shoes and left them there before heading to the kitchen to grab some paper towels from his kitchen.

"Wha-what, where'd you all come from?"

No words, as they'd always done, no words unless necessary. Instead, advancing forward and watching carefully as the boy looked from one to the other to the other, eyes getting wider and wider until finally realisation dawned.

"Oh fuck, you're one of those-"

Kumori stopped, and blinked. I should change my clothes first, before I clean my shoes, he forced himself to think. Otherwise the blood will dry and it will be harder to wash. He nodded to himself, almost manically and then left the kitchen and headed straight to his bedroom to grab his pyjamas before then rushing into the bathroom. He took off blazer first and hung it on the door since it was still clean, and the same with his trousers. As his tie had been tucked into his blazer pocket before they'd gone out hunting, he then moved onto his shirt. He stared at it once it was in his hands, and then threw it into the corner of the bathroom, watching as it crumpled and settled, red and white and red and white.

I wonder, how is it they've not realised that it's us, yet?

Slowly, carefully, imagining the shirt to have retained some of the spirit of the boy whose blood stained it, he edged towards the crumpled cloth, picking it up gingerly. Of course, a shirt could not suddenly start snapping and growling, clothes did not attack their owners, but Kumori couldn't blame his if it did. Once he had it gathered in his hands, he put it in the shower, stripped off the rest of his clothes, and went mechanically through the motions of first cleaning himself, then the shirt, and then drying himself and changing into his pyjamas. He hung up the now-clean shirt on the shower curtains' pole and then took his blazer and trousers back out to his bedroom to hang out for the next day, pulling the tie out of the pocket and retrieving a new shirt to hang on the back of the door for the next day. Through all of this, he refused to look in the mirror.

And then, the phone rang.

Kumori froze. Where did I put it? Where did I put it? He flailed, casting his eyes around the bedroom frantically before remembering his schoolbag, dropped off before meet-up and almost diving towards it. Fumbling through the bag, he grasped his phone and pulled it out, sucking in a breath as through the 'incoming call' notice the lock screen photograph of Yuna beamed through. It took him more than a moment to realise that it wasn't Kaneda or Shino, or even Riku who was calling, nor any other member of the group. Instead, it was Hoshiko.

Despite himself, Kumori answered, trying to manoeuvre himself into a more comfortable sitting position as he did so.

"Onee-sama, is everything alright?"

"What, with me? Of course it is!" Hoshiko replied. "But the real question is whether or not YOU are alright."

Kumori blinked into the phone, before remembering that she could not see him.

"I am fine, why would I not be?"

"Ummm, let me see. You've lost two friends and a girlfriend this year, and there's been shit going down at your school too? Most people would be in a blubbering heap, but I know Mummy Dearest fucked you up enough that you would never admit it. Me, too, though obviously I get to get away with it, what with being the poor little sick girl. "

Hoshiko snorted, and in the background Kumori could hear a chair creaking.

"Won't she hear you?"

"Oh, she's on a shopping trip with the other sisters. I, of course, wasn't feeling up to it."

"Because…you wanted to speak to me."

"Duh. You've barely been replying to texts since Yuna died. I honestly wasn't even sure that you were going to answer this call, but I had to try."

"Well, thank you."

"Ah, Kumori, damn it!" she yelled, taking Kumori aback. "Do you know, this week Hanamori-san and Hashimoto-san got suspended? You may remember them, we went to the same elementary school?"

"I think so."

This wasn't a lie, as such, but the memories the names sparked were vague and fuzzy, unfocused things he couldn't grasp onto properly. But maybe that's just me, he considered. Maybe I am really more of a blubbering heap than I'm supposed to be. After all, this is right.

What we are doing, this is right.

"You're not going to ask what for?" Hoshiko asked.

Kumori blinked, again, and then dutifully asked the question.

"What for?"

"Vandalism, and inciting others to violence. They drew graffiti all over the school building and tried to get some people to cut class and protest because our school is pretty pro-Hope's Peak."

"Is it?" Kumori asked, idly.

" .Ri. Have you forgotten me droning on about assemblies?"

"Now you are mentioning it, I think I do. Highlighting a different Hope's Peak alumni or current student for you all to aspire to?"

"And lectures about how we'll never be SHSLs but we need to work as hard as them if we're ever going to be worth something and constantly being told that anything less than perfect is because we don't care about our lives, unlike Hope's Peak students…it's kind of ironic that they try to make us want to be wannabe Reserve Course students rather try and make it seem like being part of this school is a big deal but yeah…I guess, seeing the stuff that's been going on decided to make them try to shake things up."

"Did it work?"

"Sort of. The teachers were all rattled, but tried to lecture us by saying that Hope's Peak students would never do such a thing and that we're letting ourselves down…that's clearly not true. It's got to be a Hope's Peak student who is managing to hurt those Main Course students, right?"

"I…there's a lot of people angry at Hope's Peak right now, I believe. "

"Ah, come on, that's no real answer." Hoshiko said.

"Well…"

What would you think if you found out it was me? Would you understand?

"Though, murder is going too far, really," Hoshiko continued on. "The vandalism isn't cool either, but you know what, I can get a little onboard with that. As long as it isn't too extreme, in the end they can just clean it up and it still makes a point. And protests are fine, too. But…"

Well, I suppose that answers it.

"I suppose so, yes," Kumori lied. "But I suppose we just have to see what happens."

He wished he could explain to Hoshiko that the things that she thought were fine weren't enough. That nothing was truly enough. That it was only now that the world realised their actions had a real price that they were really seeing.

So it's worth it. It's all worth it. Kumori recalled the boy's scared face as he attempted and failed to get away from them, realising that because he'd chosen to sneak out to this game center and then try to return home through back alleys, he'd sealed his fate. The images played over, and over, as did the sounds. He tried to drown them out with the mantra that it was worth it, it was all worth it.

"Kumori! Geez, Kumori, you're really not doing okay, are you? Do you need me to sneak over sometime?"

"No!"

Almost immediately, Kumori knew that he'd been too harsh, so he backtracked.

"No, it's fine, really. I don't want you to strain yourself, and I'm studying for end-of-terms anyway. It's a good distraction, but it keeps me pretty busy. Speaking of which, I have some studying to do now, so…"

"Fine," Kumori couldn't tell whether Hoshiko believed him or not. "Okay, sure. But please answer my texts more often, okay? Or I may need to drop by."

Kumori thought immediately of the shirt, glad it was washed. Still, even something like that would be hard to explain away, he knew. The time when explanations would need to be given would come, sure, but not now. He couldn't deal with it now.

"No, please, don't worry yourself, alright?"

"I mean it, Kumori."

"I know, Onee-sama. I…sorry. I'll make sure not to worry you."

Another lie, but what did it matter, really? This, at least, seemed to soften her just a little bit and she sighed.

"No need to apologise, Kumori. Just, take care of yourself, alright?"

"Of course."

He'd never been gladder to end a conversation with his sister. Once he was hung up, he stared at his phone's lock screen, and then unlocked it again so that he could look at the photograph again. He brushed his finger against the picture of Yuna's face.

You're like Hoshiko-Onee-sama, aren't you? I know that you wouldn't like all of this, either. For that. I'm sorry. But not for anything else.

Never, for anything else.

I suppose in a way, I'm sorry for that, too.

Kumori sighed and shook his head, then locked the phone again and slowly got up. As he'd told his sister, there were things to do. He supposed he may as well do them to pass the time until the next step.

Mihoko tapped lightly at the keys of her laptop, though not hard enough to make any letters. Instead, she stared at the blank message box, the blinking cursor. The section for recipient filled with the email group for 'All Main Course Students'. She knew exactly what she had to write, they'd gone through it enough times, but all the same she needed to pause and think. She had already written 'Despair's Descent' website, promising more and more 'despair' now that it was 2033. There was just this. An apparent saviour promising to help, when in fact the saviour and despair were one and the same.

Ah, just get on with it.

Mihoko shook her head, angry at herself, and then started typing, this time furiously pounding. She only paused long enough to skim for spelling mistakes before she sent it, signed out of the email account and then exited the private browser.

Then, she let out a breath.

Dear friends, she had written. Dear friends of Hope's Peak, are you scared by what is happening? I'm worried too, seeing all of you lovely young people get picked off one by one by those who cannot bear to see anyone above us, and I do not want it to keep happening. I fear, though, that these criminals have more power than we would expect, especially as the police have done nothing to apprehend them yet. It is why I approach you like this, anonymously, with the only solution I can think of:

A private hideaway.

I have resources to keep you hidden from the world while Despair's Descent are still at large. Some may encourage you to go home to your family or friends, to appeal to the police. But I worry that such obvious connections could easily be exploited, no matter how robust they seem. After all, who are Despair's Descent, really? None of us know. The brother or sister, father or mother you confide in, how do you not know that despite their outward supportiveness, that secretly they resent you being better than they could ever be? No, to ensure your safety, you have to lie completely low, trust nobody but your fellow Talenteds and me.

I have the answer, but you will need to prove your mettle more than ever to be able to access it. If you are no longer willing to let your life be risked, then please click on this link to register your interest, and then I will send you the instructions on how to find this hideaway at the soonest convenience. There, you will be safe and cared for, and when the world has finally righted itself you will be able to return triumphantly.

All I ask is that you tell no-one but others like you. If you do, the information could fall into the wrong hands, and all our lives will be jeopardised. If you don't want that, then you know what you need to do.

Otherwise, I wish you luck surviving.

Yours sincerely,

A Friend

'A Friend' would keep sending messages, bombarding the Main Course students, preying on their fears. In this day and age most people knew to not click links from suspicious emails, but the hope was such defense would be weakened by the onslaught. Mihoko wasn't sure if it'd really work, but she supposed that in the end it was not entirely her problem. She'd kicked it off, the others would sustain it, and then she would be there in the background pulling the threads together to kick-start the finale.

And, she thought as she turned to the solace of the written word, heaped in a struggling pile next to her laptop, if I end up going down then I shall take it all with me.