This chapter gets intense. Buckle up and prepare the tissues :creepy sideways face:

Kumori had not turned up.

He had not turned up, and he had not sent a message. Kaneda had tried to call him, Mokomichi and Shino had tried to call him, but there had been no answers to those, nor to any messages they'd sent. In the end, they'd decided to go on ahead anyway. Mokomichi had wanted to tell Mizuki straightaway but Kaneda had managed to hold him back, all too aware that his absence could be down to their pact, their little side plan. It wasn't quite time for the rest of the group to know just how helpful they'd been, not just yet. Soon.

I'll have to go and check on him after this, Kaneda thought as they snuck down the corridor, but after I've gotten back for Kagami. Their parents hadn't come home the night before, no doubt bogged down with everything that was going on, especially the riots that had started to flare up in the wake of the graveyard being revealed. It was his responsibility to therefore make sure that she was fed and watered and ready for school…once this was done.

Leading the way for Mokomichi's benefit, Kaneda headed the same way they had before all those months ago on the rescue mission that had never been. Though, really, it was a rescue of a sort, wasn't it? Living wouldn't have been worth anything in a state like that. Kaneda shook the thought away, reminding himself to focus-

"Quick!"

Kaneda barely had time to flail as suddenly, Shino dragged him and Mokomichi into a cupboard.

"There's someone coming….let's wait and see…"

All crammed up, they shuffled around, trying to find a way to all be able to peer out of the small crack, and Kaneda found himself crouching right at the bottom, peering out. Was that a….

"Shino?" he murmured.

"Yeah, I see what you see. Lab coat, gotta be one of them." They muttered quickly. "Even if not specifically, then they work for them, which is good enough."

"We doing it then?" Mokomichi whispered.

At that moment, Kaneda could see the legs pause, and then turn, the shoes almost pointing in their direction. He tensed, holding his breath as the shoes started to move, cautious at first, but then starting to speed up. Kaneda held his breath as he watched, them, and almost let the breath out in relief when Shino poked his back and muttered.

"Now."

The three of them burst out of the cupboard and practically threw himself at the man, who barely had time to turn around and gasp with shock before they had toppled him. He wriggled, bringing to mind a fish on land, but it was clear that the man was no fighter. He wasn't one of the advisors, or at least he looked a couple decades younger than the old men that Kaneda knew of, but it was as Shino said-he still worked for them, so this was good enough.

Quickly, Kaneda took out the scarf from his pack and tied it around the advisor's mouth tightly, making sure there was no opportunity for him to pull it down with the aid of his teeth. Shino then tied his hands together behind his back.

"I'm not tying your legs, but that's because you need to walk. But if you try anything…"

"Either way," Kaneda half-sung. "We won't be the ones who kill you, in the end."

They man whimpered slightly at this, and looked up searchingly at them. Of course, because they were all balaclava-ed up, there was nothing there for him to see. The man whimpered again, but then nodded slowly.

"Oh good, I'm glad we understand each other." Kaneda laughed. "let's get him up."

With Shino being the one to lead their way, Mokomichi and Kaneda hauled the man up. Though he wasn't particularly large, he was still heavy and Kaneda struggled initially to keep a hold of him. But the further they went, the easier it was.

"Oh shit," Shino murmured. "It's getting light now, we're really going to have to make a break for it."

"We're close to the forest though, right?" Mokomichi asked.

"It's gonna be harder with the trees cut down though." Shino countered.

"It's fine," Kaneda said. "He's not going to hamper us, otherwise…"

The man whimpered again, and Kaneda marvelled at how easily scared he was. He had expected people who willingly and happily experimented on teenagers to be made of stronger stuff. Expected them to be nothing but steel, right down to the core. But yet here this person was, as tremblingly terrified as any other person.

"You should be scared," Kaneda said. "This is nothing though, compared to what you've done. And even so, it is nothing less than what you deserve. Come on."

There was no conversation as they got to the doorway, and no further complications. The man did not make any attempts to break away or to raise the alarm, and no security guards came by either. Kurogane-kouhai, just where are you? Indeed, because of that, their exit was almost entirely smooth. When they got outside, once Shino had quickly scouted around to make sure that nobody was in the vicinity, they practically whizzed the distance from the entrance to the forest, trying to minimise the amount of time they were in light, but not letting up once they were in a more concealed part of the forest.

"Alright," Shino puffed. "Let's pause a moment."

"Why?" Mokomichi asked.

Shino simply grinned and took off their bag, dumping out the signs and stickers they had compiled together with the intention of attaching them to their hapless victim once they'd gotten around to tying him to the front.

"Would it not be easier to just do them once we're over the fence?"

"Ah, well….ahah…." Shino shrugged. "Oh, what the hell, let's do it now. Yamashita, you hold him in place."

The man instantly made muffled, horrified noises, his pale eyes bulging, but Kaneda paid him no heed as he and Shino picked up some of the signs, and the stapler to attach them to his clothes.

I AM A MURDERER

I KILLED THESE STUDENTS

I HELPED TO DO UNETHICAL EXPERIMENTS

I THREATENED CHILDREN

I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR HOPE'S PEAK FALLING

I STOLE THE LIVES OF THESE PEOPLE

THE IZURU KAMUKURA PROJECT IS REAL.

And then, for the final touch, a placard on a rope that Kaneda placed reverently around the man's neck, stepping back to admire it. This one had no words, simply a series of photographs-smiling faces of teenagers, each one matched with an image of each teenager dead, weakened and diminished in a hospital bed in darkness. Stills from the footage they'd taken on that night. He knew it was a disrespect, and as someone with connections to law enforcement he would have been appalled in any other circumstances, really. But this was different.

After all, it was Hope's Peak who had committed the first wrong, who had committed all the wrongs. Everything they were doing was to expose that, to redress the balance. Therefore, it was right.

Kaneda smiled at the effect, and though he knew the man would not see it he hoped that it was sensed, all the same.

"Alright," Kaneda said. "Let's go!"

As agreed, Mokomichi climbed over the fence first. Then Shino and Kaneda between them managed to lift push the man over the fence. There was a thud and a deep groan, but then Mokomichi called over to confirm that he'd caught the man, and it was at that point that Shino and Kaneda quickly jumped over together. Kaneda and Mokomichi took their positions, and Shino manoeuvred back in front, and they began the next part of their journey, exiting out of the alleyway and to the front of the school when-

"POLICE! STOP WHERE YOU ARE!"

Needless to say, none of them stopped. Abruptly letting go of the advisor and roughly shoving him to the ground, the three of them scattered in different directions as fast as they could. Kaneda ran past the two adults he instantly pegged as detectives, one of whom was apparently calling over others to attend to the advisor who spluttered as one of them freed him from the gag.

"They just…they just attacked me, in the school corridors, I think they were waiting for me." The advisor said, sounding all wavery and horrified.

"Were there witnesses, sir?"

"N-no, not that I know of-"

Of course there weren't, Kaneda thought, aware that now he was running down the street, a street that was now starting to fill with people. He knew, however, that once they realised something was going on, the crowds would come. And sure enough, he was starting to hear the swell of curious murmurs and babbles, and police trying to tell people to step aside. Kaneda kept going, then swerved to avoid a passer-by…only to abruptly to trip over.

Luckily he was able to break his fall, but no sooner than he had managed to do that that suddenly, he felt his arms being pulled behind his back.

"You, young man, are coming with me!"

Kaneda tried to land a blow, but the detective caught it easily and grabbed Kaneda's arms behind him. Hearing clinking it soon became clear that he was about to be handcuffed, so Kaneda writhed and tried to get out of the detective's grip, but it turned out that he had a very strong hold and soon Kaneda felt the cool metal of the handcuffs around his wrist. As Kaneda struggled to get free, the detective marched him back down the road.

"I've got one!" the detective called over to where a number of detectives and officers were standing, trying to control the crowds. "Did you manage to catch the other two?"

"No, they're gone!"

At that, Kaneda slumped in relief, and stopped struggling. Well, that at least is something. He no longer resisted being manhandled and allowed himself to be led towards a car that he assumed was the detective's, though it looked like a uniformed officer behind the wheel.

"Oh well, at least we've got one of them. You're coming with us, son."

"Well, I know that!" Kaneda said cheerily. "You've already arrested me, haven't you?"

"That's….come on, young man. We'll be getting to the bottom of this, trust me."

Though the detective was holding rather tightly onto Kaneda's arm as he marched him out to the car, Kaneda smiled, completely unfazed as the crowds stared, alternating between him and the sight of the whimpering advisor being talked to by other officers. Even from here, Kaneda could see the notices that they'd stapled to his coat and hung around his neck and he knew that all the onlookers with their bugged-out eyes and their phones and cameras out to aid their gawking saw it all too. He hoped that in particular, they would look at the photographs of the dead teenagers displayed so blatantly. So he supposed that in the end, this was more than fitting. Alright, so he was not going to be chained to the gates and left to the mercy of the anger of all the wronged, but that didn't mean he'd get away scot free. No, no way at all. The world would see. The world would understand.

He kept smiling as he was manoeuvred into the backseat, and the detective got in next to him, while an officer got into the driver's seat. Almost immediately, he looked out of the window to keep watching.

"I have no idea what you're smiling about," the detective remarked. "The consequences for what you've done to that man alone are going to be heavy, and if this has any connection with the murders you'll be looking at a long, long sentence."

"Oh, I know that." Kaneda cheerily said, unfazed.

He briefly thought of mentioning his parents-he was glad, at least, that they were not the ones attending this scene-but decided against it. Apart from making sure Kagami was alright, that didn't really matter. None of this really mattered.

Everything was still going to happen anyway.

…

Mizuki was almost ready to go when Mokomichi came back in, and his face confirmed all her worst fears. Or, at least, confirmed that it was right for her to have fear in the first place.

"What happened?" she asked in a murmur.

"I'm not sure how, or who, but the police were called…I overheard something about someone hearing a disturbance. They managed to arrest Kagane-kun, but Hisakawa and I got away."

"Where's Hisakawa-san?"

"On their way to the school, now."

"And the rest of the plan…"

"Well, we found someone, got him away from the school…but it was in the process of bringing him around to the front that we almost got caught. Well, did. With that being said, it's not a complete failure. There were a lot of people crowding around, filming and curious."

Mizuki considered this, and while Mokomichi swapped his coat and gathered his school things, she took out her phone and searched on social media. It didn't take her very long to find articles speculating about whether an incident was a 'prank gone wrong' or a new crime by the so-called terrorists. She zoomed in on photographs of a bewildered man in a lab coat surrounded by policemen, looking rumpled and possibly a bit roughed up, but covered in stapled sheets and with a placard around his neck-all the things they'd planned on adorning the person with once they were tied.

"Hisakawa's idea," Mokomichi said as he peered over her shoulder. "It was a good thing in the end, though."

"It was, wasn't it?"

She checked a few more sites, and noted that some people had already started making the connection between the incident and the video that Azuki had uploaded to the Despair's Descent page. That'll be enough, for now. Now it's time for the next step. Putting her phone away, she and Mokomichi immediately headed out to school, the two of them walking together quietly. The journey was as uneventful as it could be for most of it, with crowds of rioters having already gathered around the school.

Breathing out a sigh of relief when they finally managed to get through the gates, Mizuki decided to walk with Mokomichi over to the Reserve Course building. As she did, she looked over to where the forest was, blinking at the reduced number of trees. It was still strange, seeing the gravestones so exposed like that. She'd wanted them exposed all along, but she hadn't anticipated having been used to them being surrounded by trees and shrouded by green darkness. She slowed and paused, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder as she looked over. It felt like a lifetime ago that she'd discovered the place, a lifetime since her motley crew had formed and they'd set on the path that they were now on. Had she imagined that it'd be like this, back then? Surely, the person she had been back then could never have thought of something like this. But she wasn't that person any more, was she?

No, not anymore.

"This was one of the first things you wanted to do, right?" Mokomichi asked.

"Yeah…" Mizuki sighed. "Well, at least it happened. We're almost there."

"We are."

"When it's all over, when we're rebuilding, we'll have to make that a proper area. Neat, with benches. A proper memorial."

"Sounds good to me. I'll help, of course."

"I know."

Mizuki smiled, but it felt forced, tight. Her head was starting to throb, stomach churning about what was going to happen next. It's how it has to be, remember? It's how it has to be. She felt Mokomichi squeeze her hand and she turned to see him looking at her seriously.

"Be careful, okay?"

"Mmmm. You remember where we're meeting, right?" she murmured.

"Yes, I do."

"Alright. Alright…well…."

She turned and looked back at the graveyard in the distance once more, before slowly pulling her hand away from his and making her way down to the Main Course building. In her mind, she went over the fire escape routes that the school had, thinking about how easy they would be to get to from wherever it was she decided to go. The Student Council room was out of bounds for that very reason, but that was the place most would expect her to be. She had to be careful to be plausible, but she also needed to be careful to be safe, but where was the line?

What about the library, then? The library is plausible, isn't it? I could be looking for…

Whatever she thought she could be looking for, the thought disappeared as she almost bumped into the back of another student, a Main Course one that she didn't know. The student startled and whipped around as Mizuki stepped back.

"Oh, sorry-"they both said at the same time before blinking at each other.

"No, no, I wasn't looking where I was going," Mizuki said. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Wide eyed and wordless, the student simply pointed to the building. Other people had also started to stop and stare, some exclaiming, but Mizuki ignored their presence as she looked where the student was pointing. To a corner of the building where curling tongues of orange were starting to lick the side of the building, with little puffs billowing around it. Despite knowing what it was and having expected to see it, she was struck dumb, blinking incomprehensibly and failing to understand until someone screamed.

"Oh fuck, the school's on fire!"

For the briefest moment Mizuki felt united with the others in their shock and horror, as people screamed and gasped and tried to get away as the flames started to expand and crackle, bringing heat to the otherwise bland winter's day. Her heart clenched, and as she tried to get away from the stampede she called out about the people inside the building-what do we do, about the people in the building-before she remembered:

This was how it had to be.

Mid stumble, she stopped, barely noticed in the ensuing chaos. The wind picked up her hair, and she knew that in the same way it would fan the flames and make them worse. She turned to look at the building once again, watching as it slowly started to crumble under the force of the fire, but this time, there was no horror. No shock, no surprise, no worry.

No feeling at all.

After all, this was how it had to be.

…

"Oh, I think that exit's blocked off, go this way!"

Sosuke could just about hear Keiko's voice above the pandemonium as the flames flickered and increased in intensity. They'd need to leave this building soon and head for the next one, before there was a chance of all of them getting trapped. He struck another match and dropped it by the wall where Keiko had subtly left trails of spilled deodorants (as a smell of deodorants would not necessarily provoke suspicion until it was too late) before concealing the little box in his hand and walking purposefully on, knowing that he needed to get through the side exit that led out onto some of the playing fields and then head to the changing rooms. He thought that if he dropped a few matches there and poured the little flask of petrol around it, that'd be more than enough. He could drop the flask into the flames and that way it wouldn't be identified, and that way he could get rid of it too. Briefly, he touched the pocket of the blazer where the flask was, and where he'd kept his matches until he'd needed to use them. There was one more item there, carefully concealed and ready for that very worst-case scenario. He hoped that it would be unnecessary, of course. But he would have been foolish to have not brought it with him at all.

As he advanced, he felt that there was something eerily apocalyptic about all of this-the distant screaming and the fires and how he was the only one that wasn't alone. No, not alone, he remembered as finally he reached the door and saw a flash of blue hair go past. Immediately, he made to follow it, but found himself pausing when he heard a clatter of footsteps, the sounds of people shouting, equipment being dragged.

"Hey, stop where you are, young lady! What are you doing?"

A whoosh of flame swallowed whatever response Keiko may have given, but Sosuke paid no mind as he bolted out of the door, following Mihoko. She looked back once to see that it was him and nodded briefly, but then turned and continued running, keeping low and taking advantage of the billowing smoke and the remaining shadows to keep concealed. Sosuke did his best to emulate the motions, supposing that being dark-featured helped his case somewhat where his skills at sneaking around were lacking. When they got to the changing room buildings, Mihoko paused long enough to indicate she would manage the further away one and then disappeared behind the wall. Sosuke took a brief moment to get his breath back, hampered by the smoke, but then straightened and got the flask out of his pocket and unscrewed the lid. Letting it fall he began carefully to pour it around, the matchbox in his other hand.

"STOP WHERE YOU ARE!"

Too late, Sosuke realised that he'd had a pursuer, and he whipped around to see a fireman rushing towards him. Sosuke mentally prepared himself.

"Are you accomplices with that girl?" the man demanded. "What are you doing? Get away from there now!"

Despite being a fireman, and a toweringly strong one at that, the man's shoulders tensed under his bulky uniform and his eyes bulged as he stared at Sosuke as though he was something feral, something unhinged. Perhaps that was why he continued talking:

"I thought I saw someone else when we arrested the girl, I thought I did and…it's a good thing I followed! D-Don't you move, I'm going to get-"

Weak, so weak, Sosuke thought almost scornfully. But he also realised that if and when the man did actually decide to either try to subdue him or get back-up, it would not take very long at all for him to discover there was yet another person around, another accomplice. It was enough to give Sosuke momentary pause.

Keiko was just a small piece of the puzzle and hopefully it would be of no consequence that she had been caught. But Mihoko's capture could be seen as twice as worse, especially as she would see it as a betrayal. Logically it could not possibly be a betrayal and he knew that she knew that. How would it benefit him for them both to be caught, after all? It would only compound the defeat further, if anything. Yet by that logic, he knew also that there would be no real harm to his situation to tell them that Mihoko was in there, or to lead them in by trying to 'escape' into the building or otherwise imply that there was a bigger threat there. It was all destined to come down anyway now that he had the misfortune to be caught, it was here it was all going to end for him. So it shouldn't have been his problem.

But that is not really true, is it now? After all, he knew that if he set his worst-case scenario plan unrolling now, they would be distracted. They would not begin to look into the buildings. And then by the time that they did, there'd be nothing left to see.

With a realisation like that, his choice was made. As the man reached out to grab a radio from his belt, Sosuke stepped forward and coldly intoned:

"Don't move."

Letting the matchbox fall and the remaining matches spill out, he reached into the inside pocket of his blazer and pulled out the final item he had been carefully concealing all this time. The knife glittered, reflecting the distant flames as he aimed it at the man who froze, visibly gulping at the sight of the blade.

"S-son, put that down now…it'll be better for all of us if you just come, you'll see-"

Sosuke shook his head. He did not feel like laughing, but truly it was laughable. How did they not realise that there was no 'coming along' for something like this. There was no way that he could just drop his weapon and quietly go along with them. He would not allow defeat to diminish him, and he never would have. Slowly, he drew the knife closer to him as if he was putting it down-and then, without flinching, aimed at his abdomen and stabbed.

The men made shouts of exclamation and stepped back, acting as if they were the ones who had been stabbed. Sosuke simply pulled the knife out, trying to not wince before waving it at them briefly, to keep them held in place before he resumed his version of how samurai had saved face, long ago. Of course, he was on his own here and this was only a kitchen knife. But the job would be done, by the time he was done. All he had to do was cut, and cut, until he could feel that there was no going back. He had to make sure that he held onto the desire to not be taken as a defeat, to make sure it overweighed the fact that he did not want to die.

All or nothing, he reminded himself with each jerk and yank of the knife. All or nothing.

If there was an afterlife of any kind, Sosuke supposed he would look back on this and ponder if there could have been a way to end things differently. If he would look back on all the strategies he had come up with to try and manage this unfamiliar situation and find them lacking, or if he should have tried harder to push for control earlier. But with each resolute slash of his knife, he knew there'd be no such debate, regardless of what waited for him after death.

Even as his knees weakened, and his hands became slipperier, his conviction only grew stronger. This was it. This was the only choice that could have been made with the situation he had been handed, and so he was making it. All or nothing, after all. It was not as if he hadn't prepared for this position, after all. He had in a part of his mind expected that this was a real possibility, knowing that he was not going to allow himself to experience being diminished and degraded with the weight of his losing. It was true that he could not have truly prepared for how it hurt, how the sensation of a knife dragging was abrasive, difficult, not as smooth and abrupt as he had expected or imagined.

But he had prepared anyway, and now here he was. Despite everything this was not a bad way to end things, he knew-it was why he had considered such a scenario in the first place. He was going down, yes, but everything else would come down too and that was what he had intended with this anyway. There would be no rise to power, not without him. That was enough, really. So what need was there for debate?

The answer was, quite simply, none at all and yet…

The only regret was that of the words he had chosen not to say, the ones that spoke of possibilities that had never been. As he crumpled, and keeping his grip became harder and harder, his mind looped images of one particular night. The odd warmness of rage, the feeling of a skinny wrist, flashes of a ghost, a pen flying furious and relentless over notebook pages, wind whipping hair, a fleeting smile, a form set aglow before disappearing into darkness. If there was one regret he had, it was tied up in that rather than the other choices. Even if he did ponder the decisions he had made that had led him to this moment he supposed it was those things that would haunt him. He was dimly aware of his head hitting the ground, of this spurring the horrified onlookers to take action. But still, the images looped.

The odd warmness of rage, the feeling of a skinny wrist, flashes of a ghost, a pen flying furious and relentless over notebook pages, wind whipping hair, a fleeting smile, a form set aglow before disappearing into darkness.

Now, he could keep his eyes open no longer. Now, feeling was leaving. He did not fight it, knowing that at least everything would come down with him. This was the only choice, and what would happen would happen. Yet, now free to wonder, his final thoughts remained only in that loop as around him flames flickered and the world faded.

The odd warmness of rage, the feeling...the feeling… of a skinny wrist, flashes of a gh-ghost, a pen flying f-furious…and relentless over notebook pages, wind whipping hair…a fleeting smile, a form set aglow before d-disappearing into darkness.

Warm rage, skinny wrist, ghost, furious pen, wind whipping hair, a fleeting smile, a form set aglow before disappearing into darkness

The wind whipping her hair and resisting all urges to be pushed back, the faint smile at odds with the warmth of her anger from earlier, the way she looked as if she was glowing for that brief moment in under the light before she-