A.N: Hello again, everyone! Here's Chapter Twenty-Seven of this story, and I need to warn you that this chapter is the first of a list of extremely important chapters for this story. The plot will take a turn for the original, should I say, so no one but me will know where this is going, so every little detail can matter. Even for me, there will probably be times when I'll have to focus not to create plot holes, but I'll do my best. Also, for the Naegiri shippers out there... brace yourselves.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Unremembered Ultimates

"The Ultimate Copywriter…?"

"You heard me right."

"Does that mean…?" Kyoko brought her gloved hand to her chin, thinking deeply. "Are we talking about an alumnus of Hope's Peak Academy…?"

Kizakura chuckled. "Close, but not quite, actually. It was quite a shock for me when I heard about it, but this person is one of the sixteen so-called Unremembered Ultimates."

"T-The… Unremembered Ultimates…?" the Former Ultimate Detective couldn't hide her surprise. "Who… Who are they…?"

Suddenly, Koichi's expression turned much more serious. "I understand your curiosity, Kyoko, but not here. I'm losing my job if anyone hears about it here."

The lavender-haired young woman matched his expression, expectantly narrowing her eyes with suspicion. Kizakura sighed and stood up.

"Finish eating. I'll call my Division to get us a helicopter. I'll be waiting for you outside."

Before Kyoko could protest or even say anything, the man was walking out of the room, leaving her surprised like she rarely was. She realized that Kizakura knew many more things than he let on.

One thing was for sure, however: her detective instincts were telling her that something mysterious was wrong and that she would have a role to play in righting them.

"I take it you've never entered this room, Kyoko?"

"No, I haven't. Honestly, I never really had time to."

Kizakura smiled, which had become a rare occurrence ever since they had left Central Headquarters. For some reason, the Former Talent Scout's carefreeness had evaporated the moment the Kirigiri Detective had asked about the Unremembered Ultimates.

The two Division Directors were in Kyoko's office, but it was quiet, and for a reason, as Koichi had asked her to send all of her agents home while he was here. It had surprised the young woman, but when she'd seen how serious her father's friend was, she had immediately complied.

They stood in front of a door that Kyoko had never opened: the secret room. The only thing she knew about it was from what Munakata had told her, which wasn't much.

"I just know that if I enter this room, then something is going on that I shouldn't get involved in," she told him, giving him a cold stare. "And it appears that whatever this is, you want me to get involved in it."

Koichi crossed his arms. "Yeah, I actually do," he admitted without difficulty, taking Kyoko by surprise. "Because I need an Ultimate Detective to help me on this one. Turns out, out of the two I ever scouted, you're the only one here."

The two you've scouted, hm…? Kyoko looked away for a second, glancing at her gloves. Not now, Kyoko. Forget about her for now. "Go on."

"Could you open this door first, please?" he asked, pointing at the magnetic card scanner. "I'd rather not say a word of this story before we're inside. Walls have ears, after all."

"Understood," Kyoko said with a nod. She walked over to the scanner and pressed her magnetic card against it, opening the door. "There. Let's enter."

They entered the secret room and heard the door close behind them. Kizakura sighed in relief.

"You're usually not the paranoid one, so I take it that this is an important story?" she wondered, looking around the room and noticing that it was very empty. Weird. There's only this one file in the middle of the room…

The blond man crossed his arms over his chest again, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, it is. And I'm bound up with it way more than I'd like to. Now, about these Unremembered Ultimates…"

Kyoko's eyes left the mysterious file to focus on what Koichi was going to say.

"Before your class was sheltered and the Future Foundation was founded, your father tasked me with one last mission, you see?"

"M-My… My father…?" What has my father got to do with anything…? The Former Ultimate Detective wondered, frowning. "What did he task you with doing?"

"Well, you know what I was the Talent Scout for Hope's Peak Academy, right?" Koichi stated and continued upon seeing Kyoko nod. "When the Tragedy began, and your old man took you inside the shelter, he asked me to do my job one last time."

"Your job? Scouting, I take it?" Just where is this going…?

"Exactly. I was sent to scout the Ultimates for Class 79th, in case…" he paused, hiding his eyes and his look with his fedora. "In case the sixteen of you would die. These new Ultimates were supposed to continue the legacy of Hope's Peak, should anything happen."

Kyoko hmphed. "I think we'll agree that something did happen, Kizakura. What happened to that plan?"

"I found them, Kyoko. All sixteen of them," Koichi said, taking a sip from his bottle. "I carried Jin's message to them that they could be called to become the world's new hope at any given moment. However…" he sighed with regret. "Vice-Chairman Munakata heard about what I was doing and ordered me to stop, saying I needed to focus on recruiting for the Future Foundation. And thus, Class 79th was never formed."

"But… that's not all, is it?" Kyoko questioned, pulling out her organizer and beginning to take notes. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be standing here inside a secret room, and you wouldn't have asked me to send all of my staff home, losing a precious day of work in the process."

"No, it's not… You see… just before Junko's Killing Game began, Munakata and Tengan noticed that some of the terrorist attacks organized by her worshippers were failing completely, and without any visible reason."

Kyoko frowned. "Couldn't they have just been prevented by agents of the Future Foundation?"

"That's what we pretty much all thought at first, but after asking all the Branch Leaders about it, we determined that it wasn't the case," the man explained, taking another sip. "Which means that there was another force at play, fighting against the Ultimate Despair."

"Ah, interesting. But that's still not all, am I wrong?" the young purple-eyed woman deduced from the way he didn't seem convinced.

Koichi laughed. "You read me like an open book, Kyoko!" he exclaimed and smiled. "You're right; there's still more. Soon enough, things changed. The Ultimate Despair's attacks weren't prevented by anyone anymore, and instead… we were the ones being attacked more than usual."

They were attacked more than usual, and the worshippers of despair regained their strength…? Kyoko wrote as quickly as she could, trying to think at the same time. "And why was that?"

"I'll get to that in a second. The thing is, these attacks weren't the same as the ones conducted by Junko's brainwashed worshippers: they only targeted infrastructures and agents, not civilians. It didn't take long for Munakata and Tengan to understand that a new force had entered the battle. People talented enough to stand against the alumni of Hope's Peak Academy and the Mastermind of the Tragedy…"

The Former Ultimate Detective's eyes widened in shock as she understood where this was going.

"Class 79th… The Unremembered Ultimates!" she exclaimed, surprise showing all across her face. "They're the only ones that could have done it!"

Koichi clapped, tipping his hat to his best friend's daughter. "Bravo, Director Kirigiri. Indeed, Tengan received a letter signed by the Unremembered Ultimates threatening the Future Foundation of total destruction if they didn't admit to being responsible for the Tragedy."

Right there and then, Kyoko thought her ears were playing tricks on her. She tried to give meaning to Kizakura's words, but even her Ultimate Detective abilities couldn't make sense of that.

"Take this file and read it, Kyoko. It'll tell you all you need to know about the Unremembered Ultimates," the Former Talent Scout told her, pointing to the file resting on a lectern. "There's stuff about the origins of the Tragedy, too, which you probably knew about before Junko took your memories."

Kyoko nodded hesitantly, walking over to the file with shaky steps. Once she had reached it, she took it and glanced at the cover. It read "The truth about The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History," prompting the young woman to glance at Kizakura before opening it. He nodded.

She opened it and immediately stumbled across a list of names. Her heart skipped a beat, and she looked at Koichi with a panicked look in her eyes.

The file was quickly closed and put under one of her arms. After a deep breath to recompose herself, determination filled her eyes again as she clenched her fists.

"I'm going to stop them even if it's the last thing I do, Kizakura. Mark my words."

"Whaaaaat?! You're leaving?!"

The three Special Agents reacted with different degrees of surprise. Byakuya kept his reaction discreet, though he seemed as surprised as Makoto and Hiro were. Still, the Former Ultimate Lucky Student and Ultimate Clairvoyant were much more vocal than the Former Ultimate Affluent Progeny was.

"That's right. Something important has come up, and I must take a leave of absence," Kyoko informed them, a grave expression on her face. "Byakuya, I want you to take over while I'm gone. The rest of the Division has to operate as normal."

"I… don't mind that, but an explanation would be appreciated, Director Kirigiri," Byakuya told her, pushing up his glasses. "What could be more important than our fight against the Tragedy?"

"That…" she paused and glanced at Makoto, guilt filling her eyes and heart. "I cannot say. The three of you would be in danger if I told you. I don't want that."

"W-We… We'd be in danger, Kyoko?" the Luckster echoed, unhappy about it. "B-But why?!"

"I'm sorry, Makoto, but I can't tell you that. You, in particular, might be in even greater danger. But if you knew why, it would make you even more vulnerable," Kyoko assured him, seeing the betrayed look inside his hazel eyes. "But I promise I'll tell you once the danger has been averted."

Kyoko… What are you up to, exactly…? The young man recalled the detective's investigations in the Killing Game and how they had almost killed her. He didn't want her to take risks like that again now that they had escaped Junko's grasp. But at the same time… I trust Kyoko. I know that if she's not telling me, it's because it's sensitive information.

He smiled at his boss, coming to the realization that she knew what she was doing. She was Kyoko, after all.

"Before I get going, there's something else you need to know," Kyoko told them, waiting until she had their attention to continue. "In a few days, Kizakura's Division is going to allocate a new agent to our Division. Byakuya, I want you to make them a Special Agent right away. Then, you are going to temporarily move to my office on the floor above yours. Hiro, you take Byakuya's office. Makoto, you'll be working with the new Special Agent, but make sure to keep the same desk as usual, alright?"

The Togami heir narrowed his eyes at the odd request but nodded nonetheless, as did his two former classmates and colleagues. "Alright… This is all really strange, but I suppose you have another secret motive for that."

"I do," she admitted. "But it's crucial. As long as you do everything I asked you to do and do it right, you'll be safe, I promise you. And in case anything happened, you call Munakata or Tengan and tell them that something's wrong with Director Kirigiri's orders. They'll understand what it means."

"T-This is so creepy, for serious!" Hiro exclaimed, definitely scared. "Y-You're not great at reassuring people, Kyoko!"

The young woman sighed apologetically. "My apologies, but I'm walking on thin ice right now. Well, I need to go now. I hope to be back in less than three months, but that might not be the case," she gave a hollow laugh. She muttered her next words, but they were clearly heard by her three subordinates. "And to be back alive, too…"

Makoto bit his lip worriedly. What does that mean, Kyoko…? What the heck happened that you need to leave so suddenly…? Is it related to the day off we got yesterday…?

The questions piled up in the Luckster's mind, but he didn't have any answers for them. The only thing he had was the fear that Kyoko was clearly trying to hide from them. It was discreet, and it didn't seem that the Former Ultimate Detective was extremely worried, but for her to be even remotely scared proved something.

Whatever she's going to do, it's dangerous. Possibly even more than the Killing Game was.

Kyoko bowed her head in front of the three Special Agents. "For now… I suppose this is goodbye. Be good, the three of you," she turned around, and they heard her sniffle. "I believe in you… so please believe in me."

And with that, Kyoko left the room, leaving Makoto, Hiro, and Byakuya stunned. Everything was so sudden, and now, they were without their leader.

The last thing the Former Ultimate Lucky Student noticed was the tear escaping Kyoko's purple eyes as she walked away, making him grimace.

I believe in you, Kyoko, but… Please stay safe, I beg of you…

To be continued…

A.N: I really hope I'll be able to make this part of the plot interesting, because it'll be the only fully original part. I'm excited at the idea, but also so afraid! Well, hopefully you'll like it. Anyway, please leave a review, and I hope you have a nice day! :)