A/N: Alright, here's Chapter Six of Execution Failed, as commissioned by StealthPhotographer. Please read and review, and enjoy!

Despair Arc: Execution Failed!

Chapter Six: The Mastermind Revealed!

"Hajime?"

Makoto's brow furrowed as he wondered "Hajime? Why did she call me that?"

"She must be confusing you for someone else she knows." Kyoko deduced.

"That's probably true." Sakura mused.

"Yeah, no shit." Mondo agreed. "With the kind of shape you said she was in, it's no surprise her sense of awareness is jack shit right now."

A groan from Chiaki redirected their attention to the Ultimate Gamer as she tried to sit up. Makoto and Kyoko rushed to support her and help her to sit up in the hospital bed.

"Easy, easy." Makoto soothed as Chiaki looked in the direction of his voice. "Don't strain yourself."

"Ha…Hajime…?" Chiaki blinked as her vision finally came into focus. "Wait…you're not Hajime…I think…"

You think? Makoto wondered before he shook his head and introduced "Sorry, but I don't know who Hajime is. My name is Makoto Naegi. I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student of Class 78."

Kyoko nodded and introduced "My name is Kyoko Kirigiri. I'm the Ultimate Detective and Makoto's classmate."

"Makoto…and…Kyoko?"

"Indeed." Kyoko explained "You're in the Nurse's Office. Makoto and I found you in some underground passageway and brought you here to receive medical attention."

"You…you did…?" Chiaki smiled weakly and replied gratefully "Thank you then…for saving my life…"

"Your gratitude is appreciated." Kyoko asked "Are you well enough to answer some questions?"

"Questions?" Chiaki asked curiously before she nodded "Yeah, I can answer some questions…I think."

"Okay, but if you feel too tired, you just let us know, okay?" Makoto asked before he asked "Chihiro, could you go grab a cushion so Nanami-senpai can sit up easier?"

"Sure, I'll be right back." Chihiro agreed before she ran to the nearby closet and sifted through it before she pulled out a cushion.

Once she ran back over with it in hand, Sakura took it and offered "I can apply it" before the Ultimate Martial Artist walked over to Chiaki and slid it against her back so she could sit up by herself.

"Alright, Nanami-senpai." Kyoko began "Could you please tell us how you got in that underground passage that Makoto and I found you in?"

Chiaki bit her lip and closed her eyes as she sifted through her memories before she finally began to speak.

"My friend and classmate, Mikan Tsumiki, had been missing since the riots started. Our class's Ultimate Lucky Student, Nagito Komaeda, mentioned that he saw her in the western district, so we all agreed to go out and search for her. Eventually Nagito and I found the secret passage, and we found my friend Hajime Hinata."

"Um…sorry to interrupt, but…who's Hajime Hinata?" Makoto asked.

"Oh, sorry. Hajime's a Reserve Course Student, and one of my friends. He disappeared around the time that your class enrolled." Chiaki explained. "Anyway, I found him, but he was completely different."

"Different how?" Kyoko inquired.

"Well, his hair and eye color had changed completely, but he also didn't recognize me at all. And there was someone standing next to him…a girl."

"A girl?" Kyoko asked curiously "Could you describe this girl?"

"Well, let's see…I know I saw her on a magazine cover, but I can't remember the name. Oh, but she was tall and lean, she had blue eyes, and she had strawberry blonde hair that was tied into two pigtails."

"Strawberry blonde…two pigtails…" Makoto's face paled as he realized It…it's gotta be…

"Junko Enoshima." Kyoko voiced. "I suspected as much when Ikusaba attacked us after our investigation. After all, she's the only one Mukuro is loyal enough to in order to collaborate closely enough to execute something of this scale. But I didn't have proof, so I kept my suspicions to myself. But thanks to Nanami's account, I'm now positive that Enoshima is the mastermind."

Two of our friends…betrayed us…and killed…but why…? Makoto wondered as he was forced to accept that two people he considered friends were now his enemies.

Kyoko glanced sympathetically at Makoto's plight before she turned back to Chiaki and asked "Nanami, could you please continue your account?"

Chiaki nodded and continued "We were soon outmatched and thanks to our teacher Chisa Yukizome, we were able to escape. We then gathered the rest of our class, including Mikan who came back with one of our other classmates, and went back into the secret passageway. While we descended, Mikan pulled me to the side. Something must have been wrong with her, because she pushed me through a revolving door."

"I see…" Kyoko mused "Makoto, it would seem that your hypothesis about something off about their minds was correct."

Believe me, I wish I wasn't… Makoto thought as Chiaki continued to give her testimony.

"I woke up somewhere and reunited with Yukizome-sensei. We reached an elevator, and something must have happened to Yukizome-sensei, because she pushed me into it and forced me to go down into some strange corridor."

"And what happened when you exited the elevator?" Kyoko inquired, though she already had a clear idea of what had transpired.

"Well, I walked down it, and it was riddled with traps. Spikes in the floor punctured my feet, trap arrows in the walls grazed me, balls and chains injured my eye."

I see, so there were traps in there after all. They must have been deactivated afterwards. Kyoko realized as Chiaki continued.

"All that time, Enoshima taunted me through monitors in the passageway. But I refused to let her win, so I kept trudging on no matter how much I bled. Eventually I reached the end, but as I took my final step…spears thrust through the floor and impaled me."

Oh Kami! Makoto thought, horrified at the image despite having come across her body himself.

"I regained some amount of awareness, and woke up in a room to see Hajime standing over me. We had a brief conversation, and then everything went black again. Next thing I knew, I felt Hajime's spirit, and then I woke up to see you, Naegi-kun."

"I see…" Kyoko turned to Makoto and asked "Makoto, do you think that intruder you and Mondo saw could have been Hinata?"

"Well…I don't really see another possibility. He didn't seem like he was trying to harm her. In fact, he looked more shocked than anything."

"Yes, that's probably the truth. I'm willing to bet that he heard that Nanami was still alive and came here to see for himself." Kyoko deduced before she glanced at Chihiro. "Now that we have Nanami's account, I'm willing to bet that video Fujisaki downloaded is a recording of her…execution, for lack of a better word."

"Yeah, that's probably right." Makoto agreed before his brow furrowed and he noted "Though something still bothers me. Why didn't her classmates come for her before we did? You'd think that they'd risk life and limb to save her."

"Indeed, that's a good point, Makoto." Kyoko acknowledged before she mused "Something must have happened to them after she got separated, something that prevented them from reaching her. But given how they all came back safe and sound, I doubt they suffered serious physical harm. Which brings us back to your hypothesis that something happened to their minds, Makoto." She glanced at Chihiro again and deduced "And I'm willing to bet it has something to do with that video."

"You…you think it was tampered with or something?" Makoto asked.

"To an extent, yes." Kyoko elaborated after a nod "More specifically, I think it acted as some kind of hypnosis. Which means that it would be extremely dangerous to watch it and corroborate Nanami's account."

"So…what the fuck do we do?" Mondo asked.

"I can examine the file's code and deprogram any hypnotic command lines." Chihiro volunteered.

Sakura smiled and agreed "That's very brave of you, Fujisaki-chan. That will allow us to view the evidence without any side effects."

Kyoko agreed "Indeed, though you should go to your room to do so, for privacy reasons. And Mondo, you should stand guard at her dorm should the worst happen."

"Sure, I'll do it." Mondo agreed before he turned to Chihiro and suggested "Alright Fujisaki, leet's go. Don't worry, I promise you as a man that I'll protect you."

"Thank you!" Chihiro happily thanked before she turned to Makoto and Kyoko and vowed "Don't worry, I'm gonna do my best!" before she followed Mondo out of the Nurse's Office.

"Okay, now that we have a plan, I'm going to speak with the Headmaster and inform him of this new development." Kyoko announced before she turned to the Ultimate Martial Artist and asked "Ogami, can you stay here with Makoto and Nanami until I get back?"

"Understood." Sakura nodded in acceptance.

"Makoto, if Ikusaba wakes up, message me immediately. I need to interrogate her about this whole incident."

Makoto nodded uneasily as he agreed "…Alright, I'll try to soften her up if that happens before you get here so we can get answers more easily from her."

"Appreciated." Kyoko nodded before she turned around. "Goodbye."

Kyoko then walked out of the Nurse's Office, leaving Makoto and Sakura alone with the still recovering Chiaki and the unconscious Mukuro.

XXX

"Why did you run away?!" Hajime demanded "We should have stayed! They couldn't have hurt you, so why didn't you stay until we got to talk to Chiaki! She was waking up!"

"Silence, Hinata". Izuru ordered as he landed on a faraway rooftop. "We were already seen. If we had stayed, then the plan would have been further jeopardized."

"You mean Enoshima's plan for despair?! I don't care how exciting it is! I don't care if you're bored with the world! I want to see my friend! I want to see Chiaki Nanami!" Hajime demanded. I lost her once; I don't want to lose her again! Let me see my friend!

"You are becoming quite the stubborn nuisance, Hinata. Just be quiet and…ah!" Izuru was forced onto one knee as one of his irises flashed between red and green. "What the…"

Let me out! Let me out so I can see my friend again! I want to see her again and play games with her!

"ENOUGH!" Izuru roared as he stood up and his iris went back to a blood red. What…was that…? Izuru wondered as he gasped for breath. As his stubbornness grows, his spirit grows with it. If this keeps up, I will lose control. "…Alright…" Izuru relented "I will agree to go back so you can see Nanami, if it will just shut you up."

Izuru was greeted by Hajime's silence, allowing the artificial Ultimate to sigh in relief.

I thought he'd never shut up. Alright, I'd better go back before he stirs up again and I really do lose control…

XXX

"You're suggesting that we should go visit Chiaki in the Nurse's Office?" Mahiru asked in surprise.

Chisa smiled and confirmed "That's right. After all, it doesn't feel right to begin our final class without our wonderful Class Representative! Isn't that right, my rotten little oranges?"

"Hmm…" The Ultimate Imposter pondered "But if we're feeling the voice of Enoshima's despair weaken just from the news that she lives, wouldn't seeing her alive even further diminish her influence?"

"Indeed." Gundham agreed "The purity of Chiaki's heart can vanquish even the darkest of demons."

"Perhaps." Chisa acknowledged "It would make carrying out Enoshima's will that much more difficult…but she never said that we couldn't go and visit her. So, since our final class together has to be put on hold, I think we should all visit Chiaki while she recovers, and show her that even in despair, the bonds you have as her classmates can never diminish!"

"Oh this is so exciting!" Nagito gushed "To think, Chiaki's survival will be the steppingstone for our hope!"

"I don't know about all that…" Nekomaru commented "But I agree with Yukizome-sensei. We can't neglect our most important teammate!"

"Very well said, Nidai-kun!" Sonia agreed "I can never agree to leaving poor Chiaki out of our graduation together!"

"I'm with you, Miss Sonia!"

"What do you think, Young Master?" Peko asked.

Fuyuhiko sighed and acquiesced "Shit. Well if everyone else is fuckin' going, I suppose I should too."

"Alright, I'm in too!" Akane cheered "If she can survive getting skewered, then she must be one tough chick. And that means…I've gotta fight her!"

"Please don't!" Mikan shrieked. "She'd truly die if you did that!"

"So…are we going?" Ibuki asked.

"Quite; it seems that we're all in agreement." Chisa announced. "Follow me, class! We're going to get our Class Representative back!"

With that, Class 77 followed their teacher, hope and despair on equal footing in their hearts as the battle within them was about to come to a climax.