With Alter Ego smiling on the computer screen, alive and safe, Naegi could almost convince himself to feel a little better about what he'd had to do. A lie wasn't really such a big price when compared to his friend's life, after all.
As if she could see a few drops of misery disappearing from Naegi's heart, Junko looked back at the computer monitor with another bright smile. "Glad to see you're enjoying the time while you've got it. I mean, it'd really suck if our sweet little friend here went to all that trouble to buy you a few extra hours, just for you to waste them."
And just like that, any relief Naegi had been feeling drained away, leaving an even deeper dread behind. "What are you talking about?"
"Hmm?" Junko gave him a puzzled look, as if he were the one who wasn't making any sense. "Well, you're the one who said your pet computer was just like all your other friends."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Naegi asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
"Oh… I guess you didn't think about that part." Junko shrugged. "Oh, well — it's not like it's all that important or anything. It's just that if he's in the same boat as the rest of the group, that means he's also bound by Kyoko's little bargain. That's all I meant."
Kyoko's bargain…? For a few bewildered seconds, Naegi had no idea what Junko meant — but then it came back to him. Kyoko had made a deal with Monokuma, right before Byakuya's grief had come to a head in the fifth floor garden. She'd gotten Junko to agree to let them try to solve all the mysteries of the school in one final class trial… and she'd staked all the survivors' lives on succeeding.
And she would succeed… Naegi knew that beyond any doubt. Kyoko and the others had already uncovered enough clues to work out the truth… and when they did, Junko wouldn't be able to hurt them under the terms of their deal.
She wouldn't need to. The truth would do more harm than anything else in her power.
And not just the others… it would hurt Alter Ego, too. He hadn't known the truth of the outside world any more than the rest of the students. How could he have, when all he'd had to start with was the knowledge Chihiro could give him? Naegi couldn't be sure what Alter Ego might want from the world outside the school… but even so, he knew it would hurt his friend to know so many of the other students had died for a world that was already gone.
"What's the matter, sweetie?" Junko's kind smile and friendly tone made Naegi's insides twist with revulsion. "Having second thoughts?"
She knew what was going to happen. The realization knocked the breath from his lungs like she'd driven her fist into his gut. Junko knew what the truth would do to the other students. She wanted it to hurt them.
Of course she did. Even as the shock still left him breathless, Naegi felt like an idiot for not understanding it sooner. Junko had let despair consume her, that much was painfully obvious… and even if he couldn't really grasp such a mindset, he'd seen too much of the patterns of behavior that despair caused. A girl this driven by despair might be willing to kill, as Junko so clearly was… but murder in itself wouldn't be the goal. After all, dead victims couldn't feel any despair of their own.
Despair… Naegi shuddered at the thought of such a mindset twisting his friends' thoughts. They'd all fought so hard not to let it consume them, to resist the madness that had destroyed the world around them… had all those struggles been nothing more than a prelude to despair's final triumph over them?
No. No. That wasn't possible. He wouldn't let it be possible.
Even if his friends no longer had memories of what they'd endured in the world outside or the strength they'd gained from overcoming its challenges, he still did. He remembered… and he would do whatever he had to in order to protect the friends who didn't.
"Man, that's awfully sweet of you."
Naegi looked up at Junko with a start, her voice jolting him from his thoughts. Her face had taken on that unnerving emptiness again as she stared down at him, chin propped idly on one fist.
"Sure, it's pretty impractical, too," she went on, words devoid of any tone or inflection. "I mean, here you are, just a few steps away from death's door, and you're thinking about how to take on more challenges? Not a chance, with the state you're in. But you know, sweet that you want to throw your last energy into the useless effort."
Naegi didn't even waste time wondering how she'd known what he was thinking — he just sent her a fierce glare. "I'm not going to let you hurt them!"
"Yeah?" She gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Okay. How are you planning to stop me when you can't even sit up without help?"
Naegi hesitated, his mind going blank at the question. He hadn't thought that far — how could he have, when he hadn't had time to consider his words?
Junko seized the pause. "You get it, too, right? I mean, let's face it — you keep trying to fight me now and you aren't even gonna make it to the trial. Not like you can help any of our precious little friends if you're unconscious."
She had a point, as much as Naegi hated to admit it. He might be getting ever so gradually stronger, but just saying full sentences without gasping for breath already had him at his limit. And if he had to face off against Junko, the mastermind of this whole nightmare — how much more energy would that take? How long could he continue before it all became too much?
Which had to be exactly what she wanted him to think. Naegi knew she hadn't pointed out his physical weakness out of any genuine concern for his wellbeing — no, she'd wanted to remind him how little he could do against her. How little he would be able to do as her confrontation with the other surviving students came to a head.
"And it's not like I want you to pass out, either," Junko went on, heaving herself to her feet with a sigh. "I didn't go through all that trouble to save your life just so you could take a break during the big finale." She began wandering idly through the room, no particular pattern to her movement as she trailed her hand along the tops of tables and the backs of computer monitors. "Don't get me wrong, I understand where you're coming from — who wouldn't want to nap through all the tedious build-up? I'd skip out if I could, too."
Naegi blinked, eyebrows drawing together in puzzlement as he tried to work out what Junko was saying. It had at least made sense when she'd been making digs at his current physical weakness… but why was she complaining about being forced to participate in the plan that she herself had concocted? Was she trying to trick him into asking her not to participate, so that she could have the joy of refusing him? He couldn't see why she would care, and trying to trace out her convoluted thoughts only brought back his headache.
"But of course I can't do something so selfish." Junko continued roaming the room as she spoke, passing in and out of Naegi's field of vision as she wandered through the area. "There's no trial if I'm not there… and after all the work our friends are putting into preparing for it, I can't just leave them hanging. Guess I'm just gonna have to put up with it." She stopped in front of Naegi and smiled down at him. "And you'll be coming with me."
Before Naegi could ask what she meant by that, her hand shot out — and jammed a hypodermic needle into his arm. In the split-second it took him to blink in shock, she'd already injected the contents into his veins.
Naegi stared at the empty needle in horror. "What… what was that?" he demanded, fear coursing through his body as he felt his limbs grow even heavier.
"Just a little something to make sure you're all nice and rested for the trial!" Junko beamed at him, tossing the empty needle into a nearby trash can. "Sweet dreams!"
Even as he tried to fight it, Naegi's eyelids drooped closed, dragging him into darkness. The last thing he heard before sleep took him was Junko's terrible laughter.
Junko watched Naegi's breath slow and his eyes slip closed, a brief laugh of satisfaction escaping her as he drifted into a peaceful slumber. She'd known he needed rest, and the ease with which he'd let her administer the sleeping drug only confirmed it. She hadn't initially intended to dose him with anything else, since it meant that she'd have to wait till he woke up again to start the trial… but he'd used up so much of his strength just to chat with her! It had been so ridiculously sugar-sweet that she'd just had to respond in kind.
And it wasn't just his eagerness to talk with her, either — he'd actually made an effort to make the conversation interesting. Her thoughts flickered back to their debate over Fujisaki's talking calculator.
A one-sided fight would be boring.
Before she knew it, she was grinning again. She reached out to ruffle the sleeping boy's hair, absently noting the cuts and scrapes remaining from his ordeal as her fingers brushed his scalp. She still couldn't believe he'd survived everything she'd thrown at him, survived against all odds… and not just as a colorless lump of flesh with nothing better to do than suck up oxygen. No, he'd chosen to use his miraculous second chance at life to try to understand her.
Not that he could, of course. Even Junko's dearest twin sister, the one who claimed to know her best, hadn't really managed that — and Mukuro had spent a lifetime slaving away at it. Someone as sweet as Naegi wouldn't get far if the world's most disappointing sister couldn't do it…
But he'd tried. It was so unexpectedly nice of him that Junko just wanted to throw her arms around his neck in a great big hug, squeezing tighter and tighter till his face turned blue.
Not before the trial, though. Junko heaved a sigh at the thought of all the dull, tedious work that would need her attention if she wanted the trial to turn out properly. Much as she would have liked to stay and watch Naegi sleep a little longer, she really did have a lot to do.
But maybe while she worked, she could spare a little time to prepare a special gift for him. After all, he did deserve a reward for being such a good friend to her… and now that she thought about it, she knew just the right present for him. She laughed to herself, preparing to swing back into action. She couldn't wait to see the look on Naegi's face!
