"So, what do you guys think?"

Makoto looked earnestly at his friends, gauging their reactions. At Kyoko's suggestion, he had gathered the people most likely to assist in the festival to pitch the idea. Said people included Kaede Akamatsu, Kaito Momota, Gonta Gokuhara, Sonia Nevermind, Kazuichi Soda, Yasuhiro Hagakure, and Leon Kuwata.

Kaede clapped her hands together in excitement, nearly bouncing on her heels. "Ooooh, this sounds like a ton of fun! I am totally down with helping out with this."

"Well, if Kaede is for it, then so am I!" Kaito exclaimed, throwing an arm around Kaede's shoulder. "How about you, Gonta? It'd be a lot of fun, dontcha think?"

"Gonta would love to help! Gonta do all he can to help Makoto with festival!"

Makoto couldn't help smiling. Gonta, despite his intimidating size, was like a big kid. He and Makoto had spent many hours together, Makoto listening patiently as Gonta rabbled on about his passion: bugs. He didn't really doubt that Gonta would accept the offer to help.

Sonia smiled brightly. "Of course, I'll help. As Kaede proclaimed, 'I am down' with this, as well."

Makoto chuckled quietly at her awkward use of slang.

"Eh, sounds good to me. And if Miss Sonia is going to help, I can't possibly say no." Kazuichi mumbled that last part, looking at Sonia with a gaze Makoto recognized. He made that face a lot.

"Yeah, I guess Yasuhiro and I could help out. Not like we got anythin' else going on." Leon said lazily from behind his shoes, which were perched on the desk in front of him.

Yasuhiro nodded in agreement.

Makoto sighed happily. "You guys have no idea how much this means to me. With all you guys helping out, I think this'll go off without a hitch and we'll have an awesome festival. Now, for decorations, I was thinking-"

"HellLLOOOOO~"

Makoto nearly jumped in his skin as the classroom door swung open and slammed into the wall. In walked the queen of chaos herself, Junko Enoshima. She wore a bright smile as she quite literally marched in, a fake plastic crown atop her head. Following close behind was her older sister, Mukuro Ikusaba. She walked in much less flamboyantly, or rather, not flamboyantly at all. Her dull expression plastered onto her face gave the impression of 'I'm not interested in anything around me'. She stopped at the doorway for a moment, observing her surroundings before finally entering the room proper.

However, as she switched her gaze to the front of the room and locked eyes with Makoto, he was surprised to see her eyes widen slightly before she looked away. Makoto could have sworn he saw a hint of redness reach her ears.

Is she sick…? He thought to himself.

"You all were planning a festival and you didn't think to invite little ol' me?" Junko exclaimed, throwing an arm across her forehead. "You wound me, Makoto!"

Makoto blinked. "Oh. I, uh…didn't think you'd be interested."

"Not interested?! How could I possibly not fuckin' be?!" Junko shrieked, a sudden growl overtaking her formally regal tone. Makoto cringed at the volume. "I'm totally in for this shit!"

She strode up to Makoto, firmly placed her hands on his shoulders, and got up right in his face.

"So whaddya need me to do, ahoge-boy?!"

Makoto dry swallowed.

He had never minded Junko before. Yeah, she was loud, and bipolar, he was certain, but she seemed nice enough. Though, she had a bit of a reputation for over-the-top, borderline dangerous pranks. He was sure that Hajime from class two had never really quite recovered from waking up hanging upside-down on the side of the school, only tied to the roof by a single rope around a single foot.

"W-Well, Junko, w-what do you want to do?"

Letting go of him, she leaned back on her foot, finger to her chin.

"Hmmmm…." Suddenly, she put on a cutesy face and turned the squeakiness in her voice up to eleven. "Fireworks!"

"F-Fireworks?"

"Yeah! How can you have a festival without fireworks. Boom! Boom! Boom!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "I looovvvee fireworks! Please, let me do it Makoto! Please please please pleeeaasseee!"

Makoto thought for a moment. Well, she was right in that sense. Even the school festival let them use sparklers during lunch. Maybe fireworks wouldn't be too bad?

"Well…okay. We can have fireworks. But you can't use any big ones. Those'll get us arrested."

Suddenly, he was barreled over as Junko tackled him to the ground.

"Thank the fuckin' GODS!" She once again growled. "You got it, ahoge-boy!"

She leapt off of him, turned on her heel, and stalked out of the room, dragging Mukuro along behind her.

Leon blinked. "What just happened?"

Junko had let go of her sister and was walking swiftly ahead of her with a purpose.

"So, I'm assuming you won't follow Makoto's wish?" Mukuro deadpanned.

Junko snorted. "Hah! Hell no! We're gonna make this a fuckin' festival they won't ever forget!"

Mukuro frowned but didn't say anything. Junko had been talking about this festival non-stop, going on and on about "despair filled festivities". She obviously had something nefarious planned. Mukuro agreed to help her. She wouldn't do anything to let down her sister. She was all she had left and would always be there for her.

But Makoto's face wouldn't leave Mukuro's mind. His smile, his curious eyes, his friendly aura. It drew her to him. Maybe…Junko wouldn't hurt him? Yeah, that had to be it. As long as Mukuro asked, Junko would keep Makoto uninjured. She hoped, at least.

As Mukuro and Junko continued down the hall, they had missed the pair of lilac eyes that tracked them, their owner's ear focused deeply on their conversation.