I'm who now?

by Clemerl

Being dropped into the killing game is always a dangerous place to be as a student of Hope's Peak, not knowing what will happen or who will kill whom. But what happens when the one in charge has a change of heart? Or rather, has the mind of someone else entirely who will stop at nothing to save everyone they can. Even if it dives them to Despair.

41. Explosive Despair

There was a point in everyone's life where they look at a photo and ask themselves, "Why can't I remember when this happened?". It was an understandable concern as photos were supposed to be a record of a time and place of where and when you were at an earlier point in life and forever captured in that moment forever, allowing those involved with its creation to reflect on those times. For some people, it would bring back memories of better times to give you reasons to continue on through the hard times, or it could simply bring you back to times of fun to allow you to recall those moments of nostalgia. In the worst case, it became a document of tragedy that could be used to assist others learn about events that occurred during that time so that a plan of action can be made. Yes, there were a near countless application of photos and the moments they preserved.

However, to have a photo of yourself and not remember it was rather disconcerting to say the least. It either reflected poorly on your own memories that you could no longer recall these events that surrounded the creation of this window to the past, or it told just how little that moment mattered to you that you decided that it wasn't worth remembering in the first place. However, for Chihiro, this made him feel incredibly concerned over this new development.

After they had gotten Taka to the cafeteria, they had done what they could to help him regain his cool. Well, he was mostly moral support with them not wanting him to move too much because of his ribs. Leon and Mondo had done most of the work, though they had continually passive aggressively insult each other the whole time as they got Taka water, a bag of ice from the freezer for Taka's headache, and worked to make a sandwich each to feed the moral. Chihiro wasn't quite sure when the last bit came into play here, but as he and Taka ate their food while the other two continued insulting each other, he wasn't exactly complaining about the free meal.

However, then the other three boys rushed into the cafeteria, their faces all pale and their breaths labored. He hadn't even realized that they hadn't been behind them the whole time, he had been more focused on Taka. At first Chihiro thought they had been attacked or something, but while they assured them that wasn't the case, they were quick to clam up whenever they tried to ask about whatever it was they had seen. Oh, they tried to shrug it off as nothing, but the way they vehemently refused to look at the other four guys of their class was all too telling. He would know, he did it all the time whenever someone brought up his attire or any other aspect of his secret.

Leon and Mondo seemed to have some idea of whatever it was the three boys were hiding since they both gave them a lidded glare full of disappointment, but Chihiro wasn't sure why they would. It wasn't like they could have done that much in the short amount of time since they had split off from the group.

Unbidden Monokuma's words came back to his mind, but he shrugged it off. There was no way they would peep on the girls, not when Sakura was there. The temptation wasn't worth having your spine being bent up like a pretzel.

Eventually he had shrugged it off, and they all gradually calmed down, chatting idly as they waited for the girls. However, at he noticed that Makoto had looked rather troubled as he kept glancing at him, as well as Leon and Mondo squabbling in the corner. So, he asked the luckster, "Makoto, is something wrong?"

"...Huh?" Makoto asked, momentarily thrown off by the interruption, before asking, "I mean, what did you say?"

Oh boy, that wasn't a good sign. Makoto was normally the most attentive of them all. For him to not hear, it must be really bothering him. "I said, is something wrong? You've been staring."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't even realize." Makoto scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I've just been wondering about something that's been bothering me."

Chihiro blinked. "What is it?"

"Well..." Makoto trailed off, before putting a hand into one of his pockets as he fished for something. "I was just wondering, did you ever… how do I word this? Did you happen to… know anyone here before coming to this school?"

Chihiro was completely caught off guard by the question, and it caught the confused attention of the others as well. Hiro ended up being the voice of their question. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Makoto continued to blindly grope about his seemingly bottomless pockets as he addressed Hiro with, "Well, this is going to sound strange, but when I was looking in the art room repository, I found this weird picture."

"Weird? Weird how?" Hifumi questioned, but then started to drool as he jumped to conclusions. "Wait, do you mean you found something…Dubiously adult?"

"What? No! Why would-? No, not like that." Makoto quickly responded, fortunately before Taka could jump up and start shouting. "No it's a picture of you three and… well, here look."

Chihiro watched as the luckster pulled out what looked like a picture and held it out for them all to see. He and the other guys quickly gathered around to look intrigued, but then they all froze in shock once they got a good look at the moment it held.

On this tiny strip of laminated paper was a simple image all things considered. From left to right was Mondo, Leon, and himself, all smiling and happy as they seemed to be roughhousing in an unknown classroom. Mondo was missing his Crazy Diamond jacket in this photo, as was Chihiro missing the outer jacket of his own uniform leaving him in his white dress shirt. The biker had his hands wrapped over both of them, his fist playfully pressed against Leon's cheek as the All-star shoved his elbow into Mondo's ribs and wrapped the other arm loosely around the programmer's throat, and Mondo's other hand was ruffling Chihiro's hair as the programmer playfully shoved Leon back into Mondo with one hand while the other gripped a couple of the fingers of the hand on his head.

It was such a heartwarming scene, one that showcased just how close these three were that they could do such without a care in the world. Combined with the natural light of the open window in the back blessing the image with a warm summer sun, it was the kind of memory that would most likely last for years to come as a treasured moment of their high school days they would return to in the adult, or even elderly years. There was only one problem.

"When the fuck did this happen?" Mondo bluntly summed it up in one question.

"I wasn't aware that Masters Owada, Fujisaki, and Kuwata were acquainted." Hifumi stated, as he adjusted his glasses with one hand and used the other to scratch his chin while he observed the photo closely. "Though I must say, this is quite the photo you've taken."

"Yeah, it looks like you guys were having a lot of fun." Hiro admitted as he gave them a boisterous laugh. "Hard to believe that you guys went to the same school before all of this."

"Yeah, except there's one problem." Leon added looking as distressed as Chihiro felt. When Hiro asked what that was, Leon glared at him and said, "I've never been to a school with either of these two."

"Huh? Wait, that makes no sense." Taka interjected as he pointed at the clear photographic evidence. "Is that not you in this photo? Though I must say, I'm rather shocked that you didn't tell me about this, Bro."

"Ain't nothing to tell, 'cause I don't know what the hell this is." Mondo refuted, snatching the picture from the luckster's hands and holding it closer. "I might not be the smartest person in the room, but I know that I've never seen you two before I came to this school."

"Yeah, what he said." Leon jabbed his thumb at Mondo as he said, "I know I would have remembered seeing someone that ridiculous looking at my school, and I sure as hell wouldn't be caught dead hanging with someone like that."

Mondo turned his head to level the baseball player with a glare for the shot. "Yeah, you're right. I for one wouldn't want to be seen with a pansy baseball idiot. Might end up making him piss himself if he had to spend a minute with a hog."

A vane seemed to pulse in Leon's head at the crack, as he took a threatening step forward. "Who're you calling a baseball idiot? I'm not an idiot... and I hate baseball!"

"Chihiro, do you know anything about this?" Makoto interrupted the squabble and taking the photo back before it could escalate. The programmer could only shake his head in response.

"No, I don't remember ever taking a photo like this. I hadn't even met either of them before Hope's Peak." Chihiro silently took the picture into his hand as he looked at it again.

"That's weird." Hiro crossed his arms as he sighed, but then he brightened up and pointed. "I got it! Maybe Monokuma photo shopped it to mess with us!"

"That might be it!" Hifumi joined in on the pointing. "He cast a spell and made this silly photo to confuse us!"

It seemed like a possibility, at least at first glance. It would be the easiest option since they all had no memory of this photo in the first place, at had no way for it to have been done in here since they had never even seen an open window in this school. The closest thing that they had was the artificial window in this very room leading to a fake garden of plastic trees, fabricated grass, and painted skies, and it didn't match room in the photo in the slightest. It would be the easier option to assume that it was fabricated. Yet…

"No, I don't think it is." Chihiro refuted as he held up the photo. "I don't know where or how this photo was made, but I do know what doctored photos look like, and this doesn't have the right look."

"Really!? How can you tell?" Taka asked. "Is this a result of your status as the Ultimate Programmer?"

"That's not..." Chihiro sighed in exasperation. "Yes, I'm a programmer, but this and that are different. What I mean is, doctored photos have an effect called the, uncanny valley. Usually, it's because there is something about the image that's just off a little bit that makes it seem unnatural. The point is, there isn't any current photo editing software made yet that can edit an image to look this...natural."

"Well, maybe Monokuma has some kind software that nobodies seen before?" Hiro offered. "I mean, if what Monokuma says is true and his bear bod is really super advanced, he totally could have some kinda thing like that tucked away!"

"Maybe..." Chihiro admitted, but he kept staring at the photo. "But, something about this feels so...familiar."

There was a strange feeling in his head as he continued to stare, searching for something. It was weird, he knew that he didn't remember this moment ever happening, he had no memories of Mondo or Leon being close with him in the slightest. Yet, for some odd reason, as this strange pressure in his head started building and this dull tone ringing in his ears, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that he should recognize this moment.

Why was he tasting copper?

It was while he was staring at the photo that he was shaken from his thoughts when Mondo's hand started waving in front of his face and disrupting his concentration. He blinked rapidly before turning to look at the biker's worried face with confusion.

"Hey, you okay little dude?" Mondo asked as he pointed at something on Chihiro's chin. The programmer in response held up his hand to his lip and felt something wet. When he pulled his hand away, he saw that there was a little red on his fingers.

Oh, he had a nosebleed. How'd that happen?

Chihiro wiped the bloody trail off on his sleeve, doing his best to ignore the sudden headache that he felt. Instead, he tried to smile and reassure his friend. "It's okay. I'm… fine."

It wasn't nearly enough to convince him though, because Mondo put both of his hands on Chihiro's shoulders. "Dude. Don't do that."

Chihiro froze, caught off guard by the tortured tone in Mondo's voice. He looked into the biker gang leaders eyes, and was stunned to see that the biker was doing something that he'd never seen from the slightly older teen.

He was looking Chihiro in the eyes.

Now, that shouldn't seem like a big deal, but to Chihiro, it was extremely telling. Up until this point, he was used to having people look him in the eye. Normally they would look to the side, or down at his shirt, or up at his hair, anywhere but at his eyes. Junko had been an exception, but even then he couldn't help but feel sometimes that she wasn't quite looking at him so much as through him some times.

Plus, there was the way Mondo was looking at him that made his heart jump. Ordinarily, he couldn't see more then a few specific emotions in a person's eyes when he looked at them. Pity was a prominent one, followed by a sort of admiration akin to the sort you'd give to a small creature like a puppy or kitten. He didn't particularly like that since it made him feel like a child or a burden that couldn't look out for himself. Occasionally he had been given looks of disgust or confusion by those that would learn of his secret, but that wasn't anything new.

It was because of this that he tended to look away from people's faces. These kinds of looks made him feel like he was a freak, a weakling who couldn't do anything on his own.

Yet, Mondo was looking at him with an emotion he had only thus far seen once before, and it was just like with Junko when she had called him out on his secret. It was a look of admiration, a look of respect, but twinged with a frustration at him for his outlook on himself. It was that look that made his mouth dry up and forced him to listen when Mondo continued to speak.

"Don't just cram it all down and pretend that shit doesn't effect you." Mondo firmly stated as he cut the programmer off before he could say anything. "If somethings wrong, tell one of us, 'aight? Being strong ain't just about standing on your own. Sometimes it's about knowing when to step up, yeah, but sometimes you gotta know when to bow out and let someone help carry the load."

Mondo looked away for a moment as he tried to remember something, muttering. "How'd it go again? You can't sit on a chair if it's only got one leg. You need at least three to keep it from dropping you on your ass. Something like that?"

The biker shook his head. "Fuck it. Point is, you aren't alone anymore, got it? You got us, and it hurts us to know that you're hurting and you're trying to shoulder this shit by yourself."

Chihiro stared into the biker's eyes for a minute, stunned by the biker's sudden statement. It was so out of nowhere that he wasn't able to say anything in response for the longest time. Out of the blue, Mondo was giving him encouragement. Trying to reassure him and get him to talk about his feelings. It was like when he had promised not to shout anymore since it bothered him. It was touching, the kind of kindness and understanding had had endeared the biker to him in the first place.

However, "...Where is this coming from?"

"What...?" Mondo blinked, taken aback by the confrontation. But, then, he jolted back in realization of how close he was and began rubbing his neck awkwardly. "Oh, uh. Shit, sorry. It's just… Well, you asked me to help you get stronger, right?"

Chihiro nodded, feeling something flutter in his chest. "Y-yes. You mean…?"

"Yeah, I am. I mean if you still want my help." Mondo turned away, but one of his eyes stayed on Chihiro's face in clear anticipation. Chihiro wasn't sure whether it was for his rejection or for his acceptance, but Mondo clearly was worried about his opinion in this matter.

However, before Chihiro could respond, Mondo took a glance at the other guys, more specifically at Leon who was currently holding the photo and glaring in confusion at the picture of the three of them together. "Look, I don't know anything about that picture or any of this shit. Frankly, I can't understand half of the crap that's going on right now. I can be a real moron and I make a lot of bone headed mistakes, 'aight? I can't help it."

Chihiro slapped him on the stomach, cutting him off before he could continue to degrade himself. Mondo glanced down at Chihiro in shock, not expecting that. However, when Chihiro smiled at him afterward, he smiled and shook his head, fortunately catching the silent reprimand from the programmer quickly. "But, I made you a promise as a man, and I don't care what anyone says, I'm gonna help you with you're dream."

Chihiro smiled, then put a hand on Mondo's arm. "I'd like that… after my ribs heal first."

Mondo froze for a second, as if just remembering that he was in fact injured, but gave a nod and a smile before holding out a hand. Chihiro in turn put his hand in the larger boy's hand and smiled just a little wider, clenching their hands together to seal the deal.

With that settled, the two boys settled into a calm silence as they waited along with the others for the girls to finish their bath. The questions about the photo would wait, right now they were content to sit in their moment of friendship.

Sadly, the moment wouldn't last for very long as the girls began filing in shortly after, each one looking refreshed and rejuvenated as they walked in fully clothed and rejuvenated. Hina was the first in as she stretched her arms above her head, doing wonderful things to her chest, but he was quick to look away before he could be caught staring.

"Mmm, ah!" Hina sighed as she stretched, smiling ear to ear as she preformed some light stretching. "I don't know about you girls, but I really needed that."

"Indeed." Sakura agreed as she passed the wheelchair bound Sayaka to Leon, her normally stiff hair looking far more soft and lively then before as it flowed over her shoulders and back like waves of white silk. "Twas most fortuitous that we would be able to partake it such relaxation."

"Yes, well, I'm quite glad for you." Celeste added, her expression terse as she looked at Toko out of the corner of her eye with a particularly malicious gleam in her eye. "I, however, would have appreciated it more if I didn't need to refresh myself afterward."

"D-don't look at me. I-I'm not her keeper." Toko grumbled as she messed with one of her hair braids, glaring at her clean and now oil-less hair like it had offended her somehow.

He wasn't sure what the story was, but Chihiro did note that Celeste looked noticeably different. It took him a second to pin point why, but closer inspection revealed that she was no longer wearing any mascara or other make-up on her face, making her look less like a porcelain doll and more like a normal person. It was such a stark contrast that he couldn't help but stare for a bit longer then what might be considered proper, but he was quick to drop his head when she felt his gaze on her and leveled him a brief glare as well.

He didn't know why she was upset though, he thought she looked good like this.

Anyway, the others followed in pretty closely, looking much better then they had before. Soon everyone was gathered, with the two exceptions being Junko and Byakuya. Chihiro felt a bit saddened by the absence of his friend, but he understood. She needed the rest so that she could recover properly. He could wait.

"If this is everyone, I need to say something." Taka started, gesturing to Leon to hand over the photo, which the All-star did with a grimace. "Please, turn your attention to this."

"What is this?" Hina was the first to respond, looking confused but happy. "Hey, I didn't know you guys knew each other."

"That's the problem. We didn't." Mondo stated as he crossed his arms.

Celeste tilted her head as her eyes widened. "Are you quite certain? This photo seems to suggest otherwise."

"Positive." Leon answered as he crossed his irritably arms as well. "My school would never have let someone like that poser in, and I know that I couldn't have been friends with Chihiro either."

"Really?" Hina questioned as she and Chihiro both gave him a raised eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you have been friends with him…?"

"Pay attention. I said, couldn't, not wouldn't." Leon corrected her, leaning forward as he put a finger to his forehead.

"Okay, then why couldn't you be his friend?" Sayaka returned, looking vexed, yet somehow understanding. "Is there a specific reason?"

"I..." Leon froze and look at Chihiro "Well, let's just say, I've got a few friends that wouldn't have believed that he was a guy, 'aight? Would have made some stupid decisions to keep us from interacting, if you catch my drift."

"What, you would let someone else tell you who you could be friends with? That's bullshit." Mondo remarked with disgust.

"That's what I said!" The All-star agreed readily, looking frustrated as he ran a hand through his hair. "But, you try telling that to rabid fans. It's stupid, but telling them that doesn't stop them from being idiots."

"Where did you find this photo?" Kyoko interrupted as she held out her hand in a clear request for the photo.

"I found it in the art room repository." Makoto replied as he took the picture and handed it to her to examine. "I figured that it was important, so I pocketed it before Monokuma could realize I had it."

"Good work." Kyoko praised his quick thinking. "With this, you might have given us an important clue."

"Really?" Hiro asked as he leaned over her shoulder, and she visibly leaned away from him with her nose scrunched up. Clearly not a fan of the strange smell he exuded. "Are you sure that it isn't just a forged pic? I mean, I don't see Monokuma trying to take it."

As if summoned solely to spite the clairvoyant's suspicion, the strange sound Monokuma made when it popped into the room went off, followed by everyone jumping startled as the bear shouted, "HEY! What are you doing!?"

"GAH!" Hiro jumped back with flailing arms, along with Hifumi, Hina, Toko, and Leon. Taka wasn't much better, as he reeled back and caught his leg on a chair and nearly fell down in a clatter, only barely managing to catch the table and stop himself from completely collapsing to the floor. Mondo was the quickest to recover of them all, stomping forward and taking the photo from Kyoko when she held it out for him before shoving it roughly into their tormentor's face with an accusatory glare.

"Hey, Monokuma. The fuck is up with this picture?" The biker demanded as he held the source of their confusion in front of the bear, just out of the monochrome bears reach, but still close enough that their captor couldn't miss it. Monokuma leaned back, his one beady eye visibly wide as he stared at the impossible photo with visible confusion and trepidation.

"A-ah! Well, it's… uh, well..." To Chihiro's shock, Monokuma shuddered as he pulled his arms close to his chest, somehow visibly sweating despite being a robot; which itself was an entirely different matter to consider at a later date. The bear glanced from the photo, to the biker holding it, to Kyoko glaring at him with clear suspicion in her eyes, then at Leon, before finally settling on Chihiro's own and staying there.

Chihiro wasn't certain what seeing him did, but Monokuma was quick to straighten up after and cleared his throat.

"Well, is it not obvious?" Monokuma started, putting a paw behind his back as he gestured at the photo dismissively. "Clearly, this is a photo."

"You mother-!" Mondo started before abruptly cutting himself off and sucking air in through his teeth. "I mean, where did you get this picture?"

"AH! Yes, of course... That would be what you meant… Naturally." Monokuma stated in a calm tone, but even Chihiro could tell that he was anything but calm. He was the exact opposite of calm. In fact, if Chihiro had anything to say about it, he looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack.

Was… was this not an act? Was the photo actually real, and if it was, what did that mean for them? Did this mean that they were missing memories or…?

"Heheh."" Chihiro was abruptly pulled from his thoughts as Monokuma began to chuckle, completely losing the nervous, appearance it had before. "Had you going for a moment there, didn't I?"

Chihiro blinked along with the others as Monokuma straightened his back and lazily shrugged. "Of course, is it not obvious? This is a photo. However, it's a special photo, in that, instead of a look into the past, this picture is a...glimpse into the future."

...What? Chihiro reeled back and gave the bear a double take as he struggled to comprehend what he had just heard. A picture of the future. This image of him, Leon, and Mondo was something that would happen in the future? That sounded…

"Bullshit." Mondo growled as he leaned in closer to the bear in a threatening manner. "There ain't no way to predict the future like that."

"He said to the animatronic bear holding him and his classmates full of Ultimate students in a killing game." Monokuma fired back looking far too smug for his own good. "Uh huh, sure. Just like how no one believes in those ghost pictures Hiro has under his bed."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen those before in my life. They're for a friend." Hiro was a little to quick to defend.

"Make up your mind, dude. Do you believe in the occult or not?" Leon deadpanned, to which Hiro snapped an angry pointing finger as he poorly defended himself, "That's not occult, it's paranormal!"

Not even Chihiro could stop himself from giving the clairvoyant a lidded stare at that.

"You may not like it, but it's the truth." Monokuma continued as if nothing happened. "This is the future, end of discussion."

"No, not 'end of discussion'!" Taka shouted as he stood up with enough force to knock back the chair he had been propped up against. "You're leaving out so much information!"

"Yeah, what my bro said!" Mondo agreed, before thumbing at Leon with a disbelieving, "Like, how the hell do you expect me to get along with this baseball idiot?"

"For the last time!" Leon snapped, finally having enough of being casually insulted like this by Mondo. "I. Hate. Baseball. And I. Am NOT. An Idiot!"

However, that wasn't enough for the baseball player. He was clearly sick and tired of being looked down on for his talent that he didn't even want. He got straight up into Mondo's scowling face with a scowl of his own.

"And besides, I'd rather be honest about myself then pretend to be something I'm not; unlike some people." Mondo bared his teeth at the slight.

"Oh yeah? You calling me a liar, punk?"

"I'm saying, you aren't as cool as you pretend to be." Leon stated. "You're just like those losers who squat outside of convenience stores pretending to be big shots. All talk and no substance."

A vain pulsated in Mondo's temple as he stared down the all-star with contempt. "Oh, yeah? Well, at least I have the guts to make something of my skills instead of jumping on a bandwagon. Especially one that you have no talent in 'cause you think it'll help you pick up chicks."

"I do so have talent!" Leon snapped defensively. "And the chicks thing is secondary. I have a vision, I have the skills, the passion. All I need is some equipment and I can be just as good as any punk rocker."

"Uh huh. Yeah, sure. And I'm a carpenter. All I need is a hammer and I can build a mansion." Mondo sassed him back. As their argument sort of faded into the background, a sigh broke up the situation.

"I fail to see these two becoming anything close to this image anytime soon, no matter how much more credible this is compared to Hagakure's divinations." Celeste quipped as she balanced her chin on her hand, completely ignoring the way Hiro gasped like he'd been stabbed in the back. "Why, if anything, I would sooner believe a mongoose becoming friends with a python before these two reconciled."

"Indeed." Sakura agreed as she crossed her arms. "Twould appear that, if this truly were a picture of future events, they are quite a distant time away."

"M-more like an eternity." Toko fired as she inched away from the conflict so as to not get dragged in if their argument came to blows.

"Nonsense!" Taka exclaimed confidently, finally standing up properly now that he'd caught his second wind. "They are simply going through a rough patch right now due to their conflicting ideals. Much like how Mondo and I were in the beginning, they will inevitably grow close with time."

"I sure hope so." Chihiro muttered as he look on at the two squabbling boys as they continued to berate and heckle each other. If there was one thing that Chihiro wanted more then even achieving his dream, it was for everyone here to get along so that they could all get out together. Maybe he was the only one right now, but he still remembered Monokuma's promise to release them in they managed a year without conflict.

True, he would have preferred that they get along regardless, but he couldn't help but want to be able to leave with everyone. It just didn't feel right to be allowed to leave if it meant leaving someone behind.

"In any case, I will be confiscating this." Kyoko stated as she brushed past the arguing duo, casually plucking the photo from Mondo's hand as she all but strutted to the door, pausing only for a moment to glare over her shoulder at Monokuma. "Unless there's a problem with that?"

If Monokuma was bothered by this he hid it well, nonchalantly waving her off as he leaned against the leg of a table. "Sure, sure. Whatever you wanna do. Besides, it's not like there are more important matters for you to worry about."

It was very clear that Monokuma was baiting them with that remark. It couldn't have been more clear that he was deliberately taunting them, dangling some kind of information over their heads just tempting them to reach out for it. Oh, they wanted to resist asking, they knew by this point that any information they got from from Monokuma was like making a wish with a monkey's paw. It never went well.

However, that didn't stop Hiro from asking anyway. "What do you mean?"

Monokuma didn't respond, just continued to walk away, dipping into the kitchen with seemingly not a care in the world. Yet, he did chuckle a little bit, which honestly Chihiro wasn't sure if that was worst then if he had actually responded or not. With him gone though, there was left a feeling of anxiousness and terror that gripped the student's deep in their chests and kept them silent as their minds went wild with possible ideas as to what Monokuma could possibly be alluding too.

Eventually, when it seemed like nothing was going to happen, they all started to relax a tad, glancing at each other as they pondered on the ominous note left behind. The mysterious picture was temporarily put out of their minds, but it clung to the edge of the three students that had been in it as they glanced at each one another with mixed emotions.

As usual, the headmaster left them with more and more questions then answers, revealing nothing and leaving them all questioning.

What now?

---

"This is bad, this is bad, this is really bad!"

I grumbled to myself as I paced with crossed arms around the observation deck in silence, trying to come up with a plan of some sort to fix this stupid mess I had found myself in. My teeth would have been grinding had I not been biting and gnawing on the inside of my cheek in a vain attempt to stave off an anxiety attack at the moment.

Honestly, what is wrong with my thought process lately? First I fail to account for that picture in the art room showing up when I least wanted, then I stupidly come up with the most idiotic excuse right out of Hiro's book to cover it up. The only person that would actually believe that malarkey would have to be the most delusional fool in the world. Which would explain why Hiro and Hifumi had both looked so excited when I had said it.

Bet Yasuhiro would absolutely pay a grant worth for that kind of tool.

Unfortunately, now I had to pull full effort on preforming some kind of damage control before they got too wise to this. Kyoko taking the picture made things more difficult, but not impossible to salvage. I just had to get Mondo, Leon, and Chihiro to get closer and it would be set. Simple enough, Chihiro was already making strides to get along with Mondo and Leon wasn't really far behind.

The only problem was, both Leon and Mondo were stubbornly vehement on hating each other's guts. They had been since the second trial, and it wasn't hard to see why. Leon didn't like how Mondo and company had basically used Chihiro for an attempt at catching me, and Mondo didn't handle confrontation very well in general, especially over something that he felt guilty for. Didn't matter that Chihiro forgave them, Mondo wouldn't be the one to forget his guilt, and Leon was not helping matters.

To be honest, these two weren't likely to forgive and forget until someone or something forced them to put aside their differences for a common goal. But I didn't know of anyway that wouldn't mean putting their lives into risk.

"I could always try for the hanged bridge effect." I muttered as I schemed. "But, how would I be able to do that without getting someone killed?"

I pondered as I turned to look at the students on the screen as best I could, trying to think of what to do. Taka had finally given up the ghost and returned to his quarters to rest and prepare for his new shift, as had Toko to return to her writings. Hina and Sakura had gone to the girl's locker room to exercise, though I could see that they were taking a momentary break as they discussed something about the sledge hammer. Kyoko I caught outside of the boy's bathroom on the second floor as she glanced around before ducking inside. No doubt she was going to be combing through the files in the secret room in there for a few hours. Byakuya had once more locked himself in the library, though now he had taken a few on the files out of the archive to peruse. Meanwhile, Hiro and Hifumi seemed to be comparing notes outside of Mukuro's room, likely trying to think of a way to convince her not to kill them for their crimes, or failing that, making their wills.

That left Celeste and Makoto, who seemed to be having a discussion about something involving an embarrassing topic of some sort. Well, that was my thought till I noticed that she had a new rose whip on the table next to her, likely a gift from Makoto. Obviously he hadn't considered the implications of the gift since he looked rather flustered as he waved his hands in denial with a reddened face as she smiled in bemusement at his flub.

Seriously, why was that something that you could buy in the school store? This is supposed to be a faculty of learning and education!

Finally we had the groups that I cared about. Leon and Sayaka, and Chihiro and Mondo. Leon was with the pop star in the nurse's office, most likely discussing her injuries and trying to plan for her further recovery. Well, she was, he looked like he was having a heated rant about Mondo right now and she was working to calm him down. Similarly in the gym, Mondo and Chihiro were having their own little pow-wow as Mondo raved about how he couldn't stand the all-star while Chihiro tried to talk him down.

Honestly, what am I to do with those problem children, Mondo and Leon? Despite what Taka believed, I don't think these two could conciliate over a manly competition like he and Mondo had. These two were less like water and oil were they could combine with an outside force, like flour. These two were more like motor oil and baseball, a combination didn't work in the slightest, and when it did, that rarely meant good things for people around them. Especially for their mailboxes.

Although, I couldn't deny that the idea of team of people playing baseball while on motorbikes did sound like a right hoot.

However, I was honestly kinda stumped here. Aside from what I could remember from their free-time events, I didn't really know much about them that they could bond over, Leon even less so then Mondo. I knew them even less as actual people. If it weren't for the fact that they both had clearly once been friends with Chihiro in, I wouldn't ever believe that they would ever have gotten along.

...Wait a second.

I stood stiffly as an idea came to mind. Then I put my hand to my chin as a plan came from that idea. A smile formed on my face as it developed into a scheme. Oh, that could work. Yes, yes that could work quite nicely. It would certainly be faster then any other idea I'd had, if not a little bit risky.

I frowned. Could I take that risk though? While I could say yes, Chihiro had already been through so much already. I don't think I wanted to put him through more. But, I had to do something, or Kyoko would figure things out too quickly, or worse, those two morons might end up killing each other tying to out alpha male each other.

I sighed agitated. "...Forget it. I'm not going to risk their lives over this. I'll just have to take the next best approach."

So, I waited for a little while, watching them as they all interacted for a while, waiting for the right opportunity. When that got boring, I pulled out the only other source of entertainment, Yasuke's journal, and set about deciphering another poorly handwritten entree.

Sadly, the next page wasn't anything eye opening, but it did depict a rather funny event where, apparently, Makoto's luck managed to get him, Yasuke, and myself involved in a hostage situation. However, rather then the tense affair it should have been, I had somehow managed to not only get us out of the situation unscathed and turned the two criminals against themselves, but managed get them to feed us, guard us as we slept, and tricked the criminals into turning themselves in.

It was an amusing distraction to consider, but aside from showing both Yasuke and Makoto just how terrifyingly manipulative Junko could be when given the chance, it didn't really help me any.

But, fortunately, it didn't distract me for too long, just long enough for the right opportunity to appear. So, without further prompting, I quickly grabbed the spare crutch and all but dove into the vents and clambered down to the room closest to my target, ignoring the pains I got from battering my limbs around the metal walls of those tight confines.

Taking a brief moment to look around, I was happy to announce that my target, Chihiro, was all by his lonesome as he walked down the hall, having split off from the biker when they ran out of things to berate Leon about, and was walking by with his head down as he pondered. The cinnamon roll was likely doing what I had been doing, trying to think of a way to get those meatheads to get along. The perfect set up for what I was planning.

"Psst, hey, Chihiro. Over here." I whispered to the programmer. Not that you could tell, because the way Chihiro jumped and whirled around, you'd have thought I'd shouted in his ear at the top of my lungs.

"J-Junko…?" He stuttered as he stepped back, startled from my sudden appearance. Though considering the fact that we were on the second floor and I had a crutch, I don't blame him to much. "What… What are you doing here?"

"I live here." I bluntly stated. "Same as you. I thought we established this."

He did look rather miffed at that, clearly not appreciating my sass. "I-I mean. What are doing up here and not in your room?"

"Aw, and here I thought I could come and see you." I bemoaned over dramatically, placing a hand on my forehead as I leaned back and postured with the grace of a true primadonna. "Oh, whoa to be a girl alone without a friend to cling to in her time of need. Oh, how defenseless I must seem to the wandering gaze. It would truly be a tragedy if some strapping man were to come and r-r-ravish me at this moment."

Chihiro giggled at my performance, fortunately catching the sarcasm and gave me a slight shove. "Junko, cut it out."

"Heh, there's that smile." I shoved back. "So, you wanna tell me what's got you all gloomy-guts this time?"

Chihiro's smile faltered slightly and he put his hand up to his mouth as he considered whether or not to tell me what was bothering him. But eventually, he decided to tell me what was on his mind, explaining the whole situation with the photo, Mondo and Leon, as well as his curiosity over that idiotic lie of mine.

"Interesting." I muttered after he finished his explanation. "That certainly sounds like on doozy of an issue."

"Do you think it could be true?" Chihiro questioned. "Do you think that it's really, possible for us all to be friends?"

"Like in the photo?" I proposed, to which he nodded. "Well, I'll admit that the whole, photo from the future this sounds a bit sketch, I honestly can't say that I couldn't see it happening."

"Really?" he asked, to which I shrugged as I replied, "Well, sure. I mean, those two would need to have a chance to really work out their differences first, but I can totally see the three of you getting along. Real question is, do you honestly want to be friends with those chuckle-nuts?"

"Of course I-" I cut him off with a raised hand to his face, making him startle before he got a good look at my face.

I gave him my most solemn glare that I possibly could, one that I hoped conveyed the level of seriousness I had for this conversation. I wasn't sure why, but I felt that if I didn't make sure that he truly knew what he was getting into, that he would be hurt yet again by whatever the outcome of his decision.

"Let me reiterate." I spoke, calmly, yet firmly. "I'm not going to tell you who you should be friends with, or what you should do with your life. That's not my responsibility, what you do with your life is yours. I only want you to realize just what you're getting yourself into here."

I let my hand fall and adjusted my crutch to better hold my weight as I continued. "I'll be frank with you, those boys got issues, and I ain't referring to the ones they got with each other. You've seen it yourself, right? They are the kind of boneheads that require a full commitment to helping, and for every step they take forward, they'll trip two steps back. Those two will be a full time commitment, and to be honest with you, might be more trouble then they're worth."

I rolled my wrist to him. "You yourself have seen the kind of people they are during the last couple trials, right? After you saw all that, do you truly believe that it's worth investing time to befriend those two?"

I know that what I was saying was counter intuitive to the plan, but I couldn't help it. I didn't want to force Chihiro into a relationship that could result in him getting hurt. Say what you will about me, my manipulations, and my trust issues, but I refuse to be the one to force someone into a relationship against their will, friendship or otherwise. If he says that he changes his mind, I'll figure out another way to fix this problem another way.

"Well..." He pondered for a moment, turning away for just a second and I was all to ready to call this plan a bust and prepare to make a new plan. However, then he turned back to me and to my surprise, looked me dead in the eye as he put his clenched hands in front of himself.

"Yes. I'm sure." He said with determination in his voice. "I believe in Mondo and Leon, and I think… no, I know that I want to be their friend. I know that they aren't perfect, but who is? I know that it'll be hard some times, but I honestly believe that we can be friends if we take the time to get to know each other."

He then gave me a little smile. "Besides, we're all in this together, right? Photo or no, we're all friends here, so there's no reason I shouldn't believe in them. I trust them, just like I trust you."

...Huh, this was an interesting feeling. My heart had skipped a beat, and I had felt a slight bit of heat rush to my neck and cheeks. Yet at the same time, a cold lump of guilt clumped up in my guts and made me feel ill. Mmm… gotta say, not a fan of this combo of emotions.

I wasn't going to say anything about it though, instead I did my best to cram both of those feelings down with all the other stuff I've been bottling up thus far, and gave him a cheeky grin as I reached up and playfully ruffled his hair to his chagrin.

"Aw, thanks, buddy. I trust you too." I laughed as he batted at my offending hand and covered the rat's nest I'd made of his hair. "So, what's our plan?"

Chihiro blinked, apparently not having expected my sudden about face as he asked, "Huh?"

"Yeah, obviously you have some kind of plan to get those two to get along, right?" I replied in the most earnest tone I could manage. "So, lay it on me, how are we gonna get them to get along?"

"No, that's..." he stumbled as he tried to backtrack. "I mean, I don't...no, I mean, I thought..."

"Thought I didn't want you to be friends with them, or something?" I finished for him, and he replied with a nod. "Aw, I'm hurt. I didn't realize that you thought of me like that. Thinking of me like I was some kind of selfish women. How rude."

"N-no! That's not what I…! I only meant...but you were...I..." He stopped his fumbling when I snorted, and a burst of laughter escaped my lips.

"Heh, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. You're just so fun to tease." I admitted with a grin which only got bigger when he pouted cutely at me. "I didn't mean anything by it. Chill."

Clearly my sense of humor is wasted here. All he did was shake his head in that tired, "I am so done with this", expression and wait for me to continue on.

Seriously, everybody's a critic.

I leaned heavily on my crutch and laughed once more. "But, yeah, I meant what I said. Those two will be a handle for you, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for you. They're part of completely different worlds and it's gonna be difficult to find a common ground for them to stand on. That's just gonna be something you're gonna have to except."

I held up my free hand to stall his rebuttal. "That said, I will admit that they could become something good in the future. If they could just get over themselves, they might be able to form a good bond. I'd like to believe that you can find that foundation to get them off of the ground. So, that's what I'm gonna do."

"You will!?" He asked, excitedly.

I finished up my tirade by leaning in and giving him a small poke on the nose. "That being said, I also believe that two heads are better then one. If you're willing, I got an idea how you can get those two to stop their little dick measuring contest."

For a moment, I was worried that he'd turn my offer down. This whole idea was so sketchy I could of hung it up in the art room as a horror piece.

Fortunately, his desire to help everyone get along outweighed his skepticism, as he nodded determinedly. "Okay, what do I have to do?"

I held back the urge to sigh in relief. Good. "Okay, so first, all you gotta do is..."

---

"So why did you want to talk with me?"

Leon pondered out loud as he walked behind the small programmer, confused as to what he was being dragged into. It was bad enough that he had somehow allowed Chihiro to talk him into leaving Sayaka in her room for whatever this was, regardless of the idol's insistence that it was okay, but he couldn't help but feel concerned.

Now, he wasn't saying that he thought that he was in any risk doing this. If anything, Chihiro was the least threatening thing here. Yet, it was very concerning. Being dragged to a non-disclosed location by someone else during a killing game was still asking for something to go wrong.

He had a feeling that he knew what this was about. It was hard not to, considering how buddy-buddy Chihiro and that biker-prick were. Obviously this was about his attitude toward the biker recently, and their mutual hostilities for one another.

Leon sighed. It wasn't his fault, Mondo just really rubbed him the wrong way. He just didn't like the biker's attitude, nor the way he went about his life. Not to mention the way Mondo kept poking his buttons by continuously calling him a baseball idiot.

"Just a little further." Chihiro reassured him with that little smile of his that made him question his sexuality. It was just how sweet and demure his little grin was that made him feel like he was being looked at by a cute girl.

Of course, now he knew different, and that was why he felt conflicted. God, it was still something he was going to have to adjust to. He was so used to thinking of Chihiro as a girl that it was going to take time for him to properly recondition that part of his brain.

"Over here." Chihiro prompted as he led him further down the hall of the second floor and up to the third, interrupting his thoughts as the programmer turned to the right and opened the door to one of the empty classrooms. Idly Leon noted that it was room 3-B, but didn't really care to think too much further then that because the moment he took a few steps into the room, he paused at the sight of the other person waiting for them.

Yep, just as he suspected, Mondo was the reason Chihiro had wanted his attention so badly. Part of him wanted to feel proud that he figured out where this was going early on, but it was far too overshadowed by the level of disappointment at what he had been right about.

"Yo." Mondo grumbled from the corner of the room as he leaned back on one of the chairs, his feet swung up to lay across the desk in front of him in a way that would have absolutely triggered Taka had he been there to see.

"Great. I freaking knew it." Leon grumbled under his breath, unknowingly speaking the exact same words uttered by the biker waiting for them.

Mondo resisted the urge to sigh. Honestly, after hearing the bull spouted by Monokuma about the picture, he had a feeling that something like this would happen. Yet, he didn't expect to be dragged into this by Chihiro of all people.

Looking back, he really should have. He was the one who had tried to get Chihiro to feel more comfortable with asking for help, so he had fallen hook line and sinker when Chihiro had asked for his help with something. The little programmer would want them to be friends and get along, he'd been one of the most vocal about being friends after all.

Mondo just didn't have the heart to tell the little dude that, it wasn't as simple as he thought it was. Some dudes just didn't get along, their personalities just clash too heavily, their egos just refuse to gel, or they just can't get over the hurtle of breaking the ice because something rubs them the wrong way. Whatever the reason, you just couldn't get everyone to get along.

Especially him and that baseball idiot.

The only reason he didn't just get up and leave was because he refused to let Leon think that he was some kinda coward. Likewise, Leon only resisted the urge to turn on his heel and nope out was because he knew that Mondo would never let him live it down. So, despite the feeling of unease, they both took a step toward one another with a glare, daring the other to leave and be seen as the beta male.

Unbeknownst to the baseball pick-up and the biker gang leader, they would have been justified in their trepidation if they could just see the warbling smile on Chihiro's face at the moment. If Leon and Mondo were conflicted, then the programmer was at war with himself.

Junko's plan had been relatively simple and straightforward, all things considered. Yet, he couldn't help but run over the specifics in his head once more as he attempted to combat the rapid beats of his heart.

He was to lure them both to this classroom and make sure that they both were fully in. Then, he would make some conversation and try to bring up something to force them to work together. Plus, it wasn't like he would be entirely alone. If it failed, then he was to get Junko from her spot hidden in the classroom next door and she would act as a mediator and help them work through their issues while he would sit between them as a deterrent for any thrown hands.

Basically, they were having an intervention.

It was a bit...harsh, he would admit, but Junko had been right. If they didn't clear these kind of problems up now, it only would get worst over time. Better to nip it in the butt now then let it fester into something unsalvageable later on.

Even with that thought in mind, it did nothing to quell his nerves. He'd never had to do something like this before, he had always been the kind of person to avoid conflict as much as physically possible and would have left them to their own petty squabbles, as most people would. Confronting the issue was not among his list of good ideas, and it honestly freaked him out that he would be directly involving himself in resolving an issue of this magnitude.

This wasn't like coding a computer were you could just go to the source and fix the issue either, this was forcing two admittedly bullheaded guys to open up and be friendly while clearing the air of the beef they were dealing with. It was far more terrifying because it had so much more risk of failure. If things went south, then there was a chance they might never reconcile. He didn't know if he could accept that kind of guilt.

Yet, the idea of becoming closer friends with Mondo and Leon was far too good an idea in his mind to let his trepidation stop him this time. It didn't matter if it was a fake photo or not, for what felt like the first time in a long time, he had a goal, a desire, that he thought worth the effort. This time, he would be the one to follow his desire and do something he wanted, regardless of the risk.

"Thank you both for coming." Chihiro tried to begin the conversation with a thankful smile. "I know that you're both busy. Monokuma assigned me to clean up the classrooms...it would probably have been impossible on my own with my injuries, so..."

He trailed off when he realized that there was clearly something wrong. There was just something in the air, a feeling of tension that hadn't been there before.

Turning around, he saw the two boys, once more locked in a glaring competition with one another. It might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn that he saw bolts of lightning firing off between their eyes.

"Guys...?" Chihiro tried to step forward, but stopped when their bodies turned to him, their eyes still locked on the other's, and addressed their thoughts very clearly.

"What's this asshole doing here?" Leon and Mondo grumbled in unison, deep set glares twisting their faces into ugly expressions as they crossed their arms. Thick veins pulsed and twitched in all parts of their face, and they glowered into each other's eyes with pure and total disgust.

"U-uh...Um..." Chihiro stuttered, a he looked between the two with a mixture between fear and concern. This was much worst then he had thought. He tried to hold up his hands placatingly, but before he could gather his thoughts, Leon exploded.

"The hell!?" The redhead shouted as he through his hands out, then stamped his foot aggressively. "Don't look down on me with your stupid mullet-headed, delinquent face!"

"This hair is the pride of the Crazy Diamonds, you piece of shit." Mondo growled through clenched teeth as he cracked his knuckles. "You got a lotta nerve to be dissing it in front of my face. You gotta death wish or something?"

Leon normally might have backed down in a normal situation, stepped back, apologized, and tried to smooth things over. He might have turned his back on the situation and walked away, tried to defuse the situation. This was not one of those days.

Today, he chose violence.

"More nerves then you'll ever have, you moron!" he lashed out, hand sweeping up to point at his temple as he taunted the taller teen. However, in doing so that close to Mondo's face, he ended up lightly smacking the biker's pomp in the process.

And Mondo took exception to that.

"Who's a moron, you piece of shit!?" He roared as all but slammed him forehead into the all-star's as he roughly grasped Leon's collar. Leon wasn't idle either though, retaliating in kind and balling up a corner of Mondo's leather jacket in his own hands.

Both sets of eyes narrowed. There was violence about to be committed.

"P-Please, stop...fighting!" Chihiro tried to interrupt, but his words fell on deaf ears. The pot had been left to boil for too long, there was nothing he could do now to stop it from boiling over and scathing the area around.

Still, he tried to force his way in between the two as their insults quickly devolved into petty name calling, placing his hands on both of their chests and pushing as hard as he could in an attempt to separate them. Alas, compared to their fit and powerful bodies, his weak little arms from a life on the computer were no match, and he was quickly forced back as the two continued to squabble headless to his presence.

Chihiro wanted to cry. It was Taka and Mondo all over again, him fading into the background of an otherwise pointless argument and unable to do anything to stop it. To make matters worst, he felt a distinct burning pain in his chest from his ribs being jostled from the movement. He couldn't even try again lest he risk hurting himself further.

"I better get Junko, she's got to have an idea how to stop them." Even though he knew that this was what Junko had planed for in advance, he couldn't help but grind his teeth in frustration at failing once more. His weakness held him back yet again, and now he was going to run away again, a coward, a failure, to beg for someone else to fix the problem for him.

He bit his lip so hard that he could just about swear that he could taste blood, but upon checking revealed that, no, he wasn't even capable of that much he was so weak. That thought only made the dark pit in his stomach even larger as a grimace of self loathing crossed his childlike face. He was pathetic, the thoughts that tormented him reared their ugly heads. Not even when he tries to hurt himself could he manage to do anything.

With these thoughts in his head, and sadness in his eyes, he put his hand on the door and pulled.

CLUNK

Chihiro blinked. Clunk? He juggled the doorknob.

Rattle, rattle, rattle.

It wasn't opening. The door wasn't opening.

"Huh...? Why is…? Why's the door locked?" he muttered to himself as he jostled the knob harder.

No dice. It wasn't budging. Panic began to well up in his chest.

"Junko? Junko, are you there?" He knocked on the door, hoping this was just a prank. Surely Junko wouldn't just lock them in here, right? Did these doors even have locks? "They're still fighting, a-and I don't know how to stop them! Junko…!"

He was about to let out another shout, but then he heard the sound of the doorknob shutter. At first, he sighed in relief, Junko hadn't abandoned the plan after all, she just locked the door somehow.

Or, at least that was his thought as the door opened just a smidgen, allowing a glimpse out where a figure blocked the view of the hall. At first, he thought it was his friend and a relieved smile began to form, surely she would know what to do. However, when he saw who it was he quickly leaped back in shock and horror as a gasp escaped him.

It was the masked figure that the others had told them about during the last trial. Every detail was just as they had been described, from the mask, to the lab coat, to the dark clothes underneath. Yet, somehow seeing these details in real life made the descriptions feel inadequate to say the least.

"W-who…?" Before he could finish, the figure held up a gloved hand over where their mouth would be, signaling for his silence. Then, without a word, it passed a small slip of paper through the small crack and let it flutter to the floor at Chihiro's feet. Flabbergasted by the turn of events, Chihiro wasn't able to respond in time as the figure then closed the door once more with a click.

Chihiro blinked, dumbfounded by the whole event. Questions such as, "What was that?", "Where was Junko?", and "Who was that?" were momentarily shoved to the wayside as his gaze stayed locked onto the door, confused by the events that had just transpired.

That was the masked person that had attacked Taka's group, that much he could tell. Yet, the why they were here was unanswered. Except…

Chihiro looked down at the slip of paper with curiosity. It almost looked like a note, and something had been written on it. He glanced cautiously at the door again, worried that the masked person would just leap out at him, but when the door didn't move he knelt down and plucked the piece of paper up and, after one more glance at the door to be safe, looked at the words written on the paper.

He then froze at what he read.

While he had been busy with that though, the argument between the other two had been escalating steadily.

"You look like a god damn hobo with that stupid goatee! Did you take your hair shavings and glue it to your chin!?"

"Oh yeah!? What farm did you steal that corn cob on your head from!?"

Or rather, they had long since devolved. There was no longer any real argument anymore, just petty insults between to hotheads with nothing to gain from it, Internally, they both knew deep down that this had long since passed into the realm of being sad and pathetic. However, they were too stubborn to give any ground. They only cared now that they do some damage to the other's ego.

"You look like you lost a fight with some office supplies." Mondo stated, flicking the large pin on Leon's collar with a grimace. "Seriously, the fuck is the point of this?"

"It's called, 'style', dumbass." Leon snapped as he slapped the biker's hand away. "Not that you would know, especially with that style of shirt."

"The fucks wrong with my look!?" Mondo growled back, cracking his knuckles threateningly at the scrub that would dare mock a deadman's style. "This jacket is a Daiya Mondo original!"

"No, not that jacket!" Leon would give the biker that much. "I'm talking 'bout your shirt, you numskull! I'm surprised that you can say that you don't hit chicks, considering what that thing's called."

Mondo had to take a moment to look at the sleeveless undershirt that he always wore under his jacket, considering the all-star's words for but a moment. Yet, the second that he realized what Leon was implying, his eyes widened in realization, then narrowed as a sneer of disgust twisted his visage fiercely.

"You got a lotta fucking nerve to say that about me, jackass." He snarled, because this one wasn't just a slight against him. This was a straight up assault on his very character, and he wasn't about to take that one lying down. "You think you're better then me? As I remember it, you fucking fell for that Sayaka chick's stupid murder stunt because you wanted to get you're rocks off, like a fucking simpleton. Then, you try to cover it up because you wanna impress her. It's a damn good thing you don't wanna play ball anymore, because you sure as hell couldn't even get to first base with that kind of bitch attitude."

Leon bristled at the reminder of that horrible night, and the insults were surprisingly doing nothing to soothe the burn of the shame from the memory. "And you're any better!? You're a Gangbiker! The only reason anyone would willingly tap your ass is because they're a fucking insecure bitch!"

"And you only want to be a punk rocker because you have no commitment!" Mondo fired back. "You keep spouting all this shit about how much of a bad ass you'll be at music, but we both know that you would drop it in a heartbeat if some babe told you that she wouldn't ride your dick!"

"T-That's not true!" Leon stuttered at the accusation, but wasn't willing to give up so easily. "Admit it! You only dress like that and act like that because you think that it makes it easier to pick up chicks!"

"The fuck!?" Mondo growled back. "The fuck do you know!?"

The blood was now fully in both of their faces turning them a feverish red. Their jaws hurt from how hard they had gnashed their teeth, and there throats were hoarse from all of the screaming

In that moment, Mondo would say something that he had never expected to say. Maybe it was the desire to disprove the accusations, maybe it was the frustration of being assaulted with baseless insults, or maybe it was the stress of being reminded of his failings. Whatever the case, he inhaled deeply, and shouted his shame that would change the whole of what Leon had thought about him.

"I've have you know, I haven't had a girlfriend my whole life!"

"Well, you could'a fooled me…! Wait, what?" Leon blinked, thrown off by the sudden admission. Wait, did he say…? No, there was no way that someone like that had never…

Mondo's full body flinched the moment he realized exactly what he'd said, and he pursed his lips.

"I...shit, you didn't hear that, got it!?" he tried to threaten Leon into forgetting what he'd heard. But the desperation in his voice only doomed him further.

"Wait, you've...never?" Leon questioned, completely dumbfounded by the fact that had been thrown in his face like a cold towel, momentarily cooling of his temper as every neuron in his brain shorted out as they tried and failed to comprehend this.

All this time. All this time he had assumed that all of this, all of this, was just an act. That this gruff, bad ass biker was just a way to make himself look more impressive then he really was.

When the bro brigade had been laid out by Junko, he thought that it was confirmation that the whole biker shtick was to impress chicks. That all of this was just something to hype himself up and make himself look more impressive then he actually was to impress a girl.

"Of fucking course not!" Mondo refuted, a mixture of embarrassed and affronted as he gestured toward his whole body. "Look at me! Ain't a girl in all of Japan who wants anything to do with this."

For a second, Leon considered what Mondo was saying, and he would admit that it certainly wasn't going to be every girl's cup of tea. However, "No, you're fuckin' with me. You look jacked as hell, you drive a hog, you gotta a fucking six pack for crying out loud! You're probably beating girls off of you're dick with the whole freakin' tree!"

Yet, Mondo scoffed and crossed his arms. "Shows what you know! I can't even ask a girl out without scaring them off, much less the shit you're on about."

"No, no, pull the other one." Leon tried again, just completely unable to imagine that everything he'd lead himself believe about the biker was incorrect. There was no way that someone like this would be doing so without some floozy on his arm, right?

"No, man. I'm serious." Mondo insisted, despair tinging his voice as he held his hands out in frustration. "Any time I try, I end up getting nervous and shouting in their face!"

It was only one of the biggest things that he had any shame in. Aside from his brother's untimely demise, his biggest shame was that he'd never managed to get a girl to like him. Now, he would admit that for most of the girls he liked, his appearance was a major factor, and his gang wasn't helpful because they had a bad habit of scaring them off when they tried to hype him up. However, much as he'd like to blame them, he knew that it was solely his fault that he would scare them off.

He couldn't help it, he would get nervous and he would loose control of his volume, then he would get angry at himself for getting nervous, which would lead to him getting louder as he tried to explain why he was shouting. Then if they looked like they were going to run off he would panic which would make him louder, and if by some miracle they hadn't already fled, he would try to grab them so that try couldn't run off with the wrong idea and try to explain himself. By that point it would be too late and the damage would be done. Form there he would either get shocked by a taser, blinded with pepper spray, kicked or punched in the crotch or stomach, or someone would call the cops and he'd have to book it if he didn't want to be spending a night in the convict condo.

It was a vicious cycle, and it bothered him immensely.

To make matters worst, the only girls that seemed interested with him were ones from his school. The problem was, it was First Volcano High School, nicknamed "Scum School" due to the high rate of delinquency and fighting. It wasn't just the guys who did it either. For every couple gangs of male delinquents, there was a gang of female ones, most of whom could even best their male counterparts relatively consistently too. Hell, he'd even recruited a few of the most prominent ones into his biker gang.

Yet, he just didn't like that kinda women. He couldn't see himself entering a relationship with someone like that. Those girls were just far too aggro and loved to fight and destroy things for his liking. Somehow, he knew that if he tried dating them, they would either abuse his personal rule of never hitting women, or worse, would try to make him break that rule for their benefit.

One of them even offered to date him with the express belief that she could, quote, "Make him worse." Yeah, no, that was too big a red flag for him. He didn't mind an assertive chick, but he knew he had to draw the line somewhere.

Leon couldn't believe it though, and he stared in complete befuddlement. "Seriously? Dude, it's not that hard."

Mondo scoffed in frustration, "Oh yeah? And you know how to ask a chick out?"

"Of course I know how!" Leon stated back affronted. "I've asked out girls all the time! Hell, I'm used to both confessing and being confessed to!"

"Uh huh. Sure. And that's why we've heard you talking all about them." Mondo refuted disbelievingly with so much sarcasm that you could feel it.

"I have!" The all-star exclaimed. "It's not my fault that most of them are already taken, not looking for a relationship, looking for something else, or are only interested in me because of baseball. Besides, don't ya know that it's rude to talk about people you dated behind their backs?"

That was one thing he could admit was a benefit to being a superstar athlete. There were lots of girls, and women, who really liked a guy that was fit, trim, and was really good at playing sports. As the best member on the team, he was constantly being asked out for dates, and sometimes he even found success asking out hot girls by bringing up his sport career. Sometime he even got in just by mentioning his name, he was so famous.

The problem was, most every time that happened, it became very clear, very fast that they weren't interested in Leon Kuwata the person, they were interested in Leon the Ultimate Baseball All-Star. They would only talk to him about his career, the highlights of his success, and just baseball in general. Some of the worst ones would degrade his team for, "holding him back" and weren't shy about it either. He'd laugh it off and try to change the topic, but it would quickly become very uncomfortable and he would eventually break it off.

Or his cousin would get involved and ruin his chances in some way. That wasn't his fault. She was the one who couldn't respect his boundries.

The point was, he was experienced in the ways of dating. A fact that Mondo took exception too.

"The fuck…? Since when were you a guru on dating?"

"Fuck off!" Leon snapped. "I've got tons of experience dating! The only reason I don't talk about it is because all anyone brings up when I'm involved is freaking baseball! I'm more then just a ball boy, dammit!"

"Funny, cause where I'm standing, all I see is a whiny little bit-!"

"G-GUYS!" the two boys jumped in shock at the sudden shout, turning to look at the source and finding a little programmer with his face white as a sheet and eyes wide and full of terror. In his hands he clutched a piece of paper to his chest tightly, as if he was afraid that dropping it would doom them all.

Leon recovered first, turning to the quivering programmer with concern. "W-whoa! Chihiro, dude, what's got you're britches in a knot."

"It...It's the masked person!" Chihiro exclaimed, just barely catching himself as he leaned forward and pointed back at the doorway. "T-they blocked the door, we can't get out! Q-quick, this room is dangerous!"

"Masked...!?" Mondo cut himself off, his face immediately snapping to the door while Leon's followed quickly after. But the thought only lasted for a brief moment, as Chihiro all but thrust the paper held in between his fingers insisting, "Never mind that! L-look!"

"Alright, alright! I'll look! Shesh." Mondo took the paper in his hand, and took a glance at the contents while Leon leaned over to look as well. It wasn't much, just a simple scrap of notebook paper that was torn where it had been crudely ripped out, but written on it was a single line.

"Bombs away, suckers. Enjoy the afterlife."

"Bombs aw-" He was never able to finish the exclamation.

It happened suddenly, without warning. Several loud, deafening explosions went off around them, filling the room with dust and debris as desks and chairs were sent hurling from the floor erupting. The three boy's screams were drowned out by the combined pounding of their heartbeats in their throats, and the ringing in their ears.

Throughout the school, the blasts could be heard loud and clear. Byakuya startled in the library and fell flat on his back with a shout of, "What the hell!?" before quickly climbing to his feet and swearing to kill anyone if they had happened to see his weakness in his moment of shock. Kyoko in the hidden chamber jumped and dropped the file she'd been reading, the papers fanning out all along the floor as she looked on in the direction of the sound in a rare moment of complete shock. Makoto turned away from his enlightening conversation with Celeste as well as other groups such as Yasuhiro and Hifumi and Sakura and Hina, with their own looks of fear and concern. There was only a small exception being those in the soundproof dorms that didn't hear it.

The three boys ducked down with their eyes clenched shut in a mixture of fear of death, and terror from the sudden blasts. Arms instinctively flew up to cover their heads from the sudden spray of flooring tile being atomized by the blasts coming up from below. Hands covered noses and mouths as they tried to keep as much dust from entering their lungs as possible.

It was pure panic between them all each one acting only in the interest of their own survival. There was no thought, there couldn't be with how scrambled their minds were from the sudden dire situation, their bodies just moved. Leon huddled into a ball to reduce the amount of exposed area and protecting his body to the best of his ability. His chest burned as the from the dust made airborne and he coughed painfully as he tried to clear it from his windpipes. His eyes quivered in terror as they filled with tears, his composure completely shattered by this sudden danger.

He was so scared, scared more then he'd ever been before in his life. All of the things he'd been terrified by in the past seemed like barely an afterthought compared to right in this moment. Not even the moment Sayaka came at him with a knife had he been this scared for his life.

Then, he felt something on his back, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. A sudden weight covered him and he feared for a moment that it was a part of the building colliding with him and that he would be trapped by it, lost under the rubble till he eventually perished.

However, then he felt the unmistakable feeling of cloth and the grip of someone's arms wrapping around him. No, not just one set, a second much larger pair near instantly joined the other as the weight momentarily doubled before settling just above him. Against his better judgment, he hazarded a glance up through one squinted eye, just to see what had covered him so suddenly, and those eyes shot wide open when his suspicions were confirmed.

Chihiro and Mondo, both teens had thrown themselves over the baseball star without a single thought, doing their best to cover their fellow classmate with their bodies acting as shields to protect their fellow hostage from harm. Chihiro had clearly acted first as Mondo's much larger frame covered them both, his leather jacket acting like a half tent to cover the three of them from most of the debris. A cold well of guilt filled up in Leon's heart as he saw Chihiro had blood trickling down his chin from his mouth with a pained grimace, the sudden movements must have caused one of his ribs to do some internal damage.

He didn't know which was worst, the knowledge that someone who was already injured thought that they needed to protect his life with their own, or that the guy who he'd spent most of his time insulting and berating would throw themselves over himself when they had nothing to gain from it.

"H-hey. You guys okay?" Mondo asked, before a loud cough escaped his mouth. It wasn't a shock, he was the only one of them who hadn't covered his mouth with his hands, exposing himself to the elements.

"Y-yeah...I-I'm, okay." Chihiro lied through his teeth. Leon wasn't sure why he even bothered, neither of them would be convinced.

"Wh-Why…?" Leon stuttered, completely dumbfounded and jarred by the actions of his classmate. "Why would you guys..."

"Shut up." Mondo coughed. "Do I gotta...explain myself for every god damn thing? I did it because I wanted too. Nothing more."

"We're friends." Chihiro exclaimed, fortunately interrupting Leon before he could chastise the biker. "That's what friends do for each other. Right?"

Leon was momentarily silent at the sight of the programmer's soft smile, momentarily free of the pain the small boy looking down at him had to be going through. Looking at it caused an uncomfortable feeling to well up in his gut.

Was he really this pathetic?

Miraculously, the three were relatively unharmed. Aside from being covered in dust, they were doing okay. They coughed as the dirt began to settle down, but aside from some scrapes and some singed hairs, they were fine.

So, obviously this would be the point where things went from bad to worse.

As they started to stand up to make their way out of the room, the floor, the very foundation that they stood on, groaned ominously. The damage was far too much for it to sustain it, the blasts had done their job very effectively and ruined the structural integrity. It would only require very little to capsize what remained to send it all hurtling down to the floor below.

Such as three teenagers throwing themselves to the floor with their hands up to protect themselves from the flying debris.

The three boys slowly looked at the floor as dread from understanding the situation quickly filled their hearts. Just as slowly, they looked up at each other in horrified understanding.

Then once more, things quickly went to hell.

Time seemed to slow for them as everything went down. Concrete, steel, flooring, and all manor of things in the floor broke free all at once. The whole thing capsized in one horrible moment as nearly everything in the room gave way to the law of gravity. Wires snapped and sparked as the weight of the broken floor fell through and ripped them out of their barrings. Several desks followed mere nanoseconds after in a loud cornucopia of snapping wood and clanging metal pipes that once built them.

In seconds, what was once a classroom with an unstable floor was now a room with a massive hole in the center. It wasn't much of an improvement, but some sick part of all three of their minds that had hated school thought that it was somewhat fitting. They had felt like school was a depressing pit at least once in their life.

Now if they weren't hanging for their literal lives they might be able to enjoy the joke.

Though, Leon would admit that this wasn't any better then before. Once more he had been saved by Mondo, the burly biker had miraculously managed to be on the edge of the hole and had grabbed his arm in a strong grip that would certainly leave a bruise on his forearm after this. For once though, he didn't feel inclined to care.

Had that been the only thing going on, he would have taken the chance to climb up and get as far away from this literal death trap as possible. However, the problem was that his other arm was currently occupied by the other of their little trio clinging on for dear life to the Lifeline bracelet on the all-star's arm.

Leon grunted as he clutched both arms tighter, his shoulders screaming at him as the combined weight between himself and Chihiro threatened to dislocate the sockets. A cynical part of his brain thought that it would be ironic if that did happen solely because it would certainly ruin his baseball career if he did that to his pitching arm, but he immediately stamped the thought down. This was not the time for jokes like that.

"H-hey." Mondo coughed as he struggled to hold them steady with one arm, the other being used to support himself so that he wouldn't fall too. "Y...You guys alive...?"

Leon was too busy trying to keep himself and Chihiro from falling to snark back. All he could manage was a shuttering, "Y...yeah."

Chihiro couldn't even do that much, all that escaped his quivering lips was a rattled "Uwah."

Leon felt sorry for the little guy. This day had clearly been too much for him, too much was happening far too quickly. Hell, he honestly wasn't doing much better. Frankly, if one more curve ball was thrown his way right now, he was sure he would just give up the ghost and parish.

Little did he know, Mondo and Chihiro both shared the sentiment. This was far too much for a simple meet up to hash out some issues between peers. Far too much danger, too much adrenaline, too much this. They didn't know what to even think at the moment, they were so befuddled and exhausted in all aspects of the words.

A small part of Chihiro's scattered brain swore, when they got through this, he and Junko would be having words about this.

"I'mma pull you out, so hang tight!" Mondo assured them, and both Chihiro and Leon so wanted to call him out for the very poor choice of wordplay, but at this point, they were just, done. All Leon had in him was another, "Y-Yeah..."

It took a little while for Mondo to get them up, his muscles strained as he pulled with all of his might and sweat formed on his brow as he struggled. Yet no matter how much his body told him to stop, he refused to listen. He'd already let Chihiro down once already. He wasn't about to do it a second time.

Eventually, he got Leon up far enough that the all-star could grip the side with his own power, freeing up the weight enough that Mondo could move to grab the red-head's collar and help him up further. Relieved at at least one arm was freed, Leon let the biker help him up enough that he could get his leg up with a grunt, and then between the two of them helped Chihiro up and out of the hole, fumbling only a moment when a piece of debris gave way.

Not wanting to take chances the three quickly scrambled away from what had nearly been their death trap on all fours until they were all huddled against the corner of the destroyed classroom panting in a trifecta of exhaustion, terror, and relief.

Leon flopped back against Mondo with a groan of pain as he rolled his shoulders with a grimace. He would absolutely be feeling this come morning, if not later today. He was sweaty, grimy, covered in concrete dust and who knows what else. Never before had he wished he had his coach around to give him his "IT" acupressure massage until this very moment, no matter how weird he was. Hell, he'd even go back to practice if it meant no more adventures like this again.

Were Mondo a mind reader, he would likely agree with that. This was far too much stress for him to deal with. Not even running from cops was as stressful as this, at least then he had his bike to help mitigate some of it. He never wanted to get strung up in this kind of bullshit ever again. This was just the worst, and he wouldn't be afraid to admit it, even under threat of death.

Chihiro too would have had something to add to that, but he was too drained from this whole experience to do so. This was supposed to be a simple affair between friends, working out their issues and talking about themselves. Just a simple little thing between friends, not this. If he were more like Mondo, he'd just call this whole thing a shit-show and leave it at that. He never wanted this to happen.

All three, whether they realized it or not, agreed that this had to be the worst thing to have happened to them in this school thus far. The trials? Kids stuff. The motives? A non issue. Their loved ones being held captive…?

Okay, no, there were worst things, but right now they didn't feel that way.

"Never...again." Leon stated through ragged breaths, and both Mondo and Chihiro grunted their own agreements.

For a while, that was all that they could do. Laying their weight against each other and trying to catch their breaths, their muscles and lungs burning from work and dust respectively. Chihiro coughed a few times, trying to hide the liquid crimson streaking down his chin from his mouth with his hand. He didn't succeed since both Leon and Mondo grimaced when they looked at him, but there was an attempt.

When they would look back at this moment later in their lives, they wouldn't be able to explain the reason for the sight the other classmates would find them in. It might have been the adrenaline pumping through their bodies, or possibly the elation at surviving from such a dangerous ordeal. Maybe it was the high from a gas line breaking in the carnage. Quite possibly they might have just been delirious from the filthy air they'd been inhaling.

Whatever the reason though, all they knew was that, Leon started chuckling first. It was little more then a light guffaw, but but it was enough to cause Chihiro to give off a little giggle. That was followed by a hearty wheeze from Mondo. Eventually though, they were all laughing.

Laughing at the situation. Laughing at each other. Laughing at the world. Laughing for the sake of laughter. They didn't know why, and frankly they were too tired to try and quantify the why. They only knew they were happy.

Happy to be alive.

That was the state that Makoto and the others found them when they managed to get the door unbarred and rushed in, the luckster shouting, "Is everyone okay!? We heard a loud explosion and…!"

He cut off as he took in the sight of the three teens, their uniforms filthy, covered in scrapes, a streak of blood freshly wiped off of Chihiro's chin, and laughing like a pack of hyenas after a successful hunt. He wasn't even sure they even realized that he and the others were there, so lost they were in their elation.

Through his burning laughter, with tears beading at his eyes from both the elation and the dust, Chihiro stated in a warbled voice. "Thank you for saving me…!"

"Nah, this guy did most of the work." Leon thumbed over his shoulder at the biker.

"You weren't too shabby yourself." Mondo complemented the all-star as he slug an arm over him to muss Chihiro's hair lightly. It was a simple gesture, but it made the programmer's smile grow just a little bit more all the same.

The other students could only watch the scene with confusion. Hina sighed as she held up her arms in resignation, not able to understand what they thought was so funny, but not willing to try and stop them. Sakura smiled at the moment, and shook her head bemused at the three, while Celeste gave off a little giggle of her own. Hifumi pulled out a note pad and was scribbling something down, while Hiro leaned over his shoulder to look at the notes unabashedly.

Kyoko looked rather conflicted as she stood next to the flabbergasted Makoto, a frown marring her expression as she pulled out the so called, "Picture of the future." Monokuma left them. There was no doubt that the two were linked in some way, there was no way that it wasn't considering the ones involved. She couldn't deny that it was fortunate that no one had been gravely injured in the explosion. Were she superstitious, she'd even call it a miracle.

Yet, her frown deepened as she looked up at the monitor in the corner of the ceiling skeptically. The screen was covered in dust, but aside from that it was undamaged by the events. But the fact that their captor hadn't made any appearance after what could only be described as a grievous disregard of the rules...

Byakuya scoffed at the frivolity and turned to look at the hole with a mixture of intrigue and concern. This was a lot of damage, a lot of fire power had been used to make this hole, and it showed. Six distinct parts of the hole were blackened and rubbing his fingers along it showed that it was powder. A small whiff confirmed his suspicions.

"Gunpowder." These indents were blasted apart, just like when Monokuma exploded in the gym. There was no chance that this was anything but deliberate.

A frown formed on his face and he glanced at the three idiots. This was much more serious then he'd originally thought.

However, any further thoughts would have to wait, because the door suddenly swung open once more as one of their missing members threw it open hard enough to indent the wall behind it. The women stomped through the entryway with one leg ominously stamped next to a clunk of the rubber tipped crutch as she swerved her head back and forth with panic on her face, glaring at anyone and anything in her path before they locked onto the three laughing fools. Like a murderous mother bear who'd seen someone attacking her cubs, she stalked forward with intent, heading straight for the three boys still too delirious to recognize the danger heading their way.

Byakuya was not a religious man, he found the very idea to be ludicrous. But in that moment as everyone in the room parted like the Red Sea before the girl's wrath, he found himself entertaining the idea of praying to whatever deity out there willing to listen for their soon to be damned souls.

---

Well, talk about escalating quickly, huh? Like, that got out of hand real fast. I wonder what they were thinking by going through with such a risky operation? Was that our hero's plan, or did a certain interloper do this? The results may speak for themselves, but does that mean that the ends justify the means? Do the means justify the ends? Who's to say.

Regardless, it's clear that something has deeply upset our dear Junko. What do you suppose has her so livid? I mean, I know, but I wonder how she'll respond to all of this. How do you think she'll respond to this? How do you think the others will respond to this?

Also, as to why this took so long to get out. Lots of life things. I moved to a new house I helped renovate, I'm still processing that, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 came out and took a whole lot more of my free time then I thought it would, and I caught the dreaded pandemic causer. I'm okay now, but I got held up a lot.

In any case, I leave you with another "IF" scenario. I'll be aiming to see you all again sometime late December, if not next year. See you then!

---

Omake: Danganronpa If: All-star counseling

"Alright, explain it to me again. Why am I supposed to hate baseball again?"

I pondered to myself as I lay back on the bed I shared with my unwilling roommate, scratching the red goatee on our chin as I pondered the question out loud once more. So far, I think I had done a good job imitating my host's thoughts and actions before all of our classmate's, but I was still bothered by some of his life choices and wanted to know the reasoning behind his decisions.

Some was of no mystery, he wanted to impress a girl, so he picked up a career she would be impressed with. The fact that he wasn't knowledgeable in anything about it didn't matter. It would get him an in.

But, that felt, I don't know, too simple to be the long answer. It did nothing to explain the insistence that the man famed for baseball would feel such an overwhelming hate-boner for the thing he was famous for.

"It's...complicated, man." His voice echoed in the back of our head as he sighed. "I just think that baseball is not my calling in life, ya'know?"

"Well, let me ask this then." I questioned, not even remotely concerned who could hear since the dorms were sound proof. "Why not just make stardom into a side gig? You know, do baseball during the season and rock out throughout the off season. Lots of All-stars have multiple gigs to keep them busy when they aren't doing the sport. And I mean hell, you don't go to practice anyway, so you could use that time to work on your music."

"I mean, I guess." I could hear his noncommittal response through our connection.

"I mean it. Baseball would pay out a lot better for you then music would. I mean, in the long run." I corrected before he could. "Hope's Peak accreditation or not, it just makes more sense to me if you stick with what you're good at, even if you only use it as a jumping off point. Plus, people would be more interested if you advertised it from the angle of an All-star professional retiring to start a career of music then doing it now. Take some time to find your style first, you know?"

"I've been thinking of my style." He tried to correct, but I knew he could feel my doubtful eyebrow raise.

"You picked punk rock because you thought it was the easiest." I corrected deadpanned. "You don't even know how to read music, much less play. That's not a style, that's jumping on a fad."

I could feel him sputter, trying to think of an excuse, but anything he could think of would ring hollow. He could lie to himself all he wanted. He couldn't lie to me.

"You just don't get it." he finally huffed, pouting in the back of our head where he'd been forced to stay since we'd first awoken in this stupid game. I sighed. I didn't want him to be an enemy, but I couldn't just leave him to sulk like this.

"Then let me flip the question." I offered a compromise. "Did you ever like playing baseball?"

I could feel him stir, and something akin to feeling of happiness arose before it was quickly squashed by his feelings of loathing. "I..."

"I mean, you had to at one point, right?" I pushed. "For you to have become the Ultimate, you'd have to have played a lot of it. No one plays a game that much without there being something that they liked about it."

"Well, I mean…" I could feel that I was close to something because those feelings momentarily surged once more. Yet, once more he doubled down on the loathing feelings that he'd developed over time and turned in an angry huff. "Augh! You don't get it man!"

"Then explain it to me." I offered. "Tell me, the truth."

He hesitated, and for a moment I thought he was just going to pout and give me the silent treatment. However, then, "It's just…I don't know, maybe? I might have when I was a kid. People were always telling me that I was a natural and, it felt good, I guess. But after a while…I don't know, I got sick of playing. I was..."

"A natural?" I offered.

"I mean, yeah." He agreed, but I could feel the resentment at the word. "I was the pick up hitter for, god, most of my time in middle school. I was also the pitcher, and almost no one could hit my All-star fastball. Anywhere they put me in the field, I was freaking killing it; I was unstoppable!"

I could feel the joy in his voice, the thrill of good times eroding the bad mood. He talked a bit more with very little prompting about some of his favorite moments on the field, all sorts of times where he and his team won because of something that he'd done. There were a few involving other members of his team that he'd mentioned, and to my surprise, I could feel a much higher concentration of joy and pride when he was talking about the other members of his team then when it was just his accomplishments.

Yet, by the end, those feelings quickly petered out and he gave, "...But, I mean, at the end of the day, I was always picking up the slack for the team, and I got..."

"Do you mean that, you got bored?" I cut in, and he immediately latched on.

"Yeah! That! It was so boring! I hated it!"

Hmm, interesting. "So, would you say that it was because you were the best that you couldn't handle it anymore?"

"Yeah…!" He agreed. But the second he realized the implications he tried to backpedal with. "No, wait, I mean..."

"The reason that you weren't having fun was because you were the best on the team." I pushed on, my mind already too deep into theory crafting for him to stop me. "The reason you hate baseball is because, you were the best. You felt like you weren't even remotely challenged anymore, that you weren't engaged in the action. There was no one else on either yours or the other teams that could push you to give it your all, and I believe that lack of challenge left you bored. You might even be resentful of the fact that you were the only one who felt like that, that you had to either play your hardest and leave everyone in the dust, or limit yourself to be on the same playing field as the others to be able to have fun with them."

"Uh..." He tried to interject, but I wasn't done.

"But you couldn't limit yourself because everyone had those expectations of you. They knew what you could do, they'd seen what you were capable of, so they pushed you to succeed even if it meant leaving them behind. They couldn't see though that that wasn't what you wanted, you wanted them to rise with you, not put you on a pedestal. You wanted them to play with you, not behind you, pushing you up the hill at the cost of being left behind. Yet, by the time you got to high-school, it was too late. You weren't getting any satisfaction from winning with a team because you were the only one on the team winning."

"I...well." he wasn't putting me down this time, so I took it as confirmation.

"Leon, I think that's the real problem here. It had nothing to do with a hot chick..." I paused as I reconsidered that assessment. "Well, okay, maybe it had to do a little with that. No, the reason that you want to be a musician isn't because you like music, it's because she presented a problem, a hurtle for you to cross. You have played one game over and over for so long that you no longer feel like you're being challenged, being made to struggle. So, when you were finally given something that you can't do, you had to prove them wrong. You wanted to prove that you could do something more with yourself then follow that set of expectations everyone else has of you that has left you so unfulfilled. You don't know anything about music, but that sense of challenge with the chance at a reward at the end, one that goes beyond the simple satisfaction of winning, is what gives you the drive to go for it."

"Stop!" He finally shouted, the thought bouncing around in our head and completely derailing my thoughts.

"What?" I bemoaned as I head our head in pain. "Am I that far off?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean…! Gah! Kinda? I just..." I gave him a moment to gather his thoughts. "It's just so boring! You stand in the field for what feels like hours, your sweaty and tired and you have to wait forever for something to happen! And that's just the field, when you're waiting for your turn to bat in can feel like your suffocating in the dugout when it get hot, not to mention the smell of all those sweaty guys! And it gets so loud! I can barely hear myself think sometimes! Between the sounds of the bat hitting the ball, the cheers of the crowd, the pounding of my heart in my ears.."

"The squeals of fans shouting your name?"

"Yeah. Then there's the way everyone gets all touchy when you run the bases. You run in a freaking square, slide on the ground and completely ruin your clothes; seriously, do you have any idea how many sets of pants I've had to replace? And then everyone is always patting you on the back, or hugging you, messing up your hair and telling you, you've done good job…"

"Sounds like you had fun." I inquired. He was silent for a while, I could feel that he was conflicted on the matter. I waited for him to correct me, to shut me down again, but it never came. Yet, neither did any confirmation.

I sighed. Oh well. We'll have to come back to this at a later point.

Mostly because I was interrupted by someone ringing the dorm's bell. "Ah, right on time."

I walked over and opened the door, only to find no one there. Not that I expected otherwise, in fact I figured as much. In fact, I fully expected it since someone, obviously Sayaka, left a note under the door for me to find.

I didn't even bother reading it, already knowing what it would entail. Instead, I turned the opposite direction and began walking to Sakura's dorm at the end of the hall. I might be many things, but I wasn't stupid enough to go into a death trap alone.

"Don't think about it too hard." I stated to my other as we walked. "When we get outta here, I'll help you find the answer. After all, we're partners now."

"...Yeah."