"Stupid Mukuro, thinking I don't know what's what."

I grumbled lowly to myself as I faked a limp down the halls of the academy, my frustration on full display as I did so. I knew I should be a bit more cautious with my emotions right now, but I couldn't help it. There was something that I found inherently infuriating about people who act like how she was just then. They don't try to think of the ramifications of their actions, they don't try and think about why someone else does what they do, they just throw the blame at someone else. No thought to the 'why' or 'how', just blame.

Now, to be fair, I did understand where she was coming from with this. She was in a lot of pain at the time, pain that I had caused her no less. I was in the wrong in that situation, so I deserved that. I wasn't going to deny that. It was only fair that I take the part that I was due.

But, when she started getting hysterical about it, and started blindly raving, that was where I drew the line. I'll be honest, I lost my cool there for a bit though, and I may have treated the situation a fair bit more violently then I should have. I couldn't help it though, I needed her to understand just what I was risking here, and with her lost in her hysterics, I had to respond in a way that she would listen to.

In any other situation, I maybe could have tried to dissuade the situation from escalating. I could have calmly explained why I had done what I had, apologized for it, and worked to make it right. If things got too heated, I could use my training to subdue her and force her to calm down like I had done with Genocide Sho. If she was like most people, I could have negotiated with her, talked it out, and ended this peacefully.

Mukuro was not like most people though, and this wasn't a normal situation. This was a circumstance where I was living as another person in another world and forced against my will to make people play a killing game and all while being in the body of the Ultimate Soldier's twin sister. There was nothing normal about that.

Plus, Mukuro wasn't exactly what I would call, "stable minded". Child soldier voluntarily, verbal and physical punching bag for her twin sister, has zero regard for human life, and possibly suffered from stunted emotional growth at an early age. Those were just the ones I was able to figure out from her profile and from what I had seen of her, and even that felt more like guesswork than anything else. However, the one thing that was clear was that she would do anything if it meant making her sister happy. She cared so much for her sister, that she was willing to doom the world.

Problem was, Junko was anything but returning her love, and she was more than aware of it. Rather, she expected it from her younger twin, she welcomed the pain that came with what she believed was Junko's love, all the while either ignoring or outright missing the reasoning behind her sibling's actions. Because of that, my act was a million miles harder to pull off than any other I'd done.

I had a problem with willingly hurting people you see, and I am one of the people that enjoys being the good guy in people's mind, and the one they can come to if they need someone to vent with. I like to see people happy, and while I'm not willing to throw down everything to see every single person smile, I'm willing to be there for them. Just seeing someone sad makes me instantly feel mad at whatever made them cry, and I try to help if I can. I guess that's why I can relate with Makoto the most out of most of the students here.

I'm not a villain type, is what I'm getting at. Oh, I can fake it with the best of them, but I hate hurting others for any reason. Unfortunately, that's the role I've had to play and if I deviate too far, too soon, I risk everything falling apart.

At the thought, a started slowing down a bit as a more miserable expression worked its way onto my face. I hated this, I hated this whole stupid situation I'd found myself in. I hated that I had to be the villain of this story, to be the tormentor in this game of life and death. I hated that I had to hurt someone of my own…okay, not my own, but sort of my flesh and blood just to keep her from getting hurt more. And I hate, hate, hated that I was going to be riding these waves of guilt every time I had to do it. If this kept up, I'm gonna have to see a psychotherapist to sort out all this hate.

I wonder if Makoto was doing anything later.

"Why did I ever think being 'her' was a good idea again?" As I grumbled to myself, I continued on my way to see if I could find my objective of the hour. I'll admit, I was pretty much shooting in the dark about exactly where they were, but if there were following the placements that I recalled from my time playing the game, then they had to be nearby the pool area at this time. Hence another reason for my frustration. The mortal enemy of cripples and overweight people alike.

Stairs.

Okay, that's a bit mean, but my point still stands! With me trying to avoid suspicion by pretending to be Mukuro, who was pretending to be me, I couldn't risk blowing cover by walking up the stairs and limping everywhere else. It would be hell to try and explain that if I got unlucky and stumbled upon someone on the trip up or down. The only option here was to bite the bullet and keep up the act.

I shouldn't need to explain how ball-bustlingly difficult it was to climb those stairs without giving into the temptation of using my right leg, but after that time-wasting adventure, I was finally on the second floor. With a pant of exertion, I took few more hobbled steps to the area that I was hoping that my target was residing at the moment.

The pool.

As I pushed open the light magenta doors, I was about to take a look around the room when I heard a soft gasp of shock. Instantly, my eyes snapped over to the source of the sound and a small grin forced its way onto my face. It seemed my guess was right for once.

"Hi~ Chihiro~"

'Oh, no. What should I do? What should I do!?' These were the panicked thoughts of Chihiro Fujisaki as she paced back and forth in the entryway of the pool area, her stress at the peak of anxiety as she tried and failed to settle her nerves. But she couldn't help it, the fear gripping her heart was far stronger than any she ever had before.

After the meeting had concluded, she had rushed to her room straight away and locked herself in, refusing to come out for anyone. For two hours she stayed there, just about ready to cry, but not quite reaching the point where her tears would fall. Her body racked with sobs and every so often a few hiccups emerged from her chest. She had ended up curled up in a fetal position by the end of it, shivering in terror at prospect of her secret being revealed.

That dreaded secret of hers. That one thing that dictated her life since she was born and tormented her with its existence at every turn. It stood out among any of the things in her life that would have been used against her. No, it was the source of her problems, the fundamental hindrance that all other problems originated from, a weakness that was a product of nature beyond control. Her weakness that she couldn't defeat on her own.

The dreaded truth had held Chihiro down for years, forcing her to embrace her lie and pretend to be something she wasn't. It had been fine at first, a bit unorthodox and a bit embarrassing, but it stopped the suffering from those that didn't understand. Yet, after so long hiding under the lie, so many years of allowing falsehoods and misconceptions to form about her, she wanted nothing more than to tell the truth, to shed her veil of lies and be who she really wanted to be.

However, then they found themselves in this game, this deathmatch where only the smartest, the strongest, and the bravest had even the slightest chance of survival. Because of that, the dream of showing the truth died a fiery death. Chihiro held no delusions about her chances of survival, not with what she knew. She knew she was far from the strongest, her small figure and tiny frame lacked virtually any muscle that could be used to defend or attack from years of sitting in front of a computer screen and natural growth. She wasn't brave, that was for certain, just the thought of being in a fight almost drove her to tears and she would never find the nerve necessary to harm another. She was smart, that much she could proudly claim, but even that was useless as it all focused on the art of programming, nothing about survival, investigating, or other important studies that would be helpful in this situation.

Essentially, any chance she could have to reveal the truth was the first victim who died in this so-called game and all chances to change for the better flopped like a Koi on land. There was nothing she could do.

Then, the incident in the dining hall happened, and any of the brave wishes that she had oh so carefully scraped up ended up dashed across the floor. When Junko had fallen on her and felt the source of her problems, it was like her every moment was occupied with terror since then. At any moment, her secret could be told to anyone and it would only be a matter of time till the others learn of it. Then, the nightmare would begin. The taunts, the jeers, the insults from her all of her peers in this deathtrap academy would start. She would be constantly plagued by the looks of revulsion at every turn, hounded by disgust at every corner. Her every waking moment would be a nightmare that couldn't be escaped, trapped it this academy as they were. It had been that way every time she had attempted to speak of her secret in the past, and she held no delusions of it not becoming the case this time either.

As she lay there in her bed, tears following uncontrollably down her face as she slowly started to fall asleep, completely exhausted from her sobs and tears, a single thought invaded her mind. An idea so insane, that she couldn't help but pause.

'If it's my weakness that keeps me from being happy, then why don't I do something about it instead of crying about it?' The second that thought hit her, her sobs died down as she began to ponder. Why didn't she do something about it? She still had some time before Junko could reveal her shame, she still had time to change herself for the better, if only a bit. If she could take this time to work through this roadblock in her own life, then maybe, just maybe, she could turn it around so that she wouldn't need to feel ashamed anymore. This could be her chance to change, she thought, to become stronger so that she could face those fears of hers, to become better then she was. To become a new, stronger Chihiro Fujisaki.

She knew it was insane to believe that it would work, her weakness was something that had been with her for years and no amount of training she could undertake in however long Junko remained in her room could change that. Yet, in that moment, she didn't care about technicalities. She would do what she could right now and damn the expense!

That thought drove her as she snuck through the halls, avoiding the others without a thought otherwise. She was on a mission, one so important that she couldn't stop and chat. Though, that didn't mean that she didn't feel a bit guilty for ignoring them.

Fortunately, it was only Toko who she passed by without more than a single "Good afternoon.". The romance novelist was so anti-social that any continued conversation died shortly after it started, and that theme continued even today as she brushed off Chihiro's comment with a stuttered reply of, "W-What's so g-good about it?" before skulking off to her room. Chihiro wondered why she was always like that, always pushing away any sort of positivity aimed her way with bitter remarks, but ultimately, she didn't think further on the matter.

She had too much to do still and far too little time. It strained her heart horribly to ignore her friends and it made her feel sick doing so, but there was nothing that could be done about that right now. Her only hope left relied on getting stronger as soon as possible, so it was with heavy heart that that she let it go and continued moving.

Her destination, the pool.

Chihiro remembered that there where various training equipment found in the changing rooms, and as long as she was careful, she wouldn't have to worry about using them where the others would see her. No matter how much she wants to change, she still wasn't comfortable being seen doing anything that could reveal herself.

Which lead to her current predicament. Staring at the doors to the changing room, she couldn't help but fidget as she glanced between the two doors in concern. Embarrassing as it was to admit, she had been so caught up in her determination and resolve that she had outright forgotten why she hadn't been able to act on it in the first place.

The doors to the locker rooms and the implications behind using either.

If she used the door that she should use, then the jig would be up. There wasn't a doubt about it, it was fact. There would be no way for her to deny the truth to anyone who saw her and the whole reason for coming here would be in vain. However, the door she needed to use was inaccessible to her. If she even attempted to open it, she'd be filled with more holes then swiss cheese at a shooting range. Just the thought was nausea inducing. However, if she didn't do the training in there then it would never work. She would be exposed beyond a shadow of a doubt.

She'd also be dead…so that was less than ideal.

So, there she stood instead, awkwardly hovering by the doors that taunted her so, occasionally glancing up at the Gatling gun overhead. There was nothing she could do, nothing she could think of to get past this obstacle in her way. There had been a thought of hacking into her E-handbook and changing it to help in this endeavor, but that had been shot down on the first day.

After they had held the first meeting, she had made it her plan to see if she could access the code in her handbook to use it against the mastermind. Unfortunately, Monokuma stopped her. He told her that any attempt to open up the device would not end favorably, as an alarm would blare throughout the school if she tried. He wouldn't punish her if that happened, he had reassured her of that much, but that wasn't to say that he would be nice about it either.

She didn't want to know what he would do, so she reluctantly refrained from doing anything else with her pad. Yet, right in this moment she was sorely tempted to take the risk.

It was just as she was thinking of this that she was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of the door to the halls opening up and her eyes snapped straight to them. As she looked though, the fear that she'd been suppressing thus far came rushing back, with a vengeance.

There, right in the doorway was the last person she wanted to see right now. The women who held the knowledge that would ruin the programmer. The women who was currently smiling like Christmas had come early and made Chihiro feel like a lump of coal had manifested in her guts. The one who had said her name so sweetly that candy would develop diabetes.

"J-J-Junko…"

I smiled wide as I looked at the shivering form of the Ultimate Programmer, well aware of the creep factor this would inspire to an outside viewer, if there was one. There wasn't, obviously, but the fact remained.

I couldn't help but smile though since my plan was finally going right. I knew from the moment I intentionally tripped myself and fell on 'her' and rubbed up against her secret that it would jump start her desire to get stronger so that 'she' wouldn't be ashamed of her weakness anymore. It was admittedly a gamble on my part, with how meek she was there had been a chance that she'd just lock herself away in her room and never come out again. It had been a moment of risk vs reward, and fortunately it seemed that the reward was just what I had wanted. Her momentarily forgetting her problem to try and use the weights in the locker room to get stronger.

I was thanking my lucky stars that she did end up coming here, but right now it was time to put on a show.

"Hey there Chi-chi." I said pleasantly, though from the way she flinched back it was anything but reassuring. Oh well. "Perfect timing! I was just looking for you."

She looked horrified, her eyes wide and shaky as she looked about, like a mouse cornered by a hungry cat. "Y-You were l-looking for me?"

I ignored the fear in her eyes and limped closer. "Yeah, now come on, come on. Let's have a little heart to heart in my office." Then I lightly gripped her shoulder with my free hand and started dragging her to the door to the locker room.

The girl's locker room to be precise.

The second that she realized where we were heading, she started trying to pull away. Trying, but not succeeding. It was rather concerning how little I had to grip her without losing her. And with one hand no less.

Either way, I quickly shuffled us up to the door and gave her another look to make sure she didn't leave, and happily stated, "Well, come on then. Let's go in."

"W-Wait!" Chihiro frantically begged as I pulled out Junko's E-handbook that I had swiped from Mukuro's room while I was dressing up, and pressed it up against the electronic reader. All the while, I ignored her worried mutterings of, "I-I can't…I-I mean, you can't…I-"

"Aw come on." I insisted as the tumblers in the lock clicked, signifying the unlocking of the door. "Nothing wrong with a couple of girls going into the girl's locker room, right?"

"T-That's…!" Chihiro's eyes wandered up to the gun on the roof with a look of fear, horrified by the idea that my actions were going to get us both killed. I continued to ignore it however, since the gun was just a glorified prop.

I should probably mention it, but I had actually turned off the gun on the first day. If that wasn't enough, I had also jammed the rotating mechanism and crammed a few corks down the gun barrels to keep it secure just in case. Even with the live ammo still primed and ready, it was basically an oversized joke now. A deterrent in name and appearance only.

Of course, I'm not going to tell them that.

"Relax, Chihiro. See?" I said as I pushed her through the door, headless of her yelp of fear as she flinched, no doubt expecting bullets to lay waste to the both of us now that she had gone in the wrong room. When they didn't, she slowly opened her eyes and glanced back at me and the door. She was still frozen in place though, her eyes confused and worried while her hands balled up shakily in front of her chest.

Still I smiled back with what I hoped was reassurance. "Told ya, now come on…take it off."

Instantly, her face preformed in interesting change. To majority of it went pale, horrified by the implications of my order and what it would mean for her secret, but her cheeks and ears lit up a deep crimson from the embarrassing thoughts the remark must have implanted in her head. The very, very, very perverted thoughts implanted in her mind. "Wh-Wh-Wha…?"

"Yeah, take off your jacket." I continued with a grin as I took off my own cardigan to demonstrate. "You don't want to get that soaked with sweat, do you?"

As I limped my way over to the truck tire in the corner of the room I had used the Monokuma units to drag in, and tossed the top over the handle of the big sledgehammer that was leaning against it, I let my mind wander back to why it was even in here. When Sakura had made the request for it, I had been a bit surprised that she would go and do such a risky thing, asking Monokuma for a tire to exercise with and a sledgehammer to hit said tire with. It should also be mentioned that there was a rope tied to it as well to drag it across the room.

It had been a while since I had seen her free time events, so I was a bit confused as to why she would even need such items, but then I remembered that she was a MMA fighter and it all clicked. Sakura's primary core work out relied on hitting a tire over and over again from various angles to pump up her core. She hadn't mentioned it, but I assume she also used the tire itself as a weight to practice unorthodox lifts and throws to train the muscles that simple weight training can't cover alone. She was all about equal strength after all.

However, getting the tire was harder than you would think. See, I may be willing to risk talking to the Ultimate Despairs for some of my plans and tricks, but I didn't trust them with much else. There was just too much risk in trusting them without them figuring out the truth. They might be loyal, but they weren't so stupid that they would miss strange orders that made no sense in the grand scheme of despair.

So, I had decided to make a little trip using the Monokuma's instead.

In addition to the vents allowing someone to hide in a case of emergency, they also acted as a one-way door out of the building. Unfortunately for anyone here, people can't use that way anymore. The exit was designed to let people out, but I guess when they turned the school into a shelter that they decided to block that way off from normal means. Now, there was a sensor on it that could detect heat signatures and heartbeats. If it got tripped by a living person, then it would go into lockdown, trapping the person between one of several massive plates where they would then be left to starve, or until the proper authorities arrived…whichever happened first.

Please note though, I both said 'living' and 'person'.

Turning my attention back to Chihiro as I immediately tossed aside that train of thought, I answered her question of why she would be sweating. "You're my exercise buddy today. I can't let myself get out of shape just because of this little scratch. I've got a reputation to keep, ya' know?"

My question only further confused her it seemed as she glanced at me completely lost. "Huh? But, wouldn't Sakura or Hina be better to work out with? T-They're already so much stronger than I am."

That was true, they were stronger than most anyone here, yet I shook my head in a sign of disagreement. "Well yeah, I know that. But, that's like the whole problem with asking them. They're both so athletic and junk that they overdo…everything. Seriously, it's insane."

I leaned up against the tire as I crossed my arms over my chest, uncaring if I ended up getting some kind of rubber residue on the back of my white shirt. "As much as I love them, they're just too intense for my body right now while I'm trying to recover. If they got involved, I might just end up having to do a hundred pushups, sit-ups, squats, and a ten-kilo run."

"T-That does sound like them." She reluctantly agreed with me, and I could tell it hurt her a bit to admit it.

"You on the other hand are really reliable. Trustworthy even." I continued on. "I don't know what it is about you, but there's this good feeling I'm getting from you. I can't put it to words really well, but I try to trust that feeling. The other girls? They don't give me that same feel. So, come on."

A large grin crossed my face. Time for some fun. "Let's get cracking!"

"I-I can't go on, I can't…"

"Come one Chihiro, just a little more! Go for it!"

"P-Please…stop I-I can't…"

"That's quitter talk, come on. *Pant* You're so close. Just a bit longer."

"T-Twenty-t-two…T-Twenty-t-three…"

Chihiro huffed again as she forced her arms to extend, pushing herself off of the ground into a shaky plank before lowering again with trembling limbs. Sweat poured down her face as she panted, her face red from the exertion and the heat of her blood pumping through her body. She panted harshly, each breath sharp and hot as it was forced through her teeth, and her lungs burned with exertion as her heart jackhammered against her ribs. Every move was strained and her body felt ready to collapse.

Internally, she wondered to herself how she ended up in this situation, forcing her very clearly weak and out of shape body to preform push-ups over and over in the girl's locker room. How did she end up getting convinced that this was a good idea?

It made no sense to her how it was possible that she could be convinced to exercise this intensely, so how come she was doing so right now? As she thought this, her eyes wandered over to the source of her pain…

"…Forty-one. Forty-two. Come on, Chihiro! You can do it! Just two more! Forty-three…"

…And promptly felt both encouraged and shamed.

Junko, despite her claim of wanting to make this a light workout so as to avoid damaging her leg further, had been doing twice the amount of reps as the programmer's already high amount. To add even more salt to the wound, the fashionista wasn't even using her damaged limb and had both propped herself on her fingers while only using one hand, switching between the two arms with each decent.

And this was after she had done ten single legged squats, and climbing up the flight of stairs to this floor in the first place. It was more than a little demoralizing that this women with access to only one leg was able to do all of this while she was struggling to do twenty-five push-ups. The only thing that kept her pride from being completely destroyed was the fact that Junko's face was just as red hers, and there was a sheen of sweat on her forehead betraying the model's exhaustion as well.

However, that didn't stop the exhausted computer programmer from collapsing the moment she had gotten in that last push-up. As she lay there panting, she couldn't help but marvel at the staggering difference between her and Junko. Despite being a model, and being injured, she was still able to do this much more then Chihiro could. It made the poor girl balk at the thought of what she could do without the limitation.

It also did nothing to inspire confidence in her own abilities. Just ten push-ups were enough to make her ready to collapse, and she had been pushed beyond that. Her heart ached as badly as her limbs did and her lungs burned as they struggled to draw in breath. Her head felt light and fuzzy, and every part of her body was screaming at her for allowing it to go this far. Worst of all, she could feel the tears prickling at the edge of her vision, her frustrations at her own weakness causing her to near break out into tears.

Just as she was about to give in to that desire, to just give in to her tears, she caught the sight of a water bottle in the corner of her eye. Glancing up slightly reveled the holder of the bottle being the sitting form of Junko with her bad leg stretched out behind her. She was gazing down at the smaller girl with a look of concern, but all it did was make her feel worst.

"Hey, you okay?" Junko asked worriedly as she pressed the bottle of lukewarm water to the exhausted girl's cheek. "Here, drink up. You'll feel better."

She didn't want to listen, she wanted to ignore the desire to take the bottle from the sweaty fashion diva and just lay there stewing in her misery. She didn't want to give Junko the satisfaction of seeing her give in. Yet, her body betrayed her wants for its desire for sustenance and the water was just oh so tantalizing right now. So, with quivering arms she forced herself to get up, just enough to sit up straight, and reluctantly took the offered bottle with a small word of thanks.

"Easy now, small sips." Junko warned her as she just about chugged a quarter of the bottle's contents. Chihiro didn't want to listen to her, her body demanding that she glug down the whole thing in one go, damn the consequences.

Which immediately lead to her choking and spilling some of the offered water. Junko quickly and sharply slapped her on the back, knocking the rest of the liquid out of her windpipe and making Chihiro flinch back at the scowl that formed on the model's face. "What did I just say?"

"S-Sorry." Chihiro mumbled going for another sip of her drink, only this time she was well aware that Junko would be mad at her if she tried chugging in again settled for a more sedate pace. Seeing that she was listening to her advice this time, Junko smiled and turned away, laying on her back over the soft rug at the base of the exercising equipment. The room fell silent after that, the only sounds being those coming from soft breathing of the two students, and the crinkling of the plastic bottle in Chihiro's hands whenever she moved it. It was an awkward silence though, one built on suspicion and both of them knew that. There was just too many problems between them right now.

Chihiro wanted to say something, wanted to ask why they had done this moment of grueling exercise together all of a sudden. Why was she being so pushy for her to join up in the locker room for this session? It was something she had wanted, to be brought into the locker room to do some exercise. She knew that this was a desired result from a bad situation, but it didn't make it feel good. It was good that he had been given a chance to train up, but it was so strange that Junko had helped him to do it.

Up until now, she hadn't seemed to be the type who liked to work out that much. Most of the time she'd seen the fashionista, she was lying about complaining about how bored she was, though to be fair, she hadn't seen her all that much to begin with as she tended to avoid the other girls by default. It wasn't out of malice or spite or anything like that, she just wasn't comfortable around the girls.

Yet the one thing she wanted to know the most was, why hadn't she brought up Chihiro's secret?

It made no sense to the meek programmer, Junko clearly knew her secret, she had felt it through her clothes so she had to know about it. So then, why was she hanging out with her still? Was she trying to be polite and giving Chihiro the choice to come forward with it herself, or was she trying to torment the programmer by holding that bit of intel over her head like a sadist. She didn't know, and she was too scared to ask. Every time she tried to open her mouth to speak, her words would freeze up in her throat and choke her, forcing her to take another sip of the stale water to get it to clear. Her fears locked her in place forcing her to stay silent, and it frustrated her so much more than usual.

Why did she have to be so…so weak? Why couldn't she say something, anything? Why couldn't she overcome this for five seconds and ask even one stupid question?

Just as she was on the verge of tears once more, on the cusp of giving in to her weakness and running away crying like a toddler, Junko spoke up.

"Ya know, I can't remember the last time I got a chance to do something like this. Just, kick back and have some fun with a friend. Closest thing I can think of was…what, six...eight years ago?" Her voice was soft, softer than anything she'd heard from the loud, boisterous tones she'd come to expect of the fashion model thus far. It was so different that she was unable to comment before it continued.

"It wasn't anything all that special, I don't think. Just me, my sister and some of her friends. We had all gotten together in our parent's home with some games, soda, and pizza. Ended up staying up till four in the morning, just messing around…heh, it's kind of funny when I think about it."

Chihiro couldn't see what she found so funny about this, but her curiosity had been peaked, "What?"

"Well, never really had much in the way of friends. Most I ever had were acquaintances that were situational to what I was interested in at the time. Never was all that popular in school either. But, I didn't care. I had my sister, and that was enough for me. She was the social butterfly, not me. Makes it even more surprising that I'm the one here, as an "Ultimate" student no less."

There was a depressed look on her face as she continued, or maybe it was melancholy, the programmer wasn't sure, but that didn't stop her from asking. "Um, but didn't you have any friends when you became a model?"

"Heh, is that what you thought." Junko laughed at her own rhetorical remark and turned her head to look at Chihiro. "No, those people were all one of three things. Business rivals who wanted my position, executives who wanted my endorsement, or rabid fans who only cared about how I looked. Nothing more, and occasionally much less. Tabloid mags were even worst, always waiting in the dumbest of places, waiting for me to mess up and do something scandalous. It was like the second puberty hit, I just became a face to plaster on a magazine and not the individual I am."

That…that was something that Chihiro hadn't expected to hear. It was actually quite depressing when she stopped to think about it, a life without friends and always having to be on your toes. She would be the first to admit that she didn't have a large number of friends, but she still had a few close individuals that she hung out with on and off-line. Still thought, "Well, at least you have your sister, right?"

The depressed laugh that came in response was not expected and was very concerning. "Yeah right. I haven't seen her in years, and for all I knew, she was either laying in a ditch, or living a free life. Then this dumb game started up and it turns out, 'Oh hey, guess what? I'm trapped in a hotel with a headwound, possibly in a coma, and you now are responsible for keeping me alive by playing a murder game! Isn't that just peachy?' Tch."

The spite in her voice was so intense that Chihiro couldn't help but flinch. "W-Well, what about your parents? They should-"

"What parents?" Junko interrupted with an intense glare, she'd even pulled herself up into a sitting position with her bum leg extended just to emphasize her anger. "The ones who separated my sister and me and forced me to take up modeling in the first place? Hah! As if. You're lucky, ya know. At least your parents are supportive of your life choices. Me, no such luck."

Junko then turned her head away from the small boy and wrapped her arms around her good leg. "Besides, they're not around anymore anyway, so what would it matter?"

"O-Oh." They were both silent at that, and Chihiro lowered her head in thought and shame. It was very clear now that Junko didn't like to talk about her parents and that the programmer had touched a nerve of the fashionista's. She didn't need to hear anymore to understand the context of the last part of her statement. Her parents were gone, possibly dead if the melancholy look on the model's face was any indication, and she had just ripped open those wounds without thinking.

"I-I'm sorry." It was all Chihiro could offer, a small apology for her friend. She hated that this was all she could do for her friend, but that was the only thing she could offer. But, just as her self-loathing was about to come out again, a brief note of realization clicked. "How did you know my parents support me?"

"Why wouldn't I think that?" Junko rebutted with a raised brow. "They had to be when you consider…well, ya know. Your talent. Not that many girls I know are real into programming these days. Mostly because it isn't popular or such nonsense. The fact that you do it anyway despite that is amazing, and the fact that your parents not only support you but encourage you to keep doing it is beyond cool. I'd kill for some parents like that; metaphorically of course."

Chihiro nodded in understanding, aware that Junko wasn't being literal about the last remark. While it did make her feel a bit better to hear such nice things said about her family, it saddened her to hear that about her friend. Junko had no one waiting for her out there, and it was made even more depressing by the fact that the blonde's family weren't even alive for the most part. It made a small tear poke out from the corner of her vision just imagining what it must be like.

However, that wasn't what had concerned her the most. What concerned the little programmer was the fact that Junko was blatantly ignoring the fact that she knew Chihiro's secret, or maybe she just was pretending that she didn't. Why was that? Why pretend not to know? Was it because she was respecting Chihiro's privacy by pretending, or was it some kind of method to make her lower her guard. She hated even thinking of suspecting her friend, but not knowing the truth was clouding her judgments.

She needed to know the truth, to know why Junko was ignoring the problem. Unfortunately, it was clear that the only way she was going to learn it was to force the issue.

"You don't have to pretend, Junko." Chihiro murmured sadly, her head lowered so that she couldn't see the look of disgust on the girl's face. As such, she missed the sad look on her friend's face when Junko said, "I don't know what you're talking about, I really am jealous of you for having such a wonderful family."

Chihiro shook her head, knowing that they both knew that Junko was trying to change the topic. Ignoring the knot twisting in her gut, the meek girl corrected, "No, n-not that. I mean, you don't have to pretend that you don't know my secret."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Junko denied, but neither of them were buying it for a second. "I never heard anything about any secret, least of all one of yours. I haven't the slightest idea of what It could be-"

"Junko." Chihiro interrupted, her voice shaky as she struggled to say it, to say the truth that she tried to deny every day. Tears trickled down her red cheeks as she struggled to say it, but all the exertion in her body meant nothing. All she was able to say, to choke out was a single, "P-Please…"

Junko was silent for a moment, no doubt thinking about how best to answer. Eventually, she sighed heavily and said with a soft tone, "So much for giving you an out. Fine. The truth is, I've…actually known you were a guy for longer than you think."

Chihiro's head snapped up at that and her eyes shot wide open as she, or rather he, stared in shock at the model. "Wha-"

"It's actually pretty obvious if you know what to look for." Junko continued, yet she couldn't look the smaller person in the eyes, choosing instead to focus on her hands folded over her lap. "See, there's a few key features that most boys and girls have that are very different from one another. For starters, guy fingers tend to be more rounded while girls tend to be slenderer, plus there's a person's ring figure to consider. Depending on a person's natural testosterone level, the ring finger will be larger or shorter the more or less that level is. Your hands, despite being far from callused and being rather dainty, are still more masculine then what I would expect from a girl's."

That wasn't something that Chihiro had even considered, and almost unconsciously he found himself looking down at his hands in bewilderment. The though had never occurred to him that his own hands would be a contributor to someone finding out 'her' secret. The very idea seemed ludicrous, impossible even. The programmer had never noticed there was any kind of difference to be seen. Yet, now that Junko brought it up, the differences were rather noticeable now that he knew what to look for. The things he never considered before suddenly became obvious, so much so that he started to wonder how he'd never noticed them before.

As he was pondering, Junko continued to speak, raising her head up with closed eyes as if reading a script written inside her eyelids. "Of course, that alone wouldn't be enough to prove that you were a guy. After all, Sakura is living proof that even girl hands can become big and burly given enough training. I'm just saying that as a starting point, once I had noticed that other things started to become more obvious."

Chihiro found himself nodding along at that, slightly relieved that his hands hadn't been the only major factor behind the truth getting out. It would have made him feel horribly self-conscious if that had been the only thing that needed to expose 'her' as a him.

"The next thing is your walk. Girls have wider hips then guys, for obvious reasons, but that gives us a natural sway to our walk. As our legs move, our hips center of gravity shifts with it to keep us balanced. It's also how we attract mates on an instinctual level. If you had been swinging your hips, I wouldn't have said anything, but your walk doesn't have that. Now, you might have been able to hide that with your poofy skirt from the others, but I've had to learn to notice that in my line of work. To me, you had to either be unfortunate enough of a girl to be born with very small hips, or you were a guy."

Again, Chihiro found himself slowly nodding along with Junko's assessment as his hands moved his lap subconsciously. It was true that he had noticed that about girl's hips in the past, an unintentional observation that had embarrassingly resulted from his hormones taking the wheel when he wasn't paying attention, but he had been more focused on the embarrassment of the act of looking then the action itself. There was too much shame to even think of the why he had been looking in the first place.

"Then there's your shoulders and chest." Junko continued, raising another finger to count the point. "Again, Sakura proves that it can be done otherwise with intensive muscle training, becoming a nonfactor in those cases, but like how girls have wider hips, guys have broader shoulders. With how thin you are though, it's no wonder how everyone missed it. Plus, as your now see-through shirt proves, you don't where a bra. As a high-school teen, if you were a girl, then this would be around the time that you start budding and you should at least be wearing a training bra by now. Some girls could get away with that if they were flat enough, but you aren't a girl, so...Also, even if that wasn't the case, there's a subtle difference between a flat chested girl, and a boy."

Chihiro gazed down at his chest in thought, knowing that she had a point there. It was true that he had very little fat content on his body, but that was more from proper eating and lack of major exercise combined with genetics. He had always been rather thin and small for his age, but his father had always been rather thin too, so he had just never really thought about it. Plus, now that he had a chance to look down, he realized that, to his horror, his white dress shirt had absorbed the perspiration from their exercising and the water he'd coughed up had become mostly translucent, easily showing the bare skin beneath.

"However, again, because you were wearing that jacket with the stuffed shoulders it's easy to miss that bit, and with how loose it is around the chest, I might never have noticed if I wasn't looking for it. Hell, you constantly put your hands in front of your chest anyway, so that made it even harder to notice." Junko continued, and that bit of information was something that Chihiro internally sighed to in relief. It would have been morally horrifying to learn that his own body had given him away after spending so long hiding it from the world.

"The next thing to consider is your voice, I totally missed it the first time we spoke, but there's a difference in tone between most guys and girls that makes it clear that you couldn't be a girl. Even Sakura's more deep and gritty voice carries a feminine tone if you care to listen for it. It's subtle, so if you didn't know to listen for it, you would miss it entirely, but your voice has just a tad more masculine tone to it than a girl's." Junko then opened her eyes and finally looked at the meek programmer with an air of seriousness. "Now tone can be faked, voice actors do it all the time, but yours sounds far too genuine."

That was something Chihiro agreed with as well. He had seen such examples of female characters voiced by a male and vice versa. It wasn't hard to imagine someone doing that in real life. Still though, he found it amazing that Junko had been able to pick up on that.

"You've also got the obvious Adams apple." She pointed to the spot on her own neck where she would have had one, had she been a male herself. "I'll admit, your bit is rather small, and that collar of yours is very good at hiding it, but I'm used to spotting that kind of thing from a mile away."

Chihiro couldn't help but reach up and poke the small bulb on his throat in consideration to what she had said. That one he had been aware of himself, he didn't need to be told about that. There was a reason that he tended to duck his head down quite a bit, even beyond his nonconfrontational outlook. By ducking his head, he was able to hide that little noticeable lump that announced his identity as a boy.

Well, the more obvious one.

"Finally, and most important…" Junko raised her finger in the air to emphasize the point. She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, then she paused for what could only be dramatic effect and announced, "…you told me before we started exercising."

"…eh?"

"Oh yeah, if you hadn't been so vocal about not going into the girl's locker room, I might never have pieced it all together." She explained casually to his utter shock, before lazily pointing her hand in his direction. "See, everything I mentioned just now? Yeah, totally easy to miss. Never would have occurred to me that you were hiding something otherwise if you had just gone in with me in the beginning."

Chihiro's jaw dropped at that horrible lie. It had to be a lie. "B-But what about this morning when you…Um, when you brushed u-up against…against my…my…"

"Dick?" Junko bluntly stated to Chihiro's immense embarrassment, but he nodded with his face aflame anyway. "Honestly, I didn't even realize what it was at the time. I was too focused on the pain and you to even think to make note of anything like that."

That…was simultaneously relieving…and upsetting. He had been panicking for so long, spent so much time lost in his own fears of what had happened that he failed to even consider that Junko never even realized what she'd brushed up against. It was mortifying to know that it had all been over nothing. Worst still, he probably made things poorer for himself in the aftermath. Completely blowing off the other's concern to hide in his room might have been the worst thing he could have done to keep his secret hidden, as now they would be bugging him to find out what was wrong out of good intention.

Or possibly less then noble intentions.

Even so, that didn't answer one thing for the crossdressing boy. "B-But why did you bring me in here then?"

"What? I can't invite a friend to hang out and do some exercise together?" Junko's eyes told him that she was upset but the telling smile gave away her mirth. "I told you that I need to stay in shape, otherwise I'll lose all of my hard-earned flaunting muscles. I mean seriously, do you think I got these killer curves sitting on my ass all day?"

She smacked her thigh with her left hand as she said this, drawing Chihiro's eyes to the supple flesh in turn. He had to admit, as much as it made his cheeks heat up as he did, for as thin as her legs were there was a noticeable amount of tone from years of training. Strong cords of muscle lay under thin layers of skin as a testament of the time and effort put in to making them as solid as possible without becoming obscene. He couldn't help but feel envious of her strength.

However, he couldn't feel bitter about it. She had clearly worked hard to earn those muscles of hers. It would be shameful of him to hate her for that when he had never done anything to improve himself. All he had ever done was hide, flee from the truth. He hid himself from the facts of who he was, just to escape from his bullies that had tormented him over his weakness, to the point where he sometimes nearly forgot what was true. That he was just a weak boy, who hid that he was a boy by becoming a girl. A weakling, who chose to embrace that weakness and hid from it like a coward, rather than try and confront it and be strong.

"Hey, you okay?" Junko asked, her voice full of concern as she looked at him. Or at least he thought she was looking at him. He couldn't really tell because at some point he had started crying again, to his chagrin. That was just what he needed, further proof that he was just a weak little cry-baby like the bullies in his early middle school had always called him. He was just a weakling, a coward that everyone picked on because he was too weak to stand up for himself. He was a freak, a disgusting pervert that hide his insecurities behind a dress. A mouse that could only beg the cat for its life.

"P-Please…" He begged, placing his hands before himself and bowing all the way to the floor. "Please don't tell anyone. I-I can't…I can't deal with that again. I don't want to be called a-a freak, a loser. I don't…I couldn't live with that again. So…Please…Please."

He ignored her muttered "Huh?" of confusion, his body racking with sobs as he tried to keep his position. The hard floor dug into his knees and the fat tears that poured down his cheeks stung at the very eyes they streamed from but Chihiro didn't care about any of that. Even though this was completely shameful and embarrassing, it was necessary to him. To avoid that horrible fate, he would throw away all of what little pride he had to plead for the fashionista's silence.

"…" Junko didn't respond with any words, and perhaps that was the worst thing to Chihiro. He could have handled insults, he could have handled ridicule, he could have even handled it if Junko decided to slap, punch or…okay, maybe being kicked was off the list. But the silence was worse than anything else. It was like Junko was saying that she was so disgusted that she couldn't quantify it in words, that Chihiro wasn't worth wasting her breath to say anything.

Then, he heard Junko move. He heard the fashion model grab her crutch from where it lay on the ground and used it to stand. Then his heart dropped when he heard the strawberry-blond start to limp away. That stung more than anything else. Not only was he not worth the words, Junko clearly didn't think he was even worth wasting any more time with and was leaving to preserve her dignity. Perhaps she was going to tell the others about Chihiro's secret, then they would do the same. Leave him alone, for being a freak, a weakling not worth talking to.

The tears didn't stop, each drop of salty liquid splattered against the ground uncaring for their fate. It didn't matter though, not anymore. Once Junko left the room, it would be all over. His secret would be exposed, the others would know of 'her' shame, and then the pain would begin again. He would be ridiculed and reviled, his life would be over.

*Scrreeech* a sudden sound of something being dragged interrupted his self-loathing, but he didn't raise his head. What would be the point? When the sound came again, closer this time, he briefly raised his head, but just as quickly let it fall. It didn't matter. His life here was over, so if someone was dragging something closer to end it, then he wasn't going to stop them. When it came a third time, and stopped just before him, he tensed out of instinct only.

This was it, the moment that he left this world. The last thing he would see was this floor in a locker, in a school run by a mad bear. The only regret he had would be that he wasn't able to see his family one last time, but it wasn't to be. For this was the moment where she-

*Thunk!* "Ow!" His thoughts were again interrupted when a wooden stick bopped him on the back of his head. It hadn't been a hard hit, maybe just enough to leave a bump, but that didn't stop his forehead from smacking into the floor from the impact.

Snapping his head back up from the sudden pain he winced as he held his head with both hands. His eyes squinting from the ache, he rubbed his abused scalp with grit teeth. A hiss escaped his lips when he brushed up against a small sore lump. As he thought, the brief assault had left a small swollen spot on his head. It didn't feel like it was bleeding, there wasn't any feeling of moisture besides the drying sweat that still clung to the locks of hair, but he knew it would be best to have someone double check before he left.

After a few moments to wait for the pain to die down, he suddenly realized that someone was softly rubbing his back in a comforting fashion. With the pain fading, he took a moment to force open one of his eyes to look around. The sight that he met was one that caught him by surprise.

Sitting next to him with her bad leg slightly extended behind her to lessen the pressure on it, Junko had extended her arm to rub slow, small circles into his back and was muttering apologies as she did. It was confusing that she was doing so, Chihiro thought that she would want nothing to do with him after hearing him beg, yet here she was trying to comfort him in his moment of pain. It was actually rather touching to him…and rather suspicious since she was the only one here that could have bopped him in the head.

A glance down showed something that he realized had to be the item that hit him. A sledgehammer, the one that had been up against the truck tire in the corner of the room, now lay in front of him. The end of the handle lay before him, hopefully and thankfully intentionally as the twenty-pound weight on the other end would no doubt have killed the small crossdresser. The thought was horrifying to the meek boy.

Then, to his greater horror, Junko reached down and gripped the hammer in her dainty hands and pulled it closer to them both. Pressing the handle into his hand, she moved away from him. Turning his head to look at her again, Chihiro was surprised to see the model lay down on her back and close her eyes, but that was rendered as a foot note compared to her next words.

"Go ahead." The words had been spoken so resolutely that it stole the breath from Chihiro's lungs. He wasn't able to understand where she was going with this, couldn't comprehend it, yet it still terrified him to his core. When he didn't respond she apparently took that as a sign to explain to him what she meant. It turns out, it was just as horrible as he thought it would be.

"You obviously don't trust me. I don't blame you, not with this killing game and all, so I think it would be best that you insure that it never gets out then." Chihiro was completely thrown off by the matter of fact way she said that, like she fully expected it to be the option he would take, whatever that option was. He didn't want to assume, even though it seemed she was heavily implying what he only hoped he was wrong about.

Still, he had to ask. "W-What do you mean by that?"

"What do you think I mean?" she quipped back at him. Her eyes opened to look at him, but he couldn't see any emotion behind them. Instead, they seemed to be searching for something, something important clearly, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what that something would be. For some reason, that worried him more than anything said up to this point and that only made his mouth feel oh so dry.

Yet, he still managed to reply. "W-Well, it sounds like your t-telling me to…to…t-to…"

He couldn't finish, the thought of what she was asking him was too terrible for him to consider. The consequences of what were to happen if he went through with what she offered made his breath freeze in his lungs, choking the life out of the sentence he was failing to utter. The idea was just beyond anything he'd been asked of before, and it disturbed the programmer that it was her to ask it so much that he dare not finish.

"…Kill me?" Junko finished in his place, causing him the choke on his breath as she confirmed the very thing he feared she would say. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying."

Kill her. To enact the act of murder. To take another's life and snuff it out. The idea was unthinkably horrific too the crossdressing programmer, the very act beyond his sensibilities. He couldn't wrap his mind around what she was telling him to do. He heard what she had said alright, that he would be able to preserve his secret this way, but even when a small, darker part of his mind said to go through with her plan, to take the hammer and slam the heavy end into her skull, it was violently snubbed out by the programmer's morals and ethics as they reminded him that the act itself was far beyond anything he should ever consider. He could never even dream of it; the act was just too abhorred to even think of.

Yet, think of it he did. He slammed his eyes shut, as if to forcibly smother the darker part of his mind and their toxic whispers of sweet nothings. It did very little though, he could feel these new thoughts invaded his mind. This dreaded situation had made these kinds of contemplations a rare and few, but when they did come up it was always at the worst of times.

"W-Why?" He asked completely and understandably dumbfounded by her request. "Why would you want me t-to…to kill you?"

It made absolutely zero sense to the pacifistic programmer, not at all. Why would she think it was alright to request such a thing? Didn't she realize that she would be gone forever if he went through with this, that her life would quite literally be over? Why would she ask him to take her life when she had so much of her life yet to live?

As he was desperately trying to think of the logic behind her thought process, Junko looked him straight in the eyes from her relaxed position on the floor and said in the sincerest and almost motherly tone he'd ever heard from her, "…Because, I would rather die than tell anyone your secret."

"…Huh?"

Junko turned her head away from him to stare up at the ceiling as she continued to explain. "Well it's not really my secret to tell, ya know. You clearly aren't comfortable with the idea, and if I spilled the beans, then you would be miserable. You've clearly done nothing to dissuade anyone from calling you a girl, so why should I shake up that can of rattlesnakes? And I would feel nothing but guilt if you had to suffer because I couldn't keep my big gab shut. So, I'm not going to tell anyone."

Chihiro was stunned by her speech, "…But, then why tell me to kill you then?"

"Well, it's not like I want to die." She stated bluntly with a roll of her eyes which settled back on his as she continued. "I just wanted you to know how serious I am about keeping this secret. Until you're ready to tell them yourself, I'll wait and support you the best that I can."

"J-Junko…" Chihiro breathed, touched by the concern that flooded her gaze as she looked into his eyes. Eyes that teared up from the amount of care that Junko held that she would say such things. That she would be willing to risk him giving into Monokuma's temptations just to prove how much she cared for him and his circumstances…admittedly, it was also a bit concerning that this was the first method she chose to inform him of this.

He wouldn't call himself the most experienced when it came to social interactions, but even he couldn't help but think that there were better ways of saying it.

"Besides," Junko continued as she sat up, completely unaware of the large bead of sweat growing on the back of Chihiro's head from his own concerned thoughts. "I don't see what's wrong with what you're doing. You just want to wear what you're comfortable with, nothing wrong with that. And come on, you look absolutely adorable in that outfit!"

"I-If you say so." He said with a ruby blush on his face. He wasn't quite used to being complimented for his looks, he'd chosen this uniform for the sole reason that it was plain and unassuming after all, but he couldn't deny that someone of Junko's prestige as a fashion model and icon complimenting him on his appearance was something a bit beyond what he was used to.

"Hey, don't look so glum, chum." Junko said with a teasing grin, "Think about it this way, do you think you would look as good dressed like…oh say, Mondo?"

Briefly, the thought crossed the small boy's mind and formed the silliest mental image. Him in the oversized coat of Mondo's biker outfit, complete with outrageous pompadour, wife-beater shirt, and baggy pants several sizes too big hanging up solely by his hands as he tried his best to hold them up over his underwear despite the sleeves of the Crazy Diamonds coat hanging over his hands. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, a stray question popped into his head wondering what the furious biker would look like wearing the programmer's uniform. The image of the buff teen stretching the delicate fabric with the ruffles of the skirt flowing around his waist standing next to his own undersized form in the bikers much larger ensemble was so silly that he couldn't stop the small chuckles from escaping his lips nor the small tears peaking at the edges of his eyes from mirth.

"No, I-I guess not." He managed to get out in between fits of chuckles from the embarrassing image that he swore on his grave that the biker would never hear of.

"Well, there's that smile." Junko laughed along with him, though whether she had imagined the same thing as he did wasn't important. The simple fact that he was able to laugh about anything right now was more important to him. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, a pressure lowered more and more with every guffaw. Then Junko asked him to imagen himself in one of the other guy's outfits which spurred on another wave of laughter. After a solid five minutes of just laughing at the mental image of them and their classmates in increasingly ridicules outfits, the two teens finally started to settle down.

With panting breaths, Junko gave one more chuckle and breathlessly asked, "Better?"

Chihiro was only able to nod with a happy grin on his face, even more breathless then she was. He had to admit, he really needed that laugh. After so much stress and doubt from the past several hours, it felt so good to just let loose for a little while. Happy that he felt better, Junko smiled back in turn.

"Besides, now that I know about it, I can help you out…well, try to anyway. If you want it." Her smile became a bit more forced and nervous. "I wasn't lying when I said I thought you were trustworthy and reliable, and I hope that you think the same of me…Right, Chihiro? Buddy?"

For a brief moment, Chihiro felt like his heart had stopped. The emotional roller-coaster that he'd had to endure today was catching up with him and he found himself tearing up for what felt like the hundredth time at the kind, if a bit awkward, offer to help. "…U-Uh."

"W-Whoa now, why are you crying?" Junko said in a mild panic that her words had upset him in some way. "I-If you don't want it, that's fine. Just don't-"

"N-No that's not it." He interrupted with a shake of his head as he tried to wipe away the tears flowing down his cheeks even when they were immediately replaced by fresh ones. "I-I'm just so happy right now! W-When you told me you found out I-I was just so worried that my life would be over, and…and when you said you found out what I was, I was so…so scared. But, you still want to be my friend, and you want to help me. I-I know I'm just a crybaby, it's embarrassing, but I don't care. I'm just too happy to care. Thank you."

He was on an emotional high, and he knew it, but he just didn't care right now. After being afraid of being found out after hiding for so long for fear of persecution, he had all but given up on the idea of telling anyone the truth. The fear that gripped his heart went far and above his hopes of finding someone he could relate to and prevented him from fully trusting anyone. That dreaded part of him that he hid at all times hung over his head whenever he ever tried to get close and forced him to pull away lest it be exposed.

This time though, this time he had been exposed before he could even form a close bond that he felt would be inseparable. Yet unlike those instances, when the ones he felt closest shunned him for what his secret was, this wonderful girl had chosen to look past his weakness to see him for the kind boy underneath. His cheeks felt warm as he smiled at the fashion diva through his tears, for this was truly the happiest he had felt here in this prison of an academy.

"Y-Your welcome." Junko stuttered as she looked at his face, her own cheeks warming up as she looked away. Was she embarrassed? "J-Just don't get used to it, alright? Like with Sayaka, I don't want you to go getting the wrong idea that I'm some kind of lovey-dovey type girl. I've got a reputation to uphold, ya know."

Chihiro couldn't stop the endearing smile from spreading across his face if he tried. It was nice to know that, even after all that she'd been through, and after he had the rug metaphorically pulled out from under his feet, he could take comfort in the fact that she was still the same Junko. "Of course."

"Right." She replied, though if she was convinced he was being honest was debatable as she grabbed her crutch and forced herself to stand up. Chihiro made to assist, but she waved him off, determined to do it herself. "Okay, now. Just want to correct a couple of things though real quick, okay?"

"Sure, what is it?" he asked in turn as he stood as well, brushing the dust off of his skirt as he did.

"You are not a crybaby." Junko stated resolutely, something he didn't quite agree with himself, but before he could deny it, she jabbed her pointer finger at the area just between his eyes with her ruby fake nail and continued, "And don't you start arguing with me about it! I've met real crybabies, I've had to deal with real crybabies, and I know very well what a crybaby is from experience. If you want to call yourself something, then call yourself a 'pacifist' or a 'dove'. It's far less insulting for yourself, and it's much more accurate. Alright?"

He didn't really think those words were more accurate personally, but he wasn't about to say anything to upset her. "O-Okay. Thank you, Junko."

"Good, and one last thing. You are not a weakling." Once more, he made to argue with her, but that pointy finger interrupted him. "Up-bup-bup! No, don't argue with me on this. You're stronger then you let yourself believe."

"N-No, I'm really not." He argued back anyway, completely disbelieving that idea. He knew very well that he was weak, he didn't have any reason to believe otherwise. Hell, even among the weakest people in this class alone, he would have them beaten out as the weakest, frailest, scrawniest, and feeblest of them all. Even Toko, the only one skinnier then him, had more muscle then he did. Not by much, admittedly, but it was still more then him.

Junko, however, clearly didn't agree with that if her shaking head was any indication. "Bull. You want to know how I know you're strong? It's because you didn't cave in my skull when I gave you the choice. Anyone weaker would have done me in to keep their secret, they would have given in to the temptation just out of fear of the idea that I would expose them. You, on the other hand, choose to keep asking questions without even trying to commit such an atrocity. You didn't even try to go for it; don't think I didn't see you push the hammer away from you. You would choose to help people even when it would be detrimental to yourself. You would even let something as commonly called a pest like a mosquito drink from you just because you didn't want to take it from its family."

He couldn't deny that much from her, especially since the bump from when the little insect bit him suddenly twitched at its mention. Not wanting to be rude and interrupt his friend, he silently reached over with his free hand and lightly pressed the nail into the red mark as Makoto had taught him a few days ago when it first bit him. He didn't know why, but the insect seemed to have taken a liking to him and had returned last night as well and gave him another love bite not that far from where the first bite had been. It didn't take away the itch entirely, but it helped keep it at a more manageable level. Though it was a bit strange that she knew he'd been bit by a mosquito specifically.

Thinking about it, she might have just noticed the bump on his hand and assumed it was a mosquito. It wasn't as if he'd gone out of his way to hid it after all, and it was rather large either way. Maybe she saw the tiny insect at some point as well and just connected the dots. That would make sense, right?

Unaware of what he was thinking about, Junko continued her rant uninterrupted. "No one does that, I mean, I've met pacifists, priests, nuns, hell even the most passive of popes that would swat the pest. In my opinion, it takes a truly strong person to choose not to be violent when presented the opportunity, more so then then a muscle head who only responds with violence at every opportunity. You may not have much in the strength of body, but you're strong where it counts, up here…and here."

She used her free hand to give him a light tap on his forehead and another on his chest, right about where his heart would be and kept it there for a few extra seconds then what he felt was strictly necessary, and it caused his cheeks to heat up once more. He looked away, unable to look into those eyes of hers that radiated so much more passion and vigor then he'd ever felt aimed his way before. She was so strong, able to say such things without even the slightest hint of doubt, and it made him feel embarrassed for not being able to respond in turn.

Even with a hole in her leg, she wasn't willing to back down and hide. She just kept pushing forward, unwilling to become a burden. If he was being honest with himself, he found that to be her most admirable trait. She wasn't just pretty, beautiful even, but she was also someone that didn't let that govern who she was. She was strong, maybe not Sakura or Aoi strong, but more so than he ever would have expected at first. She was unafraid to say what was on her mind, and unflinching with her convictions. When she said those kind words just now, he had momentarily forgotten that he was weak.

In that moment, he felt a small heat building in his chest. "You are strong." The words he'd always wanted to hear throughout his early life, just a little bit of confirmation to confront the waves of "You're so weak, even though you're a boy." That little bit was something that he'd wanted to hear for oh so long. He had never quite realized just how important that was to him, to hear someone say something so kind, so thoughtful, so…

False.

However, it didn't matter if they were false. It didn't matter that they were sugar coated lies to his ears. These few words were something that he wanted so desperately to hear. It was just something that he never had been told for as long as he lived. Not even his parents had said those words he was so despite to hear, and they were the ones who'd known him his whole life. To be fair to them, it wasn't as if they hadn't tried. They tried to understand, his father had even come the closest to understanding having a similar problem growing up himself, but they never could quite realize just how bad it was for him. They supported his decisions and let him dress as he would, never quite realizing that what he had wanted wasn't support for his weakness, but to be told that he was strong without it. That was all he wanted.

"If that's not enough for you, then I'll help you fix that." His depressing thoughts were interrupted once again by Junko, but this time he couldn't stop his eyes from snapping to her own beaming grin.

"Huh?" He asked as the gears in his head momentarily ground to a halt as he ran her words back in his mind. Once he realized what she was saying though, he quickly raised his hands and started shaking them in an attempt to deny her kind offer. "No, no, I wouldn't want to be a bother-"

"Nonsense!" She cut him off with a wide grin and flashing of a peace sign. "If it's you, I don't mind. Plus, it totally helps me out too. So, if you feel like it, we can make this a thing."

"I-I don't know." He replied uncertainly as his gaze migrated to the ground. As tempting as the offer was, he couldn't help but feel that this was a bad idea. If they did make this an everyday thing, then there would be so much risk of one of the others finding out and confronting them. If that wasn't bad enough, then it would only get worse if Sakura or Hina found out that he'd passed up their multiple offers to work out together in favor of Junko's secret training. If nothing else, Hina would definitely be crushed, and that wasn't something he ever wanted.

"Okay, I got an idea. How 'bout we do this at night then, just after the nighttime announcement. That way, you won't have to worry about the others seeing you, and we can both get better. Then, when you feel ready, I'll help you tell them. And I won't let anyone get snippy about it, k?"

Chihiro perked up a bit at that offer. That would certainly make things a bit easier on him. If they did it at ten when everyone else was about to go to sleep, then that would prevent most everyone from finding out about their rendezvous and give them plenty of time to do whatever they both felt was needed then go straight to bed without the rush. Yet, that still left one problem.

"Wouldn't that break our rule about not going out at nighttime?" He questioned as he pressed his pointer finger into his tilted head and puffed up his cheeks in worry. He liked her idea, he really did, but he wasn't quite sure he wanted to defy the rule they had made to do it.

Fortunately, Junko had an answer for that. With a dismissing wave of her hand, she stated, "Do worry about it. if anyone says anything, we'll just say that I strong armed you. It's kind of true anyway."

"You would do that for me?" He asked with a trace of hope that was instantly quashed by a tinge of guilt. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"Sure!" She cut him off in what Chihiro was starting to feel would be a common occurrence as long as he continued interacting with her. She tossed him his jacket with a grin before slipping into her cardigan. "That's what friends are for, aren't they? I may not be good for much right now, but if you need someone to lend some support and help you bare the weight, I can be there for you. If you ever need help, or just need an ear to hear you, don't be afraid to come to me. Okay?"

He smiled at that, and gave the grinning fashionista a small nod as he held the green garment and spoke a simple, "Thank you." It was the only thing he could do. He didn't know if he could see through with her offer, but as she smiled in turn and started limping to the door, he could feel the willingness to try welling inside.

However, just as she was about out the door, he could have sworn he heard her mutter something. "…Besides, even if you had gone through with it and offed me, you wouldn't have gotten away unscathed."

"Huh? Wouldn't have…?" Yes, he understood what she was saying, but he also understood somethings that she wasn't saying as well. If he had killed Junko, as much as the thought made his stomach churn and his heart leap into his throat, then his secret would be safe for the moment. The others would never be able to put together the fact that her death had been at Chihiro's weak little hands when the murder weapon was the big, heavy sledgehammer. Add in his already established fear of the changing room, then he would be even less likely to be pinned as the culprit.

But the biggest factor was his true gender. As a boy, he shouldn't normally have access to the girl's side of the locker rooms, the electronic reader would guaranty that fact. If it came down to it, and the others were somehow able to figure out he was the culprit, then all he would need to do was…

His eyes shot wide open in realization at what Junko's plan would do had he made the error in judgement to cave in her skull. If it came down to it during the trial that he would need to reveal his true gender, then he would be eliminated as a suspect entirely. He would be unable to be the one who killed Junko and have a chance to escape as the blackened. But to do that, he would have his secret exposed by either his own merit, or through the other's investigations. They would learn the fact before he either got executed by Monokuma for failing to hide his actions properly, or worst, when the other students were all about to be punished for his success. Neither option were all that desirable.

It was also in that moment that he realized something. If that had been her plan from the beginning, then he had a lot to worry about. For now, she was a crafty ally and friend, but if he crossed her, or if he made her mad, then he knew he would have hell to pay. The thought caused a small shiver to run down his spine.

"So, not to make you feel bad or anything, just want to get the facts straight is all, but do you actually consider yourself a girl when you wear that, or do you just like the feeling of girl's clothes, or…"

'But for now,' he thought to himself with a small smile as he tried to dissuade the growing list of misconceptions his new friend was spouting in an effort to understand him better. 'I guess this is fine. I finally have a friend, a real friend, who won't laugh at me for being weak.'

And sometimes, he realized, that was enough.

Hey there everyone, it's good to see you all again. Quite an interesting change of event here, huh? To see her go and help our little programmer with his little problem of his, to offer to be his rock until he can support himself. It's so nice of her. Yet, I wonder. Can she keep this up? We've yet to reach the darkest moment of this tale of a boy's life of despair after all.

And what about the motive? Will she shoot her plans in the foot with the next motive, or will her plans go oh so well? Who's to say.