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.

39. French Despair

This was the second time that I woke up feeling like my heart was going to beat out of my chest in less then a week, and I officially decided that I hated it. Hated the residual panic of watching people being ruthlessly slaughtered in despicable ways. Despised the clammy feeling of my hands as the shook from the blood being pulled from them to fuel other areas of my body. Detested the sharp stench of panic sweat all over my body caused by my adrenaline going haywire and the way my pajamas clung to my skin.

I breathed, frustrated at the racing of my heart and the clamminess of my hands. God, I hated this feeling. This-this helplessness I felt from the deepest pits of my stomach. I...it just made me want to tear open my stomach and rip out this disgusting feeling at its roots with my bare hands.

Yes, I am aware that thinking like that made me sound like my Jataro. No, I don't care.

I groaned as I forced myself to sit up, pressing the palms of my hands into my eyes. Fracking hell, Junko. To make things worst, besides the nightmares, I was still trying to get over the aftermath of the last trial. I so upset with her interfering like that, and at such a pivotal moment in the trial no less!

"God dammit! Why!? Why did you have to ruin this!" I knocked against my head as tears of frustration set in and started to trickle down my face. "Why couldn't you just let me be!?"

I heard no response, but I didn't need to. I already knew. She would do anything for her precious despair, even if it meant transcending her own thrice damned grave to accomplish it. She was the worst kind of person; no, demon. She would spread the word of her belief as if it were the gospel and damn anyone that got in her way; even if that person was me.

"Screw this!" I shouted, violently kicking off my blankets and storming towards the ladder. I paused only for a second to turn to look at the bandstand, cringed at the glowing 5:34 on the clock, and spat to the side. Of freaking course.

I quickly climbed out into the screening room once again, pausing only for a moment to look at the sleeping faces of the students in open jealousy at their lack of issue sleeping. I did note that Hina looked like she had seen a ghost, but I figured that at least that part of history stayed consistent, so I didn't care much about it.

Well, okay, that was a a bit of a lie. I wasn't the only one suffering from a lack of sleep. Taka looked dead on his feet. Even worst then before as he sat on his bed and rubbed the deep dark rings around his eyes and his face, trying to wake himself up.

I would file it under, 'things to care about when I'm not nursing the worst case of sleep deprivation I'd ever gone through,' and moved on to the newest source of my ire.

Grabbing the journal off of the desk, I angrily started flipping through the pages. So, clearly the sleep soda was not the way to go if I wanted to shut her down. Obviously there was something that had changed that I hadn't properly planed for. Something had to have developed that made things not work the way I had been led to believe.

I shook my head in frustration. Much as I would like to fork the blame onto Junko's boy toy, it would be in poor taste to speak ill of the assumed dead. No, as much as it chapped my hide to admit it, I was entirely at fault for this one.

I shouldn't have jumped the gun on using the Blue Ram drink in the first place. Obviously things wouldn't have been that easy or simple. Otherwise I wouldn't be operating this stupid game in the first place. I was far too presumptuous in trusting the first sign of possibly striking back against her and had payed the price.

Really, I should have known better. The idea that something as simple as a drink to promote rest would stop her was too silly an idea to work in hindsight. Clearly that was on me.

But, could you blame me? This was a world of the talented made ridiculously extreme. Even if it wasn't a game anymore, that didn't make some of the solutions to situations any less weird and occasionally wacky. It may be grounded by the rules of the normal world, but it didn't stop the exceptions from happening.

I mean, I'm just chunks of a dead man's brain controlling a teenager who nearly destroyed the world. The argument was certainly there.

However, now that I knew that that avenue was a bust, I could look at something else and try to figure out what to do that would actually succeed. Perhaps something more concrete. As I scanned through the journal though, I paused at one particularly concerning entre.

It read as such. "Recently, Junko had a mild stroke when she was leaving school for the day. It was not something I wanted to hear about over a text from Chihiro, but there it was.

Obviously I, and about five different students, wanted to figure out what the hell happened, Mukuro was particularly looking like she was going to storm the hospital and kill every last doctor she could. Might have too, had her boy toy not been there to keep her grounded. Fortunately for me, I could get in no problem. As I was her doctor by technically, they were willing to let me in with a little fuss and were fortunate enough that I wasn't in the mood to silence them for seeing her in this state.

Kuro was in control again, and he look positively livid that they weren't letting him leave, standard procedure obviously. He wasn't willing to talk about what happened at first, wouldn't even look me in the eye, but he relented when I promised to get him out of there.

Apparently it had been an accident. He had been bored waiting for Junko to shut up about something clothes related, I didn't care to ask for elaboration, and decided that he would try to see if her could get a reaction if he interrupted the signals to her foot. Apparently he'd discovered that he could cause mild reactions if he tried to control just a little of her body instead of fully taking over. Not much, just simple little reactions like, bending her knee a little early, swinging out an arm sporadically, causing a spontaneous orgasm. Small things. Anything more and he would end up taking control.

He hadn't really done much with that ability as he still didn't want her to know he was there, but he did do a few things that could have been explained away as a misread from her brain. Anything that could be explained away by a side effect of her surgery.

That did explain why Junko had suddenly knocked over my coffee the other day without reason. Could have done without my journal getting stained, but at least none of the important entrees got damaged too badly.

However, in this particular instance, he had accidentally brushed up against the wrong signal and had momentarily, and I can't stress this enough, stopped her heart. Then, the moment he realized what he'd done, he over compensated in a panic and almost caused her to have tachycardia. He'd managed to fix it, but not before Junko collapsed and someone called for an ambulance.

He could have literally killed her in an instant, with a thought. If it wasn't for the fact that doing so would kill him too, I have little doubt that he wouldn't do it too from how he speaks of her. He claims he has no intention of doing that again, he doesn't want to die after all, but I can't help but concerned."

Well, that was disconcerting. That did explain something, however. Now I knew exactly why I had passed out. Even though I couldn't quite recall the moment that I had passed out completely, I did have enough bits and pieces to put together an idea. I knew that I had drunken the soda, the empty can would prove it had I forgotten that much. But I wasn't completely aware of exactly what happened that lead me to decide to chug it in the first place.

Last thing I could remember was getting asked a question about giving a hint; a hint that I really couldn't give since I didn't really know the answer too. Then, I had a vague recollection of drinking soda, and feeling mildly disgusted by the taste, and I remember passing out afterward. I think I heard someone speak to me, but none of the exact words. Aside from that, nothing else.

When I had come to, the trial had already wrapped up and everyone was silently clambering into the elevator. I only had a few context clues laying about to piece the results together, but it really didn't change things. The obvious one was the stupid slot machine in the center of the podium circle, covered in the plastic flowers with hundreds of Monokuma brand tokens on the floor; I made a mental note to split those up for the students later. There was the screen that I had put in to count the amount of white, neutral, and black flags turned on, so I knew that they had chosen the kind of punishment. Black was the winner of course. Finally, there was a noticeable lack of coins around one particular stand, and it wasn't hard to realize who they ended up picking as their "blackened" this time around.

I sighed at the decision, but I wasn't able to do anything to veto anything anyway, so I pushed it to the side. I'd have to see for myself just what they had decided at a later time.

More importantly, I had to find something to get rid of Junko. So, back to the book I turned. Poring over pages again and again, looking for something.

Wait a second. I paused in my search and turned back a few pages. I thought I had seen something familiar. Where was...there! I thought I saw something familiar. A name. One that I thought wouldn't be coming up anytime soon.

"One of the old farts on the Steering Committee came to my door this morning asking about the school's little Frankenstein's monster pet project, Izuru Kamukura. Apparently, one of the Committee members went missing recently, and they seemed to think that their pet had been compromised.

Of course, they had no evidence of it. They never were too smart. All they had was their suspicions and nothing to back it up. Of course, if I happened to get a call later in the day from Junko's new nurse tool saying that she had 'fallen down the stairs', then who would blame me for putting the pieces together.

I don't know what they were thinking going into that- no, I could guess why she went there. What I wanted to know was, how did she even learn of him? I tried asking after they woke up, but neither Junko, or Mukuro were willing to speak up about it. Fortunately, I had someone else on the inside willing to talk to.

Kuro told me that she had gone there to try and talk him into agreeing to work with them on a project that would, 'show him the unpredictable and exciting nature of despair'. The exact details weren't discussed, unfortunately, but it was enough that he had felt the need to interfere with their conversation.

I was quite surprised by the parasite's knowledge on the committee's pet. He didn't tell me everything he said, but he did admit that their pet was, "A sad waste of potential that had more going for him when he was a talent-less nobody with a goal in mind then he was now, an aimless genius with all the talent the world could possibly stand and none of the drive needed to use it." Certainly an accurate statement, but the fact that he said it so confidently, as if he knew Izuru before he was modified..."

Well, I certainly didn't need to see more then that. Didn't matter that this was were it ended, it didn't change the facts.

Junko, and subsequently I, had met up with the changed Hajime before the Tragedy. I figured that would be the case since it was established in the second game that he had been involved in kicking off the Tragedy in some way. I couldn't remember the exact details of how that happened, just that he was a pivotal piece in the plan.

However, and I pursed my lips in thought on this, did that make him an ally, or an enemy for me? It was no small stretch to say that he had the potential to dismantle any and all plans that anyone could shake a stick at. He had the potential to learn anything at an unnatural rate thanks to the modifications done to his brain, to the point that it wasn't a stretch to call him the Ultimate Ultimate. However, in the process, he lost his ability to be a functional person, with no motivation, no passion, and no drive to use that talent for anything other then what he was told to do by his caretakers.

Junko supposedly ignited something within him and twisted his mind toward seeking despair as a way to break up the monotony of his boring existence. Then she used him as a catalyst to set off a change of events that would begin the chain of events that would lead the world into chaos. The exact method of which wasn't discussed in the games, at least as I could remember.

I frowned at that. Unlike Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc, I didn't play through the second game as many times. Not to say that I didn't play it a few times, I did. It was also a fave of mine in areas and even surpassed the first game in a few ways. It was just that I liked the first more.

Still, I wish I had refreshed myself in that part of the story before I was dragged into this situation. I knew that it wouldn't have made much of a difference when it came to it, he wasn't even in this school, but who knows when this would have come in handy.

"Hmm...do I have his number?" it was a dangerous thought. After all, he was one of Junko's Ultimate Despair members, but he might be able to help me figure out those exact details that I had nothing on.

I shook my head. No, no, bad idea. Really bad idea. It would be like kicking a Big Boy bomb hoping that it would disarm it. Extremely stupid and counter intuitive.

This wasn't like with Soda or Mikan. Those two were obsessed with Junko at this point in the timeline and brainwashed to listen to anything I said. Even then, I still had to be careful with my words otherwise I risked giving up the ghost and causing trouble for myself.

Izuru was different. He was dangerous. An actual threat. I simply could not risk him finding out about me and ruining things even more then Junko had already.

"Not pulling the pin on that grenade." I grumbled as I put down the journal. I wanted to continue, but my stomach was grumbling, and I needed something for this headache I was developing. I took a few extra minutes to get myself into my make up and the not so despairful school outfit, and quickly made my way through the vents to the only place that still brought me joy in this miserable world.

The kitchen.

Looking around the locked room, I pondered over what I would make this time. Pancakes had been fine last time, but I wasn't really feeling in that kind of mood. Yet, at the same time, I wanted something sweet and syrup covered. Sadly though, there wasn't any waffle iron in the kitchen, so my normal alternative wasn't possible.

I snapped my fingers. French toast it is.

Fortunately, fresh eggs were something we had in abundance thanks to the hens kept in the garden center. Nothing against plant based alternatives, but there was just something about the real deal that couldn't be fully replicated.

We didn't have any bread, apparently that wasn't one of the perishable goods that was refreshed daily for whatever reason, but we had all of the ingredients for it as well as a bread pan in one of the cupboards, so that would have to be the first thing I made, but then nothing would stop me from my French toast!

---

"What…?"

Makoto muttered out loud as he walked into the cafeteria, completely caught off guard by the sight before him. It wasn't as if it was unreasonable. After the confusion, frustration, and general feeling of unfairness of yesterdays investigation and trial, he had hoped that things would be returning back to some semblance of normal to wind down.

But this?

"...And then he yelled, 'Why are you buying clothes at the Soup Store!"

"Kyahahahaha! Please, tell me you hung up on him!"

"Obviously, but only after I shouted, 'Fuck you!'."

It was in witnessing the mad cackling of the Ultimate Murderous Fiend as she flailed her legs and clutched her ribs at the punchline to the story of the Ultimate Fashionista who sat next to her with her chin resting on her hand, elbow on the table and giving a closed eyed demure smile at the laughing fiend personality. The only thing that broke up the image was Junko's fork held in her other hand as she occasionally took bites of the syrup covered toast on the plate to her side.

A quick cursory glance showed that he wasn't the only one in the room befuddled by the sight. Most every member of the student body was already there, and nearly every single one of them were standing to one side of the room, giving the two girls a wide berth with a disturbed expression at the sight of the fashion model so calmly eating next to a literal serial killer. The only exception was Celeste who was drinking her morning milk tea, but even she had a couple of chairs between them and a death grip on her cup.

Chihiro was being held behind the bros as they did their best to keep him as far away from the serial killer as possible, while Sakura was doing the same for the others. Hifumi and Hiro were also doing their best to keep as much of Sakura between them and the two chatting girls as possible. Sayaka had no choice in the matter, but she was also being held behind Leon, though he looked ready to bolt over behind the others if Sho...sorry, Jill, pulled out one of her scissors. If it wasn't for the fact that Makoto had seen Byakuya lurking outside the cafeteria, he wouldn't have been surprised to see the scion behind them all while pretending that that he wasn't concerned to be in the presence if the girl who just might end up being the one to murder him.

Makoto wondered briefly if it was too late to double back and try getting food later. Sadly, Junko seemed to have heard his mumbling as she turned to look at him and gave him a grin and a wave.

"Oh hey, Makoto! Come on in, join us! We've got plenty of French toast today. And hey! If you're not feeling up for sweets, there's a fresh couple of loafs of bread in the kitchen." The fashion model smile disarmingly as she leaned back. Jill smiled as well as she leaned onto Junko and flopped her arm over the model's shoulders, and gave him a toothy grin around her tongue.

"Yeah, Big Mac! Listen to Kuro! Come try some 'for they get cold like the feet of the pansies over there! They're sweet, just how Milks Mc'gee likes 'um!" She cackled as she pointed at the crowd tauntingly.

Makoto took a brief moment to look at the massive stack of cinnamon egg toast piled in the center of the largest table with a puzzled expression on his face. He briefly glanced at the butter dish sitting next to the overfilled platter and the bottle of maple syrup innocently placed on the opposite side. He hazarded a glance at the grinning girls looking all too happy to see him. He slowly blinked at the sight, considered his options, and then walked over the group of students ignoring the way the two girls booed him for his action.

It wasn't being cowardly, it was strategy.

"So..." The luckster started, trying his best to ignore the two girl's in his peripheral vision taunting him with their tongues sticking out and pulling down their bottom eyelids. "I see Toko didn't turn back, huh?"

"Oh, she did." Sayaka shot that down quickly. "But when we were starting to sit down, Junko accidentally knocked over the pepper. Toko sneezed and Genocide Sho came out. Apparently, that is one of her triggers to change."

"...Okay then." Makoto muttered at a loss for words. However, after a quick look around he noticed the missing element in the room. "Where's Hina?"

Sakura turned her head slightly to glance at him out of the corner of her eye, unwilling to take her full attention off of the serial killer before her. "Hina wasn't feeling well this morning, said that her stomach was upset, so she hath decided to sleep in this morning."

"I mean, can you blame her?" Junko chimed in with her fork pointing at them, a piece of French toast bleeding syrup on the floor. "After all of the nonsense that happened yesterday, I'm amazed any of us showed up this morning."

She then turned back to the table and shoved the piece into her mouth, then continued to talk. "Of course, I'm still surprised that our punished party member made an appearance."

She glanced out of the corner of her eye then as she swallowed, headless of the way everyone tensed. "Remind me Jill, who was the one got the shaft again?"

Jill giggled manically before pointing at Taka. "Since we couldn't get El'masko onto the stand, Ticktock got railed sideways instead. Now he's got to stick to the night corner alone at night all by his lonesome."

Junko snapped her fingers in recognition. "Ah, that's right. Thank you, Jill."

"Your welcome, Kuro." She stood just to curtsy, then leaned back in another uproarious round of laughter.

"...Dude, how are you doing that?" Hiro asked looking straight at Junko as he spoke. She paused to glance at him, fork held just before her open mouth, then she bit down and chewed for a moment before placing her free hand on her chin.

"I'm doing quite a fair amount of things right now. I'm using my hand to hold up a fork, which is a result of using the pathway of the nervous system to send signals from my brain to the muscles in my arm to tell it to hold this particular position. Are you referring to the fact that I'm eating breakfast? Because, that's just a result of me taking a piece of the pile of toast that has been dipped in a mixture of beaten eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and possibly honey, before being pan seared on a skillet till it reached a golden brown, then covered in a thickened tree sap, and a hit of churned, pasteurized cream. Or are we asking about how I am breathing? Because that is a result of the natural function of my lungs decompressing and compressing to draw oxygen from the air out of the environment to then exchange it with carbon monoxide. Gonna need to be more specific, pal."

"U-uh, um...no that's. I mean..." Hiro tried to say, but it was quickly apparent that he didn't know what to say to the shear wall of sarcasm thrown in his face like that.

"I-I believe Mister Hagakure meant to say, how are you able to stay so calm in the presence of...um, ah, how do I put it…?" Hifumi hesitated, not wanting to upset the elephant in the room. Fortunately, someone else was willing to finish the sentence.

"How are you so calm in the presence of a serial killer?" Makoto jumped at the sound of Kyoko's voice behind him, completely having not expected her to turn up there. Undeterred by the way she made him jump, she continued, "I believe that's what they were trying to say."

Junko huffed as well as Jill. "What, was I the only one awake yesterday, or something? Maybe it's the pain meds talking, but far as I see it, Jill here, is harmless...as long as you aren't a guy, and your also not handsome. Hate to be that guy, but lets face it, there's only like...maybe two or three of you that might fall under that umbrella, and we've already established that Chihiro doesn't have to worry about that anytime soon. So, why should I worry?"

"Yeah! I wouldn't waste my scissors on any of you louts!" Jill agreed, pulling Junko in close to her in a friendly hug. "I have far too high of standards to waste myself for a quickie. Especially for weak watered down sauce like you guys."

"I think it's more to the fact that you are so...comfortable being so close to someone with a confirmed body count." Celeste offered, but Junko scoffed.

"Please, if that's all it takes to get under your skin, then you wouldn't be talking to at least a few of the rest of us. I guarantee that at least some of you are responsible for the deaths of someone else, intentionally or not. Or heck, might even be associated with a murderer themselves." Makoto wasn't sure what she meant by that, but a quick glance around showed that, to his surprise, Mondo, Sayaka, Hiro, Sakura, Hifumi, and Celeste had all turned away, each looking like they would rather look at anything else then the others.

He might have just imagined some of it, they were more or less all quick to hide their expressions before he could get a good look, but it really opened his eyes on some of his classmates that he didn't think he was prepared to learn about.

Kyoko raised a brow in response to Junko's allegations. "How are you so sure of that?"

"Statistics." Junko responded plainly. "If you checked the official records from the International District of Homicide in the past few years, there was a reported thirty percent globally account of incidences where at least one or more individuals were involved with, were in the area of, or were associated with an individual in a homicide. Of that number, the amount of people who had been, would later become, or were currently Hope's Peak students ranged about roughly twenty to twenty-five percent, for a total of five percent globally. So really, there's like… maybe seven point five percent chance. Basically a one out of 13 chance odds right there."

Makoto blinked, completely flatfooted by the response, though he was far from the only one. Everyone in the cafeteria stared in utter shock at the mass information dump that she had unloaded on them like it was nothing. Even Kyoko, the one who had asked the question, couldn't stop her eyes from widening.

Then, as if she just realized what she said, Junko covered up her mouth and then quickly gave them a sassy wink. "Oops, I mean...I saw it in teens magazine somewhere. Totally wasn't because I was researching on becoming a homicide detective at one point in my career, nooo."

There wasn't a single member of the class that bought that for even a second. Not even the most gullible of them didn't look at her with skeptical eyes. Yet, while many of them clearly wanted to ask exactly why the fashionista had wanted to become a homicide detective, they were smart enough to recognize the signs of someone who would refuse to elaborate.

Not that it was hard to figure out especially with how blunt she was being.

However, she just shrugged it off and took another bite of her toast. "Anyway, don't you guys think that we've got more important things to be worrying about then my maybe background. Like, having some breakfast and exploring the new areas?"

"She has a point." Taka conceded when no one else raised an objection, though he did pause to chastise her for talking with her mouth full. "We should take this chance to investigate every nook and cranny for any new clues. With any luck, we may find something new to help us escape."

"I hear ya, bro." Mondo replied but put a hand on his shoulder and continued, "But, don't get your hopes up too high."

With that they all decided simply ignore the elephant in the room to the best of their abilities and hard a quick, if awkward, breakfast before splitting up to do their own investigations. Mondo, Chihiro and Taka paired up together, though from the way they looked at each other there seemed like there was something else they were planning beyond just investigating, but no one was going to say anything. The only ones staying behind being Junko, Sayaka, and Leon, the latter two promising to investigate the first floor after and the former would join them after she changed her bandages.

Investigating the store room showed that the rule about nighttime had been removed, but nothing else had changed on the first floor. Makoto did take a moment to pop by the School store to grab a few more trinkets before heading to the second floor.

Sadly, the second floor was a similar story. The Archive had been opened up, which was interesting, but not helpful in the slightest. There was also no longer any sign of damage in the pool or the locker room just like after the last trial, though that was to be expected at this point.

Quickly though, he did see that the stairs on second floor had been unlocked, allowing access to the third floor. So, he made his way up there and almost immediately walked into Celeste standing outside of a door with a glass window.

"Ah, Makoto, look in there." Celeste pointed, and as he went to do as she said, she continued. "It would appear that there is a room for recreational activities."

"Yeah, looks about right." Makoto confirmed as he took in the checkered board with plush leather lounge chairs, the pool table in the center of the room, a small locker off to one side, and the dart board just in the corner of his vision. There were also some bottles on a counter by a magazine rack, against the far wall, but without getting closer he couldn't be sure what their contents were.

However, when he went to open the door to get a better look, he was stopped by the doorknob's refusal to turn. "It's locked."

"That seems to be the case, yes." Celeste confirmed with a sigh. "Alas, and I was so looking forward to a rousing game of Othello with someone."

"Well, maybe this would help." Makoto pointed out, lifting a little card hanging on the door knob that he hadn't noticed initially. Written on it an a fancy cursive, for some reason in English, were the words, "Unlock for One thousand Mono-tokens."

"One thousand Mono-tokens." the gambler bemoaned. "Sadly, it would appear to be out of my budget at the moment."

"Yeah, same here." Makoto agreed. Even after the trial had given him more then a couple hundred coins, he knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to afford this kind of thing for a long time. At least, not while the Gatcha in the school store still had things that he had yet to unlock.

There was something there to help them escape, he just knew it. It wasn't an excuse to gamble, no matter what Monokuma said.

"...Say, Makoto." Celeste suddenly asked with her close eyed smile. "You wouldn't happen to be willing to loan me a few tokens, would you?"

"Hard pass." Makoto deadpanned, ignoring her sigh of disappointment as he walked away. He may want to be friends with them all, but he wasn't fool enough to bend over backwards to make it happen.

After a few turns he managed to find himself it a larger room that looked like an art room. All around the walls were countless paintings, handmade drawings, and even some inked comic strips of varying levels of panels, both western and eastern style in composition. The room itself also housed plenty of easels for paintings, marble pillars to place various items for portraits, one even held a bowl of plastic fruit for reference. There were even a few marble statues on display of hand made replicas of famous pieces; though he turned up his nose when he realized one of them was a statuesque Monokuma.

"Why would anyone even…?" He trailed off and walked away, instead turning to the rooms only other occupant.

"Ah, Master Neagi!" Hifumi exclaimed as he turned away from one of the comic strips on the wall, looking very pleased with the environment. "I see you are also here to peruse the many works here. I mean, it's no substitute for 2-D manga and anime, but it's a start."

'You really love anime and manga, don't you?' Makoto thought, but didn't say it out loud, not wanting the fanfic writer and publisher to go on another tirade about how important they were to the world and culture world wide… again. Instead, he simply nodded.

Hifumi turned away and let his own gaze wander around. "I must say, all of this certainly scratches that artistic itch I've been dealing with. Art supplies of course, but they've also collected all kinds of sculpting tools! And..."

Hifumi trailed off with a gasp and then rushed to one side of the room where a large machine sat in a glass box, pasting his hands and face flush against the plane. "I don't believe it! I thought these were still in the prototype phase!"

"What is it?" Makoto asked as he walked over, gazing on the machine with a raised brow. It was a painted black, with all sorts of crossbeams all over the place with thick wires and tubes running up and down the frame. At the base it was the most weight with a stand in the middle that looked like it would light up if the machine was on. There was also a sign on the top corner, stating, "Unlock for ten thousand tokens. Resin sold separately."

"I can't believe it." Hifumi muttered in aw, pulling his face from the glass with a loud pop. "This, Master Neagi, is a 3-D printer! It's the ultimate tool in bringing sculptures to life! This device allows you to take any 3-D image from a computer, and uses a special resin to create a perfect replica into the real world! Anything from tools, to pieces, to figurines! It's the artist's wet dream!"

Makoto blinked and turned to look at the device again. Then looked at Hifumi again. "I see...So, do you like sculptures and figurines?"

Hifumi froze for a moment, then straightened up with a hand on his chin. "W-well, normally I limit myself to just 2-D. But figurines are like borderline 2-D since they are 3-D sculptures of 2-D characters, so it's okay."

Makoto felt a bead of sweat roll down his head at the explanation, but said nothing. He just didn't feel like it was worth arguing about the concept of borderline 2-D.

Hifumi, seemingly satisfied with his lack of retort, turned back to the devise inquisitively. "Still, I thought that these weren't ready for commercial use yet. I wonder, how did Hope's Peak get their hands on one early like this?"

Makoto didn't have an answer for him, mostly because he hadn't even known this was a thing until now, but it made him wonder too. What else was this school able to access that the rest of the world hadn't seen yet? Were there other things like this that they hadn't seen yet in the school? What more was there to see?

Sadly, since they had no way of affording the access to the printer, there wasn't anything else that could be done here, so Makoto left the otaku to his musings and went to the door in the back of the room. Inside was a repository, with a work station with a various amount of tools hanging on dull hook, the most apparent being the large variety of mallets for chiseling. There were also a pile of unused pallets, canvases, boxes of paint and other supplies along the walls, and a few other knickknacks he couldn't quite place the use of.

However, as he took a few steps in, he was suddenly caught off guard when he heard something crinkle underfoot. Stepping back revealed a small picture, a portrait of the past. But as he picked it up to look at its contents, his eyes widened.

"…What...is this?"

---

I sighed as I crawled back into the control room, closing the vent behind me with a kick of my leg. God, I hated crawling through the vents, especially all the way from Mukuro's room, but it was the only way to keep up appearances.

Stepping back a bit, after we had all ate and split up, I had made the excuse of needing to change the bandages on my leg to leave the group behind and head to Mukuro's room. From there, I had to take a few minutes to work with the fussy Mukuro and get her to take her pills and changed her bandages. That and fixing her up to go get herself some breakfast.

Seriously, how bad could those pills be that a trained solider would be such a baby about taking them?

After that, I had to shuffle my way up to the control room while avoiding Monokuma bots, and this time I had the misfortune of having more then a few of them getting in the way, forcing me to have to take the long way around to avoid them. Which, needless to say, was very frustrating.

Fortunately, there wasn't much need for me to check on the students. I had already barred most of the rooms that would need exposition, so it wasn't like I would be needed for much. I paused to look at the screens, making a quick note of everyone's location, and did see that there was one exception to this.

I sighed, and quickly made my way to the Monokuma operating system, a flipped a switch to one of the Monokuma units. Popping out of the vent, the Monokuma sensory units kicked in just in time for me to hear the tail end of Mondo saying, "...I just don't think it's right. You shouldn't have been punished for that bullshit."

Taka and Chihiro put their hands on his shoulder and arm respectively, trying to reassure the biker as he tried not to explosively slam his hand down in indignation. The moral forced the biker to turn to him and stated, "I know bro. Yet, it's already been done, there's nothing that we can do."

"But, it's just not fair!" Mondo reiterated. "Just because that two-faced bastard can't do his fucking job, shouldn't mean you should be getting the shaft like this!"

I resisted the urge to interrupt indigently. You try having to deal with a second personality that wants to drive everyone into utter despair and see how freaking hard it really is, ya dang Yakuza wannabe.

Taka tightened his grip on his bro's shoulder, clearly just as frustrated, but trying to cope. "I know, bro. But was at my request. I was the one who set that plan into motion. I was the one who failed to read the situation for what it was. I should be the one punished for my actions."

"I know, I get that, but..." Mondo trailed off for a moment, then sighed explosively. "I just...I don't understand why this shit has to happen to us."

"I know, but, what can we do?" Chihiro replied. "At least now we have a common goal that can bring us all together."

"Yeah, but don't you think this whole thing is sketchy as fuck?" Mondo replied as he spat to one side with disgust. "I mean, we thought this whole time that it was just the fifteen of us, but now we've been told that there's another student here this whole time, and Mono-fuck never brought it up? And now that the bastard finally shows themselves, suddenly it's our job to off him?"

"I...You have a point." Taka admitted, putting his fist to his chin in thought. But while they were busy with their thoughts, I was busy having a bloody panic attack.

Junko, what the hell did you do!? Why do they know that there's a sixteenth student!? They aren't supposed to learn that for another week, at least! Then there's that line about offing them, I. E. me. What on earth was that about!?

I knew that she must have done something when I had woken up, but I couldn't find anything that was obvious enough to say anything definitive. Now though, I vaguely knew what that was and felt appalled.

Just what the hell did she think she was doing? Didn't she realize that by doing this she was putting her life on the line? Was she stupid?

I shook my head at the thought. No, if their was one thing she wasn't it was stupid. She clearly had to have a reason for painting such a massive target on our backs like this, some kind of plan must be at work here.

But what was it? What does she gain by making them have a vendetta against my masked self?

My best bet would have to be that she wanted to alienate me from the others, that much is clear. Anyone with an ounce of self preservation would ditch the disguise after being threatened like this.

My eyes widened as my thought clicked. Yes, that must be why she did this. She was trying to get me to give up the masked vigilante routine to protect herself. No one would be so suicidal as to risk their life for a mask, this isn't a comic book after all. By putting a target on my back, she puts me in an unfavorable position that would make it hard to help anyone without the threat of being killed in return.

In short, she must be trying to stop me from interfering with her game. Trying to scare me out of helping them survive by painting a line in the sand between me and them, to make it so that it wouldn't be seen as worth it in the long run.

Furthermore, it meant that she would be able to stay in control by keeping me locked up in here where she could take over at any point while I cower in here for fear of death.

I frowned. "Oh ho ho ho, I see now. I see...so that's your angle, eh Junko? Well, you know what, bitch? I'm not falling for it. I will keep them safe from you're stupid despair fetish, and from themselves, and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop me."

There was no response, obviously, but it made me feel better at least.

Still, it didn't change the problem. How exactly was I going to stop her in the first place? My usual plans haven't been looking to productive in keeping these kids safe from killing themselves. Clearly, the idea of just modifying motives wasn't enough, I needed to take more active measures, otherwise my luck might run out and someone will end up getting axed off.

But that would have to wait a moment. Right now, Chihiro was asking about the air purifier and I was all for messing with them by calling it a time machine.

---

When it comes to dealing with the strange and unusual, Asahina Aoi would like to think that she was getting used to dealing with the weirdest the world had to offer since she arrived at this school. From the weird thoughts of Hiro, to the disturbing obsessions of Hifumi, to the Bromance of Taka and Mondo, to the jerk attitude of Byakuya. From the secretive natures of Celeste and Kyoko, to the contradictory attitude of Toko, and even the sweet and kind Chihiro, Makoto, and her best friend Sakura she felt that she had seen it all from her classmates. She was even getting used to the strange behavior that Junko had each morning after her pain meds kicked in.

True, there was the whole, trapped in the school and being constantly told to kill each other thing and their homicidal mascot/headmaster in the background to deal with, but compared to the day to day interactions it didn't really feel all that important most of the time.

However, yesterday pulled the rug out from her understanding. Hell, the night before had ruined most of her preconceived notions. Chihiro's secret was among the highest on that list, only barely overshadowed by Toko's own horrifying secret. Then there was the whole case of the masked intruder that attacked her and the others, and the headmaster's sudden collapse and subsequent demand for the masked guy's death.

It had been so alarming to witness. Watching helplessly as the bear twitched and writhed like it was having a seizure and struggled for something. It was scary, horrifying, to watch. They still hadn't gotten a clear answer on why exactly that happened.

However, the very tip of the iceberg that completely robbed her of any sleep last night was what currently racked her soul and left her groggy and constantly glancing over her shoulders was the memory of later that evening after the nighttime announcement. Just thinking about it sent chills up her spine. If she were to be honest, she really wanted to just go back to sleep and forget this day even happened.

Well, no, that wasn't quite true. What she'd rather have is to be out of this stupid school and at the beach with all of her classmates where they could swim and have fun shoveling large amounts of unhealthy food in their faces, but that was neither here nor there.

Still, she still didn't want to think about yesterday at all, wanting to just rest and try not to think. Sadly, her stomach, once promised a late night snack and then denied that, decided that if it wasn't going to get any donuts in bed, then it simply wouldn't tolerate her missing breakfast too.

So, she did her best to sneak through the hall, her head moving on a swivel as if someone would jump out from behind any corner and catch her by surprise. Admittedly, she knew she was being ridiculous acting like a kid trying to sneak a small bite from the cookie jar, like she and her brother used to do in their childhood.

Yet, she also didn't want to get caught knowing that she would be called out for lying about her illness afflicting her. Then she would have to explain exactly why she had lied in the first place. The guilt of lying to her close friend was already bad enough as is, she didn't want to imagine what having everyone looking at her with disappointment for jumping at shadows and so-called-ghosts like a child.

It was just easier to avoid everyone for now.

When she arrived at the cafeteria, she was thankful that she was alone. Credit where it was due, she had figured out that there would likely be more areas to explore after the trial, so she should have enough time to grab a quick bite, and retreat back to her room. Quick, simple, and no one would be the wiser.

However, her plan was immediately derailed upon entering the cafeteria and seeing a large plate covered in over a dozen slices of toast with a light dusting of powdered sugar and cinnamon. The dollops of butter glistening under the light of the overhanging light, the golden brown of the egg bread offset by the light yellow of the egg mixture, the subtle mixture of scents of nutmeg, honey, butter, and warm bread wafting in the air and tickling her nose and tongue.

There wasn't even a chance for her to resist.

So, she didn't.

Unfortunately, as she was gorging herself on the delicious sweet and buttery bread, having taken the whole plate her herself, she had made the mistake of closing her eyes and truly savoring the treat. She relished the velvety egg saturated bread and the warm, crispy crust that surrounded it in a thin but approachable layer. The subtle taste of butter and the slight sweetness of the maple syrup occasionally tickling her senses as she bit into the soft yellow clouds. It was like a piece of heaven for her and her craving stomach.

However, while she was lost in her own little world of taste, this unfortunately left her susceptible to being walked up on and surprised.

Which Makoto had the unfortunate pleasure of doing so, "Hina!?"

Startled by the sudden calling of her name, she made her second mistake of the day, but not out of her poor control of her glutinous stomach. She inhaled sharply, which wouldn't have been a problem, had her mouth not been full of French style cooked bread.

Immediately she began coughing as her lungs tried to dislodge the sweet bread chunks lodged in her windpipe. Chihiro, bless his sweet heart, was quick to come to her side, followed shortly after by Sakura, then the rest of their classmates after. Her best friend gave her a few hearty slaps on the back, trying to help her body knock things loose, while Makoto quickly rushing into the kitchen and came back moments later with a glass of milk that he handed her. In a matter of moments, she chugged the glass of white without thought, but fortunately it was enough to clear the pathways of the partially chewed chunks that had plagued her.

Eventually, thankfully, things quickly settled down after that. Hina rubbed her sore throat in embarrassment at having been caught gorging herself and for nearly suffocating for it, but she still managed to give a small smile in thanks for the save.

A smile that was quick to die an ugly death when Sakura asked her, "Hina, art thou feeling better?"

Hina tried not to swallow, lest she give herself away. "Y-yeah, I'm fine now, thanks. Sorry for scaring you like that."

Unfortunately, it seemed that the brain of one Yasuhiro decided to kick in for once, as he asked, "Hey, wait, weren't you sick or something?"

"W-well, I um..." Her mind struggled between indignant rage at him for calling her out, and trying to come up with a believable excuse. "I did, but I had some of the toast and I'm feeling much better now."

"Truly?" Celeste interrupted, not looking convinced in the slightest. "Was it not you that said that your stomach wasn't feeling well?"

"Gah…!" Hina choked at her lie being called out, but was quick to try damage control. "W-well, my stomach ache made me kinda hungry, so… you know." She trailed off as she fumbled to come up with an excuse, eventually only able to give off a nervous laugh.

"They say that a goldfish will eat however much food you give it, even if it's fit to burst." Hifumi unhelpfully added to the conversation. "It would seem Miss Asahina's pretty much the same."

A positively florescent blush colored Hina's face at being called out like that, and her cheeks puffed in in anger as she glared at the Otaku. "You're the last person I want to hear that from, Hifumi! You don't have any room to talk!"

Sadly, it did nothing to kill his little smug grin. "Aha! But this is only my mundane form! Were I to unleash my true form, you would fall to your knees in smitten…!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever man." Leon cut him off with a shove, ignoring how the fanfic creator sputtered.

"In any case." Sakura interjected. "I was worried about you."

Hina could only look away, not wanting her best friend to see her guilty expression. "S-sorry."

There might have been more for her to say, but all thought left her as she suddenly found a long fleshy tendril in the corner of her vision. Jumping back a bit revealed it to be the tongue of one Jill, standing uncomfortably close to her face and staring down with a look somewhere between disgust, jealously, and confusion. Just as she was about to ask what Toko's alt what she was doing, Jill decided that she needed to massively overshare.

To Hina's immediate dismay and embarrassment.

"Say, did you're fun bags get bigger since the last time I saw them?" Jill asked, heedless of the squawk of shock from Hina and company. "Because, jeez! Your knockers are huge! Did you, like, convince your boinkies to double up on milk production? Because I sure as hell don't remember these wind flapping, fabric stretching, chest mounds being like this last time I saw them!"

Then, as if it wasn't already overwhelmingly embarrassing enough, she then turned to grab the nearest person, who happened to be Makoto in this case, and hung his burning face uncomfortably close to the swimmer's chest and asked, "Hey, Big Mac, I'm not crazy right? Not in the "multiple personality" way, but in the "seeing things that might not be there way". Do her honger dongers look like they've gotten bigger to you? Because I swear, these super stuffed up milkies seem bigger to me. What do you think?"

"I-I...I don't...m-maybe." Makoto stammered as his brain tried to reboot, his eyes flicking between the fabric and Hina's own burning face as she too tried in vain to come up with some kind of response.

Fortunately, before the pressure of the situation could get any worst. Sakura reached over and plucked the luckster up and pulled him from the serial killer's grasp before placing herself between Hina and Toko's body, shielding her friend from further embarrassment.

"Stay away from my friend, fiend." Sakura stated simply and plainly, though the hint of a growl in her tone made it very clear that it was not a request. The two glared at each other in silence, one stern and threatening, the other with a mile wide grin and challenging. For a moment, it looked like things would come to blows.

Hina looked worriedly from behind her best friends back. She could see the tension building in her friend's shoulders from where she stood, the muscle rippling and moving in preparation if the serial killer didn't respect the warning for what it was. Jill for her part, seemed to find the threat more amusing if anything, her grin only getting wider as one of her hands began to twitch in anticipation.

Hina freely admitted that she wasn't exactly the most perceptive person, but even she could tell that things would turn to blows if someone didn't do something.

Fortunately, for once in his life, Hiro decided to do something useful and interrupted. "A-anyway. First things first, maybe we should just talk about what we found, right Taka?"

Taka took a few seconds to register the blatant attempt to get another subject started, but when he did, he quickly cleared his throat and stated. "O-of course, yes, you're right! So, yes, has anyone seen anything of note?"

From there, the meeting went pretty smoothly. Most of the things turned out to be locked off, but a lot of the rooms on third floor sounded somewhat interesting. Aoi couldn't understand why there was a massive air purifier in the physics lab, but the rec room sounded like it could be fun to go to for games whenever she wasn't feeling up to her normal routine.

Once it was unlocked, of course.

The art room sounded nice, though she couldn't wrap her mind around whatever a 3D printer was. Yet, with how Hifumi seemed to be almost drooling as he talked about it, she internally decided that it was probably something perverted and that she wouldn't be bothering with it at all.

There was a small moment where Makoto pulled out a camera that apparently belonged to Hifumi, but ended up going to Celeste when she not so subtly demanded/threatened that the teen hand it over. Hina could only sigh at their weird dynamic, and hoped that someday the Otaku would either stop being so much of a door mat one day, or learn to stop when he was ahead. Preferably both.

Sakura, sadly didn't have any good news in terms of the window plates on that floor, but that wasn't really a surprise at this point. They had all come to expect this at this point though, so while there was some grumbling, there wasn't anything that could be done about it.

Junko, Sayaka, and Leon were the last talking about how the rules for the bath and the storage rooms had apparently changed, and allowing anyone to take items out of the latter whenever now instead of only during the day. This news, however, made Hina blush slightly for forgetting that when she had gotten up last night. Maybe it was a good thing that she hadn't made it to the store rooms.

Finally, after everything else had been laid out, Hina bit her lib as she debated over telling the others about her own discovery. One the one hand, she didn't want to say anything because it just sounded silly. Even in her own head it sounded dumb, like a nightmare, but in reality.

However, that was when she caught sight of Taka looking her way, and under his approving gaze, she felt better. That's right, she had someone who would back her up on this, she wasn't alone. They had already agreed to tell everyone together anyway, so why prolong it?

So, with a deep breath to still her nerves a bit, Hina sheepishly interjected. "H-hey, um...I wasn't able to help investigate much...but, I did make...one discovery."

"It wasn't doughnut related in anyway, was it?" Hiro teased, to which she pouted. "What does that even mean?"

"It's fine, Hina." Taka interrupted placatingly. "Please, continue."

"W-well, and I know that this is going to sound dumb, but I saw...something last night...and, it looked..." Hina swallowed, then breathed in through her nose. Now or never. "It looked like a...a ghost."

There was a pregnant pause at that, and she wasn't surprised. The idea was ludicrous. Asinine even. If it had been anyone else saying it, she would have brushed it off too as unbelievable. No one who lived in reality would believe in her.

Case in point, "A ghost…!?" Hifumi voiced in shock as he reeled back in fright. "D-do you mean...like, that ghost!?"

"Is there more then one ghost...?" Kyoko questioned, but it was clear that she wouldn't be getting an answer.

"See! I told you that you wouldn't believe me!" Hina huffed, roughly crossing her arms as she turned away. Honestly, she wasn't that much of a ditz that she would make things up.

She wasn't Hiro after all.

"No, she's not making things up." Taka came to her rescue. Took his freaking time. "While I'm not certain that it was a ghost per-say, there was certainly something unusual last night."

"Taka, you saw it too?" Junko asked, to which he nodded.

"Yes, absolutely. As we agreed, I was stationed up last night on night watch..."

---

"Hina, what are you doing up?"

"Gah!" Hina gasped leaping back in surprise as the moral seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Taka! don't scare me like that!"

"Ah, apologies, I didn't mean to frighten you." Taka stated, before asking, "However, my question still stands, what are you doing up so late, and in such...lack of attire."

As he turned his head away with a blush, Hina looked down at her nightwear, her normal simple tank-top, a clean pair of white undergarments, socks and little else. She had the decency to blush as well, and turned away, pulling her long hair in front of her for added coverage.

"W-well, I didn't remember that you would be on guard duty, s-so I didn't think to put my uniform on." She admitted, feeling rather exposed at the moment. "I was just trying to get some doughnuts to, you know, pick myself up a bit."

"Ah, I see." He said, though she thankfully didn't turn to look at her as he did. "Yes, at times like these, moral is one of the most important things to be concerned with. While I normally wouldn't condone such late night snacking, I believe I can ignore it this time."

"Really?" She asked, to which he gave a nod.

"Yes. Though I must ask that you refrain from doing this to often. It's imperative that you get a proper nights rest every night! While your moral is important, you mustn't neglect your bodies..."Taka's speech was suddenly cut off as a rather large yawn broke his concentration.

Hina couldn't help but giggle. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's neglecting their sleep, huh?"

"Y-yes, well." He scratched his cheek embarrassed. "B-but, it is a small price to pay to ensure that everyone remain safe."

Another mouth gawping yawn forced it's way out, and Hina could only look at him in sadness. It wasn't fair that he had been punished like this, forced to work as the night guard from now until the end of their lives here in the school. Yet, he had insisted that he be punished in some way, and this had been the only one that felt reasonable at the time, but now seeing him like this, almost two straight days without proper sleep and only one short nap before this shift, it made her question whether this had truly been the best.

"Taka..." she started but before she could continue…

A sound, not to dissimilar to electronic whirling caught both of their attentions. "...Huh?" Hina responded, but Taka was more proactive, quickly shushing her before moving toward the source of the sound. The two of them were silent as they walked closer to the sound, Hina hiding slightly behind Taka as he lead the way, stopping every few seconds to make sure that they were still on the right track.

Soon enough, the two classmates had followed the sound all the way into the most unlikely place, the bathhouse. Hina bit her lip, nervousness causing herself to tense up and cling to the only source of protection. Normally she would rather flee to her room, especially in her current state of undress. However, concern for her friend and fear for his safety with the knowledge of a masked threat running around stilled her. She wouldn't abandon him.

A strange green glow met them as they wandered into the changing room, the whirs of something keeping them moving toward the source. Still scared, the two slowly moved closer to the light, which seemed to be coming from one of the lockers, the door slightly ajar. Gulping, she watched as Taka slowly grasped the handle of the door. Watched as he slowly prided open the door.

And revealed the disembodied head of their friend, Chihiro Fujisaki, staring at them with a small smile.

"KYAAAAA!"

---

"After that, I panicked and dragged Taka out of there as fast as my legs could take me." Hina finally finished the tale as they all gathered in the changing room of the bath house. There was a pause as they all took in what they had explained to them all, several glancing at each other as they considered what had been said. Hina felt herself tense up with worry hoping that they wouldn't discredit them out of hand.

Finally, Sakura broke the stalemate as she stepped forth and placed her hands on Hina's shoulders and stated. "Aye believe you Hina. However, aye ask that you speak with me in the future should thou need me, rather then tell me tales of false illnesses."

Hina gave her best friend an apologetic smile, and nodded in a silent promise to her friend. She felt so silly trying to hide this from her in the first place.

"...out of curiosities sake, was the part about you being in your underwear really necessary." Celeste questioned, and Hina and Taka blushed in response.

"It was important to make sure that there was not any information left out, lest someone call our tale a falsehood." Taka stated as a matter of fact.

"Makes sense to me." Mondo shrugged as he clapped Taka on the back. "Now, let's see this ghost of yours."

"Right." Taka and Hina both nodded. However, as they approached the lockers, they were suddenly stopped by Chihiro suddenly grabbing Mondo's sleeve.

"U-um. Actually, I might have an idea what they saw." he shuffled past them all and straight over to the lockers, to Hina's surprise.

Well, she guessed that she shouldn't be too shocked. It had been his head that they saw after all, so it only stood to reason that he knew something about it. Still… "So, why do you have...your own head…?"

"I-it's not actually my head." the small boy stammered as he opened the locker to reveal something that she hadn't expected. A laptop innocently placed within the metal box, though the screen was dark now. Yet, when the smaller boy tapped the touch pad, it turned on and the eerie green that she remembered lit up the tiny space.

Leon smirked and nudged Hina playfully. "Well, I know that you aren't the brightest bulb, but I never took you for being afraid of computers."

In response, she shoved the chuckling baseball bay back and scowled at him. "Shut up! I'm not! I swear there was Chihiro's head in there!"

"Chihiro, can you explain?" Kyoko asked, and the small boy nodded before turning back to the laptop and taking it out. He had to stop for a second as his still broken ribs shifted, but with a little help from Mondo, they moved over to one of the benches and sat down with the laptop in the programmer's lap. Hina and the other's quickly gathered around as he began typing something that went completely over her head.

Suddenly, a window popped up and a familiar image appeared. A head similar to the one belonging to Chihiro looking at them with an excited smile.

"Master! You're back!"

---

For a moment, I'd like to stop to ask a question. How do you stop yourself from wanting to get involved where you don't belong? It was an interesting thing to have to think about, but low and behold, that was the question that I felt go through my mind as I stared at the entrance to the bathhouse's changing room through Monokuma's eyes. It was no small exaggeration to say, I wanted to be in there interacting with them all in this momentous occasion. The reveal of Alter Ego in all her- its?-glory, a once in a lifetime moment, and I couldn't see it it person.

For one, there was the fact that Mukuro was in there with all of the other students. I couldn't reasonably take her place right now without raising some eyebrows at the least, never mind that there would be two Junko's in one room at the same time. I couldn't go in with Monokuma either, not without them doing everything possible to hide the computer from me forever. Plus, there was the fact that, for as advanced as the cameras that made up the bear's eyes were, they would still fog up if I got too close to the steam that came from the baths.

Yet, for all the logic being levied against me, I really wanted to see Alter Ego for myself. I wanted to see Chihiro's baby, the pride of his entire programming career, with my own two eyes. More then anything though, I wanted to help it develop it's identity as an individual.

And maybe teach it some memes and jokes for a laugh.

Sadly, I couldn't do that. All I could do was stand at the entrance like a bloody creeper and listen as best as Monokuma could. Which, was surprisingly easy to do, but didn't have that interactivity that I wanted, that I craved.

Was I being a whiner? Maybe a little.

Anyway, I did my best to listen in, leaning around the corner ever so slightly so as to catch as much as I could through Monokuma's sensory in ports while revealing as little of his body as possible. It was a struggle, but I managed as best as I could.

"...I made Alter ego to try to access the files on the laptop in the hopes that it would help us find out what is going on in this school. Since the files are so tightly protected, I figured that they must contain some important secrets." I managed to catch the tail end of Chihiro's explanation.

"Holy shit." Mondo replied, astounded. "And you're saying that this little guy can really do all that?"

"Affirmative, Mr. Mondo." a more electronic sounding Chihiro sounded off, Alter Ego, no doubt. "It'll take me some time to decrypt most of these files though."

"Sounds good." Hiro stated. "I didn't really understand most of that, but it sounds good! I'm just glad that it wasn't actually a ghost."

"Simpleton." I could barely make out Celeste's statement. "Still, I'm surprised that Hina mistook the light of the monitor for a ghost. I wonder how you even manage to get dressed in the morning."

Hina huffed in embarrassment, and I could just imagine her pouting face. "Well, I didn't expect to find a freaking laptop inside a freaking locker, okay!?"

"Ah, don't worry about it. I mean, anyone can make a mistake like that." I heard Hiro attempt to reassure her. "As a matter of fact, I once thought I saw an alien in a pond, but when I got a closer look it turned out to be a tadpole."

"Don't compare what happened to me for one of your stupid delusions." Hina snapped in response.

"Hey, don't be mean!" Hiro shouted back, but then was interrupted by Makoto.

"But, Chihiro, why did you hide it in here?" Chihiro didn't get a chance to respond himself, as another student interrupted.

"Most likely, he hid it here to protect it." Kyoko stated, then Chihiro took over.

"Y-yes, that's right. I didn't want Monokuma to take it from me before Alter Ego could finish examining the data. I thought about leaving it in my room, but I couldn't trust that it would be safe there. This was the only place I felt that it'd be where he couldn't find it."

"But why here?" Leon questioned, and Sayaka gasped in realization. "This room. It doesn't have any security cameras!"

True enough. Chihiro even confirmed it stating, "Yes, that's right. It's the only room aside from the bathrooms that don't have any of Monokuma's cameras. I figured they wouldn't be able to take it if I kept it in here."

I could all but here the light-bulb flash in Taka's mind. "Aha! So, that was the reason you emerged from the bathhouse two nights ago!"

"Y-yes. Sorry I couldn't tell you, but I didn't want to risk it." Chihiro stammered, but Taka laughed it off understandingly.

"Don't mention it! Now that I've heard all of this, I'm certain that I would have done the same!"

"Hmm...but you know...all this talk about Master and whatnot..." Hifumi's voice carried over as he pondered out loud. "I...I do believe I am on fire."

"...The fuck is wrong with you, man?" Mondo quipped, disgust only slightly overpowered by the disappointment in his tone. "It's a computer program."

"And a guy at that." Leon added with a similar tone. I so desperately wanted to go in there and call him homophobic for that remark. Sadly, I'd never get the chance. Though I did take some solace in the sound of him getting slapped on the back of the head.

"W-well, um..." Hifumi stammered as he tried to defend himself. "I just… well, how often do you get the chance to talk to a 2D character? Can you honestly say that the idea of speaking to someone like that never once intrigued or excited you?"

I sighed, not even remotely surprised. The Otaku's love for 2D was normally well controlled, but with the Alter Ego program being the closest thing to a living character combined with the lack of a proper access to a manga in here, the withdrawal from his entertainment medium of choice was starting to affect him. I had hoped that stapling comic strips up in the art room would have helped quell it a little, but it would seem I would need a different strategy for him.

"...I think I'm going to keep Alter Ego away from Hifumi." Chihiro muttered to himself, but even if I couldn't see it, I firmly believe that Mondo, Taka, Leon, and Makoto all nodded in agreement. The first on the list even saying, "Probably for the best, little dude."

"How much longer until everything is unlocked?" Kyoko asked, clearly as done with this topic as I was. There was a soft series of clacking sounds, but then Alter Ego responded.

"Umm...it's going to be a while. But, I'm definitely going to do it, so you can just leave everything to me!"

There was a few more clacking sounds as someone typed something out, then Alter Ego responded, "Don't worry, I've got a secret plan all ready, just in case. I can see what's going on through the built in webcam, so if anyone suspicious shows up...I'll just scream for help really loud!"

"That's...like, a pretty basic plan, innit?" I heard Mukuro mutter, but Taka instead praised it.

"A fine plan! And, since I'm on night watch duty from now on, I'll be able to be the first to respond if anything happens! Leave it to me Chihiro! I swear, no one will ever be able to so much as touch your A.I. while I'm around!"

"Still, we'll have to limit interacting with Alter Ego." Kyoko added. "If the mastermind sees us all going in and out of the dressing room to frequently, it would tip them off that something was in here."

Well, I mean, I already know, but they didn't need to know that.

Anyway, I sounded like they were all getting themselves ready to leave, I could hear them discussing the idea of getting the computer to connect to the internet, but it wouldn't last long since they had no way of doing it safely. I quickly stepped Monokuma back, leaned him against the wall, and waited. Not a minute later, just as I thought, I heard the tell tale sound of numerous feet passing by and Hina let out a joyful shout.

"Isn't it awesome! I totally did something awesome right!?" She asked, looking all proud of herself. There were a few that rolled their eyes good naturally, Loen getting a light backhand to his chest by Sayaka for it, but the good feelings were here to stay. It was a rather wholesome moment.

Why, it would be such a shame if someone were to ruin it for them.

"Dun dun-dun da dunnn! Hina has gained enough experience to level up! Hina has unlocked the skill, 'Foot in mouth'!"

Ain't I just the worst?

---

Hey everybody, what's happening? Not much to say about this chapter, mornings aren't too shocking. There've been some major changes, some not so major, and a very concerning journal entre. I've also set up something that we all know is going to come back to bite our Mastermind really hard in the future going along.

So, to address the 3D printer in the room. A long time ago, about when Danganronpa was coming out in 2010, I was given the opportunity to use a 3D printer once. At the time, I was told that it would revolutionize the world in the coming years, despite having existed for over thirty years at that point. they'd even used it to make artificial organs a few times even by that point. Most of that went over my head at the time, but it sounded cool.

Nowadays they're pretty common, but back then not so much. They were expensive as all hell for a good while, it was rare that you would even hear of come one having one that wasn't super rich or at least a doctor, but even now they say we've barely scratched the surface of it's potential.

I figured, "If that's true, then wouldn't a school all about fostering talent want something like that? Wouldn't those egghead researchers want something that could do things like what this could do in their school?" I think, yes, absolutely. So, if you went into this kind of world, what would you think could change by talking about something that you were positive should be there? Someone might take you seriously enough to make it happen, obviously.

Don't worry, I have a few plans for this. You'll see.

Now, for the next Omake, I feel that it would be important to mention that the two characters you will see here are technically part of the Danganronpa universe, but not part of the games. Rather, they're from a manga called, "Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer". If you want to read it, I recommend it. Just be warned, it can get really gory at times.

Enjoy!

---

I'm who now IF: The late Junko Enoshima

Getting out of the car with package in hand, I looked out into the landscape before me solemnly. I sigh, brushing my black tresses out of my purple gray eyes as I turn back to look at the driver and pass them some cash.

"Keep the change." I mutter silently to him, and he only nods once in acknowledgment, taking the yen and slowly pulling away.

Not that I blame him for not wanting to stay. Had I the choice, I might have gone with him. Yet, I had a commitment waiting for me here, and it wouldn't do to keep her waiting.

I waited for a moment as the cool spring breeze fluttered my three piece suit, once more thanking my past self for choosing to wear formal pants instead of a skirt and fishnets like Kyoko recommended. I don't care how well she rocks the look, dressing for the occasion should not come at the expense of comfort.

Yet, I still couldn't help but not wish to be here, silently watching the vehicle as it slowly disappeared beyond the rolling hills of green and marble statues. I sighed once more as it completely disappeared over the horizon, not even able to here the grinding clutch that had once been a source of annoyance, but now felt like it would have been music compared to the mind numbing wind bellowing in my ears.

Briefly, I considered simply walking away, to put my obligations behind, and I felt a feeling of indignation at myself for having such thoughts, but I pushed such thoughts aside. "Relax, will ya? If I wasn't going to do this, then I wouldn't have gotten in the car in the first place."

Grim faced, but determined, I finally pulled my eyes away from the road and took firm steps along the granite pathway.

I intentionally made sure to ignore the many stone pliers, statues, and other memorials along the many pathways. I had no need to stop for them, after all I knew none of the names depicted on them in the slightest, thus no need to stop for them. Instead, I continued on to one in particular on the path I had walked many times before, and took a knee before one in particular and read the name depicted.

"Junko Enoshima"

There wasn't anymore to say. The engraved Kanji said it all.

It was a simple thing all things considered. Plain, no elaborate sayings or anything. Just a small brick of marble. The only thing that made it look even remotely impressive was the wood placard painted gold.

The school, her agency, hell, even her classmates thought that it was cheap. They all wanted it to be some grandiose depiction of her life covered in a stupid amount of memorabilia and all sorts of over the top hoo-ha. It was a fight of tooth and nail to get them all to relent, but it was worth it in my mind.

After all, it suited her despairing ideal. All of her over the top ideas, thoughts, and actions, all of her plans, all of her successes, all that made up who she was, all represented with a cheep brick and a hunk of wood.

Perfect.

"Hey...sis." I awkwardly started. "It's been a while. I know I haven't really been stopping by but...ya' know. Work, Collage, basic human relationships. Things you never cared about unless you were trying to break them."

There was no response, I'd be concerned if there was, and so I continued. "Been working on getting a promotion recently. The CEO tells me that I'm likely to move up to full-time Manager instead of Assistant Manager if I can keep this going. Pretty soon, I'll be running the business myself."

I allowed myself a small smile. "Been getting requests to join the American branch of Hope's Peak again. I turned them down, obviously, but that hasn't stopped that Housemaid from hounding my doors. Heh, I'm still convinced that the only reason she hasn't tried to kidnap me is because she knows that I can still bench press a car with her in it, but I can't deny that the attention feels nice."

My smile became a bit more stilted. "You know Kyoko has been trying to get me to join the force as her partner, kinda be the brawn to her brain as it were. I keep telling her that I put all that behind me, but I don't think she's convinced."

The unspoken, she's not the only one, went unsaid.

Idly, I held up my hand and adjusted the small silver band on one specific finger. "Do you remember Makoto...? Oh, who am I kidding, of course you do. Well, he finally did it. The dumb-ass actually popped the question we'd been waiting for him to nut up and say. Took him one hundred-fifty-three and a half dates, but he finally asked. You should've seen Hina, she was positively over the moon when we told them. We're still deciding on the date, but it's looking promising."

Still no response, but it didn't stop me from frowning. "But, that's not what you want to hear about...is it? No, you want the misery, the despair. Well...Okay, it hasn't all been good news."

I sighed as I brushed off a small mound of dead flowers from the foot of the grave. That was the one thing I couldn't stop though, the amount of her gosh dang fans leaving gifts to her. Hell, there were even boxes full of junk all around this damn rock, which I know the grounds keeper is going to make me take back with me when I leave. As well as whatever else nonsense that he's had to remove from here that he's got crammed in a locker back at the gate.

I was stalling. Why? I didn't know, only that I was.

"The kids are going into high school soon. You remember them? The Warriors of Hope they used to call themselves? I've been trying my hardest not to discourage them, but Makoto thinks that they're a shoeing for Ultimate status. And for once, it's not his bias as the Headmaster talking, but...I really don't want them to go there. I'm so scared that something will happen to them while they're there. I know they'll have each other, but that Towa bastard keeps making threats and...I'm just worried he'll try something soon."

A scowl formed on my face. "And then there's those girls...and the jackass from the military hounding my ass...not to mention that freaky cult."

I sighed and pulled out my earpiece out of my breast pocket. The only way I can talk to her without suspicion. I scowled before placing in in my ear and tapped it.

"Why are we even doing this?" I bemoaned to my self. "We both know that she's not even here. Heck, she's probably burning in purgatory where she belongs, and your wasting my time making me come to this stupid rock in the sticks to talk at-not too, at- this bitch's tiny marker!"

The wind made for poor company, but it was still better then the torrent of words I was dosed with. I stayed silent at first, letting them go off on their own tangent about "keeping appearances", and "honoring the deceased", and the like. Eventually though, the hypocrite said something that pissed me off to all high heaven and I snapped.

"Well you know what!? I'm glad she's gone! The world is better off with out her-your better off without her! There hasn't been a day that's passed since she disappeared that I haven't felt euphoria every time I realized that she was gone for good! And I know that you feel the same, you absolute, trucking-!"

"Isn't it considered sacrilegious to denounce the dead like that?" A voice interrupted my scathing retort with a bored yet dry remark.

Immediately, I put the earpiece down and I shot back a scathing, "Yeah, about as much as listening in to a person on the phone, denouncing said dead."

The man held up his hands in surrender at that, but said nothing further in response. Instead, he turned and walked over to one of the many girt boxes left by the morons, my gaze never once leaving his. I raised an eyebrow though when he proceeded to open the biggest box there, and pulled out the over-sized-thankfully brown-plush bear that had been inside and placed it on the ground by the stone. Then he gave the plushy a little pat on the head, then my other brow joined her sibling as I watched him climb inside the box and closed the cover.

I sat there for what felt like a minute, just staring at the box in baffled befuddlement, with a dash of bewildered amusement to complete the look. I didn't even know where to start with that one.

Eventually, he spoke up, but…

"I like this box. It's nice, dark, and cramped."

"Are you a fucking cat?" I remarked plainly.

He said nothing in response, so I think I am justified by internalizing that as confirmation. After all, I didn't hear a no.

"...You're thinking something rude about me aren't you?" his muffled voice met my ears.

"I can neither confirm or deny that." I replied frankly.

"...So you were thinking something rude."

"So, what brings you to a place like this, detective?" I dipped out of that subject like a live fish off the hook, even if I hit the pier on the way.

I couldn't see him in the box, but I could hear the sharp shift of cloth on cardboard. "...What makes you think that I'm a detective?"

"I recognize the suit." I replied with a shrug. "One of my old classmates, Kyoko, is the head of Japan's homicide division, so I see those same suits whenever I go to visit her. You must be from a different branch though, since I don't remember seeing you in the office."

There was a brief moment of silence after that, likely because he had been completely stunned by my cognitive memory. He really shouldn't be though, when you're friends with the Ultimate Detective, you kinda have to learn to be that observant.

"...But you have seen me before." I couldn't quite hear what he had whispered, but before I could question him he asked, "How did things go with your cult?"

A violent shutter ran down my spine and I covered my eyes with my free hand. "Ugh, don't remind me. God, do you have any idea what it was like seeing that? It was like walking into a fun-house full of mirrors, only to immediately realize that the reflections were all moving independently of each other, and that there weren't any mirrors."

"You weren't happy to see so many girl's wanting to be just like you?" Ugh, the way he asked it was so innocent sounding that it was obviously taunting.

"I might have, if it wasn't for the fact that they were all part of a suicidal cult." I growled at the memory. "Seriously, I get why they were doing it. I get that cults are already just scams that exploit lonely and desperate people into doing stupid things to get a sense of fitting in and belonging, but that? They were getting plastic surgery to make themselves look and sound like me. I didn't even know that artificial freckles were a thing before then, but apparently there are!"

"Did you want to kill them?" I had to stop my rant at that sudden question, my mouth closing with a click, as I turned to look at the box where the man had stuck his upper half out and was now staring at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

I took the moment to get a better look at him now that he'd gotten my full attention. He was tall, maybe a solid foot taller then me; though that was hard to determine with most of his body being in the box. He had short disheveled black hair with a noticeably long and bent ahoge, and dark red eyes like wine, but they were hard to notice between his contradictory bored yet still inquisitive expression on his face. One thing I couldn't quite ignore though was the noticeable bags under those crimson orbs, telling stories of untold restless nights.

Honestly, he kinda looked like a slob.

I had never met this man in my life, nor had my other if the complete lack of familiarity I got looking at him was any indication. Yet, there was something...that felt like I should know him.

Still, I wasn't going to ignore him now. "Isn't that a loaded question to ask a girl?"

"I wouldn't know." He admitted, his expression unchanging. "I was too busy asking the Ultimate Solder."

Ah, so he was one of those people. "If you're trying to get a rise out of me, then you're wasting your time. But, to answer your question, no, I did not feel a want to kill them. I felt a little upset and extremely uncomfortable, maybe. Yet, if anything, I felt pity for them."

He cocked his head slightly to the side, a brow slightly raised. "How so?"

In response, one of my eyes closed and I waved my hand slightly. "Well, like I said, those girls were being exploited. I don't know how much you investigated, but Kyoko and I had a background check done on each and every one of those girls. Turns out they all came from poor or homeless families, some of them were even on suicide watch lists. Yeah, they were apparently fans of mine, but they were more after getting out of their own bad situation then idolizing me. Not their fault they were all gas-lighted into thinking that it would be a good idea to become knock-off Mukuros."

One of his hands came up then and he rested his chin on it for a moment. "Strange, I could have sworn I heard something about you, 'going on a rampage'."

I rolled my eyes at that remark. "Honestly, people are so quick to over exaggerated. All I did was knock them all out and beat the shit out of the prick orchestrating the whole thing." I closed my eyes and scoffed in a mix of the two big Ds.

Disappointment, and Disgust.

"Honestly, calling that creep the 'Killer Killer' is just overselling it." I spat to the side. "Killer Killer, my ass. He was just a creep taking out his revenge though exploiting others. I've seen the aftermath of the real Killer Killer, and this guy didn't even come close to the way that guy works. I mean seriously, becoming a killer of murderers to clean up the world doesn't mean that you aren't also being a murderer, it just makes you a hypocrite."

"I get it. That's true in a way." The other man nodded along. "Without having any value in the lives they're extinguishing, it's just mindless slaughter, no better then the common butcher. Without the passion behind the kill, without the love for the act, it's just a disappointment."

"Right!?" I replied without thought, rolling with the train with no care. "I should be a personal affair, something done with their own two hands. Not a bunch of ramshackle minions dressed up like your crush. What's the point if you can't feel the warmth of the blood on your hands?"

"Or seeing the blankness of their eyes?" He continued, his eyes looking rather excited for some reason.

"And the reveal of all the little emotions, the truth of who they really are inside?" I finish and then slapped the air in indignation. "But this guy!? None of that! It's disrespectful to all killers out there! And I should know, one of my best friends is a self proclaimed professional killer herself!"

"Truly." he agreed with a nod. "And to think, I thought he had so much potential to be like us."

"Yeah...Wait." Suddenly, I felt like something was off. I had to take a moment to run the conversation through my mind once more.

I then turned to look at him again, really look at him. The bored look was gone, replaced by a sort of excitement. More then that though, the way he was looking at me, it was and expression I had seen only on one man before in my life, but twisted in some way that I couldn't quite describe. The voice of this body whispered that it reminded them of the look our dear sister used to have all the time, but somehow I doubted it.

After all, it didn't look like despair to me. If anything, it looked like admiration.

Admiration for a fellow member of a craft.

Yet, as I gazed into his eyes further, I saw something else deep inside them. Something dangerous. A look like a person with a plan, a goal, a dream. One that involved me, no, my bodies original owner.

Subtly, I moved my hands to prep the release of the knives I had hidden in my sleeves. I hadn't intended to bring them, Makoto really didn't like me bringing them everywhere after all, but I couldn't quite break the habit. And now I felt validated for doing so. All it would take was a fraction of a second, maybe less, and this would be over.

Suddenly, I heard a click, one that hadn't come from my sleeves. My eyes narrowed and his grin grew wider. So, he had come prepared too. Well, that's annoying.

All was silent between us for several moments as we stared down each other with pure venomous intent. Only the sound of the spring breeze kept it from becoming utterly silent, uncaring of the situation we found ourselves in. To a casual observer, it would look like two adults relaxed and talking by a grave. To a trained eye though, it might have looked like two predators circling each other, ready and willing to kill each other for the sake of proving their right of conquest.

Patience, that was the key. The one who broke first would be the one most likely to lose. A game of chicken, as it were, where the one who faltered would inevitably be the loser no matter the outcome.

My snarky mind came to bare as the silence slowly shifted from tense to boring, and I just couldn't help myself. "So, do I come at you? Do you come at me? Do we come together?"

I could have sworn that I heard a snort coming from his direction, but he hid it well. Damn, looks like I would have to-

"KURO-CHAAAN~"

Both of us lurched at the sudden interruption of our stand off, and I was forced by instinct to turn slightly to catch the speedy bundle of red flying at me with both hands. Upon realizing that, no, this was not an assault on my person, I sighed as the tension quickly drained and looked at the girl I held in a bridle carry.

"Ryoko. What did we discuss about leaping on people in public?" I deadpanned at her with lidded eyes, more out of habit then with any heat. She, on the other hand, flinched at the remark and her beaming smile became ever so stilted.

"W-well, I just got so excited to see you again, and it has been a while since we did this, so I..." she started mumbling now and I tuned her out.

I made a quick glance at my opponent, looking at him apologetically at the interruption. He blinked in abject confusion for a moment, glancing between me and the blabbing women in my arms. However, he could only sigh and put one of his hands behind his head in a mix of exasperation and disappointment.

Smiling slightly, I turned back to look at Ryoko and asked, "How did you even find me?"

She paused in her babbling at the interruption that had derailed her train of thought. Then she smiled again and said excitedly. "Well, at first I asked Kyoko, but she didn't know where you were, then I asked Hina, and she didn't know anything, then I called Hifumi, and he said you hadn't been in his studio today. Mondo, Sakura and Hina hadn't seen you at the gym yet, but then Sayaka suggested I ask Makoto, and he said that he wouldn't tell me, so I gave him my best pouty face. When that didn't work, I threatened to suffocate him with my boobies-"

"Please stop threatening my fiancé with sexual assault." I deadpanned.

"But then, Kotoko happened to walk by, and she misunderstood the situation, so we had to fix that, and after we did, she told me where you were, and what you were doing, so I got on the first taxi I could, but, and you'll never guess what happened...!"

"I can hardly contain myself." I continued to respond emotionlessly.

"I made a new friend!" She excitedly swung her hand out to point at another women coming over from behind the other bend, a petite woman with a determined expression. She had blonde hair styled in a short bob cut, and held back by a black headband with a red streak going through it. She also had large gray eyes, though in this light I could be mistaking it and it might actually be light blue. For attire, she wore a white dress shirt, black jacket, red tie, black skirt and shoes, same as the man before me, but far better put together.

The new girl was looking exasperated as she looked around, most likely searching for Ryoko, before she caught sight of us and sighed in relief.

"There you are." she sighed, but to my surprise, she walked over to the man I'd nearly began a battle to the death with. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Misaki." He sighed, dejected. "I can explain."

"Don't 'Misaki' me, Takumaki Hijirihara!" this Misaki women said as she pulled at his sleeve. "You scared the ever living hell out of me! Who was it that said that we should stick together while we were investigating this case?"

"Well, I did, but..." this Takumaki started, but was cut off as she pushed her face closer to continue.

"And who was it that said that we couldn't afford to let anyone see us, lest we compromise ourselves and scare the perp off?"

"Again, me, but you also seemed to have..." yet again, her face got closer, this time their noses were brushed up against the other.

"And after you told me that you would be at my side the whole time, promised me that you wouldn't let even the slightest thing distract you. What did you do?"

"This argument is starting to feel a little one-sided."

"You take off at the slightest chance, and leave me with a grieving mother, a very overworked and huffy officer, and a bloody corpse! I know that you're all for looking for the murderer, but you can't keep leaving me behind like this. I..." Oh goodie, and now she's got frustrated tears in her eyes. Wonderful.

The man sighed, but this time it felt like an endearing one as he turned to look at me with this helpless expression on his face. I gave him a smirk, then gestured with my head towards her in a clear, "Nah fam, that's all you." expression of my own. He in turn sighed, then stepped closer to his partner, put a hand on her shoulder, and turned her to look him square in the eyes.

While also flipping me off out of her field of vision.

"...Misaki." he finally caught her attention with a calm, no longer annoyed tone. "I'm sorry. You're right."

She didn't say anything in response, just kept staring at him with those searching eyes of hers. So, he continued. "You are right. You're my partner, and I'm supposed to be there for you. Nothing happened this time, but we don't know if nothing could happen next time, and I should have at least told you what I was doing. I'm sorry."

It was a nice apology, well phrased, addressed the concerns and the mistakes. It was an all around decent apology.

Too bad his bland expression and dead tone really made it look seriously insincere.

Still, it seemed enough to placate the blond women as she sighed in what could only be resignation, and turned to me and Ryoko with a small smile, and an apologetic bow. "I am terribly sorry for you having to deal with my partner in your time of mourning."

"Oi." He quipped, but I shrugged them both off as best I could, since Ryoko wasn't letting go anytime soon. "It's fine. I was about to head out soon anyway. If anything, I appreciated the company."

She seemed shocked for a moment, a fact that seemed to mildly annoy her partner, but then she smiled and took a step towards us. "Is that so? Well, in any case, I'm sorry to say this but the grounds are currently locked down while we investigate a case. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you and your friend to leave the premises for the day."

"Eeeeh." Ryoko groaned as she leaned back and looked at the blond detective in disappointment. "But, I just got here."

I jostled her in response to her whining, making her yelp. "Of course, Detective Misaki. I'm assuming you need me to leave these here for the investigation?"

I used Ryoko's legs to gesture to the gifts and the detective who nodded sadly. "Unfortunately, yes, I'm afraid. Sorry."

I waved her off, dropping Ryoko's legs to the ground as I forced the redhead to stand on her own feet, though that didn't stop the clingy girl from dangling her arms over my shoulders. "It's fine. I understand, can't risk evidence leaving the scene of the crime after all."

Misaki smiled a bit more naturally at that and nodded once more. "Thank you for understanding."

We talked for a little longer after that, mostly just exchanging contact information so that I she could text me when the investigation was over so that I could collect the junk after. I tried to assure her that she could keep it all or donate it to a worthy cause, but she insisted. So, after all was said and done, Ryoko and I waved the two detectives off, a silent conversation taking place between me and the black-haired one, as we left the graveside and headed to the exit, blatantly ignoring the stare aimed at the back of my head.

With my keen ears, I could hear them talking, the boy asking his partner. "Hey, Misaki. Do you know what happened to her?"

There was a sight pause. "Junko Enoshima? I thought everyone knew about her. She disappeared shortly after the Steering committee at Hope's Peak Academy were found dead in their own homes. There was no body found, but between the blood stains and the hair found all over her dorm room, it's believed that someone broke in, there was a struggle and she was taken. She was written off as missing at first, before being declared deceased the year after."

"No one knew what happened to her, only that it happened on Academy soil." He picked up. "The controversy led to numerous searches into the academy itself and, through an anonymous tip, the discovery of a series a horrific human testing, illegal invasion of years of student privacy, and the exploitation of hundreds of parent's and their children. And that was just the tip of the iceberg."

"Right." She confirmed. "It got so bad that at one point there were threats of violence and daily rioting in the streets. It might have turned out worst had it not been for Mr. Neagi stepping up to address the crowds and talking them down."

"As well as the help from the Ultimate Soldier to suppress any violent individuals." He stated. At the point that they were really getting into their theory crafting though, I was pulled out from listening in by Ryoko poking my cheek.

"What cha' thinking about, sis?" I sighed, and shook my head. "Just thinking about how glad I am that you're my sister..."

She smiled back at me, but it died a the moment I added, "...And thinking about how Yasuke will react when I tell him that you threatened my man that you would sexually assault him...again."

The horrified expression on her face was priceless, and totally worth the panicked word vomit she began showering me with. I ignored it though as I glanced back and thought about that slob like detective.

I knew that he and I would meet again someday. I may not know who he was exactly, or where he seemed to know me from, but I was sure of one thing.

When next we met, our battle would be legendary!