After 10 minutes Makoto went out of his room and knocked on Kyoko's door.
"Come in." His friend replied from her bathroom.
"The dressing is ready!" Naegi cheered and entered her room wearing a white shirt, black tracksuit shorts and having a bit wet hair.
"Oh, are you not finished yet?" He asked.
"I'm drying my hair, hold on a sec." Kirigiri responded.
"You do realize that we're in one of the hottest places on Earth right? They'll dry in no time anyway." Makoto assumed and sat down on her couch.
"Alright then, if you say so." She came out in a violet t-shirt, a dark box pleated skirt, and as always wearing her gloves. "Did you make this yourself?
"Yea, w-why do you ask?" Naegi questioned.
"It looks great for a makeshift dressing. How did you know how to tie it so well?" Kyoko asked.
"Well, I might've known about our trip a few days before you so I asked Mikan for a tiny tutorial on the usage of the medkit." He confessed.
"You were scared to tell me about it for a few days? Wait, how did you know that it would be "our" trip?" Kirigiri questioned.
"I didn't know I just, thought that you would be the best partner if you agreed." Makoto replied.
"It's fine I'm not mad." She sat next to him. "So what did she teach you?"
"Lots of stuff. She showed me many scenarios that I had to practice on a medical manikin." He told.
"I see.. But how did you tie it with this?" Kyoko picked up her friend's numb bandaged hand.
"I can already move my fingers if necessary, I still have some painkillers left." Naegi answered.
"You should've asked me to make it myself instead of using your wounded hand, it must've hurt a lot." She pointed out.
"Like I said I'm on the pills so-"
Kirigiri interrupted her former classmate and slightly lifted his finger.
"aAaH-" He tried to stop his moan.
"I appreciate your care but hate your lies. You went through a lot of pain to make this." Kyoko gently put his hand down.
"Kiri just cut it off and enjoy your dressing will you?" Makoto smiled, got up, and tied the bandage around her head.
"Ah- it's cold-" She closed her eyes tightly and placed her hand on the back of her head.
"It just feels like it, it's because of the bruise gel." Naegi explained.
"Thanks, it's a relief." Kirigiri relaxed her face muscles and lied on the couch's backrest. "This is the last time you hurt yourself for me, got it?" She opened her eyes to give him her serious stare. "..Makoto?" Kyoko looked around but couldn't see her friend.
"..I'm back." He walked into her room holding a plastic bowl with his right hand. "I'll be doing my laundry so I thought that I can take yours as well."
"I can do-"
"You better rest here and maybe try contacting Byakuya. We don't know if the signal works here." Naegi interrupted his friend.
"..Fine." She sighed, stood up, went in and out of her bathroom, and then put a small pile of clothes in his bowl.
"I got this." Makoto smiled at her and walked out of his friend's room.
"...He's too kind for this world." Kirigiri thought, sat back on her couch, and took out her earpieces from her suitcase.
Naegi placed the bowl in his shower and poured water into it. Afterward, he began crumpling the clothes up with his healthy hand.
"I'm starting to miss everyone already, especially Aoi. I hope that she's doing alright..." Makoto thought and reminded himself of one of their meetings at the school cafe.
Hope's Peak Academy cafeteria - 3 days before take-off
"Hey! Is Kyoko coming?" Asahina asked.
"I told her that we're not going to meet today." Naegi answered and joined his friend's table.
"Why?- Oh you want to talk just with me?" She assumed.
"Yes, I wanted to-"
"Ask her on a date?" Aoi interrupted her former classmate.
"N-no no t-that's not it." He chuckled nervously and slightly blushed. "I wanted to tell you about Byakuya's request. He wants to send me on a trip around the world to sell Future Foundation's newest invention, a device that cures the despair disease. Completely reverts the brainwashing." Makoto bent over to his friend and whispered.
"Oh wow.. for real? That sounds great, you will finally put an end to this madness! But, why didn't you want Kyoko to hear it?" She questioned.
"Because Togami said that I shouldn't go alone and asked Kirumi to accompany me, but I refused. I can't take her school time away." Naegi told.
"And you want to take Kiri with you instead?" Asahina smiled.
"Am I really this predictable?" He sighed. "She's not necessary for the school to run so, she would be perfect."
"Uh-huh if that was the only reason." Aoi laughed. "Why don't you just ask her then?"
"Well, she insisted that we leave the foundation so asking her to go on a long business trip with me now would be brave wouldn't it?" Makoto rubbed his head and looked away.
"Don't worry you know she likes you a lot, I don't think that she'll be mad. Just put your big smile on and she won't be able to resist!" She cheered.
"I- I'm not sure, she seemed pretty serious when talking about our normal life here, I mean, more serious than usual.." Naegi placed his hand on his chin.
"You overthink sillyhead! I'm more than sure that she will happily join you. What concerns me though is how will the school function without you two." Asahina said.
"We already handled the most important paperwork and since our teachers are best of the best I believe they'll manage to make decisions by themselves for the time of our absence." He told.
"So you will transfer all the power to us? Hell yeah! Teachers take over!" Aoi shouted.
"Shhh, quieter!.. But yes, just don't start a revolution or something." Makoto requested jokingly.
"Can't promise. But if you wanna be absolutely certain that everything will run smoothly you should pass the power over to me, on paper." She suggested.
"Aoi you can't build an aquapark. We talked it over." Naegi pointed out.
"Why do you call it an aquapark? It's just a few slides!" Asahina argued.
"I said no." He stated.
"But it's a great investment in the morale of our students!" Aoi continued to dwell on the topic.
"I will hand you over my privileges, but don't overuse them." Makoto decided.
"Yes of course, I will use them wisely no worries. Now get up and go ask her." She proposed.
"I just need to gather the courage first." Naegi replied.
"You need me to hype you up? Or maybe you want Nekomaru's motivation? Asahina asked.
"T-thanks I'll pass, I can handle it myself." He chuckled nervously knowing how loud Nidai can shout.
"Alright then, you got this." Aoi winked with a grin.
Makoto smiled due to his memory and exited his room with his bowl.
"Come on, answer..." Kyoko kept tapping her earpiece until she heard a familiar voice.
"Can you hear me?" Byakuya asked.
"Yes finally, Makoto is not here though." She told.
"Why? Are you alright?" Togami questioned.
"Glad you asked. Yeah, somehow we're still both alive." Kirigiri replied.
"Before you blame me, I couldn't do anything to help you to get where you are, nor contact you. The despairs now know your location because of this call. But I did it on purpose so they will come for you. That's the only way I can get you out of here." He explained.
"What? How is getting us captured by those psychopaths going to rescue us?" Kyoko questioned.
"I can't send you our soldiers or transport vehicles. Only one person can save you at this point, the Ultimate Special Unit." Byakuya stated.
"That kid? Are you crazy?" She asked in a surprised voice.
"He's just two years younger than you, don't underestimate him. T-that doesn't matter anyway, all you have to do now is listen carefully. When they'll enter the village with their cars or bikes or whatever you'll surrender and wait for your savior to come and do his job. He's been heading towards you for a while already, so should be there in a couple hours." Togami told.
"This plan is doomed to failure, it doesn't make any sense. Why would they wait in the village and not just get us out instantly?" Kirigiri argued.
"They don't know if the signal is yours so it's likely that they'll send just a small patrol. Then the scouts should call and wait for a convoy to escort them after they'll discover you." He assumed.
"There's a lot of things that can go wrong with this. Even if it works out, how do we escape them?" Kyoko questioned.
"I need to disconnect now or they'll decrypt our channel-"
"Wait! Security question. Who slapped you during our killing game?" She interrupted her interlocutor.
"Aoi Asahina. Just do what I said." Byakuya ordered and terminated their connection.
"His predictions better be right..." Kirigiri closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.
Meanwhile, Makoto was finishing hanging their laundry on the hotel's outside washing line. He brought up his friend's white formal shirt and saw her underwear dropping out of it. "-Oh.." Naegi hanged the wear but hesitated to pick her underclothes up from the bowl.
"You need help?" She smirked from her arched-shaped window.
"Ah, n-no I just didn't know if-"
"Go ahead." Kyoko interrupted her friend.
"O-okay." He swiftly did as she said and went back to his room to put back the bowl.
"I had a chat with Byakuya." Kirigiri stood at his door.
"Huh?" Naegi ran out of the bathroom. "What did he say? I want to talk as well." He headed over to his suitcase.
"You can't, he won't answer." Kyoko walked to her friend with crossed hands. "The despairs already know where we are. We have to surrender."
"What?!-"
"Don't panic, he revealed our location on purpose." She told.
"W-why would he do that?!" Maoto asked in shock.
"We're going to surrender and then get rescued by the Ultimate Special Unit according to his plan." Kirigiri responded.
"Damn it, no! He can't just hire our students whenever he wants to! Not like this! I-it's too dangerous!" He shouted.
"Calm down." Kyoko sat on his couch and pulled him with her.
"I didn't even have a single word with that student yet. Can't remember his name either." The Ultimate Hope covered his face with his hands.
"I can't believe that I'm saying this but we should trust Byakuya. It's not like we have a choice if we want to avoid shootout anyway." She pointed out.
"What about the people here? We will bring the enemy's military right at their doors! They'll get killed or worse!" Naegi yelled.
"I'm not fine with this either, but I don't see any other way. The entire continent is close to its downfall, our troops cannot interfere." Kirigiri replied but didn't hear an answer.
Makoto seemed to be lost in his thoughts.
"...My hair still didn't dry smartie, why don't we go expose it to some sun?" Kyoko proposed a walk to relieve the tension.
"Alright.." He looked at her with his full of worry eyes for a moment and got up.
