If Hikari were to list the things she liked least in the world, parties, the Company, and pretending to like people would be at the top of the list.

Unfortunately for her, tonight, she was forced to put up with all of those things at once. It was the night before the start of the new season, and the Company was having a party for everyone who'd worked on the comeback season. Naturally, this meant all six of the former participants who'd worked on the season as well. Hikari had wanted to decline the invitation, but Carlos had decided it would be useful to go and keep an eye on things in case of last minute sabotage, and unfortunately Shuichi overheard. He insisted on going, which meant Maki and Himiko both went with him.

She would have liked to believe that Carlos would be able to keep an eye on the trio, but he was very distracted both by the return of the relationship he didn't think anyone knew about and by his trauma from his own season.

Somewhere over the time working with the new kids, she'd found herself feeling oddly responsible for them. Hikari knew that all three of them were capable adults in their own right, but they were still so young and so new to all of this. As the least traumatized person around, she felt she owed it to them to stick around and intervene if they needed a reprieve.

That meant milling around awkwardly with a glass of champagne in her hand watching a whole bunch of people who liked killing children celebrate. On top of all that, they treated her like she was one of them now. Normally she'd have thrown the champagne in someone's face (probably Nezumi's, she thought savagely), but tonight she had to settle for fantasizing about doing so while trying to keep an eye on the people she actually cared for. Tonight was for them.

Jonas and Carlos were sitting in a corner on their own. She suspected they thought no one could see them holding hands, but it was possible they'd given up pretending everyone didn't know they were a couple. For their sake, she hoped it was the latter. It'd be good for them to just openly date, since they didn't seem to be able to move on like they always claimed they would. At the moment, they seemed happy, so Hikari made a note of where they were and left them to it.

Himiko, Maki, and Shuichi, she found, were together on the opposite side of the room. Maki was glaring away anyone who got too close to encourage them to get lost, but all three of them seemed strained. They were, judging by the impolite staring and intrusive pestering they received, too much of a temptation for curious Company staff. This Hikari could help with. She headed over that way, intending to help repel the nosy Company employees, but Himiko broke away from the group first and stepped over to meet Hikari herself.

"Hey, Himiko." Hikari greeted her. "Is everything okay?"

Himiko shook her head with a frown. "Shuichi and Maki were trying to run off and have a look at everything for themselves but people keep interrupting. I want to distract them, but I need an assistant."

Hikari raised an eyebrow. "An assistant? For what?"

"To do a magic show! I don't have much on hand to prepare so I need a lovely assistant. It's part of the spell."

She laughed. "Alright, sure. Why not? Keep this magic show short, though. Deal?"

Himiko nodded and stuck out her hand solemnly. "Deal. Come on."

Hikari shook her hand and let Himiko tow her over toward the crowd who were still trying to bother their friends. She whispered, "How are you going to play this? Do we need to call people over?"

Himiko shook her head and took off her hat with a flourish that caught people's attention. "Just follow my lead." She told her quietly, then turned, and spoke in a normal volume. "Excuse me sir, is this your watch?"

Himiko pulled the watch out of her hat and held it out to a startled man who checked his wrist in astonishment. "I… yes it is! Thank you!"

"Not a problem for the Ultimate Mage!" Himiko announced, throwing her arms dramatically wide. "Hikari, can I see your glass?"

Hikari handed her glass over, noting with amusement how quickly people were flocking over for the impromptu show.

"This is my lovely assistant's glass." Himiko announced. "Just one of many champagne flutes available for anyone tonight. But… it seems the caterers have lost some of their change!"

Himiko pulled a series of coins from the glass, with a polished ease that impressed Hikari. Never having seen the woman perform, she'd been skeptical of the shy, quiet woman's skills. It seemed she truly did deserve her title. Jonas would be impressed, if he weren't distracted by Carlos.

With Hikari's 'help', Himiko did a series of surprisingly involved magic tricks. As predicted, this drew in quite a crowd, leaving no one to bother Shuichi and Maki. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched them sneak away, down a hallway that led toward the offices. Himiko kept the show going for a few minutes after, but as suddenly as she'd started, she took a bow and announced to the crowd, "Magic is hungry work! I need to hit the snack table."

A few people complained, but no one tried to stop her when she and Hikari extricated themselves from the crowd to head toward the food. "Wow, that was really good." Hikari told her appreciatively. "Doesn't magic usually require advance preparation?"

"Well, when you become a truly great mage, you know some spells you can do anywhere, just in case you need them." Himiko replied sagely. "All the great mages do street magic sometimes, it's part of the trade."

"I guess that makes sense." Hikari agreed, taking a bite of a tiny meatball. "Jonas has tricks he can do anywhere."

Himiko smiled. "You were an excellent assistant, thank you."

"I was glad to help. Jonas usually doesn't even ask, he just ropes me into this shit." Hikari replied. Curious to see if Jonas had noticed the show, she glanced over to where she'd left the happy couple. Kobayashi and Laurent were making a beeline in their direction. Hikari glared. "Sorry, I have to run."

Himiko glanced in the direction of her gaze and nodded. "I'll talk to you later. Go get those jerks!"

Hikari nodded and walked quickly over to where Jonas and Carlos were seated. Her own approach was just in time to catch the beginning of what Ms. Laurent had to say to her friends.

"On behalf of Dangan Ronpa corporation, we just wanted to thank you both for your participation. You have both been valuable contractors during your time with us. With that in mind, I asked Kobayashi to look into our records for some information I know you particularly requested."

The French woman smiled at Kobayashi in a way that was clearly not intended to express warmth towards her Japanese counterpart, who grimaced and avoided her gaze, clearly unnerved. "Um, yes. Carlos, we um… we have a record of your requests to know why you ended up only knowing the languages you did. We told you it was, um, not on record, which is true, but there are um… unofficial records. Private employee documents, personal recordings, that sort of thing. Even the Company does not have access to them unless the employee in question, um, gives it to them. But if the employee quits or is fired, well, uh..."

Carlos froze up, and Jonas shifted next to him, his languid smile quickly becoming a protective frown. "I'm not sure that this is the best time to be digging up the past." Jonas told them firmly.

"Oh, but it's not your call, Mr. Becker." Ms. Laurent replied in a bright tone, belied by the dangerous smile on her face. "And Mr. Hernandes here has made it quite clear how important the information is to him."

Rumor had it that Naomi Laurent particularly disliked 'outside influence' on Dangan Ronpa. She had apparently made it quite clear in private that were it her decision, she would rather have fought the court case brought against the company than agreed to the settlement which 'weakened the property.'

Hikari had never had to deal with Laurent directly, but she could tell from that smile alone that the rumors were true, at least insofar as her hatred of the 'meddlers' was concerned. Hidden away behind that corporate smile was the smug knowledge that not only was she hurting the two men, but that she was doing so in a way that they could not reasonably refuse. Worse, there was nothing Hikari could do to stop it. Now that Carlos knew the information was there to be found, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from asking for it, even if it hurt him.

Carlos took a deep breath. "I appreciate the digging. It must have been quite a lot of work to go through all of those records" He replied in a falsely polite voice. "I would... love... to hear what you've found."

Kobayashi glanced between the two men and Laurent, then nodded, seeing the head of marketing's intensely wide grin stretch even further. "I… well. We found some notes from one of the senior character designers who worked on your season. Apparently he, um, he had spent some time in America and was particularly frustrated by the constant assumption that someone automatically must know whatever language seemed to correlate with their ethnicity. He thought it would make a point if you did not."

Hikari couldn't believe her ears. This was the single most insipid, ridiculous explanation they could have given. The thing that would haunt Carlos for the rest of his life… was one guy's feeble attempt at taking a stand against something that happened in a country Carlos had never even been to? This guy was a writer for a show where children died and he drew the line at something so stupid?

"It's kind of you to have dug that up." Hikari told Laurent and Kobayashi, not bothering to look as though she believed it. She barged into the group more properly and joined her friends, standing between them on the couch and the filthy executives still hovering. "But I think Carlos is going to want some time to process this news."

Jonas glanced over at Hikari with a faint smile. "Yes, my apologies, but I think we should turn in early. What could happen tonight that could hold a candle to such an exciting discovery? I'll make sure Carlos gets home alright."

Kobayashi at least had the grace to look ashamed. Naomi Laurent, however, smiled condescendingly. "Yes, yes, of course. News this big should not be treated lightly. I hope the two of you have a pleasant night."

The two women stepped away, leaving Jonas and Hikari to look worriedly over at their friend. "You're right, I'm going home." Carlos told them both, clearly trying to sound normal even though he was worryingly pale, his face set into a stony grimace The Initiative's founder stood and reached for his coat.

Jonas nodded. "Hikari, you going to be okay without us?"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about any of us here, I've got it under control." Hikari assured them both. "Go on, both of you, take care of each other."

Before, Carlos might have wanted to fight. He was in a lot of pain, that much was obvious, but it was obvious also that neither Hikari or Jonas would allow him to suffer through that pain alone. Jonas hovered by his side with one arm gently curled around his waist. For her part, Hikari folded her arms across her chest, cocking one eyebrow at her friend expectantly. After a moment, with a sigh, he gave her a solemn nod.

"I'll leave it up to you, then." Carlos told her tiredly. "Goodnight, Hikari."

Arms still folded, lips pressed together tightly, she turned to survey the room and to do exactly what she had promised.

A/N: Next chapter starts the killing game, folks! I am so excited to get to really dive in with all of your excellent characters. At least until the ball gets rolling I'm stepping away from weekly updates. Now that we're into the main event, these chapters are going to be a bit more involved. Depending on how things go I may go back to weekly, but for now expect biweekly chapters again. See you in two weeks with the wake up call!