"OOF!" the Joker coughed as the tall man swung a really hard punch to his head. He wanted to cover the sore spot, but his hands were bound to the table. "Never start with the head. The victim gets all fuzzy. He can't feel the next…" His attacker shut him up by slamming his fist down at his hand, although the Joker doesn't react to it. "See?"

"I'm not someone to mess with, clown." The man threatened.

"Oh, I know who you are." Joker said. "Juzo Sakakura, the Former Ultimate Boxer. I wonder who carries the title now."

Juzo growled and was about to punch again when…

"Juzo!" Munakata called out as he entered the dim interrogation room. "I'll take it from here."

The former boxer sighed before standing down. He let his boss take the seat on the other side of Joker's table.

"Do they have manners where he comes from?" Joker asked. "Why am I even here? I'm on your side."

"All you've proven is that you're an enemy of Junko Enoshima." Munakata said. "That's not the same thing. After all, you're not exactly a sane individual."

"Sane, insane. Is there really a difference?" Joker asked. "Insane is just what other people call sane people who have different ideas they don't agree with."

"No, insane is what people call others who behead Future Foundation officers, steal their equipment, and bring it to a carnival full of clown-faced former Remnants."

"To be fair, I didn't behead that guy. I found him posted to a stake and his radio was still on him. Excuse me, but I think I'll make a better conversationalist is my wrists weren't chafing. I promise, I won't bite… unless you want me to."

Munakata looked down at the shackled binding Joker's wrists to the table. They weren't too close to each other, but they were close enough for him to twirl his fingers around each other. He sighed before nodding over to the former boxer. Juzo carefully untied Joker's wrists while giving him a suspicious scowl. Joker rubbed his wrists, leaned back in his chair, and propped his feet up at the table.

"All right, sword man, what would you like to talk about?"

"You're the one who wanted this, remember?" Munakata asked. "Breaking into Hope's Peak Academy where my best tanks couldn't penetrate, taking the remaining Ultimates, bringing them to your circus. All to get you here. You went through a lot of trouble for this meeting, and I'd like to know why."

"Simple, really. I want to help you take down Junko Enoshima."

Juzo scoffed. "And how can you possibly help us?"

"So it wasn't clear enough when I rescued the remaining students of Hope's Peak Academy where hundreds of your soldiers failed to even get near? Well, darn. I thought it'd be a good enough audition."

"You got lucky." Juzo said.

"No, I was smart enough to think like Junko. She and I are quite similar, yet very different at the same time. She lives in despair, while I embody joy."

"You may be crazy," Munakata said, "But I can't deny your talent. After all, you did coerce an entire army of Remnants into joining you?"

"Would you believe it took two weeks to assemble all that?" Joker asked.

"I'd like to know how you did that." Munakata said. "How did you change their minds?"

"I didn't I just made them laugh."

"You did all that just by telling yout stupid jokes?" Juzo asked. "That's impossible."

"Maybe you only think that just because you're not really funny." Joker said.

Juzo growled while Munakata continued. "Please, elaborate.

"Certainly. You see, when you make someone laugh, you have a piece of them. If you have a piece of them, you have power over them. Then you can bend them to your will. You can make some bozo laugh just as easy as you can make him cry, but you get the same result: their attention. Suddenly, you matter. You're not just another itsy ant that they can stp on, like I once was. I was powerless against those who wanted to keep me down until the greatest thing that ever could happen to me. An impromptu incident of mythic proportions. When my eyes stopped stinging, I finally saw the world and its pointless struggle between hope and despair. And it set me free because I didn't care about the struggles anymore. I had all the power. We all have it inside of us. We just got to let it out."

"Quite an interesting point of view." Munakata said. "According to you, if you make someone laugh, you can make them do whatever you want."

"It's a good start, at the very least."

"And you see this whole struggle between hope and despair as pointless?"

"Of course. Who cares how hard you have to work to bathe the world in eternal hope or despair? If you truly care so much about that, then you're the crazy one."

"Enough from the clown!" Juzo shouted.

"Juzo, please." Munakata said. "Listen, Joker, if you don't care about hope and despair, then why do you want to help us?"

"All I'm asking for in return is a few minutes of private conversation with Junko Enoshima." Joker replied.

"No chance!" Juzo shouted. "That little monster deserves to be killed on sight!"

"Fine. Then I won't help." Joker pouted as he crossed his arms.

"Listen here, Joker, I don't care if you see hope or despair as a waste of effort." Munkata said. "The fact remains, you are our prisoner now until we can determine you are not a threat."

The door opened up and a woman walked in. It was an orange-haired woman in a house-keeper's apron on. "I'm here to treat him, Munakata."

"Thanks, Ms. Yukizome."

The Joker gazed at the woman and widened his eyes. He chuckled at first, but then he broke down into a lough bit of laughter creeping everybody out.

"What's so funny?" Juzo asked.

"Ahhh!" Joker said calming down. "You wouldn't get it."

"Forget it." Munakata said. "Ms. Yukizome, tend to him." He leaned in to whisper. "And try to pry some info while you're at it."

"Don't worry about it, Kyosuke." Yukizome said. "If you don't mind, I feel he would be a lot more open if we were unsupervised."

"Are you sure?" Munakata asked.

"Hey, it's not the first time I dealt with wild children." She said. "Come on, Munakata. Don't you trust me?"

"…Fine. Good luck."

"So that's the whole story." Kyoko said. She, Makoto, Byakuya, Aoi, Toko, and Yasuhiro presented their experiences to a group of people in a dark meeting room. There was a young, tired boy about their age, a girl with a face mask, a man and a woman who sit really close together with heavy clothing (the woman kept feeding the man candy), a drunk man with a hat, a girl in an advanced wheelchair, a black man with big lips, and a large, muscular man with a bull mask over his head. At the end of the table was a thin, elderly man in a business suit.

"That's quite a story, kids." The old man said.

"What are you going to do to the clowns?" Makoto asked. "I know they're nutty, but they did help us escape."

"We're keeping them detained until we can determine whether or not they're a threat." The man in the bull mask said.

"If you ask me, we should just deal with them now instead of waiting. Don't you think so, Sonosuka?"

"Yes, dear. Also, delicious."

"Let's not get carried away." The big-lipped man said in a squeaky voice.

"I don't really know how to feel about them." Said the drunk man.

"Well, that's why we sent Ms. Yukizome down to talk to their leader." The old man said. "She's a good judge of character. She'll see if this 'Joker' can be trusted or not."

"I'm sorry about Juzo." Yukizome said as she wiped the blood off the Joker's wounds. "He can get pretty intense."

"Oh, trust me, dear." Joker said. "It's just the downside of comedy: you're always taking shots at people who just don't get the joke. But you're different. I can tell."

"Oh? How so?"

"I have a certain sense about people. And the first time I saw you, I figured there was something different about you. But if your boyfriend figured out the joke, he wouldn't be laughing, would he?"

Yukizome raised on eyebrow. "What exactly are you implying?"

"Nothing really. Tell you what? How about a joke?"

"…Well, far be it from me to reject such a misunderstood cinnamon role. Go ahead."

"Goodie." The Joker cleared his throat before explaining. "A woman tells her boyfriend, 'I have bad news and worse news.'

"'Oh, dear! What's the bad news?'" asked the boyfriend patient.

"The girlfriend replied, 'I've got twenty-four hours until I go insane and kill you'.

"The boyfriend was in disbelief. He then said, 'That's terrible. But how can the other news be worse?'

"The girlfriend replied 'Well, I've been trying to tell you the bad news since yesterday!'"

At first, there was only silence, but the Joker knew what was coming next. It started as a slight snicker, but after a few more seconds, Chisa Yukizome chuckled. She then opened her mouth silently cackling. As her eyes revealed her true colors, she broke out into a laughter that would be considered inhuman. She continued laughing for a few seconds until she took a breath and lowered her face to the Joker. She released her hand dropping a scalpel she was hiding and almost used.

"Ding dong." He said. "Now that I have a piece, I think it's time we had a real talk."

The meeting door opened and everyone gazed their eyes at Chisa Yukizome, who had her hand on the Joker's shoulder.

"Well…" Tengan asked.

"After an interesting conversation," Yukizome said, "I have determined that this young man is more of an asset than a threat. He won't hurt a fly as long as we include him."

"If Yukizome says he's okay, then I'll take her word for it." Munakata said.

"Excellente!" the Joker expressed as he sat in an empty chair. His eyes scanned the room locking onto every Future Foundation board member of Ultimate student he saved that stared at him. They were careful enough to keep their distance, but the clown interlocked his fingers under his chin and grinned at them all.

"So… what next?"

Author's Note: Merry Christmas. Been waiting to upload all week for this.

Any and all comments are welcome.