The Perfect Recipe for Disaster

by Destux

What happens when you mix insane and insane together? A certain supreme leader finds out about three secret parties that were being held without his knowledge. And no one does NOT invite Kokichi to a party, especially if a whole class of sixteen people will be attending. It would be stupid to not invite him; after all, he's great at parties!

4. Executing pt 1

A/N: Wowie! Another long chapter!

---

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA..."

What a great start to a great day! Why wake up to the sound of chirping birds and the oppressive heat of the sun when you can have a middle-aged man let out a blood-curdling screech right next to your ear? It was a great wake-up call to kick off the start of a great day and a harbinger to an even greater night!

Kokichi would never forget what would happen today. If he did, then he should just quit being an evil supreme leader and slave his future away at some random factory that was destined to go bankrupt and be abandoned. Or better yet, he should just drop out of Hope's Peak and work as a garbage collector to strive for minimum wage. Yeah, it would be that shameful if his brain didn't remind him of the party tonight. If he let a brain fart like that slip by, then what was the point of his Ultimate title in the first place? A joke? A lie? Pshh, as if. The self-proclaimed Prince Of Liars's title isn't a lie.

Kokichi didn't waste any time beating around the bush and immediately went ahead to freshen himself up for today. There were some things that needed to be taken care of today before Chiaki's group starts preparing the venue for their party. Nagito told him that they were going to start as soon as their morning period ended, so he had about three to four hours to set up the stage for his very own party. Time was of the essence for Kokichi.

He packed the lighter stuff he had prepared yesterday in his backpack and exited his room, intentionally forgetting to slam dunk his hand on the screaming alarm clock. He locked the door to make sure that the noise would be trapped in there so no one could enter and silence it. It was also intended to divert attention away from him. Hooray for the supreme leader's brain for thinking that up on the fly.

After the scream began to die down from his proximity to the room, Kokichi blocked off all his other senses and concentrated on how he was going to initiate his game plan.

First, he had to make sure that the laughing gas would be loaded.

Second, he had to test the disruptors on the lighting and sound system.

Third, he had to ascertain his "secret" entrance to the party i.e. find a good hiding spot in the backstage near the fuse breakers so he can reset them just in case Nagito's luck decides to ruin his plan.

Fourth, he had to study the layout of the venue and predict how they would all be positioned and with whom they would choose to seat beside, for counteractive measures and to maximize the time he had once the gas kicked in.

And lastly, he had to set up his many contraptions needed to make his grand entrance. He already brainstormed enough ideas yesterday so all that's left is to set them up and hide them away from the watchful eyes of "Nanami-chan's Minions".

"Perfect." A crescent moon smile shone on his face as he ran off to the auditorium to kickstart the early stages of his scheme.

He hoped that no one else would notice him heading there. He had to be quick and stealthy, otherwise he'll be suspicious and it would ruin the surprise if they decided to tail him.

Guess it was time to rely on Atua's guidance or whatever deity was there to make sure that his luck was up to par.

---

"Oh, for crying out loud, can someone shut the damn thing off?!" an angry Fuyuhiko mouthed off while approaching the other annoyed Ultimates who were trying to get the door to Kokichi's room to conveniently open for them. "Oi, Soda! Aren't you a mechanic? Can't you disassemble this door or whatever?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! I can-"

"Tampering with school property is against the school regulations!" Taka quickly reprimanded. "We must first practice good morals and beckon Oma-kun to awaken from-"

"Are you still gonna be such a goddamn hardass, bro?! He ain't waking up if it means it'll piss us off!"

"That is true... However! We must-"

The two arguing men were interrupted by the sounds of multiple frantic footsteps that were drawing near them.

"Halt! Running in the-"

"Argh! Will you just shut up already?! This is the third time this week that this little piece of shit decided to mess with me! That's it! I'm sending him to the fucking clinic right now!" Kaito shoved the other angry Ultimates away from his path and decided to kick the door down multiple times but to no avail yet again. "GODDAMN IT, OMA! OPEN UP SO I CAN MAKE YOU SCREAM LIKE THAT DAMN ALARM CLOCK!"

"Momota-kun! You must control your anger or you might violate the school's precious rules! If you continue this unwarranted aggression towards school property, I will report you to the proper authorities!" Taka enunciated with a firm and strong voice while helping the other Ultimates in prying the astronaut away from the door. Even with all these other stronger men holding him back, his rage never faded and so did his fighting power.

The others started to pooling in near Kokichi's room to the point where every last male Ultimate except the perpetrator was standing near that singular door that was housing the loud intense screaming. They all began shouting and asking rapid fire questions about this chaotic situation that was unfolding before them.

There were other people too who wanted to sneak in a punch or two on the barricaded door, like Nekomaru who complained that he can't take a shit in peace with the sound of an intense roar for battle. The others most likely assumed that he thought a fight was breaking out so he postponed his defecation session to spectate the match.

While this was happening, most of Kokichi's classmates just stood along the edges with the same cringed expressions on their faces while the others who weren't used to the mischievous little brat's antics were panicking and confused from all the rage and shouting for the screaming to stop.

Snippets of conversation about this absurd occurrence were being held up from the sidelines as they observed the other uninterested Ultimates leave the vicinity.

"So this was what got you frantic, Naegi? Hmph, I'll be taking my leave now. I have better things to do with my precious time."

"Togami-kun, wait!"

"Well well well! This is quite an interesting display if I do say so myself. Excuse me, my dear friends, and let the chef handle all the heat and sweat!"

"Ugh, how disgusting. I'm leaving as well."

"This is indeed interesting, like how Hanamura-kun describes it. Ah, what a beautiful showcase of humanity's art!"

"Creating chaos as a stepping stone for the other Ultimates' abilities to shine... As expected of Oma-kun's wonderful talent!"

"And there he goes. Rambling on and on about hope and talent and some other bullcrap that comes out of his mouth... You know what? Screw this! I'm going to class. Seriously, you all are a bunch of weird dumbasses."

The chatter didn't dial down one bit as more and more people started to give up on trying to get the alarm clock to stop. The two Byakuyas left first in disgust of the situation then followed by Fuyuhiko and Teruteru after quickly losing interest. The others who walked in on the scene started to leave as well. There was nothing they could do to stop the noisy alarm clock and just left it at that. After a while, the ones who remained were Makoto, Shuichi, Rantaro and Nagito who were all thinking about how quickly this problem escalated and fell.

"This is awkward..." said Makoto who was rubbing his chin sheepishly in light of this situation.

"Well, any brilliant deductions Saihara-kun?" Everyone turned to look at Nagito's happy and celebratory expression as he addressed the Ultimate Detective. "What would the Ultimate Detective make light of this dilemma?"

Shuichi covered his mouth with his hand as he observed and examined the situation like any detective worth their salt would. He was silent for a brief moment, opting not to speak so he can focus on making deductions. "Considering what we know of Oma-kun, this is most likely an attempt to divert attention away from him."

"I see," Rantaro nodded thoughtfully to that deduction. "Well, it sort of makes sense, doesn't it? We all were drawn to that alarm clock. I don't believe that he would've let that play out without some hidden motive."

"Or," Nagito refuted. "He could be doing this just because he felt like it."

"Although I agree with Komaeda-kun's assumption," Shuichi added. "Let's not forget that most of Oma-kun's actions have ulterior motives. He has been acting strange as of late. I suspect that he might be planning something big."

"Well, you aren't that far off with your deductions, Saihara-kun." the white-haired boy happily replied. "After all, I just so happened to see Oma-kun heading towards the exit before I came here!"

Shuichi kept quiet while Makoto questioned Nagito. "Wait, you saw him? Why didn't you tell us anything beforehand?! It would've saved us a lot of trouble if you did!"

The detective seemed like he had something to say about the matter but he still stayed silent and merely observed Nagito's words and actions. Nagito didn't seem to mind the other who was eyeing him and continued the conversation with a dry laugh. "Ah, honestly, who would believe every word that comes out of my mouth? Even Saihara-kun here doubts my witness account."

"That's because he's a detective." Rantaro replied with a very observant look in his eyes. "Isn't it his job to be suspicious and give doubt to every detail he observes?" He looked over to Shuichi, who still had something in his mind. He shifted his gaze back towards the lucky student and continued. "But if I were to be honest, I would have doubted that you even saw Oma. You're not exactly a trustworthy person, either. You're the type of person who would gladly become an accomplice to a criminal if it means that you get to see them succeed, aren't you?" he finished with a dark and suspicious expression towards Nagito.

The white-haired boy smiled awkwardly at the accusation and raised his hands in defeat. "A brilliant observation, Amami-kun! Although, you could have phrased that a bit differently so I wouldn't seem like an evil person; not that I think you're wrong or anything. My whole being is comprised of vile trash and filthy garbage. It wouldn't be wrong to see me through a negative lens."

Rantaro gave one last look of scrutiny and let out a tired sigh. "That's a shame. We'll be going around in circles if we continue this conversation any longer." He turned his back towards the other Ultimates and gestured for Shuichi who seemed to be spacing out. "Come on, let's get going, Saihara-kun. Wouldn't want to hear Akamatsu-san screaming at your ear now would you? Unless you're into that kind of stuff, then I won't judge." he stated airily.

Shuichi perked his head up and became flustered all of a sudden. "Ah, n-no! If that's what you're thinking, then you're wrong!" he quickly shot back at the chuckling Rantaro.

"I'm just joking. Lighten up, will you?"

As the two moved further away from their range of vision, Nagito spoke up. "What do you think, Naegi-kun?"

Makoto was surprised by his sudden question. "H-Huh? What do you mean, Komaeda-kun?"

"Do you think I saw Oma-kun?"

The other lucky student thought about his words for several seconds. Afterwards, he looked Nagito straight in the eye, providing a tone of seriousness to his next words. "...I don't think you were lying if that's what you're implying."

Nagito's lips gave a wry smile to Makoto's answer. "That's one way to look at it." The white-haired boy tugged at the sides of his unkempt oversized hoodie and cleared his throat. "Well! This is where we must part ways, Naegi-kun. Bye now." He waved at the shorter lucky student. Makoto quickly returned the wave and went their separate ways.

---

While the unseen chaos was ensuing at the dorms, Kokichi finished his preparations and ran all over the auditorium to check if everything was at their proper places. He pulled out a clipboard that he happened to stumble upon on top of an instrument case while he was setting up the stage and another box of crayons from his suit that can somehow hold a lot of stuff without anyone noticing. He gave a quick once-over to the front page of the clipboard before ripping it off mercilessly and shoving it in his pocket. He thought of littering in the auditorium but he had to hide any evidence that points to him being here.

Come on, what other reason did he have for hiding the preparations he made aside from trying to hide the fact that he "tampered with the crime scene"? It'd be counter-productive if he littered in the auditorium just for a rebellious prank. Ok, maybe it was a long shot to infer that he was here just from a random scrap of paper, but he had to be extra careful. That's what any other evil supreme leader would do, right? Great criminals know how to hide their tracks.

After an unnecessarily long thinking time of whether to litter in the auditorium or not, Kokichi pulled out an indigo crayon, which was his favorite color, from the box and wrote some words that seem to resemble chicken scratch rather than actual symbols. The supreme leader simply brushed it off as his own original language since he's the only one who would understand it. He then returned the box of crayons in his pocket.

While Kokichi was still writing random stuff on the clipboard, he mindlessly wandered around the auditorium and sneaked in some brief looks on his surroundings, taking note of its appearance and the important details, like the placement of those duralumin cases, where the chairs and tables were being stored, how much the light would cover if they were switched on, and etc. Kokichi then arrived at the door to a small makeshift warehouse situated at the far corner of auditorium. With his curiosity piqued, he kicked the door open and immediately slammed his hand at the switch, which was at his right. The lights of the warehouse flickered on and revealed towers of cardboard boxes stacked upon each other. He took note of how bad it would be if someone were to turn off the lights and close the door behind him, but given the size of the warehouse, it wouldn't be that frightening if one knows where their bearings are.

He paused his scribbling of gibberish symbols on the piece of paper and darted his eyes around the warehouse. Dust mites speckled everywhere, meaning that the others haven't paid that much attention to its cleanliness. Beside the numerous cardboard boxes were a number of Monobloc chairs and party tables huddled tightly together to make room for the other stuff inside the warehouse. Kokichi assumed that those were the chairs and tables that would be used for the party so he immediately ignored them. He noticed that there were some large tablecloths that were neatly folded and stacked on one of the shelves' rows. They were plain white, so again, not particularly interesting enough to take note of.

"*sigh* Man, this is getting super boring..." he murmured to himself as he decided that it would be more interesting to examine the multiple piles of cardboard boxes... which were freaking empty. Wow, for a warehouse, this was the most boring one he's ever been in. All the other warehouses the supreme leader "visited" held more interesting things in them like supercars, laser gun prototypes, unlimited Panta dispensers, and even toilet seats that were overall less boring than this shady-looking room.

Kokichi angrily kicked one of the boxes in frustration but to his surprise, the box that he kicked wasn't as empty as the others. He carefully pulled out that box with excitement hidden behind his eyes. It was like he got a super early Christmas present for his birthday. What he found inside the box was EXACTLY what he needed for his plan to work. Inside the box were two medium-sized black smoke machines. He then pulled out another box which wasn't empty as well and found another pair of the same smoke machines. Score! If strategically placed, four of these would be enough to fill up the whole auditorium, or at least enough to let everyone take a whiff of the laughing gas.

If memory serves him right, Ibuki will be using these smoke machines for her concert. That would mean that Kokichi had to crash the party before that started so she wouldn't activate the smoke machines by mistake. Unless...

Kokichi pulled out two more boxes that were adjacent to where the boxes of the smoke machines originally were. If the things that were inside these boxes were exactly what he assumed them to be, the plan could go smoother. He opened them and found a confetti machine in each box. Perfect. Two were enough to disguise the two smoke machines that Ibuki needed for her concert, considering that the lively musician will be using a lot of pyrotechnics. Those idiots would think that the "confetti" was all part of the theatrics and Kokichi expected Ibuki to just go with the flow. He would replace the two smoke machines on stage with the confetti machines and then he would hide the remaining tampered smoke machines in a manner where the area they cover are spread evenly. Two would be placed by the entrances and another two would be placed in front of the stage, boxing in the victims with its noxious fumes. Escape will be impossible with this strategy. One important thing to note is that everyone must at least inhale the gas for about ten to thirty seconds for it to take effect, meaning air ventilation had to be disabled by the time he makes his entrance.

Kokichi took out the laughing gas and loaded it as ammunition for the smoke machines. Setting those aside in their respective places, he turned to the confetti machines and replaced the colored paper shreds with tiny firecrackers that looked like confetti because why not? That way, once the machines activated, they would dispense a volley of firecrackers towards the others which would crackle once they hit the ground. Since it's not paper, the explosives would travel further and might land on some of the food. But who cares about the food anyway?!

Not to worry however, those firecrackers aren't enough to cause major injuries or burns. The real stuff that would pack a bigger punch are out there, waiting to be set up.

Kokichi then picked up the two boxes containing the smoke machines and brought them outside the warehouse. He figured that he had nothing else to do inside the warehouse. The confetti machines were already tampered with so he proceeded to place the smoke machines by the entrances.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw someone he did NOT expect to see at this time whistling some catchy tune by the entrance with their hands on their pockets. Kokichi suddenly dropped the boxes from shock, making a loud crashing thud on the waxed floor which made that person in the oversized green hoodie turn towards the supreme leader.

"Ah, Komaeda-chan! What a surprise! I didn't expect to see you here." Kokichi immediately yelled to mask the shocked features of his face. Nagito approached the other creepily with a perverted smile on his face. How unsettling...

"Looks like I caught you in the middle of the act, Oma-kun."

"Aww, man..." the supreme leader sighed in mock disappointment. "I was totally planning a surprise pre-party for you guys but it looks like I got caught. Well! Lucky for you, I have a surprise just for my most trusted ally!"

Nagito cautiously looked at the other with mild alertness. "What for? Why does someone like me deserve a surprise from you?"

"Well, since you walked in on me preparing for this surprise pre-party," Kokichi paused for a while and transformed his childlike face into a malicious and sadistic grin while pulling out a 45-caliber revolver from one of his pockets, cocking the gun and pointing the barrel towards the other.

"...I'm afraid you must die, Komaeda-chan."

Nagito turned his gaze towards the large revolver in his hand and simply examined it with an apathetic expression on his face. The two opted to stay quiet in their standoff of sorts, with the smirking Kokichi pointing the large revolver at Nagito in an overly dramatic manner. Even with the peaceful silence enveloping the massive auditorium, the tension in the atmosphere was so thick from their mental warfare that somebody could cut it with a knife. The white-haired boy's lips curved into an all-knowing grin, as if he was unthreatened by the supreme leader's sudden death threat, and opened his mouth to talk.

"Are you testing my luck, Oma-kun?"

"That's quite perceptive of you." Kokichi said with rare actual praise added to his words and expression. "Well, why not? This could get interesting..."

Kokichi unloaded five bullets from the revolver and loaded four different bullets into its chamber. He then spun the cylinder, cocked the gun again and aimed it at Nagito. "Let's play a different version of Russian Roulette, shall we?" His voice became deep and hushed to become creepily intimidating but the childish excitement behind that tone wasn't hidden well enough.

"Ah, I've never played Russian Roulette before. Could you tell me how to play it?"

"Huh? That's strange. If you knew what I was going to do, then you should definitely know how to play this game. Unless, that's a lie, but I doubt it."

"I never said that I knew that you were going to make me play Russian Roulette, didn't I?"

"Touché, Komaeda-chan." Kokichi started to play with the large revolver, twirling the gun around his finger and tossing it like how those western cowboys do it. "Well, the game's simple," the supreme leader began to demonstrate how to play the game. "Load 6-x bullets; where x is less than six but greater than zero, into the gun, spin the chamber, point it to your head and then BANG! You either die or you survive the round. Last one standing wins."

He continued. "This version, however, is different. Instead, I point the gun to your stinky head and you have to guess if the next shot is a real bullet, a blank or unloaded. I put three real bullets, one blank and one empty slot. Simple, ya?"

"Haha, I understand, even without the algebraic expressions. But I must ask, what happens if I guess it wrong?"

"Of course you die, silly! Didn't you pay any attention to the rules at all?"

"I mean, what happens if the next shot is a blank or unloaded but I guessed it wrong?"

"Hmmm... Never thought about that actually. Just kidding! I'll still kill you if you guessed it wrong."

Nagito paused the back-and-forth with the supreme leader and thought deeply about something. What? Kokichi wasn't some psychic who could read the minds of other people, much less read the mind of this demented psychopath. And yes, his description needed to be redundant to even come close to an accurate description of the white-haired boy. He expected Nagito to dodge the offer in the first place by telling him that committing murder in this academy is a grave mistake when one of the detectives who would investigate this case was an actual legend who specializes in homicides.

Like always, Nagito surpassed all expectations. He should have predicted the lucky student's unpredictability. Nagito gave a wry smile and challenged Kokichi in this modified Russian Roulette. "Very well. I accept your challenge. Unloaded."

"Nishishi... Are you suuuuuuureee?~" the supreme leader drew out the last word in an attempt to dissuade Nagito's determined look. "Why not settle for the safer option? If you say that the next shot will be a real bullet, you have a 2/3 chance in guessing it right! Much larger than a measly 1/6 chance, right?~"

"They don't call me the Ultimate Lucky Student for just winning the school lottery, you know..."

"Pffffff-wAHAHAHAHA!!!" Kokichi began to laugh uncontrollably at Nagito's last remark. "Was that a joke, Komaeda-chan?! Cause... that was the... best one I've heard from you yet... and that's not even a lie!!" he managed to say between his fits of laughter. The "joke" was too funny for him that actual tears were falling from his eyes already.

Kokichi finally managed to contain that laughter that was totally not induced by the laughing gas and switched his current expression to something akin to a malicious little devil smirking at the other, pointing the loaded revolver at him menacingly. "What's your Ultimate Luck gonna do against a rigged game, Komaeda-chan? Have you already forgotten who I am and what I'm capable of?"

"I'm willing to bet my life that that's a lie." Nagito replied in a more serious tone.

Kokichi, on the other hand, wasn't taking him seriously. "It's not too late to back down. This is your last-"

"Unloaded."

"Are you suuuuuuureee?~"

"Unloaded."

"Are you reeeeally suuuuuuuuuureeeee?~"

"Unloaded."

"Are you really reeeeeeeeeeally suuuuuuu-"

"You're wasting your own time by keeping this up, Oma-kun. Aren't you trying to hide your surprise for the party from the others?"

"Phoooey, boy you're no fun," Kokichi muttered under his breath in an insulting manner. "Well! It's your funeral..."

He pulled the trigger of the revolver which made a resounding click. The chamber spun once, telling the two that the shot was unloaded.

"Awwww man. Your guess was right on the money..." Kokichi sighed in an extremely turned off manner and continued. "...Looks like you get to live another day, Komaeda-chan!" The supreme leader then returned the revolver to its original place and switched back to his childlike behavior and mannerisms.

"...Just as I thought. You weren't planning on playing your own round, were you?" Nagito pointed out as if he made a smart discovery.

"Nishishi... The Ultimate Supreme Leader likes to play dirty, if you catch my drift." the other remarked in a smug tone. "Since you knew that you were going to survive this round, I take it that you're going to run off and rat me out to the others? Now that's playing dirty!"

"Of course not! I could never dream of impeding your plans to make your hope shine brighter! I would gladly help you achieve your goals, Oma-kun... Ah, that is, if you want to accept my offer."

Kokichi examined the exuberant expression on Nagito's face for a while. He didn't want to rely on the happy-go-lucky boy too much. He already gave him enough work right now and giving more would increase the number of uncontrolled variables to show up unexpectedly. Not to mention, Nagito's ideas would be quite different from his. In fact, he could totally see the other scrapping his idea for the Insect Exhibit in exchange of a death game of sorts. The supreme leader had to admit that the death game would be fine since he already has blackmail material that he can use to manipulate them, but the only problem is he didn't want that. He preferred a slow-burn kind of plan - make sure to break their mind and body slowly to squeeze out all the juicy kicks he can get out of it. Death and murder would be too fast for him.

"Hmmm, how about you distract the others from my plans for a while? I'm pretty busy and I might take a while..."

"I can do that," Nagito then gestured his head towards the two smoke machines on the floor. "But I'm not sure if you would be able to transport those machines without them noticing once they do arrive here for the preparations. Why not rely on me instead to move those?"

"Oh yeaaahhh... that's a good point..." Kokichi put his finger on his chin pensively. "I guess there's no avoiding it. Ok then! I'll entrust you with this very important task and if you fail," he looked at the white-haired boy with a menacing expression in his eyes. "I'll make sure Nanami-chan's punishment for you would be way worse than it already is. Got it?"

Nagito gave another calm smile towards the evil smile of the other. "Using her words against me, huh... I'll do my best to not let you down then."

"Alrighty then! So here's how this is all gonna play out.."

Kokichi began to explain to Nagito the details on how he was going to crash this party. He lied about some details, like the laughing gas, by saying that he was going to use the smoke to create dramatic effect for his entrance. It was half-lie and half-truth. He planned on making a dramatic entrance but the gas would not be involved only after he made his entrance. The real dramatic effect came from the additional pyrotechnics that Kokichi had set up. He just had to wait for Nagito's signal and then he would figuratively and literally kick Ibuki off the stage for his grand entrance, maybe.

"...And that's about it for now!" Kokichi finished with a wide beam on his face. "Wait! Wait wait wait. Almost forgot. Bring me my lunch once you get here. Tell the chef to make "the supreme leader's usual", pretty please?~"

"If that's all, then I can do that while the others are busy. However..."

"You're still having doubts about this, Komaeda-chan? Just trust me! You'll get that sweet hope of yours once this plan succeeds. Which is why I asked you to give me that juicy intel!"

Nagito's face still looked deep in thought. One look at that face and Kokichi was able to tell that he was trying to make sense of the plan he just told him, unraveling the lies the supreme leader added to it. Nagito eventually gave up in trying to figure out his plan. "I suppose I can't really tell if you're lying or not even with my luck. I don't see how all these connect to your ultimate agenda, Oma-kun."

"As I have said before, you really shouldn't try to question or predict what I do, Komaeda-chan. Knowing too much can sometimes lead to your demise, you know? So why not relax and observe how a real Ultimate does their stuff instead? Also, shouldn't you be in class right now? Nanami-chan might come and ruin everything thanks to your tardiness."

"Ah, I almost forgot. I should have known better than to question an Ultimate. Please forgive my prideful behavior."

"Nishishi... Better get going then, Komaeda-chan..."

With that threat, Nagito turned his back and waved goodbye towards Kokichi. After he exited the auditorium, the supreme leader let out a sigh and continued back to whatever he was doing. Which was what now? Right. He still had to set up those contraptions, test those disruptors and secure his hiding place.

"Hoooo boy, this is gonna take a while. Sorry in advance, class rep. I'll be busy..."

Kokichi stretched his face with one last grin before he sprinted around the auditorium once more.

---

*ding dong dong ding*

As soon as that creepy-sounding ringtone resounded through the school's PA system, the dreary depressed tone inside the classroom suddenly livened up, including the teacher who just wanted out of this school simulation of sorts. Everyone started shouting in celebration and excitement - their moods doing a complete 180, or was it an upgrade? Whatever it was, everyone was excited for the party and they have a whole afternoon to prepare for it.

"HELL YEAH! IT'S PARTY TIME SO THAT MEANS IT'S TIME TO EAT!!!"

"B-But the p-party doesn't start u-until tonight!"

"Can't you read the mood pig barf?! She's not gonna get excited if you don't bait this brainlet with food!"

They all shouted different things with many others making additional remarks or comments, but the message was apparent.

They were all really excited.

"Wakey-wakey, Chiaki-chan! It's time to make the best party everrrr!" Ibuki shouted while trying to shake the sleeping gamer to wake her up.

Chiaki eventually woke up while rubbing the crust that formed on her eyelashes and the drool that dripped from her mouth. The classroom was spinning and she felt like she was about to throw up. That was the worst alarm clock that ever woke her up, she thinks.

"You can go ahead, Mioda-san. I'm going to the restroom. I... feel like throwing up for a bit... I think."

"No can do, ma'am! Ibuki must make sure Chiaki-chan does not fall asleep on the way, so I'll wait by the door!" Ibuki yelled while saluting to Chiaki.

Chiaki simply shrugged and wobbled towards the girls' restroom while being supported by the musician's energetic figure. She didn't bring a paper bag with her, so she settled on vomiting in the toilet bowl instead. She hunched over, trying to release any of the fluids her nausea threatened to release. None came out. It was like she was trying to regurgitate something that didn't exist in the first place. How frustrating. Chiaki was becoming jealous of how Yoshi can eat and spit out shells but she can't release whatever's on her throat.

After multiple attempts, she was tired and heavily breathing for air. It only occurred to her now that she skipped dinner and breakfast in favor of pulling an all-nighter marathoning all the Rhythm Heaven installments. She skipped breakfast since she was already late for class by a small margin. She wasn't able to walk to the academy with Nagito, much to her dismay, but she somehow arrived earlier than him, after which he arrived just a moment later. Chiaki apologized to Nagito for being late but he said that he didn't mind since he wouldn't have been able to meet with her due to a *little* problem at their dorms that caused a bit of traffic.

While Chiaki was still trying to recover from the dizziness, a knock on the stall she was in and the sounds of quiet whimpering were heard. Must be Ibuki and... who was the one sobbing quietly?

"Chiaki-chaaaaan~! Ibuki's getting worried about you so I kinda dragged Mikan-chan over here..."

That answers that, I guess.

"A-Are you okay in there, Nanami-san?" Mikan asked with a shaky voice

If Chiaki wanted to be honest, she will admit that her food meter was getting critically low and that she needed to eat right now despite the fact that she might throw it all up later. So yeah, she wasn't very okay right now. Ibuki must have felt guilty about making the sleepy gamer feel disoriented with her energetic shaking so maybe that's why she brought Mikan to check up on her. She didn't blame the energetic musician. She's sure that she was only trying to spread her energy towards her.

She tried to stand up by grabbing the tissue holder as a support for pushing her up and replied to Mikan's question. "I-I'm fine now... I think." Chiaki unlocked the door to and tried to walk out. Her sense of direction was still kind of fuzzy right now so she stumbled a bit and face planted on something soft and pillowy. The softness was so soothing that it lulled her right back to sleep...

...If not for the shriek that followed after.

"Kyaaaaaaaah! N-N-Nanami-san?!"

"Ehhhhh?! Chiaki-chan fell asleep on Mikan-chan's boobs?!"

The two loud voices near her ear made Chiaki instantly jolt her body back into some semblance of an upright position. That only made her vision spin around a lot faster. On second thought, that wasn't such a good idea... maybe.

Chiaki put every effort to recalibrate her settings since she can't play her video games if everything was spinning around her. She held on to the sink with both her hands and tried to look at her own reflection in the mirror. After a minute of trying to stand still and refocusing her vision, she felt a lot better and a lot less dizzier now.

Letting out a relieved exhale, she turned towards the two and reassured them. "...Sorry about earlier, Tsumiki-san. It seems that I wasn't that fine yet. I am now."

Mikan's face became as pink as Kirby's natural color and she began to weep again. "Uguuuu... P-Please erase that m-m-memory from your head."

Ibuki was back to her lively self and added some comments of her own. "Teeheehee, Mikan-chan looks so cute when she's all flustered like that! But Ibuki didn't know that Chiaki-chan likes to swing the other way!"

"It's true that I like to swing in any direction, but I wasn't holding any weapon... I guess." Chiaki replied, unsure of what Ibuki meant by "swinging the other way".

"Awww, you didn't get it..." The positive bundle of energy diminished for a while before firing herself up again. "Well, forget it! I'll tell you about it soon. Let's hang out at the cafeteria for a while; Ibuki wants to share her lunch with both Chiaki-chan and Mikan-chan!"

Both Chiaki and Mikan wanted to decline the kind gesture since they already had theirs prepared but it was clear that Ibuki wasn't taking no for an answer by pulling them along forcefully.

Chiaki felt like she was forgetting something important...

...Right, I forgot to wash my hands...

There was nothing she could do about it now though.

---

As usual, the cafeteria was bustling with students and teachers alike, all conversing about many topics like how great today was, how to do this and that, what food they had, and many more. The three girls sat down and shared a table that was currently occupied by Fuyuhiko, Kazuichi and Byakuya - the bigger one, mind you. Ibuki and Mikan sat on both sides of the large affluent progeny while Chiaki settled on the space that both Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi left open for no particular reason at all, with the former on her left and the latter on her right.

Not bothering with how the three girls suddenly intruded on their personal space, Ibuki brought out an abnormally large bento box and handed two pairs of chopsticks towards Chiaki and Mikan before slamming the box down on the table, making Kazuichi's hot soup nearly spill over his jumpsuit. Byakuya focused his eyes on the large box and licked his lips at the sight of such a grand treasure.

Seeing this, Ibuki pulled the box away from him. "This isn't for you Byakuya-chan! This is Chiaki-chan, Mikan-chan and Ibuki's lunch!" She mindlessly opened the box while keeping a close eye on Byakuya's greedy blue eyes. The look on his face after seeing what was inside the box shifted from being interested to utter disappointment.

"Tch. Typical commoner fodder. To think that I could be fooled by such a large box... How shameful of me." Byakuya pointed towards the uncomfortable nurse and imposed his overwhelming presence over her frailty. "Oi, I order you to switch seats with me."

Mikan immediately complied with the large scion's forceful order and left her seat so that he could scoot over her original space. She then immediately took the space between the two people who could be considered more than a crowd, both figuratively and literally.

The musician put the box in the middle of the table so that Chiaki and Mikan could get from the box of food. Ibuki broke her chopsticks in two and started to perform a drum solo on the table. After that intense drumming session, she held the two sticks in the air and yelled.

"WOOOOO-HOOOOOOO! TIME TO DIG IN!!!"

The two other girls broke their own chopsticks and took their respective portions from the bento box conservatively, as opposed to Ibuki's and Byakuya's manner of scarfing down food from their own respective lunches. While Chiaki was slowly munching on the sushi roll that had an... okay taste, the lively musician quickly grew bored of the silence between them.

"Shooooo," Ibuki started while loudly chewing on her food. "What'sh u- OW, MY TONGUE!!" She made a loud yelp and covered her mouth with both of her hands, dipping her two chopsticks on the soy sauce. The more the gamer strained her eyes and ears at Ibuki, she could see the tears glistening in her eyes and hear the quiet sobs of pain... or so she thinks.

"And that's why you learn to chew and swallow before talking, dumbass..." Fuyuhiko spat with a sharp tone.

Ibuki pulled out her multi-colored water tumbler and drank from it. She was suddenly interrupted when a group of students came to their table, with one of them incredibly angry at something. Upon further inspection, the ones who approached them were Shuichi, Maki and Kaito - the one who looked like he just played Kaizo Mario World and rage-quitted after multiple attempts at trying to get past the first level i.e. incredibly pissed off.

Chiaki swallowed her food and addressed them. "Can we help you?"

Kaito was ready to shout at her but Shuichi immediately held him back. "I'll handle this one, Momota-kun. You both have to go around and ask the others."

Maki simply nodded and dragged the angry astronaut with her. The detective cleared his throat and addressed the group. "Is it alright if I asked you all a few quest-"

The yakuza heir cut him off immediately. "No, we didn't see that little bastard. Now, how 'bout you make like a tree and fuck off? We're busy eatin' our lunch here."

"Are-"

Fuyuhiko stood up from his seat and burned a hole through Shuichi with his glare. "Did I stutter, you fucking retard? Piss me off and I'll cut that tongue of yours then sell it on the black market. Understand?"

Shuichi quickly nodded and fled from them. Fuyuhiko went back to his seat and continued to eat his lunch. The three girls were shocked with their mouths open. "Oi, flies are gonna get in your mouth if you're gonna leave 'em open like that."

Chiaki broke out of her stupor first. "Was it ok to threaten him like that, Kuzuryu-kun?"

Fuyuhiko merely scoffed at that question. "Have a whole class ask that same goddamn question to you every second then we'll talk."

"Yeah, it was freaking annoying having the same question asked to you every time. 'Excuse me, have you seen Oma-kun?'. 'Did you see a tiny little troublemaker anywhere?'. Seriously, they just won't stop!" Kazuichi complained, sharing the same angry face that Fuyuhiko and Byakuya shared.

Before anyone could say anything else, they were stopped by Ibuki's interjection on the matter. "Ooooh, so that's why there's so many people talking about Kokichi-chan all of a sudden..."

"Tell me about it. Their class rep's always making a fuss over such a trivial matter that they have to go around the campus and proclaim it to everyone they meet like their indecent cultist. Luckily, ours is better and much more refined than that lowly pianist," Byakuya remarked then turned his head towards the munching Chiaki. "Isn't that so, Nanami?"

"I agree with Byakuya-chan! Chiaki-chan is the best class rep ever!"

"Cheers to that..."

Chiaki felt her face heat up with the overwhelming praise that they all poured on her. She could hear her heart play that chiptune victory fanfare at their acceptance. Although it was in her nature to give it her all in everything, it never failed to make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, especially when it came from her friends. Chiaki simply smiled at her friends with her hand over her chest. "Thanks, you guys, but I'm just doing my best like how Akamatsu-san or Naegi-kun does. Honestly, I think they're just as great, if not better, as I am since they were able to bring a whole class of Ultimates together as a group. I would do the same if one of us decided to skip classes... I think."

"Oh come on! Cut yourself some slack, Nanami!" Kazuichi gave a wide grin and a heavy slap on Chiaki's back, which made her glare towards his direction for almost making her vomit her lunch out. He didn't seem to be affected by her Intimidate skill, so he continued while she went back to eating her lunch. "We think you're obviously the best class rep and anyone who thinks otherwise are gonna have to go through us. That's how much we believe in you!"

"S-Soda-san is right, Nanami-san. Y-You're not doing y-your best like how Akamatsu-san or Naegi-san does, b-but rather, they are d-doing their best like how you do y-your b-b-best. They are following in your f-footsteps."

Chiaki thought long about what Mikan had said. It was true, wasn't it? Kaede was the first one to call a meeting for the class reps to give out ideas about how to make their time at Hope's Peak Academy better than it is. Honestly, a change in pace would've been immediately better than their current situation. Chiaki fervently believed on the fact that talent isn't the only reason they're here right now. The three class reps were evidence of that. No one would've expected an ordinary-looking student, a narcoleptic gamer and a piano maestro to become the representatives of great Ultimates, but because of this, the school started to keep a very close look on them. Those people still believed that they had a knack - a hidden talent of sorts - for being the chosen leaders of their respective classes, and not examine the person behind the talent. It was only natural that the three of them needed something else to break away from their jobs while also doing it at the same time.

Even though it was Makoto's idea to hold a party for their respective classes and the other two agreed to this idea, he admitted that he was inspired by how Chiaki became a class rep and he wanted to see if he can get his classmates to prepare for their very own party. Kaede, too, was inspired by how Chiaki used her talent that normally would have distanced her from other people to gain the acceptance of everybody. 'Nuff said, their ideas and actions all came from how Chiaki bonded with her own classmates.

In the end, it all came down to what her teacher said to her that day. If she hadn't encouraged her to try, Chiaki might've stayed as a recluse.

"...Hmm." She gave a thoughtful hum towards Mikan's words. "If my friends say so, then I guess they're right."

"Damn right." Fuyuhiko said with a smug look on his face.

They enjoyed their communal meal together for a while. Ibuki was there to start conversations if the silence became too boring for them. The others were there to keep the conversation going, up until they had nothing else left to add to the original topic. It was like they were playing a game of sorts. Time really did pass by quickly with dialogue, didn't it?

They had one last conversation, and it was concerning the party itself. Naturally, Ibuki was the one to start it.

"Whew, Ibuki's all filled up!" the musician set her chopsticks down and huffed with her nose somehow elongating. Chiaki had to double-check if there were any red mushrooms hidden in their meal. Bummer. There weren't any. She would have shared their lunch with Fuyuhiko if there were. "Sooooo Chiaki-chan, who's the special someone?"

Chiaki raised her eyebrow inquisitively. "What do you mean, Mioda-san? All of you are special to me."

The group was shocked into silence. The confused gamer became even more confused than ever. Was it something she said?

"Ummm, I-I think she means if you have a b-boyfriend, Nanami-san."

"Oh..." Chiaki's face fell from that question. "...I don't have any. Should I have one?"

"Kyaaaaahaaa! Chiaki-chan's innocence is too pure for Ibuki!"

"Are you seriously kidding me?!"

"Since when the fuck was having a special someone required anyway?!"

"Quiet." Byakuya ordered to the bickering Ultimates. "Let me rephrase the question then: "Is there anyone in particular that catches your interest; someone who you won't mind spending time with?""

Chiaki fiddled with her hood to hide the blush that colored her cheeks upon hearing the question. Why was she being put on the spot right now? She didn't understand but all she has to do is answer, right?

"There is... one person that comes to mind... but I don't know if he feels the same way... I think. Maybe."

"Ooooohhh! Is it-"

*ding dong dong ding*

There's that creepy tune again. Ibuki let out a long groan, possibly from not being able to finish her question for Chiaki. The latter, on the other hand, was thankful that she was kicked out from the literal hot seat. The forlorn musician picked up the box while the others picked up their own trash and disposed them in their proper places. Chiaki approached the depressed Ibuki and gave her a reassuring pat on the back.

"Let's continue this at the party, ok Mioda-san?"

Ibuki then immediately lunged at her and hugged her tightly. Chiaki reeled from the shock for a brief moment before returning the gesture.

"Mmmm... Chiaki-chan is so soft and squishy... Just like Ibuki's teddy bear!"

It was getting more difficult for Chiaki to breathe due to the musician's constricting grip. "Mioda-san... you can let go now. We still need to prepare for the party, remember?"

Ibuki immediately sprang back and gave her trademark "Ok!" pose. "Got it! Let's rock the auditorium out until it's A-ok!"

---

The group later arrived at the auditorium. They seemed to be the first so they decided it was a good idea to wait for the others before they entered. Not long after, they all reunited by the entrance of the auditorium and their excitement from earlier didn't die down either. Taking this as her cue, Chiaki reached her hand to open the double-doors towards the auditorium to enter but was suddenly held back by cold and slender fingers.

Confused, she turned around only to see that it was Nagito who prevented her from entering. His expression looked unnaturally serious and gazed towards the entrance as if there was a secret boss on the other side of these double doors. Did one spawn in just now?

"Komaeda-kun? Is there something wrong?" Chiaki asked as calmly as ever.

"Please forgive me for imposing on you, Nanami-san, but there is something I must check inside first." Nagito ordered firmly to his class rep without meeting her eyes. "If you would, could you please wait here with the others for a minute? Not to worry, I won't take up much of your precious time with my selfish request."

Chiaki was silent for a while and blinked sluggishly at Nagito's expression. This was getting weird for her but didn't he say that he wasn't going to take long? "...Sure. We'll wait for you here, Komaeda-kun."

"Thank you, Nanami-san. I won't bother you Ultimates any longer once I'm done with this." he happily replied with his utmost gratitude before moving towards the doors.

"...Ah, Komaeda-kun, please wait." This time, she grabbed Nagito's hand and looked at him with her own serious game face.

He turned around to look at her. "Hmm? What is it, Nanami-san?"

She softened her features and smiled at the white-haired boy. "Please don't look down on yourself, Komaeda-kun. You're still our classmate and our friend no matter what."

Nagito covered his eyes with his free hand let out a laughter that became increasingly louder. This laughter... sounded different to Chiaki and it rubbed her the wrong way. "...As expected of a kind person such as yourself, Nanami-san. Your compassion for us pitiful people knows no bounds!"

Chiaki instinctively let go of his hand and watched as her smiling friend sauntered inside the auditorium. Did her message even get through to him? He was stubborn, like Hajime that's for sure, but because of how similarly stubborn they were, it sent off the wrong signal in her brain whenever she tries to reassure them. She was incredibly worried for the both of them, but most of all...

She was incredibly worried if her words did anything to help them. She wasn't that good in dating sims since she would always get the bad end every time.

What if she gets the bad end on this route too? Or even worse...

Was she locked towards the bad end route in the first place?

Chiaki hoped that that wasn't the case this time.

And she intends to find out the cold, hard and bitter truth during the party.

To keep her mind off these scary thoughts, Chiaki decided let off some steam by playing a quick round of Gala Omega while waiting for Nagito. She pulled up her hood and fished out her Game Girl Advance from her favorite catpack - short for cat backpack as she calls it. She then booted up Gala Omega and focused all her attention on playing it, drowning out all the background noises and chatter around her to listen to the 8-bit sound effects of her game.

After playing for a while, Chiaki eventually forgot about preparing for the party and became engrossed with her video game. All her senses were now completely focusing on the video game itself. Everything that had been bothering her mind were replaced with the music and sound that her Game Girl Advance played as she pressed on the buttons with superhuman precision and calculation. Every movement and shot that her ship made was telegraphed and accounted for. She memorized how the waves of enemies would enter and at rate they would fire at this point, despite some falling under RNG. That didn't matter in the slightest for Chiaki however. Her muscle memory was something her opponents shouldn't underestimate. Once an opportunity for an attack or escape opens up, she will seize it immediately.

A butterfly settled on top of Chiaki's handheld console and opened its wings, trying to get the gamer's attention. It was impossible for the poor butterfly at this point. The only way one can separate her from her video games is by force but even so, Chiaki is surprisingly vicious when it comes to her gaming. Under that cute and innocent face is an entirely different person. Her determination for gaming mirrors her determination for her duties as a class rep. She would sometimes downplay it as "simply doing her best" but anyone who knows her knows that that's a huge understatement; a really, REALLY, huge understatement, for a lack of a better term.

"...Nana..."

Chiaki's facial muscles twitched as her sense of focus faltered for a bit from that sound. She destroyed one last enemy ship before pausing it and returning back to her senses. She can always continue it later so she returned the console back to her catpack. She looked around and realized that she completely forgot where she was already.

"...Nanami-san, you've been standing there for about five minutes now." a white-haired boy awkwardly said to her, grinning at her perplexed state.

She turned her head and stared at the boy's face for a very long while. Only then did she remember everything now.

"Hmmm, I must have been so focused on my gaming that I almost forgot what we were supposed to do..." she said as her eyes wandered towards the auditorium in front of her. "...We should probably get going now."

"Glad to see you're finally back." Nagito jokingly remarked with another casual wave of his hand. "They're all waiting for you inside in case you were wondering where they went."

Chiaki nodded at that and walked inside with Nagito to begin preparing the auditorium for the party tonight.

---

The afternoon passed by as quietly and as boringly as ever. No pranks, no chaos, no nothing!

But, the real fun starts during this after class meeting with Kokichi's class. With childlike excitement, the supreme leader bursted into the classroom and did another dramatic pose. This time, he kept a hidden close eye on the assassin and prepared to sidestep another stranglehold.

Nope, that was a lie! No one moved an inch and no one opened their mouth. They all looked at Kokichi like he was the main event of this meeting and not Kaede for once. "...Awwwww, did you guys miss me?~" he said sarcastically. Of course he knew that they wouldn't miss him if he were to suddenly disappear on the face of the Earth.

No reply came. Their stares only hardened towards him. Huh, this silence should have been relaxing for him but there was something that stirred inside Kokichi that was akin to a betrayed expression. Betrayed? No, that can't be it. They couldn't have found out about his plan, could they?

That stirring feeling soon turned into abject frustration and irritation for that white-haired boy. He knew he shouldn't have trusted that psycho to keep his trap shut. Knowing this meddling pianist and her ragtag bunch of friends, they would've frantically ran around the campus and ask if they have seen this elusive troublemaker clad in a white suit. Obviously, no one did, but looking back at it now, Nagito might have noticed him exit the dorms. Maybe that's why he visited the auditorium uninvited since only he knew where Kokichi would have gone to.

Oh well, that idiot can't lie his way out of a wet paper bag anyway so naturally, Kokichi had to tie these loose ends himself. With fake tears, of course.

"W-Why... are you all looking at me... like that? I didn't do... anything wrong... So... so WHYYYYYYY-"

"Cut the bullshit and give it to us straight already, ya little gremlin!" Miu moaned out with a frustrated face.

"Huh? Give what straight? My d-"

"Do not continue that sentence, you lying degenerate! You'll taint Himiko's innocent ears with your foul male words!"

"Quiet... You're too loud. I can't focus on my magic if you keep shouting like that."

"WAAAAAH! Tenko is sorry for being too loud!"

"You're still too loud..."

Kiibo rolled his eyes at the usual banter. "Please stop, you two. We are getting sidetracked here." The robot then turned to address the cheeky Kokichi. "Oma-kun, aside from discussing about the party that would happen later this week, we must first discuss about your most recent absence."

"That and the shit you've been pulling on us these last few days..." Kaito grumbled with his arms crossed.

"Oh, so all I have to do is apologize, right?" Kokichi cheerfully asked with fake expectant eyes. Afterwards, he skipped over to the astronaut's seat, dropped down on his knees and begged for forgiveness by pulling and crying on the sleeve of his space suit, even using that same sleeve to blow his nose on, which made Kaito forcefully pull it away from Kokichi.

"O-Oi! Enough's enough, I forgive you, dammit!" he shouted while trying to pry the clingy childish supreme leader away from him. "GET OFF ME ALREADY!!!"

Whew, glad that's over with already. Any longer and I would have kissed him too... Kokichi thought to himself as he giggled towards his seat at the back of the classroom. Their suspecting eyes were still trained on him while he was still on his seat. He guesses that they were still shocked from the sudden mood shift again.

Kaede, as usual, was the first one to break the deafening silence in the air.

"...You still haven't explained why you were absent this morning though..." she said awkwardly as if she didn't want to talk in the first place but had to since the atmosphere was getting uncomfortable.

"Oh, that..." Kokichi muttered and examined his nails again. They looked dusty, probably from moving a lot of stuff in that auditorium, so he decided to wipe them on his checkered scarf. He continued. "...Duty calls. Being a supreme leader in a large secret organization can be tough sometimes. I had to fix some legal stuff and execute some traitors. I was in a hurry and didn't pay any attention to the time, actually." He then turned his smug look towards Kaede. "You understand how stressful it is being a leader, right Akamatsu-chan?~"

"Well, why didn't you inform us in the first place?"

"Uhhh, hello? "Secret" organization?" he scoffingly stated while putting emphasis on the word "secret". "I wouldn't make such a rookie mistake like that if I know that there are some of you who would be delighted to know more about my organization..." He shifted his eyes towards Shuichi then back at Kaede, as if he was implying something towards her.

"Tch. That's the most bullshit story I've ever heard." Miu remarked with her sharp tongue. "Knowing you, you'd probably lie about being a vir-"

"Quiet, you filthy skank! The mature adults are talking here and nobody asked for your input!" Kokichi immediately shot back to silence her vulgar mouth. As expected, her masochistic side reared its ugly head once more and made her moan and sweat profusely in bliss from being insulted.

Kaede opened her mouth to say something but she immediately stopped herself for a moment and crossed her arms with an intense thinking face. Before she could say anything else, Kokichi stepped in and said the words she would have said.

"Nishishi... that's just a lie! Well, for the most part. I was busy handling some stuff for my plans of world domination."

Kaede sighed unenthusiastically. "So that's your excuse for skipping your morning classes? You were busy?"

"Hey! You're not my mommy!" Kokichi complained in faked irritation. "Also, I don't lie that much as you think, Akamatsu-chan! I was busy this morning and that's the truth!"

Shuichi whispered something that only Kaede could hear. She then nodded at whatever he said and cleared her throat to speak again. "Alright, fine. We'll let this slide, Oma-kun. But you better not cause us any trouble again, otherwise we'll have Ishimaru-kun handle your detention. Clear?"

Kokichi expected this threat and gave an all-knowing grin. "I heard you loud and clear, class rep."

Loud and clear, indeed.

---

"Alright... That's all of them," Mahiru asked while panting for air. "Right, Sonia?"

"Indubitably!"

Chiaki took a step back from setting up the lights and streamers around the auditorium and examined her surroundings. She wiped the beads of sweat that traveled down from her head and huffed in admiration of what she and her classmates have accomplished together. "Hmmm, everyone... did a good job... in decorating... I think."

The tired photographer held her camera up and took some pictures to commemorate their hours and hours of hard work. "Yeah... everyone did a decent job... but those boys could have done a lot better if they... weren't slacking off so much..." Mahiru pulled up a chair and sat down. "Whew... I'm pooped..."

Mahiru said what they all felt right now, sans some of the people who were used to spending their energy constantly. Chiaki, Sonia, Hiyoko and Mikan all joined Mahiru in resting by the round table they set up smack dab in the middle of the auditorium. By pulling out these chairs, they just created more work for themselves by messing up their table and chair arrangements.

Ibuki passed by and wanted to sit down with them but they collectively shouted at her to not disarrange the chairs that they spent an hour trying to put them at their right spots under Sonia's careful and pristine management.

"You know... on second thought... maybe we shouldn't use these chairs... instead..." Chiaki commented under heavy breaths. "...We can always... sit... on the mat... or eat... standing up..." She felt like passing out from all that work, although in hindsight, all she did was hang up some decorations, which was minor compared to the heavy lifting her other classmates did. She was seriously considering Nekomaru's advice to train with him but she's afraid that she might not make it through a day with his Level 100 training regiment... or so she thinks. So maybe not now, but in the near future - the same excuse she always came up with when people tell her to exercise.

"Nanami-san, d-do you need to r-r-rest at the d-d-dorms for now?" Mikan apprehensively asked. "Y-You shouldn't p-p-push yourself if you need some r-rest..."

"I can't yet... cuz I... still need to play... video games... with..."

Before Chiaki could continue what she was saying, her brain shut down without warning from being physical and mental fatigue. She tried to force herself to wake up, but to no avail. Her body must have really been all tuckered out. There was nothing she could do right now...

Sorry, Hinata-kun. Looks like we'll have to play at the party instead.

---

When Chiaki respawned from her deep slumber, she opened her eyes to notice that she was in a familiar place. First, she had to assess if this was the afterlife or if she was living another existence. Nope, she still remembers her friends and Hope's Peak so that means she didn't die and respawn in another world seed. Chiaki let out a relieved sigh.

Next, the gamer examined her surroundings for a bit. She saw a bunch of chip bags, video game consoles and cartridges scattered on the floor, a beanbag sofa that was designed to look like her hood sitting comfortably in front of those scattered objects and- ah, so that's why this place felt so familiar...

She was lying down on her bed inside her room in the dorms.

She shimmied out of her covers and got up to check the time. If she wasn't mistaken the party was supposed to start once the school curfew started, which was at 10:00 pm. The time right now was 8:00 pm. She must have slept for a really long time and oh no...

Did I sleep through the entire day?!

Immense guilt washed over her at that realization. She was supposed to attend class, help in the preparations and meet up with Hajime after that, AND she missed all three of those because she chose to stay up all night, playing video games until she drops. How could she have been so careless about her responsibilities?! She is their class rep and she should always be there for them!

Chiaki repeatedly bumped her forehead lightly against the wall, muttering "Stupid" and "Careless" to herself every time her head met the wall. This slip-up greatly shamed her and she wished that she could load up a previous save file so she can make things right again.

Right, she forgot that this game didn't have any save/load functionality. Is her narcolepsy finally starting to affect her memory as well?

To Chiaki's delight and dismay after hitting her head 25 times or so, the answer to that question was yes... probably. She forgot that she actually did attend class AND help in the preparations, but left Hajime sitting by the fountain, all alone and confused about her untold absence, because she passed out from fatigue. The guilt may have decreased but it was still there.

Chiaki sighed in a tired manner and prepared herself for the party. She decided to make it up to Hajime during the party. She knows that he wouldn't mind if she missed just one gaming session with him... maybe... probably.

---

The humid air tonight was surprisingly hot despite it being the colder times of the year. Today was incredibly strange, Chiaki had to admit. When the day was supposed to be hot, it was actually cold and when the night was supposed to be cold, it was actually hot. Combined with the strange things that she went through today, today was definitely stranger than these past few days. Some would say that these unusual turn of events often heralded something ominous that is to come while others would say that this could be something that the world decided to do on a whim. Chiaki didn't particularly partake in superstition, given the fact that she would often relate real world logic to video game logic, but she had to agree with the former.

There was a bad feeling that was burning her insides from the bottom of her stomach the moment she walked out and felt the hot night air touch her now exposed forearms. She ditched her teal-grey jacket and hood and settled for the white button-up shirt just for this occasion. She really wanted to wear that jacket, but the forecast today just told her that that would probably be a bad idea.

Not wasting any time thinking about how today felt like, she rushed over to the auditorium to meet up with the others. The frantic gamer stopped for a moment to catch her breath. She forgot that her stamina wasn't her best stat... again. As she was waiting for her sprint meter to fill back up, she noticed a figure with something spiky protruding upwards on its head standing by the entrance to the auditorium. Who else could it be but him?

Chiaki silently approached Hajime who looked like he was hesitating in entering the auditorium from behind and gently nudged that spike on his hair. The boy in his usual white shirt and green tie tensed up and turned around, eyes bulging in shock like balloons being inflated. "O-Oh... it's just you..." he said in ragged breaths. Was he really that shocked? "...Seriously, you scared me for a moment, Nanami. What did I tell you about touching my antenna hair? You do know that that's my sensitive spot, don't you?"

"Oh..." was all Chiaki could muster up as a response to his question. Now that he mentioned it, she remembered Hajime telling her about his sensitive hair. For some reason, touching it would cause something like an electric shock(???) to run through his body. Chiaki never understood how his hair could do that to him but the way it moved based on what Hajime was feeling always did interest her. That tuft of brown hair was a literal antenna.

The dozy-looking gamer mindlessly reached up to touch his hair once more only for it to be swatted away by an annoyed-looking Hajime. "What did I just tell you about touching it?!" he shouted in an irked manner.

Chiaki tended to her slapped hand for a bit and looked at the ground in shame. "I'm sorry, Hinata-kun..."

Hajime shook his head and reached out for that injured hand. "H-Hey, it's okay," Chiaki let her hand fall limply on his gentle palms. He gently caressed it with his other hand and looked away in embarrassment. "I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. Especially since you passed out from stress... I was worried that you might not be able to make it, Nanami." he finished with a meekly-sounding tone, as opposed to his usual assertive and aggressive one.

"You... knew?"

"Yeah." Hajime nodded. "While I was waiting by the fountain, I saw your classmates rushing towards the dorms with Nidai carrying you. I asked them what had happened and that's when I found out about what happened to you..." He squeezed her hand gently enough so it wouldn't hurt her. "...They were worried that you might have pushed yourself to the limit while trying to help in the decorations. You could have taken a small break whenever you wanted, you know." he reprimanded while laughing for a bit, which made Chiaki puff her cheeks out at the other.

"I just want to help them, Hinata-kun..."

"That's very you, Nanami." he gave a warm smile and stopped caressing her hand. "You're always trying to help everybody else, aren't you?"

There's that smile Chiaki wanted and hated at the same time. She loved seeing that kind smile that makes her insides feel fuzzy and relaxed, but due to the times they spent together, playing video games by the fountain, she began to see that dark and awful place his mind would drift off to whenever she won. That smile turned bittersweet. She wished she could remove the bitter part so she can enjoy the sweet part in its entirety. Too bad Hajime was more complex than that. She doubted that she could possibly make him smile more genuinely.

"Hey," Hajime raised his voice to disrupt her train of thought. "Shouldn't we go inside now? The party's about to start."

Chiaki gave a consenting hum and held his firm hand tightly. They then walked inside the auditorium holding hands, both not realizing what they were doing at the moment and what it implied to the others who saw them. As soon as the pair came into the crowd's line of sight, they were greeted by a barrage of cheers, claps and whistles to their ears. Today was definitely strange, indeed.

"I knew it! I freaking knew it!" Kazuichi yelled in frustration. "You traitor! I thought we were souls friends, Hinata! I can't believe you hooked up with our class rep!"

"W-What the-?! Th-This is not what it looks like!" Hajime sputtered as a reply.

"Then why are you still holding her hand like you two are close?!" the infuriated mechanic shouted in response.

Chiaki gave a sideways glance at her partner and noticed a deep shade of red tinging his cheeks. Not only that, but he looked like he was trying to avert his gaze from the group of people standing in the middle and chose to look at the multiple tables that were topped with a plethora of dishes over her shoulder. The gamer was confused on how could such a simple gesture of merely holding hands make Kazuichi react like that and Hajime feel that way. Weren't she and Hajime close in the first place?

"But we are close, Soda-kun... I think..." Chiaki calmly replied back to Kazuichi. She then turned to look at Hajime and clutched his hand with her own. "...Do you think so too, Hinata-kun?" she asked with innocent-looking eyes.

"Huh?!!" Hajime made some sound with his mouth that sounded like that... she thinks. "I mean... I guess we are...?" His lips curved in an awkward-looking smile. Chiaki took note of the red on his cheeks somehow becoming even redder than before.

Eventually, they settled in with the rest of the chattering group. It seems that Kazuichi was the only one who wasn't happy with their arrival since the others were actually glad to see Hajime.

After all, it was Chiaki who personally invited him to the party. She knew that he wouldn't even have come if it weren't for her insistence; out of everyone in her class, she was the most insistent on bringing him to socialize. He was the perfect conversation partner that Chiaki thinks she could never be. It just... never felt the same if he wasn't there. Even if Hajime was "just a Reserve Course student", he would still be a perfect fit with her splendidly wild classmates. It was like he had a natural ability that brainwashes everyone he meets to want to be his friend, no matter how reclusive or antisocial they could be.

That's probably why I was attracted to Hinata-kun in the first place... Chiaki smiled at that thought. Honestly, she didn't mind if that was the case. Loneliness was something she never wanted to come back to haunt her. Sure, it was a major part of her life, but now that she had gained some great friends...

Multiplayer games became a lot more fun to play.

Chiaki took this moment to drift away from her friends who were deep into their conversation about the food tonight to do a head count. She saw Akane eyeing the food on the tables with Byakuya and Nekomaru both restraining her from charging in first. After their last picnic together at a tropical beach, the ferocious gymnast single-handedly reduced their food supply by a whopping 80%. They had to divide the limited provisions based on their appetite if they all wished to eat; even so, their appetite could not be satiated if all they had about 1/8 of a cup of rice and only a mere spoonful of protein and greens. Chiaki's meal that day was enough to fit in a soup ladle and that wasn't even the worst of it. They all went home with grumbling stomachs that day, including Akane who was still somehow hungry. She'd be a tough pet to raise in Chiaki's video games.

Moving her eyes to a different crowd of people, Chiaki was able to pinpoint all of them, with the exception of Teruteru and Nagito, whom the latter insisted that he watch over the sultry chef's flirtatious movements on the food that the the Ultimates would eat. She then checked the time by fishing out her multi-purpose handheld console from her catpack. With the help of Chihiro and Kazuichi, they were able to modify her Nyantendo DS into a smartphone of sorts, complete with a programmed keyboard for texting, an improved speaker and microphone functionality, better sound and graphic emulation, a better user interface, and even a virtual rabbit that she can take care of in real time. Chiaki didn't need all these features added to her console but she still thanked them for offering to improve one of her consoles for helping them out when they needed someone.

She flipped open her DS and focused first on checking her pet that she named Niki, as suggested by Chihiro herself. Niki decided that it was a good idea to be a bit of a naughty girl and pooped all over the place, filling her home with brown piles of cream everywhere. She spent some time cleaning up her dirty place and fed her some treats afterwards. With Niki finally taken care of, she checked the time and noticed that it had already been an hour since they arrived. She closed her console and went up the stage to address everyone to formally start the party. Teruteru delivered the last remaining dishes just in time too.

Chiaki whistled to catch everyone's attention. Gradually, the chatter quieted down and they all turned towards the stage with mild expectance. Now that she had everyone's attention, she coughed to clear her throat and tried to raise her voice. Formalities first, right? "Good evening, everyone! This year's been rough on us lately, hasn't it? We had our fair share of struggles, downfalls and sadness but we pushed through with everything we've got. And most importantly, we've gone through it all, together, as one big, happy family. I'm so glad that we were given the chance to relax and... have a little fun for once tonight!" The others gave a round of applause at her impromptu speech, much to her delight. Her legs were shaking on top of the stage since she wasn't used to speaking in front of a large group of people at a large event yet, so she wanted to make her words short to get it over with.

Chiaki waited for the claps to quiet down before continuing. "...I'll keep this short cuz I know that you guys are hungry... and probably don't want to hear me talk all night... I think so... Maybe..." she muttered as she focused her gaze on the stage floor. Her voice was getting quieter with doubt swirling around her tongue, holding back her loud voice. The room felt chillier for some reason, so she wrapped her arms around herself to warm her body. Chiaki was starting to regret ever leaving her jacket behind. She can't fiddle with her hood anymore...

"Don't worry! Ibuki will listen to Chiaki-chan even if her speech is too long and boring!" Ibuki yelled to reassure her.

"Yeah!" Akane joined in the cheering as well, pumping her fists high up in the air. "Nanami was always there listenin' to us rant about stuff so that means we should listen to her too! I'll punch anyone who doesn't listen to her!"

Chiaki lifted her head up to see the beaming faces of all her dearly beloved classmates. It was a welcoming sight that made her blush and incredibly happy. She forced a gulp down her throat and tried to bring back her speech voice. Hopefully, she won't hesitate now... maybe.

"Thanks, you guys... Really, I mean it. This party wouldn't have happened if it weren't for our combined efforts to make it so. It makes me happy as your class rep! I just wish Yukizome-sensei wasn't busy right now so she can join us tonight... I'm sure she would be proud of us all... I think. But let's all celebrate for her tonight! I already asked Koizumi-san to film this party for Yukizome-sensei so she can watch it as if she was here herself..." Chiaki looked behind her and coughed for a bit then motioned to end her speech.

"Let's get this party started, everyone!"

The others let out a roar of excitement and went crazy in the auditorium. Chiaki, however, had different plans and approached Teruteru instead since there was something bugging her during the end of her speech. As much as she didn't particularly enjoy a certain white-haired boy's hope speeches to follow after hers, it was a sign of normalcy within the group. Was this her gut telling her that his absence was a bad omen to her?

"Hey, Hanamura-kun." Chiaki tapped the plump chef's shoulder to make him turn around. "Where's Komaeda-kun? Wasn't he supposed to watch over you?"

Teruteru pulled out a comb to brush his suave pompadour. "I do not know, Nanami-san." he curtly replied with his smooth voice. "I heard he had some business to take care with in the backstage." He then gave a snorty chuckle that sounded like a pig oinking and started to bleed through his nose. "*snort *snort* I wanted to join but I have such wonderful people to, *ahem, serve after all..."

Hmm, so Nagito is busy right now... "Ok. Thank you, Hanamura-kun."

"Hmhmhm! There are other ways to thank me, Nanami-san. Just give me a call and I'll be right there to offer you a special dish just for our beloved class rep..!~"

"I'll... keep that in mind for now."

She grabbed something light to eat then returned to Hajime's group and stood beside him. It seems that while she was gone, he was being dragged around by Ibuki to talk to everyone, making his orange juice spill all over the place, which made the poor boy tear up a bit with all the wasted deliciousness. He managed to break free from her grasp by using her ADHD to his advantage. Now, she's keeping Kazuichi busy by forcing him into modifying all of her electric guitars into flamethrowers. It was the mechanic's mistake to continue the conversation by telling her that the idea was stupid and dangerous. The lively Ibuki wouldn't even have minded if her guitars were the reason Hope's Peak would crumble to ashes if she were to do a live school-wide concert.

Going back to the topic of Hajime...

"Are you enjoying yourself so far, Hinata-kun?" she asked while nibbling on a pork bun.

"I'm not really sure..." Hajime said so with a sheepish laugh. "...On one hand, it's nice to be talking to other people even though I was getting pulled around by Mioda and on the other hand, I just... feel so out of place. D-Don't get me wrong, Nanami! I enjoy these nice talks that we usually have but... I'm afraid that they'll get bored of me soon..." his face fell yet Chiaki saw his sullen green eyes look over to hers for a brief second. "...I'm still-"

Before she can reply to his self-deprecation, the speakers made a loud screeching drone which immediately stopped after the lights in the auditorium suddenly went out. Chiaki lost sight of everyone in the darkness since the glass windows were covered by a thick layer of curtains.

She should have just listened to her intuition instead. After all, it's what got her through those Adventure RPGs...

---

Beyond the darkness, he heard the whirring sound of the ventilation systems start up. That was the signal. He immediately began to playfully slap the joystick controller in front of him repeatedly and then he slowly pushed the big red button with his index finger to create suspense for himself.

A screeching noise played and stopped ten seconds after it was played. He psyched himself up and twisted his face into the most villainous smile he could manage. If someone could have seen his face right now, it looked inhuman and ghastly. All the white in his eyes were dyed black with malice and his face turned into a darker shade of purple with his mouth resembling a black hole that was shaped like a crescent.

Simply put, it was the stuff of nightmares and that stuff of nightmares would give those foolish buffoons nightmares for days to come.

"It's showtime."

---

Ok, this chapter has gone on long enough. From 2k words from the first chapter to 14k words in this one?! Insane, right?

But oh boy... I just brought this unholy fic back from the depths of abandonment

I'm so screwed, aren't I? My schedule is starting to get cramped as I have less and less free time on my hands now. I need to work on making shorter chapters XD.

To make things clear, I'm not dead yet. Although, I'm starting to lose my drive in writing this fic with the lack of feedback. I'd really appreciate it if you guys just left anything down in the comment threads as they are like my cup of coffee to get me back to cranking out my magic. At least, there's one more chapter left and after that, I'll be done with this and go back to writing much shorter fics if I can't keep up this sort of commitment.

They say that quality should be prioritized over quantity, but I'll focus on the latter next and see if that gets me anywhere...