Baka's notes: It's been a while, this chapter was loooong and almost all chapters of this story will be as loooong. ugh!

But I hope you'll enjoy it


Chapter 1-1: Despair Rejects

"Alright, the invitations are about to be sent to the guests. Are you ready to receive them, Naegi?" Angela asked the Luckster.

"Hmm…"

"Naegi…"

"No no, I'm ready. I just want to be sure of what my tasks are before the 'receptions'." the burnet waved his hands, alarmed for another lecture from the blue haired AI.

"Hm. Alright, better be safe than sorry." Angela closed her eyes as she sat in front of her desk, when she opened her eyes, her yellow mechanical irises stared at Naegi.

"It's simple. You will be dealing with the guests. In a physical manner.

"So a fight…" he whispered.

"That's correct. There is the possibility that you die during the process of reception, but it's only temporary. You'll get back up when the Library closes at the end of the day."

"No one here may rest without my permission."

Naegi gulped at that, he better not mess up! Everyone here depends on his results! Just thinking of this calmed his mind as he frowned with determination.

"I won't let you down!" he exclaimed.

"Good. If you need any information or have more questions, here's a manual." Angela snapped her fingers again and a small book appeared in Naegi's hands, "We're sending the invitations in ten minutes so get ready."

"Yes, Miss!"


Running down an alleyway were two men wearing depraved Monokuma masks. One was wearing a green jacket with dirty fur collar, black ripped jeans and mismatching shoes. While the other man, shorter, was wearing a long dirty brown coat with a simple black T-shirt underneath and green sweat pants and sneakers.

"Run Nobe! Keep running!" the tall man shouted to his comrade.

"What do you think I'm doing, Kyle?" 'Nobe' shouted back.

Shouts were heard coming from behind them, screaming to find the two of them and gut them alive.

"Crap, a fork path! Where should we go?! Left? Right? Forward?" Kyle demanded but when he looked back, he only saw his companion jumping through a window.

"Hurry up! This way!" Nobe whispered.

He didn't need to be told twice as the man with the green jacket jumped through the window too and held his breath along with Nobe.

"Where did those traitors go?" one of the pursuing Despair asked.

"I don't know… But there's three paths and there's three of us. Let's split and hunt them down. Finders keepers!"

"I'll mount their heads on the main hall! Hyde-sama will be so proud!"

The voices of the three Despairs slowly faded away as they got further away from the two chased 'Despairs'. They took a deep breath of respite before the one with the coat snapped.

"I. Can't. TAKE THIS ANYMORE! I'm taking this fucking mask off!"

"What are you doing?! It's our only safe pass through those damn streets! We just have to leave for a new place and start all over." Kyle suggested.

"And how are we supposed to leave the city?! Pretty much all Despair gangs already banned us for 'not being "murdery" enough', now they are hunting us down! And then, there's the damn Future Foundation shooting down everyone with a Monokuma mask at the exits." Nobe roared in frustration, kicking an empty chair, "We're trapped!"

"..." Kyle looked down, he knew his friend was right, "What if we take off the masks when we reach the borders of the Foundation's camps?"

"That could work if they were morons… But they will probably start investigating around the buildings we appeared from. And if they find our Monokuma masks, we're done for." Nobe explained.

"Then we can just take them off further away."

"...But then it would mean braving through the streets while being hunted by Despair… It is the Ultimate Hunter's playground…"

"Then what, Nobe!? What the fuck do we do?!" Kyle snapped, losing his patience under stress.

"...Nothing…" Nobe said softly but with frustration, resigned to his fate.

"No… no, no no! We survived two years! Two years of this insanity, witnessed, participated in those horrors! To survive! Not to die here!" Kyle shouted, now he was the one angry.

He stood up, ready to kick something too. That's when some black paper slipped out of his pocket, Nobe noticed it and asked about it.

"Hey, Kyle. What is this?" he pointed at the paper on the floor.

The man in the green jacket turned around, saw the paper then crouched to examine it.

"What the heck is this?"

"I dunno, it was in your pocket."

"I… I never saw this in my life." he grabbed the paper and saw some inscriptions on it. He started reading it, "Dude, it's an invitation."

"To what…?"

"It says here that if we sign this paper, we'll have to face an ordeal to gain power and wealth or something. If we fail we get turned into books."

"...Trash this shit. It's clearly bull." Nobe deadpanned.

"No wait… What if it's legit? There have been weird things going on lately, haven't you heard?" Kyle said.

"Oh yeaaah, you mean that rumor about the Ultimate Cook turning into a monster and locking himself up in some sort of dungeon kitchen? Or those people exploding out of nowhere? Do you seriously believe that crap?" Nobe smirked under his mask.

"Well… I mean… Do we even have a better choice?" Kyle asked.

He wasn't wrong, it was death, death or maybe death… They were cornered and had no other way out. Nobe let out a deep sigh.

"... You're right… and who knows? If we win this, we might be able to get out of this mess." Nobe nodded before looking around, "Help me find a pen."


Back at the Library, Naegi and Angela were standing in front of each other in the Director's office. The brunet suddenly looked around, confused.

"What was that, just now?" he asked.

"We can take a peek at the stories of our upcoming guests." Angela explained calmly.

"That sounds very creepy. I know more than a few who would scream about how illegal this sounds." Naegi smiled awkwardly, remembering especially his moral compass friend.

"It's more convenient to know what kind of guests will visit us in advance, isn't it?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, "Besides it's the invitation's will, not mine." she closed her eyes.

Naegi shook his head, trying not to ask about it as he knows that the confusion will just eat him up and waste time.. He already talked with her about how Angela, despite being the director of this Library, barely understood the mechanics of this place. She knew what to do, how the Library worked in a way, but doesn't know why.

"But if the invitation can teleport the guests… Can't we just skip the reception? And just teleport them… somewhere dangerous?" he suggested and already hated himself thinking of such things.

"Well, Naegi Makoto, I didn't expect you to suggest such a gruesome idea: teleport them directly to their deaths so you don't have to lift a finger and dirty your hands." she smirked.

"Wh-What?! No! I swear I was just…"

"I am just joking. And to answer your question, I cannot do that. We can only take a peek when it has been decided that the guests are coming here on their own volition." Angela explained, "And the invitation's power isn't wholly mine, either. I'm only borrowing it."

"...So you can't decide where they get teleported." Naegi concluded.

"That's correct." the blue haired AI affirmed, "I have to say, it's the first time I really see the outside world during the Tragedy… it really is in a sad state." she noted.

"Yeah no kidding… Just as we left it… I pity those Despair Rejects, they really got cornered there."

"Despair Rejects?" Angela asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, I think that's how Mukuro referred to them: people who at the beginning joined the Despair to survive, but when Future Foundation started helping and fighting the Despair, they tried to run away from the real Despair but got hunted down by them, and would be killed by the agents of Future Foundation if they see them with Monokuma mask… I… I don't want to imagine how many people got killed by both Despair and Future Foundation agents that way…" Naegi said in a sorrowful tone.

"I see…"

"By the way, they mentioned weird things happening outside, do you think…?" The ex-Luckster started

"That the invitation have something to do with it? Impossible. The invitation simply finds a way to those who need it." Angela explained.

"Alright… Then what were they talking about?... An Abnormality, maybe?" Naegi suggested.

"We'll see. In the meantime, you have to get ready. Our guests don't look fancy but oh well." Angela sighed.


The two Despair Rejects entered the Library through the front doors, the entrance hall was lit with an orange hue from some lanterns on the walls, between many many bookcases that were filling every wall of the room. The two looked around, impressed to see such a rather beautiful and fancy sight untouched by the Tragedy.

"Wooow… This is a fancy place." Kyle whistled.

"Dude… We just…" Nobe started worriedly.

"Teleported, yeah. If this place is as freaky a-" the other man followed up but got interrupted by Angela who appeared out of nowhere at the sound of a finger snap, "WHOA!"

"WHAT THE-?!"

The two men freaked out as the blue haired DIrector greeted them.

"Greetings, dear guests. This is the Library." she said with a small smile, "And I am Angela, the librarian of my role's namesake. You may find what you desire here, but you also may end up yielding your precious possessions to us." she added.

"So… You're the owner here? And we'll find what we need here? And we can take it?" Kyle asked.

"Indeed. You may earn books to be exact." Angela nodded.

"And those books will give us the power to get our freedom from this shit we're in?" The man in the brown coat asked too.

"Of course, their value is indisputable." The Ai frowned.

"Nobe… We don't have much of a choice."

"Right… Right…"

Angela slightly bowed and showed them the stairs, where their 'ordeal' awaited for the Despair Rejects to get their loot.

"May you find your book in this place." she said before disappearing.


The two Despair Rejects arrived on a large bridge section made completely of gray books, with various piles of them scattered across it. They looked around only to see various rising tower piles of books. The walls of this giant room were large bookshelves filled with more books.

As they walked down the bridge, they encountered in the middle a single young man, he was wearing a black sleeveless suit with a white and black stripe tie, white pants and some knee high black boots. He had short spiky brown hair and a pointy cowlick on the top of it. In his hand he was holding a large, heavy looking black riot stick.

"Greetings," the young man, Naegi Makoto started, "I'll be your ordeal to get the books you desire. All you have to do is defeat me in combat and walk through the door behind me. But be aware that if you fail, you will turn into books yourself." he explained before getting in a fighting position.

Naegi sighed internally, he repeated word for word what Angela taught him to say when receiving guests. He could see the two men looking at each other in confusion before themselves getting ready to fight.

The tall one with the green jacket, Kyle, took out a broken pipe while Nobe pulled out a machete from under his coat.

The three opponents stared at each other for a second before rushing in to exchange blows.

In all honesty, Naegi, despite his looks, had the upper hand. He could win this fight rather easily: he does have almost six years of experience fighting Abnormalities, stronger and panicked co-workers. He trained for a very long time with Geburah, Mukuro and Sakura. He learned how to dodge and hit back, sometimes even for the kill. Heck, he killed all his friends at least once in the Hell hole that was Lobotomy Corporation, even his girlfriends.

But that was mostly because he knew they'd come back. They'd get extended at the end of the day and be having dinner together afterwards, he fought and defeated Abnormalities he considered his friends because he knew that they'll be teleported back to their containment room as if nothing happened. The only time he killed and the 'victim' stood dead was because they were either spawns of Abnormalities or Ordeals of colors.

Maybe that's why, in this fight, where he knew that it was to the death, he knew that once he lands the final hit on them, they'll be turned into books and maybe never see the light of day, or at least not for a very long time… And stripping that right, that feeling from someone else was… hard for the ex-Luckster. Yes, that's probably why Naegi wasn't very focused and found himself lying on the ground, near unconscious, regretting his decisions and his brain yelling at him to get back up and finish the job or el-

"Stay down, kid… We'd rather not kill… not anymore…" he heard Nobe say as he walked past Naegi.

"Please…" demanded Kyle as he followed his friend.

Naegi was breathing heavily, calming his mind as he knew they would come back soon enough. His thoughts were proven when he heard the man in the green jacket exclaim.

"It's not opening! The door to leave is stuck!"

"No… Don't you get it?" Nobe said in a soft tone but not devoid of dread, "We have to defeat the ordeal to go through… Which means we have to kill the kid."

Angela's assistant didn't need to look back, he could feel the two rejects stare a hole on the back of his head.

"I… I'll do it." Kyle said as he walked back towards the young man on the ground.

That was the moment Naegi's mind went into overdrive as he could hear the man's footsteps getting closer and closer, like the reaper approaching to harvest his life. He was about to die… but here… there's no Extend Machine, there's no second chances. If he dies, it's over. Everything.

No more Naegi.

He then remembered why he was doing this. Why he accepted this dirty work, it was to liberate his friends and finally have the chance to leave, to be free. But if he dies now, who will save his friends? Who will help Angela to finally be free from whatever is going on with her.

Miss Angela.

What was wrong with her, why is she doing this? He could tell she needed help, and out of everyone she reached out to him for help. He can't give up now.

He wants to see everyone again. He wants to help outside. He wants to find his family if they are still alive!

Everyone.

His coworkers, Connor, Pauline, Armaggeddon, Nina, everyone he befriended from their time at Lobotomy. His classmates, Byakuya, Toko, Chihiro, Mondo, Taka, Hina, Sakura, Celeste, Hifumi, Hiro, Leon. His family, Mom, Dad, Komaru! His… His lovers: Sayaka, Mukuro, Kyoko!

He can't die now!

"Sorry kid… Nothing against you. But I want to live." he heard Kyle apologize in a whisper.

The Luckster opened his eyes with determination for survival, he looked up. The Despair Reject had both arms raised, the metal pipe in hand, ready to bash Naegi's skull in.

But not today.

Naegi put his fighting skills he learned from the best to test once more.

He rolled out of the way as soon as he saw the downward movement of the man's arms.

"Uh?!"

The impact of the pipe and the hard floor sent a vibration throughout the whole body of the man. Naegi used that opportunity to strike the man's legs with the riot baton, and quickly followed with an uppercut with the same weapon. The Despair Reject was so surprised and hurt he was practically staggered.

And the ex-Luckster didn't waste this chance to unleash a final hit, he grabbed the riot baton with both hands, he stood up in front of the man on his knees. He put one foot forward, turned his upper body, his body position was one of a baseball player ready to swing a bat.

"Like Leon taught me…" he whispered to himself.

"U-Uh…" Kyle tried to say but it was too late.

With determined eyes full of tears of the idea of taking someone's life, and his mind apologizing for what he's about to do over and over, Naegi swung his body and arms with full strength, straight into the middle of the Monokuma mask.

The hit was powerful enough to send the man flying backwards.

His body was suddenly surrounded by light and when he hit the floor, he exploded in many, many pages of light that disappeared as quickly as they appeared from the 'explosion'.

One down.

Nobe was frozen in shock, not believing what he just saw. His friend, Kyle was… dead? He wasn't sure, there's no body. But he exploded into pages of light. So the invitation wasn't kidding, if they die they get turned into books.

Suddenly his hesitation to kill disappeared as he despaired and got filled with rage.

"You BASTARD!" he roared as he ran to the young man and swung his machete at him.

Naegi dodged later than he needed to escape from this attack unscathed. His right eye got slashed and was now bleeding profusely. He let out a scream of pain but didn't fall down.

He looked up at Nobe who was trembling in rage.

The two opponents glared at each other before attacking. Nobe didn't even try to dodge or strategize, he just wanted to kill the brunet in front of him. So it wasn't a surprise that Naegi had the upper hand and quickly managed to weaken the Despair Reject near death.

"Aaah…Aaah…" Nobe puffed behind his Monokuma mask.

He was going to die, he could feel it. One more hit and he'll get turned into a book. It's do or die!

"RRAAAAAAAH!" He suddenly screamed and dashed towards Naegi, his machete aimed for a thrusting stab.

Naegi jumped in surprise at the sudden outburst, he couldn't dodge in time the final attack, he tried to parry it but the momentum of the charge knocked his weapon out of his hands and got stabbed in the heart, from the front to back.

"If I die… I'm taking you with me, asshole." Nobe said in a dark tone.

Summoning the remainder of his strength, Naegi raised a fist and punched the man in the Monokuma face. Mondo would be proud if he saw.

Nobe exploded in a myriad of pages of light, and as did his weapon. And without the weapon to keep the assistant's blood from pouring out, it did just that. And in a very big quantity!

Naegi fell to the floor with a gasp.

"N-No…" he whispered before falling face first to the floor, "I… I can't… die…"


Naegi opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of Angela's office. He looked around, confused.

"D-Did I imag-" he started, but Angela appeared in front of him in a snap, "Ah!" he yelped.

"I have to say, I'm rather impressed. Good job on your first reception." the blue haired AI congratulated him.

"Wait so it wasn't… Of course not, I can't die here. But then why…Miss Angela."

"Yes, Naegi?"

"Did you… erase my knowledge about the fact that I can't die in the Library during the reception?" he asked, sweating a bit as he was worried about the answer.

"That's correct." she said nonchalantly.

"Wh-Why?!" he exclaimed for very good reason.

"To heighten up our guests' emotions." Angela started, and quickly continued before Naegi could look at her with a confused look, "The best way for you to fight seriously would be if you fight for your life, and so, facing such determination to get out of the ordeal alive, the guests will also fight seriously. The fear, the stress and other powerful emotions will heighten then. And as they do, the more copies of the guest books we get once they are defeated." she explained, "And I think it could be useful for you later too."

Naegi was trying to make sense of what she just said, but one part really stood out to him: 'defeated'. Did he really do it? Did he really kill those two Despair Rejects?

"Before you start feeling guilty, they are not dead, see?" Angela raised two books, "They get turned into books, and they will attract more guests as they fill up this Library."

The assistant didn't want to talk about if being a 'book' was any better than death, nor did he want to ask if she'll do the same trick every time there's a reception, because he knew her answer beforehand. Instead he decided to hope that since they aren't technically dead, that meant that sometime in the future, hopefully when Angela becomes human again and understands the importance of human lives, she would bring today's and all of the future guests' back to life.

"Anyways, let's get back to work." the Director of the Library suddenly said.

"What? Another reception already?!"

"Of course not, we received a lot of books from those two. It is now time to organize them." she said with an amused grin from the changing expressions from panic to relief in the young man's face.

"Oh, okay. On it, Miss Angela!" Naegi smiled.


Chapter 1-2: Hunters

"Naegi?... Naegi?..." Angela called out, after not hearing a response or footsteps coming to her location, she sighed and snapped her fingers.

In an instant, the Luckster was in front of her, missing his shoes and his black suit.

"I was getting ready." he deadpanned, slightly annoyed and embarrassed.

"Oh." she snapped her fingers again to send him back to his room and waited for him to arrive.

After a few minutes, Naegi arrived at the office, cheeks still a bit flushed from the earlier mishap. He bowed to his boss and greeted her.

"Good morning to you too, Naegi. It's time to work." Angela said.

The ex-Luckster winced at remembering what that meant: fight to the death.

"But before that, let me present to you a new feature that I came up with that should be useful for future receptions." she said with a grin and a page in her hand.

Naegi raised an eyebrow, "A page?" he asked.

"Here. Take it." She handed him the piece of paper.

The ahoge boy approached her desk and took the paper from her hand, he looked at it for a bit, from the '1' at one corner and the title, he could tell it was the first page of a book, and by the large name in the title, he could tell from who: Kyle.

"Wait, isn't that?"

"A page from one of yesterday's guests? That's right. We'll be calling this type of page a Key page."

"A Key page?" Naegi repeated.

"Now think that you are wearing it like some sort of armor." the Ai added.

"What?"

"Just do as I say."

Confused, he closed his eyes and started thinking deeply, then suddenly he felt his whole body grow heavier, he opened his eyes and when he looked down, he saw that he wasn't wearing his normal Librarian attire but he was wearing a green jacket with dirty fur collar, black ripped jeans and mismatching shoes. He was wearing Kyle's clothes.

"What the-?"

"That's right, by equipping a Key page from a guest, you'll be able to use their strengths and fighting abilities. Isn't that useful?" Angela said with a smug grin.

"Oh I'm sure it really is, I do feel somehow stronger! But… It also feels incredibly wrong and violating for the original person." Naegi answered, looking at himself some more, he even had the weapon pipe from the Despair Reject.

The blue haired AI Director frowned in annoyance at his complaint, "There's no pleasing you is there?" she sighed.

'That was supposed to please me?" Naegi thought.

"Anyway, it's time."


In a building near where the Despair Rejects Kyle and Nobe were last seen, three 'Despair Hunters' were slowly starting to panic.

"How is that possible?! It's been twenty hours since we lost our prey!" the woman of the group said, she was wearing a tattered yellow shirt with black ripped shorts and sports shoes. She was wearing a Monokuma mask like all Despair.

"Like you said, Mai… What pathetic hunters we are." The second, rounder, man said to the woman, he was topless with a big Monokuma 'scar-tattoo' on his chest, he was wearing black sports pants and black sandals.

"But I swear! I was certain I heard them in that building! They were weak and tired from running! They couldn't have disappeared like that." The last man, a tall one wearing a green t-shirt and blue jeans said.

"I believe you Zakari!" Mai exclaimed, "It's Lomo who's having doubts about our hunter skills!" she pointed her finger at the fat man.

"Listen, all I'm saying is that Michael Hyde is going to fucking punish us if we don't bring the heads of those two failures!" Lomo growled, "While I would love to get punished by an Ultimate Despair, I think I lost enough fingers for me to be effective! I think he'll just cut my throat now!" the man sweat in worry.

"Or he'll skin you alive." Mai added.

"Or punish everyone this time around. He probably got bored of only punishing Lomo from our mistakes. But this time it's a big one…" Zakari sighed.

The three hunters sighed and looked down, only to notice something very peculiar at their feet.

"Was that always there?" Mai asked as she crouched and grabbed the piece of black paper.

"That definitely wasn't there…" Zakari said suspiciously as he walked to his partner and read the content of the paper with her.

"Hey don't leave me out of it!" Lomo exclaimed and joined them.

As they read the content of the invitation, they were ready to laugh and trash the thing until Zakari noticed something very important in the 'Books of the Day' section.

"Wait! Those book names… Aren't they the names of our two preys?!" he exclaimed.

"What?! No way!"

"But couldn't this be just a coincidence?" Lomo suggested.

"Do you really think so? We're looking for those two goons and suddenly an invitation appears telling us where they went? That this 'Library' stole our prey and turned them into books!" Zakari said, voice filled with anger.

"Do you really believe that?!"

"There's a lot of weird things happening around, that's nothing."

"You mean the Ultimate Chef turning into a monster?"

"No, I'm talking about the Ultimate Pyrotechnician blowing himself up and building." Zakari said, "And don't get me started on 'he just had bombs on him, or something went wrong', I know what I saw: his head was a freaking firework rocket. I ran the fuck away when I saw that!" the Hunter recounted.

As the two men were arguing about the genuity of the invitation and its power, Mai was looking around for something to write with. When she found a pen, she called out her partners.

"Hey guys, found a pen. Let's do this."

"Wait, are you sure?!"

"We don't have much choice! If we bring the books, we can at least explain to Michael Hyde about our failure and he might forgive us. It's either that or get extra punished." Mai explained.

The two other men looked at each other, she was right… No choice but to do that.

"Fine…" Zakari sighed and walked towards Mai.

"Damnit, hopefully the ordeal isn't too hard…" Lomo did the same.


Naegi looked shocked at what he just saw, and of course Angela noticed it.

"What is it?" she asked, interested.

"Those people are Despair Hunters. I didn't expect to see some so soon." Naegi answered.

"Despair Hunters? What are those?" the Ai asked again.

"They are the Despairs that are under an old senpai's leadership, the Ultimate Hunter: Michael Hyde. From what I understood during the month we were in the middle of Tragedy, a few of the Ultimates that turned into Despair started factions with them on top. I don't really know how many but the ones we encountered the most during our escape were the Hunters." the assistant explained.

"Interesting… Do you happen to know more of those factions?"

Naegi started thinking, he could name a few like the Impostors or the Yakuzas of the Kuzuryu clan but who knows how many there were, and who knows which Ultimate Despairs decided to go solo. Angela listened closely.

"Those look like good targets."

"T-Targets?" Naegi stammered, "You're not thinking-"

"Well it's too soon. I don't believe we have the books that could catch the interests of such big groups. We'll have to go little by little. And I guess books of those so-called Hunters could attract the attention of someone." she said with a grin, a rather dark one to boot as her assistant just gulped in worry.

With a smirk, Angela told Naegi to get ready for the reception as she will be greeting the guests soon.

"Miss Angela… are you going to erase my memory again during the reception?"

"Of course."

"Oh man…"


"Wow. We really teleported." Mai said in awe.

"So the rumors are true, freaky shit really is happening around." Lomo said in a rather worried but excited tone.

"Now that we're calm… This whole experience is rather… fun. It's been a while since we had such an interesting hunt." Zakari smirked under his Monokuma mask.

The three Hunters started to let out a dark giggle but the Director of the Library appeared before them.

"Greeting dear guests, I am Angela, the Director of the Library."

"FRESH MEAT! Dibs!" Lomo squealed as he threw a large kitchen knife at Angela but to everyone besides the victim's surprise, the knife just ricochet from the Director's robotic body.

"What the-? You're not human?" Mai exclaimed in disbelief.

"Incredible… That really just makes the hunt even more interesting…" Zakari said, taking out a metal bat.

But the AI wasn't having none of this, she let out an annoyed sigh.

"Don't waste your breath. You're here for the books aren't you."

"Oh right."

"All you need to do is go up those stairs and win the ordeal waiting for you." she pointed at the stairs in question.

"Alright but can I ask a question? What exactly are you and how can we kill you? I'm sure if we bring your head with the books to Hyde, we'll be given special weapons for future hunts." Lomo asked as he retrieved his knife.

Even with those masks, Angela could tell the kind of face those three Hunters were making: one filled with Despair and Bloodlust.

"... May you find your book in this place."


"Greetings," Naegi Makoto greeted the Hunters when they appeared on the bridge

, he was wearing Kyle's clothes, "I'll be your ordeal to get the books you desire. All you have to do is defeat me in combat and walk through the door behind me. But be aware that if you fail, you will turn into books yourself." he explained before getting in a fighting position, pulling out the pipe from under his coat.

Here he was again, in another fight to the death, against Despair Hunters… will he be alright? It was a 3v1 fight, how on Earth should he do this…

"Before we start, can I ask something? Are you human?" Lomo asked and when the young man In front of him nodded, he smiled darkly under the mask, it was all he needed to hear. "Thanks, now die." he threw his knife with utmost precision towards Naegi's face.

What he didn't expect was the ex-Luckster to parry the weapon with his weapon and deflect the projectile out of the bridge.

"Shit!" the fat hunter exclaimed.

"Lomo… don't tell me…"

"Was that your only knife?"

Lomo started sweating profusely, there was nothing he could say in his defense. He was so used to throwing the knife at running prey that barely knew how to defend themselves that he got too full of himself and now lost the only weapon he had. That was extremely embarrassing.

Meanwhile, Naegi let out a small sigh of relief, thank goodness his reflexes got sharper from his life at Lobotomy Corporation. And now it looks like one of the Hunter was unarmed, but none the less dangerous. It was just a small handicap for them.

"Can one of you…?"

"NO!" the other two Hunters yelled at their stupid partner.

"Fight with your fist. Now let's go." Zakari said as he rushed towards Naegi, weapon raised for a bashing.

The assistant dodged the blow and counter-attacked with a blow to the side of the Hunter, sending him rolling on the floor. But Mai was now ready to fight too and was much faster than her two companions. She was armed with rusty brass knuckles and had metal plates on her tibias and shoes. She threw a punch towards Naegi's face but he blocked the attack, only to get followed with a kick to the stomach.

That created some distance between the two parties. Zakari stood back up, cracking his neck as Lomo finally joined the fray while cracking his knuckles. Naegi stood up straight, took a deep breath.

He can do this. He mustn't die until he saves his friends… He can do this.

He charged forwards.

The first thing Naegi noticed fighting those three hunters at the same time was that they were moving slower than expected, at least the two men were, Mai was very fast.

But he saw how after each attack they were panting. He quickly understood that they were tired. From what he could piece out from the vision he had before the reception, they spent the whole day and night looking for the Despair Rejects from yesterday. They haven't slept at all. And now their tiredness was catching up to them.

Looks like his Luck turned to his favor this time.

While Naegi managed to parry and hit back his opponents, it didn't mean that the Despairs couldn't reach him. They were able to land a few hits on him, very hard hits. Taking a baseball bat to the ribs and metallic kicks in the legs or arms was extremely painful. But he persevered through the pain and blood.

After a few exchanges, Lomo was the first to go down. Being tired and getting his own fists parried by a metal pipe was pretty damaging, he blew up into white pages after falling to the ground, exhausted.

While his two partners were surprised by what exactly 'turning into a book' meant, Naegi used this moment of distraction to target Zakari and hit him to the side with his pipe.

That sent the man crashing on a pile of books, staggered, he could barely move. The assistant was about to follow up his attack with another but Mai was already beside him and kicked him in the legs once more before jumping away.

Naegi could barely feel his legs now but charged at the stunned Despair. When the latter saw the young brunet coming at him, he tried to raise his weapon to protect himself but he was too slow and got hit one last time on the head. He 'died' from a bonk, how embarrassing…

Only one left to go.

"Hehehe…" he heard Mai snicker, "Finally got rid of those dead weights." she said in a dark tone yet full of glee.

"Uh?"

She suddenly charged at him with a fist raised but as he was about to parry her, she leaned backwards and slid on the floor to get behind the assistant. Before Naegi could turn around and counter whatever she was planning, she grabbed his left arm and twisted it on an angle it shouldn't bend. He tried to break free from her grip but it was too late.

One punch was all it took to dislocate his arm.

He let out a loud painful scream as she then kicked his back to throw the ex-Luckster to the ground.

"Yess… Crawl away… Lomo and Zakari always said that I play too much with my prey but it's just sooo good. Show me you- uh?" she was stunned into silence as the librarian in front of her did something she personally didn't expect.

She was used to seeing her prey try to run away from her and not stand back up, facing her with eyes full of determination. She grinned maniacally under her mask, what a fine prey!

But they were both at their wit's end.

'I must finish this quickly!' the two opponents thought.

She was the first to make a move, she jumped and spun around to deliver a powerful kick to the young man's chest. The loud cracks proved that some ribs got broken. But then Naegi grabbed her leg before she could pull it away, surprising her again. He then pulled her towards him and with a swing of the pipe, he hit her straight to the side of the Monokuma mask.

As she hit the floor, she heard him approaching her quickly.

Aaah, what an interesting prey. She wished she could kill him but her time was up, he was already next to her and the pipe was coming straight for her face.


"Congratulations on your second reception, Naegi Makoto." Angela said with a small applause.

"Thank you." he sighed, he grabbed his left arm and patted his chest, "Ugh, despite just being healed I can still remember the pain from those wounds… It's exhausting."

"Hmmm… Maybe I could try and erase those memories for when you come back after a successful reception." Angela said with a small smile, "Like a small reward."

She then signaled him to follow her as it was time to organize the books they got from those three guests. On their way there, Naegi remembered a question he'd been meaning to ask for a while.

"Miss Angela, can I ask a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you know anything about the strange events that have been going on outside of the Library? Like those people blowing up or transformations? The previous guests from yesterday also mentioned it."

"... I have no idea. But I am also intrigued. In case you think the invitations has something to do with it. I assure you that it is completely unrelated." she responded, "Now let's go."

"Oh right and another thing."

"Yes?"

"I can't work like that any longer." was all he said.

To be continued…


Baka's notes: So? What did you think? I'm planning for the illustrations to do them in the LoR style. Have icons for receptions and also a 'Combat page illustration' but for some chapters there will be normal illustrations (that I'll still try to do in LoR style) (tho only visible on Ao3)

Did you like it? Let me know!
Next update will be for SpiderHope then Slayers.
See you soon