"A damsel in complete distress was a burden to her protectors; one familiar with self defence, not as much."
Grace Draven, Eidolon

Chapter 6

Dmitri Baranovsky looked down at his nails. They had gotten long again; perhaps it was time for another manicure.

"Umm, boss?"

Dmitri looked up at his two henchmen. The one that had spoken, Chad, was looking at him nervously. His black hair looked like it needed a trim soon and his hazel eyes kept trying to make eye contact with him before he looked away. At his side looking prim and proper as always, stood Christoph, both hands clasped behind his back. Today he had gelled his red hair back and his green eyes stared back at him unflinchingly.

Among the two of them, Christoph was clearly the more handsome one, and even though Chad clearly lost in the handsome department, he was the nastiest among the rest of his men. He liked to play with his girls before he had his way with them. Dmitri didn't know what he did, but as long as the girls had no scars on them, he let him do as he pleased. However, judging by the screams of agony one could hear from his room when he had company, it wasn't pretty.

Figuring he'd made Chad nervous enough with his staring, he turned his green eyes on him. "Yes?" he questioned. Chad straightened.

"Right. According to our informant at the school, the girl has definitely become suspicious, and her friends are always with her so it's a little hard to get closer."

Dmitri narrowed his eyes at him. "And whose fault is it that she's become cautious?" Chad looked down at his feet.

"Mine sir."

"Exactly. Now we have to give her time to let her guard down, and that wont happen for a while." His voice suddenly rose. "Which means that I don't get my hands on that pretty little Naegi Makoto! All I have are these god damn pictures of her!" Chad flinched. Christoph looked at his partner from the corner of his eye and inwardly sighed.

"Sir, there's something else." He said. His boss turned his glare on him and gestured for him to continue. "We have to reason to believe that there is someone else stalking girls at Hope's Peak Academy. He might pose a problem for us in the future; with your permission we can make him disappear." His boss ran a hand through his brown hair and contemplated the options. After a minute, a devilish smirk appeared.

"No," he said. "We can use him. I need to make a call; by the end of the day we'll have killed two birds with one stone."


It was on Wednesday after school, two days before summer vacation began, that one could find Naegi and her friends making finals plans for their sleepover.

"We should bring movies!" Hinata suggested.

"And games!" Chiaki chimed in. "You guys better give me a challenge!"

"And some snacks; or should we all just pitch in for pizza?" Komaeda suggested.

"We should all play spin the bottle and spice things up a bit!" a voice suggested. Togami pinched his nose and let out a heavy sigh before he turned to the grinning face of Junko Enoshima.

"What makes you think you're coming?" Togami scowled at her. Junko's smile widened.

"Why, because I'm friends with Naegi duh." She said flipping her blond hair. She turned towards Naegi. "And don't worry, I already sent out the invites to the rest of our classmates so there's no need to worry."

Naegi blanched. "You did what?" at that moment Naegi's phone alerted her to new notifications, after the 8th one she lost count. She hesitantly took out her phone and checked out the group chat she had with her class.

78th Class Group Chat

Asahina: Looking forward to the sleepover! Sakura and I will definitely be there!

Maizano: I'll bring my karaoke machine!

Ishimaru: it's so nice you invited the whole class Naegi! This will be a great bonding experience!

Hagakure: I'll bring my crystal ball and tell everyone's fortunes! Oh and there better be food!

Kirigiri: Sounds interesting. Very well. I shall make an appearance.

Fukawa: I have my notebook ready! Feel free to get in some compromising positions ;) Remember, its all for my new book!

Celeste: Shall we start a new bet everyone? I'm thinking, how long before Togami has his wicked way with dear little Naegi with us in the house?

Naegi stopped reading after that. She looked pale. If she were anyone else, she would have fainted. At that moment, Komaeda, Chiaki and Hinata's phone started ringing too. Hinata looked down at phone and then quickly looked up at Junko.

"You did not…" he muttered.

"I think she did," a wide-eyed Chiaki said looking down at her phone.

"These are the most text messages I've ever gotten in my life!" Komaeda exclaimed happily as he held his phone above his head as if he couldn't believe it.

"What!? " Togami snapped. "Tell me it's not what I think it is." Chiaki and Hinata looked at him and defeat. Finally Komaeda turned towards to Naegi and clasped her hands in his.

"I can't believe you invited all of the 77th class too! I'm so lucky to be able to have a sleepover with not one but two classes of such hope riddled people! I feel like I can die happily right here and now with all the happiness that's overcome me!"

"I didn't- I -what?" Naegi stammered.

"Wipe that drool of your face and let go of my girlfriend." Togami snapped at Komaeda who promptly let go of Naegi's hand. Togami turned towards Junko.

"And why the hell did you feel the need to invite all these people! You didn't even ask permission!" The heir snapped. Junko just rolled her blue eyes at him.

"You really need to take a chill pill Togami. I overheard you all last week making plans about a sleepover and how excited Naegi was to have her friends over. But since you two became a couple, I figured she must have forgotten to invite the rest of us too. And since Naegi is friends with everyone in both classes I just sent out the invites instead. Aren't I just so helpful?" Junko finished her explanation with a smile.

"But Junko, I only have four rooms! I can't possibly have room for thirty two people!" Naegi exclaimed.

"Relax," Junko said with a wave of her hand "I told everyone that some of them might have to camp out in the yard so they'll be sure to bring a tent and a sleeping bag. Unless…" Junko narrowed her eyes at Naegi. "You want to call them all and tell them it's been canceled and just burst their bubble." Naegi looked down at her hands.

Togami scoffed in Junko's face. "Stop trying to guilt her into this. This is your fault. If anyone has to make calls it's you."

"Its ok." Naegi said. Everyone's head snapped to her. Junko's smile grew. "What's done is done. Besides, it'll probably be a lot livelier now anyway. We should probably tell everyone to contribute in snacks and groceries though."

Junko clapped her hands. "Wonderful! Then we'll all meet Saturday morning! I'll let everyone know!" and with a goodbye hug to Naegi, Junko left the classroom. The others looked at Naegi in concern.

Hinata scratched his head. "Are you sure? You could always say no you know."

Naegi shook her head. "Its ok, everyone else seems to be looking forward to it anyway. It'll be fun." She looked at her friends. "Are you all ok with this?"

"Yeah it's ok." Hinata said with his hands behind his head. Chiaki and Komaeda nodded as well. Naegi turned towards Togami. He scowled at her but then let out a sigh. "If that's what you want." He said. Naegi smiled at him gratefully. Togami offered her a small smile in return and turned to glare at Komaeda who had gone back to looking at his phone in wonder.

"Seriously, wipe off the drool before I kick it off you." Komaeda hastily wiped his face.


It was now Thursday afternoon and Naegi just wanted to go to bed. All day, her classmates had gone up to her to tell her how excited they were for the sleepover. She made sure to remind them that it would only be for three days though. It was originally going to be two weeks but Naegi didn't think she could handle that many people for that long. One more class to go and then she could sleep in her room Naegi thought as she headed to the girls locker-room to change out of her P.E. clothes. Why her homeroom teacher insisted she deliver these papers to the class upstairs Naegi had no idea. Its like she'd become his personal errand girl.

Togami had wanted to come with her, but Mr. Aizawa had said that they didn't need two people for a simple task. Since P.E. was almost anyway, Naegi figured she'd better get out of work out clothes before she headed upstairs. These papers didn't seem to be in a hurry anyway.

Naegi took of her shirt and put down the papers on the bench next to her and opened her locker door. She reached inside and-wait. Her clothes weren't here. She closed the locker and looked down at her key number; number #18, she hadn't made a mistake. That's weird she thought. That's when she heard someone panting. She froze. That didn't sound like a girl.

She turned around slowly and came face to face with a bespectacled, obese man with a round head and small eyes that were looking at her up and down. Naegi covered herself with her hands and took a step back.

"You shouldn't be here," Naegi was glad that her voice had come out steady; she didn't want him to know she was afraid of him.

"I just want to you," he said. "I've seen the other girls here, but you're the nicest one among them. Just a little touch." He made as if to touch her and Naegi reacted. She immediately turned to the right and headed for the closest door, the one that led back to gym. If she could just get there, she could scream and people would come running. Togami would come.

Before she could reach the door, a hand yanked her hair back and she bit back a scream. The man pulled her to his chest and Naegi desperately tried to remember those defense classes she's taken a while back. The man put his cheek on hers and rubbed himself on her.

Naegi immediately stomped on his foot and jammed her elbow into his stomach. With a grunt he let go of her, and Naegi managed a kick to his stomach before making a run for the door on the opposite side of the room.

Almost there she thought. Just a little more. She could hear the man getting to his feet.

She'd reached the door. Naegi turned the knob, and nothing happened. She turned it again. Nothing. It was locked. Naegi turned around and looked for another way out. There had to be something she thought frantically. There! There was a window. It would be a tight fit, but if she could climb that bench, she'd definitely reach it. Only problem was the location. If she made it there, she'd be within arms reach of that man.

"Stop running! I just want to have a little fun with you! It won't hurt much, honest." The man had gotten to his feet and was advancing on her slowly.

If Naegi remembered right, Junko always carried hair spray in her bag. Maybe if she blinded him, it would buy her enough time for her to reach the window. Luckily for her, Junko always forgot to close her locker. Decision made, Naegi bolted towards the other lockers and the man followed right after.

She kicked one of the benches towards the man and he fell. Naegi had reached Junko's locker. She hastily pulled out her hairspray and just as the man was a hairs breath away, she turned and sprayed him right in the eyes. He screamed and one of his hands backhanded her as he flew backwards, his arms desperately trying to wipe his eyes.

Naegi's cheek hurt, but she couldn't focus on the pain right now. She made a dash for the window and noticed for the first time that there was a fire alarm. She pushed it down and a second later the shrill sound of the fire alarm rang throughout the school. Naegi was already halfway out the window when she saw Sakakura, the head of security barking orders into his walkie-talkie.

"Help!" she screamed. It seemed Sakakura had sharp ears, for he noticed her immediately and ran up to her.

"The fucks going on?!" he barked at her as he pulled her out the rest of the way.

"Molester." She said panting. "There's a molester in the girls locker room." Sakakura touched her cheek and she hissed. He frowned.

"You did good kid. Leave the rest to me and my men." He said kindly. Naegi's adrenaline came to a stop and she sank to the floor in relief. It was only then that she noticed she was shaking. Sakakura frowned and put his coat around her shoulders before he scooped her up in his arms.

"I'll let my men handle that fucker. I'll take you to get medical attention." Naegi could only nod.


Naegi was taking too long Togami thought. If she just had to deliver papers, it shouldn't have taken her this long. P.E. would be over in another six minutes anyway so he decided to go look for her.

"Class isn't over yet Mr. Togami," Mr. Aizawa, their homeroom teacher said from across the room. The only reason he was here was because the actual physical Ed teacher was out sick today. Togami crossed his arms.

"Class is about as good as over, I'm leaving."

"Oh no you're not, there's about five minutes left till class ends. So you're going to sit there and wait patiently like the rest of your classmates." Togami glared at him and Mr. Aizawa glared right back. With a sigh Togami took a seat on one of the bleachers and not even a minute later the fire alarm sounded. Everyone looked up in alarm.

"Alright class, we've done practice drills on this. Everyone calmly make your way outside, I'm sure it's just someone's idea of a joke." Mr. Aizawa said as he started steering student to the exit.

"What about Naegi?" Togami asked.

"I'm sure she's heading outside with the class she handed those papers out to." Mr. Aizawa reasoned. Togami hesitated. Something felt wrong. He looked down at his phone and noticed he had no messages from Naegi. She would have sent one out just in case, but she hadn't. That settled it then. Togami ran out of the gym and made a dash towards the building where they attended classes; he ignored the yell from Mr. Aizawa telling him to stop. He was going to find Naegi.