"When the going gets tough, put one foot in front of the other and just keep going. Don't give up."
Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Chapter 22

When Munakata Kyosuke walked into the headmaster's office with Yukizome trailing behind him, one look at the grim faces in the room told him that something very bad had happened.

The school festival had been called off due to the explosions and the police and the ambulances had been stationed outside for a while now, he'd even noticed a newscast van outside. Luckily, no one had been seriously injured to which he was extremely grateful.

Both Sakakura and Yukizome had a few scratches on them but nothing too serious. Sakakura had been with Yukizome when the first explosion happened and managed to get her and a few other people out of the way before the second explosion happened.

When Munakata found them staggering along, he had been so relieved he had engulfed them both in a crushing hug and held them just to convince himself that they were okay.

After that, Sakakura had gone off to who knows where while he and Yukizome had gone looking for Naegi but hadn't found her. Perhaps she had made her way inside the building where the others were heading.

He glanced to his side to make sure that Yukizome was still all right before he looked back at the occupants in the room. There were already people inside but most of them here he recognized as the students of class 77 and class 78th, although a few of them were still missing.

After looking around, he came to a stop before Koichi who was standing to the side and looking grim.

"What happened?" he demanded.

Koichi opened his mouth to answer before the door opened and the room grew quiet before a voice he recognized practically hissed at him, "This is your fault."

Before he knew it, a punch sent him reeling back and he hissed before he blocked the second punch.

"Why weren't you with her?!"

Sayaka and Yamada let out a little scream at the scuffle and took a few steps backs.

He blocked the third punch before the next words he heard caused him to go slack in shock.

"They took her!"

A set of hands pulled them apart and Munakata could only stare at the furious face of Togami Byakuya.

He willed his mouth to forms words, "What are you talking about?"

The brunette holding the heir back turned and glared at him, "Naegi! They took Naegi. Where the hell were you?"

At Hinata's words, the events from earlier flashed before Togami's eyes, and a fierce grief settled in his stomach.

Ishimaru and Celestia put comforting hands on his shoulders and he took a deep breath to calm himself, forcing his fists to unclench.

Munakata swayed in Koichi's hold.

Good, Togami thought.

He hoped the man was hurting.

He'd failed Naegi too.

Munakata's mind was reeling.

Naegi…had been taken?

"Oh, god," Asahina sobbed as she entered the room and overheard, the words carrying the sound of heartbreak, "Oh, Naegi…"

Sakura put a comforting hand on her friends back as she began to cry. The room began to fill with more people but Munakata's attention was solely on the blonde heir who was looking at him with such fury he almost flinched.

Munakata shook his head slowly. "She was all right the last time I saw her. I told her to stay at the side, but when I went back she was gone. I assumed she made her way here."

Togami's lip curled up in a sneer.

Fukawa bit her nail in worry and inched closer to the blonde heir.

"Yeah, well she didn't. Two men took her, we almost had them but they got away. Sakakura and Akashi went after them, but I doubt they'll catch them." Kuzuryu spat, glaring at Munakata with crossed arms.

The Yakuza's clothes looked disheveled and his temple looked bruised but otherwise he looked fine. Pekoyama entered the room a second later and she let out a relieved sigh at the sight of her master. She'd been worried about him since they got separated during the explosion and-was that a bruise on his temple?

Pekoyama gripped the wooden sword in her hand as she eyed the bruise. "Who?" her voice turned to steel, who ever had dared hurt her master was going to regret it. Kuzuryu rolled his eyes and let out a groan.

"It's not important Peko, we have bigger things to worry about."

It was only then that she noticed the heavy tension in the room and she loosened her hold on her weapon as her red eyes surveyed everyone in the room. "What happened?"

Owada and Nidai quickly explained as the room opened once again and in came a tired looking Sakakura and Akashi. They both shook their heads at the hopeful looks sent their way and everyone sighed.

The room was suddenly kicked open and everyone startled as Junko Enoshima walked into the room pulling a tired looking Aizawa into the room before promptly kicking him to the floor.

She took one look at everyone before she let out a massive sigh and placed her hands on her hips, "Let me guess, Naegi was taken?"

At everyone's nods, she rolled her eyes and took a seat on one of the chairs before crossing her legs and sending everyone a smirk, "Well, then what's with all the faces? All we have to is get her back!"

"She's right," everyone turned to the door to see Komaeda Nagito with a bandaged shoulder and a nervous looking Tsumiki and Chiaki at his side enter the room, "If Naegi were here she'd be so disappointed at our behavior. We're going to get her back."

Kyoko crossed her arms and nodded as everyone else finally arrived and was quickly informed of the situation, "We can't lose hope. Soda and Fujisaki made a tracker that Naegi still has on her, it's a little damaged but we can get a general idea on where to start looking for her."

"Whoa," Hagakure said.

The others turned to look at Soda and Fujisaki in awe and Soda puffed his chest in pride.

"And there's something else too!" Owada declared in a booming voice startling Ishimaru out of his thoughts.

Nidai smacked his forehead and Owari looked at him in worry. "Of course! We almost forgot!"

Saionji stomped her foot and huffed, "Well tell us already!"

Kuzuryu stepped forward and addressed the group, "One of the kidnappers said he was on our side and that he'd contact us soon."

There was a moment of stunned silence before everyone started talking at once.

"He's probably lying!" Tanaka shouted.

"Ibuki thinks we need all the help we can get!" The Ultimate Musician declared.

"It's a conspiracy!" Hagakure screamed and Fukawa promptly jabbed him on the ribs.

The Ultimate Imposter tapped his chin, "We can't rule anything out though."

Kyoko stared down at her black-gloved hand, her thoughts reeling.

Togami's eyes flickered to the Ultimate Detective, wondering what she thought of all this.

Akashi slammed his hands on the headmaster's desk and everyone turned to him. "This man, did you guys get a good look at him?"

There were a few nods and Akashi exhaled. "Think one of you can give his description to a sketch artist? Maybe we'll be able to find him in our database."

Upon receiving a few more nods, Akashi smiled. "All right, now we're getting somewhere!"

"By the way," Jin Kirigiri said, "Why is Mr. Aizawa tied up and on the floor?"

Leon scratched his cheek; "I was wondering about that myself, but no one said anything so I stayed quiet."

Komaeda strode over to the teacher and pulled him by the collar, "He's the one who sent Naegi away. He took her phone and then told the men who took her where she was."

A few people gasped in shock and Munakata narrowed his eyes at the teacher, "The hell did you do?"

Togami snorted and crossed his arms, "As if you care."

Munakata ignored the jibe as he and the rest turned their eyes on Aizawa, "Explain."

Junko waved a hand, "Basically, the bad guys took his wife and child and told him to spy on Naegi for them or else they'd kill them," she sighed and frowned, "Honestly, he spilled the truth so fast it was boring. I was so looking forward to using my Taser on him but oh well."

"Ms. Enoshima!" Jin Kirigiri scolded her, "He's still a teacher!"

Hinata snorted, "Yeah, a teacher who had a part in a students kidnapping."

Aizawa sighed and crossed his legs, "They're right, but I had no choice!" he looked them all in the eye and tried to make them understand, "They took my family! I know what I did was wrong, but maybe I can help."

Chiaki jabbed the Ultimate Nurse with her elbow and she startled before her eyes widened in understanding.

Tsumiki raised her hand and cleared her throat.

Everyone turned to her and she almost flinched at all the attention. Sonia and Koizumi put reassuring hands on her shoulders and she let out a shaky breath, "That guy who was in the storage area might be able to help." At everyone's puzzled look she hastily continued, "After I checked and cleaned Komaeda's wound, Chiaki and I checked up on him and he's alive. The wound wasn't fatal so I injected him with something to put him to sleep and locked him in the storage room."

Everyone's jaw dropped and Tsumiki looked around nervously.

Had she done something wrong?

Nidai and Ibuki let out barks of laughter and clapped her shoulder so hard she stumbled forward.

Everyone looked impressed and she let out a small smile.

She'd done something good after all.

Togami turned to Kyoko, "You said there was a speaker in the earrings you gave Naegi, when can we try to make contact?"

Kyoko tapped her chin and Komaeda spoke up before her, "We'd have to wait a few hours at most. That crooked nosed guy injected her with something so it'll be a while before she wakes up."

"Well then," Jin Kirigiri said as he took a seat behind his desk, "The FBI will take care of the rest, I want the rest of you to go back home it's been a long day."

There were a dozen voices of disagreements at that.

"Go home?!"

"My master will do as he pleases."

"As if the FBI has done anything good so far!"

"We should stay, we can help out more than they could!"

"If you think I'm going to leave my girlfriends fates in their hands, you've got another thing coming!"

The sound of a long horn quieted everyone down instantly and as one they all turned their annoyed faces to a smirking Junko with her finger hovering above the horn.

"I think it's safe to say that we're not going anywhere," she said as she turned to look at the headmaster, "And if you send us home, we'll just go behind your back anyway."

Mukuro practically swooned.

Her little sister was so cool!

Jin Kirigiri looked at the determined faces of his students and pinched his nose in irritation. They probably would.

Akashi cleared his throat and Jin turned his weary gaze on him, "They can join, I don't think my superiors would mind, they are Ultimates after all."

"They would be supervised," Sakakura chimed in.

"Plus, they came up with the whole tracker thing and some of these kids have a lot of influence they'll be really helpful." Koichi said with a tap to his chin.

Jin Kirigiri let out a massive sigh and threw his hands up, "Fine! Whatever! But all of you will follow orders and not do things on your own!"

There were a few snorts of amusement but at the headmasters glare everyone quickly nodded their head.

"All right then, everyone go clean themselves up and go eat something," Jin Kirigiri looked down at his watch, "It's almost four in the afternoon, we'll meet back in a few hours and try to make contact with Ms. Naegi then."

Sakakura and Akashi declared they were going to interrogate the man locked in the storage room and left first dragging a staggering Aizawa with them.

Munakata and Yukizome trailed after them.

As everyone else began to file out, Jin's tense shoulders began to relax until Koichi reminded him that he needed to address the media to which he let out another long suffering sigh. "Ugh, I need a drink."


Togami strode out of the headmasters office and gripped his phone in his hand so hard his knuckles turned white. He had to call Naegi's family before they found out that their daughter had been kidnapped through the news.

He knew that but he couldn't bring himself to dial their number. If he looked at his phone, the first thing he'd see would be his lock screen with a picture of him and Naegi in each others arms during their first date and he didn't think he could see that and remain calm.

He shut his eyes tight and clenched his jaw in a futile attempt to remain calm. His other hand clamped around the blue crystal necklace that Naegi had given him all those years ago as he continued to walk with no destination in mind.

"Are you all right?"

Togami blinked at the unexpected question, and turned around to see Hinata, Chiaki, and Komaeda standing behind him. So absorbed in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed that his friends had followed him out.

"Of course I'm fine," he snapped, and internally winced. He hadn't meant to snap at them, it was clear they were worried about him.

Chiaki's eyes trailed down to his left hand where he was still gripping his phone and inched closer. "Would you like me to call Naegi's family instead?" Her voice grew quiet at his glare but after a second she offered him a smile. "I don't mind Togami. You must be tired."

For a while he didn't say anything but finally he gave her a sharp nod and handed the phone to her, relieved to be rid of its presence.

As Chiaki moved away to make the call, his eyes trailed to Komaeda and his eyes softened at the bandages around his shoulder, "Are you all right?"

Komaeda frowned, his eyes darting over him from head to toe, "You're not mad?"

Togami gave him a puzzled look and Komaeda shuffled his feet before he turned his eyes to the floor before clarifying, "For not protecting Naegi as well as I should." He mumbled.

Togami's shoulders stiffened before he went up to him and flicked his forehead.

At Komaeda's surprise squeak, Togami allowed himself to give a small smile. "It's not your fault. You did the best you could, so did we but it still wasn't good enough. I'm glad you actually tried to protect her to be honest. Thank you."

Komaeda looked like he wanted to cry but he rapidly blinked the tears away as Hinata gripped his shoulder. "We're going to find her!" he declared, "An then we'll kick the butts of those assholes!"

Everyone cheered up at that and Togami's tight shoulders loosened up as he looked over his friends.

He wasn't alone.

They would get Makoto back.

And as for those who took her…

He'll show no mercy.


The feeling of something crawling along her thigh woke Naegi up from an incredibly uncomfortable sleep. She struggled to flicker her eyes open and groaned at the effort it took to do such a simple task. Her head was pounding and she let out a loan moan as she tried to move.

As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, it became apparent that she was in a cell judging by the bars that she could just make out. The rustling of chains made her aware that her hands were chained above her head and just the slightest movement made her hiss through her teeth. She was still in her maid outfit and she noticed with dismay that part of it was ripped, allowing her thigh to show.

Well, great.

She was already cold, and the maid outfit wasn't going to offer any form of warmth it seems.

The crawling sensation came back and Naegi kicked her legs out with a squeak when she noticed the giant cockroach climbing on her right thigh.

Her face was throbbing.

Well that's what happens when your face gets slammed face first into a wall she thought grimly.

She hoped that Komaeda was all right.

He had to be.

If something had happened to him…it would be all her fault.

He was just trying to protect her after all.

And what about Togami?

He must be in pain right about now.

Probably blaming himself for not being able to protect her.

Hopefully their friends would help him out of his stump and cheer him up.

Where the heck was she anyway?

The sound of a door being opened was heard in the distance followed by the sound of footsteps heading her way.

Makoto brought her legs to her chest and tried to mask her face into one of calm.

She wouldn't let them see how scared she was.

The footsteps stopped in front of her cell before she closed her eyes and winced at the sudden lights engulfing the room.

She blinked her eyes rapidly and tried to adjust to the bright room before she let her eyes take in the three men standing in front of her.

The first one she recognized was the man with the crooked nose who had slammed her face in the wall.

She scowled in his direction but that only got the man's smirk to widen. She'd seen this man in one of Akashi's files before; Chad Cunningham she believed his name was.

Now that she could see him clearly, she was honestly surprised that she'd fought him and not died. He looked fierce, like he was made to fight.

Her green eyes flickered to the next man and Makoto felt her stomach flip.

What was he doing here?

As her eyes went back to Chad, she began to recall that day in the park like it was just yesterday. She remembered Nozomi running off and her chasing after him until a man with red hair and green eyes had scooped her dog in his arms.

She remembered her eyes flickering in the direction where there was a trade off for drugs under the bridge and wondering what had happened to that man to get his nose that crooked.

At the time she thought nothing off it, and was even glad to have met someone nice at the park.

So what was Christoph doing here?

Her eyes flickered back to the red head and willed him to look at her.

Christoph didn't look at her.

Not once.

He stood tall and stalwart with his hands clasped behind his back.

Makoto opened her mouth to say something but Christoph gave the slightest shake off his head and she promptly closed her mouth.

Fine, she'd keep quiet for now.

"She's hurt."

Makoto snapped her attention to the third man and instantly recoiled at how close he was to her face.

When had he moved?

His hand shot forward and clenched her jaw and he turned her face this way and that to examine it. His green eyes narrowed slightly and his voice was soft as he spoke, "Who did this?"

Chad cringed and inched forward. "I did sir. She was resisting and she had a stun gun and she just wouldn't stay down!"

The man who had her jaw clenched in his hand ran a hand through his brown hair and sighed.

If Makoto wasn't being held captive, she would admit that the man was handsome, but she was…so like Hinata would say, he was a dick.

And from the cringe that Cunningham gave, it was obvious that this man was the leader.

After what felt like forever but was probably only a few minutes, the man let go of her jaw and got to his feet before finally addressing him.

"My name is Dmitri Baranovsky and you and I have a lot to talk about."