"The Sickness"

When I started heading wherever I felt I needed to go, I thought I would have grown annoyed with Junko's vague words on the subject, but in truth, I couldn't have thanked her more. It allowed me to wonder about who this "warrior" was. Maybe he had a giant sword, like in a cartoon. Maybe he could shoot fire out of his face! Maybe he could fly! Or had super strength! Or magic! Or…!

…

…..

Maybe he could actually stand a chance against me.

I breathed a heavy sigh. Junko had explicitly said "kill", so I'm at an all new low. Again. Now, I'm going to god knows where to kill a poor guy of my own free will.

I looked towards the dirt beneath my soles, and wondered if I was actually going to do it. My fault or not, any kill I have committed so far was technically an accident. This…was an explicit order to murder.

I could disobey….

I thought about it for a moment. Who knows how many more people I'm going to be forced to kill? If Junko kills me for disobeying, it would probably be better that way….

But would she kill me?

I hadn't forgotten the ability she has to make me feel so go—trigger my brain's pleasure centers. Who knows what else she could do? For all I know, she could take direct control of my body.

I mean, I guess, if she could do that, she would've done it already, right?

No, that's wrong. She's the queen of despair. She wouldn't do it right now because she wants everyone to feel despair. Including me. She knows how painful this is to me. It's a sweet, sweet, song to her.

—Timeskip—

At this point, I had noticed that it had actually been many days, mostly of walking and stealing food, but I rarely had to sleep. I slept for maybe only four hours at a time, and only about every two days or so. At some point, I asked Junko about it.

"It's part of your new body! The cybernetics feed extra power to your human parts! Awesome, right Asahina-kun?" Junko chimed in her cutesy personality.

"Yeah. Awesome." I thought sarcastically. I wish I could be sleeping more. I'd spend less time being able to hurt people. Less time having to go over my morals in my head. Less time I'd have to worry about her eventually squeezing her way into my brain….

I stopped on the outskirts of the city.

"Why are we back here?" I asked. I wanted to avoid Towa City if I could.

"Well, the data from the server way back at that mini-base said that my other AI's invasion of the New World program has failed."

"You had another AI?"

"Two, actually. You know they say," she said, switching to a scholarly persona, "one must always carry a secondary plan."

"Alright then…."

"Anyways, that means the Future Foundation will be coming back here to pick up some people of interest. However, there's one person we can't let them pick up. I'm pretty sure they're not looking for him specifically, but better safe than sorry!"

I tapped my foot, beginning to grow impatient. "Does this guy have a name?"

"Introducing…..the one…the only…WARRIOR KENSHIROOOOOOO!" Junko boomed in an announcer voice.

I paused. I had heard of Kenshiro before. He was said to be the greatest fighter in the entire world. Granted, the rumors were that he fell ill, and I am a cyborg, but I suddenly felt a bit more concerned about my safety than his….

…well, that's probably a good thing.

"Um…so he's alive?" I asked.

"Fuck yeah he's alive! But watch out asshole! He's got some company in the form of Hiroko Hagakure!" she said in her angry persona before switching to a mopey one, "She saved a bunch of people from my despair….and ruined my plans for them…."

"Will they give me any trouble?"

"Probably not."

I entered the city that I hated so much.

I wandered around a bit aimlessly. I mean, I still had the magic GPS in my head, but I took it slow because the areas were typically less open and I had no idea what my destination was. Besides, Monokumas could….

Actually, could they? I mean, Junko IS in my head. Maybe I'm no longer a target to be…

CLANG!

I turned around to see a Monokuma throwing metal balls at me. One bounced off the metal on the side of my head.

"Welp, so much for that…." I mumbled.

I killed the robot, and proceeded to wherever I was supposed to be going. I eventually found some kind of base, mostly empty at this point. I took a deep breath.

"Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…."

"What the hell are you doing?" Junko asked in an exasperated tone.

"Sorry. I'm nervous." I snarled through gritted teeth. Junko held up her hands and looked to both sides.

"Oh, dang dang, clearly we have a badass ova here!" Junko joked.

I groaned, and headed inside. I looked around, but nobody seemed to be there. I opened a few doors, looked in a few closets, explored a garage, yada yada yada. I found nothing for the longest time.

That is, until I was leaving.

I stepped on a particular metal plate in the middle of the room as I left only to hear a hollow "clang!" noise. Normally, this wouldn't have caught my attention, but I had just been walking on metal floors for twenty-five minutes straight and this sounded different from my other footfalls. I crouched down over the floor to notice that it was a secret trapdoor.

"Huh." I noted.

I punched a hole in the door and ripped it off the ground. I turned around to jump in...

BLAM!

I fell backwards, the force of the shell knocking me away. I heard a woman saying something, but my ears were ringing from the blast. The bullet, of course, did little to harm me seriously, so I got up, a bit shakily.

"GUUUUUYS!" A small girl (identified as "Fujiko Yamada") squealed. She pointed to me, now fully upright. I looked back at the group of people before me.

We stared at each other for what was mere minutes but what felt like hours. I had no idea what to do. They by now could tell that I was more than human, and I don't mean because I survived a shotgun blast at point blank range.

Er…but that probably helped.

Eventually, the woman that shot me, who Junko analyzed as Hiroko Hagakure, spoke up.

"Just what the hell are you?" She yelled. Her eyes were old, though she looked young.

"I'm a cyborg." I replied, the first words I had spoken aloud in several days.

"Okay, so let's say I believe that. Why are you here? How did you find us?" She inquired, a fierce determination glowing from her eyes.

I paused.

"Shoot 'em again! I don't trust this!" A teenage boy (identified as "Takemichi Yukimaru") yelled.

"I'm sorry," I heaved, "but I'm here to kill one of you."

I jumped into action, grabbing the shotgun out of Hagakure's hands. I pushed her away, and she skidded across the floor. Yukimaru and an older, bearded man (identified as "Aloysius Pennyworth") both swung at me with metal sticks. I swung my metal arm, snapping Pennyworth's rod in two. I pushed him away (with relative gentleness) and repeatedly punched Yukimaru in the face with my normal arm.

Suddenly, a girl (identified as "Ayaka Haneyama") hit me over the head with a wooden bat.

"Shit…."

While the metal on my head took some of the impact, most of it hit me hard. I stumbled around for a bit, trying to regain balance.

"Hyaaa!" Haneyama cried. She swung at me again and I acted on instinct. I grabbed the bat with my metal arm, stopping it, and used her grip combined with my strength to throw her across the room.

At the moment, I didn't spend time feeling bad about it when another old man (identified as "Fuhito Kirigiri") tried to punch me in the gut.

"Augh!" he yelped. He held his hand, injured from punching solid metal.

Hiroko got up and ran over to Haneyama, but suddenly had much bigger issues.

Kenshiro stared at me. I stared back at him. He looked a lot different than I remembered; his hair was whitened by his illness. He had lost weight and muscle.

But he didn't seem so sick right now.

He attacked with a flurry of punches, seemingly coming from all sides. I could even feel my metal skin struggle against his blows. I kept my arms up in a block, relying more on the metal one. I let out a quick jab, which caught him off guard, but it wasn't enough. I went on the offensive but couldn't lay a hand on him. He was took fast and too skilled. It would've only taken one punch to kill him but I couldn't even try to throw it.

I suddenly felt my arm trembling. I pointed it at Kenshiro.

A rocket flew out, heading toward him.

He kicked it back.

The last thing I remembered was a surge of heat before blacking out.

I woke up in a panic. I turned every which way until I got a hold of myself.

"Damn." I grumbled.

"Damn is right." Junko chided.

"It's not my fault you overestimated me." I retorted.

"Eh, maybe. I guess it's time to teach you to fight."

"How in the world would yo— "

"Find a computer, and I'll download you moves off the internet."

I wandered back into the city and hooked myself back up to a computer. Then I paused.

"Wait, how did the rocket send me so far outside the city?" I asked.

"Oh, it didn't. I took control of your legs and ran you out." Junko said causally.

"…."

"Yes, I can do that. Get over yourself."

I was hoping she couldn't do that. If she ever gets bored of using me….

I stared out at the city. I sighed.

"I wonder…if Komaru is OK…."

It was weird. I wasn't really thinking about her at first. But I guess…I would be embarrassed if she saw Junko using my body to kill people. I only met her for a bit, but I valued her opinion….

I saw a large truck drive by, and it looked like it might have belonged to the Future Foundation. Suddenly one of my tools activated. It looked like a gun but it fired a small disk that stuck to the truck.

"Um…?"

"Sorry, I did that. Couldn't waste time. It's a tracker." Junko explained.

Her persona shifted to cutesy.

"After the data transfer, we're gonna play kitty by following that mouse!"

To Be Continued….