A/N: And now, everything is coming together. Only a few more chapters left, I think.

Hinata kept a close eye on Nanami for the next week. Nanami was still depressed about her cousin, and had used some of her vacation days to take at least Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off; Hinata spent that time trying to comfort her.

The investigation into Despair continued as well. Like Fujisaki said, Tanaka's body was found in Saionji's shower. Saionji, for her part, had visited Nanami's apartment with Koizumi while Hinata helped a KDL team investigate the Masaru's blasted-out apartment on Saturday, but nothing was found of value and nothing was learned.

As for the Monobear and the note, they were both handed over to Hayao, the KDL lab chief. The Monobear, it turned out, was completely normal, but Mikan Tsumiki claimed that she had not sent Nanami the Monobear, nor had Hanamura or Matsuda, to her knowledge. And she had definitely not sent the note: only Nanami's fingerprints were found on the note, but she had pulled it off the television, so that wasn't a surprise.

Speaking of Nanami, Hinata and Nanami's relationship had also rekindled, to a certain extent. Hinata was back in his bed and bedroom, but Nanami woke him up one night (Monday) and pulled him into her bedroom so that he could help her through her nightmares. Unlike Thursday night, nothing ensued.

Nanami took the day off on Thursday and Friday too. The nightmares continued, and Friday night Nanami was back in Hinata's room. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "this is so shameful, but-"

Hinata sat up from his bed. "There's nothing wrong," he said. "There's nothing shameful about… those."

Nanami nodded stiffly and took his hand. "Promise me you won't leave," she said.

"Don't worry," Hinata said, "I know better now."

Saturday, Hinata woke up with Nanami pressed up against him. They were in his room, and their clothes were still on. He slid out of bed, knowing that she would probably be sleeping for a little while longer. He glanced at the clock: 5:58. He started making breakfast.

The door buzzed, and Hinata answered. Standing there was Mahiru Koizumi, holding a basket with a Monobear in it. "Hello, Hinata-san," she said. "Can I come in?"

Hinata moved out of the way and let Koizumi in. Then he closed the door. "Koizumi-san, why do you have a Monobear-"

"It's a present from Britain," she said in a low whisper, "he's coming back in two weeks, but he thought you and Nanami-san might want something to remember him by." She put the basked down on the floor and entered the TV room. "How's Chiaki holding up?"

"She's still having nightmares," Hinata said. "She's spent half the week sleeping with me because of them."

"You had better-"

"Don't worry. I'm not," Hinata said flatly. "I don't take advantage of people like that. So, are you in Despair?"

Koizumi sighed and nodded. "For an Ultimate Photographer, it sure didn't feel that way," she said bitterly. "People just looked at my photographs and said, 'this is a photo?', things like that. Before long, photography critics were panning everything I took. And then, after I photographed Hiyo-chan during a dance routine of hers and published those, people began claiming we were in a lesbian relationship."

"So?" Hinata said. He didn't see why Koizumi was now gripping the couch tightly.

"The kind of people who go to Hiyo-chan's dance routines aren't the kind of people to take an open mind to love, Hinata-san," Koizumi said. "Her routines began being cancelled, one after the other. Before long, she had nothing. She was evicted. And the rumors only got worse after she moved in with me. And then my boyfriend broke up with me- he believed the rumors- and got killed in a car crash while he was driving to my apartment to apologize."

She slumped. "Both of our lives were in shambles. That's when… that's when Enoshima appeared." Hinata could just imagine Enoshima- that fashion girl he'd seen once or twice back in school- knocking on the door to some low-end apartment and sauntering in, to tempt Koizumi and Saionji into Despair. "She… she convinced us."

"Won't they kill you for telling me?" Hinata said.

Koizumi looked into Hinata's eyes. "Hajime-kun," she said, "we're already damned anyway. All of us Hope's Peak graduates, we're going into the game. We're… we're all damned."

She looked down, and the door to the room opened. "Hi, Mahiru-chan," Nanami said, and she yawned. "It's early, isn't it?"

"Feeling better, Chiaki-chan?" Koizumi said. She'd brightened up a little. "I was just telling Hinata-san about your gift from Komaeda-kun-"

"What?"

"A Monobear," Hinata said. Nanami glanced at him, and then returned her gaze to Koizumi.

"Tell him thanks from me," she said. She took a seat next to Hinata, putting herself between Hinata and Koizumi, then yawned and leaned on Hinata again. "Sorry, Hajime-kun, you're just so comfortable…"

But while he gave Koizumi a sheepish grin at her look of disbelief, he was thinking that Nanami had overhead their conversation and was now stopping it.

The three weeks had gone by quickly, in Hinata's opinion: Nanami had returned to work, Hinata had kept an eye on her, and KDL agents handled security at Togami Robotics. Hinata kept the apartment clean, and after the incident on Friday night, he stayed in his own bed. By the Monday before Komaeda returned, Hinata could hear her playing video games again; he knew she must've adjusted at least a little to be able to play games again. She'd refrained for the most part while in mourning.

Koizumi began visiting every Wednesday, and due to headaches or Nanami not being back from work, both times Hinata and Koizumi had to cook together. The first night, they cooked in sort of an awkward silence, sometimes resorting to stilted conversation, until Nanami arrived home and the two of them became free to talk at length with her. The second night, however, was the night before Komaeda and Sonia returned.

"He's back tomorrow," she pointed out, whilst chopping vegetables. Hinata glanced at Koizumi, but she did not look up as she said, "he'll probably want to see you."

"Koizumi-san, I didn't get the opportunity, so what's the game?" Hinata said.

Koizumi stopped chopping vegetables. "It's… it's not something I know about," she said after a moment or two. "Ask Komaeda when he gets back." She resumed chopping.

"Okay," Hinata said, "but you said we were all damned-"

"We're all going into the game," Koizumi said. "And you can only escape if you… if you kill someone."

Hinata, who'd been toying with the stovetop, froze. "You're not serious," he whispered.

Koizumi said nothing and kept chopping the vegetables.

"Koizumi-san, why haven't you told someone-"

"I didn't need to. Austria knew," Koizumi said. "If she didn't tell you, that's not my fault, Hinata-kun- Hinata-kun?"

But Hinata was not listening, as he felt he'd been slapped. "Hinata-kun?" If Mina knew, then Kirigiri knew, and yet- "Hinata-kun?"

"Sorry, Koizumi-san," he said, returning to the stove. He pulled the pan out, turned the fan-vent on, and pulled the oil out. "I'll ask Komaeda when he inevitably annoys me." He took a deep breath and said, "Koizumi-san, is Chiaki-san in Despair?"

Once again, Koizumi stopped chopping vegetables. "Hinata-kun," she said, her voice strangely small, "ask her yourself. If you don't, you're no better then you were three years ago."

Dinner was a subdued affair, and games after dinner went well: Nanami flattened both Koizumi and Hinata easily. Then the three of them had turned to camera small-talk before Koizumi left for the night. Hinata and Nanami followed her out to the entry hall, and as soon as the door shut Nanami leaned against the wall.

"Hey, Hajime, Komaeda-kun's coming back to the country, right?" she said. Hinata, who was still staring at the door, nodded. "He sent a message to me at work. Says that you need to come out to his apartment tomorrow, alone."

Hinata laughed bitterly. "We're enemies," he said, turning to face Nanami.

"You don't trust him?"

"Would you?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it and sighed. "Yeah," she said slowly, "but he did seem concerned about you when you collapsed at his wedding…"

"He's obsessed with me," Hinata said. He walked over to Nanami. "He'd probably kidnap me. I'd rather be here than with him."

Nanami sighed and wrapped him in a hug. "Hajime, you need to do your job," she said softly, "just get some KDL backup, you'll be fine-"

"You seem awfully insistent," Hinata said. "You're not trying to kill me, are you?"

"Sorry, but I've had enough of people dying," she said. "All the people I love, even if… they're a lot different from what I remember-" she gripped him tighter and kissed him.

When the kiss ended, Hinata said, "How close were you to Fujisaki?"

She sighed and broke away. "After I tried to… kill myself at his apartment," she whispered, "we didn't talk much."

She left for her bedroom. "Chiaki."

She paused, and turned to face Hinata. "What, you wanna stay the night in my room again?"

"Um, no, I mean," Hinata said, and something inside of his said she's trying to distract you. "Uh… good night, and, ah-"

Nanami walked back up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's nice to have company after waking up from the… the nightmares," she said. "I won't mind."

She leaned up against him, and the voice inside Hinata's head said yeah, she is. But the distraction was working. "Um, Chiaki, where's Komaeda want me to go?"

She blinked. "He said just start walking, he'll find you," Nanami said. "Now, c'mon, Hajime-"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into her room. The door swung shut behind them.

Two KDL detectives and Hinata drove out of the Roppongi compound and spotted Komaeda's hair in the crowd. "I see you brought help," Komaeda said, getting in the car, "c'mon, Hajime, don't you trust me-"

"No," said one of the detectives, the one driving. "We don't."

"Sorry, technically speaking Hinata-san is a high-ranking executive," added the other.

Komaeda smiled. "Then you two can come with us," he said, still smiling. "Don't worry, I already know that anything I tell Hinata you'll know too."

With directions from Komaeda, they pulled into the Hyatt Tokyo. "I did say you could just walk over, Hajime," Komaeda said.

Komaeda lead them into the Hyatt's lobby and up two flights of stairs, until he came to a door and knocked. "Oh Sonia~" he whispered, somehow pronouncing the '~', and the door opened.

Sonia looked very tired, but she nodded to Hinata and his detectives. "C'min," she yawned, "don' worry, we don't have anything illegal."

She shut the door once the last detective entered the room. "Tea?" Sonia added, picking up a tray of steaming beverages. The two detectives thanked her, picked up the tea cups, and then shuffled over to the side.

"C'mon," Sonia said to Hinata and Komaeda, and the two of them followed her through the entrance-area to the bedroom-area. There were two thumps, and Sonia said, "skin-contact sleeping drugs, courtesy of Ultimate Pharmacist." She yawned again and said, "I'm going back to bed."

She kissed Komaeda and then returned to her bed. "C'mon, let's go talk," Komaeda said. He lead Hinata back out of the room and into the room they'd just come out of. The two detectives were slumped against the wall, covered in tea. "Don't worry," Komaeda added, "the tea's actually cold!"

"Then why was there steam?" Hinata said.

Komaeda shrugged. "For obvious reasons, I didn't drink any," he said.

Hinata sighed and touched the tea, but sure enough, it was cold. "And now," Komaeda said, "we can talk."

"What do you want, Komaeda?" Hinata said.

Komaeda flopped down into a chair. "Hajime, the game starts very soon," he said. "At the end of the week, it starts, and you're the star player."

"And you're there too?" Hinata said. Komaeda nodded. "Koizumi-san was saying-"

Komeada blinked. "She wasn't supposed to tell you," he said, "that won't reflect well on Monobear."

"Maybe she was ordered to," Hinata said. Considering what Monobear had done to Fujisaki…

Komaeda frowned. "Maybe that's it," he said, "but since Xiong Nu got killed-"

"Nakejawa said that Germany was compromised," Hinata said.

Komaeda nodded. "Yeah, she was," he said. "But if they decided to go around me…"

"You declared Germany compromised?"

"I did," Komaeda said. "I also told Persia that Austria was a traitor."

"I thought you were trying to be the hope that overcame despair or something," Hinata said.

"No, I'm the despair that hope will power through," Komaeda said, as if it were obvious.

"And isn't that what Kirigiri-san wants too?" Hinata said. "To have hope overcome despair?"

"Exactly. Our goals are different," Komaeda said. "I want to be part of that despair that you, Ultimate Hope, powers through."

"Explain," Hinata said coldly.

Komaeda smirked. "Hajime, you're Izuru Kamukura, remember? It's simple. You'll destroy Despair, from the upper circle to the cell bosses to even the rank-and-file. You, the Ultimate Hope, will triumph over Ultimate Despair!"

Hinata felt a sick swoop in his stomach, and said slowly, "Komaeda, what do you mean by 'destroy'?"

"Why, kill, of course!" Komaeda said. He sounded entirely too cheerful.

Ice shot through Hinata's body. He felt chilled to the core. "Killed…?"

"Killed."

Hinata's eye twitched, and he stood up. He tried to control himself by breathing nice and slowly. "Komaeda, what's the overall plan?"

"It's my plan, to rid the world of Despair," Komaeda said. "I'll gladly give my life for such a purpose."

For the briefest of moments, Hinata remembered another conversation, three years ago. "You're insane," Hinata said, "does Sonia-san-"

"Of course she does!" Komaeda said, "Do you really think I'd be like you-"

"If I hadn't left, Chiaki-san would've died," Hinata said quietly. "They were trying to make me Kamukura. What better way then to kill my loved ones?"

Komaeda opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it. He seemed… surprised. "Komaeda," Hinata growled, "do you really think that this will stop Despair?"

"Of course."

"What is the game." Hinata pulled out his gun and leveled it at his former best friend. "Tell me, Komaeda."

Komaeda frowned. "The game," he finally said, "is… well, let me explain…"

"Ten years ago, a girl named Junko Enoshima came to Hope's Peak Academy. She was beautiful, even at 15, and accordingly an 'Ultimate Fashion Model'. But she was also intelligent, cunning, and, especially, ruthless.

"In her past, something happened, and Enoshima became obsessed with despair. She wanted to cause it, spread it. She saw what despair could do: it could cause wars, it could cause death, it could cause mayhem and chaos and evil. To her, despair was the most powerful force in nature.

"Enoshima had two accomplices: her sister, Mukuro Ikusaba, the only survivor of mercenary group Fenrir, and her boyfriend, Yasuke Matsuda, a childhood friend of hers who was easily swayed to her side. They were, respectively, 'Ultimate Soldier' and 'Ultimate Neurologist'.

"Enoshima, Ikusaba, and Matsuda concocted a plan. You see, Matsuda was chosen to attend the school for a simple reason: to make, at some point, Izuru Kamukura, 'Ultimate Hope'. But Kamukura would be twisted to suit despair. Matsuda would make sure that Kamukura lost all his empathy in favor of nothing but collecting information and talents. Izuru Kamukura would become the world's greatest man, but he would lose his humanity in the process.

"The main drivers of the program were the chairwoman of the school board and the chairman of the selection committee: Miwako and Hiroshi Nakejawa. Using their power, they scoured Japan for the student who most wanted to attend Hope's Peak, so that they could turn him or her into Izuru Kamukura.

"And who did they find? You, Hajime. Yes, Hajime Hinata. He was not the top of his class, nor was he the hardest worker. But more than anything, he wanted to attend Hope's Peak Academy. So Hiroshi Nakejawa convinced the other members of the selection committee to admit Hinata as the 'Ultimate Student', or 'Ultimate Potential'.

"Once in school, the trio of despair watched over Hinata as he attended Hope's Peak. He made friends, rivals, grades, and even got himself a girlfriend. Then, in the lead-up to the winter holiday in his second year, they struck.

"With the help of the Nakejawas, Hinata was involved in an accident that necessitated an operation to save his life. Part of the operation happened to be the procedure to create Izuru Kamukura. Then, throughout 'physical therapy', Matsuda and Enoshima and others in on the plan turned him into Kamukura.

"Or tried to, at least. Hinata kept resisting the takeover. So Hiroshi had his family killed, and pressured his wife, who'd recently moved up, into hiding his sister for 'protection'. But Matsuda had already made his connection to his family weak, making the gesture… pointless.

"But then, tragedy struck. Hinata's best friends- me, the Nagito Komaeda of the past, and his girlfriend, Chiaki Nanami- accidentally helped him at least suppress Kamukura. While Matsuda had removed Hinata's link to his family, he forgot to remove his link to his friends. Kamukura was defeated, and the ambitions of 'Ultimate Despair' had to be shelved…

"A year passed, and Matsuda graduated; two, and the despair sisters graduated. Three years passed, and Hinata and his friends left. By that point, Miwako Nakejawa had been silenced for threatening to tell the police about what happened to the Hinatas, incidentally dragging Hiroshi Nakejawa down with her.

"Another year passed, and Ultimate Despair learned that Hinata had proposed to his girlfriend. They also knew that Hinata's boss, Kyouko Kirigiri, was about to get married to her high-school sweetheart Makoto Naegi. So, they decided to nearly kill Naegi, in front of Hinata, and then threaten the same against Hinata.

"After making it seem as if they were targeting KDA as a whole, they succeeded in unnerving Hinata. However, he ran away instead of loitering behind. They knew that if they killed Nanami, then he would fall into Despair; she was, after all, the only family he really had left.

"So they laid low, waited for Hinata to return to Japan. Eventually, Kirigiri herself called him back, and then, the plan started. Athens and Sparta- may they rest in peace- beat him up and left him on the doorstep to Nanami's apartment. She watched over him, and arranged for him to stay with her.

"Over time, they would fall in love again. And then, the game would start. Nanami would be killed by a mole, Hinata would become Izuru Kamukura, permanently, and then Kamukura, 'Ultimate Hope', would kill a group of high-profile people on national television, and the government's role in creating him would be revealed.

"Of course, facts would be fudged or outright made-up. But the massacre would just be the first one out of many, until first all of Japan, and then all of the world is plunged into despair. The strong will kill the weak, the weak will kill the weaker, and the weaker will band together to kill the strong.

"And that, Hinata, is where I come in. The best way to stop this, of course, is by making sure that you kill Ultimate Despair. And you'll do that by using me. You'll kill me, and Sonia, on the way to them. We'll gladly sacrifice ourselves to make sure you have an opening to stop Ultimate Despair."

Komaeda's explanation over, he smiled widely at Hinata.

And Hinata put his gun away, and then lunged for Komaeda and punched him in the face. "You were right," he said, deathly quiet, "betrayal is worse than bullets. And you're guilty of it, Nagito Komaeda."

Komaeda looked genuinely confused and hurt. "Hajime, I have not betrayed you-"

"You betrayed me when you joined Despair," Hinata said. "No, you're betraying Sonia-san. You've set it up through your own delusions so that you'll both die so that I have a chance at killing an Ultimate Soldier and her allies. You're stupid, and you make me sick."

The door to the bedroom opened and Sonia appeared. "Nagito, Hajime-kun, is something wrong-"

"Now," Hinata snarled, "look each other in the eye and tell each other that they mean nothing to you. Because that's all I see."

He walked over to the detectives, leaving Komaeda and Sonia in a stunned silence. "It's not love to commit mutual suicide," Hinata said coldly, "that's what I've learned, because that's what would've happened if I hadn't… run off."

"Hajime…" Komaeda said-

But Hinata spun on his feet and screamed, "You talk about it like it's so academic! Well you know what!? I never even got the chance to marry the person I love, because if I did, she would die! And here you two are, planning out some sort of mutual suicide just to make sure I can kill more people! What do you have to fall into despair for!? If anyone should, it's me and Chiaki, because our chance at a life together was ripped apart by these kind of machinations, but we're trying to beat them! Hell, all you'll do is spread more despair- the way your plan works, ENOSHIMA STILL WINS!"

"Hajime-kun…"

"You both make me sick," Hinata snarled. He kneeled down to the detectives, but saw that they were both still asleep.

"Hajime," Komaeda said, and now his voice had a desperate quality to it, "Chiaki-san is Germany. She's been in Despair for three years now."

But Hinata simply glanced at Komaeda and said, in a hard voice, "I already knew, Komaeda. Now shut the fuck up and help me get these two out of here."

Hinata was determined to make the most romantic dinner possible.

He moved the couch against the wall, vacuumed the floor, put up heavy drapes to block the urban light, and moved the table to the center of the TV room. He draped a dark gray tablecloth over the table, and put a candlestick on top of it. Then, he cooked up his best and fanciest food- specifically, the same type of food that he'd served up the night he proposed to Nanami- and even scrounged up a bottle of wine Nanami had for some reason and two wineglasses to go with it. Then he set everything on the table, dimmed the lights, and dressed up in his fanciest clothes (a black suit not unlike his rented tux from the wedding) to complete the evening.

He wore his gun inside his jacket.

When Nanami came home, he greeted her with a deep kiss that she returned. "Thanks, Hajime," she said when it was done, "I needed that. W-what's the occasion?"

"I just want a special night, Chiaki," Hinata replied. "How about you get dressed up while I wait in the TV room?"

Nanami smiled at him and entered her own room. Hinata entered the TV room and began putting food on plates, and smiled when Nanami reentered the room. To him… she was beautiful. She was wearing a gray, formfitting sleeveless dress that Hinata had seen her wear once before, a long time ago, albeit at the time she had been a bit slimmer (not that he dared to tell her, of course).

Hinata got up and took her hand. "Chiaki, you look breathtaking tonight," he said.

She giggled and thanked him for the compliment.

Hinata lead her over to her chair, and then took his own. "Hajime, do you have a special occasion in mind?" Nanami said. She was smiling very broadly. "To press the final reset button?"

Hinata smiled back at her, and said, "just look down, Chiaki."

She blinked and her mouth opened slightly, and then she looked down.

And the blood began draining out of her face. "Hajime, how could you…" she whispered. For written on the plate, in food, was a simple message: I KNOW YOU ARE GERMANY. "…how could you- how could you…"

"Know?" Hinata said, as softly as he could, and she nodded, very smally. Then she sprang to her feet and charged for the door, but Hinata leapt up and grabbed her arm. "Please Chiaki-"

But she said nothing, only slumped against the wall and began to cry.

A/N: I hope Komaeda's plan didn't seem to come out of nowhere, and I hope I made Nanami being Germany really really obvious. So, if you have any questions, comments, or reviews... review.