Juzo Sakakura, Ultimate Boxer. He is capable of delivering fast, extremely strong punches that can incapacitate most people. He is physically one of the strongest members of the Future Foundation. Yet here I am, looking down upon his unconscious body laying flat on the ground. How hopelessly boring…

The figure starts to walk away from the bodies slowly. I look over to Munakata and he nods, unsheathing his blade. I turn to Kimura, who's crouching behind this rock with me, who nods, clutching a small tube in her hand. I raise my hand just enough for both of them to see, and use my fingers as a countdown.

3…

2…

1…

I close it into a fist and Munakata jumps over his rock with impossibly high speed, running straight towards the figure. Kimura and I are running away from them towards the bodies, my vision constantly changing as I survey every part of the surrounding area. Nothing; no one hiding, no traps, absolutely nothing. From the largest rock to the smallest crack, there isn't a single trick. That guy took out these men alone. We've reached Sakakura's body, and Kimura has uncapped the tube and is pouring the substance into his mouth. How's Munakata?

"How hopeless." Says a voice. I look to where it came from and see the figure calmly walking towards us, as if he has absolutely nothing to worry about. If he's here, then that means…

"Munakata?" I say to him. He nods.

"He was to distract me while you two revived Sakakura to provide backup, and together they'd take me down. That was your plan, wasn't it?" The figure asks, still walking across the large clearing towards us. I spare a glance behind me and see Sakakura regaining consciousness, his eyes opening and his hand against his head trying to recuperate. The voice returns. "It was decently planned, but you didn't expect me to be capable of disposing of him that quickly. You should consider contingency plans."

He's still walking, getting closer and closer. "Kimura, can Sakakura fight?"

"Yes, Strategist, but I don't think he's in any condition to." She replies.

"Do you have any enhancers or whatever?" I ask. She doesn't respond. "Kimura, do you have anything to get his strength back now?"

"Yes." She replies. "But if he gets badly hit again he might not make it."

"Do it, Kimura." Says the boxer, and I turn to him. "I'm not letting this bastard get away with taking out Kyosuke."

"He's merely unconscious. I will kill you if you get in my way again." The voice says, and I turn to find him less than 10 meters away. I look at Sakakura again, but he isn't fazed in the slightest. In fact he looks pissed. I nod to Kimura, and she hands him a small bottle of pills.

"Take some. If you need more strength take the rest. I'm not giving you enough to overdose so you'll be fine even if you swallow them all." She says, standing back. Sakakura nods and pours half into his mouth, chewing them. I jog over to the pharmacist as he starts groaning.

"Are there any negative effects?" I ask as Sakakura seems to grow even larger than he is.

"Besides a headache after it wears off, he should be fine." She replies as the boxer glares at the figure.

"So you're going to fight. I knew you were stubborn but I hoped you'd be smarter than this." The voice says, and Sakakura charges to the person. "Hopeless."

As Sakakura rushes the person, he raises his fist to punch the figure and… misses.

"What?!" I shout. "How the hell?!"

The figure had vanished from their previous position, and was now directly next to Sakakura, who could barely even turn his head to look at the person. The figure reaches out their hand and seemingly touches the boxer's neck, who falls to the ground clutching his throat. The seemingly invincible boxer had been knocked down in less than a second.

"Sakakura!" Yells the pharmacist next to me, but he doesn't respond as he coughs, attempting to hold himself up. "That's it, I'm getting him."

She starts reaching into her jacket. I grab her wrist tightly and look her in the eyes. "I never said I didn't have a backup plan." I whisper.

She stands still, and I release her wrist as she relaxes slightly. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing." I reply, and I walk towards the figure. "Very interesting, mysterious person."

As I say it loudly, he slightly turns his head to me. For a moment I see one of his eyes, glowing red and... terrifying. I freeze for a second before walking backwards, standing next to Kimura again. "He's unbelievably strong, fast and intelligent. He must have a talent, and is definitely an Ultimate Despair." I whisper to her.

"So, how do we deal with him?" She asks, and in her eyes I see a hint of fear.

"Return to base. Tell Gekkogahara that I got held up doing something with Munakata and Sakakura. Wait with her." I say, smiling slightly.

"A-and you?" She asks, knowing what I mean. "You're the Ultimate Strategist, you have a plan to get out of here with the others, right?"

I shake my head, and let myself smile. "I will do my absolute best to get Munakata and Sakakura to safety, but it has a high likelihood of causing me my life."

Kimura sighs, but nods and starts running towards the main building. The voice asks, "What did you send her to do? Call reinforcements?"

I turn to face the person, whose piercing red eyes are both looking straight into mine. I pick up my courage and speak with confidence. "Nope. It's just you, me, and some knocked out fighters."

He doesn't respond for a moment, standing perfectly still. "Are you going to risk your life to save them?"

"Yup." I reply nonchalantly. Gotta be calm. "As the Ultimate Strategist, I have to prove the power of my tactics here."

He chuckles and takes slow steps towards me. "You wish to save them after seeing my capabilities? What hope do you have of succeeding?"

I can feel myself sweating. This is the single most terrifying moment of my memory, but that doesn't mean I'll give up. "I will get them to safety."

He laughs more at my confidence. "You truly believe that? You have nothing on you except for a single gun, and you have insufficient strength to beat me in physical confrontation. You have no hope, just save us the time and run away."

"I will never run from a problem. I will protect the Future Foundation, and they will lead the world to a brighter future." I shout back, clenching my fists. He stops walking and stares at me in silence, his smile completely disappearing.

"How annoying. You've lost." He says, vanishing from his place. I blink in confusion and he's suddenly in front of me gripping my collar and holding me up. "Too bad you didn't run."

So far still nothing. I've checked all the cameras, but still no sign of any infiltrators. Hmm? Is that Yukizome?

"Gekkogahara!" She says, jogging to me. "They're in trouble."

They? My fingers fly over my keyboard and Usami's voice plays. "Who are? You mean..."

"Munakata, Sakakura and the Strategist. Someone's taking them out!"

No, that can't be. Munakata alone is a force to reckon with, this can't be possible. "What do we do?"

She starts to panic, pacing and speaking quickly, sweat clearly visible. "I don't know! There's nothing we can do!"

No, I can't leave them to die. He promised me he'd end this, I have to help him! "Guards! Follow us!"

The group of men nod, checking their weapons. Yukizome looks at me confused. "Gekkogahara?"

"We have to save them. Let's go." I type, and shut my laptop as Usami finishes speaking. I look to the men and the Ultimate Housekeeper, who nod and begin to jog out of the building, me following closely behind.

"We went over there." Yukizome says, pointing at a corner to our left. We jog there and follow her directions for awhile until we see... "Kimura?!"

The Pharmacist sees us and runs over, almost falling over. Panting, she tries to talk to us. "Munakata... Someone... Really strong... Killing them!"

Someone really strong? Killing Munakata? "Come with us, Kimura. We're gonna rescue them." Yukizome says.

She nods and we continue to jog until we reach a small hill. "They should be just over this hill. C'mon!" Kimura says, starting to climb. I grab her shoulder and type into my tablet.

"We can't confront this person head-on if they're this strong. Guards, surround the area. We'll go through the middle to distract." Usami says, and the men begin to run off to the sides, hiding behind rocks and raised ground. The three of us nod and climb over the hill and we see two figures, one holding the other up with their hand. Surrounding them are several bodies. Is this the mystery man's power? Suddenly, the man flings the other person several feet away, and looks up to meet us with a pair of red eyes.

"Company. How thoughtful of your friends to save you." He says. I'm not struggling, there's no point. However...

"You lose." I say, grinning. His neutral expression turns into a frown and he looks down for a second. Then we lock eyes and he smiles, and I see something... sadistic.

"Let's see how you like it. I'll show you how meaningless your hope is." He says, and before I can react he throws me back. No, he's gonna hurt them to throw me to despair. He's looking into the distance, probably where they are. "Give me a moment to get rid of the useless people surrounding us."

He grabs a handful of rocks and starts throwing them one by one, and I hear people getting knocked out one at a time. He has accuracy and strength capable of killing with a pebble. This guy's ridiculous. "Hey, what's your talent?"

He throws his last stone and turns to show me one eye and his sadistic grin. "Super High School Level Despair..." What? That's not... "Despair's Child."

Despair's... Child? He disappears from sight. No, think later, act now. I grab my gun and cock it, finger on the trigger. "Hey, asshole!" I yell.

"You cannot defeat him." Says someone behind me. I turn around, my gun pointed right at the man's head. My hands tremble as I take in his features. Extremely long, black hair. Red, piercing eyes. Tall, intimidating aura. "Despair!"

Mere moments after he shouted that, the other figure appeared next to him, smiling. "Good afternoon, dad."

"Junko wants us." He says, and I flick between them. The tall man with a bored expression and the slightly shorter 'child of despair'.

"Yay, I get to meet mommy!" He says ecstatically, and his 'dad' nods before both disappear from sight again. What the hell was that? There's a small scrap of paper on the floor. I pick it up as I hear footsteps behind me.

Strategist, Munakata and Sakakura are fine. Let Kimura take care of them.

Huh. Wonder why he did that. Assuming this claim is legitimate. "Strategist!"

I turn and am greeted with a tight hug from Yukizome. "A little touchy there, miss."

She releases me and smiles. "Yeah yeah, let's get the others!"

She jogs over to Munakata, shaking him. I see his eyes open and they begin to whisper to each other. "Um..."

I turn around to see Gekkogahara looking at my feet. Her hands are holding on tightly to a small tablet. A few moments pass before she seems to relax, and she looks at me and smiles, typing. "Thank goodness you're okay, partner."

"Heh, yeah. Think twice before calling me your partner again, though." I say, grinning and winking at the end of my sentence. Her smile turns to embarrassment and she blushes as she looks around frantically, her mouth forming various shapes but no sound coming from them. "Relax, Gekkogahara. I'm glad to be your partner."

That seems to work and she stops, locking eyes with me. "Thank you..."

"He's okay!" I hear someone say. I turn to where it came from, where Sakakura starts to get up as Kimura holds a half empty bottle in one hand, helping him up with the other. "Relax, Sakakura. It's safe now."

"Wha-?" He says in between coughs. "How?"

"You can thank me later, Boxer." I say with confidence, crossing my arms and striking a pose.

"Idiot." He says, sitting up. "What happened to the guy?"

"Nothing. He ran off saying something about despair." I reply, dropping the pose. Sakakura buys it and sighs, standing up slowly.

"Good work, Strategist." A man says, and I turn to see Munakata being assisted by Yukizome walking to me. "We need to get back to base."

"Are we done with the alarm? I can ask the Chairman to turn it off." Usami says, and Munakata nods. Gekkogahara types something and after awhile the small island falls into complete silence.

"Back to base?" Sakakura asks, stretching his muscles.

Munakata nods and the six of us start to trek back. While walking I feel a tug on my sleeve. "Kimura?"

The Pharmacist darts her eyes around and whispers. "How'd you get him to run away?"

I trust her, but... I can't risk letting anyone know. "Just trust me when I say it wasn't easy."

She accepts the answer and nods, and we continue our walk.

A few minutes later

"You guys okay?" The Great Gozu asks loudly as we enter the lobby. How the hell can someone be this huge?!

"We're fine, Gozu." Replies Munakata. "The situation's been dealt with, and thank to our new member we made it out with everyone alive."

All eyes are drawn to me, and the air grows tense. Thankfully the silence is broken by Tengan. "Congratulations, Strategist. You were just thanked by Munakata."

"Yeah, but it's fine. I had to act to save you guys, I couldn't stand by watching you get picked off." I say, smiling. Tengan nods and smiles as the group disperses. Not much time passes before a voice speaks through the intercom.

"Due to the circumstances, you all have the rest of the day off. Rest and prepare for tomorrow."

"Shall we go?" Asks a familiar, cheery voice. I turn to Gekkogahara, whose laptop bag is slung over her shoulder, her hand gripping her tablet.

"Of course. Lead the way, milady." I say, bowing dramatically. I raise my head just enough to see her as she stares at the floor and shuffles past me. Straightening from the ridiculous position, I follow behind her as we head to the tenth floor and down the same corridors. I'm getting quite familiar with this place. Eventually we finally enter our room, where I immediately collapse onto my mattress, and I hear her bed creak as she presumably does the same. "Hey, Gekkogahara? I had a weird dream."

The bed slightly creaks and I see her sitting on the edge. She's giving me her full attention.

"Well, it was a couple conversations. In the first one I was talking to someone named Maizono. We were talking about something to do with fans, so I'm guessing she was a performer of some sort. The second conversation was with a boy named Makoto Naegi, who said he was the Super High School Level Luckster. Based on what I said he was my junior. Know either of these people?"

She doesn't respond for a few seconds, and I look at her face to find her looking... confused? Scared? Worried?

"What's wrong?" I ask, sitting up. Something's wrong. She points to the TV. I look up at it but the screen is still off. Wait, only one show is playing. Is that what she's referring to? Wait, there's a mutual killing game... No. That's not possible. I lean over and grab my notebook. If I know these people there should be something in here! I flip through some pages and find a long list of names and talents, a majority of whom are labeled as 'Deceased'. Among them is... 'Super High School Level Idol, Sayaka Maizono'. She's... dead? What about that Naegi guy? Makoto Naegi... no label. I guess he's fine then. But if they're in the mutual killing game, locked away in Hope's Peak right now, then doesn't that mean... "I knew them while they were in school?"

The bed creaks and I see Gekkogahara walking to her computer, powering it on. After some clicking and typing Usami's voice starts to play. "Apparently so. but why did you remember this? Nothing could've prompted you to..."

"I don't have any idea either, but this doesn't really help much. Even if I had interacted with those guys, most of them are dead now, and all of them are locked in that school." I say, lying back down. "We shouldn't worry too much, just write this down somewhere."

"I guess so." Usami says, but she continues. "So, how'd you get the mystery man to run away?"

I feel my muscles tense. I can't lie to her. "Please keep this secret. Someone called him. A man with long, black hair. That and his black suit were his only defining features. The 'mystery man' himself claimed his title was 'Super High School Level Despair's Child'."

The room falls silent. The typing that would normally follow wasn't present, and I could even hear her breathing faster. I pick myself up and walk to her. She's frozen in her seat, her eyes barely even blinking. I place my hands on her shoulders and shake her. "Gekkogahara? Hey! Answer me!"

She shakes her head and blinks a few times, and her eyes slowly look up to mine. Her hands move to her keyboard and she types something, allowing Usami to speak. "That's not a title... that's who he is."

AN Stuff

Thanks for reading! I'm editing this literally minutes before my deadline so I hope you find it satisfactory! As always please feel free to provide me with any feedback, I appreciate anything from you guys!

Update: Sorry guys, I'm gonna be busy for the next two weeks. I'm gonna be putting this story on a short break, and you'll be seeing chapter 8 on November 16.

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