A/N: mastermind-centric interlude

hehehe

Mostly done for a filler thing and because I wanted to do more mastermind things

I regret nothing, and own nothing related to Danganronpa.

-DA BOSS

Interlude: Going to Hell

"Gettin' heavy with the devil, you can hear the wedding bells..."

After vanishing earlier, Monobear was directed back to its master's chambers. After all, it had been a trying day for its master - not even twenty-four hours into their little experiment and already they'd lost a Monobear unit because Sawako went ballistic - or "bear-zerk", as Monobear would have likely said to the students - and destroyed the stage in the gymnasium.

Meanwhile, the mastermind rubbed their forehead as they dispatched a group of smaller support-based Monobear units to repair the stage as they leaned back and went to survey the rest of the school. Delighted, they noted that the group was already being overcome with paranoia as they all met in the cafeteria - some were jumpier than others, though. They made sure to double-check their little 'motive' for later to make sure that it would get the desired result, especially from said jumpy students. It would be no good if the students committed suicide; it just meant that for each one suicide, another execution would have to take place. And that would make the entire experiment for naught.

Still... as it stood, all was going according to plan. For the time being, anyways.

None of the group members were the same as they were before the assembly - or as they were before they came in. Of course, this class was the first to be admitted into the "new" Hope's Peak, and while many others were meant to be accepted, the plan was sprung before that. The mastermind really had to thank his allies... his neo-Despairists... for acting so quickly. Really, all that had to be done, of course, was to put the plates back on the windows and front door, but they were still impressed with their progress.

Then, a ringing. Two rings. Three.

Sighing angrily, the mastermind picked up the phone that was the source of the wretched noise.

"What?!"

"Master, it's me." Another sigh from the mastermind, though this was moreso one of relief. They didn't need to use the voice altering device after all.

"How are the plans to deal with the media?"

"They're proceeding right on schedule. Takenaka is making sure that all the major news outlets that are left get false reports as to what's happening inside the school."

"I see. And the police?"

"Mizushima & Tanaka are dealing with them. Even with the police carrying guns again, they're still shit at close range, so the two fighters we've got are easily able to crush their pitiful resistance."

"Good, good. I trust that Kawaguchi and Fukui are handling our denial in the matter?"

"Yeah. Hamasaki is going off and making the denials public, and Katashi's making sure to take care of any snoops that try and dig up anything on us."

"Kuhuhu... You're doing wonderfully, Hisakawa. What about Izaya and Sora?"

A pause on the other end. This was... bothersome. "I'm... not sure. They've gone off the grid; probably both moping about something again. Do you want us to find him?"

This time the mastermind was the one who paused. "Hmm... no. He's not going to do anything. Still... I suggest sending Inoue and Yamauichi to track him down. Make sure that they keep their distance from the two, though - Izaya's insane, and Sora's too close with both of them. We wouldn't get anywhere in our surveillance that way."

"Understood. I'll make sure that everything is taken care of."

"Excellent. You know, you could call more casually, Kaede-kun."

Another pause, probably one of embarrassment. "Th-that's not conducive to the mission, though... Besides, the others may catch on to... us."

The mastermind let out a high-pitched laugh. "Let them. You know I've only got eyes for you. If the others know that, then they'll despair even more... Wouldn't that be better?"

"I suppose..."

A still high-pitched, but smaller giggle slipped out of the mastermind's lips. "Then scream it to the heavens. And call me back later." They kissed the mouthpiece of the phone and hung up, before throwing their head back and letting another high-pitched laugh, knowing full well that all the pieces were in place. Soon, not even the dread Enoshima would be able to surpass their despair.

A/N: So, I may as well note this now since it's not spoilers. Originally, I was gonna have a re-despaired Kamakura be the mastermind. Then I decided against it, because that was just too easy to guess (plus, I'm not too sure how I'd write him). After sifting through my inbox, I noticed I had an unused OC for this, and just said, "why the fuck not"?

For ambiguity, though, genders aren't used. No spoilers for you. :|

Also, the 'neo-Despairists' mentioned are my OCs sent into other stories. I likely won't be using them outside of these interlude chapters, but... hell, I had them, so why not?

Also also: Every chapter so far (excluding Chapter 0-1) has been named after a song. If anyone can guess which artist the song is done by - or where it's from if you can't note the artist - I'll do a little one-shot DR fic of your choice that doesn't involve me having to write sex. Any pair, any canon character, any sitch that isn't stupidly vulgar. I'm not writing smut, for fuck's sake. I have standards.

And as always, R/R and such.

-DA BOSS