As a group of the eight of us walk down the desolate streets of a destroyed city, we gaze upon the world that most of us missed. The world I never knew. Except that I don't walk and Oda doesn't gaze. Togashi guides him around.

We're going to the house of the nurse's friend. She leads the way, but we often get lost because everything has fallen over. She doesn't remember something she's never experienced.

There's a bunch of bodies just lying around. As disgusted as we were, we replaced our hospital gowns with their clothing, or, if we were lucky, with clothing from inside nearby buildings.

"Hey! Guys! I found something!"

"What is it, Suika?"

"A gun!"

Over the course of our trip we found three of them. We gave them to Murata, Kin, and Tastuha because they were the healthiest and they were the most likely not to be too scared to shoot. After all, two of them had already killed using much more direct means. Luckily, we only had to shoot them a couple times and only as warning shots.

Hm…?

Where is everyone? I look around and no one's there. I've never been so alone. A icy sweat breaks out across my skin. It's cold out here. I'm unarmed. I can't even walk.

One of the people in the masks walk up to me. A child? They grab my hand and pull me away. They lead me to a warehouse. There's a ton of weapons here. And those masks, too. Grenades. The child leads me to what seems to be an office. There's a woman inside. She's quite pretty, too.

"Kid, who the hell is this?"

The kid motions to take off their mask. So the woman goes and takes off my mask. I feel like trying to stop her would make things only worse.

"Taeki!"

My first name. We must have been friends. So this woman must be in Despair. She jumps over and hugs me.

"After that American guy came around looking for you, I was sure you were dead. But I'm sure you got the better of him."

I actually don't remember. Now, I don't voice this as if I talk, she'll find out that I'm not who she thinks I am. And I'm not going up against and army of these masked people.

"Why the long face? Usually by now you'd be off on a speech about despair and why we should all kill ourselves."

Well then. I must have been quite the jolly fellow.

"Well, I guess you did get injured. Can you not speak?"

I take this chance and nod.

"Oh. Well. That's what your get for stabbing people. Although not being able to speak…I'm sure it's fun."

So I did stab Kin.

"The group you were commanding went haywire."

Group? I must be her subordinate. An officer for Despair.

"Well, in our case I guess that's a good thing, but I was supposed to regroup them. I got too lazy and they just went and wrecked your apartment. I wouldn't go back there if I were you. Especially considering your condition."

Well, I don't even know where it is, so I don't have to worry about that.

"Oh, Chikao was looking for you. He should be somewhere around here. Just ask one of the Monos."

Monos? Oh the people in the masks.

"When in doubt, you've always have pencil and paper."

I roll off. Should I go to this person 'Chikao'? They may question me if I don't, so I guess I'll go.

The Mono kid from earlier overheard our conversation and leads me over to him.

"Ah, Fucker. You're back."

"Fucker?" Shit.

"You. Who else could I be talking to? You were the one who told me to call you that."

Shit. Shit. Shit. I fucked up.

The Mono went away and we're alone in an office, much like the girl's.

"You are Taeki Mizoru, right?"

I didn't respond. It's best not to make things worse.

"I mean, it's okay if you aren't. People look like other people. I'm not going to kill you or anything. Obviously, Yumika messed up."

Yumika. That must be the girl's name.

"Actually, it's better if you aren't. I was looking for someone without Despair. What's your name?"

"Taeki Mizoru."

"Huh?"

"I am Taeki Mizoru."

"Oh, okay."

What?! That easily?!

"Did that American get you? Oh wait, you probably don't remember. You must have amnesia."

"…Yeah. I don't remember anything." May as well tell the truth. He doesn't seem to be malevolent.

"Well, I'm Chikao Fukeiki. We both went to high-school together with Yumika, that girl you probably spoke to earlier."

Well that makes sense then.

"Anyways, you probably don't remember, but I'm deep into Despair, like everyone else here. Here's a trick. It's in the eyes. I have it right now."

He does look a bit crazed.

"But I have it a bit different.", he giggles, "My Despair is not Despairing. It's cool, right? By having Hope, I can never Despair. That's our goal. What Junko told us to do. I can't do that so I create Despair to those who want Despair."

What? I can't understand anything this guy is saying. Also, he's really creeping me out.

"It's a paradox, right?"

"Uh…Sure?"

"And that's why I want you. You can help me achieve that goal. Will you join me, Fucker?"

I can't help but snicker.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Do you prefer 'Mr. Mizoru' or 'Taeki'?"

"Uh…"

"I can go back to 'Fucker' if you want."

"No!", I stumble with my words. "Call me Cap."

"Cap? Like a baseball cap?"

What? "Uh, sure."

"Okay, Cap! What do you say? Shall we spread Hope?"

"When you say 'spread Hope', what exactly do you have in mind?"

"Get out of this warehouse, help the injured, rebuild society, kill Yumika."

What the hell? This guy is so simply minded. I need to play by his rules.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Killing is what makes us sad."

"Exactly. And I'm killing Yumika."

"Don't you think it would be better to make her one of us? Join the opposing side?"

"Wow, Cap! That sounds like a great idea! You're going to lead us into a new age of Despair! Or is it Hope?" He thinks about it for a bit. "How are we going to do that?"

"Uh…Let's go with your first option."

"Get out of this warehouse?"

"Yeah." Maybe I can get rid of this guy. He may help us, though. He does seem to know a lot about this world… He wants to help, but for the wrong reasons. I just hope he doesn't snap.

"Okay. We have around 100 grenades, and there's a C4 bomb in the back."

Huh? Wait. What?

"I said get out of here not des—Actually, destroying it may not be a bad thing."

"Less Despair means more Hope and more Hope mea—"

"Okay you can shut up now." I think I know why he called me 'Fucker'. Because that's what I called him.

"At your command, Cap."

"Don't you have any suggestions?"

"Uh…Well…I'm at your disposal. I don't give suggestions. It was a bit much to recommend blowing this place up, anyways."

I give him a confused expression. He looks up and me timidly.

"You and Yumika would always yell at me to do everything, so I'm not to keen on coming up with ideas. That's why I said that I'm at your disposal, Fu…", he smiles awkwardly, "Cap."

I'm suspicious, but let's test his obedience.

"These cement pillars.", I say, touching one, "How many of them are there?"

"Ten."

"Okay. Get me that C4 bomb and ten of those grenades. Oh, and tape, too."

"Okay."

He immediately goes off, not even questioning what I was going to do. He comes back with everything I ordered him to get.

"Here you go, Cap. What should I do now?"

"Do you see that big machine right there?"

"Yeah. That's where they make the parts for all the explosives."

"What I'm going to ask you to do is going to be tough and you have to do it quick, okay?"

"Okay."

"Take a grenade and throw it at each pillar. Don't get hit."

"Okay."

Okay?! How can you be that nonchalant about it?!

"Then, after that, climb onto the big machine and set the C4 to blow up in three minutes."

I have no idea how he's going to do that. To climb that machine would be suicide.

"Okay."

"Are you sure? It looks pretty risky."

"No, no. You'd always yell at me to climb up there and fix it. Yumika would sit back and laugh. You'd scowl and tell me to kill myself."

I guess I am the same person after all. I feel kinda bad for him, though.

"Okay, are you ready? I'll be outside by where the entrance would have been. I can't exactly walk so…"

"That's okay. That's why you got me, Cap."