Glad to see so many people want to see this story progress to the end and I'm hoping I can end it on a satisfying note for all or at least for myself. I received a few comments asking if I make a sequel to this that if it could revolve around how the kids help fight against the ultimate despairs.

That's a really cool idea and I'd like to see someone write it but that person isn't likely to be me. One thing I didn't have room in my story summary to write is that this isn't set in the despair-verse. No psycho black and white robo bears are rampaging around japan and no teen girl with a misery spreading fetish is transforming people into a psycho cult of followers.

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The world can be a very confusing place whether your a kid, teen, or adult living in it. It could be argued that one of the most confusing things in this world was the human mind no matter how much it was studied. There were just so many questions a person could ask about the human mind and especially that of the adult mind.

Why did adults start wars over petty and dumb stuff? Why did adults name things lame names like flea markets when they don't sell fleas? How come they tell kids that lying is wrong but then turn around expect them to keep secrets?

Kotoko Utsugi was always a curious child who thought of the latter of these questions a lot. Mostly it was the one about keeping secrets that bothered her most. She knew things very few kids her age knew about sex and fewer felt comfortable talking about. It wasn't like sex ed or adult aimed entertainment wasn't a thing in Japan but usually kids her age didn't think about it or talk about it that much. When Jataro reveled the concept of telling other adults about her situation it made her feel hesitant since she never really met any adults that seemed to care about what she was made to do.

It didn't escape her that it wasn't a totally normal thing. If it was then she wouldn't get sent to detention so much for asking girls and adult female teachers about things like their first time with a guy or if kids her age could get pregnant. When she'd get in trouble for this and asked why she was asking these questions she could only answer half honestly with claiming to just be curious. She was scared that if she mentioned any of this then her mom might get in trouble and that would make her mom cry. Her mom made her promise never to tell her classmates or teachers about what she liked to call her "secret auditions" for roles in plays and movies. Weirdly the scenes were never repeated for the actual finished projects which made her feel embarrassed she had to let strangers be "gentle" to her for what ended up being nothing. Mom said it would somehow help them pay the bills though.

If it was really true that there were adults out there that would care or help then she had to at least attempt to think positive. Being the lil ultimate drama meant that at least pretending to be positive was an easy task but actually feeling positive was another thing entirely.

Using her talent she was able to convince her parents with tears and some exaggerated hand jesters that she needed a to join a physical education club so she could improve on her P.E. courses plus maybe some other clubs for extra credit. Not many places beyond Hope's peak academy had the best people for advice in that area. She found it odd how quick they were to say yes to her request as they had. The school had club presidents volunteer to come over or have a student come over to check out what they were about.

The fact that she was currently sitting at a desk made for bigger kids while waiting for her new mentor or mentors felt surreal. It was as surreal as those dreams she'd been having recently where she was dressed as a pretty fairy tale princess in a tower and a shadowed silhouette of a prince on a red Pegasus would be approaching. He was coming to save her. However just before she can get a good look at his face when he's taking off his helmet she wakes up. In other dreams she imagines herself the heroine who's saving the princess but she's dressed as the prince and wakes up just before the princess can reveal her face behind her veil.

After what felt like a century of waiting even though it was only a few minutes, a girl came in the room that Kotoko was surprised to say she recognized from TV. There was no mistaking her beautiful long blue hair anywhere and fair white skin. Even dressed in a normal school girl uniform there was no mistaking her unless you were a foreigner.

"Ahhhh! Aren't you Sayaka Maizono?!" Kotoko couldn't help but squeal a bit at meeting one of her favorite celebs.

"Ha, ha, yes that's me and you must be looking into being a new member of my dance club right?" asked the ultimate pop star.

"Yes! I'm Kotoko Utsugi and its a dream come true to meet you! I've have all your albums, a few of your calendars to, soda brands, plush toys, and-" she would of kept going on if Sayaka didn't cut her off with a polite giggle.

"I'm getting your a big fan of mine but right now just think of me as a normal girl like you. Okay?"she asked.

"Oh of course."Kotoko replied.

"Before I show you the club why don't you tell me about yourself a little? Its only fair I get to know some stuff about you since you seem to at least know some stuff about me." the pop sensation asked.

"Um, okay I like movies, game shows, peeled chestnuts, hate unpeeled chestnuts, my dad's dentists, and love all things adorable." she listed off.

"Interesting stuff and for your parents to let you want to expand to doing all this new stuff to discover they must really love you."Sayaka said.

Kotoko always liked to think she was a pretty good lil actress and had started getting better with reading people who were just as good or not so good. She wasn't sure if it was just her nerves making her see things but Sayaka's eyes seemed be look confused about something for a moment before going back to happy.

"Yep, your totally right!"Kototo replied

Truth be told like most fans of musical and TV idols she only knew about Sayaka through what the media aloud her to know. As a girl who'd already gone through the naïve kid star days she knew the phonies, the smooth talkers, liars, and to a proud extend believed she had an eye for details. Nowhere near as good as her friend Kirigiri of course but still pretty good.

She noticed how her last statement for some reason made the kid's natural cute smile strain a lot and she was starting to squeeze her hands together unconsciously. It wasn't any of her business to pry and she didn't want to make the girl uncomfortable. It was her job to make sure she was having fun while forgetting her troubles and smile a real smile. It was possible that her parents were shoving her into doing all these clubs she honestly didn't care about just so they could brag and they wouldn't be the first to try it. Regardless she was determined to at least make sure she wasn't feeling pressured throughout her stay. Even if she wound up not joining any of the clubs she should still enjoy herself at her own pace.

"Hey, before I take you to the dance room do you want to see what the other clubs are doing?" Sayaka offered.

"What?! We can really do that?"Kotoko said while bouncing excitedly.

"Sure, I think my friend Ibuki is practicing a routine right now in band club but she probably wouldn't mind us dropping by. She told me that a kid from your school even joined recently! Maybe its someone you know?" she said with a grin.

The duo got half way down the hallway before what sounded to kotoko like a dozen guitars going through a wood chipper blasted out throughout the hallway. The sudden noise made the pink haired girl jump and cover her ears. The popstar was apparently use to the sound since she simply rubbed her chin thoughtfully before grinning in realization of something.

"Oh that's right,I forgot Ibuki was doing some rehearsal work today!" Sayaka shouted loud enough for Kotoko to hear.

"Who?!"Kotoko asked equally as loud.

"A friend of mine, let's go see how she's doing first!"

Before she could protest Sayaka dragged her all the way to the school's auditorium where the door looked like it wanted to fall off it's new hinges from the vibrations. Only once Sayaka open the door did the music finally stop.

"Hey Ibuki! I forgot you said you were practicing something new today."Sayaka said to the rock star.

The girl on the stage with two coned and streaked hair she assumed to be Ibuki who was swinging back and forth on stage by a harness.

"Hellooooo there Sayaka! Glad you came here just on time to see a sample of my next show. Me and my little buddy jat jat were just rehearsing a scene. Lower me down Jat Jat it's take five time." Ibuki said to someone behind the curtains.

"Jat Jat?" both questioned at the same time.

"Oh, that's the nick name of my new assistant, he's a bit shy but a real sweet kid. Come on out and say hi to the ladies Jat Jat don't be rude!" Ibuki shouted.

As if on cue a boy half covered in paint and paper emerged from the stage curtains.

"Jataro!?" she exclaimed. He had told them he met a girl named Ibuki which was a pretty common name and that he'd be somewhere on campus but she didn't think it was this one. He looked just as surprised to see her as she was to see him and waved both overly long sleeved arms in greetings. He was still wearing his normal clothes and signature mask. Even though he was a little comfy when they were alone to take it off he seemed still shy about it in public still.

"Hi Kotoko! Did you see the last part of the act? I helped with the background decorations." He said happily.

Now that he mentioned it she finally took notice of the whole stage. Three large maneki-neko statues in vibrant red and purple colors were in the background with what looked like a hand painted backdrop of Los Vegas. A large UFO prop was hanging in the foreground. Even though none of those things together made sense to her it was oddly impressive still.

"We missed it but what's all this for?" Kotoko asked.

"The next school peep rally is coming up and I wanna put on a wicked performance to really get the crowed pumped up. Hey! Do you guys wanna help out?"Ibuki asked

"It looks like fun and we might drop by later but right now I just wanted take kotoko quick look at each club she's interested in first." Sayaka explained to Ibuki

"We'll if she's interested in any sports then the sports club leader is at the pool right now and probably will be done with her laps when you get there if Ibuki had to guess." Ibuki mentioned

"How can she guess something like that?" Kotoko thought.

The duo then made their way down to the schools pool. Only 2 girls were in the swimming pool area and neither were swimming. One of them at least look like she had just finished swimming and was toweling off her hair while the other was fully dressed in the school's standard brown uniform. She was on the benches clicking away on a laptop lost in concentration.

The first thing Kotoko noticed about the girl with the towel who was now waving in greetings to them, was how flawless her dark brown hair was and well endowed her body was. She had ocean blue eyes and an infectious smile on her face.

"Mom would probably say she'd hope I look that pretty when I'm older. Pretty means more attention after all but I can't imagine how much attention that would bring. Hopefully not as much as mother claims bodies like that get." She was broken from these thoughts when the other girl started speaking.

"Hi Sayaka, I just finished my laps and Kyoko was keeping score for me. Is that the girl who was going to check out some of the school clubs today? Nice to meet you! I'm Aoi Asahina but my friends just call me hina so you can to if you want." Aoi greeted cheerfully.

"Helllo, I'm Kotoko Utsugi and I don't swim that often but I'd love to see what its all about here. Is that girl over there apart of the club to?" she asked.

"Nice to meet you and nope, that girl is just a friend of mine who I asked to help keep score of my time since I wanna improve it by at least 10 seconds. I may be the ultimate swimming pro but there's always room to improve so I can never stop trying." explained the brunette.

At some point while they were talking the girl from the bleachers must of gotten up but was so quiet and quick Kotoko didn't notice her until she was standing next to Hina and spoke.

"You only passed your previous record by 5 seconds but you've still got at least a few more weeks before any swim meets so I wouldn't worry to much." she said.

Now that she was closer and got a better look at the girl she was a mix of beautiful with an odd mysterious vibe. If she was honest she was a bit intimidating looking. Her long light lavender locks clashed with the brown school girl uniform but still looked good on her. It was mainly her pretty but sharp lavender eyes that seem to give off the message that she was smart and friendly enough but both could and likely would wreak any one who got on her nerves. When said eyes landed on Kotoko they did at least soften a tad.

"Oh Kyoko this is Kotoko, the girl I wanted to introduce your journalist club to." Sayaka said to the girl now known as Kyoko.

She put on her best smile and tried not to look at all nervous in front of both of these new strangers as she extended her hand to shake in greetings. Hina gave her a playful high while Kyoko gave soft but firm handshake. The purple haired girl then for some reason put her hand gently on her shoulder as she introduced herself properly. She knelt down a bit so they were eye level.

"Hello, I'm Kyoko Kirigiri and you don't have to be so nervous just because where high school students. All of us are just regular people and some of them just happen to be a little better at some things then others." she said.

"H-How did you know I was nervous? I mean not really that nervous about being here or anything but I didn't think it showed. Lil ultimate drama is my title after all. I hope this doesn't mean I'm slipping with age." asked the pink haired girl.

The joke at the end earned light hearted laughs from the girls around her before Kyoko responded.

"That's a good talent to have but no matter how good an actor or actress is they always have a tell. Tells are like an unconscious habit when a person lies or gets anxious about something. Things from forced laughing, repeating certain phrases, or twitching, to name a few are all types of tells. In your case you play with your hair and strain your smile a bit out of nerves. That and anyone meeting new people in a place like this would feel a bit nervous anyway." Kyoko explained.

She vaguely remembered hearing something similar in a few spy movies she'd seen before but it was still surprising to hear said in real life. Taking a quick glace at her hands she discovered her right one was indeed twirling a loose stripe of her hair mindlessly without her noticing it. Upon now noticing it though she made her hand stop and tried keeping it to her side. She could feel heat going to her face in embarrassment from not noticing it before. This girl didn't seem to just have sharp eyes but a sharp mind as well.

"Your talent isn't the ultimate spy or assassin is it?" She could help ask the question.

"No, I'm the ultimate detective though I suppose some of the skills a spy or assassin would need are similar to some degree. "Kyoko replied.

"Cooooool." she said with a grin.

"Haha, I gotta admit when I first met Kyoko I honestly thought she might of been a spy or something to until I got to know her." said Hina.

She didn't get to go see what the journalist club room looked like that day since some girl named Toko lost the keys again while stalking some guy she apparently had a crush on. Kotoko assured them though that she was interested in spending time with each club person she'd met so far and couldn't wait to find out more about them tomorrow. The 3 girls she met today were all beautiful and it intimidated her more then a little bit. She didn't know if beautiful people wanted to bothered with something as ugly as her problems. They probably didn't even have many if any of her own. They all carried themselves with real confidence that she as an actress could only pretend to have.

Even still with all that in her mind she did feel like she had taken at least a tiny step somewhere. She hoped maybe even if they couldn't help her with her problems at home that they could make her own confidence become more then just an act. She now knew a thing or to about lying thanks to Kyoko so even if she didn't know what to do with the knowledge she might be able to see when if ever her parents love to her was genuine.

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Guess who's updating this from the dead?! Sorry this has been a hot minute late and nothing really happened in this one. All the warriors problems will be varying levels of hard to solve but with Kotoko I didn't account that it'll likely be the hardest. Obviously abuse on a general level isn't something you can just put a little Band-Aid on to make it all better but with hers it's particularly tough to get through. Luckily I've never gone through anything that these kids have but I've heard and seen plenty real life accounts. I've got a lot of other fics currently on my mind but I'll try to get to this one when I can.