"Hope!" Normal Speech

'Despair!' People's thoughts

"Truth!" Flashbacks

Disclaimer: I have as much ownership of the Danganronpa series as you do dear reader.

AN: Thanks to both RWBYJNPR and Zephyrius29 for beta-reading this chapter.

AN2: Other tags for this story (since the site only gives you 2): Mystery/Friendship/Drama

Chapter 10

Who Can You Trust?

He wasn't able to sleep properly that night.

No nightmares plagued his mind, something that he could only be thankful about, but even so, his body still felt barely rested. If you could even consider 'looking at the ceiling of his room with a million different ideas on his head until he couldn't stay conscious' a form of resting.

Sleeping late and waking up earlier than usual, sounded like the perfect combination.

Not wanting to just toss and turn on his bed until the rest of his family woke up had been one of the reasons for his current situation, the others being his increasing anxiety and how he just didn't want to worry his family even more.

In retrospect, maybe leaving the house so early and just leaving a note behind wasn't exactly the best way to accomplish the latter, but something told him that his parents were extremely close to giving him a talk that he didn't know he would be able to handle right now.

He needed some answers, but the only thing his mind drew were blanks.

No, that wasn't quite right, for he had already concluded what he had to do. He was simply scared of the answers he would get if he went to do that.

And yet here he was, inside Hope's Peak Academy, a lot earlier than usual to the point that the sun was barely visible on the horizon, with deep breaths leaving him each second that passed.

On the back of his head, he had to remark the fact that he saw no one on his walk here, besides the security members guarding the entrance of the school that is. He supposed it was because of how early it was, although another part of him made him feel a bit worried about that fact.

Walking through the halls of such a quiet Hope's Peak made him more nervous than what he would like to admit. He knew that there were more than a few of his friends that were early risers, and he had honestly expected to even run into at least one of them on his way here.

No such thing happened though, which was probably for the best considering that he would have been most likely forced to lie if anyone saw him.

He really had to give credit to those that just lie with a straight face, for every time he did it the guilt slowly ate away at him, not that he didn't understand the necessity of keeping a lot of the things he knew under wraps.

Which, considering everything that was happening around him, was actually one of his reasons that he now stood in front of this door.

For not only there was an unknown individual out there that knew his biggest secret…

But on the other side of this door was also the only person that he had ever revealed anything about the future to.

And while putting two and two together sounded easy enough, his blood simply went cold at what those two simple facts implied.

For even after hours of thinking while taking out Junko out of the equation, something that was honestly hard to do by now, his mind always came to the same conclusion…

And with one last breath leaving his lips he knocked on the door with as much firmness as he could muster, deciding to ignore the slight trembling in his fist.

For right now the emotion that filled his being was one he had grown used to accept every time it had been his turn to identify the killer among his friends.

Wanting to be wrong even though everything pointed to a conclusion…

He could only hope that this time it would end with no blood being shed.

Brown eyes met purple ones for what felt close to an eternity to him.

No sounds were made in the rather spacious office; to the point that one would think someone had muted the sound altogether.

The man's imposing gaze felt like a hawk looking down at rabbit, with no emotion betraying that cold gaze of the man, a sight that he had grown used by now after his dealings with those that shared the Kirigiri name.

It didn't make it any less intimidating, however, but he steeled himself to simply stare back in kind towards the man. Maybe before he would be more relaxed in the man's presence, but right now he simply didn't know what to believe.

The man's eyes lingered on his own for a few more seconds before moving back to the device in his hand, his own cell phone to be more precise, for the message that rested on that device would probably do a better job exposing the matters at hand than anything that he could come up with.

He refused to tear his eyes from the older Kirigiri, trying to see if he would find anything in the stoic mask the man rarely wore. Unlike his daughter, Kirigiri Jin had no issue with acting jovial to those around him, but that didn't mean he wasn't able to put on a face that looked sculptured in stone with how little emotion it displayed.

That, alongside the man's keen intellect and position of authority, certainly made Kirigiri Jin a powerful ally to have…

And in the same way, a scary enemy to face.

With the way he saw the man's eyes move it was more than obvious that he was simply re-reading the text in his hand. He knew better than to jump to conclusions right now however, for it certainly hadn't worked last time, so he simply stood in silence, waiting patiently for the man to do something.

And he did, for after almost a full minute of nothing but sweeping his eyes across the screen of the device, the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy left what could only be described as a defeated sigh before leaning back on his chair, the phone now resting on the middle of his desk.

"Well then…" The purple-haired man spoke slowly, with a hand going through his hair right before he set his gaze on the time-traveler across his room once more. "I suppose the first thing I should say is that it wasn't me who sent you that."

The words came out with as much honesty as Makoto had ever heard from the older Kirigiri, and he knew that at one point he would have believed that easily as a matter of fact, for right now there wasn't even a glint of Despair in those purple eyes of the Headmaster.

However, if knowing who was a part of Ultimate Despair had been such a simple task then, Future Foundation would not have been destroyed from the inside.

Looks could be deceiving, that much he knew by now.

"But I can see you're not convinced." Jin continued just as he massaged his forehead.

"You're the only one I told anything about that," Makoto answered swiftly. The accusation was obvious to anyone that heard, and the fact that Jin then decided to stand up from his seat after that only made the Luckster tense up even more.

"And yet…" Jin's voice came out softly just as he moved from behind his desk. "I'm aware that I wasn't your first option, or else you would have come to me yesterday."

The ahoge-haired boy narrowed his eyes in response, his body language easily telling the Headmaster that he had, as some of his students would say, nailed it.

"I know you haven't been completely honest with me." Jin continued without missing a beat. "But I can assure you, Makoto-kun, that if I wanted to turn on you I would have done my damn best to make sure you never figured out instead of openly challenging you like this."

"Whoever sent this…" Makoto decided to let the man continue his small rant while still trying to gauge how wary he had to be in Jin's presence. "Did it with enough confidence about keeping their identity as a secret. Information is power and right now we don't have that."

"It could be part of a plan, though." Finally, the Luckster spoke with as must seriousness as he could muster. "Sending me something like that knowing I would suspect you, making it so obvious to the point that I wouldn't believe it."

They stood in silence once more, with the air around the two so heavy to the point that cold sweat moved slowly down Makoto's forehead, while Jin for his part simply looked as calm as always until the corner of his lips twitched upwards in what he could only describe as a tired smile.

"You sound a lot like Kyoko sometimes…" The Headmaster whispered barely enough so that Makoto would hear.

"The best I can say, Makoto-kun, is that it truly wasn't me." The man repeated with his arms extended, almost as if to show that he was hiding nothing. "The only thing I want is what's best for Hope's Peak Academy and its students."

The man's voice was dripping with nothing but conviction and his purple eyes shined with a determination that the Luckster was simply unable to ignore. A breath that he didn't even know he was holding came out of Makoto's lips while his right hand moved to scratch the back of his head.

"I…believe you, Kirigiri-san." He answered back with a nod, his body relaxing a bit. A part of him knew that he shouldn't just be accepting this so easily, but the Headmaster had been right. Sending something like this was simply asking for him to be suspicious of the man, so if the man truly became a member of Ultimate Despair then, wouldn't just hiding it be better?

He knew that Despair changed people, but this was a behavior he would expect from Junko who loved to toy with people, not from someone like Jin.

And even ignoring what he had just seen from the man, there was also the fact that this person was one of the few members of Hope's Peak staff than in his time not only didn't succumb to Despair, but that had also done his best to help him and his class.

He could only imagine how things would have ended if Jin's plan had worked and him, alongside the rest of class 78, had ended up living safely inside the walls of the school's old building. A desperate move during desperate times true, but one that the man had done with nothing but the intention of protecting the hope of the future.

Even at the cost of his own life…

Could truly a person like that become a member of Ultimate Despair? Especially in a time when the Despair video had never been created?

Naivety was something that he knew he had, but even so, was it so bad to want to believe that the man in front of him was still his ally?

"Thank you…" The man spoke with another smile appearing on his lips, with the tense air surrounding the two lessening even if it was just by a small margin.

But then again…

"You are still the only one I have told the truth about me." He said not in accusation but simply stating a fact. "Are you sure there weren't any…leaks?" He did his best to find the correct way to address his concerns, for while he knew that the older Kirigiri was capable of keeping a secret, it didn't change the fact that whoever this Ultimate Despair was had to get their information from somewhere.

"Everything you told me about your…predicament." The man answered as he moved back to his desk, one that was filled to the brims with pieces of papers, while also sporting a small laptop on the right side of it, which Jin was quick to touch slightly once he got closer. "I made sure to never leave any traces of it anywhere."

"So if someone got any information from me…" Jin continued while pulling on his tie slightly. "Then I apologize, but defending against mind readers is not my forte."

Jin's attempt at humor fell as flat as he had expected, although no one could blame him for trying.

His words though, simply got a reluctant nod from the Luckster. It wasn't that he thought the Headmaster was lying, for he knew that Jin understood how sensitive the information was. The problem was that there were only two ways of knowing about the future, and he was damn sure he hadn't let any of his information leave him outside of the man in front of him.

"And what about you?" Jin himself seemed to have his doubts, to which Makoto could only frown in response.

"I haven't told anyone besides you." He answered easily, but Jin simply shook his head in response to his words.

"I'm aware of that…" A narrowed gaze appeared in Jin's face, one that had him frowning even more. "And I know you already told me this, but I must ask you again, Makoto-kun…Are you sure no one else came back?"

"No!" His own answer came out almost immediately, for it wasn't the first time he had heard that same question. "Only one person could operate that machine… And he told me he would destroy it after I used it just to make sure no one could abuse it!"

"And this person, can you really trust him? Someone that can build time-machines of all things at will, excuse me if I am a bit skeptic."

"He… is the reason the future even got a chance to recover!" While he understood Jin's doubt it wouldn't stop him from defending the man that not only had given him a second chance, but that has also saved the future from becoming a brainwashed hell.

His fierce eyes and the sudden rise of voice, however, only got a raised eyebrow from Jin, something that made him look down slightly in regret.

"And why didn't this…individual use the machine himself then?" Makoto wasn't a particular fan of this topic, but he understood having to explain a few more things to the man in charge of the school if he wanted for them to be able to work together right now.

"He… had things that he needed to do." He confessed, with a small flash of sorrow appearing in his gaze. "I… was the only one that he trusted with this. It was either me or no one else, those were his conditions…"

That was the truth, even if he was omitting the only other request the older man had given him after he had accepted to go along with this…

Naegi-kun…Please save her.

He shook his head, knowing that remembering the sorrow in that voice would do little to help him now.

The pride that he had felt at being able to fulfill that wish had turned into dread just yesterday, after all.

"I see… Was he also the one that told you to hide what you knew from everyone?" To say Jin was interested in the apocalyptic future that the young Luckster had described to two years ago would be an understatement.

If Makoto was now willing to share some more though, he wasn't going to simply miss this chance. He had only believed in the Luckster's claim because of the information he had revealed a long time ago, after all, but after that day Naegi Makoto had done his best to keep him at bay, at least information wise.

"N-no…" The awkward answer the Luckster gave him though, was not the one Jin had expected. "It was… your daughter, actually…"

And to Makoto's frown, Jin could only blink twice before moving a hand through his face. He already knew that his daughter was still alive in that future, and the look in Makoto's face every time he managed to bring Kyoko as a subject had easily told him that there had been some sort of relationship between the two.

"That…does sound like something she would say." Jin murmured slowly before softly shaking his head, knowing that getting affected by such words was not what he needed right now.

"I'll have to ask you then since you know this Ultimate Despair better than me." The older Kirigiri then proceeded to give the Luckster his phone back, with those purple eyes of his watching the time-traveler intently. "With what you know right now, who do you think they could be?"

That was the important question, now wasn't it?

And while the answer itself was obvious enough in his head, actually voicing it out became harder than what he could have imagined.

"It… has to be someone from the school." His voice wavered as he spoke, with his gaze breaking from Jin's and moving to look at the floor. "A member of the staff…or a student."

He hated saying such a thing, he truly did, but what else could he say? To start thinking that Ultimate Despair wasn't related to the school in some way would be nothing but denying the obvious.

And by the nod he received from Jin it was obvious that he too believed the same.

"This can't be a coincidence. Whoever sent you that is most likely also the one that moved past the school security before…"

"You mean, the stolen things from the Research Labs?" To his question Jin simply nodded once more, leaving the ahoge-haired boy even more deep in thought. In his state of mind he had completely forgotten about that, but right now he couldn't deny that it sounded too weird to just be a coincidence.

But believing that the two were connected only sent a shiver down his spine.

Ultimate Programmer, Fujisaki Chihiro.

Ultimate Mechanic, Soda Kazuichi.

Ultimate Inventor, Iruma Miu.

Those were the three students whose materials had disappeared.

And he could only imagine what someone that called themselves Despair could do with those kinds of tools and technology.

But what good was taking that kind of stuff if they weren't able to use them properly? He had seen the kind of things Chihiro, Soda, and Miu could do with such technology but imagining anyone else being able to do something even remotely similar was too hard to believe.

They were Ultimates in their fields, after all.

"It seems I will have to increase the search then."The Headmaster murmured while already thinking of ways of accelerating the search for the culprit. His original idea might be too slow for it, after all, and now he might even have to call back certain Luckster just to have another chat with the teen.

He knew he was being biased, but was it so bad to want to make sure a student wasn't making any bombs inside your school?

...again.

But to Jin's words Makoto showed nothing but a sudden alertness in his gaze.

"W-wait, Kirigiri-san!" Makoto's fist tightened to his side, with fear starting to show in those brown eyes of his. "I understand that we need to do something, but if we do anything drastic it might just make everything worse!"

Being on the receiving end of Jin's look of confusion only made the Luckster take a big breath before releasing it.

"In my time, Ultimate Despair used the Izuru Kamukura Project and the treatment of the Reserve Course to plunge the school in chaos." He explained with regret, feeling the necessity to say it even though Jin was already aware of this. "If we do something that could put the school on edge then we're just handing them the school on a silver platter!"

"…Aren't you overestimating this Ultimate Despair?"

"I'm not." His words came with a tone of finality, for even if the one responsible wasn't Junko, it didn't change the fact that anyone who carried that title was a dangerous presence.

"We need to be subtle then…" Jin whispered, truly wondering the amount of damage that one person could apparently do. He had heard of it already of course, but hearing about it and actually experiencing were two separate things.

Naegi Makoto was obviously a scarred young man, and while the Headmaster was more than sure that fear was a key aspect as to why Makoto did the things he did, he also wasn't just going to act as if said fear was uncalled for.

Besides, with the Steering Committee trying to find any way to make him disappear, it would probably be best if he didn't do anything openly that they could use to get him away from the school.

"I'll do my best too…This is my responsibility, after all."

"I suppose we both have things to do now, then." With the bomb that he had shown him today, Makoto couldn't blame the Headmaster for wanting to start immediately. He had the same feelings after all, and he could only be glad to have the Headmaster still as an ally rather than an enemy.

"Makoto-kun."

However, before he was allowed to leave, he was forced to look over his shoulder after hearing his name being called by the Headmaster.

The crossed look he received was not one he was used to seeing on the man.

"I don't know who you are protecting," Jin spoke carefully right before raising his hand as soon as he saw that the Luckster was about to protest. "But not only are you the one that knows the situation the most, but you are probably the ones that understand Hope's Peak Academy and its members the best… I can only hope that you won't let your feelings cloud your judgment."

Makoto's eyes widened in response, with his lips parting just as he was about to openly protest. The words died in his throat, however, for he knew what the older man was implying wasn't so far-fetched.

He was already protecting Junko, and to a lesser extent Mukuro, by hiding their status in the future. What would he do if one of his friends had truly become Ultimate Despair?

He had so many questions swarming in his head that he simply didn't know where to even begin.

But even so…

"I'm not going to doubt them." He answered with conviction, simply earning a raised eyebrow in response to the strong-will he showed in his gaze. "I'm going to fix this… But I'm still going to believe in all of them."

He wasn't going to fall into Despair's twisted game. The mistrust, doubt and hatred that had consumed his friends and Future Foundation, he wasn't going to let that get to him.

For that was exactly what Ultimate Despair wanted.

"You…really like to make things harder for yourself, don't you?" Jin's voice came out with nothing but disbelief, to which Makoto could only smile sadly in response.

"You aren't the first one to tell me that."

So that's your decision, Naegi Makoto.

How naive, but not unexpected.

If something like this was enough to make you change, you wouldn't be here right now, I'm sure…

I want to see it then, how far you're willing to go.

As long as you walk through the halls of Hope's Peak, Naegi Makoto, I'll make sure to not miss your struggle.

I can only wonder though…hmm?

I thought you would be silent from now on…

For a prisoner you have a lot of confidence in him.

Not like such things matter.

I'll let you see it too then.

Patience is a virtue, so we might have to wait.

But in the end, I will be sure to show it to everyone, including you, if you manage to last that long in the first place…

The moment in which Naegi Makoto ceases to exist.

You won't allow it, you say?

Kirigiri Jin is unaware that the school is under my control already.

Naegi Makoto will never realize what happened to you.

What can you do to stop me?

You already saw the inevitable end of it, just like me…

This struggle between Hope and Despair.

Of course, thanks to both RWBYJNPR and Zephyrius29 for beta-reading this mess of a chapter.

Now let me be completely honest: I don't like this chapter. That's why I made it so short, because I simply didn't enjoy making it since in the end its nothing but exposition. A necessary evil since I just had to show it though, and adding other bigger scenes to balance it out didn't feel appropriate at the moment, and with college coming up once more it would just have delayed this probably for months.

I ended up adding that last bit so that the chapter would have at least something though, so take that last part as you will.

Last chapter had the most reviews of this story so far, and with that came a lot of theories about who Ultimate Despair is. Those were definitely fun to read, but like I said don't expect a straight answer from me so soon. Too bad I can't answer Guests revies though.

If someone outright asked me though, I would say its Hifumi. Probably got tired and went insane or something, I don't know.

On the other side of things, I promise that with next chapter we are also going back to the fun scenarios from the first chapters of the fics, It's not like I'm suddenly turning this into an angst fest, so this is probably as serious at this is going to get for a while, especially with certain group of Lil' Ultimates popping up soon enough.

This probably will be the last quick update since classes are starting again for me, so I can't say when the new chapter will be out.

As always, thank you all for reading this far, and for all of your favs, follows and reviews, and I can only promise that the next chapter will be better.

Next Chapter: Backtracking.