The sun rose in all of its glory and bathed the land in light as the Future Foundation Killing Game concluded. A boat sailed towards the horizon as a man, alone, watched it charge into the unknown future. However, as he stood there, the weight of loss was heavy on his conscience, remembering both groups of people he had lost to the killing games. He still abided by his vow to carry them all with him, but it was far more difficult for him than ever before; his colleagues in the most recent killing game and his classmates, who were used to haunt him in a way he hadn't thought possible. Whether they, in the afterlife, actually think what "they" said in the video or not doesn't matter, because he still felt responsible either way. Throughout the mental maelstrom within him, one person was etched into his mind clearer than anybody else, and even though she's gone now, Makoto couldn't stop thinking about her.

She had to find him. She didn't know everything that had happened since she went into a coma, but she knew that she was alive, it was over and that they'd won. Class 77 were on their way to Jabberwock Island while the Future Foundation survivors began the monumental amount of tasks ahead of them. However, her first task had to be to speak with him. There were so many things that she needed to tell him that she didn't think she'd get the chance to. Out of everybody she could speak to, her wish was for one; Kyoko couldn't stop thinking about him.

She kept pushing herself to move towards the exit, exhausted once she made it out and taken aback by the onslaught of fresh air and the gleaming light of the sunrise. However, as she covered her eyes with one hand, she heard a yelp. Or rather two yelps, one high pitched in disbelief and the other lower pitched in confusion. Hina couldn't help herself from barrelling towards Kyoko, sobbing out of relief and wrapping her in a hug, which brought out a small smile from the detective as she hugged back, albeit not as strongly.

"I don't know how you managed to survive, but I don't care right now. Just don't ever scare us like that again!" Hina managed to get out between sobs.

"My sincerest apologies, Hina," Kyoko replied before another voice joined in.

"Wait a minute, I thought she was dead? D-don't tell me… IS SHE A GHOST FOR REAL THIS TIME?!"

"No, Hiro, I'm still not a ghost," Kyoko replied with an amused sigh as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well you sure look like one right now," followed the voice of Byakuya walking up to them, "although that is better than actually being one." That was met with unanimous agreement, both with concern for Kyoko's health and gratefulness for her survival. The unanimity from a statement from Byakuya once sounded impossible, yet it happened. 'How many times could the unthinkable happen today?' Kyoko wondered.

It didn't take her long to realise that there was one person absent, frustratingly the one she needed to see most. That frustration developed into dread as she couldn't see him anywhere.

"Where's Makoto?" she asked with an urgency in her voice, something she would never usually let slip, but she had to know if he was alive.

"He's alive, if that's what you're wondering." Byakuya didn't know it for certain, but he'd managed to quash a rising wave of dread for Kyoko.

"Yeah, but you need to talk to him," Hina was suddenly far more serious, "Obviously because of your forbidden action, but after you died, he got more… reckless." Kyoko frowned at that statement.

"I told him when I first saw him in person, but for being famously lucky, he looked battered. What actually happened to him?" Byakuya questioned while Kyoko's heart skipped a beat.

'He wasn't nearly as hurt before the fourth time limit as they're all making him sound, so what happened while I was unconscious?'

"Well, uh- I'm not sure if I should say, it feels more his place to do so," Hina hesitated.

"If you know what happened, it'll at least be better for me to know before I find him," Kyoko encouraged her to talk.

"A-Alright, well after we thought you'd died, Munakata made an announcement to him personally, inviting him to settle their grudge," Hina began. "I thought he wouldn't go, but he did." To that, Kyoko had to brace herself, wondering how injured he really was.

"When Ryota and I caught up with both of them, he certainly looked like he took some hits," Hina shuddered slightly as she said that. Byakuya followed up with a sigh,

"It would appear that we simply cannot stop him from running headfirst into trouble no matter how hard we try."

"Yeah, for real, he really throws himself into anything," Hiro joined in.

"That's what concerns me," Kyoko replied before Hina looked over at her.

"It worries me too, especially because I don't think that fight was the worst part." Everyone focused on Hina once again, wondering what could possibly be worse than that?

"So, um, while he went to face Munakata, Ryota and I discovered Kyoko's theory after reading her pocketbook - I'm so sorry about that, by the way-"

"No need to be."

"Thanks. But your theory was that the monitors induced suicide if someone slept nearby to them… and Makoto volunteered himself to test the theory," Kyoko's breath hitched as Hiro gasped and Byakuya's teeth bared. Everyone knew that Makoto was no stranger to facing death, such as his bold decision in the fifth class trial at Hope's Peak, but this situation sounded worse, more dreadful. Ever since Kyoko had told him that avoiding danger would get him nowhere, the amount of close calls he has had drastically increased. Death itself has been prepared to claim Makoto on seemingly many occasions, yet hasn't succeeded yet, luckily.

"Is he keeping what he saw a secret?" Kyoko questioned, trying to get as many answers as she could about his situation.

"I think so. Despite how he tried to seem normal when the rest of us woke up, he seemed shaken too, as if his optimism got tested, which is especially worrying for someone like him," Hina hesitantly finished.

"Alright, well I think this is enough idle chat for now. Kyoko, you can find Makoto and discuss matters while we tend to more tasks brought about from this mess," Byakuya's abrupt ending of the reunion couldn't make Kyoko happier, not because he was annoying, surprisingly, but because she could finally find Makoto. However the conversation they were about to have sounded like it would be more difficult than it already would have been.

The peace was haunting. Once again, this wasn't a complete victory. A group of people died in an enclosed space once again, one of which did so specifically for him and he was oblivious and powerless to stop it. The memory of Kyoko's corpse laying motionless in front of him and the entirety of that video resurfaced all at once as the guilt consumed him all over again. He held his hand up to observe the smear of blood still on it. Her blood. The one person he so desperately believed would survive this and yet it felt like the impossible was possible. Kyoko Kirigiri was dead and it was his own existence that caused it.

Kyoko was frustrated to run into another delay while finding Makoto and it being caused by Munakata certainly didn't help. His tattered self made her internally wonder if Makoto was also this beaten up before Munakata started talking to her.

"I know you have places to be and I'm one of the last people you might want to see right now, but I'm truly sorry. There's not much else I can really say to make any of this better," he gestured towards the wreckage. Kyoko was still looking at him silently. "He still awaits you and as I'm sure your friends have told you, you need to talk to him. You've all recognised that something is troubling him and you are someone who can talk to him about that. However, more importantly, say what you want to say. All of it. Do not let this opportunity pass you because sometimes… you don't realise when your opportunity is long gone," he shuts his eyes, wincing.

"Thank you, Munakata, and I'm sorry for your losses," she replied to him, taking his advice on board. He gives her a simple nod before the two walk away from each other, towards the future calling to them.

She saw Makoto looking towards the sea, seeming tense. While she could hide her emotions with near perfection on the outside, there was turmoil plaguing her on the inside and questions endlessly bombarded her. 'Is Makoto really alright? Why would Makoto do all of these things? Can I tell him everything I couldn't before I nearly died?' Yet she held hope, something she'd learned best from him. Although this conversation was going to be a challenge, they could make it through, right? With that, she took some steps forward and he turned around to face her and it was then that she could properly see him. His face filled with shock, his body battered but here he still was, alive.

His voice wouldn't cooperate with him initially.

"Makoto."

"K-Kyoko?" 'Was that really her?'

"I know I've got a lot of explaining to do but-"

"H-how do I know it's really you?" Kyoko could feel her heart desperately trying not to get torn into two, because now the reality had hit her that this was not the same Makoto she had left. He was hurt, sorely.

"H-how?" Kyoko faltered uncharacteristically. She couldn't believe he was asking that and he might not have believed himself, but it was best to play along. "You remember when you fell into the Trash Pit at Hope's Peak, right? I went after you and after I got up from the bags, you told me I had something in my hair? I shook off the cup noodles while wondering how you could still have the energy to point that out, but more importantly being grateful that you were alive after what I did to you," Makoto's breath hitched as he heard that.

"...I'll forever stand by that not being your fault," he told her before limping over to her as she walked slowly over to him. Once they got close enough, they wrapped their arms around each other as if they never wanted to let the other go. After everything they'd been through, they were still alive and together. Makoto closed his eyes and sobbed into her shoulder as Kyoko finally let some of her own tears fall as well. It was a miracle that either of them were alive and they both knew that.

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally looked each other in the eyes again, still holding each other. Kyoko spoke up,

"I suppose I should go first. I don't know how much pain I put everyone through, how much I put you through and I'm so sorry, but I had to. There was no guarantee that it would work, which was one of the reasons why I didn't tell you. If anyone else happened to catch on as well, such as someone out to kill us, I'm not sure if I'd be standing here right now." Makoto listened and watched her, still frustrated by the entire situation but letting it melt away from seeing her alive.

"I still wish you could have coded it to me or I figured it out earlier or something."

"Makoto, I wasn't going to make that mistake again, I was not going to let you take the fall for me again. Once was too much to bear." He could only silently stare in response. They both knew he would have if he could have. "Kimura's antidote barely kept me alive and Mikan resuscitated me once Class 77 had arrived." Makoto nodded in understanding.

"Well I'm just indescribably happy that you're alive," he beamed at her, eyes still glistening.

"I can't describe how happy I am that you're alive too," she gave him a warm smile in return. "However, I think it's about time we talked about your actions after I was injected," her face turned serious again as Makoto's face winced more visibly than he thought it did. His smile began to fade as he began recounting what he experienced.

"Facing Munakata wasn't the best idea, but I couldn't sit around. I had to resolve things and I wasn't waiting anymore, especially not after I thought you died. I didn't care about what hits he could land on me because nothing was going to be more painful than that." To that, Kyoko only softened up more while still being concerned for his well being.

'Did my near death affect him this much?' she thought before replying, "I still think you could have been at least a bit less reckless about this."

"Says the person who jumped into a garbage chute after me," he gave a small smirk.

"Touché," she smirked back.

"Well we managed to come to an understanding before Hina and Ryota caught up with us and things went on from there," he sounded as if he had reached the conclusion, which Kyoko knew was a lie. Even without already knowing what he wasn't telling her, Makoto is just a terrible liar. In this case, she was glad he was because the haunted fear settled behind his eyes did not suit him well.

"You're not finished talking from there though," she begins to push towards the topic as he cocks his head slightly. "You… tested my theory. Hina told me." At the mere mention of that, his eyes widened and the fear he tried to hide was on full display. Suddenly, the world around him grew quiet. Kyoko's real voice sounded like a distant echo as it melded with the icy tone of her dead corpse. He shuddered, like he did near the monitor, as the overwhelming feeling of failure filled him once more. However, he wasn't continuously being bombarded with it like before and a physical pain prompted him to rise up from the suffocating depths of those feelings. Her hands were gripping his arms firmly, desperately trying to bring him back to his senses. He felt like his body was trying to resist being pressed into mush and despite the profuse pressure he felt he was under, he continued to attempt to get ahold of himself with Kyoko's help until could finally breathe again, as if he'd almost drowned. After frantically looking around for a bit, he refocused on Kyoko who was staring into his eyes with nothing but concern. "Makoto, please. You don't have to suffer through this alone."

"I-I saw you. You were dead but you were talking to me. Sayaka was there too, also dead. Both of you were wondering why I was still alive and trying to get out. Why did I survive when neither of you could? That's a question I was already asking myself. Then I saw everyone else one more time: Leon, Chihiro, Mondo, Taka, Hifumi, Celeste, Sakura. All dead. I knew that you all weren't the only ones that died: Your dad, many held captive in Towa City, everyone who died at the Future Foundation, many people before the first killing game, each of whom had dreams, fears, lives. That's when I also wondered why I was still alive. All of the people I love and care for die around me but I'm the one who stays alive? Why? What's so special about me that I had to be the one to live? Is this my 'luck?' Am I one of the universe's favourite punching bags? No matter what I can do to try helping out, people still get killed, kill each other or kill themselves. I had all of these questions swirling in my mind until the eye of that cursed bear appeared. The symbol of the mockery of every aspect of life, stuffing people's brains with the desire to tear themselves apart in any and every conceivable way, all for nothing but a dead person's entertainment. Someone who sees lives as toys to break. And all I could do was scream helplessly over and over, writhing on the ground until the knife dropped in front of me. I was about to do it, Kyoko. I-if it wasn't for Juzo stepping in when he did, I'd be- I would have- God, what is wrong with me?" For a fleeting moment, there was silence, until the floodgates fell apart once more.

Neither knew how much time had passed before they could recompose themselves as months of unshed emotions caught up with them all at once. One person used emotions like those to exploit the world, preying on the weak to wreck a flawed society. Healing the damage has taken wisdom, agony and sacrifices as the emotions fester, unnaturally moulding into your mind until you're numb to the anguish. Though even that numbness can be sorrow in disguise, etching away at your soul until you acknowledge the harrowing hell it holds.

Their pain was visible to one another as their masks melted away. "I-I'm so sorry-"

"No no don't be, you don't have to be." Kyoko spoke over his shuddery voice, hushing him gently. "There's nothing wrong with you, Makoto. We've been through a lot and you've been trying to process some things by yourself, which I understand. However, you don't need to try and deal with it by yourself; we're here to help, I'm here to help. It can be difficult to open up, I know that all too well, but it does help with the right people around you. You taught me that and I hope that we're the right people for you."

"Of course you are, all of you, I just… wasn't sure how to admit it." To this, Kyoko let out a sigh.

"Well as long as you're comfortable admitting it now. You can tell us when you're not feeling your best, I don't care if you want to stay strong for others, you need to look out for yourself too. We both know that facing this world alone isn't the best idea and that's why we're all here trying to face it together, but it's not just our strengths that we show; our weaknesses are just as likely to emerge and after all this time, I'm done with denying it. None of us are invincible superheroes and even if the situation might hold us in that light, no hero is ever truly invincible and that's okay. You taught me that all the way back in Hope's Peak, persevering and taking risks even with the hardships you faced from the very first case; you were vulnerable sometimes but you still managed to get back up."

"Only because I had you and the others pushing me forward."

"Not only; at least part of that was your own motivation too. We all needed each other there whether we like admitting that or not and I'd say you put in… well maybe second most effort." After all this time, Kyoko finally saw a slight but genuine smile form on Makoto's face. He closed his eyes and let out a shuddery breath, gradually letting himself accept what felt like a dreamy reality. She stood there with him, warmth still enveloping their sleeves as their fingers intertwined. In an instant, Makoto's eyes were wide again.

"Wait, we should still take you to a doctor, right? Or at least someone with medical experience."

"It would be best to take that precaution, but I've already been treated by the Ultimate Nurse. However, getting medical attention is a requirement for you; we don't know if that leg wound could be infected." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, nervously chuckling while giving a soft smile, which Kyoko reciprocated.

"I love you."

"I love you too."