Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. Here, we'll be continuing from the break in the last chapter, starting with the majority of the class talking to each other about what they saw. So, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.

Chapter 23: Break Chapter

(Recreational Room)

Wanting some time to think for himself, Makoto went to grab a sandwich from one of the small booths before leaving the room. Before he could get out, however, Hina's voice called him over. "Hey, Makoto!" The luckster turned to see Hina, with the majority of the class, waving at him. "You aren't going to stay and join us?"

Makoto smiled apologetically. "Sorry Hina, I just….need some time to think right now." With that, he turned around, sighed and walked away with sulking shoulders.

"Is Makoto okay there?" Hiro asked, concerned for him.

Mondo sighed. "Obviously not dude. And it's not even his fault." The biker clenched his hands together. "I mean, fuck. We just watched Sayaka, Mukuro, and Leon get goddamn wasted. And Sayaka was the one who started the whole damn thing."

"Yeah." Taka looked down at his plate of food. "Still, what Leon did was inexcusable. He should've found another way to resolve, regardless of what stress he was in."

"No argument there, bro." Mondo agreed. "While Sayaka isn't a saint either, she didn't deserve to die."

Meanwhile, Chihiro was silent. The programmer is trying to analyze the situation, figure out Leon's logic in his actions, as well as Sayaka's actions. The first was hard to do, since not much was revealed. They didn't see neither Leon's nor Sayaka's point of view in the situation, so she can't draw an accurate conclusion to what Leon was thinking.

Sayaka wasn't any easier. While the programmer understand the logic behind Sayaka's action, she doesn't know what to think of it. Is it something she should hold against Sayaka? Should the idol be forgiven?

After a moment of thinking, Chihiro decided to ask everyone else for their opinion. "U-Umm, guys?" Chihiro called out timidly, gaining everyone's attention. "Since we're talking about Sayaka and Leon….what do you guys think of their actions?"

Everyone was silent for a moment at that question. "Wow. That's a loaded one." Hiro said, holding his head. "What do I think? I don't think I want to think about this at all."

"Me neither." Hifumi said as he served Celeste's favorite tea to her. "It's like a complicated mystery anime, that has a mystery behind a mystery. Once you solve something, something else is hidden behind it. Those kinds of mystery hurts my brain."

Toko snorted. "O-Of course the two o-of you don't want to think. You're m-minds could h-hardly think now." She ignored the indignant shouts from the two. "A-As for me, I think Leon is a d-dirty killer. S-Sayaka isn't innocent either though, and got the p-potential to be dirty too."

"I think that's a bit far Toko." Hina argued. "While I definitely don't agree with either of them trying to kill each other, I don't think it's simple as Leon being a dirty killer."

Toko huffed, but didn't deny it. In all honesty, she doesn't believe her words fully either. She hates killing, but she doesn't know the situation Leon was in. Still…. "M-Miss Perfect doesn't have an excuse e-either."

"I don't know about that." Taka said, frowning. "I want to agree with you on that, but….that motive forced her hands, didn't it?"

"Yes. The choice of either killing somebody or losing your career." Celeste spoke in, taking a sip of her tea. While she is angry at Sayaka for trying to frame Makoto, she found herself relating to her after a moment of thinking as well. "A career she worked very hard on. If it were my own assets on the line, I might've at least given the thought some consideration."

"Okay, yeah, her job was being threatened, but is it really worth killing someone?" Hina argued, a big frown on her face. "Not to mention trying to frame poor Makoto for it."

"Sayaka worked hard to get the position she's in. There was a part in the future where she said that she have to do things she didn't want to." Byakuya retorted. "When everything you worked for is at risk, you look at every available option." His thoughts went to his own assets, as well as the entire Togami line.

Before they could argue, Sakura put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "They may have a point." Sakura said to Hina gently. "We're not in their position, so we can't judge her too harshly. When it comes to thing people put their heart and soul in, they would do almost anything to keep it." Hina still has a frown on her face, but didn't say anything else.

After looking at her friend for a moment, she turned back to the others. "As for Leon, his actions are immoral, but I can understand it somewhat. The situation was a helpless one, something that would be hard to deal with."

"Like future Celeste said before the execution, he had plenty of time to think this through." Byakuya remarked. "A number of chances to stop what he was doing. But he didn't."

"I don't think it was that simple for him." Sakura countered, frowning.

While the group talked about what they witnessed, Kyoko is sitting by herself, writing what they found out so far. For one, they found out that this killing game is located at Hope's Peak, right in the old school building. Several modifications were made, such as the trial room, the front door sealed up, and metal plates on the windows.

The mastermind killed the principal, her father, and the school seemed to be absent of any other students, the old school building at least. Several disasters seemed to have happened outside of the building, which appeared to be things the mastermind orchestrated. The mastermind also seemed to wield a lot of power, both in finance and influence, if the motives and how advanced Monokuma was has any indication. Monokuma isn't stopping them from searching for the truth, and is even giving them hints, whether he knows it or not.

Their future selves' memories got wiped in what would've been their third year at Hope's Peak. Yasuke Matsuda, so far, is the only suspect for who the mastermind could be, or is at least associated with the mastermind.

'Alright. That should cover it.' Kyoko thought to herself. 'Now, I just need to review it.' However, just before she could do that, someone called out to her.

"Hey, Kyoko." The one who called out was Hina. Taking her eyes off the notes, Kyoko looked at the group. "Can you come over here for a minute? We wanted to ask you something!"

Kyoko silently got up, putting up her notebook and pencil before going over to her fellow classmates. "Yes, Hina?"

"I was wondering, what do you think of….what Sayaka and Leon did?" Hina asked her. "We've been talking about it, and there's a lot of mixed opinions."

Kyoko didn't say anything at first, just silently standing behind an empty chair at the table. Then, she voiced her opinion. "Leon was not thinking straight at the time." Kyoko stated bluntly. "His thoughts were in most likely affected by paranoia, vengeance, or stress due to Sayaka's attempt at his life. It's common not to think clearly in those circumstances."

"Wait, you're saying that Leon was right in killing Sayaka?" Hiro asked in disbelief.

That question resulted in a cold glare from the detective, making Hiro and yelp duck down under the table. "I did not say that." She said clippely. "I'm saying that I understand why he did it. While his actions are immoral and deserve proper punishment, it's at least understandable."

"And Sayaka?" Byakuya inquired with a raised eyebrow.

At that inquiry, Kyoko worked her mind to make sure no angered bias came from her answer. She is angry at future Sayaka, angry that she's willing to betray Makoto like that, but she isn't going to let it cloud her judgement. She's a Kirigiri, and a Kirigiri does not let emotion cloud them from finding or speaking the truth.

"I admit, her willingness to betray Makoto angers me." Kyoko said honestly. "Betraying someone's trust is something I detest….but even still, it's understandable. Her situation was to kill or lose her dream forever. The stress and reality of the situation influenced her mentality, in other words, she wasn't thinking straight when she made her decision."

"Do you think something like that is forgivable?" Sakura questioned.

"If you're asking whether or not we should forgive our Sayaka, that's up to you to decide." Kyoko told them. "After all, everything we've seen is in an alternate reality, albeit, some time into the future. Still, we can't ignore what we've seen, so you need to decide for yourselves, if the Sayaka standing with us today can be forgiven."

For Kyoko personally, she can't really trust Sayaka after finding out what her future self did. She's hardly a trusting person, and Sayaka broke her trust after what she attempted to do. Makoto will probably forgive Sayaka eventually, so she'll need to keep an eye on the idol for Makoto's sake.

Wanting to review her notes without anymore interruptions, Kyoko stood up. "I'm going to my room now. If you would excuse me." With that, she left the room, leaving the rest of her classmates in silent thought.

After a couple minutes, Hina spoke up. "We need to decide for ourselves if the Sayaka standing with us today can be forgiven." Hina repeated what Kyoko said, slumping. "Yeah, right. She says it like it's an easy decision."

In all honesty, despite their rivalry for Makoto, Sayaka is a good friend to Hina. The two hang out and talk with each other, and get along very well. But the fact that she tried to kill someone, and frame poor Makoto as well, is something she can't ignore. It isn't something she could brush off easily like most things.

"You have all night to figure it out. After you take the stink off of Toko, you can think about it in your room." Byakuya told her. He stood up in his seat. "As for me, I won't be holding it against her. It's pointless, considering this only happens in the future." With that, Byakuya left.

Hina blinked at the reminder. "Oh yeah, I forgot that me and Sakura have to give Toko a bath."

"Yes. We should get to it." Sakura said, looking around for the writing prodigy. She immediately spot her trying to sneak away from the break room. "Toko!"

The writer yelped and attempted to make a break for it. But Sakura and Hina was already on her tail. "Get back here Toko!" Hina yelled as they chased after her.

(With Leon)

Leon thought the day he was forced to shave his head the worst day ever. He thought the day he found out there was already an Ultimate Musician was the worst. He thought losing his favorite shirt was the worst.

None of those things could compare to this day.

He sat on the edge of his bed, fists clenched and feeling nothing but the anger and stress boiling within him.

What he's angry at, well, it could be at a number of things. Maybe it was at Sayaka for her future self's attempt at killing his future self. Maybe it was at the others for voting him dead. Maybe it was at Monokuma for executing him, for setting up that messed up game in the first place.

But, if he's being honest, he's actually most angry and disappointed with himself.

What the hell possessed him to kill Sayaka? While their memories were wiped, Leon knew that he had admired Sayaka for her idol career and had a crush on her. Why would he go out of his way to break through that door and put a knife in her stomach? He could've calmed her down through the door, or he could've easily just left and called for help. Why didn't he do either of those? In hindsight, it was so god damn easy...

And more importantly, why did Sayaka choose him of all people to kill? What did he do wrong? Sure, maybe he should flirt less, and maybe he didn't take the singing career that seriously, but that didn't warrant his death. Right?

He shut his eyes when the execution ran through his head. The baseballs he collected in his pockets suddenly seemed heavier of all of sudden. Baseballs. Of all things, it had to be the icon of his career. Why that of all things? Did that bastard teddy bear wanted that to haunt his dreams in the afterlife? Maybe make it feel more hopeless?

"Damn it," Leon gritted out, his eyes still close. "Why? Out of everyone here, why did it have to happen to me? Why me?!" He screamed out the last part, holding his head to together.

Suddenly, a knock entered the room, interrupting his thoughts. "Hey, Leon. It's Makoto." The luckster's voice sprung into the room next. "Can I talk to you?"

Leon scowled. "Why? So you could scold me about killing Sayaka? Well, I don't want to hear it!" The baseball player exclaimed, as he proceeded to lay on his bed.

"No, that isn't it at all!" The alarm in Makoto's voice was clearly. "I just wanted to talk, that's all. I know….that you must feel pretty bad about what you say."

Leon snorted. "Understatement of the year."

"I guess you don't want to see me, considering we basically helped kill you." The guilt in his voice was heard. "So I'll just tell you this. Don't blame yourself for what happened Leon. Despite killing somebody, your future self was a victim in it."

Leon bolted upright and looked at the door in shock. "How could you say that?" The distress was clear in his voice. "I killed somebody Makoto! I killed Sayaka out of my own conscious mind! How could you say that I'm a victim, when Sayaka is dead because of me?"

"Cause it was….Sayaka's plan." He replied, Leon instantly picking up the pain in his voice. "She tried lure you in and kill you. You got put in a situation where you couldn't think straight. Maybe it was paranoia that hit you. Maybe you actually wanted to talk to Sayaka, but ended up being forced to kill her."

Leon gripped his fists, desperately wanting to believe his words despite the cold truth of his actions said everything otherwise.

"You can't know that for sure Makoto!"

"I know enough to be sure that you're a good person Leon." Makoto's voice was resolute. "You wouldn't kill her with malicious intent. And it was clear in your future self's voice that he clearly believes that it was self-defense, despite Celeste's good points."

The luckster's voice then got softer. "You might be hot-headed Leon, but you're also not a liar, so don't eat yourself up about this. Now that we know our future, we can do things to stop it. To make sure that you won't kill Sayaka, that you won't end up being executed. I believe in that." Shortly after, Makoto's footsteps slowly faded into the distance, leaving Leon alone in his thoughts again.

(The hallway)

The luckster let out a heavy sigh as he left the door of Leon's room. Despite battling his own demons right now, he felt that he needed to help Leon come in terms with what they've seen. He couldn't just abandon him, despite what his future self did.

Hopefully, his words got to his best friend. He doesn't want Leon to implode from the guilt of killing Sayaka and the despair of seeing his own death.

As he continued walking to his room, he heard footsteps from behind him. Turning his head, his eyes widened in confusion when he saw Hina and Sakura walking, the two of them holding a struggling Toko by the arms and legs.

"No! Let me go!"

"Come on Toko! All of us needs a bath!"

"You will not be an exception to this rule, Toko."

Toko still struggled and protested as they passed a shocked and confuseed Makoto who pressed himself against the wall to let them pass, none of them noticing him as Toko seemed to be putting up a pretty good fight.

"...Guess Toko was trying to escape." Makoto finally said, before continuing his walk. It's getting easier and easier to accept his classmates' eccentric personalities.

He was about to resume walking but found himself rooted to the ground as something stopped him again. It was the sound of sobbing coming from one of the rooms. Half-expecting it to be Sayaka's room, Makoto looked at the direction of the crying only to see it was….Mukuro's room.

Well, this is a first.

"Mukuro?" Makoto called out in concern, knocking on the door. "Are you alright?"

As he asked that, the crying stopped before Mukuro's shaky voice replaced it. "I-I'm fine. Don't worry." The tone in her voice worried Makoto more. As far as he knows, very few things, if anything at all, could shake her.

"Are you sure? You don't sound alright." Deciding to test his luck, literally, he grabbed the handle of the door. Luckily, the door's unlocked. "I'm coming in ok?"

Hearing no protests, he went in only to see Mukuro sitting on the bed with red eyes and a tear stained face. Makoto instantly grew concerned, he's never seen Mukuro like this before.

"Mukuro, what's wrong?" Makoto sat beside her, his face filled with concern. "Was it your future self's death?"

Mukuro refused to look at him, her eyes threatening to pour out water once more. "Don't worry about me. You have your own problems to deal with, don't you Makoto? Don't let me stop you from dealing with them."

"Mukuro, I'm not gonna leave you like this." Makoto told her. "You're my friend. I don't abandon my friends."

Mukuro tightened her grip on her fists and continued to look away from him, grief and guilt gnawing on her. 'I don't deserve your help.' Mukuro thought miserably.

"Mukuro, please, look at me." At his pleading request, Mukuro turned her head towards Makoto. She was met with his smile, the same smile she fell in love with. "You're my friend. And friends help each other, so please, tell me what's wrong."

The soldier stared at him, several emotions building up within her. Pain and sorrow stabbed at her for putting Makoto in this position, but at the same time, happiness and even a little bit of admiration for his eagerness to help. Even when dealing with his own problems, he's found strength within him to help others. 'If only you knew the extent of my problems. You wouldn't be so eager to help, Makoto.'

"...I-It's about my death." Mukuro said quietly. She decided to tell part of the truth. "It was just so….sudden. It happened so fast, that I didn't know what to think." She clenched her fists on top of her knees. "I'm a soldier. Whenever I fight on the battlefield, I knew there was always a chance of me dying. Being the Ultimate Soldier doesn't change that."

"...But nothing ever prepared me for that." Mukuro admitted to. "None of my training, none of my experiences, nothing prepared me to see my own death in the future. It's something you just don't think about. When you fight, you're always thinking ahead of you opponents, always looking for openings and planning ahead. You down one person and you've already figured out how to take on the next five. The last thing you want to think about is your own death, and now that I've seen it….I can't help but wonder if this will be my future. If I'm just going to fight until I die..."

"No, that's wrong." Mukuro looked up in surprise at Makoto's quiet yet bold refutation. Makoto was looking at her with eyes of determination. "I'm no soldier Mukuro, but even I know that the best laid out plans don't always go as planned. Things are always changing, just like in life, thing's aren't always set in stone. Just because you have a road laid out in front of you doesn't mean you have to walk on it, you can always look for other roads. And even then, I think spending the effort to find those other possibilities is more important than the end result itself. So that's why I believe there's a possibility that we'll all survive from this and that I'll be fighting for it once I find it."

"Besides, as morbid as it was, what we watched will help us I'm sure. We learned and seen things we otherwise might've not known." He continued. "You're one of the best soldiers out there Mukuro, if not, the best. You said before that once you know the enemy fully, you can easily defeat them. And so, I believe in you Mukuro, and I hope you can believe in yourself as well."

Mukuro stared at Makoto in awe. His words, his tone….it's so different from her sister's. Instead of eyes filled with despair, it's filled with hope. Instead of a tone of cruelty, there's limitless kindness in his tone. Instead of a crazed smile on a fake mask, it's a genuine smile that could light up the darkest hearts.

But can she truly believe in herself? Could she have faith in herself? "...I'll think about what you said." Mukuro told him, a small smile on her face. "Thank you, Makoto."

Makoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Anything to help a friend out." The luckster then stood up. "If you need someone to talk to, let me know. I'll be here to listen."

With that, Makoto went to the door. But before he got out of the room, a question came to mind. "By the way," He spoke up, getting Mukuro's attention once more. "How's Junko taking it?"

At that question, Mukuro had to fight back the tears once more. "She….was sad and horrified." Mukuro said, telling a half-truth. "But I wouldn't worry about her. She'll bounce back quickly. She always does."

That a got chuckle from Makoto. "Yeah, she sure does." Finally, Makoto left the room, leaving Mukuro to her thoughts.

As the door closed, a thought struck Mukuro.

"It's ironic isn't it? He's in no physical way anywhere close to being a soldier and yet, he's already more of a soldier than I am... I fought to get stronger, while he fights to help others... almost protecting them... Huh. Soldiers fighting to protect...?"

A small smile slowly slipped out as Mukuro seemed to come to realize something. Makoto could be someone to fight for, someone to prove her loyalty to, someone to protect. He's the first person to show compassion to her, to smile at her, to see her as more than just a soldier. He's the first person she ever befriended, had an interest in outside of her tiny world, the first person she ever fell in love with.

The smile quickly faded as she was soon faced with a very scary dilemma

Should she do it? She looked down at her Fenrir tattoo on the back of her hand, the wolf staring back at her as if it would follow her no matter what happened.

Should she tell Makoto about everything? Reveal herself as a traitor to him?

(With Kyoko)

Sitting on the bed of her room in darkness save for the small desk lamp next to her, Kyoko reviewed the notes she had written. After reviewing them, she began doing what she does best. Finding the truth in a sea of lies and contradictions.

But so far, she couldn't think of anything that could give her at least a probable theory as to what happened to Hope's Peak. Of why the mastermind wiped their memories and forced them to kill each other. And there's also the small mysteries to worry about as well, such as Mukuro disguising herself.

Kyoko's eyes narrowed in thought at that. Now that she's thinking about it, why would Mukuro still be wearing that disguise? If their memories were erased, then they shouldn't know why she's wearing it.

Maybe Mukuro's instincts is telling her to keep up the guise. Their memories may have been wiped, but not their instincts. But she still can't help but feel that it was still very odd of her to do so.

She sighed. Best to let it go for now. It really isn't possible for Mukuro to be the mastermind, considering Monokuma killed her in the first place.

Her thoughts then went to the mastermind. Honestly, the only named suspect for the mastermind is Yasuke Matsuda, but he could also only be associated with them. Worst of all, there weren't any indications that the mastermind was just one person. It could have been a whole group for all she knows.

Another sigh left her and she rubbed her temples in frustration. She doesn't have enough information to figure out anything. She couldn't even narrow down any of the theories yet. They needed to find out what exactly happened to Hope's Peak, what happened before their memories were wiped, to get an even stronger theory for the hows and whys.

Well, there were still some chapters left to go through. Hopefully, they'll be able to find the truth.

(With Makoto)

After talking to Leon and Mukuro, Makoto finally got back to his room. He took a bite at the sandwich he got from the break room as he began thinking about what he witnessed. Knowing there was a lot to think about, he started with the motives they saw.

He's honestly scared at what he witnessed. Knowing that his family might've been in possible danger, might still be in danger, or even….dead, terrified him. It made him want to see his mom and dad, to see Komaru again, just to reassure himself that they're fine. That they aren't hurt in anyway. 'Calm down, Makoto.' He thought in his head, as he nearly choked on the sandwhich and taking some deep breaths afterwards.

Taking another bite of his sandwich, his thoughts then went to Monokuma. Honestly, the thought of that mechanical, sadistic, maniacal bear made his blood boil. He wiped their memories, told them to kill each other in order to get out, pushed them to that choice, and then mocked them when it happened. He took Mukuro's and Leon's lives with glee, and forced them to basically agree to kill Leon. And the worst part? It's only the first chapter. How many more were going to follow?

It made Makoto think if there's anything else that could make him hate Monokuma even more. Anything else that would fuel his ire at the monochrome bear. Once again, he took some deep breaths, to calm down his anger.

Taking one last bite of his small supper, his thoughts went to the three deaths he was forced to witness. Sayaka's, Mukuro's, and Leon's.

Seeing Sayaka with a knife embedded in her stomach made him want to scream. Thinking about Mukuro getting skewered drained all the color in his body, made him want to faint. Thinking about Leon's execution made him want to puke the sandwich in his stomach. Those three were one of his closest friends, with Hina, Kyoko, and Chihiro on the list as well. How could he not be horrified at seeing their deaths in the future?

And the worst part of it was how it all began.

With that thought, he finally got to the thing that troubled him the most. Sayaka's betrayal. He avoided thinking about it for a while, because whenever he did, several emotions flooded his mind. But now that he's alone, he can deal with it.

Finding out that Sayaka was planning to kill after the motive was a shock. Finding out that she had planned to frame him for it was a punch to the heart. Thinking that she was unsure of her decision, and that she might've sent the dying message to clear his name, is hardly comforting. It still hurts that she chose to use him like that, the pain lingering as if mocking him for being so naive.

A part of him wondered if he could still trust her. Wondered if she would do the same thing, regardless of the time they spent with each other. A smaller part even wondered if she's just pretending to be his friend now.

Yet, with all these thoughts in his head….the thought of pushing her away, of throwing away their friendship, pains him. Despite her future self's betrayal, he couldn't stay angry or afraid of her. He still cared deeply for her. The fact that he wanted to hug and comfort her when she was crying proved that.

At that thought, he immediately removed the possibility of whether she was pretending to be his friend or not. If that was the case, she wouldn't look so heartbroken. The guilt, the sorrow, it all looked so real. She couldn't have faked that, rather, no one could fake something like that.

The luckster sighed. He knew that her future self's betrayal would linger in his head for a while. The entire killing game itself will stay in his head for a long while. But he wants to trust her again. To stay friends with her. To give her another chance. The thought of resenting her, pushing her away, and ignoring her pained him.

Still, he needs to think on it longer. Maybe he could sleep on it. However he quickly shook it off. There's no doubt Sayaka is still suffering from what they saw, and he felt guilty for letting her feel this way. He couldn't put if it off until the morning. He needs to make a decision tonight. And so, he got up from his bed with an uncertain heart, but determined eyes.

(With Sayaka)

It's been hours since they finished chapter 1 of their future. Of Danganronpa, as it was called. All throughout that hour, Sayaka had curled up in her bed, just….thinking.

She didn't need to ask herself why her future self did the things she did. She already knew. It was to protect her dream, get her career back. She worked so hard to get there, and just the thought of losing it made her freeze.

No, the question on her mind is what she would do now, if she were in the same situation, with the memories of Makoto, Leon, Hina, and all of her classmates still there. Would she have stopped herself? Or would she have continued? Would she have sacrificed everyone's lives for that dream?

She thought about what her classmates would think of her actions. If her intuition is correct, and they almost always are, many of them would have a hard time understanding her situation. Kyoko and Mukuro would most likely hold a grudge over her, since the two held Makoto dear to them like she does. Hina would be conflicted about it while Byakuya, Celeste, and Sakura may be more understanding. Hiro and Hifumi wouldn't even bother trying to figure anything out.

And Leon? She curled up tighter, trying desperately to hold the tears. There are probably a number of things he's thinking right now. Why he killed her, why she decided to kill him, what did she do wrong, and more. Leon was probably angry at her, at the class, at Monokuma, and at himself. She couldn't blame him for being angry at her. She caused his death in the first place.

And Makoto….the thought of her dear friend, her crush, finally got the tears to leak out again. Their talk earlier is still ringing in her ears. She honestly couldn't blame him for feeling the way he does. She wouldn't blame him if he decided to not trust her anymore. Still, that thought pains her to no end.

'So, now you know how much you would sacrifice to keep your dream.' A voice spoke in her head once again. 'Question is, are you going to change that? Or going to keep your career above all of your friends?'

At that question, Sayaka's self loathing mind froze. It was an excellent question, and she couldn't help but think on it. Could she change that? Change her priorities, so that she wouldn't betray and sacrifice her friends? The idea seemed almost impossible to her. Her career, her idol friends, she did almost everything to keep those things in her adolescence life. It was the sole reason that she's fought so hard in her life so far. Is it even possible to lower that priority?

Before she could think more on it, she heard a knock on the door. Sayaka looked in its direction with slight surprise before slowly getting up and walking over to it. Who would still be up this late at night?

When she opened the door, she was surprised to see that Makoto was standing there. "M-Makoto?"

Makoto half-smiled apologetically. "Sorry if you were asleep, but... I wanted to talk to you."

Sayaka shook her head. "No, don't worry." She looked down. "After what we saw, and our talk….I couldn't get to sleep." She winced at the guilty expression on his face. She didn't intended to make him feel guilty.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that," He said guiltily. "I didn't really want to hurt you, but, I just couldn't ignore what we saw."

"No, no, it's okay Makoto." Sayaka reassured quickly. "I don't blame you thinking about it. I know I deserved that."

Makoto couldn't disagree on that, but didn't want to agree on it either. So he just stayed silent at that. "So umm...Can I come in?" The luckster asked her. "So that we can talk?"

Sayaka was nervous and scared. What is he going to say? That he can no longer trust her? That he's breaking ties with her? Scenario after bad scenario played out in her head, though she couldn't imagine him being angry or violent. Makoto's gentle nature doesn't fit anger or violence, even when she saw him angry at Monokuma. "S-Sure."

With that, the idol let the lucky student in the room. The two of them sat on the bed together, both of them being silent for a moment. Makoto was the first to talk.

"I've been thinking a lot about we saw….about what your future self did." She winced once again.

"I can't condemn you or get angry at you about it. After all, it was your future self that did it, not you yourself." Makoto continued softly. "Still, I can't ignore that in that situation, you would've betrayed me no matter what I said. I….can't get off the idea that you would do the same thing if were put in that situation now, without the memory wipe."

Sayaka has her eyes shut and teeth clenched by now. Here we go. He's going to break off their friendship. Severe the bond the two share with each other.

"But, even with those thoughts in my head, I... have decided to keep my trust in you." Sayaka snapped her head towards him in shock. He smiled softly at her. "I'm not gonna let something that has theoretically happened, take away everything we've done together, our friendship, our bond."

Sayaka stared at him in shock. He's….forgiving her? He still trusts her? Slowly, tears build up in her red eyes before she flung herself onto Makoto, causing the luckster to yelp in surprise. Before he could panic, she began crying. "I...Thank you….thank you so much, Makoto!" She muffled into his shoulder in between her sobbing.

Immediately, his kind nature kicked and he wrapped his arms around her, comforting her. The guilt that was plaguing him faded away, but some still lingered for causing her like this. However, he's glad that he decided to keep their friendship. If they're gonna go through this, then they should be doing it together, not doing it against each other. Otherwise, it would be like being in that killing game.

As Sayaka cried into his shoulder, she learned a very important lesson. Friendship bonds were irreplaceable. Nothing should be above them, not even her career. From now on, nothing would make her break this sweet boy's trust in her. And she will have to show that loyalty to the rest of her friends as well.

She won't ever put her friends and loved ones below her career.

And that's the end. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. After some thinking, I decided to end it here. Need some more time to think on how I should do the morning, so the morning part of the break will be alongside the beginning of chapter 2. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you later.

Questions and inQuiries section! *Not too many questions this time but there's a lot of "I wish _ happens or is added in here* - Glad everyone's enjoying this alot!

Q: In what sequence will you be doing the following stories? (Class 77, etc)
S: I'll be doing them in release date order

Q: Will you do any of the novels?
S: No.
L: :(

Q:Will Ryota or Chisa be a part of class 77 since they're technically a part of it?
S: I'm not going to confirm whether they'll be a part of the class or not.

Q:Will the V3 cast meet them?
S: That's way too far down the line for me to even consider it.

L: As much as everyone's excited for any plans for future stories, let's try and keep questions and stuff related to this current story for now. Spirit's got a lot on his hands already :)