Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. Regarding the p.a.t.r.e.o.n idea, many of you seem supportive of me making one. Seeing that support, I think I'll try it out and see where it goes.

As I mentioned before, I won't be locking the chapters through any sort of paywall, nor will I do something like an early access to future chapters. It'll just be something in case you want to thank or support me through donations. And to look for me, go on the site, p.a.t.r.e.o.n, and looked for the name I use here, Spirit Soldier. I might also use another site, ko-fi (Which one of you recommended), for donations as well. Either as a second donation site, or in case p.a.t.r.e.o.n doesn't work out.

I also noted that most, if not all of you, seem to be against the idea of me deleting my previous fics. Kinda caught me by surprise, I have to admit. Though after reading the reviews, the thoughts of deleting them drifted away, especially when a few of you pointed out that readers can look at those older fics and see how much I progressed. So, I think I'll continue keeping them around.

Speaking of my other fics, I made a new one by the way. A pokemon fic called "A Whole New Timeline to Live in". I made a new one both because it was a story idea that clinged onto my head, and so that I can get back to writing more often; do something new so things don't get stale for me. Hope none of you mind.

Now, with those things out of the way, let's start on the chapter. Here, the class is gonna see the conflict get worse, as well as a previous conflict get settled. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.

Chapter 74: Watching Chapter 4: All Star Apologies Part 8

The next scene showed Makoto getting up from bed, the morning announcement playing in the background. 'I need to do something about Sakura…' He thought to himself, "I'd better go to the dining hall and talk to the others about it one more time."

"Doubt anything will come of it." Celeste sighed, "As mentioned before, Hiro, Toko, and Byakuya are remarkably stubborn. Getting them to trust Sakura at this point, this far into the killing game, is near impossible."

"It wouldn't hurt to try, would it?" Makoto argued, "Like Mukuro said, leaving all this alone will only let this conflict get worse."

"But sis also said that there's no changing anyone's minds," Junko countered, with a fake grimace.,"Sooner or later, somebody's gonna die. And it'll just get worse from there."

As Makoto got ready and left his room… "UWAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The sudden scream caused several to jump in shock. "What the-?!" Mondo exclaimed.

"That sounded like Hiro!" Taka stated in alarm.

"Wh-What happened?" Chihiro stuttered in fear.

"Is future me okay?!" Hiro shouted frantically.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Leon muttered loudly.

"Huh?!" Makoto turned towards the dining hall in alarm. 'Was that someone screaming?!'

Frantically, the lucky student ran up to the dining hall. And when he was at the entrance of the hall, he was met with a panicked Hiro. "Ah, Makoto! We got a big problem, man!"

"Wh-What's wrong?!" Makoto questioned, worried.

"L-Look!" Shakily, Hiro pointed towards the source of his panic. And that source…

Was a clearly injured Hina, kneeling on the ground. Standing above her was Genocide Jack, scissors in both hands.

That caused several students' eyes to pop wide open.

"H-Hina!"

"The fuck is this?!"

"It got worse! It got ten billion percent worse!"

"What the hell did Jill do?!"

"And how did she appear?!"

Kyoko, Mukuro, and Celeste narrowed their eyes. The situation got worse.

Hina herself had an alarmed look at seeing her future self injured, while Toko yelped in both shock and fear at seeing Jill's position.

Sakura, meanwhile, looked stunned as she processed what exactly she was seeing. That stunned look then slowly turned to pure, unadulterated rage, her body shaking and her face darkening.

"H-Hina!?"

The girl could only groan in pain, holding her arm.

"Are you okay?!" Makoto exclaimed in concern. "What happened?!"

"Sh-She killed her…" Hiro stuttered out fearfully. "Genocide Jill kill Hina!"

"What is… the meaning of this?" Sakura growled, her tone sending chills down most of the students' spines. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

Seeing her sharply stand up, muscles bulging, hair flying, and fury shining in her eyes, caused both Hiro and Hifumi to fearfully scream before jumping behind their couch. Chihiro went white with fear, shrinking as far as he could in his couch, while Mondo took a near automatic defensive form.

Toko let out a shout of fright and curled up defensively, her face pastier than usual. "Idon'tknow, Idon'tknow, Idon'tknow!" The writer rambled repeatedly, not stuttering for once. "Jill did it, not me! Jill did it, not me!"

"Sakura!" Seeing how enraged her friend is, Hina frantically got up and grabbed her arm. "It's okay! I'm okay. Future me isn't dead. She's alive."

Sakura stood motionless, her muscles still tensed. Seeing this, Hina rambled on. "I know that it looks bad, and if Genocide Jack did that to you, I would be super mad, and-"

"I'm alright, Hina." Sakura's statement stopped Hina's ramble. However, despite her words, her voice sounded tight. "I won't do anything. I'm just… angry."

Slowly, Sakura settled back on the couch, though it was clear to all that she was far from calm. Hina sat back down alongside her, worry-filled eyes still aimed at the martial artist.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Jill denied, shaking her head. "She's not dead! Open your eyes! No way she's dead!"

"Wh-Why…? What happened?" Makoto hesitantly asked.

Hiro took it upon himself to explain. "Well, Toko and Hina… just all of a sudden, they were yelling, and then… they knocked the pepper off the table."

Leon bit back a groan at that. "Shit. That explains why Jill is out, and attacking Hina."

"And how much do you want to bet the argument was about yesterday?" Junko groaned.

That caused Sakura to clench her teeth tightly, guilt slowly seeping in. There was little doubt that it was about what Hina did to Byakuya, in defense of herself. Because of that, Hina had gotten hurt.

"And that led to a sneeze…?" Makoto guessed.

"Her giant balloons are a little too perfect, aren't they?! I might be flat, but at least mine are real!" Jill ranted, before grabbing her shoulders in a lewd fashion. "And look at my shapely collarbone! Doesn't it totally set you on fire?!"

"Is she treating this situation lightly?!" Sakura growled in fury, looking ready to punch the TV straight through, "Is she not taking her own actions seriously?!"

"This is Genocide Jack we are talking about. She takes every situation lightly," Taka stated, looking tense and serious, "This kind of situation should be no different for her."

She then faced Makoto and Hiro directly. "Anyway, you totally non-adorable boys just get her outta my sight, okay? Or else…" She lifted her scissors menacingly. "I'll start cutting. And cutting, and cutting, and indulging myself for who knows how long…"

'SHE WILL NOT LAY A FINGER ON HINA!' Sakura roared in her mind, though she kept herself in check. She reminded herself that this is merely the future she's watching, not an event that had taken place. She can't let her emotions take control, else she would do something she would regret.

"O-Okay then, let's get Hina to the nurse's office." Quickly, Makoto went over to Hina and grabbed her by one arm. "C'mon, Hiro. Help me!"

"S-Sure thing!" Nodding rapidly, Hiro went over to Hina as well.

"Weeeoooo, weeeoooo!" Jill trilled out, right before giving out her usual insane laughter.

At this point, some of the other students started feeling anger towards Jill. Sure, her behavior was far from unusual at this point for all of them… but that doesn't mean they agreed with how she's acting.

"Really want to see that psycho get her lights punched out," Leon said angrily, his fist tightening on a baseball he grabbed.

"Same," Sayaka replied shortly, a cold look entering her face.

The scene changed to show Makoto, Hina, and Hiro at the nurse's office. The swimmer was sitting on one of the beds, jacket off, while Makoto was wrapping her wounds. Just as he finished…

"Th-Thank you…" Hina said softly, still slightly shaken from the experience.

"Are you sure you're feeling better?" The lucky student asked in concern.

"Yeah…" Hina reassured him, "It really was just a scratch."

"You're fortunate it wasn't anything worse," Mukuro mused, "Genocide Jack could've probably given you more extensive and torturous wounds if she had wanted."

"Not helping Mukuro!" Makoto stated to the soldier nervously, his eyes towards the furious martial artist.

"But still, that was super close!" Hiro stated in a jovial tone, "If I hadn't yelled out, you'd be dead right now! It's all thanks to me, ya know!"

That earned a look of annoyance from Hina. "Yes, well, a thousand thanks to you, sir," she angrily, and sarcastically, retorted.

"So sarcastic!" The fortune teller cried out, reeling back, "That just makes you sound even MORE hostile!"

Hiro's comment earned sighs and groans from the students. "Hiro, dude, you really need to learn a thing called tact." Leon groaned.

"What? What did future me say wrong?" Hiro asked, looking around in confusion. No one bothered to answer him.

Ignoring Hiro, Makoto kept his face towards Hina. "Hey, Hina… what the heck happened?"

"Oh, um… we just got into a fight. And I lost my temper, and flew off the handle…" Hina explained meekly.

"Let me guess… the fight was because of Sakura?" The luckster deduced.

The girl nodded. "At first, I tried to ignore it. If you let jerk buttholes get to you all the time, you'll never have time left to live your life. But she wouldn't let it go. So, I just…" Her hands then clenched into fists, shaking in anger. "Without thinking about it, I felt like I just wanted to punch her like a dozen times!"

"So Toko was the one who started this…" Taka said, clear disapproval in both tone and posture.

"Should we even be surprised?" Leon deadpanned, once again looking done with the writer, "Toko made it clear that she worships the ground Byakuya walks on; that means she's pathetic enough to harass anyone that speaks against him."

Toko couldn't help but shrink under the judgmental and disapproving feeling from the group, as well as flinch at the insult from Leon. It was the second time he called her pathetic; while she believed that everyone felt that way about her, hearing her classmate say it… hurt in a way she couldn't describe.

"A dozen punches isn't really 'without thinking'..." Hiro pointed out.

"And when things got out of hand, Genocide Jack got let loose. Right?" Makoto concluded once more.

"It's my own fault," Hina admitted shamefully, "But I just… couldn't take it anymore. Because… because…!" A distraught look entered her face, with tears forming into her eyes. "Because she was saying all those terrible things about my friend, ya know?!"

Many felt their hearts clench at seeing the distraught look from the usually energetic and happy-going swimmer. Sakura, in particular, felt agony over the distress she's causing her friend.

"You know? You really are pathetic, Toko," Sayaka stated, her voice flat as she addressed the writer, "You claim we see you as disgusting, yet you insult all of us; you think none of us care about you, yet you show the most apathy. You believe we're bullies, who're just waiting for the chance to bring you down. Yet you and Jill are bigger bullies than anyone here, on screen. That really is pathetic!"

The idol's dressing down of the writer caused several students to reel in shock or stare in stunned silence, none of them expecting Sayaka to do that. Toko, especially, was affected badly, the prodigy feeling herself shaking in distress.

That hurt feeling in her chest grew exponentially. Being called pathetic wasn't the thing that hurt her, as others (and even herself) had called her the worst sort of things. No, it was the reasons Sayaka listed as to why she was called pathetic that were affecting her the most. Because, while she could deny it all she wanted… she knew that the pop idol was telling the truth.

'Sayaka…' A mix of emotions swirled in Makoto's heart as he looked at his friend. On one hand, he couldn't condone her actions, be it slapping Byakuya or verbally smacking Toko. On the other hand, with everything they're seeing… he more than understood why she's doing and saying these things.

Just seeing Hina's tear-filled eyes was enough to make his heart clinch painfully…

Just as the tears began falling down, the door of the nurse's office violently burst open. And the culprit was none other than Sakura. "...Hina?"

"Sakura!" Hina exclaimed in surprise.

Seeing the Ultimate Martial Artist in the nurse's office, several of the students either tensed up or downright turned white. "Oh, shit," Leon summed up.

"This… is gonna end badly…" Junko added right after.

"You're hurt…" The martial artist voiced, shock clear in her tone. "What happened?"

"Oh! N-Nothing, it's not a big deal…!" Hina tried to wave off.

Sakura, having none of it, turned towards Makoto and Hiro furiously. "Makoto! Hiro! What's the meaning of this?!"

"I-It wasn't me!" Hiro quickly denied, stepping back in fear. "It was Genocide Jill! It's all that demented murderous fiend's fault!"

"Y-Y-You sellout!"

"Would you try to keep your mouth zipped in front of that?!" Hiro retorted, pointing at the screen,"If I was in your place?!"

That shut Toko up, as she knew quite well that she would sell him out without any remorse.

That earned an angry, almost ferocious, growl from Sakura, her face darkening in fury. "To hurt Hina… damn you…!" She stated in her growl. "To leave me alone, but hurt her… what is this… what isssss thiiiiiissss?!" The last part, which came out in a primal roar, had Hiro crying out in shock and terror.

"I-I'm okay, really!" Hina said nervously, attempting to calm her friend. "It's just a scratch…!"

But the martial artist could growl with fury. "Unforgivable… I can't forgive them!"

Seeing Sakura's angered state again rattled the group once more. Chihiro, in particular, was white as a sheet and curled up like a shaking ball, Sakura's fury reminding him of Mondo's own anger.

"HYAAAAAAHH!" Hiro screamed out in terror.

"Hiro… if you want to hate someone, hate me." Sakura stated towards the fortune teller. "If you want to hurt someone, hurt ME!"

"I-I-I don't… hate you, exactly…" Hiro stuttered out.

"WHHHHYYYYYY!"

"S-S-S-S-S-S-!" The next moment, Hiro burst out of the nurse's office, shrieking in sheer terror. "Somebody save meeeeee!"

"...Okay, for once, I don't blame you for what you did, Hiro," Leon stated, looking pretty tense and pale himself, "Might've done the same in your shoes."

"Th-That was terrifying," Hifumi stuttered in terror. Both he and Hiro were shaking behind the couch, paralyzed at seeing Sakura's righteous fury. "I've never seen such p-primal rage in a person before…"

"Not even bro showed that level of anger…" Taka said quietly, as if speaking any louder would awaken a sleeping beast.

"S-Sakura…" Rather than with fear like several of her classmates, Hina instead looked at her friend with worry.

"You shouldn't have lost control like that," Kyoko sighed, her arms crossed, "Even if you haven't intended on changing the minds of others, showing that level of anger would just make them more wary of you."

"Hiro will most definitely be more fearful of you in the future…" Celeste said, maintaining an extremely neutral look.

The martial artist could only stay silent, shame mixed with her anger. She knows that her actions are unbecoming of her; still, she could not stay silent, not when she saw that Hina had gotten hurt because of her.

A second later, Kyoko walked into the room. "What's going on?" She questioned, looking around, "What's all this noise about? I gathered that something happened?"

"K-Kyoko! Please, you have to stop Sakura!" Makoto pleaded, looking very alarmed.

"You don't need to stop me…" Sakura spoke up, her voice somewhat calmer. "I'm okay. I'm not going to do anything. I just…" A firm look then entered her face. "I'm drawing a line, right here and now."

'Drawing a line…?' Makoto thought in both confusion and worry.

Her words got the others worried as well. "W-What does she mean by, 'drawing a line'?" Chihiro inquired softly, slowly uncurling himself.

"No idea," Mondo said, his eyes narrowed, "But I don't know if I like the sound of it."

Mukuro also had her eyes narrowed, recognizing the tone and look. It was that of one who planned to make a decisive… and possibly even fatal, decision.

"...Goodbye." Sakura then walked out of the nurse's office, her back towards everyone.

"Wait! Sakura!" Hina soon chased after her, worry clear in her face.

"S-Sakura…" Hina called out softly, her eyes towards her friend. "What are you planning to do?"

"...I cannot say for sure," was all Sakura could say. What she does know, however, is that her future self will not put up with this conflict and division any further… no matter what needed to be done.

That left Kyoko and Makoto alone in the room, an awkward silence radiating in the air. "U-Umm… Kyoko…?" Makoto hesitantly spoke up.

"..."

The sight of the two alone together got the group recalling previous tensions, causing some to grimace and others to frown. "Oh. Right. Kyoko was giving Makoto the silent treatment earlier," Leon said with his own grimace.

"W-Well, the secret is already out," Chihiro said, trying to sound optimistic, "Maybe Kyoko will forgive him now?"

"There shouldn't be anything to forgive," Sayaka grumbled, bitterness over Kyoko's childish attitude coming back up.

Kyoko ignored the bluenette, her eyes focused on the future Makoto and her future self.

"Are you… still mad?"

"..."

"Yeah, I figured," the luckster sighed.

"Please do not fucking tell me she's still holding a grudge…" Mondo groaned, face-palming.

"If she is, then this is getting ridiculous," Celeste sighed, irritation showing, "One can only hold a grudge for so long."

Makoto was silent during this, disappointment clear on his face. Kyoko continued focusing on the screen, waiting to see if her future self would just let go of her grudge and make up with the lucky student.

She really, really hoped that she would.

"It's… fine."

At those two words, everyone's head flipped up towards the screen in a flash. Makoto, especially, was staring at the TV with hope shining in his eyes.

"Huh…?" Makoto looked at the lavender-haired girl, wondering if he heard right.

"About that issue we discussed earlier… it doesn't matter anymore," Kyoko told him.

"YES!"

"Finally!"

"About damn time!"

"She finally forgave him!"

Kyoko, who had nearly sagged in relief at her statement, could only look blankly at the students around her cheering. "Is this gonna be a thing every time my future self acts difficult?"

"Maybe…" Leon remarked with a grin, "You gotta admit, you're a pretty stubborn girl Kyoko."

In response, the detective gave the baseball star a flat look, while Makoto merely chuckled between the two, feeling lighter than he had felt previously.

Seeing this, Sayaka also felt herself get lighter. Oh, she's still angry at Kyoko over her assumptions and childish actions. But seeing Makoto act a bit more cheerful take away some of the fury she's been feeling.

"Then… do you forgive me for not being able to talk about it…?" Makoto asked, hope clear in his voice.

"You could have told me about Sakura and Monokuma fighting, but you stayed quiet." Kyoko stated. "You were only thinking of Sakura, and that's why you didn't tell me, right? You didn't want to confuse everyone until you could talk to her and be sure of what you saw. That's what you were thinking, and that's why you didn't tell me. Right?"

"Wow," Was all Hina could say to all that, "She hit that nail right in the head…"

"For real…" Hiro agreed.

"You forget that Makoto is an open book," Byakuya remarked dryly, "Once Sakura's secret was revealed, all she had to do was put the pieces together."

Sayaka let out a giggle at his statement. "I can't argue with that."

"Hey…" Makoto whined, though he was laughing along with his friend.

"Y-Yeah…" Makoto could nod in confirmation at the deduction.

"To think like that… I wouldn't have expected such arrogance from you."

And just like that, the moment levity was gone.

"Say what?!"

"Arrogance?!"

"I- but tha- how- wha-"

"In what way is that arrogance?!"

"You have got to be kidding."

Much like how the levity was taken away, Sayaka's fury was reignited in fuel. "Are. you. SERIOUS?!" The idol screamed the last part in pure frustration. "What kind of twisted viewpoint do you have Kyoko, to think THAT is being arrogant?!"

"And this is why we cheer…" Leon grumbled from beside Sayaka.

The detective felt her cheeks close to burning in embarrassment, as she kept her eyes away from the baffled looking lucky student.

"What?!" Makoto exclaimed in shock.

"Because ultimately, that means you don't trust me." She declared.

"That's not it!" Taka cried out, sounding done himself, "It's because he trusts Sakura that he wants to talk to her first before anyone else!"

"Seriously? This is what you think at the end?" Hina asked angrily, clenching her fist, "Can't Sakura tell her side of the story before Makoto could tell anyone else?!"

"Girl, you're still taking this way too personally…" Junko muttered, shaking her head in mock disappointment.

'...Don't. Stab. Don't. Stab.' Mukuro had to actively tell herself not to grab her knife and fling it towards Kyoko.

"N-No, that's not it…" Makoto denied, before letting out a sigh. "But if that's how you feel, I can't really change your mind. I'm sorry…"

"You. Have. Nothing. To apologize for," Mukuro growled out, clenching her hands together to resist the growing urge, "If anything, it's Kyoko who should apologize."

"Door. Mat," Byakuya repeated what had called Makoto hours ago, "It's even a wonder how Kyoko can even make the conclusion that you can be arrogant, when your confidence is barely even there."

"Like I said, I can't really change her mind if she feels that way," Makoto sighed, "And trying to do so would just create another argument…"

That earned some dark grumbling from the idol beside him, to which he responded by wrapping a hand around hers to calm her. It helped soften her somewhat, but she was still upset.

"It's fine. I've already forgotten about it." Kyoko waved off once again. "Besides… I may have… overreacted."

THAT got the attention of everyone. "Hold the phone here…" Leon spoke up, a grin slowly coming up, "Is Kyoko… blushing?"

"Is she actually embarrassed?" Junko said right after, a grin of her own matching the baseball player.

"Is it really a surprise? She was being childish for about a couple of days…" Celeste said, a pleasant looking smile across her face.

"Now the usually composed detective has to admit to acting childish…" Byakuya stated, actually smirking himself in enjoyment.

Kyoko stubbornly kept her face away from everyone else's, her face redder than it ever has been. Meanwhile, both Hina and Chihiro actually started giggling, with Sakura developing a small smile of amusement across her own face.

"Very mature of you, Kyoko, to admit your faults!" Taka said, voicing his own thoughts, not helping the detective's embarrassment, "While I don't approve of your previous claims, I'm glad you're trying to make amends!"

"Definitely agree with bro here. It's a real good thing to admit to being immature…" Mondo added, a shit-eating grin telling everyone what he truly thought.

"Huh…?" Makoto blinked for a moment, wondering if he saw what he just saw.

"Anyway, it's over and done with," The mystery girl quickly said, gaining a firmer look, "Like I said, let's just forget about it."

"O-Okay. Thank you…"

Rather than feeling angry or annoyed by what she said, many of the students felt themselves grinning or laughing over Kyoko clearly trying to brush the topic off.

"Who knew that our Kyoko here, our ever so composed Ultimate Detective, could get so embarrassed?" Hina giggled, covering her mouth. While a part of her is still worried about Sakura, she can't help but take the opportunity to tease her friend. Especially since her future self was being an idiot.

"Does that humble pie taste nice, Kyoko?" Sayaka asked sweetly, VERY much enjoying this, "Maybe you can try a bigger bite next time."

Makoto had to resist the urge to laugh, though there was a small smile across his face. He couldn't help it; Kyoko is acting really cute right now, all red-faced and embarrassed.

"Okay guys, I think Kyoko's had enough," Makoto called out to everyone, though a smile was still on his face, "Pretty sure that her actions in the future are embarrassing enough."

"Awww," Junko pouted, crossing her arms, "But it's so much fun teasing her."

Nevertheless, the other students backed off from the detective, though there were still giggles and smiles sent her away. Kyoko took that time to recompose herself, giving Makoto a grateful look. The luckster merely smiled back, glad that at least some of the tension is gone now.

And he could only hope that it doesn't come back in full force.

And that's the end. I hope you guys liked this chapter. Probably shorter than my last two, but I wanted to post a chapter, and this felt like a good stopping point. If I had tried to make it longer, then it probably would've been too long.

Next up is the group witnessing Kyoko and Makoto talking to Alter Ego, and quite likely… the fourth death of the Class 78 killing game. And again, if you want to donate in thanks/support, go to the p.a.t.r.e.o.n site and look up the name Spirit Soldier. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you guys later.