Part 6 of 9
Later
"Ok, I was wron', this looks more like the room of a cult leader." Said Dale, as the group had made it to Monaca's room, while also examining the photo's on the wall.
"Well, this does track with what the blue haired one said." Said Bobby.
"You mean how Enoshima essentially became their big sister figure?" Yuta wondered.
"Yeah, pretty much." Replied Bobby, as he looked over at the photo's and magazines "Still, crazy how one person was able to influence that many people."
"It's just like I said, typical cult leader behaviour." Replied Dale, as Sakura noticed the unease on Komaru's face.
"Komaru, you ok?"
"I... I still can't wrap my head around how depraved all of this is. How this whole thing could have come from just two people."
"Well, sometimes these types of people can just exist."
"I know, but still."
"Good news is, we can still put an end to it." Said Dale.
"Yeah, that's true." Replied Komaru, as the group continued searching through the room.
Later
"Oh Monaca is so happy to see that you could all make it." Said Monaca as she landed on the ground after performing several tricks through her jump in the air.
"Hold on a sec', you could walk the entire time!" Dale exclaimed.
"Oh, you seem surprised."
"I'm not, the ladder to your room gave it away." Replied Komaru.
"Guess you were smarter than Monaca thought you'd be." Said Monaca as she switched her attention over to Bobby "Remember the offer I gave you? The very kind offer I gave you, that that cruel adult took away from you. It's still on the table, there's about four empty slots that just opened."
"Like I said before, it ain't happenin'" Bobby replied.
"Oh, how odd, Monaca thought for sure that you'd want to join. After all, when the adults come to kill us kids, you think they'll spare you. Monaca is just looking out for you."
"You can cut cutesy act missy, you're just tryin' to get into his head again and like I told you, that boy is smarter than you realise." Dale shot back, as he threw sand in her eyes.
"OW, why every time!" She exclaimed while trying to get the sand out of her eyes, as she then said "Ugh, do you ever stop talking, honestly I even had a whole job title for you figured out. You'd be our chef, you'd even get your own robot."
"He just said he wasn't interested." Said Yuta.
"That's a shame... ah what the heck, I'll show it to you guys anyways." Said Monaca, as she pressed a button after which a giant robot burst through the door, as Monaca jumped up and went into the robot to take control of the robot.
"How was that supposed to be for me, that looks like ya took parts of the other!" Bobby exclaimed.
Monaca replied by putting on a chef's hat as she replied "There, now it had the class of chef included in it."
"This is going to suck!" Yuta exclaimed, as he and Bobby readied their paintball guns.
Later
"...Honestly..." Monaca sighed as she continued her monologue "...I'm getting a bit tired of your indecisiveness, and the sand in my eyes." She said, eyeing Dale who had thrown more sand in her eyes after the battle as she continued "So how about some more motivation..." Said Monaca, as she pressed a button that let several platforms be raised from the ground, revealing that Peggy, Hiroko and a third person had been taken hostage. As several arms appeared from the ground and placed Bobby, Yuta and Dale next to them. "There, no more sand, no more paint, no more people to influence your choices."
"No...!" Komaru exclaimed.
"Wait a minute... Kenshiro..." Sakura whispered in horror as she recognised the third person as her long ill boyfriend.
"Hello love, apologies for meeting like this."
"Oh good, Monaca managed to get the right person after all. Now, stand down and let Komaru decide, or I'm executing him on the spot." Said Monaca as spears appeared from the ground as they surrounded Kenshiro, to which Sakura took a few steps back as Monaca turned her focus to Komaru "Now, either you make a decision or they all die and it will all be your fault. It would be such a shame if all that growth you went through ended up being for nothing if you decided to take the cowards way out. So. Make. Your. Choice!" Monaca exclaimed as Komaru fell silent to think it over while she began to block out what was being said to her.
"...What do I do..."
"...I can't let them die..."
"...But those kids..."
"...Most of them didn't want this..."
"...Do I... Do I punish all of them for the choices of a few..."
"...No... I can't..."
"...But knowing her... no... she won't keep her word..."
"...What do I do... WHAT DO I DO!" Komaru exclaimed in her head, as right at that moment she got tackled out of the way by Sakura as she was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up to see that the Big Bang Monokuma was staring down at them "What happened, did I... Oh no, I didn't press the button on the controller, did I!" Komaru exclaimed.
"No, you didn't, now listen to me. It's ok that you couldn't make a choice, it means that you haven't let your morals slip. And while we are lucky that the choice got taken out of your hands, remember it is ok to be you. You don't have to be anyone special, you can be Komaru Naegi, but you choose to stay, so you have to see it through, so get up and do what you choose to do."
"She's right, you got this far, can't go givin' up now." Said Bobby.
"And we're right here with you." Added Yuta.
"You're right..." Said Komaru, as she stood back up. "I can't give up, and it starts by sending that thing to the scrapheap."
"Alright then, let's do it..." Bobby said, as his attention was then caught by the sight of Dale climbing onto the robot and into it's head "Mr Gribble, what are you doin'!" Bobby exclaimed.
"Ensurin' that thin' won't move any further from the inside." Replied Dale, as he got in only for the robot to speak up.
"New life form discovered, extra coordinates found, after Towa City has been demolished the next destination will be Arlen, Texas."
"Oh boy, that wasn't supposed to happen."
"Dale you idiot!" Peggy exclaimed, as the group grabbed their weapons and some nearby debris to use as a weapon to take on the giant robot.
Later
"We did it!" Komaru exclaimed while high-fiving Yuta, as the group watched the robot falling apart with it's head upside down as the group had moved back to the streets to avoid any potential debris falling on them, while leaving a screaming Monaca behind after she tried to goad them into attacking her after the battle. Only for Dale to throw sand into her eyes.
"Oh thank goodness that's over." Said Peggy, as she hugged Bobby while pulling him close to her as Bobby tried to struggle from her grasp out of embarrassment.
Sakura walked over to Kenshiro and said "It's... good to see you alive."
"Yes, I'm also glad to see you again in one piece."
"How are you still here... last time we spoke you seemed to be getting worse." Replied Sakura.
"Well, I couldn't die without either one of us proving who was stronger, right?"
"I suppose that is true, how did you get captured again. I thought Hiroko and Peggy had recovered you along with the others."
"Right, that green haired girl showed up with hostages, said that if I moved a muscle they'd be killed. So I gave in." Replied Kenshiro.
"Hmm, now that you mention it, where could those kids have gone? Especially the pink haired one, I don't think they would have left the city." Said Sakura.
"Well, I'm sure they're around here somewhere. Maybe we'll run into them eventually." Said Yuta, as the group then heard a groan as they saw Dale stumble out of the building. "Oh look, the old guy is back."
"Uh... just wanna say, I didn't think it through..." Said Dale, as Peggy started to approach him. "...Peggy, let's not be hasty..." As he began to ran with Peggy chasing after him "...Peggy com'on, how was I supposed to know that would happen."
"Get back here Dale, I'm gonna kick your ass!" Peggy shrieked as she kept chasing after Dale, causing the group to burst out laughing while the rest of the adults in the streets were unsure of what to do now.
"Only Hank gets to that!" Dale yelled back.
"Well he ain't here, is he!" Peggy shot back.
Later
"Tell me again why we're doin' this?" Asked Dale who was still feeling sore from the beating Peggy gave him, as it was now the middle of the night and while things had calmed down a bit, the adults in Towa City had gone on a full witch hunt to track down the remaining Warriors of Hope.
"Because as bad as the kids were, they also didn't deserve what happened to them. And I'm not about to let them get hurt by a bunch of angry adults." Said Komaru.
"Honestly kid, while I admire your resolve, don't you think that they might not want your help? I mean from what you guys told us they refused help each time you tried to save them." Said Hiroko.
"That's true, but I still want to try." Said Komaru.
"Well, it is very noble at least." Said Sakura, as the group turned a corner when they heard shouting.
"I think we may have found what we're looking for." Kenshiro noted, as they all began running towards the noise where they found an angry mob of people shouting as they got closer to the four kids with the intent to harm them.
"Get them!" One member of the mob yelled.
"We'll make them pay for what they put us through!" Another yelled.
"Not so tough now without your little toys, are you!" A third yelled, as the group got ready to attack the kids, only for all of them to stop when a gunshot rung through the air.
"Alright, that's enough!" Komaru yelled, while Dale reloaded the shotgun he had been carrying. "Leave those kids alone."
"You're defending them?" A member of the angry mob asked "You know what they have done! You know what must be done!"
"I'll admit, what they did was bad, but they don't deserve to die." Said Peggy, as Dale fired another round into the air causing the angry mob to duck, as the group quickly formed a barrier between the mob and the kids, as the mob stood back up.
"You would side with them! Get out of our way!"
"No can do ma'am, it ain't right to let you have your way."
"But..." A member of the mob started, only to be interrupted by Sakura.
"Now, disperse or we will fight back."
"So many people died because of those kids!" One more member shot back, while a good portion of the mob was starting to back down.
"We know, but they were manipulated and lied to by someone they thought they could trust, they were hurt by people who were supposed to take care of them. I know you're angry, but they don't deserve this, so please let them be. I know you're all tired and angry, but so are we. We went through hell trying to stop that robot earlier, so please, reconsider." Komaru pleaded, as Sakura stepped up to speak.
"You hurt them now, you'll be just as bad as the people that hurt them in the past. If you take their lives now, you will become the very monsters you claimed to be fighting against during this incident. Hatred only breeds more hatred." Sakura finished, as the last of the mob put down their weapons.
"Let's get out of here, it isn't worth it." Said the leader of the mob, as they all took off.
And so with that taken care of the group turned to the four kids, as Komaru spoke up "Are you kids ok?"
"We didn't need your help, we could have fought our way out of this. So leave us be." Said Nagisa.
"Oh would you give it a rest already!" Komaru exclaimed "You guys can't keep going on like this."
"Spoken like an ugly adult, always trying to control us." Said Kotoko.
"Yeah, adults always lie and all they can do is hurt kids." Jataro added.
"We may no longer be wanting to go through with our plans, but we still can't trust them." Masaru finished.
"Now hold on a sec' there kids." Said Dale, as he stepped forward to face the kids properly "I may be a lot of things, a conspiracy chaser, an exterminator, a believer in alien life and a patriot, but what I ain't is a liar."
Peggy sighed as she rolled her eyes while adding "While Dale may be focussing on the wrong thing, but the fact remains, we ain't lyin' or are tryin' to deceive you. I don't know what kind of cockamamie nonsense that green haired brat or that high schooler filled your heads with, but while the world may be a bad place at times, there are still good people. Willin' to do good."
"Listen, we heard about what happened to you kids and while we couldn't do anything about what happened in the past..." Sakura said, while eyeing everyone else in the group "...Now that we know, we want to extent a hand out to you."
"You talk about how there are still good people in the world, give us an example." Said Nagisa, as he eyed both Peggy and Dale "I've heard about what you two have done, give an example of an adult who isn't rotten."
"My dad." Bobby spoke up, as the four other kids turned to face him "He's the best guy I know. He works hard, he loves his family, and he teaches me how to be a good person and always stays true to what he believes in. Not all adults are bad! Some of them just… make mistakes. Just like kids do. 'Sides, didn't you guys try to kill a bunch of people?"
"That's easy to say when you've had a good adult in your life. But not everyone is that lucky." Nagisa shot back.
"Yeah, but Hank didn't have a good adult in his life, but he turned out fine." Said Peggy "I'm sure you kids read or heard about one Cotton Hill if you've read about us and our exploits, and no disrespect to the dead but the guy was a miserable, crotchety old man, who could never be proud of Hank and yet he turned out fine."
"Oh right, I remember reading about him one late night. The man who got his shins blown off back in the war and then killed fifty soldiers." Recounted Nagisa "I also remember reading what Monaca and Junko had found on him when they were looking into your husband."
"Wait... that actually happened?" Jataro questioned.
"I thought it was just a myth designed to keep kids from misbehaving, as in 'behave or the scary American will come back to kill you with his blown off shins.'" Said Masaru.
Komaru then spoke up to get everyone back on track "Anyways, while some adults are terrible and some of them do horrible things. It doesn't mean that all of them are, and deciding that every single adult deserves to die just because of what some of them did? That's the same kind of thinking that got you kids nearly killed in the first place."
"Look, you kids don't have to immediately trust us, but at least open yourself up to taking that first step." Said Hiroko, causing Nagisa to look towards his other three friends who nervously nodded at him, as he sighed.
"Fine... we'll give it a try." He replied, as Komaru's group let out a sigh of relief. "By the way, since I want to trust you guys, do you guys have a place to stay? Since I'm assuming the adult resistance kind of kicked you all to the curb."
"We were looking for any nearby warehouses to stay in until we can find a better place." Yuta replied.
"Hmm, that won't do, why don't you come with us. We have a secondary base nearby that Monaca has completely forgotten about. It's got food, running water and everything." Said Nagisa.
"Thank you, we appreciate the offer you've given us and we'll gladly come with you." Said Komaru, as Nagisa merely nodded and began to lead the group away from the streets.
Later
"...Ok but seriously, how do you accidentally kidnap someone? That's totes' crazy." Asked Kotoko, as she, the other warriors, Bobby and Yuta were all located in a massive shared bedroom that had been given to them after the rooms were split up amongst the people in the group.
"Like I said, mom had some issues with narcissism and it led to a big miscommunication. Thankfully the judge was kind enough to realise what was going on and declared her innocent. 'Course, since her Spanish wasn't that good, she thought she was going to prison."
"You have the weirdest stories dude." Yuta said.
"Tell me about it." Replied Bobby, as a knock was heard on the door after which Peggy peaked her head through the door opening "Oh hey mom, did I hear Mr Gribble leave earlier."
"He did, he said he had an easier time looking into the conspiracies at night when nobody is awake."
"Is he still doing that?" Nagisa asked, "I thought everything in this city had already been revealed."
"And yet he insists there is more goin' on, somethin' about several different killing games happenin' on television consecutively over the last few months, each of them endin' with Junko showing up, despite her bein' dead."
"That's odd, we thought the one at Hope's Peak was the only one." Said Masaru.
"Well, I'm not going to worry about it, if he wants to waste his time he can go right ahead." Replied Peggy "Anyways, I just came to say that the others and I are headin' to bed. You kids want to stay up, that's fine, just don't make it too late, especially you Nagisa, those eye bags underneath your eyes didn't go unnoticed by me."
"I won't, thanks." Muttered Nagisa.
"Anyways, goodnight." Said Peggy, after which she closed the door behind her.
"Night mom." Said Bobby, while the rest just waved her off.
"You know Bobby, speaking off Gribble..." Jataro started, as he pulled a picture that showed the Hills having a barbecue with their neighbours "...Does he know that his son isn't his?"
"Oh right, that. It's a pretty open secret actually, 'cause Mr Gribble has known for years." Replied Bobby.
"Wait what?" Kotoko asked.
"Yeah, once overheard my dad tellin' mom that he let it slip to Mr Gribble out of frustration. Only for him to reveal that he's known for years, said somethin' alon' the lines of 'the best revenge is livin' knowin' that John Redcorn will never know the love of his son.' I think the only people who don't know are John Redcorn and Nancy." Replied Bobby, causing the rest of the group to look at him in shock. "What?"
"Dude... that's kinda dark..." Said Yuta.
"No it ain't, he genuinely loves Joseph with all his heart. Sure he's a bit odd with his conspiracies, but he does care for him." Bobby countered.
"If you knew, it kind of makes you a bad friend for keeping this from him." Said Kotoko pointing an accusatory finger at Bobby.
"And what, you want me to ruin his life by tellin' him that he's the result of an affair, that the man he views as his dad is just a guy his mom's been makin' out for a fool for years now. Maybe I'm a bad friend, but if it prevents his world from bein' turned upside down and him questionin' who he is, then maybe it's better. 'Sides, I think in her guilt even Nancy thinks it's better." Bobby replied.
"Fine, maybe you're right." Kotoko said, admitting defeat as a silence fell over the room until Yuta spoke up again.
"So what do you guys want to do when the world gets better?"
"What do you mean what do we want to do?" Asked Masaru. "We survived didn't we, isn't that what matters?"
"Survivin' ain't livin' dude." Bobby said.
"I guess you have a point." Said Nagisa "We spend so much time with the mindset that we'd die early after the hand we were dealt as younger children, that we never thought there'd be a future where we could live happy lives."
"I guess we could go back to being kids and later on becoming teens." Said Jataro.
"Yeah, that's now. But like, what do ya'll wanna do when you get older?" Asked Bobby, causing the four kids to fall into silence as Yuta and Bobby just gave them curious looks, until Kotoko spoke up.
"I... I don't know what I want to do, but I sure as hell won't return to being an actress."
"No one says you had to, 'sides you still got time to figure it out." Bobby replied.
Masaru then spoke up "Well, regardless of what happened, I still want to do something with sports. Maybe I'll become a track star."
"Oh dude, that's the direction I was going in before everything went down." Said Yuta.
"So you're saying we'd be rivals?" Asked Masaru.
"Sure, I can do that if you want to go down that route." Said Yuta, as he held out his hand and gave Masaru a fist bump after which they both said "To being rivals."
"I'll probably do something with art." Said Jataro.
"That's really cool, dude. You got a whole lotta talent from what I saw in your area, maybe one day people'll be lining up to see your work." Said Bobby, to which Jataro merely nodded.
"I… I always wanted to be a teacher." Said Nagisa with a soft tone in his voice, as the other looked at him in surprise.
"A teacher?" Kotoko asked.
"Yes," Nagisa said, a little more confident now. "I was always told I was smart, and I spent so long trying to be better than adults that I forgot… There are good adults too. I don't want kids to go through what we did. If I could help them... teach them... maybe I could make sure none of this happens again."
"I'm sure you could pull it off, you were always smart." Said Kotoko, as she turned to Bobby. "So what about you?"
"Me, well I've had plenty of dreams, a stand up comic, rodeo clown, but the thing I've really found my passion in is becomin' a chef. Like two years ago I found my passion in checkin' the quality of steaks and through that I found myself wantin' to become a chef. So y'know, once things get better and I can go back home, I'll probably keep learnin' for it." Replied Bobby.
"Well, we do have some steaks in storage, so if you wanted to you could cook some for us." Said Nagisa.
"That'd be nice." Said Bobby.
The group then kept talking amongst themselves for a bit, until a few hours later they were all fast asleep save for Nagisa who couldn't stop thinking about a few things. So he turned to his side to face Bobby and asked "Hey, Bobby, are you still awake."
"Barely... why do you ask?" Bobby replied.
"You mentioned going back home, but when you go back home will you remember us?"
"Course I will, ain't like I'll remember somethin' like this anytime soon."
"Not like that, more as in staying in contact with us."
"Sure, I'll write to you guys. I won't mind keepin' in touch. Why do you ask?"
"Just with everything that happened with Monaca and all the time we'll probably end up spending together in the time it'll take for things to get better, I don't want whatever time we'll end up spending together to just mean nothing, you know." Replied Nagisa, as Bobby reached out from his bed and patted Nagisa on the shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry, I ain't forgettin' you guys." Replied Bobby.
"You promise?"
"I promise and like my dad always said, a Hill doesn't break promises."
"Good... by the way, thanks for trying to reach out to help us even if we didn't want it." Said Nagisa.
"Don't worry about it." Replied Bobby.
"Still, thought I'd at least say it." Said Nagisa as he turned to his side to go to sleep as he muttered "Goodnight Bobby."
"Night Nagisa." Bobby replied, as the room fell silent as everyone had fallen asleep.
Later
It was deep in the middle of the night when Dale found himself roaming the halls of the now destroyed Towa Hills, while making sure to knock on the walls every once in a while, until what seemed like an hour he heard an echo when he knocked on a piece of the wall, so he stopped to examine it where upon touching the wall he found a keypad. "Bingo, knew somethin' was to be found here." he said, as Dale sifted through his pockets until he found a handful of items that he had managed to steal from Monaca's room while they were exploring the building the first time.
He looked at the panel and used a keycard he found in the old room to swipe the card over the keypad, which read the card as it gave him a message that read 'Welcome TD Member 002', as a door opened to reveal an elevator that only seemed to be going down based on the structure of the rest of the building. So dale stepped and saw the destination on the elevator, some of which read 'costume department', 'writers room', 'cold storage and monitoring room', 'memory erasure lab', 'school simulator', and a bunch of others. But the one that caught Dale's eyes was that the one that read cold storage, so he pressed the button and took the elevator down.
As the elevator went down Dale thought to himself "Now what could possibly be down there to need those facilities?" As the elevator then stopped at the required floor and Dale stepped out to see a whole warehouse worth of about hundreds of cryogenic freezing pods, with most of them not being in use save for about fifteen of them. Dale wiped some of the condensation away on some of them as he saw a short person wearing a beanie, a masked man, a girl with a witches hat, someone who looks like a mage, a guy with the hair of an avocado and a bunch of others.
"Weird, why do I feel like I've seen them before." Dale wondered, as he tried to remember if he had seen those people in a photo before, but he kept moving as he heard crying coming from nearby which is what seemed to be the monitoring room that was mentioned on the floors in the elevator. He got closer to the door and through the window he saw a blue haired girl in a long dress on her knees as she was crying her eyes out while on the computer screen appeared a list of students that had perished during the killing game at Hope's Peak.
From what Dale could hear the girl, as she was crying, kept muttering to herself in a soft tone "No... no I don't want to, I can't." before her tone of voice shifted to become more twisted "But we have to... the show must go on... even if the rest has died." with each voice repeating the same thing over and over again, as Dale kept watching until he accidentally shifted his body a bit too much to get a better look of what was in the room, causing a nearby broom to fall over loudly onto the ground.
This caused the girl to be brought out of her internal struggle as she immediately turned to face the door, as she saw Dale and grabbed a nearby knife, and slammed the door open in an instant forcing Dale to jump backwards as the girl in her twisted voice exclaimed "Who are you! How did you find this place!" as she got ready to lunge at Dale with the knife, only for him to jump backwards and held his hands up in surrender.
"Whoa take it easy there, I'm not here to harm ya!" Dale exclaimed.
"Likely story." The girl replied, as she started to advance upon Dale with the full intent of trying to stab him.
"I'm serious, look I heard there was somethin' goin' down here and that some people went missin'. So I came to check in on what's goin' on, to see if the rumors were true." Replied Dale, causing the girl to slightly falter.
"Someone... someone was worried about plain ol' me." The girl asked, as her twisted half seemed to vanish for a bit, being replaced by her more innocent half.
"That's right." Dale slightly lied, as he had gotten an idea of who the people down here were and that people were indeed looking for them "Now, how about you start by givin' me your name."
"Oh... it's Shirogane, Tsumugi Shirogane."
"Dale Gribble, nice to meet you, I'm a friend of a former teacher of yours. Now, let's put the knife down and how about you start by tellin' me what's goin' on down here." Said Dale.
"Oh right." Tsumugi said, a bit embarrassed as she let it drop to the floor and began explaining "Well, it all started a few years back, or at least I think it was a few years, it's all so hard to keep track of time down here..."
The next day
"We'll be seeing you soon Byakuya." Makoto said, as he finished the call in which Byakuya had explained the whole situation regarding Towa City, the hostages and everything else that had been going on in the last few days. He then turned to Hank who also had finished a call, as he asked "So, how were things on your end sir?"
Hank sharply exhaled as he replied "Good, I'm glad to hear that they're all doin' ok over there, even with the thin's Dale discovered."
"What about the fact that they will be staying there until things calm down?" Makoto asked.
"It's for the best for now." Said Hank, as he quickly took a peak in a nearby hallway to see no one present as he continued "Between you and me, somethin' odd is goin' on here at times. As if someone's tryin' to sabotage the place, had to do some repairs on some metal that shouldn't've rusted and yet it did. So them not bein' here is better. Anyways, did Togami tell you anythin' of note regardin' class 78-B bein' found?"
"We should probably have Kirigiri present for that, she should be out of her meeting by now." Replied Makoto, as Hank merely nodded while following after the boy until they both found themselves in her office explaining what Byakuya had told Makoto over the phone.
"Well, glad to hear that those things have been sorted out, you two must be very proud."
"Yeah, Komaru managed to do something great." Replied Makoto, as Hank then spoke up.
"I'm glad that Peggy was able to help out, and I'm proud that Bobby's growin' up more."
"I expect that you're also happy that there hasn't been a repeat of what happened down in Mexico?" Asked Kyoko in a joking manner.
"Yeah, that too." Hank replied sheepishly.
"Now, explain what happened to Class 78-B once more so I get the full picture."
"From what Dale was able to get out of Shirogane, a little while before the tragedy Junko had her kidnapped and brainwashed into becomin' her follower. Then over the course of an unspecified amount of time Junko took Shirogane on several field trips to Towa City to meet with Monaca where they started workin' on an underground facility that would be able to mass produce killing games, which was the facility Dale ended up findin'. Which is what he told me." Hank explained, as Makoto then cut in.
"What I've heard from Byakuya, when your father was creating the shelter idea Junko convinced Tsumugi to manipulate her classmates into not agreeing with it. Which is why they weren't in the school, and weren't part of our killing game. So, while they stayed outside they were able to survive for a good period of time, except Junko had given Shirogane instructions to lead her followers into an ultimate hunt. Something where people who either graduated from Hope's Peak, went there or would have been scouted were hunted down and brought to that underground facility."
"There Shirogane and Junko's followers began to mass produce killing games with the intent of them being broadcast after our killing game had ended to ensure that despair would continue forever. From what I heard, about fifty had been made with a good portion of them already having been broadcast in the days following our escape. Which does explain where the claims of a continued killing game came from even after we had been freed."
"And what about Shirogane?" Asked Kyoko.
"She's as ok as anyone can be in a situation like that, apparently the brainwashing that Junko used had been faulty on her so for the last few weeks she had been fighting with herself after the rest of the people she had been working with down there took their own lives upon Junko's death. Which I guess means that Class 78-B has been spared the fate of hundreds of other people. So what do you think?"
"I think for now, that we should keep this part to ourselves until we can get more info out of her. Because I do not think that Munakata is going to be very forgiving when he finds out what happened there, knowing him, he'll most likely execute her on the spot if he were to get his hands on her." Replied Kyoko.
"I doubt Sakura, Harukawa and probably the rest of Class 78-B would allow that to happen, but I see your point." Said Makoto.
"In that case, I'll leave putting the pieces of the crimes the Towa's have committed in their collaboration with Enoshima up to Shuichi." Replied Kyoko, prompting Makoto and Hank to give her odd looks "What?"
"You don't want to do it yourself?" Asked Makoto.
"The kid's right, I would've expected you to dive into it." Added Hank, causing Kyoko to sigh in response.
"Look, I'll admit, had this been the start of our first year at Hope's Peak I would have taken the case and probably warned him to stay out of my way. But over the course of the first year, and having worked a couple of investigations with him and uncle Saihara, I began to see him in a new light and to be honest Shuichi earned his place as much as anyone else has. Frankly, the fact that grandfather could never be pleased with any of them and ended up disowning them to the point that he never bothered to even visit his son's grave after he died is something I find to be unnecessarily cruel."
"That being said, the main reason I'm leaving it up to Shuichi is because if I started to divert time into it someone might catch onto what we're hiding from the foundation. As for Shuichi, he has really managed to grow into his role as a detective, Momota and Ku-Akamatsu really managed to bring him out of his shell, and I'm proud of him for it." Kyoko finished explaining.
"Yeah, he really managed to grow from the person he was at the start of the first year. A lot more confident, no longer scared of the truth and not even needing to wear his hat as often." Said Makoto with a nostalgic tone in his voice.
"Sounds like someone else we know, isn't that right Naegi?" Asked Kyoko.
"It's not that much." Replied Makoto.
"Don't be so modest son, you've really managed to grow into your own since you started your first year. I'm sure if the rest of your class were here they'd say the same." Said Hank.
"Moving on, there is something else we should discuss that you said you would return to Hill." Said Kyoko.
"Right, that."
"Have you thought about whether or not you'll help us rehabilitate the Remnants?" Asked Kyoko.
"I've thought about it, and I do have one question. Why not get Miss Yukizome to help you with it, she was their teacher?" Asked Hank.
"Because I don't fully trust her." Said Kyoko, as she noticed the looks of confusion they both were giving her she continued "The story she told us does not add up in the slightest, because she claimed she was with her class before they supposedly died in that explosion. Now, not only is class 77-B alive and the Remnants, save for Nanami who was used to bring them to despair so rest her soul, but Yukizome was found alive without so much as a scratch on her. I might not have any evidence to prove it, but to me it feels suspicious."
"I see." Said Makoto.
"That's not even mentioning the fact that some funds from her department have gone missing, so Hill thanks for pointing out those discrepancies to me." Added Kyoko, to which Hank merely nodded as she added "Which brings us to you sir, what will it be?"
"I'll help you kids." Said Hank.
"You will? But you were so firmly against the plan when we brought it up the first time!" Makoto replied.
"Right, well, I thought it over and I don't much like the alternative of Munakata cuttin' 'em down without even so much as tryin' to help em' or failin' that a proper trial. The world may have become a lawless wasteland, but it don't mean we ought to act like barbarians and kill anyone we don't agree with. No one gave 'im the damn right to act like judge, jury and executioner on even the folk who turned out to be innocent, it ain't right. So yes, I'll help you kids, cause I ain't about to let any more former students of mine die." Hank finished ranting, as Makoto gave him a glass of water.
"Well, I'm glad we are in agreement then. It is good that despite your apprehension that you decided to change your mind." Replied Kyoko, as she added "Once Togami returns we'll get started on it, so for now keep doing what we have been doing." To which Hank and Makoto nodded in agreement.
Later
"Korekiyo, are you sure this is the right way to do things?" Asked Kirumi, as the members of class 78-B were seated in a circle in the living room of the floor they had been given by the Warriors of Hope.
"Why wouldn't it Kirumi, it has worked in the past hasn't it?" Replied Korekiyo.
"I dunno man, she has kind of has a point." Rantaro said, as he started pointing at the members in the circle "Sure, it worked great with Kaede, her feelings about getting disowned and it souring her view on people for a bit, or Ryoma and his unprocessed grief about his family, or Shuichi's insecurities, or Kirumi's feelings about not amounting to anything beyond her job as a maid, or Maki's past, or Miu and her feelings of inadequacy, or Keebo and his feelings on being a robot with independent thought, or you and..."
"Yes Amami I get your point, but in the end us as a collective group acting as a safe space without judgement and helping the individual move past their issues or rather give it a place to do better has helped. So why wouldn't this?" Asked Korekiyo.
"Oh gee gimpy, maybe cause this doesn't fuckin' compare to any of our issues." Miu interjected, causing Korekiyo to get an irritated look on his face as he pulled down his mask.
"Oh really Iruma, you really want to say that when I had something similar or do you want me to put the lipstick back on!" Korekiyo exclaimed, as Kaede jumped in between them before a fight could break out.
"Ok, let's not escalate this any further! Miu, Korekiyo has a point that these talks have worked in the past, after all with our support he was able to get the help he needed, in fact most of us did. That being said, Korekiyo they do have a point, there is no guarantee this will work."
"I refuse to believe that." Said Keebo, as everyone gave him looks of curiosity "Now listen, I'll admit this might be challenging, but when we started our first year and after a few weeks we had some internal issues within the class, that no matter how bad the issue we'd always have each others backs."
"Yeah, I agree with Keebo, Tsumugi despite what she was put through and did is still our classmate. I still believe in her, so says Kaito Momota Luminary of the Stars."
Shuichi sighed as he said "Look, I know we're all apprehensive, but they do have a point. No matter how bad it may be, we don't turn our backs on Tsumugi, not when she needs us the most." He finished as some members of the class kept having looks of unease on their faces.
"This isn't going to turn into one of those debates where the whole class ends up having a split opinion, right?" Asked Ryoma.
"Oh but they aren't so bad, they actually help us see the light." Said Angie.
"Gonta remembers the one time it was used to decide who would get the last pizza slice."
"Nyeh, we should have just ordered more pizza." Said Himiko, as Maki then coughed to get everyone's attention.
"Getting back on point, since there will no doubt be some strong feelings on the matter, we do what we did when we first started out and use the talking pillow. I'm sure you all remember how this works?" Maki asked while placing the pillow in front of her on the nearby table, to which everyone nodded as Kokichi immediately grabbed it. "This better be good." Maki grumbled, as she glared at Kokichi.
"I just want to say that it doesn't always work, cause Tenko is still a man hating misandrist." Said Kokichi as Tenko grabbed the pillow from him.
"Am not!" Tenko exclaimed, as Kokichi took the pillow from her.
"What did you say again upon being freed, oh right 'can't believe a degenerate had to rescue me'." Replied Kokichi, as Tenko took the pillow again.
"I just got unfrozen, I thought he was one of those despair lunatics." Replied Tenko, as Kokichi took the pillow back.
"Just admit it, Tenko." Kokichi said, as Tenko pulled the pillow out of his hands.
"Don't make me throw you...!" She started to say only for them to get interrupted by a knife getting thrown on the table, as they looked up to see a very annoying looking Kirumi staring them down.
"Thanks for letting me use the knife Maki." Said Kirumi, to which Maki merely nodded as Kirumi continued "Now, can we have one class discussion that doesn't devolve into this type of nonsense?" As the rest of the group silently nodded at her. "Good, that's better, now Kokichi, Tenko if this happens again during the class talk, not only will you lose the pillow privileges, but you can cook your own dinner tonight as well. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sorry." They both replied.
"That's better, now who wants to start us up again?" Kirumi asked, as Ryoma raised his hand to which Kirumi gave him the pillow.
"Thanks, uh... look I'm not good with this sort of thing, you guys know that..." Ryoma started feeling a bit nervous as he pulled down his beanie, only for Kaede to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he continued "...That being said, we've all been talking about what we feel. But what about what Tsumugi is feeling at the moment?"
"Good point..." Korekiyo said, as he grabbed the pillow "...why don't we give her the floor then." as he then gave Tsumugi the pillow.
"Oh, you want me to speak? Ok, plainly, I'm a bit torn to be honest. One half of me is glad that we're all safe again, and that no one has to die." Said Tsumugi, with a sweet tone in her voice.
This answer immediately got Maki's attention whose expression darkened as she asked "And the other half?"
"Oh you know..." Tsumugi said, as she got a twisted smile on her face "...disappointed, I had so many beautiful motives and executions planned, even a great ending where I would have driven the survivors into despair by making up a story about all of you being part of a television series you willingly signed up for. It would have been a great and explosive finale to all of this." She finished as she began to cackle madly.
Kokichi then quickly snatched the pillow out of her hand as his face darkened as well before he exclaimed "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME! That has got to be the dumbest possible story you could have come up with, what did you guys run out of ideas or something!"
Tsumugi grabbed onto the pillow as she shot back "I don't know Kokichi, I guess after a few rounds you have to get creative. But that's not what you're mad at me for, is it? How are your DICE guys doing Ouma? Still alive and well... oh wait that's right! They're all dead and you failed to keep them alive!"
"I know they're dead..." Kokichi hissed, as he continued in a low voice "...How's that tub of lard you call a boyfriend doing? Oh wait, he died first in his killing game, I saw it on the broadcast before I got captured. And guess what, he didn't remember you, he was driven to murder over the safety of his sister, not you. You were nothing to him when he died. So sure, my DICE guys are dead, and they were the only family I had, but at least half the class doesn't fear me to the point of considering giving me up to the Future Foundation. So take that, miss Plain Jane."
"SHUT UP!" Tsumugi shrieked, as she tried to lunge for Kokichi only to be held back by Gonta as she tried to struggle free for a bit until after a bit of struggling the scowl on her face vanished and instead she began to breakdown as Gonta put her down while she started cry "I know I don't deserve it... but I don't want you guys to leave me... I want the help... I don't want to be what she made me...!"
Kaede kneeled down next to her with a comforting hand on her shoulder as she said "And we won't, sure some of us are a bit apprehensive, but we won't do that to you. What we all want in the end is for you to get better, and we'll do everything we can to help you. Even if it takes years, we won't give up on you." Kaede and Gonta then began to hug her, as a good portion of the class save for Shuichi, Angie and Kokichi joined in.
Shuichi turned to Kokichi as he asked "You said that you were the last one remaining before you got captured, what happened?"
"Nihihihihihihi, oh Shumai..." Kokichi chuckled, as he put his hands behind his head while giving a mocking smile as he continued "...It's a lie, none of that happened, they've been dead for ages."
"Nyahahahahaha!" Angie exclaimed "Oh Kokichi, your lies have gotten worse I see, have you finally given up your wicked ways and accepted the light of god into your heart."
"Nrrrg, Angie..." Kokichi angrily growled, as he bit onto his thumb.
"Is she right Kokichi, were you telling the truth... did... did they all die?" Asked Shuichi.
Kokichi sighed after which he replied "Yeah, they're... they're all dead."
"What happened to them Kokichi? You know you're among friends, right?" Asked Angie.
"Fine... we had been looking for you guys... when we decided against staying inside of the school we agreed to keep in contact at least once a month if we got separated. But then slowly but surely you all started to vanish, so we started going out there to see if you guys could be found anywhere. But we ended up in a three way fight between us, the foundation and the Kuzuryu's..." Said Kokichi, with none of them aware that Kaede flinched a bit upon the name being said out loud.
"What happened then?" Asked Shuichi.
"...Kuzuryu's goons and that sword wielder with the foundation tore through all of them, and the last thing I remember was getting knocked to the ground with my face bloodied. I then looked into the eyes of Kuzuryu before he knocked me out with a kick to the head. Then I woke up in that freezer." Kokichi finished, as his face darkened, as the whole group looked at him in concern.
"Kokichi?" Kirumi asked.
"Some ultimate supreme leader I turned out to be, huh? Couldn't even keep the people I considered family alive."
"Hey come on..." Kaede started.
"Guess you were right Maki, all I really amount to is telling lies."
"Don't be so hard on yourself." Maki started "I was with Kaito when we were captured, he had been knocked out and it was me going up against Pekoyama. All these years training as an assassin and I couldn't even protect myself and the people around me."
"Oh come on Maki-roll..." Said Kaito, as he pulled her closer to him "...we all fail sometimes..." Maki then buried herself in his chest "...Maki-roll?"
"Shut up idiot, just let me have this for once."
"I guess we're all in agreement, we'll get through this as a class, no matter how long it takes." Said Kirumi, as she got several murmurs and nods in agreement.
Part 6 of 9, to be continued.