Chapter Text
Hayato, Sakura and Lucifer all sat in the cottage, silent as mice and shaking like leaves. The things they had seen when they foolishly decided to explore the computer building were burnt into their memories, ruining their perception and tainting their innocence. The video footage of their families, their friends, their parents , covered in blood and their lives ripped away from them without mercy in some sick and twisted game, so real and yet so unbelievable.
Hayato’s mouth still tasted like the sting of bile.
As if it wasn’t enough to see his beloved father- his Daddy- the kind soft man who kissed his booboos and tucked him in and read him bedtime stories as some pale, sickly awful version of himself-
He had to see him cold and dead.
Tears pricked up in his eyes and his stomach lurched as the memory resurfaced. He felt a hand wrap around his, Sakura holding him close and staring off into the distance.
The door opened. All three sat up straight, getting ready for the scolding that was sure to come.
Instead, what they received was a hug.
Hajime held all three of them tight in his arms, a hand on the back of Hayato’s head.
“I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. You never should’ve seen that footage…”
“Papa, I-“
Lucifer and Sakura’s heads popped up as more people filled the room.
“Dad-!!”
“Mom-“
Lucifer and Sakura broke the hold and threw themselves at Gundham and Kyoko, Sonia and Makoto joining. The last people to walk in the room were Monaca and… Nagito.
Hayato slipped his hands off from around Hajime’s neck and ran to his dad. His dad who was alive and breathing and so so real. There was heat under his skin and blood in his veins, his chest rising and falling with every breath.
He was here in Hayato’s arms and he was alive.
“Y-you were dead, you were dead … I don’t understand… you were dead…”
“Ohh… oh Hayato my baby…”
Nagito kissed Hayato’s head and stoked his hair, holding his son close.
“I’m here.”
Monaca piped up.
“There’s something we should tell you. All of you… But we have to start at the beginning. Please sit.”
The atmosphere in the small room was morose as the children took their seats on the bed and on the floor, Lucifer curled up with his arms around his knees.
Sakura shook her head.
“I don’t get it… it all looked so real, but you’re all still here- e-except for that one girl. How- what was that? Some sick movie?”
Everyone was quiet. Sonia fiddled with the hem of her shirt.
“It is a little hard to explain. But like Monaca said, we should start at the beginning of it all. Monaca, if you will…?”
She nodded and turned to the kids.
“Of course.
Long story short, the world isn’t what it used to be.” She batted her long eyelashes and twirled a ringlet by her cheek. “Years ago when your mothers and fathers were still children, even before Monaca was born, the outside world was normal. Everyone lived in cities like how you read in your books, and people went about their business. It was as regular as it could be.”
Makoto sat and steepled his fingers.
“That is, until the tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy.”
Sakura raised her hand and didn’t wait for an answer before speaking.
“I read about Hope’s Peak in your files! It was your old school for talented people, kind of like New Dawn, right?”
Hajime looked at the three innocent faces before him, taking them in as he was about to change their lives forever.
“Yes, Hope's Peak was a school that sought out people with skills and abilities, but unlike your school it excluded people who didn’t have talent…. harshly. There were students there like your uncle Kazuichi who’re really good with machines, or like Teruteru who can cook well. And people like me, well… they didn’t care about helping me or letting me learn or explore at all.”
Lucifer sat up. “Is that why everyone in our family has some kind of special talent?”
“Precisely. We were all students there.”
Makoto takes a deep breath.
“Hope's Peak sought out to create a better future. Heh, the irony in that statement is hilarious… I was a student there too. And in my class there was one who took advantage of it all. Her name was Junko Enoshima.”
The room fell silent until Monaca spoke.
“Big sis Junko was charismatic, smart, and the epitome of despair. She used the students, staff and influence of Hope’s Peak to her advantage, including Monaca and her friends.”
“She manipulated me and my classmates and turned us into terrorists.”
Hajime’s words cut through them all.
“Papa?”
Makoto broke the tension.
“H-Hayato, we really don’t know how to say this, but- Junko turned your family into her legion of despairs and she… ended the world.”
Nothing.
Nothing could’ve prepared the three of them for that.
There was heavy silence that hung over everyone in the room, as if they had been hit with a truck and their ears were ringing from the impact.
The weight of it all was slowly crushing them, and Hayato felt sick again.
Makoto walked over and set a hand on Sakura’s shoulder.
“She didn’t just get to their class either. She trapped me, your mother, your Aunts and Uncles and all of our other classmates in the school. S-she operated from the inside, wiped our memories and forced us all to- to k-kill each other. W-we-“
Makoto’s eyes fill with tears, and he covered his face with his free hand. Kyoko walked over with a soft look and rested her hand on his back.
“Mukuro Ikusaba.
Sayaka Maizono.
Leon Kuwata.
Chihiro Fujisaki.
Mondo Oowada.
Kiyotaka Ishimaru.
Hifumi Yamada.
Celestia Ludenberg.
Sakura Oogami.
These are the names of our classmates whose lives were ripped away from them by her despair. Please don’t ever forget them.”
Sakura began to sob, and Hayato was trembling.
“T-those names… t-the buildings at our school… the Fujisaki Computer Lab… the Kuwata field… all the others… are those…?”
“Yes, Hayato. We named the buildings in your school after them. And we named our daughter after our friend Sakura, who sacrificed herself so that we would live.”
Sakura covered her face and her shoulders shook.
“I-I had no idea that she did all that… I-I never knew… I wanna hug Aunt Aoi now…”
Lucifer spoke up.
“But that doesn’t make any sense, why did all of our parents kill each other too?!”
Nagito finally decided to speak.
“That’s the thing. We had to tell you about the first killing game before you could know about ours. When Makoto and the other survivors escaped the school, they were rescued by the Future Foundation and given jobs to help contain the Tragedy. When we were all Despairs, we did… horrible things. Things I don’t wish to speak of.”
Nagito held his robotic arm, his grey eyes stormy.
“The Future Foundation was able to round up all of us and they were planning on executing us for our crimes. That was, until Naegi decided he could save us.”
The kids looked at Makoto, who was sporting a sheepish grin.
“I kind of… betrayed the Future Foundation so that your parents and your family could have a chance at redemption! I had the idea that if we could rehabilitate them with the Neo World Program, you know, the one that you and your classmates use to learn, then they could go back to how they were before the Tragedy!
...But it wasn’t that easy. One of the Despairs had a virus that infected the Neo World Program with Junko’s AI. And… you know the rest.”
Hayato’s voice was shaky.
“Who.”
“Pardon?”
“Who brought that virus to the program.”
It was quiet again until Hajime spoke, his voice quiet.
“I did.”
“No, no no no no no that can’t be true! Y-you would never do that!”
Hajime gave a morbid smile and lifted up his bangs to reveal a faded, yet present scar across his hairline.
“Well, it wasn’t exactly me.
Hope’s Peak Academy wasn’t the most... morally sound school. They sought out to create talent with human experimentation- they wanted to create the “ultimate being.” Guess who they used and who they made.”
The realization hit Hayato like a ton of bricks.
“I… Izuru…”
“That’s right.”
Nagito went to Hayato’s side and pulled him into a hug once more.
“I know that if you watched that footage you saw… me. A different version of me. When I was young, I didn’t have the love and help that I have now… I did things I wasn’t proud of. I’m so sorry you had to see that- I never wanted you to know.”
Hayato rested in his embrace before his brain put it all together, and he pushed Nagito away.
“S- so what, I’m supposed to just accept that everyone I know and everyone I care about used to be TERRORISTS?! That everything I know is based on a LIE?! ”
“Hayato-”
“No, no no no no no this isn’t- how could you? What, I’m just supposed to accept that you lost your hand in an “ accident” now, too?! What else don’t I know?!
Nagito’s expression was one of surprise and hurt, and he held his arm close to his chest.
“A-And to think I thought we were on this island for a good reason… I-”
Hajime stood up and squared his shoulders.
“HAYATO, THAT’S ENOUGH.”
Hayato went stiff. Tears pooled in his eyes and his face screwed up in a frown. He wiped his face and ran out of the room, the door slamming shut.
“HAYA-“
The room resounded with the tail end of the slam. Emptiness hung over everyone, the weight of the world on their shoulders.
And then there was a sound of crashing waves.