Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hope’s Peak Academy was, quite literally, the hope of the country.

It was said that every great and successful person ever had gone there. Success after graduation was guaranteed, and many people around the country aspired to go there. However, the only way to get in is to be specially scouted by the school itself.

The only way to get scouted was to be the best at what you do. An Ultimate, so to speak.

The school accepted many Ultimate Talents. It didn’t matter what they did, whether it be an inventor, hostess, toy maker, or even something like a window washer. As long as you were the best at it, you were an Ultimate.

The school ran for many years. Currently, there are four schools attending Hope’s Peak: Class 77, Class 78, Class 79, and Class 80.

Class 77 was the senior year, their willingness to have fun and learn haunted slightly by graduation.

Class 78 was a hopeful bunch, always helping out and getting into many adventures.

Class 79 was a bit more… unhinged due to their vastly separate personalities, but they united with one another nonetheless. 

Class 80, fresh into their first year, was full of eagerness to learn and get to know their surroundings.

All four classes were friends with each other. All of them enjoyed their lives at Hope’s Peak.

If only they knew how sudden their happy days would come to an end.

You see, in Class 78, there was one person who was not quite so hopeful like the rest. In fact, this person was quite the opposite. She despised hope and everything to do with it. She only wanted wonderful, glorious despair.

This person’s name was Junko Enoshima.

While Junko seemed to be the Ultimate Fashionista, in reality this was a cover-up to hide her true Ultimate Talent: the Ultimate Despair.

Junko had a plan. A plan to infect the entire world with her despair. She relished at the thought of the screams, of the cries for help that would come out of innocent and helpless people’s mouths once her plan succeeded.

However, actually completing her plan was complicated. She couldn’t do it all by herself.

For that, she needed followers.

Of course, she was perfectly aware that nobody would willingly help her with her mission. Unless they were as despair-filled as she was, which Junko knew was impossible, no one would help her cause the end of the world.

Naturally, she had a plan. Junko always had a plan.

She created, with the help of Class 77’s Ultimate Animator, a brainwashing video. This video would show the subject’s family, friends, anything they held precious torn apart. Ruined. And, just to make sure to cause more than enough despair, she added a bit of their worst fears into the video too.

She tested the video on a few Reserve Course students, and it worked like a charm.

Now, all she needed to do was choose a class to become her followers.

And the class she chose was Class 79.

Class 79, as mentioned before, was the most unhinged. Small fights, though nothing serious, would occasionally break out. It was perfect.

Junko watched the class for a few days, in order to make sure everything went smoothly. Then she realized she had a problem.

That problem was a boy named Teruya Otori, the Ultimate Merchant.

Teruya kept the class together. Whenever a fight or argument broke out, he would be the first to break it up. Whenever a classmate was sad, he’d cheer them up. When the class was happy, he was happy. 

In short, Teruya was everything Junko couldn’t stand.

No, no, this wouldn’t do at all! As long as Teruya was around, the class would stick to hope, not despair!

This was what Junko was thinking as she paced around her dorm room. Teruya was nearly everything Junko wasn’t. He was well-liked, adored even, and he got along with someone upon meeting them for thirty seconds. Hell, he even had a boyfriend: The Ultimate Pilot, Haruhiko Kobashikawa.

There was no way she could execute her plan with him. 

Unless…

She got rid of him.

Yes, yes, that was it! If Junko got rid of Teruya, then the rest of the class would be rendered helpless! And besides, an Ultimate Despair Merchant was bound to be useful! She could cry imagining the amount of despair he would spread!

There was no time to waste. It took effect immediately.

Using one or two Monokuma Robots she’d had the Reserve Course build, Junko kidnapped Teruya. It was easy. The Monokuma Robots snuck up on him when he was alone and covered his mouth with a cloth full of chloroform. After a minute, he fell unconscious. Then the robots brought him to her base, which was an old, abandoned lab Junko had found during her second year. It wasn’t too far from Hope’s Peak, making it an ideal base.

Once Teruya had woken up, she subjected him to the Despair Video.

But it didn’t work.

Teruya, somehow, hung onto hope as the video played. He yelled that he’d never fall into despair, that this wasn’t real, that all his friends and family were still alive and perfectly fine. 

And to say it infuriated Junko was an understatement. 

She had screamed at him, even slapped him in the face, and stormed off fuming. She couldn’t understand; how could someone be so full of hope that it rejected even the most beautiful despair?

Then she realized that she’d still completed her mission. Teruya wasn’t with his classmates. Therefore, he had no influence over them, and she could turn them to despair as she pleased. So what if he wasn’t a follower? Once he saw the state of the world, and the fact that his friends were responsible for it, he would surely join her.

It brought a smile to Junko’s lips.

First things first. She needed somewhere to keep Teruya. Fortunately, there was a storage room near the basement of the lab. Once she cleared out everything in there, it would become a blank prison with minimal light. That would do quite nicely.

And it’s exactly what she did. Junko had the Monokuma Robots take everything out and lock Teruya inside. Now there was no way he could interfere with her plan.

With Teruya gone, Junko could finally act. One by one, she kidnapped Class 79. One by one, she made them fall into despair. Soon, no longer were they the students of Class 79. They were the Remnants of Despair.

And she set them loose.

Everything had gone wonderfully. Hope’s Peak had been destroyed. People screamed in fear as the Remnants of Despair descended upon them so suddenly, using the talents they once cherished to murder. Buildings toppled. Bodies piled up. Monokuma Robots laughed high-pitched, static laughs as they tore into their victims. The Tragedy had begun.

Now Junko was on her way to grab Teruya and show him her masterpiece. She let out a sadistic giggle as she imagined his reaction to his classmates, his friends, and even his boyfriend mass slaughtering innocents.

She reached the bottom of the stairs, turned towards Teruya’s prison…

And let out a scream of rage.

The door was wide open, with a long, thin, almost invisible stick of metal in the lock. There were parts of Monokuma Robots scattered around the area. And Teruya was nowhere to be found.

Junko placed a hand on her head, thoughts of murdering Teruya herself boiling inside her. Then she laughed.

Well, he was still out there, right? He’d still see all the destruction. He’d fall into despair sooner or later. No doubt about it.

With that in mind, Junko turned and left, heading back to her beautiful despair-induced world.

And the Tragedy still raged on. Classes 77 and 78 had disappeared to who knew where. Class 80 had managed to shelter somewhere within the city. And Class 79 was no more.

And somewhere out there in the ravaged city, the Ultimate Merchant sheltered, alone and afraid. He wasn’t in despair yet, but he had almost reached his limit. But he still resisted. He needed to hang out. The Remnants were still his friends, his classmates, no matter whether Teruya liked it or not.

A month later, the Tragedy had somewhat died down, and yet was still going strong at the same time. No one knew where Classes 77 and 78 were. Class 80 was somewhere in the city, although no one knew where. And the Ultimate Merchant was still alone, too afraid to face the world.

Every day, he’d question what one Ultimate could do in a world full of nothing but despair.

Alone? He could do nothing.

But with others? Turns out, he could do a whole lot more.

Chapter Text

It had been a month since the great attack that caused the incident people now call the Tragedy.

Of course, just because time had passed doesn't mean it was any less dangerous.

Monkuma robots roamed the city, programmed to go after anyone they saw. There were the Monokuma Mobs, hordes of people all wearing Monokuma masks, going around breaking things and going after survivors. And of course, there were the Remnants of Despair. Easily the most dangerous of all.

Normally, the city that Hope's Peak Academy had once resided in was quiet, save for a few screams of survivors unlucky enough to be spotted by the Remnants or any other threat.

But not today.

"STUPID, STUPID, MONOKUMAS!!!"

A high-school girl with bright pink hair pushed to one side yelled, as she, along with a taller, black-haired boy with a hat and a blond, buff boy in sunglasses and a coat wrapped around his shoulders, fought off a hoard of Monokuma robots.

"Yoruko, look out!" The black-haired boy yelled, firing his pistol at a Monokuma robot that had managed to sneak up behind her. Yoruko startled, and dodged as the robot fell down, bullet holes going straight through it.

"Thanks, Nikei!" Yoruko yelled.

"No problem!"

"HEY, A LITTLE HELP OVER HERE?" The blond buff boy yelled, as he struggled to hold off multiple Monokumas that were attacking him.

"On our way, Hajime!" Nikei yelled, firing his pistol at the Monokumas while Yoruko grabbed her stun gun and shot it at them. 

The battle lasted another ten minutes, but it finally ended when Hajime punched a Monokuma directly into Yoruko's stun gun, electrocuting it.

"I think that's the last of them." Hajime said, breathing heavily. "Anyone hurt?"

"I'm fine." Yoruko said, brushing off her dress. "Woo! That was intense."

"Tell me about it." Nikei groaned, wiping his forehead. 

Hajime rolled his eyes at the pair, though it was hard to tell with his sunglasses. "Good. Now next time, listen to me when I say to go along the buildings instead of dashing off where we could be spotted by anyone."

Both Nikei and Yoruko sheepishly laughed, both of them breaking a sweat. "Sorry Haji-" Nikei started, before his eyes widened. "LOOK OUT!"

Nikei grabbed Hajime and shoved him aside, right as a bullet whizzed towards them.

"AAAAAH!"

"NIKEI!!" Both Hajime and Yoruko yelled, as Nikei dropped to his knees, blood pouring out of him.

"I'm... fine..." Nikei got out, gritting his teeth. Yoruko and Hajime ran towards him. There was a large wound in his side, and it was bleeding fiercely. 

"Shit! We need to get you back to base!" Yoruko said, panicking, before they were cut off by a scoff.

"Disappointing, I missed. Oh well, I can always improvise."

All three of them looked up, Nikei with some difficulty, to see a man with bright red eyes staring down at them, a large grin on his face. He wore a police's uniform and held a gun in his hand.

Yoruko pointed her stun gun up towards him. "Stay away Tsurugi, you filthy remnant!" She yelled.

"Filthy remnant? I'm so offended. I honestly expected more from you, Yoruko." Tsurugi said calmly. 

"You shot our classmate!" Yoruko yelled.

"So what? It's worth it to see the despair on your faces." Tsurugi said, his grin growing wildly.

"Mmph... Hajime I'm... kinda tired..." Nikei muttered, his eyes starting to close.

"Don't fall asleep, Nikei!" Hajime said sharply, before turning to Yoruko. "We need to get out of here, right now!"

"Understood!" Yoruko whispered, and turned back to Tsurugi. "Well, unluckily for you, It's just about time we head out. Let's dance another time!"

'You're. Not. Going. Anywhere." Tsurugi said forcefully, before pointing his gun and firing.

Yoruko dodged, and Hajime picked Nikei up, who groaned, and they took off. Tsurugi chased after them, shooting at them.

They ran for hours, or maybe minutes, before Yoruko and Hajime ran straight into a dead end.

They stared in horror at the wall, before turning and facing Tsurugi. 

“Looks like your luck’s run out.” He laughed, and aimed at them. Yoruko grabbed her stun gun and, trembling, raised it towards him, but she didn’t end up firing.

BAM! Something hit Tsurugi in the back of the head. He turned around, enraged, to see the Otonokoji twins, Hibiki and Kanade. Hibiki held a microphone and Kanade a guitar, but in reality their instruments were weapons in disguise. 

“Bullseye! Take that, you stupid remnant!” Hibiki gloated.

Tsurugi growled. “That’s the last thing you’ll ever do.” He fired at the twins, but they both dodged. Kanade quickly stroked the strings of her guitar, and a laser beam shot out of the tip towards Tsurugi, which hit him.

Hibiki and Kanade ran past the despair policeman towards Yoruko, Hajime, and Nikei, to which they both gasped. 

“‘Kei!” Hibiki covered her mouth. “Oh my god!”

“Hibiki, Kanade, thank you. But we need to get out of here! Nikei needs treatment!” Yoruko said hurriedly.

Nikei groaned, struggling to keep his eyes open. Hajime moved him slightly, causing him to yelp. “Sorry Nikei, but you need to stay awake!”

Kanade grabbed a walkie-talkie from her pocket. “Mikado, we’re with them. Get the helicopter over here. And fast!”

Tsurugi had recovered from Kanade’s attack, and was struggling to his feet, pure murder in his eyes.

“You’re gonna regret that.” He snarled.

All of a sudden, a platform attached to a rope dropped down in between them, startling everyone but Kanade. Looking up, a helicopter was whizzing above them, and a blond-haired boy wearing a top hat had stuck his head out the window.

“Anyone need a ride?” He yelled.

In order to prevent Tsurugi from doing anything, Kanade shot him again, and all five, four technically, climbed on. Mikado wasted no time in raising the platform up towards the helicopter and flying away.

“MIKADO, get us back, quick!” Yoruko ordered.

Mikado looked to the backseats of the helicopter, took one look at Nikei, and stepped on it. 

They’d never gone so fast before. It probably only took five minutes when a normal trip took around fifteen minutes.

They landed in what looked to be a seemingly abandoned building on the outside, but on the inside it was the secret base of Class 80.

As soon as they landed, Hajime, still carrying Nikei, hopped out, followed quickly by Yoruko, Hibiki, and Kanade. “MEDIC! WE NEED A MEDIC!” He called out.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a tall girl with long blonde hair wearing a long fluffy grey coat appeared, followed by a boy with messy orange hair. 

“N-Nikei?!?” The boy gasped out. “What happened?!?”

“Emma, Yuki, there’s no time to explain. Just help him!” Hajime ordered.

Emma nodded and took Nikei from Hajime and turned around. But before she and Yuki could rush to the infirmary they heard a cry of “NIK?!?”

They turned. A girl with short blue hair and one eye closed was standing there in shock, though it wasn’t long until she snapped out of it and ran towards them.

Nikei gave a small smile. “H-hey, sis.”

“Little bro, what happened?!? Oh god, are you oka- no, of course you’re not! Who did this?? I’ll flay them! Nobody hurts my little brother!” She exclaimed.

“Setsuka, calm down. Nikei’s going to be fine, but he needs treatment. So, could you please let us go?” Emma asked gently.

Setsuka glance at Emma, her only open eye full of worry, but she stood aside. While Emma and Yuki quickly rushed up to their makeshift infirmary, Setsuka turned on Hajime, Yoruko, Hibiki, Kanade, and Mikado, who had joined them a bit after Setsuka appeared. “What happened?!?”

“We’ll explain once everyone’s here. C’mon, class meeting.” Yoruko said.

They ran up to a room, where Mikado hit a bell that they used to call everyone together. Soon, the whole class with the exception of Nikei, Emma, and Yuki were there.

A white-haired girl with a ponytail ran up to Yoruko as soon as she arrived and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Yuko, are you alright?”

Yoruko blushed. “I-I’m fine, Sora. No need to worry about me.”

“I’m your girlfriend, it’s my job to worry about you.” Sora countered.

“As much as I do love to see all you females, I am wondering what caused this meeting. Could we get started?” Asked a small boy with huge floof hair.

“Steady down, Yuri. I was getting to that.” Hajime warned.

The next ten minutes was Hajime and Yoruko explaining what happened, with Hibiki jumping in once they got to the end of the chase. The entire class was silent after they finished.

“W-What?!?” A girl wearing a matching painter’s hat and shawl exclaimed, bringing a sketchbook up to cover her mouth. “T-that’s awful!”

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious, bubblehead.” A boy with gray hair who was standing in a corner smoking a cigarette said, and the girl squeaked. Hajime kept shooting glares at the boy.

“Iroha, Syobai, calm down.” A girl with glasses and a tablet said, looking up from whatever she was doing. “It won’t do any good to panic.”

“You know, that’s easy for you to say, Kokoro! You’re calm all the-” Hibiki began.

BAM.

Everyone startled and stared at Setsuka, who had punched the table. She stood up, and both of her eyes was open, exposing her robot eye.

“I.” She growled. “Am going to murder that remnant!” She started for the door, but a big buff man with flaming red hair grabbed her arm, despite the fact that his face was just as red as his hair.

“S-Setsuka, I-It won’t d-d-do any good to r-rush into things l-like this!” He said, trying to sound stern.

“He hurt my little brother, Shinji! Nobody hurts my little brother and gets away with it!” Setsuka said, and the fact that she had set Shinji’s full name and not a nickname let everyone know that she was serious.

“Ms. Chiebukuro, while I understand where you’re coming from, I highly doubt Mr Yomiuri, if he was here, would let you go out and get yourself hurt avenging him. So therefore, we will not let you go out and do something foolish!” Mikado said.

Setsuka glared at him for a moment, before closing her robot eye and signing, sitting back down. Shinji, seeing as there was no more need for him, let go of her arm.

“Sorry.” She said, “I lost control of myself there.”

“It’s fine, Setsuka. I know for a fact if Hibiki got hurt by someone, I would have probably done the same thing.” Kanade said comfortingly.

“Yeah! And same for me, if Kanade got hurt!” Hibiki agreed.

Sora cleared her throat, and everyone turned to look at her. “Excuse me, I’d like to talk about something I noticed earlier.” She started, then trailed off. “Actually, I think it would be best that everyone is here. I’ll wait until Nikei, Emma, and Yuki are finished.”

Everyone nodded, and then began to talk with one another. About twenty minutes later, Yuki knocked on the door, and everyone turned towards him.

“Hey guys, good news. Nikei’s fine. Emma and I closed up the wound without any difficulties.” Yuki told them, leading to small cheers and sighs of relief, especially from Setsuka. “He’s awake now. You guys can go up and see him, he’s been asking to see you.”

Setsuka didn’t need to be told twice. She jumped up and ran towards the infirmary, with the others following more slowly.

“Nik!” Setsuka yelled, opening the door and running to where Nikei was resting.

“Easy, Setsuka. We don’t want to startle him.” Emma warned.

Nikei lifted his head up, smiling. “Suka!”

“Don’t do that to me ever again! You don’t know how worried I was!” Setsuka chastened, before wrapping him in a hug.

Nikei squirmed around a bit. “Sis, I’m fine. It’s not a big deal.”

“Of course it’s a big deal! You almost died!” Setsuka said, separating the hug.

Nikei winced. “Fine, I’ll be more careful from now on. Happy?”

“Very!”

Once everyone got a chance to talk to Nikei, Sora cleared her throat again. “Now that we’re all here, I want to ask something.”

“Go ahead, Sora!” Yoruko encouraged. 

Sora pulled a tattered piece of paper out of the jacket she was wearing. “The Remnants of Despair used to be the 79th Class, right? How many are there?”

“Well, let’s see.” Yuri said. “There’s fifteen, I believe. Kiyoka, Mitch, Kizuna, Ayame, Kanata, Kakeru, Kinji, Mikako, Yamato, Rei, Tsurugi, Satsuki, Haruhiko, and… Akane and Utsuro.”

Everyone usually avoided talking about Akane and Utsuro, since they were Sora and Yuki’s sister and brother respectively, it was usually a sore spot for them.

Sora nodded thoughtfully. “I see.”

“Why’d you ask us this, Ms Taira? Surely you knew that there were fifteen Remnants, which means there were fifteen students in the 79th class.” Mikado asked.

Sora held up the paper she was holding. It was a picture of the 79th class together. But there was something off.

“Because in this picture, there are sixteen students.”

Chapter Text

“W-What?” Iroha squeaked out.

Everyone was either staring at Sora or the picture, surprise visible on their faces. Kokoro took the picture from Sora’s hands and studied it.

“Yep.” She affirmed. “There’s definitely sixteen students here.”

“Really? How?” Shinji asked.

“I’m not sure how, but it seems the best possibility is that one of them somehow escaped from being turned into a Remnant of Despair.” Sora explained.

“I see. Who’s the remaining student?” Emma questioned.

“Teruya Otori.” Kokoro said.

“Huh?”

“Look.” She pointed towards a corner of the picture, where three figures were, each carrying the other on piggyback.

Haruhiko Kobashikawa was on the bottom, eyes twinkling. They’d definitely fought him before, so it wasn’t him.

In the middle was Satsuki Iranami, making a peace sign with one hand and holding onto Haruhiko with the other hand. Yuki, Sora, Yuri, Setsuka, and even Syobai shuddered at the thought of when they fought her, so it couldn’t be her.

And on top… On top was a small boy wearing a black jacket with a rainbow on it. He had green hair with a spike on top and was holding up a hand to wave at the camera, a cheerful smile fixed on his face. This was Teruya Otori.

Nobody had ever fought Teruya. Nobody had even seen Teruya.

Without a doubt, Teruya was not a Remnant of Despair.

“Well, If it’s true that Teruya here isn’t a Remnant of Despair, where is he?” Hibiki asked. 

Yoruko looked at Sora. “Where did you find that photo, Sora? It’s possible that the area where it was found is around the area he is.”

“I found it by the edge of the city, near where the mall used to be.” Sora answered.

“Why were you at the edge of the city anyway?” Yuki asked.

“Supply run. Not important now. Anyway, I think I can show you where I found it. Despite the fact it is highly unlikely for Teruya to actually be there, it may lead to some clues.”

“Alright. Ms Taira, Mr Kasai, Ms Chiebukuro, Mr Hashimoto, and myself will accompany you to where you found that. If all goes well, we can be expected back in two or three hours.” Mikado instructed. “And no, Mr Yomiuri, you cannot come, lay back down on that bed right now.”

Everyone turned to look at Nikei, who had attempted to get up, but at Mikado’s words he lay back down with a huff.

“Alright.” Sora spoke up. “Let’s suit up and get going!”

Emma sat down next to Nikei’s hospital bed with a small sigh. It had been difficult, helping Sora, Shinji, Setsuka, Syobai, and Mikado arm themselves for possible battle. She personally had given Shinji some medical supplies, in case one of them got injured.

“Tired, Em?” Nikei asked her. He was on his back, facing towards the ceiling on his bed.

“A little.” Emma admitted. “It’s been quite a day.” She let her thoughts wander, from the photo to the remnants to a certain psychologist-

“Hey! Earth to Emma! Are you listening to me?”

Emma snapped out of it. “Shoot, sorry Nikei!” She apologized. “I got too caught up in my thoughts.”

“It’s alright.” Nikei said, before a sly smile came to his lips. “You were thinking about Kokoro, weren’t you?”

“Huh??” Emma yelped. “Don’t say that so loud! What if she hears?”

“Knowing Kokoro, she probably already knows.” Nikei shrugged. “But still! Em, you definitely need to ask her out already!”

“Could I? She’s really smart… she probably has better things to do than go out with me.” Emma said wistfully.

“I swear to god.” Nikei sighed. “How do you know that if you don’t ask her?”

“Maybe a bit later.” Emma said. “I need some time to think.”

Nikei didn’t press on, knowing that was all he was going to get from her for now.

“Here we are.” Sora announced. 

She, Shinji, Setsuka. Syobai, and Mikado looked around. At first glance, it seemed just to be another despair filled part of the city.

“Do you know the exact spot you found it?” Setsuka asked.

“Of course she doesn’t. Who could remember something that minor?” Syobai cut in.

Sora nodded. “Syobai’s right. But I do remember the general area where it was.”

“Great! T-Then lead us to it!” Shinji said.

They split up, each one looking for anything that could lead them to the answer to this mystery. They searched for a while, and Syobai was about to call off the search when he heard something. Something big.

He abandoned the search and headed towards the sound, knife in hand. He knew better than anyone that what he was doing was absurdly reckless, and could put the entire mission in jeopardy, but it had been so boring so far. He needed something to spice things up.

“Someone there?” He asked. “I warn you- I’m armed!”

No response.

Syobai started considering going back to the others, when he noticed a hole partially blocked by a large sheet of metal. 

He approached it. Sure enough, there was something in there.

He carefully lifted the metal away, and looked up to see something metal and sharp being thrown right towards his face.

Chapter Text

Things could have gone very, very wrong.

Luckily, Syobai had good reflexes.

He shouted "Whoa!" and dodged the metal thing, and it flew behind him, making a loud crash sound when it hit a building. At the same time, Syobai ran inside, grabbed his attacker by their collar, and held the knife up to their neck.

"W-Wait! Please, stop!" They cried.

Syobai took a good look at them. They were noticeably thin, and they wore a tattered, dirty black uniform with a rainbow on it, with some fabric on the legs and arms missing, revealing cuts and bruises on the skin. Their once bright green hair was messy and dulled down due to dirt stuck to it. Their face was also covered in grime, and they had a cut on their right cheek. Their expression was terrified, green eyes pleading for Syobai to leave him alone.

Their appearance almost exactly matched Teruya Otori from the photo.

Syobai dropped Teruya without much remorse, causing him to let out an "oof!" before scurrying backward. "P-Please don't hurt me!" He cried out, lifting a hand to shield his face.

"Cool your jets, kid. I won't hurt someone who can't fight back." Syobai reassured him.

Teruya let out a small sigh, and Syobai noticed for the first time scrap balls made out of metal next to him. It was definitely what had been thrown at him before. Syobai felt a twinge of sympathy for the boy, having nothing but scrap metal to defend himself with,  but he pushed it down.

"So." He started once Teruya had caught his breath. "You remember me, Rainbow?"

Teruya looked confused for a moment, before recognition exploded in his eyes and a hopeful expression crossed his face. "Syobai?" He asked. "I-Is that really you?"

"Sure is." Syobai affirmed. "Why did you attack me?"

"I-I'm really sorry, I didn't know who you w-were, and since you were coming in, I-I thought you might be a M-Monokuma Mob follower or worse, one of my former- I-I mean, a Remnant of Despair. I panicked and threw it. I-I'm sorry." Teruya stuttered out.

"No hard feelings." Syobai said. "Now, what in the name of heaven are you doing here? How are you not a Remnant of Despair like the rest of your class?"

Teruya flinched and looked down, tears beginning to flow from his eyes. Syobai had clearly hit a sore subject. He opened his mouth to say something else but before he could, he could hear his name being called.

Teruya looked terrified when he heard the voices, so Syobai held up a finger. "Don't be scared. It's just some other old classmates. I'll go out and talk to them. Stay here." He ordered, and ventured outside.

"Hey, Syo!" Setsuka called out once she caught sight of him. "What happened here? Did you find any clues?"

"Clues, my ass." He said. I found something much better."

Sora, Shinji, Setsuka, and Mikado shared confused looks before following Syobai. He gestured to the hole, before going in. 

Sora was the first to venture into the hole, and her eyes widened in surprise and worry when she saw Teruya.

"Oh my god." She gasped. "Teruya!"

At the sound of his name, Shinji, Setsuka, and Mikado went inside as well, and they all had similar reactions of fear, worry, and surprise when they saw the trembling merchant.

Setsuka approached him gently. "Hey Ruya, It's me, Setsuka. Remember? Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt you."

Teruya stared at them with hope and fear in his eyes. "I-I know, but I've been alone for so long, I've forgotten what it's like to be surrounded by others who care."

"Well, were just gonna have to help you get used to that again, won't we, Mr Otori?" Mikado said. 

"Hey, Syobai, how'd you find him anyway?" Shinji asked, turning towards the broker.

"He threw a metal scrap ball at my head."

Sora, Shinji, Setsuka, and Mikado regarded both Syobai and Teruya with confused looks, and Syobai sighed. "Don't ask." 

"Well, alright then." Shinji approached Teruya and carefully picked him up. "Now listen here, Teruya! We're gonna take you back to our base, where you can rest up and heal! AND YOU BETTER NOT HAVE ANY OBJECTIONS, CAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!"

"Shin!" Setsuka scolded the firefighter. "You're scaring him!"

Teruya had covered his head with his arms and attempted to pull his legs up to his chest when Shinji started yelling.

Shinji's cheeks burned in shame and embarrassment. "Shoot, sorry Teruya. I shout when I get nervous."

"I-It's fine, Shinji. I just w-wasn't ready." Teruya said, giving Shinji a smile.

"Alright! Let's get going then!" Mikado ordered.

They all left the little hideout. Teruya honestly couldn't believe it. He's been living there for who knows how long, fighting for his life with every new day, and now he was finally leaving, and he wasn't alone anymore.

Teruya shivered. Something was going to happen. Something bad. After all, he'd learned a long time ago that good luck was usually balanced out by bad luck.

And he was right.

"EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!" Sora yelled, as a triade of bullets started raining down on them. They sprinted for the cover of a building, and a bullet grazed Mikado's arm. He gasped, but gritted his teeth and kept going.

Teruya couldn't really see anything, because as soon as the first bullet struck he had buried his face in Shinji's shirt, shaking. But he could still hear, and as he held onto Shinji, trembling, he heard the unmistakable sound of a plane engine.

No.... nonononono. It can't be. Not him.

All six of them managed to shelter. Syobai took out his knife, Setsuka took out her crossbow, Mikado lit his hands on fire, and Sora took out her gun. Shinji would have taken out his weapon as well, but he was busy holding onto Teruya.

The plane landed.

A figure got out and walked towards the group.

"Well well, what have we here? A bunch of survivors, and my own underclassmen, no less?" Haruhiko said with a twisted smile.

"Haruhiko, leave us alone. We're armed, you're not. Clearly an unfair battle, don't you think?" Setsuka said in a low, dangerous voice.

"I know! Only makes it more fun, doesn't it?" Haruhiko said gleefully, clapping his hands together. Then he took a look behind her and spotted a very familiar, trembling merchant.

"Oh, what a surprise!" He called out. "Teruya, sweetie, is that you? It's been so long!"

"G-g-g-go a-a-away!" Teruya yelled, slightly muffled by Shinji's shirt.

"Aw, what's the matter, Ruya?" Haruhiko asked sweetly. "Don't you want to see your boyfriend?"

Everyone froze and looked back at Teruya. He was crying, gripping onto Shinji like his life depended on it.

Sora finally spoke up. "As long as you are like this, Haruhiko, Teruya is not your boyfriend. And if you even take one step towards him I will shoot you with my gun. This is both a warning and an promise."

"Wow, what a killjoy." Haruhiko rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You're lucky I'm not in the mood to fight." He walked back to his plane. "I gotta go tell the others! I'll see all of you- and especially you, Ruya -later!"

Haru flew off, and everyone relaxed slightly, the implications of Haruhiko's words echoing through their minds.

Their concentration was broken by loud hyperventilating.

"Mr Otori!" Mikado said, alarmed. Teruya was gasping for air, tears flowing freely from his eyes.

"God damnit." Syobai said, putting his hand on his head. "Rainbow's having a panic attack."

"Don't worry, I got this! Shin, set him down!" Setsuka ordered. Shinji did what she said, and Setsuka grasped his hands. "Ruya, he is gone. You are safe with us. The only people here are Ra-Ra, Kado, Syo, Shin, and myself. Everything is going to be fine." She said firmly.

She repeated the process until Teruya's gasps and sobs turned into small whimpers. Setsuka rubbed his back. "Are you okay now, Ruya?"

"N-No." Teruya said. "I'm scared. I-I don't want to be alone anymore."

"Well, you're not." Surprisingly, Syobai was the one to speak up, and everyone, not wanting to waste any time questioning it, echoed reassurances. 

Teruya looked from each face, and smiled softly. For once, he believed he wasn't alone anymore.

Setsuka smiled at him. "C'mon. Let's get back to base. There's a lot of people you have to re-introduce yourself too."

Chapter Text

"Here we are." Sora announced.

Sora, Shinji, Setsuka, Syobai, Mikado, and Teruya had arrived back at base. Looking up at the building, Teruya couldn't help feeling intimidated, but the feeling quenched when Setsuka put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, everyone in here is friendly." She told him.

Teruya flashed her a grateful smile. While this exchange was going on, Mikado walked up to a hidden door and knocked a few times in a specific pattern. Soon, the door creaked open.

"Hey guys! Welcome back! Did you find anything?" Iroha asked brightly as she stepped aside to let them in.

"Let's just say this mission was a success." Syobai said as he strode off. Iroha looked confused for a second before noticing Teruya, who Shinji had picked back up after his panic attack was over. 

"Huh?? Teruya??" Iroha asked, her face morphing into a surprised expression. Teruya waved.

Iroha bounded over towards them. "You're alive! This has to be the biggest miracle of all miracles!"

"I'm alive." Teruya echoed, and winced. "Ow, my chest hurts."

"You should get to the infirmary. You were out there for who knows how long, you're bound to be hurt." Mikado said, studying Teruya in order to at least try to assess his injuries.

"Alright! I'm gonna go there to let everyone there know! Be right back!" Setsuka said, before leaving hastily. It was obvious that she wouldn't be coming back, most likely so that she could tell Nikei about everything.

"Right then! Let's head up!" Shinji said. 

They headed up to the infirmary, stopping once to re-introduce Teruya to Yuri, Hibiki, and Kanade, and when they got there, Setsuka was talking eagerly to her brother, and Emma and Yuki were chatting while organizing supplies, most likely awaiting the other's arrival.

"Huh? Teruya?" Nikei asked once he caught sight of the group, accidently cutting of Setsuka, and grabbing the attention of Emma and Yuki.

"So it's true? You guys really found Teruya?" Yuki questioned, doing a double take at the merchant.

"I wouldn't be here if they didn't." Teruya laughed, trying to make a joke to lighten the mood, somewhat succeeding.

"Emma, Yuki, Teruya needs medical attention. Can you take a look at him?" Sora asked.

"Of course! Lay him here, Shinji." Emma said, directing Shinji to put Teruya on a second bed. Shinji obeyed, and while Emma started looking him over, Yuki shoved Sora, Mikado, Iroha, Shinji, and Setsuka out.

"Sorry, but we need peace if we're going to do a good job!" He apologized, before shutting the door.

Mikado started running for the meeting room and once he got there, hit the bell again. Once everyone with the exception of Emma, Yuki, Nikei, and Teruya had gathered, he, along with Sora, Shinji, Setsuka, and the occasional Syobai, explained everything, from the place where they found Teruya to their 'chat' with Haruhiko.

"Well, I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing." Yoruko admitted. "But we found Teruya. That's good, right?"

"Yeah!" Iroha piped up from her seat, swinging her legs. "Of course it's a good thing!"

"What I'm wondering is how in the world he managed to avoid becoming a Remnant of Despair." Hajime wondered, one hand on his hip. "You guys manage to find that out?"

"No, I asked. He didn't answer. Or rather, he might have been about to answer if they hadn't interrupted." Syobai said, shooting a glare at Sora, Shinji, Setsuka, and Mikado.

Mikado shot Syobai a questioning glance. "Mr Hashimoto, what do you mean?"

"I asked him how he wasn't with his class, and he was opening his mouth to speak when they started yelling, looking for me." Syobai answered.

Setsuka winced. "Sorry Syo, we didn't realize."

Syobai brushed off the apology, and Kokoro decided to take that moment to speak. "So, are we not going to discuss what Haruhiko said about 'telling the others'- a.k.a, the other Remnants of Despair- about Teruya?"

Everyone went silent. 

"Shoot, you're right." Hibiki said. "If he tells the other Remnants, and they come for Teruya- that'll be very bad!"

"Don't worry sis, we can defend ourselves!" Kanade reassured her.

Hibiki frowned. "That's not what I'm referring to."

"I see. You're worried about the well-being of Teruya, as well as the location of out hideout being exposed. It's just like a female to think of these things!" Yuri said in his usual fashion.

"Ignoring the last part of what Mr Kagarin said, I see where you're coming from. I'm sure if we work together, we can all figure this out. What we need is a plan." Mikado said.

Everyone either nodded or said something along the same lines.

"Okay then. We probably should wait for Emma and Yuki to finish up with Teruya so that we can all do this together. And unless someone offers to help Nikei down here, it'll have to be in the infirmary." Sora noted.

On that note, everyone left to do their own separate things. Setsuka went back up to the infirmary, Mikado went to start making dinner, Sora and Yoruko went off somewhere together, the works. 

Meanwhile, a meeting similar to the one just ended was going on.

"Thank you all for coming! I know you'd all much rather be out there spreading glorious despair, but I have very important news!" Haruhiko exclaimed, talking to a whole room full of other members of the Ultimate Despair.

"We get it. Just tell us, I have a class of Monokuma followers who I need to get back to." A girl with glasses and flaming red hair said scornfully. 

Haru smiled at her. "Don't fret, Rei, for what I found is absolutely game-changing!"

"Stop stalling! Tell us already, I didn't abandon my newest invention for nothing!" Said a boy with blue hair and a gray coat.

"Since you asked so nicely, Yamato, I'll tell you." Haruhiko said somewhat sarcastically. "Teruya is alive!"

That quickly caught the attention of the entire room.

"Are you joking?!? You better not be joking!" Said a girl with pink hair. "He's actually alive?"

"Kizuna, why would I joke about this?" Haruhiko said. "And I know where he is!"

"Don't even think about stalling this time and say where! I'd love to see my old friend again!" a boy with dirty yellow hair tied up with a black headband said, holding up a fist.

A girl with black hair and a purple bead necklace elbowed him. "He's not just your friend, Mitsuhiro. I for one wouldn't mind seeing him as well." She stated softly, though everyone in the room caught everything she said.

"That's our Mikako! Put that dirty Remnant in his place!" A girl with blonde hair and a gun strapped to her back cheered.

"Settle down, Kiyoka. You want to know where he is, right?" Haruhiko asked.

That shut her up.

Haruhiko grinned. "He's with our own underclassmen! Isn't that exciting?" 

"This is just getting better and better!" said a small girl with blonde hair pulled into two pigtails. "Mr Otori is with Class 80? I hope they're all healthy! Otherwise, I'd be glad to check them out!"

"Don't jump ahead of yourself, Kanata." said Tsurugi. "Anyway, It should be easy to track them down and defeat them. One of them is out of commission anyways; I shot him when he and two others were out on a supply run."

"I didn't expect anything less from you, Tsurugi." A girl with short black hair and and red headband spoke up.

"Ayame is right; good job, Tsurugi." Said a boy with straight white hair.

"Yeah, I agree!" chimed in a large boy with black hair. 

Tsurugi gave them a nod. "Thank you, Kinji, Kakeru."

"SATSUKI WANTS TO GO RIGHT NOW AND FIND TERUYA!" A clown with bright blue hair yelled unexpectedly, jumping up and startling the entire room.

Haruhiko laughed. "Calm down, Satsuki. I want to go find him as much as you do; He's my boyfriend, after all."

"But why can't we go right nooow? If we find him, then we can convert him to our side and the Sunshine Trio can be whole again!" Satsuki complained. This caused a whole bunch of complaints to rise.

"Yes, let's go find him!"

"I want to see him again!"

"There's no point waiting around, let's just go!"

"QUIET!" A girl with reddish-brown hair that flowed down her back yelled, silencing all of them. "Master Utsuro has something to say!"

"Thank you, Akane." Said a boy with messy, dirty-orange hair and a brown coat wrapped around his shoulders. He turned and faced the Remnants. "Now, we cannot act foolish. I want to get Teruya back as much as the rest of you, but we need a plan first. Charging in headfirst will be very despairful, sure, but the consequences may fill us with despair instead of the others.

"Furthermore, one of us should go and find Junko. I'm sure our mistress of despair would love to hear that her biggest headache has reappeared, alive and well?" This statement earned cheers from all of them.

Utsuro smiled a rare smile. "Now then. Let's plan, and we'll have our beloved Ultimate Merchant back before we know it."

Chapter Text

Teruya woke up and stretched. He must have fallen asleep after Emma and Yuki had finished bandaging him up, and by god if that wasn't the best sleep he'd had in a long time. Normally he'd be tortured by nightmares.

His eyes drifted to the bed across from him. Nikei was also fast asleep, and Setsuka was right next to him, also asleep. It gave him a pang of loneliness; He'd always wanted a sibling. He also couldn't help but be reminded of the times before the Tragedy, back when Class 79 wasn't a group of terrorists and was instead a family.

"You're awake."

Kokoro's voice startled him, and he whipped around. The psychologist was sitting in a chair near the head of the bed, typing away at her tablet. "It's good to see you're okay."

"Kokoro!" Teruya said. "It's great to see you're okay too." He looked around. "Is it late?"

"Yes, it's around midnight currently. You fell asleep after your checkup, and I volunteered to keep watch over you so that Em- the others could take a break." Kokoro explained.

"Huh." Teruya lay back down. "It's strange. I usually had to stay up all night to make sure I didn't get killed, and when I did sleep, It was always filled with nightmares. But one night here and I get a dreamless, peaceful sleep. I don't get it."

"It's because your mind knows that it's safe here, whether you actually acknowledge it or not." Kokoro said, looking up from her tablet.

"That makes sense, I think. Then again, you're the Ultimate Psychologist, not me, so I'll take your word for it." Teruya said, turning over onto his side to look at her. "You know, you should be asleep too."

"I'm perfectly capable of running with little sleep. I've done it before, I can do it again." Kokoro stated.

"That's not healthy." 

"I'm aware."

Teruya snorted. "If you're aware, then why do you do it?"

"It's a fact of life for me at this point." Kokoro smiled, before her face turned grim again. "Well, we're alone. Now is as good a time as any." She regarded Teruya with a hard stare. "I'm going to ask you something, but you need to promise me you won't freak out, alright?"

Teruya gulped and nodded. "I'll try my best."

"Alright." Kokoro took a deep breath. "How are you not a Remnant of Despair?"

Teruya froze up. He'd been half-expecting this question, but now that it was out in the air he had no idea what to answer. His mind started circling through memories- the Monokuma Robots, Junko, the despair video, being locked up, seeing the world for the first time, witnessing his boyfriend and best friend slaughter a whole crowd of people while laughing-

"Teruya! Teruya, snap out of it."

Teruya snapped back to reality. Kokoro was in front of him, holding onto his shoulders, and Teruya realized he'd started hyperventilating. 

"I-I'm sorry." He gasped out. "I-I promised I wo-ouldn't panic-"

Kokoro held up a hand. "No, it's me that should be apologizing. I sprung that on you with little warning when you were clearly not ready for it. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have forced you to talk."

"It's fine. I need to get this off my chest anyway." Teruya said with unexpected forcefulness. He didn't know what came over him, but all of a sudden he felt determined to talk, felt determined to tell someone else about the pain he went through.

Kokoro looked surprised. "Are you sure? We don't have to talk now."

"No, I'll talk." Teruya stated. He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself, and began to speak.

"I don't remember the date, and I don't know what provoked it, but I remember walking around a park when something grabbed me, and shoved some sort of cloth in my face. I think it was full of chloroform, because I passed out a few seconds after inhaling it. When I woke up, I was in some sort of room, and she greeted me. Junko Enoshima." -He spat out her name as if it tasted like rotting fish- "She told me that I would be the key to despair, and showed me an absolutely horrible video. No, not even horrible- there aren't enough terrible words in the world to describe it. I-I don't even want to talk about it. 

"She said it should make me fall into despair. But, it didn't. Even I'm not sure how I made it through. I kept trying to focus on positive things, and I guess I blocked it out? Anyway, Junko didn't take that fact very lightly. She stormed off after both physically and verbally abusing me. I remember staying in that room for a while, before two Monokuma Robots came and grabbed me. They threw me into a dark room and locked me in there. I don't know how long I was here, but I do know it was at the very least a week. However, I found a long stick of metal that they forgot to throw out, and I used that to lockpick the door and escape."

Teruya took a few deep breaths at this point before continuing. "I remember stopping short in horror when I got outside. It was basically the Tragedy going on full-force. I panicked and ran. I don't know where I was running to. I think I was looking for anyone who could help. Then I saw them.

"It was Haru and Satsuki. I remember feeling relieved for a split second, then I realized what was happening. They were killing. Just, mindless killing." Teruya's voice started wavering. "I didn't stick around. I ran and hid like a coward. I remember twisting my ankle on the way, but I eventually found my way to that hideout and just fell asleep. There, that's the sad story of my past."

Kokoro was silent. This was a lot to digest. 

She pulled Teruya in for a quick hug, as it had obviously been very hard for him to choke all of this out. She pulled away after a few seconds, but she left a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you for telling me this, Teruya. This was very useful, to finally have some answers." Kokoro told him.

Teruya gave her a small smile. "I-It's alright. I'm glad I can help. Just- don't tell the others yet, okay? I'll tell them when I'm ready."

"Of course. Go back to sleep." Kokoro started typing on her tablet again, and Teruya, lay back down, before smiling mischievously.

"Y'know, don't think I didn't catch you almost saying Emma's name when talking about giving the others a break."

Kokoro choked.

"My lady!" Ayame burst through a door, panting. Out of all the Remnants of Despair, she had been the one selected to go tell Junko about Teruya, since she was the Ultimate Despair Sprinter.

"Ayame! What a delightful surprise!" Junko called out, striding towards her. "How's life? What's your kill count?"

"Life has been full of despair, and I've lost track of my kill count." Ayame answered. "I'm sorry, but I have no time for pleasantries. I have big news!"

"News? It's been a while since we had news!" Junko said excitedly. She hopped over to a chair and sat down dramatically, motioning for Ayame to speak. "Go on, spill the tea!"

Ayame straightened up. "Haruhiko has seen our old classmate, Teruya Otori, alive and well, taking shelter with out underclassmen."

Junko leapt up, grabbed a water bottle, chugged it down, then spat it out.

"What?!?" She gasped out once she recovered. "Really??"

"Would we lie to you?" Ayame asked.

"Right right right, sorry, I didn't mean to question your loyalty. I know you will do anything for me and despair." She flashed Ayame a wink. "But this is exciting! I haven't seen anything of him ever since the Tragedy began! And he's not even in despair? Damn, he's got a strong will!" A grin broke out on her face. "A very strong, fun will for me to break..."

Junko started to laugh, with Ayame looking on with admiration.

"Oh, our dear little Teruya's got a lot that he's going to answer to; count on it!"

Chapter Text

*Two Weeks Later*

"Jeez guys, I'm fine! You don't need to watch over my every move!" Nikei complained.

Nikei's injury had healed enough that Emma had given him the okay to start doing physical activity. She did warn him, to put it nicely, not to overwork himself otherwise he'd be back in the infirmary for a lot longer. So, to make sure the promise was kept, Setsuka and a few others were following him around, though it was mainly Setsuka.

"Nope! Gotta make sure you don't hurt yourself any more, little bro!" Setsuka told him cheerfully.

Nikei groaned. While he was mostly thankful for Setsuka's overprotective nature, since it meant she cared about him, it did get annoying at times.

"Setsuka's right; We don't want you to do anything stupid and get you back in that bed, after all." Sora said from across the room, writing something on a tattered piece of paper. Yoruko was next to her, reading over her shoulder and occasionally kissing her head. She shot a glance at Nikei, but didn't say anything. 

Sora had always wanted to be an author, even after she got accepted into Hope's Peak. And now that the world was destroyed and most books had been burned to crisps, she had figured it was good a time as any for her to get started. And naturally, as Sora's girlfriend, Yoruko was completely supportive of her dream, even offering to review any stories she came up with.

 Nikei was about to respond when Teruya darted in front of him. "Nikei, Nikei! Do you remember any of your scoops from Hope's Peak? Can I hear about some?"

Nikei beamed. "Of course!" He started rambling on about an incident from his Hope's Peak days with Teruya listening intently, Setsuka watching him with a sisterly smile, Sora half-heartedly listening in to get story ideas, and Yoruko reading over Sora's shoulder.

Mikado watched the antics with a fond smile. He had been one of the people who visited Nikei the most, and he was as happy as anyone when Nikei started walking around again. As the unofficial leader of the class, he always felt somewhat responsible for everything that happened, even when it had nothing to do with him whatsoever.

Naturally, when he had first seen Nikei in the helicopter, bleeding all over Hajime, he had felt a wave of guilt and panic wash over him. He'd actually been the second most panicked when it came to Nikei's well-being, being overridden of course by Setsuka. Though he didn't show it. That was one thing he hated; showing weakness in front of others.

It was because of Nikei that he had decided to be one of the people on the search for Teruya. He'd wanted to make up for not being there, even if it was just by a little. He'd also been swamped with curiosity and worry for the merchant.

Speaking of Teruya... Mikado shot a curious glance that no one saw at him. He'd noticed a day after Teruya had arrived that he and Kokoro had grown closer for some abstract reason. He'd known that Kokoro had volunteered to look after the infirmary that day in place of Emma- totally because of the goodness of her heart and not her giant crush on Emma, Mikado thought- and that was all. His best guess was that the two had a heart-to-heart, but he couldn't be completely sure.

Either way, he was happy that those two were friends. From the looks of it, Teruya desperately needed to know what a friend felt like again. Good thing he had all of Class 80 for that. 

Mikado was jolted out of his thoughts by Hibiki and Kanade running into the room. "Hey guys!" Hibiki said. "We're running low on food. Sis and I were gonna go on a supply run. Anyone here wanna join?"

Nikei's hand was in the air before she finished speaking.

Setsuka looked at Nikei, a bit concerned. "Are you sure, Nik? You're not that used to physical activity yet, and it might not be good for you to exert yourself like this."

Nikei looked frustrated. "Sis, I have been cooped up in here for the past two weeks. I need to go outside and do something or else I am going to go crazy."

Setsuka looked like she was about to protest, so Mikado chimed in. "Ms Chiebukuro, if Mr Yomiuri says he can go outside, he can go outside. I believe he has healed enough, and I don't think any of us want to deal with a crazy Mr Yomiuri."

That got a laugh out of them. "All right, you can go." Setsuka sighed. She fixed Nikei with a hard stare. "If you do anything that gets you injured in any way, I will personally make sure that you will stay here for another week."

Nikei put his hands up with a nervous laugh. "Okay, okay!"

"Alright, so Nikei's coming." Kanade affirmed. "Anyone else?"

"Me."

Everyone stared at Teruya, who had spoken up out of nowhere. He was the last person they expected to want to go.

"What?" Teruya asked, growing a little self-conscious.

"Are... Are you sure, Teruya?" Yoruko asked. 

"Of course I'm sure!" Teruya answered. "I can't stay in here forever, y'know? Sooner or later, I'm going to have to go out there and face everything."

"We just want to make sure you're comfortable with going out there, Mr Otori. We have no intention of stopping you if you feel you can handle it."

"Well, I can handle it." Teruya said firmly. It was clear there was no changing his mind.

"Okay." Kanade said. "So, for our supply run, we have me, Sis, Nikei, and Teruya. That should be enough, I believe. Let's go get suited up."

Nikei and Teruya followed the twins out the door, both of them feeling a giddy sense of excitement and nervousness. It was time for their first supply run in either two weeks, or for the first time ever.

"Are you serious?? The first store we see for 20 minutes, and it's completely empty??" Hibiki groaned.

Kanade followed her sister out the window. "No use crying over it. There's more stores out there, it's not the end of the world."

"Your choice of words could have used some improvement." Nikei pointed out as he hopped out behind her, with Teruya following him and letting out a small giggle at Nikei's deadpan statement.

Kanade rolled her eyes. "Just because it's the end of the world doesn't mean I can't use the phrase 'end of the world' Nikei."

"Well you gotta admit; It does sound kinda weird!" Teruya said.

"Yeah, it's like saying that you're looking for a needle in a haystack when you actually are looking for a needle in a haystack." Hibiki laughed.

"Whatever, let's not talk about idioms and instead where the closest store is." Kanade said with a huff.

"Yeah yeah, alright. Give me one second." Nikei pulled out a handmade map and started studying it, using his finger to pinpoint where they were. "Aha! Found you!"

"And I found you."

Chapter Text

All heads whipped around.

There, standing on a collapsed building, was Utsuro. Akane was right behind him, staring at the quartet with a twisted smile on her face.

All four of them immediately went into battle mode. Kanade and Hibiki pulled out their instrument weapons, Nikei took out his pistol, and Teruya managed to pull out Setsuka’s crossbow, as she had lent it to him since he didn’t have a weapon of his own yet.

“What are you two doing here?” Kanade asked slowly, the tip of her guitar pointed straight towards the Remnants.

Akane let out a sadistic laugh. “Oh, nothing much. Just looking for you, that’s all!”

That caused all of them to tense. They had never been actively seeked out by the Remnants before. This wasn’t a good sign.

“Leave us alone! What do you want from us?!?” Hibiki yelled.

They ignored her, and instead focused their gaze on Teruya. “So what Haru said was true.” Utsuro mused. “You really have returned, Teruya.”

Teruya was trembling, and Nikei stepped in front of him. “You want him, you’ll get through us first.” He threatened.

Utsuro raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t trying to hurt him. I was simply making a conversation. And, if I was trying to get to him, it would be easy to get through you, Nikei. You are still weak from that gunshot wound, are you not?”

Nikei flinched slightly. Utsuro had hit a sore spot.

Hibiki and Kanade went and stood by Nikei. “He’s not the only one you’ll have to fight. You’ll have to fight us too- and I’m sure we’re quite a bit stronger than them, are we not?” Kanade quipped, looking Utsuro dead in the eye.

Utsuro chuckled. “I like a challenge.”

“Me too!” Akane burst out. “This’ll be fun! Oh, and before I forget, how’s my little sister? Is she dead? It would be so despairful if she was dead, I could cry!”

“Sora’s not dead.” Hibiki answered. “Though I don’t see why you would want to know. You don’t care, anyway.”

Akane let out a dramatic offended gasp. “Of course I care for Sora! She’s my little sister, how dare you suggest such a thing!”

“If you cared for her, you wouldn’t have forced her to hide and fight every day of her life because of you and your so-called friends causing the literal end of the world!” Hibiki yelled.

Akane put a hand on her forehead. “Well, I still do care! If she died, I would be filled with so much despair, I might kill myself!”

Utsuro held up his hand. “We’re getting off topic.” He looked down at the quartet. “We’re here on business, after all.”

“Business? What kind of business?” Nikei asked, secretly loading his gun.

“Our mistress wants Teruya back, most likely to ‘play’ with him until he falls into despair. We’ve also been given orders to do whatever we want to any underclassmen we encounter on our way- she said that she wants you out of the way.” Utsuro answered. “Actually, now that I think about it, maybe we should take you with us; I’m sure our mistress will appreciate a few more toys to play with.”

Hibiki, Kanade, Nikei, and Teruya all froze, looks of alarm and fear etched in their faces.

Hibiki was the first to speak. “No! No way! We’re not gonna let you take us to Junko!”

“You don’t have a choice.” Utsuro answered. “And also…” Quick as a whip, he pulled a gun out of his coat pocket and shot it at Kanade’s hand, effectively destroying the walkie-talkie she had pulled out of her pocket in order to call for help. “...We’d rather not have to deal with a huge crowd of you.”

Kanade glared at Utsuro, shaking her hand, but she didn’t say anything.

Utsuro smirked. “Don’t you see? There’s nothing you can do. You all might as well surrender now, and we can do this without a fight-”

“I WON’T LET YOU HURT MY FRIENDS TO GET AT ME!”

All heads turned to Teruya. His outburst came out of nowhere, and looking at him now, he was still trembling, but now it was mostly from anger rather than fear. His face was stormy, staring at his former classmates with rage and a bit of fear in his eyes.

“I mean it.” He said, his voice quiet but still holding the same protectiveness and anger his voice had a moment before. “I won’t let you hurt them. If you must take me, take me. But leave them alone.”

Akane laughed, while Hibiki, Kanade, and Nikei stared at the merchant in shock. “Really, that’s so cute that you wanna stand up for them. But where’s the fun in getting what we want without a fight?”

“Teruya, what are you DOING?” Nikei hissed. “You’re just gonna give yourself up? For what?”

Teruya faced all three of them. “I won’t let them hurt you just because of me. If I give myself up, they’ll leave you alone.”

“You know as well as I that that strategy is not going to work.” Kanade retorted. She turned and faced Utsuro and Akane. “You take him, you take all of us! We’re not leaving anyone behind!”

“Loyal to your friends. How adorable.” Utsuro said absentmindedly.

“You bet we are! Besides, there’s four of us, and only two of you! We can beat you, no problem!” Hibiki said, masking the fear in her voice with sass.

Utsuro smiled. “Are you sure about that?”

And then Monokuma Robots exploded out of the shadows, claws extended and reaching straight towards Hibiki, Kanade, Nikei, and Teruya.

They shrieked and began fighting. For the next ten minutes, all that could be heard was screaming, the ripping of mechanical fur and flesh, staticy laughter, and guns.

All four of them fought together, but there were far too many Monokuma robots to deal with, and Nikei’s wound was slowing them down. 

All that they could do was run.

And they did. They tore away from the battle, sprinting away. Teruya clutched a wounded arm, Nikei’s wound had opened up again, and Hibiki supported Kanade, whose leg had been injured.

Of course, they didn’t get very far, because the person controlling the Monokuma robots stepped up to intercept them.

“Hello there! It’s so nice to see you all again!” Yamato exclaimed.

The quartet stopped in their tracks. Yamato was in front of them. Monokuma robots were behind them. And Akane and Utsuro had traveled to both the left and right of them.

There was no escape.

“So, now will you come with us?” Utsuro asked, his usual stoic demeanor replaced with a twisted smile. “After all, you cannot beat us.”

Hibiki, Kanade, Nikei, and Teruya glanced at them, and then each other. They all knew that there was no way they could escape.

Not all of them, at least.

Suddenly, Kanade shoved Hibiki away from them. “GO! RUN! TELL THE OTHERS!” She yelled. 

The Monokuma robots pounced again, and soon they were fighting. Hibiki, despite what Kanade told her, returned to fight alongside her sister.

Kanade shot Hibiki a glare. “WERE YOU LISTENING? RUN!”

“I’M NOT LEAVING YOU!” Hibiki yelled, using her microphone to shoot at the Monokuma robots.

Nikei joined in the pressuring. “YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE BARELY HURT! YOU CAN MAKE IT BACK TO BASE AND TELL THE OTHERS ABOUT US!”

“I'M! NOT! LEAVING! YOU!” Hibiki yelled again.

Teruya ran up behind her and shoved her away from the battle. “LOOK OUT!” He managed to yell, before a taser was shoved into his side.

He screamed, then fell limp.

“TERUYA!!”

Kanade, Hibiki, and Nikei all stopped fighting and ran to Teruya’s side. He was unconscious.

The Monokuma robots approached them again, this time more like a predator stalking their prey.

Nikei screamed as another taser was thrust into his back, soon falling to the ground, Yamato standing over him with a triumphant smile.

Kanade shoved Hibiki away one last time. “RUN!” She ordered, before Akane struck her with a taser and she too fell limp.

“SIS! NIKEI! TERUYA!” Hibiki yelled in despair. Utsuro slowly turned to her, firing up a taser. The Monokuma robots were beginning to pick up Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade and throw them over their shoulder.

Utsuro started to approach her.

And Hibiki ran. It was her only option.

She ran with tears in her eyes, her chest heaving for air. She had to get back to base, had to tell the others what happened.

And then she heard an airplane engine above her.

Looking up, she could see a plane flying above her, guns aimed down to shoot her.

Hibiki began running in zigzags, trying to dodge the bullets as they rained down on her.

Finally, she arrived at the base. Without waiting for the code or okay, she ran inside, slamming the door behind her. She could still hear the engine and now some Monokuma laughter and snarls.

And then she realized what she’d done.

OH NO! I LED THE REMNANTS RIGHT TO OUR SECRET BASE! THE REMNANTS KNOW WHERE WE ARE NOW, AND THEY’RE ABOUT TO ATTACK!

She had to warn them.

She ran up the stairs towards the meeting room, slamming the door open and startling Sora, Yoruko, Mikado, Yuri, Yuki, and Shinji, who were in there, waiting for the report from the supply run.

“HELP!” she screamed. “WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! WE NEED TO GET OUT!”

And then the first bullet crashed through the roof.

Chapter Text

It was complete pandemonium.

Yoruko, Yuki and Hibiki screamed, Yuri jumped a foot in the air, Shinji grabbed his gun, Mikado lit his hands on fire and shot flames at the spot where the bullet landed, and Sora grabbed onto her girlfriend. 

More bullets followed the first, and now screams could be heard from other floors of their base.

Monokuma robots began clawing their way in. Mikado, in a effort to drive them back, began shooting and lighting them on fire. Some were reduced to nothing but ashes, but most of them continued on their rampage.

"CLASS 80!!" He yelled. "ATTACK!!"

So they did. Everyone in the room began fiercely fighting for their lives and home. They weren't the only ones, too. The others had grabbed their weapons and were violently destroying any Monokuma robot they came across. However, it was all in vain.

The building began collapsing. The people on the top floor near the infirmary, which was Emma, Kokoro, and Hajime, felt it first. A piece of roof fell right where they were fighting, nearly landing on Emma in the process, and startled them. The Monokuma Robots took advantage of this, and one slashed their claws out, cutting Hajime on the arm. More pieces of the roof began falling, and they ran downstairs.

That didn't help. Because while they were running down, Kokoro spotted Kakeru and Kinji taking out support beams.

Kokoro yelled a warning, but it was fruitless. They took it out, and one half of the building began falling away. Everyone shrieked, and began scrambling to get away. Iroha nearly fell at one point, but Syobai caught her and hoisted her back up.

Class 80 was losing. There was only one thing they could do.

"RUN! RETREAT!!"

Mikado gave the order, and immediately everyone obeyed. Syobai grabbed Iroha and threw her over his shoulder, Sora, since Yoruko's ankle had been injured, picked her up bridal style and began running, and Setsuka kept pausing, looking around wildly, until Shinji grabbed her arm and made her run.

Once everyone had managed to get out, the entire base collapsed.

Hibki sobbed, all she could think was this was her fault. The rest of the class was in shock, the despair of losing their home creeping up on the, Everything they had worked for was gone.

"Despairful, isn't it? To see your home just crumble into pieces, for the second time?"

The class looked back. Mikako was standing there, hands behind her back. It was hard to read her expression; it looked like a mixture between sadism, despair, and surprisingly, sympathy.

"This is your fault, Mikako. Your fault and all the other Remnants and Monokuma robots that attacked." Sora spoke definitively, and the others agreed, voices rising over each other.

"Really? Okay, blame us all you want. But how did we find your base?" Mikako asked.

Everyone froze up and began looking around, each one wondering the same thing. How did the Remnants find their base? It wasn't like they were holding out a sign that read 'HEY, THIS IS OUR SUPER SECRET BASE. FEEL FREE TO ATTACK US!'

Hibiki stared at the ground, trying to quench her sobs. Almost nobody saw, too shocked by the loss of their home and too focused on Mikako to notice.

Almost. Hibiki's pretty sure she saw Kokoro staring at her out of the corner of her eye, and she's certain that she knows, and that made her feel even worse than she already felt.

Mikako continued. "And I'm not sure if you noticed, but I think one factor to why you lost is that you were short a few people. Oh well, not my problem." The wristwatch on her arm lit up with a beep, signifying a message. Mikako read it and laughed. "Looks like I'm needed back at my base. I must leave now. The Remnants of Despair send their regards!" She chuckled at the last statement and left Class 80 with way too much to think about.

Syobai turned towards the rest of the group. "Alright, which one of you idiots led the Remnants to our base?"

"Why do you automatically assume someone led them to our base? They could've just stumbled across it." Yoruko argued, crossing her arms the best she could while still being carried by Sora.

"Right. And what are the chances they just now stumble across it? If we were that obvious, they would've found us a long time ago. And I haven't seen any Remnants, Monokuma Robots, or Monokuma Mob Followers around lately, so don't even think about saying that!" Syobai countered.

"Well, I'm sure there was a different way they found it!" Yuki said, trembling a bit from seeing their home destroyed.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm on Syobai's side. The only way someone could have found our base was if someone had led them to it." Hajime said hesitantly. "Now, I'm not suggesting it was intentional, it's more likely it was an accident."

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY LITTLE BROTHER?!?"

Everyone stopped talking at once. Setsuka never cursed, not even when she was angry. But one glance at Setsuka let everyone know that she wasn't angry.

She was absolutely livid.

Her right eye was wide open, and her face was a combination of worry, fear, and anger. Though it looked to be mostly anger, as looking at her gave most of them the impression that she was about to murder someone.

"I SAID." She yelled. "WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!?"

The class looked around. Sure enough, Nikei wasn't there. And that wasn't the only person gone.

"Guys, where's Teruya? And Kanade?" Emma asked with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Is this what Mikako meant by saying that we were 'short a few people'? What the hell happened?" Yuri asked, his face showing concerned, and not just for the females for once.

"I don't know. We need to think about-" Sora began.

"IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!!"

Hibiki broke down sobbing, and all eyes turned to her. "I-It's all m-my fau-ult!" she repeated, her head buried in her arms.

"...What do you mean, Miss Otonokoji?" Mikado asked, almost hesitantly. He didn't want to push her; that would make him feel even guiltier than he already was feeling.

"It's my fault!" Hibiki insisted. 

Setsuka stepped forward, her rage put aside for now. "Biki, please, tell us. We're not going to blame you, but we don't know what you're talking about. Whatever happened, you're still a part of our class. We're not going to leave you because of what happened." 

Hibiki sniffed, but Setsuka's words must have gotten through to her, because she began to speak.

"Teruya, Nikei, Sis, and I were on the supply run earlier, and It wasn't going too well at first, but it wasn't going terribly, either. But then we heard something behind us, and when we looked, it was Utsuro and Akane. They bickered with us for a bit, but then Utsuro said something about being here on business. Nikei asked what business, and Utsuro said something about Junko wanting to take Teruya and any underclassmen they came across with them to 'play' with!"

Everyone stiffened. Some gasped, some brought hands up to their mouths, some looked down with tears in their eyes, silently cursing the Remnants. Hibiki continued. "Then, they unleashed a bunch of Monokuma robots on us. We tried to fight, but there was too many. Sis got her leg injured, Teruya's arm was hurt, and Nikei's bullet wound opened back up-" Everyone heard Setsuka hiss at that. "-and we ran away. There wasn't anything else we could do. But Yamato interrupted us and wouldn't let us leave. Sis shoved me away and told me to run, but I couldn't leave them.

"Then, Teruya shoved me away, and someone- I didn't catch who -shoved a taser into him. Akane and Yamato did the same to Sis and Nikei. And I ran. Like a fucking coward-" She admitted, her voice cracking. "-And they chased me. I ran back to base, because I thought I would be safe, but all I did was lead the Remnants to attack the base!" She buried her head back into her arms and cried. "It's all my fault they attacked!"

Nobody spoke for a long time. Everyone was left processing what they just learned.

Finally, Mikado leaned down to Hibiki. "Miss Otonokoji, please listen. This wasn't your fault. Even if you hadn't ran back to base, they would have found it sooner or later. It was only a matter of time." He reassured her. "And no, you're not a coward for running away. Your sister wanted you to, and it would have been really terrible if they had caught all of you. This wasn't your fault."

Hibiki looked up at Mikado, tears still glistening from her eyes. Mikado smiled, and all of a sudden Hibiki leaped at him, hugging him, sobbing into his shoulder. Mikado froze for a second, then hugged her back. The guilt of everything, of losing their home, of letting Teruya, Nikei, Kanade, and Hibiki go on that supply run, of not being there when they needed him... it was almost too much. He needed something to hug just as much as Hibiki.

One by one, the rest of the class, even Syobai, joined the hug. They stayed like that for a while, only separating when they realized they were out where anyone could attack them. They didn't speak, silence being the only thing they could comprehend at this time.

"...So, Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade were kidnapped by the Remnants? That's not good at all. What are we gonna do?" Iroha finally asked, breaking the silence. Everyone looked downfallen, and Setsuka closed both her eyes at the mention of her brother, silently cursing herself for letting him go on that supply run. She already missed him terribly; he had always been there when she needed him, and she had broken her promise of always being there for her little brother.

"...For now, let's find shelter. We can't stay here forever." Shinji said, and the rest of them agreed. Plus, some of them were hurt, and they needed treatment. One by one, they got up, and they began to walk, though where they didn't know. Before he left, however, Mikado took one last glance back at what they used to call their home.

Don't worry, Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade. He silently vowed. We're going to get you back, no matter what. You won't be gone forever.

Teruya felt himself wake from sleep, but he didn't open his eyes.

He remembered all too well the fear, the pain, the anger from the attack. He'd been terrified when Utsuro and Akane had shown up out of the blue, but eventually squashed down that fear for anger. 

That didn't end up working too well, naturally. He had to shove himself into captivity by pushing Hibiki away from Akane's taser.

Though, he didn't think that he'd forgive himself if he didn't.

He had no idea what happened after that. He'd blacked out, so he had no idea what happened to Hibiki, to Kanade, to Nikei.

Of course, the logical thing to do in order to find out would be to open his eyes. But he was extremely reluctant to do so, mainly because he didn't want it to be real. He didn't want to be back in the clutches of Junko. He wanted the entire attack to be a dream, a nightmare, that he could wake from at any moment.

Well, he can't keep his eyes closed forever. He needed to open them and see where he was and who he was with. He just hoped that it really was just a bad dream.

He peeled open his eyes and let out a small gasp.

This wasn't a dream. Not even a nightmare. Though he deeply, deeply wished it was.

He was in a cage. Not a dark room, not chained up, but a honest to god cage. Where had Junko even gotten this? Actually, never mind- Junko having a cage made perfect sense, Teruya thought with a grimace. She probably made it herself.

Teruya reached for one of the bars, and then stared at the arm he'd extended. It was the arm he'd injured in the battle, but it was wrapped up with bandages. Had someone cared for him? If so, who?

For a minute, Teruya thought he was alone, but then he looked behind him and saw two more unconscious forms behind him. Two more, not three... One of them had gotten away! That was great! They would be able to tell the rest of the class what happened!

Yes, that's it, Teruya thought to himself. Think positively. Don't let the despair catch up to you.

He went over to one of the forms, which turned out to be Kanade, and shook her awake. She groaned, opened her eyes, and sat up like a rocket, catching Teruya off guard.

"What the hell?!?" She said, looking around. "Where are we?!?"

"I don't know. Last I remember, we were kidnapped by the Remnants. I guess they brought us here?" Teruya said in an unsteady tone, not wanting to set Kanade off even more.

"Fucking hell..." She muttered, before taking a glance at her injured leg. "What the hell?"

Her leg was bandaged up, just like Teruya's arm. "Who did this?"

"I'm not sure. They took care of my arm, too." Teruya told her, showing his arm to her.

"That's really strange. And hey, where's- Nikei!" Kanade gasped out.

Nikei had begun moaning in his sleep, starting to thrash around. Kanade and Teruya quickly went to him, and began shaking him awake. "Nikei, Nikei wake up!"

Nikei shot away with a cry of fear, breathing heavily as he tried to regain composure. Teruya took his hand and Kanade rubbed his back to try and help him.

Once he calmed down, Nikei sat up, rubbing his visible eye. "I'm sorry, I think I had a nightmare."

"It's fine. I don't blame you." Kanade said briskly.

"Yeah, I bet if we remained sleeping for a little longer, we would have had nightmares too. Are you alright now?" Teruya asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, yeah." Nikei let his gaze drop, before it furrowed in confusion. "What the-?"

Nikei's bullet wound had been completely bandaged, just like Kanade's leg and Teruya's arm. "How-?"

"Yeah, we don't know who did that. Same thing happened with my leg and Teruya's arm. I think that the Remnants just don't want us bleeding out before they could do what they wanted to us." Kanade said.

"Don't phrase it like that!" Teruya yelped. "It sounds so terrible..."

"This is terrible! It's a terrible situation!"

"Um, not to interrupt..." Nikei said hesitantly. "But where are we?"

"Where are you? Where are you? Excellent question! You're at home. Or more specifically, my home."

Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade looked up.

There, standing in the doorway, was Junko Enoshima herself.

Chapter Text

Nikei gasped, Teruya scrambled back, and Kanade glared.

"Now now, what's with those faces?" Junko asked, sauntering forward into the room. "Are you not happy to see me?"

"Put yourself in our shoes." Kanade hissed. "We were kidnapped by the literal mastermind of the end of the world and her lackeys, and stolen away from our friends, and now we're caged up like animals, awaiting torture. I think you'd be pretty pissed off too!"

"Ah, maybe. Actually, I think I'd be happy, considering the despair of the situation." Junko argued, grinning at the guitarist.

Kanade growled.

"Come now, don't be like that!" Junko said. "I let Kanata heal up your injuries, didn't I? That sound count for something!"

"That was Kanata?" Nikei asked.

"Why? I would've thought it would be more 'amusing' for you to watch us bleed out while you do whatever you have planned for us." Kanade said.

"Don't give her ideas!" Nikei whispered hurriedly.

Junko chuckled. "Oh believe me, I wanted to. But I decided it would be even more fun to have them bandaged up, and then relish in your screams of pain as I rip them off!" Junko began studying her nails as she spoke, and then pointed at Nikei. "Especially you there, dear. A bullet wound is a wonderful thing to play with, wouldn't you agree?"

Nikei shuddered, and Teruya spoke up. "We won't let you do that, Junko."

Junko's gaze honed in on Teruya as if she was noticing him for the first time. "You won't be able to stop me, honey. Y'know, you caused me quite the trouble when you escaped. That was very rude. It broke my heart, to see that you hated me so much that you ran away."

"Broke your- You don't even have a heart, you old hag!" Kanade yelled.

"Oh, shush. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the short little gremlin over there that ran away and destroyed some of my Monokuma Robots, somehow. Do you know how complicated those are to build? How did you even do that?" Junko asked.

"N-Nevermind that. And of course I tried to escape. You tortured me and turned my friends over to despair!" Teruya said, trying to mask his fear by acting brave.

Junko smirked. She could see right through Teruya's mask. "I didn't turn your friends to despair, love. They were already pretty close to it. I just gave them a little extra push, so to speak."

"That's a lie! You showed them that horrible video, I know it!" Teruya shrieked.

Nikei put a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. She just wants a reaction, and screaming at her won't do us any good." He said quietly.

"I do! And I'm getting quite the reaction, don't you think?" Junko giggled. "Reactions are what I live for! The reaction of having your home destroyed! The reaction of having your family and friends killed! The entirety of despair relies on reactions! It is the foundation! Without reactions, there is no despair!"

"You are sick." Kanade said, her voice full of anger.

"Thank you!" Junko laughed. "Y'know, I'm at the point of despair when I just enjoy insults! They might as well be compliments to me!"

"That's a whole other level of twisted." Nikei muttered.

Junko beamed at him, making him look away. "I know, I know, I know! And I take great pride in it! So, by all means, keep insulting me!"

"I'd love to, but knowing you enjoy it takes all the fun out of it." Kanade deadpanned.

"Well, that's just too bad." Junko sighed, shaking her head. "But anyway, I think the pleasantries have gone on for a bit too long, don't you think? How about we skip over the rest and get right to the main event!"

"Main event? What are you talking about?" Teruya asked, starting to shake a bit.

"Oh you'll see, you'll see! But first, I need a volunteer! Any takers?" Junko asked.

All three of them stayed silent and scooted backwards a small amount.

"No one? Going once, going twice, going three times, seriously? You guys are no fun at all." Junko complained. "Ah well, I'll just pick one. Eeeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo, catch your victim by the toe, if they holler don't let them go, D-E-S-P-You!"

She was pointing straight at Nikei.

Nikei flinched, and Teruya and Kanade quickly grabbed both of his arms. Junko was smiling excitedly, as if she was on a shopping trip and she got to pick what pair of shoes she wanted to buy.

"Nikei, my darling!" She called out. "Y'know, I had a feeling it might be you! Oh, this is just wonderful! C'mon now, come have some fun with your friendly neighborhood Ultimate Despair!"

"No! We won't let you take him!" Teruya spoke up for all of them. Kanade glared at Junko defensively, and Nikei was starting to look terrified.

"Aw, how cute! The protective friends trope; both cliche and classy!" Junko clapped her hands together, and then her expression turned sinister. "Well, I have methods of getting him from you, just wait."

"Methods?" Kanade asked quietly, still glaring at Junko, never breaking contact.

Junko turned around with a flourish. "Hey, Haru! Satsuki! Tsurugi! You're needed over here on aisle three! C'mon!" She called out.

Tsurugi was the first to arrive, and gave a quick bow to Junko. "My lady." He said simply, and then he noticed the three in the cage. He winked. "Hello there. It's wonderful to see you all again, especially you, Teruya. And Nikei, I see you still have that wound I gave you. I hope it hasn't been too bothersome."

Nobody spoke, because they didn't have a chance to. Satsuki bounded into the room. "Satsuki has arrived! Oh, hello everyone! Is this a party? I'd love to have a party!"

"It can certainly be a party if you wish it so." Junko said smugly. Satsuki beamed, and Haruhiko entered.

"I heard my name. What do you need?" He said simply. He didn't say anything to the three trapped in the cage, but he did send them a rather endearing look that caused Teruya to let out a small sob and cower away.

"Ah good, you'll all here! You see, I needed a volunteer for my game, and I chose Nikei. But the other two won't let me get him out of the cage. It's adorable, but otherwise annoying. Can you help?" Junko asked, though she already knew the answer to her question.

"What would the answer be other than yes?" Tsurugi asked.

"Satsuki will help!" Satsuki added.

"It would be my pleasure." said Haruhiko.

"Wonderful! I'll leave you two it; I still need to get the room set up, after all!" Having said this, Junko walked away.

The three Remnants turned to the cage, and Teruya, Nikei, and even Kanade all collectively cowered away.

"So." Tsurugi started. "You three were being naughty and not listening to our Mistress? Now now, that won't do. It is part of a cop's job to correct behavior, after all."

"Satsuki agrees! Well, Satsuki's not a cop, she's a clown, but I know how to correct behavior!" Satsuki chimed in.

"From what we've seen from you guys, 'correcting behavior' probably means torturing us until we come with you!" Kanade said aggressively.

Haruhiko shrugged. "Maybe. Something like that. It does sound fun. But I get the feeling that our Mistress wants you unharmed for now. So, as much as it pains me, we cannot hurt you too much."

Satsuki giggled. "'Too much' being the key words!"

"H-How will you even get to us?" Teruya challenged, in spite of himself. "I highly doubt that you're gonna crawl in here to get us yourself!"

"Oh, no." Tsurugi pulled a remote from his pocket. "Cages can have more than one entrance, you know."

He pressed a button, and the back of the cage, the section that Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade were leaning on, suddenly folded upwards. Surprised by the sudden turn of events, all three of them fell backwards. Before they could recover, all three of the remnants pounced on them, dragging them away from each other.

"WHA- HEY! LET ME GO, YOU BITCH! LET ME GO!" Kanade shrieked from where she was struggling with Satsuki. Satsuki just laughed.

"PLEASE, STOP! JUST STOP THIS, AND LET US GO!" Teruya yelled, trying to get out of Haruhiko's grasp. 

Haruhiko chuckled. "No can do, Sunshine." He said teasingly, trying to lift Teruya's head to look at him, but Teruya kept squirming and wouldn't let him.

Tsurugi had a grip on Nikei. He tried struggling, but Tsurugi simply pressed down onto his bullet wound, and Nikei gasped, gritting his teeth to not call out. "There we go. Let's get out of here. Our Mistress is waiting, after all."

Haruhiko and Satsuki agreed, and all three of them were dragged out, kicking and yelling.

Soon, Tsurugi kicked open a door, and Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade were thrown inside. It was really dark, and they ended up in a heap. The door closed. Immediately, Teruya began having flashbacks from when he was locked up at the beginning of the Tragedy, and started breathing heavily. Before things could get too bad, however, the lights flickered on.

Junko stood there in all her glory, holding something in her hands. It looked like a chain. Mikako stood next to her, fiddling with something.

"Welcome one, welcome all! It's soooo nice to see you here! We have so much stuff to do, and so little time! So let's get started!" Junko chirped.

Before anyone could react, Haruhiko and Satsuki grabbed Teruya and Kanade, and dragged them to the wall, where they clipped chains around their necks, arms, legs, and torsos. Tsurugi grabbed Nikei again, and dragged him over to Junko.

"LET US GO!!" Kanade demanded, fighting against her chains furiously, but to no avail.

"DON'T HURT NIKEI! PLEASE, STOP IT!" Teruya cried out, also attempting to get out of the chains.

Junko smirked at the two. "Stop complaining, it's getting rather bothersome. I had them put you there so that you could see everything. After all, where's the fun in causing despair to one person if there's not another around to relish in it?"

"YOU FUCKING- IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO NIKEI, I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GOD EXISTS I WILL MURDER YOU!!" Kanade roared, enraged.

Junko just giggled at her threat. "Oh, sweetie, do you really think you can do anything?"

Kanade had never glared at anyone with so much hatred before.

Junko rolled her eyes at her, and then turned her attention back to Nikei. The poor boy was trembling, deathly afraid. Junko smiled at him.

"Oho? Why are you afraid? I don't bite..." She said teasingly. Nikei looked away, and felt something clasp around his neck. 

He gasped. Mikako had put a chain around it, and was now tying that chain to something. Tsurugi moved away, and Haruhiko and Satsuki replaced him, grabbing both of his arms and holding them in place. Satsuki also moved the hair that was blocking his eye, so both of his eyes were exposed.

Mikako moved what looked to be a projector behind them, and put something that looked like a disk inside. 

Teruya gasped. He knew exactly what that was. He'd been exposed to it once before, and he had no desire to ever be exposed to it ever again.

"Enjoy the show~!" Junko purred. The projector lit up, and what looked to be a purely while screen was shown. 

Though, Nikei didn't see a white screen.

He tensed up, his eyes studying every inch of the whiteness.

Nikei began to scream.

Both Teruya and Kanade surged forwards, but the chains stopped them. Nikei continued screaming, jerking his body every which way, so much that Haruhiko and Satsuki were having trouble holding onto him. He shut his eyes tightly, but Tsurugi quickly moved forward and forced them open, and Nikei was screaming, begging for it to stop.

Junko was laughing maniacally as she watched, as if it was a funny movie.

"YOU BITCH!! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!!" Kanade shrieked. She had never wanted to murder someone as much as she did right now.

"P-PLEASE! H-H-HE DIDN'T DO A-ANYTHING!! S-STOP IT!! L-LET NIKEI GO-O!" Teruya sobbed. Everything was too much.

Nikei was sobbing, fighting, screaming, trying to do anything to get away. It was so painful for Kanade and Teruya, to see their friend suffering in such an awful way and they couldn't do anything to help.

Nikei's leg suddenly jerked up and kicked Haruhiko in the chest. As Haruhiko struggled for breath, Satsuki quickly jabbed her hand into his wound, making him scream all the louder. It was torture. Pure torture.

After an eternity, it came to an end. The screen blinked off, and Nikei collapsed, breathing heavily. Both Teruya and Kanade tried to get to him, but the chains stopped them every time.

Junko smirked towards the two. "Did you enjoy the show?"

"ENJOY THE SHOW? ENJOY THE FUCKING SHOW?!?  YOU JUST TORTURED OUR FRIEND RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!" Kanade screeched.

Teruya sobbed. "W-Why him? I-I-It's me you want! W-Why can't you l-leave them alone?"

"Because." Junko turned towards him with a sinister expression. "I'm the Ultimate Despair. You made me your enemy, Teruya, ever since I laid eyes on you. And when I have an enemy, I make them despair. Just like what I did with you." She waved a hand towards the Remnants. "Take them back to the cage. I need a breather."

The Remnants obeyed, undoing the chains around them and taking them away. Neither fought back. It was useless. 

Junko waved at them. "Rest up! You have a long day tomorrow!"

They both tensed up. Was this going to happen again tomorrow? For how long was this gonna keep up? Until the day they died or got out of here?

They were both thrown back into the cage, along with Nikei. They were locked up, and the Remnants left, shutting and locking the door behind them.

Immediately, both Teruya and Kanade went to Nikei. He was unconscious, his wound was leaking blood through the bandages, and there was a pained expression in his face, but he was otherwise, relatively, okay.

Teruya and Kanade curled up with Nikei and shut their eyes. All they could do was hope that they would be saved from this torture soon.

Chapter Text

Class 80 walked for hours.

They started off weakened already, the pain of losing their home and learning that three of their friends had been kidnapped hitting them hard. Not to mention it was dangerous enough already.

They were attacked at least five times. Fortunately, none of them were by the Remnants. It was mainly Monokuma Robots and Mobs.

Of course, the fact that there were no Remnants worried them. 

However, they didn't have time to think about that now. Though it lingered on their minds, they had to keep pushing forwards. They managed to stop at a few stores to find water, food, and medical supplies, since all of theirs were destroyed, and people like Yoruko and Hajime needed healing.

Not to mention that Yuri was injured in a fight with Monokuma Robots, and the same with Iroha in a Monokuma Mob.

Their spirits were low near the end. Soon, people like Iroha and Yuki had to be carried by Syobai and Shinji respectively. Sora had almost collapsed carrying Yoruko at one point, but despite people like Hajime, Mikado, and Emma offering to help, she kept going.

Setsuka was in a miserable mood, thoughts of her brother filling her mind. She couldn't stop blaming herself for not being there for him. The same happened with Hibiki, and even more so for her as she had witnessed everything that happened to Nikei, Kanade, and Teruya.

They could only hope that they weren't hurt. Although they knew that those silent prayers were useless.

Night was falling. Although dark gray smoky clouds would usually cover up the sky and leave no room to glimpse anything up there, the class had learned to tell when night and day were coming.

It honestly amazed Mikado that the Remnants had attacked in broad daylight. Then again, maybe it didn't. He should know by now that something as small as daylight never stopped them.

He took a look back at the rest of his classmates. They all looked worn and tired. He felt an almost unbearable wave of guilt when he saw Yuki, Yoruko, Iroha, and Kokoro, who were being carried by Shinji, Sora, Syobai, and Emma respectively.

Yuri and Hibiki leaned on Setsuka, who stared ahead with an unreadable expression on her face. Hajime clutched his arm, which still looked like it hurt, despite the fact it was wrapped with a few bandages they had managed to find in a store.

Looking at the people being carried, Mikado felt a little bit jealous. He wanted to be carried. He could barely stay on his feet, and was staggering ahead like a zombie.

But he had to stay strong. He was the leader. He could do this; he knew he could.

Mikado was snapped out of his thoughts by Hajime placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, are you alright? You haven't spoken in a long time, and you looked tired."

The wizard stared up at Hajime and forced himself to put on a smile. "Don't worry, Mr Makunouchi, I'm perfectly fine! I have to be, anyway." He added the last part underneath his breath, and if Hajime heard it, he gave no sign.

Whether he heard it or not, Hajime wasn't convinced with Mikado's words. "No, you're not fine. You look like you're about to collapse. Here." Quickly, he picked Mikado up in a bridal carry.

"Wh- Mr Makunouchi, what are you doing?!?" He yelped.

"I'm not going to have you collapsing on us. We need you, all of us." Hajime said. There were various weak agreements in the background.

Mikado looked away. He hated himself for showing such weakness. "Fine. Lead the way."

"Alright. And for future reference, you should stop calling everyone 'Mr.' and 'Ms.'" Hajime chuckled.

"And you should stop overworking yourself and blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault." A voice said behind them.

Hajime and Mikado looked back. Kokoro was looking at them with a deadpan expression, save for the small blush on her cheeks. Emma was staring at all three of them quizzically.

"I mean it." She continued. "Don't think I haven't noticed. You feel terribly guilty for everything: from losing our home, to Nikei, Teruya, and Kanade getting kidnapped, and even way back when Nikei first got shot. While it’s good that you care so much about us, it’s not healthy at all to do what you do every single time something bad happens.”

Mikado looked away, avoiding eye contact with Kokoro. "I'm the leader, it's my responsibility to take care of everyone."

"Jeez, Mikado, that doesn't mean you neglect your own emotional health. You should have told us about your feelings; it's all of our responsibilities to take care of each other, which includes you." Sora spoke up.

Mikado's face was starting to turn red. "Can't- Can't we talk about this another time? I don't think we should have a whole therapy session in the middle of nowhere where we could be attacked at any time."

"Fine. But don't think this conversation is over, alright?" Surprisingly, Setsuka was the one who spoke. She had barely spoken a word since they had left their old home, ever since the terrible news.

Nobody brought this up, for fear of upsetting her though. They continued on, however this time there was talk. Talk containing reassurances, of plans, and even a few jokes.

Talks that would prevent them from falling into despair.

It helped them walk for another hour, maybe two. 

And it helped Yuri notice something.

Eventually, to help lighten up, the group had started playing a game of Eye-Spy. It was Yuri's turn, and he was scanning around, looking for something, when he noticed a hole in the ground.

Well, maybe 'hole in the ground' is the wrong term. It looked like some sort of cave, almost. It was partially blocked off, but it looked like it could support the group.

"Everyone. What's that?" He asked, pointing to the hole.

The class paused and looked towards it. They had varying expressions on their faces, from skepticism to doubt to hope.

"It... looks like a hole. Do you guys think we could shelter there?" Iroha asked, one of the people who had hope in their eyes.

"I don't know. I'll go check it out." Emma said. Gently, she put Kokoro down before anyone could protest and went inside.

It was dark. Emma had to let her eyes adjust to the darkness before she was able to see. Once she had adjusted, she began exploring.

It looked perfect. It was spacious, and there were no hidden traps or Monokuma Robots. It could easily support them all.

She left the hole, and emerged outside. The rest of the class was waiting there, partially in hope and partially in dread.

"It's great." She told them with a smile on her face. "It's hidden, there's barely anything dangerous inside, and it can easily fit all of us. It's the perfect spot for us to rest and heal."

Everyone broke into relieved smiles at that.

"Wonderful. Thank you Ms Mago- errr, Emma." Mikado said, trailing off of calling Emma by her last name because of a few glances from the others.

"Come on, let's go in." Yuki said. Emma picked up Kokoro again, and they all entered.

Just like Emma said, it fit all of them. Quickly, the class got to work moving things around and treating their injured.

Mikado looked up from where he was sitting. It was almost okay. Almost.

He wished Nikei, Kanade, and Teruya were here.

But they'll save them. They'll get their classmates back.

He just hoped they were okay.

"S-STOP!! STOP THIS, PLEASE!! I DON'T WANT THIS!!" Kanade was screaming as Kiyoka and Mitch held her down, forcing her to watch the video.

Nikei was sobbing from pain, as Kizuna was toying with his injuries, jumping back, jabbing it, jumping back again.

Teruya was a mixture of sobbing and screaming, as Junko herself had decided to 'play' with him a little bit.

They were not okay.

A week.

It had been a week since their home was destroyed, a week since Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade were kidnapped, a week since they found their new home.

Every day, the class would search. They'd search in every direction for hours. 

They were searching for their missing classmates, searching for some trace of them being alive, searching for something that would say they might have escaped. And if they didn't escape, they were searching for the Remnant's base.

They had some sort of plan put together. Mikado, Syobai, Emma, Kokoro, Hajime, and Setsuka had worked on it. 

The class needed to find the Remnant's base to put it into action, of course. Otherwise what would be the point?

Sora and Yuki had volunteered to search today, so the rest of them could focus on getting food and other supplies for the group. Yoruko had made a fuss over Sora going, but she eventually let it go.

So now Sora and Yuki were running around, trying not to be spotted by any Monokuma Robots.

"This is useless... Maybe we should just go back?" Yuki asked.

Sora shook her head. "No, we can't. We need to at least try a little harder."

"We've been looking for this base for thirty minutes now. How do we even know the Remnants have a base? Maybe this is all for nothing." Yuki said.

"Don't talk like that. How about this; we search for ten more minutes, and if we don't find anything, we go back. Okay?" Sora asked.

Yuki nodded, and they continued.

Nine minutes later, and they were no closer to finding anything than before. 

"So." Yuki began. "Guess it's time to head-"

Sora suddenly covered Yuki's mouth. "SHHH!" She whispered, then pointed.

It was Rei. She was speaking to a Monokuma Robot, and appeared to be in a foul mood. She frowned, and then set off.

Sora uncovered Yuki's mouth. "C'mon! Let's follow her! Quickly!"

"Wh- Sora, are you crazy? We can't follow her! She's a Remnant!" Yuki protested.

"She'll lead us straight to the Remnant's base! Straight to Nikei, Kanade, and Teruya! Come on, we can't lose her!" Sora said.

Yuki got the logic immediately, and the two began quickly and quietly following Rei. There was a close call in the middle of the journey, but thanks to Yuki's quick thinking, nothing happened.

Soon, Rei walked up to what seemed to be a wall. She tapped on it, and the door opened. Smiling, Rei entered.

Sora and Yuki exchanged glances.

They had discovered the Remnant's base at last.

Chapter Text

Sora inhaled quickly. "I'm gonna call the others." She said, pulling out a walkie-talkie like device from her jacket. "Go scope out the outside perimeter of the base, carefully. Who knows what kind of things are out there?"

Yuki swallowed nervously. "O-Of course!"

Sora nodded, and Yuki headed out, holding out his weapon tentatively. Sora watched him for a minute, then pressed the 'talk' button on her walkie-talkie.

*KSSSSH* "Sora? Is that you? Is something wrong?" A voice asked from the walkie-talkie.

"Hajime, we found it." Sora whispered hurriedly. "We found the Remnant's base!"

There was silence for a beat.

"What?! You're not joking, right? You actually found it!?" Came Hajime's shocked reply.

"Keep your voice down. Yes, we actually found it, this is no joke. Yuki and I spotted Rei, and we secretly followed her here. Yuki's scouting the outside of the base now." Sora told him.

Sora heard Hajime sigh. "Sorry, just this is such... big news. Can you manage to see inside? Can you see Nikei, Kanade, and Teruya?"

Lowering the walkie-talkie slightly, Sora scanned the base. "No, I don't see anything, really. Everything's blocked off."

"God damn it." Hajime muttered. "Well, we still found it. Where are you guys?"

"We're-" Sora began, but was cut off with Yuki running back up to her.

"I scoped the perimeter out!" He announced. "It looks completely like an abandoned building. That's probably why we never noticed it. Though, when I got closer, I noticed that it was painted! Someone literally painted the building to look abandoned, and they did a heck of a good job!"

"...Why would they do that? They're literally the Remnants of Despair, they have no need for this."

Yuki jumped. "Oh god! Hajime, you startled me!"

Hajime chuckled from the receiver. "Sorry about that. Are there any booby traps or anything we should worry about?"

"I didn't see or trigger any. That doesn't mean there's none, though. We'll have to be careful." Yuki admitted.

Sora put a hand to her forehead, scanning the base. "Yeah, I don't see anything suspicious, either. I still agree with Yuki, though. We need to be careful. I don't put it past the Remnants to put hidden traps everywhere."

"Tell me about it. Where are you two?" Hajime asked.

Yuki looked around, searching for a recognizable landmark. "We're near that store that's covered in Monokuma Robot bodies from that big fight two months ago. Remember that?"

A beat.

"Are you serious?!? I must have passed that at LEAST five times when I was searching! It was right there the whole time?!? God damnit!"

Both Sora and Yuki stifled laughter. "Well, I guess that's how we know that the paint job on the building works." Sora joked. "Anyway, Yuki and I are going to lay low until you guys are able to get here, alright?"

"Understood. Stay safe, you two. We'll be there as fast as we can. Hajime out." *KSSSSSSH*

Hajime hung up the walkie-talkie, and Sora and Yuki exchanged glances. "I'll think we'll be here a while..." Yuki said, sitting down.

Sora and Yuki waited for thirty minutes before they heard soft footsteps approaching. They sat up from where they were lying on the ground.

Mikado, Setsuka, Hajime, Syobai, Hibiki, and Shinji were carefully hurrying towards them.

"Ms- Sora, Yuki!" Mikado called out softly. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine." Sora said, standing up. "Though I'm not sure they will be if we don't get them out of there."

Setsuka nodded, both her eyes wide open. "I'm ready to get my little brother and my friends back." She hissed. "Just tell me where to go, and I'll do the rest."

"Steady on, Setsuka." Shinji said. "We don't have an ample plan yet."

"We do, kind of." Syobai said suddenly. "Remember? Mikado, Hajime, Emma, Kokoro, Setsuka, and I worked on it."

Hibiki shot straight up. "Then tell us already! We need to go get my sister and friends!"

Mikado nodded. "Listen close, everyone. Our plan is to cause confusion."

"Confusion?" Yuki asked.

Another nod from Mikado. "The last thing the Remnants are expecting is to be attacked. If we manage to blow a hole in their base and distract them they'll all come rushing out, confused. They won't be able to do anything, as they'll be too focused on whatever's going on outside. Then, a few of us can slip inside the base and find Nikei, Teruya, and Kanade, and get them out."

"That's pretty smart." Sora said. "But it'll be difficult."

"As if that wasn't already expected." Syobai scoffed.

Shinji lowered his head. "Yeah. How are we supposed to blow a hole in the building and cause confusion?"

"I've got it!" Hibiki exclaimed. "Mikado! You can control fire, can't you? You can use it to burn the building on one side, and then the rest of us can start screaming and yelling, so it's like there's more than there are of us. Then the Remnants come pouring out, and then some of us can sneak inside!"

"...That's actually genius, Hibiki!" Yuki said. The others, even Syobai, chimed in with their approval.

"Alright then." Hajime said. "Who's going into the building when we do this?"

"I will." Everyone expected Setsuka's answer. "I'm getting my little brother back today."

Mikado raised his head. "I will too. I can set a few fires to keep the Remnants busy, but then I'm going in."

Sora nodded. "Who else?"

"Me." Hibiki said it so fiercely that everyone turned and stared at her. "I left them when I ran. Now I'm going to make it up to them by rescuing them."

"I see there's no changing your mind." Hajime said nervously. 

Shinji stood up. "Now that that's settled, let's get on this! Right now! COME ON, WE'RE GETTING OUR FRIENDS BACK!!"

"SHHH!" Yuki and Hajime grabbed Shinji and pulled him down.

"NOT SO LOUD." Setsuka whispered. "They'll hear you, Shin!"

Shinji flushed red. "Shoot, I'm sorry!"

"It's fine. Don't worry Mr- I mean Shinji." Mikado said. "Let's go."

The group positioned themselves in such a way that Mikado was able to aim comfortably at the top corner of the base and still rush inside with Setsuka and Hibiki, and the rest of them held their weapons up, ready to make as much noise as possible.

"Everyone ready?" Mikado asked. "We've only got one shot at this, after all."

"And if you idiots screw this up, I will personally feed you to a Monokuma Beast if we make it out alive." Syobai threatened.

Everyone there sweat-dropped. "Okay, then." Mikado said. "Ready?"

"Yes."

"Ready as we'll ever be."

"We can do this!"

"Coming for you, guys."

"Let's go!"

"We're ready!"

"Eh, suppose so."

"Alright, then." Mikado raised his hand, lighting it up. "GO!"

A huge fireball shot out of Mikado's hand, and it hit the corner, lighting it aflame. At the same time, the rest of them burst out of their hiding spots, screeching like a hundred people and firing their weapons everywhere, causing enough smoke to disguise their identities. It wasn't long before the Remnants began sprinting out of their base.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!?"

"WHO DO WE NEED TO KILL?!?"

"WHO DARES ATTACK OUR BASE?!?"

The others kept firing and kept out of view of the Remnants. Soon, most of the Remnants were out, confused as all hell.

Hibiki ran over to Mikado and Setsuka and pointed. "Look! There's a place we can get into, right there!"

Mikado and Setsuka quickly followed to where Hibiki was pointing. There was a bit of the wall torn off towards the bottom of the base. It was disguised by smoke, so they wouldn't easily be spotted climbing in.

Wasting no time, they raced over, helping each other climb into the hole, where they dropped down and waited for a beat. They could still hear the sound of the battle behind them.

"Let's go." Mikado said quietly. Setsuka and Hibiki nodded, and together they dashed off, searching in every room. There was nothing on the floor they were on, so they headed downstairs, as they doubted that their friends were being held upstairs. Otherwise a much bigger commotion would be taking place up there.

Suddenly, Setsuka pulled Hibiki and Mikado into a room and held their mouths closed. They struggled for a moment, then realized why.

No less than ten seconds later, Mikako came streaking down the hall, face contorted in fury. If Setsuka was just a second later in pulling them aside, they would have been spotted and most likely killed on the spot.

"Thanks, Suka!" Hibiki whispered. "That was close!"

"Not close enough, apparently. Seriously, do you know how rude what you guys are doing is?"

Mikado, Setsuka, and Hibiki all whirled around at the sound of a fourth voice behind them.

Junko Enoshima herself was standing there, one hand on her hip and the other on a decently sized box covered with a tablecloth.

"Ha, surprised to see me?" She asked teasingly. "I know I'm surprised to see you three. Pretty ironic, isn't it? You ducked in here to avoid detection, but you ended up getting detected after all! Ain't that despairful?"

Setsuka's face contorted into one of fury, and she lunged at Junko. Before she could do anything, however, Mikado and Hibiki each latched onto one arm, holding her back. Junko just laughed.

"YOU- YOU BITCH!!" She screamed. "I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU HURT MY LITTLE BROTHER IN ANY WAY YOU WILL NOT LIVE TO SEE TOMORROW!!"

Junko yawned in disinterest. "Boring, I've already heard those threats. Can't ya come up with something more original?"

"Original- HOLD UP, THE ONLY PERSON I CAN IMAGINE TELLING YOU THOSE THREATS IS SIS!" Hibiki yelled. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER, NIKEI, AND TERUYA?!?"

"Wouldn't you like to know!" Junko said, letting out a sadistic giggle.

"Junko. Stop messing around and kindly tell us where our friends and siblings are. Otherwise I cannot promise we will continue to be peaceful." Mikado threatened, the hand not holding onto Setsuka lit on fire.

Junko giggled another sadistic giggle. "Aw, you're so protective! So sweet! And you know," Junko said, smirking, leaning on the cloth-covered box. "You really should take better care of your possessions. A few of them got lost!"

She whipped the cover off the box in a flourish.

Setsuka, Mikado, and Hibiki gasped.

Laying in a cage too small to comfortably hold all three of them and almost too covered in blood to be recognizable, were Kanade, Nikei, and Teruya.

Chapter Text

Setsuka screamed in rage. "NIKEI! KANADE! TERUYA!"

There was barely a response from any of them. Didn't they recognize their voices? Didn't they realize that their friends and family were barely seven footsteps away?

"Aw, look, they're happy to see you guys!" Junko said, reaching into the cage and grabbing Kanade's face, tilting it so that she was looking at the others.

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS AWAY FROM THEM!" Mikado yelled, nearly surging forward to straight up burn this witch's hands off for touching and hurting his friends, but just barely calmed himself in time.

Junko retracted her hand, a calm but delighted smile on her face. "Getting a little angry there, dear?" She asked, before her expression morphed into a furious one. "Just like how I am with all of you?"

"W-What?" Hibiki asked in a small voice, coming out of her shock. Well, partially coming out of her shock, anyway. Her sister and friends which, in her mind, she abandoned were right in front of her, broken and bloody. Anyone would be in shock if they were in her shoes.

"Are you really asking that?" Junko asked, fury audible in her voice. "After what you've all done? All of you have caused nothing but trouble! Attacking my base is just the tip of the iceberg! And all for your oh-so-wonderful hope? Completely ridiculous!"

Junko continued ranting at the trio, with Mikado and Setsuka rebutting in with statements of their own, mainly focused on what she did to Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade.

Hibiki was about to throw in a few insults of her own when she noticed something.

Keys. There were keys on Junko's belt, about five of them.

Oh no, this was way too perfect. This was a trap. It had to be. Nothing was ever this easy.

And yet... studying the keys, Hibiki could see that at least three of them were the right shape for the cage. If only she could just grab them and try them out....

But that would be suicide. She needed a plan.

The wheels in Hibiki's head began turning. This was her time to shine. Her sister, friends, and classmates needed her.

She just needed to think...

Confusion.

A quick thought back to what was going on led to her answer. Confusion!

A side glance at Mikado told Hibiki that he was angry and fearful enough to cause some pretty good damage. And if what she was thinking of worked, well... it would be more than enough.

Hibiki took a quick breath, scanning the room. The cage was in pretty good running distance. If she was quick enough, she could easily make it. And Hibiki was almost positive she could.

Well, then again, she'd have to make a quick detour. The keys were in sight, but if her plan worked, they would all be out and safe soon.

Ha. Safe. As if that existed anymore.

All Hibiki was hoping was that Setsuka and Mikado acted how she thought them to. She couldn't exactly tell them about her plan due to Junko being literally right in front of them, but she believed she knew them well enough to predict how they would most likely react in this situation.

Then again, she could always gesture to Setsuka frantically. She was smart, and even in her rage she'd get what Hibiki was trying to tell her. Maybe. Or maybe not. Okay, probably not. But she would at least try to understand, Hibiki knew that.

And hopefully Mikado wouldn't kill her himself after all this was said and done. She was well aware her plan wasn't too well thought out, and quite possibly had a few plot holes in it, but it was the best chance they had. 

Oh, and there was also the part about Mikado's fear. That she was prying into in order for her plan to work.

So yeah, Hibiki was praying Mikado wouldn't murder her.

Hibiki waited until Junko was in the middle of a sentence, and then she took a deep breath and shouted one word.

"CLOWN!!"

Everyone froze, staring at Hibiki for long enough for her to believe that she messed up.

Then...

"C-Clown?"

Mikado tensed up, eyes darting around wildly. "Where?!? WHERE?!? WHERE'S THE CLOWN?!?"

His hand caught on fire, and he threw it in a random direction- which happened to be right next to Junko.

From there it turned into utter chaos.

Junko shrieked, jumping away from the flames. At the same time, Hibiki launched herself forward and snatched the keys off of Junko's belt.

"HEY! WHY YOU LITTLE-" Junko screeched, launching herself at Hibiki. Before she could get to her, Setsuka charged forward and tackled Junko. The two girls fought together, each determined to kill the other.

And Mikado was still freaking out, sending fires every which way. They were becoming a hazard to dodge.

Hibiki ducked under a stray flame and ran for the cage, crouching beside it. She fumbled with the keys for a moment before inserting one, with no such luck. She tried again, and the door clicked open.

Kanade fell onto Hibiki's lap, and she shrieked, starting to cry from relief and fear. "Sis! Kanade! It's me, Hibiki! Your sister! You're gonna be okay, you hear me?! You're gonna be okay!"

Hibiki nearly sobbed from relief when Kanade smiled up at her. "Great... to hear..." She wheezed.

"Yeah! It is! Now stay awake! We'll get you out!" Hibiki said. "SETSUKA!"

Setsuka looked over from where she was fighting Junko, and her eyes widened. Hibiki gestured to the cage, and Setsuka nodded and turned back to Junko.

"I've been waiting to do this for months!" Setsuka said, talking directly to Junko. "This is gonna feel so good!"

Without missing a beat, Setsuka grabbed hold of Junko's head and slammed it into the wall, knocking Junko unconscious. Setsuka smirked and let her go, kicking her for good measure. "Take that, bitch!"

"SETSUKA! OVER HERE!" Hibiki yelled, and Setsuka bolted over, her triumph over Junko already forgotten.

"Calm Mikado down! Then both of you need to grab Nikei and Teruya, and then we're getting the fuck out of here!" Hibiki said hurriedly, gently propping Kanade up so that she could assess her injuries.

Setsuka nodded and ran over to Mikado, who had stopped shooting fire everywhere, but he still looked panicked. "Mikado! Calm down! There's no clown here! Snap out of it, our friends need our help!" 

Mikado looked at her, then around the room, before his eyes landed on Hibiki, who had helped Kanade against a wall and was now helping Teruya out of the cage.

He pushed Setsuka aside and sprinted over, Setsuka following. He quickly took Teruya and picked him up in bridal style. "We need to get out right now!" He said, a hit of panic in his voice.

Hibiki nodded and, with some effort, picked up Kanade. Setsuka, meanwhile, went straight to the cage and gently pulled Nikei out, gasping when she saw the full state of him, as he was clearly the worst off.

"Nikei! Nikei, wake up! It's me, Suka! Your big sister! Wake up!" She said desperately, gently shaking him.

Nikei, with some effort, managed to open his visible eye with some effort. "...Su...ka?"

Setsuka tried to give a comforting smile, but it looked more like she was about to break down. "Yes, it's me! Suka! Your big sister! Now don't you worry, we're gonna get you out of here and you're gonna be fine!"

*KSSSSSSSH* The walkie-talkie on Mikado's belt went off, and they all jumped.

"Are you guys okay in there?!?" It was Sora. She sounded worried and worn out. "We can't keep this up for much longer! Do you have them!?"

Mikado pressed the button on the walkie-talkie. "You won't need to! We've got them, and we're getting out now!"

After this message was sent, Mikado adjusted Teruya so he could carry him, and took off, Hibiki and Setsuka on his heels. Hibiki was having a bit of trouble with Kanade, so Mikado used some of his magic to make it easier for her.

They burst out of the base and sprinted away, waving to the others as they ran. 

Sora, Yuki, Hajime, Shinji, and Syobai immediately got the hint and ran, abandoning the Remnants and their mission. Once the dust cleared, there were only the very confused and angry Remnants and the destruction of their base.

The five of them joined Mikado, Hibiki and Setsuka and promptly gasped when they saw Nikei, Kanade, and Teruya's states.

"Oh my god!" Yuki gasped, covering his mouth. 

"Shit! Are they- oh my god!" Hajime stuttered.

"They're gonna be fine! Let's get back to our base and help them already!" Setsuka yelled. The rest nodded and ran in silence, save for reassurances to Nikei, Kanade and Teruya that they were okay and safe again.

Hibiki looked down at her sister, then at Teruya and Nikei.

She'd abandoned them once, and now she'd made up for it by rescuing them.

Maybe now she could finally heal.

"Are they stable?" Kokoro asked. 

"I think so." Emma said, sitting down onto a bench and gesturing for Kokoro to join her. "We've worked for a long time. Hours, I think. Maybe a day, I don't know. But I believe their physical states should be alright."

Kokoro nodded. "That's good to hear." She said. "I'll have to check up on their mental state for a while after this, though. This is not something they're going to heal from easily."

"We'll all help with that." Emma affirmed. "Christ, I haven't been that scared in a long time. With Sora, Yuki, Hajime, Shinji, Syobai, Mikado, Setsuka, and Hibiki just barging in here screaming for help, and in Mikado, Setsuka, and Hibiki's arms..."

"That gave us all quite the scare." Kokoro said. "They'll be happy to know that they'll be okay."

Emma nodded absentmindedly as she gazed over their three patients, all of them laying on makeshift medical beds. Kanade was the least hurt of them all, then came Teruya, and of course Nikei. Curse that bullet wound.

Staring at Nikei, Emma remembered that conversation she'd had with Nikei back when he had first been injured, after some of them had left to go find Teruya. She had dismissed what he'd said, but now, looking at all this, she knew that was the wrong choice.

After all, you never knew what could happen to someone you love. She was staring the proof of that in the face.

"Emma?"

Shoot. Emma had forgotten Kokoro was there. She turned and faced her, smiling. "Yes?"

"Are you alright? You seem a little out of it." Kokoro asked.

"I'm fine." Emma said, then took a deep breath. "Kokoro, back before all this happened, when we were just concerned with the missing sixteenth student of the 79th class, I had a conversation with Nikei. I had a bit of a crush on someone, and I still do, and he told me I should just act on my feelings and tell them. I was hesitant, but now looking at all this and not knowing if my love is going to be okay or not, I have to tell them."

"Really?" Kokoro asked, trying to sound and appear neutral. She had a feeling she knew what was coming.

"Really." Emma turned and faced Kokoro, taking her hands in her own. "So, Kokoro... that person I was talking about was you. I love you, Kokoro. I understand if you don't feel the same. I just needed you to know in case of... anything."

Kokoro blinked, her mind spinning, unsure of what to do for the first time in her life. Then she smiled.

"I... I love you too, Emma. My apologies for waiting, I was just unsure on how to tell you." She said.

It was Emma's turn to have her mind spinning. She hugged Kokoro tight, and smiled wide. "Oh, Kokoro... This is just amazing! Does this mean that we're dating now? Are you my girlfriend?"

Kokoro stuttered for words, which was also a rarity. "I... I, uh... yes, why not."

Emma squealed quietly. "Oh, I'm so happy! I was terrified you wouldn't feel the same! This is terrific!"

Kokoro slowly smiled back and nodded.

No matter what happens in this despair-ridden world, there were still futures, still hope.

They could all heal.

Chapter Text

*A Month Later*

Nikei really hated this.

"Don't worry, Nik! You're doing great!" Setsuka reassured him, as she helped him walk across the room. Nikei was trembling like mad as he took step after step.

Out of the three that were kidnapped, Nikei was having the hardest time healing physically, because of that stupid bullet wound. At this point, he really wanted to strangle Tsurugi for giving him the wound in the first place.

Junko, too. Nikei really wanted to strangle Junko, for doing all of... that to him, Teruya, and Kanade.

Although, from what he'd heard about the rescue, his sister already had. Nikei had laughed disbelievingly when he first heard about Setsuka and Junko fist-fighting during one point of the rescue, but it was true.

Nikei was both scared and touched because of that. Touched because that meant she cared a lot for him, but also scared because she literally beat up the mastermind of the end of the world.

He took another step, nearly tripping on a rock. Setsuka steadied him quickly. "Just keep going! Ignore the rocks!"

Nikei gritted his teeth. Why was it that he was the only one who could barely walk? Kanade and Teruya were walking without too much help by the end of the second week! It wasn't fair!

Any time he pointed this out to Emma, who was usually the one watching over him along with Kokoro, she'd just respond with that Kanade and Teruya weren't hurt as much as he was. Therefore, they got better quicker.

Speaking of Emma, she was acting a lot happier now that she was officially dating Kokoro. Before, she'd act like her normal self, but her pining would be obvious to everyone. Apparently they got together maybe a few hours after the rescue, but Nikei didn't really care about that. All he cared about was that those idiots were finally together.

Then again, Emma had actually thanked him when they started talking about her relationship. She had told him that if he didn't talk to her and told her to just tell Kokoro, she probably would still be pining after her.

So, Nikei could accept some responsibility. Although he still wasn't sure if Emma was just saying that to make him feel good about himself.

He decided to just be happy about helping. It helped with some of his pride after all.

Nikei stifled a chuckle. Pride? Did he even have any of that anymore? He literally allowed himself to be kidnapped because he was weak! And now look what happened to him!

"You alright, Nik? You don't look too good." 

Nikei snapped back to attention. Shit, he'd gotten so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he'd forgotten about Setsuka.

"Sorry! I'm fine, don't worry!" He said, flashing a smile at Setsuka.

She wasn't convinced. God damnit, it was like ever since he woke up here she was able to see right through him. 

"Are you sure?" She asked. "Is this too much? You know you can talk to me if something's bothering you."

Yeah, he knew. She constantly reminded him over and over and over. She was starting to sound a bit like a broken record at this point.

"Nothing's bothering me." Nikei reassured her. "I'm fine."

Setsuka was still suspicious, clearly, but she nodded. She at least knew her boundaries.

"Well, If something really is bothering you, we can talk about it later. Just focus on walking! You're doing great!" Mikado called out, leaning against the wall.

Nikei jumped. He had forgotten Mikado was there.

"Did I startle you? My apologies!" Mikado said, coming over and taking Nikei's arm, helping steady him.

Nikei could feel a small blush rise on his cheeks, and he stiffened slightly. "T-Thank you." He said, cursing himself for stuttering. 

"No problem! It is extremely important you get better, after all!" Mikado responded, smiling happily.

Setsuka was watching the exchange with a suggestive smile on her face, making Nikei both blush and glare at her. She winked at him, smiling.

Why was Setsuka acting like this? She did the same thing when Sora and Yoruko first showed signs of getting together. There was no reason she would be doing that with him and Mikado.

And why did it feel so... weird to have Mikado touch his arm? He's done it before, why should it matter if he does it again?

He thought back to when he was basically wingmanning for Emma when she was pining after Kokoro. Their hands had accidently touched when she was handing her something, and she had freaked out about it for thirty minutes.

The thing is, Nikei had actually seen their hands touched, and saw Emma's reaction.

She had blushed a little bit, stiffened up, and stuttered when talking to Kokoro afterwards.

In short, the exact same reaction that Nikei had when Mikado touched him.

And combined with Setsuka subtly signaling to him...

Nikei barely noticed when he walked over to the wall, and Setsuka and Mikado's cheering. His mind was spinning about what he had just realized.

He was in love with Mikado.

God, he was screwed.

Hajime had never been more concerned for someone's health before.

After what he'd seen, who could blame him? He had been there when Nikei, Kanade, and Teruya were rescued, and saw how badly they were injured. 

He knew a bit of medical information, so he had helped out Emma and Yuki whenever it became clear they needed a break. Checking for signs of infection, reapplying new bandages, physical therapy, that sort of thing.

He was best with physical therapy. He was the Ultimate Boxer, after all.

"Okay, Teruya. Stretch out your arm- take as much time as you need, there's no rush -and bring it back again. Carefully."

Teruya obeyed, shakily. Since his arm had been injured pretty badly when he was... there, Hajime had taken on the job of helping him use it again. He was making good progress, which was great.

"Well done." Hajime praised. "Now, try again, but this time grab this rock." 

He placed a rock in arm's reach of Teruya, and he managed to grab the rock pretty quickly. Still a bit shaky, though.

"Great job! You're getting better!" Hajime said.

Teruya let his arm drop. "Hajime, is my arm gonna be like this forever?"

"What? Of course not, you're making great progress with it! Why would you think that?" Hajime asked, a bit surprised.

"It's just..." Teruya trailed off. "I can't do anything with my arm like this. What if... they come here too, and hurt you, and I can't do anything about it?"

"Don't think like that. I'm sure that's not gonna happen." Hajime said. "You know, if you're feeling insecure about your arm, I had to go through the same thing."

Teruya looked up. "Really?"

"Yeah, when the Remnants attacked our old base, my arm was cut. It wasn't as bad as yours, but still. So I made up these exercises for myself to do, and by the time we rescued you, it was better." Hajime said. "Your arm's gonna heal, trust me."

Teruya considered this for a moment, then beamed up at Hajime. "Thanks, Hajime! That helped."

Hajime smiled. It wasn't often he got to boost morale like this. He mainly did that with Shinji, so he was happy to have helped out.

Before he could say anything else, Iroha poked her head into their area. "Guys! There's a meeting now!" She said. "Everyone's gonna be there."

"Alright then, we'll be there." Hajime said. Together, he and Teruya stood up and followed Iroha to the meeting area. There used to be quite a bit of debris there, and Hajime winced, remembering when he had to help move it. That had been painful.

They were the last ones there, and Mikado stood up one they were settled. "Okay, we're all here. Let's get started, then."

Hajime noticed half-heartedly that Mikado and Nikei were sitting next to each other, and that they had been talking when they arrived. There was also a small blush on both of their faces. 

"What do you want to talk about? What happened a month ago? Because that's all in the past. Nothing we can do about it." Yoruko said, crossing her arms.

"Not exactly. It does have something to do with it, but it's not focused primarily on it." Mikado said. "We need to do something."

"About what?" Yuki questioned.

"Everything." Setsuka was the one to speak up, standing up as well. "This has gone on for way too long. Nobody's doing anything about it, and we've been hoping that someone would take charge and end this. Well, looks like we're gonna have to be the ones to take charge."

"Hold on! Are you talking about ending the Tragedy?" Hibiki asked. "That's crazy! How could we do that?"

Her comment earned murmurs of agreement around the table. 

"It's not a bad idea." Kokoro said. "Remember, the Remnants used to be Class 79. If we can find out a way to 'free' them from despair, they'll turn back into the students they used to be. Junko will have no one to do her dirty work, and we may be able to defeat her."

"Well, how the hell are we supposed to do that?" Syobai asked. "We couldn't even find their base until we followed a Remnant. How do you expect us to 'turn the students back to normal'?"

"There's gotta be a way." Sora said. "I, for one, really want my sister back. And I know Yuki wants his brother."

"Yeah! I wanna see Utsuro again... but not like this! Back the way he used to be!" Yuki agreed.

Kanade nodded. "Even back there, I could sense that the Remnants were a bit hesitant in doing what they did, but they obeyed Junko's orders without question. That's proof that they can change."

"And remember our conversation with Mikako?" Yuri asked. "She was feeling some sort of sympathy towards us for what happened to our old base, I could feel it."

Mikado smiled. "See? As long as we turn the Remnants back to our side, Junko will be powerless! We can end the Tragedy!"

"But how?" Emma asked. "We don't even know how they became the Remnants in the first place.

That was true. Hajime wracked his brain to see if he knew, but came up empty. It seemed like most of his classmates were having the same result.

"We do know."

Kokoro spoke up suddenly, a small smile. "In fact, three of us have gone through it before."

"Yeah! That's right!" Nikei exclaimed. "The Despair Video! Junko used that to turn Class 79 into the Remnants!"

"She even said so herself!" Teruya said. "Way back when I was first kidnapped by her, she told me! The Despair Video is what turned my friends into the Remnants!"

"And it was a lot stronger than what we went through, as well." Kanade said. "Which is quite an accomplishment."

Setsuka nodded approvingly, putting a hand on Nikei's shoulder. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's really useful. Not the part where you guys went through it, obviously, but the part about the Video."

"Well, how can we use that to our advantage?" Shinji asked. "The effects have been in place for months. I'm not sure how we can reverse it."

The class went silent, thinking.

"A Hope Video."

Teruya broke the silence, and everyone looked towards him.

"Think about it." Teruya said. "If Junko managed to make a video to turn my friends to despair, why can't we make one that turns them to hope? It'll completely erase the despair, and my friends will be back to normal!"

Slowly, everyone nodded, convinced of the idea.

"That just might work!" Mikado said. "We're going to need reference material, though. We'll want to include happy memories of everyone, and we can't just rely on Teruya's memory."

"Wait, what are you implying?" Hajime asked.

Mikado grinned towards him.

"We need to pay a revisit to Hope's Peak Academy."

Chapter Text

Iroha thought that this Hope Video was a pretty solid plan.

It seemed pretty simple, right? Go to Hope's Peak, find something that would show the Remnants who they used to be, turn it into a video, show it to the Remnants, then bang, they're back to normal and everything's okay again! Rainbows everywhere! No more Tragedy! 

Well, Iroha thought that any plan that had the Tragedy ending was a good plan. Because they would be! There would be no more Tragedy, of course they would all be good plans!

"Are you all stupid?"

Syobai's comment came out of nowhere for Iroha, and she jumped. Everyone turned towards him, and he stared in disdain at both Mikado and Teruya. 

"Do you really expect this to work?" He asked. "Must I remind you that even if we did create this 'Hope Video' of sorts, we'd have to find a way to somehow force the Remnants to watch it? As if they'll agree to be near a screen that isn't the Despair Video in the first place!"

"Well, couldn't Mikado-" Nikei started, but he was cut off by a glare from Syobai.

"And." Syobai continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "How would we make this Hope Video in the first place? None of us have any idea how to animate! And don't give me any bullshit about learning, there is no way we can learn out here!"

"Well, couldn't we just take any pictures that we find in Hope's Peak and arrange them one after the other instead of animating them?" Iroha asked timidly, clutching her new and tattered sketchbook close.

Syobai scoffed. "That wouldn't even be a video, that'd be a slideshow! There's no way that would work! And how would we even get those pictures arranged in a slideshow in the first place? What kind of dumbass suggestion was that?"

Iroha let out a squeak. "I-I'm sorry!"

"Hey, she was just trying to help! Don't pick on her!" Yoruko said, glaring at Syobai. Syobai just glared right back.

"But thinking about it, these are all valuable points." Hajime said. "How could we do this?"

"S-So Teru's idea won't work after all?" Hibiki asked, deflating a bit in her seat.

"Well, it was a good idea!" Setsuka said encouragingly. "Just focus on that!"

Iroha deflated from her original excitement. She'd had faith in this plan, and it wasn't going to work from the get-go?

"So almost three quarters of you have already given up?"

Iroha jumped again. Kokoro's gaze scanned over everyone, a little bit of frustration visible in her eyes.

"But Syobai brings up a bunch of good points! There are so many holes in this idea, there's no way we could do this!" Yuki said, bringing a hand up to his chest.

"That's what you think." Kokoro's eyes narrowed. "Yes, this seems impossible. But you've all done the impossible before, remember?"

"Yeah, you have!" Teruya chimed in. "You found me! That must have been seriously difficult for you all!"

"And in addition," Kokoro continued. "You all rescued Teruya, Nikei, and Kanade from hell. Didn't that seem like an impossible task at the time?"

"Well, yes." Mikado admitted. "But that was because we needed to do that. We didn't want them to suffer there!"

Kokoro turned towards Mikado. "And who said that you didn't need to do this? You had a problem, and you fixed it. You can all do it again, so why are you giving into despair?"

"But all these questions are so hard! We have no solutions." Iroha admitted, hanging her head.

"Nikei was about to offer a solution to one problem. And Teruya has another." Kokoro said causally.

All eyes went to Nikei and Teruya, who slightly shrank back from the sudden attention.

"You- You guys have solutions?" Shinji asked. "What are they?"

Nikei fiddled with his sleeve nervously. "Well, I was thinking- Mikado can hack, right? When we make the video, can't Mikado hack it into the Despair Video screens and broadcast it for all to see?"

That was actually a really good point. Iroha could definitely remember Mikado hacking into school computers before this whole mess started.

"Mikado could definitely do that!" Iroha said confidently. "Right, Mikado?"

Mikado looked unsure for a moment, before smiling. "I bet I could. It would take a while, but I definitely could, I think."

"See? A solution." Kokoro smiled. "Now, do you want to share yours, Teruya?"

Teruya looked around as everyone's gazes landed on him, and he straightened up, taking a deep breath. "Junko can't animate, right?"

"...No, I don't believe she can." Emma said, placing one hand on her elbow with a confused expression. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"So, aren't you wondering how she made the Despair Video in the first place?" Teruya asked. "Surely that must be impossible for her alone, right?"

Iroha thought about this for a moment. She couldn't imagine Junko animating at all. Or the Remnants, for that matter. So did that mean that someone else did it? If so, who? Someone in her class? A Monokuma Robot? 

This was confusing. Iroha wanted to stop thinking.

Fortunately, she got that chance when Yuri spoke up. "Are you suggesting that someone else animated the video?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Teruya said. "And I know who! I learned back when everything started, when I was... imprisoned with Junko. I eavesdropped on a conversation she was having with someone."

"Well done you!" Setsuka said. "Who helped Junko?"

Teruya took another deep breath, but for what Iroha wasn't sure. "Have any of you heard of Ryota Mitarai before?"

"Yeah, he was the Ultimate Anima..." Yoruko trailed off as she realized what she was saying. "OH."

"So Ryota helped Junko and animated the video?" Sora asked, a smile starting to form on her face as she slowly realized what Teruya was suggesting.

"He sure did!" Teruya exclaimed. "If we can find Ryota, he can help us animate our Hope Video, and then Mikado can hack it into the Despair Video, and we can save my friends and end the Tragedy!"

"You all see?" Kokoro asked the class, placing a hand at the top of her chest. "There are solutions to all these complications."

"Solutions with holes." Syobai argued. "How the hell are we supposed to find Mitarai? He could be anywhere in the world!"

Teruya met his gaze evenly. "You found me."

That was the first time Iroha had ever seen Syobai stutter over his words. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but it was kind of funny to see Syobai lose his train of thought for a moment.

"Teruya's got a point, you know." Kanade said, smirking at Syobai. "If we could find him, we can find Ryota. It'll take a while, sure, but we can find him."

"I'm sure we can find him as well!" Shinji said, one hand on his hip and the other in the air. "We'll find him!"

"So now we have two major things to do." Yuri counted. "Go to Hope's Peak and see what we can find, and somehow track down Ryota."

"We should split into two groups, then." Mikado suggested. "I suggest that Hajime, Emma, Hibiki, and Kanade go to Hope's Peak, while myself, Sora, Shinji, Yuri, and Setsuka go to see if we can find anything we can use to track down Mr. Mitarai."

"Alright, sounds good to me." Hajime said. "So when are we heading out?"

"Hang on, why am I being left out?" Teruya asked. "This was literally my idea, and plus these are my classmates! I want in on looking at Hope's Peak, at least."

"Oh- I wasn't sure how your arm was faring, so I didn't want to risk anything." Mikado said awkwardly.

"You're literally letting Kanade go." Teruya deadpanned. "And my arm's fine! I've been working on it with Hajime, and I'm improving!"

"He is, I can vouch for that." Hajime added.

Mikado looked awkward at the turn of events, but straightened himself up quickly. "Very well then. Teruya, you can go to Hope's Peak to investigate."

Teruya fist-pumped in excitement, and Iroha watched him, confused. 

Why did Teruya want to go out so bad? It was scary out there! Anyone could die at any second!

Iroha certainly didn't want to go on any of these expeditions. She didn't want to risk her life anymore that she had, and she was grateful that Mikado didn't assign her to a group.

Nearby Iroha, Nikei let out a sigh. "I guess there's no way for me to convince you all that I can go."

"Nope." Mikado and Setsuka spoke at the same time and looked startled for a brief moment before smiling at each other. Nikei slumped down in his seat.

"That settles it." Mikado said, addressing the whole class now. "Let's go in about three days. That will give us time to prepare. Does everyone agree?"

There were nods and sounds of agreement from everyone, even Syobai, and as they went on Iroha felt herself growing more and more nervous, despite the fact that she wasn't going.

This plan was going to work. It had to! She believed in it!

Now they just needed to prepare.

Chapter Text

Yoruko liked to think of herself as a pretty logical person.

Being logical helped a lot during an apocalypse. It helped with a lot of things, such as figuring out if an area was safe, knowing whether food was safe to eat, and most importantly of all: not charging headfirst into danger.

And honestly, Yoruko was pretty sure that this whole thing they were doing was them charging into danger.

The whole thing seemed impossible, even ridiculous to her. A hope video to brainwash the Remnants of Despair back to their normal selves? Sounded awfully backwards to her, since Junko did brainwash the 79th class into despair in the same way.

She wasn't even going to get started on the whole "finding Ryota to make the hope video" thing. The chances that they'd find him were extremely low, almost in the negatives. It had to be impossible.

But there was that extremely small chance that this whole thing could work and that they'd fix the Tragedy with it. That's what the rest of Yoruko's classmates believed.

So Yoruko decided to turn a blind eye and help them. She didn't want to sound whiny by voicing her complaints, that wouldn't help anyone. And she could put her own skills to good work by helping with the food, and which of it was good to take.

It should be easy, right?

Well, it would be easy if Yoruko didn't have her clingy girlfriend hanging off of her.

Yoruko sighed for what must have been the hundredth time. "Sora, for the love of god, please get off me. I need to help pack the food."

"No." Sora refused, nuzzling her face into Yoruko's shoulder. "I'm going to be away for who knows how long, so I'm spending as much time with you as I can before we have to leave."

"Surely you can do that without hanging onto me?" Yoruko suggested. "You could help me pack."

"But I want hugs." Sora said. "And I'll be without them for a long time, so I'm getting them all in now."

Sora really exhausted her sometimes.

Nonetheless, all Yoruko did was roll her eyes and continue her task, with Sora still hanging onto her like a clingy cat.

What Sora was saying was true, Yoruko supposed. Sora was going to be away for a long time, as part of the group that was supposed to try and find Ryota. And Sora was a pretty flirty and touchy person; it made sense that she'd act like this.

Didn't mean that this was any less inconvenient for her.

Sora made things take at least a third longer than they would've taken if Yoruko had been undisturbed by doing things such as flirting, kissing her suddenly, etc.

Yoruko was a natural tsundere and unused to affection, as much as she loathed to admit it, so her reactions to these things just caused Sora to do them more. The only problem was that it took up more time; they would be leaving today.

The last three days had sped by like a blur; Yoruko barely remembered them besides the loads of preparations they had to do. There had been so much.

But at last, the food was all packed away, making the bags that were to be brought with the groups completely ready. Yoruko sighed in relief and stood up, with Sora still hanging off of her. "There, all done!"

Sora smiled at her girlfriend's accomplishment and lifted her head up to kiss her on the cheek. "Wonderful job, cupcake."

Yoruko immediately blushed at the praise and nickname. "It's not that big a deal, anyone could have done this..."

"But you did it." Sora purred. "So I'm proud of you, my sweet little cupcake."

Yoruko's blush turned redder than a tomato, and she had no response to Sora's compliments. Luckily for her, she didn't need to come up with one.

"Yuko?" Setsuka's voice called out as she opened the door and stopped in her tracks, whatever she was going to say dying in her throat before she shot a suggestive look at the two girls inside. "Am I interrupting something? Well, pardon me-"

"No!" Yoruko said quickly. "Nothing's happening, nothing- what do you need!?"

Both Setsuka and Sora let out a small chuckle at Yoruko's flustered and tsundere nature, it really was cute to both of them.

"Just wanted to check in to see if the food was all ready." Setsuka explained. "We're supposed to be leaving soon, so naturally we all want everything to be ready, right?"

Yoruko nodded. "Yep, that's natural. Everything's ready, don't worry! I just need to bring these out to the group!"

She scooped up as many of the bags as she could carry, and Setsuka quickly came to help her, as there were too many for just Yoruko to carry by herself and gave her a quick hair ruffle before doing so. 

Sora still clung to Yoruko like a cat, and it was clear she wasn't letting go to help at all.

Well, fine. Yoruko and Setsuka got the bags to where the others were, no problem. They didn't need Sora. 

It was super busy when they arrived. Mikado was speaking to a bitter-looking Nikei nearby while Hajime, Iroha, and Teruya seemed to at least be trying to help, in one case, with packing the final supplies they needed. Emma carried Kokoro as she spoke to Yuri and the twins, Shinji was speaking to Yuki about something, and Syobai was just in the corner, clearly not giving a damn about anything.

Setsuka, Yoruko, and Sora went over to the three packing the supplies and put the bags of food down near them. "Here, this should be the last of what you need for these." Yoruko said, having recovered from her blush on the way here.

"Awesome, great job! Thanks, guys!" Teruya responded eagerly, and he began picking up the bags and putting them into backpacks that were to be taken, and he handed a few to Iroha to help after instructing her not to spill anything.

Hajime took a quick glance into the bags. "These are all healthy, right? I can't properly look at them right now."

"They are, don't worry." Sora spoke for Yoruko while both the hostess and Setsuka rolled their eyes, with the former in a slightly annoyed way while the latter was in a good-humored way.

"I wish I could have some, I'm hungry..." Iroha whined as she put another bag into a backpack.

"Then go get some other food." Teruya's answer was brisk as he put the last bag away. "This food is for the ones going out, and you're staying here. There's food here for you too, y'know."

Iroha let out another small whine at that, and Yoruko wanted to smack the back of her head. That girl could be so lazy.

Setsuka, meanwhile, was marveling at the pace that Teruya put away most of the bags. "Wow, Ruya, you're really good at this! how'd you do that so fast?"

Teruya shot her a smile. "Ultimate Merchant, remember? This is easy to do, compared to other things I've had to put away!"

The billiards placer let out a laugh, and Mikado took the opportunity to head over, with Nikei following, but keeping a good distance away. "Are we all ready to go? Is everything packed?"

Teruya flashed him a thumbs-up. "We're ready when you are!"

"Excellent! Wonderful job, all of you!" Mikado clapped his hands together once, before grabbing everyone's attention. "It's time to depart! Please, say your goodbyes now, we'll be leaving soon!"

The second the words were out of Mikado's mouth, Sora moved to the front of Yoruko and gave her a goodbye kiss on the lips, not caring about anyone else in the room.

Yoruko was reduced to a flustered mess almost immediately, and everyone either looked away, just stared, or laughed at the scene,

Setsuka ruffled Yoruko's hair again. "Good luck with everything here, Yuko, we'll be back soon!"

She left a second later to hug and say goodbye to her brother, and Yoruko needed to sit down from both of the girls flirting with her.

Setsuka skipped away a moment later to hug and speak to her brother, leaving Yoruko to recover with Sora.

After that, nobody moved for a small moment, which Teruya broke by going around saying his own goodbyes, usually complete with a quick hug. He didn't even care to check who was in his group or not. 

people followed his lead and said their goodbyes. Some were sweet, some were quick, but soon the single class separated into three groups.

Hajime, Emma, Hibiki, Kanade, and Teruya, going to investigate Hope's Peak Academy.

Mikado, Sora, Shinji, Yuri, and Setsuka, off to find Ryota Mitarai, the Ultimate Animator.

And Yoruko, Iroha, Nikei, Syobai, Yuki, and Kokoro, who were staying at the base.

A final round of goodbyes was had, and the two adventuring groups were off.

Normally, the group looking for Ryota would be walking in circles, having no idea where the hell they were going. 

But that's why Mikado specifically added himself onto this team. He wasn't the Ultimate Wizard for nothing; he had a spell that could track down any person, place, or thing. In this case, one Ryota Mitarai.

But Ryota must be pretty far away, as even with the spell, they had easily been walking for over an hour already.

To pass the time, the group shared small talk, talking about everything from their journey to old memories. Anything to pass the time.

Although Mikado couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched or followed.

He knew it must be nonsense, because whenever he looked back or checked, there was nothing. No one watching them at all, no one but his classmates. Still, the feeling lingered.

He must be going insane.

A hand placed itself onto Mikado's shoulder, and the wizard startled. It was Setsuka.

"You alright, Kado?" She asked. "You've been acting jumpier than normal.

Mikado knew there was no stopping Setsuka once she went into big sis mode, so he didn't bother to hide anything. "It's fine, I've just got this feeling that we're being watched. Or followed. Either one. I'm going mad, aren't I?"

Setsuka pulsed her lips at Mikado's worries. "No, I don't think so. It's perfectly normal to think like that, it'll wear off."

"No, I don't think so. This one is lingering-" Mikado stopped what he was saying as he looked back, and his mask eye widened.

Something or someone had definitely moved to hide.

Mikado wasn't going insane after all.

Ignoring Setsuka's shout, he quickly ran back behind the rest of his confused and alarmed team, into the hiding spot the thing had ducked into, fire magic ready, only to find-

"Nikei?"

Compared to what the group looking for Ryota must be experiencing, Emma knew that getting to Hope's Peak wouldn't be difficult.

The only problem with it would be distinguishing the broken building from other broken buildings, but even then, it wouldn't be too difficult. Hope's Peak was a pretty noteworthy building.

Now all they needed to do was keep their eyes peeled and their spirits up, which Emma found easy! She had plenty of puns in store for the journey, she could amuse everything with them!

Hajime, though, didn't seem to share her enthusiasm.

"For the love of god, Emma, please stop." He groaned. "I can't take this anymore; I knew me being on the same team as you was a bad idea."

"Aw, Hajime, you're no fun!" Emma teased. "You won't even let out a giggle at one?"

"Nope."

From in front of them, Teruya peeped, "I think they're funny! I like them!"

"There! Thank you, Teruya!" Emma said happily. "See, Hajime? I have people supporting me!"

"I'll support you too, Emmy!" Hibiki said, while Kanade just rolled her eyes at what was happening. "I think they're- AAH!"

Hibiki had tripped over something, and Kanade immediately reached to pick her up. "You okay there, Sis?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hibiki groaned, and then she, along with the other members of the group, caught sight of what exactly she had tripped over.

A Hope's Peak crest.

Emma allowed her eyes to travel from it to the building in front of them.

She smiled. They had found the remains of Hope's Peak academy.