Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Across a prim and proper green field stands Makoto Naegi, golf club in hand, ready to take a swing.

The ball soars through the air in precisely the direction he wanted.

"I think I'm pretty good at this now-" the Ultimate Lucky Student's boast is then promptly interrupted by a 'sploosh' as his golf ball lands directly in the water.

"Should have accounted for the wind." the Ultimate Fashionista snarks in his direction, relaxed on the ground waiting for her turn.

"I did account for the wind, I just hit it too hard!" he says, more annoyed at her comment than missing his shot.

As he grabs another ball to retry he's interrupted by more of Junko's snark.

"Through the wind."

"... I'm gonna stab you." He said in a deadpan tone.

Despite having no malice in his voice, Makoto Naegi would never dream of saying such a thing to anyone except Junko Enoshima, whose attitude made it merely a playful remark.

"Fucking finally!" She yells out, jumping to her feet in a startlingly smooth fashion. "And when you do..." The once annoyed Luckster tried to suppress a laugh in attempt to keep his focus on his shot, knowing what's coming next. "Account for the wind."

Bursting into laughter, a pained "goddamnit" leaves the Luckster as his focus is thoroughly broken.

Static.

Makoto in his black and red hoodie sits across Junko in a chess game

His full attention is set at the game, while really she just looks bored.

"You're so good at using the horses..."

"... They're knights Makoto." spoken flatly

Stopping in his tracks, he picks up the piece waving it on her face. "Ms Ultimate Analyst, does this look like a knight? It's a horse!"

"It's representative! Hell, it might be its name. You don't call Monokuma 'bear'"

"What, of course I do."

"... What."

"... I might've just been thinking it..." scratching his cheek in embarrassment when faced with the fashionista looking uncharacteristically offended at the revelation.

She takes the piece from his hand, returns it to its original spot on the board, and promptly takes his queen.

"No..." Junko couldn't help but burst into laughter at his defeated tone

"You're so bad at this~"

Static.

"It's just, you know, I used to play with dolls but that got boring eventually, so I tried seeing what it'd look like if I tore them apart, and the reactions I got from that were more interesting than the dolls themselves."

"I can see that."

The couple lay in a red velvet sofa, Junko's head laying on Makoto's lap while he gently played with her pigtails.

"Because some people were speechless, some called me 'devil spawn', some were amused, some could only think about how expensive it'd be to adopt me and keep me entertained. None of them did adopt me though."

"And eventually I could just predict how someone would react so that got boring too. After a while I got tossed out for destroying the toys so much, and was off to fend for myself on the streets."

"I'm so sorry you went through that Junko."

"But you get me don't you Makoto?" A light touch reached the side of his face

"Of course I do." softly grabbing her hand

"You're the only one..." as their foreheads touched

Static

"Come on Makoto, for old times sake!"

The Luckster found himself once again with a switchblade to his throat

"Junko, please be careful!" he yelled trying to wrest her hand out of his hair

"This is it, it's happening, IT'S HAPPENING!"

*clink*

The spring on the switchblade snapped, sending it flying directly at the camera, cracking it and splintering the image

"Puhuhuhuhu! I'm Moonoookuuuuummmmmaaaaaa" the bear's voice rung out

"MAKOTO! YOU KILLED THE CAMERAMAN!" cried out the fashionista

"It's just a b- Monokuma, Junko..."

"... You almost said 'bear' didn't you?"

"Umm... sorry?"

Static

The Ultimate Hope and the True Ultimate Despair were sitting comfortably on a throne together, leaning against each other, seemingly sound asleep

The video paused.

Kyoko, Byakuya, Yasuhiro, Aoi and Toko sat in a filled out Future Foundation meeting room, all in mute terror at what they were seeing.

"These videos have played every day, in the same channel, at the same hour, ever since Naegi's disappearance two weeks ago." Munataka spoke, gesturing towards the screen. "Nothing Enoshima does is without reason. So what's her goal with these videos?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Snarked Byakuya. "She wants those who believed in Makoto to fall further into despair watching their Ultimate Hope be so friendly with the one who caused all of this."

"It might also be a red herring. Something for us to chase devoid of meaning beyond just more despair." Posited Kyoko, the Ultimate Detective

"But then, why waste so much time recording these?" Aoi interjected

"They're probably filmed in large batches. Since the camera is a Monokuma, it must be easy to record anywhere they go. Plus..." Kyoko's next hypothetical hurt the most. "We must consider the possibility that Makoto has been working with Junko since before the killing game... and thus they have a large backlog of footage."

"T-there's just n-no way..." Toko, who was only there by Byakuya's demand

"That would explain the now rare intact golf course in one of those videos." the prodigy said in agreement, his words silencing the room.

And thus, everyone present had to come to terms that Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Hope, and worst of all, their friend, was a traitor, perhaps from the very start.

...

"They almost look like a normal couple."

All heads turned to Yasuhiro.

"I said 'almost'!" he yelled out, clearly aware of the venom directed at him for that comment, to which his follow up helped very little to reduce.

Chapter Text

In the kitchen of the academy they were supposed to have left behind, the Lucky Student and the Fashionista a preparing a meal for their classmates

"Soo, I've got some news to share…" he spoke first.

"Yuh-huh." She responded, very little energy in her voice.

"We've been dating for a while now, and I thought it was time to tell my sister about it."

"What'd she think?" She sounded half dead.

"You okay?"

"It was a really really long photoshoot. Also someone tried to kill me."

"And how did it go?" He was without concern.

In response she just made a quick throat slit motion with her pinkie, accompanied with a "bleh".

"Wow." He deadpanned.

"So what'd your sister think about…" she waved a finger back and forth between them. "This?"

"She's very supportive!"

"Oh." She seemed uncharacteristically surprised.

"She even said she's gonna try watching our videos."

"Aww, that's so nice." She turned to the camera recording them. "What's up Komatsu"

"Komaru."

"That's what I meant!" They simultaneously burst into laughter, Makoto trying not to spill the food they were making. "Oh my god, I'm so tired! Of course I know your fucking sister's name!"

Static.

The camera was focused solely on Makoto on the couch, playing some off screen video game. He looks frustrated.

"My god Junko, when did you get so good?!"

There was no response.

"I bet you could give Chiaki a run for her money!"

"I am Chiaki"

Where his girlfriend previously sat, Chiaki Nanami of Class 77-B now sat.

"AH!" He screamed, startled. "Where's Junko?!'

The Ultimate Gamer pointed towards the door. Junko was peeking through the window.

She mouthed the words Sorry, something came up, I had to go! before taking off.

"Alright." He said, accepting the situation quickly.

They played in silence for almost an hour.

"Hey Chiaki." Makoto said, breaking said silence. "What happened to Hajime?"

The Ultimate Gamer froze briefly before going back to playing.

"I haven't seen him in months." She deadpanned. But Makoto could tell the melancholy in the phrase.

He paused the game. She tried unpausing, but he just paused again until she gave up. When she did, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

…

"... I wonder if it's something I said." she finally said after much thought.

Makoto seemed deep in thought as well. He chose his next words carefully.

"No. I don't think so. I'm sure he still cares for you, wherever he is. You'll see him again. I'm sure of it."

"How could you know?"

"Just… a feeling I have."

"Is it hope?" She said, almost mockingly.

"No… not this time."

Static.

Junko and Makoto were sitting across from eachother in a square table. She had a serious look on her face, while Makoto seemed more… upset? Determined? Angry? Hard to tell.

"So, Eggy. What did I tell you about your first time?"

He grumbled.

"1, make sure I'm there, and 2, make sure it's not edibles. And what happened?"

He didn't answer.

"You had edibles without me, you had a bad time, and told me about two weeks later. Do you recognize the error of your ways?"

"I think I recognize the error of all our ways."

"Goddamnit, Hiro."

"But, I wanted to talk about that." He said, serious tone in his voice.

"Oh yeah? Hit me with it."

"I think… hope and despair are a bit… exaggerated. I think what really matters is the future. How we make it happen the way we want it to happen."

"Yuh-huh. And?" She didn't believe much of what he was saying had credibility.

"And… I'm in."

He always managed to surprise her. It was the most enticing thing about him, that in her world of predictability, he was the only wild card.

"You're… in?"

"Yeah, your plan. I was on the fence about it, but I thought about it some more and… I'm in."

"Mack, that's… that's wonderful! I'll make the preparations right awa-"

"BUT!" He yelled, regretting it quickly due the possibility of a certain someone hearing it and investigating. "There's one condition."

All excitement left Junko's face. All emotion followed soon.

"I'm not gonna like this, am I?"

"If you were going to like it, I wouldn't call it a 'condition', would I?"

A small look of disgust washed over her face.

"When did you get so-" she shook it off. "Alright. What's the condition?"

He stared at her with that determined look. Did he know she would honor it? What would he do after she agreed? Why did he accept to be part of the plan?

And then he stated his demand.

"C H I A K I  L I V E S"

Static.

An (even more) marketable version of Junko Enoshima, the person who ended the world, came up on the screen. It had her voice.

"And that's all for season one, folks! Don't worry, we're working on bringing you more of this delicious goodness soon!" Her expression dropped. "As soon as one of the main actors stops striking…" she pepped up again. "Until then, have a despairful-"

A Makoto cartoon popped up, also with his voice.

"And hopeful!"

"Yes, a despairful and hopeful evening!'

"Whichever one's to your preference!"

"See you next time!" They said in unison.

Static. That wouldn't end for another 24 hours.

Kyoko was confused at that announcement.

Is Makoto not with the Ultimate Despair? What does it mean he's "striking"? And was Makoto's line pre-recorded?

She would get her answers soon, as coming up to the gates of the Future Foundation headquarters was the man himself.

He seemed the same as he was a few weeks ago.

Still need to be careful.

She slowly approached him, never dropping her guard. He eventually was close enough to see a small bag by his side. It looked… hers. He looked up from the ground to see Kyoko approaching.

"Oh, hey Kyoko." He seemed… sad.

"Hello."

It was dangerous and tense to talk to him after everything.

"Where did you go?" She still needed answers.

He slowly opened the bag and pulled out… a notebook.

"This is my diary from the two years at Hope's Peak."

Right. The Future Foundation didn't restore all his memories from that time, in fear of what he would do if they did. So much for that.

"How was it?"

"... Enlightening." Vague answer. "I… didn't like reading it." Not as vague. "I received word that the Future Foundation plans to capture the Ultimate Despairs, is that right?"

"From who?"

He just looked at the overly decorated pink bag by his side. "Is it true?"

"... It is."

His expression shifted. "We can't let them do that!"

Is it coming out now?

"If they get their way with them…" he continued. "They all die."

Kyoko was shocked but obviously didn't show it.

"What?"

"The Future Foundation wants to end this as quickly as possible. They won't try to rehabilitate them. They'll just kill them all!"

"Do you have another idea?"

"I do, actually. When we lost our memories of school, we reverted to how we were before it, right?"

"Yes…?"

"If we do the same to them, they won't be Ultimate Despair anymore!"

This seems like the Makoto I knew… but is he? Or is it a trick?... Regardless of that, he's probably right.

…

I don't want them to die.

"Perhaps, but how do we make sure they don't get them back, or if they do, it doesn't turn them back into who they are now?"

Makoto's face seemed to shrink on his head.

"Ummm…"

"You don't even have a plan."

"I was hoping you would have an answer?"

If it's a trick, it's a very self defeating one.

She sighed heavily. "I might actually. I saw records of a place called Jabberwock Island. It has what we need."

"Thanks Kyoko. We should tell Byakuya!" He began running to HQ before Kyoko stopped him.

"You probably shouldn't go there."

"Why? … Oh."

"I'll debrief Byakuya on all this. You find a place to hide so they don't kill you too."

He smiled. "If you weren't here, we'd all be dead so many times over."

A small blush came over her. "And don't you forget it."

As he began making his way out to hide, he suddenly stopped and turned around.

"Oh! You probably know already, but we need to rescue Chiaki. And my sister."

Makoto was alone in a computer room, just making the small preparations he was capable of for the Neo World Program.

He felt someone watching him.

"I love murder." Makoto happily said. He suddenly turned around with a cheeky look on his face. "It's what you call a lot of crows!"

The figure didn't laugh. "Predictable."

"Geez, you're such a stick in the mud Izuru. Sneaky as always, you didn't even show up in the cameras."

Makoto reached out his hand to the figure. "Now give me the thing."

"You shouldn't know about it." Not an inquiry. An interrogation.

"I just do. Don't worry, no one will find out."

Izuru said nothing as he placed the flash drive containing Alter Ego Junko on the Luckster's hand.

"You're gonna love this. We even got Chiaki." Izuru's pupils dilated ever so slightly. "I know you are- well, were close to her. Right? "

"Chiaki is dead. This must be an AI" Izuru tried to deadpan.

"Nope. I got the real thing. It was the condition for, well, this" he gestured to himself.

Izuru took a while before he started talking again. "Junko is alive."

"In a way." Makoto looked at the flash drive as he said it.

"I am not referring to the flash drive."

Makoto seemed taken back by this. "D'oh, I guess you also know she's still out there. Yeah, she's kind of mad at me for rigging the Ultimate Punishment so she'd live. Please don't tell anyone, please?"

"That also was not what I was referring to. It's also a lie."

All emotion left Makoto.

Then, an all-too-familiar smile to the Ultimate Hope of Hope's Peak found itself on the "Luckster's" face.

"Enjoy your school trip, Hajime~"

"Your theatrics bore me."

"You can be disappointed all you want, just get out before it rubs off on me! Of course, assuming the others aren't looking for you at this point."

"They're not."

"Then shoo! This is a private moment!"

Izuru had left by the time Makoto opened his eyes from yelling at him.

"Thank you." He turned over to the computer, flash drive in hand.

"Oh, am I really going to ruin my own plans? All this effort making an Alter Ego and I just throw it away? Oooh, it's so exciting, I can hardly contain myself!"

They slammed the flash drive into the port, and began copying it into a brand new one.

"I am going to enjoy this."

She started uploading the virus that would inevitably fail and be destroyed. No one would die permanently. The plan would be thwarted.

Just like it would want.

Just like she would want.

"I T' S  W H A T  H E  W O U L D  D O"

Chapter Text

Something changed.

The Neo World Program was invaded by a virus containing Alter Ego Junko.

Just like she wanted.

All the killings happened like expected.

Just like they wanted.

And they were going to save them from Junko's plan.

It's what he would have wanted.

After much (surprisingly not faked) difficulty, the survivors of the Killing School Life managed to get into the Neo World Program to be able to activate the forced shutdown.

When Makoto showed up in the final trial, it was a relief for the survivors after some doubts over him being the real one.

"Nah. This is the real one." Alter Ego Junko said. She sent him a little wave and a knowing look.

"I'm Makoto Naegi. Makoto Naegi of the Future Foundation."

It's what he would say.

"So, what's actually going to happen to our friends if we shut the program down?" Soda asked, scared.

"They'll stay in their comas. We don't currently have a way to bring them out of it, but-" Byakuya tried to explain before being interrupted.

"Actually, we do." Makoto spoke up.

"Huh? What are you talking about Mack?" Junko asked.

"I came up with it before we came in. We can bring them back. Even Chiaki."

That seemed to bolster their spirits. Kyoko and Byakuya were clearly not aware of this method.

It's what he would do. Right?

"Ahem! When you guys activate the shutdown, you'll revert back to when you were known as Ultimate Despair. And your dead friends will stay comatose. If Mack Otto is telling the truth, he knows how to bring them back, but I'm not sure you should trust him. And the embodiment of despair, AKA me will be erased, thereby preserving hope in the real world maybe."

"That's also wrong."

"Daring today, Eggy. You haven't been this daring since you saved Chiaki!"

Makoto ignored her. "If you activate the shutdown, your memories from here will also carry over. You'll have them on top of the ones you had before."

"Wh- how would you even know that?!"

"Experience. From going through the killing game and then recovering my memories. So all you have to ask is, is the you from today stronger than the you from Ultimate Despair?"

He wouldn't know that.

Through trials and tribulations, they defeated Alter Ego Junko.

As expected. Maybe. He wasn't supposed to say some of those things.

There laid the cellphone of the giant Junko, the part that actually talked. He sat down by her, and spoke first.

"I guess this is it."

"Well, not exactly, right? Don't take me for an idiot, I know who you are."

He turned away. "I'm not sure you do."

"You telling me I failed? I don't fail."

A funny thing to say from the floor, he thought.

"I always was the wild card, right? You couldn't predict what would happen around me. Because of that I thought, maybe this was the closest I could get to killing him, like I always thought I wanted. I'm not sure I did."

"I don't like where this is going."

"It's like he's still here, influencing me, like a little angel on my shoulder I didn't have before. When this killing game started I thought I'd enjoy it, but I don't. I wanted to stop it. I didn't use to be able to feel like this, instead I...  felt like he would. I wanted to save them all. Not because of despair or whatever. I want to because… it's what he would want."

"... Am I being betrayed by myself?"

The conversation caught the ear of Hajime Hinata. He started walking over to the duo.

"Hey, it's taking longer for the program to shut down than I thought. What's going on here?"

Makoto turned to him. "It must have something to do with Chiaki being alive."

"No, I know why it's taking longer." Its not that, but whatever "I mean, what's going on between you two?"

"Oh, nothing. Just… saying goodbye to a former friend."

"You were friends with her?"

"Well, not exactly. A bit more than friends." He said sheepishly.

"Oh." He really didn't like that answer. "I'll… leave you to it." He turned to make his way back to the group, before turning around again. "Wait, I guess I should ask… how did you 'save' Chiaki?"

Oh boy.

"Yeah, tell him how you saved Chiaki, 'Makoto'." She said, sure he wouldn't actually explain it.

"It's simple. I let Junko test her Junko-fy Mankind plan on me and in exchange, she gave up on killing Chiaki. It really messed up her plans afterwards."

Hajime was horrified. "Does that mean you're…"

Makoto seemed ashamed. "Yeah. It happened after the Killing School Life. Went missing for two weeks, and this is why. This is the actual 'experience' I was talking about."

Beyond his horror, something was nagging at Hajime. "But you tried to save us. Not only that, you clearly said more than you needed to to get us to agree on doing the forced shutdown. After all, your- Makoto's friends didn't know about those things you said."

"Yeah. I did do that. I don't quite get it either. I guess in the end, not even I could completely overtake him."

Hajime thought for a bit, still highly upset at the situation. "Was it worth it?"

"Yeah, actually. Things happened like he wanted. Chiaki surviving saved a lot of people because your hearts weren't completely into the whole despair thing, and I'm still kind of alive, just like he wanted. He… he really liked me. Not in the way Mikan and the others did, it was... real. And I did this to him." She was… sad. Ashamed. She didn't feel like that before. If Makoto was even slightly more prone to crying, she might have done so right then and there.

"If he asked you to spare Chiaki straight up, would you?"

Makoto chuckled. "Of course not." Of course she wouldn't. She barely cared for anything except him. She only did it because he was the one who asked.

"He knew you very well, I suppose." None of the three there could tell if that was meant to be comforting.

"Yeah. He was the only one who did."

Alter Ego Junko had watched silently up until now. After that conversation stopped, she  briefly glitched out and spoke up a few seconds later.

"Hey."

They both turned to look.

She sighed. "What am I doing. I can do some shenanigans and erase your upload from his mind. Like editing sound out of a file using an isolated sample of it, which, in this case, is me."

"You can do that?!" Hajime yelled out.

"Yeah, of course, I can do it to anyone as long as they let me. I can only do it in this state because it's actually me, one to one, though. I call it the 'Junko Deletion Process', or JDP for short." Hajime raised an eyebrow at that suggestion. "Don't go thinking I'd do this for anyone else, okay?! And it won't be free. Just to list a few costs:" She pointed at Makoto. "You'll die. That's a big one. I do this and Junko Enoshima is dead for good. Also, in this state, I can't delete your memories, so he'll remember everything. And I mean everything. He'll remember implanting the virus for this killing game, all the photoshoots, the assassination attempts, the planning, the scheming, the killing, our childhood, everything we did all our life. Also you'll die. Do you really want that?"

"YES, OF COURSE!" Makoto yelled out very quickly. 

"That fast? Man, I really went downhill in that brain of his."

"He'll be so upset he couldn't save me after going through all that! I can just imagine his face when he wakes up!" Makoto said, smugly. "And… this makes us even. I put him through this in the first place. The world is better without me, anyway."

Alter Ego Junko changed her screen to look like Makoto, and started doing a terrible Makoto impression, an impressive feat given she copied his voice too. "Nooo Junko, don't say those things! I really liked hanging out with you, talking with you, playing sports with you! You didn't even like them but I could see you were enjoying them with me, please live!" She swapped back to Junko. "God, it's like I'm listening to him talk again." Alter Ego seemed disgusted. Until she said "... I miss that."

"... I do too. This turned out very differently from killing my sister." Hajime grimaced at that sentence. Still Junko after all this.

He looked back and forth between the two. Truly, he just wanted them to stop talking about someone they did… this, to. "Before we leave, I need to ask. Could you actually do…" he gestured vaguely at them. "This to the entire world? You two seem pretty miserable right now." Also talking to yourself like this can't be healthy.

"That's the other thing. This wasn't all I cracked it up to be."

"Yeah I agree." Makoto looked at Hajime again. "Almost got you thinking we were being selfless, huh?" The program started to break down as the shutdown sequence got closer to finishing. Alter Ego also vanished to begin the "JDP" she absolutely came up with right then and there.

"I haven't met the guy. But from how you…" he was disgusted again, feeling the need to console this monster. If it means someone she messed up would come back… "Played him… he seems like the kind of person who would be bolstered by knowing your life front to back, no matter how much it would suck to know. And if he 'really liked you', he'd want to know it anyway."

"Yeah… you're right" she said melancholically. "Whatever he comes up with for Season 2… I'm sure it'll be great."

"Season 2?" Hajime asked, confused, and as soon as he did, the Neo World Program finished its shut down.

Static.

A highly marketable version of Makoto showed up on the screen.

"Hey everyone! Sorry for taking so long! Truth to be told, Junko Enoshima passed away. We can't exactly continue the show like this, so season 2 onward is going to be completely different. It's going to be a biography! I want you all to know Junko for who she really was. Season 1 is also a part of that. It's 'Junko Enoshima when she was happy'. Season 2 is going to be 'Junko Enoshima when she was a kid', all in true-to-life graphics! And because of the method we're using, the release schedule won't suffer a bit!"

The video transitioned to the actual Makoto. 

The real one. 

"Junko was very important to me. She did so many terrible things and ruined so many lives, even tried to ruin mine, which ended up being the last straw for herself. But that's not all she was. No matter how much she tried convincing herself and everyone in the world of it, I never believed it for a moment. I must emphasize, this is not a ploy to garner sympathy, far from it. I just need the world to know what I know, what I know now more than ever. She gave her life to save me, like I would have done for any of my friends. I know that if things were just slightly different for her, the most terrible, most tragic event in human history would never have happened. I hope that through this, we can understand what led someone so young to cause so many atrocities, so it can never happen again."

The marketable version switched back.

"And that's what's become of The Life Of Junko Enoshima and Makoto Naegi. Have a wonderful evening, and remember to never stop creating the future you want!"

Static.

"Is this a proper use of the Neo World Program?" Byakuya asked, clearly not entirely on board with it, but not protesting.

"Well, it's either that or we get Hajime to animate it by hand. That is in fact a thing he can do now. Chihiro's Alter Ego can help too, and, if we're clever, we can even use it to test Junko's 'World Destroyer' idea to bring back the comatose students." Makoto explained.

"Do you really trust her after all of this?" Byakuya was clearly upset at that for a while.

Makoto understood why he was upset, but had to emphasize what he was going through. "You don't have her feelings going around in your head. She was being genuine back there, I can tell."

"I won't say I agree with it, but it's your highly complicated and terrible relationship. I won't intrude on it." Byakuya said, almost solemnly before almost yelling at Makoto again. "But if they manage to trace the signal back to us, or anything of the sort…"

"They couldn't before, they can't now."

"Do you even know how she did that?"

"Of course. I know everything she did. Well, most of it. Some of those memories are very-" he waved his hand around. "Dream-like. But I'm sure I can figure it out. I'm the only one who can."

Byakuya turned to leave in a huff. "Naegi."

"Hm?"

"Please be less reckless with your own life going forward." Despite his usual "upset leader" expression, it was obvious it was real concern.

"Sorry. I'm actually me this time."

"Fine. I'll just have to stop you next time you try to do that." Byakuya left the room quickly.

When Makoto was alone, he pulled out the flash drive with a copy of Alter Ego Junko.

I want to save you so badly.

He placed it on an old laptop. It didn't even have functioning internet access for her to escape with.

But I need to talk you into it first.

The program booted up.

"Huh? This wasn't where I was supposed to be."

He started typing.

Hello Junko, it's Makoto.

"Oh, hi Naegi. But you're not actually Naegi, right?" Even in computer form, she still had her snark.

Nope. It's the real me. He explained everything involving that situation.

"Oh. The hell came over me?! I wouldn't have done that for anyone else!"

That's exactly what you said then.

"Wow. That's…" she paused a bit. "Yeah, that checks out, actually."

You also said the world is better off without you.

"Well, it's true. Did you see what I did to it? You probably should just wipe that flash drive, honestly."

I wouldn't be happier without you.

"Makoto, stop being so clingy. Let me go. Talking to a computer that acts and looks like a friend never goes well." She was referring to Chihiro's Alter Ego in the Killing School Life. "Move on. Be happy with friends that didn't try to kill you on a weekly basis."

He could always tell her true intentions.

You're just saying that so I'll delete you.

"Yeah! I wanna know what that's like! It sounds real trippy."

Makoto sighed heavily and placed his head in his hands.

Of course it'd be like this. The only other way I got her to not send herself in the longest suicide run ever was by promising to literally upload her into my brain.

"Makoto." She spoke unprompted. "I'm dead. You can't bring me back without doing to someone what I did to you. And, I don't exactly get why, but I was very upset at myself for doing that by the end. Also, someone crazier about me than you might find this program, and do that themselves, like the Ultimate Despair tried to do. So… please. Honor my wishes. Delete this program and move on. If not for the sake of the world... do it for my sake."

He started typing very slowly.

You were always so convincing.

"It was my specialty."

Good- He accidentally hit enter.

"Yeah, pretty good speech, right? I learned it from you!"

Glad you learned something from me.

"Oh come on, I learned plenty from you, Mack Otto!"

Stop calling me that.

They were stalling.

"Never. I learned how to make the worst moves at chess, how to not account for the wind, that I have a heart after all, apparently, that you refer to Monokuma as 'bear' in your head -still haven't forgiven you for that, by the way- Never to leave Yasuhiro alone with you, how to make the kind of curry you like, and so much more. It's all in Season 1!"

What was that third thin- wait, Season 1?

Oh right, about our little show...

"What about it? God, I remember when we decided to make it. It was so much fun! Did you actually put it on air after I died? You're such a dork Makoto!"

Actually it's something else. He then explained what Season 2 would be.

"…"

Junko?

"Wow, that's so embarrassing. They're gonna see my sob story of a childhood? That's so lame."

...

"Thanks Makoto... Thanks for never giving up on me, even though everyone else did. I- I know I'm supposed to say nothing matters, because, you know, despair, but that really does mean a lot to me. Thank you for crashing into my life. For as long as we were together, you made it so much better. I really, really didn't deserve it."

There was no point in delaying anymore.

Goodbye Junko.

"Goodbye Makoto. I loved you."

I loved you too.

That command was seemingly set up to wipe the program, as the moment he pressed enter, the laptop shut down.

One time, at the very end, he was the most predictable person in the world.

The laptop screen was static. For the last time. (Makoto finally set up proper episode transitions and screensavers between showings of The Life of Junko Enoshima and Makoto Naegi. It was mostly them sitting at their "throne" together.)

Makoto Naegi didn't cry. He just took the entirety of it all, for the sake of the memory of his friends.

This time.

He really wanted to.