Work Text:
Shaky breath
After shaky breath
The true intentions of this killing game were revealed.
Makoto Naegi was holding the truth of this stupid game in his hands. The mastermind, being the one and only chairmen. How ironic? To beat this overlapping system, they had to break the cycle of falling to despair from the time limit propaganda TVs. No one had truly been killing each other. They were only killing themselves for the benefit of none other than the long dead Junko Enoshima.
Despair. It was like a poison.
One that seeped so far into your skin it scarred and prickled on the surface. Creating the unnatural grotesque appearance of a person who’d once been so hopeful that the only thing that could kill them was their own hope in this despair filled world.
Kyoko Kirigiri was no different.
Sacrificing her life with the hope that her discoveries were enough to save more than had to be sacrificed. Kyoko Kirigiri was always one for the truth. But only if it benefitted her. That poor girl. So clueless. So idiotic. So unbelievably stupid that the one thing that would kill her was her true love for the man she either have to kill or be killed by. In realty. It was Makoto Naegi who killed the stupid girl. Whether or not he intended to or not.
Naegi’s hands were flooded with sweat as his clammy hands gripped the papers of the Kyoko Kirigiri’s pocketbook. A direct guide on how to beat this game. His body shook marginally and quick. The tension and madness slowly catching up with the poor man.
“What are we going to do?” Aoi Asahina was first to speak, rubbing the overflowing tears from her blood red eyes. She was just in as much shock as the other two.
“I don’t know…” Ryota Matarai was second to speak. He didn’t know Kirigiri well enough to understand what that woman had contributed to in the last few years to makes sure hope overcame despair in all situations.
Naegi stayed utterly silent. It was pathetic how he couldn’t speak about what to do with this poor girl who he had practically just killed. It sounds rash but think we all knew that fate was eating him up inside. He hadn’t wept. He hadn’t even cried one single tear. The shock of being the cause of death of the most important person in your life, I mean who wouldn’t be speechless after?
Asahina glanced at Naegi, he was twiddling with his thumbs. The painful sweat mixing with his hands and dampening the page. “Makoto… what should we do?”
The boy looked up coldly. But not coldly like he was hiding his feelings. Coldly to the point where he felt total utterly numb inside his body filled with self hatred.
“Makoto…” Asahina was desperate, voice breaking more every word. “Say something at least.”
“What do you want me to say?” Naegi replied coldly. He was lost. He was at the first time in his life where he didn’t have his person for a second opinion.
“Anything Makoto… please…” tears filled her eyes as she darted her vision between the big and her dead friend at her lap.
“You always did have a way with words…” Mitarai spoke quietly. He was as lost as the rest of them.
“I don’t…” Naegi hesitated, the poor boy had no idea what was going to happen. “I don’t know what to do…”
Asahina and Mitarai glanced at each other, the Hope slowing draining away from their bodies. Naegi sat there. Hopelessly.
See Makoto Naegi always had hope. He gave it to others. His friends, his family, the people of the world.
But the one person who gave him hope? She was gone. Because of him.
Naegi stared into Kirigiri’s dead face. Her once porcelain, pale skin had become a rotten, hideous shade of prune. He hated how disgusted her felt to look at her. Disgusted in what the poison did to this woman, and disgusted in what he did to her and what he was beginning to think of her looks. Makoto had always thought she was pretty, beautiful even. And now this despair had caught up to her and taken over her body like a disease infested bug crawling through her skin causing her metamorphosis.
The uneven texture of the side of her face was an unpleasant sight. He felt horrible knowing he was disgusted by what his poison had made her become. He didn’t know who this poor woman was, all he knew was that she was not his Kyoko Kirigiri.
“Should we do what the pocketbook says?” Hina grasped the small paperback notebook and ran her eyes over the content.
“How?” Mitarai interjected, he placed his hand in the floor leaning on it to look at Hina closely. “It’s too dangerous. We could die.”
“I know… but if it’s the only way what do we do?” Hina spoke desperately again.
“There has to be another way…” Mitarai spoke, losing hope.
“I’ll do it.” Naegi stood up and announced.
“You cant be serious.” Hina stood up aswell. “It’s too dangerous!”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take…” he was firm. “Kyoko just died and we’re sitting g here twiddling our thumbs not doing anything about it. When we should be doing the exact thing to end this killing game once and for all.”
He clasped his fist tightly together and gritted his teeth.
“I’m going to end this.” Makoto took the pocketbook and looked over the cursive writing. “I’m the ultimate hope for a reason.”
~
"You're weak."
Naegi knew that voice far too well now. He turned his head carefully, looking straight into her. He'd already seen his old classmates in their deathly attire and how they were presented now after their untimely deaths.
Naegi's voice quivered, his heart beat faster. His arms and legs began to shake slightly. The fear of what was to happen was about to happen.
He looked straight at Kyoko Kirigiri.
But that wasn't Kyoko Kirigiri to him.
That was a girl who happened to have the same name as his best friend and be dead. Standing right in front of him.
"No..." He took a small step back. He wasn't expecting to see her in this fever dream he sacrificed himself to participate in.
"You made this Naegi." Kirigiri spoke coldly. No emotion. No feeling in her voice. Yes, she was cold, but not this cold to the point where she was no longer feeling.
Naegi was speechless. He stared into Kirigiri's eyes. The harsh, purple glistening eyes he'd grown to love had disappeared and was replaced with the coldness of this girl.
He stared into her poison infested skin. The mushiness slop on her face from the poison. It made Naegi sick. He had caused this. He was the reason she was dead.
She stepped closer to him getting up close and personal with him.
"You did this." She spat at him. He wouldn't dare look at her, so he kept his eyes on his shoes. "To every person standing here you did this."
Naegi glanced around and viewed his ex-classmates. Leon Kuwata has disgusting bruises body showed a vile green and yellow mix of dark blotches on his skin. All there was to see of Mondo Owada was a gloopy and mush after he was transformed into a cannibal's butter spread. Kiyotaka Isimaru was coated in a splatter of clear splash of his blood. The head injury spilling over his eyes and facs, his hair dripping in the biological substance. Celestia Lundenburg, or what ever the fuck was her name. Her legs up to her knees were severely burnt, not to be compared to her broken and dislocated upper body from the fire engine.
All the others were all coated in something similar.
Blood.
Blood that was forever on Naegi's hands and could never be washed away.
"Every single person here was killed. Because of your actions." Kirigiri was close to shouting. She was closer to Naegi. His hands on his knees, about to give out.
"Look at us Naegi. You horrid beast. This is because of you." She was up close and personal now. Her eyes had widened and were an undescribable colour and state. He could clearly see the remarks the poison made on her face. It made him sick.
He looked behind him. At Sayaka Maizono...
He'd known her for years before the killing game. And yet he was one of the last people he trusted before her eventual death.
Blood pouring out of her stomach like a waterfall. She looked frozen. Frozen in time of when she died. God that girl. She only did it to herself.
"Don't look at her. Look at me." Kirigiri spoke at a quieter tone than before.
Naegi kept looking at Sayaka he was so in awe of what happened to her. He blamed himself for everyone's death. But her's the most.
"Look at me goddamn it!" Kirigiri screamed at him. Dragging him by the hair and pulling him closer. Up to her face to see more clearly.
"Who do you really think you are thinking you're the ultimate hope?" She spat in his face. He still couldn't make eye contact. In reality she had given him that title.
Now it was being taken away...
"All you do is make sure the people around you die for your benefit!" She grilled his hair tighter and harder.
"Look around you Naegi! This is your fault!"
Naegi began to cry. In reality. It was his fault. If he had just stayed quiet. This wouldn't have happened.
Right?
"Look at you now. You're a fucking pathetic little boy who doesn't understand that the world is better off without you." She grilled at him, pulling him closer.
"I'm... I'm sorry." He gave out. The sob coming out in a cracked tone.
"You're sorry?" She pulled back. "You're sorry!? 'sorry' won't fix anything! 'sorry won't bring us back alive will it!"
"Kiri, please..." He begged. It was practically pathetic.
"Don't 'Kiri' me." She pushed his head to the ground, his knees giving out.
"You don't deserve to call me that."
"You don't deserve to live!" She slapped his face. Hard.
Naegi feel out of his fever dream. He was still tied up on the Future Foundation ground. On his knees. His hands struggling to break free.
The TV screen threw out a knife that was in the shape of half of Monokuma's smile.
Naegi broke himself free. He picked it up, sliding the blade over the tips of his fingers. The despair finally caught up to him. Winning the race.
Naegi grazed the blade over his rolled up sleeves, digging the blade into his right arm, puncturing the skin and slicing through his veins.
He coughed up the spit that was living in this mouth. It splatter over the ground like the fresh blood from his arm did.
He pulled the knife towards his chest. The tip already piercing and cutting his left chest. He coughed out small droplets of blood. It was surging and souring through his skin, his vein's valves now couldn't prevent the backflow.
"Don't worry..." Naegi spoke. The true despair in his eyes and in his voice.
"I'm coming home soon..."
He pushed the knife in further...
And further...
Just enough until...
Naegi was punched and was flung slightly across the concrete floor.
"What the..."
Naegi was grabbed and pinned against the wall. He was punched once. Then twice. Then repeatedly.
Over.
And over.
And over again.
He puked up a large amount of blood. He left hand soaring to his mouth, his right was slower to get the job done. And strong hand had held him against the wall.
"Jesus Naegi..." Juzo Sakakura had held him tightly at the wall.
Naegi finally gave in and threw up all over the boxer.
"Oh, god! Jesus Christ that's gross..." Sakakura immediately dropped him.
Naegi threw up a tad bit longer before gasping for air. He had escaped his funk. Just how Kirigiri has wanted.
Or had she really?
"Oh god..." Sakakura watched Naegi violently throw up on the floor. The puke mixed with blood pouring over the concrete.
"Jesus Naegi that's fucking disgusting..." He looked away as Naegi kept throwing up.
The splurging beige, green mix with a hint of red splattered and painted the floor with the gutting substance.
He finally finished and spoke, extremely out of breath. "Why..." He coughed again. 'Why did you help me..."
"Because... This foundation is nothing without hope." Sakakura answered truthfully.
Makoto Naegi was the ultimate hope.
Makoto Naegi is the ultimate hope.
"But..."
"I don't care Naegi. You give us all hope." Sakakura spoke, cutting him off. "You give us the hope we need."
"No! How am I supposed to give everyone on the fucking planet hope if the one person who gave me hope is gone!" Naegi shouted at the top of his lungs in pure frustration.
"What?" Sakakura was confused.
"Kiri... She was the one who gave me this title. She helped me go from some plain, old lucky kid who wasn't prepared for the world." He kept going. "She helped me through absolutely everything that has happened these past few years. And now she's gone! All because of me!"
"Kirigiri's... Dead?" His face pailed in shock.
"I loved, I love Kyoko Kirigiri! And now she's dead because I'm still here!" He gaged out a sob and more blood. It poured out of his mouth and arm, spelling over the floor.
Sakakura races over and wrapped his jumper over the wound.
"Naegi, you know you could paralyse your arm?" Sakakura looked at the hopeless man. Covered in blood and puke.
"I know..."
'Listen Naegi... Kirigiri loved you enough to die for you. And she died for you to keep pushing forward and giving this world the hope you've already been giving it."
Naegi stared at Sakakura in shock and confusion.
"What about Munakata?" Naegi asked staring at the floor, at his blood.
"Munakata was never suited to be the hope this world needed."
"Whereas Naegi. You are."
~
Naegi's eyes flickered open like lights during a power outage. The small warm blub was above him, shining on his face. He looked over at his body. There was a plaster over his chest where he had pierced, and a immense bandage strapped over his right arm. He tried to move it. But it was incredibly weak.
"Makoto! Oh my God he's awake!" A familiar voice flooded Naegi's ears.
"Wait, shit oh my God he's alive!" Another familiar female voice spoke over the other girl.
"Huh?" Naegi's confusion was evident in his tone.
"Hey, it's me, Komaru, your sister." Komaru held his head up slightly to view her better.
Naegi gained full consciousness and his eyes widen seeing his sister for the first time in what felt like forever.
"Komaru, oh my God." He sat up weakly and hugged her as tight as he could bare.
"Oh god, Komaru... I thought you were dead." Naegi spoke, nearly crying.
"I thought you were dead big bro..." She wiped her eyes, but unable to resist the tears.
"I'm alive... Surprisingly..." He chuckled at the state of his body. It would take time to heal. And he wasn't even sure his arm would ever heal fully again.
"Good to see you're alive and well.' Byakuya Togami was standing at the end of his makeshift hospital bed. Along with the other survivor.
"Thanks Byakuya..."
"Naeggy bro I tried to save you man and I just couldn't reach you brah" Yasuhiro spoke in his general 12 year old manner.
"The thought that counts." Hina butted in, teasing him.
"I mean... I'm-Im glad you di-didn't die..." Toko stuttered as per usual.
"Thanks guys..." Makoto replied thankfully. He looked out of the gazebo and saw the boat to the 77th class leaving for jabberwock island.
"I should go..." Naegi stood up weakly, covering his chest with his working arm.
"No, Makoto it's too early." Komaru exclaimed in fear
"I need to speak to someone..." He was already walking towards the opening of the gazebo.
"Who?" Byakuya asked suspiciously.
"Hajime Hinata"
Makoto strolled weakly towards the tip of the higher pier. He looked down watching the entire 77th class preparing to leave for Jabberwock.
Makoto started down at Hajime. Catching his attention. The two men stared at each other for a second. Before Hajime nodded in respect for the hopeful man. Makoto repeated the gesture and smiled at the hope of that class becoming free of despair again.
The ferry horn rang as the boat began to sail away, before you knew it they were already in the sunset of the horizon. The burnt sienna colour shining into Makoto's eyes. The light glimmering over the ocean. Makoto smiled, he prayed for the peace of this world.
In reality you could never rid of despair.
But you could make sure you held hope in your heart.
"Makoto...?"
A quiet and weak voice called him from behind. Catching his attention. He turned around and viewed the beauty in front of him.
There she was.
Kyoko.
Standing right there.
Right there.
Right in front of him.
Alive.
He couldn't believe it. She's dead? She should be dead technically.
He walked over to her slowly, trying to comprehend that she was alive. He placed himself in front of her and took in the sight of her eloquence.
"Are you... Are you real?" He stuttered.
He pressed his fingers along her scarred face. It was no longer rotten. But healing. It's looked like some remedy was in her system. And whatever it was, was working.
"You're... You're real?"
"Of course I am." Her voice was kind, warm. Nothing like the version of her that Naegi meat in his fever dream.
"Oh my God...Kyoko?" His eyes flooded with tears and he wrapped himself around Kyoko so tight. He didn't care how hurt he was, he needed her close.
"Don't worry, I'm here. And I'm never leaving you again" she pulled him to the ground carefully. Before they both have out.
He sobbed loudly in her arms. The sudden reveal of her survival was shocking and extremely magical. She began to weep slowly aswell. He'd never saw her cry, this was a first for that. Her fabric covered, carefully hands rubbed his back, slowly up and down.
He pulled back slowly. Rubbing his tears and snot off with his sleeve.
"How are you alive? How are you here right now?" He begged for the answer. He wanted to know he wasn't dreaming again.
"Kimura... Her antidote saved me." She rubbed her eyes gently and looked into his mahogany eyes.
"So this isn't a dream?"
"No... No Makoto it's not a dream silly." She held his head in her palms.
He coughed out a sob and rubbed his still crying eyes. The redness was extremely evident through his pupils.
"Do you hate me?" He whispered silently. His voice was going to give out again.
"What?"
"Do you hate me Kirigiri..." His tone gave out and sounded almost angry. He hadn't called her Kirigiri in years now.
"Oh Makoto..." Tears streamed down her face in retaliation. Her voice breaking slightly. "How could I ever hate you."
"You don't blame me for your 'death'?" Makoto's voice got quiet again. His lip quivering.
"No, Makoto. Of course I don't." She spoke loudly and with certainty. Trying to get it in his head.
"Makoto I could never hate you..." Kyoko gulped and her face flushed with a peony coloured pigment.
"Makoto... I love you Makoto... That's why I didn't tell you, and that's why I died for you in the first place." Her vocal volume lowered again. Her shyness appearing. Eyes darted away to not see the look on Makoto's face.
"Kyoko..." He held her close.
"Kyoko there's isn't something I wouldn't do for you in this world." He placed his forehead against hers.
"I love you, Kyoko. So much it's killing me."
She smiled at him softly. He wiped her eyes with his sleeve, clearing up the burning tears.
Don't tell me that's the same sleeve that you wiped your nose with." Kyoko chuckled.
Makoto looked at his sleeve and looked away with embarrassment. "Umm... Maybe?"
They laughed together, no matter the situation, they'd always find some sort of humour out of it
“It's fine, to be honest I don't really care." She looked straight into him again, taking her hand in his.
“All I want is to be with you now, Makoto."
Makoto smiled back at her again, copying her sweet smile that she'd only show him.
“I love you Kyoko. With everything I have." Makoto confessed, starting to cry again. "Look, I'm crying again."
She let a couple tears drop aswell. "Don't worry so am I." She joked yet again.
“I love you Makoto."
He held her cheek, the smooth skin on her non-poisoned side rubbing against his rough, dry hands. He pulled her close and kissed her gently. The overlapping feeling from the past 3 years pouring into each other's mouths.
They were finally free
They were each other's hope.