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.