Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mahiru, dazed and confused, found herself waking up on the beach when the last place she remembered being was at school. Then, she and Nekomaru found an unconscious Sayaka bleeding out on the sand. And now, Nekomaru was screaming.

“Get a hold of yourself!” she yelled, “Freaking out isn’t going to save her! We need to stop the bleeding and get her to a safe place.”

“R-right.” He took off his jacket and started wrapping it around Sayaka’s stomach before tying it off. She winced, but didn’t wake up. 

“I wish we knew where Mikan was,” Mahiru said as she looked around. She could catch glimpses of buildings past the trees inland, but the sun was making it hard to see. 

“I wish we knew where anyone was,” Nekomaru said. She looked back to him carefully picking up Sakaya bridal style. “Actually…where are we ?”

“We’ll have to find someone to tell us. Come on, the sooner we do, the sooner we can get Sayaka some help.”

She heard his heavy footsteps dig into the sand behind her as they headed for the closest building. 

As they rounded to the front, they realized that it was some sort of resort or hotel. There was a swimming pool in front of it and further back were smaller buildings. To the left was another building, though it looked boarded up. 

"Hey! Up here!"

They looked up to see Teruteru and Gundham looking down at them from the hotel's balcony. Both looked unharmed, but they also appeared confused. Teruteru looked like he was seconds from having a heart attack.

"Thank goodness you two are here!" the cook yelled, "We got two people bleedin' out up here!"

Mahuri and Nekomaru shared a look before running up the stairs. 

"Seems you two have also found a waning soul," Gundham said morbidly, "And she too hails from the same order."

"Same order? Bring her inside," she said as she waved Nekomaru in.

The top level appeared to be a dining area with several wooden tables and chairs. Gundham pointed to the floor, where two students, Leon and Chihiro, were lying. Chihiro was bleeding heavily from their head and Leon…he looked like he'd been beaten brutally. He was covered in blood, his face was swollen with bruising, and his arms and legs were bent weird. 

"Who…what the hell is going on?!" Nekomaru struggled to say.

Mahiru herself was at a loss for words. She honestly wanted to cry. Why were these three attacked so viciously? "They need help…" she finally forced out, "Has anyone seen Mikan?"

"No," Teruteru said, "We just woke up. Did you guys-?"

"Yeah," Nekomaru said as he lowered Sayaka next to Leon, "And I've got a bad feeling we aren't the only ones. We should split up and-"

"We can't leave them here!" Mahiru said, gesturing to the injured, "They'll die!"

"I was getting to that! You and Teruteru should stay here and wrap them up as best as you guys can. Me and Gundham will try to figure out where the others are and bring them back here. This seems like the tallest building, so being in here means we’ll be less likely to be surprised if our kidnappers come back."

"They are as good as found," Gundham said as he headed for the door with Nekomaru.

"Bandages," Mahiru said as she looked around, "We could probably use some of these tablecloths, but we'll need to cut them into strips.”

"Knife!" Teruteru suddenly yelled, causing her to jump, "S-sorry. I meant we can use a knife. I think there's one back in the kitchen." He stood up and hurried to go look for one.

Once Nekomaru and Gundham walked down the stairs, they discovered another problem. 

Gundham lifted his arms out in front of himself dramatically and called out, “Go fourth, my Twelve Zodiac Generals! Lead us to our mortal comrades.”

There was a pause as nothing happened. It only took Nekomaru a second to realize what was wrong. He’d been around the breeder long enough to know whenever he called his hamsters, they appeared. 

Not this time. 

“Cham-P?” Gundham called. He felt around in his scarf, then his jacket. “San-D? Maga-Z? Jum-P?!” He pulled his scarf off of his neck, something Nekomaru had never seen him do, and gripped it tightly when none of the hamsters appeared. “Who dares to separate The Great Overlord of Ice from his subordinates?!”

“Maybe they got separated from you when we were taken here.”

“Impossible! They are not allowed to leave my field of influence without my permission. Even if one were to slip into another realm, I would know of it.”

“If we were knocked unconscious, you wouldn’t have known.”

“No being is powerful enough to break a contract so tightly woven!! If my Dark Devas of Destruction are left without guidance, they will surely live up to their name. Even now, they are most certainly feasting on the body of the wretched worms who brought us here and commanding their offspring to do the same.”

 “Maybe they’re with one of the others?”

“The only other being they would tolerate without my intervention would be the Dark Queen, but I highly doubt they would choose her over me. If they are with her, then her hold over them is surely strained by now. We must find them quickly.”

Nekomaru nodded and they started jogging. It seemed a little backwards to worry more about hamsters than their classmates, but he knew arguing with Gundham would only slow them down. Plus, he knew how important they were to him. He treated them better than he treated himself. 

As they ran past the smaller buildings, he did a double take and stopped.

“Why are you stopping?” Gundham demanded, “Are we not in a hurry?”

He walked over to the mailbox and took a closer look. There was no doubt about it, that was a picture of Kazuichi! He looked over to the next one and it was a picture of Fuyuhiko. “Are these little houses supposed to be for us?”

As they were looking down the line, a door behind them flew open and someone stumbled out as though they had been thrown. She landed on her back with her legs hanging in the air.

“Mikan!” Nekomaru called as they ran over to her. 

“I-I’m so happy you guys are okay!” Mikan said as the team manager helped her up, “I just woke up here a-a-and-!" She quickly ushered them both into the room. “She was in here when I woke up!"

On the bed laid someone wrapped almost head to toe in bandages. Fried black hair clung to their face from sweat. A ruined outfit and tangled hair laid in a pile at the end of the bed. 

"The Mistress of Falsified Realities…" Gundham mumbled, "So the pattern continues."

"What are you talking about?" 

"We've found people from our class and class 78," Nekomaru answered, “Teruteru and Mahiru are fine, so are we, but everyone we’ve found from 78 is badly injured.”

“Then I need to see them immediately. Can they be moved here?”

After remembering how broken Leon looked, Nekomaru shook his head. 

The nurse hurried over to a desk and started to gather medical supplies into a bag. “Then I’ll go to them.”

Waking up in an unknown location didn’t scare Peko. It wasn’t uncommon for her training to include being kidnapped. As long as she could escape or kill her captors, she would survive. No, what unnerved her was that the last thing she remembered was being beside Fuyuhiko, and now she suddenly wasn’t. 

Instead, she woke up in an empty airport. Standing at the window, she could see that it was on a beach and according to the position of the sun, it was early afternoon. 

“So it’s likely been a day,” she said to herself. The last time she remembered was around lunchtime.

She turned to observe her surroundings and heard a crash. Immediately, she drew her  bamboo sword. She heard the noise again, then an “ouch”, then someone emerged from a door. It was a larger person wearing a white suit and thin glasses. He was rubbing his head. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she had seen him. “Don’t move,” she called.

He immediately froze, then visibly relaxed when he saw her. “Peko! Oh, I’m glad I’m not the only one here.”

Peko squinted at him. She recognized the voice, but the appearance didn’t match it. “Ryota? Why do you look like that?”

He looked down at himself. “This…this isn’t…I…one sec.” He went back into the room he’d walked out of, then a minute later walked back out looking like Ryota. “That’s better.”

Now she remembered. That wasn’t the real Ryota, but an imposter. He took off his disguise right before they went to…do something. “My apologies. I didn’t recognize you at first.”

“To be fair, you still don’t.”

She nodded, then sheathed her sword. “Do you have any idea as to how we got here?”

“I…can’t remember, honestly. One moment, we were in class and then-”

“We’re here. Whoever kidnapped us must be skilled.”

“Kidnapped?”

“Clearly. As to why and where, I’m unsure.”

He walked over and looked out the large window. It looked out to the runway, where a plane rested. “Why an abandoned airport?” he muttered. 

“We need to inspect our surroundings-” 

“Wait, someone just walked out!”

Peko quickly joined him at the window. Walking down the stairs of the plane was their classmate, Nagito. He quickly spotted them at the window and waved both arms as though he wanted to get their attention. 

She raised an arm in response. 

He began frantically pointing toward the plane, then went back into it.

“What’s he trying to say?” the imposter asked. 

“I’m not sure, but it seems important,” she said as she headed for the door.

Again, there was another bang. 

“That came from where I was,” the imposter said, “I tripped over some bags when I was trying to get out here.”

Peko drew her sword again and headed for the sound. She hoped it was another classmate and even more so, Fuyuhiko. She opened the door and peered inside. 

It was Sakura. She was leaning up against the wall and appeared to be tired. 

“Ogami,” Peko said, “Are you alright?”

Slowly, the martial artist looked up. There was blood dripping out of her mouth and her face looked pale. She tried to stand straighter, but her eyes rolled and she fell against the wall. 

Peko and Imposter moved quickly to help her sit on the floor. 

“What’s wrong with her?”

Peko shook her head. “I don’t see any physical wounds. Can you hear me, Ogami?”

She seemed too out of it to speak. 

“There you two are,” Nagito said at the doorway, “I thought you guys were coming to the plane.”

“We were,” the imposter answered, “But we found her and she needs help.”

“Oh, looks like we’re all heroes today,” he said, “I found someone injured in the plane with me as well.”

Chapter Text

When Mikan came sprinting into the dining room, Mahiru choked on her breath. She was still on edge. “Oh, Mikan. I-”

“I’ll take it from here,” Mikan said as she sat next to Leon.

Mahuri nodded and moved aside. Her and Teruteru had done their best to patch up the injured, but they could only do so much. Chihiro’s head had been wrapped and Nekomaru’s jacket was still tied tightly around Sayaka’s torso, but it was nearly impossible to wrap all of Leon’s injuries. 

“Thank goodness you’re here,” Teruteru sighed, “I’m a cook, not a nurse. I was afraid we’d kill ‘em.”

Mikan began pulling things out of her bag. She put on some gloves and grabbed a stitch kit. “You did a good job of putting pressure on the wounds, possibly saving their lives, but they aren’t saved yet. I’ll need both of your help.”

Mahiru and Teruteru both gave a panicked look.

“I’ll mostly need you to hand me things and keep an eye on the ones I’m not working on.”

“Where’s Nekomaru and Gundham?” Teruteru asked, probably hoping to get out of this.

“Gundham went to search for the others and Nekomaru is with Celestia. I didn’t want to risk moving her yet.”

“Don’t tell me she’s injured too!”

Mikan nodded. “But right now, we need to focus on saving these three. Grab a piece of cloth and put pressure on anything that’s bleeding. Important areas first.”

Mahiru and Teruteru quickly did as they were told.

“It looks like whoever did this,” Mikan said as she worked, “Wanted him dead.”

Mahiru shook her head. “Whoever it was wanted all of them dead. I just can’t understand why. Some of us have powerful families or organizations, so maybe it’s a rival?”

“Even then,” Teruteru said, “Why not go afta their families? Why two different classes?”

Mahiru didn’t know. She watched as Mikan stitched, cleaned, and splinted any and all injuries in half the time it would take someone who was not the ultimate nurse. She didn’t take her eyes off of Leon until she had checked every inch. By then, nearly his entire body was wrapped and all of his limbs had been secured between sticks. 

Then, she moved over to Sayaka. She untied the jacket and quickly inspected the wound, even going as far as to move around the opening so she could see further inside. 

“I think Imma be sick watchin’ this,” Teruteru mumbled. 

“Hey! You guys in there!?”

That sounded like Ibuki. Teruteru ran over to the window and looked. “Oh no, we gotta nutha one!”

Mahiru joined and sure enough, Ibuki was dragging Kiyotaka under his arms. “We gotta help her!”

It was a bit clumsy getting someone who was unconscious up the stairs, but the three of them managed. Mikan told them to place pressure on his head until she could get to him. He was second in line. 

By the time they filled Ibuki in on what was going on, they heard more shouting. This time, it was Nagito.

“Hey,” he said as he struggled to help Sakura walk with Ryota? helping him, “We could use a little help here, that is of course if you don’t mind.”

Peko was carrying Mukuro in her arms. The soldier looked like she’d been put in front of a firing squad.

“More?!” Ibuki yelled, “These poor first years got scrambled!”

It took some time getting Sakura up the stairs, but since she was conscious it took less time then it had taken with Taka. Peko easily carried Mukoro up the stairs. 

Mikan had just finished sewing up Sayaka’s stab wound. “Help Sakura sit down and lay Mukuro next to me. Peko, do you think you can clean and wrap Chihiro’s and Taka’s head wounds?”

The swordswoman nodded and got to work. 

“Mahiru, I need you to-”

THUD!

The imposter and Nagito were looking sheepishly as they tried to right Sakura, who had fallen over. 

Mikan gave them an uncharacteristic scowl. “Be careful of my patients. I’ve never lost one and I’m not about to lose one now!”

“Wow, Mikan,” Nagito said, “You get so passionate about your talent. It makes me absolutely-”

“No more talking! Get her some water and check her temperature.”

This continued for a while with everyone doing as Mikan said. According to Nagito, they looked like “a perfectly capable war hospital”, though that did little to reassure everyone. All of the injured were able to be stabilized with Sakura doing the best and Leon doing the worst. 

“It’ll take a while for them to fully recover,” Mikan explained as she cleaned her supplies, “So until then, they’ll have to remain in our care.”

“Well, they can’t stay on the floor,” Mahiru said.

“Oh, there are small rooms in front of the hotel. M-maybe we could bring them there?”

“That would be dangerous,” Peko said, “If everyone was spread out in separate rooms, our attackers would have a better chance at surprising someone. We have better visibility and a height advantage here.”

“Hey, Ibuki knows! What if we bring some mattresses from the rooms to here?”

“That would work.”

Sitting quietly and overthinking things never sat well with Nekomaru, so while he waited for Gundham or Mikan to get back, he did some push ups and sit ups. It made him calm down and think straight. Because this was definitely a situation that would make most people panic. 

He stood up and checked on Celeste for the third time. Still breathing. Still had a pulse. Still incredibly injured. It bugged him to no end that he couldn’t remember getting attacked or knocked out or anything! He remembered searching for someone in the rain with his classmates. He had an image of himself, Akane, and Ryota calling out a name, but he couldn’t remember who’s name it was. 

In the mist of him doing squats, there was a knock on the door. After checking the window, he opened it for Mikan and Peko. “Peko! Were you guys able to find everyone else?”

“Not everyone,” Peko said, “But we’ll take count once we get what we need from the rooms. Have you seen Fuyuhiko by chance?” 

He shook his head. “I’ve been waiting in here with Celeste.” That’s when he noticed Mikan and Peko walking in with what looked like a gurney made from a tablecloth and two sticks on the end. “Hey, if you guys need her moved, I could just carry her.”

“Not with her injuries,” Mikan explained, “It would be best to keep her as horizontal as possible while transporting her. But i-if you could help Peko move her with this, that would b-be a big help.”

He agreed and followed Mikan’s orders as she showed Peko and him how to pick up Celeste. Once they got her onto the gurney, it was easy for the both of them to carry her out of the room.

“Where are we moving her?”

“To the top floor of the hotel,” Peko said, “It would be safer to defend from up there.”

That made sense. Then he noticed more of his classmates helping each other move mattresses, sheets, and blankets out of the other rooms. He was relieved to see that more of them were found and appeared to be unharmed, but he couldn’t stop to greet them yet. 

They traveled around the swimming pool and made it up the stairs. The steps were a little tricky to get up with the gurney, but having Peko go first and Nekomaru hold it up higher kept Celeste from sliding off. 

“Set her here,” Ryota called as he laid a mattress down for them.

Once they got her transferred, Nekomaru helped with moving the others onto a mattress. As someone brought one in, he and Peko would carefully move one of the injured onto it. When they got to Sakura, he was stunned for a few seconds. How did someone defeat her? She was the strongest human in the world! The thought of someone being able to overpower her honestly scared the shit out of him. 

“Mikan believes that she was poisoned,” Peko explained, snapping him out of his thoughts, “She has a head injury, but not bad enough to cause her other symptoms.”

That made sense, though it didn’t make him feel any better. Someone was still smart or demented enough to get her to drink poison if that was the case. “So has anyone seen anyone else aside from our class and theirs on this island?”

“Not yet,” Mahiru answered, “But we haven’t explored everywhere. I’m honestly surprised our kidnappers haven’t shown up yet. I would think they would want to gloat or something. Oh, has Gundham come back yet?”

“No, I was hoping he was with you guys. Knowing him, he’s still looking for his hamsters.”

“They’re gone too? …I’d hate to tell him, but they’re most likely lost or worse. If our kidnappers would do this to high schoolers, there’s no telling what they would do to little animals.”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t tell him that.”

“I saw him,” Peko said, “When we were on our way here.”

This was bad. This was the worst it could’ve been. Gundham searched and called for his beloved Devas, but they wouldn’t respond. Not even the barn seemed to house them. He heard people and naively hoped Sonia would be with them, but it was just Peko and the others. He told them the directions to the hotel, then continued his search. 

He noticed that there was a bridge connecting this island to another. It would be foolish to go too far, especially when their kidnappers could still be close. So he decided to restrict today’s search to this island. 

The final building, aside from that boarded up building by the hotel, was a convenience store. Yes, they probably were attracted by the food. He threw open the doors and was surprised to see that the shelves were stocked. None of the products seemed old or dusty. 

As his suspicion of the place grew, he heard loud whispering coming from the back of the store. “I would normally revel in someone cowering in my presence, but right now I have not the time. Show yourself!”

Hiyoko poked her head from around a shelf. “Oh, it’s just a wack job.”

“Hm, another found.”

“Another? You know where the rest of the class is?!”

“They are gathering at a hotel to the south of here.”

Next to Hiyoko, Chiaki came from behind the shelf. “Hello.”

“Ah, Protector of Our Order. Your leadership will be greatly needed.”

The gamer looked behind her and then back at him as though she didn’t understand who he was talking to.

“She doesn’t remember anything about us,” Hiyoko said matter of factually, “Not the school, not us or the class, not even Ms. Yukizome. I think she got hit in the head or something.”

“Are you certain this is not a doppelganger?”

“A what? Don’t be stupid and stop being weird!” 

She moved completely into view to say something else, but Gundham’s attention was no longer on her words. “Has time reversed for everyone or just you?”

Her face twisted in confusion and she started to insult him until she looked up at Chiaki…and realized that wasn’t right. She ran over to a package of food that had an aluminum wrapping and screamed. “What the hell?! I’m supposed to be taller and- Why do I look like this again!?”

“Like what again?” Chiaki asked. 

“I’m supposed to look older, duh! I have to be dreaming,” she covered her face and began to cry.

“Wallowing in self pity will not reverse your curse! Let us return to the others at least.”

“What about the body?” Chiaki asked. 

“Who cares!?” Hyoko cried, “He’s already dead and somethings wrong with me! We aren’t strong enough to move him anyways.”

“What body?” Gundham asked. 

Chiaki pointed towards the back corner of the store. “We never checked if he was still alive. We just woke up and hid as soon as we saw him.”

“We thought the attackers would be back,” Hyoko said, “And they might come back, so we should leave!” 

Without another word, Gundham moved toward the direction Chiaki had pointed. It didn’t take long for him to find Hifumi lying on the ground, blood pooling around his head. “We need to check for a pulse.”

“Then you do it!” Hyoko yelled. 

“My skin would surely burn his flesh, especially in his weakened form.”

“Idiot, no it wouldn’t!”

Chiaki bent down and placed two fingers on his neck and waited. “...I feel a pulse.”

“He’s alive?!”

“Then we need to get him to the hotel,” Gundham said, “Mikan can tend to him there.”

“And just how are we going to do that? He’s too big for us to pick up and don’t say you’re going to use your magic or something stupid like that.”

“Nonsense. He is too weak to be around my dark arts.” He looked around the store until he found a supply closet. When he opened it, he found a cart. “Ah ha! This will do nicely.”

Chapter Text

It took a while, but they were able to get all of the mattresses into the hotel. There were only sixteen, meaning that once Gundham returned with whoever he brought back, there wouldn’t be enough for everyone to sleep on a bed. The injured would each have to have their own, so that left nine for everyone else. 

“I don’t need a bed to sleep,” Peko said, “So that frees one for someone else.”

“I could probably move some furniture together to sleep on,” Nekomaru said. 

“No, I’m vetoing that,” Mahiru said to Nekomaru, “Anyone with an illness is not giving up their bed. Oh, which reminds me. Mikan, do you still have that bag with you?”

“Huh? Oh, right!” The nurse hurried over with a bag and dumped a pile of pill containers onto the table, which she quickly began to organize. “I-I-I checked in everyone’s bathrooms to see i-if there were any more medical supplies a-a-and I found your heart medication in your bathroom and Nagito’s medication in his. P-please don’t be mad that I went through your things!”

“Mikan, you’re too kind,” Nagito said as he walked over, “What would we do without your amazing talent to heal?”

“You can thank me by remembering to take them. As for beds, someone could t-take mine. I’ll m-most likely be up looking after the injured, so I won’t need it as much.”

“But you’ll still need to sleep,” Mahiru said, “I’d be fine switching out with you. When you need to rest, I’ll look after them and you could use my bed.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. We don’t need our nurse getting sick.”

“I still think it would be fine for me to give up my bed,” Nekomaru said, “Sleeping on a couch or something isn’t going to hurt me.”

“As for me,” Nagito said, “I would be more than willing to give up my spot for a true ultimate. Knowing that one possessing true talent was getting the rest they deserved would sustain me enough.”

Mahiru shot them both a glare. “No. Vetoed. Teruteru and Ryota can just give up their beds.”

“I can?” the imposter asked.

“You’re going to make the cook give up his spot?!” Teruteru yelled from the kitchen, “And after I’ve gone to the trouble of starting dinner? The nerve of some people.”

“Now hold on,” Nagito said, “We don’t know how many people Gundham’s found yet.”

“Hey, speaking of which, Ibuki sees Gundham!” the guitarist said as she pointed out the window, “And he’s found more people.”

Nekomaru, Peko, and The Imposter quickly moved to help the others outside. They immediately got Hifumi to a bed and Mikan went to work patching him up.

“Aw, Ibuki didn’t know Hiyoko had a little sister.”

“It’s me!” the dancer yelled. 

Everyone paused to stare at her, which only resulted in making her cry.

“It’s going to be okay,” Mahiru assured her, “I don’t know how…this happened, but we’re going to figure it out.”

“She isn’t the only one suffering from an ailment,” Gundham said, “It seems our representative is unaware of some of her memories.”

“Are you sure you all know me?” Chiaki asked, “I don’t recognize any of you.”

“What, not even Ibuki?!” 

She shook her head no.

The Imposter walked over and checked her head. “No obvious head injuries. Do you feel okay?”

“I think so. Just confused.”

“It could be a s-stress response,” Mikan said, “We all seem to be suffering from some form of memory loss.”

“We must’ve seen something gnarly,” Ibuki said, “On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t remember.”

“We need to figure out what happened,” Peko said, “That way we know who we’re dealing with and why we’re here. And people are still missing.”

“Right, we need to take account of everyone we've found so far,” Mahiru said. She grabbed a pencil and a notebook from the things they gathered and started writing the names of the people who were present. “From Class 77, there’s me, Hiyoko, Nekomaru, Ibuki, Chiaki, Mikan, Ry…what do we call you?” she asked as she looked up at the imposter.

“Ryota is fine.”

She nodded. “Ryota, Gundham, Teruteru, Peko, and Nagito. Is that everyone?”

Everyone nodded. 

“That means,” Peko said, “That Fuyuhiko, Kazuichi, Akane, and Sonia are still unaccounted for.”

“Right. And in Class 78, there’s Kawata, Chihiro, Taka, Sakura, Yamada, Enoshima’s sister, Sayaka, and Ludenberg. Who’s missing from their class?”

“Makoto, Mondo, Kyoko, Yasahiro, Hina, Junko, Togami, and Fukawa,” Nekomaru said, “There’s a lot more people missing from their class than ours.”

“They may still be hidden,” Gundham said, “In my travels, I found a way to traverse to another island.”

“Then we should keep looking,” the imposter said, “They might be hurt or in danger. Or worse.”

“If the pattern is complete, then anyone in Class 78 has either already been mauled, is, or will be.”

“Then let’s go!” Nekomaru yelled, “No sense in standin’ around and waiting for it to happen.”

“That may be unwise,” Peko warned.

“What? But-”

“Trust me, I understand , but it’s starting to get dark. We don’t know our way around here and we can’t leave the injured here. It would also be foolish to split up this close to night time. Right now, we need to eat, set up defenses, and figure out our next course of action.”

The team manager groaned, but stayed put. “It’s a good plan, but I don’t like the idea of leaving the others out there.”

“Hopefully they’ve found each other and are seeking shelter as well. Right now, we need to make sure that we stay safe.”

“And right now,” Teruteru said as he poked his head out of the kitchen, “You all need to prepare to fill y'all’s bellies. It’s dinnertime!”

“Thanks, Teruteru,” Mahiru said.

“Ah, it’s the least I could do. Hope you all like pulled pork sandwiches, smothered potatoes, and steamed vegetables. Figured we could use some comfort food.”

“Ibuki’s mouth is already watering!”

“Then come on, single file. There’s plenty for everyone to get seconds.”

“What about the injured?” the imposter asked. 

 “Let them sleep,” Mikan said, “They can eat when they wake up.”

 Once everyone had their food and was sitting at tables, a tense silence fell over the room. And it wasn’t just the good food that was keeping people quiet. 

 “...So, what are we going to do?” Hiyoko asked quietly, “Where even are we?”

 “We don’t know yet,” the imposter said, “But we should be able to find that out when we look around. There’s an airport here, and that has to have some information as to where we are, right?”

 “Quite possibly,” Peko answered, “We can search it as a group tomorrow. We should also gather supplies we may need. There’s no telling how long we’ll be stuck here.”

 “Y-you don’t think it’ll be long,” Teruteru asked, “Do you?”

 “It’s hard to say when we still don’t know who we’re dealing with.”

 “If we need supplies,” Chiaki said, “There’s a convenience store here too.”

 “We should make a map of the island,” Nekomaru suggested, “We woke up all over the place, so there’s no telling what’s all here. And if we do wind up getting attacked again, knowing our surroundings would give us a fighting chance.”

 Mahiru flipped to a new page in the journal. “Okay, so far on the list of things to do tomorrow is search for our classmates and the rest of Class 78, investigate the airport, map out the island, and gather supplies from the convenience store. That’s a good start, but what do we need to do tonight?”

 “Bar the windows,” Peko suggested, “We want to limit our attackers’ ability to get in. I also suggest blocking one of the entrances.”

 “M-maybe the one up here?” Mikan suggested, “I-i-if someone broke in here, w-we wouldn’t be able to get the injured out quickly.”

 “But it would be harder for them to get up the stairs,” Ibuki said, “Especially if we roll a barrel at them!”

 Chiaki shrugged. “I guess we could do this Donkey Kong style.”

 “But we could also defend the stairs inside,” Peko said, “The room containing the injured should be sealed off.”

 “Where do we get the components?” Gundham asked. 

 “We might have to wait until we can go to the convenience store,” Mahiru said, “Not unless we can find tools here.”

 “Waiting may cost us.”

 “I know. Maybe we can push furniture against the doors and windows until we can get something better. We could also take turns watching throughout the night. There should always be a few people watching upstairs and downstairs.”

 “Excellent ideas,” Nagito said, “I’ll be willing to go wherever I am needed.”

 “I would have to keep watch upstairs,” Mikan said, “I should be close to the patients. Sorry…”

 “I’d like to help up here to,” Mahiru said.

 “Well,” Hiyoko pouted, “If I have to do this, then I’m keeping watch with Mahiru.”

 “I shall take first watch down below,” Gundham stated, “My powers heighten in the night and the devils that surround me may pull the damned into an eternal slumber.”

 “I would prefer to watch from up here,” Peko said, “I can observe things better from up here.”

 “I’m fine wherever,” Chiaki said. 

 “Maybe you should be paired with Teruteru,” Hiyoko said as she squinted at the chef, “That way you can uppercut him again if he tries to mess with anyone while they’re sleeping.”

 “Now hold on a minute!” Teruteru yelled, “We’re not gonna sit here and ignore your involvement in that whole fiasco!”

 “Teruteru can watch downstairs with me,” Nekomaru said, “We’ll do the morning shift.”

 “Morning shift?! Well, at least I’ll be up in time to start breakfast. Wait, if I’m doin’ breakfast, then I’d have to be upstairs.”

 “Then he can do his shift with me,” Peko said, “He’ll behave himself, won’t you?”

 “Come on now, guys! I’ve grown since you first met me, I ain’t that much of a heathen anymore.”

 After more talking, furniture was rearranged downstairs as barricades and first watch began. It was decided that Mikan and Chiaki would take first watch upstairs and Gundham -preferring to be alone- would take first watch downstairs. Throughout their watch, Mikan checked on the injured with Chiaki’s help. In between, the nurse would check on Chiaki to see if her amnesia was caused by an illness or head injury, but didn’t find signs of either. The others tried their best to sleep, but most were too anxious. 

 During the second watch, Mahiru and Hiyoko gave up their bed so that Mikan could get some sleep. The nurse immediately passed out, probably worn out from having to work on so many people. Downstairs, Ibuki occupied herself during watch by asking the imposter questions. It felt a little uncomfortable to be asked personal questions, but he answered the ones that weren’t too invasive and declined to answer the ones that were. All in all, he was surprised that someone was that interested in him. 

 At sunrise, Peko and Teruteru were woken up to take final watch. The swordswoman stood by the windows silently and watched for movement while the chef went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She fully expected someone to come after them that night or that morning, so she was surprised when neither happened. Where were their kidnappers? Were they being held for ransom on this island? Or were they waiting for the two classes to make the next move?

 Her thoughts were interrupted by groaning behind her. She turned and saw Sakura sitting up and looking around. Then her eyes shot to Peko. 

 “What happened?” she asked, “And where are we?”

 “None of us are sure how we got here, but we appear to be on an island. Both class 77 and 78 were kidnapped, but only your class was attacked. Do you remember anything about it?”

 Sakura paused to collect her thoughts. “My memories are foggy.” She closed her eyes. “But I do recall something bad happening at Hope’s Peak. We were told to stay in class and barricade the door. The rest is still too hazy to remember clearly.”

 “It’s a start.”

 “Was everyone found?”

 Peko shook her head. “There are others downstairs, but everyone we’ve found from your class is up here. Between the two classes, we are missing twelve classmates. Eight from your class and four from mine.”

 Sakura looked around again, probably looking to see who of her classmates had been found. 

 “Alright,” Teruteru said as he came out of the kitchen, “Breakfast is almost- Oh, nice ta see one of you guys is awake. I hope you’re hungry cuz I whipped up plenty for everyone.”

 “I’ll go wake up the others,” Peko said as she made her way downstairs.

 Once down there, she found Nagito finishing saying something about hope and talent and the usual while Nekomaru finished up a workout. “Time to get everyone up. Breakfast is ready.”

 “My powers are drained at this hour,” Gundham mumbled before turning over.

 “The sooner you eat,” Nekomaru said as he stood, “The sooner you can look for your Devas.”

 He immediately sat up.

 “Ah, another day to witness greatness,” Nagito said as he went upstairs, “What will we have the pleasure of overcoming today?”

 Nekomaru stopped beside Peko. “Tonight, I’m switching spots with you.”

 She let out a snort of amusement. “Was he that bad?”

 He sighed. “I think he was bored.”

 Once everyone was upstairs, they sat down and ate breakfast, this time being joined by Sakura. 

 “How are you feeling?” Nekomaru asked her, “You were in rough shape yesterday.”

 “Better, but still disoriented. Does anyone recall who did this to us?”

 “We don’t remember that either,” Mahiru said, “But we’re going to at least try to figure out where we are today. There’s an airport on the island. There has to be something in there that gives us a name.”

 “I recall that’s where I was found. Then I will accompany you.”

 “That’s not a good idea!” Mikan quickly said, “You were severely ill yesterday. You still need to rest and regain your strength.”

 “You don’t need to worry about me.”

 “I know, b-b-but I just want to make sure you’re fully healed before you possibly hurt yourself again.”

 “...Alright, I will remain here, but I refuse to remain bedridden.”

 “A little exercise should be good for you,” Nekomaru chimed in, “And Mikan could use the help.”

 “We should decide on who’s going,” Peko said, “And who’s staying to guard the injured. We also need to decide if the search party should split up to cover more ground or stay in a group.”

 “Splitting up would reveal more faster,” Gundham said, “We do not have time to spare.”

 “But it might also make us more vulnerable,” Mahiru warned, “We’d be stronger as one big team.”

 “Yes,” Peko said, “But we’d also be more noticeable. Smaller groups might give us the element of surprise.”

 Nekomaru crossed his arms. “We’ve probably already been noticed. I find it hard to believe that they didn’t see us all wake up, look around, meet up here, and then haul a bunch of mattresses in here. They would be pretty lousy kidnappers if they lost us that easily.”

 “Then that begs the question of why are they watching us from afar?”

 “Hm, not really sure about that one.”

 “How about a compromise?” Ryota suggested, “The search party will only split up into two teams. We’ll be able to sneak and cover more ground, but neither group will be easily overpowered if they were to be attacked.”

 “Seems logical enough,” Peko said, “Since Nekomaru and myself are the most capable fighters venturing out, we should be in separate groups.”

 “Sounds reasonable,” Gundham chuckled, “Since I am familiar with Nekomaru’s fighting aura, I will accompany him.”

 “I’ll go with Peko,” Ryota said, “I have some experience fighting, so it’s best to even it out.”

 Hiyoko grimaced. “Peko’s group is already less weird, so I’ll join her group.”

 “Um, you should probably stay here,” Mikan said, “Since you, um…seem to h-h-have aged backwards.”

 “I don’t need you reminding me, pigface!”

 “She’s right, Hiyoko,” Mahiru said, “We still don’t know why that happened or how serious it is yet. You should stay here in case it gets worse.”

 The dancer pouted. “Okay.”

 “Chiaki, you should also stay here, okay?”

 “Hm? Oh, okay.”

 “And I’ll stay as well.”

“So will I,” Teruteru said, “You all will need a man here helping to guard.”

“Are you just trying to get out of going?” Nagito asked him. 

“W-what? How could you ask such a thing?! Do you think I’m afraid or somethin’?”

“That’s how you’re acting.”

“...Okay, maybe I’m a little nervous-”

“You can stay, you big baby,” Mahiru said, “But you’re still getting put to work.”

“Ibuki wants to go into a search party!”

“You can join Nekomaru,” Peko said, “And Nagito will join mine.”

“Peko, I am truly honored that you would pick me,” the Lucky Student said with a bow. 

She decided to leave out that she had done that to give Nekomaru a break. “Now that we have our groups, we should finish our meal quickly and begin searching for answers.”

Chapter Text

“Now remember, stay with your group members,” Peko said, “And we meet back here at 5 pm. There should be a clock in at least one of the locations you’ll be searching, so there’s no excuse for being late. If anyone is late, it will be assumed that you were taken.”

Everyone nodded and the two search parties left the hotel. 

As they walked around the pool, Gundham pointed out a nearby building. It looked old and run down. The doors and windows were boarded up. “Have we ventured there, yet?”

“Ibuki didn’t even notice that building before. Maybe there’s something creepy inside.”

“I do sense something underworldly about it.”

“I kind of have the same feeling,” the imposter mumbled. 

Peko shook her head. “From the looks of it, it hasn’t been touched in a while. That most likely means that neither our classmates nor our captors would be inside. However, it might benefit us to check what’s inside once we’ve found the tools to open the door.”

That answer seemed to satisfy everyone and the two groups separated to begin their searches. 

Peko’s group first made their way to the airport. It was a big building with a few planes resting on the runway. Once they entered the building, they looked around for any signs or posters with the name of an island or a resort. When they checked the empty suitcases at baggage claim, they found no tags or names. 

The imposter suggested that they check in one of the staff rooms. When they looked inside, they found uniforms, equipment, and empty lockers. 

“It’s eerie how empty it is,” the imposter said. 

“Like the talentless were all snapped away,” Nagito said, “What would the world be like if only the ones with talent existed? Would it be a better place or would it be meaningless because there would be less people to be compared to?”

“I hope that’s not what happened.”

“I found something,” Peko said as she took a pamphlet out of a drawer, “But it’s not in a language that I can understand.”

“Let me see,” the imposter said as he and Nagito took a look at it, “It’s in Spanish. Jabberwock Island…located in the Pacific Ocean…one central island surrounded by five others…and is a rich tourist sight.”

“You can read Spanish?” Nagito asked. 

“Very little. I’ve learned basic conversations in several languages in case I ever disguised myself as someone who was bilingual.”

“We now have a name,” Peko said, “And we have a rough idea of where we are.”

“An extremely rough idea, but it’s a start.”

“This pamphlet also has a rough sketch of a map of the islands, so we should hold onto this for now. And while we’re here, we should take a look at those planes.”

“Are you going to attempt to fly one?” Nagito asked. 

“I want to see if we can get one to work. I doubt that I’m skilled enough to pilot, but I’m sure Kuzuichi will be able to. One of those planes might be our ticket off of this island.”

“Will our kidnappers let us leave?”

“I won’t ask them for permission.”

“Here, little hamsters! Come on out, Ibuki is looking for you!”

“They will not answer to such an insult!” Gundham yelled as he followed Ibuki inside of a barn, “And I have already covered this area after awakening. I do not sense their presence here.”

“Hey, don’t forget about our classmates,” Nekomaru said, “We gotta find them and the other class, too.”

Well of course he knew that! “I am much more effective when I am at my full capabilities.”

Ibuki grabbed a chicken, who immediately started bawking and flapping its wings in protest, and lifted it up to show him. “Maybe they could be your generals until we can find your hamsters? Whatdya say? Wanna make a chicken army?”

“I will not replace my Devas with animals bred to perish! To replace them would be next to impossible, but suggesting that they could be replaced so easily is appalling. I curse you to never feel the touch of a descendant of Bastat again!”

Ibuki yelped and dropped the chicken. “Ibuki doesn’t want to be cursed! Take it back!”

He heard Nekomaru let out an exaggerated sigh. “Come on, stop goofin’ around! They probably aren’t here, so we should keep going.”

“At least we know we won’t starve,” Ibuki said as she ran out of the barn. 

The thought of eating a living creature made Gundham’s skin crawl, but he kept that thought to himself. 

It was a quick walk over to the bridge he had seen yesterday. It was a sturdy bridge that stretched over the ocean below it and connected this island to the next one. 

“Maybe all of the other people are on the next island?” Ibuki suggested as they walked across. 

“Wouldn’t they’ve heard us by now?” Nekomaru asked.

“Maybe we haven’t been loud enough.” She cupped her hands and inhaled. 

“Don’t,” Gundham warned, “Unless you wish to also alert our enemies.”

“Oh. Right. Ibuki forgot we were also supposed to be stealthy.”

When they made it across the bridge, their attention was immediately grabbed by the statue in the middle of the small island. Or, was it even a statue? It was a large black orb with ears and a red lightning bolt. On the front was a timer that showed red numbers that were ticking down. When they got closer, they could also see a part that showed how many days were left on the countdown. 

“Twelve days?” Ibuki read, “What happens in twelve days? Does it explode?!”

“Maybe there’s a way to stop it,” Nekomaru said as he looked around, “Maybe Kazuichi will know how to.”

“We’d have to find him first.”

“In any case,” Gundham said, “We will not remain here for twelve days. By then, we will have vanquished our foes.” He looked over at a mountain in the distance. Carved into it were depictions of…bears. They too had a weird lightning bolt across their face… “We should keep moving.”

Neither Peko, the imposter, nor Nagito had the experience or knowledge to know much about how planes worked. But they knew enough to know that they needed an engine to fly. 

None of the planes had engines in them. 

“That was the last one,” Nagito said, “How disappointing.”

“We will have to find a different means of escape,” Peko said, “But we gather the information that we came here for. We should get going to the store Gundham mentioned.”

The imposter patted his jacket pocket where a piece of paper was. It had the list of things they needed written inside. 

They made their way over to the corner store, making sure to stay quiet and aware of their surroundings. They didn’t see anyone else on their way there. 

Once inside, the imposter pulled out the list. “Let’s see. We need tools to bar the windows, food supplies, medicine, and anything else that would be useful.”

“Looks like there’s plenty of stuff here,” Nagito said as he placed a hand on one of the shelves, “And would you look at that? It’s not even dusty. How lucky are we to have found such a clean store?”

“Someone has been maintaining this place,” Peko said, “And recently.”

“Maybe with more luck, we’ll find this person and they can help us find the rest of our classmates.”

They went into a back room and found a trolley similar to the one Gundham, Chiaki, and Hyoko had used to transport Hifumi. They also found crates that they could stack on top and ropes they could use to secure the crates onto the trolley. Food was easy to find since this place was mostly stocked with that. It was mostly junk food, but snacks would be good to have. It would make Teruteru’s job easier if he didn’t always have to cook. Tools were also surprisingly easy to find. They grabbed two standard tool boxes, a power drill, and a kit containing night vision goggles. 

The other thing this store had was an abundance of weapons. Spears, knives, bats, nets, hammers, and others. What kind of convenience store would sell all of these?

Back at the hotel, Mikan was busy with the injured. She’d just finished checking vitals and was moving on to changing bandages. Sakura was using a rag to squeeze water into their mouths and Mahiru was finishing recording all of their vitals. Teruteru, Chiaki, and Hiyoko were busy cleaning the kitchen and dining area. They didn’t talk much. They were all worried for the injured and for the groups that had left. 

“They’ll be okay,” Mahiru finally said, “We’re a strong enough team to make it through this. And, hey, it seems like some of these guys are improving already.”

“I noticed that,” Mikan said, “Sayaka opened her eyes at one point, but she’s still too weak to fully wake up. But we will need more painkillers soon. We’re almost out.”

“There weren’t any more in the small houses?”

The nurse shook her head. “I took all the medicine I could find from there. I hope the search parties can find some.”

“Speaking of them,” Chiaki said as she looked out the window, “Peko’s group is back. And they have a cart full of stuff.”

They quickly unbarred the doors downstairs so that they could roll the supplies inside. 

“What is all this junk food for?” Teruteru said, sounding insulted. 

“We can’t expect you to always feed us,” Peko explained as she untied the ropes, “And it isn’t all junk food. We also brought tools and weapons to defend ourselves with.”

“Weapons?!” Mikan said, alarmed, “We won’t have t-to use them…will we?”

”That would be ideal, but we will most likely have to use them against our attackers. Don’t feel bad for them. You saw what they did to Class 78.”

The nurse swallowed heavily. 

“Don’t worry, Mikan,” Nagito said, “There are plenty of Ultimates here who know how to fight. You won’t have to swing a weapon with them around.”

”Speaking of which,” Sakura said, “Where is the other search party? It’s almost time for them to return.”

Hiyoko rolled her eyes. “Knowing those three weirdos, they’re probably off doing something embarrassing.”

”I don’t think they would goof off at a time like this,” the imposter said. He looked back out the door, but saw no signs of anyone approaching. “If they aren’t back by the time we put this all away, we should go looking for them.”

With everyone’s help, it was easy to carry the food upstairs and store the weapons both upstairs and downstairs. Tools and wooden boards were placed by the doors and windows to be used to board them up. The few medical supplies that were found were given to Mikan. 

As they worked, Peko, Nagito, and the imposter explained what they found at the airport. 

“Jabberwock Island?” Sakura thought aloud, “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of it.”

”Most of us probably wouldn’t,” Chiaki said with a yawn, “Since it’s an expensive resort.”

Nagito shook his head. “I’ve never heard of it either and I go on expensive trips all the time.”

”Who cares about all that?!” Teruteru yelled, “How are we gonna get out of here if we ain’t got no plane that works?!”

”Can we build some type of boat?” Mahiru asked, “Or better yet, shouldn’t there be some on this island? If this really is a resort, there has to be a few around here.”

”M-maybe the other group found one,” Mikan said with a cautious smile, “A-and they’re taking a long time b-b-because they’re getting it ready for us.”

Right as Hiyoko was chestising Mikan, they heard yelling from outside. They hurried to the door and found Ibuki, Nekomaru, and Gundham sprinting their way. The first two were yelling something, but it was hard to understand them since they were talking over each other. 

“Hold on!” Mahiru yelled when they made it outside, “What happened?”

“The school is here!” Ibuki yelled as she shook Mahiru.

“Wait- The staff members?”

“Hope’s Peak Academy!” Nekomaru finished, “As in the building!”

Peko shook her head. “That isn’t possible. Maybe you saw a building that looked like Hope’s Peak?”

“Its aura was the same,” Gundham said, “Though it appears the same as an ancient ruin.”

“See?” Hiyoko said, “I told you these wack jobs were doing something weird.”

“We aren’t makin’ this up!” Nekomaru said, “We can prove it. It’s on one of the other islands connected to the middle one.”

Ibuki grabbed Hiyoko’s hand and started to tug her. “Come on, we’ll prove it!”

“Let go of me! I don’t want your insanity!”

“No one is going anywhere,” Peko said firmly, “We agreed that we would search until now then come back. Whatever you want to show us will have to wait until tomorrow.”

“Aw, but then you’re just going to think Ibuki is crazy until then.”

“More importantly,” Chiaki said, “Did you find a way off of the island?”

Nekomaru shook his head. “We just found a chicken farm, an island with a giant timer, and the second island. We didn’t get a chance to finish searching the-”

“Hold on-” Mahiru interrupted, “A giant timer?”

“Yeah, it was counting down 12 days from now. We didn’t see anything saying why or who set it.”

“Oh, great!” Teruteru whined, “Now we gotta bomb!”

“We don’t know if it’s a bomb,” the imposter said.

“We don’t not know that neither!”

Mahiru clapped her hands once. Everyone turned to her. “Whatever it’s counting down won’t happen tonight. So for now, we need to focus on securing this building, taking care of the injured, and prepping for tomorrow. We’re still missing a lot of people from both classes, so we still have a lot of searching to do.”

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

She was faintly aware of the sound. Not enough to understand what it was, but enough to know that it was there. At first, it was just a noise. Then it was like an alarm she couldn’t turn off. When she tried to make an effort to move, she would either find that her body was either too tired or in too much pain. 

She didn’t know how much time passed, but she was eventually able to open her eyes. She was in a building she’d never been in and she felt like she was laying on a bed. There were voices, but her brain wasn’t working enough to tell who they belonged to.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

She focused enough to turn her head towards the noise. Someone, Sakura, was hammering a plank of wood onto a door. It looked like she had been working for a while and that was the final piece.

“Sayaka?” Someone else, Mikan, sat down in front of her. “Can you hear me?”

She tried to say something, but she felt too tired to speak. 

“I-It’s alright. Don’t tire yourself out. You’ve been through a lot.” She smiled. “But it’s a really good sign that you’re awake.”

She tried to look around more, but it hurt her eyes to move. 

“You’re probably wondering where we are. We’re…w-well, we’ll explain more once you’re more awake. It’s probably hard to think with all the medication you’re on.”

She nodded and closed her eyes. 

She heard someone else walk over. “How is she?” Sakura’s voice.

“Somewhat coherent. She seems to be recovering quickly. So far, I expect her, Yamada, Fujasaki, and Ishimaru to be out of critical condition in a week or

so.”

“And the others?”

“...Their injuries are far more severe…”

Sayaka fell unconscious again. What happened to them? 

Chapter Text

“That…that can’t be…” As much as Peko wanted to deny the building looming over her, it was hard not to compare it to the school they were supposed to be at. Except this building looked old and was overgrown with vines. In addition to that, there was a giant vaulted door in front of the entrance. And on that door, the kanji for “Future” was written. 

“See, Ibuki was telling the truth!” the musician said as she waved her arms around, “Someone stole the whole school!”

“You can’t steal an entire building,” the imposter said, “That’s a feat impossible for anyone. 

“And yet,” Gundham said with his eyes closed, “Here it stands before us. It is just as I predicted. Whoever was foolish enough to take us must be very powerful indeed.”

“Then why is it showing signs of age?” Sakura asked.

Peko relaxed a little. “Right, the school wasn’t like this. This must be a replica.”

“A second building was being built,” the imposter said, “But I don't think it was built on an island and I haven’t heard anything about a third.”

Peko walked towards the door. “Why would a school need to be built on a resort?” She examined it until she found a keypad by the door. She pressed a button. The screen lit up and prompted her to enter a code. 

“Stop,” she heard Sakura warn, “Back away from there.”

Without turning around, she grabbed her sword and took a few steps back while scanning the door. She didn’t see the danger until she looked up. Aimed towards the spot where she had been standing was a machine gun mounted to the top of the door. She mentally scolded herself. How did she miss that?

“T-that’s a fake, right?” Ibuki asked, “Why would a resort shoot its guests?”

“That’s a good question,” the imposter said, “But it’s one we shouldn’t test to find out.”

 There was also the possibility of their attackers setting this up, but why? What was behind the door that would make the students want to risk their lives to get in? Peko had some guesses, but kept them to herself. No point in getting the others more worked up over possibilities. “We should finish exploring this island while we’re here. We still need to find our classmates and more medical supplies.”

 The others nodded and began walking down the path. The next building turned out to be a library. They didn’t expect to find anything of interest there, but decided to look anyway. Inside were rows and rows of books in a two story building. While it had a diverse selection of books, they were in different languages, most of which not even the imposter could read. 

 The next location was more beneficial; it was a pharmacy. Rows and rows of both familiar and unfamiliar drugs lined the shelves.

“We should bring Mikan here at some point,” the imposter said as he looked around, “She would probably know what all of this is.”

“Ibuki remembers someone else who was good with medicine,” Ibuki said as she picked up a bottle, “But Ibuki thinks she was an upperclassman. Hey, antidotes! Don’t you need these, Sakura?”

“I don’t think so, but we should take them just in case.”

“Are you sure you’re fully healed?” the imposter asked. 

“Aside from a little fatigue, I’m fine.”

“You healed rather quickly.”

“I never stay sick for long. My training has always made sure of that and I’m sure Mikan’s care helped.”

Back at the hotel, Sayaka felt lightheaded. Yes, it was partially due to the stab wound in her stomach, but she’d also been told they had been attacked and kidnapped. And to make matters worse, some of her classmates looked like they’d been tortured or beaten within an inch of their lives.

“I know that was a lot to take in,” Mahiru said softly, “But don’t worry. We’ll make it out of this.”

She nodded and stared down at the cup of water she had been given. “I hope we find everyone.”

“I do too. We haven’t explored everywhere yet, so I’m sure they’re setting up a shelter just like we are.”

She really wanted to believe that, but her thoughts wouldn’t let her. There was no way everyone made it out of that attack alive, right? If Sakura had been poisoned, then it had to have been a smart assailant who knew who’d be a problem. There were a lot of people in her class who knew how to hold their own in a fight, but that would make them targets, right? Leon always seemed like he’d be capable in a fight, but… She looked over to where he was laying. Mikan was currently changing the bandages on his arm. It was still badly bruised. Sayaka had to force her eyes away. She hated to think what happened to some of her more stubborn classmates, like Hina or Mondo. 

“Um, do you remember anything?” Mahiru asked quickly.

“...The last thing I remember was waiting in class. There was some sort of intruder alert and we weren’t allowed to go out into the hallways. Everyone was worried and scared…I’m sorry, it gets blurry from there.”

“It’s okay. All of us are having a hard time remembering. It’ll come back eventually.”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure if I want to remember.”

Mahiru gave her a sad but understanding look and gestured towards her cup. “Drink up.”

She took a sip and struggled to swallow the water down. “How long have we been here?”

“Three days, we think.”

“My group must be worried sick about me. I never miss practice…”

“I think they’ll understand once you tell them what happened.”

“Hey, dogface,” they heard Hiyoko say, “What’s with the crazy look?”

They turned and saw Hiyoko glaring at Mikan. The nurse had her back to them and looked like she was staring down at Leon.

“Hiyoko,” Mahiru called, “Stop bothering her and let her get back to work.”

“But she looks insane!”

Mikan suddenly flinched. “Huh?”

“Are you okay?” Mahiru asked, “You’re not overworking yourself, are you?”

“I-I-I might be. Sorry.” She turned towards them and hugged herself. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“You’re okay. Just take better care of yourself. You can’t help anyone if you’re tired.”

Hiyoko's jaw dropped for a few seconds. “T-that wasn’t exhaustion! She looked like Nagito when he goes on his stupid rants.”

“I’ll get you some water,” Mahiru said to Mikan, “Lay down and get some rest.”

“Mahiru!” Hiyoko hurried and followed the photographer into the kitchen.

“M-maybe I did look crazy,” Mikan whimpered.

“Don’t listen to her,” Sayaka said, “From what I heard, you’ve been taking good care of us. That would tire anyone out. Get some rest. You deserve it.”

The nurse gave her a smile before laying down on one of the empty beds. 

“Um…I know it’ll hold but do you think we used too many nails?”

Chiaki and Nekomaru were stepping back and examining the window they just boarded up. There were probably six nails on each side of the boards, at least, and it was a little crooked. But the boards were holding and no one would be able to get through it. 

“Looks good to me,” the manager said as he gave Chiaki a thumbs up, “See, you’re better with a hammer than you think.”

She looked at the hammer in her hand. “I guess so, though I missed the nails most of the time.”

“Did better than me.” He gestured to all of the bent nails on the floor. “So, how’s your head? Starting to remember anything?”

She thought for a second, then shook her head. “No.”

“Nothin’? Not even Ms. Yukisome or getting scouted for Hope’s Peak?”

“Not really. I just remember that I was supposed to be the Ultimate Gamer.”

He frowned. Mikan did say that it might take a while for her memories to come back, but this felt too long. It was off putting to see the class rep looking around as if she’d never met them. “Well, don’t worry too much about it. It’ll come back. Heck, it should all come back once we get back to Hope’s Peak.”

CRASH!

“What the hell?! You tryin’ ta kill me?!”

They turned and saw Teruteru violently shaking Nagito while the Lucky student held up his hands in surrender. Two boards dangled off of the wall from the one side that was nailed. 

“I would never dream of it. But when there’s a choice between myself and someone else, my luck will always choose me.”

“What the hell happened?” Nekomaru asked as he hurried over and separated the two. 

“He about gave me a concussion!” Teruteru said as he was pried off of his target, “Had I been any slower, I’d been on this there floor instead of standin’ here!”

“Calm down,” Nagito teased, “Your accent is showing.”

“Why you-!”

“Alright, time out!” Nekomaru yelled, “Teruteru, take five and cool off. Nagito, what happened?”

“Well, we thought we’d put enough nails into the boards to hold them steady. I guess two of them came loose just as I ducked to pick up my hammer. Had I stayed standing, I would’ve taken the blow for Teruteru. I guess I missed my chance to be useful.”

“Hey, don’t say shit like that! No one got hurt, so this is the better outcome. You both just need to be more careful.”

“He’s a magnet of bad luck,” Teruteru mumbled.

”I can’t exactly control it,” Nagito said. 

“Well, then, learn to! One day, that talent of yours is gonna get one of us…” The chef stopped and blinked a few times as if he witnessed something confusing.

”What’s up?” Nekomaru asked. 

“It’s…it’s nothing. Just had a weird case of deja vu.”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Chiaki walked over and peaked through the window before opening the door for Peko, Sakura, Gundham, the imposter, and Ibuki.

”We’ve returned with lots and lots of drugs!” the musician called out as she held up a bag, “And we know where to get more!”

“Don’t say it like that,” Peko sighed, “We also took a look at that Hope’s Peak replica. It’s very convincing.”

“Replica?” Nekomaru asked, “Why build a replica?”

“I don’t know but there’s no way that’s the original building. You can’t just pick up a building and transport it across an ocean.”

“Oh, and there’s also those little houses,” Ibuki chimed in, “The ones with our faces on the mailbox. Very suspicious.”

“Yeah, that seems pretty strange,” Nagito said, “Seems like our captors went through so much trouble just for us. How thoughtful of them.”

“The hell you mean?” Teruteru said, “They attacked us!”

“Well, actually, they only attacked Class 78. So far, everyone from our class is fine.”

“If you use ‘fine’ loosely,” the imposter said as he pointed to Chiaki, “She’s still missing her memories and Hiyoko…shrank?”

Nekomaru shook his head. “But how do you make someone look half a year younger? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Nagito shrugged and smiled. “I guess we’ll just have to keep looking for clues. But we should probably keep Class 78 away from whoever did this. Seems like they’re not particularly liked.”

A chill fell over the room as Sakura let out a low growl. “Whoever did this will NOT succeed a second time. On my title, I will personally number their days.”

 “You want to switch watch shifts with me again?”

 Peko shushed Nekomaru and nodded again. She’d asked to speak with him privately outside of the hotel. “Yes. I thought you could use another break.”

 “Ah, Nagito isn’t that bad. Lately, he’s been deep in thought in the mornings. I would think you’d have more issues with Teruteru.”

 She could go with that angle. It would certainly get Nekomaru to switch with her, but that could also lead to the team manager confronting Teruteru. No, they would quickly figure out that she was lying. “He hasn’t been any trouble. But…”

 He raised a brow. “But?”

 Think. What would make him switch with her? “I…I need to get away from upstairs for a night.”

 He looked surprised at her, then gave her a knowing smile. “Ah, I see. All the smell of blood and injuries startin’ to get to you, huh?”

 She quickly nodded. “Yes. That is exactly it.”

 “I’m kinda surprised. I wouldn’t think that sort of stuff bothered you.”

 It didn’t. “I just don’t enjoy being around it for days on end.”

 He nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I get it. I’m the same way. Reminds me of the hospital. Of course I’ll switch with you!”

 She let out a small sigh of relief. She gave a nod of appreciation, then quickly went inside to prepare for bed. Usually, falling asleep was never an issue but tonight time seemed to drag by. Even Mikan fell asleep before she did! Eventually, her thoughts quieted enough to sleep and she woke up for her shift. 

Nekomaru gave her a thumbs up as they passed each other on the stairs. She felt a little bad for lying to him.

 Nagito gave her a wave as she walked downstairs. Aside from him, everyone else was asleep on this floor. “Well, this is an unexpected surprise. Why did you and Nekomaru switch?”

 She place a finger over her lips and looked over at the stairs. Then she whispered, “Keep your voice down. Wait at least half an hour and then I will tell you.”

 He gave her a smile and made a motion like he was zipping his lips.

 They sat in silence for a while. They could hear Teruteru and Nekomaru talking upstairs. The entire time, she could feel Nagito’s eyes on her. 

 When she was sure that neither Nekomaru nor Teruteru would come downstairs or listen in, she whispered to Nagito, “Tell no one or I’ll bury you alive.”

 “Sure, no problem. But, what exactly am I not telling anyone?”

 She stood up. “I’m leaving. I’ll be back before sunrise.”

 “But I thought we were supposed to stay here at night. What about our attackers?”

 “I am more than capable of taking care of myself. I’m better off searching on my own.”

 “Ah, so that’s what you’re doing. Then I think that’s a valiant reason for breaking the rules.”

 “I hoped you would see it that way.”

 “Is that why you chose to switch shifts with Nekomaru? I feel honored that you trust me.”

 She unlocked the door. “It isn’t that I trust you. The others just worry too much.” She slowly opened the door. The sky had just begun to change colors, but it was still dark. She could hardly see the pool in front of the hotel. 

            She looked behind her. “If I don’t return before breakfast, assume that I have been kidnapped but do not come for me.”

 “As you wish, but I don’t think the others will be okay with giving up on you.”

 “I’m making my safety my own problem by walking out of here alone. Do not come after me.” With that, she walked out the door. 

 She kept her footsteps silent as she moved through the darkness. Her plan was to keep searching the second island. If she didn’t find Fuyuhiko there, she would continue to the third island. She made it to the bridge relatively quickly and crossed it to the center island.

 Glowing like an ominous omen was the large timer. Eleven days remained on the screen. It bothered her that they still didn’t know what it was counting down, but she didn’t want to poke around it in case it was a bomb. Messing with gadgets was more Kazuichi’s thing anyways.

 As she made her way to the second bridge, a smell caught her nose. It was faint, but it was there. It was a scent she’d smelled several times before, sometimes on herself.

 She prepared herself as she followed the scent towards the bear shaped mountains. There was a ditch right against the mountain side

that was hard to see unless you were near it. And in the ditch was the source of the morbid smell. 

 She discovered a body.

Chapter Text

Everything was fuzzy. His vision, whatever was touching him, his head, everything. When he moved his head a little, he was hit with a wave of nausea that caused him to squeeze his eyes shut. A few moments later, something cold was placed over his eyes and forehead. 

“Chihiro?....Try to relax….”

Right as the voice seemed to fade away, he opened his eyes. He was able to reach up and take the now warm ice pack off of his eyes. The room he was in was dim but it was light enough to see the ceiling above him. Where was he?

“Hey, looks like another one is awake!”

He turned towards the voice of Nekomaru. The team manager was sitting next to Hifumi -whose head was bandaged- and helping him drink out of a cup. Hifumi looked exhausted, but he did manage to wave in his direction. 

Chihiro tried to sit up, but felt too light headed to lift his head all the way. 

“Hold on,” Nekomaru said as he walked over and adjusted Chihiro’s pillows to where he was sitting up like Hifumi. “There, now you won’t have to hold yourself up. How’s the head?”

His head? He reached up and realized that his head was also wrapped up. “It hurts…a little…”

“Just try to lay back and relax. Mikan will check on you in a few hours when everyone else wakes up.”

Everyone else? Now that he looked around, he could see that there were several mattresses all over the floor, each housing someone from either his class or Nekomaru’s. “Where…” He was too dizzy to keep talking.

“Jabberwock Island, wherever that is. We don’t know how we got here or how-”

They heard several people talking loudly downstairs before heavy footsteps came up the stairs. “Where’s Mikan?” Chihiro couldn’t see them, but they sounded familiar. Kind of like Byakuya but not. 

The nurse bolted up when her name was called. “Huh? I wasn’t asleep! I’m sorry!”

“Sorry to wake you, but Peko found another injured student.”

The nurse scrambled up, tripped and nearly hit the ground before Nekomaru caught her, then ran down the stairs. 

“Who is it?!” Nekomaru called after them.

“It’s Enoshima.”

There was no way Peko would be able to quietly sneak back in, not while carrying Junko in her arms. Especially not while she was this bloody. 

Whatever happened to the fashionista had been brutal. Blood leaked out of her nose and mouth, her arms and legs seemed to hang loosely in a weird way, and there were several places all over her where skin looked like it was torn. Her clothes were covered in blood. 

She banged on the door and Nagito let her in. In minutes, everyone was awake and asking questions. Mikan soon bolted down the stairs and got to work trying to save Junko’s life. As soon as her arms were free, Peko went back outside. She sat down with her legs in the pool and began to clean herself off. 

Someone opened the door and heavy footsteps walked up and stopped behind her. From those steps, she could guess it was either Sakura or Nekomaru. 

“Where did you find her?” Nekomaru. 

“On the central island,” she answered simply.

There was a deep sigh. “I thought we were supposed to stay put at night.”

“You know I’m more capable at searching for the others than anyone else here. I am quicker on my own.”

“But you’re not on your own. We’re a team and you left without telling us!”

“I told Nagito.”

“Only because you had to! And you didn’t tell me or Teruteru! What if something happened to you?”

“Nagito was instructed to tell you not to come after me if I was captured.”

“That shit doesn’t fly in a team.”

“We are not a sports team. We are a group with low survival skills trying to escape our kidnappers-”

“AS A TEAM!”

She finished washing off her neck and stood. “You may be used to having things a certain way, but this is a situation that I was actually trained for. Your concerns for me are pointless and the night time rule should not apply to me anymore.”

“But you told me not to go out at night. You made the rule!”

She turned around and looked up at him. “Because you don’t know what you’re doing. Not in this situation.”

He glared at her, but closed his mouth. 

She walked by him.

“Hey.”

She stopped.

“I want to see Akane just as much as you want to see Fuyuhiko.”

She stiffened. She wasn’t sure if he was facing her, but she didn’t want to reveal anything just in case he was. “I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

“I know this is rich coming from me, but don’t always charge ahead. You can be worried, but don’t let it get you into trouble. Trust me, every part of me wants to search every inch of every island until we find everyone, but I also know that’ll do more harm than good if we get hurt… That’s what I would tell Akane, and it would be shitty of me not to listen to my own warning.”

“Hey!” Ibuki called as she opened the door, “Whatcha guys doin’ out-” 

“I’m going to get changed,” Peko said as she walked past her inside. 

“What’s up with her?” she heard Ibuki ask. 

When the others told him that they had been attacked, Chihiro assumed that they’d just been hit really, really hard. When they brought Junko upstairs, he realized that he’d been lucky. Mikan stayed hunched over Junko for a while and called for the others to get her supplies. No one argued with her, probably because Junko’s life was on the line. 

Chihiro looked around the little he could and was able to see Celeste, Mukuro, and Leon unconscious and wrapped up practically from head to toe. Had it been a similar ordeal for them? 

Hifumi seemed to be thinking a similar thing, because he looked about as worried as Chihiro felt. The doujin artist took his eyes from Junko and looked at Chihiro. “Uh…how are you feeling?”

Chihiro touched his head. “It still hurts. You?”

”The same. I’ve had my fair share of injuries in the past but…never like this.”

Chihiro was about to reply to that when someone, Taka, suddenly sat up in the bed next to Hifumi and startled them both. The moral compass wasn’t up for more than a second before his eyes rolled back and he fell over. 

Sayaka hurried over and helped him lay back properly. “Taka! Be careful.”

He mumbled something, but Chihiro couldn’t hear him. 

“We were attacked…” Sayaka answered, “We aren’t sure but…We’re on an island with Class 77…I-I’m not sure…They haven’t found everyone yet…”

That’s right, he’d been told that not everyone had been found. And while he was worried about everyone, he was worried about one person in particular. He was certain Taka would worry about the same person too once he realized he wasn’t there. 

More time passed and the sun was almost completely over the horizon. Teruteru decided to get breakfast started since no one was going back to sleep anytime soon. As great as the food smelled, Chihiro had to cover his nose. The nausea mixed with the smell of blood and medical supplies was enough to make him want to gag. He tried his best to lay down and just stare at the ceiling. 

At some point, he fell asleep and woke back up to someone shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes to Mikan kneeled over him with a cup of water. 

“It’s time for me to…change your bandage,” she said with a yawn. She looked exhausted. “Afterwards, you can try to eat a little breakfast.”

He sat up with her help and took a few sips of water. The cool liquid felt great. 

She propped his pillows up so he could sit up better and she began to undo his bandages. When she got them off, her face went pale. 

“W-what?” Chihiro said as his eyes went as wide as hers, “What’s wrong?”

”Uh, i-it’s, um…Does anyone know how long we’ve been here?” Mikan called out to the others. 

”This is the…fourth day,” Chiaki answered. 

“Are you sure? I d-d-don’t mean to q-question you b-b-but-“

”Out with it already!” Hiyoko yelled. 

“Th-they’re healing too fast!”

“Um, isn’t that a good thing?”

”You are the Ultimate Nurse, Mikan,” Mahiru said as she walked over, “It just means you’re doing your job really well. You should be proud.”

Mikan shook her head. “Th-this can’t be me.”

Chihiro was still very confused. “What’s wrong with my head?”

”Nothing,” Mikan said as she began wrapping him up again, “Y-you have a deep gash in your head, but b-before it was much deeper a-a-and your skull was broken.”

Imagining that made his stomach spin again. 

“D-don’t misunderstand. I’m r-r-really happy you’re a lot b-b-better and that you don’t seem to have any of the damages to your brain that I’d ori-i-ignally assumed, but…”

”I guess when you put it like that,” Mahiru mumbled, “That does sound weird. Wasn’t Sayaka the same way?”

Mikan nodded. 

And it turned out that both Taka and Hifumi were also much better as well. Sakura wasn’t even showing signs that she’d been poisoned days prior. Leon and Celeste were still in really bad shape but a lot of their bones were no longer broken. Mukuro’s puncture wounds were not nearly as deep as they were before. 

“Maybe Mikan is a witch!” Ibuki yelled as she pointed at her.

”N-n-no I’m not!”

”Don’t worry, Ibuki knows that you’re a good witch.”

”I sense no such power on her,” Gundham said.

”Then how do you explain it?”

“W-well,” Gundam stuttered, “Given everything, it would not be far-fetched to suspect the island itself.”

“The island is healing people?” Hiyoko asked, “That’s what you’re suggesting. Get real.”

“Are you sure it’s only been four days?” Sayaka asked. 

“If we can believe our memories,” Ryota said, “Then yes, this is the beginning of the fourth day.”

“Whatever is happening,” Chiaki added, “Is a good thing, right? Because of it, people are getting better quicker.”

“But it isn’t natural,” Mikan said as she shook her head.

Sayaka and Chihiro shared a worried look. 

After everyone ate breakfast, they split into their search groups again. The plan would be for Peko’s group to continue searching the second island while Nekomaru’s group would move on the the third island. 

As they walked out of the hotel, Gundham stopped and looked over towards the smaller, boarded up building. “That fortress still remains unsearched.”

“Ooo, ooo, can we search there really quick?!” Ibuki asked, “Please? Pleasepleasepleaseplease?”

“I don’t see why not,” Nekomaru said with a shrug.

“I doubt there’s anything to find in there,” Peko said. 

“We don’t know that for sure. If there’s nothing, this should be really quick.”

“I’ll grab the-” Ibuki began but stopped when Sakura walked up to the boarded door. 

The martial artist stood there for a moment looking at the door and remained completely still. Then her leg was suddenly outstretched and the door flew open with the boards roughly breaking apart. 

“...That works, too!”

“Let’s do this quickly,” Peko said as they went inside. 

Inside, the building was dusty and need of repair. There was trash in the corners and cobwebs littered the ceiling.

“This place reaks with the aura of the underworld,” Gundham said as he brought his scarf to his nose. 

“There’s no telling how long this place as been left like this,” Sakura said. 

“Is that what he meant? Because Ibuki thought he was referring to the horror movie feeling this place gives off.”

“You guys too?” Nekomaru asked. 

Most of them nodded, even Peko.

Sakura moved forward, seemingly unaffected. “We should be fine as long as we remain vigilant.” 

They tried to shake off the feeling and followed. Further in, the building appeared to be some sort of club house. There was a main area, a security office, bathrooms, and storage area. Gundham seemed particularly interested in the storage area and immediately began looking for something. 

Uninterested, Sakura went further down the hall and entered a room that appeared to be a kitchen. The lights were off, so the only light was from the hallway behind her. Further back, just barely past the light, something was spilled on the floor. She felt around the wall for a light. 

She finally found it and flicked it on. The first thing she noticed was that the spill was hot pink. Blood pink. It was coming from a body. They were laying with their chest to the floor. Their mess of long, mostly light brown hair made it difficult to see their face but she didn’t have to see to know. 

The gold words spelling out “Crazy Diamonds” on his signature jacket made it all too clear who this was.

Chapter Text

…

…

Check his pulse!

Sakura shook herself and hurried closer to Mondo. He hadn’t moved at all. She couldn’t even tell if he was breathing. She stepped around the blood and squatted down next to him. Carefully, she moved his hair out of the way and placed two of her fingers on his neck. Not only did she struggle to find a pulse but his skin felt extremely warm and clammy. 

“I need help in here!” she yelled towards the door, “I found Mondo!”

The others came running inside the room and screeched to a halt when they saw what was inside. 

“Is he dead?” Ibuki asked.

”I don’t think so, but he’s dying. He’s still warm but I can’t find a pulse.”

”Turn him over,” Peko instructed as she kneeled down to help. 

Sakura had no issues doing that but something felt…wrong as she turned the biker over. Yes, he was covered in blood. Yes, he was unconscious and probably not breathing. There was something else, though. She pushed the thought aside. 

Peko felt for a pulse. “Does anyone have a mirror?”

”No, but there’s this,” Nekomaru said as he grabbed a spoon and brought it over to her.

She placed the spoon up close to Mondo’s mouth and waited. “…There’s no fog. He isn’t breathing. Someone run and get Mikan. I’ll start CPR.”

Nekomaru immediately ran out of the room.

Peko got into position and placed her hands at the center of his chest…then froze.

”What is it?” Sakura asked. 

The swordswoman felt across Mondo’s chest, her expression growing more and more grim. “Give me a knife.”

”A what?!” Ibuki yelled. 

“To cut his shirt. I need to see his chest.”

Nagito grabbed a knife off of the counter and handed it to her. “What’s wrong with his chest?”

Without answering, she lifted the front of Mondo’s tank top away from him and cut it down the middle. There was a mix of dry and wet blood on his torso, but there were no visible injuries. Despite the blood, she pressed in on the middle of his chest. His whole sernum seemed to sink in a little. 

“You’re pushing too hard!” Sakura warned.

”I’m barely pushing. Try for yourself.”

Hesitantly, Sakura placed her hand where Peko’s had been and gently pushed. Almost immediately, she felt bone shift unnaturally. She pulled her hand back. “What-“

“I’m here!” Mikan yelled as she ran in with a bag of medical supplies. Sakura and Peko moved back as she began to check over Mondo. They told her what they discovered. She felt his chest herself, then checked his wrist, arms, neck, everywhere. Her face was pale by the end of it.

”What happened to him?” Nekomaru asked. 

“I…I-I don’t know. With the others, I could guess, but… There’s dislocated bones everywhere, so that would suggest he was beaten or…pulled apart, bu-bu-but there would be indications of that on his skin. He’s still bleeding from the mouth and nose, so there’s internal bleeding and his pulse is incredibly weak-“

”How can we help him?” Sakura pressed.

”…I-I-I…I don’t think we can.”

”What?!”

”I-I-I know that’s my job! I’m s-s-suppose to know. I’m sorry!”

”This isn’t your fault,” Peko said, “There isn’t anything any of us can do.”

”So he just…dies?!” Nekomaru asked.

Mikan was covering her face with her fists and crying. “I-I don’t have the tools to keep him alive and CPR might outright kill him. I would need an x-ray to know for sure. I’m s-s-sorry…”

The room went quiet aside from Mikan’s sobs. 

“We make him comfortable,” Gundham finally said, “Until he passes into the next place.”

”His classmates should have the right to say their goodbyes,” Peko said.

Mikan shook her head. “I don’t know if we can move him! That might also kill him.”

”Bringing the injured here would be a greater risk. Maizono might be able to walk here, but the other three that are awake can’t.”

After some debating, it was decided that Mondo would be brought into the downstairs area of the hotel but not up the stairs. A long, flat wooden board was found and Mondo was carefully lifted onto it by Nekomaru and Sakura. As careful as they were, they could still feel his bones shift out of place in their grasp.  

”You should be taking it easy, Sayaka,” Mahuri warned, “You don’t want to open your stitches.”

”I know, sorry. I just hate sitting around while everyone else is helping.”

”You are one of the injured. You aren’t supposed to be helping.”

”You could always help me in the kitchen,” Teruteru called.

Mahiru shot a glare at him.

”I’m being serious! I’m short and can’t reach the higher cabinets!”

”I’ll get it,” the Imposter said as he went into the kitchen.

Mahiru turned back to Sayaka. “Have you taken any pain killers recently?” 

The singer nodded. “Mikan had the four of us take some before she left with Nidai…Um, he said they found Mondo, right? Shouldn’t they be back already?”

”Well, that depends,” Hifumi spoke up, “They might be in the process of fighting for his life as we speak. Such perilous endeavors can’t be rushed.”

Taka, who was sitting in the bed next to him, somehow went paler.

”I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Sayaka quickly said, “Mondo has been in plenty of fights, right? He knows how to protect himself. I’m sure he’ll walk up those stairs telling the others that he’s fine.”

”You’re probably right,” Taka said, “I shouldn’t doubt our peers and I would never doubt Mondo’s fighting spirit! It’s just…”

”You’re worried. That’s okay. This is a scary situation.”

”They’re back!” Hiyoko called from downstairs.

Taka tried to stand up but couldn’t get his balance. 

Mahiru grabbed him and set him back down. “Don’t do that! Just wait, they’ll either bring him up here or he’ll come up himself.“

There was some talking downstairs before Sakura walked up the stairs. Her expression was icy, but she kept her gaze to the floor. “You should all come downstairs.”

”But aren’t the injured supposed to stay up here?” Mahiru asked. 

“Normally, but this is an important matter.” She crossed her arms and closed her eyes. “You should say your goodbyes.”

“…To who?” Taka asked. 

Sakura remained silent.

”To who?! Is it Mondo?!”

”We should go downstairs,” Mahiru said as she started helping Taka stand up. The moral compass tried to hurry, but she forced him to go slower so he didn’t hurt himself. 

Ultimately, Taka and Chihiro had to be carried down the stairs while Sayaka walked by herself. Hifumi remained at the top of the stairs since he felt uncomfortable with the situation. 

Mondo had been moved from the board onto a mattress. They tried to lay him comfortably, but it was difficult to tell if he was in pain. He hadn’t moved since they found him. 

As soon as he could, Taka sat next to the bed. He remained quiet but his eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were quivering.

”We…can’t save him?” Chihiro asked.

Mikan shook her head. “I don’t know what to do.”

”What happened to him?” the Imposter asked. 

“We don’t know that either. We found him in that abandoned building next door.”

The Imposter covered his mouth. “We should’ve checked there sooner.”

”…No…” Taka started quietly, “No, no, he’s not dying! I won’t let him!”

”Taka-“

”I’m not giving up on him!!”

”He isn’t breathing,” Peko said, “He is already in the process of dying. There is nothing any of us can-“

”NO!”

”Taka,” Sakura said firmly, “Honor him. That is what you can do for him now.”

He looked like he wanted to argue more, but he couldn’t figure out what to say. Tears streamed down his face and he gripped his hair where the bandage wasn’t pressing it down. 

Chihiro leaned over and gave him a hug. 

Everyone remained quiet, either out of grief or respect. Mikan would occasionally check Mondo’s pulse to see if he had passed. Each time, she still felt a heartbeat. Faint, but there. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes.

”Are you sure you’re doing that right? Ibuki thought people couldn’t last this long without breathing.”

”You can’t,” Mikan said, “I…I don’t understand.”

Peko reached over and checked his pulse. Sure enough, she found it as well. “Perhaps he is breathing.”

“Then there’s a chance?” Taka asked desperately. 

“Not likely. His body may still be alive but I don’t know if he is.”

”That doesn’t make any sense,” Teruteru mumbled. 

Hiyoko sighed deeply. “She’s saying he’s brain dead, moron!”

Unable to hold himself together anymore, Taka started screaming and crying. Everyone else glared daggers at the dancer until she hid behind Mahiru. 

After another thirty minutes, it was decided that the search parties needed to keep going while it was still daytime. The others tried to convince Sakura to stay in case Mondo did pass while they were gone, but her mind would not be changed. She said her goodbyes, just in case. 

Taka refused to leave Mondo’s side. After crying for so long, he went silent aside from the occasional shaky breath. He kept still and watched over Mondo as though that would keep him alive. Eventually, he leaned forward and laid his head on the mattress.

“Taka,” Chihiro said softly, “You should go lay down upstairs.”

He shook his head. 

“You don’t want to make your condition worse. Mondo wouldn’t want that for you, would he?”

No response. 

“…At least he’s laying down,” Teruteru mumbled. 

Mikan placed her fingers on Mondo’s neck again for what felt like the hundredth time. “Still alive. I haven’t-“ She let out a long yawn. “…seen or felt his chest move. I wish I had a stethoscope to listen for his lungs. I feel so u-u-useless!”

”Hey, you’ve been doing your best,” Ryota said, “You’ve saved so many people already with little rest.”

”He’s right,” Sayaka said, “Thank you, Mikan.”

The nurse blushed but still looked saddened by the situation. 

“Ibuki still feels weird about leaving,” the musician said as the search party crossed the bridge to the second island. Everyone had been silent up to this point, aside from agreeing to stick together as one group for the day. 

“There wasn’t anything else for us to do,” Nagito said, “We didn’t find him fast enough. We don’t want to make the same mistake again.”

 “What are you implying?” Peko asked, “That it is our fault that he’s dying?”

”Not that part, no. But we never checked that building until today. He was probably in there that whole time.”

”But what was the point of putting him in there? So far, everyone else has been relatively easy to find. He was the only one sealed away.”

Nagito shrugged. “I’m not sure. Hopefully our kidnappers can explain themselves soon.”

As the others continued to talk, Sakura remained quiet. 

Very few noticed how tightly her fists were clenched. 

Chapter Text

“ It’s on! They’re awake!”

”That’s a bad thing! That means that the virus is in there with them.”

”We need to get in there.”

”We can’t do that.”

”Why not?! Naegi and the others did and-“

”And they got trapped in there with us.”

“But they got out! And once we explain everything to those guys, we’ll show them where the graduation room is and then we’ll all get out.”

”It’s not that simple, Akane.”

”Why not?!”

“Think of everything we would have to explain to them. Hey, you’re in a simulation, it’s been years since you were last at Hope’s Peak, you were brainwashed to be in that crazy bitch’s cult and, oh by the way, Class 78? You’re all fuckin’ dead! Yeah, I’m sure they’ll easily believe that shit.”

”We did…eventually.”

”Eventually. Fuyuhiko is right. We can’t go in there unless we are sure that at least half of us will agree to graduate. Not only that, but we don’t know what the virus is planning to do.”

”Won’t it just start another killing game?”

”It could but I’m not really sure. The original virus mimicked Junko’s behavior, right? If that’s the case, wouldn’t it get bored of doing the same thing again? That’s why it switched up the mastermind in the simulated killing game just now. It could’ve easily made it Junko again but it didn’t.”

”Yeah, and it would be a lot harder to do a killing game now that they have their memories of each other. None of them would agree to it.”

”It ain’t like we agreed to it in the first place.”

“…They have their memories of Hope’s Peak. Yet both classes had their school memories erased. The Neo World was originally suppressing our memories, so that means…”

”Wait, are you saying the virus gave them back their memories? That doesn’t make any fuckin’ sense.”

”Baby Gangsta has a point. We already said that them having their memories would stop another killing game. Why would the virus help them?”

”It’s not.”

“He still hasn’t left his side.”

The Imposter looked up from the game Chiaki was playing to where Nagito was looking at. Taka was still laying next to Mondo. Once they’d realized that he intended to stay until his friend passed, they moved Taka’s mattress downstairs so that he could at least be a little comfortable. “They were close, right?”

”I think so,” Nagito said, “I wonder how it feels to be so dedicated to someone that you refuse to let them go, even as they die. It seems rather foolish and hopeless.”

”It could be the opposite,” Chiaki said, her eyes never leaving the arcade cabniet’s screen, “Maybe he has that much hope in his friend.”

”Either way,” the Imposter said, “He can’t continue on like this.”

”How long has it been since we found Owada?” Nagito asked. 

He paused to think. “About…six or seven hours.”

”And he’s still alive. Maybe Ishimaru isn’t so hopeless after all.”

Heavy footsteps came down the stairs behind them as Nekomaru walked over. “Hey,” he said half-heartedly, “Teruteru said dinner will be done soon.”

”That should give me enough time to beat this level,” Chiaki mumbled, “How did the search go, by the way? You guys didn’t say much when you got back.”

All three men sighed. 

“We didn’t find much,” Nekomaru explained, “Just a restaurant and a beach house. No one was in either.”

“There were plenty of ingredients to make burgers and fries,” Nagito added, “So at least we know we won’t starve.”

The Imposter crossed his arms. “The food won’t last forever. It’ll either spoil or run out. We need to leave before either happens.”

”Not before we find the others,” Nekomaru said bluntly.

”Of course. No one is getting left here.”

”…Sorry. Just…we’re already losing one person. Don’t want to lose anyone else.”

”No need to explain yourself. I think everyone is thinking the same thing.”

”Dinner is ready!” Teruteru called from upstairs.

”Well, hopefully the good food will brighten our moods,” Nagito said with a smile.

“Aw, but I was so close to beating this game,” Chiaki said.

They went upstairs and sat at the various tables. 

Teruteru served everyone salmon and rice (just rice for Gundham) with freshly made lemonade. “Make sure to eat your fill. Anything leftover can be used for lunch tomorrow.”

”Thank you again, Teruteru,” Mahiru said, “Are you sure you don’t want someone else to cook every now and then?”

”And risk someone messin’ up my kitchen?! Not a chance.”

”Your kitchen? How long do you plan on staying here?”

”Not long at all. But until then, I claim this here kitchen as my temple.”

Sayaka grabbed two plates and started helping Chihiro down the stairs.

”Where are you two going?”

”We’re going to sit with Taka for a while,” Sayaka answered, “And give him his dinner. I don’t know if he’ll eat it but it’s worth a shot. We probably should’ve stayed with him longer but…It’s hard to see Mondo like that.”

Chihiro’s eyes were still red and puffy. 

“I’m sure he understands,” Mahiru said, “Just make sure Taka gets some rest. He’s really starting to worry me.”

They both nodded as they went down the stairs. 

“Wait,” Teruteru said as he looked around, “We’re still missing people.”

”Sakura is training outside,” Nekomaru said, “And Mikan is asleep.“

”Okay, I get why we’re letting Mikan sleep, but shouldn’t we tell Sakura that the food is ready?”

”She asked not to be disturbed.”

”She had a look matching that of a hellspawn,” Gundham said, “She trains to send someone to hell.”

”Well, whoever did all this deserves it,” Hiyoko said, “I hope she leaves that person unrecognizable. I hope she pulls their arms and legs apart like they’re an ant.”

Mahiru turned to her. “Hiyoko! Don’t say that!”

”Why not? They would deserve it.”

”Normally, I would never do this,” Peko said, “But I have to agree with Hiyoko. It’s clear that whoever is behind all of this has more than earned our retaliation.”

”I never said they didn’t,” Mahiru said quickly, “But we don’t have to talk about it like that, especially while we’re eating.”

”If we’re agreeing to retaliate,” Nagito said, “How would we even do that? We haven’t even seen our kidnappers.”

”We keep searching,” the Imposter said through bites of food, “We’re bound to find their hideout soon.”

”But Ibuki thought we were trying to leave the island, not stay and fight.”

“Exactly,” Mahiru said, “We have far too many injured to risk a fight. They overpowered us once. We don’t know how easily they could do it again.”

Hiyoko threw her hands in the air in frustration. ”We don’t even know how to get off this stupid island. And if we did, does anyone know which direction is home?”

No one answered that.

”So why don’t we find the bastards who kidnapped us and torture them until they tell us how to get back?!”

”Because we don’t know what they’ll do when we find them!”

”Yeah, they already took out Mr. Owada,” Hifumi mumbled, “Imagine what they would do to someone who isn’t a fighter.”

”Oh, come on!” Hiyoko yelled as she banged her fists on the table, “Nekomaru and Gundham took out a bunch of crazed maniacs on their own. Doesn’t that mean…that…

Hifumi looked around confused as almost everyone in the dining area shared a similar distant look. “What? What’s happening?”

”We…all gathered to go somewhere,” Mahiru said slowly, her eyes staring at her plate, “And Nekomaru and Gundham stayed behind to stop the rioters from catching us.”

”I remember that,” Nekomaru said, “It was after Chiaki and Nagito came back. Nagito was injured and Ms. Yukisome was in trouble.”

Nagito nodded. “Right. We found a secret passageway under the school.” He looked over to where the injured were resting. “We were originally looking for Mikan.”

Ibuki clapped her hands together. “Right! Wow, trying to remember that was driving Ibuki crazy! But where was she? And why wasn’t she with the rest of us?”

Peko suddenly sat up straighter in her seat. 

”What?”

”Someone…I remember the entrance being beneath a statue. Someone else was there fighting me. I…I lost.”

”Can you remember anything about them?” the Imposter pressed, “What they looked like, their height, anything?”

”I just remember that it was a female and she was a very skilled fighter with dull eyes.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I know I know more than this but I can’t remember.“

Nagito looked over at the injured again. “At least we know more now than we did before. We’re one step closer to knowing the truth.”

”How about you, Hifumi?” Mahiru asked, “Do you remember anything more?”

He placed his hand on his chin. “Hmm…The last thing I can recall is hiding in the classroom for a really long time.”

”Did anything stand out to you?”

”Nothing in particular…there…some of my fellow classmates may have been missing. Sorry, that’s all I can recall at the moment.”

”So we went searching for Mikan,” Nekomaru recounted, “Then gathered back at the classroom. Chiaki, Nagito, and Peko were late and told us what happened in the hidden tunnels. Uh…what exactly happened? I can’t remember what you told us.”

”All I can recount was that fight,” Peko said, “Nagito and Chiaki were the ones who went inside.”

Everyone turned to them.

Chiaki shook her head. “I don’t remember any of this.”

Nagito looked over at the injured a third time before shrugging. “I can’t seem to remember what happened either. I guess that part is still a mystery.”

Gundham gave him a side eye but didn’t say anything. 

“Taka,” Sayaka said softly, “You have to eat something. Aren’t you hungry?” She nudged him but he wouldn’t sit up from the mattress. “It’s fish.”

He kept his face pressed into the pillow. 

She tried to roll him over onto his stomach but he refused to turn over. At least they knew he wasn’t dead. “Can you try, Chihiro?”

The programmer pulled their eyes away from Mondo. “Huh? Oh, I-I can try.” They sat down and placed a hand on Taka’s back. “Taka? I’m…I’m not really sure what to say. You were closer to him than I was but…he was a close friend to me. I miss him and I can’t believe that…” They paused and took a deep breath. “You know what I just thought of? What he would say if he saw the both of us moping around like this. He would say something like ‘This sucks’ or ‘What the hell are you guys doin?’” Their impression of him was terrible, but it got Taka to turn over a little. “He would say ‘If I went down swinging then I did my job. You guys are alive. So…so you better fuckin’ live.’” They wiped their eyes. “It would be something like that.”

Taka slowly turned on his side but kept his eyes on the blanket. He was slowly blinking like he wasn’t entirely there. “He isn’t dead.”

Chihiro looked over at Sayaka.

“Yeah. But…”

“I know it’s stupid. I know that hoping won’t heal him. But I can’t do anything else. I don’t want to do anything else.”

“But you can’t go on like this. You’re already injured. You can’t risk hurting yourself more.”

He hugged himself and looked over at Mondo. “I know it’s stupid-” He suddenly sat up.

“What?” Sayaka asked.

“I…I thought-” he pointed to Mondo.

When Sayaka and Chihiro looked at him, nothing seemed to have changed. “I don’t get it.”

“He…I-I’m sorry. I thought I saw him move. I…I thought…”

This time, Chihiro gasped. “His chest moved!”

Sayaka looked again but still didn’t see anything. “Um, are either of your heads hurting?”

Taka scrambled next to Mondo and placed his hand above Mondo’s mouth. After a few seconds, he tried to stand up. 

“Woah!” Sayaka caught him before he could fall. “You can’t stand so fast! Where are you going?”

“We need to get Mikan! MIKAN!”

“What is going on?” Peko said as she and some of the others hurried down the stairs.

“He’s breathing!” Taka yelled through tears, “He’s gonna live!”

Sayaka traded spots with Chihiro and placed her own hand above Mondo’s mouth. She didn’t expect anything but she felt like she had to check before labeling Taka as crazy. Poor guy was probably suffering from hallucinations brought on by either his head injury or grief. They would have to force him to go back upstairs and rest-

Hot air hit the palm of her hand. It was faint and she nearly wrote it off as something else. She didn’t even see his chest move. But then her palm felt cold again before eventually feeling warm. And then it repeated faster. 

Mondo was breathing.

Chapter Text

Aside from her own breathing, the wind, and the rustling of the leaves, it was a quiet night. Good. Sakura needed to be alone with her thoughts for a moment. They were much, much louder than her surroundings and threatened to become explosive. 

As she went through a martial arts routine her father taught her when she was little, her mind kept wandering to the people who were still missing. Hina. Kyoko. Makoto. Akane. Kuzuryu. Nevermind. Toko. Byakuya. Souda. Hiro. 

Hina. Makoto. Kyoko. Hiro. Byakuya. Toko.

Hina. 

Where was Hina?

Is she injured? Is she dying like Mondo is? Is she already dead?

Where is she?!

Her fist stopped an inch away from a tree she had forgotten was there. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Raging wasn’t going to solve the problem. Raging wasn’t going to find anyone. She forced her hands to unclench and switched to tai chi. With each slow flowing movement, she inhaled then exhaled. She couldn’t get her mind completely clear, but she was able to at least think of good memories. 

When she was finished, there was still a pit in her stomach. At least she wasn’t as angry. 

Then she heard a sound that was even louder than her thoughts. 

She heard loud talking and yelling coming from inside the hotel.

“…He’s breathing,” Peko said in disbelief as she moved the spoon away from Mondo’s mouth.

”That’s impossible,” the Imposter said, “He hasn’t been breathing for hours.”

Ibuki raised her hand. “Oh! Maybe his breathing was so shallow that we didn’t notice it before.”

Peko shook her head. “No. Both me and Mikan checked thoroughly. Even if he is alive now, I guarantee that he’s brain-“

”But he’s alive!” Sayaka spoke up quickly. She signaled over with her head towards Taka, who was watching Mondo. “That’s all that matters right now, right?”

”No, that isn’t. Keeping someone alive who is no longer there is cruel.”

”We don’t know if he’s gone for sure. We’ll wait to see what Mikan says.”

After a few minutes, Chiaki came down the stairs with a very sleepy looking Mikan. The nurse stumbled over with her eyes halfway open and sat down next to her patient. She mumbled a couple of words and started checking him over. 

After a few seconds, she suddenly looked wide awake. “Huh? When did he start breathing?”

”A few minutes ago,” Taka quickly answered, “What does it mean? Is he going to be okay?”

She grabbed her hair. ”I…I don’t…I don’t know what this means.”

”Is he brain dead?” Peko asked. 

“No, he can’t be. Brain death would mean that a machine was keeping him alive. He’s breathing on his own now, wh-which is a good indicator that he’s alive. B-b-but I don’t understand how he is alive!”

”It's a miracle! It has to be,” Taka said. He was smiling for the first time since he’d woken up.

“Miracles do not just appear out of thin air,” Gundham said, “They are often orchestrated and come at a cost. Either he or someone here is highly favored or this ‘miracle’ is a sign.”

”I don’t care what it means! I’m just happy that it happened.”

”Don’t celebrate yet,” Mikan said as she opened her bag and started checking Mondo over again, “His condition is still critical.”

The main door opened and Sakura walked in. “What’s going on?”

”Mondo is breathing,” Chihiro said happily, “It happened a few minutes ago. He might actually live!”

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. “That is good to hear. Is there any way we can assist you, Mikan?”

”Yes, actually. I-“ She let out a long yawn. “-am very tired, but he needs to be monitored around the clock. When I go back to sleep, I need whoever is watching him to wake me up the moment something changes.”

”I’ll watch him,” Taka said. 

“Absolutely not! You also need rest.”

”But-“

”You haven’t been eating,” Chihiro said, “Or sleeping well. You can keep an eye on him in the morning. Right now, you need to eat your dinner and get some rest.”

“Whoever is keeping watch down here,” Mahiru said, “Can also keep an eye on him. Make sure you’re checking his vitals and if you don’t know how to, learn before we all go to bed.”

Everyone agreed and started preparing for the night. Mikan spent the next hour trying to keep Mondo stable. By the time she slumped over asleep, she’d determined that he should make it through the night. Sakura carried her up to her mattress. 

Taka was finally able to eat and he quickly fell asleep afterwards. Even though he wanted to stay awake, his body was still far too exhausted and injured to do so. 

As Mahiru and Nekomaru were helping to put away the food, they were both approached by Sayaka, who looked very pale. 

“Sayaka, what’s wrong?” Mahiru quickly asked.

”Um…could you guys take a look at something really quick? I know you’re busy but…” She suddenly looked very unsure of herself.

Both of the upperclassmen shared a look before following Sayaka to the bathroom. 

“Shouldn’t only Mahiru be in here with you?” Nekomaru said as he scratched his chin. 

“I know it’s weird but I needed both of you to see this. You two were the ones who found me when we all started waking up, right?”

They both nodded. 

“S-so you saw the wound in my stomach. It was really deep, right?”

”It looked like you’d been stabbed,” Mahiru said, “So, yeah, it was pretty deep. It’s been healing pretty fast, right?”

”Um, about that…” She lifted her shirt to her ribs. Her torso was no longer bandaged and there was a decent sized scar on her stomach. The scar itself looked several months old. 

“That’s…that’s good, right?” Mahiru asked, even though a part of her already knew something was wrong.

Nekomaru, on the other hand, went nearly as pale as Sayaka. “What?! No, you aren’t…how did…what?!”

”Keep your voice down.”

”Why?! Shouldn’t we tell Mikan?”

”No!” Sayaka said as she quickly shook her head, “I don’t want her to worry more than she already is. Tonight alone has already taken so much of her energy.”

”But she’s gonna see that shit anyways when she checks on you. And where’s your bandage?”

”I took it off when I went to change it. I guess I don’t really need one anymore. The stitches are gone, too…”

“Um…” Mahiru started as her brain struggled to make sense of anything, “Hey, Nekomaru, there has to be a reasonable explanation for this, right? You’ve seen plenty of your athletes get injured, I’m sure. Has there ever been a case of them healing quickly?”

”Not like this. Worst injury one of my players had was when one tore their ACL during a volleyball game. And even with Mikan’s help, it took them over half a year to heal. A stab wound might not take that long, but considering how deep you were stabbed, it should’ve taken a hell of a lot longer than four days.”

”What about Akane? She heals fast.”

”Yeah, but not this fast. Whenever she gets injured during one of our fights, she still has to recover. And I’ve never fucking stabbed her!”

”Then…then what’s going on?” Sayaka asked.

Nekomaru looked down at Mahiru.

”I…I’m not sure either. And it looks like it’s happening with the others, too.”

”…I-Is that why Mondo is alive?” Sayaka whispered.

Mahiru tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling climbing up the back of her neck. “Okay, that’s a little too ridiculous. You say that as though there’s something keeping him alive.”

The other two just stared at her.

”Okay, no. I understand that this is a scary situation, but let’s try to stay rational. Owada just had a really, really close call, but he’s alive.”

”He wasn’t breathing for hours,” Nekomaru said. 

“Okay, maybe he was and we didn’t notice. I don’t know yet! But we eventually will know. Right now, we need to rest so that we can think clearly. Maybe then we’ll come up with an answer that makes more sense.”

”But what do we tell Mikan?” Sayaka asked. 

“I’ll just pretend to change your bandages for now. And not a word of this to anyone else, got it?”

Sayaka nodded after hesitating.

”…Nekomaru?”

He groaned. “I don’t like this. We don’t know what this is. We shouldn’t keep this a secret.”

”Just for a little bit, please? I don’t want to send the others into a panic. They’re already panicking.”

He sighed before nodding. “But as soon as we find out more, we tell them. And starting with Mikan.”

”Alright, agreed.”

That night, the Imposter was surprised to be woken up by Nagito. “What is it?”

”Oh, I was just waking you up for our watch.”

”Our watch?”

The lucky student nodded. “I switched with Ibuki so she could get more sleep.

He squinted at him. “How nice of you.” He stretched and pulled a bag of popcorn from under his pillow. “Want some?”

”No thanks, I’m still full from dinner.”

The Imposter shrugged and started snacking. “I’m guessing there’s a second reason as to why you switched with her.”

”Aw, you don’t believe that I would do it out of the kindness of my heart?”

”I believe you would, but there’s always a secondary motive with you.”

Nagito held up his hands and smiled. “Alright, you got me. I switched with Ibuki so that I could talk to you.”

”Really?”

”Yep. Specifically about the person you’re currently disguised as.”

He paused from chewing. 

“What’s the last thing you remember the real Ryota doing?”

”…Working on his computer like always.”

”Was he with anyone?”

”I asked Mikan to nurse him back to health after he kept neglecting his health for his work. And there were…two girls from another class.” He frowned as another memory popped into his head. “I believe he mentioned that one of the girls wanted to work with him. I didn’t trust her.”

”Did these girls happen to be Enoshima and her sister?”

”The one with the big pink pigtails, right? Yeah.”

Nagito nodded and looked down at the floor. 

“What is it?”

”Oh, I’m just trying to recall a memory. What was Ryota’s talent?”

”He’s the Ultimate Animator. His work could move people to tears.”

”And he agreed to let you be him so he could keep working on his talent without being interrupted, right? Such dedication makes me jealous.”

”It doesn’t do him any good. If it wasn’t for me and Mikan, he’d be dead and slumped over his desk with his spirit trying to complete his work.”

”It makes me wonder if his dedication attracted Enoshima to him. Or if it was something else.”

”Why don’t you ask her when she wakes up?” the Imposter said as he resumed eating.

”I do plan to, but I want to remember as much as possible before then.

Chapter Text

“Ah! I’m going to go stir crazy!” Hiyoko whined as she looked out the window, “Why hasn’t anyone found us yet?”

”Probably because they don’t know where we are,” Mahiru said as she finished changing Leon’s bandages. She’d gotten rather good at helping Mikan with the injured. More than she would’ve ever liked to, but she was happy to lighten the nurse’s work load. “But I’m sure they’re still searching.”

”That or they’ve already assumed we’re dead.”

She sighed and looked over at the dancer. “Having a negative outlook on the situation isn’t helping, you know?”

”It’s not like anything has helped,” she said as she moved away from the window and sat down. 

Mahiru knew she was mostly complaining because she was scared. They still didn’t understand what was going on. And to add to it, Hyoko still looked like she had their first year of Hope’s Peak. “We’ll figure something out.”

”Can we at least do this without being stuck in here the whole time? The search group gets to walk around and yet we have to wait here all day. If I have to look at the same walls for too much longer, I’m going to toss myself down the stairs.”

”Why don’t you go check on Chihiro and Mikan? I think they’re watching over Owada.”

Hiyoko groaned and marched over to and down the stairs. 

Mikan, Fujisaki, and Yamada were sitting around Owada, talking and watching over him as though that was going to help. Meanwhile, Chiaki was hovering over a stupid video game while Sayaka watched and asked questions. Hiyoko avoided all of them, went over to a chair, and threw herself into it.

After another ten minutes, she saw Ishimaru come down the stairs…in Gundham’s clothes?

“Hi, Taka,” Fujisaki said when she saw him, “Oh, those clothes look nice on you.”

”I would much prefer my own uniform,” Ishimaru said as he sat down, “But I understand that they need to be washed. How is he?”

”H-he’s still breathing,” Mikan said, “B-b-b-but he hasn’t responded to anything, even when I give him water or poke him.”

Hiyoko toned them out and looked up at the ceiling. After another few minutes, someone knocked on the door. Ishimaru stood up and opened the door. 

It was Oogami. “Mikan, are you able to leave for a moment?”

”I-Is something wrong?”

She shook her head no. “It’s the opposite. We found a hospital that still has equipment inside. We need to know what you want us to bring back.”

Mikan yelled in excitement and stood up. “Th-th-that’s wonderful! Yes, I can go. Oh! Will you all be able to watch him while I’m gone? I-it’ll only be maybe an hour and I’ll be able to grab things that could help-”

“You don’t need to justify yourself,” Ishimaru said, “This is something that will be beneficial to all of us. I’ll keep an eye on Mondo.”

She smiled and quickly followed Sakura out the door. 

“The nurse gets to go?!” Hiyoko practically yelled as she stood up, “That crybaby bitch can leave but we’re stuck in here?!”

“Name calling is unnecessary!” the hall monitor called, “And she is leaving for an important reason.”

“You’re just saying that because she might get something to save your vegetable boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?!”

“Maybe we should all play a game,” Chiaki said, “That might lighten the mood.”

“If games are what you want,” Ibuki yelled from the other side of the door, “Then we have the delivery for you!”

Ishimaru opened the door again and Ibuki, Gundham, and Nekomaru walked in with a wagon full of different supplies. There were ropes, weapons, cooking utensils, drinks, and…board games, pool noodles, and swimsuits. 

“We were unable to talk her out of it,” Gundham explained when they were asked about the last items. 

“Hey, we might make use of them,” Nekomaru said, “We’re getting lazy in here! Once we know it’s safe, I’m gonna make sure we all get back into shape.”

“Shouldn’t we worry about healing first?” Chiaki mumbled. 

As the wagon was wheeled in and things were put away, Hiyoko pulled Ibuki aside. “The swimsuits were your idea, right?”

“Yep! It was a great one if Ibuki does say so herself.”

“It is.”

“Really?”

“But only if we’re actually going to go swimming today.”

“But it isn’t safe.”

“We haven’t seen anyone aside from us. We won’t get attacked if we just swim around in the pool for a bit. It’s right outside and we can run back in if anything happens. Come on, aren’t you bored?”

The musician thought for a bit. “Ibuki has been bored without anything fun to do. Yesterday, Ibuki kept drumming on the pots and pans and Teruteru chased Ibuki right out of the kitchen!”

“Great, then you agree to go.”

“What?”

“Shush! We just have to grab the swimsuits and figure out a way to get past everyone without them noticing.”

“Why can’t we just invite them to go swimming?”

”Because, dummy, they would say it’s too dangerous.”

The musician placed her pointer fingers on her temple and hummed. “Maybe not everyone. Nekomaru was just mentioning that he wanted us to be more active. He’s going to make us run up and down the stairs if we don’t do something soon.”

“That…that might work.”

“So…did you figure out what the virus is doing? Hagime?”

”Huh? Oh, no, not yet.”

”Another all nighter?”

”Yeah, but don’t tell the others.”

”I won’t. I pulled one too trying to get a signal. I think I did for a second before something sparked and caught fire.”

”So that’s why you smelled burnt this morning.”

”What are they doing now?” 

“One group just came back, another one is still out at the hospital, and Hiyoko and Ibuki are planning something.”

”So the virus still isn’t doing anything. Maybe it never transferred over?”

”It did. Remember that it took a few days for Monokuma to show up before our killing game.”

”What is he waiting for? Wait, speaking of weird robot bears, where is Usami?”

”She was destroyed with the AI version of Chiaki.”

”Yeah but she came back to kick giant Junko’s ass. And Chiaki’s back now. So wouldn’t it make sense for Usami to be back too?”

”…I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Heh, you must be really bored if you’re coming to me for permission,” Nekomaru said as he finished up putting away the supplies. He then turned back to Ibuki and Hiyoko. “I get it but we don’t know if it’s safe for us to be outside.”

”You’ve gone outside multiple times!” Hiyoko said, “And yet you’ve never seen our kidnappers, have you? They’re probably not here anymore. Come on, don’t you want us to stay fit? My talent depends on me staying in shape.”

”You don’t need a pool to stay in shape.”

”But that’s like the fun-est way. It’s right outside. Please?”

He knew she was just using the whole ‘staying in shape’ thing as an excuse to go outside, but she still had a point. Half of the group being stuck inside wasn’t good for their mental or physical health. “Fine.”

”Yes!”

”But we tell the others.”

”What?!”

”Ibuki will tell them right now!”

Hiyoko tried to grab the musician, but she ran off before she could be stopped. “No! Now they’re going to try to stop us. Or worse, most of them are going to want to come.”

Nekomaru sighed and followed after Ibuki, figuring that he would have some explaining to do. 

Of the people still at the hotel, everyone agreed with the idea of a pool day except for Mahiru, Gundham, Taka, Chihiro, Sayaka, and Hifumi. Mahiru thought that it would be too reckless and didn’t want to leave the injured unattended to. Taka and Chihiro didn’t want to leave Mondo unattended to. Sayaka was still afraid of whoever attacked them. Hifumi and Gundham just weren’t interested in the idea of swimming.

“I guess we can’t stop you if you want to go,” Mahiru said to them, “But come back inside if anything happens, okay?”

”Yeah, yeah, we’ll be fine,” Hiyoko said as she grabbed a swimsuit in her size, “The only danger we’ll be in is if Teruteru gets handsy.”

”But there won’t be a lifeguard on duty,” Taka said, “And we haven’t okayed this with the others-“

Hiyoko was already headed for the bathroom to change into her swimsuit.

Nekomaru put an arm around Taka. “Don’t worry, I’ll act as a lifeguard if anyone needs rescuing. As far as I’m aware, everyone can swim.”

Chiaki raised her hand. “I can’t.”

”…We can fix that.”

Nekomaru, Chiaki, Hiyoko, Teruteru, and Ibuki changed and headed out into the pool. The sunlight felt nice and inviting. It reflected against the water of the pool as though it were trying to hypnotize them. 

“Alright, safety rule-” Nekomaru started, but was quickly interrupted by the splash of mostly everyone else jumping in. 

“Ahhhh, the water is great!” Ibuki shouted when she surfaced, “Hurry up and get in here, Nekomaru!”

“Alright, but you ask for this,” he said as he turned around and started heading back towards the hotel.

“Huh? Where are you-”

He quickly turned around and dashed towards the pool with lightning shooting out of his eyes. Everyone else scrambled out of the way just as he cannon-balled into the pool. 

Chiaki watched as a tide hit enveloped everyone else. Aside from Hiyoko yelling when she resurfaced, everyone was laughing and having a good time. She sat down by the side of the pool and placed her feet in the water. 

“You’re not getting in?” Teruteru asked as he floated by on a pool noodle.

“I can’t swim.”

“Well, you’re not going to learn by sitting there. Climb in from the shallow side.”

“Are you sure? Swimming seems like it could be difficult.”

Ibuki paddled by on her back. “It is a little, but once you learn not to drown it’s a lot of fun!”

Chiaki looked down at the water again before getting up and climbing down the ladder. Even in the shallow end, the water nearly came up to her shoulders. “Okay, I’m in… Now what?”

“Now you swim!”

“Not yet,” Nekomaru said as he walked over, “First, you need to trust yourself and get comfortable in the water. Do you know how to hold your breath?”

Chiaki nodded. 

“Oh, oh, oh!” Ibuki said as she raised her hand, “Tea party. Tea party!”

“Huh, tea party?” Chiaki asked.

Hiyoko rolled her eyes. “That’s a kid's game.”

“I bet you lost a lot,” Teruteru teased.

“Bet I could last longer than you could, tubby.”

“No, no, noodle war!” Ibuki said as she grabbed onto a pool noodle, “Let’s start a war!”

“How is that going to help her swim?”

“Like this!” Ibuki yelled as she rushed at Hiyoko with a pool noodle. The smaller girl shrieked and swam further away. “See, you swam.”

“I know how to swim!”

“No one can stop the mighty Ibuki’s reign of the pool! Bow before your queen!”

“What do we get if you’re defeated?” Teruteru asked, “Will you bow to us?”

Ibuki whipped around and slipped her pool noodle under Teruteru. Then she yanked it upwards, sending him and a turrent of water airborne and back into the water. “Another foe  bested! But then again, these are just the small fries. How dare Ibuki call herself a queen when she hasn’t even bested the best in the pool. I must target the biggest opponent in the yard.” She turned her attention to Nekomaru, who was currently explaining to Chiaki what a pool tea party was. “Perfect. His guard is down.” She dipped low into the water like a shark and inched closer and closer. 

When she was only a few feet away, she leaped out of the water and swung her weapon. His apprentice turned towards her and shouted out a warning, but it was far too la-

He caught her with one arm. “Hey, Ibuki.”

Oh no. She was captured.

“What color am I thinking of?”

And being interrogated?! How did it come to this? “Uh, uh…teal?”

“Nope, it WAS BLUE!!!!” He grabbed her with both hands around her waist and launched her into the air. 

She spun once, felt weightless, then tumbled back down into the water. As the waves enveloped her and pulled her down to her watery grave, she thought back to the battle that ended her reign. How far she had fallen. How her kingdom would fall to ruin without her. What a loss. 

She should probably breathe now.

She stood back up, gasped, and rubbed the water out of her eyes. 

“My bad,” she heard Nekomaru say, “I didn’t mean to throw you that hard.”

“It’s all good. Ibuki is sturdy!” When she opened her eyes, she saw that Chiaki was laughing.

“Is this what it was like being in class with you guys?” the gamer asked, “If that’s the case, then I can’t wait to get my memories back.”

Chapter Text

When Sakura mentioned a hospital, Mikan had imagined a large building with multiple floors and updated equipment. What she was brought to was a much smaller, two story building with okay equipment and a neon sign in the lobby. It was still a hospital, so she was still happy. 

Inside, they were able to find more painkillers, antibiotics, first aid kits, mattresses and bed supplies, IV supplies, sanitation equipment, and surgical tools. With each find, Mikan’s mood became more lighthearted. 

“I get that this is your area of expertise,” the Imposter said, “But I didn’t realize being around medical equipment made you this happy.”

She shook her head. “It isn’t necessarily the tools. It’s what I could do with them. I-I-I can make survival more likely for the already injured and if anyone else gets h-hurt. I-I-I can be more useful.”

”Do you think this will be enough to save Mondo?” Sakura asked. 

“Th-there’s not an x-ray here, so I won’t know how bad the damage is…b-b-but I can make him more comfortable with the IV drip and the painkillers. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’re doing what you can.” Even though that’s what the martial artist said, she turned away as though she wasn’t satisfied with Mikan’s answer. Did she think she wasn’t doing enough? 

“We’re going to pack the whole island in the hotel by the time we leave,” Nagito said as he heaved a bag into his arms, “I don’t mean to complain, but are we really carrying all of this back by hand?”

Peko grabbed his bag and handed him a smaller one. “We don’t know if we can afford multiple trips, so we’ll do it in one. The sooner we get this back, the sooner we can finish checking the buildings of this island.”

”Shouldn’t you all break for lunch?” Mikan asked. 

“We can eat on the move.”

They grabbed what they could carry and left the hospital. Outside, it was surprisingly dry and dusty for a tropical resort. Maybe that was just the theme? The walk to the central island wasn’t long, but Mikan was almost dragging her bag by then. She made a mental note to take better care of herself. 

As they passed by the timer, she looked up at the red numbers. About nine days remained. Now that she was getting a good look at it, it really did look like an elaborate bomb.

As they got closer to the hotel, they spotted Mahiru leaving one of the cabins and hurrying back towards the hotel. They could hear splashing and yelling.

They picked up the pace and hurried to see what all the noise was. Mikan hoped that no one else was hurt. 

When they made it to the pool, Teruteru and Hiyoko were floating on one side of the pool while Nekomaru and Ibuki were standing in the middle. Chiaki was sitting on Nekomaru’s shoulders and Sayaka was sitting on Ibuki’s. Mahiru was taking pictures with her camera on the side and Chihiro, Taka, Gundham, and Hifumi were watching from the door. 

“The game is all tied up,” Mahiru said, “Whoever wins this wins it all!”

”Remember to hold your breath when we knock you over,” Ibuki taunted.

”And please don’t drown,” Sayaka quickly added. 

”We got this, Chiaki!” Nekomaru cheered, “Don’t let them intimidate you!”

The smaller girl had her hands in front of her ready to attack.

”What is going on!?”

Everyone froze when they heard Peko’s voice. 

“Uh…exercising?” Hiyoko said sheepishly.

”This isn’t a vacation. You’re supposed to be keeping a low profile.”

”They were just having a little fun,” Mahiru said, “We weren’t going to stay out that long.”

”We don’t know how long long enough is. Who is watching the injured?”

Taka, Hifumi, Gundham, and Chihiro hurried back inside. 

“Buzz kill,” Hiyoko mumbled as everyone got out of the pool.

“You guys could’ve at least waited for us to get back,” Nagito said, “A pool party sounds like fun.”

 Mikan hurried over to Sayaka and checked her over. “W-wh-where’s your bandage? Wh-where’s your injury?!”

The singer went pale and quickly looked over towards Mahiru and Nekomaru. “Um, i-it looks like it healed pretty fast. I hardly feel it anymore.”

Mikan stopped moving and didn’t say anything.

”Um, Mikan? I’m sorry if I worried you. I didn’t hurt myself while swimming, I promise.”

“…This isn’t possible…” Mikan began quietly, “This isn’t possible. This isn’t possible. Thisisn’tpossible.”

”Mikan?”

”Thisisn’tpossible! Thisisn’tpossible!” The nurse was clutching at her own hair and tugging. 

“Mikan! Stop, you’re going to hurt yourself!”

Mahiru and Sakura rushed over and were able to pull her fingers out of her hair. They got her to calm down enough for Sakura to pick her up and carry her inside. 

“What was that about?” Teruteru asked.

”She’s losing it, duh!” Hiyoko said, “I tried to say that before but nobody believed me!”

”Everyone, just get inside,” Peko said, “We’re drawing too much attention to ourselves.”

The pool supplies were quickly collected and everyone went inside. Medical supplies were either put away or put near the injured. 

Mikan had been sat on a couch and Sayaka, Mahiru, and Imposter tried to calm her down. But she kept repeating the same phrase over and over. 

“We need to know what to do with the IVs,” Taka said, “I know Mikan is currently in no condition to do them herself, so is there anyone else who has the medical knowledge to do so?”

Gundham shook his head. “She is the only one who possesses the ability to medically lengthen a mortal’s life.”

”Then we need her to snap out of it,” Peko said bluntly.

”Whatever demons she fights are at the forefront of her mind. Even if she could break out of their spell, would you want her wielding a needle with the demons so near?”

”Then we brought all of this and wasted time for nothing.” She turned and headed for the door.

”Where are you going?” Nagito asked.

”I’m not wasting more time. I’m going to look for the others.”

”Not on your own,” Nekomaru called, “Wait until we can calm Mikan down and some of us can go with you.”

”Whoever can come with me but I’m going now.” She went to open the door but a quick hand on the door stopped her from opening it.

”You said it yourself that we don’t know who attacked us. They’re stronger than all of us so we shouldn’t-“

”And yet you thought it was a good idea to splash around in a pool.”

”We stayed close to the hotel and we were keeping an eye out. Some of us were getting stir crazy and needed some fresh air.”

”Well, I’m getting stir crazy dealing with people without any basic survival skills. It would be one thing if you didn’t know or understand, but you insist on lecturing me about putting myself and others in danger when you just did the same thing.”

”We got carried away. We should’ve done it smarter or done something inside but we aren’t soldiers, Peko.  Mikan is losin’ it because she’s been saving people left and right and something weird is happening that causes people to heal faster than they’re supposed to. Someone almost died yesterday. We don’t know where we are or how we’re getting back. This shit is scary! We need distractions if we’re going to be well enough to work as a team.”

”No, we need solutions. We need to find everyone.”

“…A while back, a track team my team rivaled couldn’t seem to win any of their meets. They trained everyday, any chance they had. They dropped out of other clubs, stopped having social lives, everything. They were miserable. And it showed with every game they played. They hated each other and they lost their fire.”

”What are you getting at?”

”WE CAN’T RISK LOSING OUR FIRE! Sticking together as a team is just as important as making sure your teammates are in good spirits. You’re right in saying we should be more careful. Wait for a little longer for people to rest and eat. In the meantime, we can figure ways to help everyone to pass the time. We’ll be back out the door before you know-“

”You’re an idiot. I mean it. Yes, someone nearly died yesterday and the night before. You know why they were saved? Because we found them. I found Enoshima. You keep forgetting that we aren’t one of your sports teams. If we were, I’m sure we would be dead already with how insufficient your leadership skills have been.“

She saw him recoil back from that. She could tell it hurt him. She felt her heart sink a little. But she wanted to make sure he didn’t try to stop her again. She went for the kill.

“You said you wanted to find Akane so badly? If we continue to go at this rate, we are going to find her dead in a pool of her own blood, hopefully in one piece.”

She saw lightning spark in his eyes.

”And it’s going to haunt you for the rest of your life knowing that if you’d only been faster you would have saved-“

”Stop it!” Chiaki shouted.

She listened. She’d gotten her point across, anyways.

”Come on, guys,” Nagito called, “I think we could all use a break. Tensions seem really high.”

”Take your break,” Peko said as she casted one last look at Nekomaru before leaving out of the door. She wasn’t proud of the hardened look on his face.

“Akane, hittin’ the screen isn’t gonna help!”

”She’s got a lot of nerve talkin’ to Coach Nekomaru like that! I’ll knock her teeth to the back of her head!”

”Yeah, but it’s not like you can hop through the screen. I mean, her body technically isn’t even there. It’s in the cryo chamber- Wait, no!”

”Why the fuck would you tell her that, dumbass?!”

”Hajime, catch her!”

”Aak!”

”Move!”

”Nice catch!”

”We’re not even there! That bitch has no right to use me against him!”

”They don’t know that. They don’t know what’s going on and that’s scaring them. They’re scared and panicking, Akane, remember that. Remember, we all did horrible things because of the same reason.”

”…I fuckin’ hate this…”

”I do too. But no one seems to be at risk of dying yet, so we have time to figure this out.”

”Yeah, but what happens when they finally snap? They can still kill each other, can’t they?”

”I don’t think it’ll be like before. They still have their memories. It’s harder to kill friends than it is to kill a stranger. But just in case, there is something we can do. Sonya and I have actually been talking about this idea.

Tensions stayed high for the next few days. They continued to search the third island and found a movie theatre, an alleyway full of electronics, a music venue, and a motel. Out of those locations, the alleyway seemed the most useful. Unfortunately, all of the electronics were broken or missing batteries and a certain mechanic was still missing. They didn’t find any signs of their missing friends. 

Mikan was able to pull herself together enough to continue caring for the injured, but she was far from okay. Not only was Sayaka’s injury nothing more than a scar, but Chihiro’s, Taka’s, and Hifumi’s head injury no longer seemed to affect them. Mukuro, Leon, and Celeste all managed to wake up somewhat and Junko’s limbs seemed functional. She wasn’t sure how Mondo was doing but he was still alive. And the Ultimate Nurse couldn’t understand how any of this was happening so quickly. She’d begun writing things down and mumbling to herself. Occasionally, she would throw her notebook and yell, but would quickly apologize and beg for forgiveness. 

Peko began going out on her own, sometimes without telling anyone. Someone would always try to either talk her out of it or go with her. Normally it was Mahiru, Sakura, Imposter, Chiaki, or Ibuki. Sometimes all of them. But never Nekomaru. 

On the third afternoon, Mukuro was able to stay awake and lean on propped up pillows. She still needed painkillers and she was still incredibly wounded, but like the others, her injuries were healing quickly. 

“Here you are,” Nagito said as he handed her a mug of tea, “Mikan told me not to make it too hot, so I hope you don’t mind warm tea.”

She nodded and took a sip. Everytime she moved, she felt the bandages against her stab wounds. She kept her face from revealing her pain. 

“It feels a little embarrassing to say this, but I don’t remember much about you from school.”

“It’s fine. We’re in different classes.”

“That’s true, but your class does make it a habit to stand out from the others. You would think we’d cross paths at some point in between classes.”

“I don’t interact with people much.”

“Really? Oh, you’re usually with your sister, right? I think I remember that.” He looked over to where Junko was laying. “I hope she wakes up soon. It must be weird not having her to talk to.”

She stared at him, hoping there was a point to this conversation.

He raised his hands. “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. I know this is stressful for everyone, but I can’t imagine what it’s like having a sibling involved in all of this. But if things continue the way they have been, she should wake up in no time.”

“Good.”

 “By the way, you wouldn’t happen to remember what happened to us, would you? None of us seem to remember how we got here.”

She shook her head. “Like I told the others, I don’t remember anything about the riot. The last thing I remember is being in class.”

“Aw, that’s too bad. I was hoping to ask you about something.” He sighed. “I remember seeing you and your sister in a secret tunnel and wanted to ask you about that.”

She saw him watch her carefully. He was looking for a reaction. “A secret tunnel? Where?”

“Under a statue in the school yard. It was pretty impressive. I remember seeing you and your sister there with Ryota. The real one.”

She considered how quickly she could dispose of him. No, she was in no shape to do that and she wasn’t familiar enough with her surroundings yet. “I don’t remember any of this.”

He smiled. “Well, hopefully it comes back soon. It might help solve what happened to us. Enjoy your tea.” He stood up and went to check on Leon.

She looked down at her mug. She didn’t see any signs of poisons but she suddenly didn’t trust it. 

Long hair was a lot harder to deal with, especially when it hadn’t been brushed in several days. This was something that Taka was learning as he tried to pull a brush through Mondo’s hair. The brush  kept catching and knotting the hair. Even though Mondo made no indication that it hurt, Taka still winced whenever he felt like he was pulling too hard. 

“Wait, like this,” Chihiro said as they took the brush and demonstrated, “Start from the end of his hair. As you get that untangled, work your way towards his scalp.”

“Like this?”

“Yep. Try doing it in smaller sections, too. That will make it easier on the brush.”

“Thank you, Chihiro! This is a lot easier.”

“Hi,” Sayaka said as she walked over to them, “What are you guys up to?”

“We are taking care of Mondo since he cannot do that for the time being,” Taka said as he continued brushing, “I figured he would have an easier time adjusting once he woke up if he wasn’t concerned about his hair.”

“That’s a good idea. Maybe we should do that for the other people still asleep as well.”

“That’s a wonderful idea!” Anything that kept himself busy was a wonderful idea. 

“Oh, he has so many split ends. Do you think he would mind if I trimmed them?”

“As long as you don’t cut it too short, it should be fine.”

She shook her head. “It won’t be noticeable. I’ll be back with some scissors.” She stood up and hurried upstairs.

“It’s weird seeing him without any guyliner,” Chihiro said as they pointed to Mondo’s face.

“You’ve seen him without it, surely.”

“I have but it was only if I spent the night in his room or when we went swimming. It was rare.”

He supposed Chihiro was right. Mondo was very particular about the way he looked in his own sort of way. He would probably feel out of place being surrounded by people and not dressed in his signature look. 

Now that he thought about it, half of them weren’t. Only Class 77 had clothes on the island. Which meant that Class 78 had to borrow clothes whenever they needed to change. They were able to find undergarments at the convenience store, but not many clothes. Most people wore similar sizes, but others could only borrow from one other person. Namely, Sakura and Hifumi could only borrow clothes from Nekomaru and Imposter. 

“Got it,” Sayaka said as she returned with scissors and a comb in hand, “Don’t worry, I do this for the girls in my idol group all the time. He’s in good hands.”

Taka and Chihiro moved over so that she could start working with Mondo’s hair. It was interesting watching her work. The way she effortlessly brushed through his hair and sectioned it proved she’d done it several times before. 

“This is a little silly,” Sayaka said, “But I’ve wanted to do this to his hair for a while. It’s so long and he almost never has it down. I’ll have to ask him if he’ll let me style it for him when he wakes up.”

“He’ll need help with that for a while,” Taka said as he looked at the floor.

“...Hey, he’ll be okay. Everyone seems to be making miraculous recoveries. I’m sure he will too.”

Everything was dull and painful. It radiated all over and came in waves, but he could ignore it if he slipped back into nothingness. But he couldn’t. Not with something tugging at his scalp, making his already throbbing head hurt more. 

Chapter Text

“And that’s what’s been going on,” Mahiru explained for what felt like the twentieth time. 

Leon, on the other hand, still looked skeptical. “Hold on. We got kidnapped, beatin’ nearly to death, left on an island resort, and now we have Wolverine powers?”

“We don’t know what’s causing everyone to heal faster, but it seems that way. I’m sure we’re just confusing how long we’ve been here.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring. So…” He looked down at himself. “How long do I have to stay wrapped up like this? I don’t feel that bad.”

Mahiru shrugged. “You feel okay because you’re on pain medicine. We don’t need you to feel every broken bone.”

“Heh, fair. That’s probably why I feel a little sleepy, too.”

“Get some sleep if you need it.”

“Are you kiddin’? I’ve been asleep for far too long.”

“What else are you planning on doing?”

“I don’t know, a crossword puzzle? Somethin’! I’m gonna lose my shit if I have to sleep and stare at the ceiling all day.”

The stairs creaked as someone came up. Thankfully, Leon was laying in a way to where he could see that it was Peko. The swordswoman looked more irritated than usual, surprisingly, and immediately went into the kitchen. 

“What’s pissin’ her off?”

“She’s…worried about finding the others,” Mahiru said as she checked on Celeste, “Her and Nekomaru got into an argument about it and haven’t spoken to each other since.”

“Oh, shit.” Leon didn’t know much about Peko but he knew Nekomaru well enough to know that it wasn’t common for that guy to hold a grudge. “What did they say to each other?”

“We probably shouldn’t be talking about this behind their backs. That’s rude.”

He let out an exaggerated sigh. Back to being bored again.

Peko walked over with a bag in hand. “Do you need me to make another run to the hospital or pharmacy?”

Mahiru shook her head. “I think we’re pretty good on medicine, thanks. Any luck?”

“No. I checked the third island completely and didn’t find anyone. The fourth island is an amusement park-”

“Woah, like with rollercoasters and shit?!” Leon said, almost sitting up. He was sure that would’ve hurt if he wasn’t medicated. “We gotta check out some of the rides.”

“You do realize that some of your classmates are missing,” Peko said bluntly.

“I mean, yeah, I meant after we found everyone. The rides work, right?”

“I didn’t think it was necessary to check. I’ll be back before dinner.” She turned around and went back down the stairs.

“Take someone with you!” Mahiru yelled after her, “I wish they would go back to searching in groups.”

“Okay, I get why Nekomaru isn’t goin’ with her, but what about everyone else?”

“No, some people will go with her or in a second group, but it’s not as organized as it was before. Before they would leave at the same time and return around the same time. Now, Peko leaves when she wants and anyone who wants to join her has to rush to tag along. There are some people who don’t want to be in a group with her but-”

“Who?”

“Would you stop trying to stir up trouble? That part isn’t important.”

“Hey, sorry I want to know what’s goin’ on. I’m kinda stuck on this shitty mattress.”

“You’ll be up in a few days. In the meantime, rest and try to remember what happened.”

“Can’t remember much…” He watched as she went over and checked on Mukuro. The soldier was awake and seemed pretty responsive. She just didn’t talk. Which wasn’t that different from when they were in class. 

The stairs creaked again as Sayaka came up the stairs and waved at him. “Hi, Leon.” 

“Hey, finally, someone who can talk my ear off.”

“Hey!”

“In a good way. I’m bored.”

She sat down next to him. “I guess I know what you mean. How are you feeling?”

“No, I don’t need to talk about that again. Give me the juicy details. What has everyone been doing? What have you been doing?”

“Well, I’ve been taking care of the injured and hanging out with Chiaki and Ibuki. Chiaki can’t remember anything before she went to Hope’s Peak, so some of us have been trying to jog her memory.”

“Has it been working?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. Ibuki wants to start a band, but not everyone wants loud instruments in here. Oh, Peko and Nekomaru got into it and aren’t talking.”

“I heard about that. What did they say to each other?”

“I didn’t hear everything because I was checking on Mikan- oh, I’ll explain that in a second- but from what I can remember, Peko got mad at us for going swimming-”

“You guys went swimming?!”

“-and called Nekomaru an idiot and a bad leader.”

“Ouch. But like, hasn’t he been called worse and shrugged it off?”

She shrugged. “I tried talking to him to see if he was okay, but he just laughed it off. But he’s doing a lot better than Mikan…”

After finishing her checks, Mahiru grabbed an envelope and went downstairs. Hearing Sayaka reiterate everything was just going to give her a headache. She found Nagito, Chiaki, and Teruteru playing a game, Taka cleaning, Chihiro and Mikan doing a puzzle, and Nekomaru and Hiyoko on opposite ends of a couch. 

“Don’t tell me you two are fighting,” Mahiru said as she walked over to the latter group. 

“I’m bored,” Hiyoko said, then pointed to Nekomaru, “He’s sulking.”

“What?! Am not!”

“Are too. You’ve been sulking ever since Peko said you were trash at your talent.”

“Hiyoko,” Mahiru said through her teeth.

“What? We all knew this already.”

She sighed and sat between the two. “You’re terrible at entertaining yourself. And you-” She turned to Nekomaru. “-you know that Peko said all of that because she was frustrated. She’s worried, just like the rest of us.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you still sulking?”

“I am not sulking. I’m just doin’ a lot of thinking.”

“Okay. About what?”

“...She was right.”

“No she-”

“I should’ve known better. This isn’t a championship or a match. This is a life or death situation and I don’t know what to do.”

“Well, yeah, how could you? You’ve never been in this situation before. And your talent is team manager, not leader of everything. You saw where the team was struggling and tried to fix it. Maybe not in the best way, but it still counts for something. You want to know how I know?”

He looked over at her.

She opened up the envelope she’d been holding and handed him the photos. “I was going to wait until I found a good place to pin them up, but this seemed like the right time to show em.”

“...These are from when we went swimming.”

“Yeah. See all the smiles? Even the people watching from the door looked happy. Until we get back home, we aren’t going to get a lot of moments like that. So it is important that we keep our spirits up, or our fire has you called it.”

He looked over the photos a few more times before handing them back. “I think you should still hang those up. It might be a nice reminder for people to smile.”

“I think so too. Wanna help me find a spot?”

He stood up and stretched. “No can do. There’s something else I need to do first.”

“Like what?”

“I’m gonna go talk to Peko.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“We can’t have bad blood between the two of us, especially when everyone is needed. Do you know where she went?”

“The fourth island, I think. Hold on, take someone else with you! No going out on your own.”

“I’ll go with you,” Nagito said as he walked over, “I could go for a walk.”

“Alright, let’s go!”

“Which means you,” Mahiru said as she turned to Hiyoko, “Can help me figure out where to hang up these photos.”

“Do you think there’s funnel cake here? Ibuki can taste the smell of funnel cake!”

“That is not why we’re here,” Peko sighed, “We’re looking for our missing classmates. Try to stay focused. And you!” She whipped around and pointed at Imposter, who was biting into a corndog. “How can you eat at a time like this?”

“...I missed lunch.”

She held her tongue and went back to searching. 

“Can you blame us for getting distracted? This is an amusement park afterall.”

“The noises from this place drain me,” Gundham mumbled.

“Maybe we’ll find your Devas. I mean, there is a lot of good tasting food out here. Maybe they were drawn to it.”

“Wait,” Sakura said, “The food. It’s hot, right?”

“Yeah? And it tastes good, too.”

“And it isn’t burned.”

He stopped walking. “...Yeah. That means someones been tending to it.”

“That means they could still be around! Ibuki will find them!” the musician yelled before running off. 

“Wait a second. Don’t separate!” Imposter yelled before going after her.

“It’s probably better if we split up anyways,” Peko sighed, “We’ll cover more ground that way. We’ll start with this castle.”

“Ibuki!” Imposter called as he chased after her. While she was fast, he could keep up with her. The issue was that it was hard to guess where she was turning. She kept weaving through stalls and cutting through the grass without seeming to have a destination in mind. At one point, she’d nearly caused him to drop his corndog. 

She suddenly stopped and he nearly ran into her. “Man, that was a good run!”

“Where were you running to?”

“Oh, nowhere. Just looking to see if we could find the people working here.”

“How are we going to find them while running around that fast? Wouldn’t we miss them?”

She thought about it, then shook her head. “They wouldn’t have time to hide.”

“Unless they heard us run-” He was cut off as Ibuki covered his mouth with her hand. He frowned at her, signaling for her to explain. 

“Do you hear that?” she said in a whisper, then pointed in a direction.

He listened and sure enough, he could hear voices in the distance. They snuck forward a little, then hid behind a stall. 

“...don’t think that’s a good idea,” they heard Nekomaru say.

“You’re right, it could hurt us in the long run,” they heard Nagito respond, “But if we realize that we don’t need them, then that proves something bigger is going on here.”

“This shit could get us killed. And Mikan already has enough people she’s tryin’ to save.” Ibuki nearly stood up, but Imposter pulled her back down and covered her mouth. 

“Just a few days, that’s all I ask. And each night, we’ll check in with each other to make sure we’re okay. Come on, don’t you want to contribute to figuring out this mystery. We can’t do a lot like Peko can in this situation, but we can test this.”

“...Alright, only for a few days…” They started to get too far away to hear. 

Ibuki gave Imposter a wide eyed expression. 

He took his hand off of her mouth. “Don’t say anything to them about what we heard.”

“What? Why?”

“Because Nagito is going to deny everything and I’m sure he already told Nekomaru not to say anything. I don’t know what they’re planning, but I want to try and catch them in the act. Nagito has been acting suspicious for a few days now and I want to figure out what he knows.”

“You don’t think he’s behind all of this, do you?” She gasped. “Did he hire thugs to kidnap us?!”

“Calm down, I don’t think he would do that to us. But I do think he at least remembers more than he’s letting on. Come on, let’s catch up to them and bring them back towards the others.”

“But enough about that,” Nagito said as he and Nekomaru continued down the path, “We only have four days left on that timer on the middle island. Do you think we should start poking around with it to try and shut it off?”

“And risk it blowing up? No way! Let’s find Kazuichi before we do anything reckless like that.” 

“Speaking of recklessness,” Nagito said as he motioned towards the two people jogging over to them, “Hey, guys. We were just looking for you. Well, Peko, more specifically.”

“She’s with Sakura and Gundham,” Imposter explained, “Is something wrong?”

“Naw,” Nekomaru said, “I just need to talk it out with her, that’s all.”

“Last I saw, they were over by that castle. Come on, they couldn’t have gotten far.”

It didn’t take long for them to jog over to the large building. It was quite an impressive castle…that seemed to have a rat mascot? They didn’t find the others immediately, but they did hear something. A dark, maniacal laugh that seemed to echo throughout the park and darken the sky. 

“Oh, that sounds like Gundham,” Ibuki said as they hurried in that direction. 

They found them at the castle’s entrance across a bridge. The entrance itself was blocked, but Sakura and Peko were watching as Gundham seemed to cackle to himself.

“Once again, the Earth and creatures that crawl upon it tremble before the great Overlord of Ice! Finally, after many eons of searching amongst the mortals, I have finally regained my full power!” He turned towards them and dramatically threw out his arms towards them. “Come forth and take your rightful place amongst me! Restore our contract and siphon my powers as I wield you as it was destined to be! San-D! Cham-P! Maga-Z! Jum-P! Show yourself my Dark Devas of Destruction!”

As he called each of their names, his hamsters jumped out of his scarf and onto his arms in a dramatic pose. 

“So much for sneaking up on anyone,” Peko mumbled. 

“Hey, we did find four more missing students,” Imposter said, “Even if they aren’t human. And Gundham is happy.”

“Maybe a little too happy,” Ibuki said. 

“Now that we are once again whole,” Gundham continued, “Let us show these insects how quickly this search will end. Go forth, my Devas, and find our captors.”

Surprisingly, the hamsters didn’t do anything.

“What is this? Have you decided to rebel?” He scooped the four into his hands and brought them closer to his face. The others weren’t sure what he was doing, but he seemed to be whispering to them and shaking his head occasionally. Finally, he placed them back on his shoulders except for the orange and white one. “Show me.” 

The hamster quickly ran towards and past the others and across the bridge. Gundham and the others quickly followed. 

Chapter Text

“So, do you think this will leave a gnarly scar?” Leon asked as he looked down at himself.

Sayaka's nose scrunched a little. “I hope not. I saw Mikan change some of your bandages and they looked bad. But my stab wound barely left a mark. I can hardly see it anymore.”

“I wonder if we’ll keep these super powers once we leave the island. Wouldn’t that be cool? Do ya think we could get famous off of this?”

“Ew, no. I don’t want people to think I’m some sort of mutant.”

“Hey, the singing mutant sounds like it would sell tickets. Oh, Melody Mutants. No, Rhythmic Regenerates. How’s that sound for a band name?”

“They sound idiotic,” they heard from where Celeste was lying.

“Wow, first thing you’ve said to us and it’s to talk shit about my idea. Why am I not surprised?”

“It’s nice to hear that you’re awake,” Sayaka said. 

She did not respond back. 

Leon rolled his eyes and looked towards Mukuro. “What about you? Care to say hi?”

There was a pause before the soldier awkwardly waved. 

He waved back. “See, Celeste, Mukuro said hi. Why are you pissy at us, anyway? We aren’t the ones who did this to you.”

“Leon,” Sayaka scolded, “Be sensitive.” She then leaned over and whispered, “I think it’s because her hair and clothes were burned.”

“Guess she does look pretty weird without her pigtails, huh?” That earned him a slap on the shoulder. “Ow!”

“S-sorry! I forgot.”

“I look like a fuckin’ mummy! How did you forget?!”

“Why all the shouting?”

They turned towards the raspy monotone voice. Junko was looking over at them, slumped over on her pillow oddly. 

“Junko,” Mukuro said as she sat up, “Are you-”

“Don’t ask if I’m okay. Use your eyes. Do I look okay…to you?”

“...No.”

“I’m confused…in the dark…in pain…and spiraling…” A big grin slowly spread across her face. “And for the first time in a long time…I don’t know what the fuck is going on…” She tried to let out a chuckle but it quickly turned into a coughing fit. 

Sayaka rushed over with some water and helped her drink once she stopped coughing. “It’s okay. We’re safe for now. We appear to be on a resort island and-”

“Shhh,” Junko said as she waved a finger, “Don’t ruin it.” She yawned and closed her eyes.

“Uh, right, you need your sleep. We can talk about it later.”

“Your sister is fuckin’ weird,” Leon said to Mukuro. 

San-D led the search party from the fourth island all the way back to the original island. She kept looking back to see if Gundham and the others were keeping pace. He was keeping pace just fine, but he didn’t bother to look back to see where the others were. If they fell behind, so be it. 

The hamster finally stopped once they made it to the small houses that were originally meant for Class 77. 

“Why here?” he asked. 

The hamster took a moment to catch her breath. 

Peko, Nagito, Sakura, Nekomaru, Imposter, and Ibuki stopped behind him. Peko began to question him, but he held up a finger. 

“Wait and see.”

After a minute, San-D looked around until she ran over to one of the houses. She stood in front of the one belonging to Sonia and pointed to her picture. 

“The Dark Queen? Were you sent by her?”

San-D nodded. 

“Can you lead us to her?”

She shook her head no. 

“Why can we not meet on the same plane of existence?”

San-D pointed to the picture again and shook her head. 

His stomach dropped, a feeling usually only reserved for when one of his animals was injured or worse. “You are not implying that she is-”

Cham-P squeaked and tapped Gundham’s cheek frantically. The hamster shook his head and pointed back to Sonia’s picture. He then pointed to Akane’s and waved his hands like he was shooing something away. 

“Can you actually understand what they’re saying?” Ibuki asked. 

“I could understand more without interruptions.” He set all of his hamsters onto his arms. “Are they no longer here?”

They nodded, then they all ran to different houses. Maga-Z ran to Akane’s, Cham-P ran to Kazuichi’s, San-D ran to Fuyuhiko’s, and Jum-P ran to someone who Gundham didn’t recognize. Once there, the hamsters all did the shooing motion.

“They aren’t here,” Peko gasped, “Where would they go?”

The hamsters looked at each other and then back at Gundham. 

“The explanation is beyond them,” Gundham translated, “But they are alive and safe?”

They nodded. 

“What about the missing students from my class?” Sakura asked. 

The hamsters nodded and did the shooing motion again. 

“Why would they leave without us?” Peko mumbled, “Without telling us?”

“I’m sure they had a good reason,” Imposter said, “Maybe we were all separated and they couldn’t get to us without endangering themselves. They left the ham- Devas here to tell Gundham, so I’m sure they’re working on a way to get back to us.”

“Maybe they’re going for help!” Ibuki said, “If they can make it back and tell the police, they can send a boat out to rescue us!”

As the others continued talking of rescue, Gundham picked up his hamsters. They looked worried about something. “What is it, my fiends?”

Again, they looked unsure of how to explain. 

“Did they make it off of the islands?”

They nodded. 

“Will they be our salvation?”

They hesitantly nodded. 

Something was not right. “Can you send a message back to the she-cat?”

The hamsters looked at each other. Then San-D and Cham-P nodded while Maga-Z  and Jum-P shook their heads. 

“Why is this beyond you?” Who are they dealing with? “In any case, if the obstacles allow it, send her this message: We have not encountered our opponents but we have collected all remaining allies. Coat yourself in hellfire and become our foe’s Armageddon. We await your vessel’s return.”

The hamsters then looked up to the sky. 

“That was sweet…for Gundham.”

“It is not about being sweet. He is telling me to be strong and keep fighting against this virus and any remaining threats of Junko’s!”

“Okay, they know we aren’t there anymore. Fuckin’ great. Now what?”

“Hopefully they won’t worry about you guys or the others. They can focus on the struggles ahead.”

“Which are…?”

“...I haven’t figured that part out exactly but I do know two things that are going to appear when the time is up.”

“What?”

“...None of you are going to like this.”

“We’re believing a bunch of rats?!” Hiyoko yelled. 

“Hamsters,” Nagito quickly corrected.

“Devas!” Gundham corrected further, “You all do not deserve their knowledge!”

“Guys!” Mahiru scolded, then pointed to the ones still sleeping. They were all upstairs sitting around tables. They were going to talk downstairs, but Leon, Mukuro, and Celeste wanted to know what was going on. 

“Sorry,” Nagito said, “As bizarre as trusting an animal messenger might be, Gundham’s Devas have proven to be very well trained. Plus, they look well looked after and unharmed. It would make sense that they were with Sonia.”

“Anyone could’ve taken care of them,” Hiyoko mumbled, “Including our kidnappers.” 

“Not so,” Gundham corrected, “Their destructive nature can only be contained by me and anyone that I deem worthy. The Dark Queen is amongst the very few who are.”

“Oh, please.”

“Allow us to test it, then,” Gundham said as he walked over to Hiyoko and held out his arm, “Reveal yourself, Crimson Steel Elephant!”

A grey and brown hamster scurried out from his scarf and onto his bandaged arm.

Gundham’s face went dark. “Reach forward, insect, and present your hand to my Deva. Surely he should accept you since he is just a ‘rat’ who will accept anyone.”

“I don’t want to touch that thing! You’ll probably tell it to bite me!”

“On my name as Gundham Tanaka, I will not. You do not have to, but you will be proving my point.”

She pouted, then slowly started raising her hand towards the hamster. Its beady little eyes watched her closely. It was just a pet, right?

When Hiyoko’s hand was in view, Maga-Z hissed at her. 

The dancer jumped out of her seat and ran behind Mahiru. 

“My point has been made,” Gundham said as he gave Maga-Z a sunflower seed and placed him back into his scarf, “They cannot be wielded by just anyone.”

“Then the others are safe,” Taka said, “That’s a relief! They can tell the authorities where we are and we’ll be saved in no time.”

“Is it all that simple?” Peko asked, “We still don’t know how we got here and who did this to us?”

“Maybe we haven’t seen who attacked us cause they chased after the others,” Leon suggested, “It would fuck up their plans if they made it to the cops.”

“Maybe that’ll give us time to escape!” Ibuki said.

Everyone started talking at once, excited by the hope of making it off of the island.

“How are we going to get off?”

“The planes don’t have engines.”

“We could build a big raft!”

“There have to be boats around here.”

“We can search the other islands for them!”

By the time Teruteru brought out dinner, several plans were being made and their spirits were higher than they’d been since getting to the island. People were actually smiling and Mahiru made sure to take pictures. 

Taka was still smiling as he went downstairs to prepare for bed. When he went over to his mattress to retrieve his things, he noticed that Mondo was flipped over onto his stomach. He was confused at first, but he figured that Mikan had him flipped to prevent bedsores. 

At the start of the nightly watches, Gundham went upstairs to help Chiaki. Everyone thought it was best for Mikan to be removed from night watch duties. For a couple minutes, it was quiet except for the sounds of people snoring. 

“Was I one of the people they liked?” Chiaki suddenly asked Gundham, “Your Devas, I mean. I still don’t remember how things were back at school.”

“You were among the more tolerable ones,” he said, “You proved yourself as one befitting the role you held. They respected that.”

She looked to the side and tilted her head. “I hope I can prove it again.”

Cham-P poked his head out from the scarf and stared at her. 

She smiled. “I’m really happy you found them. You seem much happier with them by your side.”

Gundham chuckled and pet the top of Cham-P’s head. “Would you not be happier if your limbs remained attached to your body?”

She hummed in thought. “I would be.” She looked over at Cham-P again. “...May I hold him?”

Gundham didn’t even get a chance to consider the question before all four Devas ran out of his scarf and onto the floor in front of Chiaki. 

“Oh, hey.” Using one finger, she slightly pet each one of them on the head. 

All four of them let out little squeaks that were a mix of joyful and sad. 

“They seem to like me,” Chiaki said with a smile, “That’s a relief.”

Gundham didn’t say anything and continued to watch his hamsters’ behavior. Jum-P even nuzzled Chiaki’s knee. Something didn’t sit right with the Ultimate Breeder. While there was a small bit of jealousy that washed over Gundham anytime his animals became close to anyone else, there was also a feeling of concern. His animals had experienced something, knew something, and didn’t have the means of telling them. 

A few feet behind them, Junko mumbled something in her sleep. 

Immediately, all four Devas hissed and ran back up onto Gundham’s shoulder. 

“Did I scare them?” Chiaki asked.

Gundham watched them and shook his head. “It was not your presence that invoked their wrath. Rather, it was the one behind you.”

She turned around. “Enoshima? Do they not like her?”

“I did not realize they had an opinion of her.” He tried to reach down and pet Jum-P, but the small creature flinched and nipped his finger. Gundham allowed him to. They were scared. 

Why did Junko Enoshima scare his Dark Devas?

Chapter Text

Chihiro opened his eyes to dim lighting. It was early morning. Too early. 

He heard someone walking up the stairs, but was too tired to look to see who it was. He moved around and realized that Taka wasn’t next to him. He was probably the one he heard on the stairs. Time to stretch out a little. 

As Chihiro started to drift back to sleep, he heard a guttural gasp. Like something out of a zombie movie. He opened his eyes and sat up. He didn’t hear anything and he didn’t see the people that were supposed to be on watch. He looked behind him on the bed. No, Taka wasn’t there. It must’ve been something from his dreams. 

He laid back down and closed his eyes again. This situation was scary enough. He didn’t need his brain trying to scare him with horror movie nonsense. 

He heard the sound again and this time knew that it was behind him. He opened his eyes but remained as still as possible. As ridiculous as he knew he was being, all he could imagine was an undead body shambling in the dark. 

Something landed on the bed by his back. He held his breath to prevent himself from screaming and scrambled out of the bed. He kicked the blanket off of himself and stood up to face whatever was coming after him.

There was no zombie or any monster of the sorts. The only thing on the bed aside from the sheet and pillows was Mondo’s arm reaching over from his mattress. 

“Is everything alright, Chihiro?” Taka called as he came down the stairs, “I didn’t expect you to be out of bed so early.”

“I, uh…”

“And why is Mondo’s arm like that? Did you move him?”

By now, Chihiro’s heart had finally stopped racing and he shook his head. “I think he did that on his own.”

”Moved on his own? But he can’t-“

”I think he was trying to get my attention just now! Help me flip him over.”

They both went over to the biker and carefully flipped him onto his back. His eyes were closed but his elbows were pushing against the bed like he was trying to sit up.

Taka grabbed both of his hands. “Kyodai! I know how much you want to get up. You probably hate feeling frail right now. But you need to stay down for just a little longer.”

Mondo groaned and his hands balled into a fist, then his arms relaxed. 

“Can you open your eyes?”

Silence.

“M-Mondo?”

Chihiro could see Taka start to tear up. “Hey, i-it’s okay. He’s just resting, that’s-“

They heard Mondo groan something. And then “…nnn…not…dead…dumbass.”

At first, Chihiro couldn’t tell if that hurt Taka’s feelings or not. Then the moral compass started laughing. It started off quiet, then he threw his head back and his laugh spread throughout the whole floor. 

“Hey!” Teruteru called from upstairs, “You’re gonna wake someone up!”

”Already did,” mumbled Imposter.

“What’s going on down here?” Nekomaru called as he and Nagito came downstairs.

”Please forgive my outburst!” Taka said as he finally noticed his surroundings again, “But…I am just relieved is all.”

“Welcome to the bedridden gang,” Leon said, “Total of five members.”

Mondo couldn’t do much except look around. His body still felt heavy and simple things like keeping his eyes open were still challenging. He’d officially woken up and opened his eyes that morning. After that, it was decided that it was best for him to be upstairs with the rest of the injured. 

“What happened to you, anyway?” Leon asked him, “I get that you probably don’t remember, but you aren’t bandaged up like the rest of us. What gives?”

He looked back to Leon and shrugged. 

“Maybe you got really fucked up by some poison, like Sakura did.

Mondo frowned, then remembered what Taka and the others had told him. Half the people here had been attacked and now they were on an island. Or something like that. The explanation hadn’t really made sense. That or he was still out of it. 

“Medicine time,” Mikan said as she walked over with a bag, “How is everyone feeling?”

”Can’t complain,” Leon said.

”Better,” Mukuro responded, “May I eat solid food now?”

Mikan paused for a few seconds, then continued looking through the bag. “I’ll look you over and see.” She then grabbed a few clear bags and went over to a stand next to Leon. She took an empty bag off of it and replaced it with a new one. “Is your IV still in?”

Leon raised his arm and showed her the tube sticking out of it.

”You’re moving your arm more. Good. That’s good.”

She walked over to Mondo and did the same with his IV bag. Instead of asking him, she bent down and checked his wrist. “It didn’t come out while they moved you. Good. Are you still having trouble speaking?”

He didn’t have the energy to try, so he nodded. 

“Hopefully you’ll be able to once you regain your energy. Try to rest as much as possible.” She stood up and went over to Mukuro. 

“Hey, if you can’t talk right now,” Leon said, “And, hell, you can’t do much, does that mean I can get away with more?”

Mondo raised a brow at him.

“Like, does that mean I could piss you off and you won’t be able to jump on me?”

He sluggishly turned on his side to see if he could throw something at him. 

“Hey, wait, I was kidding! I don’t need you rebreaking me.”

He wanted to chew him out, but all he could really get out without straining was “Fuck ooo”. 

“Come on, I was just messin’ with you. I’m bored! And hey, believe it or not, I missed havin’ you around. It feels wrong not having the whole class around.”

He did agree with him on that. In the year they’d all been classmates, they’d grown to look out for each other. Some more than others. There were certainly people in the class he’d like to knock out (Byakuya) but he still wanted them to make it out of this alive. The last time he’d seen them all together, they were stuck in a classroom and trying to barricade the doors. He remembered hearing some of them start to say goodbye to each other and snapping on them for that. 

“Your turn, Junko,” Mikan said as she went over to the fashionista. 

“Don’t bother him!” he heard Taka yell as Chihiro and Sakura came up the stairs and moved quickly towards him.

“Tell Taka to stop being a shut-in,” Chihiro said to Mondo.

“I am not!” the moral compass said as he hurried up the stairs, “I just don’t see the point of me leaving the hotel. There are plenty of things that I could accomplish here.”

“You keep cleaning the same places over and over. You need something else to do.”

“You’re also paler than normal,” Sakura chimed in.

“I’m normally pale!”

“He started counting rice in the kitchen,” Chihiro said as he turned back to Mondo, “He’s bored and doesn’t know what to do with himself. We suggested that he go with one of the search groups, but he refuses.”

Mondo glared over at Taka. 

“There are others who are better suited for that. I would just get in the way. And like I said, there are things I need to tend to here. ”

“Sure,” Leon said, “Like counting rice.”

“Random activities can be forms of entertainment.”

“Dude, that’s not entertainment. Go touch grass. Or sand.”

Mondo waved Chihiro over. Then he gestured to one of his pillows, then to Taka.

Chihiro nodded, carefully grabbed one of the pillows behind Mondo’s head, then swung it at Taka. 

“Ow! Hey!”

“That was from Mondo. He agrees with us and thinks you should take better care of yourself.”

Mondo nodded. 

“Alright, fine, if it’ll ease your minds and get you all to stop grouping up against me, then I will go with a search party…tomorrow.”

Mondo hummed at him angrily. 

“Alright, today! But we should probably be more respectful of the ones still resting up here.”

“I’m surprised Mikan didn’t quiet us down,” Sakura said as they all looked over at the nurse.

She was still kneeled next to Junko. They were whispering about something. When they noticed that they were being watched, Mikan quickly stood up and finished checking Junko’s IV. 

The search parties were divided between four groups: Peko, Gundham, Nekomaru, and Teruteru went to finish searching the fourth island, Taka, Hiyoko, Mahiru, Sayaka, and Hifumi went to check out the ruins that resembled the school, Sakura, Chihiro, Ibuki, and Chiaki went to try and find a plane engine, and the rest remained at the hotel. Peko was still hesitant to let the more…vulnerable ones join the search groups, but they seemed happy to participate (aside from Hifumi, Teruteru, and Taka). 

Peko also didn’t object because the idea of letting more people join was Nekomaru’s idea. He certainly looked happier but she wondered if he still remembered their fight. Usually she wouldn’t dwell on an argument for so long, but she couldn’t get what she said out of her head. 

As they were approaching the bridge to the fourth island, she cleared her throat. “Nekomaru, about what happened the other day. What I said was…”

He paused, then let out a laugh and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it! You were stressed. We all were.”

“No, I will worry about it. What I said was out of line and I apologize for it. While you are not trained to deal with this situation, you are no idiot. You were just looking out for the others, as you’ve always done.”

He looked a little taken back by this, then went back to laughing. “Ah, now you’re just flattering me. But thanks. And don’t worry, it’s all shit under the bridge.”

She nodded and did her best to smile back. “I’m glad you didn’t take it too personally.”

He opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. “Well…” He scratched his head, then sighed. “I might’ve done something stupid.”

“As in?”

“Hey, looky here!” Teruteru yelled from further down the bridge, “Why didn’t ya’ll tell me this was a functional amusement park? Come on!”

“Wait up!” Nekomaru called as they caught up. 

After stopping to grab funnel cake, they continued their search. They’d already cleared most of the stalls and the castle. They did find a small, overly decorated house. It looked like it belonged to someone named Usami. The door was locked, however, and looking through the windows only showed that it was decorated on the inside. They also found that all of the rides were functional, though they decided that they didn’t have time to try any of them. 

That was until they came to a large building labeled as the funhouse. There didn’t seem to be any doors leading inside. Instead, there was a train ride whose tracks led inside the building. 

“I guess we’re supposed to hop on,” Teruteru said as he started heading towards it.

Nekomaru grabbed the back of his shirt. 

“Hey! Don’t wrinkle-”

“I don’t think we should go in there. I can’t explain it at all but I have a really, really bad feeling.”

Peko couldn’t see anything weird about the ride, but the serious look on Nekomaru’s face made it clear that he was not joking. “Do you think we are in danger?”

He let go of Teruteru. “Don’t know. It feels similar to when we were in that boarded up building we found Owada in, except this time it feels worse.”

“I too sense this,” Gundham said as he lifted his scarf as though he were blocking a rancid smell, “This building holds a dark and terrible history.”

“Hold on now,” Teruteru said, “You all felt that before finding Owada, right? Maybe someone’s bleedin’ out in here too.”

“Hm, that could be it.”

Peko stepped towards the train. “We should take a look just in case. The others may have made it off of the island, but that doesn’t mean we are the only ones here.”

As Gundham stepped forward to follow, his hamsters jumped out of his scarf and started complaining loudly. “This place cannot scare you four this badly. I expect a better display of your resolve.” He took another step and they began to screech louder. Maga-Z went so far as to bite his chin while the others pushed against his face to turn away from the funhouse. 

“What’s wrong with them?” Peko asked. 

Gundham took several steps back and the hamsters seemed to settle down. They snuggled under his chin and let out sounds like they were upset. “This place is more evil than I thought. They will not grant me passage through its barrier.”

“They’re protecting you,” Peko mumbled as she looked up at the building again. She glanced over at Nekomaru and the manager was rubbing the front of his neck like it hurt. “Do you remember something? Even if it sounds impossible, you should tell us.”

He shook his head. “It’s not really a memory. Just a bad feeling, like a nightmare I forgot about.”

“Perhaps I should just go in alone-”

The hamsters let out another alarmed screech. 

“They won’t permit any of us to pass,” Gundham explained, “Count yourselves lucky to gain their protection and heed their warning. Do. Not. Enter.”

“I’m surprised you stayed behind,” Imposter said.

Nagito looked up from the couch. “Me? Well, I’ve gotten to go out quite a bit. I figured it was only fair to let other people stretch their legs.”

“Uh huh.” The bigger student’s eyes went back to the book he was reading and turned the page. “This works out actually. I wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“I wanted to ask what you were up to.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Come on, Nagito. You’re not the type to sit around and wait for things to happen. You’re trying to piece together the things we haven’t solved yet.”

“Hm, it feels like we haven’t solved anything yet. But we’re stuck here. How could I be solving anything?”

“You remembered enough to ask me about Ryota. I don’t see how he would have anything to do with this, but I know you had your reason for asking. What is it?”

“...I’d like to speak openly, I really would. But I need to ask a few more questions first.”

“You’re not planning on doing anything dangerous, are you?”

“Me? Now why would I do that?”

He looked over at him. “Did I need to remind you that you had something to do with blowing up the exams?”

“That was just a bit of a mix up. But it helped, didn’t it? None of you had to do the exams.”

Imposter let out a sigh and shook his head. “Just tell me one thing and I’ll leave you be for now. Are you and Nekomaru planning anything dangerous?”

“Me and Nekomaru? Did he tell you something?”

“No. I overheard you having a conversation with him.”

“Oh,” he shrugged, “Usually it would be dangerous. But I don’t think it is for either one of us. Both of us are fine so far.”

“So it’s something you both are currently doing.”

Nagito waved his hands dismissively. “Don’t worry about us. We’re being safe, I promise. We’ll explain soon.” He stood up and stretched. “I’m going to see if Mikan needs help with the injured. Need me to grab anything?”

“I’m good. Let me know if she needs more help.”

Nagito nodded then headed up the stairs. He was surprised to find everyone asleep aside from Mikan and Junko. “Need any help?”

“N-no!” Mikan said as she quickly shook her head, “We’re okay up here.”

“Looks like it. Did everyone tire themselves out?”

“Th-th-they just n-needed the rest.”

Nagito nodded as he checked over them. They all were breathing soundly. Leon looked like he’d fallen asleep trying to lift up his cup of water. “Since we have a little down time, I was wondering if I could talk to Enoshima.”

Mikan looked startled. “Huh?”

“Just for a bit. I know she needs her rest as well, especially since she sustained some of the worst injuries.”

Junko put a hand over Mikan’s mouth before the nurse could start to protest. “And why do you want an audience with me?”

Nagito walked over and sat down. “I had some questions about what you remembered. My memories are still fuzzy, but I think you could help clear some things up.”

“Really? And how could I do that?”

“You could probably start by telling me what you were doing with Ryota.”

There was a pause as Junko’s face went from intrigued to blank. “Oh, him? I was interested in his animations and started helping him with some ideas. Is that all you wanted?”

“Not quite. I’m still a little confused. If that’s all you wanted, then why were you in a secret tunnel with him below the school?” He watched as Mikan’s face went pale, but Junko’s expression remained unfazed. “There was also someone else with you. Someone with long dark hair and red eyes.”

Junko sighed and closed her eyes. “Knock it off, Mukuro. That won’t work on him.”

He turned to find that said sister was sitting up and aiming a knife at his head. 

“His talent is luck, as dumb as it sounds. You’d probably just fuck it up and hit me between the eyes.”

The soldier put the weapon away under her mattress. 

“And what’s the point of killing him? Someone clearly got the better of us.”

“This isn’t your doing?”

“Nope! I planned to cause mass chaos and destruction to the entire school and city, but nothing in my plan involved going to an island.” She made a pouty face. “Talk about shitting luck! I was probably found out and sent here. Don’t know about the rest of you.”

“So the last thing I remember was correct. I found you out, tried to shoot you, and that guy with the red eyes disarmed me. You never answered who that was.”

She hummed in thought, then smiled. “How about I keep that little detail a secret? Who knows? Maybe he’s the one who did this.”

He nodded. He’d gotten plenty of information from her. He stood up to leave. 

“What now? Do you plan to rat on me?”

“You said you weren’t the one to do this. You aren’t the big threat right now, so telling them wouldn’t solve anything. Although, I am concerned that you’re putting the others in danger.” He motioned towards the sleeping students. “Why are they sleeping?”

Junko looked over to Mikan, who was looking down into her own lap. “Like the nurse said, they needed their sleep. She just made sure that they did. They’ll be fine.”

Mikan nodded and looked up at Nagito. She had an almost dreamy look in her eyes. “They’re not in any danger. I would never harm my patients. They need me.”

The way she said that caused an uneasy feeling to go down his spine, but Nagito just nodded again and headed for the stairs.

Chapter Text

The next two days were eventful. Those who were able continued to search the islands for a plane engine or a boat, but found neither. When it was time to search the final island, they found that the bridge was broken. Not even the most athletic of them wanted to risk jumping the gap.They found no signs of their kidnappers, but they did continue to find places where someone had a terrible feeling or the hamsters hissed at, like the abandoned building where Mondo was found and the funhouse at the amusement park. “Cursed places” as Gundham called them. 

“I don’t want to go into the beachhouse,” Hiyoko said just after touching the doorknob. 

 Ibuki took one step into the music venue and ran out. 

 Whenever Gundham observed the giant statues of weird bears in the center island, his hamsters became irritated and hissed. 

 But the students didn’t let those things discourage them. Since they couldn’t find a boat, they decided to build one. They began cutting down trees and raiding the convenient store for any supplies that could be used. None of them had ever built a boat or anything like it, but how hard could it be?

 While taking a break, Nekomaru sat down on the beach and looked over the ocean. Even if they were stuck there, he couldn’t deny that this was a beautiful view. The only thing that could make it better is if they spotted a boat coming towards them on the horizon. 

 “Here you go!” Ibuki said as she handed him a bottle of water, “Gotta stay hydrated!”

 He thanked her and took a couple gulps.  

 “Do you ever wonder what the others are doing? Like, Fuyuhiko and the other ones that made it off?”

 He nodded. “They’re probably gettin’ on each other’s nerves if they’re on a boat, but I’m sure they’re fine. They’re fuckin’ tough, so we shouldn’t worry too much about them.”

 “Well, about that.” She sat down next to him. “If we couldn’t find any boats, what did they use?”

 “There were probably a limited number of boats. If they took one and our kidnappers took another, maybe there were only two?”

 “Huh, maybe,” she said as she started scooping sand into a pile, “Also, Ibuki REALLY wants to ask you something but was told not to.”

 “Huh? Who told you not to?”

 “Ryota Two.”

 “Why? You know you can come talk to me about anything.”

 She shook her head. “You were told to keep it a secret, so you’re likely going to keep it a secret. Unless you’re really REALLY bad at keeping a secret.”

 “I was told to keep a secret?...” Oh. The one with Nagito. “Uh, me keeping a secret? That doesn’t sound like me.”

 She squinted up at him and got an inch away from his face. “See, you are keeping a secret! Ibuki and Ryota Two heard you. Nagito told you not to say something. So what was it?!”

He slowly pushed her back into sitting. “Alright, yeah, me and Nagito are testing something, but it isn’t anything bad. He just wants it a secret to keep people from worrying, okay?”

“Testing what?”

He hesitated. On the one hand, he really hated keeping secrets. On the other hand, the test had proven something important. “I can’t say yet. But I’ll ask Nagito if we can reveal it tonight. I think we’ve tested it long enough.” 

She squinted at him one more time before going back to her sand pile. “Fine. Ibuki doesn’t want your secret, anyway. I bet Mikan has a better one.”

“Huh?” 

“Yeah, she’s been acting really weird and wants to be around Junko all the time. And Nagito has a LOT of secrets, obviously, even more than the one he has with you. And then there’s the Devas, but they always have their little secrets. But yeah, you’re secret isn’t even that interesting, so there.”

“Hm, that is a lot.” He stood up.

“Back to work already?”

“I just need to talk to someone really quick,” he said as he headed back to the hotel. Outside, he found Nagito sitting on a beach chair and staring at the abandoned building next door. 

“I think I know what this feeling reminds me of,” Nagito said when Nekomaru approached him, “Remember when Fuyuhiko’s sister was killed and no one would talk much about it? And then Mahiru’s friend vanished. For a while, it was all anyone could ever talk about. Then, it got to the point where some people questioned if it really happened. Then no one talked about it. But I would sometimes hear a reserve course student mention having a bad feeling around the room she was found dead in. I imagine this is the feeling they were talking about.”

Nekomaru glanced over at the building before shaking that morbid thought from his mind. “I think it’s time we told the others. We’ve tested this long enough and I think you’re right. I haven’t felt sick this entire time.”

“Neither have I. But should we tell them when we don’t know the why?”

“There’s too many secrets going around as it is and that’s the shit that’s going to drive people apart.”

Nagito shrugged and stood up. “I guess you’re right.”

“Hmm, maybe these would be better up here so that there will be room for these,” Mahiru said as she rearranged some more pictures on a cork board. They’d finally found a board and easel big enough to put most of the pictures she had taken. She grabbed a few more from Hiyoko and continued to arrange them. 

“Nice, you managed to get my good side,” Leon said from where he was sitting at a table, “Wish I was in better clothes, though.”

“Nagito’s clothes aren’t bad.”

“Not my style.”

“Well, your smile is the most important part.” She looked over to Sayaka, who was grabbing onto Mondo’s face. “How’s your project going over there?”

“I’m almost done! I would’ve been sooner if someone would stop moving. One more swipe and…finished!” She moved back and revealed Mondo, who was now wearing eyeliner in the style he usually wore it. His cut tank top and bloody jacket were switched out for a pair of Nekomaru’s clothes and his hair was pulled back into a single long braid with bangs in the front. She handed him a mirror to look at himself. “Does that feel better?”

He moved his head to each side as he examined himself. “Not bad,” he said, his voice still raspy, “Not crazy about the hair.”

“I know, but your usual style is going to hurt your neck. You should heal first.” She stood up and went over to the bathroom. “Are you almost done, Celeste? Need any help?”

“Bring me more rags, if you would be so kind.”

“Okay.” She shrugged to the others and went to the kitchen. They’d all tried to convince Celeste that getting the soot out of her dress would take forever and she should just wear something else, but the gambler had refused. She’d been in there all morning. 

“There,” Mahiru said as she stood back and marveled at her work. There were the pictures from swimming, eating meals together, and exploring the island. Each featured a smile. Perfect. “Hopefully we’ll fill up another board before we leave.”

“I hope not,” Hiyoko said, “The board is nice, but I don’t want to be here for much longer.”

 Before she could reply, the monitor on the wall flickered on. “That’s…weird.” None of the monitors around the island had turned on the entire time they were there. They had all assumed there were for communicating with tourist. 

 The monitor flickered a few times before showing a silhouette. It was hard to tell of what exactly. Whatever it was, it was sending a bad feeling straight down to her stomach. On top of that, red numbers were quickly counting down from one minute.

 “Are you all seeing this?” Mukuro said as she hurried up the stairs. 

 “Yeah,” Mahiru said, “It’s on the monitor up here too. We should get the others.”

 “I’ll do it,” Sayaka said as she hurried downstairs.

 “I’ll go too. It’ll be faster that way.”

 The two of them hurried out of the door and ran to where they knew the others were building the boat. They spotted Nekomaru and Nagito headed back that way and waved for them to follow. 

 It turned out that they didn’t need to inform the others. The monitor on the beach was also displaying the silhouette and countdown. Everyone was asking questions but no one had any answers for them. 

 “Hey, don’t listen to him!” 

 That was a voice that sounded familiar but one Mahiru was sure she’d never heard. She looked around until something jumped out of a nearby bush. It was white and pink with a magical girl-like outfit and holding a staff. It was small. It was a rabbit?

 “This time we know what we’re doing and can stand against him! Rally with me, my fearless students, and we’ll-”

 “Who are you?” Teruteru asked. 

 A shocked expression appeared on the rabbit’s face. “What?! You don’t know who I am? I’m Magical Miracle Girl, Usami! A.K.A, Usami!...Why the confused faces?”

“Look,” Peko said, “We aren’t here for the resort. We were kidnapped and taken here against our wills. If this is a part of the attraction, don’t bother.”

“Attraction? Kidnapped? Oh no, oh no, you don’t remember!”

“Remember what?”

Suddenly, the rabbit looked happier. “Wait, this could be a good thing! The island is doing what it’s supposed to. Now you have another chance to build friendships and bonds. Love, love!”

“Answer her question!” Taka demanded, “Holding information from us will make you an accomplice to our kidnapping.”

The rabbit looked confused again and looked around. “There's more-”

“Ho, ho, oh but she is an accomplice.”

Everyone turned back to the monitor. The silhouette was now talking. 

“Shame on you, little sister, for trying to do that same old song and dance again. They deserve to know what’s going on, don’t they?”

The monitor switch to a video of them. Before anyone could question this, they jumped back when they realized another moving stuffed animal had joined them. 

This one was a black and white bear with a red lightning bolt as one of its eyes. And for some reason, this bear gave everyone the creeps. “Ah, finally in the spotlight once again. And for real this time! No more do I have to dilute myself to pair well with a dead guy who only had a few seconds of run time to work with. Nope, you’re finally getting pure Monokuma!”

Usami pointed her staff at him. “No you don’t! We are not going to let you start another killing game!”

“Killing game?” Ibuki asked, “Ibuki doesn’t remember that on the island’s flyers.”

“A killing game?” Monokuma said, sounding offended, “Me? No, no, no, no, no. You have it all wrong. I’m not here to start that. I’m here to give you all answers that you justly deserve to have. Afterall, they are your memories.”

“You know why we’re here?” Hifumi asked, “And how we got here? Well, hurry up and tell us!”

“Hold on, butterball. It isn’t that simple. I promised some of you that I would help you all forget. If I’m going to break that promise, I’m going to have to get their permission first.”

Everyone started to look at each other, wondering who among them at even seen this bear before. 

“D-don’t listen to him!” Usami called out, “Don’t trust anything he says. He’s planning something evil, I just know it.”

“Then why don’t you tell us what’s going on?” Nagito asked, “You seem to know more than we do. If you tell us, we won’t have to listen to him.”

She opened her mouth, then looked sadly at the ground. “I’m afraid that I’m not allowed to tell you.”

“Then how are we supposed to trust you?”

“That doesn’t mean we should trust Monokuma,” Chiaki said.

“I’m not asking you to trust me,” Monokuma said, “I’m just asking for permission to give you what’s rightfully yours. Do with it what you wish.”

“But none of us have seen you before,” Nekomaru said, “Who did you make the deal with?”

“I need permission to tell you that.”

“But we don’t know who you need permission from!”

“Don’t argue with it,” Mahiru said, “These are just stuffed animals.”

Monokuma was suddenly brandishing sharp metal claws. “Why is that always the go to? I’m not something you can just buy at a toy store. I’M MONOKUMA!”

“You’re a plushy with mechanical parts,” Usami said, “Get over yourself.”

“Oh, but not even that. There you go, only telling half truths.”

Usami looked down at the ground again. 

“This isn’t going anywhere,” Nagito said, “Fine, you have my permission.”

Monokuma waved him away. “Not yours. I made this deal with four of you and only those four can give me permission.”

“How are we supposed to know who they are if you won’t tell us?”

“Figure it out.”

“Permission!” Ibuki yelled out.

“Nope.”

“You have my permission!” Taka yelled.

“Wrong.”

“How are we supposed to do this if we don’t remember?” Sayaka asked.

“Just try it.”

“...I give you permission.”

“Ding ding ding!”

“What?! But I didn’t make a deal with you. I’ve never seen you in my life!” She stepped back as everyone looked at her. “Honestly!”

“Only three remain,” Monokuma taunted. 

More people began shouting out “permission”. None of them worked until Sakura said it.

“That’s another!” Monokuma said, “Only two more to go.”

“Stop this!” Usami begged, “Please trust your teacher when I say that you’re better off not knowing.”

“If that’s the case,” Imposter said, “Could you at least get us off of this island?”

“I-I could! But…I’m not sure if the rules are still messed up. A-and I’m not sure if you all are ready.”

“Who are you to decide that?!” Teruteru yelled.

Nagito stepped right in front of Usami. “Could you at least tell us why strange things are happening?”

The rabbit looked up at him. “Like what?”

He took out a bottle of pills and opened them up. Then he turned it over and dumped the pills into the sand. “For starters, neither me nor Nekomaru have been taking our medicine. Without them, we would usually get really sick. But both of us have been fine for several days.”

“That’s what you two were doing,” Imposter said. 

The lucky student nodded. “And then there’s the fact that Hiyoko reverted back to how she looked last year. Oh, and we seem to be healing at record time. Owada should’ve died, but he didn’t. What’s all that about?”

With each anomaly mention, Usami looked more and more uncomfortable. “Um, well, all of that can be explained. Eventually. For now, all of you need to just focus on staying good friends and I’ll take care of the rest. You’ll be safe as long as you don’t fall for Monokuma’s tricks.”

“We’ve already been attacked,” Peko said, “We are not safe here and he’s the only one offering answers.”

“He’s going to use it against you! Oh, I wish you would all believe me. You can’t trust him.”

“I mean, what is he going to do to us?” Teruteru said as he started poking Monokuma’s ears, “He’s as soft as a teddy bear.”

Said bear’s red eye began shining brighter. “Want to be the example?”

“You both are dodging around the questions,” Nagito mumbled. 

Monokuma made an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, I’ll answer one of your questions so you know I’m telling the truth. Only some of you can heal that quickly.”

“That doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“What, you want a demonstration? Fine, injure each other and see for yourselves. Or hit Usami. Or throw litter on the ground? Man, these rules are vague.”

“That is the second time you two have mentioned rules,” Taka said.

“Oh, right! You all don’t know the rules yet. Whoops, got a little ahead of ourselves. One moment, please.” 

He hurried over to a bush and struggled with something. Then he came back out dragging a wooden box full of tablets.

“Hey!” Usami protested, “Those were mine to pass out!”

“They’re still going to the same people. Please find the tablet that displays your name. In it, you should find the school rules.”

Hesitantly, the students began passing out the tablets until the only ones that were left were the ones who were still at the hotel.

Mahiru looked through hers until she found the app that displayed the rules. “‘Rule One: Extreme violence is prohibited on this island. Please live peaceful and relaxing lives with your fellow students.’” That didn’t seem bad. She swiped to the next one. “‘Rule Two: Be considerate of each other and work together to obtain Hope Fragments’?”

“Don’t worry about those,” Monokuma said as he waved the question away, “Old news. Keep going.”

“‘Rule Three: Littering is not allowed. Let us coexist with this island's bountiful nature in ‘mutual prosperity. Rule Four: The lead teacher cannot directly interfere with the students. An exception to this rule is made if any student violates a rule.’”

“Are we going to get spanked?” Teruteru asked.

“No!” Usami said, “I would never put my hands on a student. Just the thought of it makes me upset.”

“Keep reading,” Monokuma sang, “This is the good part.”

“Rule Five: Forgotten memories may not be returned until all four deal makers have given permission to do so. Rule Six: Despair weapons can permanently kill the dead.’”

Chapter Text

“‘Despair weapons can permanently kill the dead,’” Mahiru read again. That was what it said. “Wait, but you can’t kill the dead.”

“Not with that attitude,” Monokuma said with a twirl.

“But how were you able to change the rules?” Usami asked, “Those weren’t the ones you added before.”

“That’s because that was the old me. I’m new, improved, and taking a break from the same old same old. No need for trials and killing games this time around. See? I was telling the truth after all.”

“Hold on!” Taka shouted, “You cannot expect us to follow the rules without explaining them to us. If they are not clear, we have the right to have them clarified.”

Monokuma’s body seemed to droop as he sighed. “Fine. Which rules?”

“Let us start with rule one,” Gundham said, “Is self defense counted as extreme violence?”

Monokuma nodded. “Doesn’t matter the why or the how. Extreme violence is still extreme violence.”

“What’s the punishment for breaking the rules?”

“Now why would I go and spoil such a big surprise?”

“Because how can we trust that you’re being serious?” Nagito said, “For all we know, this could be just a social experiment.”

Monokuma’s eye lit up. “Why don’t you break a rule and see how serious I am?”

Usami pointed her wand directly at Monokuma’s head. “I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no choice!”

“Wha? Are you going to break one of your own rules?”

“If that means protecting my students, then I’ll do what I mu-”

CRASH!

A rock flew past Usami and nailed Monokuma right in his red eye. It broke through it and must have hit some important circuits. The bear twitched once, then fell over.

“That was a really lucky shot,” Nagito said as he dropped the other rocks he was holding.

“That was amazing!” Sayaka cheared.

The others agreed until they looked over at Usami, who looked like she’d seen a ghost. 

“Y-You shouldn’t have done that,” Usami said.

“Why not?” Peko asked. 

“Because,” they heard the bear say in a sing-song voice, “You just broke a rule.” He sat up suddenly and pointed at Nagito. “Extreme violence is prohibited on this island!”

Usami swung her wand in the air and it started to light up. She went to fire a beam of light, but something flew overhead, causing everyone to drop to the ground to avoid it. 

That something flew back towards them and hovered 20 feet above. It looked like a giant mech designed to look like a bird. In its beak it held Usami’s staff. 

“Now, now, it’s not very professional of you to try and stop a disciplinary action,” Monokuma said as he put his hands behind his back, “Let’s make sure you don’t try that again.”

On cue, the metal bird clamped down on the staff and broke it. 

Ignoring Usami’s cries, Monokuma continued. “And as for the one who broke the rule, I thank you for volunteering to be the first example. Now my MonoBeast, FIRE!”

Mahiru grabbed the closest people to her, Chiaki and Chihiro, and ran towards the trees. When gunshots rang out, she ditched that plan and threw both of them to the ground. She hugged herself around them, hoping that it would be enough to shield them. 

It was over so quickly that she hardly registered that the gunshots had stopped.

“I missed,” Monokuma said all too bluntly.

Mahiru hesitantly sat up and saw everyone had done their best to scatter. From the pattern in the sand, she could tell that the bird shot a long, straight line towards where Nagito had been standing. Usami's body was torn to shreds by the bullets. Some were bleeding from where they had been grazed. Nagito surprisingly looked fine as Nekomaru let go of him. The team manager had been shot at least twice in the arm. But the worst off was Sayaka. 

Her body was covered in bullet wounds and she wasn’t moving.

Back at the hotel, Mondo, Mukuro, Leon, Junko, Mikan, Celeste, and Hiyoko all watched from the upstairs monitor. The whole situation seemed like something out of a tv show. Then it turned into horror as their friends were shot at. 

Nagito had been pulled to the side and shielded, but Sayaka had been unfortunately standing behind him and out of anyone’s reach. She had tried to raise her arms to shield herself, but bullets rained through her from legs to head. She fell back and blood quickly began soaking into the sand around her. 

The first to try to stand up was Leon. He grabbed his crutches and did his best to hurry to the stairs. 

“Where are you going?” Celeste asked. 

“To help them, duh!”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

“I don’t fuckin’ know! I just know I’m not gonna twittle my thumbs and wait for the rest of them to die too.”

Mondo tried to stand up, but slipped and fell hard back against the wall. “Fuck…”

“My point exactly,” Celeste said, “We won’t be much help”

He looked over at Mukuro, ready to beg her to go with him since she was trained to fight. But neither she nor Junko or Mikan looked bothered by what was going on. Junko was even smiling! “What’s up with you three?”

Mukuro and Mikan turned to Junko expectantly. 

The fashionista shrugged. “Can you blame me? This is the most entertaining thing to happen since we arrived here. Come on, even you were saying you were bored.”

“Entertaining? Sayaka is dead!” His voice cracked. “We have to go help them!”

“And get shot?” Hiyoko said, “Fat chance!”

“You should believe her.”

Leon looked behind him towards the voice. The bear from the beach was headed up the stairs! Leon stumbled on his crutches and fell backwards. He barely felt the pain as he scooched out of the way. 

“Come on, don’t be so dramatic,” Monokuma said, “None of you broke any of the rules, so you don’t have to get all jumpy.”

“You killed Sayaka! She wasn’t the one who broke the rule!”

“Right, right, but we fixed all that and added a few new rules. Were you not paying attention?”

“Rule Seven,” Junko began to dramatically recite, “Only the student who broke the rule can be punished. Rule Eight, new rules can be added at any time. Those were added after the others got all pissy.”

“Rules are annoying,” Monokuma sighed, “But they are here for a reason.”

Leon grabbed his crutch to chuck it at the bear’s other eye (or Junko, he really didn’t care) but his fingers were smashed underneath it instead. Looking over, he saw that Celeste had stomped on the other end of the crutch, preventing him from lifting it. She didn’t look at him and said, “Your name is Monokuma, yes? You knew we could see you from the monitors, yet you still made the trip here. Why?”

“There’s still two of you who haven’t given me permission yet,” Monokuma answered, “If you want your stolen memories to return, you’ll have to let me do so.”

“Go to hell,” Mondo growled.

“Who’s to say we aren’t already there? Now come on, I know you’re just dying to know what you can’t remember.”

“I give you permission,” Junko said.

“Sorry, you aren’t one of them.”

“I give you permission,” Mikan said. 

“Nope.”

“The hell are you guys doing?!” Leon yelled.

“I give you permission,” Mukuro said. 

“Ding ding ding! Only one more to go!”

“It’s only been people from our class,” Junko mumbled, “Interesting. Well, might as well give the bear what he wants.”

“So he can do something else jacked up?” Leon said as he shook his head, “No. Hell no!”

Junko groaned and laid back on her pillow like she was throwing a fit. “But I want to know! Sis, can’t you do something useful?”

Mukuro reached under her mattress and pulled out a knife. She held it as though she was going to throw it and it looked like she had it aimed toward Leon. “Say it.”

Leon’s arms went numb. Any deal with that bear was awful, he could feel it, but he really didn’t want to be stabbed with a kitchen knife… The feeling felt very familiar, for some reason. “This is so fucked up. Fine, I give you permission.”

“Not you,” Monokuma said with a yawn.

Mukuro switched her aim to Celeste. Hiyoko ducked under the table to make sure she was out of the way.

“You may have my permission,” Celeste said calmly.

“I don’t want it.”

The knife was pointed towards Mondo.

The biker stared back.

“If you think she won’t kill you because we need you to say it,” Junko said, “Then you are correct. That doesn’t mean we won’t torture you.”

After a few more seconds, Leon thought they were going to. 

Then Mondo gritted his teeth and said, “You can have my fucking permission.”

“And there it is!” Monokuma said with a twirl, “The four deal makers have given me permission to be a deal breaker. And as promised, you guys will receive your stolen memories in due time.”

“We have to wait?” Junko said, disappointment clear in her voice, “I can’t believe I’m getting edged by my own mascot.”

“Mascot?!” Leon asked.

Monokuma jogged over to her. “Aw, claiming me already?”

Leon’s heart was pounding. He couldn’t tell if it was from rage, fear, or both, but it was loud enough to make thinking hard. “So you’re a part of all this?”

Junko looked back at him and shrugged. “I guess we’ll know soon. But for now, I want to have a little fun. Mikan! Your patients need you.”

The nurse looked over at them and smiled sweetly like she always did. She stood up and revealed the surgical scissors in her hands. 

“Woah, hey!” Leon grabbed onto the table and pulled himself up to standing, “What about the rule against extreme violence?”

Monokuma shrugged. “I can’t really punish someone if they haven’t broken it yet.”

”Don’t be scared,” Mikan said, “I would never kill one of my patients. I’m only doing this for your benefit.” She stepped forward and started moving towards Mondo. “We never found out what happened to you. You could still have broken bones or internal bleeding.”

Mondo backed off the mattress and grabbed a chair. “Don’t fuckin’ touch me.”

”Please forgive me. If you behave, I'll make it to where you won’t feel a thing.”

”Hey, Mikan, don’t do this,” Leon said quickly, “We don’t want to have to hurt you.” Not that they could do much of anything. Sure, maybe he and Celeste could overpower Mikan, but Mukuro was still standing there with a knife pointed at them. Hiyoko would probably just run and Mondo couldn’t even stand. Plus, there was no telling what that bear would do. They were screwed.

Then the downstairs doors were thrown open. 

‘Get up,’ Chihiro kept telling himself, ‘You need to help. Get up!’ 

He was still laying where Mahiru had pulled him to the ground with his arms wrapped around his head. He’d heard the bird fly away and had heard the others say that the bear ran off, but his body refused to move. 

He felt someone place a hand on his shoulders and he flinched. Forcing himself to look up, he could see that it was Chiaki. “Are you okay?” the gamer asked him.

He swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded. He looked around and saw people tearing apart cloth that they were going to use for a sail. He watched as Peko made Taka sit down and put a piece of cloth on his bloody shoulder.

“Keep pressure on the wounds!” Sakura yelled as she ran toward the hotel, “I’m going to get Mikan.” 

“Guys, we need your help!” Mahiru yelled to Chihiro and Chiaki. 

He forced his wobbly legs to cooperate and hurried over. He tried his best to tear the cloth that was handed to him, but he felt like he was going too slow. His arms felt useless. When a piece was small enough, he handed it back to Mahiru. 

There were a total of five people badly injured. Gundham, Taka, and Ibuki had been grazed on the back, shoulder, or leg respectively. Nekomaru had been shot in the arm while shielding Nagito. And Sayaka…

Chihiro couldn’t look at her without tearing up. No matter how much cloth they used, it didn’t seem like enough. Blood was everywhere and everyone who was trying to keep her alive had some on their clothes. It took everything for Chihiro not to curl back up into a ball. 

“I have a special announcement!”

The sound of that bear’s voice made everyone tense towards it. Once again, the monitor turned on and this time displayed Monokuma clearly. He was lounging in a chair and holding a drink as though he didn’t just gun someone down. His red eye was no longer broken.

“I took the liberty of meeting up with the slackers at the hotel and I’ve been given full permission to break my previous deal. You all will slowly regain your memories just as promised. Have fun!”

“We need to check on the others,” Nekomaru said as he stood. 

He was immediately stopped by The Imposter. “Sakura is already headed that way and I’ll go too. You don’t need to go anywhere until Mikan has a look at your arm.”

”Hey, guys?” Hifumi said quietly, “Miss Sayaka Maizono is getting cold…”

Mahiru quickly put her hand to the idol’s neck and held still. Then she checked her wrist. ”What the hell were you thinking?” Mahiru said quietly, then turned to Nagito, “Throwing a rock at him? You just pissed him off!”

”I thought he would just go for me,” he said.

”Even if he had, that still putting your life at risk! Nekomaru is the only reason you’re still alive right now and even if he hadn’t pulled you out of the way, Sayaka and the others still would’ve been hit!!” Mahiru was crying now and she was swinging her fist around to emphasize her point. 

“I didn’t mean-“

”It doesn’t matter what you meant!”

”Please stop fighting!” From out of the bushes, another Usami came running out, this time without a staff. 

”So it can respawn,” Gundham mumbled. 

“Yes, but that isn’t important right now. You all need to remain a team and-“

”Guys!” Hiyoko called as she came running towards them. She was crying and looked scared. “Mikan’s evil! I told you! Her and the crazy bitches from Class 78 are working together!”

”Wow, slow down,” Imposter said, “What happened?”

”The bear came to the hotel and Enoshima seemed to recognize him. She had her sister point a knife at us and made the others in her class give the bear permission to do whatever. And then Mikan almost cut us open!”

”What?!”

”She said she was gonna start with the thug, but Oogami got there and made them leave.”

Everyone quickly agreed to head back. It would be the safest place for the time being. Peko wrapped Sayaka in the remaining sail and carried her back. 

To Chihiro, it felt like they got there in a blink of an eye. They knocked on the door and Sakura quickly ushered them in. Everyone aside from Usami. After what happened, no one was sure if they could trust her. Thankfully, no one inside the hotel had been harmed. Mikan, Mukuro, and Junko had left with Monokuma. 

All doors were blocked with furniture and the planks on the windows were double checked. After that, everyone was made to stay upstairs. The injured were tended to and Peko placed Sayaka’s body gently on the floor. It was too dangerous to bury her just yet. 

Chihiro wasn’t much help. Once they got upstairs, he collapsed and started crying. Someone picked him up and placed him on a mattress. He stayed there for a while and eventually, someone came over and hugged him. 

“Sucks, doesn’t it?”

It was Leon. It felt like he was shaking. He hugged him back and willed himself to go to sleep. 

But then someone screamed and Leon jolted. Chihiro looked up to see a shocked look on his friend’s face. He turned to the source and saw Sayaka’s wrapped body moving. The cloth was pulled back and she started swinging wildly in a panic. 

She was alive.

Chapter Text

Mondo assumed that Sayaka was dead even before the others made it back. There was no way she could survive being gunned down. But seeing her body wrapped up still stung like hell. He couldn’t remember ever being close with her, but that was still his classmate. 

He was still too injured to help with anything, so all he could do was sit there and let his anger boil over. That bear was going to pay. So was Junko, Mukuro, and Mikan since they wanted to side with him. Hell, maybe the rabbit would too if she had anything to do with their kidnapping. 

Right as he was about to punch the wall, Taka sat next to him and hugged his own legs to his chest. His eyes were puffy from crying. 

That pissed Mondo off even more. “I should’ve tore that bear open.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Taka said quieter than usual. He looked over to where Sayaka was laying, then rested his head on Mondo’s shoulder. 

He wanted to comfort him, but feeling anything other than anger was too much. It already sucked seeing Chihiro and some of the others break down. Others were arguing. He could barely hear himself think. 

And then Ibuki screamed. He prepped for Monokuma or someone trying to break in. Maybe even that bird shooting through the walls. Whatever it was, he was going to fight this time. 

What he didn’t expect to see was Sayaka moving. On her own. Like she was alive.

Several people crowded around her, trying their best to either stop her bleeding or calm her down. Eventually, Peko, Mahiru, Sakura, and Imposter worked on her while everyone else gave them space. 

“Is she going to live?” Taka said hopefully.

“It’s like she’s back from the dead,” Hifumi mumbled, “I saw Miss Mahiru Koizumi check her pulse and when I felt her, she was cold like a corpse.”

“This has happened before,” Gundham said, then looked directly at Mondo. 

He was confused, but the others seemed to understand what he was talking about. “Mind explaining?”

“You almost died, remember?” Leon said impatiently.

“Yeah, almost. I didn’t bite it and come back from the fuckin’ dead.”

“Well,” Hifumi started, “You kind of…did?”

“What?”

“You were technically brain dead at one point. You weren’t breathing and everyone assumed you were done for.”

He watched everyone’s expressions to see if they were joking, but they all appeared to be serious. “...What the fuck happened to me?”

“We don’t know,” Taka said, “We don't know what happened to any of us when we first woke up. But somehow, you lived. And now, Sayaka is alive.”

Gundham took off his jacket and started to undo the bandages around his torso. 

“What are you doing?” Ibuki asked. 

“I want to confirm something. Ishimaru, remove your bindings as well.”

Taka shook his head. “Absolutely not! We were just-”

“Even a mortal such as you is not that fragile. If I am right, then we are dealing with something far greater than miracles.”

After hesitating, Taka sat up and started unwrapping his shoulder with Mondo’s help. Just as expected, it was still a deep, bloody gash, but it wasn’t dripping blood, even without pressure. 

Gundham showed the wound on his back and the gash was still bleeding pretty badly. 

“Your wound is worse than mine,” Taka said, “It makes sense that it’s bleeding like that. Now wrap yourself back up!”

“Ibuki,” Gundham said, “Yours was not deep, was it?”

The musician quickly unwrapped her leg and showed the gash on her calf. It wasn’t as deep as theirs, but it was still bleeding. “Wait, doesn’t this mean they can heal faster than we can? Are you guys aliens?!”

Taka waved his hands. “No! We’re just lucky, that’s all.”

Nagito walked over and looked back and forth between the injuries. “I don’t know. I’ve always been told I was lucky, but it’s never made me heal faster. Cheat death, maybe, but I’ve never gotten as close as Owada and Maizono to try.”

“Broken bones mend in less than a week,” Gundham said as he began wrapping himself back up, “Fatal wounds gone in days. Oogami was affected by a poison powerful enough to render her nearly immobile, and yet she healed from it as though it were a common illness.”

“Hey, maybe we all have these buffs?” Hifumi suggested, “Mr. Nagito Komaeda and Mr. Nekomaru Nidai no longer needs medicine to stay alive.”

“We will wait and see.”

“Hey,” Hiyoko said, “How do we know the other class isn’t working with the bear? He only seemed to want you guys’ permission.”

“Really?!” Leon scoffed, “We were threatened too, remember?!”

“It could’ve been an act. Why else would you make a deal with him?”

“Only four of us made deals with him…” He slowly looked over at Mondo. “What was that about, anyways? When did you guys do that?”

The biker let out a deep breath. “In case you chucklefucks forgot, you just said I was pretty much dead up until a few days ago. So unless I got my shit kicked in so badly I forgot, I never talked to the bear until he showed up today. And if anyone makes the dumbass suggestion that I was faking it, you can go ahead and bring your jaw close enough to me so that I can break it.”

“We know you couldn’t fake that,” Taka assured him, “None of us could have faked our injuries. Maybe Monokuma tortured us into a deal and that’s why we were so badly injured.”

“But why just you guys?” Hiyoko asked.

“What about you guys?” Leon shot back, “None of your class were injured. How do we know you guys didn’t kidnap us and beat the shit out of us?”

“We saved you!”

“Yeah, and the nurse who’s been taking care of us just tried to dissect us!”

A whistle pierced through the noise and forced everyone to look at Nekomaru. He dropped the whistle back around his neck and glared at everyone. “Listen up! We finally know who our opponent is, or at least what they’re using to talk with us. We were all attacked just now and more attacks are going to happen. We need to keep working together to keep each other safe and get off of this island. It’s not going to be easy and it’s only going to get harder if we’re constantly at each other’s throats.”

“He’s right,” Taka said, “I don’t know what’s happening with us, but that doesn’t change our goal.”

The team manager nodded. “The others made it off, so we can too. That or hold out until help arrives. We just need to change our strategy.”

The others started planning, but Mondo ignored them and leaned against the wall. He was more exhausted than he wanted to admit to anyone. Maybe if he closed his eyes for a bit, this headache would go away... Then he fell asleep.

He dreamt about the reserve course riot and being trapped in their classroom. He could hear people screaming. He could smell smoke from somewhere down the hallway. He could hear almost word for word everyone arguing about whether or not to try and make a run for it.

But instead of fading into a blur, the memory continued. He remembered waiting for many more hours. Eventually, the screaming stopped. There was a knock at the door and they let the headmaster in. They were told that they were the only surviving class left and it was safer for them to seal themselves up in the school. And when they doubted the severity of the situation, he remembered being shown the carnage. 

He sat up out of his sleep expecting to still see the bloody hallways. No, they were still on the second floor of the hotel. People were looking at him, probably because he just bolted up, but none of them looked surprised. 

“It’s alright,” Taka said, who was still next to him, “You were having a nightmare.”

“I’m afraid it wasn’t just a nightmare,” Celeste said, “It couldn’t have been if he saw what we all just remembered.”

“Just remembered…” he repeated. He wanted to tell them what he saw to see if it was true, but it seemed impossible. If that memory was right, then they might not have any home to go back to. 

“The riot, right?” Leon asked, “That’s what you saw? It got so bad that we had to stay in the school while the whole city got, like, ripped apart?” 

The confirmation made his stomach churn. “Yeah, that was it.”

Leon chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “Somehow a bunch of angry reserve course students scared us into hiding. Oh, and it gets even better.” He gestured over to the older students, who looked pale. “Apparently, Junko was behind all of it. They got tortured by her!”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Mahiru quickly said, “Our memories aren’t making sense. Th-they have to be fake.”

Mondo already felt exhausted again. “So the bear gave us fake memories?”

She looked at the ground and hugged herself. “We…we went back to save our teacher and…” 

“They saw me die,” Chiaki said. 

“But you’re not dead! That means Monokuma gave us fake memories. Maybe some of them are real, maybe the one about Junko having underground tunnels or whatever, but we couldn’t have watched Chiaki die.”

“Maybe she only convinced us Chiaki died,” Nagito suggested, “I don’t remember seeing her body afterwards.”

“Then that’s it! Somehow, Chiaki escaped or was kept alive.”

“Perhaps that is why you don’t remember anything,” Sakura said to the gamer, “Your body may still be recovering from the trauma that you went through.”

“Okay, she lived, great,” Mondo said, “But what about the rest of it? What happened to the school? The city? Why the fuck are we on an island?!”

“There’s a chance there’s nothing left,” Peko said bluntly, “We can’t remember much after Chiaki’s supposed execution, but I do recall the riot spreading throughout the city.”

“There were fires everywhere,” Hiyoko mumbled.

“Maybe being taken to this island was a good thing,” the Imposter said.

“And leave everyone else to die?!” Mondo yelled, “Fuck that noise! ”

“We already did, genius,” Leon snapped, “Remember? Our class all agreed to stay locked up in the school until it was safe.”

“Until it was safe, not fuckin’ forever! Don’t sit there and say that shit like you don’t have someone you’d go back for.”

“Go back for? We can’t! We’re stuck here with a murderous stuffed animal and several of us who are working for him. More of us are missing, probably dead, and more of us are probably going to die! And you’re worried about people back home? Actually, who the fuck do you have to worry about?”

Suddenly, he wasn’t tired. “My gang, dumbass.”

“That’s what you’re worried about? Your title? And here I thought for a sec that you had actual people you cared about.”

Mondo lunged before he knew what he was doing and Leon did the same. They had to go over Taka to grab onto each other. Mondo punched Leon across the jaw hard enough to knock him over. He was yanked back before he could do more and was thrown back onto his mattress by Sakura. 

“Enough!” she yelled, “We are fighting for our lives and you two have the nerve to attack each other over words?!”

He glared over at Leon, who was picking himself up and glaring back. He wanted to rip that stupid goatee off his face, but they both knew better than to continue when Sakura was pissed.

“Perhaps we should postpone this talk for tomorrow,” Celeste said, “Emotions seem to be running too high.”

“Agreed,” Sakura said as she made sure to give Mondo and Leon both a glare as if to warn them. 

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Leon said as he sat at a table, “Let’s just get dinner over with so I can crash.” A bruise was starting to form on the side of his jaw. 

Now that the fight was over, Mondo could start to feel his hand hurt. Actually, a lot of things hurt, but that was probably because he overdid it. 

“I know what he said was messed up,” Chihiro said as they sat down next to him, “But it wasn’t a good idea to-”

“I don’t feel like getting a talking to. I already know Taka is gonna let me have it soon.”

“...Probably not tonight.”

He looked over at him.

“...You and Leon kind of jumped on top of him during the fight. After you were separated, Taka immediately went downstairs. He looked upset.”

“Shit.” Did he get hit? “Mad or crying?”

“It looked like both.”

“Goddammit…” Taka wasn’t usually the type to shed tears over an injury. Yeah, he was extremely sensitive, but he was also surprisingly tough.

 Well, whatever Taka decided to do, he knew he’d deserve it. When he came back up the stairs for dinner, Mondo braced to get yelled at. But Taka just sat at a table and avoided talking to anyone aside from excusing himself or asking for something. His expression was stern, but that was just his default expression. There was no telling what he was thinking.

Pain medicines were given to the injured (in pill form, thank God!) and everyone went to do their own thing or prep for bed. Mondo was still too tired to try moving around but just sitting still was driving him crazy. 

Chihiro had brought him books and puzzles to do, but he wasn’t interested in any of those. So they sat with him for a while, but quickly fell asleep on the end of his mattress. Poor kid was probably worn out. 

Eventually, Leon came over and sat against the wall next to him. The baseball star didn’t look at him. Instead, he continued to stare at Sayaka from across the room. Her wounds had been bandaged and she was connected to an IV. She looked pale, like she could die at any second. That was probably true. 

“She was just talking to me this morning,” Leon said quietly, “She was trying to cheer me up because I was tired of hobbling around.”

He honestly wanted to yell at Leon again or finish beating the shit out of him, but the comments about Sayaka were draining the fight out of him. He knew all too well how watching something like that could fuck a person up. It didn’t mean he was going to apologize to the asshole, though.

“My bad for sayin’ that shit,” Leon said, “I know the whole family thing is a touchy subject for you. And I know how much you care about your gang. The people in it, I mean.”

“Don’t you ever think to say somethin’ like that again. ”

There was a long, awkward pause.

“So,” Leon eventually said, “Aren’t you going to say something.”

“Yeah. You deserved to get your shit rocked. You’re lucky Sakura pulled me off of you.”

Leon rubbed his jaw. “Fair enough. Could’ve also aimed for not my face. Can’t mess up the look.” Leon’s expression fell again. “But…you get what I was saying, right? We only remember a little and that was, like, at the start of the riot. We don’t know what happened to the city. We don’t know if there’s anyone to go back to.”

He knew he was probably right, but thinking that meant accepting that there was a chance that he had nothing left. That his gang was gone. That his home was gone. That everything he and his brother fought for was gone. That he hadn’t kept his promise.

He quickly buried that thought away before it could spiral out of control. “We don’t remember everything yet. We hid out and survived. I’m sure there were others who had the same idea.”

Leon nodded. “Guess that’s true…”

Several people came up the stairs, probably to go to bed, including Taka. 

“Oooo,” Leon said as he nudged Mondo, “You’re in trouble.”

The urge to hit him came back. “Hey, jackass, so are you.”

The moral compass walked over and nudged Chihiro until they woke up and started to help them towards the stairs. 

Mondo knew he should probably just wait, but the waiting was driving him nuts. “Come on, Taka! Just get it over with already. Yell. Get pissy. Something!”

Chihiro woke up more and mumbled something before nudging Taka towards the other two and heading downstairs on his own. 

Taka sighed before taking the spot on the bottom of the bed. “I don’t plan on yelling.”

Shit. Did Taka reach a new level of anger? The guy yelled even when he was only mildly excited, so surely getting caught in a fight was grounds for some yelling. 

“I just want you two to do better, that’s all.”

“Wooooow,” Leon said, “We’re already gettin’ our asses kicked and you’re going to top it all of with ‘I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed’.”

Finally, some of Taka’s frustration started to show. “Well, I didn’t want to say it like that because I know that has negative connotations behind it!”

“I’m just messin’ with you, Taka. Sorry about jumping on you.”

“I accept your apology.” He then looked over at Mondo.

“...My bad. We didn’t hurt you, did we?”

He shook his head. “I was unharmed.”

“Then why the fuck were you so upset?!” Why the fuck was he yelling?!

Taka looked confused. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I meant to talk to you both sooner but the conversation from before was…difficult to think about.”

“The memory?” Leon asked. 

“Yes…if there was a riot in the city, then law enforcement would be called into action.”

What? Oh. Oooooh. “Your dad is a police officer.”

He nodded.

Which meant he was probably in the thick of it, if not already dead. He could tell Leon was probably thinking the same thing, but had enough sense not to say it out loud. 

“But we can’t linger on that,” Taka quickly said, “We can’t help anyone back home if we can’t help ourselves. The best thing to do now is to get a good night’s rest! Myself especially since I will be keeping watch with Nekomaru and Hanamura in the morning.”

“Yeah, right, sleep,” Leon said as he moved to his mattress, “I’ve never missed a bed frame more in my life.”

“You too,” Taka said as he turned back to Mondo, “You still have some healing to do and today certainly didn’t help.”

“Same to you,” he said as he pointed to his shoulder, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Mondo, I’ve played dodge ball against Sakura and Leon. This is nothing.”

“I meant about your dad.”

“Oh…” He looked worried. “I…fear for him, but he’s very capable and will know how to take care of himself. I just know he’s worried about me. We’ve been gone for a while…But I will manage.”

“You’ll drive yourself crazy worrying all night. Why don’t you stay up here? We have some extra beds now that Junko and her sidekicks left. Or, you know, you can bunk with me.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve shared a bed.” He immediately heard Leon and Hiyoko snicker. “Not like that, you fucks!”

“Alright, calm down,” Taka said as he laid next to him, “You’re never going to heal if you keep over exerting yourself.”

He laid down as well. As horrifying as the day had been, it felt nice to have Taka laying next to him now. It was familiarity that he desperately needed at the moment. 

“Will you be okay?” Taka whispered, “What Leon said-”

“It’s whatever. He apologized. Like you said, we can’t do shit until we get out of here.” 

But Leon was right. There was a chance that his gang was already gone. That Taka or anyone could be next. He couldn’t let that happen. Not again.

He had to get stronger and out of this fucking bed.