Chapter Text
Chiaki Nanami -- wearing a threadbare hoodie and dragging a dirty pillowcase full of canned goods along the ground behind her -- carefully picked her way along the train tracks of the Saikyo line. The trains weren’t running, and the tracks here were covered with garbage and debris, sometimes piled so high that she had to climb over it. Pretty much none of the infrastructure was intact in this part of Tokyo, two and a half years into the Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event In Human History.
The central, most populated areas of Tokyo were a patchwork of Remnant territories, split up by swathes of no-man’s land that had fallen into anarchy or been taken over by lesser gangs, and the city scrolling slowly by around her as she walked was busted up and graffitied and strewn with litter. The police had given up on places like this. The government had fled the city, and the big government buildings in Nishi-Shinjuku had been co-opted as a base of operations by the Kuzuryu Clan. People still lived here (the population had dropped, but it was still Tokyo), but some of the skyscrapers on the horizon loomed hollow and bombed out and empty, and she sometimes passed by eerily silent neighborhoods and tried not to look too closely at the ragged piles of what used to be people, lying the street. The Remnants of Despair tended to appear suddenly and do things like that, when a place looked too much like it was thriving. Occasionally she glimpsed battle-scarred streets: places where the Future Foundation or the military had stepped in to restore order, and then presumably stepped out again because the collateral damage wasn’t worth it.
But once she got further away from Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu’s territory, it wouldn’t be so bad. Hajime had explained it to her: densely populated urban areas had been hit hardest by the Tragedy, but most of Tokyo wasn’t a battleground. It would gradually get better as she walked towards the coast, and start feeling like the normal city she remembered. Maybe pretty soon, she’d reach someplace where the trains were actually running!
(But she’d gone to school around here. Taken the train past these neighborhoods, eaten with her friends at these restaurants and shopped at these stores. It hurt to see it all like this.)
Chiaki looked behind her and, walking backwards for a moment, attempted to determine how far she’d gone and how long she’d walked. The last thing she’d done before escaping Fuyuhiko’s house was blow up his garage, so with all his cars out of commission, his men were most likely searching for her on foot, and she’d gained a pretty substantial lead. Probably. At least, she hoped all his cars were out of commission; it wasn’t like she had stuck around to figure out how much damage she’d caused. (In the back of her mind, Chiaki vaguely wondered if she was now indebted to the mob. Fuyuhiko was her friend, and she did feel bad about blowing up his stuff, but she had to get to Nagito first. If she was in debt to the mob, it was worth it.)
After a moment of deliberation, Chiaki pulled her GameGirl out of her hoodie pocket, marvelling all over again at how much heavier it was now that Kazuichi had done all kinds of modifications to it. Holding the top of her pillowcase with her underarm, she went through her brand new contacts list and hovered uncertainly over Fuyuhiko’s name. She had promised to call him once she was able to, and with the lead she had, now would be the best time…
She called Kazuichi.
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The phone rang for a while without answer, and eventually went to voicemail. Despite everything the world had been through and how many new phones Kazuichi had probably gone through in that time (he did have an unfortunate habit of taking them apart when he was bored), it was still the same stock message he’d been using since high school.
“Sorry I missed your call, I’ve probably got my hands full, building something cool! Or like, the shop hydraulics failed and something fell on me and I died. Let’s count on it being that first thing, yeah? Leave me a message!”
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“Kazuichiiii,” Chiaki whined into his voicemail, as all besties are wont to do when their friends don’t answer when they call. “Pick up your phone.”
She hung up and called again, listening to the phone ring as she finally turned around and started walking forward.
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“Heeeeeeey, gamer girl!” Kazuichi answered immediately this time, his voice entirely too forcibly cheerful. “How’s the escape plan going?”
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“Hi pink lemonade! It’s going okay,” Chiaki said, shifting the pillow case idly from under her arm into her hand, holding the GameGirl with the other. “I’ve gotten pretty far, I think. I haven’t run into anyone, and I’m doing my best to avoid noises that sound like people. I know you’re worried, so I’m gonna call as often as I can, but I’m not gonna tell you where I am because Fuyuhiko is probably really mad and will come get me if he finds out what route I’m taking.”
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“Yeah, about that-” Kazuichi began, and was cut off abruptly with a muffled “hey man, c’mon!” as somebody grabbed the phone away from him.
“Do you have any idea,” Fuyuhiko’s voice said, very very coldly on the other end of the line, “how many million yen worth of cars you set on fire when you BLEW UP MY FUCKING GARAGE?!”
“Man, that’s fixable, I can probably fix that,” Kazuichi’s voice said in the background.
“Shut the FUCK up, Kazuichi.”
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“Do you want my finger now?” Chiaki asked, her brain to mouth filter turning off in the presence of Fuyuhiko’s rage. This wasn’t the first time, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be the last. She had no idea why it tended to do that, but it did. Oh well. She was already in debt to the mob, she might as well go all in. “You’ll have to wait until I get back from Towa, but I still have my finger from last time if you want it.”
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“I dunno, Chiaki, how many million yen is your finger worth?” Fuyuhiko said scathingly. “You wanna start selling your body to make up for this one, I think we’re gonna need about a hundred of you.”
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“I don’t care how upset you are, we are not pimping out Chiaki,” Peko said in the background. “We’ll figure something out, just tell her to get back here.”
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“Do I sound upset? I’m not upset, I am fuckin’ ecstatic at this fantastic situation!! Chiaki Nanami just set my fuckin’ house on fire so she could ride off into the sunset and join the Fuckup Foundation in poking the hornet’s nest that is Towa FUCKING City!!” Fuyuhiko sounded like he was gritting his teeth, and his voice was filled with more I-am-very-worried-about-you rage than it was I’m-actually-mad-at-you rage.
“What the hell are you thinking? You think Nagito Komaeda is gonna welcome you with open goddamn arms as some kind of honorary Remnant the way I did? No, Chiaki. He’s batshit insane and he’s gonna fuckin’ murder the shit out of you, if the childmurder death cult or those big damn heroes at the Future Foundation don’t decide to off you first. Now turn the fuck around and start walking back the way you came!”
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“It’s because the Future Foundation is involved that I have to go now,” Chiaki argued, metaphorically standing her ground as she literally continued walking. “They could kill him, Fuyuhiko, we don’t have enough time to just sit in an office arguing and making plans. He’s making a new Junko, and I think he’s using his brainwashing stuff on kids.”
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“All I’m hearing is a hell of a lot of reasons why you need to stay the fuck out of it!” Fuyuhiko shouted back, his voice flanging out the speakers of her GameGirl. “I don’t give a shit about Nagito, I don’t give a shit about kids, right now I’m telling you to GET YOUR FUCKING COMA-ATROPHIED ASS BACK IN MY GODDAMN HOUSE WHERE YOU ARE SAFE!!”
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Chiaki flinched and held the GameGirl away from her a bit as Fuyuhiko’s worry-rage got worry-loud, and waited a couple moments after he was quiet to respond.
“Fuyuhiko, I’ll --”
Chiaki suddenly heard a revving noise; she jumped and looked around. That was a lot closer than she’d thought people would be to the train tracks. She pulled her GameGirl close to her chest and she quickly stepped off the tracks. Fuyuhiko’s initial rage at the garage thing had all but confirmed her theory about him not having any cars right now, so that definitely wasn’t one of his search parties coming to whisk her back to safety.
“I think someone heard you yelling,” she whispered quickly into the GameGirl as the revving noises got closer. She scampered behind a large pile of debris by the tracks. “I’ll call you back.”
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Fuyuhiko’s voice went quickly from anger to panic. “What do you mean, heard me? Is somebody coming after you? Am I hearing motorcycles? Holy fuck, are you in Diamond territory?! Chiaki-”
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Chiaki disconnected the call before he could say anything else, turned her volume down, and stuffed the handheld back into her hoodie pocket. She kept her pillow case at her side, and curled into as tight of a ball as she could, doing her best to hide from the unknown vehicles as they got closer…
With a roaring sound and a rush of wind that made the litter around her eddy and scatter, about a dozen motorbikes zoomed past on the street parallel to the train tracks. Chiaki caught a brief glimpse of long coats flapping in the wind, bright orange logos embroidered against black, and heard raucous laughter as the bikers called out to each other and weaved back and forth. Then it was all fading away as they disappeared down the street as quickly as they’d arrived, and Chiaki let out a breath of relief.
She waited for a couple silent minutes, just in case, before grabbing her GameGirl from her pocket and calling everyone back -- this time with Fuyuhiko’s number. If she was going to be talking to him anyway, she might as well let Kazuichi have his phone back in the process.
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“Are you okay?” was the first thing Fuyuhiko asked when he answered the phone, his voice now much quieter and distinctly worried.
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“Yeah, I’m fine,” Chiaki said. She tried to stand up, and promptly fell on her butt. Her legs argued against this tyranny and threatened to unionize. Her stomach growled, and she figured she’d been running long enough to start breaking into her rations. “It was a bunch of people on motorcycles, but they didn’t hear you, I think. They were just passing by. Sorry if I scared you.”
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A short silence from Fuyuhiko, and the sound of him taking a deep breath and sighing heavily into the phone, slowly and deliberately calming himself down. “Okay,” he said. “Sorry,” he added. “For shouting at you. Didn’t mean to call trouble down on your head. I’m… I’ve got a lot of shitty habits I’m working on breaking. Anger management is something I’m really out of practice on, these days. That’s not an excuse, I just… fuck. Sorry.”
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“It’s okay,” Chiaki said simply, resting the GameGirl on her leg while she opened a bottle of water. “It’s part of how you show you care. Some people give cuddles, you yell and say ‘fuck’. I don’t mind. I may have to find headphones, though, just in case.”
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“Don’t say ‘fuck,’” Fuyuhiko said automatically. Another long pause. “Listen,” he said, finally. “You’re… not my prisoner, Chiaki. That’s not how this is gonna work anymore. You can leave my house whenever you want, and you can go wherever you want. I got no right to be in charge of that. I just gotta… get used to keeping that in mind.”
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There was a brief silence between them, and Chiaki cautiously asked, “Does… this mean I can go to Towa?”
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“I think it’s not my prerogative whether or not you go to Towa. Wish we’d had this conversation before you and Kazuichi set my garage on fire, but yeah, I’ll call off the search. I’m not going to march out there and drag you back to my house if that’s not where you wanna be.” Fuyuhiko sounded weary. “I’m just… asking you. As a friend. To reconsider. Before something happens that gets you hurt.”
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Chiaki took a moment to think about her response. She fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve, took a drink of water, and let out a sigh of her own. “Fuyuhiko, it’s... I want to be at the house. With you guys. I don’t want to go to Towa by myself.”
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“But Ultimate Bullshit is doing something crazier than usual, and somebody’s gotta go slap some sense into him sooner rather than later,” Fuyuhiko finished bluntly, cutting her off. “And I’m not even a week out of Despair, and you don’t trust me to have the kind of self control it takes to deal with this shitshow without killing somebody. That about sum up this whole situation? That where we’re at right now?”
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Chiaki stared at the GameGirl, unsure how to respond to being asked that so bluntly. She wasn’t going to lie to him, but she didn’t want to hurt Fuyuhiko’s feelings, either. He was already working really hard, and she didn’t want him focused on all of the things he wasn’t ready for. So instead, she was honest in a different way.
“I… I got scared,” Chiaki started. “Kyoko told me what was happening, and I kept thinking about Nagito getting shot, and...” A shiver crawled up her spine and she shook the thought out of her head before continuing. “So… it was a couple different things. What you’re saying was… part of it. But not all of it. Does that make sense?”
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“Chiaki, I’m not upset about it,” Fuyuhiko said gently. “It’s not exactly wrong. I’ll be honest with you, I’m… hold on.”
There was the sound of a door opening and closing. Wherever Fuyuhiko and Peko and Kazuichi had been gathered together, he’d gotten up and left the room. Then, silence for a bit, while he took a moment to walk down the hall a ways, away from prying ears.
“Okay. Being honest with you, I’m scared too, Chiaki,” he said at last, keeping his voice very, very low. “I think I’m about as scared as you are that I’m going to snap and murder somebody I care about. Whatever faith you have in my self control, I guarantee you I have less of it. I’m trying real hard to just pick myself up and keep going like nothing’s wrong, but there’s a switch in my brain, and it’s been flipped to ‘hurt people,’ and I don’t know if it’s ever gonna flip back. I still want to hurt people. Everyone, all the time. That’s…” A heavy breath, a faint, humorless laugh. “Dammit, that’s heavy. Sorry. That’s the last thing you need to hear right now. I guess I’m just saying… I got a lot to work on, and I’m probably not ready to deal with the other Remnants. So if you want me to stay out of the Towa City shit, I’ll stay out of it. I trust your judgement more than mine, right now.”
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Chiaki smiled softly as Fuyuhiko talked to her. He was going through something really difficult, and she felt for him, but the fact that he was able to open up to others about it was already a huge step in the right direction. She was proud of him for that.
“Thank you for trusting me with that,” Chiaki said softly. She continued to quietly rummage through her supplies, and belatedly realized that she definitely didn’t bring a can opener for her canned goods. Welp, chips it is, then. “You said before I left that I’d never been in Despair, so I don’t know what that’s like. And that’s true. I can’t imagine how scary it is for you right now. But you have Kazuichi and Peko there, and you can call me if you need me, no matter what. Okay? And I’ll make sure to call you guys as often as I can.” There was another brief moment of quiet between the two of them, before Chiaki added on, “I meant what I said in the letter, by the way. About being proud of you. You’ve only been out of Despair for a couple of days, and you’re doing really well so far. I believe in you, okay?”
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“Yeah, well,” Fuyuhiko muttered, clearing his throat sharply and sounding embarrassed and very done with being open and vulnerable. “Just go see if you can do all that to Nagito. And Chiaki?”
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“Yeah?”
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“Was there seriously no way you could have taken Kazuichi with you?”
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Chiaki spent the next four days walking out of Tokyo on foot. She hadn’t planned on taking so long to get to Towa. In the first four hours she reached Shinagawa, where the city started to look more like a vandalized bad neighborhood and less like a bombed-out warzone. The trains were still running here, even! Chiaki got very excited about that, already making plans to take a train to the coast and be in Towa City by later today… and then realized that she didn’t have any money. Oops.
In her defense, she’d been thinking about this like the zombie kind of apocalypse, where the world was a wasteland and humans survived in tiny, scattered pockets and people used bottle caps for money. Well, the area directly around Hope’s Peak had been like that (minus the bottle caps). But turns out, there were places in the world where money definitely still had value, and when Chiaki’s super incredibly expired train pass was rejected and she offered some of her canned goods in barter, she was told coldly to “walk, bitch. No free rides.”
Well, it was disappointing, but that’s what feet were for. Chiaki looked at her GPS (She’d silently decided to call it her Gamer Positioning System. Thank you, based Ultimate Mechanic.) and kept moving. She was going as fast as she could, but it hadn’t been that long since her coma and she still didn’t have a ton of stamina. She had to stop and rest a lot, and eat food and drink water and make detours to look for more supplies and safe places to nap for a while. Plus, she was being extra careful to avoid other people as much as possible. She’d been warned how mean and selfish and dangerous a lot of people were now, but keeping out of sight was a lot harder to do than she’d initially thought, especially as she walked further and further away from Fuyuhiko’s house and the city got more and more populated.
Those four days weren’t actually how long it took Chiaki to walk to Towa, but how long it took Chiaki to realize that she, like Kyoko, was underutilizing her contacts. Or rather, how long it took her to stop dead in the street, staring ahead of her with wide eyes, and then pout at herself, cheeks puffing out as she got out her GamePhoneGirl to send a message. Because she had friends in the Future Foundation, and she’d long since left Fuyuhiko’s territory, and she could have just asked for a ride.
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Four days was enough time for the events in Towa City to reach a destructive, bloody climax - the city’s adults whipped into a frenzy and the massive form of Big Bang Monokuma tearing through the streets, only to be destroyed by two phenomenally brave girls who Kyoko Kirigiri couldn’t have been more proud of.
Things were finally settling down, and a sprawling base camp of tents was spreading out along the coast, near the mainland end of the destroyed bridge that had once led into Towa City. It was a camp that Kyoko found herself in charge of, because the Future Foundation’s fourteenth division had been the first branch to jump in and spearhead relief efforts in the wake of the ongoing disaster.
This, Kyoko hated to admit, was the most power she’d ever held. Their official mission statement might have been to spread the word of Hope throughout the world, but in practice, the fourteenth division normally handled PR and social media, maintaining the Future Foundation’s public image. Now she was suddenly doing jobs she’d never done before, managing what was intended to become a refugee camp, once they gained a firm enough foothold on the distant island city to establish a well-guarded satellite camp and start ferrying people across. It was a lot to manage, and she found herself wishing Byakuya was around.
Well, technically speaking, he was. Striding through the camp, she noticed Makoto ducking out of a medical tent. Or rather, he was being chased out by a furious Byakuya Togami who was FINE and FED UP WITH YOUR PLEBEIAN SYMPATHY, GO CHEER UP SOMEBODY ELSE.
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Hostage frustrations, in. Comfort, out. Makoto was forcibly removed from the care tent.
By the person he was checking on, no less! Granted, Makoto logically knew that Byakuya was fine, but there wasn’t any harm in checking on him, right? Apparently, according to Byakuya, no, not right.
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With a small smile, Kyoko fell into step beside him. “Seems as though he’s doing well.” Not that she’d expected otherwise. The people most traumatized after a hostage situation with Byakuya were generally the hostage takers. No doubt he was more upset about the fact that they were all forcing him to take it easy and not involve himself. “As are Komaru and Toko, from what I’ve heard. The entire organization’s been on the warpath to recruit them both as official agents. I’m sure Toko is thrilled.” She glanced over at him. “And I’m sure you’re proud.”
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Makoto’s mood brightened as Kyoko -- or Kiri, as she’d been letting him affectionately call her lately -- matched his stride and casually mentioned that his sister and Toko were ashooin’ to becoming full fledged Future Foundation agents. Makoto beamed at her in response. “Of course I’m proud! Komaru worked really hard in a tough situation. I’m really happy for Toko, too, she’s been trying to become an agent for a long time now!” Makoto’s expression shifted to one of determination before looking back at the city. “I just hope the damage to the city can be undone.”
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Kyoko also looked up at the destroyed skyline, where faint columns of smoke and dust were still rising. “For the city itself, it’s all just structural damage. With enough time and effort, the people of Towa should be able to rebuild. It’s going to take much longer to recover from all the trauma and death. The majority of the city’s population is orphaned children now. That’s where we’ll need to concentrate our efforts - on the people who were hurt the most and trust us the least. It’s not going to be easy.”
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Makoto gave a sharp nod, still looking at the city. “Yeah, but it’ll be okay.” He looked back at Kiri with a smile on his face. “We can do this.”
Suddenly, Makoto felt something hard and small hit the back of his head, causing him to stumble forward as something bright red clattered to the ground.
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“Makoto, keep your commoner’s trash out of my tent!” Byakuya shouted from a distance before closing the flap of the medical tent in a sharp motion.
“It’s not your tent, it’s the medical tent!” came the flustered voice of a Future Foundation nurse who was clearly already at her wits end dealing with this. “Stop screaming and throwing things!”
“Do you have any idea where the funding for this camp comes from? They are all my tents.”
Kyoko, still smiling softly, put a hand to her head in a gesture of mock frustration. “I can’t say for sure that our medical staff will ever recover from the trauma.”
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“Ow…” Makoto rubbed the back of his head and looked at the ground to find -- “Oh!” Makoto quickly picked up his Nintendo DS and inspected it for any damage. Luckily, it was unscathed after hitting both Makoto’s head and the ground. He let out a small sigh of relief when he felt the device vibrate in his hand. He had a message! Chiaki must be saying hi! He flipped the DS open to check what was up; he hoped she was okay, she’d been travelling for a lot longer than they’d thought she would be.
neko_pinku says: hey, can i have your phone number? ε=ε=ε=ヾ(э^・ｪ・^)э
neko_pinku says: eifies too! i have a phone now! （=´∇｀=）
neko_pinku says: sort of. (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)
neko_pinku says: anyway i need a favor and it’ll be easier to call you guys about it. (✦థ ｪ థ)
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A brief ballet of exchanging phone numbers over Miiverse later, Kyoko and Makoto were ducking into the tent that served as Kyoko’s temporary office as she took the call on her standard issue Future Foundation cellphone. The tent’s walls were thin and not particularly soundproof, so she kept her voice low enough to give the conversation a little privacy. The Future Foundation still wasn’t aware of what was going on here, after all.
“Chiaki. You must be close by now, how was your trip?” There was a little stab of guilt that she hadn’t offered Chiaki a vehicle to pick her up, but she and Makoto were already pushing their luck with their… creative reallocation of the Future Foundation’s resources. The bureaucracy had started asking uncomfortable questions about the 14th division’s funds, and they’d had to stick rigidly above board recently. Well, Chiaki was an Ultimate. She could handle herself out there.
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“I’m… not?” Chiaki said hesitantly. “Close, I mean. I… my train pass is expired, and I don’t have any money…” She trailed off for a moment, her face bright red from embarrassment; she hadn’t had to ask for a ride or money for the train since she was a second year in middle school, before she was allowed to enter gaming tournaments and earn her own money that way. It was kind of humiliating, but it wasn’t like she had a choice. “Can someone come get me?”
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Oh. Maybe she couldn’t handle herself out there. Kyoko blinked blankly for a moment, and then found herself suppressing a small breath of laughter, because this was… kind of a silly, mundane situation. “I’m sorry, it didn’t even occur to me that you wouldn’t have transportation. Don’t tell me you’ve been trying to walk all this way?”
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“Wait, she’s walking here?!” Makoto balked, a little louder than he should, but still. Definitely loud enough for Chiaki to hear him through Kyoko’s phone.
“It looked closer on the train map!” Chiaki defensively whined in response. “I can’t fast travel in real life, it’s taking longer than I thought it would!”
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“That does explain where you’ve been for the last four days,” Kyoko said, still smiling. “It’s a little difficult at the moment to send you a car, but if you can locate an ATM, we’ll get you some money for the train.”
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“Thank you,” Chiaki muttered quietly, still embarrassed. Now Chiaki was in debt to two mobs. She wondered silently if she could borrow money from one to pay off the other. Was that how that worked? Was the Future Foundation a mob? Either way, Chiaki made a mental note to give Kyoko the biggest hug next time she saw her.
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“Since it sounds like we’ll be seeing you shortly, I should probably fill you in on our next steps,” Kyoko said, sitting down at her desk and beginning to idly sort through her folders of reports and paperwork. Computers were useful, but Kyoko preferred physical documents. It was easier to find connections and notice hidden details when you could touch and rearrange things. She separated out Toko, Komaru, and Byakuya’s reports on the events in Towa city and compiled them in a fresh manilla folder of their own. (Yasuhiro had also written a report, but it was… “unhelpful” was perhaps too kind a word. She was fairly confident that he had not single-handedly stopped the Warriors of Hope with his “powers of astral projection.”)
“Right now, Makoto and I are the only members of the Future Foundation who know about you and your situation.” They’d been meaning to tell Byakuya and the other Hope’s Peak survivors, but with the chaos in Towa, there hadn’t been a chance quite yet. “So we’ll have to be a little careful about how we handle things.”
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Makoto had the same thoughts as Kyoko regarding telling the others about Chiaki, and as soon as Kyoko mentioned that the two of them were the only ones who knew, he made a guilty expression. He had wanted to tell Byakuya while he was in the medical tent, but there had been a nurse right there, so it would have been too risky. The longer they waited, the angrier Byakuya would be when he found out. Makoto wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. Hopefully the nurse would give him a clean bill of health soon.
Oblivious to Makoto’s fretting, Chiaki piped up on the other end: “Careful how?”
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Kyoko was thumbing through a few more miscellaneous incident reports, scanning for any mention of the Remnant of Despair who’d taken up residence in Towa City. Anything that mentioned him went into the new folder.
“When you present yourself to the Future Foundation, do so as a refugee. Tell them nothing about Fuyuhiko or any of the other Remnants. Do not tell them you’re an Ultimate, or anything that could lead them to discovering your connection to class 77. You may want to come up with a fake name. Are you following so far?”
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Chiaki thought for a moment -- she knew she was going to have to keep her classmates a secret, that much was obvious. She hadn’t really thought about how doing all of this would affect Kyoko and Makoto, though. Chiaki nodded seriously before remembering she was on the phone and replying out loud instead, “Yeah, I think I got it.”
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“Once they determine you’re not a threat, you’ll be escorted into the main camp. Since we’re still dealing with the aftermath of Towa City, there are refugees much worse off than you starting to funnel in, so I doubt you’ll be heavily supervised. I’ll come collect you from there. It’s important that you don’t ask for me before then. Makoto and I aren’t supposed to know you yet.”
After a moment’s consideration, she added: “If someone named Kyosuke Munakata tries to talk to you, be as stubbornly obstinate and unhelpful as possible. I believe that covers everything.”
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“I don’t know who that is, but okay.” Chiaki gave a thumbs up before realizing, once again, she was on the phone and Kyoko couldn’t see it.
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“I’ll text you the bank information,” Kyoko told her shortly. “We’ll see you soon.” They exchanged goodbyes, and she hung up, still looking vaguely amused.
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Makoto raised his eyebrows in response to Kyoko’s advice on Munakata. “Is… is Munakata here?” he asked warily. He liked Munakata well enough, but for some reason Makoto got the feeling that Munakata didn’t like him very much. He wasn’t sure why, but it did put a lot of pressure on Makoto to make him happy as the Future Foundation’s “mascot” whenever he was around.
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“No, and let’s pray that it stays that way,” Kyoko answered him, setting her phone aside and tidying up all the documents she’d dragged out. For once, she wanted to stay in charge of something more important than the Future Foundation’s social media team, without anyone sweeping in and reassigning things to a “more experienced” director in a division that could “handle it.” They were both very sick of being figureheads.
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Makoto let out a breath of relief. “Thank goodness,” he said, and then quickly added: “N-not that I don’t like him or anything, he’s really dedicated to defeating Despair, he’s just… intense. Not like, Ultimate intense, I’m used to that because of you guys, but like a different intense. Like he’s a lion and I’m a mouse.”
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“You’re an Ultimate too, Makoto,” Kyoko reminded him patiently for the hundred thousandth time. “And I find it somewhat intense how much you like everyone.” She picked up the manilla folder, now bulging with miscellaneous documents, and tucked it under her arm. “Shall we make preparations for the arrival of someone we both like?”
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“Yeah!” Makoto gave Kiri a sharp nod. “I’m really excited to meet her in person! It’s kind of awesome, getting to meet another Ultimate!”
Huh. Makoto resisted the urge to laugh at himself a little bit. You could take the fan out of Hope’s Peak, but you can never take the Hope’s Peak out of the fan. That’s how the saying went, right?
Makoto was thinking about this for a moment, before realizing something else Kiri had said. “Intense? Is that bad?”
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Kyoko laughed softly and walked away.
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“Kiri?” Makoto asked, standing there confused about what was happening until the tent flap had already closed behind her. “Kiri! Hey, wait up! Is that bad?! Kiri!”
Several hours later, Chiaki -- or rather, Nakoruru Gonbei -- was escorted into the refugee camp. A couple of Future Foundation agents had thoroughly searched her pillowcase (which still just had food and underwear) and her hoodie (they raised an eyebrow at the GameGirl, but apparently it was normal enough for them to not question it), as well as doing a pat down search on her body. It was embarrassing, but she did it. She had to, right?
Chiaki was placed with the other refugees, and Kyoko was right; after making sure she knew where the sleeping area and the place to get food was, the agents who brought her here left her alone pretty much immediately. She sent a message to Makoto and Kyoko and everyone back at Fuyuhiko’s house, letting them all know she’d finally arrived safe and sound. She kind of wished she could just call them, but that would look weird on a GameGirl. Probably.
Well, she’d given Kyoko a vague description of where she was, so now all she had to do was settle down on her assigned cot and wait. The quiet 8-bit soundfont of her GameGirl echoed through the tent for a while, and then she glanced up and Kyoko was standing in front of her, accompanied by a guy who -- based on his haircut -- had to be Makoto Naegi. (Wow, Chiaki had just thought Kazuichi had drawn his hair extra spiky because of creative license, but nope -- he was just that pointy.)
Oh, he’s kind of adorable, huh? Makoto seemed to radiate some kind of excitable, bouncy energy (he was actually bouncing on his heels), which was a good thing at a refugee camp, probably.
“Hi, guys!” Chiaki said, before looking back down at her GameGirl. “Can we wait a sec? I’m fighting Koga right now, and I’m doing a Nuzlocke challenge, so I gotta pay attention or my teammates might die.”
Makoto blinked, looking spectacularly confused. “I thought Pokemon only fainted.”
“Yep.”
“But you just said --”
-------------------
“Now is maybe not the best time for that,” Kyoko reminded them both, trying to keep a small smile off her face. Pretend we don’t know each other was a plan that had fallen through almost immediately in the face of easily distracted Chiaki and eager puppy dog Makoto.
“Excuse me, miss?” she said a little louder and more pointedly so that the rest of the tent could overhear, getting them back on track with her most official, I-am-in-charge-around-here voice. “Are you one of the Towa refugees? I’ve been going through the incident reports and there are some points that need clarification.” She tapped the folder under her arm, and then gestured back in the direction of the tent opening. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
Maybe she was being too cautious with this. But she’d rather be cautious than caught. The happy reunion could happen as soon as no one was around to see.
-------------------
Chiaki jumped slightly when Kyoko raised her voice, suddenly reminded that oh yeah, they were supposed to be doing espionage. Kyoko and Makoto were the box to her Solid Snake.
“Uhm, yes.” Chiaki said back just as loudly while nodding at Kyoko and Makoto - the latter of which looked kind of chastised for some reason. “I don’t mind. What do you need to know?”
-------------------
“It may take a while to go over everything. Why don’t we talk in my office?” Kyoko said, setting up a nice public excuse for why she was now leading a stranger back into her tent.
-------------------
“Yes.” Chiaki gave a sharp nod, to make it obvious that she was agreeing. She (regretfully) turned off her GameGirl and put it back in her pocket. “I would be happy to go back to your office to do that.” Nailed it.
Makoto gave Chiaki a discrete thumbs up, which made Kyoko sigh heavily for some reason. He kept glancing between her and Kyoko without saying anything. Huh. Chiaki and Makoto chatted pretty often on Miiverse; she’d expected him to be more talkative. Maybe it was because of espionage.
Or maybe he was also a bad liar. If so, it was probably a good thing if he didn’t say anything.
-------------------
They walked across the camp together. Kyoko waited until they’d returned to her office/tent to speak further, leaving it up to Makoto to make small talk. Makoto did not make small talk, which was maybe for the best since, in the face of finally meeting his upperclassman in person, he seemed close to bursting with the amount of enthusiasm only a Hope’s Peak fanboy could contain. He was at least self-aware enough to keep his mouth shut.
At last they entered the tent, and Kyoko let the flap close behind them with a sense of finality.
“Well,” she said, “I’m sorry for all the secrecy and maneuvering, but trust me when I say it’s necessary. Makoto and I have been in hot water recently; it’s best not to draw attention. We’re not exactly doing something the Future Foundation would approve of.” She turned to Chiaki with a smile. “But it really is good to see you again.”
-------------------
“It really is!” Makoto said animatedly, seeming to finally burst from having to keep all of his excitement contained and distracted for the past hour. “I’ve been so excited to finally meet you! I read about you online back when Hope’s Peak was still standing; the message boards were talking about how you were the top player in every MMO server you joined! Plus the fact that you won those tournaments in New York and Dubai a couple years before you were scouted! And in the same year! And in middle school! Not to mention how you dominated the esports circuit in Japan, and, and, and --”
Makoto finally noticed that Chiaki was staring at him with wide eyes, which caused him to cut himself off and turn an impressive shade of red. “I-I-I mean, it’s really nice to meet you because we’re friends, too! You’ve been, I mean, you’re helping out a lot, and we’re glad you got here okay because we were really worried, and… and…” Makoto finally settled, embarrassed.
“Wow, I haven’t met anyone else who was just as into esports as me!” Chiaki said, giving Makoto a bright smile. Makoto resisted the urge to groan in embarrassment. “You should’ve said so sooner, we could’ve talked about it! Did you compete too? A lot of people are pretty serious, but some people compete as a hobby.”
-------------------
“He’s not an esports fan. Just an Ultimates fan,” Kyoko corrected her. (Was she teasing him? Yes, a little.)
-------------------
“Oh!” Chiaki said, sounding both enlightened and a little disappointed. “That makes more sense, I think.”
Obsession, out. Humiliation, in. Makoto’s dignity was forcibly removed from the office. “Kiri!” Makoto whined. “It sounds creepy when you say it like that!”
“I think it’s sweet!” Chiaki said placatingly. “Nagito was a lot like that in high school too, before all the Despair stuff.” Her smile dimmed as she looked back and forth between the two of them. “Thanks for helping out with this, by the way. I know this is a pretty big deal.”
-------------------
“There was no question of us not helping out,” Kyoko said seriously. “We’re all trying to do the same thing, after all. If we get into trouble for this, helping you out will be the LEAST of what we’re disciplined for.”
She’d prepared a few folding chairs in advance, anticipating this meeting with Chiaki, and she sat down in one now, crossing her legs and resting her clasped hands brusquely atop the folder balanced on her knees, all business. “Which brings us to the point, I suppose. Helping the Remnants. Any updates for us on the situation with Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu?”
-------------------
Chiaki gave the two of them a wide smile. “Everyone’s doing good. Really good.”
“Really?” Makoto said, smiling back, something small and hopeful -- or was it Hopeful? -- sparking in his chest at her response.
“Yep,” Chiaki said, putting her hands behind her back while rocking back and forth on her heels. “Fuyuhiko and Peko had a talk about it, and he’s not doing Despair anymore. Peko hasn’t been in Despair for a couple years, and Fuyuhiko’s been out of Despair for almost a week now! Kazuichi and Peko are both making sure that everything’s okay while I’m gone. Oh, Kazuichi’s doing really well! He’s still pretty frustrated about being on bedrest while his foot heals, but he’s getting S-rank when it comes to not being in Despair.”
“Chiaki!” Makoto said, ecstatic. “That’s great!”
“Yep,” Chiaki said, beaming. “I’m really proud of everyone. They’re all working really hard, especially Fuyuhiko.”
-------------------
Kyoko watched them both, quietly taking note of the faint bruising on Chiaki’s wrists as she talked animatedly about her friends. She wondered if it would have been prudent to have the medical staff look over Chiaki before jumping right into things. Or the crisis counselors, for that matter. A physical evaluation would cover only half the trauma Chiaki must be carrying after living with a Remnant of Despair for so long. Unfortunately, with the chaos in Towa City, the Future Foundation’s staff was stretched thin. It would draw too much attention if she used her authority to shuffle Chiaki to the front of the line. (Though she would have done so if Chiaki had arrived in bad condition, secrecy be damned.)
Right now though, there was something more important on her mind.
“Then our next target is the Remnant in Towa City,” she said, moving on. She’d never been good at all the little social niceties of conversation, so it was best to just decide things and then address the next point. “I’m afraid we don’t have much information about him. We don’t even know his name.”
Thinking back to the intel she’d stolen from Fuyuhiko’s office, she added, “Though I’m guessing he was a member of your class.”
-------------------
Chiaki nodded, she and Makoto finally taking their seats across from Kyoko. “I think I said it earlier, but his name is Nagito Komaeda. He’s my class’s Lucky Student.”
“Oh, he won the raffle too?” Chiaki looked over at Makoto, whose eyebrows had shot up into his bangs with surprise, before giving her a sheepish expression. “He has the same talent as me.”
-------------------
“Luck isn’t your only talent,” Kyoko reminded him. She explained it briefly to Chiaki, since she’d been in a coma during the killing game. “These days, Makoto is officially recognized by the Future Foundation as the Ultimate Hope. His talent is difficult to explain, but I suppose you could compare it to motivational speaking. He is also, occasionally, lucky.”
-------------------
“Kiri…” Makoto stared at Kyoko for a moment before looking away, his eyes now firmly on his hands as they fidgeted in his lap. “Luck is what I got admitted into Hope’s Peak as, though, so...” Makoto trailed off, and Chiaki nodded in understanding. She’d heard that some students had more than one talent, but she’d never met any personally. (Well, aside from Hajime, but he didn’t count.) She supposed it would be pretty confusing to have multiple talents, especially when having to introduce yourself.
“So, what’s Nagito like?” Makoto asked, being the one to change the subject back to the issue at hand for once. “I don’t remember meeting any upperclassmen with my talent while at Hope’s Peak, so…”
“Well, Nagito was suspended for a while.” Chiaki pointed out. “He set off a bomb in our school gym during the exams while we were first years. It was a big deal for a while, I think.”
-------------------
It… had most certainly been a big deal. Despite the school’s scrambling attempts to cover up the details, a bombing smack dab in the middle of exams at the most prestigious government funded high school in Japan had made national headlines.
“We’re dealing with the person who did that?” she said at last, after staring blankly at Chiaki and processing that for a moment. “That’s how he was even before Despair?”
-------------------
“Yep,” Chiaki said casually, as if the classmate in question had pulled some kind of harmless but endearing prank instead of committing a federal crime. “No one got hurt, and he meant well, I think. Nagito’s always been a little… intense? He was always talking about how much he cared about us while we were in class together, and everyone else seemed to be kind of weirded out by him for some reason, but I thought he was nice for the most part.”
That sounds like WAY more than just intense! Makoto did not say, looking over to Kiri. He blew up the Hope’s Peak gym?! That had to be one heck of an exam day… I’m beginning to think Komaru may have been the lucky one right about now.
-------------------
Kyoko tapped her fingers against her knee for a moment, thinking, before picking up the folder in her lap and offering it to Chiaki. “I’ve compiled the accounts from every sighting we have of the Towa City Remnant. We have several agents who were in direct contact with him, so hopefully you’ll be able to glean something from that about how Despair has changed him. I suggest you read it over thoroughly. I get the feeling that any information at all, no matter how small or inconsequential, will be valuable.”
She sat back again, giving Chiaki time to read, and glanced over at Makoto. “Your sister certainly had some interesting things to say about him. But what stands out to me is that she never saw a single violent outburst from him. Scheming and manipulative, yes. But nothing on the level of those fits of rage we’ve observed in Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu. We may actually be looking at someone less dangerous.”
-------------------
“That makes sense. Nagito isn’t really a violent person,” Chiaki said, taking the folder from Kyoko and opening it.
“Didn’t you just say he blew up a building?” Makoto asked, confused.
“Well, yeah,” Chiaki said, furrowing her brows. “But that was kind of out of nowhere, he’d never done anything like that before then. He’s pretty laid back usually!”
Makoto silently stared at Chiaki for a moment. “He’s intense, and he’s laid back? That… doesn’t make sense.”
-------------------
“Well, he is an Ultimate,” Kyoko commented, while Chiaki read through the folder. “We’re rather known for our extremes.”
-------------------
Makoto thought back to his classmates and co-workers and nodded at Kiri in response. “That’s fair.”
Going through the reports beside him, Chiaki made a noise of confusion. “Why did Nagito go by Servant?”
“Oh, I think Komaru called him that because he never gave her his name.” Makoto supplied, and Chiaki hummed in response. She continued reading through, making the occasional comment, though it seemed more like she was talking to herself than asking either of them anything. “At least he helped Komaru out? Probably.”
Silence, for a bit.
“Wait, Nagito kidnapped someone?! Are they okay? Wait, I should just keep reading and I’ll find out, right?”
More silence.
“Oh no… Nagito…” Chiaki sounded more exasperated than upset, before sitting up in her chair abruptly and furrowing her brows at the file. “Wait, he got hurt?! By Genocide Jack?!” Chiaki may not have been much for T.V., but even she wasn’t that oblivious. “Is he alright?!”
-------------------
“I would assume so,” Kyoko confirmed. “Toko has been very responsible about not killing anyone, these days. In Jack’s own words, she made ‘slices as shallow as those stupid emo pants they ruined.’”
Chiaki was still staring down at the folder, her brows furrowed and her cheeks puffed out, obviously not happy about the situation as a whole.
“Don’t worry too much about reading the rest; he’s not included in it,” Kyoko told her. “That’s the point at which we lost track of him.”
-------------------
“You lost track of him?” Chiaki parroted back, looking distraught. “If we don’t know where he is, how do we know he’s still in the city?”
“We’ve got people guarding the escape tunnel in the shrine,” Makoto said, before turning to Kyoko. “Right, Kiri?”
-------------------
“Right. And after the cave-in that took out most of Towa City’s subway system, nobody’s going to be leaving that way either. The only way out of the city right now is by air, or by boarding the ferry the Future Foundation has set up to evacuate refugees. It’s all being tightly controlled, and his description has been circulated. If the Towa City Remnant… ah, if Nagito tried to leave by any of those routes, the Future Foundation would have caught him. We can’t rule out that he might have attempted to make the two mile swim to the mainland, but with his legs injured, that’s unlikely. So he’s probably lying low somewhere in the city.”
-------------------
Chiaki relaxed slightly, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Okay.”
“You’ll find him, Chiaki,” Makoto comforted softly. “I’m sure he’s just fine.”
-------------------
“Do you have a plan in mind for this?” Kyoko asked. “If not, we’ve been discussing options. We can get you into the city, and we've spent the afternoon briefing Toko and Komaru on the situation. They’re willing to offer you support, even if it means aiding a Remnant. They’re people we trust.”
-------------------
Chiaki grew silent for a moment; she’d had a couple potential plans, but nothing was set in stone yet due to the Silence of the Lambs threat looming over Fuyuhiko’s house. “Right now I just want to get him out of Towa City,” Chiaki said, her thoughtful gaze involuntarily slipping to the top of the tent as she tapped her chin with her finger. “But since everyone is looking for him that’ll be difficult, probably.”
-------------------
“We might be able to make that happen,” Kyoko said. “The Future Foundation has his physical description, but only Toko and Komaru have seen him in person. It might be possible to pull off some kind of disguise, and sneak him out as a refugee the same way we snuck you in. I could also drastically abuse my authority and arrange for the agent guarding the Warriors of Hope’s escape tunnel to turn a blind eye - though while that might be less of a risk for you, it’s certainly more risky for me and Makoto. Either way, the biggest problem would be convincing Nagito to cooperate. In a worst case scenario, perhaps we could drug him and bring him back unconscious?”
She paused, a small breath of disbelieving laughter escaping her as she looked over at Makoto again. “We’re talking about sneaking a Remnant of Despair through a Future Foundation refugee camp. We really are traitors.”
-------------------
Makoto processed that for a moment before letting out a small chuckle of his own. “I guess so. Though, we already were, weren’t we?”
"I don't think Nagito would like being forced out." Chiaki pointed out. "His luck is kind of crazy, so there's a chance it wouldn't even work if we tried, I think."
-------------------
“Then we’ll have to rely on you to convince him, and follow your lead on how to proceed,” said Kyoko. “All the same, let’s be prepared. I’ll arrange for a syringe of some mild tranquilizer. Something easy to hide on your person. You don’t have to use it, but it would be foolish of us not to at least leave you with the option. As for getting you into the city…”
She explained the plan she and Makoto had come up with. (Alright, mostly her, but Makoto had occasionally brought her coffee while she worked, and that counted as helping.) There would be no more sneaking. Dress Chiaki in a Future Foundation suit and get her a badge with the right level of clearance - and Kyoko was a division leader, she could easily acquire both - and the Ultimate Gamer could be ferried right into Towa City and walk through the checkpoints without being questioned. Once beyond the part of the city that the Future Foundation controlled, she could change back into her own clothing. Nagito would likely react poorly to a Future Foundation uniform. Toko and Komaru would meet with her at a predetermined rendezvous point and use their knowledge of the city to help her locate Nagito, and if needed, subdue him.
“…It’s still dangerous out there,” Kyoko finished, “But I suspect you’re used to danger by now. We’ll give you all the backup we can, and the agents we’re sending you to meet are people I’d trust with my life. Considering the secrets they know, I am, in fact, trusting them with my life. Everything’s prepared, so we’ll set things in motion as soon as you’re ready.”
-------------------
Chiaki gave her two new comrades a deadpan thumbs up. “Okay. I can do this, I think.”
“I know you can.” Makoto said, giving her a determined smile. “You’ve already accomplished so much, you’ve got this.”
Chiaki stared at Makoto for a second before giving him a bright smile back. “I get why they call you Ultimate Hope now.”
Makoto blinked, seeming to temporarily blue screen before his face turned red. “Wait, wha--” Makoto began to fluster while Chiaki’s giggle cut him off.
“We don’t have a lot of time, right? We should get me ready, then, probably.”
“Hey!” Makoto whined, “You can’t just spring that on me, and then move on like that! Chiaki!”