A Farewell to All Futures

Your Consenting Mind

Warning: mentioned death/suicide/torture/lobotomy/rape, dissociation/possession, manipulation

***

"Then allow me to explain." Mikado cleared his throat. "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History, better known as the Tragedy for short, was an apocalypse brought upon the world by the Ultimate Despair, Junko Enoshima. With the use of brainwashing videos, Junko amassed a large amount of followers worldwide that began to live and kill for nothing but the feeling of despair."

"After Junko committed suicide, many of her followers did the same thing, presumably to feel the despair that she felt." Sora added. "The ones that were left were called the Remnants of Despair that carried Junko's will after her death."

"Wait, they were...brainwashed?" Rei gasped.

"Do you actually think any of us joined Junko of our own free will?" Mikado rolled his visible eye. "Honestly, I still can't believe that I tried to resist her. This feeling is so good, why would I want to resist a happiness like this?"

"H-Happiness?!" Iroha exclaimed. "What kind of happiness comes from despair?!"

"The same kind that Master Utsuro felt, of course." The wizard's mask smirked as if it was an obvious fact. "Well, he probably would've been happy to actually feel any emotion in general. But this happiness is just...so amazing. Huhu. Huhuhu." He breathily giggled.

"Hey...Tsurugi, Rei. Just to let you know, pretty much 90% of what he says is utter bullshit, just ignore him." Sora quickly warned.

"I still get treated the same, even in the finale." Mikado sighed, coming back down to reality.

"I...actually have no idea who Utsuro is." Ayumi confessed, and everybody looked at her in shock and horror. "...What?"

"Utsuro was the one who kidnapped Yuki and went to Hope's Peak Academy pretending to be him; the prototype killing game of Class 79-A was caused by him, and he did it all with the help of Akane Taira, who either is or may be closely related to Sora." Yoruko explained. "He had a ability called 'Divine Luck', and he erased his own memories to pretend to be Yuki. I read it in a file in the security room."

"That explains everything." Iroha stated. "But seriously, how DID Mikado get like this?"

"Oh, is this my cue to step into the trial? I guess it is." Syobai sighed. "Unlike the Voids, Mikado returned all of my memories on the fifth island, including the ones about our school lives."

"Mikado was brainwashed, right?" Yoruko asked. "So, how was Junko able to do that considering what his talent is?"

"The one thing you have to know about Junko was that she was patient and calculative. She learned about Mikado's weakness and exploited it, capturing him with the help of her sister by luring him into a trap." Syobai rubbed his temples, bracing himself for the next part. "She brought him down to her lair and tortured him, forcing him to watch the brainwashing video while lobotomizing him. She did so in such a way that the pleasure centre of his brain was stimulated, so the brainwashing would link despair to sexual pleasure."

"O-OH MY GOD!" Yoruko exclaimed.

"S-So, he was- He was-!" Yuki stammered, too horrified to finish his sentence.

"That explains a lot." Rei growled. "Why he ran this killing game when he knew the participants from Hope's Peak Academy, why he changed this drastically, why he gets worked up whenever he thinks about despair!" Tsurugi stayed silent beside her while tilting his hat down, contemplating what to do.