Riposa In Pace

07. Interlude I : Junko Enoshima

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So this is a miracle you won for yourselves, isn't it?" A pink-haired girl held a stuffed rabbit tight to her chest.

"A miracle, huh?"  A boy with heterochromia replied. He took solace in the gentle sound of the ocean waves beneath the moving ship. "This isn't a bad ending, is it?"

"Of course not! It's what I lived, fought and spent my life for. Now let's go. We're all going to make our future together!" Her words were filled with blinding hope and optimism yet he couldn't stop smiling sadly at the bittersweet meaning behind them. She spoke of togetherness but that was...

"Hajime. If you don't hurry, the food will be all gone." A raspy voice called out to him...only him.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Hajime responded and joined his classmates. The girl beside him turned ephemeral and soon faded to nothing.

He was tired of lamenting weakness. The despair of the past was over, now they all had a future filled with hope.

﹝•••﹞

A large screen played the events as they transpired.  Sitting in the middle of the cinema, Chisa Yukizome watched the scene with a great degree of pride for her students. All of them had lost their way but they managed to recover onto the right path while "she" had failed. That was fine though, for what could make a teacher happier than watching their students surpass them?

She shook her head. What she regretted was the scene unfolding in front of her. The love of her life had chosen to devote himself to carrying the burden of her own mistakes. Knowing the type of person Kyousuke was, Chisa knew he would never truly forgive himself. How she wished to apologize, to tell him it wasn't his fault. Unfortunately, that was impossible. After all, the Chisa Yukizome of that world was already dead.

She could only trust in Kyousuke to find happiness in his own way. He had never betrayed her expectations before and he certainly wouldn't start now. Not after Naegi had saved him.

Not after hope had finally won over the despair in the final killing game.

A fact she wished to confirm with the other individual present. "I told you, didn't I? True hope will never lose." She said. During her short period as a teacher, she had always believed that even the worst students or rotten oranges as she called them, could be saved with proper guidance. The tragedy had proven her wrong. This person was utterly hopeless.

Chisa had expected a response in the form of ridicule, disgust or an outright dismissal of their victory. What she hadn't seen coming was silence.

Junko Enoshima's attention was glued to the screen, as if not registering the teacher's proclamation. Her expression was one Yukizome was unable to make out. Chisa had thought she had seen all the faces of the ultimate despair. Crass, Childish, Intellectual, Depressed, Coy, Pretentious and Empty.  What the initial six had in common was an intent at mockery...all of them were far from genuine but the last Chisa believed to be Junko Enoshima's true nature; an emotionless husk who saw all others as sub-life forms. A monster little different from the Izuru Kamukura she had first met.

So what was this? The expression the fashionista currently wore looked to be a mixture of resignation, amazement and...longing. Like a person at the end of their long life had suddenly been reunited with an object defining their youth.

As if snapping out of a trance, Junko's eyes widened and her expression was replaced with a Cheshire grin.

"Chisa. Honey. You say something?" The blond faced her. From her position, an odd-looking book could be seen on her lap beneath a bowl of popcorn.