With one problem solved I drove off to Hope's peak. This place gave me the creeps. Shattered windows, crumbled walls, blood splatters. Ironically, the old building looks newer then "new" one. There's no point in visiting behind the scenes of that despair filled show, so I headed to the newly destroyed building. The main entrance was completely trashed, so was the staircase that led upstairs.
With no options left I decided to use the fire stairs. To my surprise, they were pretty clean. Very clean. I turned on my pocket flashlight and examined closely one stair case. There were few lines that trailed all over the dust. As if from broom. . .
Who did this? Why bother clean this staircase?
Could it be?!
I quickly dashed upstairs. "Nagito!" I yelled into the emptiness. "I know you're here!" I continued, hoping that it was truly him. I ran inside our old classroom to be greeted by a tall dark silhouette. They had long dark hair that covered almost all of his back.
It wasn't him. . .
"Why are you yelling so much?" The mysterious man asked monotonously. "I'm sorry. I just thought that yo-" "No I'm not him." The man interrupted. "Excuse me, but. Who are you?" I asked. "Do you really need to know?" He turned towards me, his red eyes locked with mine. "Yes." I nodded. "Izuru Kamakura. I know you, miss (Last name)." He said. "Please call me by my first name." I sighed. "Mind telling me how do you know my name?" I raised my brow.
"Your badge." His gaze shifted to the silver badge on my coat. "Ah, right." I mumbled. "You work for future foundation? How amusing." Despite his sentence Izuru looked unfazed. "Yes. Any problem?" I growled. "Yes, you might interfere into my plans. You're from 15th division, right?" Kamakura turned away from me. "How do you-" "Nagito's plan. It was very obvious, he made the previous director endorse your candidacy for membership in his division. Afterwards, your admirer killed the leader for the sake of you taking his place." Kamakura stated.
"Did Nagito told you his plan?" I was still confused of Izuru's knowledge. "No. I analysed his actions and made a conclusion. You people are very simple to predict." Izuru sighed. "How boring." He mumbled. "Are you a remnant?" I squinted my eyes. "Yes and no." He replied calmly. "What does that supposed to mean?" I walked towards him. "I'm just a speculator of this murderous apocalyptic game." He answered mysteriously. "What are the plans you were talking about?" I pressed on. "You ask way too many questions." His gaze shifted to my form. "I need to know. I must protect the remnants at all cost. Any, any source of information may be useful to your team!" I snapped.
"*My* team? I told you, I'm not a remnant, but I'm not your ally either." He huffed. "So, you won't come in my way?" I mused. "No, but I might spice up the game." He smirked.
He's neutral.
But I better stay away from him.
"How about a deal?" Izuru suddenly said. "What deal?" I raised my brow. "Exchange of information, favors, plans. We will share and help each other." He sat down on one desk. "Why do you want to help me? And more importantly, why shall I help you?" I spat. "You won't get any information on your own. The previous director's investigation is the only thing that gives you clues. But he went in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, you have me, a secure and confidential information source." Kamakura stated.
"If you're that smart and know everything, why do you need my help?" I asked curiously. "You'll just verify my conclusions." Izuru said monotonously. "I hope I won't regret it." I stretched my hand out. "But there's one condition." I stopped my hand just before he could shake it. "My face?" He looked at me unamused. "Exactly, I don't even know your face." I said. "Alright." He reached for my flashlight and turned it on. Then pointed to his face.
No. . . It can't be. . .
"H-hajime?" I stuttered out. "Huh?" He was shocked as I jumped onto him for a hug. "I knew you're alive! You can't imagine how much I've missed you!" I yelled as he pushed me away. "Who. Who is Hajime? You're the second person to call me by that name." Izuru frowned. "Impossible! Hajime, drop the act!" I growled. "I'm not acting, my name is Izuru Kamakura." He stated. "I won't give up! I know its you! Something happened and I will figure it out!" I exclaimed. "Do whatever you want." He shrugged. "Okay, how shall we keep contact?" I looked at where Kamakura was standing to see no one in sight.
Weird.
I decided to check the place that me and Nagito found. It was a secret passage in the founder's statue. I walked outside and looked at the huge stone. I started roaming around looking for a special button. After thirty minutes of fiddling with the statue I finally got to open the passage. This place gave me more creeps than the other one. I cautiously walked into dim lighten room. This place was completely thrashed. The only thing that looked unharmed was computer that stood on the wooden desk.
I turned it on. Surprisingly, it worked pretty fine. As if someone used it before me. Pushing my cautious feeling aside I looked through some folders. Some anime sketches, weird plots, bunch of animating and drawing applications. Nothing important. I looked around the room scouting different shelves and drawers. The only thing I found was a little pen drive. I inserted the device into the computer, the file was locked with a secure password.
I spent few hours trying to hack the password, no use. Removing the pen drive I walked towards the exit. Sitting inside the car I sighed and started the engine.
As I arrived into the parking lot I quickly gave the keys to the guard and strolled towards my office. Sitting down on the comfy chair I rubbed my temples and groaned. I heard a slight knock as the door opened to reveal Juzo, he held two cups of coffee in his hands. "Hey sugar, how are you?" He kept one cup on my table. I sipped on the warm drink and shook my head. "Tired?" He chuckled. "I couldn't find any major clues. Just running in circles." I rubbed my eyes. "No worries. You have the private information source by your side." Sakakura pointed at himself.
Somehow, I think Izuru would suit better under this description.
"So, what do you need to know?" He took a sip of his coffee. "Izuru Kamakura. Does this name ring a bell?" I kept my cup aside. Juzo looked at me feeling uneasy under my gaze. "The founder of hope's peak? Sorry sugar, he's long gone." He shrugged. "No, another Izuru." I pressed on. "Don't know what you're talking about." Sakakura looked away. "Okay. . . Then mind telling me. Why did the member of future foundation joined hope's peak security guards?" I shot back, I knew I saw him somewhere before, glad I finally remembered that prick who punched Hajime. He sweated and looked on the floor. "I was on the mission." He mumbled. "Beating the crap of Hajime? Nice job." I scoffed. "Listen sugar, it was a very important mission. I can't talk about it." He finished his cup and stood up. "The work day is over, better head to your room." Was the last thing he said before walking away.
What is he hiding?
I took out the old mobile and plugged it to the charger. Taking out my notebook I written down all the information I got. I hid the notebook in the drawer and opened the laptop. I started searching for the mission records. It took me few hours but I found one interesting report about hope's peak. To my dismay the file was private and in order to open it I needed to enter an eight digit code. I groaned and slammed my hands on the desk waking Kibo up. "Sorry buddy." I murmured and stretched my hand towards the now cold cup of coffee. I took a sip and spat everything out.
Disgusting.
I stood up and strolled to the cafeteria. As I entered vast lofty room I was greeted with wonderful scent of just brewed coffee. I turned to my right and saw Mikasa by the coffee machine. "Mikasa?" I was surprised to see her. "What are you doing at-" I looked at the clock that hung on the wall. "Five am?!" My jaw dropped. "Yes, good morning miss." She said, monotonous as ever. "I tend to wake up earlier than others." She shrugged as she continued pouring her cup with warm drink. "Do you want some?" Mikasa asked as she took out another cup, I nodded.
We sat in silence as I gulped down third cup of steaming goodness. To my surprise Mikasa is a great barista. "So." I started. "Why did you decided to join my division?" I asked out of blue. "To protect my closest person." Her lips formed into a little smile. "Aww. . . Who is this remnant?" I continued our little chit-chat. "Oh no, no. He's not a remnant. He wants to help remnants, but it's too dangerous. So I joined in to help him out." Mikasa explained. "He? Is it. . . Hiro?" A smug grin crept onto my face as Mikasa's cheeks turned bright red. "It's okay, I'll keep it a secret." I smiled and took another sip.
"More please!" I gave my empty cup to the young lady. "I think it's enough for you, miss." Mikasa sighed. "But I need to work! And I need caffeine to stay productive!" I perked up. "You need some food and good sleep." She protested. "No. . ." I groaned. "Miss please, don't make me force you to go to your room." Mikasa kept the cup into the sink. "Fine. I'll go." I huffed and went back to my office.
I started searching for clues about the pen drive. What can be the password? Despair? Too short. Magnificent despair? Hmm, no. . . I tried to pick the lock for the whole day. No one visited me so I was engulfed in my work. It was late at night as I began to nod off. I closed my eyes for a second as I felt sudden impact of my head against plastic keyboard. Password correct. . ? I checked the thing I typed in.
'Upupupupupupupupupu'
Darn it!
With this mystery aside I opened the forbidden files. There were some videos that made people fall for despair and take their own lives. There was also some weird video of people killing each other, first killing game I guess? I also noticed a file named [Junko.exe.] I decided to pass with the odd file and checked the folder named [Izuru♡].
What I found stunned me completely. Izuru Kamakura, is indeed Hajime Hinata. He was assigned into one secret project. "Hope cultivation plan." I read out aloud. The purpose of this operation was to inject all possible talents into one person. Hajime agreed to this. But his memories, along with past self were erased from his brain.
Dumbass.
I closed the laptop and grabbed the old phone and pen drive with me. Walking to the parking lot I took my keys and started the engine of my car.
I must talk to him.
Immediately.
Rushing towards the hope's peak I skipped through the staircase of the new building. "Izuru!" I called. "Izuru!" I yelled into the darkness. "There's no need to shout." He appeared from the shadows. "There you are!" I smiled before remembered what I came here for. "Listen, do you know anything about Hope cultivation plan?" I asked. "Yes. It was a secret development of Hope's peak. Even headmaster of the academy didn't knew about it." He replied. "You know who was the prime object of experement?" I continued. "Me." He sighed. "How did you got this information?" Kamakura sat on the desk. "This pen drive." I showed him the pink gadget.
"Do you need it?" He asked. "No, I copied all the files to my personal database." I replied. "Very bad choice." He hummed. "What? Why?" I raised my eyebrow. "Nevermind that. Can I have the pen drive?" He stood up. "Here." I threw the little gadget toward him as he caught it with ease. "I have some business to attend. Is there anything else that you need?" Izuru asked. "No. Goodbye, Hajime." I walked away.