(3rd Person's POV)
"M-Makoto?!" Komaru exclaimed as she saw her brother on the wireless device.
"Komaru...is that really you?" Makoto blinked in shock.
"I knew it, you're... You're Makoto, right!? Mister Makoto Naegi, right!?"
"...Mister?" Akira raised an eyebrow.
"You're safe... I'm so relieved, I was worried the whole time..." Makoto let out a peaceful breath of air.
"Same here... I wish I knew you were alright. I mean, I thought you had already died..." Tears started trickling down Komaru face. "Oooh Makotooo! I'm so glad you're alive!"
Makoto nodded. "I'm glad too, Komaru. I thought...I'd never see you again... But I'm relieved to find out you're safe."
"Y-Yeah..." Komaru wiped away her tears with her arm. "Hey... What about Dad and Mom? Are they with you?"
"Huh?" Makoto took a moment to process that, before letting out a sad sigh. "I see... Then you don't know, either. I was hoping that you would..."
"Then...you don't know either!? B-But..." Komaru put her head down in sadness.
"I-It's gonna be alright! Don't worry!" Makoto tried to assure her. "I'm sure they're just fine, wherever they are!"
"But...you have no proof of that... They could be..." Komaru trailed off.
"There's no proof they're not okay either." Maktoo argued, putting on a warm smile. "So let's just believe in hope for now."
"Y-Yeah, if you say so..." Komaru nodded.
"Yeah, that's it." Makoto smiled.
Komaru chuckled. "Heh, it's funny... I never thought I'd hear you say something like that."
Makoto rubbed the back of his head. "R-Really? Well, being positive is like... my only good point. But more importantly, where are you right now!? What's going on over there?"
"I'm at a building called Towa Tower. I was told I could use the communication device here..." Komaru explained before asking. "Wait, that reminds me... Why are you answering?"
"Wh-What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, I called Future Foundation! Why are you the one who responded?"
Makoto awkwardly scratched his cheek. "You... You really don't know?"
"Don't know? About what?" Komaru tilted her head.
"I'm with Future Foundation. Branch 14, that's my division." Makoto told her.
Komaru turned her head. "Toko...is this true?"
"Toko...?" Makoto raised an eyebrow before widening his eyes. "Wait, what? Toko is there with you!?"
"Tch..." Toko clicked her tongue in annoyance before walking up to the device. "Wh-What, you got a problem with that?!"
"You disappeared! Everyone was so worried about you!" Makoto said.
"Tch, "worried"..." Toko shook her head. "Like anyone would actually care if an intern went missing. You know I would never stay behind on a mission like this, especially with Master going!"
Makoto lightly chuckled. "So you tagged along without orders... Well, I figured that was pretty much what happened."
"W-Wait, hold on! You two know each other!? That's why Toko knew about me from the beginning?" Komaru's mouth gaped open in shock.
"Yeah, she...didn't tell you that?"
"Oh, sorry, did I not?" Toko lightly bit her thumb, looking away.
"No! You very much didn't!" Komaru folded her arms.
"Yeah, that sounds like Toko." Makoto laughed before noticing Akira. "Huh...? Oh, and who are you...?"
"Oh, that's Akira Shirayuki. She tagged along with us not long after I met Toko." Komaru explained.
"Shirayuki..." Makoto mused before widening his eyes. "Oh, I see... You're Sora's younger sister, aren't you?"
Akira's eyebrows raised as a sign of surprise. "You know my big sister...?"
"Yeah. She's in the same branch as I am." Makoto said. "Oh, but I'm afraid she's not here at the moment. She's on a mission for Future Foundation."
"Y-Yeah, with that detective bitch queen of all people..." Toko grumbled, still a bit sour about "losing" her Mistress.
"According to what she told me, she won't be back for a few days, so you won't be able to talk to her. Sorry about that..." Makoto put his head down.
Akira made a small smile. "It's okay. Just knowing that she's still alive is enough for me. All this time, I'd assumed the worst, but...I'm glad she's safe, at least..."
Makoto nodded before focusing on all three of them. "Anyway, I'm glad you three are together."
"I-I'm just with her because I have no choice. Your whiny little sister bawls when she's alone... At least Aki's pretty quiet, so she's not causing any problems, even though she's a lazy slob..." Toko snickered. "So basically I'm just a babysitter. I guess this will prepare me for my future with Master..."
"H-Hey! I wasn't bawling!" Komaru puffed out her cheeks. "Don't listen to her, Makoto!"
"...Lazy slob, huh...?" Akira dryly remarked.
"So...where is Byakuya?" Makoto asked.
Toko let out a sigh. "Master is...safe. Safe, but...captured by the enemy."
"Just as I thought. Future Foundation's intel said as much." Makoto placed his hand on his chin. "I just didn't believe it. I mean, Byakuya? Captured!?"
"He was p-probably taken by surprise by some fiendish cowards!" Toko assumed. "There's no other way... Ugh, the son of the noble Togami family brought to the position of a mere hostage..." She groaned.
"Sounds like the situation is pretty serious." Makoto pursed his lips.
"So serious the world is gonna collapse! The Ultimate Affluent Progeny is in danger!" Toko exclaimed dramatically.
"Ultimate...?" Komaru repeated in confusion.
"Oh yeah, Byakuya, Toko, Sora, and I were all classmates at Hope's Peak Academy." Makoto informed before sweatdropping. "...Wait... You... You didn't know that, either?"
"...No, I didn't." Komaru replied, shooting an accusing glance at Toko.
"W-Well, now's the time for your brother to explain it! Here's your chance. Now you can show off your utter lack of presence with your brother complex!"
"I-I do not have a brother complex!" Komaru face flared up in embarrassment.
Makoto let out a sigh as he began. "I don't really know where to start... We weren't just regular "classmates"... We were trapped in Hope's Peak Academy during The Tragedy... We were forced...to kill each other. Our classmates."
Komaru let out a gasp. "K-Kill?!"
"A lot of our classmates ended up killing each other. Right in front of our eyes..." Makoto muttered lowly, shutting his eyes tightly as he tried to repress the horrible memories. "Even after all this time, the memory... The despair... I can still feel it."
Komaru gulped. "It...It wasn't just...some movie or game?"
Makoto shook his head. "It wasn't a movie, it was reality. It actually happened."
"And it was all broadcast live, as part of The Tragedy." Toko added.
"The mastermind behind it all wanted to spread despair throughout the entire world." Makoto continued. "They wanted to show the whole world... ...the students of Hope's Peak Academy, the symbols of hope, falling to despair and death."
"..." Komaru couldn't even find the words to describe the sheer horror she was feeling.
"...Well? No chiming in with a remark this time?" Toko commented.
"B-But wait, you two are still alive, so..." Komaru pointed out.
"Yeah, we were able to defeat the mastermind who planned the killing game and survive. ...Of course, we couldn't save everybody..." Makoto let out a sad sigh. "And after that, we left Hope's Peak Academy and went into the outside world." He said before grimacing. "But...outside, it was more horrifying than we expected. It was easy to get discouraged. But by supporting each other, the friends who survived Hell together...we moved forward. Soon, we came under Future Foundation protection. We chose to lend ourselves to the cause. To fight against the Remnants of Despair, who are still trying to spread despair to the world. Right, Toko?"
"U-Ugh..." Toko sobbed as tears ran down her face.
"Toko!? Are you...crying?" Komaru looked at her, worried.
"Of c-course I am... Remembering the suffering and heartache, it..." Toko hiccuped.
"I see... I didn't know about that at all. I never thought something like that was going on..." Komaru gave them a sympathetic expression. "But...you guys are so amazing. I gave up immediately, but you guys... You guys fought and confronted the problem..." She smiled at Makoto. "I guess that's why you've changed."
"No, not really... I was always being saved by everyone else..." Makoto humbly denied.
"Hmph, you saying that..." Toko scoffed. "Your brother got so hyped up from being declared the Ultimate Hope... He was always dragging everyone along, so eager about everything."
"H-Hey! I wouldn't say I was "hyped" about it..." Makoto mumbled.
"Oh? But you don't deny the "dragging everyone along" part, huh..." Toko teased.
"Jeez, take it easy on me..." Makoto sighed.
Komaru lightly laughed. "Makoto... You've definitely changed."
"You too, Komaru? What do you mean? I haven't changed a bit..."
"No, really. You really changed. Might be weird for your little sister to say this, but you seem more mature now. Just from this conversation I can tell you're more reliable than you used to be."
"Well... I don't really think so, though."
"But me..." Komaru bowed her head down in shame. "I haven't changed at all, not since my imprisonment..."
"..." Makoto closed his eyes before looking at Komaru. "Listen, about that. There's something I need to apologize for."
"Huh? Apologize?"
"The reason you were imprisoned there... It's because of us. If we weren't chosen by the mastermind, you wouldn't have ended up like this."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You and Akira aren't the only prisoners in Towa. With you is everyone who was relevant to our classmates." Makoto explained. "In order to make us commit murder... The mastermind abducted people relevant to us and tried to use them as a motive. We managed to stop it before it got that far, but the theme was Killing Among Loved Ones..." He closed his eyes. "The mastermind was going to force us to watch you kill each other, to make us really lose all hope. The video of you, our family, being abducted was used for motive as well. But that was just the beginning. The mastermind was planning something far more cruel. In the end, the mastermind was swallowed by the despair, and that motive was left unused."
Komaru blinked. "But, even after all that...I was still imprisoned."
"Probably the doings of the Remnants of Despair, trying to succeed the mastermind's will." Makoto assumed. "Because of them, we were totally in the dark about where the Captives were being held. But a few days ago, Future Foundation received an anonymous tip. We were told captives from the killing game were being held in a certain apartment in Towa City."
"So that's why Byakuya and the others were at my apartment..." Komaru mused.
"But because of those rioting little brats and their machines..." Toko grumbled. "The plan for saving the Captives was scrapped, and even Master, the protagonist, was captured." She let out a rough sigh. "Makoto, you've already heard the ones causing the riots here are Monokumas, right? So did you figure out what the deal is with these Monokumas yet?"
But Makoto would just shake his head. "No, we still haven't figured that out..."
"Huh!? Jeez, Future Foundation's useless!" Toko rolled her eyes.
"The Monokuma riot starting at the exact same time as the rescue operation... Strange..." Makoto mumbled.
"Like I said, it's no coincidence, it's conspiracy! Someone's setting up Future Foundation!"
"Then that would mean the tip was a trap? Using the Captives as bait to lure us there..."
"...The Captives aren't just bait. They're targets for the Massacre Game the brats are playing." Toko exclaimed.
Makoto looked at Toko in silence before questioning. "..."Massacre" game!?"
"They make hunting and killing the Captives part of their little game to taunt us." Toko sneered.
"Wait, does that mean the Captives are the ones wearing wristbands like mine and Aki's? Then, Yuta and Hiroko, and that man with the computer, they... They're all Captives!?" Komaru realized.
"Yes..." Toko nodded "They're people close to us. People who were imprisoned in Towa, just like you two."
"Komaru... What you just said... Is it true? You're involved in this Massacre Game, too?" Makoto asked.
"Y-Yeah... They put a wristband on me. And now I'm being chased by these...weird kids..." Komaru nodded.
"Th-That's..."
"And one of the brats who started this sick game said something interesting earlier..." Toko recalled. "Something about Big Sis Junko."
Makoto froze. "Junko? You mean Junko Enoshima!?"
"Junko...Enoshima?" Komaru wondered.
"Who...?" Akira raised an eyebrow.
"She's the mastermind behind the school... No, she's the mastermind behind The Tragedy itself." Makoto told them.
"And!" Toko raised an finger. "She has huge boobs."
Komaru widened her eyes. "...Big boobs, too!?"
"...She had the whole package, huh?" Akira sweatdropped.
"Junko Enoshima is known as the True Ultimate Despair." Makoto said. "She was...our former classmate."
"But didn't you say earlier that you already defeated the mastermind?" Komaru pointed out.
"Yes, Junko Enoshima is dead. But it seems her memory is still alive and well." Makoto began. "Even in death, Junko Enoshima continues to influence the Remnants of Despair. She's become a martyr to them... Now she's even more trouble than when she was alive."
"It's like they worship her, like some big-chested despair goddess or something." Toko chimed in.
"We did defeat her back in Hope's Peak Academy, but... Well, lately, I've been thinking and Sora also theorized that maybe..." Makoto frowned. "She must have foreseen this possibility from the very beginning..."
"..." Toko sighed.
"Listening to you guys is... I just can't believe it's all real." Komaru could only say.
"...Yes, her big boobs are indeed real." Toko said.
Komaru sweatdropped. "No, not that part..."
"But I get why you think this is all just fiction. Crazy kids are...killing adults, y'know?" Toko shrugged.
"Y-Yeah, things are just so...messed up here." Komaru agreed as she looked at Makoto. "Makoto! Hurry up and get over here!"
"Because of the wristband, I can't get out of the city. If I leave without permission, it blows!" Komaru exclaimed as she started to tear up. "But Future Foundation can remove the wristband, right? So please, come save me!" She pleaded.
"Komaru..."
"...You can't." Toko spoke up.
"Huh? I-I can't...? Can't what?" Komaru asked.
"Why do you think they're holding Master hostage? They don't want Future Foundation to interfere. Like taking hostages during a bank robbery." Toko explained. "Master Byakuya is being used as a deterrence. M-Meaning...if Future Foundation came to this city, Master would be..."
"He'd be killed..." Akira said.
"..." Makoto slowly nodded.
"Then...Future Foundation won't come save us!? Then what am I supposed to do!?" Komaru wondered.
"Didn't I already tell you? There's no other way. You have to fight against those kids. Get rid of them, and you can save yourself and Master." Toko reminded.
"Th-That's impossible!"
"No, it isn't! You have Master's gun! And me and Aki are with you, too!"
"B-But I... I can't take this anymore... I just can't do it anymore... I'm not from Future Foundation! Or Hope's Peak! I'm just a normal girl who can't do anything!" Komaru yelled, the dam holding her tears about to break.
"Komaru!" Makoto exclaimed, trying to calm his sister down.
"Makoto, please, I'm begging you, come save me! Hurry! Please!"
"I told you, you can't! If they come here to rescue you, Master will be executed!" Toko repeated. "Makoto, you better not come. If you even try it..." She pointed at Komaru and threatened. "I... I will... I will kill your sister!"
Komaru's face paled. "K-Kill?!"
"Toko! Calm dow-" Makoto tried to say, but the image started fizzling out again.
"M-Makoto!?" Komaru looked at the screen.
"Ko...maru..."
That was the only thing he managed to say before the image disappeared completely, signifying the end of the transmission.
"M-Makoto, hey! What happened!?" Komaru called.
No response.
"Makotooo!" Komaru screamed. "What is this...? Why, all of a sudden it..."
"Out of battery?" Toko guessed before shaking her head. "No, can't be. That must mean..." She widened her eyes. "They found us?"
Suddenly, the window shudders around the tower started closing.
"Wh-What?!" Komaru wondered.
"They're going to trap us! W-We gotta hurry and get out of here!" Toko said.
"B-But I haven't finished talking to my brother!"
"We can't get through anymore! And it doesn't matter anyway, no matter how much you talk! As long as Master is in their custody, Future Foundation can not come to this town!"
"But...if it's Makoto..." Komaru tried to argue before the lights shut off. "Wh-What?! Blackout?!"
"Ah, crapbaskets..." Akira sighed.
Toko shivered. "P-P-P-Pitch black! Wh-Wh-Wh-What's going on now?!"
"Toko, calm down! Don't panic!" Komaru placed her hands on her shoulders.
"I-I am calm! I-I've just been taking too many deep breaths, that's it! Just...lightheaded!" Toko excused.
"...Yeah, she's definitely panicking." Akira mumbled.
"It's fine! We just gotta get out of here! Hurry or I'll stretch your cheeks out like rubber!" Toko threatened.
"...Got it..." Komaru grimaced as they tried to get through the dark.
Chapter 12: End
To be continued...?