Kyoko Kirigiri ran through the halls. She wanted to deny all the possibilities. Surely that fake was lying. There were too many possibilities. Her hopes died down quickly as she ran through the halls of the Future Foundations old Headquarters.
Nothing. Not a soul in sight.
Her heart raced as she realized. That Makoto hadn't been lying after all. He really was...
She shook her head. One last place to check. It should have been so obvious, so plainly clear. She didn't understand why she hadn't realized it before.
She started running to the nearest exit. As she approached the hole leading outside she heard something. An airplane? No... That's a helicopter. She stared up as she saw her friends helicopter land on the patch of ground in front of her.
"Kyoko what were you thinking?" Aoi shouted at her, leaping out of the vehicle before running over to her.
Kyoko stared at her, "You followed me all the way here?"
"Of course we did? What else were we supposed to do?" Aoi asked in slight amusement, "Wait forever until you got back? We're your friends, Kyoko."
She helped Kyoko out of the exit. She began dragging her by the wrist to the helicopter.
"Wait, Hina." Kyoko halted a few yards away from them, "There's somewhere I need to go. Could we use the helicopter to get there?"
Aoi stared at her before nodding, "Only if you tell us what's going on."
"...Fine."
Aoi helped her up into the helicopter and Byakuya started it up again.
"I didn't realize you actually knew how to fly these things," Kyoko called to Byakuya, "I thought you had other people do the flying."
"I did," Byakuya frowned in concentration, "but eventually they had me learn how to use one in case of emergencies. To me it felt like a big hassle but I suppose it's for the best."
Aoi cut off their conversation, "So what's going on? And where do you want to go?"
"I'll explain along the way." Kyoko said blankly, "I need to get to Hope's Peak. The one we were originally stuck in."
Byakuya nodded that he understood.
"you guys got stuck in Hope's Peak?" Komaru asked.
"It's a l-long story..." Toko muttered, she seemed very anxious as they flew up in the air, "Basically, we were f-forced to k-kill our own classmates because of J-Junko Enoshima."
"You never told me any of this!" Komaru frowned, "You kept me in the dark all the time!"
"Sh-shut up, I d-didn't want to t-talk about it. A-and I never will." Toko argued back.
"Guys please be quiet." Asahina butted in, "I need Kyoko to tell us what the heck is going on!"
They quickly went silent. The memory of Kyoko's chat with the fake Makoto echoed in her head.
"...A katana would have killed you for sure, even with Naegi's luck. Where is the real Naegi?"
Makoto smirked before giving his answer.
"He told me that the real Makoto is with my father and the others." Kyoko said, without a trace of emotion in her face, "I was checking the Future Foundation base to make sure his claim was true."
"What does he mean by, the others?" Asahina asked in confusion, "Surely he doesn't mean our old classmates?"
"T-that can't be! It's I-impossible to bring b-back the dead!" Toko yelled.
Everyone stared at her.
"You are literally living proof that you can bring back the dead." Aoi stated clearly, "In fact, Almost everyone here is."
Toko shrinked as much as she could in her seat. "O-oh... right..."
"So maybe your classmates are back alive?" Komaru wondered, "Isn't that exciting news?"
"We've already been shown how bad this could be. Makoto's personality was twisted to be a remnant of despair. Our old friends could be the same way. Try not to get too attached." At this, Kyoko turned to Asahina.
Aoi didn't exactly look her in the eye, she knew what Kyoko was implying. She didn't know if she'd be able to hold back the emotion.
Hajime was an emotional mess. Chiaki's body was scattered in bits across the floor. The only piece of her that was still somewhat intact was her heavily burnt blue sweater.
At first he was simply in shock. She had just died in front of his eyes. Died thinking she was a true traitor no less.
Then he remembered that he couldn't stay here for too long or he would never be able to find his friends.
He stood up slowly. Staring at the blood stained floor he picked up the damaged blue cloth and walked out of the cottage.
He felt like he was in a kind of nightmare, the longest nightmare of his life. One he wished he could have woken up from a long time ago. Everything was so surreal, things that only happen in movies or books.
But this wasn't a nightmare. It was the real world, cruel and pure in the flesh. How had he managed to survive this far?
Well, that answer was easy. Izuru was the one who had led him to victory. All Hajime had done was give him a body to inhabit. He was useless without talent.
Talent isn't everything...
Chiaki had been the first person to admit that to him. He wished he had listened to her, but he wanted to stay at Hope's Peak with her. He accepted the Kamakura Project, and for almost one whole year he had been known as Izuru Kamakura, the most dangerous being on the planet.
And then one day, Kamakura felt a sudden emotion. It was unusual for him to feel much at all. But Hajime had gained enough strength to show signs that he was still alive.
And then Makoto came and they were entered into the Neo World Program. Their lives were forever changed, even if they had completely forgotten about the events that took place inside the virtual world.
But now he was all alone. His friends had been taken from him, and who was to say they weren't dead too? Where was he to start?
He heard something from the sky. He looked up and squinted his eyes against the red glow.
"A helicopter?" He asked himself, "Why are one of those flying around at a time like this?"
He watched it as it soared over to the second island and landed. He watched as five people climbed out of it and headed for the old ruin.
"What are they doing? Don't they realize that's dangerous?"
Hajime began running after them. "Hey! Don't go in there! It's not safe the place is-"
He was only a few yards away from the helicopter when he stopped. The group stared at him.
"Oh uh... hi there!" A girl with a red jacket called to him, "Who are you?"
Hajime walked closer. Something seemed vaguely familiar about a couple of them.
"Do I ...know you?" Hajime asked.
"I d-don't think so..." Another girl stuttered at him, "Y-you might not have s-survived..."
"Oh hi, I'm Komaru Naegi!" A third girl with a normal looking school uniform called to him, "And these are my friends!"
Komaru turned to each of them, pointing as she said their names. "The guy is Byakuya Togami, The one with the red shirt is Aoi Asahina, The purple hair is Kyoko Kirigiri and the nervous one is Toko Fukawa!"
"H-hey! Who are you c-calling nervous!" Toko yelled at Komaru, "You d-didn't seem s-so brave when w-we were in the s-sky!"
"Stop it with the chit chat. We have important matters to attend to, that doesn't include you, Hajime." Byakuya glared at him.
"Huh?" Hajime took a step back, "How did you know my name?"
"I've seen you a few times, but we haven't been properly introduced. I don't think we ever will. Goodbye." Byakuya spat and turned to the vault-like door, which Kyoko already appeared to have opened. She had disappeared without a trace.
"Kyoko! Wait for us!" Asahina called, and quickly ran through the door. The others followed behind in quick pursuit.
Hajime starred as they went in as if they weren't one bit afraid. That structure was who knows how old, didn't they realize the danger? Well if they didn't, he certainly did. He should help them come to sense, maybe they could help him find his friends.
Hesitating, Hajime stepped through the opened vault door and into the old ruin of Hope's Peak Academy.