As you flew through the halls, you stopped and went into the training grounds, where there was a dummy. "What are you going to do with that?" You lifted the mannequin as Chiaki watched and looked at her. "I'm going to possess it."

Miu and Kazuichi were in the weapon storage trying to fix one of the vehicles when the door burst open and someone with a cloak came running inside. "There's something wrong with Kokichi. He's in the last room in the basement hallway." The person ran out and Kazuichi and Miu looked at each other. "I think we should check." Kazuichi said. Miu nodded and they both ran out of the room.

"Wait, Y/N!" You stopped, making the mannequin with the cloak fall. "The PA system!" Your eyes widened in remembrance and you and Chiaki flew to the top of the building. Before you pressed the button on the PA system, Chiaki stopped you. "Don't you think it'd be kind of weird if your voice was heard on the PA?"

You nodded and looked at the mic. Clearing your throat, you turned on the PA and in an almost perfect Ibuki impression you said, "Hey you guys! We're having a little problem with someone in the underground floor. Do you think you could check it out?" You lifted your finger as Chiaki stared in disbelief. "What? I used to hang out with Tsumugi, you know."

"U-um... Ibuki, who was that?" Mikan asked. Ibuki laughed. "I'm not sure! But they sounded concerned. Let's go!" Ibuki took her friend by the arm and pulled her to the underground floor, where almost everyone else was going.

"M-Mikan, you should- you should come." Kazuichi stuttered when Mikan and Ibuki got to the room. Mikan pushed through the small crowd of people and saw Kokichi swaying back and forth while sitting with his legs crossed. "K-Kokichi? What are- what are you doing?" Kokichi looked behind him. "Ah, Mikan! I'm listening to Y/N sing."

Mikan looked around the room, and no one was singing. Slowly, she approached Kokichi and put her hand on his forehead. Almost immediately, she stepped back and held her hand as if she just caught a disease. "N-no way, I-I thought it wasn't... real."

Nagito gently moved Hajime aside. "Mikan, I hope you don't mean..." "Nagito, c-can you please get e-everyone out of here?" Nagito nodded and motioned for everyone to move away. As he was doing that, Mikan knelt down next to Kokichi and held his shoulders so he would stop swaying. "Kokichi, u-um... Y/N is w-waiting in the next r-room. Y-you want t-to see them r-right?" Kokichi's eyes lit up and he nodded.

Mikan helped Kokichi up and walked him to the medbay in the next room. She told him to stay on the bed and walked out for a moment. "H-Hajime! C-can you and Kirumi p-please come here? And b-bring masks!"

After a few minutes, Hajime and Kirumi came with masks on, while Mikan was struggling to keep Kokichi in bed. "H-Hajime, please h-help me!" Hajime lifted his mask over his nose and held Kokichi in bed. "K-Kokichi, you need to calm down!"

Kirumi looked at the direction Kokichi was trying to get to. "It seems as though he's trying to get to the door." She walked up to it and shut the door, causing Kokichi to calm down. "Aw... you're not going to let Himiko in?" Kirumi looked at him with a perplexed expression and opened the door to check outside the room. There was no one there.

"I-It's called the d-despair disease." Mikan explained as she put a blanket over Kokichi. "I-It's when t-terrible th-things happen t-to the brain a-and the person a-affected by it f-feels some sort o-of despair." Hajime leaned on the bed and sighed. "Nagito, Ibuki, Akane, and Mikan have had it. Nagito just couldn't stop lying, and he was also heavily impacted healthwise. He was fainting, and foaming at the mouth, and he stopped breathing at one point-"

Before Hajime could continue, he shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Ibuki was really gullible, Akane was unnecessarily emotional, and Mikan... to be honest, I'm not sure." Mikan sighed and put her hand over Kokichi's heart to check if his heart beat was steady.

"We don't have the equipment we had while in the Neo Virtual World. And we didn't even know the disease was real in the first place." Hajime stood up straight. "I'm going to Nagito..." Kirumi watched Hajime walk through the doors.

"So what is the cure to this despair disease?" Mikan shook her head and stood up to face Kirumi. "That's m-my main c-concern. W-we don't know." Once those words filtered through your ears, you nearly fell right from the air, but Chiaki held you by the arms.

"Th-there's... no cure?" You whimpered as Chiaki helped you straighten up again. "I don't know... it was really just a fictional disease for us..." Taking deep breaths, you lowered to the ground and looked at Kokichi. He looked delusional, and he was sweating bullets. He was drooling a bit, and his face was pale.

Suddenly, he looked at you and made eye contact. "Mikan..." You were about to move when he said, "Why is there a dog in here?" You gave a sigh of relief as you moved and he continued staring at the spot you were just in.

"L-looks like it's a-a hallucination d-disease." Mikan noticed as Kokichi continued eying the empty space. His seemingly lifeless eyes seemed to flicker in and out of consciousness, and he swayed back and forth as though he was about to pass out.

"Is th-there any despair i-inducing things th-that have happened?" Mikan asked. Kirumi nodded. "The killing game. However, there was one particular event that seemed to affect Kokichi immensely." Mikan rested her hand on Kokichi's shoulder, preventing him from swaying. "I-is it the one d-death you were t-talking about?" Kirumi nodded and traced her finger along the edge of the bed.

"They were a bit... closer to Kokichi than others." Kirumi explained. "They managed to break through his facade quite successfully." Mikan nodded and stood up. "I don't r-really know what to d-do. There's no m-medical records o-on this." Kirumi glanced at the space Kokichi wouldn't stop staring at. "I'm sure we'll figure it out."

.

.

.

It was nighttime and everyone had gone to sleep, including Mikan. That left Kokichi in the room alone, lying on his back. He seemed to be counting something on the ceiling, but when you looked up, there was really nothing to count. "4... 5... 6..." Kokichi counted. You hovered near his bed as sweat dripped down his face as he faced the wall. "Isn't it a nice day today?"

You looked around the room. "This is bad... it's not daytime, there's not window, not one's here and it's not a nice day outside either way." Chiaki nodded. You stroked Kokichi's hair as you sat at the end of the bed, and it seemed to make Kokichi's body relax.

"You have a sort of affect on him." Chiaki noticed as you got up. "I guess... we should wait for Mikan to figure out what to do." Chiaki hummed in agreement and you both left.

The next morning, Mikan came into the medbay with Makoto as you watched from the end of the bed. "A-are you sure th-this is a g-good idea?" Makoto nodded as he gently picked up Kokichi's trembling body. "Mom..? What are you planning on doing?" Makoto looked down at Kokichi, who looked genuinely terrified.

"Agh!" You held your head as Chiaki rushed to your side. You saw a flash of light and...

~Flashback~

"Thanks for letting me borrow your sweater, Y/N." Kokichi fumbled with the sleeves as you pulled out bandages. "How did that even happen?" You asked as you pulled up Kokichi's sleeves to reveal countless amounts of scratches all along his arm. You slowly wrapped the bandages around his arm and then pulled the sleeve down again. "I-It was just..." "Was it your parents?" Kokichi's head shot up to look at you, and met your worried, but comforting eyes. "I didn't realize what she was planning on doing..." He admitted. You pressed your forehead against his. "Well, she's not here anymore."

~End Flashback~

"What is he talking about?" Kokichi suddenly desperately tried to get out of Makoto's grasp. You quickly flew up to him and put your hand on his arm. "It's alright..." He paused, turning to you and he smiled. "Thanks Y/N." Once you heard this, you moved back in surprise.

"S-seems like he c-calmed down." Mikan noticed. Makoto began walking towards a room with 15 chambers, all attached to this large futuristic.. something. "What is this?" You asked as you and Chiaki followed the two into the room.

"It's called the Neo World Program, where we all participated in a killing game. They used to be Remnants of Despair, so this was supposed to make them go back to hope."

You nodded as Makoto gently lowered Kokichi into one of the chambers. "Is it going to heal him?" Chiaki sighed and pulled you to the ground. "Yeah... I think." Not too reassuring. As Makoto closed the chamber, you slowly advanced towards the chamber Kokichi was in and pressed your hand against the glass.

"Mikan, can you please bring some of the people we rescued from the End Wall? I need to ask them something." Mikan nodded and ran off, leaving Makoto in the room.

A few minutes later, Shuichi, Miu, Rantaro, Himiko, and Kiyo walked in with Mikan. "Whoa..." Rantaro looked around the futuristic room and saw that one of the chambers were closed. He walked up to it and saw Kokichi's dormant body through the glass.

"I'm sorry to bring you here so suddenly, but I need to ask you a few things." Makoto stood up and faced the 5 teenagers. "In your opinion, what bring Kokichi the most hope? Who or what was he super close to, and made him happy?"

Himiko shook her head. "That's a no-brainer. Obviously, it was, and still is, Y/N. Do you see the ring on his finger? That's from them." Makoto peered into the chamber and saw a ring on Kokichi's finger.

"I see... can you please describe them for me? Everything. Their flaws, strengths, weaknesses." Mikan called in Kazuichi, who sat at the computer while the five explained.

"Generally strong."

"Smart."

"Caring and kind, definitely."

"Encouraging."

Kazuichi typed away a code and looked at them. "Alright, can you give me physical features?"

"E/C eyes."

"H/L, H/C hair."

"(Insert Gender)"

"(Height)"

Kazuichi finished typing in the code and pressed enter, making a virtual version of you, very identical to the real version. "There. Is that good?" Rantaro looked over his shoulder and nodded.

After a while, Kazuichi stood up and looked at them. "Alright, Kokichi and this Y/N person will be together in this virtual game. They'll be there for a week at the most. Alright?" Everyone nodded and Kazuichi left the room.

Shuichi looked on the screen and saw you and Kokichi... "He looks... happy, doesn't he?" Everyone looked at the screen and Himiko nodded. "Yeah... and not the creepy kind of happy." Kokichi jumped up and gave you a big hug, making you both fall to the ground.

"Y/N!"