"Are you sure you want to do this?" Makoto asked, unsure. Maki and Tenko stood back to back in the training grounds, surrounded by 10 dummies. "Yep. Turn it on." Makoto sighed ad nodded to Togami, who pressed a button, powering up the dummies.

Maki took out the knife you made for her and ran forward. She threw the knife and pinned one of the dummies to the wall by the shirt, as Tenko ran in the opposite direction behind her. "HIYA!" Tenko grabbed one of the dummie's arms and slammed it to the ground, making it power down.

Maki had 5 throwing knives on her belt, using all 5 to pin different dummies tot he wall, then chopping at their neck to make them power down. Tenko already had 5 powered down dummies on the ground around her.

"Wow..." Togami pressed another button, making the dummies power up and back into their positions. "I think they're ready, Makoto. They can go with Akane and Nekomaru tomorrow. There's another trial training later, so if you can, I encourage you to notify your friends." Makoto nodded and clapped as Tenko and Maki went back to the room.

"How was it, Maki Roll?" Kaito asked as Maki was putting away her knives. "It was fine. We're going on the next mission, which is tomorrow." Kaito grinned and gave Maki a thumbs up. "I knew you could do it!"

Tenko collapsed onto her bed, and Himiko sat at the end of the bed. "Did you do good, Tenko?" Tenko grinned and nodded, sitting up. "Yep! I'm going on the next mission!" Himiko gave a small smile. "I knew you could... but please be careful." Tenko lied down with a small dust of pink on her cheeks.

"There's another trial training later if you want." Maki offered as she went under her blanket. "Ooh! Maybe we should go to it!" Kaito looked at the guys, and Rantaro chuckled. "I'd love to, but the last time I went to some meeting for fighting, it didn't end too well for me."

Kokichi sat up. "I can go!" Ryoma pulled his hat down. "I feel obligated to go, so I will." His eyes travelled to the Kubz Pad leaning on his bed. Kaito pumped his fist. "Alright! Shuichi, what about you?"

Shuichi shook his head slowly. "Kyoko invited me to monitor things over here." Kaito gave a disappointed face for a moment, before going back to his positive self. "That's fine. We need some help from the inside, too!"

While Kaito, Kokichi, and Ryoma went to training, Kyoko came into the room. "Rantaro, can you and maybe one other person come with me, please?" Rantaro nodded and asked Kiyo to come with him.

"What's up, Kyoko?" Kyoko looked back at the green haired boy as she went into a room, closing the door once they were all inside. "I was digging through some old newspapers Toko and Komaru found while they were out, and I needed to ask you something." She pulled out a newspaper from a box in the corner of the room, and held it up in front of Rantaro.

"Is this you?"

Rantaro's eyes widened as he saw the headline and the photo. It was him, about 12 years old, on a stretcher with an oxygen mask. The headline read, "Elementary School Catches on Fire" and the subtitle read, "Young Boy Found Trapped in First Floor Classroom."

Rantaro stumbled back as he felt a sharp pain in his head. "Rantaro?" Kiyo walked closer to Rantaro and held him by the shoulders. "Rantaro, calm down." Rantaro took deep breaths and got closer to Kiyo.

Kyoko stood there and pulled out her notebook to write something down. "You may go." Rantaro was still trembling as he walked, making the journey back to the room much slower. Kiyo sighed and went in front of Rantaro. "Rantaro."

Strangely enough, Rantaro got the message and wrapped his arms around Kiyo's neck, then jumped. "Are... you sure?" Kiyo sighed as he walked forwards. "I can still feel your heart pounding on my back. It is truly alright."

They returned to the room and saw that no one was there. "I guess they're having lunch." Rantaro got down from Kiyo's back. "I guess we should go, too." Kiyo nodded and both of them went to the dining hall.

Meanwhile, Togami pressed the button to make the dummies reset. "You're good. You may go with Fuyuhiko and Peko on the outing next week." Kokichi nodded and looked at his fist, the knuckles red from how many punches he threw.

"Kokichi, you don't seem to need any weapon." Kokichi looked up and met eyes with Makoto. "Oh... yeah..." Makoto looked over at Ryoma, who was twirling around his tennis racket.

"I never thought that someone would use a tennis racket as a weapon." Ryoma nodded. "And a tennis ball. It shouldn't injure anyone too badly."

All three boys who were there left. "Man, I'm hungry." Kaito said as he stretched. "Are they having lunch right now?" Ryoma nodded. "I can smell the food from here." He looked at Kokichi, who was putting his ring back on. Kokichi looked up and smirked.

"Race ya to the dining hall!"

Immediately, him and Kaito dashed through the halls towards the dining hall, leaving Ryoma. Ryoma reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, but before he could light it.

"You really shouldn't be smoking."

He looked around but saw no one. "It's not really good for your lungs. Especially for someone this young." Ryoma still held the unlit cigarette in his hand. Although he couldn't see anyone, he wasn't really disturbed. Strangely, he felt... relaxed.

He felt a hand over his, but it wasn't one of those feelings that made a chill run down his spine. It was like, a mother's comforting hand. "Please, put it down." He felt obliged to put it down, although there wasn't even a physical person telling him to do so.

After a while, he felt as though whatever told him to put down the cigarette left. He opened and closed his hand as he stared at it. "Hm..." He slowly turned around and walked towards the dining hall.

"Ryoma! You're late! The food's almost gone." Kirumi placed a plate in front of Ryoma as he sat down. "It's alright." He looked down at his plate, which had rice, chicken, and a salad. Most of those who were sitting at the dining table had already left.

"Ryoma, are you alright?" He looked up at Kaede, who was cleaning the dirty dishes. Nodding, he finished his food and left the plate next to the sink. Kaede still had a worried expression on her face as Kirumi walked up next to her.

.

.

.

"Shuichi!" Kokichi whined as Shuichi held his book away from Kokichi's grasp. "Let me read, Kokichi!" Rantaro chuckled as he leaned on a small bookshelf next to his bed. "Kokichi, do you want a book from my bookshelf?"

Kokichi moved back from Shuichi and went to Rantaro's bookshelf. He pulled out different books to read the front, and then placed them in a small pile next to him. "What book are you looking for?" Rantaro asked.

Kokichi read one more title and opened the book. "HAHA, I FOUND IT!"

He sat down on his bed and turned to the first page. Rantaro sat next to him and looked over his shoulder. "What's the book called?" Kokichi closed the book, but used his thumb to mark the page.

ISLAND OF REJECTS

"Huh.., why that book?" Kokichi opened the book again. "Y/N used to read it. It's about an island with only orphans, and the only adults on the island is the women who take care of the kids." Shuichi closed his book and sat on the other side of Kokichi.

Chiaki looked at you, who was on the top bunk of one of the beds. "Do you know the book they're reading." You nodded and remembered that time in the library. "Chiaki, did you ever have a moment with someone close to you?"

She nodded and looked back at Kokichi. "Y/N, do you wanna listen to Kokichi read?" You nodded and descended to the ground. You sat behind Kokichi and leaned your chin on his shoulder, listening to his voice.

Soon enough, everyone was gathered around Kokichi's bunk to listen to him read. You buried your face in Kokichi's shoulder.

One by one, everyone began falling asleep, up until Kokichi's arms fell as he fell asleep. You took the book from Kokichi's hands and put a scrap piece of paper between the pages to mark the page he stopped at.

You first picked up Himiko and put her in her own bed. "Y/N, what are you doing?" You looked at Chiaki and smiled. "Well, they should sleep in a bed, shouldn't they?" You took off Himiko's hat and moved her hair behind her ear.

Then you put Ryoma to bed, also taking off his hat. You reached into his pocket and took out the pack of cigarettes he kept. "Could you put this in the garbage?" Chiaki nodded and took the cigarettes outside.

After about half an hour, everyone was in bed, still sleeping soundly. "I guess they couldn't feel me." You whispered to yourself while looking at your hand. None of them had even flinched. You walked up to Kokichi's bed and put your hand over your forehead.

Slowly, you leaned down and moved Kokichi's hair out of his face. His sleeping face looked so peaceful. But then, his eyes flickered open, but you saw the reflection of your face in his eyes. He put his hand on your cheek and smiled.

"I love you."

You put your hand over his and smiled.

"I love you, too."

His hand fell as he fell back asleep. You moved back a bit. "How could he..." You shook your head and quickly kissed his forehead. Then, you quickly flew out to meet with Chiaki.

"Hey Y/N." Chiaki greeted once you got outside. You saw the polluted sky, the different destroyed buildings, and the machines made by the Remnants of Despair walking around. You pushed off the ground to fly around the city.

"It's awful." Chiaki nodded and stood on a roof. "Over there, that was the old Hope's Peak." She pointed at a destroyed building in a distance, and you slowly flew towards the building. "Oh my...."

Around the building, there were hundreds dead bodies. You slowly descended and knelt down next to one of the bodies. Gently, you lifted one of their heads and saw the wound on the back of their head. It was slightly similar to Rantaro's wound after his body was found.

"Blunt force trauma..."

You looked at the hundreds of bodies scattered around the one known as Hope's Peak Academy. Their bodies weren't positioned specifically, almost spread out. The windows of Hope's Peak were shattered. You flew up and traced your finger over the shattered glass.

Blood stained the sharp edges, as if someone broke it with their bare hands. No glass was on the inside of Hope's Peak, and when you glanced at the ground, there was pieces of glass. You assumed they were from the shattered windows.

"Chiaki, did these people kill themselves?" Chiaki nodded, with a rather shocked expression evident on her features. "Did you figure that out just from looking around?" You nodded and descended down onto the ground next to her.

"What made all these people... do that?" Chiaki sighed and looked at the ground. "They were brainwashed." You pressed your lips together and looked around. "It... doesn't seem like they had families to mourn for them."

There wasn't any signs of a body being picked up since every pool of blood had a person rested in the centre. None of the bodies were covered with a cloth. No flowers were placed anywhere. It was like these people were forgotten.

"Come on, Y/N..." You flew up into the school. "I want to explore a little more." Chiaki walked near you as both of you explored through the school. There was one classroom that was completely demolished.

"Class 77..."

You looked at Chiaki, who was staring at the classroom with sad eyes. "This is your class... isn't it?" Chiaki solemnly nodded and walked away. As you looked around, you noticed that all the windows were bolted closed.

Both you and Chiaki got higher and higher in the building, and every step closer to the top, this overwhelming smell got stronger and stronger. It was an awful smell, but most of all, it was familiar. And you didn't like it. Before getting to the top floor, you stopped and turned around. "I-I'm fine. We can go now." Chiaki nodded and you both returned to the Future Foundation headquarters.

You went into the room all your friends were staying in and smiled. "I'm glad you didn't end up like them."