Summary: What would he think of you now?

The sound of your dry heaving filled the quiet room, your body slumping forward with a hand tightly held against your stomach and the other in front of your mouth. It disgusted you so much. It was sickening to the point that it was painful. Your body was shaking violently as you tried to hold in the bile that was threatening to leave your burning throat. The commercial on the television was too loud and the blinding light of the screen was too bright but you were just glad that you had quickly changed the channels.

You don't know how'd worse you would be if you could hear the students talking about his death in the background. Tears were quick to build up in your eyes as you desperately tried to erase the images and intrusive thoughts from your racing mind. Instead you tried to think of other things. God, anything but your current thoughts.

You thought of pretty purple eyes that looked at you with mischief twinkling in them.

You thought of soft dark and messy hair that felt soft in your touch as you playfully tugged it to annoy the owner.

You thought of pale and porcelain-like skin that held a playful smirk on it.

You thought of the times the two of you would glance at each other with knowing and humourous looks.

You thought of dull purple eyes as they stared at the ceiling, void of any of their usual twinkling or energetic life.

You thought of matted and messy hair that had sweat mixed in with blood sticking to it's owner's face.

You thought of deathly pale skin that was smeared with blood and tears, holding a grimace of full of pain.

You thought of a familiar small form slowly getting crushed under two metal surfaces-

You couldn't hold the bile back anymore.

-

You don't know how long you stayed in the living room with your vomit. You've cried all the tears you had and you swear if you cried anymore, you'd probably cry blood. Your stomach churned at the thought of blood so you quickly redirected your thoughts and took in a shaky breath. You should clean up the mess and continue with your search. Getting up genuinely felt like it took too much energy, but you knew you needed to do it and finish your work. You couldn't stop now, no, not when you were so close to finding their location. So you forced in a sharp breath and got up.

Now in new clothes, you sluggishly made your way to your bedroom. Your eyes squinted at the brightness of your computers that you always left on, which was something you seriously wanted to stop. But you barely had any visitors anyways and you were always at home if you weren't at school.

You melted comfortably into your seat in front of the computers. You let your eyes stay on the ceiling for a while longer, trying to recollect yourself and continue with your work. Your eyes shut as you leaned into your seat a bit more. You wondered how he was. Was he still alive? He very clearly died on the screen. But it couldn't be real, right? If he was dead, why would you bother helping in this search then? The only reason you helped was because of him. Now that he was dead, there was no reason to continue. Right?

The image of your friend scolding you for even thinking that briefly appeared in your mind. You chuckled bitterly. Even though he seemed childish and like he didn't care for anyone but himself, you knew how he was like. Everything he did was to help others, even if they didn't know it. He'd deny it and say, 'What're you talking about [Name]-Chan? You've just been veeeeery boring lately, y'know? So I'm using my amazing skills to help these boring people so they wouldn't bore me anymore!' Which you thought didn't really make sense, but you guess he himself didn't make that much sense in general.

So you knew he'd be mad at you for not even attempting to help other people when you clearly have a chance of doing it successfully. Another soft chuckle was let out as you pictured his face. Well, now you can't not do it. With a sigh, you opened your eyes and stared at the ceiling once again. Your lips tugged upwards into a bitter and small smile. He's not dead. No way. You knew, somehow, he was alive.

After some time, you sat up straight with newfound determination and energy, and began tapping away.

Tap, tap, tap....

No, there's no way they're there. It's too obvious and close to the city, they'd easily get caught if they were there. Cross that out.

Tap, tap, tap...

Well, this place was nearly convincing if not for the fact that Principal Naegi, er, Naegi mentioned they've already searched every nook and cranny in that place, so crossing that out as well.

Tap, tap, tap...

Nope. Dumb idea. Not there.

Tap, tap, tap...

That's just straight up stupid, of course it wouldn't be there.

Tap, tap, tap...

You bit your lip in frustration, the list was considerably smaller now, but it wasn't enough to narrow it down to an exact location.

Tap, tap, tap...

You wondered why the Future Foundation didn't contact you sooner. You would've had more time to search and ended the killing game sooner.

Tap, tap, tap...

No.

Tap, tap, tap...

Even Komaeda would be disappointed in you if you even considered that place.

Tap, tap, tap...

Tap, tap, tap...

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap-

In the end your search still wasn't finish, and that conclusion incredibly frustrated you. What kind of ultimate are you if you're taking this long to find a location for some despair-induced, perverted, twisted company that found pleasure in watching high school students kill each other. Well, to be fair, they weren't just any company, but you decided to drown in your self-loathing for now.

Then again there's been 52 seasons before this and nobody else has ever gotten as close as you have. Guess you'll just have to work harder next time. For now, school awaited you and you needed to report to your principal about your findings.

...

.....

........

Damn, how long did you lay in your vomit again? It's nearly 6 am.

...Maybe you took too long on the searching instead of laying in your sick. You didn't know, and you didn't really care. You made sure to save and write down your progress on a piece of paper before getting ready for school.

Once everything was ready, you gathered your school stuff and left your house to make your way towards the academy. New Hope's Peak wasn't that far away from your rented house, thankfully. You looked down on your watch and hummed lightly. It was still pretty early, so you decided to take your time on your small journey.

You thought back on what happened the last few weeks. Honestly, everything was so hectic and happened too quick you kinda felt like you were in some crazy fever dream.

You were the Ultimate Hacker. Now, Ultimates weren't as glorified as they were back before the world was destroyed and filled with despair. It was.. terrifying to think about. Remnants of Despair, a real Killing Game? You were just glad you were born after balance in the world had been restored.

After a while, you heard that one of the survivors of the first killing game, Naegi Makoto, the Ultimate Hope, decided to rebuild the school and renamed it to New Hope's Peak, where everyone, not just Ultimates, were welcomed.

Of course, you wanted to go to the school at first. Everyone did. You were glad to know that it was open to everyone, (you could've just gone even if it wasn't open to everyone, you were the Ultimate Hacker) but.. you didn't want to leave your best friend behind. You had known him all your life, so it was natural that you wanted to stick by his side. So you decided to stay with him in your quiet hometown. And everything was perfect, really!

Until he went missing nearly a month ago.

You were devastated. You tried to search for him, barely eating or sleeping for days, but you'd always come up empty handed. It was incredibly frustrating and tiring, you couldn't even focus on your studies anymore.

One day, three suspicious people in suits approached you and introduced themselves as Togami Byakuya, Kirigiri Kyoko and Naegi Makoto. You recognized them as some of the survivors of the first, real killing game. They told you they were agents from the Future Foundation, and they said your skills as the Ultimate Hacker were required. At first, you declined, seeing as you were busy with finding your friend, but then they mentioned that this was about him. Or well, at least related to him.

Kirigiri asked you if you knew Danganronpa. You replied you did, everyone did. And you hated the show. It was so sickening and twisted, you felt your stomach churning in disgust just at the thought of it. Naegi told you your friend was kidnapped and was forced into the game. You swear you felt your whole world came crashing down right then and there when you heard that. You tried to keep your composure, but your violently shaking hands betrayed your efforts.

If one of them noticed, they didn't say anything.

Naegi continued on, saying that the Future Foundation needed your help to figure out Team Danganronpa's location and officially take them down. You asked them why they wanted to take it down. It was just a show, right? Togami and Kirigiri seemed hesitant to give a reply at first, so Naegi, once again, decided to answer.

The Future Foundation thought it was a huge possibility the whole Danganronpa series was started by followers of Junko Enoshima who have been "infected" by despair. Their goal is to spread despair across the entire world, driving it into a state of self-destructive anarchy. Sort of like what the Remnants of Despair wanted to accomplish. Even long after her death and world balance has been discovered, it seems like despair would always linger. So they needed to take the whole thing down before it got even worse and encourage it's viewers to actually start real life killing games on their own.

Of course, you thought over your decision for a while. Were you really willing to do this?

You didn't have anything else left to lose, and it was your one shot to save him.

And so, you moved into a house near the school where Naegi worked as the headmaster, the very place you wanted to go for so long, New Hope's Peak. It was almost humourous, how you got into a school you dreamt to go to, but under cruel circumstances.

Naegi suggested that you stay in the dorms provided in the academy at first, but you refused. If you were going to be doing serious research about Team Danganronpa's location, you needed to be somewhere by yourself so you didn't get distracted by your peers. So you got into a house near the school all by yourself. It was perfect. Thankfully for you, the Future Foundation was paying for everything, so you had little to no complaints. The sudden move as intimidating at first, but you'd do anything for your friend.

The chatter of students broke you out for your thoughts. Ah, you've arrived already. It was still early, but since most of the students who attended the school lived in the dorms, you guess it wasn't a surprise a bunch of them were already awake despite it being early.

You closed your locker after you've put in the items you didn't need inside. Your eyes swept over your surroundings. Nothing much was happening. Students were talking and mingling with each other, with the exceptions of a few lonely ones. Including yourself. You were glad that Ultimate students got along with the non-ultimates well. Everyone was treated equally.

Or maybe that was just your introverted self talking, the one who doesn't want to stand out for being an Ultimate.

Walking in the hallways, you decided to visit the headmaster and give him your daily report on the search. You took your time going to his office, considering that it was barely 8.

Once you were in front of his door, you knocked and opened the door without waiting for a response. Naegi was sitting in his usual seat, looking slightly surprised at your sudden entrance, despite this happening for a while now, but shot you a warm and friendly smile. You wondered how can someone be full of happiness this early. A brief flash of purple eyes who looked at you with a playful smile, greeting you cheerfully early in the morning appeared in your mind. You shook your head and approached the male. (He wasn't old, but god he looked so young)

You tiredly waved at him. "Heya Naegi-Sensei." You stood across from him. "Good morning [Last Name]-San! How are you?" He asked, keeping the friendly smile on his face. "Tiring, fine. Here's the report." You shrugged lazily, still tired from sleep deprivation, and handed him the paper in your hands. The male gratefully accepted the paper and looked up at your standing form in concern.

"Sit down, [Last Name]-San. You don't look so well." He gestured to the seat across his. Nodding in appreciation, you promptly sat down and leaned against the chair tiredly. Without missing a beat, you explained the report as he read over it. "I've managed to narrow the list down a considerable amount. I think I'm getting closer, and I might actually find their location later today after school."

His eyes lit up and his smiled widened more. "That's great news! Thank you so much for working with us, you've done great so far." You shot him an awkward smile. "No worries." You gave him an awkward and half-hearted thumbs up, causing the headmaster to chuckle lightly.

But then he must've thought of something bad, as his face melted into a more concerned and serious look. You raised an eyebrow.

"Have you seen the recent.. 'episode?""

Oh.

Of course he was gonna about that. You sigh, and slumped into your seat. You shrugged once again, much more slower and tired. "Yeah. I have." You didn't meet his eyes, not really wanting to see his look of pity or something similar.

Abruptly, you stood up and bid Naegi farewell. "Anyways, I better get going. I'll contact you as soon as I figure everything out, have a nice day Naegi-Sensei!" Not waiting for a response, you quickly left and hastily shut the door behind you.

...

....

Time for class, you guess.