Danganronpa: Painful Truth

Infiltration

The next few weeks went by in a similar fashion as the group moved into stage two of the plan. Ryu and Yoshi continued to train their combat skills. Ayu and Tetsuo meticulously combed through the books and files in the library for any lingering information about the Future Foundation. Shinji finished sketching out his ideas and started making the physical prototype of their newest uniforms. Kiki and Natsumi added the finishing touches on the drones and other equipment that Yuri would need to sneak into the TV studio. Natsumi began working on the hot air balloon, and Kiki continued to brainstorm ideas for the main event.

Shigeri stayed by their Supreme Leader's side, supporting him and relaying his new orders to the others. Kokichi continued to avoid sleep whenever possible. He kept himself busy by planning for every potential way the plan could go awry. Whenever Shigeri asked him why he refused to relax and socialize for even a moment, he always gave the same answer.

"This plan might be pretty dangerous, ya know," he mused. "Why bother getting all buddy-buddy now when I don't know who's gonna screw up and get themselves killed?"

His reply was nonchalant, but the reason was clear to anyone who knew him, especially after what he'd gone through in the killing game. He was distancing himself on purpose, trying to avoid the full impact of losing his friends.

************

Yuri crept silently across the open field that surrounded the TV studio. Although flat, open spaces made her nervous, it would take more than that to rattle her into making a mistake. Thanks to their initial stakeout, they were now confident that the flat surrounding area was their best defense against approaching threats. The inside was monitored by a simple closed circuit camera system, but the outside was hardly observed at all, especially at night. It was only a TV studio, after all.

Quieter than a breeze, Yuri climbed the pipe on the back side of the building to the roof. She followed the picture from the drone until she found an air vent that was positioned over an office. She removed the grate and listened carefully. She could hear a few voices, likely just a few stray employees finishing up a late night of working overtime. If she didn't know better, she'd have felt sorry for them.

After a small sigh of relief, she touched her earpiece and muttered softly, "okay... I'm in...position..."

"Roger that, Kitty Cat~!" Kiki's singsong voice filled her ear. "The bomb should be armed and ready to go!"

"Okay...deploying..." She pulled the device out of her bag. It was a shiny black orb with a comically obvious digital timer. She dropped it carefully into the vent and waited.

The sound of the rolling orb echoed the whole way down, along with the conspicuous ticking sound emanating from it. Once it reached the quiet office, it drew attention almost immediately. "B-bomb!" a disbelieving voice shouted. "Everybody evacuate now!" The panicked shouting faded quickly, then disappeared.

"All clear~! They left the grate off just like we thought, and I don't see anyone else on the hidden camera!" Kiki confirmed. "Once it goes off, get in there before people start coming outside!"

Yuri nodded and stuck her head into the vent to listen. She didn't have to wait long; the 'bomb' played a dramatically loud explosion sound effect. After securing a rope to a bolt on the outside, she slid the rest of her body into the vent. She disappeared just as voices sounded from the field below.

The office was as vacant as expected. The 'bomb' sat smugly in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the glitter it had scattered around the room. Instead of the timer, the digital display simply read 'GOTCHA!'

It was more than a simple prank, however. The device was also a signal jammer that prevented the cameras from working.

Without wasting a second, Yuri went to the nearest computer. She didn't bother trying to open anything or even log in; that sort of thing would be Kiki's job. Instead, she pulled a flash drive from her pocket and plugged it into the first port. After a few seconds, a prompt appeared on the screen, obscuring the username and password fields. A chibi clown danced proudly below a message that read "press enter to initiate file transfer!"

She did as instructed, and the message was replaced by a loading bar. In the meantime, she turned her attention to the filing cabinet beside the desk. After quickly picking the lock, she began rifling through it.

Most of the information she found was outdated and trivial, simple records and receipts that were likely only kept as physical copies for tax purposes. One category caught her eye, however; the biggest category in the drawer. It was labeled 'Future Foundation Mission Reports,' and there were files from several different years. Blinking curiously, she pulled out the oldest file, from a year when her parents were still teenagers.

To her surprise, it seemed to confirm at least some of the information Ayu had learned from her father. The file was bulging with descriptions of missions to alleviate despair and spread hope to humanity. Their goals seemed too ambitious for one small organization to accomplish, but based on the reports, they achieved at least some sort of success on most occasions.

There was no doubt that the Future Foundation still existed, but also that they had once been fighting against despair. There were even reports of a few killing games that the Future Foundation had tried to stop from happening. Yuri's eyes widened as she struggled to process the sudden list of oddly familiar names and photos.

A small fanfare from the computer pulled her from her thoughts. The files had finished transferring. It was easy to assume that the information in her hands would be stored among those files too, but it was too important to risk. She slipped it into her bag, retrieved the flash drive, and climbed the rope she had left in the vent. "All done...on...my way..." she reported briefly into her earpiece.

Staying low so she wouldn't be seen by the crowd gathering in the field, she untied the rope and stowed it, then returned to the pipe at the back of the building. She slid down silently and scampered toward the balloon that Natsumi had parked a safe distance away.

It was already hovering above the ground by the time she got there. She climbed swiftly up the ladder and sat proudly against the edge of the basket.

"Sooooo? You got the goods right?" Kiki inquired as Natsumi raised the balloon high into the sky.

Yuri rolled her eyes and brandished the flash drive. "Of course...I did...obviously..."

Kiki did a happy little dance as she took it. "Yaaaay Yuri~! I knew we could count on your adorable little tactics!"

Yuri sighed, but otherwise ignored her. "I also...found this..." She opened her bag and retrieved the file. "There's probably...more information...in the digital...files...but just...in case..."

Kiki took it from her hands and opened it. "Woah wait! Those names!"

"Yep..." Yuri nodded. "Turn...the page..."

Kiki followed the suggestion. After scanning for a few moments, she gasped loudly, nearly dropping the folder. "WHAAAAT?!"

Suddenly curious, Natsumi peeked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened. "That's--wait, what the fuck? The Remnants of Despair?"

"It says...they were...rehabilitated...or something...so I think...it's ok..."

"Easy for you to say, you aren't the one who has to fuckin' worry about it," Natsumi snapped. She returned her attention to steering. "Anyway, we should talk about it with everyone. There's a lot of familiar names in there."