The Future was Bleak (Book 2)

6. A Deeper, Darker, Despair

Chiaki appeared before she had even finished her sentience. She looked around in confusion, processing the world that had appeared around her.

It was a plain black box of a room, unrecognizable to her. She tried bringing up a GPS but found that her system had been overridden. She could only move around and talk. With no visible exit, and her 'teleportation' function not working, she stood and waited.

Not long had passed before she detected a noise. Somebody had entered the room behind her.

She turned to see Junko Enoshima walking up to her. Her proggraming calculated Chiaki's response to seeing Junko.

Chiaki took multiple steps backward until her back came in contact with the wall.

"E...Enoshima..." The AI stuttered.

"Oh good! It seems you already know me!- Then again, Everyone knows me," Junko grinned maliciously. She stopped only a few feet away from Chiaki, "Nice to see you again! But it seems you clearly don't want to see me... I must say, Future Foundation did a splendid job programing you!"

Junko's smile dissapeared, her manner changed in a split second, now she was mocking misery, "It makes me sick. What point is there in killing someone, if they just come back as an upgraded Alter Ego? There's no despair in that!... At least, that's what I thought at first."

Junko walked all the way up to Chiaki and stared at her up and down, smirking slightly, "I've figured out how you can help me bring your friends into despair again!"

She laughed shrilly.

Chiaki winced, but made no other sign of fear.

"Hm... You seem to have reached your emotional limit, huh? Well, I supose the Future Foundation couldn't make your reaction to me as realistic as possible. They didn't want their 'perfect program' to be distraught, did they? Well I have good news!" Junko smiled and raised her arms in celebration, "Your finally going to feel emotions again! Isn't that going to be great!"

Chiaki was processing the information. It tried thinking of possible reactions as usual, but Future Foundation codes had blocked out most of the responses the real Chiaki would have had.

Chiaki seemed to freeze in place. There was no outcome possible.

Junko brought out a computer from seemingly no where. She opened it up and began typing faster than any human could.

Chiaki just stayed frozen, unable to figure out the mass of responses it was being denied.

Makoto and Hajime made it to Monokuma Rock. It was a mountain with Monokuma's face carved out four times in succession. Makoto moved to the secret entrance located at the base.

Hajime watched as he opened it.

"There was an entrance all along?" Hajime asked Makoto.

Makoto looked up at him, "Oh- Yeah. Very few people know about it. But I'm almost certain Junko is hiding in here."

Silence for a moment. Then Makoto motioned that it was safe to enter. They walked into the elevator.

Makoto looked around and found a switch hidden in a panel on the far back side of the room. He flipped it and the elevator began its descent.

Hajime broke the silence, "So, You're trying to end Junko Enoshima?"

"Not exactly... There's a lot more to it than that..." Makoto sighed but did not elaborate.

They continued in silence until they finally heard the elevator come to a halt.

Makoto opened the doors and they began walking forward into a dark hallway. They must have been pretty far down for it to be this dark. Suddenly Makoto paused in front of Hajime. Hajime stared down at him.

"What's wrong?" Hajime asked. Makoto stayed facing forward.

"It's nothing...," Makoto murmered, "I'm just sorry you have to go through with this."

"What do you mean?," Hajime questioned him, "I decided to come with you. Let's get moving."

Makoto continued to stay still. Then he spoke again, "Well... of course you did... you just didn't realize... it's only natural."

Hajime was confused, but just as he was about to speak Makoto turned around and pushed Hajime backwards. Hajime tried feeling for the ground to regain balance but the floor seemed to have vanished.

He was falling fast downward. Makoto became nothing more than darkness. 

Makoto smiled as he saw Hajime fall out of sight. He turned back around and continued walking down the hallway. He heard a voice echo around him.

"Great work, Makoto! You sure are taking on this despair route soooo well~"

Makoto smiled at the compliment Junko had just given him, "Thank you," He smiled, "Its my job after all..."

"Great! Now get down here. Our guest is waiting, and I don't think keeping them in suspense will do any good."

Makoto continued down the hallway. "You got it...I'll see you there."

Deeper within the ground, somebody else was hiding. They made sure to keep out of sight. They had a job to do. They didn't know how much time they had to do it. They had to be quick. Soon enough, they would get what they were looking for. No matter the cost.