The Future was Bleak (Book 2)

16. Beginning of The Second End

Chiaki was panicking as she ran to the hospital, Peko running behind her. They rushed through the front door, and into Hajime's room. Everyone was surrounding the bed that Hajime had laid in.

But now he was gone. Just as Peko has said.

Chiaki let the tears fall from her face. She couldn't believe she had been happy to be alive. Now she wanted to be dead again. It felt cold even as her friends surrounded her.

Hajime had made many mistakes, many errors. But that didn't stop her from eventually forgiving him time and time again.

She hadn't actually seen Hajime since he had turned into Izuru. She knew her AI had probably, but since those memories were only digital, she didn't remember them herself.

Now she had finally seen him again, been able to be around him. And now he was gone.

She felt ashamed of herself. If she hadn't left like everyone was pressuring her to do, this wouldn't have happened. It was her fault. She had done this. She had left this time. And now he was gone.

Gone again...

Kyoko and Keebo had been helping everyone get comfortable with their functions. First, they started by having them balanced themselves out, as that was an issue with most of them. After that things got specific.

Asahina was having to adjust to her arm that was slightly heavier than her normal one. She managed to get her work done quicker than the rest, because of her positivity and encouragement.

Toko was mostly okay, her only issue was that when she was anxious she tended to scratch at her neck. This would ware down and break the plating over time, so they tried to help her with her anxiety levels. That didn't really work, so instead they made it harder for her to break the metal.

Byakuya was a complicated one. They needed to make sure his spine didn't twist in the wrong places and that he could actually hold his upper body with it. The metal that had been used did the job pretty well, but they made sure to check for anything wrong. After making sure it was 100% in substantial condition, Byakuya was able to move around freely again. He couldn't bend down too much though or he'd fall over. He did this once but he would kill if that secret got out.

Komaru was complicated as well. She kept dragging her foot on the ground because it was pretty heavy. Keebo has to train her how to pick her leg up properly so that eventually she would get used to it and not have to think about it too much. She got use to her arm pretty quickly after that.

Mitarai didn't have any physical impairments. He was still a nervous wreck of self blame. Kyoko tried to help him but it seemed a lost cause. It might have just been that Kyoko also wasn't too much of a 'help people with feelings' person. Maybe someone else could do the job more efficiently.

Then the day finally came where they were being introduced to the group. Up until now, they only knew Keebo. They were uncertain at first but eventually they had to go meet them.

Maki was the first to introduce herself to the crowd, Then Kaede. They moved down the list till they knew a bit about everyone.

Maki turned to them all, "We have decided that we are going to be called Future53. V3 for short."

"Why 53?" Asahina asked them, "That's an oddly specific number..."

"It's in memory of all the people who have lost their lives to the hunt." Maki declared, "We will remember their sacrifices. They are the reason we are here today."

Maki still hated being the leader. But she knew that she was leading good people to a good cause. She had faith in them all.

"Now, we have a plan to put into action. Who's ready to end this Tragedy?"

Most of them cheered until Maki gave them all a glare. They went quiet.

"No time to celebrate. We have work to do."

Junko Enoshima was happy as ever. Her plan up to thus far was going as smooth as ever. She prided herself in the acting skill she had.

She knew the real Makoto was dead.

Well- not dead exactly but- no. It was too complicated to think about right now.

All she had to do were a few more things before the final tick of the bomb.

She smiled in her room. She was finally going to get what she wanted.

Izuru would of course question how he hadn't seen it coming, well. If he survived. Or maybe he was already preparing for his death now?

Well even so, Izuru not helping her was a bit of a letdown.

This meant she had to do everything with her good ol' classmates. Not that they would resist, they were already in her hands.

Everything was going to take so much longer. But perhaps that was okay. They wouldn't expect it, would they? Well. Only one way to find out.

She clicked a few thousand buttons on her computer, preparing herself for the inevitable. With the information she had gathered, it was going to be very easy to do things from now on.

Junko Enoshima has to end sometime, right? She couldn't keep living forever.

Junko Enoshima had to die. After that, she was unstoppable. Untouchable. She would be immortal.

She laughed to herself again and sat back in her chair.

"Oh the stupid hopes my death will bring! At least it won't be for too long..."

She stood up and walked outside.

"Glorious despair is awaiting for the world again! But this time I'll send them toppling to the floor! Human extinction will be a reality!" She yelled out to the ocean abyss, "Our future is crumbling, tearing apart! No one will stop me! Not now that I have this world's hope at my mercy."

Junko glared down at the sea from the cliffs above.

"All that is left will be despair!"

She walked up to the edge and smiled as she stared down at the churning water below. Roaring and thrashing against the sharp rocks and spinning waves.

"Despair as black as the future's hope!"

She continued walking off of the edge. There she fell in slow motion, gracefully accepting her end. The end. Death's grip tightened around her. And she was nothing but blood, flesh and bone once more.