Hope for The End (Book 3)

10. Hope's Peak Again

Hope's Peak felt just the same as when they'd left it. It was very odd looking through all the rooms and all the memories they had had, all that time ago.

Their old dorms, where Taka had yelled at them for being late. Alter Ego's computer in the bathhouse after Chihiro's untimely death. The dining hall where they all gathered to meet and catch up on daily life. Celeste smashing a teacup on the wall in Hifumi's face. All memories of the distant past.

However, they weren't here for the pleasant memories. Stained across their time at Hope's Peak was a bloody battle for the escape of the school. Eventually leading to Junko Enoshima's "Death", which had been proven fake.

Kyoko knew where to go, but she hesitated all the same.

"Um... Where do we look anyways?" Komaru asked, "What did he mean by 'your fath-"

"So uh, let's go check- the- the pool!" Aoi cut in very quickly and loudly so Komaru wouldn't be heard.

Komaru was very confused. "Why the pool?"

Aoi struggled to find an answer, "Just- just because! Maybe we'll find something there! Come on let's go!"

Asahina dragged Toko and Komaru away with her.

"H-hey! L-Let go of m-me!" Toko yelled as she was dragged down the hall.

"Hmph. Idiots. The pool isn't where we should be looking." Byakuya stated the obvious.

"Well at least they care about people's emotions." Kyoko sighed, half glaring at him.

"What are emotions?" Byakuya smirked, "Never heard of them."

Kyoko simply stared at him for a while.

"I'm leaving for the data center. Perhaps Enoshima is hiding in there." He walked off briskly and determined.

Kyoko took a deep breath and walked up the stairs to the half collapsed hallway.

"Wait! Don't go up there! It's falling apart!"

Hajime had run up the stairs after her. She regretted waiting as long as she did.

"And why do you care about that so much?" She asked him. He stared at her sheepishly.

"I... I thought you guys might be able to help me find my friends...?"

"Why would you think that?" Kyoko crossed her arms.

Hajime seemed to become more nervous, "I... I don't know... It's better than just me by myself..."

You sound like Shuichi.

"We can talk later, for now I have something I need to do. Wait here."

She turned and opened the door before she could be interrupted again, trying to control the unease she was feeling.

She walked into the old headmaster's private room. Just being in there gave her slight chills. She tried to ignore her inner emotions and acted as if nothing was wrong in the world.

Face blank as always, she tried turning the computer on. To her dismay, even if it was however many years old and so dusty she couldn't read the letters on the keys, it powered to life. Possibilities dying around her like everything else had in her life.

A passcode was required to open the hidden door. She typed out the painful letters.

K y o k o K i r i g i r i

She pressed the enter key.

[Incorrect password]

Her eyes widened. This was bad. That password had worked before, why not now? Perhaps Enoshima was making it harder for her. Now she had brainstorming to do.