#i am somewhat grateful that needing something to wind down from homework with has made me excited to write fic for the first time in months

[ilovedthestars]

i have. too many things to do.

[pyropsychiccollector]

"Th-There! All good as new!" Mikan announced with relief as she finished bandaging up Hajime's arm. He flashed her a grateful smile in return. "Thanks." The Nurse poked her index fingers together and smiled bashfully. "I-It was nothing! You were hurting and needed help! It was the least I could do." "Y-Yeah, but... I'll bet there were others you should've gotten to by now... Or you had some homework..." Hajime flinched slightly as Mikan shrilly cut him off. "N-NO! ... No." Mikan tried to calm down. "Y-You're... my friend... You listen to me, y-you never want to... DO anything to me... Y-You always want to hangout... I w-want to help you, Hinata-kun. I don't want to lose you...!" As Mikan started to cry, Hajime took her hands into his and tried to soothe her. "H-Hey... You're not gonna lose me, Mikan! It’s kinda my job to make sure Natsumi doesn't get hurt, but I'm not tough enough to handle the really big threats to her life! The Kuzuryu Clan keeps me out of those messy situations." Mikan sniffled. "B-But... Your arm..." "Yeah..." Hajime smiled wryly. "I actually took a hit that I didn't need to, 'cause Natsumi dodged, anyway. Still, this is like one of the few times I feel... useful. I'm getting paid to watch out for Natsumi, so I should take the hit when I can. 'Cause I can't predict if she sees an attack coming! If I can see it she probably can, but I don't want to take any chances. I'm not... like you Ultimates... I want to take every chance to help..." Mikan's face had softened, and she abruptly hugged him tightly. Honestly, Hajime felt the wind taken out of him. "S-Stop saying you're useless... W-We keep telling you th-that you don't have to prove yourself..." She bawled. "J-Just... Try to be less reckless... For me...?" Hajime's smile became warm as he rubbed her back consolingly. "See? Standing up like that is what a nurse has to do, sometimes! You're the nurse, I'm the patient. I should have to listen to you and do what you say, 'cause you know a lot more about health than I do." Sniffing, Mikan nodded and burrowed her head in his chest. After a while, Mikan let him go, and Hajime spoke up again. "So, uh, where were you off to when I bumped into you? You seemed distressed." Paling, Mikan recalled what she'd been doing previously, before her nurse's instincts had kicked in upon seeing Hajime. "Th-That's right! Mitarai! Oh no... Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Hajime tried, in vain, to calm her down again. "Mitarai? What's wrong with Mitarai?" "He's gone missing!" Mikan wailed. "The Ultimate Imposter said he wasn't in his apartment, so... so... I was running there to check when I ran into you! I'm so sorry, but I need to go!" Ultimate Imposter? Hajime hadn't heard of a kid like that in Mikan and Chiaki's class, but he might've been in a different one and just been a caring friend. "W-Wait... You guys are in class, aren't you? Is Mitarai sick?" Mikan wringed her hands. "W-Well... To tell the truth, Mitarai-kun never attends class because he's always working on a project, and the Imposter asked me to look after him when he collapsed from starvation again, and...!" Hajime blankly stared at Mikan as he processed what she was telling him. The Mitarai he knew from Class 77 introducing themselves to him... was this Imposter guy? That seemed way too outlandish... But then again, this WAS Hope's Peak... Now he felt even worse about holding her up with his own problems... "Let me come with you. It's the least I can do for inconveniencing you like this." "Y-You're not a n-nuisance...!" Mikan huffed before shaking her head worriedly. "L-Let's just hurry!" Hajime simply followed Mikan's lead. ~*~ Mitarai wasn't in his room, as the Imposter had said. There was even some stuff missing from the shelves, though that was based off of Mikan's testimony, and she didn't sound too sure. Mikan had been prepared to run all over campus looking for Mitarai, but Hajime kept her levelheaded and proposed they talk to her classmates. If they were going to look for one guy, they'd need all the help they could get. And despite their eccentric natures, Class 77 was pretty capable. Mikan was worried about the Imposter's feelings about this secret getting out, so they went to check with him first. "... I see. I suppose it couldn't be helped..." The Imposter leaned on the wall next to Tsumiki haggardly. It appeared he'd already exhausted himself from searching. The nurse was apologizing profusely, though the rotund boy had forgiven her already. "Do you think... the situation is serious enough to come out to everyone now...?" Hajime rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, if he's gone missing, and you haven't found him anywhere, and he didn't leave a note... It probably is." Hajime sounded apologetic, and reluctant to believe it himself. Attempted murder on a Yakuza girl was one thing, but kidnapping a recluse... Something was definitely up. "S-Sorry..." "No, you're right." The Imposter admitted. "We probably should have said something a long time ago, but I allowed myself to get complacent. Even if we kept searching on our own, the others would find out eventually." "For what it's worth, I'm still sorry." Hajime smiled wryly. He hadn't meant for Mikan to let a secret like this spill... But he was also glad he hadn't let her run off hysterically searching for Mitarai, thus alerting everyone in the school... In a way, his actions had minimized the damage. Somewhat. “At any rate, we have quite a few classmates that could help us track him down…” The nameless boy replied. Mahiru had great eyesight, and Ibuki had great hearing. Akane had a good nose, and Tanaka likely had some animals that were excellent trackers. If they couldn’t locate Mitarai with the combined powers of Class 77, then they were dealing with a truly frightening and powerful kidnapper. “Apologies for eavesdropping, but I think I could help you in this search.” Hajime, Mikan, and the Imposter all turned as one to face a lilac-haired girl who was dusting a stray strand of hair out of her view. “Who are you?” The Imposter asked warily. The girl seemed to nod indulgently. “Kyoko Kirigiri. I was scouted by Hope’s Peak as the Ultimate Detective. I am a member of the 78th class.” Understandably, Mikan was elated with this news. Hajime, too, was relieved to have a detective that was willing to help them. The Ultimate Detective at that. In contrast to them, the Imposter still seemed wary and reluctant. “I understand and appreciate your assistance. However, I must still inform our class, and enlist their help. Since Mitarai was originally part of Class 77, it’s only fair they know about his disappearance.” Again, Kirigiri seemed to understand the Imposter’s caution. “Wise. Even with me looking into this, there’s no guarantee that I will find anything. With the more people looking as soon as possible, we’ll hopefully find this Mitarai before the trail goes cold.” “Tsumiki and I will be off, then.” The Imposter replied. “Hinata, can you show Kirigiri to Mitarai’s room?” Hajime nodded dumbly as he processed that he was volunteered just like that. It made sense, though, since Reserve Course students weren’t allowed to enter the main building. “Y-Yeah. This way… I think…” Hajime chuckled sheepishly as they headed in the general direction of the dorms. If Kirigiri was bothered by his lack of confidence, she didn’t show it. ~*~ “Fuck…This whole thing with Mitarai is messed up.” Fuyuhiko cursed as he, Hajime, Natsumi, and Peko killed time until dinner at the Kuzuryu Compound. A week had passed since the initial disappearance, and no one had turned up anything that didn’t lead to a dead end. There was no ransom, no threatening phone calls… It was like Mitarai had dropped off the face of the earth. “Why would anyone go after the guy, anyway? He’s a damn animator!” “Not to mention the guy’s existence was pretty much a secret.” Natsumi mused, resting her chin in her palms as she leaned on the table. “Everyone thought fatty was the animator.” Peko clutched her elbow as she looked off to the side, standing next to the couch where Fuyuhiko and Hajime were seated. “Tsumiki did say that he went in for regular checkups for his health. It’s possible his kidnapper encountered him during one of those trips… The exact purpose for Mitarai’s abduction eludes us, but since there have been no demands, I think it is safe to assume the purpose may have had something to do with Mitarai’s talent.” “And that’s what I don’t get!” Fuyuhiko groaned. “The guy had to make fucking godly pieces of art if someone wanted to kidnap him for that… And I guess I can see him doing that ‘cause he was an Ultimate. But still! What’s the point in staging an abduction for a few anime scenes when you could go to jail for that? It’s not like he would’ve turned you down if you made a request… probably…” Natsumi noticed Hajime idly checking his phone for messages. “Still nothing from Kirigiri?” “She was giving daily updates until two days ago…” Hajime reasoned. “It didn’t matter if the investigation was slow; she said she’d keep in touch so we all wouldn’t run in circles… I haven’t seen her around campus, either.” “Fuck…” Fuyuhiko groaned again. “If Little Miss Ultimate Detective’s gone off halfcocked and gotten captured, too, I’m gonna be pissed. Natsumi, Hinata, neither of you are goin’ home alone until this is cleared up, you got that? It’s bad enough you guys got that bullshit message about Hope’s Peak and human experimentation… Man, that was fucked up!” “The other Reserve Course students believe in it, though…” Hajime muttered. “Can we say for sure it was fake? I mean, I got asked to participate in that project… And from what I remember, I was going to agree because they were going to give me a talent through that project…” “So what, dumbass?! There’s probably a little truth in all that bullshit!” The Yakuza heir raged. “Fine, maybe the school gave some kid a brain surgery so he could become talented, and maybe they used the Reserve Course funds to make it happen… But that same kid slaughtered the whole Student Council, coming out unscathed? That’s insane!” Peko sided with Fuyuhiko, as she usually did. “With seemingly the whole Reserve department getting that message, it is hard to imagine that it was completely wholesome. Someone is trying to sabotage the academy’s reputation. Perhaps it is the same person that abducted Mitarai… we have no way to know.” Hajime had to concede that possibility. Even if that whole Student Council Killlings thing might’ve been forged, the person who sent the message en masse to the Reserve department could be Mitarai’s abductor. If it was… this person might’ve been more powerful than they had initially thought. He just hoped they’d hear from Kirigiri soon. A lot could happen in two days… ~*~ Kyoko’s eyes snapped open in the dark room. It took her scarcely a second to discover her arms and legs were bound to a chair. There was only one source of light in the room, and that was the computer screen that she was forced to look at, for even her head had limited movement. It didn’t take long for a certain figure to enter her field of vision. “Aww~ You’re awake! That’s good. I was starting to get booored~” The fashionista giggled as Kyoko renewed her efforts to escape from the chair. “Junko…! What do you think you’re doing?! Kidnapping Ryota Mitarai… knocking me out and restraining me… What is the meaning of this?” Though Kyoko managed to keep her voice level and a cool façade, truthfully she was scared out of her mind. She’d finally gotten a match for the strands of hair left in Mitarai’s room, and she’d thought that she would get the drop on Enoshima, interrogate her, and hopefully resolve everything before the situation worsened somehow. Unfortunately, Kyoko underestimated Junko. Kyoko had followed Junko after class, intent on getting the blonde in an isolated area. She thought she would be prepared for Mukuro possibly interfering in Junko’s interrogation, but it wasn’t the Ultimate Soldier that she had to worry about – Enoshima had hit her with a dose of knockout gas, and now she was here. At the mercy of someone she had called ‘classmate’. And yet… Enoshima hadn’t killed her. Not yet. “Oh, Kyoko-chan! Always so impatient~” Enoshima made doe eyes at her. “Upupupu~… I’m not going to kill you. Well. Not anymore, anyway~…” The detective went ashen at this revelation. “You were going to… kill me…?” Was Junko this much of a psychopath? Junko beamed proudly, despite Kyoko’s horrified expression. “Yup, yup! You and the rest of our class! I was gonna kill you all ‘cause I love you all sooo much, and I wanted you guys to get the richest taste of Despair—death!” The blonde suddenly slipped on some glasses, changing personalities. “Ah, but now a new opportunity presents itself! My Despair Video should be tested on an Ultimate, and you fell neatly into my lap! Yes… you will serve nicely as a guinea pig, especially since you are the daughter of our esteemed headmaster.” If Kyoko had increased her efforts to escape before, she was putting everything she had into that now. Regrettably, she made zero progress. And Junko seemed to enjoy her predicament, as the fashionista strolled over and patted her cheek amicably. “Chin up~! The show’s about to start, and you won’t want to miss a minute of it!” With a click of a remote, a video appeared on the screen and began to play. It was fairly obvious to Kyoko that it would be a violent one, as she took in the weapons and the fear on the Student Council’s faces. Kyoko tried to close her eyes, but she found they were being forced open now, and she couldn’t tear her eyes even a fraction from the screen in front of her. Nevertheless, Kyoko persevered. Even through the grotesque montage of images shown, in collaboration with lighting and music, she was somehow able to not succumb in the way that Junko apparently wanted. The images were horrifying, but Kyoko was used to seeing death by this point, and she had deduced the purpose behind this video from the information Enoshima had given her earlier. Kyoko would not bow to Enoshima’s will. To her last breath she would not give in. She would not succumb. She would never succumb. Oh god… What was that…? Junko gave a Cheshire grin at seeing how stubborn the detective was. She would’ve been an inspiration to anyone else… But they were the Despair Sisters, and therefore had no hope to believe in. Junko liked it when they played hard to get. “Looks like I was right about you~! Muku, give Koko-chan that little extra push! Upupupu!” That feeling… were they poking needles into her brain?! Oh god… Ohgodohgodohgod… It felt… It felt… Kyoko's breath hitched and her heart felt like it was running a marathon. Her chest was heaving with increasing intensity. There was a burning sensation building down below. In her core. Though she still couldn’t move much, she soon found her lower body starting to buck against her will. There was a growing wetness in her loins… She was getting too excited. Damnit, she couldn't climax from this...! She couldn't allow it! But the wet patch was growing. More pre-cum was just spurting out now. Her eyes were still on the Despair Video, transfixed… And she was having an orgasm… This wasn’t right… This was sick… But it felt… good. Kyoko moaned erotically. Once that stray thought crossed her mind, Kyoko’s eyes began to swirl. Her hips bucked harder and harder, and soon she violently orgasmed. Once the ecstasy died down, Kyoko Kirigiri went limp, though her face was contorted in an eerily blissful grin…