Chapter Text

"Here we go again!"

Chisa looked up at the monitor confused.

"You awake there, attacker?"

Chisa blinked quickly, allowing her to get a better look at the monitor. Monokuma. And he was calling Chisa the attacker. Having witnessed the killing games of both class 77 and 78 (though the former was only virtual), she figured that this must be another killing game. A different one than the ones she had seen, yes, but a killing game nonetheless. How beautiful. The best thing was that Chisa was going to be the attacker. She'd likely have to kill someone. One of her coworkers, or maybe even Munakata! The despair of losing Munakata filled her lips with saliva at the hope that she would get to kill the man she used to love.

Although she guessed she didn't really love Munakata anymore. The part of her that loved had disappeared long ago. Still, killing someone her past self had gotten so close too... She loved it!

"Now for what all of you have been waiting for: it's attack time! Who's today's target?"

Just as Chisa suspected. She looked around the room until her eyes caught the gaze of Munakata. She wondered what weapons the mastermind had planned. Perhaps a sewing kit, like in the class 78 killing game. Slow and painful. Surely the best way to watch someone die. Forgetting about the weapon for a moment, she started walking towards Munakata, until something stopped her in her tracks.

"Oh, there you are, my buddy the Attacker!"

Chisa was right in front of the screen. How could Monokuma not realise she was there this whole time? Unless...

"Huh? You say you're not the attacker? You think this is some kind of mistake?"

Her theory was confirmed. This Monokuma was a recording. Which meant that the mastermind could be in this building with them. To meet such a despair-inducing entity would be wonderful! But the way Monokuma was talking, it was if the mastermind themselves didn't know who the attacker was going to be? What could it mean?

"Yep, that's what everyone says at first. But it's not really the attacker's fault!"

Chisa kept trying to think of the outcomes. Would Monokuma force her to kill someone? That didn't make sense, she already wanted to kill someone. It all came back down to the fact that the mastermind didn't seem to know who the attacker was. Chisa didn't know the rules, but she assumed that people killed each other one after the other. Maybe there'd be a trial too. But the previous killing games had motives, and Monokuma explained the rules first. Chisa hoped the Future Foundation wouldn't be lucky enough to have a trial for the attacker.

"You see, here's the s-s-shocker... There's a secret bonus!"

Think, Chisa. Think. What could Monokuma possibly want you to do?

"What's the secret bonus, you ask? Wanna know? You totally do, right? Then watch real close..."

Chisa watched the video. It felt so... Despair-inducing. And then she was inside her own head, just like the last time.

***

Junko appeared before Chisa.

"Chisa Yukizome," she said. "We meet again."

"That we do," Chisa replied. "I'm already despair, though. So you don't need to do anything else for me."

"Is that so?" Junko twiddled her fingers and smiled. "You really have no idea what you're going to do now?" Chisa clenched her fist.

"Unfortunately, no." Junko laughed.

"I expected better from you! But then, what could I expect?" Junko tapped Chisa on the forehead. "I guess it really is the despair that made you smart." Chisa's eyes widened. She should be happy. After all, Junko took away her despair, but if that was the case, something even worse was about to happen. Junko switched to her depressed persona. "The greatest despair comes after the greatest of hopes. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"H-H-How did you?!" Junko switched to her gangster persona.

"Because we're in your head, fool! I know everything you're thinking!" Chisa continued thinking about what this could mean.

"You're going to have me commit suicide." Junko smiled and switched back to her normal persona.

"So it's not just the despair that makes you smart."

"There's no one here to mess with my mind this time, Enoshima. You won't turn me to despair again." Junko switched to her royal persona.

"We own you now. All we have to do is flip a switch and you'll be back to despair." Chisa couldn't help herself. She laughed.

"We both know that's not true. Where would be the fun in that? A few minutes ago, I'd have been happy to kill myself." Junko reverted.

"Of course you're right. That's why I took your despair away from you. But don't you worry, I know just how to make you feel despair again. And this time, I won't even need Mukuro."

A red door appeared behind Junko. Junko waved her arm towards it and it opened. Junko disappeared, leaving Chisa all alone. She had no choice. She went through the door and into the elevator behind it. When the elevator started moving, Chisa could feel it going down, further and further. Whatever Junko had planned for her, she would beat it.

Of course, that was before she saw the scene before her. She knew the elevator would lead to the class trial room, but what she didn't expect was to see all of her old class: Nagito, Fuyuhiko, Ibuki, Kazuichi, Tanaka, Ryota (or should she say the Ultimate Imposter?), Mikan, Hiyoko, Akane, Nekomaru, Teruteru, Sonia, Mahiru and Peko. The real Ryota Mitarai wasn't there. But that made sense. After all, considering what Chisa had done, there could only be one explanation as to why she was here. Before she could finish her thought, Monokuma appeared in his usual seat:

"Upupupupu. And now, for the woman of the hour, the one who turned her class to despair and is single-handedly responsible for the Tragedy, Chisa Yukizome!" Monokuma put his paw on his mouth. "Oops. Those are all alleged. The charges against you." Chisa gritted her teeth. Of course, how else would she hate herself enough to commit suicide? But she knew what was going on, so she'd be able to stop it... Right? Monokuma continued, "We are here today to prove that Chisa Yukizome is responsible for the despairifcation of all of you and the deaths of all that followed. And the punishment?" Monokuma smiled.

As Monokuma smiled, Chisa heard the sound of metal clanging on the ground. It didn't sound like it was coming from the courtroom, so it must have been coming from the real world. It was likely the weapon the mastermind wanted Chisa to kill herself with. So of course, Monokuma's next statement on her punishment made perfect sense:

"Death."

Chisa's class looked at her. They showed no emotion. She wondered if it was before or after they turned to despair. She hoped it was after, because she couldn't handle the emotional torture if they were their normal selves. There was a stand for Chisa, and she stood there.

That's when she noticed the eyepatch on Fuyuhiko. He caught Chisa's gaze and uncovered it for a moment, revealing the horrendus, disfigured eye inside. Tears were flowing from Fuyuhiko's left eye, as it seemed his right eye's tear duct was too damaged to produce anything. He looked straight at Chisa, and said,

"You did this to me. You killed Chiaki. You turned me into this."

Now Chisa really didn't know if she was going to make it out of this alive. But she rolled her sleeve up and kept a determined look on her face. As their teacher, it was her job not to let the class see her cry. She had to believe she would make it through this trial alive and revert to her normal self.

Hope. Chisa still had hope, and the only way to go from there is down...

Down into despair.