After the last chapter, we see what events led up to the moment of truth and then we see what happens afterwards.

Chapter Text

One day, a student arrived outside Hope's Peak Academy for his first day of his new life. This student's name is Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Luck, or at least one of them. Sweat rolled down his forehead as he walked forward into the campus, which led to the reception.

The reception was a shining white colour, as if it was recently painted and polished, and the chairs were a antonym of the white colour, being black, although it had red details on it as well. He went up to the corridor and found a ticker dispenser. Not wanting to break any rules on the first day of school, he took the number and waited, and waited.

He was about to fall asleep when a voice popped up in the air. "May the idiot who decided to get the ticket come to the stand." Needless to say, being called an idiot was a surprise to the student, who had expected a little more respect from the school. He walked up to the reception, where he saw a black and white patterned bear on the counter, which he was finding insulting at this point. Makoto decided to simply wait until the joke ended.

The person behind the joke however was incredibly insistent on keeping it going, until the person behind it simply gave up. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Makoto was clearly startled by the talking plush, unsure if it was real. "Oh, come on, never seen a bear talk before?" It took a while for the sweat to slow down, but as soon as it did, he took the chance to strike.

"I-I'm Makoto Naegi, my invite told me to come to this b-building." He was nervous, about a lot of things really, although the main concern was the talking doll in front of him.

The doll could apparently move as well, much to the Ultimate Luck's horror, making a thinking face, rubbing his chin. "We do have a Naegi Makoto coming to our school, however how can little old me really tell if you're Makoto Naegi? You could be an Imposter; we do have one of those in our school."

The face of the student was catching up to Monokuma's lighter side, although he was still trying. "I-I sent in my photo! How is it possible for someone to be disguised as me?" He was beginning to shout at the bear, which caused the bear to laugh.

"Come on kid, you're so average that anyone could disguise as you, although I don't think they can get as white as you can BWAHAHAHA!" Makoto at this point was openly panicking, being bullied by the bear.

However, the door soon opened, revealing a long blue haired female, wearing the same uniform as Makoto and who was taller than the boy. "Monokuma, knock it off. This is Makoto Naegi so stop bullying him." She was calm towards the bear, which impressed Makoto quite a lot.

"Aww, but it is true, he is pretty plain. But hey, if you know him, then by all means, have fun, just don't come crying to me if you get it wrong. Besides technically it isn't bullying since it's only happened once..." The bear then jumped though the table, which did nothing for not shocking Makoto. Makoto then turned over to the girl, although the sweat on his face did not stop dropping down.

The girl then simply giggled. "Hello there, so how are you Makoto?"

The Ultimate Luck had to shake off his shock of the entire situation before it got even more awkward for the two. "You... You recognize me Sayaka?" The young man could not hold his blush back nor get many words out, which amused the girl.

Indeed, the girl was Sayaka Maizono, who was the Ultimate Pop Sensation, so to say she's a big deal is a slight understatement. "Hehe, of course I do. Believe it or not, I've always wanted to talk with you and now I've got the chance to do so. I wonder if that makes the Ultimate Lucky Student, or maybe your luck is rubbing off on me." Needless to say, Makoto was stunned at the girl's words and Sayaka quickly realized she need to take the reins of the conversation. "I'll show you around the school, since you're new here!" Makoto shyly nodded as the two walked around their new home.

Back in the present time, Makoto Naegi was busy doing homework, which was larger in size than his roommate's, which always confused him, although Makoto shrugged it off. However, although the topics were always different, one thing would remain the same. He's always listening to music as he does it, generally because it tends to help him keep focus and to reduce chances of outside forces distracting him. Since Chihiro does the same thing, there's not much issue for either of them.

However, one day Chihiro walked up to Makoto, who was about to start the homework spree, which the slightly taller boy noticed. "Oh, hey Chihiro, what's up?" He kept on working but did it slightly slower to try and put some focus on the Programmer, which was appreciated.

Chihiro then got out his music player, which he was able to program himself although he's too modest to actually say so even if it's obvious, and then began to speak up. "Hey, so I was just thinking, you seem to be engrossed in all of that homework that you do, and I just thought it might be a good idea to mix up my playlist, so could I just look through it, if it's not a problem?" The lucky student had a look of pleasant surprise on his face, and then got out his phone, which he used for music playing.

"Sure, I don't mind, although I don't think most of my music will be to your liking." A light chuckle was made as he gave his phone to Chihiro, who seemed seemed confused.

He opened Makoto's phone and went to go look at his music, although he decided to multitask as well, with some light conversion. "What do you mean by that?"

The innocent question got a small reaction to it, before Makoto spoke up. "Chihiro, I've seen and heard you headbanging to 'Live and Learn', I know that you're a fan of rock and roll." Chihiro noticeably was shook up by this news, almost letting go of Makoto's phone.

He fumbled to keep it in his hands while Makoto simply smiled at his friend's panicking. "P-Please don't tell anyone! I-I mean, I know you won't b-but I just don't want people to judge me for listen to video game music from time to time!" Makoto decided the best course of action was to smile and nod, which calmed the other boy down. Chihiro opened up the songs to find something shocking. "Wait, you have every album that Sayaka's ever released? Looking at the order of songs were brought in; these must had been before you even came to the school. I... I didn't realize you were such a big fan of her music... I-I don't have a problem with it, but you know it's pretty weird to consider when you sit in the same classroom." Makoto then just put his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, pretty insane when you think about it. I mean, it's not like it's the first time this has happened you know, going to the same middle school with the person who your sister is the biggest fan of and you yourself are a pretty big fan of, it gets pretty weird you know." This was met with an understanding nod.

The Ultimate Luck leaned back on his chair and started to stretch. "I guess I'm lucky enough for that to not happen to me. I don't think I would be able to keep my head if I was in the same room with someone I admired." At this point Chihiro was sitting down on his bed, talking to Makoto after accidently derailing his focus.

Then he began to sigh out more words, "Heh, I think you'd be too shy to interact with them. I personally just disappeared in the shadows. I mean, someone like me in a sea of others, you wouldn't believe how amazed I was that she even recognized me. I mean, she's so popular and amazing." Chihiro nodded slightly at Makoto's first point, although he had a look of pondering thought came upon his face soon after.

After thinking about it, the shy programmer spoke up. "Do you... Like Sayaka? As in having a crush on her?" A flash of red popped over Makoto's face, causing his Ahoge to spike up, and then it subsided so then it was only a blush, but that was enough for Chihiro to sympathise with the Ultimate Luck. It took a while for any other response, however the small head movements going up and down gave Chihiro the answer he was looking for. "I... I think you should just go ask her. I mean, it's pretty much what I did with Mondo right? If she says no, then you don't have any regrets. If you need help, I can try to help, although I'm not sure how I can." The two sat in their respective places, pondering over the choice.

Makoto then stood up and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I think you're right. I have to try if nothing else, right!" Then he sat back down with a puzzling look on his face. "When should I ask her?"

Chihiro then perked up, with an idea. "Why not ask her over second break. Gives you two time to plan right, if you want, you could go somewhere private or quiet. Just in case you get uncomfortable." Soon both of them had thinking faces on their... faces.

Makoto then began to nod. "Yeah that should work."

After a while of waiting, it finally got to their second break, and this was Makoto's time to shine. He walked over to Sayaka who was just getting up from her chair. "H-Hey, do you want to go get something to eat Sayaka, or maybe a drink?" It was clear to the world that he was nervous, which Sayaka picked up on.

"Of course! It would be great to spend some time with you Makoto." Sayaka didn't even let a second pass, which while shocking at first, it did make Makoto's life easier. The two went to the dining hall and ordered something to eat, as they quietly sat down and waited. "So, how has your time been within the school." This was enough to start some introspection within the male, which lasted for a while.

Finally, he stopped with the thinking and began to speak. "Honestly, better than I could had ever predicted!" The answer came to a surprise to the Pop Idol, which then forced Makoto to explain it more. "I mean, when I first got the invite, I wasn't even sure if I should go, but my little sister talked me into it. From there, I don't think anyone had high hopes from me. I mean, I just came here from a lottery, unlike everyone else who earned their way up here. So, when I was accepted so quickly, it was kind of a shock you know? Heck, I even became the Class Rep, not sure how I pulled that one off, but here we are." Makoto began to chuckle after what he said, which was completely different from the person he was sat next to.

For Sayaka had a look of somewhat seriousness on her face, which caught Makoto off guard. "Makoto, I don't think anyone had doubts for you." Makoto looked pretty embarrassed and put his finger on his face, as if to disprove what she just said. "OK, so Byakuya had no hopes for you and Toko kept screaming at you. I don't even know about Celeste and your relationship with Junko is very confusing." Makoto nodded to all of this, which caused Sayaka to realize the error of her ways. "But Taka was very supportive of you, since he's a similar boat to you. Plus Ao-I mean Hina has faith in you and Sakura likes you. Plus, you and Chihiro are pretty much inseparable at this point, so I think it's safe to say she has faith in you. Plus, including me, that's almost half of us who had faith in you from the beginning." Sayaka managed to keep her serious look but at the same time smile, which made Makoto feel better if nothing else.

In fact, he was smiling, so it did work somewhat at least. "I mean, that is true. Just didn't expect to be accepted by you all so quickly."

"I think the problem is that, you saw us more as Ultimates than as people. I mean, I know you know that we're just people, but I guess there's something in you subconscious? Hmm, I'll have to look at that up sometime." She had a look of pondering on her face, until she shook that off to keep on talking. "Do you see Chihiro as the Ultimate Programmer or Chihiro Fujisaki?"

"Chihiro Fujisaki" Makoto answered the question less than a millisecond after it was answered, which Sayaka was completely prepared for.

"There's your answer." The two then noticed that their meals were finished and went over to get them and began eating them. While Sayaka's was more dignified, Makoto ate his extremely quickly. "I'll never understand how such a small body can fit so much food!" Makoto, despite having more than double of what Sayaka had, finished his meal earlier than her, which puzzled him, but he didn't push the subject, there were more important things to do.

He knew what he had to do.

Standing up, Makoto began to plant his feet, grit his teeth and take the deepest breath to steel his emotions. Makoto standing up with such dramatic flair was enough to catch Sayaka's attention. "S-Sayaka, I've been wanting to ask this for a while, and your answer isn't something I'll lose sleep over, hopefully, but I really like you, a-and, I want to ask. Do... you want to go on a date? T-Tomorrow night?" While he had a strong start, he was clearly flailing around by the end of it.

Sayaka looked incredibly shocked at the news, causing Makoto to silently die inside. The silence continued and continued until once again, Sayaka broke the ice. "Huh. Honestly I thought you and Chihiro were together."

Alarm bells rang in his head. Stammering, he quickly spoke up. "Nononono, we see each other as besties more than anything else!" He began to sweat uncontrollably which landed on his empty plate.

Sayaka thought about it for a second and then nodded. "Well, at least I wouldn't be intruding on any relationships, right? Honestly, I've never been on a night out with only one person before and I'm overjoyed that my first time will be with you."

This response brought tears to the boy's eyes, and his voice was shaken. "R-Really?" There was only a nod. "I... I'll try my best to make this the best date possible!" Makoto put his and Sayaka's plates away and glided away with joy, not noticing anything else.

This included Aoi, Mikan and Tenko whom had just got back from their swimming lesson. Aoi was pleasantly surprised by this, stating "Huh, he's cheerful, but not in that way, guess the food must be really nice. The three arrived at the dining hall where Sayaka Maizono was sitting by herself, after Makoto left and curiosity overtook Aoi. She walked along the tables and stood next to the Ultimate Pop Sensation. "Hey, Sayaka! Don't mean to pry, but Makoto looked different, do you know what happened?"

"Oh! Hello Hina, yeah, he's not very good at covering up his emotions." Sayaka gave out a little giggle, before continuing with her explanation. "Well, he just asked me out on a date." She remained calm at this statement, unlike the three other girls, who reacted in shock.

"HE WHAT?!" All Sayaka could do at this shock was smile.

"So, then he betrayed Chihiro's feelings, huh? I knew he was a denigrate, just like all the other males!" Mikan was desperately trying to calm Tenko down, and Aoi got genuinely upset at the comment, putting all of her self-control into not shouting out loud, instead making it come off as a pout, meanwhile Sayaka was surprisingly calm at the situation.

Aoi turned back to Sayaka. "I am surprised at how he didn't choose Chihiro to date. The two are extremely cute together, I'm kind of jealous of them to be honest." The Ultimate Swimming Pro gave out a chuckle, which Sayaka responded with her own.

"Yep, that was my reaction as well, but he explained how both of them are more comfortable just being best friends." Aoi nodded along with Sayaka's words.

Then, the swimmer got excited. "Hey, how about I help you get ready!" Then she dragged Sayaka off, without asking her for her opinion.

Meanwhile Makoto went into his room and laid on his bed and rested on his bed.

Eventually time passed and Makoto woke up. Stretching and thinking was all he could do to pass the time, as to not wake up his roommate. He got up and searched his wardrobe. Shifting though the duplicates of his normal outfit, he found the special ones! Sorting out though the non-smart clothes, he found a nice suit and put it on. "I don't think going outside the school area is a good idea, might get bombarded by paparazzi, and I do not think I want that. But how am I going to make the School Dinner Hall look nice?"

While he was thinking to himself, a little voice popped up, beginning to speak, "Um..." Makoto turned to the voice who unsurprisingly turned out to be Chihiro, who was suddenly blushing, "Y-You look really handsome, I mean from a platonic way, but, m-maybe you could make this room into something nice? We have the tools to cook meals if you wanted to in our rooms." Chihiro was putting his head down, as if he was a bit shy, which he is.

Makoto thought about it for a second before nodding, "OK, that should work, just tell her why, I guess. Mind helping me out with it?" Chihiro nodded and rushed to help him out, which included putting a table in the middle of the room and deciding what food to use.

Meanwhile Aoi was searching though Sayaka's clothes, trying to find the best one possible. "Aoi, it's nothing major, going in my normal clothes would be fine, honestly."

The Ultimate Swimming Pro's head turned faster than it would do if she needed air, shocking Sayaka. "Of course not! Listen, this is your first and that's special. Gotta make it a night to remember!" She walked over to the other clothes holder and opened it, to close it again. "Kyoko's got weird taste in clothes."

Soon afterwards, Makoto and Sayaka met up for their date with Sayaka wearing her normal clothes, like she said and Makoto getting fully dressed for the situation. Makoto clearly didn't mind, as Sayaka was a shining example of beauty anyway. The two stood without knowing what to do. Makoto then decided to speak up. "Hey, if you want, I set up my room with everything, just so then people don't interrupt us, want to come?" Makoto knew it was a weird request to make, but Sayaka understood and went with him to the room.

From there, the room was nicely decorated, with whatever tools two high school males could find. Makoto let Sayaka chose her place on the small table and he went to get the food, which was pre-cooked, but needed to be heated up, so that was a painful experience for him. Eventually the food was heated, and he brought it into the room, causing Sayaka to speak up. "Hey, why didn't you invite me to cook, it would had been fun you know." She didn't look disappointed or ungrateful, just confused, although a flustered and unsure of the situation Makoto, didn't realize that.

"I-I'm sorry Sayaka, I forgot!" Makoto was stammering which caused Sayaka to begin to giggle, which confused the daylights out of the boy.

"It's ok, let's just eat for now." Sayaka had a calm face and so Makoto complied with the boy partially absorbing the roast, which wasn't a surprise to anyone. Soon both of the meals were eaten and they two were pleased with the food.

However, the problem was that they didn't have any other plans, which was painfully obvious. "Hehe, maybe I should try to plan something with more than one step next time." Trying to break the ice was attempted by a giggling Makoto, although Sayaka's reaction was unexpected as she turned her head away.

She held her arm and sighed. "There's no easy way for me to explain this..." Makoto tilted his head like a lost puppy, which somehow made it harder for Sayaka to explain things. "Listen, I know this is a cliché, but I honestly don't think a relationship would work for me..." Makoto looked pretty shocked at this, but before he could respond, a saddened Sayaka spoke up. "Listen, it's honestly not you, it's a problem that I'm facing right now." She turned to look at Makoto on eye level. "It took a lot of pain to get to where I am now. Lost a lot of time I can't get back, and a lot of friendships as well. Plus, the world of being a Pop Sensation, it's not as easy as people make it look. I don't want to drag you into all that chaos Makoto..."

The Ultimate Luck was unable to talk, and couldn't hide the sadness in his expression, which hurt the Ultimate Pop Sensation lots as well. "I'm sorry about my decision. It's just, my job has to come first you know. But, thank you so much for doing all of this for me." The mood shift caught Makoto off guard, which Sayaka noticed. "I mean, you, and maybe Chihiro, made up your room to look really nice, you dressed up even though I didn't do anything like that. Plus, the food was really nice." She got up and walked over to Makoto. "I'm sorry I had to ruin our date like this, but I still really appreciate what you did for me. If you ever get someone else, they'll be the luckiest person in the world. Guess that's your true talent then." She gave him a small kiss and helped clean up, which Makoto attempted to do the same. Soon the room was back to its natural state and the two were stood near the exit. "Thanks for everything, and sorry about what I did, but it's for the best." She leaned in to give Makoto a hug. "I hope you'll find someone who's work life allows them to let you in." She then came back out of the hug. "Let's have a meal some other time, although let me know when you're cooking, OK?" She left the room and a very emotionally confused Makoto remained.

He sat on his bed, just doing nothing of substance. Trying to soak in the situation. In the end, he simply nodded to himself, and went to bed, accepting the situation and her decision. After all, her Ultimate Talent is important to her, and he knew he couldn't nor wished to take that away from her.