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Junko Enoshima despaired.
Everything was going how so well.
Everything was going in the best, most hopeful way possible … and so she despaired.
It really was that easy, ever since she and her sister had joined Hope’s Peak 3 months ago her life had been nothing short of perfect. Here she was, in the best school of the world, guaranteed to have any job she could ask for, surrounded by so many amazing friends, her sister and boyfriend both doing anything they could to make her happy and she hadn’t even worked hard for any of it.
It really was the worst possible outcome. Not only was she filled with hope of a perfectly predictable future she was also the most bored she had ever been in her life. The only glimmer of entertainment she could fathom being how she could ruin it all, and if possible, the whole world with it. Although even this did little to diminish her boredom as the Ultimate Analyst already knew that whatever plan she would soon come up with was bound to be a total success.
Well, she did have a decent idea to alleviate her boredom. Her situation might’ve been too hopeful to inflict any long-lasting despair on herself but surely, she could enact some sort of scheme to hurt someone. Of course, with her manipulation skills she really could’ve gone with anyone but a love one was always better as there was a possibility, they would be so despaired by her plan that she too would be plunged into despair.
“Hey, Mukurooooooo!” she announced, entering her room without knocking, “You know about that pathetic loser you love, right?” Instantly Mukuro snapped her head back up, dropping the army knife she was playing with, a bewildered look on her usual stone-cold face.
“Wha… What, I’d never care about anyone else but you Junko I—…” Immediately, the soldier’s shaky voice was interrupted, “Oh come on! Everyone can see it but you!” The room fell silent for a few seconds, Junko seemingly waiting for her sister to speak up, a rare occurrence.
After an awkwardly long moment, Mukuro’s lackluster social skills were finally able to pick up on what Junko was expecting out of her, “N … No, it’s not like that—…”
“Who told you could speak up you whore! It’s so obvious, everybody knows that you would get on your knees and beg just so that he would look at you for more than a second,” pure hatred seeping out of the younger Ultimate Despair’s voice.
However, only a short moment later, Junko’s eyes were glued to the floor, her whole body hunched downward, radiating a negative aura, “It’s just so … sad. There I was, finally trying to help my sister with her first ever crush and she just … lies to me. I think I might just go jump off a bridge later.”
Immediately, Mukuro’s face became apologetic, regret soaking her words, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, you’re right Junko I shouldn’t have lied I just… I’m just not sure I really love him but I think he is pretty likable.”
With those words finally out, the older Ultimate Despair looked back at her sister just to find out that her depressed expression was already long gone. Instead, her eyes were welled in tears, barely contained from spilling onto her perfect skin, “Rea… Really? You’ll really listen to me?” — tears finally overflowing from her eyes as she sobbed loudly — “I’m so happy!”
“Of course, Junko!” the Ultimate Soldier answered instantly, eager to make up with her younger sister.
The analyst cleared her throat, the tears now gone, “Alright, so as you know, I can always tell what others are thinking and since I’m so hopelessly perfect, I never make a mistake,” — Junko made a pause, for no other reason than to add dramatic effect, and to change her accent to a British one — “And so, with our outstanding talent, we have decided to bestow upon you, peasant, this highly important piece of knowledge.”
The blonde-haired girl looked to the side, her voiced filled with boredom, “Makoto Naegi loves you.”
“What, really?” A mixture of shock, fear, joy and bewilderment hitting Mukuro all at once.
“Don’t you trust me?” Tears were already starting to appear in the analyst’s eyes.
“Of course, of course, I trust you Junko, you’re always right after all.”
“Well, duh, obviously I am now don’t make me waste my time and listen to me while I’m still in the mood to tell you everything. Today, after class, Makoto won’t have much to do and he’ll want company —nothing too special for a loser like him— just ask him to go somewhere romantic and tell him how much you love him and he’ll accept your confession in the blink of an eye,” with that out of the way, Junko turned around ready to leave, “oh and obviously, even if I already know what’s going to happen, I want you to give me a detailed report as soon as possible.”
“Al … alright but, where do I take him and what do I say, I don’t have any of your experience.”
“Aw, you don’t have to sound so sorry about it, I’m your sister I wouldn’t ever get mad at you for something like this; plus, it’s not like I don’t already know you’re nothing but a disappointment. Although, that's not why I didn’t tell you, it’ll just be more fun if you do it by yourself.”
“Right, you’re right Junko, thank you, Junko. You’ve been so kind to me today.” While Mukuro was great, she couldn’t bring herself to meet her sister’s eyes.
“Anyways, we should go to school, I think I’ll just teleport there right now in fact,” — Junko raised a hand in front of herself, her boredom once again seeping into her voice — “eh, I wish, but that’d be too cool, well I better start walking.”
The Ultimate Analyst closed the door as soon as she was out of the room and began narrating her own story, one of the many ways she had of mitigating her usual boredom, “And so, the Ultimate Disappointment had fallen in Junko Enoshima’s master plan. The useless girl had mistaken lies for truth and so was walking another step toward despair. Unfortunately for her, the infinitely smart and infinitely beautiful Junko Enoshima had commanded her to ask the Ultimate Lucky student, Makoto Naegi, for a date the day he was to confess to his one true love, Sayaka Maizono. A love that was, obviously, reciprocated. Something that was an utter evidence to absolutely everybody, even Sayaka herself. In reality, there was only two people unaware of that fact, Makoto Naegi and the worst sister to ever be, Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier.”
With her own speech over, Junko headed to Hope’s Peak in search of Matsuda, feeling slightly less bored than she had a few minutes ago.
Mukuro Ikusaba hoped.
Nothing was how she would have expected it to happen.
Nothing was how she would’ve envisioned it.
Truth be told, she never let herself daydream but this moment seemed to be a rare exception to this rule. Mukuro was sitting in class, all of her classmates from class 78th listening to the teacher. As Hope’s Peak didn’t have any kind of minimal attendance chart none of them really needed to be there but that didn’t change the fact that it was excitingly rare to see any of them miss a day of class. A result that had been, at first, attained due to their class president, the one with black hair that was always standing up straight, Mukuro couldn’t exactly remember his name. Though that didn’t last long as soon enough, that reason was replaced by their friendship, something mostly due to the efforts of Makoto and the blue-haired girl he spent most of his time with.
Mukuro still didn’t really care, however, she didn’t feel intimidated by their class president and couldn’t even be bothered remembering the name of her classmates. Plus, she had no idea how to be their friend and they had no reason to want to be hers anyway.
No, the reason as to why Mukuro always attended class was as simple as Makoto telling her he’d been happy to see her the first time she had showed up after the entrance ceremony.
A few minutes before the end of the class, Mukuro finally realized she had been spacing out, thinking about what was about to happen, completely neglecting the class lecture. Not that it was really a problem, Junko had always told her that she was too pathetic to think, that was why the analyst was the one always coming up with the plans. The only subject she really had any talent and was interested in was history, learning about the military tactics used in the past had always interested her.
Ruminating over those thoughts, Mukuro finished packing her stuff and caught a glimpse of Makoto and the blue-haired girl conversation. Apparently, she had practice with her band and would meet with Makoto in about 4 hours.
While Mukuro might’ve questioned the situation, she wasn’t left with the time to as the second the other girl left, Junko stood up, heading toward the exit. Though once she got close enough to Makoto, she tripped. Well, tripped wasn’t exactly the word, she more so threw herself on the ground but that seemed to pass way above Makoto’s head as he rushed over to help her.
“Thanks Makoto, I really have to be more careful,” she let out a light giggle while wearing an overly bright smile on her face and rubbing the back of her neck, “I really have to go, hope my sister’s request wasn’t too sudden or anything.” Immediately and before Makoto could even place a word in, Junko got back on her feet, “Alright then, gotta go, Matsuda is waiting for me, have fun you two!”
And just like that, the Ultimate Analyst had left the room, replacing the sound of her voice with an awkward silence. Silence that made Mukuro realize that her and the luckster were the only ones left in the classroom. A sight to behold as Mukuro was always the first one to leave.
Even Mukuro’s total inaptitude at social interaction was enough for her to recognize that now was her best — and potentially last — chance at asking Makoto. She just had to ask him to hang, that’s what Junko had told her, right? Plus, he always spent time with all of his classmates, even out of school, except her, of course. It wasn’t a huge deal, it wasn’t a huge deal so she was just going to go for it.
“…”
For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to break the silence. At that moment, the Ultimate Soldier couldn’t help but feel that firing a gun would’ve been a much easier way to do so.
“Are you OK, Mukuro?”
“Yes.” A single word answer was the best she could bring herself to do and as soon as the word escaped her lips, she felt upset at herself for being such a disappointment.
That didn’t exactly deter Makoto in any way as he kept his composure and bright aura, “Alright, well I know your sister can be a bit overwhelming so it’s fine if you don’t want to ask me anything yet, I don’t mind waiting.”
Mukuro waited for a few second the drop, she waited for Makoto to tell her that he didn’t have time to waste on someone so pathetic, someone who couldn’t even ask a simple question but it never came, then, she reminded herself that it was Makoto and that he’d never do something like that.
On another note, Makoto seemed to take the soldier’s silence as an acknowledgement, “Oh, I’ve meant to ask you this for a long time but” — it was how Junko had said, he truly had feelings for her then, thought Mukuro — “do you think we could hang out sometime? I mean, we’re friends but we still don’t really know each other.”
Maybe Mukuro should’ve been disappointed but the Ultimate Lucky Student’s smile made it impossible for her to be anything but happy. Somehow, the boy beamed even more than the first time the girl had seen him, a sight she had thought to be impossible.
“Yeah. I could right now,” her voice still cold, though to one used to hearing it could discern a hint of emotion.
“Right now, really? Alright, is there anywhere you want to go?”
As stupid as this sounded, especially for someone talent with people like Junko, that question froze Mukuro. Not that the question was bad but the prospect of answering it in itself was. Even with Junko’s help she couldn’t help but stall, she had to bring him somewhere romantic but she wasn’t even sure what those kinds of places were of even what to do there. If she’d had a knife on her at the moment, she would’ve already been twisting it around her fingers or juggling with it but as all weapons were prohibited in the school, she simply stood there, giving a pitiful “No.”
“That’s fine, because there’s somewhere I’d like to go with you!” It didn’t really make any sense, but Mukuro felt weird when he said that, “you”, it was almost sounded like it was something impossible without her.
“Would you mind going to a shooting range with me? I’d like to learn more about your talent with you, it’s just that it’s been a good way of learning about everybody and you all have talents that are so amazing. Oh but it’s fine if you don’t want to, I’m sure you must want to do something else on your free time … —”
“No, it’s fine, there’s a shooting range not too far from here, the owners know me very well so they’ll probably let you fire a gun even if you don’t have a license as long as you’re with me.” God why was she such a freak, she couldn’t even speak more than one word but if it was about shooting stuff, she could make a whole presentation.
Mukuro didn’t get much time to mull over this, however, as Makoto’s soft laugh soon reached her ears, “I guess I’m even less experienced than I thought, I didn’t even know you needed a license to fire at a shooting range, I’m sure I have a lot to learn in this case.”
Usually, the girl would have suspected those words to be simple lies, he had even called her talent amazing, but since Makoto had been the one to say it, she felt like she could trust it. Even if this wasn’t going according to what her sister had told her.
They left the school soon after, the discussion they had on their way being a mix of Makoto’s light-hearted chatting and Mukuro’s occasional one-or-two-word answers. Though Makoto didn’t appear to be bothered by it in any way. The only eventful moment being Makoto stepping on a manhole that happened to flip under his weight, thankfully, Mukuro caught him before he fell and — no doubt — hurt himself really badly.
So, there they were, the place mostly deserted as it was the afternoon of a week day. The soldier’s guess had been spot-on as proved by the fact that they both were holding a gun, although just the way Makoto was gripping it made it obvious, he had no experience in the matter.
Clearly, if it wasn’t for Mukuro, he wouldn’t even have been allowed near any of those weapons. Though thank to the Ultimate Soldier’s presence, the owner had agreed to it fairly quickly. It was one of the rare advantages of being the Ultimate Soldier — that didn’t involve murder — thought Mukuro. In fact, it was the only one she could think of at the moment.
For all it was worth, the presence of guns and various weapons did make Mukuro feel more at ease, albeit it is not as much as the sound of gunshots in the Middle East. Still, she felt more confident and more inclined to take initiative in this environment.
“Did you want me to show you how to shoot, Makoto?” asked the soldier with an even tone, knowing that while she might’ve been irredeemable at almost everything that did not include weapons.
“Hum, well I don’t really know anything so it would probably be for the best, plus those guys at the entry did make it clear they didn’t trust me,” Makoto laughed off, not seeming to mind their — spot-on — accusations.
“Alright, first of all, your position is incorrect and you’re holding the pistol incorrectly, it might be light but even handguns require both hands as to minimize their recoil,” Mukuro’s voice being just as clear and precise as her explanation. She then proceeded to show him the proper stance using the pistol herself.
Though one look at Makoto was enough to understand that the quality of her explanation had not been enough. That wasn’t exactly something that fazed Mukuro, though, she had taught many recruits how to fight in her time with Fenrir, so this was nothing new.
Calmly, she approached Makoto, “Here, let me show you, it should be easier this way,”—she placed herself behind Makoto, pressing her body against his back to place his hands correctly while making him assume the correct pose, just like she’d done so many times with recruits a few years ago.
“Mu… Mukuro are you—…” his voice filled with embarrassment apparent to everyone but Mukuro, though as there wasn’t anyone else with them it went unnoticed.
“Be careful, don’t close your left eye,” that remark, completing cutting Makoto’s own, made him realize that he was in fact only aiming with his right eye, something he hadn’t even noticed.
“Wha … what am I supposed to do ne—…”
“Pay attention, your hand is slipping, you have to hold it so that so that you have a high grip, uptight the beavertail; otherwise it will be very hard to control the recoil,” as she calmly spoke, Mukuro replace his hands.
“Relax Makoto, the gun isn’t loaded you’re not going to shoot even by accident. You’re not gripping it hard enough, don’t be afraid to put more pressure on it. Remember, as long as you don’t put your finger near the trigger you’re not going to shoot.”
This dynamic lasted for a long moment, mostly due to Makoto making every possible mistake. Still, Mukuro paid it no mind as she went through the usual motions knowing their usual efficiency.
After what didn’t only feel like more than 3 hours but actually was more than 3 hours, Makoto finally landed 3 shots in a row on the target.
“Ah, I finally got it, was even harder than I expected,” said the Ultimate Lucky Student as he slumped to the ground.
That prompted Mukuro to rush toward him, “Be careful, your gun is still loaded, you could hurt yourself!” a rare glimpse of emotion showing in her voice as she took the pistol from him.
“Alright, I think it’s enough for now,” announced Mukuro just as if she was giving a lesson. But that only brought a light smile to Makoto’s face, “I at least have to see if I can do it another time, right? You’ve been so patient with me I’d be a shame if I was to stop already.”
At the view of this unusually normal smile, the soldier finally snapped out of her instructor mindset and couldn’t help but agree, “Hum, ye … yeah, you’re right,” she muttered, stumbling upon her words while handing him back the gun.
Immediately, Makoto removed the security and assumed the stance Mukuro had taught before firing at the target. Only to be met with an unexpected sound.
“Did it just jam or something?”
“It did,” Mukuro’s one to two-word answers visibly back.
“Isn’t that pretty rare, especially with modern guns?” asked Makoto, seemingly unsure of his question.
“It is, it happens around 1 time every 1000 rounds.”
“Oh well,” — he laughed — “there goes my luck, still can’t believe I’m the UItimate Lucky Student. I suppose you were right; we should probably stop now in this case.”
At this moment, not seeing him as yet another recruit, Mukuro realized 3 things.
Firstly, she felt some sort of … disappointment at having to stop, it was as if she yearned for this moment to go on for much longer.
Secondly, Mukuro thought that she’d like Makoto to never have to use any of those weapons on a real battlefield. She was well aware this feeling rendered their training pointless, after all, why try to master any kind of skill if it was to never use it. Still, and even if she couldn’t understand why she felt that way, she couldn’t help but wish such a reality. A wish that was unlike all those she’d been acquainted with, one that wasn’t Fenrir’s or Junko’s.
Thirdly, and she couldn’t help but say it as they were heading toward the exit of the shooting range, “I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean?” Makoto gave her a questioning look.
She wasn’t how to say it — well she wasn’t sure how to say most things that didn’t include weapon or murder — but she felt she needed to push the words out, “I’m sure you didn’t want stay here this long and it’s probably weird to hear someone talk about gun this way so—…”
“No, it was fun! I’d like to hang out again sometime, maybe we could even go somewhere else next time. I mean, it definitely was fun to try out something new today but I’m sure there are still a lot of places we could go to! Plus, it was super interesting to hear you talk about something so passionately.”
Mukuro felt her face becoming somewhat hotter, though she could not exactly figure out why.
Making use of the silence, Makoto continued speaking, “And I know you usually don’t like big groups but the whole class should be having a picnic this weekend, I’d be nice if you would come!” he smiled at her and in a second all her worries about annoying him vanished, just like if that smile was enough to make her believe anything. For a second, the older Ultimate Despair even thought that if he was to ask her to leave Junko’s side with that smile, she would agree to it.
“Yeah, of course, I’ll come!” excitement showing in her voice, surprising mostly herself.
However, she still remained aware of something else, Junko had told her to confess her love to him after they went out somewhere and even if she didn’t exactly understand what love was or even if that was what she felt, she knew one thing, her sister never made a mistake. That really only left her with one option.
“Makoto I…” — she took a deep breath — “I think I had fun, if you really don’t mind, I’d like to go somewhere else with you too.”
Still, still even though she knew her sister, the Ultimate Analyst Prowess was always right, she couldn’t help but disobey her, just so that this moment that made her feel like a normal girl could last longer.
So that things wouldn’t change.
The next day, Makoto and Sayaka announced they were officially dating to the class and Junko came up with a plan.