I can't forget what had happened. At the very start of this game, Komaeda and I were friends. He was a chill guy who appreciated my company. Then he tried to murder, but made Teruteru murder instead. Since then, nobody could trust him, not even me. I tried so hard to look past his craziness, but it got worse with every trial. Then we got trapped in that funhouse. Things were plummeting. Everything was going wrong. Everything. After Mechamaru died, our investigation started. I knew that Komaeda was going to investigate everything he could, so I decided to just let him. He was valuable after all. But.....when we got to the trial...something had changed. He....wasn't the same as before. He looked down on us. He looked at us like we were the worst beings alive. No. He looked at them like they were the worst beings alive. But he looked at me......like I was a peasant.

"Komaeda! What's wrong with you?! You were fine until we went to the trial! What the hell happened?!" The boy scoffed. "And why would I talk to a talentless peasant like yourself, you reserve course student." I was shocked. That's when everything fell apart. When Komaeda had found that book, everything went wrong. He tried to kill us......killing himself in the process. He wanted to save the traitor, Chiaki. But Chiaki died. And his plans failed.

Was it weird to say that I missed him? Not the him from Gundham's trials or the trials before. But the him from when we first met. The chill guy that woke me up, wanting to explore the island with me. The guy that never hated me and was kind enough to be right next to me every step of the way. I wanted....that Komaeda back. But he was dead. And a Remnant of Despair. Much like my other friends. However, I wasn't. I was.....Izuru Kamukura. The man who had orchestrated this killing game. I was the worst of them all. Someone called....the Ultimate Hope.

My admiration for Hope's Peak....was a lie. They messed with my brain and gave me unlimitless talent...but Junko....she...messed me up more. And now....we are exiting the Neo World Program. We can see everyone again. Even though they won't wake up. Could they wake up? Would it even be possible? If they received shock therapy, then it should work, right? It was scary to think about it. Sad to think that Chiaki wouldn't be here to say hi. But she would live in our hearts....forever.

I woke up. The green capsule screen infront of me had a white tag that would be more visible to the outside than the inside. The screen lifted and I sat up slowly. Long, black locks of hair surrounded my body. I was wearing a suit and tie. Not my cup of tea, but it fit and it was clothing. My body felt like it had been asleep for days, which, in reality, it had. I couldn't think straight. My mind was heavy. I needed to find the others.

I stepped out of the capsule, trying to figure out where we were, and looked around. It looked like a factory of sorts. The Future Foundation logo was printed on some of the walls. I saw a mirror in the corner and ran over to it, hoping to see that I wasn't all to different from before. I was slightly surprised by my own reflection. One of my eyes was a deep, ruby red whilst the other was its natural olive green. My hair was long and black, and my suit was normal, except for the tie that I had worn in the Neo World Program was still on.

"Hinata-kun? Is that you?" I turned at the sound of Sonia's voice. Her hair was a lot shorter than it had been a while ago. "Sonia-san. You look...different." "I could say the same for yourself. Would you help me wake up the others? They seem to still be asleep." I nodded and walked over to Kuzuryu's capsule first. He had his eyepatch on and a black fedora resting by his side. I tapped on the glass and saw his Golden eye open.

"Kuzuryu. Wake up." He seemed shocked by my face until he realized who I was and the capsule slowly opened. "Hinata? Damn man. You need a haircut." I laughed at his remark and helped him out if the capsule. Sonia had just woken up Owari, who headed over to us. She had a long ponytail and her red skirt was now switched with red leggings. "Woah! Hinata, you look different! I expected to see the same scrawny boy from the program, but you look waaaay more built. Maybe you can spar with me?" Owari hadn't changed a bit. It was nice to know that we hadn't changed much. Kazuichi joined us last.

"Sup guys! You look different! How about me? Is this the change you expected?" Kazuichi had a robotic arm and his hair was shorter than before. He had changed quite a bit. "Man Hinata. You totally outdid all of us. Say, what's with the girlish haircut? I totally thought you were a chick." I ignored his comment and walked over to the center pole in the room. It had a button. "Hey Hinata? What does that button do?" Owari asked. I read it aloud. "Wake up all?" I turned to the others and they looked shocked. A button like this had been in here this whole time? I pressed the button and waited. Squirming could be heard from Mioda's capsule. The screen opened and out came Ibuki. Her hair had been cut and shaved on one side, giving her a rebel type of look. Tsumiki came out next, her hair a lot longer than before. Saionji came out, followed by Koizumi, Hanamura, Togami, Tanaka, Pekoyama, and Nidai. The only person who hadn't woken up yet was Komaeda.

I greeted the others before walking to Komaeda's capsule. I could see that his arm was different and that his hair had grown a bit, but he looked the same as before. It turns out, we kept our memories from the program, making it harder for me to know what to expect when Komaeda came out.

His capsule opened. I stepped back just a bit and waited for him to sit up. He whished out, clutching his stomach. "Komaeda? Are you okay?" He didn't respond. He just screamed as loudly as he could. I was shocked. "Komaeda! Are you okay!?" I repeated. He turned slightly towards me, fear and hatred visible on his face. Then he squinted a bit, trying to figure out who I was.

"H-hinata-kun?" was all that escaped his lips. I walked towards him, noting that the others weren't looking in our direction, and I stood beside him. He looked at me, unable to know what to feel, and looked down. I hated the fact that we had ended on such bad terms, despite never really liking him in the first place. I knelt down beside him and grabbed his hand. That's when I noticed that the nails were painted red. He didn't flinch when I had grabbed his hand either. He couldn't feel it.

"Hinata-kun....I'm sorry. I hated you for not having any talent, but you really had them all. I'm not the Ultimate Hope. You are. How could I be so stupid. But....you started this killing game. You did it all. How could I forgive you for that?" My heart broke. It wasn't right. That wasn't me that had created the killing game. It was that stupid guy. Kamukura. "It wasn't me Komaeda. It was that other version of me. The one that came after they screwed with my brain. I'm sorry for all that I put you through. I really am." I rested my head on his hand, knowing he couldn't feel it. I felt the boy's eyes on me, hearing sniffles from him. I looked up. Komaeda was crying.

"Komaeda? Please don't cry. I didn't mean to make you upset." The boy shook his head. "It's not you. I just..I loved you Hinata-kun...but then I found out that you had no talent. It was like...you backstabbed me. Like a traitor. I couldn't stand you after that. And now...." Komaeda couldn't stop crying. I wanted to comfort him, but considering how much he despised me...I knew I would only hurt him more. But what confused me...was what he had said...He loved me. Loved me?

"Komaeda." I stood up. "Why? Why did you do it? I know that you wanted to escape just as badly as the rest of us, and you wanted to kill us all because we were Remnants of Despair, but why?" The boy sniffled and looked up at me. For some reason, it paimed me to see Komaeda crying, especially since I had never seen him cry before.

"Hinata-kun. Do you remember when we first met? When I woke you up on the beach? I saw you and immediately saw so much hope in you. I believed that we could be great friends. I trusted you and saw a shining future ahead of us. But...then Monokuma messed it up. I wanted to stay by your side forever...but you couldn't handle me at my worst. Nobody could. I saw you try. You tried to see the best in me, like the good person you are, but I was too much wasn't I? That makes sense. Lowly trash like me doesn't deserve to have any friends or a shining future. I....wish it could've been different."

I couldn't handle it. His words, his tears, his pain, his heart. I was about to interject, when he spoke up again. "I fell in love with you Hinata-kun. I fell in love with you because you would lead everyone towards the future, even throughout all of this. Even though you were talentless, you had the most hope and talent in you than anyone. The good luck of finding you was everything to me. But the bad luck of realizing you had nothing....was like being punched in the gut." He looked back at his hands.

"And now....we're here. In this place we don't know, trying to remember everything and hopefully see the outside world again." Now I really couldn't take it. I broke down into tears. The salt burned my eyes, but I didn't care. It felt great to finally get my emotions out. I wanted to hug Komaeda. I wanted to hold him. To tell him that it would be okay. That all would get better. So I did.

"Hinata....kun? Why are you....hugging garbage like me?" Shock was in his voice. "Ko....please don't call yourself garbage. You aren't." I could tell that the albino's face was heating up. I clutched him, pulling him closer to my chest. I didn't care about anything else right now. I just wanted to see his smile.

"Hey! Hinata! Komaeda! We found the exit! Need a minute? We can wait if you want, but I'm super eager to get out of this place!" Ibuki yelled. Mahiru shouted that the men should escort the girls out, but I didn't care. I pulled away from Komaeda and smiled. He copied me and gave me a big smile, no pain visible on his face.

"Komaeda. I don't know what future is ahead of us. Chiaki told us that she would always guide us to a future, as long as we held onto what happened here. I want to hold onto that for as long as I can. Please come with me and be apart of my future. I need you. From the start of that killing game, to the end of it." Komaeda smiled and hugged me again, pulling away faster this time. Then he did something unexpected.

He kissed me. I couldn't lie and say I didn't enjoy it. He caught me by surprise. I kissed back, letting it become passionate, hoping that this could be what he needed to forgive me. It was all I had wanted. I wanted to be with Komaeda. It was something I had never realized until now. He was...special to me in more ways than one.

"Should we go?" he asked. I nodded and helped him out of the capsule. We headed towards the exit, spotting a room next to ours. In it, I could see a navy haired boy sitting by 2 green capsules. A brunette with pigtails cried looking at 1 capsule, while a shorter girl with red hair held a witch hat, crying next to 2 green capsules.

"Hey Komaeda. Do you wanna reassure those people? That they'll see their friends again?" Komaeda looked at the room I had mentioned and nodded happily.

We walked in the room. The brunette pulled out a knife and gave a menacing glare. "You can relax. We just want to tell you that they'll be okay. They'll wake up. May we see who your friends were?" The brunette glared and opened her mouth to speak, but the Navy boy stopped her.

"I'm...Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective. This is Maki Harukawa and Himiko Yumeno." He gestured to the two girls. "We just escaped a killing game and our friends are still asleep. You can look if you'd like." I could tell that the boy felt immense pain by saying this.

I went to the 2 capsules that the navy boy was at first. The tags said Kaede Akamatsu and Kokichi Oma. I walked to the one Harukawa was at and saw the tag Kaito Momota. The last ones were labeled Tenko Chabashira and Angie Yonaga. These people must've meant a lot to them. I knew their pain.

"I want to tell you....that they will wake up. They'll remember everything and they'll regret everything. I want you guys to know that." As Komaeda and I were walking away, I heard the boy, Saihara call out.

"What are your names? It'd.....be nice to know just in case we meet later." I smiled and turned around. "My friend here, is Nagito Komaeda. And I? I'm Hajime Hinata. A talentless nobody who gets to be called the Ultimate Hope. I have faith that your friends will wake up, and when they do, don't forget to say hi. They went through a lot." I turned back around and walked away with Komaeda. We joined the others and headed to god knows where. But....it was all better...because we had a beautiful future laid out in front of us.