✧ Chapter 22 ✧
[ Would be Enough ]
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Warning: This chapter contains torture, mind blowing moments and swearing! ⚠️

"So are you willing to talk?"

Kaito glared at the person in front of him, right at the towering figure's magenta eyes. The voice sounded like it belonged to a young girl..

Kaito was sitting on a chair, his arms and legs held back by thick chains and shackles. Around his neck, was the same chain which had dragged him away from Hope's Peak. He was so wounded and tired, but he kept his head up.

"I'll never tell you what you want, you fucker." he muttered, as more blood trickled out of his mouth.

"I must say, you have a strong willpower." the person sighed, "It's a waste to kill you, out of all honesty. However, it gives me all the more reason to torture you."

Kaito clenched his fists, keeping his mouth shut. No matter how long he stayed in this stupid room, he was never going to confess. After all, he was doing this for Maki.

"Let me ask you again." the figure stepped forward, so Kaito could see who it was.

His eyes widened when he saw a... young girl, her hair was layered neatly and she had one hazel eye and the other was covered with metallic red paint. It was shaped like Monokuma's dark side, with the slash across it..

"Who are you in love with?"

The girl hit a button on the table in front of her and Kaito winced when a hundred needles pierced his skin. They seemed to have come from the armrests, stabbing under his arms.

"Shut up!" he yelled, grimacing as the pain shot up both his arms. He wasn't sure if he was talking to himself, or to the girl. But he was just so tired.

For the past few months, he's been in here, all he went through was hell. They fed him and gave him water. They kept him alive just like how a hospital should work. But this wasn't a normal hospital.

It was a hell, disguised as a safe place. Each day, people would walk past his room, peering in at him. He saw people, who were chained and people who were not.

Those who were not, were either the doctors of the 'hospital' or they were prisoners, devoid of memories. Some were driven to insanity while others welcomed the memory-loss, and gave in to despair.

Kaito wasn't sure what which was torture, seeing people completely giving up on each other or those who were willing to fight the serum.

However, the doctors couldn't kill him because he didn't want to confess who he had fallen in love with. It was all too fast. As if it were all staged. But his love for Maki wasn't staged, it was real.

He loved her the longer he was away from her. He held no grudge against her for rejecting him.

"Aren't you going to tell me?!" the girl demanded, slamming her fist on the button, nearly breaking it in her rage. Kaito looked at his hands, which were bleeding as he had dug his nails into his palms.

She wasn't going to leave him like this forever. He had to keep believing that someone would save him.

"Don't make me electrocute you, Kaito Momota!" the girl glared at him. He wondered how could someone who looked so fragile and weak have such a dark side.

"Why... are you doing this?" he muttered, hanging his head. He coughed, more blood spilling from his lips. The metallic taste was giving him nausea..

"Oh, of course.. you think I'd be so dumb, do you?" the girl scoffed, "This isn't some stupid book or some video game, where the villain tells all their plans to the protagonist!"

"..." Kaito winced slightly when he tried to pull his arms from the thin, silver needles. He was hoping the girl would just tell him everything... damnit.

The door opened, making the two look up at it. Another girl with pink hair tied into two ponytails, and a headband with two horns on her head, entered the room.

"Here you go, Fuji!" the girl exclaimed with a happy tone, "The serum you asked for. That Physician finally gave in and made this just for him!" the young girl pointed to Kaito, who was watching her with a pained expression.

"Thank you so much, Usagi." Fuji, the person who was currently torturing him, took the test tube from her hand. "It's.. Utsugi." the pink haired girl frowned as Fuji waved her away. "Yeah yeah, whatever."

"It's so boring to babysit the little kids." Fuji sighed, holding up the tube to the light when Utsugi left the room. "Let's see.. ugh- the brat forgot to label the tubes again.. I may be the Ultimate Programmer but this isn't my field of work!"

"You're.. a student of.. Hope's Peak?" Kaito murmured, the pain in his arms were gone and was replaced by the stickiness of dried pink blood.

"Student by day," Fuji held up a hand, and gave Kaito a shy smile, "Heartbreaker by night." she swiped her hand in front of her face, changing her expression as she smirked. "Bet you weren't expecting THAT plot twist!"

Kaito clenched his fists again, the small gesture making him nearly cry out with pain. "H-Heartbreaker? Is this what your little group is called?"

"Oh no no," Fuji waved a hand, flicking her fingers against the glass of the tube, "It's not my group. I'm merely a pawn in his little game. There's a whole lot of us, hidden in plain sight."

"Now, enough chit chat.. it's time to see if this new serum really works." she walked towards him, holding the test tube in one hand and a needle in the other.

Kaito clenched his jaw, turning his head away and straining against the chains. Stubbornly keeping his mouth shut. He wasn't going to reveal who he was in love with. He had to protect Maki.

"Oh, by the way," Fuji stood in front of Kaito, "You know your little friends? Saihara and Ouma?" she held her arm against his throat to stop him from struggling. "Based on my leader's observations.."

The girl rested the needle against his arm. "I daresay you will see them soon enough. Assuming you survive this.. so, I'll ask you one more time." she looked at him in the eyes.

"Do you want to talk.?"

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[ Medical Office ]

Shuichi jerked awake, his eyes staring up at the ceiling.. what was that-? That nightmare he had? Something about the hospital again, but...

"You're awake! Oh thank goodness." he heard a familiar voice say, as his best friend bent down over him. Kaede beamed, waving a hand over Shuichi's face. "Shuichi! Can you hear me?"

"Ugh.. Kaede.." he muttered, "What are you doing? Don't do that." he started to sit up, but the blonde haired girl pushed him back down. "Don't sit up. You got hurt pretty badly."

Shuichi strained to remember. Trying to recall what had happened. "How long have I been out?" he asked the girl, who held up her fingers.

"Three."

"Kaede.. that's five."

"Oh-." she hastily changed her answer, "Uh, it doesn't matter anyway.. I have other things to say." she looked worried as she twiddled her thumbs around the strings of her light yellow hoodie. If she was wearing the hoodie, it meant that it was either Friday, Saturday or Sunday, Shuichi realised; He's been unconscious for three days..

"Another couple got arrested." Kaede poked her fingers together, telling him in a low voice. "Kuzuryu and Pekoyama.. apparently someone told on them. And.." she paused. Why did she look so nervous all of a sudden.?

"Maki... went to the Hospital with them.. because she refused to tell Monokuma what happened between them. Apparently someone snitched on them. Not Maki though."

Shuichi sat up, making Kaede jump back. Almost immediately, Shuichi felt incredibly dizzy, holding his head. "Maki's gone? She can't.." he winced.

"Shuichi- I know it's a lot to take in right now." Kaede begun as Shuichi just remained as he was. "I have to talk to Monokuma.. I need to get them back-!" he demanded.

"There's no use, Shuichi.. please, just calm down," Kaede told him, obviously worried as she grasped onto his arm. "Besides.. there's.. another thing you have to worry about.. sorry to say." she trailed off. Shuichi dropped his hands to his side and looked at her, unable to bear with more bad news.

"What.." his voice shook, "What is it?"

Kaede just looked to the side, to a bed which was next to his. Shuichi followed her gaze, wondering why did he feel so much dread.

"He hasn't woken up yet.. the school nurse says he's probably going to be like that for awhile."

Ouma..

Shuichi stared at the purple haired boy, who was hooked up to multiple machines. "I don't know.. what happened. Why he has those lines all over his body, but he was clearly in pain." he heard the blonde haired girl start to speak rapidly.

"Kaede.."

"It's like he got tortured. And burned. Was that what happened in the library? What really happened in there, Shuichi?"

"Kaede."

"I got so worried for you two. First Kaito, then you two went missing. Now you're freaking out and Ouma's probably not going to wake up-."

"KAEDE!" he stopped her, "Just.. STOP!"

He clenched his teeth together, feeling tears trailing down his cheeks. "I know.. alright?" he muttered, "Someone among us is a traitor. A person with magenta eyes-."

"But none of us-."

"None of us have magenta eyes. I know. Besides you.. I guess," Shuichi looked down at the blanket, which were damp with his tears. "Someone's a traitor and whoever they are, they've been telling Monokuma about everything."

"For the record, I have purple-ish eyes." the girl interjected.

"They've threatened me to stop all investigation.." he continued as if Kaede had not said anything, "And to prove their point, they burned all the notes that Keebo gave to Kokichi. They set the library on fire. And nearly killed Ouma and I."

"Who knows what else has that traitor been doing.." he trailed off when Kaede held out a piece of pink paper. It seemed to have been folded and refolded so many times, that it had become soft at the edges.

"What-?"

"Read it," she placed the paper on his lap, "This has been all over the school, and it sounds.. threatening. And dangerous. Monokuma seemed pretty pleased with himself though."

Shuichi looked at the paper, wondering why was she so shaken up. He unfolded it, reading the black words upon the crinkled surface.

"Have you seen this person? TERRORIST. WANTED. DEAD OR ALIVE."

On it, was a picture of the black hoodied figure, holding a rock and his back turned away from the camera. "That's the same person who I've seen in the photographs that Kokichi showed me." Shuichi frowned.

Kaede raised an eyebrow, "I think there's more than one. I found another person with brown hair and weird.. eyes. He was throwing stones at the library windows to break them. He's the one who helped me find you."

"So.." Shuichi held up the paper. "There's a traitor with a Monokuma hoodie with magenta eyes. Another mysterious person with a black hoodie."

Kaede nodded, "Pretty much. But whatever it is, Shuichi. I'm your best friend, and I won't leave you when you need help."

Shuichi managed a small smile, "Really?"

The girl nodded, "Of course! And besides," she winked at him, "Don't think I didn't notice what's going on between you and Ouma."

Shuichi stared at her, "What- no! There's nothing between us! We're just friends!"

Kaede just smiled knowingly, holding out a pinkie, "I promise we'll get to the bottom of this. Alright?" Shuichi stared at her confident expression. He moved her hand away and just leaned over to hug her, "Thanks Kaede.. and I promise."

"Um.. Shuichi, you better move away before Monokuma sees." she warned, nodding up at the camera. "Oh right.." the detective rubbed the back of his neck, feeling it heat.

He glanced at Kokichi, the burn of guilt in his stomach. Once again, he couldn't protect him. "..."

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[ Monokuma Theatre ]

Heya chumps!! Look what we have here. A little Monokuma Theatre again? Eh.. even if ya don't like this, ya still gotta read this to get to da next chapter.! Upupupu..

I bet it was suchhhh a surprise that that scary Maki was taken away huh? Along with that Pekoyama and her Boss Baby Master, am I right?

Anyhoo, hope ya like this book so far, and if ya got any questions or whatever you wanna say, don't be such a scaredy-bear and just say it Thank ya for sticking around so far and actually, it's a surprise to see you hangin' around!

Upupupu.. that's such a good play on words. Don't forget to vote or whatever, because it's greatly appreciated by whoever's writing this. The person writing this doesn't matter!

All that matters is getting yer full attention! Upupupu!

Eh, so.. I promise, it's gonna get better! Yeah yeah, these chapters might get super long and boring and draggy but still! Have some patience! But right now, I've got more important stuff to do.. sooooo see ya!

♥ End of Chapter Twenty-Two ♥