Kokichi still had free time left until that lunch date. Sophia pinged Kokichi after a while.

"So what's up?" Kokichi asked to Sophia who seemed to have a complicated expression on her face.

"It seems there's a limit to what I can do. I cannot hack into other people's phones even if I have their phone numbers. I'm only limited to the phone that you hacked so unfortunately, I couldn't find anymore information about Natsumi on that front."

"Shouldn't AIs be able to hack?" Kokichi asked.

"If they are made to," Sophia said, "But that isn't my purpose. I can access the worldwide general network and even the criminal underbelly but I cannot hack towards any private information myself," Sophia said, shaking her head.

"An AI that cannot hack..." Kokichi shook his head, "Why is everything a lie?"

Shame... Kokichi had hoped that if Sophia was able to hack the information about Natsumi which might led to the Reserve Conspiracy, about them, which was his true goal in this school. But unfortunately, Hope's Peak won't make it easy... but back to the sub-mission!

"But I still have important information from the criminal underbelly network about the Kuzuryu Clan and general network, ones that involve our cases. I have already uploaded them into your truth bullets," Sophia said.

"Really now?" Kokichi asked, and he saw the notification system did say so, so he opened them up.

Truth Bullets

|Rumored Hits>
~Due to Natsumi being a rumoured reincarnation of the infamous uncle of the Kuzuryu gang and made to be heir, other rival gangs had ordered hits for her. But they never happened. Why?

|Fortune Telling>
~ In the event where Natsumi was scammed, it was a place where many fortune tellers attended for a certain event sponsored by rich people. However, among them was a fortune teller who scammed many people out of their money with the highest percentage rate of fortune telling. Yet it is unknown whether that's a rumour or not.

|Student Assault>
~During middle school, a girl by the name of Emiko Sato was attacked by Natsumi Kuzuryu in protecting her friend Mahiru Koizumi from harassment. They were suspended soon getting a black mark against their school records.

"That is what I have found so far. I will search anything that could prove itself to be a truth bullet, but I don't know all the facts," Sophia bit her lip.

"I've noticed... some of them don't seem to be related to the cases you pinged me, so why is there a truth bullet like 'Student Assault'? I don't see how it's related to those two cases," Kokichi said.

"They are not, but you forget that there are 5 cases. Anything could be a truth bullet in that case, but narrowing down, all truth bullets are always related to the motive that made Natsumi despair in the state she is in now... so..." Sophia said.

"OK, so you are saying that the student assault might be related to Natsumi's despair and motive so that's why it's relevant?" Kokichi said.

"But might. We won't know the full details until we get the cases," Sophia said.

"Don't worry, we will go back today and get all the 5 cases by then. That's when the real fun begins!" Kokichi exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" A voice neither belonging to Kokichi and Sophia asked.

Kokichi whipped his head to see it was Kirumi who was now walking towards him. Immediately, Sophia retreated into the phone and Kokichi immediately addressed Kirumi.

"Heya, Toujou-chan! Whatcha doing here out of classes? You got bored and skipped them too?" Kokichi asked.

"As you know, classes are optional and I thought it better for me if I went to my Lab instead and find anything to do as a maid," Kirumi said.

"Oh, what Lab are you in anyway?" Kokichi asked, "And did you find anything there?"

"It's called the Culinary and Caretaking Lab. And no, I have not found any requests for the day, which is unsurprising as this is the first day after all."

"Anyway, it's a good coincidence that I met you now, Ouma-kun. The class has been wanting to look for you."

"Oya? What for?" Kokichi asked.

Kirumi took out her phone and gave Kokichi a deadpan stare as she said, "Please give me your real number, Ouma-kun. Akamatsu-san made a class group chat for us a little while after that prank call, but imagine our surprise that with your number we got yesterday,we got a sumo wrestler with a part time job as a trainer and thought that we all wanted to become sumo wrestlers as well. At first we thought it was one of your lies because you professed yourself to be a liar, but after a while, we found out it's the wrong number. So, your real number, please?"

Kokichi laughed a little at this tidbit before he gave his number to Kirumi. To make sure that this time, it was authentic, she rang up the number and heard Kokichi's phone ringing. Satisfied, she said, "I will add you into the group chat now."

And with a ping, he found that he was in the group chat called 'Class 78-B' and immediately the messages were swarming in.

~~~

reach4thestars: This time, it's Ouma, right? Not another sumo wrestler?

PantaKing: Are you guys interested in a bulk sale of Panta drinks. 50% off for 10 crates of it! Buy now, before sales end!

NoAnimeNoLife: And now a salesman?!

FemSebastian: I assure you that this is Ouma-kun. I am currently beside him as he is texting all of you in this group chat.

TripleG: Damn you, little fucker. Stop trolling us!

PantaKing: Nishishi.

BLACKPINK: The important thing is, this time, he's here. Why don't we all introduce ourselves so he doesn't confuse our nicknames. This is Kaede, btw.

Only1truth: Shuichi.

reach4thestars: Kaito momota, luminary of the stars!

50ShadesOfRed: Maki.

NoAnimeNoLife: Tsumugi.

FemSebastian: Kirumi.

Mystique: Rantaro.

GentTarzan: Gonta is Gonta!

Meow'sLife: Ryoma.

Oracle: Yahoo, this is Angie!

Robojury: Kiibo.

TripleG: The gorgeous girl genius, Miu, duh doy!

2gd4hogwarts: Himiko.

say'thot'cuelightsaber: Tenko.

bondageXmasks: Korekiyo.

PantaKing: owo. Nicknames already?

BLACKPINK: Well, just like yours, Ouma-kun, we just have our own special names in messanging apps. That's all.

GentTarzan: Yeah, Gonta always called Tarzan for some reason. And people advise Gonta better have nickname for chatting just in case, and for fun, so Gonta come up with this name.

NoAnimeNoLife: N I think it suits u really well!

GentTarzan: Thanks, Shirogane-san.

BLACKPINK: Anyway, Ouma-kun, there u go. We r mostly going to use this chat 4 sch stuff n event planning when we have them.

PantaKing: Sounds boring. Y don't we memify this chat instead?

TripleG: Fuck yeah!

50ShadesOfRed: No.

Meow'sLife: No.

PantaKing: Boring.

Mystique: Anyway, Ouma-kun, where r u?

PantaKing: Out of town. But I will be back at sch during the weekends, promise!

FemSebastian: He's in the second floor hallway near the LifeScience and Zoology Labs.

PantaKing: Traitor.

Mystique: Coming over. Don't think u can escape this time.

50ShadesOfRed: What did he do this time?

Robojury: Already the first day and he's making too much trouble.

NoAnimeNoLife: Looks like we found our class clown/ troublemaker.

~~~

Around this time, still not wanting to deal with Rantaro, Kokichi bolted for it, if not stopped by Kirumi with a firm hand to his shoulder.

"Amami-kun wanted to meet you here. Do you think it will be rude if you stood him up?" Kirumi asked.

"I'm a rude person in general. It's not too surprising," Kokichi scoffed, "So let me go, Toujou-chan!"

"I'm sorry, Ouma-kun, but I was requested by Amami-kun should I see you that I inform him of your location and make sure you don't run away from him," Kirumi said.

"But Mom...!" Kokichi whined. But that only resulted in a tighter grip on Kokichi's arm and an unpleasant scowl on Kirumi's face.

"I am not your mother, Ouma-kun. No young woman would like to be called a mother by someone of the same age of all things. Please, for your own sake, think before you speak next time," Kirumi scolded.

"But that's something my mother would do! Scold me like that! It's been a long time someone mothered like me ever since I killed my own Mom!" Kokichi exclaimed.

"That's a lie, isn't it?" Kirumi asked, her stoic disposition unchanging.

"Is it? Maybe I didn't kill my Mom. I killed my Dad instead. After all, that's how all supreme leaders rose to power. Become the heir to power, kill the one in power and take their crown!" Kokichi said.

"If you are trying to say all this in hopes that I will be distracted enough to let you go, think again," Kirumi said.

Dang!

But that was a lie! He was aiming for something else, as suddenly out of nowhere, Kirumi started shaking as if suppressing something. And then snorts of laughter came out of her before finally she was having a fit of laughter and unconsciously let go of Kokichi, which he took advantage of. And ran like the wind!

For context, he kept talking to distract Kirumi from the fact that he was observing Kirumi in the best tactic to get out of her grasp. Eventually, he decided to just tickle Kirumi with a feather he kept for prank purposes because he thought he saw some ticklish spots. It's usually the stoic ones that have a nice funny bone waiting to be unleashed.

Or maybe that was a lie, and his guess was lucky. It seems that he was out of Rantaro's grasp... for now.

Eventually, he bumped into... boobs, big boobs again to see that this time it was Miu. Kokichi disengaged quickly, and thought, 'What's with me and running straight into busty blonde boobs?'

"Haha! Did you like what you got, or what? Because that's the last time that you'll get some goodies like this," Miu boasted.

"Ick. People have standards to call your oversized tits goodies especially if you are so fond of letting others grope on em like it's nothing, Iruma-chan~" Kokichi heckled.

"Vicious..." Miu said, moaning a little before she regained a little sense of self to ask, "Also what the fuck you are doing here? I thought you had a one on one with the playboy."

Playboy...? Oh, she must have meant Rantaro and Kokichi shook his head at that.

"Nah, Amami-chan is way out of his league with me. And if I don't wanna spend time with him, then I don't wanna. By the way, Iruma-chan, this is perfect timing! Have you been working on you-know-what?"

Miu grinned. It had something to do with Kiibo yesterday and even if they had discussed it in the vicinity of said robot who protested until his jaw could be stuck open, they were still going to do it one day.

Miu wanted a new sex toy, and Kiibo can thank her later, she had reasoned and Kokichi wanted evolution within hilarity. This was how operation you-know-what was born.

Because apparently they had no respect for the robot. Respect has to be earned, and the robot has yet to earn it, which resulted in this.

Good luck trying to earn their respect, Kiibo, if you want to stop operation you-know-what. But that's something to worry about later.

"Heehee. Glad you asked. The Technology Lab is great! I'm already at the preliminary stages. It would take bout a week or two before I'm fully satisfied with it, don't ya worry! By the way, some of my working inventions are already in the Lab coz they are in progress and I hafta still work on 'em, but it should be enough to blow your socks off! I will be ready for your apology anytime now!"

Kokichi knew it was about the time he dissed Miu about her Ultimate and they had a little challenge about it. So...

Spend time with Miu?

> Could be useful.
>Nope! So undeserving.

"Hmm... I will come, but I doubt you would see an apology anytime soon. Being a supreme leader and all, I have seen a lot of strange things, including some weird inventions."

"It's time you shota bitch eat your words," Miu declared and they walked towards the Lab together, trash talking the other which led to uncomfortable moments mostly from Miu's masochistic nature but otherwise easy banter in a 'normal' school environment.

Then, they reached the Technology Lab and Kokichi was once again struck by the difference of Labs. To put in a few words, the Lab had gone one step toward sci-fi. Other than the usual bulletin board, the Lab was full of computers, blueprints, tools and inventions. There was also a maintenance spot, probably for Kiibo. After all, Kokichi can't see Kiibo anywhere else other than here.

Eventually, they had made it to Miu's workplace which was filled with mostly hot pink gadgets and a lot else. But what caught his eye was...

"Is that it?" Kokichi asked, pointing.

"Of fucking course!" Miu declared, proudly, "Kiibo's going to have the best time of his life and he's got me, the gorgeous girl genius to thank for. Maybe he will thank me like... ahh... but it's still in progress," Miu said.

"Is everything else in progress?" Kokichi asked, his eyes sweeping to other inventions which he had no idea of their purpose although knowing Miu's foul mouth, he can hazard a guess.

"Yeah, but good enough to swing that dick of yours and everyone else in this fucking world where my name will definitely go down in fucking history!" Miu exclaimed before she took out a ray gun.

"Behold! The 'Goin' Commando' gun! It will teleport your underwear away and get a fucking nasty surprise!"

He gave points for it being a funny but pervy prank but that was it, "So what happens if the person is already in commando?"

"Then they are a weirdo," Miu said firmly, and Kokichi asked, "Your not?"

"Fuck no. I'm a gorgeous girl genius who will be famous all over the world, not a fucking weirdo," Miu said, as she rummaged through some more of her inventions.

"Anyway, the genius is still coming! This sensor is the Hookup Counter. Now all your dirty secrets of fuck and fucked be revealed to me!" Miu shouted, suddenly pointing a sensor at Kokichi and laughing loudly at it.

"So you are still a virgin? Figures, who would want to fuck a shota like you, unless they have that stupid kink...?"

"Oh yeah, and how about you?" Kokichi asked childishly as he immediately took the sensor from her and shot it at her instead which made Miu back off and go, "Heee...!"

"So you are also a virgin?" Kokichi asked as he saw the results, "Looks like it takes one to know one. What? No one wanted a third rate prostitute?"

"Oh, f- fuck off!" Miu snatched the sensor away, blushing and moaning, "it's... it's ju- just that I have standards, you brat. Yeah, that's it! After all, only the best for this gorgeous girl genius! Anyway, this Hookup Counter is completely useful to know everyone's hookups so I can make fun of them on Valentine's Day."

Miu almost seemed sad when she talked about Valentine's Day. Kokichi understood. The unloved needed revenge.

"Tch, what the hell will even impress you, if all this greatness doesn't. The world will bow to its knees for these stuff and you ain't?"

"Well, if you consider the world as in whorehouse and perverts with fetishes, then I agree! Otherwise, normal people wouldn't even ask for this stuff," Kokichi said.

"Pfft, then you plebs are just missing out," Miu scoffed, "But... if you don't want to show off your kinks, then there's an invention that will be really useful to this world. Get ready to be amazed!"

And then she pulled out a sleeping mask that looked high tech, "Behold! This is the 'Do Stuff When Sleep' mask! When you go to sleep at night and put this baby on, it will automatically connect to your subconscious where you could do anything in your sleep. The mask will enact a dream similar to your reality and when you want to eat in your dream, the mask will move your body to eat in real life. When you want to do your fucking homework, you can even do that in your sleep. So meaning you can actually do whatever the fuck you want in day and all the boring stuff at night without wasting any precious time. Pretty fucking cool, am I right?"

There were many things Kokichi wanted to say but the first thing he blurted out was "'Do Stuff When Sleep' mask?"

"I don't have time to make up names for every invention I crank 24/7," Miu huffed, before looking at Kokichi, "Hmph. You are really not amazed. Not even fucking surprised. Are you blind that you can't see genius?"

"No, I'm not blind. All I saw were inventions for sluts like you and probably lazy good for nothings. And I'm none of those, dildo for brains. I'm even wondering, can you even create any inventions for any normal people like moi or are you just a weird slut to even do that?" Kokichi demanded.

"Eeep... O-OK, then show me what you got! What th- the fuck do you want? I- I'm sure I can even crank it in my sleep!"

Ah... moment of truth. Kokichi had thought long and hard what he needed for his goal as long as he was in this school and the Twin'verse only ramped it up.

So, taking out his phone, he opened up photos of blueprints that he made and showed em to Miu.

"What the fu- they are so detailed! Who the hell drew them?" Miu asked.

"Of course I did," Kokichi declared, "Who else?"

"A shota like you can..." Miu muttered sounding almost impressed before speaking in a louder voice, "So you want me to make you flying nanobots to record everything they find to your phone? And a hacking remote control that is worthy to hack even NASA computers. Oh... I get it! You just want to see all the juicy private restricted porn and spy whether any virgins in our school are going to get it on. Actually, why the fuck didn't I think of that?"

"Blegh, the hell to all that. I have more sophisticated uses for stuff like that than just boring porn. Or can't you even see the bigger picture than just that what those kind of inventions could do for the world," Kokichi said.

"Well, what do they do for the world?" Miu asked.

"Hmm..." Kokichi smiled slowly before he said, "If you are the gorgeous girl genius, then surely you can find out yourself. It's not that difficult, y'know?"

"Fucking fine," Miu said, before she swiped through some more of the blueprints, "Multipurpose googles, invisible string, mind reader, a watch that can shoot tranquillisers, a huge Panta hose that can spray Panta like rain. Wait, what the fuck are all these for, especially the last one?!"

"What? I can't dream? You are so lucky that you can invent stuff like you do, Iruma-chan, making all those kinky things for yourself, but too bad I cannot. Otherwise I would probably be bathing in Panta right about now. But you can ignore the last one, it's not important at the moment."

He still really wanted it. But duty above pleasure.

"Fuck yeah I am! That's because this Ore-sama is a talented genius duh doy! But..." Miu narrowed her eyes, "It's because I'm a genius that I'm not a fucking idiot. Normal people would totally not ask this type of stuff, I'm sure of it. It's for yourself, ain't it?"

"What? No... people would buy for those like the watch with tranquilliser darts. You can ask Shorogane-chan and she will take it no problem, to ward off the rabid fans while saying stupid catchphrases," Kokichi said.

"I'm still sure it's for yourself. I smell a fuckin' lie," Miu said, her eyes narrowed.

"Fine... So what?" Kokichi asked, "Does it really matter to you as long as you can make these? Or are you excusing yourself that you could not?"

"Of fucking course not," Miu said, "Even if you get it up your pants, I won't give a flying fuck. But you think you can ask for my inventions without me getting something out of it. I have many inventions to make myself so why should I make yours without any benefit for me?"

"So you are really a useless inventor after all, what a shame..." Kokichi said.

"Hee... fuck no!" Miu wilted a little but seemed to straighten her spine as she marched toward Kokichi and jabbed him in the chest, "Fuck yes, I can do your inventions but I have millions of inventions that I rather crank up, so you have to do something for me if you want your inventions done. I'm no fucking step over, you cockroach, or else I will bug spray you back where you belong!"

And here... Kokichi knew that he would be signing a deal with the devil. What does Miu want anyway from him? He better set the ground rules.

"Tch, fine but I am not going to be your guinea pig for your inventions or your sex toy. If you want either, go to some porn site. I'm sure that anybody there would be more willing," Kokichi stated immediately.

"The fuck? No, I'm not going to ask for that, and who the fuck would want a shota like you as a sex toy. You ain't my fucking type, sorry not sorry! But you can still do me this one favour. Kiibo's your roommate, right?"

"What? You want me to hook you two up?" Kokichi asked. He would have to set ground rules, but a robot's virginity in exchange for some sweet inventions in the long run, fine by him.

"Kiibo's interesting as a robot, but it's too early to call hook up on him. I just wanna know his body more but he always refused. And I really want to know... so if I can get him alone and defenseless..."

Sorry Kiibo... wait, Kokichi's not all too sorry, but maybe a little pity, it was just that he had himself a deal.

"Sure, PM me with the deets. A when, how and where and I can get it done," Kokichi said.

"Then, I will get started on one of your inventions. If you want the others, you will have to pull other favors for me~"

"We will see about that, Iruma-chan," Kokichi said, but it went quite smoothly indeed. As long as the favours were reasonable and fun, he wouldn't mind doing them... for now. But he rather find anything to blackmail the bitch into inventing than giving her pleasure of favors from the prideful supreme leader. And if the first favor goes well, he will also probably get his blackmail. Nishishi.

Soon enough, the details were ironed out and Kokichi left, finally off to the Leadership's Lab where the lunch date will commence!

[Lovers -> Miu (1)]

Overall, Kokichi had to look at a lot of perverted and useless inventions, expected for a slut like Miu. Sure, they had some depth that could make them great inventions worthy of an Ultimate Inventor if it wasn't wasted on kinks. But Miu's talent being the real deal, Kokichi had now made a deal with Miu that he could have any invention he wanted in exchange for a favor, but he rather blackmail the bitch because supreme leaders don't do no stinking favors! Mostly, they had an understanding for now, and that's all Kokichi could ask for. For now, whatever invention he needed, he must do a favour for Miu. (Unlocked: Inventor-Favour Exchange)

Archive

HPA-> Labs-> Technology Lab: A Lab for people who worked on technology or at least based on technology such as the inventor, mechanic, programmer, robot etc. It's where the people could work on their projects and receive requests anything technology related if that's the place you want to go.

***

Kokichi looked at his phone and surprised of a perk uploaded in his phone called Inventor- Favour Exchange. So that damn app really keeps track of him. Too much like a game... but nothing he can do about it.

In the end, he was put into another group chat called 'Leadership Lab' added by Soshun, where notifications already popped up.

~~~

StudentPrez: Hello everyone. Just made this chat so we can bond as members of the Lab and reminding you about the meet together. Would be nice to know everyone face to face and see who we are working with for the year and more.

AbovePlebs: As if I will be working with any of you, but I will amuse you and come. I do not have any better way to spend my time.

TuffGangsta: Tch, this is gonna b a shit fest I tell you. What's even the point of this?

OccultPrincess: Don't be like that! I would very much like to meet my fellow underclassmen who I will be working with for the year.

DaRulez: I agree! Let's all meet each other and get to know the others better! I'm going to be right there!

StudentPrez: That's good. See you all.

~~~

Those were the messages that had been sent mere minutes ago so it was no use adding his piece right now. But it was time to make a lasting impression towards the Lab. When he made it there, there were a bunch of people, less than a dozen but still a lot. And then finally Soshun said, "That's all of them. How about we introduce ourselves? As you all know, I am Soshun Murasame, Ultimate Student Council President."

"It's nice to meet you all!" a loud tall boy in all white shouted passionately, "I am Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Ultimate Moral Compass, but please call me Taka."

An enthusiastic type, not dissimilar to Kaito. Nothing interesting.

"Greetings to you all. I am Sonia Nevermind, the Ultimate Princess, but I am an ordinary student with you all now and hope you treat me as such. I hope to get along well with you all!"

Ggh... what's this? For some reason, he felt like bowing to Sonia. Is this the power of royalty? And apparently, he's not the only one as he saw numerous people all harboring the same expression he was having at such a commanding presence.

"Hey...! I don't wanna be overshadowed! I am Kokichi Ouma, Ultimate Supreme Leader. Bow to me, peasants!"

No one looked amused, although some certainly gave polite smiles, but one... a certain blond haired short boy called out, "Ultimate Supreme Leader? Are you in pre-school or something?"

"Oh... if I'm in pre-school, then you are too, Boss Baby!" Kokichi started name-calling which seemed to anger the boy, as he shouted, "The fuck you are calling me?"

"Oh, and you are deaf too. I see, I see..." Kokichi nodded to himself, which angered the boy still until he reared a punch, and was stopped immediately by Sonia who was nearest, "Please cease and desist, Kuzuryu-san, Ouma-san. We are here to make friends with each other after all."

"Tch," Fuyuhiko said, but he put his arm back down and glared at Kokichi who gave off a smile in a nonplussed expression, "But I will remember this. Name's Fuyhiko Kuzuryu, Ultimate Yakuza. Don't mess with me."

It seemed that the last part was directed to Kokichi, who unbeknownst to the others was quite used to this, his neutral expression still plastered on his face. Then, someone spoke up.

"Wow, it must seem that you have a death wish if you want to anger the Ultimate Yakuza like that," a girl with yellow eyes and red hair sticking out despite the white headband  commented, "I'm Kotomi Ituka, Ultimate Police Commisioner and also Vice President of the Student Council. Hope to get along well with you all."

"Police Commisioner. Wouldn't that be better suited for Law & Crime?" Kokichi asked, genuinely curious.

Kotomi answered thus, "Apparently, it's because I'm a commissioner, a leader among the police force which is why I'm placed here. It's better that I practice on my leadership skills toward the police force that they thought much suitable for me, so here I am. Anyway, introductions not over, so whose next?"

A tall blonde boy sighed as he noticed the interactions with an almost annoyed face and said, "Byakuya Togami, Ultimate Affluent Progeny. I do not wish to interact with you anymore than I have to."

"What's with such a high and mighty attitude?! Do you really think you are above everyone, huh?" a boy with corncob hair and a unique black jacket with a symbol that Kokichi recognized for The Crazy Diamonds over his uniform spoke up.

"I just spoke the truth. If a plankton like you can't understand that, then don't talk to me," Byakuya said in a disdainful voice which made Mondo aiming for a punch at Byakuya with a "A plankton? Why you?!"

But was promptly stopped by a tall dark skinned man with a turban over his head and school uniform pinned with a few intricate badges who shook his head subtly over the violence.

Kotomi shook her head, "Seriously, this is the second time someone's about to get punched. It's like this Lab is going to have a violent streak if this keep up. Anyway, you two haven't introduced yourselves."

"Tch," the corncob haired boy said as he retracted his fist and said, "Mondo Owada, Ultimate Biker Gang Leader. Nice to meet'cha."

The tall boy with the turban put his arm to the side once Mondo didn't punch anyone and said in a soft spoken voice different from his physique, "Amir Nakagame. Ultimate General."

"I think that's all of us," Soshun said, smiling, "And I'm sure that although it will take some time, I hope we can get along."

"Not likely. Don't waste your time. If that's it, then I'll be going," Byakuya said, leaving immediately with Mondo and Fuyuhiko muttering, "Asshole." But...

"What? The door's locked," Byakuya commented, as he was struggling with the door and was met with... pink sticky stuff that can be easily identifiable... but Byakuya recoiled saying, "What is this disgusting stuff?"

The guy didn't even know that was bubblegum? What rock was he living under, or was he too above for such things like bubblegum. Poor sap...

Kotomi came closer to the door and sniffed in disdain, "It's bubblegum, Togami-kun. What a poor prank! Who even did this, and for what?"

"No use asking that for now," Soshun said easily, "The important thing is getting out of here. I'm sure there is something in here that will get rid of the bubblegum." Because no one was inclined to touch it, for it was obviously disgusting and found something... anything... that could get rid of the bubblegum for now and worry about the prankster later. However...

"Oh my!" Sonia exclaimed as rummaging through the shelves, a click could be heard and confetti rained down upon them. Then...

"What the?!" Taka shouted as he got a pie to his face and a few more jumping off the shelves which others tried to avoid as well. And to top it off, the speakers are blasting 'The Room Where It Happens' from Hamilton.

"The fuck is going to happen next?" Fuyuhiko asked, who also unfortunately got smacked with a pie, "Whoever the fuck is doing this, I'm gonna find them and take my fucking sweet time torturing the hell out of them for this."

"No torture," Amir said, short and concise, "Just get out of here."

"Yeah! That's the more important part. Let's just find something that could help us get rid of the bubblegum!" Taka declared, and everyone did so but more carefully as they didn't want to activate any more possible traps, but...

"Eh?" Soshun asked, as his hand seemed to touch something that made a snapping sound, and before he knew it, glitter immediately puffed out from a sprinkler right above where Soshun was which was messy as was.

"Soshun-kun, are you OK?" Kotomi asked, trying to help clean him up but he waved it off and said, "No worries. Apparently, there might be some trip wires inside the shelves so try not to touch them..."

"Gotcha, so are you going to keep finding or are you going to continue acting like lovebirds the way you are so close now~" Kokichi cooed, which made both people jump away from each other and said almost simultaneously, "It's nothing like that. We... we are just friends."

"Are you going to dally any longer? Don't waste anymore time before something else happens," Byakuya said, as he was rummaging through drawers of the tables in search for something, anything to get rid of the bubblegum, "If anything happens to me, I swear... I will sue them."

"Sueing seems a little excessive," Kotomi said as she got to searching.

"And torture ain't?" Mondo asked, as finally he found something, a pick by the looks of it and without anything more said, went immediately to the door and picked the bubblegum out of the way, opening it... but not without a single click from the pick, which led out a "Huh?"

Suddenly, from the ceiling, a makeshift leafblower came out and started blowing papers in a frenzy followed by colorful smoke bombs that started bursting out and a few levitating objects which made Sonia cry out, "Oh my, is this place cursed?"

"No," Amir said, "Just prank."

"What are we going to do?" Kotomi asked, but Amir was someone who actually did something, as he went to the leafblower and jumped up to reach for it and get it as he switched it off. As for the colourful smoke bombs and levitating objects, Amir was searching, something... anything that could deactivate. Getting the hint, the rest decided to follow his example with Kokichi finding a detonator device from a crack on the floor unnoticed until now, "Here goes nothing!"

"Wait, it co-" Taka started but Kokichi already pressed it, effectively stopping the bombs and putting back the levitating objects to their place. Kokichi gave off a huge smile and laughed, "Nishishi. Looks like we had one memorable meet and greet, would you say?"

Sonia gave a small smile at that, but the rest wore indifferent to annoyed expressions with Amir speaking up, "Kokichi-san. Your doing?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Nakagame has a point," Mondo said, "That the whole thing could be done by you. You seemed too confident pressing that detonator switch because you might know full well that it will stop all that chaos. Well?"

"Huh? Course I did... but that's a lie. How do you think I could have done all that, anyway?" Kokichi asked, because the elaborate prank would require some time and-

"But wait," Soshun finally said, "I did see you fiddling with something in the Lab when I first came to. And it was about an hour after homeroom that I came. If you came to this Lab right after homeroom, you would have about an hour to do all this. Although improbable, it might not be impossible. So..."

"Any last words, you bastard?" Fuyuhiko asked, looking good in the half pink dye on his hair that he gotten during the prank of a Lab.

"Mark my words, you are going to be sued. I hope you pay the money for all you have done to me," Byakuya huffed.

"Ouma-kun?" Kotomi asked, nearly tentatively, because Kokichi was still smiling.

"Well, the jig is up. You didnt think I was going to leave those boring introductions be, so of course a little prank was needed to lighten it all up. It was fun! And... sure you can sue me or possibly torture me, woe is me... if you can catch me!" Kokichi shouted, as they were inside the Lab still and with a dash, he opened one of the windows in the Lab, and jumped!

The others got to the window and saw no sign of Kokichi with Taka worriedly pointing out, "He's not..."

"Not if I have to say anything about it," Fuyuhiko snarled.

"And me," Byakuya added.

"I know that you guys are mad, but no one is sueing or torturing anyone today... or ever. In the end, this was just a harmless prank, so let it go," Soshun said.

"Easy for you to say," Mondo snarled, glitter over his jacket but Sonia said, "Although I am mad about it, it was also very fun. That was my first time ever being involved in a prank and I must say, it adds a highlight to my high school experience."

"Glad someone enjoyed it..." Kotomi said, before turning to Soshun, "Hey, do you think that Ouma-kun will be fine?"

Soshun gave a small smile, "You should know as well, if you read Ouma-kun's file, that he would be absolutely fine. I just wonder what he's doing now..."

***

What was Kokichi doing now? Very simple. He was in the cafe with Hearts at this very moment, whose alias right now was Akari Hatsura with her short light purple hair and dark green eyes looking at his own. Considering this was one of the official breaks that anyone can go anywhere, Kokichi took the chance to meet Akari right after his business with the Leadership Lab... and after this, off to the Twin'verse. It served as efficient timing and good escape after a memorable prank.

A quick text before the Lab meet, jumping out of the window with rope prepared outside near trees to get down safely. Out of Hope's Peak and into the cafe with Akari already flagging him down. And now...

"I should have seen this coming, ever since we were targeted by Hope's Peak... but I hoped that Natsumi-chan wouldn't be involved," Akari said, shaking her head lightly.

"But it did anyway. What happened that night?" Kokichi asked, the same question he and the other DICE members always asked, but Hearts was adamant on not answering.

This time, Akari sighed and softly said, "If Natsumi-chan didn't threaten you, I would have continued to stay silent. But it's time for the story to come out and my reasons for not telling."

And the story comes:

Hearts aka Akari Hatsura was put to Natsumi's surveillance a year ago. By that time, Fuyuhiko is already in Hope's Peak and Natsumi was about to transfer to Hope's Peak as a Reserve Course student in a month's time. But back then, in Natsumi's old school, it was quite easy for Akari to infiltrate and with luck and Akari's gentle yet firm nature as medic and Mom friend with Natsumi already on a violent streak with many fight and small injuries under her belt, Akari and Natsumi had met each other a lot of times. Despite Natsumi pushing people away, Akari was one who stayed nonetheless while cool and collected that they... although unadmitted, became friends.

Even when Natsumi went to the Reserve Course program and transferred out of school, whenever Natsumi got into the fight, she would always arranged a meeting with Akari to tend to her so Natsumi could rant to Akari as well.

And it was a good friendship in the end, although Akari gotten close to Natsumi to keep an eye on her about the yakuza and had at times donned the clown mask herself to interfere with Natsumi, who despite not being the heir of the Kuzuryu yakuza was also quite involved with the state of affairs and needed to be stopped when it went a little too wayward for a peaceful world. But thankfully, Natsumi didn't know about it.

But unfortunately, something happened that betrayed that friendship and shattered Natsumi's dreams in a way Akari could have never forseen, and everything that happened, sometimes, truths are better shrouded in lies. But here is the real truth of the matter.

It was after school, and Natsumi was ranting to Akari as they met halfway from school and talked on the way to their hideout where Natsumi and Akari hung out, when it happened.

"Aah...!" A bloodlust cry rang out in the darkest of night and immediately, Akari pushed Natsumi out of the way to miss a swinging object just by inches. When both looked up, they saw it was a black haired girl who Natsumi bitterly muttered, "Sato," looking at Natsumi incensed with the swinging object now revealed to be a swimsuit filled with gravel.

"Wh- What's going on?" Akari asked, hoping to dissolve the tension between the duo or at least buying time as she signaled using her phone for backup from DICE and no... not the police, like she trusted those morons.

"What's going on is that a bitch is about to kill me. Thanks Akari-san, for pushing me out of the way or I will be dead meat," Natsumi said, taking out a pocketknife from her pocket, "And as you know, an eye for an eye. So if you will excuse me, I have a bitch to kill."

"Ggh," the girl, Sato, let out as she clutched the swimsuit tighter, both girls with potential murder weapons, both girls with the bloodlust to kill and Akari in between them, so, "What the hell is wrong with you two? We still live in a damn world where the law is here for a reason, so stop being kids about it, put down the weapons and calm down!"

Akari said so very forcefully that staggered both Natsumi's and Sato's bloodlust enough to just stare at her but not enough to lower their weapons.

"I... I can't. Natsumi... she... she will definitely... and if I kill... then, nothing... nothing will harm Mahiru. And they... they will make sure I can stay by her side, that I have the power to protect...!" Sato exclaimed.

"Koizumi-san, huh? You always had it for her, and them? Do you really think they will consider you? Keep fucking dreaming. They already promised me that I will be the Ultimate so what the fuck are you talking about?"

Sato laughed sardonically, "You and I both know that's a lie. You and I both know they always choose randomly and that multiple people have been chosen to be pit against each other and see whose the best. But you also know they usually fail. Whose to say that you won't be one more failure?"

"I... I will not. I will not! You take that back!" Natsumi cried out, as she lunged toward Sato, with Akari holding Natsumi back immediately, with many questions at the back of her mind, 'Them? Ultimate? Chosen? Failures?'

"We are done talking bitch," Sato sneered, "Have fun in hell."

Sato swung the swimsuit and Natsumi tightened the grip to her knife. Akari knew what she had to do.

"Ugh!" Sato cried, as she was injected with a sedative that Akari always had with her. Akari was the medic of DICE and she needed a way to defend herself since she was not very good with physical attacks, so this was the way to go.

"Haha," Natsumi laughed, "Goodbye, you- ugh!" Akari also sedated Natsumi too when she started swinging the knife towards Sato. Akari disarmed them both easily.

"Akari-san, why?" Natsumi now glared at Akari as she tried to pick herself up despite the exhaustion the sedative was seeping into her body.

Sato seemed to be struggling as well, when she glared at Akari, "Yes, this is none of your business. ... Unless you are also aiming for that?"

"That?" Akari asked, tilting her head as she pocketed the knife and undid the swimsuit of the gravel rendering it useless, "I'm just doing a simple job of a civilian preventing murder cases. Seriously, whatever you two are fighting over, it's not worth to have blood on your hands for something so trivial."

"It's not trivial!" Natsumi shouted, "The fuck do you know?"

"You say that... but I have been wondering. Why are you hanging out so much with a daughter of the yakuza? Don't tell me, because you just want to be friends with her. After all... I saw you, your clown mask," Sato said.

"What?" Both Natsumi and Akari asked, startled.

"You were spotted... and recognised?" Kokichi asked.

"Yes, I was careless. That was when the misunderstanding started... and everything went downhill," Akari said with pursed lips.

Before Akari could even say anything, Sato said, "Once I saw you donning that clown mask and harassing Natsumi. And then continue being her 'friend.' Of course someone like Kuzuryu wouldn't even have a friend, but why stalk her anyway? She might be yakuza but her brother would be a better target."

"Hatsura-san," Natsumi said coldly, changing from using Akari's first name to the last meaning business, "You aren't actually from that wannabe organisation aren't you?"

"Wannabe organisation?" Akari asked, playing dumb.

"Don't lie to me," Natsumi hissed, "The clowns commiting laughable crimes known over the criminal underworld, and I know the yakuza are being harassed by them. And why? Unless you are looking in that..."

"What the hell is that?! I'm just being a sane person preventing murders. Don't start pointing fingers like this!" Akari protested.

Sato laughed sardonically, "A wannabe organisation, huh? Then no wonder you sedated both of us. Are you planning to do something against us? Ruin our chances at the Project?"

"Project? To have power? Being an Ultimate?" Akari asked, remembering that conversation between Sato and Natsumi that had no context to Akari and asked it straight out.

Natsumi narrowed her eyes, "So you do know. Are you another fucking rival getting in my way of being the Ultimate Little Sister."

"I'm not even in the Reserve Course. How can you say that?" Akari asked.

But as if Natsumi's mind was set, she simply said, "You don't have to be a Reserve Course Student to be involved with that. All they want is potential. Isn't that what you are doing? Getting closer to me to show off to them? To show off that wannabe organisation and become the very best..."

"It really is not- uhh!" Akari tried to argue, but she didn't realise... the sedative was wearing off. That all this talk was really buying time for...

"So you... dodged?" Sato asked, as she was now holding a rock, sharp as it was, able to deal damage... Akari was lucky with that one, her instincts in tuned after so many crimes done that she was able to dodged it... but...

"It... won't stop... me..." Sato seethed, "I will..."

"Oh no, you... won't, bitch," Natsumi said, tackling Akari down to the ground this time as this Akari was not fast enough to dodge that one and Natsumi got her knife, "I won't... be killed... so easily!"

"Can't we just-" Akari wanted to ask, to talk it out but she couldn't even get the sentence out and everything just... happened.

"The details will be spared, because even I'm not sure what went down. But Natsumi-chan was on the ground, almost killed for real, if I hadn't stopped Sato-san in time. By the time, that happened... you and Clubs were already arriving. I knocked out Sato-san, asked you guys to deal with Natsumi-chan and then dealt with Sato-san myself," Akari said, and without any interruption continued the story.

"Wha- what are... you going to do with me?" Sato asked, her eyes crazed, but defeated. Even with the numerous wounds on her, her spirit was all still alive.

"Stay still. You are lucky you didn't kill Natsumi-chan," Akari hissed, as she was dressing up many of Sato's wounds. She was lucky that Natsumi avoided any fatal damages, very closely like Sato was for Natsumi.

"Did you forget that she was the yakuza? Did you forget the consequences of killing a member of the yakuza? You idiot!"

"But... I... this..." Sato stuttered. Akari narrowed her eyes.

"Do you know what will happen if someone figures out that you are the one who assaulted Natsumi-chan, a fellow yakuza?" Akari asked.

Sato paled, as if the consequences were now showing themselves clearly in front of her eyes as she whimpered, "I..."

Akari sighed, "This is going to be so complicated. Why did you do this? I still don't understand, why?"

"Because Mahiru... Kuzuryu was going to do something..."

"And did you have any proof?" Akari asked, stone cold and unrelenting. Sato shook her head, "But I knew..."

"No... no you did not. And I know how this will go down. There should be no bloodshed after, so here's what you should do..."

"What...?" Sato asked.

"What...?" Kokichi asked and Akari sighed.

"That day was really a mess. We all know how dirty handed the yakuza could get, and imagine if the day was found out by the yakuza, what do you think will happen?"

"Sato-chan might be killed," Kokichi dawned on that realisation, and Akari nodded, "And so could you," Kokichi continued, his eyes narrowed towards Akari.

"I know that," Akari said off-handedly, "But I wasn't worried, because we had dealt with stuff like that before and we always make out fine. But Sato-san... you know, Ouma-kun, I can't just let her..."

Kokichi knew. It was one of their organisation's rules that no matter whose life, friend, stranger, enemy, a life is a life and any threat over them is settled quickly by DICE if they knew it.

There was that one time they actually walked into a bomb threat building. No joke. But it became a joke when the countdown went zero and instead of actual bombs, smoke bombs were set off, effectively rendering the threat null. Ah... good times.

"So Sato-san transferred schools, even getting out of the country. And I visited Natsumi-chan in the hospital, planting the idea that Sato-san was dead... and place all the blame on me," Akari said.

"Hello... Natsumi-chan," Akari had said when she 'visited' Natsumi once Akari got wind that she woken up. Luckily Natsumi wasn't in any coma, simply wounded and needing to stay in the hospital for a week.

"Wha- what are you doing here?" Natsumi asked. Akari frowned. She wasn't really good at doing things like this, acting, covering up... that was more suitable to King, but this was up to Akari herself so...

"Oh... right, your organisation. B&E would come easy for you, huh? So what do you want?"

She wondered how to exactly respond. When she used to be... no still is, to Akari at least, friends with Natsumi. Unfortunately Natsumi didn't reciprocate the same feeling anymore.

She decided to do what she does best.

"Is it wrong to look out for a friend?" Akari asked.

"What friend? You... who dealt that damn blow. You who want to steal my glory... And Sato-san...! You will both pay!" 

Akari wasn't surprised by this. Natsumi as daughter of yakuza had a craving of vengeance, an eye for an eye, one thing in common with the yakuza.

Akari sighed, "Unfortunately, you don't need for Sato-san..."

Her first lie. For the better.

"And why is that...? What do you know?" Natsumi asked shrewdly.

Akari remembered the events that happened, she remembered the wounds in the fray.

"Sato-san... died," Akari finally settled, "Knife wound."

Natsumi's eyes widened as if remembrance and then she smirked cruelly, "Serves the bitch right then. Now all's left is you, huh?"

"But Natsumi-chan, I-" Akari started but she was cut harshly by Natsumi.

"None of your weak excuses. No one will get in the way of what I want. And you stalking me, disturbing me... pretending to be my friend... I will stop you too if I have to."

But Akari never pretended to be Natsumi's friend. She knew she was being an asshole when she stalked Natsumi but the friendship they had, Akari would like to believe it was real...

And because of that same friendship, because Natsumi won't listen to reason, Akari had to appeal to emotion, hoping to do one thing right:

"That is, if you can catch me. I just wanted to see how you were. Looks like you are still alive. Good for you. I think we are done here."

"Hey, wai-" Natsumi said, but Akari vanished.

"So..." Kokichi said, as Akari finally finished, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because there was nothing to tell," Akari said, "Natsumi-chan won't listen, and I had to do what I thought was best. Letting the blame be on my shoulders was the best thing. Letting the truth be known would be troublesome. After all, Ouma-kun, you know that some lies are much preferable."

True...

"If I told you and the others, you guys would try to get rid of the blame that I placed myself. I didn't want that. As I said, out of obligation to Natsumi as well. If you found out about all that, I wondered what you would have done with Natsumi's dream..."

"You mean them, that and the Project?" Kokichi asked.

Akari nodded, "I didn't want to make a big fuss. I hoped it was just standard stuff. I hope that Natsumi would be able to achieve her dreams. Adding you guys into the mix will stir things up in a way I didn't want."

"And it did," Akari smiled wryly, "I don't how Natsumi-chan knew, but she knew you were with me that day. And you being an Ultimate when she wasn't... well, look where that got for us."

Kokichi can't even deny that, but he had to ask...

"And what if all that is somehow illegal? What if it will harm Kuzuryu-chan?" Kokichi asked.

Akari sighed, "I hope not. But if it does..."

"I want it stopped."

Kokichi smiled, "Good to know."

Akari said, "That is all I have to tell you. I better make myself scarce again before the yakuza gets wind, but Ouma-kun..."

"Hmm?" Kokichi asked.

"I don't really know how this mission is going, and even with Natsumi-chan in the fray, but please... make sure it will end well for all of us. And you know what I mean," Akari said, standing up.

Kokichi stood up too. He knew what Akari meant, and he smiled.

"Of course Hatsura-chan. Cross my heart and hope to die!"

Truth Bullets

|Attempted Murder>
~Sato tried to kill Natsumi because Natsumi was suspected to do something nefarious against Mahiru.

|Ultimate Goal>
~Natsumi was determined to become an Ultimate that nothing will stand in her way especially any friend who would become a rival for that goal, like Akari...

|Betrayal>
~Akari 'aided' Sato in dealing the blows to Natsumi to the point she was hospitalised. Natsumi swore revenge to Akari ever since because a friend turned enemy left Natsumi enraged and bitter.