❛ Misleading you say, How so? ❜
Oh, Nagiekun! what is this? Trying to waste time with expositions? As if she’ll allow that. What a wonderful opportunity this is, to turn the ‘So-called ‘ ( self-proclaimed. ) SHSL HOPE into the SHSL DESPAIR. ah. no, no, no! Nagie won’t be like those totally useless senpais of Enoshima. He’ll plant the seed of despair within his classmates. They all seem to trust him & why wouldn’t they? He has absolutely no standoffish qualities running through his veins, does he? Nope. what was the saying again? Set the bar too low & avoid being disappointed? well, that certainly fit’s him. — to the point of appearing trustworthy to all of her classmates.
❛ Oh really? but we WERE friends. You just don’t want to remember.
& now look at you, here you are stalling for time by desperately
throwing out random things that pop into your mind.
Doesn’t that fill you with despair? Hey — ❜
The clicking of heels rings out throughout the currently occupied room.
Blue eyes seem to light up. As she makes her way over to him.
Smile smile smile. A hand placed on his shoulder as she reels him in.
❛ What’s with that inflated ego anyway? Mr. self-proclaimed hope. Are you trying to be the world’s hope? You actually think you can save this dump? So you’ll give everyone back their hope. To children who’ve lost their parents? To parents that have witnessed their child being killed? To your classmates who killed each other for NOTHING! what meaningless deaths! To people who destroyed their own bodies, killed their friends & —
Even you! What about your parent’s? Do you think you can save the world by spouting a few heroic lines here & there? GROW UP !! The reality is — It doesn’t matter if you want them all to harbor hope! All that’s gonna do is remind them of the terror they witnessed! & You are making them all go through this! Reminding them again & again & again — ❜
Her voice is sweet as more UGLY Truths words spill out.
Of course, she’s not done yet! How long are you going to
make everyone suffer Nagiekun? How long were you going
to force your beliefs onto others?
❛ — How selfish of you, nagiekun! ❜
—— « but we were friends. the words ring in his ears, and for
a moment, makoto is stuck on them. no, we weren't, he wants
to say, because you weren't YOU back then. he had thought
junko was his friend, while she was deceiving everyone the whole
time. that's not how friendship works -- it's supposed to go both
ways. junko didn't care about him at all, especially not at the
time, when she thought he was just the shsl lucky student- right?
so there's no way they were really friends.
so far, his plan to distract her isn't exactly working. well, he's still
alive, so there's that-- but now she's coming closer, and her voice --
though coated in sugar, is dripping with a malice that only grows
more intense, more powerful with every word that spills out of her
mouth. makoto begins to tremble slightly just from the sheer pressure
of it, green eyes fixed on blue as he's forced to listen to her
speech.
she's not wrong. a tiny voice nags at him in the back of his
mind. there's no way i can save the world. makoto is just a
kid; a kid desperately clinging to the last remnants of the
blind optimism they call HOPE, spouting words from his
heart in the hopes that it's enough to encourage his friends
just to keep on living.
“ y-you're right.. i can't do it by myself, ” he
mumbles quietly, his gaze turning downward. he feels
the despair in front of him like a cloud of smoke closing in
on him, threatening to choke him out. if he just took a deep
breath... maybe it would fill him entirely. that’s easier than
fighting it off, right? " i'm no superhero. "
his hope might be enough to keep him going, but his
purpose -- one he gave to himself, but a purpose
nonetheless -- is to spread it to others. no, he can't save
the world himself, but those who he can save have the power
to find the hope that's still inside them and drive out the despair --
because everyone still has a little bit of hope inside them,
“ that's the thing! i'm not trying to save the world on my
own--! ” he looks back up at junko, a hardened expression
replacing the sad look on his face before. he shrugs off
junko's hand.
“ it's not about me. it's about helping others find the hope
that's still inside of them, and drawing it out. even if people are
overwhelmed by despair.. even... even if they've gone
through horrible things.. done terrible things themselves.. i believe
they still have some hope deep inside of them. because in
order to feel despair, they must’ve had HOPE in the first place! ”
it’s not gone, just buried... ( does that mean, following his logic, junko
must’ve felt hope before, too? makoto will have to think about that
later -- if he gets out of here alive, anyway.. )
“ i don't want to force people to go through that stuff again.. believe
me, if i could erase everyones' memories just to bring back
their hope, i would. i don't care if it's selfish! i just want to
see the world go back to NORMAL again!! ”
