if chiaki were in a position where it were possible, she wouldn’t hesitate to end enoshima’s life then and there. it wouldn’t bring back those who had died, and it wouldn’t cure her former classmates, but… it was something. she could prevent future deaths, at least. she could protect the people who remained.
but she had no weapons on her. and she had no doubt, too, that enoshima wouldn’t just lie down and let her kill her. her plans likely weren’t done yet. making a move to assault her would just serve to further satisfy her lust for despair, and that was something chiaki would never do, if she could help it.
don’t let her get to you. fight past it.
“if this world deserves nothing but despair… then why are people still fighting for hope?” it wasn’t over yet. it couldn’t be over. if a world full of hope could give birth to a person like enoshima, then a world full of despair could still produce the hero they needed to save it. “i think… you must know this yourself. why else are you still here, trying to make me despair?”
why haven’t i fallen, yet?
“i bet… a world full of despair, and nothing but despair isn’t what you want, either. because… that would be just as boring as a world full of hope, wouldn’t it?”
her eyes fell to the lack of companionship enoshima had. while she was trying to determine any weak points, any chinks in her armor she could strike at, chiaki spoke an innocent question without thinking:
“where’s kamukura izuru?”
It was no fun if they gave in too easy. Maybe that was why Junko kept pushing Nanami. No matter what she said, Nanami had some sort of comeback. She was usually surrounded by people who just agreed with her because she had her claws in them. Nanami was an actual opponent, even if her ideas were total bullshit. People don’t fight for hope. They fight to deny the truth. The truth was that they were all destined for despair. People like Chiaki could paint it as a noble crusade against evil if they wanted, but the truth was that it was doomed to fail.
Junko could have crushed her so easily, but then she went and did it. She mentioned his name. It was slight, perhaps imperceptible, but Enoshima flinched when she heard it. Her facade faded away for a mere instant. Shock turned to anger, but she quickly concealed it before she said something she might regret. Well, she tried, anyway.
“Don’t know, don’t care.”
A lie. She had people specifically searching for Kamukura. The part that she would never admit was that it wasn’t because she needed him for her plans at all. She liked him being around. That was all. Maybe there was some part of her that she didn’t want to face that wanted him close to her.
The thin veneer of civility was beginning to fall away. Junko wanted to make Chiaki hurt. It was the only reason she even gave this reject the time of day. She’d practically killed her once before, and still, she fought against despair. Still, she struck back. It was disgusting. For her of all people to bring him up. It was insulting, and not in the way she liked.
She wanted to see her break. She wanted Chiaki to grovel at her fucking feet. But she didn’t have an answer. She was so blindsided by what she just said, she was momentarily at a loss. At a loss.
“I bet you don’t know where he is. I bet if you did, you’d be running after him right now, huh? Gotta find your dead talentless loser boyfriend, right?”
With a careful motion, she took the gamer’s hand. She was almost gentle. If it was anybody other than Junko Enoshima, it might be taken as a display of comfort. From her, it seemed more like a threat. Maybe it was. Junko was almost on autopilot.
“Y’know what’s funny? I keep thinking about what else I can take away from you, but I keep drawing a blank. Why the hell are you even still alive? Is that hope of yours the only thing keeping you moving? Wow! I sure hope not. That’d be really shitty for you, wouldn’t it?”
yousharknotpass
kaledo-art
2087
annaxmalina
