A wolf in sheep's clothing.

Looking over Makoto's shoulder, Shuichi saw a young girl with short, floppy green hair and eyes nearly the same color, struggling in vain to reach the soda fountain to fill her oversized soda cup. He was just about to get up and get a waiter to help when Kaito, returning from ordering their food, passed by and noticed the small girl’s plight.

“Hey there, kid; what are you up to?” Kaito asked, kneeling down so his face would be level with the girl’s. “Having trouble with something?”

“Yeah! I’m trying to get some Mr. Fizz, but I can’t quite reach it!” the kid replied. “But I’m almost there! Almost… almost!” The girl closed her eyes and stood on her tip-toes, but she still wasn’t even remotely close.

“Yep; almost there!” Reaching under her arms, Kaito lifted her effortlessly until she was at just the right height to reach the soda machine. “Hup! There you go!” Kaito smiled as the girl, initially startled by his sudden advance, quickly responded by filling her drink cup. “Never be afraid to ask for help, young lady. It’s good to not give up on your dreams, but it’s a lot easier to reach the stars when you’ve got some teamwork to back you up! Hahahaha!” Kaito laughed, satisfied with his short inspirational speech, and set her down.

“Wow! Thanks a lot, mister!” the green-haired girl said, her eyes sparkling with admiration as she put a lid on her drink cup. “I won’t forget this! I promise, I’ll remember how great teamwork is from now on!”

She then giggled innocently and skipped over to the table across from Kaito’s coworkers, where she began idly sipping at her drink.

The goateed man then returned to their table, beaming with pride at his accomplishment. “Heh, gotta love kids, huh? They sometimes bite off more than they can chew, but you have to admire their tenacity!”

“Sure, Kaito, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea to grab a kid so casually like that. Shouldn’t her parents or the staff have been the ones who–” Shuichi paused as he noticed a waiter carrying a large tray of food passing through their aisle toward their table. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the young girl from before knocking over her drink cup with a gleeful smile on her face. The brown contents then spilled with a splash onto the floor, coating the surface with slippery soda, unbeknownst to the approaching waiter. “Hey, look out!”

Acting quickly, Shuichi jumped out of his seat and grabbed hold of the waiter’s tray as he began sliding on the slick part of the floor. The man’s hands suddenly freed, he threw them out to catch himself on the back of their booth. “Whoa, wha–I, uhh… whew. F-food for table thirteen?”

“Yea, that would be us.” Makoto spoke up.

“Alright, here you go, three Splendiferous Beef Burger meals, two with cheese, one with no tomato, and a Triple-Deluxe Poultry Sandwich meal with spicy sauce and extra pickles,” the waiter declared, setting the food down. “And, uh, sorry about your drink, little miss. I can go get you another one if you’d like.”

“No, that’s fine… I think I had enough soda for one day anyway,” the girl replied sweetly. “I’m super sorry about the spill, though… I didn’t mean to, honest!”

“Don’t worry, kid; stuff like this happens all the time,” the waiter assured her. “Let me just go get a mop and I’ll get this cleaned up right away.”

“Sweet! Finally!” Kazuichi licked his lips and rubbed his hands together. “Let’s dig in!”

Shuichi’s friends wasted no time in tearing into their food like hungry wolves, but Shuichi himself ate at a noticeably slower pace. His appetite had been spoiled somewhat after watching that waiter nearly take a fall - if he had hit the ground he could have gotten a serious bruise at best or lacerated himself on broken dishes and silverware at worst. And the fact that he was so close to disaster didn’t sit well with him even if everyone else seemed to move on like nothing happened.

Then, as he stared at the spot where the spilled soda still sat, he felt a strange feeling shoot down his spine. It was as if someone was looking at him with burning hatred and contempt, but when he looked up to see who it was he just saw the green-haired girl smiling back and kicking her legs playfully under her seat.

“Hey, Shuichi, did you snack earlier or something? How come you’re barely touching your food?” Kaito asked, not caring that he was speaking through a mouthful of beef.

“Uh, sorry, I guess I’m just not that hungry today,” Shuichi half-heartedly apologized, breaking eye contact with the girl to look at his friend. But when he looked back, the green-haired girl was gone.

Looking around, Shuichi spotted the girl sitting at another table further away, using some crayons to play the games on a paper kid’s menu. Then, right as a waitress who was looking at her phone was about to walk by, the girl scooched her chair just enough out of place to align one of its legs with the woman’s foot. Without any way to see it coming, the waitress tripped and began immediately falling towards the floor, and right towards a rather sharp-looking fork that was lying there.

Shuichi bolted out of his own chair just in time, though, and managed to stop her mid-fall. Which was very fortunate for the waitress since, if he had to guess by the angle, the fork could have wound up straight in her jugular.

“Are you alright?” Shuichi asked, pulling the waitress to her feet.

“Y-yeah. Thanks.” She breathed, realizing just how close she came to getting hurt. “I guess I should pay more attention when I’m walking, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so… I’m glad I could help.” The office worker replied, letting her go on her way.

“Alright, Shuichi! Way to be a hero!” Kaito cheered from the table, expecting his friend to come straight back. Shuichi, however, didn’t seem to register his friend’s words, instead focusing his attention on the green-haired girl who was still coloring her kids’ menu.

“Hey, you need to be more careful,” Shuichi said accusingly. “Those two could have been seriously hurt because of what you did.”

“Huh?” The girl looked up from her menu with her eyes wide, as if this was the first time she’d even seen Shuichi. “What are you talking about? Did I do something wrong?”

“I saw you pull out the chair, and I saw you spill your drink on purpose too,” Shuichi answered, not backing down. “I assume that you were just trying to prank them, but that’s seriously unacceptable behavior. What would your parents think if they saw you do that?”

“Th-those were accidents, I swear!” the girl replied, starting to tear up now. “I-I’m just t-trying to have fun a-at my favorite restaurant!”

“Hey, Shuichi! What are you doing? Why are you picking on that little kid?” Kazuichi complained, but his tone was more confused than angry. “Those were just little slip-ups! You don’t know if any of that was her fault.”

“Yeah, and besides; it’s not like anyone actually got hurt,” Makoto pointed out.

“Guys, I’m being serious; I know what I saw,” Shuichi explained, turning his back to the girl. “Those weren’t accidents; those were deliberate.”

“Dude, seriously? You really think a kid could do that?” Kazuichi asked, dumbfounded.

“There’s no way that’s possible.” Makoto added.

“Hey now, the impossible is possible! All you have to do is make it so! But even so, it’ll be a few years before a kid like her would even think about doing something like that,” said Kaito. “Now, are you gonna come back and finish up, or do you want us to pack up your food for later?”

“Oh, crap! Have we really been here that long already?” Kazuichi exclaimed, looking at his watch.

“Err…” Shuichi glanced back behind him and noticed that the green-haired girl had once again disappeared. His rational mind told him that he should listen to his friends and stop worrying about this random kid, but at the same time he knew he couldn’t do that. It was as if there was a deep, dark pit in his stomach that was telling him that if he left now, disaster was going to follow. “You guys pack it up and go back without me. I, uh, have to go to the bathroom.”

“Suit yourself.” Makoto replied, him and the others packing up the remains of the lunch for leftovers.

Shuichi however, began looking around for the girl, and managed to spot a blob of green hair making its way across the room. Shuichi carefully followed behind the child, careful to keep his distance and avoid being spotted, until the girl finally came to a stop just outside the restaurant's kitchen. At first, Shuichi thought that she might try to head inside, but instead she checked to see if any of the employees were looking before dashing behind the trashcan next to the door. There, she hid until an employee came out pushing a cart full of dishes and silverware, at which point she carefully reached out and grabbed something:

A long, sharp kitchen knife.

“Ah!” Shuichi gasped and immediately rushed over to the green-haired girl, not wanting to see what she might do with it. His mind rocked with panic, Shuichi grabbed the girl hard by the wrist, causing her to grunt in pain and drop the knife onto the ground with a clang.

“Ow! What are you doing!? Let me go!” The girl demanded, struggling to free herself from Shuichi’s grip.

“S-sorry, but… I can’t do that,” Shuichi replied, loosening his hold just a little to avoid bruising the child. “I saw you take that knife; what were you planning on doing with that? You weren’t really going to…”

“What are you talking about? Knife? Y-you’re scaring me, mister!” the girl replied as tears welled up in her eyes. “Someone, he-lmpmph!?”

Realizing just how bad it would look if the girl were to cry out, Shuichi shoved a panicked hand over her mouth and held it there to keep her quiet. Then, realizing that this situation made him look even worse if someone were to see them, he hastily pulled the girl into the nearby men’s restroom and prayed that no one was inside. Fortunately, it appeared to be a single-stall restroom, so he hastily locked the door behind him and let out a sigh of relief. He was prepared to try and think of a way he could somehow contact the authorities, or at least this kid’s parents, but his thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that the girl had suddenly become suspiciously calm.

“Aww… I can’t believe I got interrupted again! This always happens!” the girl said as Shuichi let go of her mouth, pouting and kicking her foot. “Do you ever just get the feeling that the universe just doesn’t want you to have any fun?”

“I, uh… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shuichi replied, trying to hide just how disturbed he was by the girl’s sudden change in tone. “And what do you mean, ‘fun’? Are you talking about those awful ‘pranks’ you were trying to pull earlier?”

“Of course not, silly!” The girl looked up at Shuichi and gave him the warmest, most genuine smile he’d ever seen from a child. “I’m talking about my **** attempts, of course!”

“M-m-m… ****?” Shuichi’s face went pale and he almost collapsed on the spot. “What do you mean by that?”

“The ending of another person’s life, of course!” She replied in the same tone a first-grader would use to describe what a giraffe is. “Jeez, you’d think an adult would be more familiar with such a basic concept. Maybe you should be in grade school, not me.”

“I-I know what **** is!” Shuichi countered. “But why would you want to kill someone?”

“Because it would be fun, of course!” the girl replied, unfazed. “But you don’t really care about that, do you? It’s not like you knew most of those people out there. I bet one, or even a few of them, could drop right out of your life forever and you’d never even know the difference! I mean, have you ever thought about if someone on the street might have died the day after you walked by them? Of course not!”

“Gah! That’s… that’s the most terrible thing I’ve ever heard!” Shuichi gasped.

“And yet, you didn’t actually deny anything I said!” the girl replied with a subtle smugness.

“You… You’re definitely sick,” Shuichi said, his resolve hardening. “I need to get you to a psychiatric hospital, or some kind of professional.”

“Oh no, I’m afraid that you won’t be doing anything like that,” the girl replied confidently. “In fact, you’re just going to let me go and be on your merry way, and we’ll both pretend that we’ve never even met each other here.”

“What? No, that would be insane!” Shuichi replied. “I can’t just let someone like you go; not when you might still hurt someone!”

“Well, I suppose that is your choice; but are you really willing to pay the price for it?” The girl asked, placing a curious finger on her cheek. “I mean, if I were to call out for help right now, and I told them you were a pedophile… well, who do you think they’d believe? You, who says that a cute innocent girl like me wanted to kill someone, or me, who says you’re a creep who pulls strange girls into the boys’ bathroom on a whim?”

“Guh…” Shuichi felt himself start to sweat as his grip began to waver. “That… that’s not fair.”

“So? Life isn’t fair - and neither is ****!” the girl replied, her voice monotone as a strange, soulless mania appeared in her eyes. “So what’s it gonna be, mister? You better make the decision soon, or else I might get bored! Oh, and you should know that things will only get worse in prison once they find out what you ‘did’ to me. You better hope your prison has a good doctor, because when they get to you-”

Halfway through her speech, however, the girl was abruptly interrupted by the sound of flushing behind them. They both froze as Shuichi realized that he never actually bothered to check if the bathroom was empty; he just assumed it was because the door was unlocked.

“Sorry to interrupt,” a sickly male voice spoke out from inside the stall as its door unlocked. “But did someone say… ‘ hope ’?”

A moment later the stall door opened, and out stepped a man with hair that was shoulder-length and naturally wavy, its brown color faded so white that there was almost no trace of its original shade. He was dressed in a bizarre way too, wearing a thin, knee-length, unzipped dark green coat with a jagged cut tail, topped off with a red square pattern across the right shoulder, and a large ‘55’ on the back. Underneath, he had a white scoop-neck t-shirt with a red design that looked like two interlocking hooks. Finally, he also wore black jeans, and a wallet chain with a skull charm. Everything about this man’s looks confused Shuichi; he seemed well-off if the gold rings on his fingers were any indication, and yet everything about him exuded the air of someone poor and malnourished, like he was some kind of hobo-millionaire.

But perhaps what confused Shuichi the most was how he casually walked to the bathroom sink to wash his hands despite clearly hearing Shuichi’s whole conversation with the girl.

“Oh! Uh… hi there, dad,” the girl greeted, her terrifying confidence evaporating in an instant. “Shouldn’t you, uh… be at the other restaurant across the street?”

“Yes, I should; but when I got up from our table to go to the bathroom, I found that every single stall in the place was out of order. But fortunately, the waitstaff was able to direct me to the bathrooms here instead,” the man explained as he lathered his hands. “But what about you, Monaca? Why did you leave our table?”

“Oh, you know… just wanted to get a drink, and I got a little bit lost,” the green-haired girl replied, laughing nervously.

“W-wait, you’re her father!?” Shuichi gasped and let Monaca go, allowing her feet to touch the ground again. “Listen, I swear that this isn’t what it looks like! I know this might sound crazy, but your daughter-”

“Tried to kill someone?” the man interrupted. “Don’t worry, I heard everything, and this isn’t the first time this has happened.” He then knelt down in front of his daughter and looked her directly in the eye, his casual demeanor still not dissipating. “So, how many was it this time?”

“Aww, daddy! Do you really think I’d do something like that?” Monaca asked. Her father did not react. “It was three…”

“Only three? Wow Monaca, you’re showing an awful lot of restraint! I’m so proud!” The man declared, his grin widening as he rubbed her hair playfully. Monaca just scowled up at him, however, clearly not happy to be praised like this.

“Wait, this is her restraining herself?! How long has she been doing this?” Shuichi asked in alarm.

“Oh, ever since I found her abandoned on my doorstep I think,” the white-haired man replied, standing up straight again. “She’s always been a rambunctious child, but she can be sweet when she wants to be. She’s a good kid deep down, and I still feel like the luckiest man in the world for meeting her.”

“Lucky!? Do you seriously call having a kid who tries to kill people lucky!?” Shuichi asked, starting to wonder if he had gone insane and this was all some sort of hallucination.

“Oh, the attempted murders are bad, of course; but even with all her attempts, she’s never actually succeeded. In fact, she’s never even been able to so much as hurt a fly!” The strange man replied. “How do you call that anything other than miraculous?”

“I… guess that would be pretty lucky.” Shuichi looked down at Monaca and, judging by the disappointed look on her face, her dad was telling the truth.

“It’s nice to meet you, by the way.” The man shook Shuichi’s hands, his skin so cold it almost sent a shiver down Shuichi’s spine. “My name is Nagito Komaeda. Thanks for stopping my daughter from misbehaving. It would have been such a shame if this was the day she finally crossed the line..”

“Uh… Shuichi Saihara… and you’re welcome.” Shuichi returned Nagito’s handshake. “So, uh… are you going to do something about your daughter?”

“Of course; she won’t be getting any desert tonight, and she won’t get to watch any cartoons either,” Nagito explained.

“But daaaad! We were going to have mochi tonight!” Monaca whined, stomping her foot.

“I know; it pains me too, but you know this is what happens when you break the rules,” Nagito replied, his voice mournful and full of regret. “I have hope that she’ll learn her lesson one day, though. Even a kid will get tired of their favorite game eventually.”

“Uh… I don’t mean to judge your parenting skills, but are you sure that’s a good idea?” Shuichi asked. “She wasn’t being haphazard with her technique out there… she was cold and calculated, and her ability to plan these kinds of things is only going to get stronger as she grows up. You can’t think that slapping her on the wrist and hoping for the best is the right idea.”

“Why not? Hope is the most powerful **** in the world, after all. Hope is why we wake up in the morning, why we each pursue our goals and dreams!” Nagito explained, pausing to let out a sickly-sounding laugh. “Hope always wins, even in the face of great despair. In fact, I believe that the greater despair the world faces, the greater the hope that prevails will be in the end!”

“That… doesn’t seem like the most realistic philosophy in the world, I’m afraid,” Shuchi replied, laughing back nervously. “In fact… that sounds suspiciously like what a character in Danganronpa would say.”

Nagito’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Ah; so you’re a fan of that show too! Isn’t it just incredible? Doesn’t watching it just fill you with so much hope each and every episode that you could just explode?”

Between them, Monaca rolled her eyes so hard they threatened to roll out of her head.

“R-right, of course,” Shuichi replied, though inside that comment was the last straw to convince him that Nagito was insane. “Anyways, I’m glad I could reunite you with your daughter, but I need to get back to work now and-”

“Hold on a moment, my good man! I still haven’t gotten the chance to properly thank you!” Nagito interrupted before Shuichi could turn around. “After all, you did me such a huge favor, it would be rude of me not to pay you back! So please, let me leave you with a token of my gratitude.”

Nagito then reached into his pocket and took out a small, silver pin which he placed into Shuichi’s hands. Shuichi examined it closely and, much to his surprise, he recognized it. “You’re giving me… a Hope’s Peak Academy pin?”

“Yep; I always keep it on me. It’s one of my favorite lucky charms,” Nagito explained. “If you keep it on you, then maybe some of my luck will rub off on you!”

“Wow, and this is a limited edition one, too,” Shuichi said, examining the back of the pin before putting it in his pocket. “Thank you, I guess.”

“Any time, my friend; just remember to always keep hope, even when things seem to be at their worst. Always hold onto hope that things will work out in the end! If you do that, there’s no way that you can ever lose!” The man let out another sickly laugh, and Shuichi was honestly amazed he didn’t fall over and die right then and there. “Now, are you ready to head back to our restaurant, Monaca? The waiters are probably wondering where we are.”

“No; I don’t feel like eating anymore,” Monaca declared, crossing her arms and pouting. “Just leave me here in this bathroom, and I’ll just have soap for lunch.”

“Aw, don’t be like that; growing girls like you need to eat!” Nagito counted. “How about when we get there, I buy you some of your favorite chicken nuggets? Would that make you feel better?”

“Ah! Chickie nuggies? You mean it?” Monaca asked excitedly. Nagito nodded in response. “Yay! Chickie nuggies! Let’s go!”

“I guess this is goodbye for now then, Shuichi. It was nice meeting you,” Nagito said as Monaca opened the door and dashed outside. “Hopefully we’ll have the chance to meet each other again one day. May we each find each other in even better fortunes than we have now.”

“So long, Mr. Komaeda… Good luck raising your daughter!” Shuichi waved as Nagito left, but he let out a long sigh of exhaustion the moment he was gone. “Wow, that was stressful… I can’t even imagine what it would be like to live with either of those two every day. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn’t gotten involved. Oh well; at least I helped save those people’s lives.”

Shuichi then walked back into the restaurant and retrieved his briefcase that he left at his table before checking his watch. And as soon as he did, his heart jumped so hard it was like he was having a heart attack. “Oh no! That took way longer than I thought it would! I hope no one notices I’m late!”

Shuichi then dashed out of the restaurant and jumped into his car, his keys desperately angling for the ignition. And as he pulled out of the restaurant parking lot as fast as he could, his new Hope’s Peak pin sat there in his pocket, forgotten completely. If the rest of his day played out normally, then chances were that he wouldn’t have seen it again until he washed his pants and it came tumbling out into the washing machine.

But the rest of that day would turn out to be anything but ordinary.