A man in his late thirties stands with a stoic expression on his face and his hands on his hips. He's wearing a white physician's coat over a teal shirt and brown pants. His short, black hair moves slightly in the soft wind, and his icy blue eyes can easily be seen through his non-reflective glasses.

Behind him are 19 men and women and a large, refrigerated truck. 30 feet in front of them are the open doors of Hope's Peak Academy.

A man near the back cautiously speaks up. "Um, sir?"

The man in the white coat looks back. "Yes?" he asks.

"Are you sure that the defenses are down?"

"Pretty sure. There's no reason for them to be active now that the doors are open. Still…" He motions to two people in the crowd. "You two, find the automated defenses and dismantle them."

The two immediately rush off.

The man near the back rushes up to the man in the coat and asks, "Um…sir?"

Surprised, the man says, "Yes?"

"Um… I'm aware that we're on Operation: Revival of Hope but…exactly what is Operation: Revival of Hope?"

There's a long pause as the other man's eyes go wide. He turns back to the rest of the group and yells, "NOBODY told him? NOBODY?"

Silence.

The man facepalms and sighs. "Dear Lord…" he mumbles. "Okay. Nine of you wait here by the truck for my signal. The rest of you, search the school for anything important or useful. You," he says, pointing to the man next to him, "come with me."

Once the others have gone off, the man in the coat turns to the other man and says, "Your name is Masaru Kurohiko, right?"

"Yes sir. So, um…what is Operation: Revival of Hope?"

"…At this point, it'd be faster to show you than to explain." He motions towards the school. "Come on."

The two men then go inside. Once they're in, the man in the coat puts a very small device on the floor, just in front of where the doors would be if they were closed.

"What's that?" Masaru asks.

"Hopefully," the other man replies, "you'll never have to find out."

Masaru's curious, but he realizes that pressing would be pointless, so he simply says, "So where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see."

When they're in the hallway, Masaru notes, "The power's still on."

"Of course it is. It's only been two days since the survivors left. Still, we can't stay too long."

"Oh, right. The air purifier's off."

The man silently leads Masaru to the stairs to the next floor, then the next. Their silence is occasionally broken by a run-in with another member of the group and by the man in the coat receiving information from them via two-way radio. Strangely enough, one person finds four chickens; they're told to bring the chickens with them. Eventually, they get to a long hallway on the fifth floor…and that's when Masaru starts to piece things together.

"S-Sir, where are we going?"

"You'll see very soon," he says with an undeniably giddy tone of voice.

Masaru looks ahead. There's only one place they could possibly be going at this point.

"Th-The Biology Lab?"

"Yep."

"B-But- But that's where-!"

Before he can finish his sentence, they reach the doors at the end of the hallway. The man in the coat swings the doors open, letting out a blast of frigid air from the Biology Lab. Masaru immediately starts shivering despite his long-sleeved shirt but the man in the coat, who seems completely unaffected by the cold, runs in.

"S-S-Sir!" Masaru yells, rushing after him.

Two rows of small doors line the back wall of the freezing room. There are indicator lights next to each of the doors. Nine of the blue lights are lit, indicating that they're being used…that there's a body inside.

The man in the coat is standing in front of one of the doors.

"D-Doctor Heizo Sasaki…" Masaru stammers.

Ignoring him, Heizo opens the door and pulls out the tray inside. Lying on the tray is a body covered by a white sheet. Heizo lifts the sheet up, looking at the corpse underneath.

Masaru goes over to the side of the tray opposite of Heizo. Heizo pulls the sheet down, exposing the corpse's face.

Masaru grimaces. It's Leon Kuwata, the boy who had been bludgeoned to death by a barrage of 1,000 baseballs. His face is, unsurprisingly, bruised and bloody, and there are several spots where his facial bones are undoubtedly broken. He's almost unrecognizable. Masaru quickly looks away from the gruesome sight, but Heizo isn't bothered in the slightest.

"Doctor…" Masaru says, "You're not planning on doing what I think you're planning on doing, are you?"

Heizo, with a small but slightly eerie smile on his face, says, "If what you think I'm planning on doing involves using the serum, then I probably am planning on doing what you think I'm planning on doing."

Masaru takes a step back. Shocked, he says, "B-But sir! I will not deny that the serum has powerful healing properties, but…using it to bring back the dead!?"

"It's worth a try," Heizo says with a suddenly blank expression and a hollow tone of voice. "I need to know…if they can still be saved… I need to…"

Masaru glances back down at Leon's body. It's then that he notices that Heizo had put his hand on the back of Leon's head and is now rubbing the corpse's temple with his thumb. Masaru feels his skin crawl and looks into the doctor's eyes, hoping for some indication of why he was doing that.

What he sees…is something that he's never seen before. There's a look of intense determination, along with…despair? He isn't sure.

"…What's wrong?" Masaru asks softly.

Heizo, in a flat, nearly monotonous tone of voice, murmurs, "Do you know what it's like to lose a family member?"

"…Not really…"

"Do you have any idea how these kids' families might feel about losing them?"

"…I'm pretty sure these kids' families are all dead."

Heizo looks up at Masaru's eyes. "You don't know if every single one of their relatives is dead. It might be a parent, a grandparent, a sibling, a cousin, an aunt, an uncle, a niece, a nephew, whatever. I know you saw the broadcast. How do you think the relatives of the kids who died felt as they watched them die?"

"…I honestly have no idea, sir."

There's a hollow look in Heizo's eyes as he looks back down at Leon. He continues to gently stroke the boy's temples as though he was only sleeping. Masaru also looks back at Leon. It's the first time he's ever been up close to a real dead body. He had seen several movies where it was somewhat easy to tell that the "dead" body was still breathing, but this… The only movements from Leon are those caused by Heizo's stroking. Otherwise, he's completely still. It's…unnerving.

Masaru looks back at Heizo, who seems to be muttering something under his breath.

Masaru asks, "…Is that why you want to try reviving them? Because of their families?"

Heizo replies, "It's…part of the reason."

Masaru is startled to see a tear roll down Heizo's cheek as the latter bites his lower lip. It's the first time he's seen Heizo cry, and he wonders if Heizo's going to break down in tears.

But he doesn't. Instead, he sharply inhales through his nostrils and lets out a shaky sigh.

"The other part is…for more personal reasons…"

Masaru feels a sudden need to change the subject. "Um… Are you sure we have enough serum…?"

"…We might need to make more, but I'm fairly certain that we have enough components to make enough. We might need to get more afterwards."

A voice suddenly comes on over the two-way radio. "Sir?"

Heizo takes the radio off his belt and speaks into it. "Yes?"

"We found the research notes of, um…Yasuke Matsuda, the Ultimate Neurologist. Should we take those too?"

"Yes. Those may turn out to be very useful. And even if they don't, I don't want those falling into the wrong hands again. Anything even remotely useful; whether it's research notes, food, clothes, or whatever; take it with you." Heizo clips the radio back onto his belt and looks back down at the corpse in front of him.

Almost automatically, Masaru adds, "And, um… What about…Junko Enoshima?"

Heizo stares up at Masaru. His intense glare makes Masaru glad that he hadn't chosen to stand next to the doctor.

Heizo leans forward and, with just a hint of hostility in his voice, says, "I have no plans whatsoever of reviving Junko Enoshima, for several reasons. First of all, reviving her would be counterproductive to the goals of Operation: Revival of Hope. Second, I don't have enough body containers. Third, Ultimate Despair may have already salvaged her carcass to the point where I wouldn't have enough to revive her from. Fourth, even if they haven't, she died by being crushed; it might be impossible to revive her. And fifth…" Heizo leans further forward and grits his teeth. "Why. Would. I. Bring. Back. Someone. Like. HER?"

Masaru shrinks back and whimpers, "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to imply that! I just wanted to be sure that you WEREN'T planning on it!"

Heizo stares intensely at Masaru's eyes, as though trying to look into his very soul.

Before Masaru can say anything, Heizo's eyes suddenly narrow and he looks away, looking almost frightened.

"No," he says quickly, "you're right. I'm sorry."

There's an awkward silence between the two men as they wait for the other to say something.

It doesn't last long, though.

"D-Daddy?"

Masaru, startled, turns towards the sound of the timid voice and is surprised to see Natsuki Sasaki, Heizo's teenage daughter. She's standing in the open doorway of the Biology Lab, clutching her arms and shivering.

"Natsuki?" says Masaru. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at the hospital?"

Her straight, light-purple hair is somewhat unkempt, as are her bangs, as though she hasn't brushed her hair for a few days (and knowing her, she probably hadn't).

Natsuki, barely audible, whimpers, "I…I…didn't want to be alone…"

"Um… But…isn't your mom there…?"

She glances at Heizo and says, "I…I'm more comfortable…with Daddy…"

Masaru looks at Heizo. His eyes are wide, and there's a subtle look of horror in his face. Masaru can't blame him. The world has become a dangerous place, and it's even more dangerous to be alone. At least she doesn't look injured…

"Sweetheart…" Heizo murmurs, "You could've just asked…"

"I-I-I'm sorry…" Natsuki whimpers, taking a few steps back.

Heizo immediately goes over to her, saying, "No no no, you don't have to apologize." He wraps his arms around her, holding her in a tight embrace. "It's okay, sweetie, it's okay…"

Masaru idly wonders what their family life had been like prior to the Despairing Incident.

He turns back to Leon's body, questions swirling in his mind. Why was Dr. Sasaki so sure that he could revive the dead with the serum? Would it even work? Even if it did, would the kids' personalities be the same as before their deaths? Or would they be completely different?

He slightly shakes his head…and jumps when he realizes that Heizo is now standing right next to him.

He says, "Would you like to help with loading the bodies?"

"Loading the bodies…?"

"Loading them into the containers to take back to the hospital."

Masaru blinks, surprised by the offer.

"…Before I answer that question, there's something I'd like to know."

"What?"

"How can you seem so certain that you'll be able to bring these kids back to life? And even if we can, there's no guarantee they'll be the same as before they died, or if it'll even really be THEM. You know what I mean?"

"I think so. But even if they don't have their original 'souls,' as long as they have their original personalities and all their memories in the end, that'll be good enough for me."

"'In the end?'"

"They…probably won't be able to remember their past life after their revival, so their personalities may not be exactly the same as before, but hopefully they'll go back to normal when they regain their memories."

"…And how do you know that's 'probably' what's going to happen?" Masaru asks rather slowly.

"For the same reason I know that I can certainly bring these kids back to life."

What on Earth happened in this guy's past?, Masaru thinks. …Maybe I'm better off not knowing.

There's another awkward silence between the two men as they wait for the other to say something.

This time, though, it's Masaru who breaks the silence.

"So, um… As for your question earlier…"

"Yes?"

"I think I'll take up your offer."

"Very good. In that case," Heizo says, taking the radio off his belt, "there's no reason to delay loading."

Masaru wraps his arms around himself and shivers. "But first I have to go defrost outside!"

Heizo cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow. "The temperature bothers you?"

"It doesn't bother you?" Masaru retorts.

"No," Heizo says as though it's the most obvious thing in the world, "not at all."

Masaru simply rolls his eyes and leaves the Bio Lab.

Outside in the hall, Natsuki is leaning against the wall, combing her fingers through her somewhat lengthy hair.

"Is something wrong?" Masaru inquires.

"Ever since I stepped in here," Natsuki says, "I keep getting this nagging feeling that I've been here before…"

"Well, you did watch the broadcast…"

"No, not like that. I mean like…like I've actually physically been inside this building before… Oh nevermind."

Masaru wants to press the subject, but, again, decides that he's better off not knowing.

After a few seconds, Natsuki says, "How do you think the survivors would feel if they found out what we were planning to do?"

Masaru responds, "Probably surprised, shocked, skeptical, maybe a little hopeful."

Natsuki sighs and asks, "Do you…really think we'll be able to pull this off? Operation: Revival of Hope, I mean."

Masaru looks up at the ceiling. "…I really, really hope so. For their sake…and for mine."

Natsuki's too nervous to ask what he means.

Author's Note: It's been a long time since I've made a proper fanfic so please let me know how I'm doing with this. Here's to hoping I can retain interest in this fandom long enough to finish this fic.