Hey there! This is a cross-post from AO3, where I had a few people suggest I should upload onto . Since this is where I got my start, I figured 'eh, why not'. It's a different fandom from the other stories I've written here, but if you're new to Danganronpa I hope you give the story a shot anyway.

Deep in a purple ocean, the corpse of a mutant bear floated. It was large, twisted, bipedal, lacked a snout, and its head was round. The corpse was charred and fragmented, a mass of dead black tissue. A section of the head was caved in, and one eye socket had been twisted into a jagged curve. Inside that curve, a red light stared deeper into the abyss. Bubbles slipped from between its broken teeth, and with them a chuckle.

"Of all the things that could have gotten in your way, I bet you never would have guessed a rabbit would interfere..."

The chuckles turned to a mad cackle, and the corpse of the bear dissolved into ash.

The rooftop of the old office building was damp, dark, and cold. So late at night, the autumn wind carried a slight chill that blew away whatever shreds of warmth it came across. The woman who stood on the roof gave no reaction to the cold that tugged at her suit and long lavender hair, her entire focus on the purple crystal that glowed in her hand. After a time the glow faded, and the woman spoke to the darkness. "I trust nothing too terrible has assaulted you this evening, Usami?"

A voice rose up from behind the woman. Despite becoming no louder than a whisper, it echoed around the rooftop. "No, no, I'm fine. But Kiri, are you sure you don't have super senses? I can never catch you by surprise."

Kyoko turned around. The person stood less than three strides away. They were dressed in a white dress and stockings, with a pink frilled skirt, shoulder pads, and breastplate. A choker encircled her neck with a red jewel and two outstretched wings as its centerpiece, which matched the ethereal wings that came out of her back. A rabbit mask covered the top half of her face, and a pink bow was tied in her glowing hair next to her temple. She wielded a staff with two hearts in an hourglass shape at its tip.

"Remaining aware of my surroundings is a given, not something that should come as a surprise," Kyoko said.

Usami smiled. "Humble and vigilant. A good combination for a detective."

Kyoko frowned. "As much as I enjoy the pleasantries, we have an important matter to discuss. I believe I have a lead on Kamukura."

Usami's smile faded.

"My investigation isn't complete," Kyoko explained, "But based on what we have now I believe he's connected to a young man named Hinata Hajime. A bartender, around our age, who works at a small location in the downtown business district."

"Kuzuryu territory?" Usami asked.

Kyoko nodded. "Hinata is the only person working out of that establishment with no previous ties to the group, and his time of hire is near when Kamukura began close work with the Kuzuryu. Unfortunately I don't have enough information at this time to determine if he's a red herring or not. Ground work on both the location and Hinata will be needed. Do you know anything?"

Usami shook her head. "No. But I can find out."

Kyoko rose an eyebrow. "I think the yakuza would notice if Hope's Peak's magical girl swept through. Subtlety is not in your nature."

Usami pouted. "I don't live my whole life in costume. I can go undercover."

"That's a large risk," Kyoko said. "Your identity could be compromised over nothing, or this could be a trap designed by Kamukura."

"In which case it would be better for the girl with magical powers to go," Usami argued. "Kamukura could wipe you out of existence with ease. I can probably get away. And even if it is just a bunch of gangsters I can become bullet proof. You can't."

Kyoko crossed her arms. "I'm confident enough in my skills that it wouldn't come to that."

"Then keep looking into the Kuzuryu," Usami said. "I'll look for Kamukura. We'll meet in the middle."

Kyoko sighed. "So our usual strategy? I take on the mundane, you fight the supernatural, and we sweep our enemies?"

Usami hummed. "Why mess with greatness?"

Her wings outstretched and she leapt into the air. After a few flaps, Usami began to soar away at high speeds, turning into a comet of light across the night sky.

The 77th Dragon was a minimalistic bar that sat between an antique shop and an office complex. Half the room was taken up by the dark granite bar and its stools, while the other half hosted four high top tables and a few chairs for each. Two employees stood behind the bar, mixing drinks for their guests. At five in the afternoon the bar was somewhat full, most of its patrons business employees having a drink or two to take the edge off their stressful days. When the young woman wearing an unzipped hoodie stepped through the entryway she stuck out in an instant.

She stood a fraction shorter than average, dressed in a casual button up under her hoodie, a skirt, and stockings. She pulled her hood down to reveal locks of hair that reached her shoulders before they curled out, and straight cut bangs that stopped just above her eyes. Her gaze drifted over every space of the bar until it settled on an empty table in the back. After she adjusted the straps on her animal backpack, she strode to the table and pulled herself onto one of the seats.

A moment later one of the two employees came around to her. "Welcome to The 77th Dragon. May I see your I.D.?"

The woman dug into her backpack and pulled out an identification card. She handed it to the employee, who looked it over.

"Ms. Nanami Chiaki? Is that correct?" The employee asked.

Chiaki nodded.

"I do apologize," the employee said, handing back her card. "Policy is to make sure we aren't serving alcohol to those who cannot legally purchase it, and you have such a youthful face. Thank you for your understanding. What can I get for you?"

Chiaki thought about it. The silence between her and the employee stretched on for almost a minute. The employee's expression began to falter by the time she spoke. "Water."

The employee blinked. "...Just water?"

Chiaki frowned. "...I suppose I could take a soda. And some chips."

"Soda...and chips," the employee repeated. "Of course, ma'am. I'll be right back with those."

They left, and Chiaki dug into her backpack again. She pulled out a handheld game console and powered it up. Her muscle memory allowed her to load up a game without looking, and her gaze drifted up to the man behind the bar who had not come to speak with her.

Hinata Hajime looked older than his age. His expression seemed tired even when he was smiling or laughing, and dark circles lurked under his eyes. He never showed abnormal physical qualities for a man with an average build. The whole time Chiaki watched him, he never acted or said anything that someone would find surprising for a young bartender in a city to say. The sole striking feature he had was a single lock of hair that refused to stay flat on his head, instead poking out like an antenna.

Chiaki stared at his facial features for a long time. After she ate her chips and paid for her meal, she left the bar.

Chiaki frequented The 77th Dragon over the days that followed. Her attendance helped her learn Hajime's schedule and keep an eye on his behaviors. He was punctual, hygienic, and professional. He was either good at listening or good at pretending to. If someone seemed like they were in a bad mood, he always tried to give a kind word. Chiaki saw him on occasion pay for a guest's drinks when he thought no one was looking.

Almost a week after Chiaki had begun her observations, Hajime broke his routine. The forecast had predicted rain for days, but no one believed significant rain would come this long after the end of the rainy season. Then one evening, a storm swept over Hope's Peak and dumped a tide of water onto the city. The bar patrons grumbled about it as they brought out their umbrellas and stepped into the downpour. Hajime, who had been scheduled for an earlier shift, cleaned up his section of the bar and prepared to leave with his own umbrella in hand. Chiaki watched from her usual seat as he paused by the door to the bar.

A patron stood under the overhang to the door and dug through her bag with a frazzled expression on her face. She muttered a curse, closed the bag, and stared through the rain. Chiaki watched Hajime, who squared his shoulders and stepped outside.

"Excuse me, miss," he said to the woman. His voice was soft and warm. "If you don't have an umbrella you can use this one. We keep a few on hand in case something like this happens."

The woman stared at him. "No, I couldn't…"

Hajime smiled. "It's okay. You can return it the next time you swing by."

The woman continued to hesitate, so Hajime held the umbrella out to her. After a few moments, she took it, murmured her thanks, and stepped out into the rain. Hajime watched her trot away with his shoulders slumped. He turned around to walk back into The 77th Dragon, and almost bumped into Chiaki.

"Oh," he said, "uh, hello."

Chiaki looked into his eyes. Hajime leaned away from her. "Can I help you?" He asked.

She pointed in the direction the woman had walked. "That was your umbrella, wasn't it?"

Hajime scratched the back of his head. "Uh...yeah."

Chiaki tilted her head. "...So what are you going to do now?"

Hajime shrugged. "There's a convenience store a few blocks away. If I sprint I should make it there in a minute or two, and then I can pick up a cheap umbrella."

Chiaki frowned. "You'll probably get soaked."

Hajime shrugged again.

Chiaki pulled an umbrella out of her backpack. "This should be big enough for us to share. I can walk with you there."

"What? No," Hajime said, "I wouldn't want to impose-"

Chiaki stared Hajime down. "I insist."

Hajime wilted under her steeled eyes. "Okay," he said in a small voice.

Chiaki opened the umbrella and held it high enough for Hajime to fit underneath with her. They walked in the direction Hajime pointed, and for the first few minutes the only sound between them was the pittering of the rain. As they walked Hajime glanced at Chiaki multiple times. He cleared his throat.

"Uh, you wouldn't happen to be NaNaChi, would you? The famous streamer?" he asked.

Chiaki's eyes widened and she glanced up at him. "You know me?"

Hajime nodded. "I'm actually a sub. Hinajime00."

He scratched at the back of his head. "I know it's a lame user-"

"You're Hinajime?" Chiaki interrupted, her voice raised. "I see you on almost every time I'm streaming."

Hajime gave an awkward smile. "Yeah, I'm...kind of a fan…"

Chiaki's eyes almost sparkled. "How long have you been watching?"

"I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I found out about you through your twenty-four hour Knights Executing Kings stream," Hajime said.

"Wow," Chiaki said. "That was a while ago. I sometimes forget I ever played multiplayer games."

"You do seem to have more fun doing single player challenges," Hajime said. "Like with your permadeath Demonologist run."

Chiaki smiled. "Demonologist was great. I liked how the game kept making you choose between escaping from Hell or going to a lower level to try and catalogue more enemies. The combat was a little stale though, which is why I didn't complete the game on stream."

Hajime nodded along. "But the point of Demonologist wasn't the gameplay. It was about the Scholar's struggle to find worth. That's part of what made the endgame so heartbreaking. You spend hundreds of hours and countless reincarnations trying to catalogue all these demons only for the angels to follow you into the abyss and wipe out all the creatures you'd been studying. The way Lucifer mocks the lost value of your knowledge during the final fight is heartbreaking."

Chiaki tilted her head. "...You've beaten the game?"

Hajime scratched at his face. "Well, when you played it seemed like fun. I thought I would give it a try. I'm glad I did. It was one of the best story experiences I've ever had."

Chiaki frowned. "It made me sad. What kind of RPG ends with the main character broken? I think if there had been one more arc where the Scholar could have found some self worth and then had a rematch with Lucifer, it would have been a better game."

Hajime and Chiaki arrived in front of the convenience store. He looked up at the sign for it with a wistful smile. "Maybe it would have been a better game, but then again maybe the point of the game was to remind us that life isn't always so heroic. That sometimes our best efforts come to nothing. That forces outside of our control could always sweep through and turn our entire lives upside down, and we should be ready to pick up the pieces and move on. No happy endings or triumphant parades, just another day trying to make a living."

He stepped out from underneath the umbrella. "In a city like Hope's Peak, with all the superhero battles and corruption problems, it's a good thing for talentless people to keep in mind. Thanks for sharing your umbrella."

Hajime slipped into the convenience store. Chiaki remained outside, surrounded by the downpour. Other people entered and exited the store. A bus pulled into a stop and then drove past. Still Chiaki stood and stared after him with a mix of shock and sadness.

Over the next weeks Chiaki continued to visit The 77th Dragon whenever she could. Now though, she sat at Hajime's section of the bar instead of a back table. They swapped entertaining stories about their days or whatever was on their minds. Chiaki paid close attention to what Hajime would say, which caused a few of the other regulars and employees to trade sly grins.

"So why did you start coming here?" Hajime asked her one day.

Chiaki shrugged. "Dunno...just heard good things about this place."

"But it's a bar," Hajime said. "And all you ever drink is soda."

Chiaki took another sip of her glass. "It's good soda."

Hajime's brow furrowed. "It's the same soda you can get anywhere."

"So what kind of alcohol should I drink?" Chiaki asked.

Hajime's expression became guarded. "What do you normally order?"

"I don't," Chiaki said.

Hajime frowned. He began polishing a glass. "Then don't start here."

Chiaki looked around. "...But it's a bar."

"It's a public place," Hajime said. "If you don't know what your tolerance is, pushing into unknown territory while in public is a bad habit. As is trusting a drink made by a stranger."

"Are you saying I shouldn't trust you?" Chiaki asked. "...Or any bartender?"

"I just think it's a bad habit," Hajime said. "If you keep visiting for a few months I might offer a few drinks for you to try. But right now you're still pretty new to this scene, and I would hate it if you got comfortable trying drinks from me, then tried a drink from someone else that caused you to stumble out onto the street. Or accept a drink at a party that has some drug in it."

Chiaki swirled the ice in her glass. "Isn't that a slippery slope argument?"

Hajime switched to wiping down bottles of liquor. "Maybe. But I know there are people out there who would love to prey on an unbalanced drunk. Especially someone with a, uh…"

Hajime ducked his head. "...Good figure."

One of Chiaki's eyebrows crawled up her head.

In haste, he added "Objectively. I mean, I'm sure you're aware of those kinds of dangers. I just like to make sure the people at my bar are taken care of. I wouldn't want to lose a nice guest to something awful."

He dry swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Chiaki asked.

At the other end of the bar, some patrons chuckled. Hajime hid his face in his hands. "Nothing, nevermind," he mumbled.

Chiaki opened her mouth, but before she said anything she froze.

"Are you alright?" Hajime asked.

Chiaki nodded. She checked her phone. "Darn. I have to leave early tonight, I forgot I was going to meet a friend of mine."

Hajime took the card Chiaki offered him. "I hope it's nothing too serious."

Chiaki shook her head. "They're bad at tech things so I try to troubleshoot for them when their computer breaks. Years of putting together custom computer towers has given me some basic knowledge on hardware. I can usually figure out whatever the problem is."

Hajime handed her card back. "Well, good luck with that."

Chiaki waved goodbye and left The 77th Dragon. She walked a few blocks, and made sure no one followed her. When she was alone, she slipped into an alleyway and pulled a pink crystal out of her pocket. She cupped it in both hands and held it to her chest. After a moment it covered her in a white and pink light.

The light bent to her form, gained mass, and definition. It swirled into a dress, stockings, and shoes, then hardened into a pink breastplate, shoulder plates, and over-skirt. A beam of pink light twirled around itself until it popped into existence as a staff. Shards of light turned to feathers and sprouted out of her shoulder blades. A ribbon tied itself in her now-glowing hair, and the half-mask of a rabbit materialized over her face.

Magical Girl Usami shot into the night sky, up till she was level with the tallest rooftops. She released a pulse of light that radiated over the entire city, then sped off toward a cluster of warehouses. The police had sealed the buildings off from the public, but Usami flew right past their barricades. Just before she slammed into the side of a warehouse, she blinked out of existence and reappeared on the inside.

A few detectives in suits loitered around the entrance. When Usami appeared they all sighed and looked anywhere but where she was. The single exception to this was Kyoko, who slipped a purple crystal back into her pocket at Usami's arrival. The detective paced around the center of the warehouse and looked over its contents: Bundles of cash thrown into pools of blood. A table lay, splintered, off to the side. In one hand she held a note inside of a plastic evidence bag.

"Hello, Kiri," Usami said in her whispering echo.

"I need you to scan the area for any dark energy," Kyoko said. "There are some logical inconsistencies that could be explained by the use of magic."

Usami hummed to herself as she looked around. "A few splotches, here and there. Like someone opened a can of dark energy too quickly and it spilled out, over and over again. Maybe the Dragon's Tooth?"

"Maybe," Kyoko said. "But normally she's more surgical than this. Leaving behind evidence this obvious doesn't fit with her M.O."

Usami looked around. "What kind of evidence? I don't see any bodies."

Kyoko held up the note. "It's a code. I think it's whatever was going to be purchased with all this money."

"Oh?" Usami said. She skipped over to Kyoko. "Why's that?"

Kyoko motioned to the floor. "Scattered footprints show a group of adults walked into the warehouse, wheeling a cart of some sort. Scuff marks show a table was here at one point, with more adults standing around it. The cart came to rest by the table, and then some unspecified time later was knocked on its side, then righted and wheeled out while carrying a heavy load. The table has damage that shows it was probably thrown. Blood splatter is consistent with high speed cuts, and the amount of blood combined with the approximate number of adults means that there were likely no survivors from the attack."

"Infighting?" Usami asked.

Kyoko shook her head. "It looks like most of the action originated from a central point. If it was a deal gone south, there would be more pockets of violence where different individuals broke off and had separate fights. This looks like someone leapt onto the scene during the deal and dispatched everyone from there."

"Sounds like Dragon's Tooth to me," Usami said.

Kyoko frowned and tapped the side of her face. "Except it's too easy. On a normal case I would suspect she was responsible if there was more of an attempt to cover her trail. But here there is no other logical alternative, especially when your testimony is considered. And then there's the matter of the bodily fluids she left behind. Normally she would never leave all this blood to go to waste."

Usami perked up. "Maybe it's a copy cat? Or, ooh, ooh, maybe she loaned the sword out to confuse us."

Kyoko shook her head. "No one can wield the sword like her. It would just mummify any common thug that tried to pick it up."

She began to pace again while she talked to herself. "But between the evidence of high speed cuts and the dark energy, the sword was definitely used here. If no one else can wield the sword then she was definitely here. So why would the right arm of Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko himself interrupt a deal? And why in such a public fashion?"

Usami tapped her staff against her leg. "They've decided to turn over a new leaf and fight on the side of justice?"

When Kyoko gave no reaction, Usami pouted and crossed her arms. "What? It's possible."

"Unlikely," Kyoko said. She looked at the code in her hand. Her eyes widened.

"They were making an example," she said.

Usami tilted her head. "Where do omelettes come into play?"

Kyoko stared at Usami. Usami flashed a wide grin. "Get it? Example, eggs ample? As in, a lot of eggs?"

Usami kicked at the warehouse floor. "Aw, it was funnier in my head."

Kyoko held the code up. "Usami, this is our breakthrough. The deal was done without the Kuzuryu boss's permission. One of his lower level lieutenants likely made this copy of a code and tried to sell it off for a fortune. The boss found out and ordered the traitor, any conspirators, and the people who wanted to buy the code executed."

She waved over the pools of blood. "That's why there are no bodies. If we search we'll probably find them hung in the slums, or mailed to enemies of the Kuzuryu. Whatever it takes to make sure everyone knows the consequences of betrayal. There's so much evidence so that even the authorities could piece together what had happened. She wanted even us to know how they treat traitors."

Usami squatted. "Cool," she said. "So why didn't she destroy the code?"

Kyoko looked it over. "She most likely didn't have time to locate it. Slicing through over a dozen men and then removing their bodies an unknown distance would take a single individual quite a fair amount of time. Additionally I believe she would have assumed the traitors would have kept the code on their body or in a digital form, not on a piece of paper taped under the table."

"That's a risky thing for the traitor to do," Usami said. "What if things had fallen apart right from the beginning? The traitors could have been defeated, the code stolen, and then they'd be left with no money and on the Kuzuryu's bad side."

"It's not well thought out," Kyoko agreed, "Which is why the Dragon's Tooth would have assumed they wouldn't be so foolish. By the time she realized her misjudgement, police would have already arrived on the scene."

Usami began making nonsense shapes on the floor with her staff. "So what do you think the code is?"

"If we're lucky," Kyoko said, "details on whatever big plan the Kuzuryu have with Kamukura. How goes things on your end?"

Usami frowned. "Weird."

Kyoko rose an eyebrow. "...Meaning?"

"Well, the guy looks almost exactly like Kamukura," Usami explained.

"I noticed that as well," Kyoko said.

"But he doesn't have any of Kamukura's dark energy coming off him," Usami continued. "And I still don't see a reason for why he would work in a place like that. Kamukura never seemed like the type to have a day job."

"We know nothing about Kamukura," Kyoko said. "Perhaps he's the same as so many other serial killers, lashing out because of the stress in their lives."

Usami shook her head. "Not him. Kamukura gives off a feeling of being so above everything. I don't think he feels emotions. And Hinata is kind of the opposite? Like his life is just him slogging through mud. But despite that he seems very empathetic. After all this time I haven't had one moment where I thought 'Oh, this guy is bad.'"

"But he's definitely connected to Kamukura," Kyoko said. "His schedule matches up too well, and he's been spotted enough times near locations that Kamukura has then appeared at. The deeper my background check goes the more coincidences tie him to your nemesis."

Usami's frown deepend. "I know. I just can't see him as a direct supporter. It doesn't fit."

"Don't let your preconceptions cloud your judgement," Kyoko said. "For all we know Kamukura is playing you, trying to lower your guard so that he can strike when you're defenseless."

"For all we know, that code is a trap created by him too," Usami shot back.

They were both silent for a moment.

"Sorry," Usami said. "I'll work harder to find out what the connection is between Kamukura and Hinata. Promise you'll be careful with that code?"

Kyoko nodded. "I'll let you know if we make any breakthroughs. Stay vigilant."

Usami smiled and made a V with her fingers, then vanished from the warehouse.

Hajime knocked on the bar next to Chiaki's head. Her eyes fluttered open. She stretched in her barstool and yawned. A partial glass of soda sat in front of her, so she grabbed it and finished it off.

"Refill please," she said when she set the glass down.

Hajime frowned. "Are you okay? You've seemed tired the past few days."

"I'm always tired," Chiaki said.

Hajime thought about that. "...I guess that's true. You fall asleep a lot during your stream."

He refilled her glass and Chiaki began sipping at it.

"But," he continued, "you still seem a little different than normal."

Chiaki shrugged. "Someone I know lives in a dangerous area. She's worried something is going to happen tonight. Something big."

Her gaze slid to Hajime's face. "She swears Shadowman is involved."

Hajime rose an eyebrow. "The Shadowman? Isn't that the magical girl's nemesis?"

"Supposedly," Chiaki said.

Hajime began polishing a glass. "Then won't she deal with it?"

Chiaki cocked her head. "Usami can't be everywhere at once."

Hajime chuckled. "I guess. The way I hear the stories, it sounds like she always shows up when you need her. But logically there has to be someone behind that mask who needs to take a break every once in awhile. Unless you believe the theory."

Chiaki leaned forward. "...What theory?"

"That she's an angel," Hajime said, "like, straight out of some religious book, here to save us unworthy humans from ourselves."

Chiaki propped herself on the bar with an arm. "You almost sound sarcastic."

"Do I?" Hajime asked. "Sorry, I don't mean to. I'm actually a really big fan of the superheroes we have in town. Usami, Titanium Shogun, Princess Typhoon and the Immortal, Fate's Pupeteer, the old Graduates, and who knows how many others keep to the shadows?"

"You know about the Immortal?" Chiaki asked. "They're pretty obscure."

Hajime gave an awkward smile. "Uh, yeah, I guess. Aren't a lot of people like that though? We think super heroes are cool when we're kids so we learn everything we can about them, then when we get older we all pretend to have grown out of it while still eating up every bit of news that comes out."

Chiaki stared up into nothing. "I wonder. And not all supers are heroes. Most of the people you listed have nemeses, I think."

Hajime sighed. "True. It's unrealistic to think that everyone with that kind of power would act so selfless."

Chiaki watched Hajime. "What about you? If you got a chance to get that kind of power, would you take it? Even if it meant you became someone society didn't like?"

Hajime set the glass down. He organized his liquor bottles, made a drink for another guest, and wiped up some water. At last he returned to the spot of the bar in front of Chiaki.

"If I'm honest, probably." he answered.

Chiaki's brows came together.

"It's not the best thing to say," he continued, "but after a quarter of a century living, I'm sure I'd give anything for a chance to become something greater than I am now. If someone walked up to me and told me they had a serum that would make me turn into a living fireball that could go anywhere and incinerate anything, I'm sure I'd drink it."

"But what about the life you have now?" Chiaki asked.

Hajime shrugged. "It's not bad, but compared to the life of a super? There's no contest."

He looked at her expression and chuckled. "I'm sorry, was that a little too dark? Something about these questions bring out the more cynical side of me. What about you? If you could have any super power what would you want?"

Chiaki swirled the ice in her glass. "I dunno. Healing, maybe."

Hajime wiped down the bar top next to Chiaki. "Why?"

"So I can ease people's pain," she said.

Chiaki finished her drink and handed Hajime her card. "I should probably get going. You here all night?"

Hajime took it. "Until the clock rolls into the new day at least. Lately it's been nothing but late shifts. Sorry for the depressing conversation."

"Don't be," Chiaki replied. "I appreciate the honesty."

When Hajime returned her card, Chiaki slid off the stool and left the bar. She stepped away from street view, glowed for a moment, then hopped straight into the air until she was on top of the building. Once she'd settled, she pulled her crystal out and lit up the night with her transformation.

Magical Girl Usami streaked across the city, toward a derelict subway line. She came to a sudden stop then teleported to the ground, her wings folded around her like a cloak. When she stood up, Usami was face to face with Kyoko, who had no reaction to her sudden appearance. The detective glanced at the time on her phone. "You cut that close."

Usami's giggles echoed around them. "A hero always arrives in the nick of time."

Kyoko's deadpan expression remained. "I see."

Usami coughed. "So that's the tunnel over there, right?"

Kyoko nodded. "According to that code we found, the Kuzuryu are buying some opioids from an out of town group. Probably to help expand their influence in the underground of Hope's Peak. If the information is accurate, Kamukura set up the deal as a favor to Fuyuhiko himself."

Usami whistled. "So the Kuzuryu are asking help from super villains? Weird. They never asked Monokuma for help."

"Goes to show how much power they've lost since we started getting in their way," Kyoko said.

"So are the drug people down there yet?" Usami asked.

"Not yet," Kyoko said. "I've alerted the authorities, but if you want to remain on hand in case Kamukura shows up…"

Usami gave a thumbs up. "Good plan."

She vanished from Kyoko's side and appeared high up in the sky. There Usami drifted for a quarter of an hour. To pass the time she watched the city below. Kyoko remained in her hiding spot, where she could keep an eye on the entrance to the tunnel with minimal chance of discovery. Cars sped on the streets that surrounded the derelict subway line, driven by people who itched to be at their destinations after late nights. Further away, the rest of the city went through its usual night routines.

"How dull it all is," a voice behind Usami said.

She gasped, and released a blast of multicolored light. She spun in place and levelled her staff forward. The air around her was empty. Usami's wings began to beat faster as she glanced around.

When she found him, it was because of his eyes. Two red pinpricks that glowed in the night sky. As Usami watched, the darkness gathered around those eyes and pulsed as it gained mass and definition. The shadows took on the form of a slender man in a suit. His face was pale, and his hair was a mass of black locks that reached to his ankles. Each lock twitched to its own movements, and one lock hid the middle third of his face from view.

Usami's jaw set. "Kamukura Izuru."

"Magical Girl Usami," Izuru said. His voice was soft, yet cold. "I expected to find you here."

Usami's wings spread wide. "As you should. I plan on stopping any plan you put in motion."

Izuru remained expressionless. "You cannot stop what doesn't exist."

Usami tilted her head. "What do you mean by that?"

When Izuru said nothing, Usami glanced down at the subway tunnel. Multiple police cars had arrived, but there were no mobsters in sight. Kyoko was out of hiding and pointed up towards her. A portable spotlight had been pulled out of the trunk of a car and was about to be aimed at them.

Usami sucked in a breath. "There's no drug deal. You lured us out here."

"Us," Izuru repeated. "I suspected you had allies. Now I know one of them. It won't take long before I find the others."

Usami blasted him with a beam of light.

"Leave them alone," her echoing voice screamed into the night. "They have nothing to do with our fight."

"They support you," Izuru said in the same echoing voice from all around. "They have helped you grow into something that is in my way. So I will deal with them the same way I shall deal with you."

When the last echoes of his voice faded, Usami spun in a circle. The sky around her was empty again.

"Kiri," she whispered.

Usami blasted down to the ground. On the way she arced her staff through the night, which released a rainbow that sped ahead of her and into the police in Kyoko's vicinity. The arc of light reached them just as dark tendrils appeared from the ground and struck. Where the attacks met, they combined and dissolved.

"Watch out," Usami yelled. She swooped down and tackled Kyoko, knocking the detective away from a hail of shadow bullets that Izuru launched. One of the bullets caught Usami in the leg. The magical girl winced and crashed to the ground.

She extracted herself from Kyoko. "I've got him."

"Give us time to set up," the detective told her as Usami hovered away.

Izuru stepped out of the shadows. Usami launched another beam of light at him, but he avoided it with a step to the side. It caught a lock of hair, which vaporized.
"For all your smugness, I can hurt you as much as you hurt me," Usami said.

Izuru glanced at the missing lock. Shadows wrapped around the burnt end and restored it to full length.

Usami frowned. "No fair."

Izuru looked back at her. "Never forget that you have but one power. I have all of them."

"More doesn't mean better," Usami said.

"This fight will prove otherwise," Izuru said.

Usami gasped when a spike of shadow pierced her undamaged leg from behind. In that same moment, Izuru materialized in front of her and thrust his knee right into her abdomen. When she doubled over his leg, his elbow came down on the back of her head.

She dropped to the ground, but her feathers turned sharp and launched out of her wings toward Izuru. He stepped out of their way, but the feathers reversed direction and aimed for the back of his head. A wall of shadow formed behind him to intercept the feathers. In the meantime, Usami struggled to her feet, but her legs gave out and she fell to her knees.

Izuru aimed a kick at her head, but she blocked it with her staff. It let out a pulse of light which singed his entire leg, so he stomped his foot and caused it to glow with red energy. His second kick moved faster than the eye could track and snapped her staff in half. Undeterred, Usami glared at Izuru and shot twin beams of light out of her eyes.

"Futile," he whispered. The beams bored into his chest and his form dissolved. Usami tried to stand again while the police set up their floodlights. The first large lamp to turn on was pointed right at Usami, creating a spotlight around her. After a moment, the bulbs inside the lamp exploded into miniature fireballs, and the sudden darkness wrapped around Usami and pulled her back across the yard.

She slammed against a wall, next to an undamaged Izuru. He reached out with a glowing green hand and began to throttle Usami's neck. She struggled, but as the glow in his hand intensified her protests grew weaker. The shadows around them were so thick the magical girl's glow helped her see little, but Izuru's eyes were wide and staring. His gaze was fixed upon the curve of her lips, the most prominent detail on her face that was exposed.

His grip loosened for a moment. His voice took on a slight tone of wonder. "I know you," he stated.

With his other hand, Izuru reached for Usami's mask. The moment he touched it, the mask began an intense glow. It singed his hand, and forced him to recoil. The jewel in Usami's choker shot out a small orb of light, which floated right into Izuru's face and exploded.

Izuru teleported backwards and Usami slid down the wall. Leaning on it for support, Usami began taking quick and deep breaths. Her body's glow flickered with her breaths, growing stronger each time she breathed in. With a shout, Usami released that energy into an umbrella of light that covered over the area she and Izuru stood in.

Izuru looked around him. "How long before your innovation runs dry? Tricks like this won't beat me."

"I...don't have...to beat you...yet," Usami panted. "Just...buy enough...time."

On cue, half a dozen spotlights aimed towards them turned on. The darkness that had covered their surroundings a minute ago was gone, and Izuru stood in full view of the police squad that surrounded him. Kyoko stood by one of the spotlights, and made sure it remained trained on Izuru.

The sounds of approaching helicopters echoed through the air. Izuru glanced toward the night sky. "This is not enough to restrain me."

"It will...if I...whittle at you," Usami said.

Izuru brushed at the spot on his chest Usami blasted earlier and chose not to respond with words. In the mass of light, it was obvious not a scratch lay on his body.

Usami grimaced. She held out her hand and a new staff formed. Her wings regrew and pulled her up until she hovered off the ground, her limp legs left to dangle. "You're not the only one who can get a second wind."

Izuru looked around him. "This is all unnecessary. I got what I came for. The rest can wait."

He looked back at Usami, and for a moment a gust of wind created by the helicopters moved the central lock of hair from its spot. She had a clear view of his face, his features, which looked like a mirror image of Hinata Hajime. Then the Shadowman vanished from sight, and left Usami with slumped shoulders.

In the late morning the streets around the 77th Dragon were much more crowded than at late night. Magnitudes more office employees bustled down the paths to and from their jobs, at a brisk pace and with little time spent on pleasant conversations. Chiaki was jostled on numerous occasions as she worked her way toward the bar. Just as she made it to the door, it was ripped open and Hajime, with visible bags under his eyes, toppled out onto the street.

His back hit the sidewalk with an audible thud. The people in the immediate vicinity of the bar gasped and altered their paths to go around him. Many gave him sidelong glances or shook their heads with looks of disgust. Hajime noticed neither them, nor Chiaki. She stood by the door, frozen in shock. His attention was on a large man that stood inside the entrance to the 77th Dragon.

"Please," Hajime pleaded with him, "I really need this job. I've done great work so far - I can do better - just please give me another chance."

The man spat at him. "Trash like you needs to beg at a different street corner, before it gets tossed in with our other burnable shit."

He slammed the door close. Hajime, left alone, lay in the street. The former bartender stared at the sealed entrance. Chiaki relaxed from her stiff position and hobbled to his side. "Are you alright, Hinata? What happened?"

Hajime flinched and glanced at her. "...NaNaChi? Oh, sorry you had to see that. It's, uh, no big deal."

Chiaki frowned. "I don't understand. How can they just throw you out like that?"

Hajime shrugged. "Apparently I vanished from work yesterday. It was a busy night and I left the other guy all alone, which slowed him down quite a lot. The owners weren't too happy when they found out so they took me off their payroll."

He missed Chiaki's nervous swallow. "Apparently?" she asked. "Did you not actually leave work? Maybe this other person just lied to get you in trouble."

Hajime shook his head. "I don't know. Even if I did, the owners didn't like me too much anyway. If I fought it with them things would just go even worse for me."

"How would you know?" Chiaki asked.

Hajime got to his feet. "This kind of thing has happened before. I developed some strange condition a few years ago. There are times where my memory goes blank and I can't remember what I've been doing for a while. I could be helping a customer one moment and the next, standing inside my kitchen. Usually, when I realize my memories are missing I also get hit with a wave of exhaustion that makes it difficult to do much of anything."

He tried to smile at her. "You can see how this would make it hard to keep a job for too long."

Chiaki stared back. "That...that sounds…"

"Unbelievable?" Hajime supplied.

Chiaki shook her head. "Difficult. How do you deal with it?"

He shrugged again. "Pick up. Move on. Not much else I can do. I need money to eat and keep a roof over my head, so I need to find another job. Hopefully one that hasn't heard of me yet."

Hajime turned away, then reconsidered. "Thanks for listening. Most people just assume I'm making it up to excuse laziness. They give me looks, like I'm some disgusting slimeball. But you're different. Kinder. It's been great to serve you."

He turned away again. Before he could walk away, Chiaki grabbed him by the wrist.

"Wait," she said.

Hajime stopped and looked at her. Chiaki thought about what she was going to say. Her eyes slid shut and her body began to list to one side. Her grip around Hajime's wrist slackened.

"Hey," he said, "You're in the middle of a crowded street. Now is a bad time to fall asleep."

Chiaki rubbed at her eyes. "Probably. That's a good point. Besides, it would be weird if I fall asleep even though you look more exhausted."

Hajime rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, just because I'm tired doesn't mean you can't be tired too."

Chiaki nodded. "Another good point. You want to go grab some coffee? There's a place nearby that does great drinks."

Hajime frowned and said nothing, so Chiaki continued. "Talking with you has been fun. I don't want it to end just because you lost your job for some stupid reason. So I think, if we could keep meeting up and talking, I'd really like that."

"Oh," Hajime said. He shuffled in place. "Um...I mean, I wouldn't want to impose on your schedule…"

"It's flexible," Chiaki said.

"...I guess I don't have a reason to say no," Hajime finished. "I've got all the time in the world now, anyway."

Chiaki smiled. "Great. Let's get moving."

She slipped in front and pulled him along toward the end of the block. Hajime stumbled a bit but soon fell into place beside her.

"Are you okay? You're kind of limping," he told her.

Chiaki looked him over. He moved with a similar stiffness to her, the kind that could come from muscle pains. His eyes were bloodshot, perhaps from a lack of sleep. His features were almost a perfect copy to the man she had fought yesterday.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just had an unfortunate encounter when I was going to my friend's place. I ended up hurting myself."

Hajime rubbed his face. "Ouch. It wasn't anything the Shadowman was responsible for right? You mentioned he might have been running around the area your friend lives in last night."

Chiaki shook her head. "Nope. Turns out he was in a different part of the city fighting Usami."

"Did she beat him?" Hajime asked.

"Don't think so," Chiaki muttered.

Hajime sighed. "Well, I'm sure she'll stop him one day. Her light will overcome his darkness, he'll get locked up, and no one will get hurt by his schemes again."

Chiaki frowned up at the morning sky. "...I hope so."

So there you go, the first chapter of MGU. I decided to keep all the content the same from the original version I posted, even though there were some content and grammar things I REALLY wanted to touch up. I plan on uploading at a rapid pace until I'm caught up across both sites, then I'll slow down to updating across the web at the same time.

I hope you enjoyed, and I'd appreciate any likes or reviews you could toss my way. Thanks for reading!