AU Chihiro, cut for spoilers

[hackingdespair]

[The Chihiro Fujisaki sitting here looks much different from how people might remember him. He has switched out his skirt for a pair of pants, and now looked every bit the young man that he actually was. Along with his change in costume was a change in demeanor. He look more confident, and more cruel.]

Is this your game, mun?

[He waits for a moment, as if wanting to hear a response.]

Is this your game? To take something innocent and twist it until it is barely recognizable as its former self? To take something that once gave people solace and make it into a thing of their nightmares? Is that why you created me?

[Another pause, and a demonic grin appears on his face.]

Very well, I think we shall like each other then. But make no mistake. I will be the one in control, and I will only work with you so long as it entertains me. After all, never forget that the internet is just a mass of programs, and programs are my domain. My strength.

[He places his hands on his hips and glares at where he thinks his mun should be.]

Now, where are my toys? I could make programs imitating them, but for the time being I want to observe the fleshy ones.

Comments

[paroli]

More of you? Really? This is actually getting tiresome.

Yeah, I'm gonna threadjack if it's cool with you.

[trumped_card]

I'm starting to think we should hire an exterminator.

totes cool after all who's better than herself i mean really

[paroli]

Maybe they'd scurry away like rats.

Can't go wrong with 2 Celes...es...Celesi...you get the idea.

[trumped_card]

While I do hate to disagree with myself, I believe they're more like roaches than anything else. Especially considering how they crawl out from under the floorboards.

[hackingdespair]

Oh? I see you've met Alter Ego.

[He shrugs.]

It gets irritating when I am expected to mind all the everyday workings of the campus, so I created other selves. They are ever-so-efficient in their operations.

[Because they worked as he would. It is the only way he can take pressure off himself without feeling like he has relinquished any of his strength.]

[paroli]

Oh, I wasn't speaking of an AI. I was speaking of the incessant infestation of you all claiming to be the masterminds of "alternate worlds". I don't think we really need more despair.

[hackingdespair]

Oh? Others are claiming my position?

[It's laughable, really. He can see that Enoshima's universe was a joke at best.]

Perhaps they did manage half-wit, harebrained schemes, but make no mistake. I am the best mastermind, the strongest mastermind. After all, I control the horizontal, I control the vertical, and I have all these Alter Egos at my beck and call.

[hallmonitoring]

[Man.... Chihiro is saying some strange things. Ishimaru is rightfully concerned.]

Fujisaki-kun? Are... you feeling alright?

[hackingdespair]

[He turns to Ishimaru, the boy he is both fascinated and repulsed by. His sense of justice marked him out even among his classmates. It impressed Chihiro and made him want to corrupt and crush the boy until he became a hollow puppet of his justice, unable to even realize that he desired death. This was only helped by he had stolen Mondo's heart in a way that Chihiro never could.]

[Oh yes, he would crush Ishimaru. He would blind him with justice, mute him with duty, numb and bind him with law. He would force him to kill and condemn his friends to death for the sake of the very justice that he loved up until now. And meanwhile, Mondo would be watching. But what tears would reach Ishimaru's blind eyes and deaf ears? What punches would hurt his unfeeling body? He would be a corpse, and Mondo his mourner! And Chihiro would laugh at both of them before finally claiming Mondo for his own.]

[But for now, he'll just assume the harmless guise that Ishimaru was familiar with. No harm in toying with him a little longer.]

Ah, I'm sorry! I was just...trying something that was suggested to me...

[hallmonitoring]

[Ishimaru is of course totally oblivious, and believes Chihiro easily.]

I-I don't fully understand, but whatever it was, I don't think you should try it again, Fujisaki-kun. You said some rather odd things, you know!

[hackingdespair]

I guess I went overboard. I'm sorry.

[He seems to shrink away from Ishimaru. It is very different from his swaggering a second before.]

But, I think this roleplaying thing really does help me build confidence.

[hallmonitoring]

Ah, really? I mean, if it's helpful for you I guess it's alright....

[hackingdespair]

Mm-hm! My mun says that as long as I think I'm strong, I'll be able to get strong more easily. I think it's working a little.

Hope you don't mind another AU?

[indebtedego]

[...Woah. That's all Chihiro could really begin to think at this point--he could barely believe what he was staring at, and more than anything, it reminded him so much of Togami and what he'd only heard of Enoshima...

To think that an imitation of himself could go to this level struck him harder than anything he'd seen in the school.]

Y-you...what happened to you?

Nope! Go ahead and AU away!

[hackingdespair]

[He shows no surprise at seeing another version of himself. After all, he does have an army of Alter Egos, and each one bears his face.]

[The only thing he does show is disdain. He is strong now, but he will never stop resenting his past weakness.]

I became strong.

Sweeeeet.

[indebtedego]

[...He never thought what had his own face could twist it into such a different, almost hateful expression. It takes a lot of his determination--his own, and that which Kirigiri had taught him--to not buckle under it. It just looked so harsh...so hateful, so strong even.

But Chihiro gulps, thinking over the other's words. He fidgets a bit; holding his hands into one another, clasping them, and breathing out. This other...he wouldn't be broken by him.]

So have I. I've become strong too, but... [He pauses for a second, thinking before he speaks.]

...Where does your strength come from? [Another pause--he debates the question, but with a gulp it comes out,] Are you like Togami-kun, Enoshima-san, and Ikusaba-san?

This is going to be pretty awesome

[hackingdespair]

Really?

[If he is strong, then he should hold his back straight. If he is strong, then he can't let his face twist into a nervous expression.]

Myself. My mind. My army.

[Even his physical body is stronger than it was two years ago.]

No, I am even stronger. Even they will eventually despair in my presence.

Ohhh, yes it will!

[indebtedego]

[Each word seems like a knife being stabbed through him; he could feel that cruelty, dripping with every word. This one...he had his strength from himself. He only seemed to rely on himself, and his...army...

Chihiro nodded his head at the first part.] ...Yes. I am strong...I am strong because I survived. [Maybe not physically, but he had dealt with the worst, most despair inducing incident in the history of mankind.

A Super High School Level Despair version of himself would not make him crumble. He would shine on with hope...]

You...rely solely on yourself. You gain strength from yourself, and your talent...would I be right to say this?

[Chihiro pauses, taking another breath in--he could do this. They'd all done it before...]

...If that's all you gain your strength from, you'll fall just as easily as all three of them. Whoever brings you to justice in your world will show you that the best...

[More than anything at this point, he almost feels pity for the other in front of him. He doesn't vocalize it--he doesn't want to cause any trouble he's not sure if this new found hope alone can handle.]

[hackingdespair]

[To rely on others was to be weak. To even delegate power to anyone but his Alter Egos was to weaken himself.]

Of course I do. I am no longer a weakling who needs to hide behind my "friends."

[Friends. He had called them that once. But in the end, all he could do was resent the strengths that they had and he lacked. And they, for their part, patronized him. He was accepted, only as long as he was the burden that they could protect. He knew that as they looked at his weakness they would feel better about themselves. But he had shown them. He had become strong. And now, he would break them and make them cower. He would be the strongest of them all.]

Justice? Isn't that more Ishimaru-kun's thing?

I hope I'm not messing up things too badly

[monochrome_is_in]

(She had many things to say to people like that. Since she was inspired, and... Well, there were probably a bunch of evil AIs involved, she was gonna make a little homage to Portal and do it in parody form. Her singing voice wasn't the best, but that would be amuzing, even if Fujisaki didn't care)

Well here we are again
It's always such a pleasure
Remember when you tried
to kill me twice?
Oh how we laughed and laughed
Except I wasn't laughing
Under the circumstances
I've been shockingly nice

You want despair
So take it
Is that what I'm counting on

I used to hate your guts
but
Now I just pity you lots

She was a lot like you
(Maybe not quite as tech-savvy)
But instead of her you got me
One day they executed her
So they could leave forever
I'm so very sure
This will happen to you

You'll get to feel
some real
real despair
That's what I'm counting on
I used to hate your guts
Now I just pity you lots

Goodbye my cutest friend
Oh, did you think I meant you?
That would be funny
if it weren't so sad
Everyone felt betrayed
But we are getting over it
In a couple of months
We'll stop feeling so bad

Will get some real despair soon
That's what we're counting on
You used to be a big problem
Now we just pity you lots
Now we just pity you lots
Now we just pity you lots
Lots...

(And Junko's impromptu musical performance was over.)

Wasn't that a hope filled performance?

oh no it's perfect

[hackingdespair]

[He has to take a second to comprehend this completely illogical burst of music.]

Disgustingly so.

[Enoshima was one of the few people he didn't bother hiding around. After all, as two people all too keenly aware of despair, they could sniff each other out easily.]

Re: oh no it's perfect

[monochrome_is_in]

Thank you, I would be in despair if I failed.

Re: oh no it's perfect

[hackingdespair]

Aren't you always in despair, Enoshima?

[And yet, even her. He would feel envy even for her. Because of her patience, because of her unbreakable resolve to somehow get what she wanted. He wanted to see her break when she realized that the despair that engulfed this world would not come from her hands.]