"Oh! I almost forgot!" Tomi said, stopping in his tracks. "My bag!"

Toki let out a sigh. "You're such a child... go get it."

Tomi just nodded, jogging over to the building he was recently on top of. He swiftly climbed a tree that was next to it and jumped onto the roof, not taking more than five seconds.

"Wow..." I couldn't help but stare in awe. "He's super agile...."

Toki nodded, a small smile on her face. "He didn't become the ultimate escape artist for nothing."

Tomi soon jumped back down from the building, a navy blue backpack in his hands. He unzipped it, taking out what looked like a megaphone and handgun combined. "I should probably keep this out, since I'm the only one properly armed." He said, zipping the bag back up and swinging it over his shoulder. "That gun's really only good for people, Akira. Unless that's what you're after." He's using my first name?

"I still wish I had one of those... it'd make my life a whole lot easier." Toki said, slowly shaking her head. "Oh, and sorry about Tomi's complete disrespect, Ikeda-chan. He doesn't know the first thing about common curtesy." I just gave a small nod.

Tomi smirked, completely ignoring the last part of what Toki said. "Well, if you and your friends would just join the Future Foundation-"

"I already told you." Toki cut him off, "We don't want to be held down by an organization, our only goal is to find you know who and-"

Tomi cut her off, just how she just did to him. "Slowly dismember him alive?" He suggested casually.

Toki shrugged. "I was going to say lock him up somewhere, but I suppose that works too."

I was a little taken aback by the sudden talk of violence, but I decided to just try and ignore it. "Um... what's that?" I asked, pointing to the thing in Tomi's hands.

"It's a hacking gun." Toki responded. "It was designed to destroy the monokumas."

"Let's go already!" Tomi whined, jogging ahead.

Toki and I followed, not without her rolling her eyes first. "You were the one holding us up."

~*~

After a while of walking, we stopped in front of a very stable looking building. The walls were reinforced with concrete, and there were guards standing outside, along with a passcode by the front door.

I couldn't help but feel nervous approaching the highly secured area, and stayed behind Tomi and Toki as we made our way towards the building. We walked right up to the door, and Tomi input the passcode. The door opened up for us, and we walked inside.

It felt like a high class prison. The lighting was dim and unsettling, and the walls seemed to be made of concrete and steel. It looked very secure, but at the same time made me uncomfortable.

We headed down a hallway, and soon, stopped at a door. Toki opened it, peeking in. "Hoshiko-san, can you come here for a second?"

She stepped back, and a girl slightly shorter than her walked out, closing the door behind her. Her dark brown hair was sticking out at odd angles, but it didn't look bad. She had freckles and light violet eyes, and was dressed casually in a blouse and jeans.

She looked at me with a curious expression. "I don't think I've seen you before...."

"This is Akira Ikeda." Toki introduced me.

"You mean the one you and Kazuki have been searching for since you came here?" The girl asked, and Toki nodded.

"I was going to go get him, but I wanted to leave her here, this has to already be very overwhelming." Toki explained.

"That's fine by me. Let her relax a few minutes before unleashing Kazuki on her." The girl said with a light laugh, turning to me. "I'm Aimi Hoshiko. It's nice to meet you, Ikeda-chan."

"Yeah... it's nice to meet you too...." I replied, holding my skateboard closer. I still had no idea what was going on.

"See ya Kira~" Tomi said as he was dragged off by Toki. Kira...? I hadn't known this guy for more than an hour, and already he had called me by my first name and given me a nickname. I am strangely okay with this.

"Well, come on in." Aimi said, opening the door for me. I quietly thanked her and walked inside, looking around the room. It was a small room, consisting of a couch up against the back wall, and a table off to the side with a few chairs. On the couch sat a young boy with strawberry blond hair and an oversized navy blue hoodie. He couldn't be any older than ten, and he looked as if he had recently been crying.

Aimi brought me over to the table, and we both sat down. "So... were you staying with anyone, or were you alone?" She asked.

I hesitated for a moment. "I-I was alone...."

"For how long? If you don't mind my asking." Aimi said.

"Um..." I had to think for a moment. "A few months, at least. I'm not really sure... all I know is not long after this all started, my brother went missing, and then... well, my parents were killed."

Aimi didn't look surprised, but instead just sympathetic. "I'm sorry about that... well, you won't have to be alone anymore. I don't know if you were told, but this place is one of the locations for the Future Foundation. Uyeda and I are members, and we're working to restore hope to the world."

I gave a small nod. "That sounds nice... I'm kinda sick of all this despair." I couldn't help but let my eyes wander back to the young boy. "Who's that?"

Aimi bit her lip. "He came in yesterday... all alone. I think his situation's similar to yours." She paused for a second. "Why don't you go talk to him?"

I gave a small nod, standing up and approaching the child. I sat on the couch next to him, giving him a small smile as he looked up at me. "Hello... I'm Akira Ikeda, what's your name?"

The little boy wiped his blue eyes before responding. "I-I'm Ryuji Kobayashi...."

I couldn't help but ask a burning question. "Something's bothering you... right?"

Ryuji hesitantly nodded. "Th-they won't tell me about my big sister... I just wanna see Satchi again...."

I felt a wave of sympathy crash over me for this child. "I think I know how you feel... my big brother's been missing for a long time too, and I really wanna see him. But right now, all we can do is hope."

Ryuji gave me the smallest of smiles. "Yeah... I guess Satchi would want me to hope...."

"Then let's hope together." I responded, returning his smile.

But will that hope really mean anything?