Part 68: Episode 8 - Despair Side, Episode 4: The Melancholy, Surprise, and Disappearance of Nagito Komaeda

We begin our episode with Chisa handing out the exam schedule for Hope's Peak. Turns out that exams at Hope's Peak are not regular exams, but rather practical ones where the students show their talents. Class reaction to Chisa's attempt to psych them up for the exams is... mild. Also, note the missing dog posters.



Next, Nagito asks Chisa to cancel the exams. His rationale is pretty much his normal modus operandi - they're not at full capacity because they're still down because of the murders, so while the class is surely talented enough to pass with flying colors, they would shine even greater if they were allowed to recover - basically his hope schtick, just without mentioning the word "hope". Chisa, however, turns him down, saying that the exams will have a fair bit of media coverage, and so they can't move them on short notice.



Nagito, uh, appears to not take it that well, but recovers quickly and just leaves.



When outside the room, he talks to himself, basically saying that that was a long shot anyway, and now he can just move on... to Plan B. Not ominous at all.



Looks like we're being told that this will be a Nagito episode. Well, that'll make somebody in the thread happy.



Out by the fountain, Chiaki is sad because Hajime isn't showing up anymore.



Meanwhile, Nagito has a chat with Teruteru and gives him a little gift.



That gift being a Sayaka photobook that supposedly sold out in record time, but Nagito just happened to stumble upon one lying by the side of the road. In exchange, Nagito just wants to know who that girl was that helped him with that doping soup.



So he gets pointed to Seiko, who he promptly scares the shit out of by just showing up.



Which causes a bit of a reaction. Anyway, Nagito ordered a laxative from Seiko. Since somebody else suddenly started yelling outside the door, Seiko goes to the door and tells Nagito to get what he wanted himself - top shelf, far right.



And who would be at the door but Ruruka and Sonozuke!



Ruruka wants Seiko's performance enhancer, but Seiko says that she needs that for her own exam.



Meanwhile, Nagito is in the back, trying to grab the laxative he needs.



However, he's using a ladder, which is a bit wobbly, and he falls off, with both the blue and the green vial falling out with him.



Seiko really doesn't want to give Ruruka the performance enhancer, so Ruruka turns on the charm and plays on them being childhood friends and her really needing that performance enhancer, all that good guilt tripping shit.



Nagito now has a dilemma. He's got both the green and the blue vial, and can't remember which one was on the right. Them being called "Reanimator" and "Reactivator" doesn't help. He decides to trust his luck and picks the green one - the wrong one.



Seiko has meanwhile acquiesced to Ruruka, and Ruruka heads to the back to get the performance enhancer. She also makes a comment about Seiko never eating her sweets. Even money at best on that being a plot point that comes up later.



Nagito heads out with what he believes to be his laxative, leaving Ruruka to head into the back and grab something from the top shelf in the middle.



That being the Reactivator. This is going to lead to some serious hijinx.



Then, people find that a sort of ransom note has been posted at Hope's Peak.



Also, dog!



They tear the note off and plan to proceed, though with security on high alert. They ponder what the bad things could be. One suggests arson, another an explosive, another thinks it's just a stupid prank.



One of the three is on the money.



Meanwhile, Seiko is on the run, apparently being late to the exam due to pulling an all-nighter before.



But suddenly, Nagito is in the way!



And, well, seeing this picture, you can probably reason out what happened. Yes, they both have the same bag, and they get switched, and so now both of them have the other's bag without knowing it. After the collision, Seiko asks Nagito about his "issue", to which Nagito replies that her medicine worked great.



This makes Seiko very happy.



And then she realizes she's late and bolts off.



We next find ourselves in the exam hall. It's jam packed and being broadcast on TV.



Seiko finds Sonozuke there waiting...



...and Ruruka up on stage having her exam.



Ruruka really talks up her sweets, saying they give you a ton of energy and basically make you feel like you can fly - because of course, she put the performance enhancer in there. Or what she thought to be the performance enhancer.



The judges take a single bite and immediately know something's wrong.



Or not, as they all seem to be having a heavenly experience that apparently turns them into noteworthy characters.





And then the laxatives kick in, leaving all the judges in agony.



Seiko realizes what happened, and Ruruka and Sonozuke think Seiko gave them the laxative intentionally. This then leads the judges to conclude that Seiko was the one that made that threat. Seiko can however fix this easily! All she needs is to get something out of her bag and she can mix up an antidote!



...oh, right. There was that bag switching thing. Somebody says that that looks like a detonator, and that immediately spreads through the crowd, causing panic.



Seiko tries to explain what happened, saying that Ruruka can confirm her story, since they're best friends and all.



That sets Ruruka off, who basically just dumps on Seiko, saying that they were never best friends and never will be, and calls her subhuman trash, amongst other things. Seiko counters that all she ever did was basically bend over backwards for Ruruka, doing whatever she wanted all the time, and the only reason she gave her that drug was because she asked for it.





The two get really angry at each other. A big point is being made of them both accusing each other of being a traitor. Poignant word, that.



Outside, Nagito is ready to deal with the examiners, having what he believes to be the laxatives and the detonator for the explosives.



Also, dog!



Oh no!



The dog jumping at Nagito's leg caused him to drop one of the cups, and the dog starts drinking it.



The dog then shows a reaction.



...quite a reaction. Nagito figures that what he has can't be the laxative, so that part of the plan is out. At least he still has the bomb...



...or so he thought. And then, the giant dog suddenly runs off...



...and straight up crashes through the wall into the exam hall.



So as Nagito mopes about his lack of luck outside, Ruruka and Seiko find themselves face to face with a giant dog. Sonozuke just straight up got stepped on.



The two fall backwards...



...and land in the worst spot.



And just as Nagito declares himself to be so fortunate to experience misfortune as the Ultimate Lucky Student, the bomb goes off.



When Chisa and some others arrive at the scene, all they find is ruins and Nagito talking to himself about how he was lucky after all.



Also, dog is back to normal size.



So, following that incident, Nagito has a talk with Chisa. He does his regular spiel about talent, how those born with talent are all that matters, and how great it is to see them collide in a battle of hopes. Chisa says that hope isn't supposed to be a battlefield, and Nagito replies that she doesn't have to listen to anything he says, since he's just a nobody.



That leads Chisa to slap Nagito. She asks him that he never talk about himself like that again, that he's not a nobody, he's her student, and as his teacher, she's proud of him and declares that he and all his classmates will graduate together.



After that, we have a meeting between Chisa, Jin and Koichi.



So it turns out that this was the incident that led to the expelling of Seiko, Ruruka and Sonozuke.



Hope's Peak basically had to find a perpetrator and punish them, given the media coverage. Also note that Nagito's luck did some overtime work in having no casualties happen in a bombing that straight destroyed the building. The topic then changes to Nagito, with Chisa having given the story that he was just an innocent bystander. However, there are quite a few eyewitnesses that believe that Nagito was not only involved, but even the mastermind, and the media is also calling for him to be expelled.



Chisa proceeds to cover for Nagito, saying her negligence was to blame, and if they need to scapegoat somebody, then her.



Jin then takes a somewhat different, but peak Hope's Peak approach - even if Nagito was the mastermind, he didn't administer the laxative or trigger the bomb. Him getting this result without directly intervening in any way is a talent they can't let go. So as a result, Nagito will be suspended, Koichi as homeroom teacher will be placed on probation, and Chisa as assistant homeroom teacher will be transferred to the Reserve Course. And the practical exams will be postponed, so Nagito achieved exactly what he wanted.



Chisa then makes her way to the class...



...only to find them all staring wordlessly at her. Even the dog!



However, as she comes in, it becomes clear that they all want her to stay. The topic of Nagito getting suspended comes up, and they kind of assume he just did something stupid, but Chisa tells them that all he wanted to do was help them, and to keep that in mind when he comes back, since they mostly treated him like a weirdo outsider (which, mind, is entirely reasonable given the way he acts).



Chisa tells everybody to stay positive and that while they're calling what she's doing a transfer, she promises that she'll be back with the class eventually.



In the meantime, she tells class rep Chiaki to protect everyone.



Finally, we get a post-credits scene of Chisa talking to Kyosuke about her getting sent to the Reserve Course. Chisa notes that this should make the investigation easier. Kyosuke notices that she doesn't seem to be quite happy about it.



And, well, she isn't. She says that it's not really professional, given that she's conducting an investigation, but it was just hard to say goodbye to the class. But she'll now be moving on to the Reserve Course, and with that, we end the episode.

Next time, it's back to Future Side, and now that we've gotten a look into the history of Seiko, Ruruka and Sonozuke, the next episode will also be focused on them.

What the fuck just happened?: There's practical exams at Hope's Peak. Nagito wants to delay them so the others can recover from the whole murder thing that happened before and shine even brighter, planning to mess up the exams with laxatives from Seiko to poison the judges and explosives for if that plan fails. Meanwhile, Ruruka wants a performance enhancer from Seiko to use in her sweets for the exam. Shenanigans happen, and Ruruka ends up with the laxative and Seiko ends up with Nagito's bag with the detonator. More shenanigans ensue and the exam hall gets blown up. Ruruka, Seiko and Sonozuke get expelled, Nagito gets suspended and Chisa gets transferred to the Reserve Course. Also, dog!