Heartwarming / Class 78th Watches the Future

As is the case with all pages detailing Heartwarming Moments, Spoilers Off

Even despite the numerous betrayals and killings they see themselves commit, there are still several moments demonstrating the heartwarming power of hope that occur between the members of Class 78 as they watch their future.

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• While everyone sees that the 'Junko' on screen is Mukuro, the future Makoto states that it doesn't quite match up to the real fashionista. When Mukuro takes it to mean that she's not as pretty as her sister, Makoto states that she has her own beauty, and when she relaxes, she's actually really cute. Seeing the stoic Ultimate Soldier reduced to a lovestruck schoolgirl with a Crush Blush is just adorable, and shows why Makoto is a Chick Magnet, even if he's completely unaware of it himself.
• Every time a chapter ends, Makoto takes the time to talk to all involved parties and assure them that they're better than think of themselves.
  • After the prologue, he speaks to Kyoko, getting her to finally admit that after watching her father being executed by Monokuma, she felt grief at his death and fury at Monokuma for laughing at him, indicating that despite her thoughts, she still holds some love for her father, and Makoto encourages her to try to reconnect with him.
  • For Chapter 1, he speaks with Leon, Mukuro, and Sayaka.
    • The faith he has in his friends is shown for certainty when he speaks with Leon. When he starts the talk, Leon assumes that Makoto will chew him out for killing Sayaka, and is surprised to hear that Makoto doesn't blame him and sees him as a victim, since it was Sayaka who tried to kill him first and that he probably didn't intend to kill her afterward. While Leon argues Makoto doesn't know that for certain, Makoto states that he knows "enough to be sure that [Leon's] a good person".
    • When he sees Mukuro crying after getting confirmation from Junko that she would still kill her if it brought her despair, he works to comfort her, giving her a speech that assures her that he believes in her and that she's more than a soldier. It's this conversation that reminds her why she fell in love with Makoto and begins to put more thought into leaving Junko. Specifically, she reasons that while she fought for Junko, she could still be useful as a soldier by protecting Makoto.
    • The sheer fact that even after knowing Sayaka betrayed him and tried to frame him for murder, he still continues to trust in her despite her worst fears, leading to the Ultimate Pop Sensation hugging him tightly as she tearfully thanks him and deciding to never put her career before her friends and loved ones ever again. In fact, she becomes one of Makoto's most verbal, and even physical, defenders.
  • For Chapter 2, he talks with Chihiro, Mondo, and Taka.
    • With Chihiro, he listens to Chihiro's self-deprecative rant about his weakness and struggles to understand Mondo's jealousy, but Makoto tells him that he had enough strength to tell him, Mondo, and Leon, about his true gender and that while it wasn't the best circumstances, his future self, even without his current memories, had the strength to want to change. While Chihiro doesn't believe at first, he does come to want to become stronger, with Makoto thinking to himself that Chihiro already is strong.
    • For Mondo, Makoto first tells the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader that he didn't kill Chihiro in cold blood, and genuinely felt regret for his actions, but then reveals that he didn't just want to talk about Mondo's guilt over killing Chihiro, but also of leading to Daiya's death. While Mondo points out that if he hadn't been so hot-headed then Daiya wouldn't have died, Makoto points out that it was Daiya's choice to save Mondo, something any older sibling would do, thinking that if Komaru was in danger, he too wouldn't hesitate to give his life to save her.
    • Finally, for Taka, he works to assuage the Ultimate Moral Compass's feelings of guilt in not doing enough to keep Mondo from killing Chihiro, pointing out that he wouldn't break the rules and that Mondo never planned on killing in the first place. When Taka asks if Chihiro would blame him, Makoto is certain that the thought never even crossed the Ultimate Programmer's mind and encourages him to talk to Mondo and Chihiro about it. When Taka doubts if such is the right course, Makoto gets him to use his talent to see his point before leaving. With this, Taka wonders if Makoto has been doing the same to everyone else, filling him with respect for the Ultimate Lucky Student.
  • Chapter 3 has him talk with Hifumi and Celeste.
    • For Hifumi, he gives the Ultimate Fanfic Creator an empathic discussion on how to deal with the feelings of betrayal. Hifumi asks if he and Celeste have a real friendship, and Makoto encourages him to talk with her when Hifumi laments how easily he was manipulated while questioning his worth, Makoto does not let him fall to that and points out his work. The most important thing is that Hifumi decides that he will talk to Taka, refusing to fall into Never My Fault.
    • For Celeste, Makoto works with her to try to get her to admit her real feelings, empathically telling her that she wasn't the only one who felt confused and frightened. She still keeps her mask up, but she still holds faith in Makoto, with him becoming her confidant of her true feelings.
  • During the break between Chapters 3 and 4, Makoto confronts Mukuro about the warning note he received and gets her to admit that she does know who the Mastermind is and what they're planning and that she is/will be working for them due to feeling that she owes them a debt she can never repay. While Makoto is disappointed that she would go along with something so evil even after seeing her own murder, he still agrees to keep quiet at least until it's revealed in the future, trusting that she will eventually make the right decision.
  • Following Chapter 4, Makoto talks with Sakura, Hina, and Byakuya.
    • When Sakura asks Makoto to comfort Hina in her stead, he agrees with no hesitation and also checks to see how the Ultimate Martial Artist is doing. For her part, Sakura bows in respect of Makoto, telling him how grateful she is that she and Hina have him as a friend. In turn, Makoto confirms that he sees Sakura as an incredibly strong person, and Sakura's response is to smile and tell him that such praise from him is an honor.
    • He attempts to comfort Hina over her future self's actions in the class trial, beginning with a Cooldown Hug (which he also does when Komaru is upset).
      Hina: I called Byakuya a monster, when he said that he would be okay with Sakura dying… but if he's a monster… what does that make me?
      Makoto: You're a girl who saw her best friend die! Someone who saw over half her classmates die! Who was tricked by a mad-man at her most vulnerable! Of course you reacted the way you did; you were pushed into that despair! I'm not justifying what you did, nor condoning it. But you're not a monster for acting out of grief. After all… what monster would cry about what she'd done, what she'd almost done?
    • He also manages to check on Byakuya, and while he does have some lingering resentment for how the class treated him, he still proves willing to move past that. He also gives a sympathetic response to Hina's situation by seeing how she acted at her worst.
• In general, everyone's reaction to Free Time Events gives rise to a lot of heartwarming moments.
  • Chihiro's Free Time Events, in general, are a guaranteed "AWWW!" moment, with the two cinnamon rolls of the class getting together Like Brother and Sister (or rather, like brothers).
    • In one such FTE, Makoto admits his own insecurities of being an Ordinary High-School Student in a school that thrives on training the exceptional. No one is upset with him for this, instead telling him that there's no problem with his worries and that no matter what, he's still a member of Class 78.
  • The FTE with Sakura talking about her boyfriend Kenshiro gives rise to several moments.
    • Makoto's refusal to laugh at Sakura earns him a So Proud of You remark from Taka about his maturity, and while Makoto tries to brush it off, Aoi tells him that it speaks of well of him that he didn't laugh at Sakura.
    • Everyone learning about Kenshiro's condition and the promise he and Sakura made. Chihiro comes to admire Kenshiro's strength, Makoto and Aoi have faith that he will beat the illness, Sayaka and Taka give their hope that he gets better, Hifumi and Toko find themselves inspired by his story, and Byakuya admits that he respects Sakura since she had to fight for her position in Hope's Peak.
    • Following that, the Future!Sakura tells Future!Makoto that she can see his inner strength, and when he shows disbelief, she assures him he doesn't need to be so modest, and that leads to the present day Sayaka, Aoi, Taka, Chihiro, Mondo, and Kyoko telling Makoto that they also believe he's strong. It's a good show of just how close Class 78 is to each other, and that Makoto's friendship with his classmates isn't one-sided; just as he's there for them, they're there for him as well.
  • Leon and Hiro also have a heartwarming moment around Toko. While they are the least understanding of her love for Byakuya, they show a lot of sympathy upon hearing her Cynicism Catalyst, and everyone else shows quite a bit of anger with her date's behavior.
  • When asked about his half-siblings by the rest of the class, Byakuya tells them that he respects them for making a genuine attempt to be more than the 99% he lumps everyone else in.
• As reclusive and anti-social as she is, even Toko admits she sees Makoto as a friend.
• When Future!Makoto is accused of the murder of Future!Sayaka, everyone finds the idea to be completely absurd, and some get angry at their future selves, showing that they completely see Makoto as an All-Loving Hero and a Nice Guy, and not someone who would ever murder anyone, demonstrating that Makoto's faith in his friends is reciprocal.
• When Chihiro's real gender is revealed to everyone, Genocide Jill openly considers killing him, but Mondo, Leon, Aoi, and Sakura pull a Go Through Me on Jill. While the former two knew already along with Makoto, Aoi and Sakura only found out with the rest of the class, and still protect him, dispelling Chihiro's worries that everyone would see him as a freak.
• Makoto and Sakura, after learning about Daiya's Heroic Sacrifice, give him a silent Due to the Dead.
• Leon and Sayaka making up. While Sayaka apologizes to Leon for attempting to kill him, Leon himself states that there were a number of times he could've stopped himself from killing her, and the two decide to just forgive each other, with Leon stating that he still trusts Sayaka.
• Despite knowing that Mondo killed him in the future, Chihiro still trusts Mondo enough to want him to train him in physical strength. Mondo, in return, refuses to let Chihiro blame himself for his own murder and puts all the blame on himself, admitting his jealousy at Chihiro's strength and explaining it to the Ultimate Programmer.
• Remember how Kiyotaka felt he was responsible for Mondo's murder of Chihiro in Chapter 3? That whole argument is completely shut down by both Mondo and Chihiro themselves, alongside the earlier conversation with Makoto.
  Taka: Do…do you blame me for what Mondo did?
  Mondo: Wait, what? How could it be your fault?
  Taka: I just…felt like my future self could have stopped you. Maybe if I had insisted on all of us revealing our secrets, or suspected how bad your secret really was-
  Mondo: Bro, stop it. If I'm not gonna let Chihiro take the blame for what I did, I'm not gonna let you do it either. There was no way in hell you could've found what I was thinking, and there was no use trying to get everyone to reveal their secret. I know we talked about this, but even I think that's a bad idea.
  Chihiro: And I would never blame you, Taka! You haven't done anything that would cause this!
  Taka: I know, but… My lack of action should be considered negligence. I must have been able to do something!
  Chihiro: We can't blame each other. And [we] can't blame ourselves either. Like Makoto said, the only person to blame for this is the mastermind. If it weren't for that, none of us would be here. I know you feel useless after seeing the trial. But you have a chance to do something now. We all do.
  Mondo: [Chihiro's] right. We can find out how the hell we got in this mess, who the fucking mastermind is, and find out where the hell he's hiding, so we can kick his ass!
  Chihiro: And we can all do it, together.
  Taka: You're right. I can't keep holding on to what could possibly happen and what I could've done about it. We have this chance to stop this from ever happening.
• Before watching the events of the third case, everyone finds Chihiro is late, and it's revealed that Spirit has given the Ultimate Programmer clothes that fit his biological gender. While Chihiro does feel uncomfortable with wearing masculine clothes in public at the moment, none of his classmates have a problem with this, and instead praise him for making the first steps to accepting his inner strength.
• When Celeste tries to claim that Sayaka and Mondo are no better than her future self, Hina immediately jumps to their defense, pointing out that the dream Sayaka tried to kill for was the career she worked hard for with close friends at her side while Mondo's secret was the guilt he held for killing his brother and actually felt guilty killing Chihiro. It goes to show that Hina is one of the most kindhearted and empathic of the class, able to understand that not all murderers are cut from the same cloth.
• Even after seeing her future self orchestrate a particularly conniving scheme that ended in two people dying, Makoto still protects Celeste from the wrath of Sayaka and Aoi and gives her a Cooldown Hug after she starts breaking down from watching her execution.
• When Aoi sees that Makoto still sees Sakura as his friend even after Monokuma unmasked the Ultimate Martial Artist as a traitor, she immediately embraces him, tearfully thanking him for continuing to trust her, with Makoto hugging her back and saying it's what he can do. The following reactions are equally heartwarming:
  • Sayaka reaffirms that Makoto's ability to still see the best in others is why he's wonderful.
  • Byakuya, while in his normal Jerk with a Heart of Gold manner, still sees his idealism as foolish, but admits Makoto, out of anyone else, could pull it off.
  • Kyoko chides Makoto for being too trusting, but she admits that his faith in others is what makes him Makoto.
  • Sakura, while seeing it difficult for him to convince the other classmates that she won't betray them to Monokuma, thanks Makoto for still trusting her, planning to ensure that neither his nor Hina's faith in her is misplaced.
• When Hina apparently confesses to murdering Sakura, the present-day Sakura is in utter disbelief, having complete faith in Hina being a good person and angrily rebuking any attempt to label her as the culprit. Mondo comments on their friendship, saying the two are practically sisters to one another.
• While Chapter 84 is mostly a Tear Jerker, there are still a few shining moments.
  • Despite learning that Hina attempted to kill everyone in an attempt to avenge Sakura's suicide, including him and Kyoko, Makoto is still very sympathetic, and worried about his friend, following with Sakura's nonverbal plea to comfort Hina in her place, giving the distraught Ultimate Swimmer a Cooldown Hug. Even as Hina starts blaming herself for not doing enough and Sayaka tears into her for her actions, Makoto is firm, working to comfort his friend the best he can.
  • When Future!Sakura reveals that she still sees Toko, Byakuya, and Hiro as friends despite their constant mistreatment of her, the rest of the class is in disbelief, and when Hina points out they hated her, Sakura voices what she thinks are her future self's thoughts: no matter what they think of her, she still thinks of them as friends because of what they endured together. It's this moment that fully gets the ball rolling for Toko and Hiro's Heel Realization.
  • It's easy to miss given Sayaka's anger about Hina's actions, but it's telling that she includes "To say those things about yourself?!" among her accusations. Even if she's angry at Hina for attempting to kill Makoto and the others, she still doesn't believe that Hina could have been responsible for Sakura's death, and she doesn't want Hina to believe that either.
  • When Future!Hina feels that Sakura died hating them, the present day Sakura retorts that she could never hate Hina, and would never die with resentment in her heart. For a brief moment, Hina feels grateful.
• When Sakura learns that she committed suicide not out of cowardice but of resolve, it relieves her immensely.
• Everyone's reaction to Monokuma trying to make out Sakura as the one responsible shows that they don't blame her at all, and unite in their collective hatred of Monokuma. Mondo, Taka, Leon, and Sayaka all argue in Sakura's defense.
• The present-day survivors of Makoto, Kyoko, and Hiro all unite in stating that they don't blame Hina, raising the spirits of the rest of the class.
• When the future Byakuya finally elects to bow out of the Killing Game, the rest of the class starts taking steps to reconcile with the present Byakuya. Leon tells the Ultimate Affluent Progeny that his vow to destroy Monokuma actually makes him sound like a badass, Mondo agrees with the sentiment, Hiro realizes that this means Toko will be sure to follow, Celeste recognizes that the mastermind has now lost one of their best cards, and Toko herself has a lovestruck expression as she sees her master's vow to make the mastermind pay. Chihiro, Hifumi, Kyoko, and Sayaka all have expressions of happiness, and Makoto looks at Byakuya with an expression that screams "I knew your future self would turn around", and Byakuya continues smirking. For the first time in a long time, the entire class (sans the Despair Sisters) is completely united in their collective desire to take down the mastermind.
  • Even when Future!Byakuya still has aspects of his jerk personality, the rest of the class is far less aggressive, with Hiro outright saying that Byakuya may be a jerk but he's their jerk.
• When Monokuma announces his intentions to execute someone and implies it will be Hina, Sakura, Mondo, and Taka immediately jump to her defense, stating that just because Hina tampered with the crime scene does not give Monokuma the right to murder her.
• In the aftermath of Alter Ego's execution, Mondo does his best to help comfort Chihiro, keeping his anger as low as he can as he works to comfort the Ultimate Programmer.
• When Monokuma mocks Makoto calling Alter Ego his friend, the class has none of it. Mondo and Leon both tell the bear to fuck off, Sayaka states that Monokuma has no right to declare who they see as friends, and Taka and Sakura reaffirm that Alter Ego is more than just an AI, but their friend.
• After Future!Makoto continues to assert that he'll continue to carry all the deaths, victim and murderer alike, the rest of the class has nothing but admiration for the Ultimate Lucky Student, expressing it in various ways, even if Makoto wonders if it's warranted.
  • Taka tells Makoto that he has incredible will with nothing but utter respect in his voice, having no shame in admitting he probably wouldn't be able to handle it.
  • Mondo agrees with his bro, but he also doesn't dismiss the courage of Sakura and Chihiro, telling him the class could learn from the three of them.
  • While rather funny as well, Hifumi has nothing but admiration for the Ultimate Lucky Student, stating that Makoto is protagonist material in his eyes, and perhaps even a chad.
  • Leon may not understand Hifumi's lingo, but he tells his best friend that he's getting cooler by the day.
  • Mukuro tells him that his vow to keep carrying all the deaths sounds cool to her, having a Crush Blush as she does so.
  • Sayaka tells him that he's as strong-willed as Sakura and has a caring heart, softly smiling at her crush.
  • Hina tells Makoto that he's incredible and also wonderful for continuing to hold his classmates close to his heart.
  • Chihiro's inner courage finally starts sprouting after a lot of self-doubt, seeing that if Makoto can still keep his hopeful nature despite what happened, Chihiro can also be strong as well.
  • Kyoko's thoughts mirror her future counterpart's, acknowledging that Makoto is the type to overcome the Killing Game and keep moving forward.
• With the revelation of Mukuro's alignment to Ultimate Despair unveiled, the Ultimate Soldier finds shielding in not just Makoto, but Taka and Hina as well. After Makoto protects her from further interrogation, the Ultimate Soldier hugs him while thanking him, despite feeling undeserving of his kindness and friendship. Makoto's response is to call her a wonderful girl, with him wishing that she'd value himself more.
• During the break, Hifumi apologizes to Taka, both his present self and his future self's behavior, and Taka has no problem accepting it, and Mondo follows suit, albeit after a punch to let out his remaining anger.
• Even despite remembering how her future self murdered his, Hifumi still wants to make friends with Celeste, seeing that the second photo indicates that they would eventually become genuine friends.
• After she gets rattled by Mondo's very accurate psychoanalysis, Celeste clings to Makoto for comfort while pouting, and it's a very cute scene between them.
• As the class gathers just before watching Chapter 5, Sayaka approaches Hina and hugs her, before reiterating the point she made in anger the day before.
  Sayaka: I'm still a bit angry with you… There's a lot of things I want to say. But, just… don't ever think such stupid thoughts. Understand?
  Hina: [tearing up; returning the hug] You… would have to be more specific… I had a lot of stupid thoughts…
  Sayaka: [giggles] Don't repeat your future self's mistakes. Don't ever put blame on anyone that didn't deserve it. That includes yourself.
• When the future Toko gives Makoto Mukuro's knife, the class all agree that out of everyone, he's probably the most trustworthy to not use it for evil intent other than Chihiro. Once again, Makoto's faith in his classmates is shown to be reciprocal, with his classmates having full faith in his good nature.
• When the seeds of guilt that Junko planted in Makoto's mind start sprouting, Leon, Taka, Sayaka, and Hina immediately step up to stop him from deprecating himself too harshly, once again showing that his classmates are there for him just as he is for them.
• When it comes to light that the mastermind desecrated Mukuro's corpse to fake a murder, Makoto embraces the stunned Mukuro, telling her that she deserves better and to be treated better. It's a minor gesture, but it's obvious that it's got major impact on Mukuro.

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