'What? Why is my E-Handbook...?'
I flinched when the E-Handbook suddenly started buzzing in my pocket, then quickly looked around to see if the others were going through the same thing.
"Ki-kill the ugly bitch first! This gorgeous body goes last!"
"Yumeno, run! Hurry!"
"Oma, why are you worrying about me at a time like this?"
"...Didn't someone just say they were gonna catch all those robots and smash them to pieces?"
"H-how was I supposed to know something that huge would pop out!?"
"...A killing game? You're seriously saying that for real?"
But the others were only panicking over the machines in front of them. Which meant... was I the only one whose E-Handbook was ringing?
"Mo-Monodam! Why are you stealing other people's lines whenever you feel like it!?"
"It is a killing game."
"Ah! He said it again!"
"Y-you little... I'll smash you flat with the Exisals!"
"Jeez, now is not the time for allies to be fighting..."
"That's right! Don't fight! Anyone who fights, I'll smash 'em myself!"
While I was desperately trying to think, the Monokubs suddenly started brawling among themselves. I didn't know what the hell was going on, but if those idiots wanted to tear each other apart, that only helped us—
"My adorable little children... please stop this unsightly squabbling...!"
""Dad?""
Just as I was thinking that, a weirdly familiar voice echoed out from somewhere, and something sprang up onto the stage.
"That's right! I am the god of the new world... and the headmaster of Saishu Academy! Monokuma! Nice to meet you all! Upupupu...!"
The stuffed animal that had suddenly appeared and introduced itself as Monokuma immediately launched into a comedy routine with the Monokubs.
Of course, it was all worthless nonsense, so I quietly pulled out my E-Handbook and looked down at the screen.
"What the hell is th—ugh!?"
And in that instant, it began.
A violent shock tore through my head, like I was being shaken front to back, left to right. My consciousness splintered in every direction, the world twisted once—
'...A monitor?'
And I was left alone in a black void where everyone had vanished, a space occupied by nothing but a single gigantic monitor.
Bzzzzzt...!
As I stood there, frozen in confusion, the monitor suddenly flickered to life.
"What is this..."
"...The culprit is Akamatsu-san."
".....!"
A horrifying video began to play.
.
.
.
.
.
"N-no way, ahaha! You're joking, right?"
"A joke... you say?"
"Huh? You don't actually think I'm the culprit, do you? No way~! That's impossible!"
'What... what is this...?'
The monitor in front of me was showing a devastating scene.
In some unknown place that looked like a courtroom, Akamatsu Kaede was standing trial as the murderer who killed Amami Rantaro.
The one who had exposed the truth was Saihara Shuichi, and she was in the middle of denying his accusation.
I had no idea what was happening. Putting aside why I was suddenly being shown something like this in the first place, the scenes were flashing by far too fast.
From the moment Saihara Shuichi named her as the culprit, to the moment Akamatsu denied the crime and was shot down... from that collapse, to the moment everyone voted for Akamatsu Kaede as the blackened... and then—
"Now then, for Akamatsu Kaede, the [Ultimate Pianist], we've prepared a very special punishment time..."
"...Got it? It's a promise."
Her cruel Execution. The trial grounds drowning in tears. Those images came at me with merciless speed, but each one branded itself into my brain with perfect clarity.
'W-why would Akamatsu kill Amami? Why? Why would she do that?'
The scenes on the monitor were severely limited. About the only thing I could tell from that footage was that Amami Rantaro had been murdered by Akamatsu.
'No, wait. Why am I accepting that like it's obvious? What even is this in the first place?'
Come to think of it, what the hell was this situation? The moment I looked at the E-Handbook, I got dragged into some bizarre space and forced to watch this impossible scene—and worse, I was accepting it far too naturally.
As if... I had already experienced it once before.
'But... we've only just met... so why...'
"...Ugh!!"
Right as that thought crossed my mind, another spike of agony lanced through my skull, and the world flipped over again.
"...Well then, that's enough of the tantalizing explanation time! Let's kick off this heart-pounding, pulse-racing new semester of the killing game~!"
A moment later, I was back where I'd been before.
Looking around, it seemed like only a few seconds had passed since I looked down at my E-Handbook.
"A-a killing game...? Like hell we'd play along with that!!"
"That's right! We would never—never—take part in something like a killing game!"
"What the hell is going on... huh?"
Still tilting my head in confusion, unable to make sense of any of it, I noticed the notification window still glowing on my E-Handbook.
"...[Survivor Privilege]?"
I tapped the notification without thinking, and the moment the information began to appear on the screen, I froze solid.
"Heh."
And from the corner of her eye, Shirogane watched me and let the faintest smile curl at the edge of her lips.
.
.
.
.
.
"Don't screw with me! Who'd ever follow rules like these!?"
"Now, now, you really shouldn't do that."
"If you break your Monopad, the Exisals will dispose of you."
"To hell with your rules! I'm not playing along with this stupid farce!"
"No, this isn't some kind of game. Defying the school regulations recklessly in a situation like this would be extremely dangerous."
"Leave him alone! At worst, it'll just mean one idiot disappears from the world!"
"What!? Who are you calling an idiot!?"
Once Monokuma vanished, the shaken students quickly started turning on each other.
'If this keeps up... instead of cooperating, everyone's going to start tearing each other apart...'
I couldn't let that happen. We were already in a situation where even working together might not be enough. If we started fighting among ourselves, there was no way we'd survive this.
With that thought, I took a deep breath and shouted with all the force I had.
"Seriously! This is not the time to be fighting!"
"Whoa! Wh-what the—!?"
"This isn't the time for us to fight each other! If anything, this is exactly when we need to work together!"
Thankfully, my words made everyone stop bickering, and all eyes turned toward me.
"...Though honestly, maybe it'd be better if I played the piano instead of saying all this. Something like Chopin's 'Military March'... if I played that, our unity would probably shoot right up..."
But once I'd shouted, I suddenly had nothing else to say, and embarrassment crept over me. I was an idiot who only knew piano. I wasn't good at persuading people. If only I had the kind of talent that boy—the one called K, the counselor—had...
'Hm? Why is he staring at me like that?'
The boy who had introduced himself as K was staring at me without blinking. Just as I was about to ask what his problem was, voices started flying in from all sides.
"Nishishi... Akamatsu-chan, you've got some nerve saying something like that in a situation like this, huh?"
"Tenko thinks Akamatsu-san is absolutely right! We must not mistake who the real enemy is!"
"A-anyway, everyone should calm down... like me... yes... calm down..."
"Waaah~! You're shaking like crazy~!"
"E-even I don't think I can handle that level of vibration..."
"Anyway, why don't we all work together and search for the exit one more time?"
"Space?"
"Yeah, there has to be some kind of opening somewhere! Let's all look for it together! Whoever trapped us here clearly wants to drive us into fighting each other... so let's show them it won't work! We're not going to tear each other apart—we're going to cooperate! Together!"
"".....""
I forced down my nerves and told everyone what I was thinking. Then, all at once, silence fell.
"...Um, hey... why did everyone go quiet? Did I say something weird...?"
"No, not at all. You were so painfully correct that nobody had anything left to say."
"Ha! You already said everything I was about to! Yeah! I agree! We can't give up that easily!"
"Yeah~! Then let's split up and go search for the exit again~!"
"You're amazing, Akamatsu-san. Your words changed the entire mood. You've completely become the center of everyone here."
"N-no! I just said whatever came to mind..."
Thankfully, everyone started agreeing with me. It was a little embarrassing, but at least now they were willing to cooperate, so that was a relie—
"You said all that without even thinking? Then that's even more impressive..."
"...Is it, though? Were those words really for everyone's sake... or were they just a trick to lower everyone's guard?"
"...Huh? K-san? What did you just say?"
Just as I was thinking things had settled down, K—the one who had been staring holes through me this whole time—suddenly spoke in a chilling voice, his expression gone cold.
"Isn't everyone trusting people way too easily in a situation like this? Sure, cooperation is nice and all... but I think a healthy amount of suspicion is necessary too."
"K-san, your point isn't wrong, but right now is the time for cooperation."
"I agree. There may still be an exit we haven't found yet, so for now we should prioritize joining forces and searching for it."
"Exactly! Quietly follow Akamatsu-san's lead, man!"
"Ngh... I don't really get it, but in our current situation, searching for an exit is the only real option, isn't it..."
"Nishishi... wouldn't have guessed it, but you've got a real knack for this, K-chan."
"....."
At everyone's responses, K fell silent and went back to glaring at me.
"U-um, guys... this might not be related, but... earlier, behind the school building, I found a manhole..."
"...A manhole?"
Just as the atmosphere turned awkward and brittle, Gokuhara hesitantly spoke up.
"When I looked inside, it seemed to lead to a wide underground passage... so I thought maybe that could be the exit... s-sorry, I know it probably can't be that sim—"
"Please tell us things that important a little sooner!"
"WhenIlookedinsideitseemedtoleadtoawideundergroundpassage..."
"N-no! I didn't mean talk faster!"
"Anyway, let's go check it out. Behind the school building... you mean the area with the boiler in the backyard, right? Gokuhara-kun, please lead the way."
"O-okay! Everyone... follow Gonta!"
And just like that, everyone rushed out of the gym in a flurry with Gonta at the front. I started to follow after them too, when—
"Akamatsu. What's your angle?"
"...Huh?"
K stopped me.
"You're hiding something, aren't you?"
"H-hiding something...?"
"Are you seriously going to keep pretending you don't know? Fine. Do whatever you want. But..."
He stared straight at me and spoke in a voice cold enough to cut.
"...I'm going to be watching you. So don't even think about trying anything funny."
"W-wait..."
Leaving only those words behind, K quickly walked out of the gym.
"...He left. Why would he say something like that to me...?"
"Something's definitely off."
"Huh? Saihara-kun, you're still here?"
"Yeah... I had something I wanted to think about regarding K-kun."
"About K-kun?"
"Up until a moment ago, he seemed cooperative with everyone. But when Monokuma appeared, he looked down at his E-Handbook... and after that, his whole demeanor changed. It was only after that that he started showing hostility toward Akamatsu-san."
"Really? Yeah... that is strange..."
"I don't know how to judge him. The few times I ran into him while exploring the school, he was sociable—giving advice, counseling people, helping them. But after what he just showed us..."
"Well, there's no point overthinking that right now. More importantly, we should go check out that manhole behind the school building too."
"...Ah, right. You're right."
That's right. Thinking about it now wouldn't do any good.
For now, everyone was cooperating, and we'd even found a possible escape route. All that was left was for all of us to work together and get out of here.
But...
'That look in his eyes... seeing him look at me like that felt so wrong somehow... why?'
Why did it feel so shocking, so deeply unsettling, like watching someone who should never do such a thing suddenly shatter all expectations and do it anyway?
I didn't understand it. But for now, escaping had to come first.
"Akamatsu-san, let's go."
"...Yeah!"
With those thoughts swirling in her mind, Akamatsu left the gym together with Saihara.
Without knowing what kind of nightmare was waiting for her next... or for any of them.
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