It looked like morning had come.
I got out of bed, replaying everything that had happened yesterday.
'Today... please, just let everyone forget what happened yesterday and smile and work together...'
Carrying that fragile little hope with me, I arrived at the dining hall and found everyone already gathered there.
"Ah, everyone's here?"
Even though things had ended on such a sour note yesterday, thankfully not a single person was missing from the dining hall this morning.
"......"
That included K, who was sitting silently in his chair, staring down at the table.
"By the way, Akamatsu, are you okay?"
"...Huh?"
"Everyone ganged up on you yesterday. I figured you'd be pretty hurt."
I was just about to quietly take a seat when Oma flashed me that slippery grin of his and spoke up.
"Y-you blamed me too!"
"W-wait, are you saying this is my fault now? So now you're blaming me too? Uwaaaah! That's so mean!!"
Oma suddenly burst into tears, then added in a voice thick with fake sobs,
"The one who blamed you the most was K!!"
"....."
"Hmph. What a noisy little brat."
"...Still, he has a point. K, you pushed Akamatsu way too hard yesterday. And the rest of you did too."
"Now, now, everyone was just on edge yesterday, y'know. So..."
"That doesn't excuse—"
"Shut up, all of you."
"Why you little—!"
The instant Miu—no, Momota—started to snap at that single cold line from K—
"Upupupu! Sorry to barge in on such a spicy little atmosphere, but I've got an announcement!"
Monokuma popped up right in the middle of the group.
"So you were listening to us..."
"Hey, don't just pop out of nowhere! That's murder on the heart!"
"Sorry, sorry! But this is something I absolutely had to tell you!"
"So, what is it?"
"Why, it's your 'motive for murder,' of course!"
Monokuma spread both arms wide and began to speak, his eyes glowing a sinister red.
"Let's be honest. If I just said, 'Please kill someone!' how many of you would actually do it? Well, maybe one of you would... but anyway! Since you lot are so used to living in modern society with masks plastered over your faces, I'm going to give you a special first-time bonus motive that'll let you take those masks off!"
"...A first-time bonus?"
"That's right! The very first person to commit murder will be guaranteed graduation from this Saishu Academy!!"
"Th-that means..."
"Exactly! For the very first murder, there won't be a trial!"
"...What!?"
The moment Monokuma finished, K—who had been glaring at him in silence the whole time—shot to his feet and shouted, his face drained with shock.
"Th-that can't..."
"Upupupu? What's wrong? Eat something funny?"
"N-no... that's not it..."
"Well then, kill away with peace of mind~! Of course, it's first come, first served, so you'd better be only moderately at ease!"
"...."
"A prisoner's dilemma... is that it...?"
"What the hell are you trying to accomplish by doing this to us...?"
"I don't know! I've had it! You bastard, just you—"
Kiiiiing!!
"...W-what!?"
Just as Momota, fury blazing to the top of his head, lunged to grab Monokuma, the Exisals appeared and started swinging a foot toward him.
"M-Momota! Run!"
I shouted on instinct, but it all happened too suddenly. Momota couldn't react in time, and then it happened.
"Upupupu, that's why you shouldn't have defied me—gyagyaaaagh!!"
"D-Dad?"
KRA-BOOOOM!!
""Daaad~!!""
In a catastrophic blunder, the Exisal crushed Monokuma under its foot instead of Momota. Monokuma let out one final shriek—then exploded.
"Th-this is all Monodam's fault!"
".....!"
"B-but we only had one Dad..."
"Th-then that means we're the headmasters now!!"
"R-right! We're the headmasters!!"
The Monokubs, thrown into total panic, babbled incoherently for a while before vanishing, and a heavy silence settled over the dining hall.
"Umm... what exactly just happened?"
When Shirogane cautiously broke the silence, everyone started tossing out their own thoughts.
"I don't really get it, but if the final boss got taken down, doesn't that mean the killing game is over?"
"I don't think so. Monokuma's just a robot, so there has to be a real final boss controlling him from behind the scenes."
"Ahaha, no need to worry! This has to be the end! If the game master is gone, there's no way the game can keep going!"
"Then... does that mean the danger is over now?"
"Ah! So now we just hold down the B button to return home!?"
It was true that Monokuma had been smashed to pieces, but everyone was letting their guard down far too quickly. I couldn't believe the people behind all this—the Mastermind's side—would collapse this pathetically. I tried to warn them, but—
"W-wait! We still can't say for sure that—"
"What are you trying to make us do this time, Akamatsu?"
K cut me off, fixing me with a glacial stare.
"Wasn't putting us through hell yesterday enough? Give it a rest already."
"Th-that's..."
"Yeah! We haven't even recovered from yesterday yet!"
"O-Oma-kun..."
"Or is there something else Akamatsu-san wants to make us do?"
"...Stop it. You know it's pointless."
"......Sorry."
Unable to withstand the chain of icy stares any longer, I apologized. Then K rose from his seat and spoke.
"All right, then we're done here. See you."
""......""
And just like that, exactly as K said, we broke up and scattered from the dining hall. With nowhere else to go, I headed back to my room.
"...Hic."
With tears spilling from my eyes before I even realized it.
"...Hic... ngh... hic..."
Even after I reached my room, the tears wouldn't stop. For a long while, I just stood there and cried miserably, too overwhelmed even to think about wiping them away.
"I... I just wanted to get along with everyone..."
I didn't really understand it myself, but I wanted to be friends with all of them. From the moment we first met and exchanged greetings, for some reason, they had felt less like strangers and more like friends I'd known for ages.
That's why I'd tried so hard not to lose heart, even in a situation like this. But when those same people turned those cold, cutting eyes on me, it hurt so much I could barely breathe.
"Hic... hic..."
I was still sobbing helplessly, unable to control the flood of tears, when suddenly the intercom rang.
Ding-dong♪ Ding-dong♪
"Wh-who is it...?"
I hurriedly wiped away my tears and opened the door.
"Akamatsu-san, are you oka—"
Saihara was standing there.
He stepped into my room and started to ask me something with a worried expression, but the moment he saw my face, he froze. I'd wiped my tears in a hurry, but I'd been crying so hard it must have been painfully obvious.
I didn't want to make him worry, so I hurried to speak first.
"S-Saihara-kun... I'm okay. It's just..."
"I don't think you did anything wrong, Akamatsu-san."
"H-huh?"
But he cut me off and began speaking with a grave expression.
"That place yesterday was definitely one of Monokuma's traps—something designed to plunge everyone into despair. A trap where the more everyone tried to work together, the deeper the despair became. You just got caught in that trap, Akamatsu-san."
"B-but... it's true that I pushed everyone. I wanted all of us to get out together."
"..."
"S-still... earlier, I wasn't totally sure, but if Monokuma really isn't coming back... then maybe it really is over now, right? And if it is... then maybe I can go out there, apologize to everyone, and maybe... maybe we can become friends..."
"....."
"B-but... if it isn't over... if the killing game starts again..."
"Akamatsu-san."
"I'm scared now... Up until now, I kept trying to work together with everyone somehow, but honestly... right now, I don't think I have the strength to endure those cold looks and stand in front of them and ask them to cooperate again... Saihara-kun, what am I supposed to do...?"
"I have a way."
"...What?"
Unable to hold back the sobs leaking out of me, I had been pouring everything out to Saihara with tears trembling in my eyes. His words startled me so badly I stopped mid-breath and asked him again.
"You have a way...? What do you mean?"
"First, calm yourself down for now, Akamatsu-san. Then meet me in the library a little later. There's something I want to tell you there."
"Saihara-kun..."
"And like I said, you didn't do anything wrong, Akamatsu-san... so try to cheer up. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm on your side."
"....."
Leaving those words behind, Saihara quietly stepped out of my room.
"...Right. I can't just sit here crying forever."
I didn't know the details, but it sounded like Saihara-kun had some kind of plan.
His talent was [Ultimate Detective]. If anyone was worth trusting, it was him. So instead of sitting here crying, I needed to help the one person who had chosen to believe in me.
Just as I was wiping away the last of my tears and trying to steady my heart—
Ding-dong♪ Ding-dong♪
The intercom rang again.
"S-Saihara-kun?"
No matter how I thought about it, he was the only person who would come looking for me. Tilting my head, I wondered if he'd forgotten something and opened the door.
"Saihara-kun, what is it? Did you leave something behi—huh?"
But the person standing outside wasn't Saihara-kun.
"Y-you... why are you here...?"
The one standing at my door was someone I never, ever would have expected.
.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at that same time...
"Hmm-hmm-hmm... hmm-hmm...♪"
Shirogane hummed to herself as she headed toward the girls' bathroom on the first floor.
"Nngah? Shirogane, where are you off to?"
"Ah, I was just going to the bathroom."
"The bathroom? Come to think of it, this one suddenly feels the call as well. Then, let us go togeth—"
"Ah, that reminds me. Chabashira-san was desperately looking for Yumeno-san."
"N-ngah!?"
"A little while ago, at the first-floor entrance, she was shouting, 'I've already searched all of outside, so now it's time to search the school!' and then she ran inside..."
"Th-then I shall take care of my business outside...! If Chabashira asks where I am, tell her you saw me in the dining hall!!"
"O-okay..."
Silently watching Yumeno sprint away in a panic, Shirogane murmured to herself with a faint smile.
"Well then, our counselor is doing even better than expected..."
Then, with a sly little smile curling at her lips, she whispered,
"...Guess it's about time I went to give birth to a new Monokuma."