Ding dong, bing bong!
"Nnngh... what..."
Ding dong, bing bong! Ding dong, bing bong!
"Urgh... so loud...! I'm coming out already!!"
The intercom kept blaring with obsessive persistence, so I dragged my heavy body upright, staggered to my feet, and opened the dorm room door.
"Yo, K!"
"Momota...? What do you need..."
"Well, c'mon. After what happened yesterday, everybody split up, and we said we'd meet in the dining hall this morning, remember? But no matter how long we waited, you never showed, so I came to get you."
"Ah... thanks. I must've been more exhausted than I thought. I overslept..."
"..."
When I scratched my head and answered, Momota stared at me in blank surprise for a second—then broke into a huge grin.
"That's more like it, dumbass! You should've acted like this from the start! Now that you've ditched that rotten attitude, you're way easier on the eyes!"
"No, I told you... that was an act...?"
"Mm-hm-hm, right, right. In that case... sorry. I picked a fight with you for no reason and made things harder for you."
"No, I'll apologize too. I couldn't say it because I was keeping up the act, but... I did feel pretty bad about it."
At that, Momota strode over and started thumping me on the back as he kept talking.
"What the hell! So you were actually a seriously good guy! Nice! Keep being like this from now on—"
"Ghk! O-okay, I get it, so stop..."
"A-ah... hello...?"
Right when Momota's hearty back-slapping was making things deeply uncomfortable for me, someone outside the door greeted me in a shy voice.
"...."
"Uh... if it's okay with you, want to walk to the dining hall together?"
"...Ahem, K. I'll get going now."
"Mo-Momota?"
"Later, man~!"
"Ah..."
After seeing who it was, Momota shot me a wink, then bolted out of the dorms at full speed.
"Uh... Kyoko Kirigiri, good mor—"
"Mukuro."
"Huh?"
"Call me by my name."
At that baffling request, I tilted my head for a moment before asking,
"Uh... but why by your name? No, more importantly, I thought your full name was Kyoko Kirigiri..."
".....!"
At that, the woman in front of me froze for a second, then shyly spoke again.
"...'Mukuro' is a nickname."
"Oh."
"So call me by my nickname."
Apparently, I must've been pretty close with "Kyoko Kirigiri."
.
.
.
.
.
"...Ah!"
"Ungh?"
The moment I stepped into the dining hall, everyone's eyes snapped toward me. Well, fair enough. The resident bastard who'd been acting ice-cold suddenly reforming overnight was bound to draw attention.
"M-my, somehow... the woman beside K seems to carry the aura of a warrior..."
"A-a warrior...?"
"Come to think of it, we still haven't asked your name or Talent! If it's not rude, may we ask?"
"...I'm Mukuro. The [Ultimate Soldier]."
No—actually, all that attention wasn't on me. It was focused on "Mukuro," standing beside me.
"Kyaaah! I knew it! Um, if possible, could you maybe give Tenko some advice on Neo Aikido—"
"Uh... if I get the time..."
"I've never seen anyone who looks as strong as Gonta! Hey, did you grow up with wolves too?"
".....!"
"Oh, that reaction... you really did grow up with wolves!! Nice to meet you!!"
"N-no... I was raised in Fenrir, but that doesn't mean wolves were—"
"Hey, but are you really 'high school' level? You look like you've already been through every battlefield hell imaginable... nishishishi..."
"Could the male degenerate over there please learn a little tact?"
"...I knew it."
Mukuro looked completely overwhelmed by the sheer flood of attention she was getting. Still, her Talent being "soldier"... I'd already guessed as much from first impressions, but yeah. Definitely not someone I should mess around with carelessly.
Though... did Harukawa just say, "I knew it"? What was that supposed to mean?
"...That girl smells like me."
"U-uh... what?"
While I was still tilting my head in confusion, Mukuro suddenly shot Harukawa a frigid glare and started whispering to me.
"Sm-smells...? But... you don't really smell like anything special..."
"Ah, th-then... really? I don't smell?"
At my words, Mukuro seemed to snap back to herself and shyly asked me again.
A woman who could make almost any kid too intimidated to breathe was acting shy only around me... It kind of made me feel like some summoner commanding a familiar.
"Anyway... what was that thing Gokuhara was talking about earlier?"
"Keh, why even care about some graffiti!? Graffiti's only useful during erotic play!"
"...Graffiti?"
"Yeah... Gonta found it this morning. On a concrete patch hidden in the courtyard grass... there were letters written there: [Gye-neun O]."
"Gye-neun O? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Sorry... Gonta's stupid, so he doesn't know..."
"Shinguji, maybe you—"
"I don't know either. It's a phrase I've never heard before."
"Saihara, then what about you?"
"Hard to say... there's just not enough information..."
If even the anthropologist and the detective didn't know, then it was probably some meaningless phrase. Losing interest, I sat down and started eating.
"...I definitely saw a tiny bug for a moment! Of course, it was so small that even Gonta, with his 6.0 vision, couldn't see it clearly..."
"So you found the graffiti while looking for the bug? Nice work! See? This is why trusting you from the start paid off!"
"R-really...?"
"Yep! So become my underling."
"Okay, I will!"
"Hey! Don't try to trick innocent Gonta!"
After that little storm blew over, peaceful banter drifted through the dining hall. Sure, it was a shame we still hadn't ended the killing game... but we'd stopped that future-like scene where Akamatsu and Amami died, and we'd caught Shirogane too, so...
'Wait. Come to think of it... what happened to Shirogane?'
Yesterday, Monokuma knocked Shirogane unconscious and dragged her off somewhere... Maybe someone knew where she'd ended up. I should ask.
"Nishishi... Gonta really is gullible. But because of that gullibility..."
"Hey... by any chance, Shirogane—"
"...is going to get murdered nice and easily?"
"...I didn't see—"
Damn it. That rotten bastard had to dump ice water all over the peaceful mood.
"Y-you male degenerate...!"
"The second K starts behaving... now it's that guy..."
"No, K was acting. That guy's genuinely like this."
"What's wrong? The killing game is still going on, isn't it? I was just giving advice."
"Um, even so... maybe you should choose your words a little more carefully..."
"Whaaaahhh!! I thought K was my fellow liar!! But you betrayed meee!!"
"Wh-what!?"
"You were clumsy, sure, but pretty entertaining!! But now... you're planning to bully me too!?"
"No... that's not..."
"Bullying between students is not allowed!! Stop at once!!"
"...Mo-Monokuma?"
I was already floundering thanks to that bastard's chaos, and then Monokuma suddenly popped up right in front of me, nearly scaring me out of my skin.
"Upupupu... so you finally act surprised when you see me? How many years has it been...? No, wait, was this the first time to begin with?"
"...Cut the incomprehensible nonsense and tell us why you're here."
"Upupupu... because I brought presents for you guys!"
As soon as Monokuma clapped his paws together, the Monokubs came tumbling out.
"Sob... Monokid... we'll remember you..."
"Yeah... we'll remember you... wait, who were we supposed to remember again?"
"Who cares about that! We just gotta do what Dad told us to do!"
"......."
The Monokubs, mourning the death of Monokid—who'd climbed down from an Exisal yesterday, picked a fight with Mukuro, and then got flattened into dried squid thanks to Monodam's control screwup—held out four items to us.
"...What's this?"
"Upupupu... about that negotiation yesterday... no, no, silly me, I keep slipping... This is the first present I'm giving you all to celebrate the arrival of a new transfer student!"
"What are we even supposed to do with useless junk like this?"
"Upupupu... well, that's because... I don't know either! Figure it out yourselves!"
Scratching his head with an absurdly innocent smile, Monokuma suddenly curled his lips into a grin and looked toward the dining hall entrance.
"Aaaand now... the second present! You can come in now!!"
"A-ah... hello... n-nice to meet you all..."
"Shirogane... Tsumugi...?"
The second "present" Monokuma introduced to us was Shirogane Tsumugi, shuffling timidly into the dining hall.
"...Are you screwing with us right now?"
"That girl's... the Mastermind!!"
"Well, not anymore!! Shirogane Tsumugi has been 'eliminated' from the role of Mastermind!!"
"U-um... what exactly is going on? I was definitely at... a cosplay event..."
"As a special bonus, since this is a 'present,' I wiped her memories! She's not the 'Mastermind' anymore—just a normal gross otaku!"
"And you think... we're supposed to believe that?"
"Believe it or don't... that's your choice! I'm not on that girl's side anymore, so torture her, use her, kill her—do whatever you want!"
As Monokuma declared that with shameless confidence, the others' faces twisted in confusion.
"I-I'm not a gross otaku... it's just a hobby..."
"Shut up, you skank!! Sit still and become the test subject for my Pleasure Paradise Mark Two!!"
Meanwhile, Iruma—wearing a deeply suspicious grin—suddenly lunged at the stammering, panicked Shirogane and started fastening some bizarre machine onto her.
"Wh-what is this... wait, this is that thing from those dirty manga... no way!!"
"Switch on, bitch!!"
"Heh... heuuungh..."
From that point on, Iruma's torture of Shirogane—overflowing with her own personal agenda—began in earnest. Well... if the memory loss was a lie, that machine looked vicious enough to make her spill the truth in minutes, so maybe it was best to leave the torture to Iruma for now.
Still, Shirogane really was a hopeless, unsalvageable otaku freak. What kind of deranged lunatic actually lets out a sound like "heuuungh" with their own mouth? Just thinking about it made my skin crawl.
If someone like that really existed... they'd definitely be the kind of creepy, terminally awkward loner otaku who couldn't tell delusion from reality and constantly took things way too far, just like Shirogane. Yeah. I absolutely had to make sure I never turned out like that.
"Anyway... whether you roast Shirogane or boil her is up to you. Now, accept the third—and final—present for today!"
Monokuma gave the Shirogane-being-tortured-by-Iruma scene an awkward glance, then pulled out a flash device from somewhere and held it up.
"Here! Turn this on, and the memories you've forgotten will come back!"
"M-memories...?"
"That's right! Though for you, the late participant, it probably won't do much, so don't get your hopes up too high! Upupupupu..."
As Monokuma laughed at Mukuro, she fixed him with a glacial stare.
"I can't believe a light like that can restore lost memories..."
"Upupupu, but... it's true! This light has the power to cure all kinds of amnesia! The light stimulates the basal ganglia and the hippocampus, so not only your memories but your physical abilities too—"
"Wh-what are you even talking about..."
"Anyway, it's that kind of thing!"
"...What memories are coming back?"
"Who knows... maybe the reason you all came to this school?"
"Wh-what does that—"
"Upupupu! If you want details, use it and find out for yourselves! Later!"
With that, Monokuma vanished.
"...Looks like it's time to make a choice."
"And that choice is... whether or not to use this suspicious flash, right?"
"I really don't want to... It feels like it'd leave some kind of horrible side effect on the human body..."
"Hey, inventor! What's your opinion?"
"Hah...? Are you idiots seriously believing that moron's story? There's no way it's real!"
"U-um... in a movie I saw... there was a device that went flash and erased people's memories..."
"You shut up!! And that was a movie in the first place!!"
"Hyaaaahhh!! P-please spare me! I feel like I'm gonna dieeee!!"
Once Monokuma disappeared, the dining hall erupted into noisy argument over whether we should use the flash or not.
Of course, it looked suspicious to anyone with functioning eyes, so most of the others were against it.
I stood quietly among them for a while, then finally spoke.
"Guys... what if we try using it?"
"Huh? K?"
"Pya-hahaha!! Wow, there's one complete idiot right here!! You're seriously gonna believe some—"
"......"
"I-I'm very sorry..."
Iruma burst out laughing at me, only to clamp her mouth shut the instant Mukuro's icy gaze landed on her. I used that opening to address everyone.
"This is the only lead we have to understand the situation we're in, isn't it? Sure, it could be a trap from Monokuma... but right now, I think we need to turn even traps into opportunities. If we know nothing, we can't do anything."
"....."
After hearing me out, every single one of them stared straight at me. That made me shrink a little as I continued.
"Uh... sorry if that came off badly..."
"K, was that always your whole vibe?"
"Well, well. So there was another Akamatsu-type among us? And that kind of person was putting on that cold act?"
"W-was I really like that...?"
I was still bewildered by how much better their reaction was than I'd expected when Momota suddenly shouted,
"Alriiight! Decision made! Let's use it once!"
"Mo-Momota?"
"Seriously, you guys are way too scared! I get it, considering the situation... but if all you do is run, you'll never win!"
"Kukuku... admirable confidence, but you can't be certain whether we'll win or not."
"Even so, it's better than doing nothing! I'm gonna fight back!"
At that, Akamatsu, Saihara, and Amami all started backing him up.
"Yeah, yeah, I think so too. Now more than ever, it's time for everyone to work together and create harmony."
"Even a detective can't deduce anything without information. Even if it's false information or a trap, we still need something to work with."
"I agree too. You have to take on the challenge if you want to seize the treasure."
Then the rest of them began responding one by one.
"Ghk... if a male degenerate is saying all that... then I can't exactly run away. In that case, I'll stay too!"
"Gonta will stay too... if you're a true gentleman... courage is essential..."
"I support Momota-kun's opinion as well! If we don't confront this, our chance of victory is zero percent. That's what the voice inside me is whispering..."
"Kukuku... this sounds entertaining, so perhaps I'll remain here as well."
"I-if anything happens, I'll apologize to all humanity and all my fans with a full dogeza!"
"If it's only a little harm to the human body, I can tolerate that much. I'll try using it too!"
"Ungh... what a pain... but I guess we don't have a choice..."
"I'll follow everyone's decision."
And just like that, thankfully, everyone agreed to use the light.
'...I hope this lets me recover the memories I've lost.'
I didn't even know who I was. This moment had to be a major turning point. Sure, it could still be Monokuma's trap... but it was better than not trying at all.
"Then... here goes."
With that thought, I stepped forward as everyone's representative, took a deep breath, and switched on the flash.
And in that instant, it happened again.
A violent shock slammed through my head, as if I were being shaken in every direction at once. My consciousness shattered and scattered to the winds, the world twisted once—
'That monitor again...'
And once more, I was left alone in that black space where everyone else had vanished, with only a gigantic monitor remaining.
Bzzzt...!
Then the monitor flickered on, and as the video began to play, I couldn't help but recoil in shock just like last time.
"...Tojo. This is the truth I've reached."
Because Tojo Kirumi—one of the few people I'd believed was sane—was standing trial as the culprit who had murdered Hoshi.
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