"Right! I remember now! I erased my own memories so I could escape from the [Ultimate Hunt]..."
"W-wait! Did you just say [Ultimate Hunt]?"
"D-don't tell me... you guys too? Then... I wasn't the only one being chased by the [Ultimate Hunt]..."
"It wasn't just you. Me too... no, maybe the other kids were the same."
I came staggering out of that black space, cold sweat still clinging to me, only to find everyone suddenly talking about the [Ultimate Hunt].
'[Ultimate Hunt]...? Is it connected to the [Ultimate Hunt] mentioned in that note I think the Mastermind left behind...?'
"H-hey... guys. What's the [Ultimate Hunt]?"
"Huh? You don't know? It's... uh..."
"Nyeh? Why'd you stop talking? Then I shall enlighten you. The [Ultimate Hunt] is... um... well..."
"W-what!? I can't remember!"
"Incorrect. I can't recall it either. I only remember the fact that I was being pursued. Other than that, I can't think of a single thing."
"Ugh... this feels exactly like when a beautiful melody brushes past your mind, and no matter how desperately you try to recall it, it just won't come back..."
"Yeah, no matter how hard I try, it's like my head's full of fog... I can't remember anything."
The moment I asked, everyone suddenly grabbed their heads, their faces twisting in pain.
I hadn't meant to do anything wrong, but somehow I still felt a stab of guilt—right up until Oma sidled over with that slimy little grin and spoke to me.
"Hey, K. Isn't that kinda weird?"
"Huh? What is?"
"The part where you say you don't know what the [Ultimate Hunt] is! No matter how you slice it, that's weird!"
"...What?"
"Geez... am I really the only one who noticed?"
As Oma swept his gaze around with a loaded expression, Tojo, standing beside him, fired a sharp question straight at me.
"K-kun, back in the dining hall, you were the one who asked everyone whether they knew anything about the [Ultimate Hunt], weren't you? So then... why are you saying you don't know what it is?"
"Ah... well..."
"Just what I'd expect from Tojo! Sharp as ever! But that's not the only weird part, y'know...?"
The instant Oma finished, Shinguji let out a creepy little chuckle and turned his scrutiny on me next.
"Kukuku... yes, I've been wondering ever since our memories started resurfacing... how did you know about the [Ultimate Hunt] before the rest of us?"
"C-come to think of it... K did say that before..."
"Nyeh? He did?"
"Aaaand now... it's time for your explanation... Mr. Counselor."
As suspicion began to ripple through the group, Oma pressed me with a sickening smile.
'Damn it... if I'd known this would happen, I would've kept quiet... ah, no, I already said it in the dining hall, so I was doomed to get exposed anyway.'
I'd already crossed that line. There was no undoing it now. I had to salvage this somehow. I opened my mouth to say something—anything—when...
"Uh... so, the thing is..."
"Come to think of it... yesterday was a little suspicious too..."
"...Huh?"
"Sure, the four of you working together to catch Shirogane was great and all... but the way she got caught was kinda strange..."
"Strange...?"
"And on top of that, the transfer student who showed up yesterday already knows you..."
At those words, Mukuro—standing right beside me—flinched. Oma's grin only widened as he delivered the finishing blow.
"Well, I won't bother saying any more! I've already done more than enough to make everyone suspicious of you!"
When I looked around after that, I found plenty of eyes fixed on me with naked wariness.
'Damn it... this is bad...'
I was just standing there, sweating, too rattled to even think of an excuse, when Akamatsu stepped forward and raised her voice.
"W-wait! We can't split apart and start fighting again! Now of all times, we really need to work together!"
"She's right. We only just barely managed to come back together... If we start doubting each other and tearing each other apart again, it'll only be a matter of time before everything goes to hell."
"I agree... This is the time to join forces."
Amami and Saihara both jumped in to defend me, but the suspicious looks from the others didn't fade so easily.
'...Guess I don't have a choice.'
In the end, after taking a deep breath, I had no choice but to declare it to everyone.
"...I have [Survivor Privilege]."
".....!!!"
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"K-kun... were you really okay with telling them that?"
"We could've tried to defend you somehow..."
"......"
After that explosive confession in the dining hall, I activated the object the Monokubs had given us and headed toward the newly opened research labs with Akamatsu, Saihara, Amami, and Mukuro.
For the record, after dropping that bombshell in the dining hall, my credibility shot way up. I didn't reveal the contents, obviously, but I did flash them the [Survivor Privilege] popup screen just enough to prove I wasn't lying.
For the record, I had originally planned to share the information too, but for some reason Amami stopped me in a panic. Why, though?
"It's good that you've regained everyone's trust, K-kun... but now you're in serious danger."
"Huh? Why? Shirogane, the ringleader, got dragged off to Iruma's lab, didn't she—"
"Monokuma definitely said Shirogane had been 'eliminated' from the role of ringleader. You remember that, right?"
"Yeah. So what?"
Amami stopped walking, then lowered his voice to a whisper.
"And yet the killing game is still proceeding smoothly. That means there might be another ringleader among us."
"...What?"
"It's only a theory for now... but I actually think there's a real possibility there are multiple ringleaders."
"...Right. That's more than possible. Maybe that's why Monokuma phrased it as Shirogane, 'one of the ringleaders,' being 'eliminated.'"
"T-then... that means K is in serious danger, doesn't it...?"
Akamatsu said it with a worried look. Damn. I hadn't even thought that far.
That realization left me blank for a second. Then, with the expression of someone who'd already attained enlightenment through sheer resignation, I said,
"....True. But that just means I'm the only one in danger, right?"
"...."
The second I said that, everyone around me stared at me like I'd lost my mind.
"...K-kun, are you insane?"
"We don't know when or where an attack might come. For now, stick with us."
"...How did someone with a personality like this ever manage that icy performance in the first place?"
Their worried voices made my nose sting for no reason. Seriously... I was glad I'd gotten close to normal people. If I kept this reliable group around me for a while, there'd be nothing to fear—
"...It's fine. The instant anyone lays even a finger on him... I'll deal with them myself."
Ah. Right. I had my familiar.
Mukuro said it while radiating a monstrous aura, and every last one of them froze solid. Judging by that reaction, if I just kept Mukuro with me, I probably wouldn't have to worry about getting attacked at all.
"...By the way, you're really the same as ever, even after losing your memories."
"Huh?"
While I was thinking that, Mukuro suddenly looked at me with distant, almost wistful eyes and spoke.
"...Um, do you know K?"
At that, Amami tilted his head in confusion and asked. Mukuro let out a sigh before answering.
"I know him well... very well... but I came here under restrictions, so I can't tell you."
"...Your memories weren't erased?"
"I can't answer that either... The moment I say it... everyone will be in danger."
"....."
That shut Amami up. Then Akamatsu stepped in with a different question.
"Um... what kind of relationship do you have with K?"
"Uh, well... um... so..."
The instant she heard that, Mukuro's blank expression melted away in a flash, and she started answering with visible awkwardness.
".....We're close enough to use nicknames?"
"Kyaah! Wait, seriously!?"
"I-it's true, but... wah!?"
The moment she said that, Akamatsu's eyes lit up. She grabbed Mukuro and immediately started peppering her with questions.
"Saihara-kun! Help me interrogate her!"
"Uh... I am a detective, but... this kind of case isn't really my specialty..."
"But it's an interesting romance story! If we miss this now, we'll regret it for the rest of our lives!"
"I-I don't have anything to tell you..."
"Oh, come on~! Just give us a tiny hint! Then I'll compose the perfect lovers' theme for you two, okay?"
"O-okay... ?"
I was staring at that absurd scene in a daze when Amami suddenly moved up beside me and whispered,
"Personally... I think we should be wary of her. The fact that she showed up right when Shirogane was neutralized is suspicious enough, and no matter how I look at it, there are too many strange things about her. So..."
"I don't know... I don't think we need to be that wary of her."
"Really? Do you have a reason?"
"No, just a gut feeling. For some reason, when I look at her... well, sure, she feels incredibly dangerous, but I don't get the sense she'd hurt me."
Amami frowned for a moment at that, then let out a sigh.
"Whew... well, if you're saying that, K-kun... then for now, I'll accept it. Your instincts were right in the last operation too, and that worked out."
"Yeah, thanks... Amami."
"But don't lower your guard completely. Even I can tell she's dangerous. Explorer's intuition."
"Explorer's intuition...?"
"That's right. It feels like... the sensation you get when you come face-to-face with a wild beast in the middle of nowhere."
"Yeah... got it."
Thinking that calling even an [Ultimate Soldier] a wild beast was maybe going a little too far, I headed off with the others toward the Ultimate research labs again.
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"Nyeh... whose research lab is this? If it were mine, there'd be all sorts of magic-related items here..."
"No matter how you look at it, this is your lab..."
"But I'm not a magician, I'm a mage!!"
"...Then what's the hardest spell you can use?"
"Hmm... that would be... the human bisection spell!"
"Yeah... that's still just stage magic..."
"...I can do that much too."
"Nyeh? Transfer student, are you a mage too?"
"....."
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"...So all that happened was I got chased out of school and sent back to a prison that looked just like another school."
"But wiping out the mafia with tennis skills... I still can't believe that. Is that even possi—"
"...Sounds doable."
"...Huh?"
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"...So, when I was serving as a maid for the head of a wealthy family, there was an incident where the young lady was kidnapped by a criminal organization. Naturally, the master spared no expense for his daughter, but allowing money to flow into the hands of a criminal syndicate was something that had to be avoided."
"Y-you went through something like that as a maid...?"
"Fortunately, we were able to identify the organization's base. So I took the weapons my master had prepared for me and went to rescue the young lady."
"Y-you went... alone?"
"Of course. If I had gone in head-on by myself, I would've only ended up getting overpowered—"
"Huh? Why would you get overpowered?"
"...What?"
"N-no, never mind... Mukuro, please ignore that and keep going."
"In any case, the young lady's safety was the top priority. In a situation like that, Saihara-kun, what kind of strategy do you think you'd use?"
"Hmm... if I knew where the base was, then I'd probably have some idea of the building's layout too... So maybe I'd use the structure of the building to confuse them, split them up, and then fight them that way somehow?"
"Amami-kun?"
"Let's see... if I had enough equipment, I think I'd infiltrate through the pipes or windows and quietly extract the young lady."
"Come to think of it, now I'm curious what K-kun would've done. K-kun, what do you think you would've done?"
"Uh... my combat ability is basically zero, so... if communication was possible, I think I would've tried meeting the kidnappers' representative one-on-one and persuading them somehow."
"Then what about Mukuro over there?"
"Frontal assault."
"...Excuse me, but what exactly are you?"
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"Umm... it's just larvae and eggs... and they're all cold and sleeping..."
"Um, if you'd like, maybe I could play some piano for them later? It might actually help with hatching... maybe..."
"Thank you! Then... sometime soon, Gonta will gather up lots of larvae and eggs and bring them to Akamatsu's lab—"
"T-there's no need for that...!"
"...Huh?"
"I-it's just that... Gonta-kun would have a hard time...! Later I'll ask Iruma to make some kind of recording device, and I'll record the piano sound for you myself!"
"...Really? Okay! Then Gonta will go prepare for hatching now—"
"...That's a lot of emergency rations."
"B-bugs are not emergency rationsssss!!"
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"...Could you not just barge in whenever you feel like it?"
"Aha... now I finally remember who you are... No wonder you smelled a little like me..."
"...What?"
"Harukawa Maki. I don't care about anyone else... but you'd be wise not to touch K."
"......."
To all the wild beasts of the world... I'm truly sorry for comparing you to Mukuro.