"I-if I use this... K will really come to the love apartment... right...?"
Mukuro Ikusaba stared at the [Love Key], her heart trembling.
The second she split off from K's group and found herself alone, she had sprinted straight to the casino and gambled like a madwoman. After that deranged all-in frenzy, she had finally managed to win the terrifyingly expensive [Love Key].
"Just once... no more, no less, just once..."
At Kyoko Kirigiri's wedding, she had gotten dead drunk and caused a catastrophic incident by kidnapping K. After that, she had spent quite a while in prison under suspicion of "abducting the vice branch director of the Future Foundation."
In truth, it was a procedure that could have been skipped, since she was a verified member of Class 78. But Kyoko Kirigiri had been furious beyond reason, and her direct order had made it happen.
Then one lonely day, while Mukuro was wasting away in prison, an order was delivered to her.
She was to go to a secret military facility in the middle of nowhere and serve as an instructor, training combat personnel.
Anyone could see it was an obvious retaliatory transfer, so Mukuro had tried to protest somehow. But then she remembered what she had done at the wedding, wilted on the spot, and had no choice but to leave for the wilderness.
And so, she had cut herself off from society for years, devoting herself to raising her students in that remote wasteland.
To be precise, it wasn't really by choice. The place was such a complete backwater that there was no internet and no phone service. Still, Mukuro decided to think of it as something she had chosen herself. Somehow that felt less pathetic.
Then one day, while she was pushing her abilities to the limit and forging those combat personnel into an elite force, a letter arrived for her.
The instant she read it, Mukuro went deathly pale, bolted from the wilderness, and started running to save K.
After that, one situation piled on top of another, and after a long chain of twists, turns, and negotiations, Mukuro had finally ended up joining K's side.
For the record, Kyoko Kirigiri had protested to the bitter end, saying it was like putting a cat in charge of guarding fish and insisting she should go instead. But with only one second left before the negotiations ended, she heard K's pitiful little remark... and accepted the deal.
Anyway, Mukuro had decided that today, she was going to settle every last grievance she'd been forced to swallow.
"Upupupu! Welcome to the love apartment, valued guest!"
After taking a deep breath and stepping inside the love apartment, Mukuro was greeted by Monokuma, who was dressed in an employee costume.
"...."
"My, my, you're the shy type, aren't you! Well, that's understandable! Since this must be your first time with something like th-"
"Just show me the way."
"Yessiree! Then please follow me!"
When Monokuma started rambling, Mukuro cut him off without mercy and followed behind him, clutching the key to her chest like a treasure.
"Now then... if you wait in this room for a little while... your destined partner will appear!"
Gulp
"Well then, enjoy your time! Upupupu!"
Once Monokuma vanished, Mukuro sat primly on the bed and began waiting for K to arrive.
Step... step
".....!"
As she sat there for a while, cheeks faintly flushed, she finally heard footsteps approaching down the hallway.
Step... step... step
"H-he's here...?"
The footsteps grew louder and louder, then stopped right in front of the door to Mukuro's room.
Creeeak...
"K-K... I'm sorry... b-but, just once... no more than once, just this once..."
When the door finally opened, Mukuro was so embarrassed that she hid her face under the blanket and spoke.
"If I get this... I'll be satisfied for the rest of my life."
After saying that, Mukuro slowly lowered the blanket and tried to throw herself at the K standing before her, but—
"U-um!"
"You understand, right... K... huh...?"
"Do you... remember what day it is today?"
".....!?"
Standing there in K's place, blushing shyly, was Akamatsu Kaede.
.
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"Upupupu!! So? Did you have a good time?"
"......."
"Um... why are you making that totally vacant face...?"
"Why... why wasn't it K... why did that girl come instead?"
"Upupupu?"
"W-was I... actually into girls? Is that my type? Am I really like that? That's impossible... no way..."
Monokuma stared at the shell-shocked Mukuro muttering to herself, looking utterly exasperated. Then he scratched his head and started explaining.
"Hey now, I think you've got the wrong idea..."
"...Wrong idea?"
"When you use a [Love Key], the person who comes to the love apartment is... totally random!!"
"W-what!?"
"You were the one who charged into the casino without even listening to my full explanation... so you'd better give up on complaining now!"
"......."
"Upupupu...! Upupupupu....! Are you in despair? You are, right? That's it, isn't it? Hm?"
When Mukuro fell silent and just stared blankly ahead, Monokuma burst into cackling laughter and started mocking her, but—
"...Then that means I still have a chance, right?"
"Upupupu...?"
"I'll be back soon."
"Hey... are you serious? Seriously serious?"
As Mukuro strode out of the love apartment with fresh fire blazing in her eyes, Monokuma watched her go like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Upupupu... honestly... she really is Miss 'What a Shame,' huh... Upupupupu...."
Burning with determination, Mukuro plunged back into the casino and spent the entire day gambling, somehow pulling off the absurd feat of winning six more [Love Key]s.
"...Using a soldier's heightened senses on a roulette machine... wow, you must be desperate."
"...."
"Hey, listen, okay? Even if the person you get isn't the one you wanted, don't treat them badly. They're in a state where their subconscious has been dragged out into the open, so if you wound their feelings, it could leave trauma for life!"
"...Just bring them in."
Entering the room with all six keys clutched carefully to her chest, Mukuro let herself hope that surely, at least once, she'd get lucky...
"...Hello, Mukuro-san."
"Damn it... it's that detective girl... I don't like detectives..."
"Y-you don't like me!? Me...?"
"No... that's not what I meant..."
"Th-then... I will now begin the interrogation regarding the theft of my heart..."
"Haa..."
.
.
.
"I don't think I really knew you. Even though we've been together for over ten years already."
"This time it's the caregiver... no, wait... that's a cover identity. Ugh... whatever. Another miss..."
"You came to the orphanage around the time before you entered elementary school... don't you remember?"
"Come to think of it, K was from an orphanage too..."
"Um, are you even listening to me?"
"Hm? Yeah... I'm listening."
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.
.
"Heh... you really came all the way here without running away..."
"It's that sea-urchin-haired guy who's obsessed with space. Another dud."
"I'm Momota Kaito, the man who commands the cosmos! Someday I'll roam the endless reaches of space, but before that, while seeking to conquer Earth's vivid blue sky—"
".....Just the point."
"Therefore, let us fight here and settle this! This will be our final race..."
"Are we actually fighting?"
"...On second thought, settling it with rock-paper-scissors might also be acceptable!"
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.
.
"Hey, Mukuro! Rejoice! Today I've brought you one hell of a good story!"
"....."
"Kekeh, you know I'm only telling a story like this to you because you're my childhood friend, right? So you should feel hono—!"
"Shut up."
"Hiiiiiik... s-sorry...! I was wronggg..."
"Enough. Just get to the point already."
"T-then... I-I-I... I..."
".....?"
"Y-you may hold me..."
"...I'm going insane."
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.
.
"M-Mukuro-san... I have a request..."
"...Do robots have delusions too?"
"Th-that's robot discrimination!"
"Is it... ?"
"A-anyway... would you please go out with me?"
"Phew... I wanted to hear K say that..."
.
.
.
"Upupupu... wow, this is something. The people showing up are really exquisitely chosen!"
"...What?"
"Well, I guess it makes sense... since you do love stealing things away from other people..."
"Shut up and bring in the last one."
"Upupupupupu!!"
As Monokuma vanished in a fit of laughter, Mukuro let out a sigh and stared at the door.
'Still... maybe the last one will come to me...?'
Mukuro cautiously held onto that threadbare hope, but—
Creeeak...
"Nyahaha~! Mukuro~ Hi~!"
"......."
"Hey, hey, Mukuro! I'm boooored~! Bored bored bored bored bored~!"
The door opened, and Angie walked in wearing a playful grin. Mukuro immediately lowered her head.
'...It's not like today is my only chance.'
And so, as she stared dead-eyed at Angie charging straight at her, Mukuro decided to pin her hopes on tomorrow.
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"Mmh... morning already...?"
Maybe because she'd overdone it yesterday, her body felt heavy. But Mukuro was a born soldier, so within three seconds of opening her eyes, she was fully up and already folding her blanket.
'Mm... first I'll head to the dining hall and eat breakfast... and after that, I'll work hard at the casino again...'
"...What?"
After folding up all her bedding and reviewing her plans for the day, Mukuro heard the word "present" and instantly went on high alert, scanning the room.
To her, a "present" meant a bomb the enemy had left behind. Her reaction was pure instinct.
"This is... a tablet?"
She soon spotted a tablet sitting on the desk and carefully picked it up.
"My precious person...? That's K..."
".....!!!"
Staring at the tablet in confusion, Mukuro suddenly recoiled in horror and dropped it.
"No way... this is... no, that's impossible..."
She stared at the fallen tablet with a face frozen in shock, denying what she'd just seen, but—
From the tablet came a voice she knew all too well. A voice so familiar it was cruel.