After watching Enoshima's Alter Ego get beaten senseless by Usami, I logged out of the New World Project alongside Kyoko Kirigiri, opened my eyes... and found myself dumped into Saishu Academy.
'Honestly... at first, I was this close to going into a full-blown panic.'
If that horrific headache hadn't hit a moment later—dragging back all the memories of losing my memories here in Saishu Academy, participating in a killing game, and spending an entire year coughing up blood while teaching those little disasters—I probably would have genuinely lost my mind this time.
'To be fair... I still feel like I'm about to snap.'
When I thought about it, my situation was almost laughable.
First, only a few months after falling into the Danganronpa universe, I went to Hope's Peak Academy with my heart pounding—only to get dropped straight into the first game.
Then, after somehow getting everyone out alive, I escaped and immediately fell into the sequel, the New World Project. I beat the final boss of that one, got out of the program... and this time I landed in Saishu Academy.
In other words, from my own perspective, only a few months had passed since I first fell into this world. Wasn't that just hysterically unfair?
'Well... I don't know why, but at least fragments of my memories of teaching the kids came back... thank God for that...'
Thankfully, the memories of being a teacher that resurfaced right before I panicked helped steady my mental state a little.
No—actually, now that I thought about it again, they weren't all that helpful. Maybe in ten years they'd become fond memories, but right now most of them were the kind that made me want to go stark raving mad.
Still, realizing I wasn't cursed to solve one killing game only to get dropped directly into the next one did calm my body and mind a little.
Anyway, after piecing together the current situation with everything that had happened so far and my memories as a teacher, I came to one very awkward conclusion.
'First of all... those little gremlins think I'm some trashy deadbeat who got married and had kids in middle school... and I'm twenty-three...'
Well, that was half a joke, really. The important part was something else.
'Harukawa tortured me way too brutally... damn it, if this keeps up, her standing with the others is going to implode...'
Even with my memories gone, the fact that I'd somehow managed to keep every last one of them alive until now was practically a miracle... but from where I stood now, the kids were balanced on a knife's edge.
The whole group's equilibrium could collapse from something ridiculously minor. And what Harukawa did was not minor. Not even close. I needed to deal with that immediately.
Of course, what she did still hurt like hell, so if we got out of here alive, I was absolutely giving her demerits.
'If I make her clean the bathrooms for a month, she probably won't have time to go on dates with Momota. But that's your karma... ah, no, this is not the time for that.'
Before I could seriously move to stop the killing game at Saishu Academy with my restored memories, there were three things I needed to sort out first.
'First: who the hell is the Mastermind of this killing game?'
Originally, the Mastermind of Danganronpa V3 was Shirogane Tsumugi. But right now, Shirogane was out of the picture.
And yet the killing game was still running perfectly fine. Which meant... there was a very real possibility that another Mastermind existed.
'Danganronpa V3 had an open ending to begin with... and on top of that, it made it impossible to tell what was truth and what was lies... so there are limits to how far game knowledge can take me.'
In the end, this was something I'd have to learn by crashing into it head-on. Well, saying it myself feels a little ridiculous, but appearances aside, I was already a veteran survivor on my third killing game. Wasn't Amami's title changed to [Ultimate Adventurer] instead of [Survivor Privilege] because of me?
Honestly, learning by direct confrontation wasn't exactly easy... but now I had a reason to get stronger.
Whatever happened, I was their teacher. And I wasn't alone anymore.
'The kids are already two years old... and I'm still technically a high school student... no, seriously, how has nobody noticed?'
Come to think of it, I remembered the chaos from the day I walked into the classroom for my first lesson as their homeroom teacher, heart pounding with excitement, only for them to mistake me for a classmate.
Back in my original world, I was too soaked in depression and alcohol to notice, but apparently I had a baby face.
...Or maybe it was because Kyoko Kirigiri kept me alive.
'Anyway, back to the point... why did my memories suddenly return at this exact moment?'
The second question was why these memories had come back now, of all times.
The ones who erased my memories were obviously the Masterminds. But... were the ones who restored them also the Masterminds?
'Did the shock of dying and coming back restore them... or did the Mastermind bring them back on purpose? I have no idea...'
The first option was easier to accept, but the odds of something like that happening felt absurdly low. The second option felt much more plausible, but made no sense at all.
'...Well, whatever. The important thing is that I got my memories back. I just need to use them as well as I can and focus on stopping the killing game.'
The possibility that this entire situation itself was exactly what the Mastermind intended left a nasty taste in my mouth... but this wasn't the time to be passive.
If even acting aggressively might not be enough, then acting timidly would guarantee disaster. So, just like always, I decided to move boldly—and turned to the final question.
'Third... why am I here right now?'
As far as I knew, this was Yonaga's research lab. The paintings and sculptures all over the place made that obvious.
More importantly... if we were at about Chapter 3 in game terms... then that meant...
"Upupupu? You're awake? Then hurry up and get to the classroom where the resurrection ritual for the dead is happening!"
"Right, first I need to get there—wait, what... what!?"
"What do you mean, what? It's Monokuma!!"
This damn bear was so detestable that not even forced affection could make me warm up to him. Seriously, he had one of those faces that just made you want to punch him on sight.
"Anyway, congrats on your resurrection!!"
"...Resurrection?"
"Yep! The setup is that you successfully came back to life thanks to the aftereffects of the ritual the kids are doing right now! The ritual's still in progress, so for maximum dramatic impact, once it ends, you open the door and—"
"...Damn it!"
"W-wait!! Where are you going!? The ritual isn't over yet!! If you go now, we won't get the dramatic reveal—"
'Shinguji. I have to stop Shinguji... right now...!'
I had no idea what he meant by saying I'd been resurrected, but first things first—I had to stop Shinguji before he killed Chabashira.
.
.
.
.
.
"Th-this is... I mean..."
Tracing the salt-drawn magic circle with his finger as he moved toward the center, Shinguji froze in a half-crouched pose the instant the room lights blazed on.
"Tojo, Ikusaba. Grab that bastard."
"W-wait, ju—urk...!"
The second the words left my mouth, Shinguji's face was slammed into the floor.
"...Looks like we should get that iron cage off Chabashira before her neck gets punctured. Anyone want to help?"
The kids, who had been staring at me in a daze, jolted back to life at my words and hurriedly moved the dog statue and iron cage aside. Chabashira, who had been lying there meekly curled up, slowly lifted her head and stared at me blankly.
"B-bblblbl... a-a real ghost..."
"L-let go!! Do you have a death wish!?"
Off in the distance, Momota was clutching Harukawa while foaming at the mouth. Ah, youth. What a beautiful thing.
"....."
The rest of the kids just kept looking back and forth between Shinguji and me with utterly vacant expressions. Fair enough. If all this had happened one thing after another to me, I'd have been shell-shocked too.
"K-K...! Is it really you? Huh?"
Meanwhile, Ikusaba—who had chopped Shinguji in the back of the neck and knocked him out in a single strike—finally asked me in a trembling voice.
"What do you think? Real or fake?"
".....!!!"
At my answer, Ikusaba's eyes went wide, and then she lunged straight at me.
"K! Thank God... I... I really thought you were dead this time..."
"...Sit."
"Woof."
I reflexively made Ikusaba sit before she could bury her face in me, then immediately realized what I'd done and glanced around. Sure enough, the kids had started whispering that I really did seem to be the genuine article.
"Hey... are you really K?"
In the middle of all that, Saihara carefully asked me the question.
"I already said it once, but yeah, I'm the real K. You don't believe me?"
"But... you died. There was even a death announcement twenty-four hours ago. So then... how did you come back to life?"
"Yeah! How could some ridiculous occult ritual like this possibly bring you back, K-kun?"
"...Could you explain in detail? I'm extremely curious."
"Uh... well... I mean..."
The kids had started asking how I'd died and then come back, which put me in a slightly awkward spot.
Because my memories of the Saishu Academy killing game ended with Harukawa putting me through the deluxe torture package until the wound in my side burst open.
In other words, I blacked out then, and when I woke up, I was in this situation.
Judging from the rough outline of events... after that, I died, the body discovery announcement went out, and then the kids used the Chapter 3 motive, the [Book of the Dead], to bring me back...
'Does that even make sense?'
No matter how absurdly advanced the technology in the Danganronpa universe was, this wasn't a setting where science had progressed far enough to revive the dead.
So how, exactly, had I come back to life?
To begin with, even in the original story, the Chapter 3 motive, the [Book of the Dead], never revealed its result. Shinguji got his double kill, which rendered the motive itself useless, so it was never actually used.
That loose end was never resolved by the time the game ended, so even I had no idea what would happen if the [Book of the Dead] were really used... but I never imagined it would actually be an item that could revive someone.
'Then... am I inside a program? Or a simulation? Or is this some kind of hidden-camera prank? Otherwise there's no way a dead person could come back...'
"I'll be the one to explain that now."
"...Huh?"
I was deep in thought when Hoshi, who had been standing quietly among the others with a faint smile, suddenly spoke up.
Wait. Had that guy just said he was going to explain? Explain what, exactly...?
"...I'm the one who orchestrated this."
"...!!!"
.
.
.
.
.
"Hoshi... what the hell are you talking about...?"
"I said I'm the one who orchestrated this whole affair."
"Wh-what does that mean...? Hoshi-kun orchestrated this...?"
"To be precise... I arranged for K to be driven to the brink of death, for the death announcement to sound, and for him to return here so Shinguji's trick could be exposed piece by piece."
Hoshi's shocking declaration sent a wave of murmuring through the room.
"You killed K...? But K is standing right in front of us..."
"No, wait, wasn't Harukawa the one who killed K in the first place?"
"Ungah... my head feels like it's gonna explode..."
"N-no! If adorable Yumeno-san's head explodes, that'll be a national tragedy!!"
"Hey, dead-fish-eyes!! What the hell did you do!?"
"Hoshi, I think this is going to require an explanation."
"Don't rush me. I was getting to that."
Hoshi cleared his throat and began explaining exactly what had happened.
"First, two days ago, I approached Mukuro and Tojo and handed them 'a drug that induces a deathlike coma' and 'a drug that causes wounds to burst open.'"
"...A drug that induces a coma and one that makes wounds burst open?"
"That's right. Then I told them to leave those drugs somewhere Yumeno would easily find them. The idea was that she'd use them while carrying out her role of finding medicine for the 'K rescue operation.'"
"Ungah!! Then that sleeping medicine from before was!!"
"Exactly. As expected, Yumeno mixed those drugs into the bread without much suspicion. And after K ate it, he suffered massive bleeding from his side and fell into a deathlike coma."
So that was it... I knew something had felt off, but I never imagined there'd been something like that mixed into the bread. From now on, I really needed to be careful about what I ate.
"And just as I predicted, the death announcement sounded, and the plan moved to the next stage. At dawn, I secretly called Ikusaba and Tojo and asked them for 'insurance' regarding what would happen today."
"Insurance...?"
"Insurance in the form of asking them to subdue Shinguji if K failed to appear in this classroom on time according to plan."
"Wait, according to plan?"
"Hm? K... if you came here, doesn't that mean you figured out the plan?"
I stared blankly at Hoshi, having absolutely no clue what plan he was talking about, and he looked faintly flustered as he asked me:
"I definitely told Momota to inform you that the moment you regained consciousness, you were to run straight to this classroom..."
"Ah! Right! I forgot to tell him that!"
"......."
When Momota suddenly shouted that out, Hoshi's expression went flat as he turned to him.
"Don't tell me... you forgot to pass the information on to K?"
"Ah, well... I was too focused on the fact that we had to charge in and save K..."
"...Unbelievable. And you forgot about it all the way until now?"
"...Sorry!!"
Hoshi stared at Momota with eyes full of exhausted contempt, then turned back to me.
"...In that case, your coming here the moment you woke up was pure coincidence? Good grief... that's enough to make the devil scratch his head. Still, it was the right call to ask those two in advance to restrain Shinguji."
"R-right... lucky me! Hahaha..."
'...Well, it wasn't coincidence, and it wasn't luck either.'
I hadn't known anything about Hoshi's plan, but I did have game knowledge telling me Shinguji would commit murder, so I ran to stop him the instant I woke up. So no, this couldn't really be dismissed as chance or good fortune.
Though even if I hadn't come, Hoshi had prepared his insurance with meticulous care... so Shinguji's crime would have failed anyway.
"...Anyway, that's how I pulled K out from Harukawa's torture while simultaneously stopping Shinguji's crime. That was the plan I devised."
When Hoshi finished speaking, silence fell for a moment.
"...Hoshi-kun, can I ask you something?"
"Heeey~! I've got a question too~!"
"Nishishi... yeah, this is definitely weird, right?"
"Hoshi-kun, there's a part I don't understand."
At last, Saihara, Angie, Oma, and Amami broke the silence one after another, firing their questions at Hoshi.
"I'll take them in the order they were asked. Go ahead."
"Then I'll start... where exactly did you get the poison, Hoshi-kun? 'Sleeping medicine' is one thing, but something like 'a drug that induces a deathlike coma' and 'a drug that makes wounds burst open' would be hard to obtain even outside this place."
"....."
When Hoshi stayed silent, Angie spoke next.
"That's not the only weird part~! Ryoma, you said you told Kaito to send K here once he woke up, right?"
"...I did."
"Which means... from that point on, you already knew the [Book of the Dead] ritual was going to happen... but that's impossible, isn't it~? Monokuma hadn't even announced the motive yet~!"
"....."
"Even Atua thinks that's suspicious~! So hurry up and tell us why~! Right now~!"
Even under Angie's pressure, Hoshi remained silent, so Oma stepped in next.
"And that's not the only weird thing! How did Hoshi-chan know in advance that Shinguji was going to commit 'murder'!?"
"...Murder?"
"Yeah! You said you asked Tojo and Mukuro at dawn to restrain Shinguji. That means... you knew not only that the ritual would happen, but that Shinguji would try to kill someone during it... and do you really think that's possible...?"
Hoshi still said nothing, so finally Amami stepped forward.
"Most of what I wanted to ask has already been pointed out, so I'll ask this instead. How were you so certain what ending the 'resurrection ritual for the dead' using the [Book of the Dead] would lead to?"
Amami stared at Hoshi suspiciously and continued.
"You carried out this plan with complete confidence that K-kun would return alive, even though there was no way to know whether the ritual was real or fake... whether a truly dead person would come back, or whether it would be a fake or a doppelganger instead."
"......"
"So how, exactly, could you be so certain of that?"
Once everyone's questions were finished, every last one of the kids began looking at Hoshi with open suspicion. Watching that, a chill suddenly crawled down my spine.
'Come to think of it... this could absolutely happen to me too... I'd better be careful from now on...'
Thinking that this was the kind of thing that could just as easily happen to me, I watched Hoshi with a little tension in my shoulders. After keeping his eyes closed in silence for a while, he finally spoke.
"I'll answer all of your questions with a single sentence."
The kids tilted their heads at that absurd statement, and then, with a cold smile, he dropped a bombshell.
"...Because I am the Mastermind of this killing game."
The instant those words fell, everyone in the room—including me—froze solid.