Ding dong, bing bong!
Listening to the morning announcement I'd long since gotten used to, I headed for the dining hall.
"Yo, you deceitful bastard! You're here? Lucky son of a... Man, I'm jealous."
The second I stepped inside, Mondo Owada flashed me a greasy grin and started ribbing me. I forced an awkward smile, and from beside him, Leon Kuwata—who looked just as painfully envious—sidled over and whispered under his breath.
"Uh... K... I'll take you as my master, so... teach me how to get girls to like me..."
"Yeah... I know you're not some forever-alone loser... Give me some advice too. I seriously don't wanna get rejected an eleventh time..."
My entire dating experience began and ended with dating sims. I had no idea what I was even supposed to say, and while I stood there fumbling, a shrill voice suddenly rang out from the side.
"Huhhh!? A d-date...!?"
"N-No...! Don't say it that loud...!"
Sayaka Maizono and Makoto Naegi were blushing furiously, wrapped up in their own little world.
"Haah... life..."
"Who even cares about the killing game anymore..."
The light died in Leon and Mondo Owada's eyes. Then the two of them shuffled over to the opposite side of the table and began eating breakfast in utter misery.
"Everyone! Good morning...! However, you two! Why are you so utterly lacking in spirit!? Morning is the start of the day, and it should be greeted with vigor...!"
The moment Kiyotaka Ishimaru saw those two slumped over, listlessly poking at their food, some internal switch flipped. As he continued preaching his gospel of effort at the pair—who still said nothing—I found myself sinking into thought.
'It's peaceful...'
This was the kind of everyday life I wanted. No one dying. Everyone laughing, chatting, and living out an ordinary school life together. Something small, simple, and happy.
Smiling faintly, I stepped back a little, trying to burn the scene into my memory as clearly as possible.
Then someone spoke to me.
"You may have fooled those idiots, but I won't be so easily taken in."
I turned around to find Byakuya Togami glaring at me. Looks like he was still thoroughly sulking over the fact that nobody had accepted his opinion yesterday.
"I had my reasons for hiding my secret, sure, but it's not like I ever deceived anyone."
"So you're going to stay shameless to the bitter end. Fine. Do as you please. I'll move in my own way."
Byakuya Togami was someone I absolutely needed to recruit to our side for the future, but maybe it was because of how carelessly he'd spoken to Kyoko Kirigiri yesterday—or maybe just because his tone irritated me—I suddenly wanted to get one hit in.
"Move however you want. Just be careful at night. You never know when ghosts might come out in the school after dark."
"...!"
I had just jabbed him right in his embarrassing old trauma, and Byakuya Togami bristled, about to snap back at me—
Then Monokuma popped out.
"I let you all loose so you could kill each other in a thrilling murder game... and instead you're all busy flirting! The genre changed! The genre changed!"
"Enough. Get to the point already, would you?"
Kyoko Kirigiri had just entered the dining hall, and she immediately shot Monokuma a cold glare. But Monokuma looked at her and kept muttering anyway.
"I liked him first... my very own little K... my little K..."
He mumbled to himself for a while in a voice only he could understand, then suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Anyway! That's not what's important right now! Students! I have an announcement for you today!!!"
"Wah! You scared me!"
"Hey now, don't get startled yet! Save that reaction for after I reveal the third motive for murder!"
Looks like Junko Enoshima was getting pretty desperate if she was already unveiling a third motive.
But the third motive should've been ten billion yen, the bait that drove Celestia Ludenberg to murder. And right now, Celestia Ludenberg owed me one wish. In other words, if I simply told her not to kill, that should've been the end of it. Good. I really thought I'd blocked this motive for sure.
"The third motive is... a thrilling game of spy-hunting!"
Huh?
"To be honest, this is a little late to mention... but among you all, there's a spy working with the Mastermind!"
What was this? The third motive was supposed to be ten billion yen... wasn't it?
"Within the next three days, that spy will commit murder! Why? Because at dawn, I offered them a condition they absolutely couldn't refuse!"
A spy... Then that meant... Sakura Oogami, after all?
"And here's a little bonus for the rest of you! If someone finds the spy and kills them... not only will there be no Class Trial, I'll let that person leave this place!"
"...!"
The others began to panic. Honestly, so did I. Was this where things finally started twisting away from the original story in earnest? Monokuma looked at all of us, grinning, and continued.
"And the same goes for Miss Spy too! If the spy kills someone, there'll be no Class Trial, and I'll let them leave this place!"
I glanced toward Sakura Oogami. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be quietly lost in thought. At a glance, she looked emotionless—but somehow, it felt like an aura was radiating off her in waves.
"Well then, to make your murder school life even easier, I've opened up the third floor too! Enjoy your delightful killings! Upupupu...!"
With that, Monokuma vanished.
The silence that followed was thick and oppressive. The one who finally shattered it was Byakuya Togami.
"I'm going to the third floor."
"Wait...! Right now, shouldn't we all stay together and discuss this—"
"I won't be acting with you anymore. We don't even know who the spy is, so why should I take on unnecessary risk by staying with all of you?"
"But..."
"You'd all do well to stop playing at half-baked friendship and romance and start enjoying the game."
With that, Byakuya Togami stood up and headed for the third floor alone.
"T-Togami...!"
Soon after, Toko Fukawa hurried after him. Then Mukuro Ikusaba and Celestia Ludenberg also rose from their seats and disappeared somewhere.
For a while, the rest of us just sat there in silence. Then Makoto Naegi broke it.
"Then I guess what we need to do is obvious, right?"
"Naegi? What do you mean?"
"We find the spy within the next three days... and somehow bring them over to our side."
"Th-That probably is the best option... but can we really do that...?"
"We have to make it possible."
As he said that, Makoto Naegi looked at me and Kyoko Kirigiri. Yeah. He definitely seemed more confident now, probably because I'd shared what I knew with him yesterday.
"Good...! That's exactly the spirit...! Naegi! Allow me to devote this body of mine to aiding you...!"
"It'll be tough... but I can power through with some donuts...! Let me help too!"
"I can see it... the identity of the spy shrouded in mystery... It seems the time has come for one once known as a seeker of truth to return to this mortal plane..."
"All right! Sitting around all depressed is just doing the Mastermind a favor! Leon, you bastard! Stop moping and help out already...!"
"Tch... guess I don't have a choice..."
"I-I don't know how much help I'll be since I'm kinda weak... but I'll do my best!"
Thankfully, everyone who remained sided with Makoto Naegi. Good. We still hadn't managed to unite every single student, but this was more than enough to work with.
"I just did a fortune reading, and the culprit is definitely in this room!"
Right as the mood was heating up, Yasuhiro Hagakure dumped a bucket of cold water all over it. Seriously, what an oblivious idiot. And of course this was the one time he'd be weirdly accurate.
"...I'll cooperate as much as I can as well."
Cutting through the awkwardness, Sakura Oogami finally spoke. The others brightened at once, saying that if Sakura Oogami was helping, then there was nothing to fear from some spy.
But my own heart felt anything but calm.
"K, Kyoko Kirigiri, you'll help too, right?"
Obviously. That was the whole reason I'd told Makoto Naegi everything I knew yesterday, including the truth about Sakura Oogami.
"All right! Then for now, let's split up and take some time to organize our thoughts. We'll meet back here in the dining hall at dinner and discuss how to persuade the spy!"
With Makoto Naegi's words, we promised to meet again that evening and dispersed.
Good. Makoto Naegi had done his part up to this point.
Now it was about time I started moving too.
.
.
.
.
.
"Um... Asahina, there's something I wanted to ask you..."
"Hm...? K? What's up?"
"Well... I was thinking of trying to exercise a little, but... I've never really worked out before, so I was hoping you could help me..."
"Hmm... I can help, sure, but why the sudden interest in exercise?"
"In a situation like this, who knows what might happen next? I don't want my weak body dragging everyone else down... so I thought I should build up my stamina."
"If that's the case, Sakura Oogami would be way better at helping than me, you know? Want me to ask her for you?"
Nope. That wouldn't do.
If I approached Sakura Oogami directly from the start, she'd be on guard. I needed to get close naturally through Aoi Asahina, who exercised with her all the time.
"Ahaha... if I got coached by Sakura Oogami, I don't think my body would survive..."
"Well... fair. You did say you're a total beginner who's never exercised before, right? Guess it can't be helped. Come on, then. We'll start by measuring your basic fitness."
.
.
.
.
.
"Hrk... huff... up to now... how many... did I do...?"
"Zero! Zero! That's not a push-up, that's just bending your arms! How many times do I have to tell you!? Your stamina is absolute trash!?"
Even if this was all for the sake of getting close to Sakura Oogami... I felt like I was going to die. Yeah. Exercise and I were fundamentally incompatible.
"Keep your waist up! Exhale! Do it properly! How embarrassing would this be if Kyoko Kirigiri saw you flopping around like that!?"
"Ughhh... but I don't have any strength left..."
"No excuses! You're not leaving until you finish all ten!"
"Gyaaaaaaaaaah!"
"That's it! Exactly! Now one more!"
I kept working out like my life depended on it under Aoi Asahina's orders, and after a while, I sensed someone's presence behind me.
"Your form is still dreadful... but your determination is admirable. If you keep making that effort, you'll see results eventually."
"Ah! Sakura, you're here? You're a little late today."
"...I had something to think about, so I was delayed."
Good. Sakura Oogami was finally here, so now I could stop exercising and try talking to her—
"Sakura! Can you take over K's training for me? I haven't been swimming much lately, so my whole body feels stiff... I wanna go get in some laps."
"Very well... K, I shall correct your fundamentals today so that you may grow stronger. Stand up."
"A-Asahina...! That's not what we agreed on earlier..."
"I was gonna handle it myself if I could, but you need drastic measures! You're so bad that the only cure is getting worked half to death!"
"Ah..."
"Then let us begin. First, one hundred push-ups."
Trembling with the fear that if I collapsed here, maybe a Class Trial would somehow be held over it, I began my death training with Sakura Oogami.
.
.
.
.
.
Watching the exhausted boy, Sakura Oogami thought to herself.
'His stamina is truly abysmal, but his will alone is remarkable.'
She had deliberately started him off with intense exercise to instill discipline, but somehow, stubbornly, desperately, the boy kept trying to keep up.
'Come to think of it, he has always been like this.'
When Sayaka Maizono confessed the truth to everyone, all the students had been shocked.
But the one most shocked of all had been Sakura Oogami.
'To throw oneself away in order to save others. What a foolish, and yet noble, act.'
That boy had struggled to stop the motives without yielding to either the Mastermind or Sakura Oogami's own interference. Even when the Mastermind tried to sow discord, he had not cowered, and instead forced his convictions through to everyone.
Before she knew it, Sakura Oogami had come to respect him.
"Next, one hundred squats."
"Haaaughhh... h-hey... isn't this way too intense...?"
"Then will you give up?"
"No... of course not..."
Every time the word "give up" came up, the boy's expression sharpened. He'd grit his teeth and force out more strength. Of course, it never lasted long before exhaustion swallowed him again.
"It seems your body is sufficiently warmed up now, so rest for a moment."
The instant she finished speaking, the boy collapsed face-first onto the floor and began groaning.
"What kind of... wealth and glory... was I hoping to enjoy... to end up doing this... haaah..."
'Could this child give me an answer to my own dilemma as well?'
That thought crossed Sakura Oogami's mind, and she quietly asked him:
"If you had to save one or the other... the person you love, or innocent people... which would you choose to save?"
"Haa... haa... why... all of a sudden...?"
"It is a personal question... If you do not wish to answer, you need not."
The boy thought for a moment, then answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I'd save both."
"What...?"
"I'd save both. How could I choose just one side?"
"... ?"
"If I had to explain it more clearly, I'd save whichever side I could save right away first, then work together with the side I saved to go rescue the other one."
"That is not the kind of question—"
"Then what, you'd give up on the other side without even trying? It'd be hard for me, sure, but for someone as strong as you—the strongest in the world—it should be way easier."
"..."
"Haaah, does that answer your question? Then can we stop here for today...? Getting coached by the strongest person in the world is brutal... If I fought you, I wouldn't even count as one punch's worth, would I...?"
At some point, the boy had slipped right back into his earlier frail, whining self. Watching him, Sakura Oogami smiled.
'Though your body is weak, your heart is far stronger than mine.'
At last, Sakura Oogami had found the answer to the impossible problem that had tormented her all night.