"K... we're okay... We may be trapped, but... nobody's given up hope yet."
"..."
"So... please... don't worry about us..."
"Hah. Wow. You really went all out with this one."
Monokuma, under Junko Enoshima's control, projected a video onto the wall from the light in his eyes. On it were the orphanage kids K had been close to, their faces gaunt and exhausted, imprisoned somewhere inside a building in Towa City.
Junko Enoshima, eagerly anticipating what kind of reaction K would give her, addressed him with a sly grin as he stared silently at the footage.
"Upupupu... So, K...? Did you enjoy it? Hm?"
"....."
"Hey, say something already. Come on?"
"....."
At first, the boy had watched the video expressionlessly. But the instant the worn-down faces of the children appeared, his eyes flew wide open, and naked confusion flashed across his face.
"Wh-why is that...?"
He muttered something incomprehensible under his breath, blankly checking each child's face one by one, before his expression twisted into worry and unease.
"What, you've already fallen into despair...? But... isn't it still a little early for that...? Then let's move on to the next video... Upupupu..."
To drive the nail in deeper, Junko Enoshima pressed a button and switched the footage.
At once, a live feed began playing: the children in the gym on a video call, panicking, raging, and sinking into despair in real time.
Then Monokuma declared that if no murder took place within twenty-four hours, he'd force the people over there into a killing game too, and the atmosphere plunged straight into catastrophe.
"That's wrong..."
"Then I'll see you in twenty-four hours!! Of course, that's only if no murder happens!! Upupupupupupu...!"
The boy watched in silence, biting his lip hard. And when even Naegi's final act of resistance was swallowed up and buried, he slowly closed his eyes.
"Well? What do you think of my brilliant plan? Oh, and of course, your orphanage brats are included in that brilliant plan too, okay? I'll pick just one of them to join in, and the rest... well, I'll leave them lying around and use them later!"
For a while now, the boy had remained perfectly still, his eyes shut tight. The sight of him was so much like a child who believed that if he closed his eyes, no threat in the world could touch him, that laughter bubbled out of her before she even realized it.
"So? How does it feel? You worked yourself to the bone to unite those kids, and in the end it all turned out to be completely meaningless."
Enoshima sneered at the boy who had tried to protect everyone, only to fail to protect everyone in the end. She was just about to withdraw Monokuma when the boy's next words stopped her cold.
"I feel relieved."
".....What?"
"I said I feel relieved."
".....?"
Had the relentless stress finally snapped something in his head? Tilting her head, Enoshima looked closer—and realized the boy had opened his eyes. In them was the gaze she loved most in the world, and hated most in the world.
"Hey... did the pressure of the killing game finally make you go completely insane?"
"No. Not at all."
"Then what, did you decide to cut yourself off from the kids and just go wild? Huh. That might actually be kind of fun too...?"
"Nope. Not that either."
"Then what exactly are you relieved about?"
For once, Enoshima's question wasn't mockery. It was pure curiosity. The boy smiled faintly and answered.
"Because now those kids will be able to grow even more."
"What...?"
"There are things you can only realize by falling into despair."
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In the dead center of the gym, where a silence heavy enough to stop time had settled over everything, Makoto Naegi stood quietly.
'Get it together, Makoto Naegi. We can't let this keep going exactly the way the Mastermind wants.'
"...Everyone, listen to me—"
"Don't be ridiculous."
".....Togami?"
"Did I really throw away my pride and bow my head just to help people pathetic enough to fall into despair over something this trivial?"
".....Togami, you'd better watch your mouth."
"Am I wrong, Kyoko Kirigiri? Just a moment ago, these people were babbling themselves hoarse about how they'd never give up. And yet they let go of everything so easily, didn't they?"
Normally, the others would've flared up and told Togami to stop acting so superior. But whether it was because this wasn't arrogance but fact, or because they no longer had the presence of mind to process his words at all, everyone remained silent.
Togami, who had been watching them in silence, glared at the group and spat the words out.
"If I'd known from the start that you were this weak, I never would've bothered cooperating with you."
For the first time, the expressions on the students' faces cracked.
".....And what about you? Does this situation really not bother you at all?"
"What exactly are you asking?"
"The people you care about have been taken hostage... they're about to be dragged into a killing game... and you're standing there acting perfectly fine... isn't that the truly strange part...?"
Asahina asked through trembling, tear-choked breaths. Togami looked at her, gave a short, derisive laugh, and fired back.
"Do I look perfectly fine to you?"
"...What?"
Only then did the others finally notice his hand. Togami had clenched his fist so hard that his nails had dug into his palm, and blood was running down it.
"S-see...? You too...!"
"At the very least, I'm furious. Unlike you, I'm not throwing everything away."
"What...?"
"Yesterday, when my life was saved twice, I felt powerless for the first time in my entire life."
Togami clenched his fist even tighter. More blood began to spill than before, but he ignored it and continued.
"Back when I had nothing, when I threw myself alone into a life-and-death war for succession, I never once felt that kind of helplessness."
"....."
"So all I feel toward the Mastermind who forced that damned emotion on me is rage. Not this vacant, miserable self-pity you're wallowing in."
".....!"
Staring at Asahina—who was still sniffling, but had gritted her teeth and forced back her tears—Togami finished coldly.
"So stop whining. All of you. Be angry instead."
"...Ha! Nice speech and all, but you're so damn full of yourself I can barely stand to hear it..."
Hearing that, Mondo Owada let out a short laugh and spoke up.
"Well, you've got your way of doing things. I've got mine. Me? I'm just gonna leave this shitty feeling alone."
"...What is that supposed to mean?"
"Somebody gave me advice once. Said if something shitty happens, don't force yourself to overcome it. Just leave it alone. Then someday, your heart'll get tired of leaving it alone, and it'll beat that shitty feeling on its own."
"Whoever gave you that advice must be an idiot."
"Right? It's a pretty absurd thing to say, ain't it?"
Mondo Owada finished with a grin.
"So let's see if it still works in a situation like this."
When Mondo Owada fell silent, Sayaka Maizono began to speak in a calm, steady voice.
"Everyone, if you look at this from another angle, then wasn't this also the moment we learned that the precious people we saw in the first motive video are still alive?"
"W-who cares if they're alive...?! In twenty-four hours...!"
Yasuhiro Hagakure, who had been silent until now, cut in—but Sayaka Maizono sharply cut him off in turn.
"Are you trembling in fear over something that hasn't even happened yet?"
"T-then what about you...? In twenty-four hours, the people you care about could all end up dead, and you're not scared at all?"
"Because I believe."
".....What?"
"Just as fans all over the world believe in me, I believe in Ayaka. And just as I believe in all of you, I believe in the people precious to you too."
"What're you even talking about...?"
"All of you came terrifyingly close, but in the end, none of you committed murder, right? So if the people precious to such wonderful people are anything like you... then maybe they'll overcome this crisis even more brilliantly than we can."
"But there's no guarantee of that..."
"I'm not going to force my way of thinking on anyone. But this is the answer I struggled desperately to find for myself, so I think it's worth considering."
"....."
Hagakure, wearing an unusually serious expression, finally closed his mouth. Then Sakura Oogami stepped forward.
"Kenichiro... asked me to trust him and protect everyone... If I insist on worrying over him now... that would only shame him as a warrior... I will continue walking the path I finally managed to set right."
"E-everyone... everyone... you're all so admirable... but I... I cannot calm myself...! My dear sister... my only true understanding soul... my sister is in danger... I... I don't know what I should do...!"
As Hifumi Yamada floundered helplessly, Leon Kuwata placed a hand on his shoulder and began to speak.
"Yeah... I get it. Honestly, seeing my cousin—someone precious to me beyond words—looking that thin and worn out... it feels like my heart's being ripped apart."
"K-Kuwata Leon-dono..."
"But even so, if we fall into despair too, then how are we supposed to face them later? We'd have no right."
"L-later...?"
"Yeah, later. What, you planning to live in here forever?"
"N-no, of course not...!"
"Right... You're that, uh... doujin creator guy, right? Anyway, that's your thing, yeah? So beat this killing game in style, get out of here alive, turn this whole mess into a work of art, and it'll be a massive hit. Right?"
"Th-that is... true..."
"Mm... though maybe you could increase my screentime just a little... and while you're at it, throw in some abs... you get what I'm saying, right...? Ahem."
"E-everyone... all of you are so magnificent... I should learn from you... I know I should... but I simply... cannot find the courage... Tell me...!! How can I obtain the same courage you all possess...?!"
"Good grief... would you please calm down?"
"C-calm down, you say...? At a time like this, even pouring out every last drop of passion I possess wouldn't be enough...!!"
".....That's exactly why I'm telling you to calm down, you hot-blooded pervert iiiidiot!!!"
"C-Celestia...! I-I shall calm myself...!"
".....Ahem. In any case, you need to calm down more often in general. In a long marathon, if you sprint at full speed from beginning to end the way you do, won't you collapse halfway through before ever reaching the finish line?"
".....I see. Is that so... I understand..."
As Kiyotaka Ishimaru regained his composure with the face of a man who had just reached some profound revelation, Chihiro Fujisaki was the last to speak, his expression resolute.
".....I won't let things go the way Monokuma wants. Even if I have to throw my life away."
It was a short line, but it struck with such force that it was almost impossible to believe it had come from the same fragile, pitiable boy they had known only a few days ago. It was dependable. Charismatic, even.
Only then did the students begin, faintly, to realize that hope still remained for them.
Kyoko Kirigiri watched them all and quietly smiled before speaking to Naegi.
"It seems we've been underestimating everyone this whole time."
Only then could Naegi finally look up at the surveillance camera in the gym and speak with clear, unwavering conviction.
"You're wrong, Enoshima."
And so, in the place where the sprouts of hope had been torn out, they planted a new, smaller seed of hope—and finished preparing themselves to face the despair-soaked twenty-four hours ahead.
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"You're wrong, Enoshima."
Monokuma stood there silently, watching the video still projected on the wall. Just moments ago he'd been chattering noisily while watching the panicked students, but now he was so quiet it was hard to believe he was the same Monokuma at all.
"Are you thinking, 'I gave them a choice that could only lead to despair, so why aren't they despairing?'"
".....Upupu?"
"Then again, I guess you could never understand them. Well, obviously."
"....."
"To put it simply, those kids didn't overcome despair."
".....?"
"They just accepted the despair inside themselves."
Enoshima tilted her head at K's sophistry. If those kids had really accepted despair, then why were they showing such nauseatingly revolting reactions?
"Did you think that once people accept the despair inside themselves, they all turn into despair freaks like you?"
"....."
"That's what weak people do. Strong people—like those kids—acknowledge the despair inside themselves and use it as fertilizer to plant even greater hope."
"....."
"So thanks for spreading such excellent fertilizer so the kids could grow even more, Enoshima."
Monokuma glanced at K once, then vanished just like that.
"You people really are idiots."
As K stared for a while at the place Monokuma had disappeared from, Ikusaba—who had been sitting quietly in the corner of the room with a frightened expression ever since Monokuma appeared—finally spoke.
"No matter how much you ramble about accepting despair or whatever, you still can't stop the killing game from starting over there in twenty-four hours, can you?"
"....."
"You didn't win. You just ran away from reality."
".....Pfft."
".....Are you laughing?"
"No, I just realized Enoshima must really be cornered."
"Cornered...?"
"I mean, isn't it obvious? This wasn't your plan, was it?"
".....!"
"Day after day, new murder motives keep getting announced without fail, completely out of step with the original plan. And today, it looks like you even forced through a reckless move that wasn't scheduled at all... right?"
".....How much do you know?"
"If all of this had happened slowly, over a very long period of time, then maybe things would've turned out very differently."
"....."
"But you pushed too hard, too fast. Maybe you managed to rip out the sprouts of hope, but you left the roots behind. So why would Enoshima, of all people, rush like this when she'd obviously know that? Unless... there's some reason she has to hurry?"
"You really are dangerous. I'd love to kill you right now, but my sister said to keep you alive for the time being..."
"I don't get why you keep overestimating me so much."
".....?"
"Your sister did the same thing. She overestimated me and underestimated the others way too much. That was Enoshima's fatal blunder today. I don't know why she's so fixated on me, but if I keep drawing aggro, life gets easier for the others, so I don't really mind..."
".....I don't really get it, but let's see if you can stay that calm after twenty-four hours, when you watch the people precious to you kill each other."
At that, K finally burst into the laughter he'd been holding back this whole time.
"Puh—puhahahahahaha!"
"What...? That's disgusting..."
"In twenty-four hours, Enoshima's plan is going to fail."
"...What?"
Ikusaba, startled, kept pressing him for an explanation, but K only smiled and thought to himself:
'I don't know why... but one of the orphanage kids had a Future Foundation hacking gun tucked inside their clothes.'
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'K oppa... I finally got to see you again after so long... but we barely even got to talk... and all I did was make you worry... it hurts.'
Somewhere in Towa City, inside a space much like an ordinary home, a girl trapped together with the other orphanage children thought to herself.
'And what was with that wound on your face, you idiot? You got hurt helping someone again, didn't you? You can't even take care of yourself, and all you ever do is keep trying to save other people...'
For a long while, the girl thought about her foolish benefactor. Then she tightened her grip on the hacking guns hidden in her clothes and steeled herself.
'That white-haired man said if I shoot the weird-looking gun at the Monokuma that'll come open the door in a little while, I can disable it.'
The man had introduced himself as nothing more than a lackey, and he had been suspicious beyond belief. He'd handed her the gun, told her to show him hope just once, laughed in that unsettling way of his, and then disappeared somewhere.
She had promised oppa she'd never trust suspicious people again, but considering the circumstances, maybe breaking that promise just this once would be okay. Turning the thought over in her head, the girl made her calculations.
'I've got two hacking guns total. I'll use one myself... and the other... if I find someone I can trust, I'll give it to them and strengthen our side.'
Once she had fully sorted out her thoughts, the girl glanced over the children behind her, all tense with fear, and made a vow.
"When we meet again, I'm definitely making you buy me a meal. So wait for me, oppa."
And a little later, together with an utterly ordinary girl with no remarkable talent whatsoever who introduced herself as Naegi Komaru, her adventure began.