"Ugh... where am I now...?"
I opened my eyes through the ache crawling across my entire body, only to find myself somewhere strangely familiar.
"The... entrance hall?"
I was lying there alone in the entrance hall, the very place where I'd first met everyone after the killing game began in this academy.
"Ugh... my head..."
I forced my muddled thoughts into order and retraced what had happened just before this. Ikusaba writhing in pain. Monokuma obstructing our escape. The sleeping gas that had suddenly been fired at us...
"Damn it... how much time has passed...?"
Monokuma had definitely said he was going to kidnap us. So why was I here in the entrance hall, perfectly intact? Had his plan gone off the rails for some reason?
'First things first, I need to find everyone. They must be worried sick by now.'
The questions only lingered for a moment before relief loosened the tension in my body, and my thoughts drifted to the others I hadn't seen in what felt like forever.
When I first met them, they were just game characters to me, and I couldn't adjust to that at all. But now they'd become real friends—people who worried about each other, shared their burdens, and stood together. Just thinking about seeing them again made me feel lighter.
'Kirigiri looked especially worried back then... I just hope she didn't blame herself too much...'
Lately, it felt like all I'd done was cause Kyoko Kirigiri trouble. The thought sat badly with me. Next time I saw her, maybe I should at least give her some kind of gift.
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"What the... where did everybody go...?"
Something was wrong. I'd searched the school from the first floor to the fourth, but there was no sign of anyone.
'What kind of nightmare is this...?'
Just as dread began creeping in—just as I started to fear that something might have happened to them—an announcement rang out across the entire school, carrying words so grotesque I could barely believe them.
[A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of free time, a Class Trial will begin!]
".....!"
In an instant, my mind went blank. My whole body locked up, and cold sweat began to pour down my skin. Murder—the one thing I had wanted to prevent more than anything, the one word I had dreaded hearing most in this academy—had happened. Darkness swallowed my vision.
"...Fuck."
The faces of the people I'd laughed and suffered with over the past few days kept flashing before my eyes. The friends I'd formed the deepest bond with in both my past life and this one.
And when Kyoko Kirigiri's face rose among them—the face I cherished more than anyone else's—I finally snapped back to myself and started thinking.
'...I've searched everything from the first floor to the fourth, and nobody's there... which means... the fifth floor really did open up...?'
Once I reached that conclusion, I tried to head for the fifth floor, but my feet wouldn't move easily.
'If that announcement was true... if it was really true...'
Grinding my teeth into my lip, I forced myself toward the fifth floor.
When I arrived, trembling, there were unmistakable signs of life there. The fifth floor had several rooms, and I was still trying to decide where to start when the sound of an explosion tore out from the greenhouse.
Without even a second to think, I ran for the greenhouse. And the moment I saw the others staring at me in shock—and the corpse blown to pieces—I understood.
I had walked straight into a trap.
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"Upupupu...! A murder has finally happened! Congratulations! Congratulations!"
"You bastard... what are you here to do...?"
"Why, since a murder has taken place, I came to hand out the [Monokuma File]...!"
"The... [Monokuma File]...?"
"That's right...! I never thought I'd actually get to distribute this at long last...!"
Before long, the students read through the [Monokuma File] Monokuma had handed out, and confusion rippled through them.
"Identity unknown due to damage from the explosion...? Are you kidding me...? If it's someone who isn't here... there's only one person it could be...!"
"Upupupu...! You never know... maybe there's a hidden seventeenth student! Upupupupupu..."
"The explosion occurred after death... the knife wound pierced through the abdomen and went all the way through the back. And... there was major trauma to the head... the rest of the information is unknown...?"
"Too much information kills the fun, you know...! Upupu...!"
"Good grief... what in the world is going on here...?"
"Well then, I'll see you all at the trial grounds in a little while...!"
With that, Monokuma vanished.
The others stared at the spot where Monokuma had disappeared for a while, then finally turned to K.
"K... K... where were you...?"
"....."
"K...?"
"....."
"K...! Say something!"
".....Calm down. After seeing something this horrific, shouldn't we settle everyone first?"
".....Sorry. I just... need time to sort out my thoughts too. Please let me be alone for a bit..."
".....Right. It's not just K—there are plenty of people here who are in shock. Let's all take a short break, then start the investigation."
The students agreed to calm themselves first and begin investigating afterward, then left the crime scene for the time being.
But Kyoko Kirigiri remained in the greenhouse, her face deathly pale, lost in thought.
'There was something strangely familiar about that body...'
She hadn't been able to confirm everything because of the explosion, but among everyone there, Kirigiri had seen the corpse most closely while it was still intact—and she'd felt that eerie sense of recognition.
If so... was that body really Mukuro Ikusaba's?
'No. It's a trap.'
There was no way K—that frail, soft-hearted boy—could have murdered Ikusaba. And K was someone Enoshima had been keeping under intense scrutiny. Which meant Enoshima might have decided to use this chance to eliminate K, the obstacle in her way.
Come to think of it, the bomb going off so suddenly was suspicious too. She hadn't searched every inch of the fifth floor yet, but in all the time she'd investigated the academy, she'd never seen anything resembling a bomb anywhere. And there was no way K, an Ultimate Counselor, could have planted and detonated a bomb powerful enough to blow a body to pieces with that kind of precision.
In other words, the only one who could have prepared a high-performance bomb like that and set it off at exactly the right moment was the Mastermind.
Then why would the Mastermind go out of their way to blow up the body? If it really was Ikusaba's corpse, wouldn't it have been enough to simply let everyone see it?
'What if that wasn't Ikusaba's body at all, but a corpse the Mastermind procured from somewhere else?'
No matter how she examined it, the conclusion remained the same: this entire situation was a trap engineered by Monokuma. Everyone except K had a solid alibi right now. Which meant that once the Class Trial began, the one who would be cornered as the culprit was K.
'What do I do...? Evidence... is there any evidence at all...?'
The bomb had been so powerful that the body had been reduced to fragments, leaving no usable information behind. Which meant the corpse itself couldn't serve as evidence.
'First, I need to talk to him.'
With a suffocating sense of helplessness pressing down on her, Kirigiri walked over to K, who was speaking with Chihiro Fujisaki in the distance.
Absorbed in that conversation, he eventually patted Fujisaki on the shoulder, then turned around with a strangely relieved smile.
"Ah, Kirigiri...?"
"...K, can we talk for a moment...?"
"....."
".....K?"
Kirigiri had intended to hear everything he knew so far and work out a plan for what came next, but K only stared at her in silence.
"What is it...?"
"Kirigiri, listen carefully to what I'm about to say."
"...?"
"No matter what I say during the Class Trial, I need you to stay calm and go along with me."
"What...?"
"This is more important than anything else. Please trust me and do as I ask."
"...What exactly are you planning to say in the Class Trial?"
"...I'll reveal that during the trial. It's too dangerous to say it here. There are too many eyes on us."
"...So you do have some kind of plan to resolve this?"
At that, the boy gave an awkward little smile and answered.
"Yeah... I guess... I do...?"
Seeing that foolish expression, Kirigiri forced down the surge of emotion inside her and looked at him coldly.
"I told you before. Don't try to solve everything by yourself."
She wanted to help him somehow, wanted to stop him from carrying all the danger alone—but unlike last time, the boy's expression turned grave, and he spoke in a low voice.
"I listened to your request last time, so now it's your turn to listen to mine. Isn't it?"
"...Haaah. Do whatever you want."
With a strange unease—and a sting of hurt—Kirigiri left him behind and walked out of the greenhouse.
".....Good. I'm ready."
And K, wearing the face of someone who had steeled himself for something irreversible, murmured as he watched her go.
"Just in case..."
Then K began walking toward Celestia Ludenberg, who had been sitting quietly on a bench in the greenhouse, deep in thought.
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[Ding dong, bing bong!]
[Upupupu...! The Class Trial will now begin! All students, please make your way through the red door on the first floor!]
"What the... already...? We haven't even investigated anything yet..."
"...There wasn't much to investigate in the first place, was there? Everyone except K has a firm alibi, and K said he'd reveal the truth in the Class Trial, so he didn't share any information with us."
"...That's true."
"Well, K said he had a plan and asked us to trust him! Sure, he doesn't exactly look reliable on the surface, but deep down he's a pretty solid guy... let's trust him one more time!"
"I guess... we've kept trusting him this whole time. One more time won't change much..."
Excluding Toko Fukawa, who still hadn't recovered and was lying in the nurse's office, the remaining fourteen students huddled together as they talked and headed for the red door on the first floor.
"This red door... it's never opened before..."
"It looks seriously creepy..."
"Then... should we open it...?"
When the door, unopened until now, finally swung open, there was an elevator waiting beyond it, descending to the trial grounds.
Before long, the fourteen of them stepped inside, and as the elevator began its slow descent, it felt as though they were being swallowed into the jaws of a beast.
Most of the students were visibly tense, but the one in the worst shape by far was K. Unable to keep watching in silence, the others each tried to say something to him.
".....Hey, K. Wipe that look off your face. What's with you? You've looked awful this whole time."
"That's right...! I know the situation is what it is, but... you still have to stay strong!"
"At a time like this, we must steel ourselves!! Everyone, won't you encourage K!!"
".....To be honest, I still find you the most suspicious one here, but I am curious what this so-called 'plan' of yours is. I'll at least hear your explanation in the trial."
"...K, are you really okay?"
"....."
The others did their best to comfort him, but instead of giving his usual awkward smile and thanking them, K simply closed his eyes and remained silent.
They were all deeply worried by how abnormal he seemed, but before anyone could press him further, the elevator reached the trial grounds.
"Upupupu...! You're finally here!? So? Feels like a real courtroom, doesn't it? Kinda Hollywood, right?"
"..."
"Jeez... what a boring bunch. Well then, everyone, please sit in the seat with your name on it!"
Following Monokuma's instructions, everyone took their seats.
The desks were arranged in a circle, so that everyone could see every face.
At once, the air grew suffocating.
Each person's tension fed into everyone else's, until the whole room throbbed with it.
And then the curtain rose.
A life-or-death battle of deception. A life-or-death betrayal. A life-or-death unraveling of mystery. A life-or-death excuse. A life-or-death trust. And then... the life-or-death Class Trial...
"Now then, first, a simple explanation of the Class Trial—"
"Wait. Before that, I have something to say."
The instant it was about to begin, K's bombshell froze everyone in place.
"I killed Mukuro Ikusaba."
"...Upupu?"
"I'm the culprit in this case."
".....!?"