"K-Kirigiri... calm down...!"
"Kirigiri... first, talk it over with us...!"
"C-calm yourself! Kirigiri! Panic is forbidden...!"
When Kyoko Kirigiri tried to rush out of the room with the suspicious video they'd found, the others hurried to stop her.
"Let go of me."
"Hey. I get that you're worried about K, but who knows what's even on that thing..."
"I need to watch this video. Right now."
"B-but... there's no way Enoshima left behind anything normal..."
"Th-this development... feels strangely familiar... in the doujin industry... it's quite famous..."
"Move. Don't make me say it twice."
Kirigiri shoved past them and tried to leave, but Sakura Oogami stepped in front of her and blocked the way.
"...I don't mind if you watch it, but first, you need to calm down..."
"..."
"If this is meant to rattle you... then it's one of Monokuma's tricks... If you dance to his tune... that only benefits Monokuma..."
"...Ghk."
"...So these days, even someone who can't control her own emotions can still call herself a detective?"
"...!"
Byakuya Togami's cutting rebuke finally snapped her back to herself. Kirigiri threw the video onto the desk, then dropped heavily into a chair.
"...Haaah. Seriously... this is the worst."
As she reflected on the disgraceful spectacle she'd made of herself—forgetting her duty as a detective and losing control—Kirigiri thought to herself:
"Sooner or later... I need to sort out these feelings. One way or another..."
When this was over and she faced him again, she swore she would bring their relationship to an end somehow, in some form. With that vow lodged in her chest, Kirigiri slowly began to take deep breaths.
"...I understand Kirigiri. If I were in her shoes, I don't think I could've stayed rational either."
"...Me too, Naegi."
"Still, Enoshima really is evil, huh? First she drops a bombshell like that, then before we even get a chance to breathe, she throws another one at us."
"Now that you mention it, you're right... Why is she pushing us this hard...?"
"Perhaps... because she has a reason she must."
At Celestia Ludenberg's meaningful remark, everyone's attention turned to her. She cleared her throat, then began laying out her theory.
"If this school life were truly meant to continue indefinitely... then wouldn't Monokuma only need to leave us here for years and slowly tighten the screws?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, if the goal is simply to make us kill one another, then why go out of the way to announce a new motive every single day and pressure us so aggressively?"
"Hmm... maybe he just wants to see a murder happen sooner...?"
"Of course, that's one interpretation. But to me... the Mastermind seems terribly impatient. As though she's being chased by someone."
"...Now that you say it, that does make sense. Come to think of it, Monokuma looked pretty troubled every time no murder happened."
As the group traded theories about why Enoshima seemed so frantic, Togami—who had been listening in silence—finally spoke up.
"To begin with, why is Enoshima forcing us into a killing game at all?"
"Huh? Well... who knows...?"
"There is no action in this world without a reason... If Enoshima is making us participate in a killing game, then she undoubtedly has some kind of 'objective.'"
"Hmm... then what kind of objective could possibly justify something this insane...?"
"And whatever it is, it seems that 'objective' can only be achieved if we commit murder as quickly as possible."
"...Then...?"
"Yes. Which means time may actually be on our side."
The moment he said that, the others' expressions brightened.
"Right...! There's no way something this huge is happening and no help is coming! If we just hold out a little longer, that bastard's definitely going to end up in court!"
"I don't know what's going on exactly... but at least it means we're not completely out of hope... That helps..."
"Yeah...! Everyone, if we can just hang on a little longer, then good news is—"
"Upupupupu...! Fujisaki... when you say 'good news,' you don't mean this, do you?"
Monokuma appeared out of nowhere. Some of the students yelped or screamed, but Chihiro Fujisaki only glared at him.
"...You knew... about it...?"
"Well, when a cute little thing like Fujisaki heads into the boys' bathroom... how could that not catch my eye...? Upupupupu...! Anyway, I brought you a present. So? How do you feel?"
Monokuma was holding a laptop containing Alter Ego, its face modeled after Fujisaki's own.
"Wh-what the heck is that...? A g-g-g-ghost...?"
"F-Fujisaki... that thing is..."
"...!"
"M-master... I've been found out... hehe... I'm sorry..."
"I-it's talking...?"
While everyone stared in astonishment at the sudden burst of high technology, Monokuma abruptly began to laugh.
"Upupupupupupu...! No matter how many seeds of hope you plant... if I keep yanking them out, one after another, won't despair bloom in the end...? Just... like this...!"
Monokuma's eye flashed, and a shrill alarm began blaring. The students instinctively backed away, and Monokuma grinned as he shouted:
"Explosions are art!!!"
"...Hehe."
Boooom!
With those final words, Alter Ego—after giving one last soft smile to its master—was blown to pieces along with Monokuma.
"...Ah..."
"I-I don't really get it... but if it had Fujisaki's face on it... then wasn't that... something really important...?"
"...Fujisaki, was that the 'plan' you were talking about...?"
"Upupupupu...! I don't know what you were trying to do by connecting to the school network, but it was all for nothing!"
"...Just how many of these damn bear robots are there? It blows up and still keeps coming back..."
"Originally, since no murders were happening, I was planning to hold a nice, flashy Execution! But then something interesting came up, so I decided to keep it simple this time!"
"...Something interesting...?"
"Don't tell me you still haven't watched that video? Hurry up and check it out! It's pretty entertaining, you know? Upupupupu..."
Leaving those words behind, Monokuma vanished.
"..."
The others cautiously glanced at Kirigiri. She kept her eyes closed for a moment, then let out a breath and spoke in a level voice.
"...I'm ready. Let's go."
And so the group quietly followed behind Kirigiri, who for some reason now seemed to radiate an almost palpable aura.
"Alter Ego... If it smiled like that at the end... then it worked after all..."
At the very back of the group, Fujisaki wore a quiet smile.
.
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.
.
.
"Talk! Talk!! Say it already!!! K! Hurry!!"
"Ghk... sob... hhk..."
"..."
"K-Kirigiri... are you oka—"
"...Could you be quiet?"
"A-alright..."
When they played the video, what appeared was footage of Mukuro Ikusaba strangling K. She was straddling him, her hands around his throat, interrogating him about something. K thrashed desperately, trying to break free, but his strength was fading fast.
"...Th-this is... too cruel..."
"...Kirigiri, if you can't handle it, you don't have to keep watching."
"...I've already seen it once."
"Huh...?"
The instant Kirigiri said that, her own voice came from the video.
"I brought lunch. Fujisaki said he had something to do, so I came instead..."
Then the others watched K's finger snap, and watched Kirigiri bite down hard on her lip before turning and leaving.
"K-Kirigiri..."
"This is the important part. Be quiet."
After closing the door, Ikusaba approached K—who was sitting on the bed, sniffling—with a frigid expression. Then she reached once more for the throat of the trembling, terrified boy.
"And now~! It's quiz time!!"
The moment Ikusaba's hand touched K's neck, the screen went black, and Monokuma popped up, speaking in a clownishly playful tone.
"So then... what do you think happened next~!? Aren't you curious...? If you're curious... go check for yourselves!!"
Then Monokuma disappeared, the words "Go confirm it on the fifth floor!!" flashed on the screen, and the video ended.
"...I guess we have to go check, don't we?"
"...Damn it, we're already at the fifth floor? Enoshima really must be in a hurry."
"U-um... Kirigiri... are you okay...?"
"...Let's go."
"Mm... then... let's split into groups and move together... wandering around separately would just waste time..."
"...Right."
The others, stealing uneasy glances at Kirigiri as she stood there with a hollow expression, began dividing themselves into teams.
.
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.
.
Entering the archery dojo with Naegi and Fujisaki, Kirigiri found her gaze stolen by the cherry blossoms in full bloom around them. Having spent so long overseas, she wasn't used to scenery like this. For a brief moment, she stood still, lost in thought as she looked at the beautiful view.
"It would've been nicer if I'd seen this with him..."
The thought surfaced before she could stop it, and her brow furrowed at once. Shaking her head to drive away the distraction, Kirigiri suddenly found herself wondering:
"Just what kind of relationship did we have before I lost my memories... for me to keep feeling this way...?"
In truth, the answer was simple enough to infer. But Kirigiri had already resolved that she would no longer be ruled by emotion, and so she resumed searching for traces of K.
They searched the archery dojo for several minutes, but found nothing of note.
"...By the way, Fujisaki, about Alter Ego... there's no way to bring it back?"
"...Probably not. Fujisaki could re-enter the program, but without the laptop..."
"True. Like you said, Kirigiri, there aren't any more laptops left in the school..."
"...It's okay."
"...?"
Looking at Fujisaki's quiet smile, Kirigiri sensed that he still had another plan in motion. The foul mood that had clung to her for so long eased a little, and a faint smile touched her lips.
But the news that came crashing down on her a moment later was enough to plunge not only Kirigiri, but everyone present, into despair.
"G-guys...! The greenhouse... the greenhouse...!"
"Calm down and tell us. What happened?"
"There's a body in the greenhouse...!"
Ding dong, bing bong!
A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of free time, a Class Trial will begin! Once again, a body has been discovered...
"...!"
.
.
.
.
.
"Wh-what do you mean...? A body...?"
"N-no way... th-there really is... a corpse...?"
"U-uuurgh...!"
After hearing the announcement, the students rushed to the greenhouse—and froze in horror at the scene waiting for them.
In the middle of the greenhouse lay a body. Its face was covered by a mask, its entire body draped in a large blanket, and a knife was buried in its chest.
"Th-that... wh-who is that...?"
"...The only ones missing are K and Ikusaba. If that's true, then it's probably... one of those two."
Before she even realized it, Kirigiri was already walking toward the corpse. She reached it, then stretched out a trembling hand to remove the mask—
"Hey, watch out...!"
In that split second, Kirigiri noticed the bomb attached to the body. She snapped back to her senses and threw herself aside, and then—
KRA-KABOOOM!!!
The corpse exploded.
"..."
"D-damn it... At this rate, we'll never be able to tell who that was..."
"No... based on the video we just saw... the culprit is obvious...!"
Aoi Asahina cried out to everyone, her voice trembling with tears.
"The culprit is Ikusaba, and that body... that body is...!"
"Oh, so everyone's here! You heard the body announcement? Who in the world could've—"
"It has to be K..."
But the moment Asahina saw K entering the greenhouse, her words died in her throat and she went rigid. The others were no different.
"Wh-what... is this supposed to mean...?"
The reunion with K was the worst possible one.